November Apple Pi Meeting this Saturday Features iLife

The Washington Apple Pi Macintosh User Group, will show how to creatively make family newsletters for the holidays with Apple Computer's iLife software suite at its Saturday, November 19, general meeting.

While the iLife suite is well suited to preparing the traditional hard-copy multi-column family newsletter, Apple Pi will show its guests how to use iLife to present the news in non-traditional soft-copy methods. These electronic formats include Adobe's Portable Data Format (PDF) files or through an internet web site such as home page on a dot Mac public folder. Alternately, text can be combined with photos and other graphics on Keynote slides with music and the Ken Burns slide changing effects. Musical families may choose to record and edit their own soundtracks using Apple's GarageBand for a Keynote slideshow or a Quicktime movie "newsreel." Pat Fauquet, Washington Apple Pi's Vice-president of Programs, explained, "We’re going to talk about how to be creative with our Macintoshes as we plan our family newsletter layout. We will also show how to use iLife to prepare and polish the news product. With a little practice, it can be faster as well as more fun than using a typewriter to produce the same style of newsletter Granny Smith did 20 years ago."

The meeting, open to the public, starts at 9:00 am at the Microsoft Innovation & Technology Center, 12012 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, VA, 20190.