Falls Apple Store now open
Bigger, better than ever

Finally, after almost three months, the newly refurbished Apple Store at The Falls opened on November 10th and we don't have to cram into that tiny hole in the wall store! Significant changes in the new store design can be seen. Walls are silver/metallic. Shelves stretch up to the ceiling. Large tables replace the kidney shaped displays. The Genius Bar has been enlarged, stretching across the back of the store, with three large LCD monitors replacing the big screen theater for workshops. No bench seats either for sitting down to grab some free WiFi - that space has been reclaimed for more retail (read iPod) space. There are some stools to sit on at machines near the Genius Bar, this is also where the Geniuses conduct "Pro" one-on-one training. The whole store has been moved to the left, the hidden "bowling alley" down the left of the store (previously used for inventory storage) is gone, so that the annoying pillar in the middle of the store could be eliminated. Also gone is the checkout desk at the front. Now store employees carry small wireless terminals, if you pay by credit card they can handle the sale anywhere in the store. (If you want to stop the entire store (as in the VISA card ad), you can still pay by cash or check at the back of the store, they have a couple of terminals at the end of the Genius bar.) One big loss - no public restrooms! But there are many more computers and iPods to play with, and you can still surf the net and check your email.

GCMAC makes member
"114% more intelligent" !

From the GCMAC Listserv

What a great meeting we had tonight. If you are a member and missed this meeting you really need to make time in the months to come and get back to the GCMac family. It always amazes me how much I learn at all the meetings, not to mention that over the years I have made some great friends in GCMac. The presentations tonight were exceptional. I can't wait to dig into iLife '08 as well as iWork '08. I bought a copy prior to the meeting but someone actually won a free copy of iLife tonight at the meeting. I came home and immediately downloaded Paparazzi (a freeware screen capture program that lets you capture complete web page, no matter how long, to a JPG or PDF [Ed]) because of another great presentation. Thanks to all of the presenters for making me '114%' more intelligent than I was before the meeting. I look forward to seeing everyone next month... :)
Bob Lasky, GCM Member

In addition to presentations of iMovie '08, iPhoto '08, Numbers and Paparazzi, we also gave away a new inkjet printer generously donated by Marian Wertalka, and a copy of iLife '08. Two winners went home happy! Free snacks and coffee provided by GCMAC were also served. Empty ink cartridges and cell phones were collected for recycling. And new and renewing members went home with the fabulous new green GCMAC mug!

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AFor those of us still on dial-up, there was a recent news item that might be of interest: AT&T is offering a $10.00 per month DSL term plan to Bellsouth customers who have not previously subscribed to DSL.

The yearly term plan is the same as the basic plan with speeds up to 768 Kbps. This plan is the result of a concession AT&T made to the FTC, in order for AT&T to become the new owners of BellSouth, and Cingular.

The plan is obscured somewhat on the internet services page - you will have to scroll down towards the bottom of the page to see the link for "Term contract plans available."

http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/index.html