The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com/media/feedlogo.gif The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com en-us Copyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Found Footage: Managing Active Directory with Workgroup Managerhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/found-footage-managing-windows-accounts-with-workgroup-manager/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/found-footage-managing-windows-accounts-with-workgroup-manager/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/found-footage-managing-windows-accounts-with-workgroup-manager/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Years ago, Macs didn't even acknowledge the presence of Windows networks, which made those LAN wine-and-cheese parties pretty awkward. Now, however, OS X machines are exemplary network citizens, and apparently can even manage Windows workstations under the right circumstances.

TidBITS linked to a roundtable discussion at Cornell University, where Philip Halcomb, of Cornell's Mann Library ITS staff, demonstrated managing user accounts in Active Directory. Now, this wouldn't be very exciting, except for the fact that he was using Mac OS X Workgroup Manager to do it. Sweet.

Phil's part starts at about 7:30. It's a long QuickTime video, too -- almost an hour -- but for IT folks, especially in an education environment, the roundtable series is a must-see.

(Thanks, MHA, for Phillip's name!)

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]]>cornelleducationenterpriseitrobert-palmertidbitsRobert Palmer2008-05-08T15:30:00+00:00Itching to learn Esperanto?http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/07/itching-to-learn-esperanto/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/07/itching-to-learn-esperanto/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/07/itching-to-learn-esperanto/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Hot for Hindi? Up for learning Uyghur? Wild about Welsh? LifeClever tipped us off to the fact that there are 926 free language training podcasts currently available in the iTunes Store. A quick glance at the available podcasts shows that you can learn 39 languages from Arabic to Yiddish with the help of your iPod or iPhone.

To find this treasure trove of linguistic goodness, launch iTunes, pop into the iTunes Store, click on the Browse link, and navigate to Podcasts > Education > Language Courses.

What am I going to learn on my summer vacation? I'm waffling between Sexy Spanish and Latinum. This is a great way to get your kids to learn a language and keep them occupied during that long, hot road trip to Wally World this summer.

Thanks, Tipster Chanpory!
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]]>freelanguagepodcastSteven Sande2008-05-07T19:30:00+00:00Phun 3.5http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/06/phun-3-5/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/06/phun-3-5/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/06/phun-3-5/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

For (let's say) "phans" of Crayon Physics, Phun 3.5 is a similar kind of physics simulator created by Emil Ernerfeldt for his thesis at Umeå University, Sweden. Not only is it Swedish, but it's just been released for the Mac.

Sure, it's rough-around-the-edges, and it follows pretty much none of the Mac's interface or key-combination conventions, but it's sure a fun (with an F) toy. Phun is Universal Binary, and freeware.
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]]>educationfreewarephunphysicsrobert-palmerRobert Palmer2008-05-06T17:30:00+00:00NYC Dept. of Education suspends Mac orders pending wireless issue fixhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/18/nyc-dept-of-education-suspends-mac-orders-pending-wireless-issu/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/18/nyc-dept-of-education-suspends-mac-orders-pending-wireless-issu/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/18/nyc-dept-of-education-suspends-mac-orders-pending-wireless-issu/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Apple Insider is reporting that the New York City Department of Education has put all shipments of Macs to schools on complete hold while they're apparently waiting for Apple to fix a Wifi connectivity issue with OS X (which should be fixed with the 10.5.3 update). And Apple is apparently scrambling to get it worked out -- they've sent an apologetic email to faculty and have asked schools to try and separate any orders of computers that won't need wireless (that will use a regular ethernet hookup) to ship now.

Unfortunately, there's no hint of exactly how many Macs we're talking about here, but if this is a substantial number of computers, and word gets out causing other organizations to delay shipments as well, Apple will feel more and more pressure to get the problem fixed ASAP. Bad news for the kids who want Macs in New York City (that's the DoE's seal on the right, in case you didn't recognize it), but good news for anyone else having this problem -- Apple's working hard on a fix.

Thanks, Rich!
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]]>10-5-210-5-3appleapple-insiderbugfixesdepartment-of-educationdoeissuekidsmacsschoolswirelessMike Schramm2008-04-18T13:30:00+00:00PBS videos for educators hit iTunes Uhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/14/pbs-videos-for-educators-hit-itunes-u/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/14/pbs-videos-for-educators-hit-itunes-u/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/14/pbs-videos-for-educators-hit-itunes-u/#commentsFiled under: ,

The ongoing expansion of edu-world content in iTunes continues with Friday's addition of PBS to iTunes U (direct link); teaching support videos and instructional content from KQED, WETA, WNET thirteen, WGBH and more. Video clips that illustrate science, geography or history (including segments from Ken Burns' documentary The War) are accompanied by PDF lesson plans and educator's guides -- awful handy!

While all the iTunes U PBS content is free to download and use, the PBS shows already on iTunes remain for-pay. Too bad -- I suppose I'll have to pay $4.99 a show if I'm going to grab some NOVA episodes and settle in.

[via Apple Hot News]
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]]>itunesitunes uItunesUpbsMichael Rose2008-04-14T14:00:00+00:00Icon master launches Icon Resourcehttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/02/icon-master-launches-icon-resource/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/02/icon-master-launches-icon-resource/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/02/icon-master-launches-icon-resource/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Although I am certainly not a designer, I love and appreciate good iconography, typography, and other graphical elements. The beauty of the OS is just one of many factors that pushed me over the edge to embracing life as a full-time OS X user in the first place.

That said, the process of actually creating my own icons has always struck me as arduous and overwhelming. I'm actually pretty good at Photoshop, but I can't draw a straight line to save my life and that has always scared me off from investigating any further into icon creation.

That's why I'm so excited about the new project from icon designer extraordinaire, Sebastiaan de With. Icon Resource is a new site/service that features high quality screencasts that teach the and explain how to create modern icons using Photoshop. According to Sebastiaan, the screencasts aren't aimed at designers, but instead "intermediate computer users," which makes it perfect for someone like myself.

For € 95 (about $150 USD), users can get a complete IconResource pack that contains screencasts covering not only the history of icon design and icon standards and guidelines, but the entire icon creation process from beginning to end. The screencasts are available in HD or in iPhone/iPod size for portable watching. Additionally, Photoshop files for each tutorial are included and Sebastian offers written documentation as well.

The price point might be a turnoff to some users, but the price is actually on-par with what I have paid for tutorials/books for other design/graphic oriented topics in the past. Sebastiaan has a preview video available on his site, so if you are interested in icon design, check it out!
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]]>icon resourceIconResourceiconssebastian de withSebastianDeWithChristina Warren2008-04-02T12:30:00+00:00Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me buy a Mac Prohttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/28/dear-aunt-tuaw-help-me-buy-a-mac-pro/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/28/dear-aunt-tuaw-help-me-buy-a-mac-pro/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/28/dear-aunt-tuaw-help-me-buy-a-mac-pro/#commentsFiled under: ,

It's not often that we get to do an advice column here, but let's see how this goes. An email arrived at the office just the other day...

Dear Aunt TUAW,

I work in the engineering college of a large private university, where I manage 6 Mac-based labs. I just tried to order myself a brand new Mac Pro to replacing my aging PowerMac G5 and was told by my dean that the college would no longer be buying Macs because they had absolutely no place in the engineering industry. He said that from this point forward, the college "would only be buying Windows computers, period!"

I know that he is wrong and that there are engineers that use Macs professionally and I can give a few examples to support that. If I am going to win this argument I'm going to need a lot of proof.

Signed,

Mac-lorn Admin


Dear Mac-lorn Admin,

Darling, didn't you realize the Mac Pro is a Windows machine, and a darned speedy one? Last time I checked, Boot Camp + Mac Pro = a Windows dream! The adult in us loves the reliability and UNIX backbone, but the kid in us loves the GUI and tasty frosting! Having a single machine that can do double or triple duty with Mac apps, BSD/Linux engineering power and Windows compatibility would be the envy of any right-minded academician.

Still, we know that logic isn't going to sway that mean ole dean of yours. TUAW readers, can you help Mac-lorn? Leave us your testimonials about using Macs in your professional lives -- particularly in engineering or in higher ed -- in the comments.

Love,

Auntie T.

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]]>Administridiotsboot campBootCampeducationmac proMacProtweet-thisErica Sadun2008-03-28T09:00:00+00:00Xserve disappears from Apple's Education storeshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/21/xserve-disappears-from-apples-education-stores/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/21/xserve-disappears-from-apples-education-stores/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/21/xserve-disappears-from-apples-education-stores/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Tuesday's launch of Xsan 2 coincided with the discontinuation of Apple's Xserve RAID Enterprise storage system. For shopper's at the Apple Store for Education, it appears that the Xserve in general has been completely removed as well. Although refurbished Xserve servers still come up under a search (as do Xserve parts and accessories), the product page for Xserve is conspicuously missing.

Take a look at these screen shots, one is from the regular Apple Store, the other is from Apple Store for Education:



Where art thou, Xserve?

We're not sure if this was just a simple oversight or a sign of trends to come. It's possible Apple wasn't seeing the sales for the Xserve product at the Education store to warrant whatever hardware discount they might have offered. I also think it's possible that schools interested in getting an Xserve setup from Apple could probably do better the direct sales route, as opposed to using the web-based one-stop shop.

Whatever the reason, it is a bizarre exclusion -- and the first time I can recall an entire product being removed from one of Apple's pre-labeled storefronts.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
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]]>apple storeapple store for educationAppleStoreAppleStoreForEducationweirdnessxserveChristina Warren2008-02-21T18:00:00+00:00Macworld video: TUAW looks at Microsoft Office 2008http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/24/macworld-video-tuaw-looks-at-microsoft-office-2008/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/24/macworld-video-tuaw-looks-at-microsoft-office-2008/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/24/macworld-video-tuaw-looks-at-microsoft-office-2008/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



If you do any work in Office you've probably been waiting for the latest update for a couple of years now. Especially if you're on an Intel machine or have struggled with Entourage's funky interface (or is that just me?). Last week Microsoft released Office 2008 for the Mac, and it's a doozy of an update. Being a universal binary is really the least of the changes. This is a complete overhaul, with a ton of UI changes and workflow improvements. Amanda Lefebvre takes us on a whirlwind tour of some new features, and explains the difference between the three different editions of Office.
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]]>macbumacworld08microsoftmicrosoft-office-2008officeoffice-2008office08tweet-thisVictor Agreda, Jr.2008-01-24T13:00:00+00:00Show floor video: Raybook study guides on your iPodhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/23/show-floor-video-raybook-study-guides-on-your-ipod/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/23/show-floor-video-raybook-study-guides-on-your-ipod/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/23/show-floor-video-raybook-study-guides-on-your-ipod/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Raybook licenses Cliff's Notes, Netter's Anatomy and other flash card and quick-learning properties, squeezes them down to miniature size, and crams them into iPods. Perhaps that is an oversimplification, but so is the Cliff's Notes version of 'War and Peace.' While a lot of "study guides" on the iPod use the Notes features, basically a stack of linked text files, Raybook uses the photos feature in your iPod to create some rather stunning flash cards. Check out Scott's interview after the jump to see them in action.

Continue reading Show floor video: Raybook study guides on your iPod

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]]>cliff's-noteseducationflash-cardsipodnetter'sraybookVictor Agreda, Jr.2008-01-23T11:00:00+00:00Guitar Wizard coming for Machttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/09/guitar-wizard-coming-for-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/09/guitar-wizard-coming-for-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/09/guitar-wizard-coming-for-mac/#commentsFiled under: , ,


The guys and gals over at our sister blog Engadget were keeping busy at the recent CES and have turned up some interesting products with a Mac angle. In the video above they're checking out a new music instruction software package called Guitar Wizard which works a lot like the Guitar Hero game (our coverage). The key difference is that Guitar Wizard uses a real guitar and actually teaches you something about playing. The kit consists of the software and a midi pickup which can be attached to your own guitar for $150, or you can get a kit that includes a guitar as well for $300. New songs will be downloadable at 99 cents each.
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]]>educationedutainmentengadgetgameguitarGuitar HeroGuitar WizardGuitar-HeroGuitar-WizardGuitarHeroGuitarWizardjoystiqlearningmusic-educationMat Lu2008-01-09T12:45:00+00:00Mini-review of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Editionhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/mini-review-of-mac-os-x-the-missing-manual-leopard-edition/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/mini-review-of-mac-os-x-the-missing-manual-leopard-edition/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/02/mini-review-of-mac-os-x-the-missing-manual-leopard-edition/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Mac OS X : The Missing ManualIf you're trying to figure out what to buy yourself with the gift card you got this holiday season, let me recommend David Pogue's Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition. I was fortunate to get a copy of it for Christmas this year (thanks, sweetie!) and it's 866 pages of sweet, Leopard-y goodness.

The book is divided into six sections that cover just about every conceivable thing you could ever want to know about the OS. It takes a look at how to maneuver around the desktop, how to use the native apps to their fullest potential, what to do with once your online with your Mac, and everything in between.

If you already know your way around OS X, this manual is a terrific reference tool for looking up obscure things you don't do very often, like tweaking onscreen colors to mimic a Windows PC monitor. At the other end of the spectrum, if you're a switcher there are roughly seven trazillion tips and tricks to help you learn how to get the most out of your new operating system.

Pogue's writing style is upbeat, easy to understand, and sometimes downright hilarious. The book is well laid-out and progresses fairly intuitively, although the editor seems to have gone a little crazy with the headings, sub-headings, and sub-sub-headings on many of the pages. Also, while I'm sure Pogue touches on all 300 of Leopard's new features, it's not always immediately clear which features he's describing are different from the previous version, Tiger.

Despite these minor shortcomings, I love this book and think it's a great addition to any Mac users bookshelf. This manual is one you don't want to miss.
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]]>bookmanualmissingmissing manualoreillypoguereviewLisa Hoover2008-01-02T14:30:00+00:00Apple customizing MacBooks for K-12?http://www.tuaw.com/2007/11/09/apple-customizing-macbooks-for-k-12/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/11/09/apple-customizing-macbooks-for-k-12/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/11/09/apple-customizing-macbooks-for-k-12/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Here's an interesting little tidbit. Apparently Apple has just landed large contracts to supply MacBooks to local school districts in Kansas City and southwest Louisiana. What's interesting though is that Apple is apparently customizing these MacBooks to meet various security requirements of the districts. The Kansas City Star notes that each of the computers has a sticker "clearly identifying them as the property of the Kansas City, Kan., public schools... [which] will not come off without virtually destroying the laptop." Furthermore, each computer will apparently have a GPS tracker and even "a remote device to destroy the hard drive" if stolen. One wonders whether Apple might eventually make these sort of security features available to the general public.

Update: Re-reading the article, It's not clear whether the modifications are being doing by Apple or by some third-party after purchase.

[via MacVolPlace]
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]]>educationK-12MacbookMat Lu2007-11-09T13:30:00+00:00ChipWits lives onhttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/12/chipwits-lives-on/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/12/chipwits-lives-on/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/12/chipwits-lives-on/#commentsFiled under: ,

Back in the days when Apple pretty much owned the educational market, the Mac was new and Oregon Trail was the pinnacle of edutainment, there existed a little program called ChipWits. I played on my Laser 128, but there were versions for the Commodore 64 and Macintosh. Now some 20-odd years later ChipWits makes a triumphant return as an Adobe AIR app, so you can get your robot on with a Windows machine or a Mac (and hopefully Linux someday).

ChipWits is a programmable robot game. You build and program your little robot dude to travel through various environments (called rooms). Each one has specific rewards and risks, which makes programming the robot guy interesting. That may sound dry as toast, but your robot eats pie and drinks coffee. He can see, smell and touch. He can zap bugs but isn't too happy with bombs. The bit of whimsy thrown in with the robot-building makes for a really enjoyable game. Plus, it's surprising how fun debugging your robot can be.

The big improvement in what the authors are calling ChipWits II is that you can now create your own missions. If something like Desktop Tower Defense is your bag, the Mission Editor will appeal to you. Currently you can try ChipWits 15 times and buy it for $14.95. The release price will be $19.95, and the authors are donating 10% of their profits to 3 non-profit organizations.
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]]>adobe-airchipwitsclassic-mac-gameeducation-gameeducational-gameedutainmentgamegamingibolmac-gamingprogrammingrobotVictor Agreda, Jr.2007-10-12T13:30:00+00:00Student Mac ownership at Cornell more than tripled over 5 yearshttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/06/student-mac-ownership-at-cornell-more-than-tripled-over-5-years/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/06/student-mac-ownership-at-cornell-more-than-tripled-over-5-years/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/06/student-mac-ownership-at-cornell-more-than-tripled-over-5-years/#commentsFiled under:

It may have slipped past last month, but Daring Fireball reminded us of September's TidBITS article about the student computing profile at Cornell University. Since 1999, Cornell has required students to report their OS when signing up for Ethernet connectivity in campus housing; prior to '99 the reporting was voluntary. Back in the early 1990s, Mac-using students made up more than a third of the self-announced connected population, but by 2000, after the start of mandatory registration, that number had dropped to only five percent of the base.

Times, as they say, have changed. 2007 stats show that 21 percent of the attached student computers are running Mac OS X, a dramatic increase over the past few years. This isn't necessarily a surprise, but it's still nice to see. It also aligns with reports noted by MacRumors yesterday which show dramatic share gains for the platform at other schools, including Princeton (60 percent of on-campus sales this year are Macs), UVA (home of the "BigMac" massively parallel XServe installation oops, that's Virginia Tech, not UVA!) and many more. I guess the old adage is true: when you've got them by the iPods, their hearts and minds will follow.
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]]>cornellcornell-maccornell-osxMichael Rose2007-10-06T13:00:00+00:00Jisho: Japanese to English translator for the Machttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/18/jisho-japanese-to-english-translator-for-the-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/18/jisho-japanese-to-english-translator-for-the-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/18/jisho-japanese-to-english-translator-for-the-mac/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

I've watched as much anime as the next guy, but even I need a Japanese dictionary to figure out what those crazy robots are saying sometimes. Enter Jisho, a Japanese/English dictionary for Mac OS X 10.4 and higher. You can search in the Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana forms of Japanese, and also in English, German, Russian, and French, and it will translate not only the Japanese characters out for you (in a bright, clean interface), but the Romanization as well.

And the latest version features a completely rewritten Romanization engine, as well as Kanji "zooming" and more OS X integration. If you ever need to regularly go from English to Japanese (or back again), Jisho's got what you need-- it's just $15 from Sugoisoft. And maybe you'll pick up enough to actually learn the language.
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]]>animedictionaryenglishjapanesejishokanjilanguageos xOsXtranslationMike Schramm2007-09-18T14:00:00+00:00School days: Mellel & Scrivenerhttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/05/school-days-mellel-and-scrivener/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/05/school-days-mellel-and-scrivener/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/05/school-days-mellel-and-scrivener/#commentsFiled under: ,


It's that time of year again, academicians. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be highlighting products, tools and techniques to help students and teachers launch into the school year with style and ease. We pointed out Planbook last week, which should make lots of lesson planners happy; I'm going to cheer the hearts of language students with the news of an update to Mellel, the polyglot word processor for Mac, and also point to Scrivener, a powerful project management environment for writers in academic and creative settings.

As Mat mentioned back in March, Mellel is a word processor that keeps the needs of academic writers clearly in focus. First off, it's got the best language support I've ever seen, including full right-to-left script support; it even lets you write in Syriac, which makes my friend Adam extremely happy (he's a scholar of the medieval church, and apparently the correspondence of the day was generally carried out in Syriac -- nobody speaks it today). It's also got powerful style sheet and footnote/endnote tools rolled in, and last week's update to version 2.2.7 enhanced its outlining support with the addition of OPML import and export. At $35 for student licenses ($49 for general use) it's a steal.

A comment on Mat's post suggested Scrivener, which David also noted in February. While it's not a 'final format' word processor, it does provide something special: a complete idea management and organizational environment for writing, including a 'virtual corkboard' for gathering your ideas and a solid research bin for collecting source materials. The program suits those with a more improvisational or bouncy writing style, as you can quickly reorder your work from the corkboard or outline and keep revising the parts that still need more effort. For lightly-formatted writing, you can go straight from Scrivener; for more highly-styled work, the program serves as a nice front end for other tools like Mellel, Final Draft or Word. Like the student edition of Mellel, Scrivener is $35; both programs have demo versions available.
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]]>back to schoolback-to-schoolBackToSchoolmellelword processingWordProcessingMichael Rose2007-09-05T10:00:00+00:00Planbook: Lesson planning for teachers, Mac stylehttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/30/planbook-lesson-planning-for-teachers-mac-style/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/30/planbook-lesson-planning-for-teachers-mac-style/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/30/planbook-lesson-planning-for-teachers-mac-style/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



In an education world where parents make all the decisions and administration knows less about teaching than the students, teachers can use all the help they get. While I wait for Assistants R Us to open in the Denver area so I can take some of the burden off my wife's high school English-teaching shoulders, educators of all kinds might be able to take some solace in Planbook from Hellmansoft. Designed and developed by Jeff Hellman, a 9th grade physics and science teacher, Planbook aims to do away with the clunky ways of writing lesson plans with paper by providing tools to plan, attach files, print, publish and search the digital way. Teachers can plan out lessons for one or multiple classes for the week, month or year, attach files the students will need for homework and publish it all to the web via FTP or to a local folder. Students, parents and administrators alike can then view the site, the daily lessons and download the files at their leisure. Still need paper versions? No sweat - Planbook can print out customized reports for students and administrators, great for handing out or posting in class.

Since I am the farthest thing from a teacher, my wife graciously offered to give this software a whirl and share her thoughts. To be honest, after a minute or two of poking around, she was absolutely thrilled. She was impressed with Planbook's feature set and how easy it was to start writing plans for multiple classes. She loved the publish-to-web idea since her school already provides some digital records for parents to check from home, but I am sad to report that there was one killer deal-breaker that took the bounce out of my wife's step - Planbook is Mac-only. Now my wife is a Mac user through and through, but her school lives in the Windows world making Planbook ineligible for consideration.

[Update: Jeff Hellman stopped by to comment that he's one step ahead of me; he actually is working on a Windows version and hopes to enter beta this weekend. This could certainly boost Planbook's appeal in Windows and mixed-OS environment and for teachers who live on both sides of that fence between the home and office.]

If you or your teaching friends are fortunate enough to work on the Mac side at school, I (via my wife) definitely recommend you take a look at Planbook. Even as a 1.0 product it sounds like Hellman has hit most of the large nails right on the head, and more interest and support can only make a good product get better over time. Check out the Planbook site for more information, including an example published Planbook, as well as IM support and a Yahoo! Groups link. Individual licenses are $30, while volume licenses begins at up to 10 teachers for $100, going all the way up to 65+ teachers for $300. As a bonus, the volume license allows teachers to use Planbook on both their home and work computers.
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]]>administrationeducationhigh schoolHighSchoolPlanbookteachersteachingwebDavid Chartier2007-08-30T13:30:00+00:00Software bundle offered for school-bound Mac usershttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/24/software-bundle-offered-for-school-bound-mac-users/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/24/software-bundle-offered-for-school-bound-mac-users/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/24/software-bundle-offered-for-school-bound-mac-users/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

If you're on your way back to school this year, or you know someone who is, a new MacToSchool software bundle could save you some cash. Featuring twelve apps ranging in appeal and actual usefulness, this bundle offers $300 worth of software for $49.95. Included in the MacToSchool package are apps like Clockwork, a simple desktop timer, WriteRoom, the popular full-screen text editor that helps you focus on your writing, a family history app, a calendar-based financial planner and more. Pencils Down - a test building app for teachers - is even included, making this package appealing to the other side of the education fence that, as the husband of a high school English teacher can attest to, often doesn't get the attention and discounts it deserves.

The typical price you would have to pay for even a few of these apps could easily add up to $50, so this could certainly be a valuable package. Each app at the MacToSchool.org site has a simple description page and a demo download so you can try everything before you buy, and there are also links to the orignal app developers' sites in case you need more info. Interestingly, this bundle was organized by the developers themselves in an effort to help spread the word about the utility of 3rd party software and to do something good for the education community.

The press release we received says 'limited time only' but makes no mention of when the deal will end, so my advice would be to act sooner rather than later if you're interested.
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]]>clockworkmacmac to schoolMacToSchoolmoros xOsXsoftwarewriteroomDavid Chartier2007-08-24T09:00:00+00:00Lab admin's secret weapon: Tips & Tricks for Mac Managementhttp://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/03/lab-admins-secret-weapon-tips-and-tricks-for-mac-management/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/03/lab-admins-secret-weapon-tips-and-tricks-for-mac-management/http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/03/lab-admins-secret-weapon-tips-and-tricks-for-mac-management/#commentsFiled under: , ,

If you're the person responsible for Mac support in a big, cross-platform shop, it can sometimes feel like you're alone in the Windows wilderness. Established communities like AFP548.com (port 548 is reserved for the AppleShare Filing Protocol, hence the name) and MacEnterprise.org are critical resources for anyone who rides herd on a pride of Macs in a business or educational environment.

Hidden away among the postings and troubleshooting info are some true gems, including Apple engineer John DeTroye's "Tips and Tricks for Mac Management" PDF handbook. If you're trying to do anything with Workgroup Manager, you need this concise 116-page document, and you need it now.

JohnD's guide for workgroup and preference management -- particularly for implementing Portable Home Folders, where user data is cached and synchronized to a fileserver -- is so vital, it's linked from Apple's knowledge base article on Mac Manager. Along with Mike Bombich's deployment tips page and AFP548's AD/OD integration guide, it needs to be in the virtual library of every Mac manager. You can download the current version of the Tips and Tricks PDF here.
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]]>educationenterprisephdportable home foldersPortableHomeFoldersworkgroup managerWorkgroupManagerMichael Rose2007-08-03T11:00:00+00:00