Maria’s Guides

• 7 predictions for ‘07
  A contest entry for ProBlogger’s current writing project. Some interesting predictions related to the Internet. By Brandon Wood.
  (tags: predictions internet blogging zune google yahoo)
• The Biggest Blogging Mistake I Made In 2006
  Another ProBlogger writing contest entry. This one has some good advice for bloggers. By George Manty.
  (tags: blogging)
• TIME Wins Linkbaiter of the Year Award
  From the ProBlogger.com Web site.
  (tags: blogging link linkbait time person)

Information from Software Update.

Security Update 2006-008 is recommended for all users and improves the security of the following components:

• Quartz Composer
• QuickTime for Java

For detailed information on this update, please visit: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798

I add two excerpts from my upcoming Excel 2007 Visual QuickProject Guide to the book’s companion Web site.

I just added the following two excerpts for my Excel 2007 Visual QuickProject Guide to the list of book excerpts available for download. These files are in PDF format and are roughly 1 MB each:

• Front Matter, including Table of Contents and Introduction
• Excerpt from Chapter 3

These files should give you a good idea of how the book is laid out and what it contains.

The book should be available in stores by December month-end. It’s currently available for presale on Amazon.com for the excellent price of $11.55 (that’s 32% off).

Win money by blogging.

ProBlogger is sponsoring another Group Writing Project contest, with prizes worth between $2,000 and $2,500. You can learn more at ProBlogger Group Writing Project - Reviews and Predictions.

Information from Microsoft AutoUpdate.

This update contains several improvements for PowerPoint and Entourage.

System requirements

Before you install this update, make sure that the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.0 Update is installed on your computer. To verify that you have installed this update, select the Microsoft Component Plugin file in the Microsoft Office 2004/Office folder on your hard disk, and then on the File menu, click Get Info.

Additionally, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

Operating system: Mac OS X 10.2.8 (Jaguar) or a later version of Mac OS

Note: To verify that your computer meets these minimum requirements, on the Apple menu, click About This Mac.

Improvements for PowerPoint 2004

• Stability is improved
  This update fixes an issue that causes PowerPoint to quit unexpectedly when you open a presentation.

Improvements for Entourage 2004

• Contact names that contain special characters are handled correctly
  This update fixes an issue that causes meeting requests to display incorrectly when sent to contacts with names that contain single quotation marks (’), double quotation marks (”), and parentheses.
• Public folder messages are not duplicated
  This update fixes an issue that causes duplicate messages to appear in public folders.
• Compatibility with Mirapoint Message Serverâ„¢ is improved
  This update fixes an issue that causes Entourage to quit unexpectedly when accessing mail folders on a Mirapoint Message Server.

More information

If you have technical questions or problems downloading or using this update, visit the Microsoft Support page at www.microsoft.com/mac/support to learn about the support options that are available to you.