Chuck Joiner has updated The Macintosh User Group (MUG) Center Web site with his latest User Group Report, which features Mariner Software’s Michael Wray, who talks about the company’s latest release, MacJournal; Campus MovieFest’s David Roemer, who updates listeners on the company’s student movie making venture; and East Bay Technologies’ Craig Stadler, who covers the company’s iTube and iWire Broadcast software. As always, the User Group Report is available as a QuickTime stream, a Podcast or an MP3 file.
Many companies interact with user groups on a regular basis and four of them announced their latest news on The MUG Center this past week. KeynoteUser.com is now offering all user group members 10 percent off its Keynote themes while Microsoft appointed a new MUG liaison, Courtney Keppler, and Abracode will give free licenses for its MailTemplate and EntourageTemplate products to all MUG leaders and officers. In addition, iPod911.com is now offering replacement batteries for all 1G, 2G and 3G iPods and iPods mini for $22.95, with free shipping, to all MUG members. It’s a limited-time deal, however.
Joiner has also posted his latest MUG Center survey question: “How much is your group’s annual liability insurance bill?” Last week, he asked how readers which Apple User Group resources they utilize. The Apple User Group Bulletin was the most popular, with 90 percent of the respondents acknowledging that their groups use it, while contact with an Apple user group liaison was least popular, with five percent of respondents taking advantage of it. You can read the rest of the results on the MUG Center.
Finally, Joiner recently noted the untimely passing of Dean Collins, a Software Cinema employee who was known for offering much help to MUGs. He participated in the last two User Group Universities at Macworld Conference & Expo San Francisco and often provided training DVDs for MUGs to use in meetings. He was 51 years old when he succumbed to cancer on Feb. 2.
Normally, the week’s MUG meetings start with Tuesday, but this round-up is a day late because MacCentral wasn’t publishing regular news on Monday. We apologize for the tardiness but thought we should start with the meetings happening on Feb. 22 anyway, just so those groups receive their share of exposure to readers who may be looking for a MUG to join.
With that said, Feb. 22 features the U.K.’s Midlands MUG and an evening of “I Love My Mac,” as well as a BBC tour; Hawaii MUG’s coverage of Adobe Acrobat 7; San Luis Obispo MUG’s look at XML; Denver Final Cut Pro Users Group’s examination of the Sony HDV 3-Chip camera; San Gabriel Valley MUG’s “X11 — The Other GUI”; and Mac Business Users Society of Philadelphia’s “AppleScripting the iApps and Other Applications.”
On Wednesday, Gold Coast MUG welcomes dealmac’s Dan de Grandpre; East Carolina MUG features presentations on iLife ’05, iWork ’05 and the iPod shuffle; Portland Mac Filmmakers hosts a roundtable discussion on high-definition digital video; Canada’s Macintosh Users East welcomes MicroImage Plus’ Janet Barlow; and Los Angeles Final Cut Pro Users Group holds an HDV night.
On Thursday, CompUSA hosts the MUG event we told you about last week; West Pasco MUG brings in Tropical Software’s James Lee; Champions of the Mac Proletariat demos iLife ’05; Central Victorian MUG shows off MusicPad; Shreveport MUG discusses home networking; and Seattle Xcoders looks at Apple Widgets.
There’s nothing on tap for Friday, but on Saturday, Northeast Ohio Apple Corps welcomes Pixar’s Lee Unkrich; Washington Apple PI looks at open source software; and Connecticut Macintosh Connection presents “Keep Your Mac Running in Tip-Top Shape.” Sunday is a free day too.
Finally, on Monday, Upper Cumberland MUG demos iWork ’05 and iLife ’05 and Ohio’s North Coast MUG presents “Hints & Tips for Photoshop and Elements.”
Macintosh User Groups interested in seeing their events listed on MacCentral are welcome to send us their news. We post roundups of MUG events and gatherings each week.
If you’re wondering what user group events are happening in your area, visit the MUG Center’s online calendar. Apple also hosts a user group site where you can look for a MUG near you or find out how to start your own group.