Macintosh Educational Seminar Series

Rixstep offers a rather extensive list of keyboard shortcuts for Mac OS X and its applications.

There are a couple of changes to report for this Wednesday’s Apple Fest at Newcomb Hall:

South Room

• 9:00-12:00 » MacWorld Recap
• 11:00-12:00 » iLife ‘06 Overview
• 12:30-2:00 » PodCasting and Managing Digital Objects with iTunes
• 2:30-4:45 » Final Cut Studio

Board Room

• 11:00-12:00 » Using MS Office for Mac, iWork, and Presentation Technologies
• 1:00-2:00 » Apple in the Sciences
• 2:00-3:00 » Aperture
• 3:00-4:00 » Mac OS X in the Enterprise

Wednesday, February 15
9am-5pm
Newcomb Hall, 3rd Floor

While the main ballroom hosts a showcase of the latest Apple innovations, the following presentations will take place in the South Room:

• 9:00-10:30 » Macworld Recap
• 11:00-12:00 » iLife 06 Overview
  iLife inspires students to create and faculty to innovate. This session will focus on new ways to use this content creation suite in the classroom. We will also discuss some of the exciting announcements from MacWorld 2006.
• 12:30-2:00 » PodCasting
  Just a year ago, the term “podcast” was considered for inclusion in the New Oxford American Dictionary of English, but rejected because not enough people were using it. Now, it’s been declared the dictionary’s Word of the Year. Come find out why.
• 2:30-3:30 » Managing Digital Objects w/iTunes
  From Coldplay to Coldfusion, Moby to Moby Dick, Dido to FIFO—iTunes will change the way students learn and educators teach. This session we will discuss the future of iTunes.
• 3:34-4:45 » Final Cut Studio & Aperture
  You know the benefits of keeping all your production under one roof. Why not keep all your production tools in one box? We will present an overview of the latest versions of Apple’s industry standard suite and discuss how they can be used in the classroom

And in the Board Room will be:

• 11:00-12:00 » Using Microsoft Office for Mac
  Did you know that Microsoft Office runs on a Mac? Add in the fact that Mac OS X is virtually virus free, and you have the BEST platform for academic computing available today. During this session, we will present some of the newest features of Office for the Mac and discuss interoperability with Windows.
• 1:00-2:00 » Apple in the Sciences
• 3:00-4:00 » Mac OSX in the Enterprise
  The fifth major release of Apple’s award-winning server operating system, Mac OS X Server version 10.4 Tiger offers 200+ new features and builds on more than 100 of the latest open source projects. Come learn about Apple’s server based solutions for Education… Streaming, Instant Messaging, PodCasting and more.

The worst kept Apple product secret in recent times is now official with the release of the video iPod. I could blather on about the cool new stuff (including the nifty iMac with it’s built-in video camera, remote control, and Front Row/PhotoBooth software), but Daring Fireball does a pretty darn good wrap-up and I’ve got work to do. Enjoy!

P.S. MacDailyNews makes some interesting observations on the long-range implications of yesterday’s Apple announcements. Will this shake up the movie/tv industry as much as the original iPod has shaken up the music recording industry? Stay tuned!

“…Apple is actually showing the Hollywood producers that digital distribution of any content is safe and secure and that Apple gives them a new way to distribute their content to the entire marketplace.”

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Pat Fauquet, Vice President of Programs, 301-984-0300. Leave message on Phone Robot. Also, see: http://www.wap.org.

“Dr. Mac” Visits Washington Apple

Macintosh computer authority Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus will speak at Washington Apple Pi’s general meeting, 9 a.m. September 24 at the Ernst Cultural Center Auditorium on Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale Campus. Dr. Mac recently authored Mac OS X Tiger for Dummies, his 49th computer book.

“It will be an entertaining get-together, learning what life is like from the point of view of one of the Macintosh community’s gurus,” according to Pat Fauquet, Washington Apple Pi’s Vice President of Programs. Topics planned include his company, Dr Mac Direct, which assists individuals around-the-world with Mac maladies; Mac Geek Cruises; Mac OS X; and his books.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

For more information, see http://www.wap.org.

After the Pi meeting, Dr Mac will present “GarageBand 101: So You Want to be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” at Tysons Corner Apple Store from 1 p.m. to 2.

The Ernst Cultural Center is at 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale VA. Attendees should park in Park in Lot E, the Cultural Center’s gated lot.

To get to Ernst Center on Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), from Capital Beltway (I-495). Take exit 52-A, Little River Turnpike, west towards Fairfax. On Little River Turnpike make a left at the third traffic light, which is Wakefield Chapel Road. On Wakefield Chapel Road with campus on your left, make left turn at third entrance into the campus on NVCC Center Drive. Park in Lot E, the Cultural Center’s gated lot. Attendees may be ticketed for parking elsewhere.

This mouse video (sorry, it’s a Windows Media Player file) was too cute to pass up.

Good gravy!! Apple finally has a scrolling 2-button mouse!

In the beginning, there was one button. Then there were two. Then there were clickable scroll wheels and programmable toggles and solid-state slides. But nobody made a mouse as easy to use as your Mac. Until now. Mighty Mouse combines the capability of a multibutton mouse with Apple’s signature top-shell design for the best of both form and function. Use it any way you work: Stick with single-button simplicity or click with multibutton efficiency.

What’s surprising (or not) about this list of the 100 Oldest .COM domain names is who is missing. Microsoft doesn’t appear until May 2, 1991—a full four years after Apple. Sounds like a familiar pattern, doesn’t it?

The end of the World must be nigh! First Adobe swallows Macromedia, then Apple announces they’ll be running on Intel chips, then Bodos finally opens its Corner location, and now this. Michael Dell is quoted in an email saying that he would offer a Mac OS on his computers if he had the option. Wake me up from this crazy dream!

Though über MESSer Tim Wilkinson created the Rotunda Cam Widget within hours of Tiger’s release, it’s taken awhile to post this little gem. With a little Javascript experience and/or the ability to follow Apple’s instructions on Widget development, Tim says they’re easy to create. Download the Rotunda Cam Widget, add it to your Library/Widgets folder and enjoy!

Feed your Widget addiction at Apple’s Dashboard site.

Just in! Building widgets is even easier with Widget Creator.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of iBook and PowerBook computer batteries.

Apple is voluntarily recalling certain lithium ion rechargeable batteries that were sold worldwide from October 2004 through May 2005 for use with the following notebook computers: 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4. These batteries were manufactured by LG Chem, Ltd. of South Korea.

• From Apple, a Tiger to Put in Your Mac By David Pogue at New York Times
• Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger by John Siracusa at ARS Technica
• Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: A Review by David Adams at OS News
• Tiger Leaps Out in Front By Walter S. Mossberg at The Wall Street Journal
• Tiger Server Roars, Too by Sean Gallagher at eWeek

Join us at Cavalier Computers’ OS X Tiger launch party at the Bookstore Branch from 4:30-6:00 PM today! Come to ooh and ahh over the new features, reminisce about past Mac OS releases, or take Tiger for a test-drive on one of the several demo machines set up for the event. Representatives from Cavalier Computers and the Apple Student Reps will be on hand to answer your questions.

Then, when the clock strikes 6:00 PM, be the first on your block (or in your dorm) to own a Tiger! Educational versions go on sale on a first come, first served basis.

To keep the party rolling, check out the following sites for Dashboard Widgets:

• Apple Downloads: Dashboard Widgets
• MacWidgets.net
• DashboadWidgets (site down?)
• Dashboarder (site down?)

And if your not satisfied with Safari just the way it is, check out Pimp My Safari for Safari tips, tricks, and add-ons.

Whether you have an iPod or not, IT Conversations has some fantastic Mac-centric audio recordings that are definitely worth a listen:

• Andy Hertzfeld: Macintosh Folklore
• David Pogue: Towards Mac OS XX
• Steve Wozniak at Gnomedex 4.0 (part 1 and part 2) on how he started playing with computers, how he met Steve Jobs, and how Apple came to be.

If you’d like to dip your feet into the podcasting pool, get a receiver like the free, cross-platform iPodder, and direct it to one of IT Conversations’ RSS feeds (like this one for Mac OS X Conference 2004).

Tonight’s special MESS meeting will be held from 6:00-8:00PM tonight at UVa’s Olsson Hall in room 005. On the agenda is a preview of soon-to-be-released OS X Tiger and a review of the recent announcements about the new Power Mac G5 Desktops and new pricing for the Apple Cinema Displays. In addition, MESS Master Rob will present the latest Back-to-School bundles from Cavalier Computers and fellow MESS Master Tison will demonstrate easy DVD creation with an inkjet printer.