The Macintosh User Group (MUG) Center marches on with weekly updates about the latest happenings in the world of user groups, and this week Editor-in-Chief Chuck Joiner posted interviews with some important people in the Mac world: MacCentral’s own Jim Dalrymple describes a personal offer to user groups that want to promote their events; dealmac’s Dan de Grandpre discusses the details of a user group tour he’s going to undertake; Adam Engst of TidBITS talks about the “Take Control” series of e-books; and Lyle Turner, of the Serious Macintosh Users Group, covers his group’s series of Mac OS X transition meetings. You can hear all the interviews in streaming QuickTime, or you can download them in MP3 format.
The MUG Center also announced this week that video from the Final Cut Pro User Group Network’s “FCP 4: From DV to HD” event at January’s Macworld Expo is now available online. The feature presentation was Sean Cullen, assistant editor to well-known film industry veteran Walter Murch, talking about his war stories from the making of “Cold Mountain,” which marked the first time Murch edited a film digitally.
Upcoming events listed on the MUG Center’s Web site include “Dr. Mac” Bob LeVitus’s visit to the Houston Area Apple Users Group on February 21. He’ll deliver a “State of the Macintosh” address and do a special GarageBand demo. And if you’re looking for a way to spice up your next user group meeting, the MUG Center also has details about two offerings from Apple Sales Web: an iLife ’04 demo and an iLife Quickstart course that helps presenters get across the key points about Apple’s new suite of iApps. You can learn more at the MUG Center.
Meanwhile, the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group (BOSFCPUG) would like to remind everyone that their “FCP to Avid and Back” event happens on February 17 in Comm 101 at Boston University’s College of Communications. Automatic Duck’s Wes Plate, former Industrial Light & Magic employee Alex Lindsay, and Todd Prives, from GenArts, will be on hand for Final Cut Pro-related demonstrations.
Registration for the event is free; simply sign up at the designated page on Apple’s Web site. BOSFCPUG is asking for US$5 at the door for 5 tickets for the Big Dig Raffle, which consists of t-shirts, software, books, and more. The doors open at 6:30 p.m.
If you’re interested in learning more about user groups, some of which are more general in natural and some of which cover specific applications such as Final Cut Pro, you can visit Apple’s user group page to read about them and find one near you.