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 Manageris looking for your rumors and tidbits... give him a post! ...or subscribe... see subscription notes below. I've posted my favorite Quotes-of-the-week... enjoy . December 10, 2001 [*]  I'M BACK;   [*]  Rumors: G5/Flat Panel iMac;   [*]  Meanwhile, Cnet appears to be confirming the rumors;   [*]  Final Cut Pro 3.0;   [*]  Mac Help Radio;   [*]  THE 12 SPAMS OF CHRISTMAS;   [*]  AOL-UK Drops OSX development.;   [*]  Digital Universe;   [*]  AppleWorks 6.2.2;   [*]  FDNY Billy Blazes Rescue Hero;   [*]  XBox;   [*]  OCR for Mac;   [*]  VirtualPC 5.0;   [*]  Mac OS 9.2.2;   [*]  "Apple's Just-In-Time Innovation: Can It Last?";   [*]  Nisus Email;   [*]  Santa;   [*]  Web Sites of the Week: Old Radio   [*]  Quote of the week: Ben Stein . I'M BACK First I would like to thank Fred Showker for filling in last week. He did a great job. And also thank those of you who wrote in with "best wishes". Teressa Markcum and I were married on December 1st. Now I can settle down of a nice family life. I even inherited a bunch of grandkids. (6 total). That is great!! On to the news: . Rumors: G5/Flat Panel iMac MacCentral is running an article by David Read refuting those rumors saying that Apple is going to introduce a G5 at MacWorld Expo, San Francisco. Apparently they will be introducing a model based on the Apollo G4 which will bump up the speed to 1.2 GHz, but it will not be the G5 that some are expecting. __ Motorola: Apollo G4 on schedule to ship early 2002 Full story at: http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0112/04.motorola.php . Meanwhile, Cnet appears to be confirming the rumors ... that a Flat Panel iMac is on the way. (Thought that was an iBook.) Until then, we will have to wonder if Apple can really do it at a reasonable price. You can read that story at: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20011204/tc/report_flat-panel_imacs_on_the_way_1.html . Final Cut Pro 3.0 John Cambra, in his Apple Advocate newsletter is reporting that Apple has announced Final Cut Pro 3.0. One interesting quote from the newsletter is: ³With G4 real-time effects, the high-capacity OfflineRT format and professional color correction tools, Final Cut Pro 3 raises the bar for the industry once again,² said David Moody, Apple¹s senior director of Applications Marketing. ³Whether you¹re working from a dedicated edit bay or a seat on a cross-country flight, the combination of Apple¹s G4 hardware, operating system and Final Cut Pro 3 software is the most potent video editing solution available. And, on top of all this, Final Cut Pro is now available on the world¹s most advanced personal computer operating system, Mac OS X. __ Final Cut Pro 3 will be available later this month at a suggested retail price of $999 (US). Registered Final Cut Pro users can upgrade to Final Cut Pro 3 for $299 (US). Final Cut Pro 3 requires Mac OS X v10.1.1 or Mac OS 9.2.2, a Macintosh(r) computer with a 300 MHz or faster PowerPC G3 or G4 processor with built-in FireWire, 256MB of RAM (384MB recommended for G4 real-time effects), and 40MB of available disk space for installation. (G4 500 MHz or higher required for G4 real-time effects; PowerBook G4 667 MHz required for mobile real-time DV effects.) Both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 versions are included in the Final Cut Pro 3 box. More info at: www.apple.com/finalcutpro . Mac Help Radio Yes, another Mac themed Internet Radio program. This one by Dallas' own Dru Richman, head hancho of Mac Help Desk and currently President of the Apple Corp of Dallas. It is on from 7-9 CT. He takes questions from users via AIM and e-mail. I haven't had the opportunity to listen, but I know Dru well and he does have an entertaining personality and knows about Macs. __ Dru has promised me that archives of his show will be at the above web site. But as of this writing, they haven't shown yet. Check out the show at: http://www.mactvnetwork.com/radio/tuesday/ . THE 12 SPAMS OF CHRISTMAS THE 12 SPAMS OF CHRISTMAS The TourBus newsletter let us in on a little secret. The 12 Spams of Christmas. This is a funny song. I didn't even know that Amazon did MP3 downloads. __ Of course you can subscribe to The TourBus newsletter at: http://www.TOURBUS.com You can get a copy at: http://artist.amazon.com/davidwsolomons . AOL-UK Drops OSX development. The Register is reporting that AOL UK has announced that it has stopped development of the OSX version of its software. The US development is continuing. Full story at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/22952.html . Digital Universe Insanely Great Mac has reported that Syzygy Research has released a Mac version of its acclaimed Digital Universe astronomy software. ($94) It is now available for downloading and a demo version is also available. The full story is at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news/01/1213.html You can download the software from Syzygy at: http://www.syz.com/ . AppleWorks 6.2.2 A new AppleWorks for the OSX 10.1 update is now available from Apple. The installer adds "compatibility and performance enhancements". The download is free, but it is 14.5 Megabytes. Download at: http://www.apple.com/appleworks/ . FDNY Billy Blazes Rescue Hero This Fisher Price toy is suppose to be one of the hot toys for the holiday season. __ While it does contribute to the FDNY's Education Fund, it is exclusive to Toys R Us. The bad news is that toysrus.com (and by extension amazon.com) is selling a similar doll that DOESN'T contribute to the fund. So if you are intending to help out the fire department's kids, be sure to get yours from the store. __ This was brought to my attention by the TourBus newsletter. To subscribe, go to: http://www.TOURBUS.com Click here for a picture: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/firezone/fdnybilblazr.html . XBox So what computer is Microsoft using to help develop the XBox and software for it? According to an e-mail on the Mac EvangeList we can see in a photo on http://www.microsoft.com/jobs/design/workXBox.htm . OCR for Mac OCR on the Mac has been kind of lacking lately. OmniPage hasn't been updated in awhile. According to Insanely Great Mac, there is a new product from ABBYY Softare House and Sount&Vision called FineReader 5 Pro. If you are doing OCR it would be worth looking at: Full Story at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news/01/1249.html Here's where you can find it: http://www.macfinereader.com/ . VirtualPC 5.0 Connectix has released VirtualPC 5.0 for OS9 and OSX. New features include: Supports Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X in one application * Multiprocessor support in Mac OS X * Virtual switch in Mac OS X - to network between Virtual PCs running on the same Mac Undoable drive images * Allow you to back out of any Windows session Full support for Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home as guest OSes Connectix Care * Support includes: online forums, online knowledge * database and extensive contextual help Ability to share removable media storage devices DVD-ROM data support for the guest OS Key mapping between Macintosh keyboard and standard PC keyboard 'Snappier' user experience-faster menus & faster text scrolling More info at: http://www.connectix.com/products/vpc5m.html . Mac OS 9.2.2 You may already know this, but just in case. You can now download Mac OS 9.2.2 update. Just use your Software Update control panel to get the update. It does appear that it just applies to Classic. ... or go to Apple's site http://www.apple.com/ . "Apple's Just-In-Time Innovation: Can It Last?" ... is the title of an article by Robyn Weisman making the case that by trying to work with established industry standards like Firewie and TCP/IP, Apple is actually less innovative that it was a few years ago. And that Apple is trying to see where the industry is going and then get out in front. It is an interesting read and in my opinion not far off. Full article at: http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/15140.html . Nisus Email Ron Carlson of Insanely GreatMac is reporting that Nisus Email is now avaiable for OS X. I have been using it minimally in OS9.1 and find it pretty interesting. It does require a bit of "different thinking" as it uses your current word processor for editing email. Then a drag and drop sending of mailing. I have promised them a review for our local user group newsletter, but haven't been able to spend enough time with it. If you are in OSX and thus probably haven't settled on an e-mail program, you should check it out. __ Get the demo at: http://www.nisus.com... BTW - Nisus is also looking for a programmer. Check the above address for details. The full article is at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news/01/1264.html . Santa For several years, the Apple Corp of Dallas has posted the following e-mail address for letters to Santa: Santa@santaclaus.com __ In all that time, they have never heard from anyone that it is just a way to solicit e-mail address and appears to have been quite safe. So if your child would like to contact Santa, feel free to have them do so. They will get a personal response from the jolly old elf. __ You can also visit the web site (Santaclaus.com) and get many questions answered about activities at the North Pole. (Thanks to Fred Sheffler, our hard working BBS administrator for finding the contact.) Ho, ho, ho... mailto:Santa@santaclaus.com . Web Sites of the Week: Old Radio "Fibber McGee, Amos & Andy and the Shadow. Thanks to many excellent old-time radio sites, you can re-live the glory days of radio." Check out the following if you are interested in all those: PE.net's "Jack" Friends of Time (These are also from the TourBus) Check out the following if you are interested in all those: http://www.bostonpete.com/virtualradiobroadcast . Quote of the week: Ben Stein The indispensable first step to getting the things you want in this life is this: Decide what you want. . 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. Post a lead Info Manager should follow up on. Subscribe to Rumors@lists.user-groups.net http://www.user-groups.net/UGCommunity/subscribe.html UG Network Channel _ / _ NEWS _ / _ UG Library _ / _ UG Bookshelf Article Reprints -- User Group Network Affiliates may reprint articles as long as full credit is given. 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