News Archive for 00/12/21

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WordSmith 1.0b2 posted

12/21, 10:50pm

WordSmith 1.0b2 posted

Blue Nomad has posted WordSmith 1.0b2, the latest beta of its full-featured word processor for the Palm OS, which includes Mac support. Among WordSmith's features is the ability to synchronize and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Word, via an included document conversion application.

AGP Update 1.0 appears via Software Update

12/21, 10:40pm

AGP Update 1.0 appears via Software Update

Tom McKenna informed us that the Software Update control panel on his G4 reported an AGP Update 1.0 extension at 7:30 PM EST, which is supposed to improve the reliability of the Rage 128 Pro. However, our own attempts to download the update proved unsuccessful late this evening.

Palm extends hours, new Knowledge Finder

12/21, 6:31pm

Palm extends hours, new Knowledge Finder

Palm announced that its U.S.-based customer service organization will be open during the holiday season. The company also launched Palm Knowledge Finder, an online service that contains hundreds of technical solutions compiled by Palm engineers worldwide.

Eudora2FMP 1.6.4 posted

12/21, 6:30pm

Eudora2FMP 1.6.4 posted

MK Consulting has posted Eudora2FMP 1.6.4, a $10 shareware set of FileMaker Pro databases which import and parse Eudora mailboxes. This new version includes a completely unlocked E-mail Archive file that can be modified by the end user.

x3dfx closes web site

12/21, 5:00pm

x3dfx closes web site

After the company's web site was unveiled earlier this week, x3dfx has temporarily closed their web site citing involvement in "sensitive negotiations". The company is made up of former software engineers of 3dfx Interactive who worked out of the company's Northern Ireland offices.

iBook SE tops 'Slam-Dunk Gifts' list

12/21, 1:04pm

iBook SE tops 'Slam-Dunk Gifts' list

The iBook SE tops the LA Times' list of "Slam-Dunk Gifts: "Apple's top-of-the-line iBook is fast and stylish, and its built-in FireWire connector and bundled iMovie software make it a portable video-editing studio."

ADC offers members 'Millionaire' promo offe

12/21, 12:49pm

ADC offers members 'Millionaire' promo offe

The Apple Developer Connection and ABC-TV are offering ADC Premier and Select developers a three week broadcast television package for $50,000 that gives customers the opportunity to win several prizes, including a trip for two to see a live taping of ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in New York City.

Tech: MS acquires Great Plains, Amazon outlet

12/21, 12:48pm

Tech: MS acquires Great Plains, Amazon outlet

Afternoon tech news: Microsoft has acquired Great Plains Software in a deal worth $1.1 billion, which it says will "create new opportunities" through its .NET foundation of small and medium business applications (last year, Great Plains discontinued support for the Mac in in its popular accounting software); Amazon.com Outlet, a discount retail website, will feature discounted books, cameras, electronics, home and kitchen tools and other excess merchandise from the Amazon.com inventory; and SmartDisk, parent company of VST Technologies, reduced its earnings estimates for Q4 2000, indicating that the shortfall was "primarily to diminished demand for Apple-based products, certain anticipated non-recurring charges and other factors, and that expects to report a significant loss for the fourth quarter.

Review: Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdo

12/21, 12:41pm

Review: Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdo

We have published a review of Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, the new real-time strategy game from Cyberlore Studios and MacPlay which offers fresh new twists to the genre.

Games: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division released

12/21, 12:34pm

Games: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division released

games.macnn.com has information on today's release of Shogo: Mobile Armor Division for the Mac, a first-person 3D action game which is the first on the Mac to utilize the LithTech 3D engine.

Halo Chat Transcript

12/21, 12:00pm

Halo Chat Transcript

Xboxaddict.com has published a transcript of last evening's chat with Bungie Studios' John Howard, Lead Designer on Halo, and Matt Soell. "Regarding the rendering," remarks Howard, "the phrase I keep hearing is: Halo is what nature would be, if nature were cooler."

Epson introduces "stylish" scanner, printer

12/21, 10:45am

Epson introduces "stylish" scanner, printer

Epson today announced the Perfection 1240U Photo LE scanner and Stylus Photo 870 LE printer, two limited edition, "stylish" versions of the products. The devices, which will sell for $350 and $300 (a $50 premium over the regular versions), feature a "modern look with the striking color combination of platinum and midnight blue." The Perfection 1240U Photo LE is a 42-bit, 1200x2400 dpi scanner while the Stylush Photo 870 LE is prints at resolutions up to 1440x720 dpi with edge-to-edge support for 4"x6" photo prints.

MacSpeech ships iListen 1.0.1

12/21, 10:39am

MacSpeech ships iListen 1.0.1

MacSpeech has begun shipping iListen 1.0.1 CDs, a speech-recognition program for Macintosh. The introductory download price is $100, and the CDs sell for $110. Analog and USB headsets are also available from the company's Web site.

DealNN: G3/400 for $2,300, ASD for $333

12/21, 10:19am

DealNN: G3/400 for $2,300, ASD for $333

Bargains today at DealNN include a PowerBook G3/400 with free flight bag and 128 MB RAM for $2,300, a refurbished 17-inch Apple Studio Display with ADC connector for $333, 256-MB PC100 SDRAM for $100 and UMAX Astra 2100U for $60 after rebate.

Iomega ships FireWire adapter

12/21, 10:00am

Iomega ships FireWire adapter

Iomega has begun shipping its FireWire adapter in North America for Jaz drives. The $100 device is compatible with both 1 GB and 2 GB drives, and will be part of a special $350 Jaz 2 GB bundle that includes both the drive and adapter. European shipments of the adapter are expected to commence in January.

Elite Force Interview: Raven Software

12/21, 9:30am

Elite Force Interview: Raven Software

PCShooter.com has published an interview with Raven Software's Mike Gummelt and Kenn Hoekstra on the company's latest Quake III-engine first-person shooter action game for the Mac and PC, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force. The pair is confident that the Quake III engine will be used in games for another two years. "The first run of games [using the Quake III engine] has only scratched the surface of what the engine is capable of doing if properly modified," says Hoekstra.

FM Pro 5 named one of 2000's best products

12/21, 9:20am

FM Pro 5 named one of 2000's best products

The Washington Post has named FileMaker Pro 5 one of the best products of the year. "It took only 45 minutes to construct a database of 25 contacts. Those 45 minutes included the software installation but no reading of instructions. For other database products, it's generally necessary to study a good portion of the help file to construct a database."

Stata 7 ships

12/21, 9:19am

Stata 7 ships

Stata Corp. has begun shipping Stata 7, a major update to its $1,000 statistics, graphics and data-management software. The update includes new estimators and statistics commands, improvements to output, and the addition of low-level programming for development of graphs. The company also claims the application's performance has been improved by bout 10 percent. The upgrade price is $375, but it on sale until Feb. 28 for $350.

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division Released

12/21, 9:00am

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division Released

Titan Computer has announced the release of Shogo: Mobile Armor Division for the Mac. The unique first-person shooter is the first on the Mac to utilize the LithTech engine and puts the player in a 10-meter tall robot as Sanjuro, a hotshot commander caught in the middle of a war against a terrorist organization that cost him his family and his girl friend. The game was ported to the Mac by Hyperion Studios.

Real posts REALbasic 3.0a16

12/21, 8:25am

Real posts REALbasic 3.0a16

Real Software has posted REALbasic 3.0a16, a new pre-release version of the application development environment for Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS X, which includes a number of bug fixes and small changes.

eRoom 5.0 released

12/21, 8:14am

eRoom 5.0 released

eRoom Technology has introduced eRoom.net, a hosted service that provides access to eRoom 5.0, a digital collaborative workplace product. eRoom allows for real-time, secure collaboration and application sharing over the Internet using Internet Explorer 5.x or Netscape Navigator 4.x running on Windows95/98/NT/2000, Macintosh, Linux, or UNIX workstations.

Assistive technology helps artist

12/21, 8:12am

Assistive technology helps artist

Artist Michael Phillips uses Apple software and hardware to create his photographic images from a reclining wheelchair or from his bed. He uses the assistive technology hardware/software package Discover:Kenx to control his two Macs.

Early morning tech news 12/21

12/21, 7:00am

Early morning tech news 12/21

Early morning tech news: The FCC's ongoing auction of airwaves has pulled in $9.34 billion in bids; "Kriz," the year-old computer virus, may be coming back for Christmas this year, because of its ability to piggyback on other viruses and spread with them; and Palm Inc.'s second-quarter numbers beat Wall Street expectations, with earnings of $20.3 million, or 4 cents per share.

Passenger 1.1 supports ASIP 6.3 XML import

12/21, 6:05am

Passenger 1.1 supports ASIP 6.3 XML import

Jay Lichtenauer's $60 server account creation and password generation tools, Passenger 1.1, performs a number of administrative functions, including the ability to import database text, formulate user names, generate passwords, set account parameters, export data and create folders. Version 1.1 adds limited import of ASIP 6.3 XML and other import options as well as minor enhancements.

Shareware solitaire game updated

12/21, 6:00am

Shareware solitaire game updated

Solitaire Till Dawn 4.0, a free update to the popular $20 shareware solitaire program that has more than three dozen varieties of solitaire, offers new artwork, larger cards, better sound, more features, and more games.

DiskTracker 2.1 improves search functions

12/21, 5:57am

DiskTracker 2.1 improves search functions

Portents has posted DiskTracker 2.1 adds advance search capabilities and improves search times in the $30 shareware disk cataloging and labeling system.

MP3 Menu 1.0b1: contextual menu utility

12/21, 5:55am

MP3 Menu 1.0b1: contextual menu utility

MP3 Menu 1.0b1 is a contextual plugin that can quickly insert relevant encoding and ID3 tag info from MP3 files and also allows you to rename MP3 files according to the info in its ID3 tags as well as change its file type and creator.

Roundup: Predator CDRW, demo days, Rio 800

12/21, 3:49am

Roundup: Predator CDRW, demo days, Rio 800

Yesterday we noted availability of Iomega's Predator CDRW, more demo days at Circuit City, shipments of the Rio 800, HP's new Mac-compatible multifunction devices and Kingston's plans for Mac versions of its Fingerprint security products.