EvangeList Digest Tuesday, January 12 1999 Volume 01 : Number 1353
In this issue:
PR - Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership Through Technology Tidbit - Positive Press In Australia! ?? - Tracking Hours and Supplies $$ - Italian Language and Culture Courses PR - ShareWay IP 2.0 Beta ?? - Alpach Looks For Teen Help PR - CalendarMonster Success! ?? - CyberCafe Timetracking Software Tidbit - iMacs In the Local News and the New Colors Job Opportunity Tidbit - Relational Databases For the Mac
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Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 15:09:58 -0800 From: Guy Kawasaki <Kawasaki@garage.com> Subject: PR - Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership Through Technology
This announcement is from:
Holly Brady, hbrady@leland.stanford.edu
The Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership Through Technology A joint project of the Stanford Alumni Association and the Stanford School of Education.
When: March 24-27, 1999 Where: Stanford University For more information phone (650) 725-6259, or visit http://sunsite.stanford.org/SOLAR/saa/PubsVentures/EdTech.html
The Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership Through Technology is an intensive four-day program that focuses on intelligent uses of the Web and related technologies in elementary and secondary schools.
The Institute is designed for educational professionals in elementary and secondary schools nationwide who are interested in coming together with colleagues to develop and refine their vision of how a top-echelon school or district functions when it has committed to using technology to enhance children's learning experiences. Participants should have some prior experience in maximizing the effectiveness of technologies in an educational setting. Hands-on technical experience is not required.
This year's speakers include: * Steve Wozniak, Co-founder, Apple Computer * Alan C. November, nationally known workshop leader and keynote speaker * Ellen B. Mandinach, Senior Research Scientist, Educational Testing Service * Lee Ann Potter, Education Specialist, Public Programs, National Archives and Records Administration * Hilary LaMonte, Manager of the Resource Exchange Network, National School Boards Association * Jan Half, Director, California Technology Assistance Project (Region 5) * Rick Smolan, Photojournalist and Creator of the best-selling One Digital Day and 24 Hours in Cyberspace books.
Topics of discussion will include: * intelligent planning for acquisition and application of Web-related technologies to curriculum. * staffing new technology initiatives. * managing innovation and change in a school setting. * exploring resources, collaborative projects, and learning opportunities available for students, teachers and administrators on the Web.
Tuition -- Includes all course materials as well as lunches, breaks and opening evening reception and dinner.
$845 - single participant Discounts available for early registration by January 20, 1999. Team registrations are also eligible for tuition discounts.
* The Stanford Professional Publishing Course (July 18-30, 1999) * Publishing on the Web: A Stanford Workshop for Magazine, Book and Newspaper Professionals (November,1999)
_________________
Why scour the Web for high-tech stories when we do it for you? Sign up for Geoff's Gems at:
<http://www.garage.com/mailingLists.shtml>
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:39 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - Positive Press In Australia!
This tidbit is from:
Adam & Denise Woodhams <mailto:pusscatt@cybermac.com.au>
In the better late than never category... Our major Sydney broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, has a great weekly supplement called Icon (subtitled computers for the rest of us). As '98 wrapped up they had their review of the best of the years computers and to my suprise .... in a nice unbiased article they listed three Macs amongst the winners! Enough said, the article is still posted & can be found at
<http://www.smh.com.au/icon/981219/cover.html>
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:44 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: ?? - Tracking Hours and Supplies
This request is from:
Guy Algot <mailto:guya_gdc@agt.net>
I have been asked by a client to find a solution to track trades peoples (carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc.) hours and materials. A central office would be responsible for determining the workers schedules, download the schedules to some mobile device and then the workers would use this device to enter hours and material used, whether the job was completed, etc. They currently have a Palm Pilot (and I have checked various Palm web sites) and would be interested in using that but not limited to it. Does anyone know of such a solution? Thanks.
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:33 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: $$ - Italian Language and Culture Courses
This special offer is from:
luca <mailto:lucam@clida.it>
Ever wanted to learn italian? Now it's the time!
Cli Dante Alighieri, offers a special 15% discount an all italian language and culture courses to every evangelist reader. The school is based in Florence, Italy and has two locations, one near the Ponte Vecchio in a fashionable 15th century building with several facilities, including a Mac computer lab to connect to the internet; the other right in the heart of the town, just few blocks away from all Florentine's beauties.
If you are interested, go to <http://www.clida.it> and apply online. To receive the special discount, write the word "evangelist" in the notes box at the end of the application form page.
The offer is valid until December 1999
Hope to meet you here
Luca Materassi Webmaster
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:08 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: PR - ShareWay IP 2.0 Beta
This announcement is from:
<mailto:alan@opendoor.com (Alan B. Oppenheimer)>
The ShareWay IP 2.0 beta release is now available. Announced at MacWorld/SF last week, ShareWay IP 2.0 enhances the ease of use of ShareWay-based AFP servers, making them just as easy to use as AppleTalk servers. ShareWay IP continues to be the only solution which enables the Mac's built-in personal file sharing to serve files through IP as well as AppleTalk. New features include:
- - faceless, background-only mode of operation - - network-based registration, allowing for dynamic browsing of servers over IP (as with the Chooser) - - full Mac OS 8.5 support - - AFP Engage! 2.0 included for client-side browsing and URL processing
Details of ShareWay IP 2.0, plus the beta version, are available at:
<http://www.opendoor.com/ShareWay/>
Please check out the beta and get back to us as soon as possible with any feedback you might have. ShareWay IP 2.0 is expected to ship next month, and upgrades from 1.x will be available. Pricing has not yet been announced.
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:06:01 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: ?? - Alpach Looks For Teen Help
This request is from:
<mailto:Samman85@aol.com>
Alpach Software is a teen/kid-only Macintosh software business. So far, we have three goofy/cool utilities in the pipeline, to be released as freeware quite soon. Accompanying it will be a brand new website update, made by yours truly.
But I'm not writing this to brag, as much fun as it might be. I'm writing this to ask for help. Right now, we are looking for any teens or kids who are good at graphics or audio effects, for an upcoming console-style RPG tenatively named Fantasy Lord.
The game will probably be released as discount shareware. I'm doing the story, a cohort, <mailto:cecval@geocities.com> (also the founder of the company) is working on the engine and programming, and we have another member not to be named who is doing all mannerisms of things.
If anyone you know or you could help, probably for little or no money, but a good resum line, please email me at <mailto:Samman85@aol.com> with a subject like ATN:Alpach.
Thank you!
Sam Ryan <http://alpach.witsandbits.com/>
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:55 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: PR - CalendarMonster Success!
This announcement is from:
Steve Abrahamson <mailto:steve@asctech.com>
CalendarMonster, the new FileMaker Pro-based, Mac-only, multi-user calendar is a hit - and it's only been out a week!
Ascending Technologies ran a MacWorld Special of 10-20 percent off site licenses purchased during MacWorld, and the Macintosh community response has been tremendous. To say "thank you" for the support of the community and the natural curiosity of Mac users to try new software, Ascending Technologies is pleased to announce the extension of the MacWorld sale into a January sale!
Get 10 percent off a license of 10-24 computers Get 15 percent off a license of 25-99 computers Get 20 percent off a license of 100 or more computers
Thank you Mac users! Let's show them great software doesn't all have to look the same!
Just come to our site (http://www.asctech.com) and download a FREE demo of CalendarMonster. If you like it, you can get a registration key to unlock your copy to single or multi-user. Come try it today!
Steve Abrahamson, CEO Ascending Technologies
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:49 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: ?? - CyberCafe Timetracking Software
We have a problem that we need a solution to for the past 1 year.
We are running a couple of completely Mac based Cybercafes and are looking for some kind of time tracking software for it, to track time used by customers.
It needs to lock the screen so that a password is needed to start a session. Also, it would need to have some kind of logging/reporting capabilities so that we can study the hours of use, on each station.
Last but not least, it should have some kind of printing feature that will allow the station to print to a receipt printer upon the end of each session.
We have looked at so many programs, like TimeTracer, AppleShare IP/Network Assistant/At ease combo, and so on, but nothing seems to fit our senario.
I am sure there are lots of Mac-centric Cybercafe out there in the world. Would you mind sharing your knowledge on how you handle these problems?
Is there a custom written program for this kind of problem? Could someone write one for a price?
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:15 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - iMacs In the Local News and the New Colors
This tidbit is from:
Jay Hill <mailto:volfreak@macconnect.com>
I would like to tell you two stories to you concerning the iMacs (both as a system and the new colors) as they relate to the East Tennessee area.
It started with one of the local community newspapers (Halls Shopper) on Monday, January 4th. One of the middle schools (where my kids will be going soon) in our area just set up a state-of-the-art iMac lab with 24 iMacs. The article was front page and talked about how nice the systems are and how much benefit the school kids will get from the new lab. Even local politicians are pleased with the new set up. The *good* part of this was when they quoted some of the staff.
Here is a portion of the article:
"Dixon (staff member) said Gresham (middle school) went with Macs rather than PCs because many of the staff are familiar with the Macintosh. Plus there was considerable ease of installation. He named one school which set up a PC lab that required several full-time technicians to install and a couple of troubleshooters to maintain."
"At Gresham, the lab was set up by sixth graders directed by Slone (Technology Coordinator). 'Well, we just took them out of the box, set them on the tables and plugged them in,' he said. 'They run straight out of the box.' Because the Macs were easier to set up, Gresham was able to afford more of them."
end quote
Finally, someone looking at support costs instead of just the initial purchase price. But the nice thing is, they were able to get more systems.
Second story (and more for marketing):
The following Wednesday (January 6th), on the front page of the Business section of the Knoxville News-Sentinel (largest daily in East Tennessee) was an article on the Macworld and the introduction of the new flavors/colors of the iMacs. Why was the front page story relevant? Well the foremost iMac was the Tangerine flavor, which could easily be identifiable as Orange and White. Well the colors of the local university are Orange and White. That university would be the National Champion University of Tennessee Volunteers!! Now how many Tangerine (Orange and White) iMacs do think could be sold to us rabid Volunteer fans - in our school colors? So let's take this one further with some other schools:
Red and White: Alabama, Texas A&M Green and White: Tulane, Marshall Orange and White: UT (either Tennessee or Texas, take your pick)
These are only a couple of schools that popped into my head when I saw the article. Get the colors coordinated with some universities and see how the sales go. I just thought it was fantastic that the Tangerine iMac was the frontmost just a day and a half after we won the National Championship.
Great timing!!
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:21 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Job Opportunity
This job offer is from:
Heather Metour <mailto:heatherm@parallel.com>
Job Title: Software Engineer Reports to: Branch Manager
Description of Duties: Primary responsibilities
- - Implementation of software products from an established design - - Unit and integration testing of software products - - Participation in design of software products according to experience and skill of candidate - - Participation in project status reviews
What you (probably) get to do every day
- - Discussing project requirements and design with project manager and architect. - - Interacting with clients at detailed technical level as needed. - - Documentation of designs and code. - - Keeping timely and accurate log of daily project activities and time spent on each. - - Developing, testing, and debugging code (mostly production quality, sometimes test suites or prototypes) primarily at Parallel's San Jose office but also at client sites if needed.
Initially, you will be responsible for learning about Parallel's Life Cycle Methodology. Following this, you will be responsible for learning the DDK for USB development for the Mac OS(TM). We will then assign you to projects to write custom USB device drivers for the Mac. This requires excellent C programming skills using the Metrowerks CodeWarrior integrated development environment (IDE).
Over time, since the San Jose office will be involved in emerging technologies, you will be involved in learning other technologies and using them to meet client needs. These technologies will be closely aligned with Apple's strategies. Over the next 12-18 months these could include Carbon, Yellow Box, FireWire driver development, Mac OS X, and Java.
The technical skills & experience we need you to have
Overall, we are looking for experienced Mac OS software engineers. It is critical that you be able to work autonomously while staying focused on the tasks at hand. You should have a history of learning on your own and have good problem-solving skills.
- - Five to seven years combined experience with Mac OS development and C programming using Metrowerks CodeWarrior IDE and/or MPW. - - Mac OS experience must include knowledge of the Memory Manager, Device Manager, Code Fragment Manager, and PowerPC(TM) runtime architecture. - - At least one year experience writing Macintosh device drivers such as video, Ethernet, ADB, SCSI, or printer drivers. - - Excellent debugging and testing skills.
If dreams come true you will have:
- - Experience using the USB Driver Development Kit (DDK) for Mac OS or USB experience on any platform a great plus. - - Six months experience implementing drivers for communications protocols. - - Two years low-level debugger experience such as Macsbug or Jasik. - - Two years object-oriented development skills using C++ and/or Java plus any framework experience such as PowerPlant and MacApp.
If this sounds good to you please visit our website at <http://www.parallel.com> and fill out the "skills inventory." This opportunity is for our San Jose California location specifically, however we also have open positions in our Chicago office. If you are interested in working at our San Jose office please email your resume to <mailto:heatherm@parallel.com>
Look forward to hearing from you!
*** At this time we are unable to accommodate internationals for sponsorship.
Heather D. Metour Human Resource/Administrative Manager Parallel Software 408-292-6580 Ext.13
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 02:05:27 -0800 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - Relational Databases For the Mac
Wow! You guys are *great* to take the time to make suggestions on my 'choice-of-database problem' and to freely share your experiences and expertise. I received over a hundred and twenty responses so far, exceeding my mailbox limit. Although I have not made a decision yet, I received information on several approaches to accessing the data (no pun intended!) and analysing it that I had not even considered. Several of you asked for the results, so here they are in digest form:
Filemaker Pro 4.1 was the *overwhelming* favorite on the responses received. It can perform some basic statistical functions (Average, Count, Max, Min, StDev, StDevP (population) and Sum) and can be scripted to perform other calculations as well. Most respondents cited ease of use and ease of import of data from Excel in Version 4.1 as the greatest advantages, in addition to the cross-platform availability and moderate cost of FileMaker. Several folks suggested posting my question on FileMaker Pro Talk mailing list, which can be subscribed to at <http://www.blueworld.com/lists>. Some suggested that if Filemaker couldn't handle my calculations, then to export to Excel (see below) and do the calcs there.
A lot of people suggested I export the data from Access to Excel (very easy to do) and do my analysis in Excel. This probably won't meet my needs as effectively, but it is one approach that I hadn't considered. Others recommended various statistical applications that could import data from the database and do more sophisticated statistics as needed. Recommended (and occasionally reviled) were SPSS for the Mac (http://www.spss.com), StatView (www.statview.com) and Senecio Software's FloStat 2 which has a demo download available on the Senecio website (http://www.senecio.com).
4D received a *lot* of support for its power and flexibility, but was acknowledged to have a "steep learning curve" (although how version 6 with its GUI and reasonably-designed toolbars could be worse than Access I *don't* know) A demo of version 6.0.5 is available for download from ACI US (http://www.acius.com/) which gives you a good feel for the interface and design environment. Some 'Listas maintained that if you can create an Access database, you can use 4D without too much difficulty. 4D has a number of connectivity plug-ins that received mixed reviews, but also has the advantages of being cross-platform, and a single-user version is not too pricey ($299). Data would have to be imported from Access either via Excel or a tab-delimited text format.
Lots of respondants mentioned Panorama from ProVue very favorably. A good demo is available for download at the ProVue site (http://www.provue.com) and a competitive upgrade is available at a good price ($99.95). Panorama appears to be fast, versatile, but imports data from comma or tab delimited text files only. This is not yet a cross-platform solution, although a Windows version and native PPC version will be released soon
Helix also received favorable comments from respondants. Apparently Helix has many features that Microsoft "emulated" when developing Access. A new version, Helix RADE is being released soon; price is not available yet. Rumor has it that the previous version may be available free or at low cost via Helix Technology's website after the new version is released. More info is available at Helix Techology's website (http://www.helixtech.com).
Other recommended applications were Omnis 7 (http://www.omnis-software.com), which does require some programming experience but is cross-platform, and BrioQuery (http://www.brio.com), a "business intelligence" application that purports to be able to access and analyze most database files across PC, Mac and Unix platforms (sounds interesting, but I'm not sure my IT department will go along with it). Cost info was not readily available on the website.
The consensus on using an emulation app to run Access, such as Virtual PC, was that my 7500/100 (aka Zoot) was just too slow for this to be a good solution (which I knew, but I just didn't want to hurt Zoot's feelings and say so). However several of you suggested installing a PC card, such as OrangePC, installing a G3 card and running an emulation app and Access, or if possible, upgrading to a real G3 which will run Virtual PC just fine (more than $800, but may be possible on the next budget cycle).
Thanks again for all the shared expertise and helpful info!
Kathleen Whitley University of Massachusetts (no, not Minnesota nor Michigan) Medical Center <mailto:kathleen.whitley@banyan.ummed.edu>
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End of EvangeList Digest V1 #1353 *********************************
