It’s a mixed bag this month. We’ll take a look at FileMaker’s new personal database product – Bento. The program is still in demo form. The finished product is due for release in January but we’ll still be able to get a feel for the style and substance of the product.  Feel free to contribute your own impressions.

MacWorld happens the week following our meeting so we’ll engage in some wild speculation regarding the contents of Steve Jobs’ magic hat. What will he pull out?

The Macintosh Mystery Hour preceeds the meeting, as usual. Bring your questions. Bring your answers. Bring a friend!

Please check out the story below regarding a theft of computer equipment.

A former EMUG member suffered a theft recently:

On December 20 my home in Fall Creek was broken into while I was out of the country and my house sitter was gone for a few hours.

The thieves took my 2 year old iMac G5 (serial # W86100DZTAU). It ran system 10.4.9 (or 10?) and also had Classic with 9.2. I think it had a 250GB hard drive. The really bad news is they also stole my backup hard drive (silver LaCie 160GB) with a complete current backup including many years of digital photos. They also took my husband’s old PowerPC G4 with system 9.2 (I haven’t turned up a serial # yet). I’m scrambling to go through old files that I’d put on CD and zip, but we need to get a new zip drive (old SCSI one was stolen) and a computer that can read system 9 (old Quark files that I need to convert to In Design—again).

If anyone sees a suspicious computer for sale (no box etc) or has any good ideas as to how to locate one (the cops are too busy to help) we’d appreciate being contacted. Also I’m having trouble getting a hold of an old computer capable of using Quark 5, do you know of any old Mac to rent, borrow, buy whatever?

Thanks so much, Tanya Harvey 937-1401

If you have any information on this theft or a machine that can be used to help them recover their files, use the Contact tab at the top of this page. I’ll pass the info along.

The folks from The Mac Store will bring a selection of wonderful, weird, wild and wacky Macintosh and iPod related goodies. You may see things you haven’t seen before. You may see something in a completely different light. We’ll do our best to tickle you fancy and stimulate your imagination. This will be a relaxed, easygoing evening. Enjoy!

As always, the Macintosh Mystery Hour precedes the main meeting. Bring your questions. Bring your answers. Bring a friend!

Within one week of its release,  Apple sold 2 million copies of Leopard. This is the best response – ever – to an Apple OS release.

This month we emphasize those discoveries within Mac OS 10.5 Leopard that were not discussed in October because of  Non-Disclosure Agreements. We’ll also revisit the minimum system requirements and best practices for upgrading your Mac to Leopard.

Bring your questions. Bring your answers. Bring a friend!

We’ll do an overview of Mac OS 10.5 “Leopard” which is due for release in October. The new cat on the block is full of improvements and interesting goodies. These range from basic improvements to the operating system, to new ways to organize and access your files, to souped-up versions of the included applications. We’ll cover as much as we can in the time available.

See the Sidebar for date and time. Don’t forget the Macintosh Mystery Hour starting at 6:30. Bring your questions. Bring your answers. Bring a friend!

Apple announced the release of iLife 08, iWork 08 and new iMac models on August 7th. We’ll take a first look at the improvements to iLife – particularly the completely new iMovie application. We’ll also look at Numbers, the new spreadsheet component of iWork. This will be a collaborative effort. We welcome your input.

Jeff Scoble from The Mac Store will also show the new iMac. We’ll also look at the changes Dmitri Von Klein has implemented on this web site.

Bring your questions. Bring your answers. Bring a friend!

This month well just relax and have a picnic. This meeting is open to members and their families and significant others. Members can also bring friends. We’ll light the grill at 5:30.

The place is Charnel Mulligan Park at 17th & Charnelton. That’s 2 blocks west of the Veterans’ Building where we normally meet. It’s a beautiful urban park with shaded eating space and lots of space for the kids to play. There’s a small market (Cornucopia) down the street if you forget anything and Safeway is 3 blocks away if you REALLY forget something.

EMUG will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, buns, condiments, soda and paper plates. Bring side dishes, chips or salad. Bring your own cutlery (We’ll have some spares available).

Bring a friend and bring a smile!

This month we’re switching away from our planned topic – resurrecting those photos you thought were too bad for display. We’ll come back to that in the near future. The iPhone is the focus everywhere else so why not here?

Yup. We were going to play it safe and let the hype pass. We would then take a measured, cautious look at the iPhone in a couple of months. We would wait to see if, and how it changed the industry and the world. EMUG – the soul of caution and responsible action.

We ran out of saliva.

We have a representative of AT&T coming to show off the iPhone and talk about the device and the services it provides. We’ll have iPhones for you to touch (fondle, fawn over, ogle, caress, [insert your pet hyperbole here]) and experiment with. We plan to have a good time messing about with the iPhone!

Even mister, “I’m just not a phone person.”, Dick Lennox, our Apple Ambassador, has fallen to the siren song of the iPhone. Words can not express my surprise!

The Macintosh Mystery Hour precedes the main meeting. See the sidebar for details. As always… Bring your questions. Bring your answers. Bring a friend!

This month we’ll take a look at Aperture. This is Apple’s all-in-one post-production tool for managing and adjusting professional photos. Derek Dickerson has an Apple training video that we’ll use to get the juices flowing. You’ll probably pick up some knowledge that will help you even if you “only” use iPhoto! Bring your questions. Bring your answers. Bring a friend!