Newsletter to Members
July 2006
In this issue:
- JULY MEETING this Monday – FEES NOW DUE!
- Q&A from June meeting
- Saturday Workshop
- News from Apple:
- News from the Net:
July Meeting Monday 3rd
The usual venue, UNSW, starting at 6:30pm – Q&A, Refreshments, Raffle and Presentation.
Renewal Fees (now $60.00 per annum without the GST component) are due as at 1 July 2006 for most members. Please use the Renewal Letter that was mailed to you earlier this week – with particular attention to the mailing address, email address and Usage Survey, so that we can keep the club database up to date.
Raffle Prizes: A Lexar 512Mb Jump drive, USB 2.0 compatible ($49.95 worth), some blank CDs & DVDs, and more.
Q&A from June meeting
Here we publish selected Questions that are raised in the Q&A session at our monthly meetings – with the relevant Answers – where they are of a general nature and might be helpful to members not in attendance, or even as a reminder to those who were there.
Q&A from the June 2006 meeting is available here.
Saturday Workshop
One-on-one help with Mac OS X basics in a friendly, informative environment. Presented by AMUG Sydney.
Saturday 8 July 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
- Free for AMUG members
To book, phone Rob on 9387 2069 or email sydamug@mac.com
News from Apple
- Apple Introduces New U2 iPod
- Apple Software Updates
- Apple Releases Shake 4.1 with 81% Price Cut
- Mac OS X “Leopard” Preview at WWDC 2006
Images courtesy of Apple
Apple Introduces the New U2 iPod
The new iPod® U2 Special Edition is part of a continued partnership between Apple, U2 and Universal Music Group (UMG). The new U2 iPod is based on the fifth generation 30GB iPod and holds up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 photos or over 75 hours of video and features a distinctive, all-black stainless steel enclosure, red Click Wheel and custom engraving of U2 band member signatures. U2 iPod customers will also receive 30 minutes of exclusive U2 video downloadable from the iTunes® Music Store.
The new U2 iPod is available now for $499.00 RRP inc GST.
System Requirements:
iPod requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port and Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later and iTunes 6; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000, XP Home or Professional (SP2) and iTunes 6.
Apple Software Updates
A number of Apple Software Updates have been posted recently. They can be installed via Software Update (under the Apple menu on your Mac), or downloaded as stand-alone updaters from Apple's Downloads page:
www.apple.com/support/downloads/
Don't forget, if you have a laptop Mac and these downloads are too hefty for your Internet connection speed, Colin has them on a CD so you can transfer the files at our Monday or Saturday meeting...
iPod Updater 2006-06-28 Released 29/6/06 49MB
Delivers updates: 1.1.2 for iPod, 1.2 for iPod nano, 1.1.4 for iPod shuffle.
iTunes 6.0.5 Released 29/6/06 19.8 MB
Allows syncing of the new Nike + iPod workout data to nikeplus.com, to easily track progress, set training goals, and challenge others.
QuickTime 7.1.2 Released 28/6/06 49.1MB
Addresses an issue previewing iDVD projects. Recommended for all QuickTime 7 users.
Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 Released 27/6/06
The 10.4.7 Update is recommended for all Tiger users and includes security updates and general operating system fixes. Choose the version that suits your system:
- Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 PPC 64MB
For Power PC Macs, updating from OS X 10.4.6 - Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 Combo PPC 145MB
For Power PC Macs, updating from OS X 10.4 through 10.4.5 - Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 Intel 133MB
For the new Intel Macs, updating from OS X 10.4.6 - Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 Combo Intel 215MB
For the new Intel Macs, updating from OS X 10.4.5 or earlier
MacBook Pro 17-inch SMC Firmware Update Released 27/6/06 1MB
This SMC Firmware Update adjusts fan behavior in the MacBook Pro 17-inch.
Aperture 1.1.2 Update Released 21/6/06 13.6MB
Addresses issues related to overall reliability and performance. This update is recommended for all Aperture users.
iPhoto 6.0.4 Released 20/6/06 35MB
This update to iPhoto contains a variety of new Greeting Card and Postcard themes for designing personalised invites, thank you cards, birthday cards etc. (NB: The associated Apple Print Service is not currently available in Australia).
Bluetooth Firmware Update 1.2.1 (PPC) Released 14/6/06 1.4MB
This Update fixes Bluetooth performance and reliability.
File Name Encoding Repair Utility Released 01/6/06 78KB
Mac OS X File Name Encoding Repair Utility.
SuperDrive Firmware Update v2.0 Released 31/5/06 7.3MB
Fixes burning speeds when writing to certain recordable DVD media.
iWeb 1.1.1 Released 26/5/06 88.8MB
This update to iWeb refines comment and search support for blogs and podcasts published to .Mac. It also resolves some issues related to publishing sites to .Mac.
iMac (early 2006) SMC Firmware Update Released 16/5/06 <1MB
The SMC Firmware Update addresses intermittent boot issues with the Intel-based iMac (Early 2006).
MacBook Pro 15-inch SMC Firmware Update Released 16/5/06 <1MB
This SMC Firmware Update addresses boot issues and adjusts fan behavior in the MacBook Pro 15-inch.
Mac mini (early 2006) SMC Firmware Update Released 16/5/06 <1MB
The SMC Firmware Update addresses intermittent boot issues with the Mac mini (Early 2006). (Note: Boot Camp requires Mac mini (early 2006) Firmware Update 1.0.1)
iDVD 6.0.2 Released 15/5/06 5MB
Addresses issues with burning some 16:9 projects and improves overall stability.
iMovie HD 6.0.2 Released 15/5/06 7.0MB
Updates iMovie HD 6.0.1 to 6.0.2. Addresses issues with Ken Burns rendering performance, scrubber bar editing performance, theme image quality, PAL audio, and displaying iLife Sound Effects automatically in its iLife Media Browser.
iMovie HD 6.0.2 Combo Released 15/6/06 54.6MB
As above, for updating from iMovie HD 6.0 where 6.0.1 update has not been installed.
Apple Releases Shake 4.1 with 81% Price Cut
Shake® 4.1, the first Universal version of Apple's industry leading pro video compositing software has been released, optimised for both Intel and Power PC Macs – and Apple has cut its price from RRP $4,199 inc GST to RRP $769 inc GST to fit almost any production’s budget. Final Cut® Studio editors can now take advantage of Shake for sophisticated 3D compositing, keying, image tracking and stabilization for the price of a plug-in. Shake continues to be the tool of choice for major motion-picture studios and leading effects houses to create award-winning visual effects including this year's Oscar winner, King Kong.
“Shake has become an essential tool at ILM for visual effects compositing, playing a central part in our pipeline on blockbuster movies such as Mission Impossible 3, Poseidon and the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” said Cliff Plumer, chief technology officer of Industrial Light and Magic. “By pricing Shake at less than $1,000, Apple has opened up the doors for the next generation of artists to master their craft.”
Mac OS X “Leopard” Preview at WWDC 2006
CEO Steve Jobs will headline a team of Apple executives, including Philip Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing; Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of Software Engineering; and Scott Forstall, vice president of Platform Experience, to kick off the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote preview of Mac OS X “Leopard” on Monday, 7 August, 2006 at San Francisco’s Moscone West.
The five-day event, which runs from 7 to 11 August, will deliver more than 175 technical sessions and labs with new content designed to serve a wide range of Mac developers, including tracks that preview Leopard and dozens of hands-on labs providing opportunities to work developer-to-developer with Apple engineers.
News from the Net
Adobe Live Event – Al's back!
Adobe's expert trainer, Creative Suite evangelist and fellow Mac user Alan Rosenfeld (pictured) will be back in town – at the Town Hall in fact – for a two-day "Adobe Live" Event in July.
Targeted to the creative design, print, web, video production and photography communities, it's a free two-day conference and exhibition packed with tips and techniques, as well as industry experts Alan Rosenfeld, Greg Rewis and Jason Levine to give you the low down on what they know best: Creative Suite, Studio 8 and Production Studio. According to Adobe, you won't get access to this kind of knowledge anywhere else.
Get the best Tips, Tricks and Techniques that will help you get the most out of the legendary tools featured in products such as Photoshop®, Flash®, After Effects®, InDesign® and more.
Where: Sydney Town Hall.
Monday 17 July 9am – 7pm
Tuesday 18 July 8am – 6pm
Places are strictly limited so be quick. Register here:
www.adobe.com/au/adobelive/
QuarkXPress 7 is here
New version unveiled at special event in NY
Adapted from an article by Peter Cohen, Macworld (US)
New York City’s trendy SoHo district was the setting on Tuesday 23 May for Quark’s rollout of QuarkXPress® 7, the newest version of its page layout software for Mac OS X and Windows.
“The choice of SoHo as the event’s venue was an obvious one”, said Jurgen Kurz, Senior Vice President of Desktop Products. “This is the heart of the publishing industry.” QuarkXPress is widely used by magazines, newspapers, advertising agencies and design firms, marketers, printers, corporate publishers, catalog houses, and book publishers.
Quark itself turns 25 years old this year. The company estimates that well over three million copies of QuarkXPress have been licensed over the years, with more than five billion QuarkXPress documents in circulation worldwide.
However, Quark has seen its dominance as the pre-eminent page layout software on the market erode in recent years, primarily thanks to competition from Adobe’s InDesign® software.
Industry experts are calling QuarkXPress 7 one of Quark’s most significant upgrades ever, with more than 160 new features and enhancements.
A detailed review is published in the July issue of Australian Macworld (rated 3 mice).
RRP $1,795 incl GST (full retail); Upgrade from v4, 5 or 6 for $595 incl GST.
Vendor Offer Watch
Compiled by The MUG Center www.mugcenter.com. Offers listed are compiled from a variety of sources, including those developed by The MUG Center, vendor contacts, various company user group publications and the Apple User Group Advisory Board homepage.mac.com/ugab/
Exclusive Discounts from The MUG Center:
NotePage Inc.
$5 off FeedForAll; available globally; expires 31/7/06.
Information: www.mugcenter.com/vendoroffers/feedforall.html
To order: www.feedforall.com/feedforall-mac-order.htm
Coupon code "mugcenter" (without quotes, case sensitive).
ProSoft Engineering
25% off Drive Genius, Picture Rescue, Data Rescue, Data Backup & Data Recycler; available globally; ongoing.
Information: www.mugcenter.com/vendoroffers/prosoft.html
Order through the ProSoft Engineering web site www.prosofteng.com
and use discount code "PRO247"
Other Offers for Mac User Groups:
For details, including code acquisition, visit www.mugcenter.com/vendoroffers/
Odology
40% off Launcher; available globally; expires 30/9/06
Omni Group
40% off all Omni Group products; available globally; expires 31/8/06
O'Reilly
30% off all titles; available globally. No expiration
Peachpit Press
25% off all titles by joining the Peachpit Club; available globally. No expiration
Primary Elements
20% off royalty-free production music; available globally; expires 30/9/06
Soft Chaos
$20 off Webstractor; available globally; expires 31/7/06
TidBITS
10% discount on Take Control eBooks; available globally. No expiration
Virtual Training Center
10% Discount for members of registered Mac user groups on both online and CD training; available globally; expires 31/8/06.