The Mac User Group (MUG) Center leads off this week’s round of user group news with editor Chuck Joiner’s latest User Group Report. Available as a downloadable MP3 file or in streaming QuickTime, this week’s edition features interviews with South Florida Final Cut Pro Users Group member Orlando Luna, who talks about the In House Film Festival and other things DV-related; journalist and user group advocate Dennis Sellers, who discusses his new Web site, Macsimum Perspective; CodeTek Studios employee Bill Goldstein, who tells Joiner about his company’s support of user groups and an upcoming rebate program; David Roemer of Ideas United, which is sponsoring iMovieFests and other Mac-related events at colleges and universities in Georgia; and O’Reilly’s Marsee Henon, who offers a glimpse into the publisher’s upcoming Mac User Group Day on April 24.
The MUG Center also offers information about the winners of Western University MUG’s iMovieFest, outlines information about the extended period for MUG members to get discounts to attend the MacDesign Conference & Expo in Chicago in June and explains how the TarHeel MUG at the University of North Carolina created a digital media competition called MiLife, which features all of the iLife ’04 applications, instead of just one.
In other MUG news, the Houston Area Apple Users Group (HAAUG) MacFest to be held on Saturday, May 1 will feature Mac author Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus and Your Mac Life co-host Shawn King offering instructional sessions on Mac OS X v.10.3 “Panther,” Microsoft’s Office suite, the iPod, Adobe Photoshop, and more. Admission to the event is US$25 pre-paid or $35 at the door for members and $35 pre-paid and $45 at the door for non-members. More information is available on the HAAUG Web site.
Digital video is a hot topic at many user group meetings, and Portland Mac Filmmakers’ April meeting will feature a demonstration showing how to use Apple’s LiveType software with Final Cut Pro 4 to “bring film titling to a new level,” according to Shane Spiess, president of the MacForce theater where the event will be held. There’s no charge to attend the April 26 session. Check out the Portland Mac Filmmakers Web site for more information.
If you’d rather meet a global representation of Final Cut Pro users, you can’t go wrong with the event happening at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas on April 21, during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show. Apple representatives, as well as Final Cut Pro user group representatives, will be on hand to demonstrate what’s new in Final Cut Pro 4. In addition, editor Eric Jessen will be on hand to explain how he edited the upcoming movie “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” with the application. More information can be found at the Web site for the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group, which is sponsoring the event.