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January 22, 2005

New ASUMAC website is here

Welcome to the new ASUMAC website. We have been working to setup a site that can be quickly updated to make it easier to provide the latest information related to using and supporting Macintosh computers at ASU.

If you would like to contribute content or ideas to this site, please send it to asumacweb@asu.edu.

In the near future, we will be activating comment features on posted articles as well as developing some regular feature articles.

Posted by snelson at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

New Mac Cluster at LSU

LSU unveiled a new computational cluster consisting of 24 Apple Xserve G5 systems. The cluster will be used primarily for compuational arts research.

Posted by snelson at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2005

Looking for information on supporting Macs in Higher Education?

Look no further than MacEnterprise.org, formerly MacOSXlabs.org.

This site is a collaboration between several institutions and provides a wealth of experience related to supporting the Macintosh platform in the higher education environment. Of particular note, are the many tutorials, user forum and regular live and archived webcast seminars.

Posted by snelson at 07:47 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2005

Apple Ships Xsan and upgrades XServe

Apple has finally released Xsan for OS X and has also upgraded their XServe G5.

As always, educational pricing for ASU is available via the Apple Online Store and ASU Computer Store.

Posted by snelson at 08:10 AM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2005

Mac OS X security information from the NSA

The National Security Agency has published a document covering best practices for securing Mac OS X systems.

A local copy is also available.

Thanks to Michael Martin for sharing this info via MacHelp.

Posted by snelson at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

ASU Computer Security information

Information Technology provides a wealth of infomation related to secure computing at ASU.

You will find some helpful information as well as software downloads for virus protection and OpenAFS.

Posted by snelson at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2005

Official Macintosh support resources provided by ASU Information Technology

Looking for official Macintosh support resources at ASU?

This IT provided resource page is a good place to start.

Posted by snelson at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)

Review: Mac OS X Power Hound, Panther Edition

In Mac OS X Power Hound, Panther Edition Rob Griffiths of Macosxhints.com and a monthly article in Macworld magazine offers a collection of well over 600 tips and tricks covering everything from basic Mac OS X Finder tips to tricks that will help just about any Macintosh user use Terminal like a pro.

For this book, Mr. Griffiths has compiled and completely rewritten the best and most useful hints found on his very helpful website Macosxhints.com. Chapters include tips for using the Finder and Dock, iLife applications, Mail, Office, and many other common Mac OS X programs. Each chapter focuses on a particular OS X feature or application and provides several tips or tricks for getting the most out of each application. The information is provided in a very clear manner with ample screen shots and detailed step by step instruction for the reader to follow. The final 100 plus pages are devoted to Terminal and Unix tips making this a great book for both the basic and intermediate Mac user.

This book is definitely not a replacement for a more traditional Mac OS X manual but the 600 plus tips and tricks included will definitely provide every Mac user with something invaluable. While you can certainly read this book from start to finish, I found this to be somewhat overwhelming. Luckily, the book is written so that each tip or trick does not require the reader to have read previous items. In fact, I found this book most useful by just scanning the vast Table of Contents until I found an item that sparked my interest. In many ways the information in this book would be better presented as "Mac OS X Trick of the Day" calendar as long as you didn't throw each calendar page away at the end of the day.

Overall, I found a lot to like about this book and definitely recommend it to any Mac user who is ready to move beyond the basics.

Posted by snelson at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)