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User Group Network News Service brings news articles from around the world in brief, capsulized form for use in affiliate user group newslsetters. Submit news from your organization.

April, 2004

• Info Manager for April 26, 2004 This week's Info includes: Microsoft patches * Apple and Disney* FCC wants more wireless spectrum * Recycling PCs * AOL Madness * Matsushita, Apple Develop Low-Cost TV Editing System * AOL to recycle its own disks? * A9 * MS vs. Sun and Oracle? * Sony paper discs * Laptop Armor * Apple: DVD Studio Pro 3, Xsan Storage Area Network, Panasonic, IEEE FireWire, Motion Graphics, AJA Video Systems Kona, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Shake 3.5 * Microsoft Patents * Apple PowerBook G4 * Apple iBooks * Quotes ... 25 briefs in all!
• Leveraging UG Presentations and Speakers Fred Showker shares the secrets of the pros for making your group's meeting, presentation or seminar a huge success
• Apple Announces DVD Studio Pro 3 DVD Studio Pro 3, Apple's professional DVD authoring application gives users a complete set of tools for modern DVD design and authoring
• Xsan Storage Area Network Apple's new Xsan, is a high-performance, enterprise-class Storage Area Network (SAN) file system priced at $999 per system.
• Panasonic & Apple launch 1394 FireWire Together, Panasonic and Apple are bringing HD over FireWire capabilities to desktop and mobile editing
• Apple Introduces Motion Apple's Motion gives artists the creative freedom and power to deliver stunning motion graphics faster and more intuitively than ever before at a breakthrough price of $299
• AJA Video Systems Introduces Kona 2 Kona 2 is the highest quality and most flexible HD/SD video capture solution available for editing on the Power Mac G5.
• Final Cut Pro HD Final Cut Pro HD now offers the real-time performance of high-quality native DVCPRO HD in addition to real-time support for DV and SD.
• Adobe After Effects Adobe's new After Effects 6.5 motion graphics and visual effects software now has new features like Animation Presets and an advanced clone tool.
• Here comes Shake 3.5 Apple's new Shake 3.5 gives shape-based morphing and warping tools for advanced compositing and new "shape shifting" special effects to creative effects artists from the student to the major motion picture studios and leading visual effects houses
• Apple and Walt Disney Records Team Up Apple and Walt Disney Records will be offering the leading collection of digital music for kids, teens and families, including soundtracks from Disney's classic animated films and Disney/Pixar's computer-animated films through the iTunes Music Store through September 30th.
• New PowerBook G4s New line of PowerBook G4 notebooks feature faster processors, 4x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW), standard with AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g pre-installed for wireless networking right out of the box.
• Apple Updates iBook Line The new iBook G4 line features PowerPC G4 processors up to 1.2 GHz, optional DVD-burning SuperDrive, wireless connectivity for AirPort Extreme, slot-load Combo drive, double the DDR memory capacity
• Laptop Armor Matias Laptop Armor, a Laptop case that is compact enough for travel (or even place inside a larger computer bag), but with pockets, Velcro fittings and a nice strap option so that your Powerbook or iBook can go anywhere
• Ten Ways to Improve Your Organization Fred Showker shares some tips from his twenty years of user group service... for improving your club
• The Legend Returns: Super Collapse! II Super Collapse! II is probably more addictive than the first one, if that's possible
• iPod Mini Now Protected with Silicone iSkin has rolled out their latest iSkin protector for the Apple iPod mini, based on the popular iSkin eXo2 and eVo
• Mediafour Ships XPlay 2 Mediafour Ships XPlay 2 popular Windows software for iPod users
• Open Source Convention O'Reilly opens registration for Open Source Convention
• Complete DVD Burning Solution Now Just $999
• iPod Shipments Grow Over 900 Percent
• MenuMachine for GoLive "Excellent results with nice looking and easy to use menu navigation"
• Xupport 2.0 Final Version Release Xupport is a graphical user interface to configure many hidden Mac OS X and Unix options.
• 3D-Matrix: Models come Alive 3D-Matrix: Models come Alive for game developers and graphic designers
• Restore lost MP3 files SubRosaSoft Ships Version 1.0 of MP3... Restore The new utility recovers MP3 files accidentally erased from MP3 players and other media.
• Now your drive can fix itself Version 2.0.2 of SubRosaSoft's CipherDisk includes enhanced self-maintenance feature and support of four major languages.
• Titanium Powerbook External Whip Antenna "this second revision doesnÕt disappoint in the slightest"
• The Return of TRON Critically Acclaimed Action game "TRON" to be Published by MacPlay and Buena Vista
• Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide - Eric Meyer brings his latest update to the "bible" of CSS -- in the UGN Bookshelf
• Apple eNews: Mac G5; Savings for G5; New Workgroup Cluster; iLife '04; Printing labels; Rendezvous; Secure Sharing; Xgrid; iPhoto 4; Science site; Games; Shareware and more
• Fred's News Wrap-up... UGN News Editor Fred Showker cites his favorite news items from the Wired News service.
• Double or Triple Wireless Range Double or Triple Wireless Range... Apple PowerBooks
• OpenOSX Ships Gimp 2.0.0 OpenOSX brings popular Unix software to both the "Unix-challenged" and the seasoned, Mac user
• Photoshop vs. Elements - Photoshop 911 simply got tired of answering the frequent question of Photoshop vs. Photoshop Elements, so they enlisted the help of Richard Lynch in sorting it out and putting the long-run debate to rest: Photoshop or Elements? Which is best?
• iTools 7.3 Adds Popular Web Utilities iTools 7.3 for unlimited web sites on Mac OS X
• Photoshop Pixels to Pencil Drawings Answering distress calls from a number of Photoshop 911 readers, Mark Clarkson, author of "Photoshop Secrets of the Pros" comes to the rescue with blending modes and adjustment layers to convert this photo into a nice Colored Pencil Drawing
• Seven Steps to Return On Web Design - Web Designer and founder of SmartMonkey Media, Ani Phyo brings some serious lessons into focus for web designers. Today, more people and businesses rely on the web, making it even more important to learn these Seven Steps to Return On Design.

March, 2004

• iBooks Invade Virginia Middle School These Montevideo Middle School students how much fun you can have with a wireless Apple iBook lab!
• Grab the entire web site! Web Dumper downloads parts or entire web sites to your local drive
• Very Cool Vector/Raster Pattern Maker Artlandia Bridges the Gap between Vector-Based and Raster-Based Patterns
• Games: Modern Twist to Retro Shoot'em Up Kaijin: Retro Shoot'em Up ... with a modern twist
• How valuable is your data? valuable information to anyone who owns, operates or contributes to servers or computers with lots of data
• FileMaker Pro 7 gets Activated Troi Automatisering's Activator for FileMaker 7 and 6 is a very powerful tool for triggering scripts across the network, even over the Internet
• 950 Royalty-free Photo Textures Photo Galaxy collection of more than 950 royalty-free digital photos on CD-ROM sorted into 118 different categories.
• Handheld 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Receiver System Yellowjacket is a passive, network independent device with the ability to see the "whole picture" as well as pinpointing channel interference and hackers
• Shadowgate comes to the Palm Shadowgate Classic immerses the player into a compelling world of fantasy, on your Palm
• Protect that iPod with iSkin iSkin new and improved protector for the third generation Apple iPod
• Design, Color and Type Tools for OS X New tool fills design void in OS X for graphics professionals
• GPS Comes to OS X Mac users who are interested in GPS can have their own interface-mapping software -- MacGPS Pro 5.0.
• High End Color for Mac The BabelColor Company has launched the first Mac version of "BabelColor", a color comparator and translator formerly available only for the WindowsÕ platform.
• iTunes make dough for Apple The 50 millionth song, purchased last Thursday afternoon, was "The Path of Thorns" by Sarah McLachlan.
• Addictive Solitaire Game: Aki Mahjong New game for Mac OS X from Ambrosia Software based on ancient Chinese game of Mahjong
• Track time with TimeCache Macintosh time and expense billing application makes it easy to track time and bill clients
• PhotoShow for Mac... PhotoShow lets you arrange and display your digital pictures in a slide show, making your Mac a true digital photo album
• QuickMix Video Editing QuickMix Edits any video, sound, and music formats supported by QuickTime, including DV
• If you like iPhoto, You'll Love PhotoReviewer PhotoReviewer is Blazingly fast photo viewing, organizing app adds support for raw images from any source including digital cameras
• Do you have sensitive data? If you have important business to conduct -- important data and information to protect, you should give a good look at the latest version of CipherDisk from SubRosaSoft.
• Finding A Web Hosting Company MaMug's Dan East takes a new look at hosting companies, their offerings and the potential problems of growth beyond their means.
• Sharing files between Macs and PCs PC-Mac-Net FileShare v3.2, is a product which allows users to share files easily and securely between all varieties of Windows and Macintosh computers over a Local Area Network
• Got GarageBand? Get the Beat easy beat is the MIDI sequencer software for anyone who doesn't want to spend big money, nor take the time to climb the steep learning curve of other, huge and complicated sequencer tools.
• Book News: Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One Learn to Edit and Manipulate Images Like a Pro O'Reilly Releases "Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One"
• Info Manager for March 7, 2004 - File Sharing Vulnerability Discovered in Mac OS X; Roxio imitates iLife; "Cannibals Descend on MP3 Players"; Self publishing; Corel to update WordPerfect Suite; New food pyramid; Trackle*; AARP Offers Internet Resources On Aging; Garage Band demo ideas; 19 briefs in all!
• New Books this week include: Linux Pocket Guide by Daniel Barrett, the new Dreamweaver MX 2004 Missing Manual from David Pogue, and the new WebLogic: The Definitive Guide for the WebLogic server and the management consol. See them all in the User Group Bookstore...
• Top Picks from Wired Digest of news from Wired for week of March 5th through the 7th... includes: First Can-Spam Lawsuit; Microsoft Memo Is Legit; Borgs Invad Vegas; in Tune With Sharing; Hands Off Kids' Data; Buy Offline, Get Spammed; Hands Off! That Fact Is Mine
• Apple Educator News for March Learning Wirelessly at Fremont High * Build Your Own Digital Media Solution * Spring Comes to iLife * Your One-Stop Information Shop * Getting to Know Panther: Expose * Jot Down These Notes * save up to $200 per projector * Onset's HOBOware * PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) 3.7 * About eNews for Education
• Apple eNews for March 5 Tackling Herculean Tasks with the Power Mac G5; Tips for Ten: Putting Your Mac on a Schedule; Getting Smart with iPhoto; What's New? Save $700; 3D landscapes; Symantec Updates anti-virus; Faxes on a LAN; Now Up-to-Date; Apple Pro Day; Plus seven others
• iPod Mini gets a new skin a fashionably cool way to protect the iPod is now available for the Apple iPod Mini
• iClip is Back for Mac OS X Inventive's new release of iClip 2.8 improves Picture Clipping Handling, and Features Enhanced Drag-and-Drop
• New QuicKeys comes to Panther CE Software has rolled the latest version of QuicKeys X2
• Mapping the World with Azimuth Azimuth software is designed by a cartographer who makes maps in a design and graphics environment
• Merging Email Made Easy Email Merge is a program for creating mailings of individualized email messages. It combines a database and an email message template to create customized email messages.
• Top news items of note... Digest of news from Wired
• Post.Office for Mac OS X Tenon's Post.Office Mail server (and list server) is upgraded, includes SpamAssassin plug-in, McAfee's Virex scripts and scripts to quarantine unwanted attachments.
• MacHack becomes ADHOC MacHack becomes ADHOC but the conference stays the same
• FlashRestore recovers Flash Media Contents of a digital camera can also accidentally be erased - FlashRestore is your best chance for recovery
• Photoshop Healing tool comes to Elements Photoshop Elements gets a new Healing Tool just like big brother Photoshop
• Entourage Manipulator Plug-in Entourage Manipulator Plug-in the first Entourage FileMaker Pro plug-in to arrive for OS X
• iMsafe 2: Backup for Mac OS X iMsafe 2, the backup tool for Mac OS X makes quick work of backing up your Mac, iPods, Pendrives and remote Macs on the network to your USB or FireWire HD.
• Trisection Game with Aqua Style Trisection top-quality shareware Game

See February/January Content Directory

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