Info Manager for August 12, 2002

[*]  MUG Community Boards on Web Sites ;   [*]  Adding more capability to your web site ;   [*]  A MUG Look at Expo ;   [*]  The Mac OS X up-to-date program ;   [*]  Apple Discounts ;   [*]  Mac-A-Wish ;   [*]  Intuit to revive QuickBooks ;   [*]  TidBITS comments on QuickBooks Announcement ;   [*]  How fast do you go? ;   [*]  Boston User Group Megameeting ;   [*]  MacHax now available ;   [*]  Casady & Greene updates Conflict Catcher 9 ;   [*]  Have you been getting messages saying "mail could not be sent"? ;   [*]  New 'Cell' chip reveals many talents ;   [*]  What would happen if MS shut down their Mac business unit? ;   [*]  IBM to introduce a 64 bit PowerPC chip? ;   [*]  Apple AirPort Firmware - 4.0.6 ;   [*]  Census Numbers ;   [*]  Apple posts iPod Software 1.2 Updater ;   [*]  Web site of the Week: Powers of Ten ;   [*]  MUG Site of the Week: LCMUG;   [*]  Quotes: Buscaglia, Rose;   [*]  IMHO
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MUG Community Boards on Web Sites

Recently, the AUG Discussion List talked about alternatives to the traditional BBS for a web site. The President of Corning MUG recommended PHPBB2 fo web sites that support MySQL and PHP. More info at: Phpbb.com/
      Or see how CMUG got it running at: Corningmug.org
      Then another person recommended Phorum.org's PHP. It is free. More information at: http://phorum.org/about.php He said that it installed in about 10 minutes on an OS X Mac. It can also handle mailing lists. Although apparently that takes a little more work as he doesn't have it running yet.
      Then Melanie Schoenfeld of MacsWest suggested Discusware which her group has been using for awhile. Info on it is at: Discusware.com
      With MacsWest implementation at: macswest.org/discus She says: "It was easy to install and customize, and is very easy to maintain. The freeware version emails messages to registered members of the board, but they have to go to the website to post their replies. The Pro version allows email message posting."
      Additonally she recommended looking at Geeklog. Which technically is a message board, but could serve as one as it is doing at: MacOSXhints.com
More info on it is available at: Geeklog.sourceforge.net/
      Of course, for those who have already paid for First Class, it can make a pretty good web based BBS as well. The Boston-BBS has been running that way for years. I just let my membership expire, but as soon as I can swing the cash, I will be back on there.
Do any of you have any further ideas? Contact me at: http://www.user-groups.net/InfoManager/INFO.html

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Adding more capability to your web site

Meanwhile, Richard Huggins of Tyler MUG recommended the BraveNet web site for getting software that adds capabilities to your web site. Some of the products are free and others with more features have a small fee. But it is worth checking out.
     [Editor's note: beware, Bravenet is a prolific spam generator site, so use email addresses with care.] See: http://www.bravenet.com

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A MUG Look at Expo

Gold Coast MUG has posted a 30 minute, 57 Meg video of their trip to Expo at their web site. It is really professional looking and the voice over sounds like someone that would be doing a national TV program. Gold Coast MUG has about 200 members, but seems to make a much bigger impact, perhaps because they have more than the typical 3 or 4 active members. See the video at: http://www.gcmac.org/html/mw2002movie.html

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The Mac OS X up-to-date program

If you purchased a computer on or after July 17th _OR_ a boxed copy of OS X, you are illegiable to get OS X 10.2 for only $19.95. Get the form from Apple's web site. (Believe this is US Only) Form at: http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/

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Apple Discounts

Arthur Barber of the Tulsa Users Of Macintosh Society (TUMS) informed me that not only is there an educational option at the Apple Store, but also there is a Government option. He and his wife can qualify for either, so it pays to check out both options if you do as well. They are each less expensive on different products. http://www.tums.org/

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Mac-A-Wish

The Mac area on World Without Borders is still going strong on its Mac-A-Wish campaign to get a Mac to children who want them. I know that our local Cowtown MUG has a member that distributes Macs to local school children but not all groups have set up such a program. Mac-A-Wish would be a good alternative to setting up your own. Read about it at: http://www.worldwithoutborders.com/macawish/giving.shtml

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Intuit to revive QuickBooks

Dennis Sellers is writing at MacCentral, that the other shoe has dropped. After asking for input last year, Intuit has decided to revive its QuickBooks for the Mac. It will be in an OS X as well as an OS 9 version. (Guess they understand that there are still more OS 9 machines in existence than OS X ones.) It is good to see them get back on board. Now if they will just revive their activity with User Groups, that would be really terrific. But then MYOB still gives a terrific alternative. See the story at: http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0208/05.quickbooks.php

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TidBITS comments on QuickBooks Announcement

Matt Deatherage of MacJournals.com wrote an article in TidBITS about how Intuit is following the Microsoft philosophy of FUD. (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt)
      This according to him is to convince people that they shouldn't switch to MYOB who has been the premier accounting package on the Mac since Intuit quit updating QuickBooks in 1996. (Even if it did take until last May for MYOB to start out selling QB.) It is an interesting article.
      [Matt Deatherage is the publisher of MacJournals.com, where he oversees MDJ and MWJ - daily and weekly subscription-based, ad-free journals for serious Macintosh users, on hiatus this week. For a free trial, visit MacJournals.com.] http://www.macjournals.com/ Visit TidBITS at: http://www.tidbits.com

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How fast do you go?

Do you want to know how fast your internet access really is? Test your bandwidth at http://webservices.cnet.com/Bandwidth/

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Boston User Group Megameeting

My subscription to MacWoburn mailing lists helps me to keep up with what is going on in the Boston area. I was once very active with the Boston Computer Society's Mac Group. Apparently it was decided that the individual groups would benefit from an area umbrella group similar to the old BCS. However it is obvious that it is more of a confederacy than the old centralized BCS. They are planning their 3rd Annual Megameeting for September 25th at the Sheraton Tara in Framingham from 6:30-9:30. This should be a good event to attend if you belong to one of the groups that are members. Of the BUG. More details are at: http://www.bostonusergroups.com/MegaMeeting/Default.htm

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MacHax now available

The CD that offers the best of the Hack Contest at MacHack is now available. The 2002 version is selling directly from MacHax for 20 plus shipping. These programs in the past have been very interesting, but remember one of the criteria in the judging is that they be completely not useful. More info at: http://hax.com/BestHackCDForm.html

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Casady & Greene updates Conflict Catcher 9

Apple may have declared OS 9 dead, but C&G is still upgrading Conflict Catcher to work with it. It is a free download for those who already own CC 9. Get complete information at: http://www.conflictcatcher.com/cc901_chist.html

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Have you been getting messages saying "mail could not be sent"?

Even when you hadn't sent any mail. A recent discussion on the Info mailing list (info-on@lists.user-groups.net to join) was about this very subject. One member expressed the concern above and wanted to know how to get rid of the message. Another member said: "Some Windows lemming who has you in her address book has contracted the W32.Klez virus, or one of its imitators. It is sending out its garbage using the names in her address book.
      Whenever you have a question about Virus' it is best to check one of these services. Symantec has one of the best. Search for KLEZ at: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/

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New 'Cell' chip reveals many talents

ZDNet ran a story on last Tuesday with the above title. It seems that IBM has developed a new "super computer on a chip" in collaboration wit Sony and Toshiba. They speculate that t will be the one that ends up in the PlayStation 3. Of course, it could wind up in an Apple machine as well. Full story is at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-948493.html

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What would happen if MS shut down their Mac business unit?

That is what Charles Haddad discusses in his Byte of the Apple column at BusinessWeek.com. He basically says it wouldn't make much difference and then talks about some alternatives to Word and Excel. Read the full column at: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2002/tc2002087_7792.htm

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IBM to introduce a 64 bit PowerPC chip?

Last Thursday, the web was alive with stories about a new PowerPC chip from IBM. One that not only is a 64 bit chip, but contains a vector image instruction set similar to what is in the current G4. If this proves true, the unveiling will be at an industry trade show in October. That would probably mean we wouldn't see a new Mac based on that chip before 2004. But then, it is possible that Apple and IBM have been able to keep a big secret under wraps. We shall see.
      A speculative article about this rumor is at: The Inquirer
      Meanwhile, MacNN is pretty barebones Macnn
      And Insanely Great Mac seems to hold the most information: http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=768

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Apple AirPort Firmware - 4.0.6

Apple has announced a Firmware update to Airport.
What's new:
* The Airport Admin Utility has improved scanning for base stations across local subnets. This improves the ability for AirPort computers to find base stations while plugged into the LAN port.
* Compatible with Internet service providers or other home router products that use private 10.0.0.x or 10.0.1.x addresses in bridge mode.
* Compatible with Rendezvous-enabled applications in Mac OS X v10.2.

Product description:
AirPort Base Station firmware 4.0.6 is an upgrade for the Snow (dual-Ethernet) base station. This firmware revision does not support the Graphite base station. It is recommended that you use AirPort 2.0.4 software with this base station firmware release.
      This firmware is required if you are using Rendezvous-enabled applications in Mac OS X v10.2.
      This information came from VersionTracker.com which in my mind is the best place to go to keep your software up to date. http://www.versiontracker.com/

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Census Numbers

According to the US Census, there were 12.2 million of computers available for use in the classrooms of the nation 111,000 elementary and secondary schools during the 2000-2001 school year; that came out to one computer for every four students. More at: Census.gov
      Also 98% of public schools with Internet access in the fall of 2000. As recently as 1995, the proportion was only 50 percent. For every teaching computer connected to the Internet in 2000, there were seven students. Wonder how many of the computers that aren't connected to the Net are Apple IIs. I know there are still a lot of them in use. Apple only quit making them about 1991. http://www.census.gov/

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Apple posts iPod Software 1.2 Updater

According to MacMinute.com the new iPod Software 1.2 Updater is now available for download at Apple, and it adds Audible.com support, Sound Check, iCal calendar synchronization, and more to current iPods. See: http://www.apple.com/ipod/

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Web site of the Week: Powers of Ten

This one is really cool: "View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons. Thanks to Theresa Overall at the Apple Corp of Dallas for pointing it out: http://www.micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

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MUG Site of the Week: LCMUG

Lake County Mac User Group (LCMUG) of Clearlake, CA -- With about 100 members, LCMUG is a community group. Each month LCMUG offers Training Classes, Technical Support, Discounts, Product Reviews, Guest Speakers, Raffles, Door Prizes and a monthly Newsletter. I like their "motto": "It's always more than a meeting ...... It's an Event http://www.lcmug.org/

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Quotes: Buscaglia, Rose

"Don't spend your precious time asking 'Why isn't the world a better place?' It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is 'How can I make it better?' To that there is an answer."
      - Leo Buscaglia
"It's easy to practice something you're already good at and that's what most people do. What's tough is to go out and work hard on things you don't do very well."
      - Pete Rose

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IMHO

The above Pete Rose quote was in an email about user groups handling of the transition to OS X that recently happened on the AUGD mailing list.
      From what I got of the discussion, there are only a few groups that aren't moving on to OSX. We have been through this before. Apple II to Mac; Mac to PowerMac; OS5 to OS6 to OS7 to OS8. So we shouldn't view this as any different. We should continue to support the members for who can't or won't for the time being move on to X. But as a group, we need to continue the move. As one of my teachers once said, every living organism is changing, growing or decaying. This is also true of user groups. I think we all want our groups to continue to grow.
      Comments? http://www.user-groups.net/InfoManager/INFO.html

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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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