Newsletter to Members
April 2007
Monthly Meeting Monday 2 April
The usual venue, level 3 Theatrette, Webster Building, UNSW Kensington 6:30pm
Main presentation: iPod and iTunes.
Raffle Prizes this month include:
- a 4-port USB Hub
- $20 iTunes vouchers
- books and blank CD/DVD media.
iTunes Introduces COMPLETE MY ALBUM
Turns Individual Songs Into Complete Albums at Reduced Prices
SYDNEY—30 March 2007—Apple today announced Complete My Album, a groundbreaking new iTunes service that allows customers to turn their individual tracks into a complete album at a reduced price by giving them a full $1.69 inc GST credit for every track they have previously purchased from that album.
Complete My Album offers customers up to 180 days after first purchasing individual songs from any qualifying album to purchase the rest of that album at a reduced price. When users buy any song on iTunes the corresponding album will immediately appear on their personalised Complete My Album page with the reduced price listed. For example, a user who’s already purchased three $1.69 singles and decides to buy the corresponding $16.99 album would be able to download the remaining songs to complete the album for just $11.92, without having to buy the singles again.
www.apple.com/au/itunes/store/
Apple TV Now Shipping
Watch Videos, Movie Trailers, Music, Podcasts & Photos on Your Widescreen TV.
Apple is now shipping Apple TV. With a stunning new interface, anyone can quickly browse and view their entire collection of digital media from across the room using the simple and intuitive Apple Remote. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, describes it as “like a DVD player for the Internet age”.
“Apple TV allows you to wirelessly play your content from your Mac using your existing WiFi network as well as the newest and fastest version of WiFi—802.11n,” said Schiller.
Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output.* Apple TV is easy to connect to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theatre systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports.
Apple TV requires iTunes 7.1 or later running on a Mac with Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later, and an 802.11b/g/n AirPort or AirPort Extreme® wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet network. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple TV requires an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TV. iPod® games will not play on Apple TV.
RRP: $449 incl GST, available now through the Apple Store® and Apple Authorised Resellers.
More info: www.apple.com/au/appletv/
*Video playback based on 640x480 iTunes video content.
Apple Software Updates posted during March
| 29-Mar | AirPort Base Station Update 2007-001 | 12.7MB |
| 16-Mar | iTunes 7.1.1 | 28MB |
| 15-Mar | iPod Reset Utility 1.0 | 3.4MB |
| 13-Mar | Security Update 2007-003 (OS X 10.3.9) | 36MB |
| 13-Mar | iPhoto 6.0.6 | 8MB |
| 13-Mar | Mac OS X 10.4.9 Update (PPC) | 72MB |
| 13-Mar | Mac OS X 10.4.9 Combo Update (PPC) | 163MB |
| 13-Mar | Mac OS X 10.4.9 Update (Intel) | 160MB |
| 13-Mar | Mac OS X 10.4.9 Combo Update (Intel) | 310MB |
| 13-Mar | Mac OS X Server 10.4.9 Update (PPC) | 127MB |
| 13-Mar | Mac OS X Server 10.4.9 Update (Universal) | 249MB |
| 8-Mar | AirPort Extreme Update 2007-002 (Intel) | 6.5MB |
| 5-Mar | QuickTime 7.1.5 | 41.4MB |
www.apple.com/support/downloads/
Guided Museum Tours via Podcast
Nowadays, if you visit many museums, zoos, or galleries around the world, you can enhance your experience by taking a guided tour delivered via an iPod. It's all the rage.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), for example – like many other museums – publishes its tours as PODCASTS, so you can subcribe via iTunes and listen to them on your Macintosh, even if you don’t have an iPod.
Apple has assembled a web page full of them. Other museum podcasts to be found here include the New York Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Sotheby’s Private View, an iZoofari audio tour of San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, Kansas Museum of History and the Dr Pepper Museum.
Check them out in the iTunes Museum Room.
iPhone TVC another classic
You’ll recognise a lot of famous actors in the new iPhone TV commercial. It premiered during the Academy Awards, but if you missed it, not to worry. You can pick up your mouse and say "hello."
www.apple.com/iphone/hello/
User Group Special Offers
These User Group discounts are brought to you by the Apple User Group Advisory Board and Tom Piper, vendor relations. You must be a current member of AMUG Sydney or another Apple user group to qualify for these savings.
This month’s offer: CJRTOOLS ebooks – 20 Percent Off
CJRTOOLS ebooks publishes easy-to-use guides to Mac OS X 10.4 software, including Safari, Mail, System Preferences and TextEdit. The ebook features include screenshots to help readers understand important concepts, appendices with additional resources, non- encrypted PDF downloads and free updates.
Usually priced between $7 and $8 (US), Apple user group members qualify for a 20 percent discount on all purchases placed through CJRTOOLS' Kagi store using the discount code below.
Discount code MUGD14A73C
More information: homepage.mac.com/cjrtools/ebooks
Order: homepage.mac.com/cjrtools/ebooks/orderebooks.html
This worldwide offer is valid through June 30, 2007.
Melbourne Milestone
Congratulations to President Dick Johnson, Nicholas Pyers and members of AUSOM (Apple Users Society of Melbourne), which in February clocked up 28 years since it was incorporated in 1979.
Not to be out-done, our group can claim to be even older – by three months! According to our archives, AUG (Sydney) Inc had its first meeting convened back in November 1978 (the M for Macintosh was added later).
Adobe launches Creative Suite 3
Calling it “...the biggest software launch in Adobe’s 25-year history”, Adobe has brought together the full range of its own and Macromedia’s products under the all-encompassing banner of Creative Suite 3.
New Universal versions of all Creative Suite applications will run natively for optimum speed on Intel-based Macintosh and Windows Vista systems. Power PC Macs and Windows XP systems are also supported with CS3 apps.
Adobe Creative Suite 3 offers unprecedented choice among editions and stand-alone products, with cutting-edge workflows for any design discipline. Customers can choose from six all-new suites or full version upgrades of 12 stand-alone applications.
Photoshop will now come in TWO editions: a beefed up Photoshop CS3 for traditional graphic arts, and new Photoshop CS3 Extended. The Extended version – targeted to architecture, engineering, medicine, and science professionals – pushes the boundaries of Digital Imaging with new tools for 3-D, motion graphics, image measurement and analysis.
Photoshop CS3 New Features:
- User Interface Enhancements
- Quick Selection Tool and Refine Edge
- Automatic Layer Alignment and Blending
- Rich Black & White Conversion with tonal sliders
- Smart Filters
- Zoomify (high-res Flash images for web)
- Vanishing Point (edit in perspective)
- Camera Raw/Bridge Integration
Illustrator CS3 New Features:
- User Interface Enhancements
- Live Colour (map colours to a colour space)
- Eraser Tool
- Drawing Tool controls (align and distribute points)
- Crop Tool (define areas for print or export)
- New Document Presets for web and video
- Device Central (test designs for mobile devices)
- Place Gun (importing multiple files)
InDesign CS3 New Features:
- Table and Cell Styles
- Find/Change on text and object attributes
- Transparency on graphics & type (new production features)
- Bullets & Numbering (hierarchical numbering for books)
- Text Variables (link to a master text object)
- Export to XHTML for cross-media workflows.
| BUNDLE | SUITABLE FOR |
| CS3 Design Standard | Professional print design and production |
| CS3 Design Premium | Print, web, interactive and mobile design |
| CS3 Web Standard | Professional web development |
| CS3 Web Premium | Combines web design and development |
| CS3 Production Premium | Post-production for video professionals |
| CS3 Master Collection | All 12 applications in one box! |
Different editions of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Suites integrate appropriate configurations of products, enabling users to design across all media – print, web, interactive, mobile, video and film.
|
Design Suite |
Web Suite |
Production Suite Premium |
||
Standard |
Premium |
Standard |
Premium |
||
| InDesign CS3 | yes |
yes |
– |
– |
– |
| Photoshop CS3 | yes |
– |
– |
– |
– |
| Photoshop CS3 Extended | – |
yes |
– |
yes |
yes |
| Illustrator CS3 | yes |
yes |
– |
yes |
yes |
| Acrobat 8 Professional | yes |
yes |
– |
yes |
– |
| Flash CS3 Professional | – |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Dreamweaver CS3 | – |
yes |
yes |
yes |
– |
| Fireworks CS3 | – |
– |
yes |
yes |
– |
| Contribute CS3 | – |
– |
yes |
yes |
– |
| After Effects CS3 Pro | – |
– |
– |
– |
yes |
| Premiere Pro CS3 | – |
– |
– |
– |
yes |
| Soundbooth™ CS3 | – |
– |
– |
– |
yes |
| Encore CS3 | – |
– |
– |
– |
yes |
| Bridge CS3 | yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Version Cue CS3 | yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
– |
| Device Central CS3 | yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Stock Photos | yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Acrobat Connect™ | yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Dynamic Link | – |
– |
– |
– |
yes |
Pricing (AUD incl GST) and Availability:
- Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium $3,120 – available mid April
- Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium $2,775 – available mid April
- Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium $2,950 – 3rd quarter 2007
- Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection $4,335 – 3rd quarter 2007.
There are numerous upgrade paths available for Adobe customers.
www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/
“Hello, I’m a Mac …” TV ads (in the UK)
You’re probably familiar with Apple’s series of TV ads “I’m a Mac… I’m a PC”. Here in Australia, we see the American-produced versions. The UK versions use two local, popular actors who not only complement each other brilliantly, but also bring a little edge to the Mac/PC relationship.
There are 12 ads from the UK series posted here:
www.apple.com/uk/getamac/ads/
The interaction between the two characters apparently offends the delicate sensibilities of some UK TidBITS readers. Read their comments on the TidBITS Talk blog.
SpamSieve 2.6 Adds Thunderbird Support
From TidBITS #872 by Adam C. Engst
Michael Tsai has released SpamSieve 2.6, a notable update to his popular spam-filtering tool. This version adds Mozilla Thunderbird to the extensive list of supported email programs and improves detection of image spam and phishing messages. Both are tricky to identify, the former due to either a complete lack of text or to a great deal of random text along with the image payload, and the latter because the text so closely mimics normal messages. Other improvements include more efficient AppleScript support, improved compatibility with pre-release versions of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and a variety of minor tweaks to the Apple Mail plug-in. SpamSieve 2.6 is a free upgrade for registered users; new copies cost US$30 and there's a 30-day trial version. The program requires any version of Mac OS X after 10.2.8, with 10.4 or later recommended.
http://c-command.com/spamsieve/
The Citizendium (sit-ih-ZEN-dee-um), a "citizens' compendium of everything," is an experimental new wiki project. The project, started by a founder of Wikipedia, aims to improve on that model by adding "gentle expert oversight" and requiring contributors to use their real names. The Citizendium public site is now open to the public. To participate or for more information, visit:
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page
VueScan extends compatibility
Works with more than 700 scanners
After more than 5 million downloads, VueScan continues to be the preferred choice for those using flatbed and 35-mm film scanners. And for good reason. It supports more than 700 scanners and can offer significantlly higher grade scans than the software that came with most film and flatbed scanners. Like to give it a try? Then visit Hamrick Software and download a free trial version of the recently released VueScan 8.4.16 for Mac OS X.
www.hamrick.com/vsm.html
Reviews
You can read reviews written by other Apple User Group members on our web site:
Learn Mac OS X basics in a friendly, informative environment. Presented by AMUG Sydney.
Saturday 14th April 10am-2pm.
Room 136C (Computer Lab), Ground Floor, Webster Building, UNSW Kensington.
- One Mac per person
- No questions too silly
- Use one of the Uni's eMacs or bring your own Notebook
- Get Apple's latest Software Updates on CD, without the big downloads
- Get MacFixIt's "Year of Fixes" archive Help files
- Free for AMUG members
To book, phone Rob on 9387 2069 or email sydamug@mac.com
If you do not wish to receive any future editions of this online newsletter, please send an email to AMUG Sydney.