Brand: MacNews

During the past week, our friends at MacDesktops have posted 14 new pictures, including: Alice – Shapes (Games), Architecture (Landscapes – Urban), Blue space (Starscapes), lavaMac (iMac DVs), and Tara Reid (Portraits). The site is updated daily with two new pictures.

Apple will be exhibiting at EDUCASE 2001, an education-focused tech conference, which takes place October 28-31 in Indianapolis, IN. Apple will be showing off its solutions at booth #713 and will also be offering hands-on sessions that cover a number of its products.

Apple recently launched a “Trade Up To The Future” program for its K-12 and Higher Education customers. The program gives educators US$80 off the purchase of a new Apple system when they recycle an older, functional system (Mac or PC), or $40 off if the school has Apple recycle it for them. The minimum purchase order for K-12 customers is 200 Macs, while the minimum purchase order for Higher Education customers is 25 Macs.

An Apple K-12 Education article takes a look at the use of iBooks at the Shak Chung Shan Memorial Catholic Primary School in Hong Kong. Thirty elementary school children used iBooks and Wacom tablets on one trip to the Great Wall to sketch the historic structure. The systems are being used to expand the creativity and capabilities of the students.

This week’s Byte of the Apple column by Charles Haddad at BusinessWeek Online takes a look at the significance between the similarities of Mac OS X and Windows XP. “The real question isn’t whether Microsoft has copied Apple innovations, but whether it matters… It’s a venerated tradition of American business to ape the successful innovations of a competitor.”