Newsletter to Members
June 2008
Contents
Our June Meeting is MONDAY 2nd at 6.30pm.
Some great raffle prizes include:
- 10-packs of DVD recordable media
- 4GB USB Flash Drive.
Disc-of-the-Month:
The next CD in the pipeline is titled "MacServer" – Turn your old, or not so old, Mac in to a Mac Server. You don't need a Xserve nor Mac OS X Server... Your "ordinary" Macintosh can easily become a video security system, a home automation server, a telephone answering machine and more.
Priced at just $5 each to AMUG members for a limited time, Disc-of-the-Month can be purchased or ordered at our Monday or Saturday meetings, or order online ($2 extra for postage) – just log in to our member area at homepage.mac.com/sydamug, go to the Disc-of-the-Month page, and look for the Order Form link. You can pay securely online through PayPal, even if you don't have a PayPal account.
Saturday Workshop
One-on-one Mac Help from AMUG Committee members in a friendly, sharing environment.
Saturday June 7, commencing 10am. Room 136C (Computer Lab), Ground Floor, Webster Building, UNSW Kensington.
Bring your own Notebook or use one of the Uni's iMacs.
To book, phone Rob on 9387 2069 or email sydamug@mac.com
Fees due 1 July
Don't forget that for most members, renewal of your AMUG membership is due from 1 July, for the 12 months to 30 June 2009. Fees are unchanged at $48 p.a. (no GST). You will receive a reminder letter late in June.
Payment Options:
- bring your reminder letter with cash or cheque to the July 7 meeting;
- mail your cheque with reminder letter or fax the letter with your credit card details;
- or pay securely online via PAYPAL with a credit card or from your PayPal account – visit homepage.mac.com/sydamug/join/ to find out how.
No July newsletter
This issue of AMUG 'e-news' is the last until August – your hard-working editor is having a long-anticipated break during June.
WWDC 2008 Keynote
A team of Apple executives, led by CEO Steve Jobs, will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, 9 June 2008 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. This year’s WWDC will showcase two revolutionary development platforms:
- ground-breaking innovations of OS X Leopard
- OS X iPhone™, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system.
The five-day WWDC event, which runs from 9 June to 13 June, will feature the first ever iPhone track for mobile developers with in-depth sessions and hands-on labs to fully explore the capabilities of the OS X iPhone 2.0 software, including the iPhone SDK and the App Store, a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications to iPhone and iPod touch users.
Check out the latest hilarious TV ads in the "Get a Mac" series – they are all in QuickTime at www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
Select Small, Medium, Large or HD stream to suit your Internet connection speed.
Latest gems include (clockwise from top left):
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As always, they are all brilliantly written and produced, giving 'PC' and Windows Vista a humourous serve.
News from the Net
iPhone coming to Aus with multiple carriers
David Braue, journalist for ZDNet Australia, has posted his incisive and comprehensive, no punches pulled assessment of potential Australian communications carriers for the next generation iPhone. The article is titled "Why Telstra can't afford to offer the iPhone".
David states "First we had Vodafone's 56-word press release* announcing that it will offer Apple's iPhone later this year. Optus quickly followed suit with a 39-word announcement that it will join SingTel's regional rollout – shortly after it announced plans to expand its 3G network coverage and partner with Google to offer content that happens to suit the iPhone perfectly... "
Read the full ZDNet article – which generated some lively debate from ZDNet readers (scroll down) on the likelihood or not, of Telstra joining the iPhone juggernaut.
* (Which has since mysteriously disappeared from the Vodaphone Media Releases page! – KD)
Aust Macworld's MUG Shot on AMUG
Nicholas Pyers (of Nicholas Pyers.com User Group Resources and well-known AUSOM ambassador) has posted a blog featuring both AMUG Sydney and AUSOM Melbourne.
Read his post here.
The 'MUG Shots' topic was recently started by AMW editor Matthew JC Powell. You can visit and contribute to The Aust Macworld user group forums – just click the 'Reply' button at the bottom of any blog post.
Text copyright 2008 TidBITS: Reuse governed by Creative Commons license. Reprinted with permission.
'Back to My Mac' Leads to Recovery of Stolen Mac
Extract from TidBITS#928/12-May-08 by Glenn Fleishman
A clever Mac user who had her laptop stolen led the police to the alleged burglars using Back to My Mac. Three roommates in White Plains, N.Y., had about $5,000 worth of computer and entertainment equipment stolen. Two days later, one victim who works at an Apple Store, Kait Duplaga, received a text message from a friend, who, spotting her on iChat, thought she'd recovered her computer.
She said no, and used Back to My Mac's remote screen sharing feature to monitor her laptop's built-in iSight camera to grab a photo of one of the alleged thieves. She then used remote file sharing to find a picture of the other stored on the laptop. The two men charged in the burglary were arrested with the equipment in their apartment, and are reportedly friends of a friend of the roommates who had their stuff stolen.
The story was originally reported in the New York Times.
Read Glenn Fleishman's full article.
Microsoft Fixes Office 2008 Bugs, Announces VBA Return
Extract from TidBITS#929/19-May-08 by Adam C. Engst
Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit has released Microsoft Office 2008 Service Pack 1, fixing numerous bugs and improving security and performance in the process of bringing the Office applications to version 12.1.0. Microsoft also announced that Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) would be returning to the next major release of Office for Mac.
Read Adam Engst's full article.
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates
Extracts from TidBITS#928/12-May-08 and TidBITS#929/19-May-08 by TidBITS Staff
- Parallels Desktop Build 5600 from Parallels offers full support for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 (whether running from a Boot Camp partition or a separate installation), improved MacBook Air compatibility, and numerous other bug fixes and improvements. (US$79.99 new, free upgrade, 99 MB).
- Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 from VMware adds support for multiple displays (up to 10) – all accessible within virtual machines running Windows on your Mac. It also provides an easier way to import a Parallels Desktop virtual machine or a copy of Windows running under Boot Camp, improves printing from within Windows, enhances the user interface in numerous ways, and fixes several bugs. The company has stated that the upgrade will be free to registered owners of version 1.x when it ships. (US$79.99 new, free while in beta, 299 MB).
- CopyPaste Pro 1.0 from Script Software is a complete rewrite of the long-standing multiple clipboard utility, giving it a snazzy new interface akin to Mac OS X's application switcher for navigating through previous clipboards and archived clipboards. You can now edit clipboards with an integrated editor called Bean, and CopyPaste Pro is now much faster than previous versions, particularly on Intel-based Macs and in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. (US$20 new, 2.3 MB).
- Office 2004 for Mac 11.4.2 Update from Microsoft is a security update for Microsoft Office 2004, fixing a vulnerability in Microsoft Word that could allow remote code execution if the user were to open a specially crafted Word file. (Free upgrade, 9 MB).
The folks from TidBITS have been busy publishing a raft of new and updated Take Control eBooks. These are the latest offerings:
- "Take Control of Apple Mail in Leopard" (third edition) by Joe Kissell. Includes coverage of 14 new features in Leopard's version of Mail. 95pp, 1.2Mb. US$10.
- "Take Control of Spam with Apple Mail" v1.4 by Joe Kissell. Comes with a coupon for US$5 off SpamSieve (normally US$30). 71pp, 1.4Mb. US$10.
- Save 20% (US$5) by purchasing the above two eBooks together in a bundle.
- "Take Control of Making Music with GarageBand '08" by Seattle musician Jeff Tolbert. Step-by-step guide for beginning and intermediate users. Linked-in audio lets you listen to examples while you read about them. Includes a five-page glossary of music-related terms. 110pp, 2.5Mb. US$10.
- "Take Control of Recording with GarageBand '08" by the same author. Tolbert shares his GarageBand know-how and years of recording experience to help you get the most out of your existing gear or purchase new equipment that fits your budget and style. 122pp, 1.2Mb. US$10.
- Or purchase the two Garageband eBooks together for only US$17.50 with this link.
As always, AMUG members can receive 10% user group discount on eBook purchases, by following the encoded links provided above.
- "Macworld Mac OS X Hints Superguide, Leopard Edition" compiled by Rob Griffiths. Over 200 tips for the Leopard Operating System, Mail, Safari, and more, including Terminal basics and beyond! Culled from MacOSXHints.com, and with additional content from other Macworld experts, the book covers a wide range of topics and user experience, from basic tips any Mac user can easily implement to power user tweaks that go way beyond the basics, employing Terminal, Automator, and AppleScript to maximize your Mac's mileage. 70pp, 3.9Mb. US$12.95.
Download a free 14-page sample (1.7Mb).
And if you want to get in early...
- "Take Control of Your iPhone". Written by best-selling Mac troubleshooting author Ted Landau. This title was updated April 2008 and covers iPhone 1.1.4 software. The book walks you through dozens of step-by-step problem-solving procedures, while offering tips for smart ways to use the iPhone along the way. For the adventurous, Ted also covers iPhone hacking and how to deal with updating (or not updating) a hacked iPhone. 195pp, 2.4Mb. US$15.
Free 29-page PDF sample (930K) with Table of Contents, Introduction, Quick Start, and section starts.
Use coupon code CPN31208MUG when ordering to receive the 10% user group discount on the Macworld Leopard Hints or iPhone eBook (or any other Take Conrol purchases).
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