ACTA
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ACTA rejected by European Union vote
European Parliament has rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, by a heady 478 to 39, with 146 votes abstaining. While this doesn't mean ACTA can't become a reality elsewhere, it's a smack in the face for companies looking to crack down on internet-based copyright infringement. If ACTA had passed, its definition was so broad that it would mean the use of copyright images on websites could become an illegal act.
Apple's training site back online, Lion certifications due this fall
For the past couple of weeks (since shortly before the Lion introduction, I believe) Apple's professional training and certification site at training.apple.com has been under renovation. Today it's back with a new Lion-esque look and previews of new training courses and certifications for Apple-centric IT professionals. The three new tracks/certs are for Lion (no surprise), Final Cut Pro X and Mac Integration Basics 10.7. None of the certification exams for those tracks are ready yet, nor are most of the course materials -- only the MIB class has full documentation available right now. Lion certification testing is due to start up in the fall, and FCP X certifications are "coming soon." The Snow Leopard 10.6 certification courses/testing suite is still available, and according to Apple's internal sales web site it will remain on offer until January 2012. Snow Leopard certification will not expire when the Lion exams come online, so if you get certified now you're still considered up to date well into 2012. Thanks, Wheat!
A# releases Opal outliner
I'm always on the lookout for new outlining programs and it turns out that the newest kid on the block is actually not new at all. Opal, the new outliner from A#, is actually based on their 20 year old product called Acta. Acta ran fine in Classic and had something of a cult following but since the Intel Macs have no Classic environment A# decided now was time to get working on a OS X native version.Opal does everything you would expect an outliner to do, and it also can import Acta files (which makes sense given its origins). There is a 30 day trail available, and after 30 days you can buy a copy for $32.[via MacTech]
