SCET News April '97

DaveHeadey's page on Comet Hale-Bopp has beenwritten especially for children (and their teachers).

It consists of a Q/A page, a little quiz, and apage of links to the best Hale-Bopp sites he has found. Dave admitsit's not particularly snazzy as he expects interest in it to fadewith the comet round about the end of April. But if anyone isinterested, he will use the page to publish any children's work whichpeople care to send - poems, stories, pictures, etc. - related to thecomet. You can find the page at http://www.rmplc.co.uk/eduweb/sites/daveh/halebopp.html Dave would also appreciate your help in letting yourcolleagues know about the site.

Apple have formally announced Convomania (http://www.mania.apple.com), a website designed forchildren who are seriously sick or disabled. Convomania empowers children with the opportunity to use the Internetto share their feelings and ideas in a cyber-communitysetting.

" Convomania is designed to provide kids with a place where they canshare their thoughts and emotions candidly with other kids who are insimilar situations," says Alan Brightman, head of Apple's WorldwideDisability Solutions Group. "The kids who spend time on Convomania spend weeks and months at a time disconnected from theirhomes, their schools, and their friends. Convomania intends to reconnect these kids."

The website has six areas designed to enablechildren to share their thoughts and ideas, and to get connected toothers who are going through similar experiences:

• Say It--a place where kids participate in online chats
• Stick It--a digital magnetic poetry game that helps facilitate expression
• Share It--a message board for kids to share ideas 24 hours a day
• Solve It--a place to ask questions and receive answers about what it's like to live with chronic illness
• Sketch It--a digital art gallery focusing on illness-related themes
• Show It--a forum for kids to express themselves using theater art skills

Apple will release Mac OS 7.6.1 on Monday 7thApril. The initial release will be only for North American Englishsystems. International English and Japanese versions are expectedthis month; French Canadian and European versions should arrive nextmonth.

The new system version will be available as a freeupdate for owners of Mac OS 7.6 form Apple's site at http://support.info.apple.com/ftp/7.6.1.html . Owners of earlier system versions will be able to buy7.6.1 as a full upgrade package.

Applehave announced a details of their new 6500 series - sorry, no prices or availability yet.

Top of the range comes a new 300 Mhz Model

• 300MHz/64MB/4GB/12xCD/33.6/512K-L2/100MB Zip Drive

Followed by a new Creative Studio

• 275MHz/32MB/4GB/12xCD/33.6/512K-L2/Avid Cinema/Apple Video System/Apple TV/FM Radio

A new Small Business Model

• 250MHz/48MB/4GB/12xCD/33.6/256K-L2/100MB Zip Drive

A middle ground model

• 250MHz/32MB/4GB/12xCD/33.6/256K-L2/100MB Zip Drive

An entry level model

• 225MHz/32MB/3GB/12xCD/33.6/256K-L2

And an Education Model

• 225MHz or 250MHz/32MB/2GB or 3GB/12xCD/256K-L2/100MB Zip Drive

The Scottish Qualifications Authority has a homepage at www.sqa.org.uk

Connectix have introduced an emulator called VirtualPC designed to run on Power PC systemsrunning System 7.5 or later. Amongst it's features are:

• the ability to run off-the-shelf operating system software including MS-DOS, Windows 3.1,Windows95, Windows NT, NeXT OpenStep and IBM OS2.
• the ability to deliver playable performance of PC games, business and productivity applications, multimedia titles and Internet content.
• support for all the functions users expect from a standard Pentium PC including: full SoundBlaster Pro support, Ethernet networking, CD-ROM support, modem support and PC printing.
• a shared Mac folder to easily share files between the Macintosh and PC environments.

March News

Welcome