News Archive for 01/01/04

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Macs in space?

01/04, 9:49pm

Macs in space?

A Business Week article profiles Dennis Wingo, owner of SkyCorp, who plans to build a 544-satellite constellation to provide earthbound Web hosting and e-mail using customized 500 MHz Power Mac G4 Cubes. The constellation would be powered entirely by standard Macintosh computers floating in space. "Microsoft's Windows machines are too crash-prone, says Wingo. That's a bad thing in a satellite, no doubt." The company is looking for 50 beta testers in the U.S. to test the system between November 1 and November 30, 2001.

New NWN Screenshot

01/04, 7:04pm

New NWN Screenshot

GA-RPG has published a new screenshot from Neverwinter Nights, the online-focused 3D role-playing game coming to the Mac, PC and Linux in June 2001.

TSStalk to debut at MWSF

01/04, 6:10pm

TSStalk to debut at MWSF

At Macworld, Thursby Software, best known for DAVE product, will introduce and demonstrate TSStalk, an application that allows Windows machines to access AppleShare and AppleShare IP servers. It also allows access to AppleTalk PostScript printers. The Windows 95/98 version is $150, while the NT version is $170. A Windows 2000 version is in the works.

TechWorks to demo AirStation at MWSF

01/04, 6:05pm

TechWorks to demo AirStation at MWSF

TechWorks will exhibit its Buffalo AirStation, a series of access points for wireless LANs, at Macworld (booth #743). The products are Wi-Fi certified and utilize the 802.11 protocol; the same as AirPort. Prices range from $280 to $300. Additionally, the company will be demonstrating its $90 extended-range external antenna.

Needham & Co. rates Apple a buy

01/04, 6:00pm

Needham & Co. rates Apple a buy

Needham & Co. has initiated coverage on Apple with a "buy" recommendation.

Apple is good for eyes

01/04, 5:59pm

Apple is good for eyes

Accommodata Corp. is using Apple hardware to develop an interactive optical testing software that tests vision and educates patients at the same time.

DealNN: 512 MB RAM for $275, more

01/04, 5:13pm

DealNN: 512 MB RAM for $275, more

DealNN bargains for today 512 MB PC100 SDRAM for G4/iMac for $275; iMac GameWizard 3dfx VooDoo II for $85; and Alpha Centauri for Macintosh for $25.

Interview: Mr. Pants (Excessive Overkill)

01/04, 5:11pm

Interview: Mr. Pants (Excessive Overkill)

Online Game Review has posted an interview with Mr. Pants (Dan Schoenblum) on his mod for Quake III: Arena and Unreal Tournament, Excessive Overkill. Mr. Pants notes that he's currently working on a version of the mod for Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force.

Skindom Opens

01/04, 5:01pm

Skindom Opens

Skindom is a new site acting as a resource for the skinning community. The site offers tips, tutorials, features, news, a messageboard and more for skinners of models for games such as Quake III: Arena and Unreal Tournament.

Evening tech news 1/4/01

01/04, 5:00pm

Evening tech news 1/4/01

Evening tech news: Intel has introduced the fastest version yet of its Celeron processor for inexpensive home computers; and Mercata, a provider of Internet-based group buying services, announced that it will cease operations as of Jan. 31.

"Myth III: The Wolf Age" Revealed

01/04, 3:42pm

"Myth III: The Wolf Age" Revealed

The yearly calendar issued by Gathering of Developers reveals a new game in development at the company, Myth III: The Wolf Age, a prequel title that takes place 1000 years before Myth: The Fallen Lords. The Myth series, a real-time strategy/tactical game series created by Bungie Studios and including Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter, was acquired by Take Two Interactive, the parent company of Gathering of Developers, in the same deal that the company made to acquire Oni during Microsoft's acquisition of Bungie. A formal announcement regarding Myth III: The Wolf Age will be made at next week's Macworld Conferences and Expo 2001 in San Francisco. Thanks Blue's News and Stomped.

[Myth III: The Wolf Age] follows the life of Connacht - the legendary hero who saved humanity from the insidious Myrkindia and the oppressive Trow, eventually becoming the emperor of all human lands. Myth III explores the daunting past before the Great War and the destructive clashes between the races. In 1421 AE, the world is in sheer chaos. The nightmare, Myrkindia, runs rampant over the lands. The Trow enslave the Ogre to build titanic temples to their god. A new Leveler, claiming to be Moagim reborn, has just risen and swears to smash the empire of Cath Bruig. Most of humanity has been scattered for hundreds of years, existing in war tribes who hide in fear of the evil creatures who stalk the night. Myth III: The Wolf Age will live up to even the most critical Myth fan's expectations, yet is immediately engaging and easy-to-learn for the first time strategy player.

New beta of AOL IM adds new features

01/04, 3:33pm

New beta of AOL IM adds new features

AOL has posted a new beta of its popular peer-to-peer instant messaging client, AOL IM 4.2.122. The new version provides more convenient access to global Buddy Lists, which are accessible from any computer; allows you disable incoming IM notification, and lets store one line of text fo reach of buddies (as a "Buddy Comment").

Games: Myth III/Kitty's Adventures 2

01/04, 2:44pm

Games: Myth III/Kitty's Adventures 2

games.macnn.com has the first details on Myth III: The Wolf Age, the third title in the popular real-time strategy game series, and has published Kitty's Adventures in The Sims Volume 2, a weekly feature which chronicles the lives of The Sims while also offering 25 new downloads for owners of the game. [updated]

Kitty's Adventures 2

01/04, 2:40pm

Kitty's Adventures 2

We have published Kitty's Adventures in The Sims Volume 2, our weekly feature which chronicles the lives of The Sims through the eyes of reporter Kitty Chattin while also offering new downloads for owners of the popular game. This week's edition, "Star Trekin Look-a-Likes Offer Help to Homeless", includes 25 new downloads including a Power Mac G4 Cube with 22" Apple Cinema Display, iMacs in all colors, desks, chairs, beds, table lamps, rugs and more.

Trade Assist 2.1 investment tool quashes bugs

01/04, 2:01pm

Trade Assist 2.1 investment tool quashes bugs

Essentrix today released Trade Assist 2.1, a maintenance update to its popular stock market trading and portfolio management investment utility. A 15-day trial is available online.

New English and translation dictionaries

01/04, 2:00pm

New English and translation dictionaries

Ultra Lingua has released a new version of its share French-,Spanish-, and German-to-English translation dictionaries as well as its English Collegiate Dictionary of Definitions. Each translation dictionary offers over 200,000 indexed entries, a unique reverse translation feature, a translator/converter of numbers, and many on-line references, while the English Dictionary ($24) offers over 150,000 indexed entries, and over 80,000 synonyms. Version 3.04 offers thousands of additions to the contents and now includes a system extension that allows you to send words to Ultra Lingua from other applications, such as your word processor or web browser.

MacNN: OS 9.1

01/04, 1:00pm

MacNN: OS 9.1

MacNN has published information on next Tuesday's scheduled release of Mac OS 9.1 including what the update will offer and how it will be distributed.

Technews: Palm to use Sprint network, 2xDVD-R

01/04, 1:00pm

Technews: Palm to use Sprint network, 2xDVD-R

Afternoon tech news: Sprint PCS and Palm today announced an agreement to market and sell CDMA wireless solutions for Palm OS-based handhelds, extending the wireless network with which Palm users can access the Internet and Later this quarter Compaq will begin including the Pioneer DVR-103 recordable DVD/CD drive (with 2x DVD record speeds) in its Presario 7000 PC along with MyMovieSTUDIO video editing software.

Maya 3 for OS X to be showcased at MWSF

01/04, 12:59pm

Maya 3 for OS X to be showcased at MWSF

After announcing its plans to bring Maya to OS X last may, Alias|Wavefront will give the first-ever public demonstration of Maya 3 for Mac OS X, its high-end 3D modelling and animation product, at Macworld Expo next week, according to Macworld UK. Nothing Real will also demonstrate advance previews of Shake for Mac OS X, its software-based compositing solution optimized for large image resolutions in the Alias|Wavefront booth (#2117) next week as well, according to VFXPro. [updated]

AppleInsider: Macworld announcements

01/04, 12:45pm

AppleInsider: Macworld announcements

AppleInsider has a report on a series of product announcements expected to come from Apple at next week's Macworld Expo.

Wednesday news recap

01/04, 12:40pm

Wednesday news recap

Yesterday Blizzard Entertainment outlined the steps for flagging Diablo II characters to be revived, Westlake Interactive President Mark Adams indicated that the company would do at least one patch for the Mac version of Rune and Blizzard's Brian Fitzgerald told games.macnn.com that a Diablo II Demo would be released next week. We published a first look at Escape from Monkey Island, the upcoming 3D adventure game from Aspyr Media and Westlake Interactive. The second half of the article contains a detailed update on the progress of the game's development including word that the title has reached "alpha".

TeraGlobal undergoes corporate restructuring

01/04, 12:11pm

TeraGlobal undergoes corporate restructuring

Mac-centric networking software maker TeraGlobal Communications yesterday said it would reduce its work force by about 60 percent as part of a corporate restructuring: "the reductions will affect mostly administrative positions, but will also include reductions in marketing, development, quality assurance and engineering groups." TeraMedia, the company's all-in-one solution that combines, real-time video and audio, application, Internet, network, help desk, and maintenance services is only available for Power Mac G4s. The first public demonstration of TeraMedia 2.5, the latest version, is expected to be unveiled next week at Macworld Expo, according to a pre-restructuring press release from early December.

id takes over OS X development

01/04, 11:42am

id takes over OS X development

id Software's Graeme Devine told MacGamer that he has the Quake III: Arena 1.27 up and running in Mac OS X and plans to release it publicly in the immediate future. Devine also plans to release the final version of the Classic point release at the same time which runs much faster than the debug version currently available. Devine's direct involvement with the development of OS X versions of the company's products marks a shift away from outsourcing OS X development to The Omni Group, and Devine comments on the move in his .plan update today:

OS X. I didn't yank, pull, grab or drop Omni's excellent work on Q3A to this platform. They are my friends, peers, and fine people. My reason for working on the OS X build in house is that I simply like OS X and I like working in it. I'll still share the code with Omni so they can help make the OS X build the best. In fact, I'd like to get more of the tools ported across to OS X as soon as possible so levels, and mod compiling can happen on this platform...

Audio interview with Marty Stratton

01/04, 11:32am

Audio interview with Marty Stratton

eUniverse Live has published a two part audio interview with id Software's Marty Stratton. The interview, available in either Windows Media Player or MP3 formats, covers topics such as Quake III: Team Arena, the mod community, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the next Doom game.

Q3:A Alliance 2.1 Released

01/04, 11:26am

Q3:A Alliance 2.1 Released

Alliance Games has released Alliance 2.1, a patch for the recently released mod for Quake III: Arena. The new release fixes a server crashing bug caused by the Wizard Eye.

New Oni Demo Level Released

01/04, 11:19am

New Oni Demo Level Released

For those that couldn't get enough of the Oni Demo, Level 2 is now available to add to Level 1 and 4 found in the basic demo. Onires provides instructions for installing the extra level on the Mac.

Generator/MacOS 0.16 Released

01/04, 11:10am

Generator/MacOS 0.16 Released

Richard Bannister has released Generator/MacOS 0.16, a new version of the Sega Genesis emulator for the Mac. The new version brings it in sync with the latest source from the original author, improves compatiblity and adds a window mode, QuickTime stretched full screen mode, 3x, 4x and 5x video modes, a cheat engine, new icons and support for window proxy icons.

Chronos to unveil new productivity app

01/04, 10:51am

Chronos to unveil new productivity app

Chronos will unveil StickyBrain, its new $35 personal productivity application for Mac OS X and classic Mac OS systems that incorporates the popular "sticky note" interface and can (securely) store information such as text, pictures, sounds, file/application links, contacts, web and e-mail addresses, and passwords. Information can be stored, organized, filtered, edited using a built-in word processor, and transferred quickly using 'HotKeys.' Free StickyBrain demo CD's will be available at MWSF along with special pricing. A 30-day trial is expected to available online after the show.

Canon intros 'microportable' projector

01/04, 10:33am

Canon intros 'microportable' projector

Canon USA today introduced LV-5100, a $3000 SVGA "microportable" LCD projector that can display screen sizes of up to 200 inches. It also includes ceiling and rear functions that reverse the projected image accordingly, supports HDTV and DVD component inputs, reproduces images with minimal blurring of colors and supports regular and wide-screen aspect ratios.

iMovie for creating lecture movies

01/04, 10:23am

iMovie for creating lecture movies

Baruch College Professor of Economics Jeffrey Weiss uses iMovie to create desktop movies of his lectures. In his estimation, the students' retention levels may be higher than that of their "pencil-wielding colleagues."

PhotoPage 1.3b2 puts photos, images on Web

01/04, 10:18am

PhotoPage 1.3b2 puts photos, images on Web

John Vink's PhotoPage 1.3b2, a new beta of his software for putting photos and images on the Web, addresses a thumbnail scaling issue, saves cropping selections and only writes thumbnails and scaled images when attributes have changed.

MINI 7 font family designed for screen use

01/04, 10:11am

MINI 7 font family designed for screen use

MINI 7 is a $15 TrueType font family that includes of MINI 7 Bold, Condensed, Condensed Bold, Extended and Extended Bold font faces. The families, intended for screen display only, have no lower-case letters--only upper-case, numerals and regular punctuation.

Apple at FETC Jan. 11-13

01/04, 10:10am

Apple at FETC Jan. 11-13

Apple will be participating in the Florida Education Technology Conference being held Jan. 11 through 13 in Orlando, which takes place at the same time as Macworld.

Apple price protection policy angers reseller

01/04, 9:47am

Apple price protection policy angers reseller

Following the significant price cuts by Apple a few days ago, one reseller notes that Apple is not offering price protection to dealers (i.e., providing compensation for the price drop), thus forcing dealers to sell products in their inventory below their cost. In the past, Apple has usually offered price protection for sudden price drops or provided adequete warning to dealers about pending price cuts.

Aurora offers $1,000 off Igniter products

01/04, 8:55am

Aurora offers $1,000 off Igniter products

Aurora Video Systems is currently offering $1,000 off all its Igniter Uncompressed video-capture cards, including bundles and upgrade options. The promotion runs through Feb. 28. The cards have a 20 MB per second data rate and are fully QuickTime and MJPEG-A compatible.

PowerLogix, Small Dog offer Macworld pricing

01/04, 8:40am

PowerLogix, Small Dog offer Macworld pricing

PowerLogix and Small Dog have teamed up to offer special Macworld pricing on several of PowerLogix processor upgrades. Highlights include a $150 G3/350 for PCI Macs, a $650 G3/500 upgrade for Wallstreet PowerBooks, and G4/450 upgrades for $400.

Cryo Networks to intro SCOL Technology

01/04, 8:39am

Cryo Networks to intro SCOL Technology

Cryo Networks will be introducing and demonstrating several new products at Macworld, including SCOL technology, which is used for the creation of multiuser Web sites with real-time 3D.

Media 100 releases 100i 7.0.2b

01/04, 8:39am

Media 100 releases 100i 7.0.2b

Media 100 has released a beta of 100i 7.0.2, its software for creating interactive streaming video for Web sites. This beta resolves the gray-line issue that has appeared on video monitors when mastering to tape.

Mac OS 9.1 details available, due Tuesday

01/04, 7:48am

Mac OS 9.1 details available, due Tuesday

As hinted by Apple's Tech Info Library, Mac OS 9.1 is due next Tuesday with a new nanokernel, new process manager, FireWire 2.7, a new version of OpenGL, a Mac OS-X compatible startup disk control panel, and access to iTools via Apple's navigation services, according to the PowerBook Zone. It is reportedly not (yet) fully compatible with Mac OS X, but will be when the final version of Mac OS X ships in a few months. According to the report, Mac OS 9.1 will be available Tuesday as a 72MB download, a free upgrade on CD ($20 shipping charge), a $100 retail CD version that includes the full version of Mac OS 9.1, and will be bundled with the Apple Pro Keyboard to enable the volume and eject buttons to function on older Macs. (For more OS 9.1 information, see AppleInsider)

Support for "huge," "thumbnails" icons ad

01/04, 7:46am

Support for "huge," "thumbnails" icons ad

Kinetic Creations' Export Icon 1.5, an update to the $15 Photoshop plug-in that allows users to export Photoshop images directly as Mac OS icons, brings support for "huge" (48x48 pixel) and "thumbnail" (128x128 pixel). A fully-functional, 10-day trial version is available.

FontBuddy supports OpenType

01/04, 7:28am

FontBuddy supports OpenType

Vinceny Jalby has released FontBuddy 2.1, a new version of his $20 shareware font viewer that is available in English, Japanese, and French. Version 2.1 has an improved font browser, support for OpenType font information, a new FontList floating window, and several bug fixes.

Streamlined AOL IM client released

01/04, 7:27am

Streamlined AOL IM client released

AIMM 1.0 is a new AOL-compatible IM client that is "optimized for chatting." The streamlined client eliminates extra images, file sharing, and more.

Non-PCI-based RAID solution due at MWSF

01/04, 7:26am

Non-PCI-based RAID solution due at MWSF

Arco Computer Products next week will release DupliDisk II, a hardware-based IDE RAID solution that offers background rebuilding capabilities, and hot-pluggable drive solutions, a native PowerPC utility for option control, and OS-X native support. It uses the onboard IDE connector on the motherboard (thus does not use an extra PCI slot) and "will fit virtually anywhere within the computer" using one of the various form factors available.

In the event of a hard drive failure, [it] will switch operations automatically to the known working drive and alert the user via audible and visual signals that a drive failure has occurred. A user can then, with the machine still up and running, replace the bad drive and re-mirror the drives in the background without any overhead on the Macintosh system.

Roundup: MWSF speculation, Dec Mac sales fall

01/04, 5:46am

Roundup: MWSF speculation, Dec Mac sales fall

Yesterday we noted c|net's speculation on upcoming MWSF announcements, significantly reduced sales of Macs compared with other PC manufacturers in December, the disappearance of Adobe's Illustrator 9.02 update, and the release of Iomega's Zip 250MB USB Powered Drive. Other updates included Startup Doubler 2.6, Mactella 1.0, and FileBuddy 6.02.