Written by Philip Roy | 31 March 2003
Posted in Site News

NZMac.com has been established specifically for Mac users in New Zealand to make use of. And what better way to make you a part of the site, than allow you to contribute to it...and give you a chance to win great prizes while doing so!! Thanks to the generosity of TotallyMac.com and New Zealand Macguide we've got a great contest to start the year off, where we want you to write a review, have it published on the site and if you win the contest, be invited to submit your review for publication in New Zealand Mac Guide.

Please read the contest rules before writing your review

Commercial software, hardware, shareware, freeware...we don't care...if you want to review it, then we want to hear from you. We'd particularly welcome reviews of software and hardware that require OS X, but you won't be disadvantaged if you write for a different version of the Mac OS. All three winners will receive a one year subscription to NZ Macguide and will also receive spending credit to put towards purchases at New Zealand's definitive source for Macintosh Products, TotallyMac.com.

There have been a few questions asked about the type of reviews you can write, so for further explanation ....commercial software is any software you have to purchase, usually from a shop or supplier (for example, Dreamweaver, Director, Photoshop etc), hardware is any item that you use with your computer (scanners, iPod or even the computer itself), shareware is software you generally are asked to pay for and often buy across the net via a registration code (SnapzPro, Graphic Converter, Fetch etc) and freeware are programs that cost you nothing but are still of tremendous use (even some web browsers fall into this category). Check out Version Tracker for great software titles to review. So, virtually anything goes, even book reviews...it can be a review of software that came with your Mac (including the Operating System if you want to review that) or things you have added or purchased since. Just make sure your review is approved before you write it. Have fun...and please remember, it's no so much about what you review, but about how well your review is written.

While NZMac.com's review cupboard is a little bare (hence the need for this contest!) there are a few reviews that you can take a look at on the site to get a flavour of the type of reviews we like to read and see how the reviews are ultimately presented, including ratings for Installation & Documentation, Ease of use and Value for Money.

Next, have a good think about what you would like to review and have a read of the contest rules. These can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of this page. At the bottom of the rules page is a link you must click on when you are ready to enter. This will then take you to a page where you send in information on what you would like to review.

Keep in mind some of the types of things you could review. Currently the review section is divided up into the following areas :

• Apple Software
• Communication software (email, browsers), HTML and Internet tools
• Games
• Graphics software
• Multimedia and audio software
• Office and Word Processing
• System Utilities and enhancements
• Apple/Mac Books
• Hardware (both that made by Apple and those by 3rd parties)

You're welcome to review items that fall into any of these categories or contact us with any other suggestions.

You should not begin writing your review until the topic you have chosen has been accepted.

Good luck!!

Read the contest rules and submit your idea

Written by Philip Roy | 31 March 2003
Posted in Site News

Terms of Entry

• All topics for review must be pre-approved by Philip Roy. This is to ensure no duplicate reviews. First in, first served, although only one topic will be approved at a time per person.
• To send in your choice of review topic, begin by clicking the button at the bottom of this page once you have read the rules.

To see the reviews, please visit the Review section

• No review will be accepted into the contest where prior approval of the choice of topic has not been given. This is to ensure that reviews are not about something already reviewed or is a topic already being written by another contestant.
• It is possible for you to enter more than once by writing reviews on different topics. However you must complete and submit one entry, before a new topic will be approved.
• Entries must be received by midnight on March 31st, 2003. Winners will be announced on the site as soon as possible after that date.
• Entries are to be 500 to 1000 words in length and include 2 to 6 screen shots as attachments. Entries can be submitted as email, or attached to an email as a Word document or Appleworks file. Images should not be reduced in size or quality, but should be cropped to remove unwanted parts and attached separately. Please discuss emailing large files with Philip Roy before doing so. You may be asked to resubmit better images, but this will not affect your chances of winning.
• We'd prefer reviews of software and hardware that require OS X, but you won't be disadvantaged if you write for a different version of the Mac OS. We'd also prefer reviews of the latest version of the software if this is possible (eg, Appleworks 6 is preferred to ClarisWorks 4).
• Entries must indicate the operating system or hardware required, pricing (or indication that the item is freeware), version number of the software (for example "Mozilla version 1.2") as well as a rating out of 5 for each of the following:
  • Installation & Documentation
  • Ease of use
  • Value for money
• Reviews must be for products that are Mac compatible or related to Macintosh computer use.
• This contest is only open to people resident in New Zealand. Winners will be required to provide a physical address as proof before prizes are awarded. No information will be retained after the contest, other than the three winner's details being forwarded to TotallyMac.com and NZ Macguide.
• Submissions must be entirely your own work and must not breach copyright or intellectual property right in any way.
• By your submission you confirm that you have no association or financial involvement in the product being reviewed.
• By your submission you grant NZMac.com the right to make publicly available the submitted content as they see fit (such as posted on the web site), whilst you retain ownership. Your name will be included in the article, but email addresses will not be listed unless requested by the author.
• Email addresses of entrants will not be kept after the contest has closed.
• Submitting your content does not guarantee that it will be posted on the NZMac.com site.
• We reserve the right to reject any submission without explanation.
• We reserve the right to edit your reviews, including possible revision of review ratings.
• Submitted reviews may be posted on the site prior to the contest closing and the winners being announced. Posting gives no indication as to whether an entry will be successful in winning the competition.
• The Judges for the contest are Philip Roy (NZMac.com), Daniel Parker (TotallyMac.com) and Mark Webster (NZ Macguide). Philip will reduce the number of entries to a short-list of 20 finalists. All three judges will then decide upon the winners.
• The judges decisions with regard to the winning entries are final and discussion will not be entered in to.
• Prizes are not exchangeable for cash. No portion of the credit for spending at TotallyMac.com will be refunded.
• Spending credit awarded to the winners must be spent with TotallyMac.com by the end of July 2003.

Written by Philip Roy | 15 February 2003
Posted in Site News

NZMac.com's "IDEKTWAC" contest winners announced!

Ok, I give in, what's "IDEKTWAC"?

It's the first "I didn't even know there was a contest" contest.

That what?!

Well, it's a Clayton's contest...it's the contest that you have when you're not having a contest...or the contest you have when you want to have a contest without bothering about rules, entries and all those normal things that contests have.

OK...that makes it SO much clearer. All I can say is..."Eh?!"

It's easy. I don't know about you, but I love freebies...prezzies up for grabs with no conditions attached. It has always been my intention to say thanks to the members of the Announcements Mailing List and users of NZMac.com by sneaking in competitions or freebies that I don't announce....and here's the first one!

In this instance, I randomly selected (under very scientific and controlled conditions) three people on the Announcements mailing list to receive a copy of the Wanganui School of Design's latest "Inside-4" CD, featuring staggeringly impressive 3D animation, video and interactive work from the students at the School.

These sorts of contests will appear now and then when I get my hands on goodies to give away. Who knows how I'll decide who gets what...it's just a bit of fun. But get involved in NZMac.com and it certainly improves the odds of you winning something :-)

And don't forget, there is a great (and more serious) competition running at the moment where you can get your hands on some great prizes.

So congratulations to:

• Miraz Jordan of Wellington
• Julian Millar of Wellington
• Peter Carrell of Nelson

...who will be each receiving a copy of "Inside-4". Many thanks to the great people at the Wanganui School of Design for giving NZMac.com these CDs.

Keep an eye out for the IDEKTWAC contests. Who knows when they will strike next!