User group Newsletter Editors: Utilize this content in your newsletter -- PLEASE ... reference UG Network Channel ... Shareware Manager is coming: YUM! Show us the shareware! The Info Manager is looking for your rumors and tidbits... give him a post! ...or subscribe... see subscription notes below . Info Manager - 12/08/Y2K UGs at Planet Hollywood; Bluetooth; Aladdin; Opera; Faster chips; MacAddict w/Virus again; SuperDrive; Software banned; APCUG shuts down User Group lists . UGs At Planet Hollywood The User Group Academy announced last night that the annual User Group Academy Awards will be held at San Francisco Planet Hollywood on January 9, 2001 -- sponsored by MacAddict Magazine. The event is combined with the 2001 User Group Soiree. Getting in will be tough though, it's RSVP/Invitation ONLY with limited admission. The official invitation is at: http://www.UGAcademy.org/Awards/Soiree.html . Bluetooth Bluetooth is being touted as an aid to help the disabled use printers in InfoWorld. I really don't understand why it is being specifically considered instead of other wireless possiblities. You can read the full article http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/12/07/001207hnxerox.xml?1208frap . Aladdin Fred Showker one of our leaders at UGN has pointed out that it is difficult to find the support area on the Aladdin web site. So he forwarded this link to help us get there quicker. (BTW Stuffit is great for both platforms). We tried Fred's solution link only to find it broken. __ The quest was to find out why self-extracting archives don't transfer over the web. There have been lots and lots of problems with UGNN members unable to un-stuff dot-sit files without the latest installed version of Expamder -- the logical solution was self-extracting archives. No good. Members report problems from corrupted files to code scrolling onto the users' screens. Another bout with support at Aladdin brought the solution. In a nutshell: never post dot-sea (self-extracting) files to the web. Any non-Mac server they touch corrupts the file and makes it useless. Read the full story in this week's UGNN Editor's Notes: http://www.user-groups.net/news/editor/aladdin.html . Opera Opera Software, the third most popular browser on the Internet has announced a free product for the Windows platform. It is version 5.0. There is an earlier version for the Mac, but they haven't announced plans for 5.0 for the Mac. For full story see InfoWorld at: http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/12/07/001207hnopera.xml?1208frap . Faster Chips The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that both IBM and Intel have announced new technologies that will enable them to produce chips 10x as fast as current ones. IBM says that its technology, named CMOS9S unites copper wiring, silicon-on-insulator transistors and improved "Low-k dielectric insulation to make circuits as small as 0.13 micros, or nearly 800 times thinner than a human hair. They are planning the first customer shipments in 2001. (Probably for servers) They are saying that this technology will make it possible to create $1,500 computers that run at 10 GHz. __ Meanwhile, Intel plans to talk about a prototype of a transistor that is just 0.03 microns wide, compared with the previously mentioned 0.13 for most transistors today. That would also enable their processors to run at 10 GHz. But this new technology is not expected to start appearing in Intel's products until 2005. Full story at: http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/reuters/docs/731445l.htm and at http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2663146,00.html . MacAddict January CD has a virus I believe this is the second time that MacAddict has released a CD with its magazine that contains a virus. The virus is an nVIR virus that was release originally in 1987 and really can't effect machines running OS8 or newer. It was pretty nasty, so if you do run some older machines as part of your mix then you want to be careful. It will install on newer machines, but be inactive. It is included in the DarkRage Public Beta installer. See the MacAddict web site for further details. . SuperDrive Imation has announced it has decided to phase out the SuperDrive. So if you feel like you need one, then you need to get it soon. (MacCentral via MacOSRadio.net . Sale of Software Banned The New York Times reported on 12/13 that an Internet business that offered software that created documents like drivers licenses and birth certificates has has been issued an order to halt sales by a federal district judge. They offered access to templates for creating these documents for 45 days after receiving payment of $29.99. Gee, I wonder why the court didn't like that? ;-) . APCUG Shuts Down User Group Lists A number of network affiliates have reported the APCUG lists simply vanished without a trace. The latest known post to both the "Announce" and "Newsletter" lists were on October 15, but further transmissions halted without notification. After some snooping around, we discover they've been shut down in favor of online discussion forums similar to AOL discussion boards. More in this month's UGNN News . Web site of the week: This week's site is www.breastlink.com. I have had a few friends who have had breast cancer. While it is well known as a female disease, it can also attack men. This site is dedicated to giving unbiased information about breast cancer. Please check it out. . Quote of the Week: "If I'd been a ranch, they would have named me the Bar Nothing," - Rita Hayworth in the 1946 film noir classic "Gilda." (Thanks to Information Week newsletter). pau **** Don't forget ... the Info Manager invites you to use all or part of his column in your user group newsletter. Please let him know, and if possible send an electronic copy for the old scrapbook. Any suggestions for topics and reports of rumors are always welcome. Please me know. Thanks The Info Manager is a veteran of the UGN (AOL User Groups Forum) and User Group Network. He's been a supporter and volunteer on many, many UGNet and User Group Academy projects. As a long time user group member, he's served as volunteer from Honolulu to Boston and many points in between. Currently working with the Apple Corp of Dallas, the Dallas Mac Pack, Cowtown MUG of Ft. Worth and TUMS (the Tulsa Users of Macintosh Society) doing newsletter articles and the monthly CD-ROM Update. 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