News Archive for 00/12/29

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Newer Technology from a dealer's perspective

12/29, 6:22pm

Newer Technology from a dealer's perspective

Bob Moriarity has posted an article on the demise of Newer Technologies from his perspective, that of a dealer. The article cites some interesting statistics about Newer Technologies and tells more of the history of the plagued upgrade company.

IMG: Mac Games Year in Review

12/29, 6:02pm

IMG: Mac Games Year in Review

IMG has published "Mac Games 2000 - Year in Review", a look back at the past year in Mac games with an overview of the main players on the Mac gaming scene and how IMG felt each company performed. "...as we look back, we look at the good, and the bad, and while we're at it, poke a little criticism and fun."

More information on the Pentium 4

12/29, 5:26pm

More information on the Pentium 4

A reader sent in a link to a rather technical article at emulators.com which further expounds on the issues of the Pentium 4's performance compared to other Windows based chips:

"If it isn't clear already, the Pentium 4 is a terrible choice for PC users. It is a severely crippled processor that does not live up to its original design specifications. Its makes inefficient use of available transistors and chip space.... Intel, Dell, Gateway, and other computer manufacturers have intentionally misled consumers about the performance of the Pentium 4 processor and are currently involved in selling useless overpriced hardware to unsuspecting consumers."

OSP 0.99q Released

12/29, 4:30pm

OSP 0.99q Released

Orange Smoothie Productions has released OSP 0.99q, the latest beta release of the popular tournament mod for Quake III: Arena. Version 0.99q adds more than a dozen new bug fixes in addition to a new format for client authentication, the ability to drop items in CTF (including flags), a new weapon status bar and server-side MOTD messages.

Forward Edge Battle Arena 1.64 Released

12/29, 4:24pm

Forward Edge Battle Arena 1.64 Released

Forward Edge Battle Arena 1.64 is the latest release of the mod for Unreal Tournament. The mod offers a "unique combination of role-playing gameplay, personal resource management and traditional class based gameplay." Version 1.64 adds more than a dozen bug fixes and gameplay tweaks.

Armchair: Interview with Dave Perry

12/29, 2:50pm

Armchair: Interview with Dave Perry

The Armchair Empire has published an interview with Dave Perry of Shiny Entertainment, the company who most recently completed Sacrifice, a real-time 3D strategy game coming to the Mac in mid-2001. "It's amazing how well [Sacrifice's balance] has stood up to testing," says Perry. "There is ALWAYS a way to win. It really keeps you on your toes."

GameSpy.com: Interview with Nick Carpenter

12/29, 12:58pm

GameSpy.com: Interview with Nick Carpenter

GameSpy.com has published an interview with Blizzard Entertainment's Nick Carpenter, Director on the Cinematics for the forthcoming role-playing strategy game, WarCraft III. The interview is the latest in a series on "The Art of Gaming". "The Warcraft world has a distinct style: epic and bold," says Carpenter. "We use contrast and primary colors to envelope the viewers."

PowerLogix expects sales explosion in 2001

12/29, 12:52pm

PowerLogix expects sales explosion in 2001

PowerLogix has announced that sales of the company's processor upgrade products for the Mac for 2000 are up 50% over 1999 levels and expects sales in 2001 to be 400% higher than those in 2000. COO Rick Estes attributes the higher expectations for 2001 to a recent arrangement with Silicon Valley Bank that provides more capital for the company to spend on product development. Several "new and exciting products" will be announced by the company at Macworld Conferences and Expo San Francisco 2001 which takes place January 9 to January 12.

Downloadable 1.04 Diablo II patch

12/29, 12:45pm

Downloadable 1.04 Diablo II patch

Blizzard Entertainment has released a downloadable version of the 1.04 patch for Diablo II. The patch is identical to the one recently released which was available only by logging in to Battle.net.

Fetch 4.0b3 released

12/29, 12:22pm

Fetch 4.0b3 released

Fetch 4.0b3 is the latest public beta release of Fetch for Mac OS X. It runs as a carbon native application and includes various bug fixes. The older version 4.0b2 will expire on January 1, 2001, thus users are encouraged to download this update, which will expire on May 1, 2001.

Vgames: Interview with Mike Kulas

12/29, 12:09pm

Vgames: Interview with Mike Kulas

Israeli games site Vgames has published an interview with Mike Kulas, President of Volition, Inc. The company is currently developing Summoner and Red Faction, two titles coming to the Mac and PC in 2001.

onires fan site

12/29, 11:54am

onires fan site

onires is a new site dedicated to Bungie's upcoming third-person 3D action game, Oni. The site currently offers scripts, utilities and cheats for the Oni Demo.

Games: Custer's Corner 2.0

12/29, 11:30am

Games: Custer's Corner 2.0

games.macnn.com has debuted Custer's Corner 2.0, a new site dedicated to offering fantastic desktop pictures featuring your favorite past, present and future Mac games. Today's new desktop is "The Matrix", a desktop featuring characters from Deus Ex with a pose reminiscent of the 1999 sci-fi action movie starring Keanu Reeves.

No Hardcore Diablo II Ladder Reset

12/29, 11:24am

No Hardcore Diablo II Ladder Reset

Blizzard Entertainment notes that the Hardcore Ladder for Diablo II will not be reset at 12:01 p.m. PST on January 1, 2001 as previously announced. However, the Standard Ladder will be reset at that time.

Custer's Corner 2.0 Debuts

12/29, 11:13am

Custer's Corner 2.0 Debuts

Today we're pleased to debut Custer's Corner 2.0, a new site dedicated to offering fantastic desktop pictures featuring your favorite past, present and future Mac games. Today's new desktop is The Matrix, a desktop featuring characters from Deus Ex with a pose reminiscent of the 1999 sci-fi action movie starring Keanu Reeves.

NY Times on Pentium 4 speeds

12/29, 10:40am

NY Times on Pentium 4 speeds

The New York Times has posted an article explaining why the Pentium 4 isn't as fast as it seems and how consumers may fall victim to the "Megahertz Myth" which says that higher is faster. (free subscription required)

Joseph Cartwright on Digital Film

12/29, 10:36am

Joseph Cartwright on Digital Film

Joseph Cartwright, photographer for Victoria Secrets, talks about how much Digital photography has helped him achieve the speed and flexibility that he's always desired. “Film is so last century” says Cartwright, "FireWire was the only way to go. Forget everything other than the issue of ease of use."

Creating the Score for "102 Dalmatians"

12/29, 10:25am

Creating the Score for "102 Dalmatians"

Apple has posted an article about the creation of the score for "102 Dalmatians" that talks about how ProTools and Logic Audio were used on a Mac to create the score for this, as well as other movies.

OmniWeb 4.0 beta 8 for Mac OS X posted

12/29, 9:54am

OmniWeb 4.0 beta 8 for Mac OS X posted

OmniGroup has posted OmniWeb 4.0 beta 8 for Mac OS X Public Beta. Version 4.0 beta 8 now abandons orphaned tasks, making page loads faster in some cases, uses Internet Config preferences when opening new connections, and fixes to the Bookmark system as well as improving support for CSS and Javascript.

StoneTable 4.0.10 posted

12/29, 9:40am

StoneTable 4.0.10 posted

StoneTablet Publishing has released StoneTable 4.0.10, an update to the List Manager replacement. This version adds Mac OS X and CodeWarrior 6 support. Also, improvements have been made in the support for the Platinum interface for Mac OS 8 and 9. Updates are free for registered users.

StoneTable 4.0.10 posted

12/29, 9:37am

StoneTable 4.0.10 posted

StoneTablet Publishing has released StoneTable 4.0.10, an update to the List Manager replacement. This version adds Mac OS X and CodeWarrior 6 support. Also, improvements have been made in the support for the Platinum interface for Mac OS 8 and 9. Updates are free for registered users.

iMac credited with surge in women on Web

12/29, 9:36am

iMac credited with surge in women on Web

The New York Times has an article about women's Web sites in Japan. Women in Japan have been flocking to the Internet, the article says. Mayuko Shimoda, who runs several Web sites in the country, credits the cellular phone and iMac computers with this surge.

X-Men CD-Rom follow up

12/29, 9:35am

X-Men CD-Rom follow up

Following yesterday's note regarding Mac compatibility with the X-Men CD-ROM, a reader who was involved in the development of the CD-ROM sent us this note:

"Most of us here are Mac fanatics and would never allow something as cool as the X-Men CD-ROM to not be Mac-compatible, especially since 90 percent of the production was done using Macs. The client (not Fox) didn't want to worry about Macintosh support issues, in spite of the fact that we assured them they would most likely have very few Mac-related problems. To complicate matters, the disc was sponsored by Juno who, of course, does not support the Mac.For proof that we created it, I am going to tell you about an easter egg that has never been published before, type "dumbpigunderground" from anywhere on the disc. There are five more easter eggs (one is Mac only)."

Troi Text Plug-in 2.0b1 posted

12/29, 9:31am

Troi Text Plug-in 2.0b1 posted

Troi Automatisering has released Troi Text Plug-in 2.0b1 for FileMaker 5. This $30 plug-in allows for parsing out incoming XML data in FileMaker Pro and for combining sets from two text fields. New features include a NOTText function for retrieving lines that are in one text field only;a SortLinesEx function for sorting in reverse alphabetical order; and improved version function for retrieving the version number of the plug-in. Updates are $12 per person.

Making the OS X Dock vertical

12/29, 9:23am

Making the OS X Dock vertical

A post in our forums tells users how to make their Dock in Mac OS X appear vertically instead of horizontally across the bottom of the screen:

defaults write com.apple.dock orientation Left

LinuxPPC 2000 ISO available

12/29, 9:13am

LinuxPPC 2000 ISO available

MacNN published news of the released of Linux PPC 2000 Q4 yesterday, but today, we bring you news of the download sites. [Story updated with correct link]

Private Eye 1.0 released

12/29, 8:42am

Private Eye 1.0 released

MoonBeam has introduced Private Eye 1.0, a $15 shareware that "keeps files safe from nosy neighbors, prying siblings and curious roommates." It hides private documents and folders instantly at the touch of a button and makes them reappear instantly with another.

January NAV definitions posted

12/29, 8:40am

January NAV definitions posted

Symantec has posted the January 2001 virus definitions for Norton AntiVirus. Intego has released January VirusBarrier definitions as well. [story updated]

DealNN: refurb PowerMac for $1,900, Asante ro

12/29, 8:30am

DealNN: refurb PowerMac for $1,900, Asante ro

Today's bargains at DealNN include a refurbished PowerMac G4/500 for $1,900 with an Apple warranty; 256-MB PC100 SDRAm for $98; Asante four-port 10/100 DSL/Cable router for $103 after rebate; and Sony Spressa 8x4x32x CD-RW with six CD-Rs for $100.

Thursday News Recap

12/29, 8:25am

Thursday News Recap

Yesterday Scott Kevill announced the addition of Heroes III Complete and Shogo: Mobile Armor Division to GameRanger, the free online multiplayer gaming service. We published the Slacker's Guide to Shareware Gaming Part 3 which offers four Mac shareware games that make appearances on our "Recommended" list.

Yesterday's MacNN Headlines

12/29, 6:00am

Yesterday's MacNN Headlines

Yesterday MacNN broke a story about Newer Technology ceasing operations, and we reported that today is the last day for online registration for MacWorld Expo, the release of LinuxPPC 2000 Q4, and the release of Adobe Illustrator 9.0.2.

Morning tech news 12/29/00

12/29, 6:00am

Morning tech news 12/29/00

Morning tech news: Notebook manufacturing is migrating to mainland China from Taiwan to lower costs; and Priceline.com's founder, Jay S. Walker, has left the company.

PHP 4.04 Source posted on 12/19/00

12/29, 3:12am

PHP 4.04 Source posted on 12/19/00

PHP 4.04 was posted on December 19th.