October Newletter

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SNUG News..............snugdate1:1:10:17:94

        The Stanford Newton User Group [SNUG] met on 
Tuesday, September 27th 1994 and held an election for new 
officers. After a eloquent speech by Aleksandr (Zander) 
Milewski "It seems, apparently, that I've been elected", he 
was immediately sworn in as new president. Outgoing SNUG 
president 1993, Glen Raphael, is stepping down but retaining 
the title "DICTATOR FOR LIFE". Glen got a job at apple and 
decided not to seek office in snug's second year due to a 
potential conflict of interest. Other SNUG Fanatics voluntarily 
took remaining positions. Flash Sheridan is now snug's 
MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA and Doug Luckie is now 
NEWSLETTER BOY. 
        Zander began his reign with the creation of a maillist for 
SNUG which you can subscribe to at snug-
request@tango.rahul.net and mail to at snug@tango.rahul.net. 
Flash Sheridan has started his tenure with advertisements in 
the local papers and newsgroups as well as creating a SNUG 
homepage on the world wide web at 
ftp://ftp.rahul.net/pub/flasheridn/snug. Send Flash Sheridan 
any announcements or information you'd like to have on the 
home page at FlaSheridn@rahul.net. Doug began his tenure as 
newsletter boy by showing up very late to the meeting 
[~9:45pm] and then spending much of the final 40 minutes or 
so fighting off a zealout from some anti -Apple anti -Newton 
0s/2 cult. The zealout chanted a mantra of anti'matter' about 
the newton, but wouldn't stop playing with Bill's OMP. He 
finally was quieted after being stunned by IR beams. Of the 
meeting 'goings on' that I missed, apparently Gary Phipps 
brought in some information on the new software 
handwriting recognizer "Graphitti" which would be a nice 
alternative keyboard to choose from on your Notepad status 
bar. FYI Graphitti demo discs were handed out at the October 
11th meeting by Flash Sheridan. Newton developer CDROM 
disc #4 was also handed out at the September 27th and 
October 11th meetings. Mail Flash if you need either of these 
discs.
        On Tuesday, October 11th 1994 was the most recent 
meeting of the Stanford Newton Users Group. In the first 
hour, in addition to enjoying the Cafe food and drink, we 
discussed the New PDA/PCA from Sony, the 'MagicLink'. 
Discussing a ghost didn't do it justice and fortunately, around 
8:15 pm Steve Riggins showed up with his brand new Magic 
Link and skillfully demo'ed it for us all. Its communication 
capacities and organizer software are very impressive. The 
GUI is quite interesting and may make this device marketable 
to the less sophisticated users. Steve has found this device 
much more useful than his MP100 and has become a 
'convert'. He would be even happier if its screen was larger 
and if the unit could just replace his desktop completely. The 
lack of pocket portability, simple interface, and handwriting 
recongnition will keep most of the SNUG members in 
preference of their newtons but the MessagePad would be a 
lot nicer with some of the MagicLink features. If Newton OS 
2.0 has the capacity to also do landscape mode in addition to 
portrait and some neat MagicLink like organizer and 
communicator software becomes available for the Newton I 
believe most the 'MagicLink-envy' would disappear quickly. 
For more information ask geek@bolero.rahul.net (Steve 
Riggins):

FYI    * SONY OFFERS MAGIC LINK
Sony's new Magic Link handheld personal digital assistant 
hasa base price of $995 and offers e-mail, fax, and paging
capabilities. It's the first machine to work with AT&T's
PersonaLink communications service and the first machine 
based on the General Magic's software that uses "agents" 
which search the network and follow an individual's 
instructions to perform such tasks as shopping, making airline 
reservations, etc. (New York Times 9/28/94 C1).


_____________________________________________
OLD NEWS BUT GOOD NEWS
_____________________________________________

1) NEW SCHEDULE
The Stanford Newton User's Group now meets each 2nd and 
4th TUESDAY of the month. So the next meeting is ~7:15 PM, 
October 25th, 1994.
   
2) PREVIOUS VISITORS
At the August 23rd meeting, an unexpected APPLE contingent 
included Tony Espinoza (Newton Tools), Lee DePalma 
(Developer Support), David Glickman (Evangelism), and 
Katharine Lothes. T-shirts were handed out. Rumors were 
denied or propagated. The bottom line message? The newton 
division is alive and kicking again, and they want our 
feedback.

3) Newton and MagicLink positions are available.
Apple computer is hiring again! Several newton-related 
contract job announcements have been posted to the net. Glen 
just accepted an offer and will be filling a 6-month contract 
(I'll be working on the handwriting recognition engine). But 
there are other openings, so if you're still looking for newton 
contract work (especially testing), bring a copy of your 
resume to the next meeting and I'll see that it gets to an 
appropriate person.

4) THE SNUG GRIPE WISH LIST
A Tony Espinoza suggestion: SNUG should keep a list of our 
top complaints and wishes, and pass it along now and again. 
Apple needs feedback: what concerns are important to the 
user and developer community? Glen Raphael is compiling the 
list. contact: raphael@light.stanford.edu

5) THE SNUG LIBRARY
David Glickman will see to it that SNUG gets a copy of all the 
major newton software programs released by StarCore! Which 
means we'll have good demo material for some time to come.


Next meeting:  Tuesday, October 25th, 7:00 PM.

Where:
Printer's Inc coffeehouse
310 California Ave,
Palo Alto, CA

Directions: 
>From 101, go West on Page Mill Road.
Right (North) on El Camino Real
Right on California Avenue.
Printer's Inc is on the left just past the stopsign.

Directions:
>From 280, go East on Page Mill Road.
Left (North) on El Camino Real
Right on California Avenue.
Printer's Inc is on the left just past the stopsign.

---
The Stanford Newton User's Group meets the Second and 
Fourth *Tuesday* of each month.  For questions about SNUG, 
call me at 415/424-8153. Or better yet, send email 
luckie@waldron.stanford.edu . Hope to see you there!

Douglas B. Luckie 
NewsletterBoy
Stanford Newton User's Group

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