Apple eNews for Education: April 2004

	The Apple Workgroup Cluster for Bioinformatics won Best of Show at Bio-IT World Conference + Expo in Boston, reports MacCentral.
	"The iPod, Apple's personal music player, is as close to 'perfect technology' as anything I've ever seen," writes Lex van den Berghe in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. "It's functionally light years ahead of its nearest competitor, beautiful in its simple and clean design, and (true to Apple) so easy to use."
	Daniel J. Hale, 44, and Matthew LaBrot, 16, are an uncle-and-nephew writing team who live about 100 miles from each other in the Dallas area. Their “Red Card” won a prestigious Agatha Award. LaBrot, who was 15 at the time, is the youngest writer ever to win the award.
	More news...

You’re now reading the final issue of the Higher Education version of Apple eNews for Education. We hope you enjoyed reading the newsletter as much as we enjoyed publishing it.

Though quite a few of you already receive Apple eNews, those who don’t will begin receiving Apple eNews after today’s issue. (Note: those who do subscribe to Apple eNews won’t receive two issues.) We think it’s a great read. Filled with news and information about Apple’s entire line of products, Apple eNews offers tips about using Mac OS X v10.3, “Panther,” features extensive coverage of Apple’s professional products—hardware and software—and points you to articles highlighting the use of Apple’s portable and desktop products in the sciences and university environments. (In fact, you can take a look at issues published earlier this year.)

Of course, if you decide Apple eNews is not for you, you can unsubscribe at any time. Thanks again.

The most affordable digital hub, eMac provides more value and performance than ever before. Offering a simple, clutter-free, all-in-one design, eMac comes with everything you need to enjoy a prolific digital lifestyle.

Packing a powerful 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 processor with Velocity Engine, eMac lets you get on the Internet fast and take full advantage of Mac OS X v10.3, "Panther"--with built-in Mail, Safari web-browsing, scheduling with iCal, contact and calendar synchronization with iSync, and instant messaging and videoconferencing with iChat AV. Feeling creative? eMac comes fully loaded with the five-star iLife lineup of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, and iDVD.

As an individual, you can order an eMac with a Combo Drive for as little as $749; or you can opt for an eMac with a SuperDrive (which lets you burn CDs and DVDs) for just $899. Educational institutions have even more options, with eMac prices starting as low as $599 on the Apple Store for Education.

Apple eNews for Education
April 2004
Volume 3, Issue 4

We hope you enjoyed reading this issue of Apple eNews for Education and hope you enjoy Apple eNews, as well.

Apple eNews for Education is a free, monthly 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.

Admit it. Ever since we introduced the Power Mac G5 computer, you’ve been waiting for the right time to build your own dream system.

Thanks to a pair of Apple promotions, that time has arrived.

Take advantage of our Brilliant Savings promo, and from now until June 26, you can save $300 (via mail-in rebate) when you purchase an Apple 23-inch Cinema HD Display at the same time you purchase any qualifying Power Mac G5 computer. (Terms apply.)

And if you purchase your Power Mac G5 from the online Apple Store, you can also save up to $630 instantly on select memory upgrades. (Terms apply.)

Big display. Lots of memory. Power Mac G5. Can you hear opportunity knocking?

When proteins “fold,” they form themselves into complex three-dimensional shapes that define the biochemical role they play in the body. However, when they fold improperly, the results can be disastrous: Alzheimers, MLS, cancer, and other diseases. So you can imagine how important it has become to solve the mystery of improper protein folding.

While researchers use computers to simulate protein folding, the computing horsepower required to simulate even one protein fold staggers the imagination.

That’s why scientists at Stanford University have turned to a distributed computing model to help with their analysis. Folding@home allows researchers to use your computer and mine to power the way to a solution for this vexing modern mystery. And thanks to software optimized for the Power Mac G5, the mystery’s beginning to unfold.

Unlike Stanford University, not every campus has experts in distributed computing available to help write software like “Folding@home.”

Then again, they may not need them. Using Xgrid, developed by Apple’s Advanced Computation Group, campuses can easily create ad-hoc computational clusters from the Power Mac computers already being used around campus.

In fact, that’s exactly what James Reynolds did at the University of Utah. Tapping into the power of the 350 Power Macs in the university’s student labs, he created a cluster that helped render frames for an animation. Best of all, Reynolds had Xgrid up-and-running in no time.”I like Xgrid so much because it is so easy,” he says.

Perfect for academic departments with tight budgets or with only occasional need to create ad-hoc clusters, Xgrid is available for download from Apple’s website.

Where did an exciting product like Xgrid originate? In Apple’s Advanced Computation Group (ACG), a dedicated team working to maximize Power Mac G4 and G5 performance in high-end scientific computing applications.

Providing algorithms, tools, technical papers and sample code, ACG works alone and with outside parties on processor-intensive computing projects. And their efforts, impressing many in the scientific community, have resulted in such applications as Xgrid, Apple/Genentech BLAST, and a series of technical papers (and sample code).

For example, visit the ACG site to read how the Apple/Genentech BLAST application provides improved accuracy and speed when performing DNA and protein sequence matching.