Apple has officially announced AppleWorks 6.1. It is a greatly improved program, and I believe, among the best programs in the world. It has moved to center stage because it is important to Apple's education market, and Apple's education market is a key to Apple's home market.

AppleWorks 6.1 can be downloaded free as an upgrade to AppleWorks 6.04. It requires Macintosh System 8.1 or better. It also requires QuickTime 3.0 or better. The updater requires that you have AppleWorks 6.04 installed first. (If you downloaded the initial upgrade in late March, upgrade using this latest version. The initial one had two bugs that could on rare occasions result in lose of data.) I have been using AppleWorks 6.1 with System 8.6 and I highly recommend it.

For more information or to download the 6.1 updater, go to:
http://www.apple.com/appleworks

AppleWorks 6.1 update comes with a beta release of AppleWorks 6.1 for Mac OS X that is good only until September 1, 2001. When used OS X, AppleWorks 6.1 will print to pdf, creating pdf documents.

Apple also announced a special education issue of AppleWorks 6.1 which can be preordered now through the Apple Store. There will be a version for educators that will run under Windows, so that schools can use AppleWorks 6.1 on all or their recent computers.

AppleWorks 6.1: A Greatly Improved Program

AppleWorks 6.1 is easy to learn and use.

AppleWorks 6.0 was a great design improvement over AppleWorks 5, and brought a new Presentation module and a new Table tool. The AppleWorks 6.1 interface is improved even over AppleWorks 6.0, with a more compact and natural toolbox window.

The tool bar has been improved. Now all tools appear on one narrow bar , shown on the left. The earlier version required switching between two bars with larger icons. And, the Accents palettes are available by clicking on tool icons near the bottom of the tools. You can still keep Accents open if it is better for you, but you do not have to. A nice improvement.

I used AppleWorks 6.04 because of its improved design, but it was slow, and it was not as easy as advertised to use with the Internet. AppleWorks 6.1 is small and once again it is fast. It keys fast, it scrolls fast, it works fast.

AppleWorks 6.1 works directly with the Internet. You don't have to wait for your browser to launch to access Internet clippings, templates, and other AppleWorks news and extras. Just use Remote Access to connect, and AppleWorks 6.1 to get what you want. Finding and downloading items no longer involves long waits, even with a 28.8 k modem.

AppleWorks 6.1 translates into and from Microsoft Word and Excel and other important Windows programs. The MacLink translators are back.

I have found only one bug. When I fetch a file that has been saved as TEXT, then save it again, the default for saving is TEXT WIN instead of TEXT.

AppleWorks 6.1 and Education

AppleWorks with its six integrated modules has been and is a great educational tool, and is specially suitable for elementary and middle school use.

• It is easy to create word processing documents, to add columns and styles, and to add spreadsheets. graphs, and other multimedia to word processing documents.
• AppleWorks has an easy to use real database, and an easy to use mail merge.
• AppleWorks has paint and drawing modules, and the drawing document can be used to format newsletters complete with text flow to where you want it continued in the layout.
• The new AppleWorks 6.0 Presentation module gives the program a second easier to use and specially designed way to create presentations.
• The new Table tool provides a second easier to use and specially designed way to create primarily nonnumeric tables.
• It can be use with the translation to HTML to create web pages with table layouts.

In June Steve Jobs will keynote, for the first time, the 22nd annual National Educational Computing Conference in Chicago. The theme this year: developments in classroom-computing technology. Tens of thousands of teachers and administrators will be there

Apple purchased Power School, Web based school management software.

Apple registered ischool.com as a new domain on the Web, possibly to create the education equivalent of iTools to provide education support for Macintosh. Apple has had support for education on the web for some time, and has been increasing that support.

Fortunately, Mac OS X is based on Unix, and is designed for working with the Internet and networking. This gives Mac OS X an edge in Colleges and Universities that work with Unix. Sherlock and the Mac OS X provide all schools with an advantage in working with the Internet.

AppleWorks 6.1 is obviously an important part of this education strategy.

AppleWorks 6.1 and Us

If we have AppleWorks 6.1, we do not need to spend big bucks for programs that are overly complex unless we have a special reason to do so. We can exchange document files with those programs. We can do almost as much, and sometimes more than those programs because of the ease of combining AppleWorks documents within frames within documents. So, for many of us, AppleWorks is a logical tool of choice.

We benefit by the AppleWorks - Education connection in several ways.

1. If we have kids, AppleWorks is a better learning tool.
2. If we do not have kids, AppleWorks is a less expensive learning tool for our school to use.
3. The importance of AppleWorks in the education market insures that it will be there for us in the home - small business market, and that it will get the support it needs from Apple. And,
4. Finally, Apple's success in the education market is key to Macintosh success in the home market and in a broad spectrum of markets.

Besides, I love the magic that is AppleWorks 6.1.

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Optimal Digital Camera Design For Creative Projects

by Bill Amos

Internal focusing & zooming lens (lens barrel does not move in and out, so outer element remains fixed in position). This is now uncommon. Nikon Coolpix 950 & 990 have it; not sure which others.

Threaded exterior ring for filters, supplementary lenses, various mounts. Pioneered by Nikon Coolpix, now increasingly common on other high-end cameras. If camera you like doesn’t have it, before purchase check various accessory outlets and manufacturers to see if they offer adapters to fit your particular model.

External flash synchronization connection—hotshoe or socket. Uncommon except on certain high end cameras. Not essential if a slave flash is used.

Manual setting to turn off automatic focusing and exposure. Desirable if possible.

Even without any of the above, and just a fixed focus, purely automatic point-and-shoot camera, creative adaptations are possible. An Olympus D-360L, for example, was used by a photographer in England for fine micro work. He made an aluminum bracket that held a plus diopter lens (simple magnifier) centered over the small fixed taking lens. Another bracket allowed him to place the camera on a microscope, also on a telescope. Results were excellent.

Don’t be intimidated by your digicam. Remember, almost anything is possible, because afocal photography is very forgiving. If you have any questions or thoughts about using your digicam in unusual ways, give me a call or send an email. I’ve been a photo-gadgeteer for longer than you’ve been around and love challenges.

Bill Amos
(802) 748-3504
wamos@together.net

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