UGN Info Manager UGN Info Manager
Leo Laporte, the host of TechTV's "The Screen Savers" program has written in his blog that 285 people in the TechTV San Francisco offices have been let go in preparation to move all the administration to Los Angeles. That will leave only a production facility in San Francisco and the station itself will be merged with Comcast's G4 TV. That will create a computer/tech/gamer network. It appears that Screen Savers at least will survive, but many other TechTV shows will go by the way side. Read the log with links to news stories at: Leo's Blog.
According to The Register, Intel is going to replace the Pentium 4 and Xeon chips by canceling the Tejas and Jayhawk processor programs. Both were suppose to be next generations of the earlier mentioned chips. It isn't clear where they are going from here, but the Pentium M chip seems to be on the horizon. Wonder if the G5 made them reconsider their process? Read more...
IBM has decided that not everyone needs the power of a Pentium 4 on their work desk. They just need to be able to work with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. So they are going to start selling software that will do just that, but work on legacy machines and thin clients. While I would like to see someone step up to the plate against Microsoft, I don't know that IBM would be any better. Full story at:
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsid=1532, and computerworld.com
According to numerous news sources: on Wednesday morning, a Mac user downloaded a file masquerading as a "public beta" of Word for Office 2004 via peer-to-peer network. While the user thought he was downloading a demo or beta, what he got was nothing more than a 108K AppleScript which, upon launching, deleted his home directory.
As expected, the story spread like wildfire and by Friday we had an ongoing parade of "warnings" arriving in our mail box. The company Intego even picked up on it and issued an 'official' security warning, actually naming it the AS.MW2004.Trojan. Of course, the article also carried a big ad for the company's anti-virus software -- the same company who issued a worm alert in April on a similar "proof of concept" file.
The moral of this story is: don't download software to circumvent legal channels, and above all, don't install them blindly. Set up a testing account under OS X which does not have admin permissions and contains no data. Use 'fast-user-switching' and test the software. If it's malware it cannot hurt anything other than that account's data. Your main data will be protected.
Joe Wilcox, senior analyst for Jupiter Research, commented in a MacCentral article that "This so-called Trojan horse demonstrates the dangers of file trading and downloading files from untrusted sources." Both Microsoft and Apple made comments to that effect later in the week.
These kinds of pranks serve only to test the stupidity of the users, feed the media and provide new products for profiteers. Unfortunately a real threat will appear eventually so it's important to keep your guard up and remain vigilant in practicing safe computing.
Dan East of MaMUGs passed along this advice: "MaMUGs continues to recommend installing some kind of reliable security software such as Intego's VirusBarrier, the .Mac version of Virex or other, to protect your Mac." Dan cited the Firewall Guide and the Wall Street Journal's "Consumer Search" as two sources of information and access to security products.
If you want to chase the story, Slashdot now carries an ever growing discussion thread, and the initial news story can be found at... MacCentral
This week we travel down to Smith County, and Tyler Texas to pay a little visit to the Tyler Area Mac Users Group (TAMU). President Richard Huggins has been one of those long-time Mac community pundits who shows up just about everywhere including UGN and AUGD lists! But his primary Mac activity is working with other TAMU officers like John Streun to bring fun and benefits to the Mac users in the Tyler region. Their flagship is the East Texas Mac List (ETML), an e-mail list announcing upcoming Mac events in the area. So give a Texan-style hats off to all the folks at TAMU
This ought to slow up the clone makers, although, they appear to be moving pretty slow already. However there is a Linux program that looks very similar to iTunes. Read more...
I know that our IT department has setup to stop .exe and .zip files from coming into the company LAN. If it is just documents that need to come in, then it is best to send them as PDF files as even .doc and .xls files are stopped because of the possibility of them being infected with a macro virus. The issue with PDF files can be there size. Try an application called PDF Shrink on your Mac and see if it doesn't reduce the PDF files that Mac OS X produces by as much as 90%.
Microsoft doesn't like to be in any business it can't dominate. So it isn't surprising that with its sliding market share it would drop the networking hardware. The story is covered at both: computerworld.com and news.com
This is the latest software that claims to make Mac software that will run on a PC. It is called PearPC. Doesn't sound like it does a good job though. Information at... pearpc.sourceforge.net
EA has agreed to write software for the Xbox Live on-line services. EA apparently has been at odds with Microsoft for years. (Maybe since they published a version of Zork for the Apple ][.) Read the story about the new service at ... siliconvalley.com
The RIAA who already has gotten major help from Congress on their fight for protection against Internet file sharers now is trying to get Congress to foot the bill. I guess there isn't a lot of money in suing 12 year olds. There is a letter writing campaign at the EFF to make sure that they have to pay their own way. Sign up at: EFF
Ilene Hoffman reports that not only is she making the Hess Memorial MacWorld Events List as she has done for a number of years now, but she is adding other local places to go and see. So before you board that plans see Ilene's Party List
Sure! MIT's Technology Review magazine has reported on a new data storage technology called "holographic" media being tested now. This new storage keeps file data in 3D space as opposed to traditional flat storage. InPhase, a Colorado based company promises their CD-sized media disc storage system will store 200 gigabytes, hopefully by late next year. They're confident the capacities will eventually hit a full terabyte and write data four-times as fast as those old fashioned DVDs you've been using. So, let's see... that's a million novels, quarter-million MP3s and several hundred feature-length movies on a single disc. Of course you won't live long enough to enjoy them all. InPhase
MIT Tech Review also warns of the emerging threats to the cell and wireless industry. They report the big companies are already anticipating and preparing for trojans and virus which will attach themselves to your cell phone for anything from porno pranks to dialing 900 numbers in the middle of the night.
Many times we've cited some pretty awesome items from the pages of Technology Review. Each issue is packed with simply amazing stuff -- like a Microsoft ball-point pen that writes traditionally while inputting the same text into your computer; or a new high-efficiency solar cell the size of a CD which eliminates the need for a battery in your laptop. It's simply the best $28 magazine value you can get. Go to MIT Tech Review
Apple's GarageBand is a great application for assembling loops and playing songs with impressive sound quality. If you look at numerous reviews and weblogs, however, you will find that many GarageBand fans are missing one essential feature: the ability to import MIDI files into GarageBand. easy beat 2.1 is the missing link. Its highly acclaimed user interface lets you easily compose your songs. The new export feature lets you finally bring over your song to GarageBand. This makes easy beat the MIDI front end for GarageBand.
Adam Engst tell about how he didn't want to use the iPod earbuds as they hurt his ears and he wanted to play back the music from the iPod through his PowerBook G4. He found an answer in Chris Breen's book, "Secrets of the iPod. It is a utility called PodMaster 1000. Read Adam's TidBITS newsletter (Subscribe, it's free and MUGs can reprint with credits.) And check out Podmaster's web site
MaMug's Dan East talks about the ability to change speech into text on your Mac using Apple's speech recognition technologies and the Philips FreeSpeech 2000 speech engine. Read his review of iListen in this week's UGN articles library
Cinematte is an advanced plug-in for PhotoShop that can automatically create masks and clipping paths using blue/green screen technology. If you shoot a lot of commercial digital photography, and need high-tech masking, you probably should check out Cinematte
Mac FixIt has completed the FixIt Guide Series-- a set of Free-As-In-Beer step by step PowerBook disassembly instructions. Maybe waiting another 6-18 months for those PowerBook G5's will be easier if you fix your old PowerBook now (or just use the Guides as a starting point for that killer PowerBook case mod). Items include: PowerBook G3 Wallstreet; the Lombard; the Pismo; the Titanium PowerBook line: G4 Mercury; the Onyx; and most recent DVI
or see the ... whole FixIt Guide Series
Mac Games and More Mac gamer Cate Defrise reviews Ratmaster, a "must have" unique puzzle-maze game by Twilight Games, recently ported to Mac OS X by Redmarble Games. Read more...
This week we take a look at four books in the computing, networking and web development genre...
* How Linux Works - This book uncovers the mystery of the boot sequence and other Linux processes
* Hackers and Painters - Big Ideas from the Computer Age - a collection of entertaining and thought-provoking essays on subjects of interest to programmers, IT professionals, and geeks at large.
* Network Security Hacks - An Arsenal of Useful Techniques for Network Defense - a wealth of useful techniques to make their job of detecting and dealing with intruders easier.
* JavaServer Faces - Deliver simplified, faster, feature-rich code to iron out the wrinkles in implementing JSF's crucial new technology.
See: UGN MUG Bookshelf
Our friends at the Tourbus, had a guest editor this week. He is the "mayor" of WorldVillage.com. The site has been going since 1995, which is a long time. IT is a site dedicated to family friendly web surfing. Read more details and subscribe at The Internet Tour Bus - and visit ... WorldVillage.com
"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
- Walter Bagehot
Have a great week...
* To subscribe or find out more information about ResearchBuzz, see: ResearchBuzz
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