UGN Info Manager UGN Info Manager
The idea to team up with Pepsi was obviously a stroke of genius. But even not counting the Pepsi promotion, Apple music fans have purchased and downloaded over 50 million songs from Apple's iTunes Music Store. In our book that's some pretty good dough... or bacon, or what ever you want to call it. A recent article in the MIT Technology Journal (February, 2004) reinforced the phenomena that people these days think nothing of 'micro payments' or 'throw-away money'. So, with the internet it's just too easy to buy iTunes!
Despite what you may have heard, not all old computers are going over seas. This Wired.com article quotes the Fort Worth Star-Telegram concerning tax incentives give to corporations to recycle their old computers. It is too bad that Fort Worth only has one day a year for recycling old electronic gear for residents. Read more...
It looks like Microsoft may actually have a penalty under EU sanctions. Under the negotiations, they were told to unbundled the media player from Windows and NOT to bundle anything else in the future. Microsoft broke off negotiations at that point and now we are awaiting the EUs final verdict. Which of course, will be appealed. Read about it at: nwfusion.com
* eWeek: Microsoft Digs in for Legal Fight
Caron Carlson report in eWeek that Microsoft faces a final order from the EC, which could include requirements for the company to unbundle middleware from Windows, disclose greater interface information and abide by market conduct rules for future products.Read more...
Some of these I have mentioned in the past, but the list of Google features is getting longer.
* Cached Links View a snapshot of each page as it looked when it was indexed.
* Calculator - Use the Google text box to evaluate mathematical expressions.
* Definitions Use Google to get glossary definitions gathered from various online sources.
* File Types Search for non-HTML file formats including PDF documents and others.
* I'm Feeling Lucky of course, will bypass our results and go to the first web page returned for your query. (Sometimes with some curious results.)
* Froogle To find a product for sale online, use Froogle.
* News Headlines will enhances your search results with the latest related news stories.
* PhoneBook will look up U.S. street address and phone number information
* Search By Number Ð This one is new. It will access package tracking information, US patents, and a variety of online databases.
* Similar Pages Display pages that are related to a particular result.
* Site Search Restrict your search to a specific site.
* Spell Checker Offers alternative spelling for queries.
* Stock Quotes Use Google to get stock and mutual fund information.
* Street Maps Use Google to find U.S. street maps.
* Travel Information - New! Check the status of an airline flight in the U.S. or view airport delays and weather conditions.
* Web Page Translation Provides English speakers access to a variety of non-English web pages.
* Who Links To You? Find all the pages that point to a specific URL.
The newest feature is a local search. Look for businesses in you community. See Google's list of help links
According to this offer, the printers are aggressively price. (Fry's Electronics, locally had a color laser priced at $699 last Friday. Online, the price was as low as $529 + shipping.) They are Windows, Linux and Mac compatible. Read more about them at: integratedmar.com Or directly at the source
CNN/Money reported that AOL is now offering a free online bill paying service as an incentive to stay with them. The service is unique in that it doesn't actually pay the bills, but links members with the individual web site so they can make the payments. Curious! See the AOL story.
Forbes is reporting on a new "pop-up" on retailer web sites. It is a customer service representative who sends an instant message to you to see if they can help you find anything. Or help in other ways. This could be useful or a HUGH annoyance depending on how it is implemented. We shall see. Read more...
About.com, which serves up all kinds of useful information, is offering up tips on how to use HotMail. Of course, the biggest tip is "don't", but if you are reading this and use HotMail, then you may want to look at the full story. (Turn your cookies off before you go!)Read more...
Microsoft has released a peak at the new Mac Office 2004 in Flash format. If your user group isn't registered with Microsoft, then do so, as there will probably be something in the next quarterly mailing. And is has been a long time since their mailings have had anything of use to Mac users. See the Office demo.
Here is web page whose so purpose is to tell us which celebrities use Macs. Could be useful in a story line some where. Read them at Freeservers.com
As if it weren't bad enough already, ICANN is seriously considering new domain names. While dot-com still reigns as the main TLD, they seem to think they need more like dot-asia, dot-xxx for porno and dot-mail for "spam-free" e-mail. Right! ICANN should be concentrating on policing renegade registrars (what they're chartered to do) from spamming rather than providing them with yet more domains to scalp. Humpf. Here's the article by John Pallatto in Friday's eWeek.
Extensis has fixed its problems with OS X, and is now shipping Suitcase X1 which includes a free copy of New Font Doctor 6.0. (A $70 Value!) Font Doctor is a diagnosis and repair utility that fixes potential problems with fonts while running under Mac OS X Panther (10.3). Registered Suitcase X1 users can update Font Doctor to version 6.0 for free. (There's also a Windows version.)Read more...
New game for Mac OS X from Ambrosia Software based on ancient Chinese game of Mahjong. The principle is simple: you have a number of ivory tiles arranged on a beautiful Japanese backdrop. Your goal is to make all of the tiles disappear by matching them to similar tiles. Read more...
Macintosh time and expense billing application makes it easy to track time and bill clients -- for Graphic designers. Consultants. Copywriters, Attorneys. Architects, Public Relations firms. Entrepreneurs or any professional who bills -- and wants to get paid in full. Read more...
PhotoShow lets you arrange and display your digital pictures in a slide show, making your Mac a true digital photo album -- timing, transitions, manipulations, password protection, and text file scripting make this a very cool little app. Read more...
If you've ever fussed over Apple's own QuickTime Pro, you'll love the way QuickMix! QuickMix Edits any video, sound, and music formats supported by QuickTime, including DV. Set aside Apple's QuickTime Pro... QuickMix actually works! Read more...
The problem with iPhoto and most of the others is they are slow, slow, slow. PhotoReviewer brings blazingly fast photo viewing to Mac OS X in an organizing app with support for raw images from any source including digital cameras. Once you've used PhotoReviewer, you'll never look back. Read more...
This week UGN salutes the Charlotte Apple Computer Club serving Apple users in and around the region of Charlotte, North Carolina! Ambassador, Steve Weymark and Oriana Mellott help keep things hopping and focused on helping Mac users in the greater Charlotte metropolitan region. CACC features an on-line Yahoo! discussion group, general members' meetings, special community events, and a dedication to helping educators who use Macs. Plan to visit next time you're in the Charlotte area - stop by their web site... CACC
UGN Salutes the St. Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts! SPACE is the hot spot for Atari users in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area, but would also love to hear from all Atari hobbyists no matter where you are. President Michael Current invites all interested computer enthusiasts to join and enjoy their monthly (printed and mailed) newsletter, BBS access, software demonstrations, group purchases, public domain disk(s), and all things in the world of Atari! Jump into SPACE
Babel Color has released the ultimate color system for Mac OS X! It has been preferred by color professionals on other platforms for some time, and now Mac users can enjoy its power. BabelColor is not for most people who use their Macs as an MP3 player, or gateway for their iPods. This is for the publishing professional who most know and utilize the four multimedia RGB spaces to their fullest. We're working on a full article along with a landmark white paper by Danny Pascale, color specialist for Babel. Watch for it in an upcoming issue. For now, read this.
Intel has announced that it will start providing its chips with model numbers that will no longer be exclusively focused on chip speed. The model numbers in the new Pentium M processor called Dothan will use a combination of features including clock speed, cache size and bus speed. Gee, how times are a changing. Read more...
The latest edition of the Higher Ed version of Apple eNews announced they will no longer publish, but rather will be merged into Apple's regular eNews edition. We've followed all three, eNews, Higher Ed and K-12 Ed for since the beginning, and much of the content did overlap. Apple eNews covers the breadth of Apple's products every two weeks. The April issue will be the last. Read more...
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference We've set the date. This year, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference takes place in sunny San Francisco from June 28 to July 2.
See: http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/
Seven Days to get the Epson PowerLite
If you're in the market for a new digital media projector, you could save up to $200 per projector instantly when you purchase one or more of the four outstanding Epson PowerLite media projectors now available from the Apple Store for Education. But hurry--to qualify you need to make your purchase before March 27, 2004. See: www.apple.com
Read more...
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
- Jonathan Swift
"In the Beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
- Douglas Adams
(Thanks to whoever used it as a SIG on the InfiniteLoop mailing list.)
Have a great week...
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