Info Manager for March 11, 2002

[*]  iPod;   [*]  MPEG-4;   [*]  VirtualPC 5.02;   [*]  IBM to take PowerPC into the mobile market;   [*]  Adobe creates free site for designers, developers;   [*]  Bugdom;   [*]  Mac or PC;   [*]  A warning;   [*]  Epson;   [*]  VMAC;   [*]  Dead web sites;   [*]  BBS;   [*]  Web Site #1 of the Week: Speed check;   [*]  Web Site #2 of the Week: Station.com;   [*]  User Group Site of the Week: Bmug;   [*]  Quote of the week: Thomas D. Willhite;   [*]  InfoManager's Humble Opinion (IMHO)!
.

iPod

I mentioned before that Provue was releasing an Organizer for the iPod. Remy Davison of Insanely Great Mac is giving further details, including the fact that you will be able to load and use a Panarama database on the iPod. You can get a demo kit at: http://www.ipodorganizer.com/
or download a full version for $19.95 at: http://www.provue.com/
Full story at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=102

.

MPEG-4

Are you confused about MPEG-4 and optional compression software for video on the Internet? Well, one thing you can do is listen to Phil Schiller's QuickTime Live Keynote speech on Apple's web site at: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/qtlive02/
    But that only gives part of the story. Salon has an article that spells out more what is going on in the battle to bring us video on the 'net while making sure that artists get paid for their efforts.
Full story at: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/03/06/mpeg/index.html

.

VirtualPC 5.02

IGM again has notified us about the update to VirtualPC to version 5.0.2. If you are using OSX and VPC, then you need this update to improve speeds on Windows apps. Download the update at: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/qtlive02/ (IGM recommends you read the FULL Read Me file before installing.) 
Full story is at: http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=114

.

IBM to take PowerPC into the mobile market

EE Times is reporting that the Xscale processor that IBM is going to use in the mobile sector uses the PowerPC 405LP chip as its base. They will also be doing more with embedded Linux to entice customers by differentiating their product on performance.
Full story at: http://www.eet.com/semi/news/OEG20020228S0058

.

Adobe creates free site for designers, developers

The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper reported on 3/2 that Adobe had created Adobe Xchange as a free community Web site where designers and developers can trade files. The idea being to make it easy to share plug-ins for Photoshop, GoLive, Illustrator, LiaveMOtion and Atamosphere. Registration is free. Check it out at: http://xchange.studio.adobe.com/Or
read the AJC article at: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/business/0302/01adobe.html

.

Bugdom

Peter Cohen on MacCentral is reporting that Pangea is releasing Bugdom as a shareware product. Additionally, for the month of March, 50% of the sales of Bugdom will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. (My apologies to Peter, but I couldn't re-find the article on MacCentral to give you a link. There lots of links to Bugdom stories though.)
Download software at: http://www.pangeasoft.net/

.

Mac or PC

John Cambra's Apple Advocate newsletter recommends this web site for those who are trying to make a Mac or PC buying decision.
Go to: http://homepage.mac.com/mac_vs_pc/Intro.html

.

A warning

Tracy Valleau sent an alert to subscribers of his newsletter that dealt with a hack that allows a forced execution of a program simply by visiting a web page. Normally this type of problem has no effect to Mac users, but he goes on to say:
"You can apparently safe-guard yourself by following this advice: go to the Quicktime Settings control panel and be sure that both Autoplay settings are off. Then head over to your browser and turn off "automatic expansion" in your preferences. On Internet Explorer, visit preferences/receiving files/file helpers and find all the helpers for Stuffit (.sit and .sea) BinHex (.hqx) and Zip (.zip) and self-mounting images (.smi) and click on "change" for each of them. Then in each, set "handling" to "save to file" (instead of "process with application") For other browsers, the process will be quite similar."
You can subscribe to his techNOTES newsletter by gong to: http://www.linksware.com/Pages/technotes.html

.

Epson

Epson has an interesting policy. If you need a driver for your Mac and some of their new scanners AND you are running OSX, you must fill out a form, include the UPC and receipt AND $4 to get the driver. Does this make sense? It probably cost them that much to handle the process. Why not just let the user download the drivers from the Epson web site like all other drivers? This item was pointed out by Amy Hoy on DailyMac.
See the story at: http://www.dailymac.com/content/shopper/epsonosx.html

.

VMAC

Vmac stands for Virtual Mac. This allows a computer, including PowerMacs to emulate a 68000 processor. You will need a ROM image, but it will allow you to play the original Dark Castle on your machine.
See the web site for more details: http://www.vmac.org/

.

Dead web sites

Would you like to revisit a web site that used to exist, but no longer does. A place to check is the Internet Archive (Thanks to reader of the Tourbus.com for the reminder.)
Dig in... http://www.arcive.org

.

BBS

Ok, I am on a history track. The same newsletter also mentioned a way to kind of revisit the world of BBSs when 300 baud modems were the rage.
First: The TEXTFILES.COM BBS Timeline - Read about the computers, people and protocols that were used in the BBS era - from 1876 to 2001! At: http://timeline.textfiles.com
BBS Networks:
See these sites for an insight into the past: http://www.bbsnets.com/public/default.htm
and http://winramturbo.com/fnsp
Note: These and other networks are still going. Just not as strong as they once were.
Try Timeline first... http://timeline.textfiles.com

.

Web Site #1 of the Week: Speed check

Just how fast is your Internet connection? Try one of the following to find out. Do multiple tests to be sure. www.dslreports.com/test
Start here: http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest

.

Web Site #2 of the Week: Station.com

Finally an online game company has recognized that Mac gamers ar ou there. Sony's Station.com now has 20 games available for the Mac with more to come.
(Thanks to Shawn King for having them on YourMacLife.com last Wednesday night. You can listen to the archives from his web site.) Details at:
Details at: http://www2.station.sony.com/en/

.

User Group Site of the Week: Bmug

Heading on down the alphabet. We are looking at BMUG.ORG. (BTW - most xMUG.COM websites are actually under the control of a British health club. Don't understand the connection.)
BMUG.org, is of course the lasted incarnation of what was once Berkley MUG and the largest Mac user group on the Planet. Which was/is the name of their BBS. (PlanetBMUG). Today, they are much smaller than they used to be, but have a lot of activities going on in the Bay area. You may want to check out their SIG list (see Community) for ideas for your own group.
Visit BMug at: http://www.bmug.org

.

Quote of the week: Thomas D. Willhite

"It is far, far easier to turn the hater into a lover than to move the complacent. Why?....because the complacent person is afraid of change, afraid to take a risk. He has so much insecurity and fear that he is stuck dead center. The hater, on the other hand, is moving....but in the wrong direction. So all you have to do is redirect him."

.

InfoManager's Humble Opinion (IMHO)

There has been a lot of discussion on mailing lists and the "Mac Web" lately about the fact that Apple now seems to be over 12 weeks behind in delivering G4 iMacs. Most of the people seem to think that Apple is just incompetent in projecting how many computers they need. I personally feel that they made their projections and signed contracts for a much larger number of LCD panels than they are actually receiving. Therefore it would appear that they did make the plans, their vendors are just not producing. In the PC world, the price of LCS screens are starting to move back up as the shortages of the industry hit.
__ So far at least, Apple has not past on any increases to its customers. Which is as it should be since they reportedly signed a contract for 1,200,000 of these over a year, those prices should hold steady. Now that lack of flexibility may be part of the problem. After all, parts have to come from somewhere and be paid for at market as well. Thus the inability of the manufacturers to pass on increased costs to Apple may be part of the reason for delay. (Though I am sure no one would admit it.)
__ We need to give Apple some slack on this as it is a much better position to be in than when Steve Jobs returned and there were over a $1 billion in inventory sitting on dealers shelves. That is a cost you can not recover from but must eat. - IMHO
Let me know what you think... http://www.user-groups.net/InfoManager/INFO.html

.

News and Info you can use...

The Info Manager invites user groups to use his column in full or in pieces in their newsletter. He would appreciate word that you are doing so however and if you can, please send a pdf version of the newsletter for his perusal. Or just provide him with the link.
Use this address:
mailto:Infomanager@user-groups.net

or... our online Information form

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 Info@lists.user-groups.net
send a "simple" email to: Subscribe to MUG InfoManager, or go to
http://www.user-groups.net/UGCommunity/subscribe.html for full details!

Article Reprints -- User Group Network Affiliates may reprint articles as long as full credit is given. Other Non-profit or non-commercial publications should contact us. The UGNN cannot guarantee accuracy or timeliness of articles. Many have been forwarded to us by field correspondents, or press release services. All care is taken to assure the accuracy of URLs and email addresses. Some items may be 30 to 60 days old. The User Group Network is an affiliate of the News-Serve Network - All commercial names herein, including publication, product, and company names are assumed to be the registered trademarks of their companies. UGN, UGNN, UGNet News, UG Idea Exchange, are all trademarks for The User Group Network, copyright 2002, all rights reserved. Copyright 2002, The User Group Network, http://www.user-groups.net/News-Service.