Recently, a gentleman posted information on the AUGD mailing list about how ZDNet's German site had a news story about computers and accessories burning. The iMac in this case didn't catch fire while all the PC caught fire and gave off dangerous gases. A British member of the list responded with:
"One thing I have always recommended to anyone with a computer which they leave on all the time, is a little home office fire extinguisher. Most hardware/DIY stores sell ones suitable for electrical fires for $50-100 and they are SO important to have, just in case the worst happens. We even gave one away as a competition prize a while back."
Great idea for a MUG to do.
Learn more in Fred's latest This Old Mouse
Dan East reports on Apple announcements at Macworld Expo, San Francisco. He mentions: G4, G5, GarageBand, Xserve, the new iPods and Steve Jobs' keynote at Moscone -- plus his "coolness factor" discoveries like SqueezeBox, SlimDevice, Piximation and Toast with Jam. Then he reflects on the Macworld Expo "Party for The People" -- A two-part report from Dan East.
Editors of DTG Magazine and the "Designers' Bookshelf" select the best books from 2003 for desktop publishing, design and graphics. Best Books of 2003
GarageBand appears to have been the star of the last Expo. See the iLife video at: http://www.apple.com/ilife/video/ Or read Adam Engst's article
This is in PC Magazine's January 10th issue. At CES, Alpine Electronics demonstrated car audio units called iPod Ready that are capable of connecting to and controlling Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod player. Read More at: Alpine-usa.com
In a Computer World opinion piece Mark Hall says: "What's stunning isn't that Apple Computer Inc.'s engineers can, say, design a server with two 2-GHz G5 processors, 1GB of memory, storage capacity of 80 to 750GB and loads of other goodies all in a slim 1U package (a mere 1.75-in. thick). No, what's stunning is that Apple's marketers will price the Xserve system at $3,999. That makes the long-reputed price-gouging Macintosh maker the price leader for dual-CPU servers by a couple of bucks. But when you add in Windows per-client pricing, the savings become huge. Apple sells its systems with no per-client fees for Mac OS X. In contrast, a 25-user enterprise license for Windows adds $2,495 to the price of a dual-processor." Those kind of articles have got to start making inroads in the IT perception of Apple. Read the full article at:Computerworld.com
At least one tax firm has quit the IRS free electronic filing program for the poor and over 50 tax payers over a dispute on tags. The IRS wanted them to mark files submitted to them if they came over the "free" service. The vendors feel that it is an invasion of privacy to mark the files. Although the story says that commercial packages have marked their files for years. (Originally on CBS Marketwatch) Full story now at Yahoo biz
It was bound to happen sooner or later, but since the Segway really hasn't sold that well, it is strange to see it happening so soon. But there was a Segway clone maker at CES and PC Magazine reports on it here: PC Magazine
Graphic designers on a tight budget may appreciate the new Turbo Photo Library CD-ROM, the "affordable-level" royalty free stock photography. (Also quite a few downloadable 'sample' photos there for free!) See the UGN News ArticleUGN News Article
Not much else to say. HP CEO does say a lot of nice things about Apple. It was over 30 years ago that they had an employee named Steve Wozniak. See it at: News dot com
This article in the Financial Times describes a new device that are the size of fingertips and have no moving parts. Each one would store a gigabyte of information in just one cubic centimeter of space. WOW!!
The FT article will be removed by the time you read this. But you can read a similar article
Well, the original ad is posted on line at this web site. If you have QuickTime Pro, you might want to download it quick as Apple has taken a dim view of others posting their ads in the past. See it at:uriah.com
I first heard of this web site a couple of years ago, while Bob LeVitus was visiting CowtownMUG here in Fort Worth. It does seem to connect you to almost everything in the MacWorld, but UGN. (Beware, heavy spam - turn your cookies off!)SiteLink.net
No URLs on this one, I just wanted to comment on the look and feel of MacWorld magazine since Jason Snell took over as editor. It is looking more like MacAddict or even the old MacUser. Content for us average users. REALLY TERRIFIC!! Check it out.
RADIO LOCATOR claims to be the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the Internet. It has over 10,000 radio station Web pages and over 2,500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world. However, I couldn't find any streams directly on the web site for that, you need to go to the web site of the station. Which means you may have to do some hunting.
Do you spend a lot of time on the road? Are you sick of taking pictures sending them back in emails? Send a post card instead! (By Frank Petrie, MaMugs)
Now you can create and send digital postcards over the Internet complete with embedded audio messages and customized titling and borders. Audio Postcard for OSX From Frank Petrie
Is anyone surprised at this headline? I mean it rates up there with the discontinued PageMaker as far as surprises go. None of the apps in the suite has done well since Corel bought them. Their cheap graphics with tons of clip art never went over in the Mac market like it did in the PC market. Macworld.co.uk
According to the Apple UG list: Between now and March 27, 2004, Apple is offering owners of the original PowerBook G4 and the PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) the opportunity to trade in qualifying products for a $700 credit toward the purchase of current models of the PowerBook G4 (15-inch FW 800) and PowerBook G4 (17- inch). If you call in with a 400, 500, 550 or 667 Mhz TiBook, they will give you $700 credit towards a new 15" or 17" AiBook. Call 800-275-2273 and speak to a tech to get more details. (Thanks to Dan East for this item.)
Chuck Joiner reports that Dave Marra, Apple Senior Systems Engineer, has updated his schedule of user group appearances in the northeast United States. You can see perhaps the most dynamic presentation of Panther anywhere, delivered by Dave, at these user group meetings:
The audio of Dave's presentation of Introducing Panther at User Group University as part of The Apple Hour is now available on the User Group University Syllabus page, as well as the audio for .Mac for User Groups by Apple's Don Ice. (See Dave's site for details )
Apple has shown no mercy to the Macintosh power user -- that dedicated individual who knows his or her machine thoroughly inside and out: what makes it tick, and what makes it tick better. With the rapid evolution of Mac OS X, if you want to pop the hood, you'll need this book...
Reviewer Karen Thomas says "Concord is banking that the world wants better digital photos from cheaper cameras." Unseating loyal consumers from brands like Olympus, Cannon and Nikon may be a challenge but Concord's 4MP, $199 digital camera could be the one.
This poem is done in the style of Dr. Seuss. Read it at: (Funny)
Google calls its lab site, its technology playground. And there are several items that that look promising. Their Google News Alerts will track a subject for you. The first page says that Google News Alerts has graduated from the lab, but the link takes you to a page that says it is a beta product. So be careful, don't make your search to broad or you might regret it. labs.google.com
I may have reported on this in the past. It looks familiar. But this will give you the statistics for any name in the U.S. Lynn for example, is the 330th most common male name. Makes me wonder why I get so many letters address to Ms. Lynn Wegley. But then, it is the 166th most common female name. So, I guess that it makes a little more sense. namestatistics.com
"Example is the school of mankind,
and they will learn at no other."
- Edmund Burke
"Life should not be considered a competition,
but a privilege of love".
- Author unknown
Have a great week...
User Group Network Affiliates may reprint articles as long as full credit and a link to this web site: http://www.user-groups.net/info/ provided. Other Non-profit or non-commercial publications should contact us. The UGNN cannot guarantee accuracy or timeliness of articles beyond the date of publication. All URLs, links and email addresses are accurate as of date of publication. Clicking links in articles older than 30 days may result in a broken link. If you encounter a broken link, please let us know.
Return to: the top of this page, or the INDEX for this department
Exit to: The User Group Network front page
Contact: The Editor, Webmaster or Membership Director