A TALE OF TWO MEETINGS
July/August MUG Meeting Highlights
MACWORLD NYC 2000
It's been a bit since our last meeting summary and a lot has happened in the World
of Macintosh. In July Don and Kathy Holton and myself took the trip to the Big Apple
for the Big Apple Event — MacWorld Expo. The four days we spent there were exciting,
exhilarating and exhausting all at once.
On Wednesday morning we three were in line at the Javits Center way too early in
the morning to get seats for Steve Jobs' Keynote Address. And if the wait had been
12 hours I would have considered it worth it. I wasn't expecting for so much to be
announced at one time. Usually there is some talk of progress and a surprise announcement
toward the end that leaves us all ooing and ahhhing.
NIFTY NEW MOUSE/KEYBOARD
Steve started out with the introduction of a radically new mouse.
A mouse that based on it's stylish looks would warrant upgrading your round iMac
mouse to this sleek and sexy new one. And when you realize that it's an optical mouse
that needs no tracking ball or pad and works on virtually any surface it's even more
irresistible. You can get a look at it at: http://www.apple.com/mouse/. He then unveiled
a new keyboard that is a cross breed between the compact iMac/G3/G4 desktop keyboard
and the popular classic, the Apple Extended Keyboard. The new Pro Keyboard is stylish
and shapely
and accented by a clear acrylic that Apple has been crafting into its masterpieces
for the last couple of years. Get more information at http://www.apple.com/keyboard/. Steve punctuated
the announcement with a preview of the new commercial featuring "Born to be
Wild" — Steppenwolf and the look and feel of a sports car ad.
NEW IMACS
Next it was on to a fleet of new iMacs with more speed, power and
storage space and new delicious colors (though without flavoring names): Indigo,
Ruby, Sage, a new Graphite and a mind blowing white Snow. Get the facts at http://www.apple.com/imac/.
G-4 POWER
Steve then gave us a demonstration of a G4 velocity engine by pitting it against
a GHz Pentium III machine running PhotoShop actions. That's 1000 MHz against a 450
MHz G4 machine. The Mac kicked some Intel Butt of course, well then Steve announced
that we will now have a couple dual processor G4 tower models that will more than
double our already lightning speed. Find out more: http://www.apple.com/powermac/.
GREAT SOFTWARE
Then he talked about software like the upcoming OS X operating system, the future
of games, a new "first-on-the-Mac" version of Microsoft Office, enhanced
iTools and a feature rich upgrade to iMovie. All complete with fanfare and awe-inspiring
demos. Check out http://www.apple.com/imovie/.
JUST ONE MORE THING...
We all were waiting for a few words from Steve. Those words came at long last "Oh.
Just one more thingS" and Steve introduced us to the G4 Cube. This machine is
so cool that I won't even try to do it justice by describing this full-featured 8"
x 8" x 9" masterpiece. See it for yourself at http://www.apple.com/powermaccube/.
I, for one, left the conference hall with a renewed sense of admiration for the engineers
and designers at Apple (and a nifty new mouse).
JULY'S MEETING
Well, we spent the July meeting sharing our excitement about the new products
and showing off the newly downloaded Apple commercials. Kathy capped off the evening
with a demonstration of how easy it is to post your photos to your iTools website.
I gave the group a farewell and a promise to post the meeting highlights within the
week. A promise I promptly broke. Well here it is with interest and a brief summary
of the August meeting as a bonus.
AUGUST'S MEETING
Tuesday, the 22nd we got together again for our monthly meeting.
This time we had a surprise visitor. A User Group from Miami, Gold Coast Mac, was
represented by Dave Game. Kathy, Don and I had all met Dave on a previous trip to
Macworld. We were treated to a production they had put together highlighting some
special moments from the Keynote and Expo. Then we twisted Dave's arm till he gave
us a brief demo of iMovie 2 showing off its ease of use and handy new editing features.
Dave was in town visiting his mother-in-law who may be joining our ranks as a new
Macintosh user. We were lucky to have him pop in.
Thank you to all whom showed up both last month and this month. Thanks to Dave and
the folks at Gold Coast Mac for sharing. And thanks to Steve and Apple for a great
MacWorld Expo.
By Keith Cooper
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