UGN InfoManager

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Macintosh Computer Expo

NCMUG California: mce returns bigger and better than ever

Free Tickets to DigitalLife 2006

October 12 – 15, 2006 - Javits Center - New York - see link for instructions

Fall Projects With Your Printer

Another great workshop series by Washington Apple Pi at the Tysons Corner Apple Store...

Mac energy use calculator

Yes, Apple will actually help you calculate how much electricity you will save if you turn off your Mac instead of putting it into sleep mode. The calculator is at: www.apple.com

The Daily Show and Net Neutrality

The Daily Show has posted clips of our favorite "PC" actor discussing Internet Neutrality issues. He is much funnier here than in those Apple commercials. (a wonderful piece of video!) Check it out at: www.youtube.com

OS 9 software for Google Chat

In a mailing list I belong to, it was suggested that if you use OS 9, you can use an Internet service called meebo.com as an way to access Google's chat as well as some other IM services. You use a browser to do the chatting.

Meebo does have a good privacy policy. Which partially reads: "If you don't have a meebo user account, we do not store your personal data like chat logs, buddies, passwords, etc. If you have a meebo account, we need to store your usernames and passwords to automatically log you into your IM network...

"We will not share, sell, or give away your data - We hate spam (and spim) and don't want you to get any more spam because of meebo." So it would appear that we don't have to worry about using our name and password from these other sevices. See the full story...

"Neato Keyboard Shortcut"

Our friends at Smalldog posted this tip to their blog, "Barkings". To trigger Apple's built-in dictionary in almost any system window, including TextEdit, Safari and Mail, hold don the command-control-d keys with the mouse over the word to be checked the built-in dictionary will pop up. See Barkings at: blog.smalldog.com

UGU - San Francisco

Can't believe it is all ready that time, but it is time to plan for UGU in January. The 2007 event will be January 8th, just before Expo of course. Early bird pricing is in effect until November 17, 2006 Sign up at: acteva.com

Little Snitch

We have always heard it said: "No one likes a snitch." Well, I believe in this case, they would disagree.

For years we've been telling you about Little Snitch. Now there's a Universal version.

Little Snitch tells you when a program tries to send info to the internet so you can see what's going on in the background! The lastest version is 1.2.3 and is a Universal Binary application. When you are on broadband, you never know when an application is accessing the net. Usually the first clue you have is when it tells you a new version is available.

You may approve of that application to keep up today, but what else is it doing. Little Snitch will let you find out. My only complaint is that I don't know that 3 hours is a sufficient amount of time to test it. But as it is, it certainly appears to be worth the $24.95 fee.
It requires at least Mac OS X 10.2.
See the UGN Review

Civ 4 Demo

Aspyr Media has announced that the demo of Sid Meyer's Civilization ... IV is now available. My download of this was to be my first experience with Bittorrent, but I didn't use the client software properly wound up getting a regular download. That can take quite awhile when the size is 415 Megs. The demo runs for 100 turns. I have played a lot of Civilization III and look forward to seeing how IV is different.
Get your copy

ABDialer 2

ABDialer now uses phone numbers in the Apple Address Book to make calls. Address Book comes with the ability to dial some Bluetooth enabled cellular phones, but ABDialer will use the corded phone in your home.

At worst, it will use the Macs speakers to place the call through the handset, but can also dial direct with a modem. They provide a plug-in to make the call direct from Address Book. One cool feature is that it will pause iTunes and put iChat on unavailable when you make a call. Then reset when you hang-up.
(Read More)

Portable Freeware

A few weeks ago, we talked about software that you could run from your flash drive. That discussion talked about Macintosh apps. Here is a web site that specializes in Windows apps. See it at:
www.portablefreeware.com

IM Across the Net?

Here's a bold statement: "Nearly one-third of INSTANT MESSAGING USERS would give up WATCHING American Idol IN ORDER to IM with people on other services"
(Read More)

Local Weather for your Site

Here's an easy weather button for your site or blog...
(Read More)

Music Wiki Web Guide

If you love music, then you'll love the Music Wiki -- a comprehensive Wiki of mainstream musical artists
(Read More)

Aperture 1.5

This is a major update to the all-in-one post production tool for photographers. Aperture 1.5 delivers a powerful new open library, seamless iLife '06 and iWork '06 integration..
(Read More)

Pod People Ponder Litigation

Apple Computer's recent legal threats to rivals using the terms "pod" and "podcast" met with giggles and kvetching among podcast entrepreneurs and enthusiasts gathered here to discuss the future of the industry.
www.wired.com

The new dot-Mac

The main new feature of .Mac is the look & feel of the web mail client, which now looks like Mail.app and probably uses modern Web 2.0 so as to implement drag & drop and more interactivity with the user. MacScoop has a
blog discussion going on ... and here's
Apple's page

Again more OS Security Fixes...

Security updates for Panther, Tiger were announced on Friday, improving security for Mac OS X 10.3.9 through Mac OS X 10.4.7. The update addresses issues for both Mac OS X Client and Mac OS X Server regarding CFNetwork, Cyrus SASL, the Flash Player plug-in, QuickDraw and more.
docs.info.apple.com

Quotes: Russell; Hesse and Einstein

"It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true."
. . . . . Bertrand Russell

"People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest."
. . . . . Hermann Hesse

"I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking."
. . . . . Albert Einstein

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Remember, I invite all user groups to use this column in full or in pieces in your newsletter. Or add a link to their web site. I also invite you to submit your articles and news items.

Please let us know if you've quoted or used the InfoManager column. If you produce a pdf version of your newsletter, send us a LINK. The address is InfoManager at user-groups.net, or better yet, use my handy INFO Input form at my online submit page.

Have a great week!
Pau

* Also see: www.user-groups.net/info/
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** THE INFO MANAGER - A weekly column from the mouse of Lynn Wegley.

Lynn is a veteran of the UGN (AOL User Groups Forum) and User Group Network. He's been a supporter and volunteer on many, many UGNet and User Group Academy projects. As a long time user group member, he's served as volunteer from Honolulu to Boston and many points in between.

Currently working primarily the with the Cowtown MUG of Ft. Worth but also works with the Apple Corp of Dallas and is a lifetime member of TUMS the Tulsa Users of Macintosh Society).

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Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved. Affiliate User Groups are granted permission to reprint the InfoManager column or excerpts thereof so long as proper credit is given, and a clearly stated web ** FEED THE ANIMALS:
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