Apple eNews: February 21, 2002

You don’t need to install a FireWire card. You don’t need to add sound. Gigabit Ethernet? USB? Modem? On the Power Mac G4, they’re all built in to the logic board. So’s AirPort. Just pop in an AirPort Card, and you’re ready to communicate wirelessly.

We do fill one slot—the AGP slot—with the most advanced graphics cards ever available on the Mac. That includes the optional GeForce4 Titanium, which with an optional third-party adapter, can even drive two Apple Cinema Displays—talk about screen real estate.

So when you open the Power Mac G4, you’ll find that all four of the full-length 64-bit, 33-MHz PCI slots are just waiting for you to fill them up—with SCSI cards, video effects acceleration cards, audio cards, cards that let you import high-definition video, create RAID volumes, or add an expansion chassis.

Whatever your needs, the Power Mac G4 offers plenty of room for expansion.

In her new book for Peachpit Press, “The Little Mac OS X Book,”¹ well-known Mac author Robin Williams does her usual delightful job of making us feel comfortable learning all about a new and exciting topic—in this case, Mac OS X.

Take her tip about teaming aliases up with the Dock:

“Put aliases of all your applications in a folder, then put that folder in the Dock. When you want to open an application, no matter where you are (meaning you don’t have to go back to the Finder), just press on that folder icon in the Dock to get the pop-up menu and choose your application from there.”

Like more helpful Mac OS X tips? Visit the Peachpit site and get a free copy of the “Mac OS X Tipsheet.”

¹ The Little Mac OS X Book is copyright (c) 2002 by Robin Williams, published by Peachpit Press.

The future of online video delivery, that is.

Attendees of last week’s QuickTime Live conference got a sneak peak at a series of exciting new QuickTime products: QuickTime 6 Public Preview, QuickTime Broadcaster, and QuickTime Streaming Server 4, which is available now. All three support MPEG-4, the latest format for delivering video over the Web. Although complete and ready for release, QuickTime 6 Public Preview will be available as soon as MPEG-4 licensing terms are negotiated.

QuickTime Broadcaster is a new tool that provides an easy-to-use solution for anyone who wants to broadcast live events over the Internet.

Apple also announced a partnership with Sun and Ericsson to deliver multimedia content to wireless devices, including mobile phones and PDAs.

We know how you can get tax tips from recognized experts, advice about increasing your tax refund, and help completing your paperwork. All for a mere $24.95.

Sound too good to be true? Perhaps you haven’t met H&R Block’s newest tax consultant: TaxCut Deluxe 2001. This robust Mac OS X software package asks a series of simple questions and uses your answers to prepare the appropriate forms.

TaxCut knows the latest changes to the tax laws and double-checks your returns for missing deductions. When it’s done, TaxCut submits the forms electronically (if you’d like), so you’ll receive your refund faster.

Don’t procrastinate about doing your taxes this year. Let TaxCut do the hard work.

It’s our newest promotion, and it couldn’t be easier to participate. Buy a Power Mac G4 and an Apple flat-panel display before March 31, and you can save up to $500.¹

Just fill out the rebate coupon you’ll find on our website, send it to us within 30 days of your purchase date, and we’ll mail your savings back to you.

For more information, a copy of the rebate coupon, and complete terms and conditions, visit the Screen Saver website.

¹ Power Mac G4 and flat panel display must be purchased on the same day.

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In Mac OS X, the built-in screen saver provides a beautiful and full-featured experience. In fact, Screen Saver (you’ll find it in System Preferences) not only offers you several “programs” to choose from—Basic, Aqua Icons, Abstract, and Beach, to name just a few—but also lets you use your own digital photos to create a custom show.

And while it’s fun, Screen Saver also serves a quite useful purpose, allowing you to password-protect your system when you step away from your computer.

Want to find out how you can take advantage of Screen Saver? In the Finder, pull down the Help menu, choose Mac Help, type “screen saver” in the text box, and click Ask.

Do you have an iTools account? Then you’ll find another stunning Screen Saver module—Maya ScreenSaver for Mac OS X—in your iDisk. To find it, mount your iDisk and follow this path: Software/Mac OS X Software/Member’s Favorites/Maya ScreenSaver for OSX/. Installation’s a snap: just follow the instructions.

If you’ve been using Software Update to help you install the newest updates to Mac OS X, you’ve probably noticed by now that you don’t need to install every single update that comes down the pike.

If you’re on an Ethernet network, for example, and don’t have an AirPort Card installed, you don’t need to install the AirPort Driver Update. Nor may you want to install all of the language support updates.

But how do you tell Mac OS X to stop reminding you about them each time you run Software Update?

It’s actually quite easy. Just make them inactive. We tell you how to do so in the KnowledgeBase article, “Mac OS X: How to Make a Software Update Inactive or Active.”

Set aside these dates: The Art Directors Invitational Master Class (ADIM) convenes in Monterey, California, from April 6-10 for four days of instruction with Mac OS X and Adobe’s latest graphics applications.

What was the action like at this year’s QuickTime Live?

“Thanks to Apple’s new iPhoto digital image management program for the Mac, I’m falling in love with my digital camera all over again,” writes Mike Wendland in the Detroit Free Press. “It is absolutely the easiest, fastest and most intuitive way I’ve seen to import pictures from my camera and then organize, display, share, print and distribute them by e-mail.”

Assume the role of a knight, elf, magician, prince or princess and battle evil with thousands of other gamers in the online fantasy game Lineage. The beta release for Mac OS X is now available.

Biomedical researchers are excited: Apple and Genentech just announced an accelerated version of BLAST that makes DNA searches even faster.

Apple eNews is a free, bi-weekly email publication.

Event dates are subject to change. Some products, programs, or promotions are not available outside the U.S. Visit your local Apple site or call your local authorized Apple reseller for more information. Prices are estimated retail prices and are listed in U.S. dollars. Product specifications are subject to change.