Info Manager for June 17, 2002

[*]  The Cat is Away...;   [*]  Digital Divide;   [*]  Who can you believe?;   [*]  Evaluating web information;   [*]  Missing Video Adapters;   [*]  Breaking the GHz Barrier;   [*]  New Mac OS X "Show Info";   [*]  Speaking of Bare Bones...;   [*]  Internet Explorer 6 for Mac;   [*]  VooDoo MP3 Organizer Beta Release;   [*]  Taming the Entourage Database;   [*]  Textation easy QuickTime editor;   [*]  Mac Journal gets Apple Design Award;   [*]  IBM sez "Have we got a deal for you!";   [*]  eBay to launch live support???;   [*]  User Group of the Month: San Diego Macintosh User Group;   [*]  Website of the week: Mentor Girls;   [*]  VOM: Soldier of Fortune II comes to Mac X;   [*]  Voting for MUG Web Sites;  
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The Cat is Away...

and as you know we mice will play.
This old mouse is covering this week for Lynn while he takes a well deserved vacation with his new bride! While I can never match his weekly InfoManager content, I'll try and hope you enjoy this issue.
Speaking of mice...
"This Old Mouse" column for June goes into vacation mode and talks about the HP SmartPrinter. Take a look at this inexpensive photo printer that doesn't even need a computer to give you fresh, brilliant Vacation snapshots on the spot from your digital camera! You can check that out at:
http://www.user-groups.net/Mac/0206.html

Speaking of Vacation...
There'll be no vacation for me this season... well at least until Macworld in July. I've been too busy compiling the data gathered in the AACUG "Anti-Spam" project.
     Those of you who have contributed your comments and statistics in the AACUG Spam Survey will finally get to see the results of your labors. The current statistics and data will be printed in the inaugural issue of "AA" -- the official publication of the Association of Apple Computer Users and Groups.
     What's important to note is that through this advocacy project we'll be able to build a realistic picture of Mac user's spam problems, how they handle them, the computers they use and so forth. It's the first step in developing a credible presentation on how bad spam really is -- one that hopefully will be effective when presented to Congress in Washington D.C.
     You'll want to follow this project as it develops, and there are only three ways:
1) You gave your 'real' email address on the survey form, or,
2) Meet up with any AACUG officer or member at Macworld in New York, or
3) Join AACUG
It will be published in the printed AA only... not on the web. Get involved: http://www.aacug.org/

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Digital Divide

This one was forwarded from another mailing list by Rick Haven, and since one of the charter missions of the UGAcademy and the AACUG is advocacy, this one is right down our alley.
     In a recent survey The Progressive Policy Institute measured all 50 states on everything from the prevalence of high-tech jobs to the percentage of farmers "new economy" of information technology were Massachusetts, Washington, California and Colorado. Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut were noted to have a high percentage of "knowledge jobs".
     Report author Robert Atkinson said, "The New Economy was neither an epochal and dizzying transformation nor a slogan generated by some dot com companies looking to inflate their IPO prices. Rather it was and is the kind of profound transformation of all industries that happens perhaps twice a century."
      I followed the links to the full story located on a badly formatted and spam ridden San Jose Mercury News page -- which was actually picked it up from Reuters ... the story is here: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3440392.htm

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Who can you believe?

Speaking of spam. . . in today's world it's getting harder and harder to figure out who to believe... after all -- don't you get email every other day that tells you how to make a million in a week; or how you can double your insurance coverage for free; or how you can increase the size of your --- well, you know.
      Jennifer Ellis has alerted us to a new white paper: Verifying Information Online: A Lesson Learned From the Great Britney Spears Fiasco. The article is an interesting read, although written specifically for lawyers.
     You know the quote that goes something like, "I saw it on the news so it must be true?" Well, we can use that same, facetious comment when we talk about the Internet. In her InternetLawyer dot com article, Jennifer explores Web sites that will help you evaluate the veracity of the information you find online. It's an interesting read: http://www.internetlawyer.com/til/research/resource.htm

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Evaluating web information

Following that story I decided to do a bit of sleuthing myself. I uncovered a bibliography on evaluating web information which was originally created for a panel discussion at a regional conference in Wisconsin. This reference page offers an increasing number of documents which address the problems and issues related to teaching and using critical thinking skills to evaluate Internet resources. Every user group newsletter editor should study this, and let the membership know how to utilize these kinds of resources. This list is by no means comprehensive, and the author invites any additions to this list or your suggestions.
Thanks to Nicole J. Auer, Librarian for the diligent work on this important resource. It's in the University Libraries at Virginia Tech. URL = http://www.lib.vt.edu/research/evaluate/evalbiblio.html

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Missing Video Adapters

If you recently purchased a new PowerBook G4 computer you may want to check to see if you received an S-video to composite adapter. The adapter lets you connect your PowerBook to the composite connector on a television, VCR, or video projector. Normally found in the accessory kit, the adapter was omitted from some recently shipped PowerBook G4 computers. Apple has a Web page with details on the missing adapters and the fulfillment program. If your PowerBook G4 did not come with an S-video to composite adapter, use this Web page to order a free replacement. (picture) To sign up, go to: http://depot.info.apple.com/videoadapter/

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Breaking the GHz Barrier

Michael Flaminio, Insanely Great Mac writes in his June 12th column:
"PowerLogix has announced a new crop of G4 upgrades for Apple's current and recent PowerMac G4 systems. The upgrades are one of the few such products announced for Apple's G4 line.
     The upgrade modules are based on Motorola's new Apollo 7455 G4 chips and will be available in speeds ranging from 750 MHz to 1 GHz. The upgrades are specifically for Power Macs running on a 100 MHz and 133 MHz system bus. The upgrades will feature four 128-bit AltiVec units, 256K L1 cache and unspecified varying L3 cache. SEE IT: Get the full story... http://www.powerlogix.com/products/series100133.html

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New Mac OS X "Show Info"

Bare Bones Software has posted the latest version of Super Get Info -- a super file and folder info utility for Mac OS X. It offers a powerful, flexible, well-designed alternative to the "Show Info" command provided by the Mac OS X Finder. Super Get Info now supports viewing and editing of Finder comments, and also offers the ability to copy and paste file and folder icons, allowing the easy application of custom icons. This update also incorporates various other minor enhancements as well as fixes for reported issues. grab the demo: http://ftp.barebones.com/pub/demos/SuperGetInfo_108_Demo.dmg.bin Or, check out more of these great features... http://www.barebones.com/products/supergetinfo.html

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Speaking of Bare Bones...

I just got my upgrade to BBEdit 6.5, in fact, I'm using it this very moment. For Mac OS 9.x (and 8.6) users BBEdit 6.5 introduced a host of new features, including markup and syntax coloring support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), an all-new grep engine with Perl-compatible regular expression (PCRE) syntax, syntax coloring for grep patterns in the Find dialog, snap-to-grid palette dragging and resizing, increased file filtering flexibility, HTML Tools support for WML 1.2 and 1.3, and much more! Now, Mac OS X users can get all those great BBEdit features on OS X --- plus direct integration with Unix scripting systems such as Perl and Python, shell worksheets, authenticated saves, support for "long" and Unicode file names and more!
BBEdit has always been my #1 recommended piece of software. I have its alias in my start-up folder so it's the first program to launch each morning after the finder. AND... it's usually the last program I quit before turning in for the night!
All Mac owners should purchase two programs the day their Mac arrives: #1 Bare Bones BBEdit, #2 CE Software QuicKeys. Period. Here'ya go: http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/bbedit-demo.html

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Internet Explorer 6 for Mac

Nick dePlume, Publisher of "Think Secret" tells us
"Sources confirm Internet Explorer 6 for Mac - Last month, sources informed us that a major update to Internet Explorer for Mac is in the pipeline. At the time, informants believed that the update would be version 5.5 of the Mac web browser, and since it was being used internally at Microsoft, speculated that the release could come sooner rather than later. Based on public comments by Microsoft representatives, it will probably be released much later than previously believed, and the Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft is concentrating most of its browser efforts on getting this upgrade out the door. Version 6 will reportedly be significantly faster than the current version. "
We followed the trail of the story but came up empty handed. Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens at Macworld... Microsoft sez: use version 5.1 http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/ie/ie_default.asp?navindex=s7a

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VooDoo MP3 Organizer Beta Release

The public beta of a new MP3 cataloging system, mp3voodoo for the Apple Macintosh, is now posted. mp3voodoo organizes your MP3 collection, and lets you catalog MP3 files in albums and titles and has the special ability to attach cover pictures to albums. As in real life you are able to browse your collection by eye. All information is stored in a powerful database and can be displayed by albums, covers or titles in a user configurable structures (e.g. show by decade - artist). mp3voodoo uses Quicktime or controls a 3rd party mp3 player to play titles directly out of collections or previously created playlists. The version published today fixes many bugs and comes much closer to the final version. mp3voodooo 2.0 b14 is available for US $35 Download the beta at: http://www.mp3voodoo.de/

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Taming the Entourage Database

Derrick Story has an important story about how to prevent email disaster on your Mac ... The trailer: "Lurking beneath Entourage X's Aqua interface is a complex database handling all of your mail and contact info. And like any other DB, you should...."
Important stuff if you use Entourage. It's in the MacDev Center from O'Reilly publishing... http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/06/04/entourage.html

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Textation easy QuickTime editor

We hear a lot of grumbling about various versions of QuickTime, and the really cryptic way QuickTime Pro works. The guys at Feelorium have taken a step to remedy all that. Textation is an easy to use QuickTime text track editor. Simply point, click and type the text needed to display, without the need to manipulate text descriptors manually and type time codes one by one. Textation can also check the validity of time codes while you input data. It is easy to create these types of tracks in seconds using Textation. You can also preview the resulting movie on the same project window by just clicking a switch.
     * This version adds a new preference item: Set dimensions of new track same as reference movie, along with steppers next to various text input boxes
Direct Download: http://home.netvigator.com/~feelorium/feelorium/downloads/textation.sit
New BETA direct download: http://home.netvigator.com/~feelorium/feelorium/downloads/textation-beta.sit and all the details are available at: URL = http://www.feelorium.com/Textation/index.html

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Mac Journal gets Apple Design Award

Dan Schimpf's Mac OS X freeware program MacJournal has impressed the right people. He's taken first place in the first student competition of the 2002 Apple Design Awards. This University of Michigan student spends most of his time developing for Mac OS X.
      You can view all the wnners at: http://developer.apple.com/designawards/winners.html
      MacJournal is a program for creating, modifying, and managing a personal journal. It can be used for diaries, logs, most anything. When you first open MacJournal, a new entry in a new journal is created for you. You're free to type anything you want and set a topic for that entry. If you want to make a new entry, press the "New" button in the toolbar, or use the "New" command in the File menu. Your entries are saved whenever you switch entries or make a new entry. There are many more features, but the best way to discover this software is to download it : http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dschimpf/MacJournal21.dmg.sit The full story is at: http://homepage.mac.com/dschimpf/main.html

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IBM sez "Have we got a deal for you!"

InternetWeek. also had an entertaining piece on Friday about IBM Corp. delivering a new hosting services that let customers manage their Internet applications by remotely accessing and managing servers. The big computer and consulting company said its new Services Anywhere is the first to deliver Web-hosting management directly to a company's servers, so they don't need to relocate their Web operations. (Actually they're not the first, but we'll let that one go.)
     The service works by letting a customer's Web infrastructure function as a satellite-hosting center to IBM's own facilities. IBM builds a remote operations console, which uses a virtual private network (VPN) to connect customer sites and an IBM hosting center to allow hosting services to be delivered directly to customers from the IBM facilities.
     All sounds pretty good doesn't it? Well you can jump right on board with a mere one-time charge of $50,000. No, my friends, that's not a misprint -- there are four zeros after that five! And, of course, once you're up and running, it will cost just $25,000 per month for remote management!
      Of course, if you had seventy-five grand, you could set up your own servers, routers, and custom solution PLUS pay for a T1 line for five years. Interested? Go to: http://www-3.ibm.com/e-business/index.html

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eBay to launch live support???

I really had to laugh when I read Richard Karpinski's story about eBay. Funny they should claim to be implementing "real time" customer support. Guess they had too many users who, like me, attempted to utilize the system, had problems, and couldn't resolve them -- attempting to find help is a joke, and I'm still not convinced there are any humans at all behind the wheel at eBay.
     Anyway, eBay said it is adding real-time CRM capabilities to its mega-auction site, tapping vendor LivePerson Inc. for customer chat capabilities. They claim the deal is a significant vote of confidence for the live, Web-based customer-support technology, which has been growing in popularity as a channel for customer interaction beyond e-mail, FAQs, and newsgroups. According to Karpinski's story, send in yesterday via CPM's Internet Week news service, eBay users will be able to click on an icon on an eBay Web page to trigger a real-time chat with customer-service staff. EBay has more than 46 million registered users. no need to repeat: http://www.ebay.com/

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User Group of the Month: San Diego Macintosh User Group

The San Diego Macintosh User Group is a non-profit, Apple-recognized association dedicated to bringing people together to share information on computer and technology trends... and that's exactly what they do! They support a local School Support Program with a core of volunteers who are interested in helping schools return their computer labs to the best condition possible, free of charge. They currently have over 500 members and no matter what level of Mac user you are, there is a place for you in SDMUG ... San Diego, CA Check out their excellent newsletter at: http://www.sdmug.org/macintouch.html

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Website of the week: Mentor Girls

Ha! Gotcha! You thought it was going to be a porno site didn't you!
     Actually, MentorGirls.org is a grass roots, community outreach program connecting women in dynamic industry with girls in our communities and schools. The main objective of this worthy venture is to inspire adult women to actively pursue and strengthen contributions in their community by getting involved as a role model or mentor for girls, teens, and young women. The vision for this webspace is to provide a web-based destination which offers dynamic content and compelling examples of innovative use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in mentoring, education, and community activism. Check'em out at: http://www.mentorgirls.org/

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VOM: Soldier of Fortune II comes to Mac X

Get ready to kick some X butt...

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE II: Double Helix COMING TO MAC OS X
     MacPlay has announced a deal with Activision to bring Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix to the Macintosh OS X.
     Developed by Raven Software, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix drops players into the ranks of America's shadow soldiers in a gritty and intense battle for survival. Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is rated M for MATURE (17 and above) for animated blood, violence and gore. (Just what we need.) New recruits are being called to active duty for an early summer release.
     In Soldier of Fortune II, players once again assume the role of John Mullins, a military consultant working for the top-secret agency known as The Shop. In the game, players must make use of stealth, as well as firepower, to tackle a wide-range of missions including hostage rescue, intelligence gathering and search-and-destroy. To fully immerse players in the experience, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix brings the grittiness of combat to the PC like never before with incredibly detailed skeletal animations that enable lifelike character movements and per pixel hit locations for ultra realism.
     Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix also advances the genre with the introduction of a new random mission generator technology for both single and multiplayer. By entering variables into the game’s random mission generator players can create millions of single or multiplayer maps on the fly for endless replayability. In addition to the RMG maps, multiplayer in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix offers nine professionally designed maps, more than 100 unique model/skin combinations and four different game modes including and deathmatch, team deathmatch, elimination and infiltration.
SEE IT:
screen thumbnail
screen full: (HUGE) Read all about it... URL = http://www.macplay.com/games/sof2.shtml

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Voting for MUG Web Sites

If you haven't voted yet, time is running out.
      And, User Group Academy web award finalists are way above average! How do we know?
      Evan Russo writes:
"Hmm... bad designed sites -- Well... I would have to say the first time I designed a web site (3rd grade)... things blinked, spun, and all kinds of annoying things. But for my audience (just me) - it was a great site! After a quick searching around, http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ seems to keep a nice website, showing "worst" web sites. Its very intersting to look at because when you take the "tour" you see many sites, and the author points out what is wrong with them - giving you design suggestions."
      So if you want to see how good your User Group web sites really are, check out Web Sites That Suck and see some really bad ones! And DO NOT FORGET TO VOTE: URL = http://www.ugacademy.org/Awards/webvote.html

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The UG Academy AWARDS packs for New York

Announced last week were the finalists in the User Group Academy Web Site Awards. The voting page has been posted and all User Group members and officers are invited to visit the top UG sites and then rank them for AWARD positioning. http://www.UGAcademy.org/Awards/

      Also, the 12th Annual User Group Soiree is planned for New York on July 17 where the winners of the 6th Annual UG Academy Awards will be announced. Included this year is a very special milestone in User Group history: the inauguration of the User Group Hall of Fame. Two individuals have been nominated by the User Group Community at large for induction to this, the highest honor in the community. The User Group Academy is in partnership with the Association of Apple Computer Users & Groups

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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: 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.

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