Newsletter to Members
June 2006
In this issue:
- JUNE MEETING this Monday
- Q&A from May meeting
- eBay presentation from May meeting
- News from Apple:
- New consumer MacBooks replace iBooks
- Apple and Nike team up to produce Nike+iPod
- Apple Releases Final Cut Express HD 3.5
- News from the Net:
June Meeting Monday 5th
The usual venue, UNSW, starting at 6:30pm
Main Raffle Prize:
iLife 06 book with DVD from the Apple Training Series.
This recently released book with DVD is both a self-paced learning tool and the official curriculum of the Apple Training and Certification Program, used by schools and training centers worldwide. Thanks to the good folks at Peachpit Press for making this copy available to us.
Presentation: "Phishing"
Ken Driver will show you how to do the detective work to suss out spam, scams and other suspicious stuff, and how to identify their origin.
Q&A from May 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. If members feel this service is useful, the intention is to build up a 'knowledge base' over time, for future reference.
Q&A from the May 2006 meeting is available here.
eBay presentation from May 06 meeting
Warwick Harty's presentation "What you need to know about eBay" is available as a transcript here and also as a slide show. It is in the form of an interactive slide presentation – use PageDown/PageUp keys on your keyboard or simply click the mouse to move from one slide to the next.
News from Apple
- New consumer MacBooks replace iBooks
- Apple and Nike team up to produce Nike+iPod
- Apple Releases Final Cut Express HD 3.5
Images courtesy of Apple
New consumer MacBooks replace iBooks
Apple completes Intel-based Notebook lineup
The newly designed MacBook™ – featuring Intel Core Duo processor and a new 13-inch glossy widescreen display – is up to five times faster than the iBook® and up to four times faster than the 12-inch PowerBook®. The new MacBook lineup includes three models:
- 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo 13.3 inch WHTE MacBook, 60 Gb HD, Combo drive: $1,749 RRP inc GST
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo 13.3 inch WHITE MacBook, 60 Gb HD, SuperDrive™: $2,099 RRP inc GST
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo 13.3 inch MacBook in a stunning new BLACK enclosure. 80 Gb HD, SuperDrive™: $2,399 RRP inc GST
All models come with iLife 06, Mac OS X Panther, built-in iSight video camera, Gigabit Ethernet port and built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.
MacBook Pro series beefed up
Apple has also increased processor speeds on both models of the 15-inch MacBook Pro, delivering even greater performance at no additional cost:
- 2.16 GHz, up from 2.0 GHz ($3,999)
- 2.0 GHz, up from 1.83 GHz ($3,199).
MacBook Pro also offers the new glossy widescreen display as a CTO option on both 15-and 17-inch models at no additional cost.
RRP price of the MacBook Pro 17-inch has been reduced by $200.
Tune Your Run
Apple and Nike have teamed up to produce Nike+iPod
Pop a Nike+iPod sensor into the shoe; plug a Nike+iPod receiver into your iPod nano. Then, while you hotfoot it, the iPod nano wirelessly converses with the Nike+ sensor, keeping track of and displaying your time, distance, and pace, as well as the calories you've burned.
iPod nano even offers performance-based feedback on the fly.
Due for release early August, the Nike+iPod Sport Kit is expected to cost around AUD$40 (excluding the shoes and iPod!).
Register your expression of interest here:
www.apple.com/au/ipod/nike/
Image from Nike+iPod web page
Apple Releases Final Cut® Express HD 3.5
Universal upgrade delivers powerful new features, more real-time effects
Apple has released Final Cut Express HD 3.5, a significant upgrade to its award-winning software solution for video enthusiasts, schools and small businesses, that runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. New in Final Cut Express HD 3.5 is Dynamic RT for real-time playback of multi-stream effects, Soundtrack® 1.5 with a complete suite of professional level audio production tools and LiveType 2.1 with even more exciting animated text and titles.
$429.00 RRP inc GST. Upgrade $139.00 inc GST.
News from the Net
- New product: TopXNotes
- Extracts from TidBITS #831 29-May-06:
- Adobe's policy on support for Intel® Macs
New product: TopXNotesTopXNotes from Tropical Software – with MultiView, QuickNotes and NoteOrganizer modules – is an OS X utility for organizing all your notes and information.
Rated 5 stars on Version Tracker; a satisfied user left this feedback:
"Rather than having to sort through a myriad of stickies on my desk top, my notes are organized and easily accessible through the QuickNote tab on my desktop. These tools are only good if they are easy to use, and this is! I recommend this product to anyone that has a need to store bits of related or unrelated information".
Costs US$25. Download a free trial at www.topxnotes.com
Extracts from TidBITS #831 29-May-06:
iWeb 1.1.1 Improves Comments, Searching, Publishing
Apple has released iWeb 1.1.1, noting that the update "refines comment and search support for blogs and podcasts published to .Mac," two features that were recently introduced in iWeb 1.1. The update also fixes problems related to publishing Web sites to .Mac. The iWeb 1.1.1 updater weighs in at a hefty 88.8 MB as a stand-alone download (it's also available via Software Update), but also includes the changes made in the 1.0.1 and 1.1 updates. [JLC]
www.apple.com/support/downloads/iweb111.html
Avoid the Most Common Mac OS X Font Mistake
From an article by Sharon Zardetto Aker, for TidBITS
The Mac OS X approach to fonts is something that can leave users baffled, and no wonder: many different types are supported, they can be stored in a multitude of places, and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger installs some duplicate fonts as a default... and that's just for starters... Read Sharon's full article here:
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08546
Take Control News from Adam C. Engst
Extract from an article by Adam C Engst, TidBITS
The Advice You Need to Run Windows on Your Mac.
Macintosh users have been able to run (or at least walk) Windows on their Macs for a long time now, thanks to products like Virtual PC. But now that software like Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop has appeared for Intel-based Macs, the Mac community is abuzz with questions about how these new options work, the best choices for different situations, and how to avoid pesky problems that can crop up when installing Windows on a Mac. Read Adam's full article here.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08547
Adobe's policy on support for Intel® Macs
Adobe has posted a policy document in PDF format, covering FAQs about the transition of its full range of applications to work natively on Intel-based Macs.