REMINDER:
No meeting in December, See you in January
Happy holidays everyone!
Now is a good time to thank those who have made our meetings and this eNews possible. Thanks to Midge & Richard Lubot, Steve Farber, Geof Gonter, Warren Walker, and all the other regulars who have provided programs and made our meetings fun and informative.
Also, thanks to Barry L. Waldner, Senior Sales Engineer, NEAV Technologies of Manchester, NH for the load of the projection equipment used in the Scott Pelok presentation and other past presentations. Barry may be contacted at blw@kingcon.com
or Phone/Fax @ 802/748-0110
And, most specially, thanks to Community Bank of St. Johnsbury for the use of their conference room for our meetings.
Just because there is no meeting is no reason not to put out some kind of newsletter. New members should not have to wait more than a month for something. And, not only did we have people to thank, but we have Vermont Macintosh people to congratulate.
I started to look at creating a web page using AppleWorks and HTML, but any talk about that will have to wait until another time. A neighbor lent me the first to Harry Potter books. Like the Macintosh, they are about magic, and they are more fun to read.
In this NVMUG eNews
1. Congratulations to MacChamp on their New Home
2. Congratulations to Gail Murphy Glore of Wired Women
3. David Pogue at New York Times
3. 3. Rebuild Entourage and Outlook Express databases
5. OS X Mail, FireWire to SCSI, Mac to Mac via FireWire
6. Virus Problems? and Product Guides
7. Filemaker Newsletter
8. 809 Scam
9. Apple MUG Store
10. MacFixIt Toolbox Awards
11. Job Related Humor
1. Congratulations to MacChamp On Their New Home
From the MacChamp newsletter-
Gailer School is now our regular meeting place. We have access to the school for monthly meetings in return for our providing Mac consulting services.
Check the MacChamp web site for meeting times and driving directions, including maps if you need details (Gailer School is in the former Vermont Teddy Bear factory). Park in the back (west or north side); use the BACK entrance (north side).
Be sure to use the school's BACK entrance; do NOT use the front entrance (if you've walked up some stairs, you're in the wrong place!).
2. Congratulations to Gail Murphy Glore of Wired Women
A special news blast from AUGB-
Gail Glore Joins Apple User Group Advisory Board
I am pleased and excited to announce that Gail Murphy Glore has joined the Apple User Group Advisory Board.
Gail is president of Wired Women in Shelburne, Vermont. A long-time Mac user, her involvement in user groups dates back to 1992 when she
acquired her first Macintosh to complete her senior thesis in medical research at Norwich University. Gail became president of MacChamp and served for a year, but left to found Wired Women. She wanted to create a place where women could ask their questions and problem-solve in an atmosphere more suited to their needs.
Professionally, Gail serves as the registrar for "Hot Topics in Neonatology," an annual global conference of over 1,400 professionals in the field.
Gail has 5 children -- Christopher, Brian, Robin, Geoffrey and Ross, a very tired but understanding husband, Warren, and 6 Macs, along with a dog, a cat, several birds, fish and rabbits.
In addition to participating in a wide variety of User Group Advisor Board projects, Gail will serve as Editor for future Apple User Group Bulletins and Blasts. Gail can be reached at gm7234@sover.net
Learn more about the Apple User Group Advisory Board at:
Our old friend - and long-time Macworld columnist - David Pogue, will be leaving the magazine, to become the personal-technology columnist at the New York Times:
"Effective immediately, the column, called State of the Art, appears on the front page of the Circuits section each Thursday. You can read it online at nytimes.com, but only on the day it appears. (Free registration required.) ... The April 2001 column will be my last regular contribution to Macworld."
David Pogue’s first article of the new series was a review of Netscape 6. on Thursday, December 7. This week’s article was on Hand Helds Plain and Fancy. I found the article by searching for Pogue in the technology section. I found more than a half dozen articles including Microsoft Set Sights on Tablet PC Market, and The Web Gets a New Dashboard about MSN Software Explorer for Windows. I will keep looking each Thursday, but so far I have not found any Macintosh articles. 4. Rebuild Entourage and Outlook Express Databases
One more hint about Entourage (and Outlook Express): If you are having trouble with these programs, I recommend that you perform a rebuild of your databases. To do this, simply hold down the option key when you double-click on the application icon, and you will be presented with a dialog box asking if you want to compact the database or do an advanced rebuild. Try the
compact first, and if that doesn't succeed, try the advanced rebuild. These procedures can repair a damaged database and they also make the software run much more smoothly.
5. OS X Mail, Firewire to SCSI, Mac to Mac via Firewire
Whether you think a picture is worth a thousand words or a word is worth a thousand pictures, Mac OS X has a built-in application that lets you communicate with others the way you want.
It's called Mail, and it allows you to trade messages with colleagues, friends, and family--quickly, easily, and in ways other e-mail programs may not permit.
Want to show off some digital photos from your vacation? How about a QuickTime movie of your new baby? No problem. Just drag and drop any
files into an e-mail message and they're ready to go.
Mail even has a companion that will help you organize your life. Called AddressBook, it does more than track e-mail addresses. It includes digital cards that allow you to store street addresses, pictures, phone numbers, and even URLs.
To find out more, visit the Mail page on our Mac OS X site.
If you are thinking of a newer computer with FireWire, or you get one for Christmas, you may be interested in Orange Micro’s converter. Here is a November 2000 MacHome Product Review by Ross Tibbits -
Although many of us have been consumed with the iMac, G3, and G4 computers that come standard with FireWire, we are at times left wondering how to attach our older SCSI peripherals to the FireWire ports. Is it best to buy new peripherals, or find another solution? SCSI, pronounced “scuzzy,” refers to Small Computer System Interface, those rectangular connectors that have the little connector pins inside them. What you can do to solve this dilemma is buy a converter like the Orange Converter, by Orange Micro, Inc.
You might wonder why you should buy a FireWire-to-SCSI converter rather than a USB-to-SCSI converter for your newer PowerPC. Well, it comes down to transfer rates. Although USB is lauded for its hot-pluggable capability, allowing you to plug and unplug the USB device at will, it is not known for rapid data transfer. The USB data transfer rate is 12 MB per second. While this is adequate for some devices, many peripherals that use the SCSI interface can transfer data at much higher rates depending on the SCSI device being used.
With this in mind, Orange Micro developed the FireWire-to-SCSI converter. This converter will allow your computer to transfer data at rates up to 80 MB per second — but, keep in mind that most peripherals operate at closer to 20 MB per second. These speeds are particularly useful when you are backing up your hard drive.
The $99 Orange Converter comes with a CD-ROM that includes all the necessary drivers for your Mac, an Orange Converter Manual, a product brochure, and Adobe Acrobat 4.05, which lets you read the manual and brochure. Once you have loaded the software and read the manual, it is really as simple as plugging the AC adapter into the converter and attaching your peripherals. You can attach up to seven SCSI peripherals to one port using the daisychain method.
Although the Orange Converter isn’t exactly inexpensive, it might be worth it if you have even a single SCSI device that you want to use with your iMac, G3, or G4.
I wonder if it is possible to include this on a chain of FireWire devices, or if it must have its own FireWire. Anybody know the answer?
Also - You may know that FireWire is a connectivity standard that allows you to transfer data at lightning speeds between your Macintosh computer and another device, such as a hard drive or a digital camera.
But did you know that you could use FireWire to transfer data between two Macintosh computers?
It's true. With nothing more than a FireWire cable, you can take advantage of FireWire Target Disk Mode to link two FireWire-equipped Macintosh computers together and transfer files between them quickly and easily.
There are viruses, even that attack a Macintosh, I, like most Mac users, have never seen one. Here’s what Art Hendrickson, Small Dog says - and remember they sell protection software -
Like humans, computers can have virus problems. However, some computer users are convinced they have virus problems when they do not. A simple rebuild of the desktop or reinstall of the operating system can fix many problems without the need to buy and run a preventive utility software application. Although some users may, in the end, need to buy a utility to confirm that they do not have software problems.
Also,Small Dog has some buyer’s guides on their web site -
We have a hand full of Small Dog Buyer's Guides on-line now, including a Modem Buyer's Guide and Network Primer by Adam Engst, a CPU Buyer's Guide by Geoff Duncan, and a little monitor tutorial by Hapy. I'm pleased to announce that we will be putting up a new Small Dog Buyer's Guide next week: The Digital Camera Buyer's Guide, by Dr. Tim Hillman, a frequent contributor to on-line Mac sites such as Mac Observer. I'd appreciate your comments on the guide (don@smalldog.com) as well as your comments about whether you feel similar guides would be useful in the future and what topics you would like us to cover. 7. Filemaker Newsletter
In case any FileMaker users do not read Apple eNews -
Want to keep up with the latest news about FileMaker products, technologies, events, and special offers? Subscribe to FileMaker Now, the free monthly e-mail newsletter for the FileMaker community:
Just rec'd this from a friend, a senior attorney who is the founder of Vermont's largest law firm, so I suspect we'd better pay attention. I'm passing it on verbatim.
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John H. Downs writes
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Hello all! I'm forwarding this information to all my friends I have e-mail addresses for, only after checking with my Pacific Bell rep to verify it's accuracy. Thought you might want to know so you can protect yourselves and families. I hope all is well with you and yours! Take care!
I received this information Friday from a friend and I have verified with PacBell that this is a true SCAM being used to bilk individuals and companies of big $$$. Please read this and what ever you do, do not ever dial 809 for any reason! You might want to print his out and put it near your phone at work and at home. Feel free to pass this on to your family and friends as well.
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Important - Please Read & Pass On
Don't ever dial area code 809
This one is being distributed all over the US. This is pretty scary--especially given the way they try to get you to call. Be sure you read this & pass it on to all your friends & family so they don't get scammed!
Major Scam:
Don't respond to Emails, phone calls, or web pages which tell you to call an "809" Phone Number. This is a very important issue of Scam Busters! because it alerts you to a scam that is spreading *extremely* quickly -- can easily cost you $24,100 or more, and is difficult to avoid unless you are aware of it. We'd like to thank Paul Bruemmer and Brian Stains for bringing this scam to our attention.
This scam has also been identified by the National Fraud Information Center and is costing victims a lot of money. There are lots of different permutations of this scam, but...
Here's how it works:
You will receive a message on your answering machine or your pager, which asks you to call a number beginning with area code 809. The reason you're asked to call varies. It can be to receive information about a family member who has been ill, to tell you someone has been arrested, died, to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc.
In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls. If you call from the US, you will apparently be charged $2425 per-minute.
Or, you'll get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges. Unfortunately, when you get your phone bill, you'll often be charged more than $24,100.00.
Why it works:
The 809 area code is located in the British Virgin Islands (the Bahamas). The 809 area code can be used as a "pay-per-call" number, similar to 900 numbers in the US. Since 809 is not in the US, it is not covered by U.S. regulations of 900 numbers, which require that you be notified and warned of charges and rates involved when you call a "pay-per-call" number. There is also no requirement that the company provide a time period during which you may terminate the call without being charged.
Further, whereas many U.S. phones have 900 number blocking to avoid these kinds of charges, 900 number blocking will not prevent calls to the 809 area code.
We recommend that no matter how you get the message, if you are asked to call a number with an 809 area code that you don't recognize and/or investigate further and just disregard the message.
Be wary of e-mail or calls asking you to call an 809 area code number. It's important to prevent becoming a victim of this scam, since trying to fight the charges afterwards can become a real nightmare. That's because you did actually make the call.
If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.
Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam so they don't get ripped off. 9. Apple MUG Store
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Most people nowadays are inundated with tons of emails enticing you to buy all sorts of things for Christmas. The Mug Store is one of the few places where you truly have special status as a unique customer: a member of a Macintosh User Group.
Not only do we try and offer the best possible deals on Everything Macintosh, but we give you elite customer status for any issue you may have. Just log on or give one of our Macintosh consultants a call for complete details and all the answers on any product you’re looking for, from iMacs to G4/500’s, from RAM to accelerators, from printers to toner to Zip disks and so much more! 10. Macfixit Toolbox Awards
Stephen Farber recommended that I check out the MacFixIt Toolbox Awards at http://www.macfixit.com
I tried to condense it for you, but just listing the awards does not tell you what the programs do and why they won. I recommend that you go to their web page and see for yourself. I was pleased to see, however, that the Golden Award for Commercial tools was TechTool Pro 3 which won for MicroMat’s efforts at constant improvement. I still haven’t upgraded to it, but I will. 11. Job Related Humor
A shepherd was herding his flocks in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand new Jeep Cherokee advanced towards him out of a dust cloud. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and a YSL tie, leans out of the window and asks: "If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"
The shepherd looks at the yuppie, then at his peacefully grazing flock and answers, "Sure!"
The yuppie parks the car, whips out his notebook, connects it to a cell phone, surfs to a NASA page where he calls up a GPS navigation system, scans the area and opens a database and some 60 spreadsheets with complex formulas. Finally, he prints a 150-page report on a miniature printer, turns to our shepherd and says: "You have exactly 1586 sheep!"
"That's correct. As agreed, you can take one of the sheep," says the shepherd. He watches the young man make a selection and bundle it into his Cherokee. As the car starts to pull away, he calls out: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my sheep back?"
"Okay, why not?" answers the young man, stopping the car.
"You are a consultant" says the shepherd.
"That's correct," says the yuppie. "How did you guess?"
"Easy," answers the shepherd. "You turn up here without being asked. You want to be paid for information I already have. And you don't know anything about my business because you just took my dog."
