Health Tracker 1.5 adds multiple measurements

Health Tracker 1.5, formerly Weight Tracker, is a $10 shareware graphing program to track health related measurements. Version 1.5 adds the ability to log multiple measurements each day for tracking monitoring blood pressure, glucose, and other measurements.

AOL names Ashkin President, Product Strategy

America Online has named Peter Ashkin as President of Product Strategy, reporting to Chairman and CEO Barry Schuler, where he will play a leading role in the company\'s \"AOL Anywhere\" strategy. Prior to serving top positions at Gateway and Toshiba, Ashkin was a Director at Apple Computer for nine and a half years, \"where he was responsible primarily for the development of technology for the Macintosh platform.\"

OS X: Stone Studio, \'little hoopla\'....

osx.macnn.com has information on Stone Design\'s new seven application suite for OS X, REALbasic 3.1 for OS X, shipment of some OS X orders from Apple, Business Week\'s take on the quiet release, and InterMapper 3.1 for OS X.

REALbasic 3.1 for OS X announced

After starting the beta earlier this month, REAL Software officially announced REALbasic 3.1 for Mac OS X, which brings Mac OS X-specific features as well as improved database functionality to the BASIC development environment that can create cross-platform applications for Classic Mac OS, OS X, and Windows. REALbasic 3.1b3 is currently available. It will be a free upgrade to both Standard ($150) and Pro ($300) versions of the package.

Up to $130 back on QPS purchases and OS X

QPS is launching a Mac OS X mail-in offer on its Que! M2 QuadSlim FireWire line of hard drives, offering up to a $100 rebate on the Mac OS X when it is purchased with any Que! M2 FireWire drive and an additional rebate of $30 on its M2 drives. The rebates are effective through June 30, 2001 and require that users make the purchases from the same reseller (but not necessarily the same receipt. A rebate form, with a copy of the sales receipt and the original UPC label from each box, is required for participation.

iTunes, iMovie, AppleWorks 6.1 for OS X

Apple will make Mac OS X versions of iTunes, iMovie 2, and AppleWorks 6.1 (as a preview) available for download in conjunction with the launch of Mac OS X on March 24th. Apple also announced that over 350 other applications for Mac OS X are shipping today and said that \"hundreds more\" are expected by this summer with \"more than 10,000 developer organizations around the world working on over 20,000 Mac OS X applications.\" [also see Jobs demonstrates Mac OS X at special event]

YellowPad 1.1 adds KeyChain, customization

YellowPad 1.1 adds support for the Keychain Manager and enhanced customization options to Quantum Meruit\'s free-form information manager for keeping track of text information. The $25 shareware offers full support for styled text, multiple undos, wildcard searches, encryption, and RAM-limited note-sizes.

Stone Design releases seven apps for OS X

Stone Design has released Stone Studio, a suite of seven applications for Mac OS X, including applications for graphic design, page layout and Web publishing, managing digital photos, tracking time and bill clients, and producing PDF from PostScript files. Applications include Create 10.1, an object-oriented draw and layout application; PhotoToWeb 1.2.4 for managing digital photographs and creating Websites from albums of images; SliceAndDice 2.3.5 for producing mosaic tilings from any image; PStill 1.7 for converting EPS/PS files to PDF; PackUpAndGo 2.0 for creating compressed archive files; TimeEqualsMoney 1.3.3, which tracks time spent for clients, and produces invoices and reports; and GIFfun 3.0, which creates Web animations. The package is available in a limited offer for $300 through May 31, 2001.

FileMaker 5 demoed for OS X

FileMaker today announced it is previewing FileMaker Pro 5 on Mac OS X at Apple launch events today and during the next few days, but provided no other information on its release, expected ship date, feature set, or pricing.

Console: GBA Japan report

Evening console news: As the Nintendo Game Boy Advance appeared in stores across Japan on Wednesday, reports are beginning to come in on the handheld\'s design, performance and launch games; Nintendo has announced that the Game Boy Advance will ship in Europe on June 22, only 11 days after its North American counterpart; and Activision has released the first screenshot from Tony Hawk\'s Pro Skater for the Game Boy Advance which will feature new level designs and 12 professional skaters.

Creative ships SoundBlaster Live! for Mac

Creative has announced that its SoundBlaster Live! for the Mac begins shipping today to its network of retailers and distributors nationwide. The new sound card, which has been in development for over two years, allows Macintosh users to connect to four-channel speaker systems and plug in MIDI, digital or analog devices. \"With the advanced effects of EAX, Macintosh users can experience rich, crystal-clear digital surround sound and customizable audio effects that will transform the Macintosh into a high-end audio entertainment system.\" The $149 card comes bundled with a suite of software applications that take full advantage of its capabilities....

More demo days coming in April

Apple and its marketing affiliate Marketsource will be conducting more Demo Day events to promote the new iMacs, the repriced Cube, iMovie and iTunes at their remaining national retailers, CompUSA and Circuit City throughout April. CompUSA stores will have Demo Days on April 1st and 8th, and Circuit City will have a Demo Day on the 22nd. Regional retailer The Wiz will also get a Demo Day on April 28th. Mac enthusiasts who are interested in working one of the Demo Day events (for which they will get compensated) can apply online.

Four Alice desktop pictures

Malcolm Sanders has released four desktop pictures featuring American McGee\'s Alice, the Quake III-engine third-person action/adventure game that is currently in development for the Mac at Westlake Interactive. Each desktop is available in 1600 x 1200 and 1024 x 768 resolutions. (Additional gaming-related desktop pictures with more resolutions available, including those custom made for Apple\'s 22\" Cinema Display and PowerBook G4 Titanium, can be found in Custer\'s Corner.)

Intuit releases NETFILE updater for QuickTax

Following our note this morning, Intuit has released its updater for QuickTax Deluxe 2000 for Macintosh to support NETFILE. Ryan Bayne notes that the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency dictates that NETFILE itself requires a 128-bit secure web browser, which can be found at Netscape or Microsoft\'s Websites.

Diablo II: LoD gets 800 x 600 resolution

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that its upcoming expansion set, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, will include an optional resolution of 800 x 600 after repeatedly telling fans that increasing the resolution was not feasible, according to PlanetDiablo. The game is expected to ship for the Mac this summer, within four to six weeks of the PC release.

Jobs demonstrates Mac OS X at special event

At a closed-doors event today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced Mac OS X to guests and select members of the media. The relatively low-key event consisted of a series of demonstrations and assurances from Jobs that unfinished features would be released as updates in the future, including CD recording in April, DVD playback in the spring and iDVD in late spring or early summer.

Reader reports first shipments of OS X

Kurt Schneider reports that his OS X has shipped and is currently scheduled for Friday delivery: \"I called Apple Education to check on my OSX order this afternoon. The very nice young lady told me it shipped today for 2 day FedEx delivery. I should see it Friday!!! WooHoo! I guess they wanted to get it in our hands at the same time as everyone else! Saturday delivery would be tough with school closed!\"

English-International iTunes 1.1 available

Confirming a reader report from several weeks ago, Apple has finally posted an English-International version of iTunes 1.1 as well as a Remove US iTunes 1.0 utility for those users with the US version installed.

OS X \'going public\' with little fanfare

Charles Haddad notes that Mac OS X is \"going public with very little hoopla\" because the market needs time to catch up: \"All this is part of an effort to build a groundswell for OS X in the next six months. By then, the company hopes, some good new applications will be on the market that\'ll make OS X a compelling buy. Right now, despite the list of 40 apps under development on the Apple site, I think the software makers\' support is still up in the air. I\'ve been carpet-bombed with e-mail in the past griping about my questioning of developer support, but I think skepticism is warranted until we see a critical mass of new OS X-friendly software.\"

Testers sought for Atlas

Digital Terra is looking for Mac users with experience playing computer or console role-playing games to test Atlas: The Gift of Aramai, a soon-to-be-released fantasy role-playing game from Freeverse Software. \"Testers will be expected to play the game regularly, provide detailed and frequent feedback to the development team, and keep up with software updates as they come out.\"

Console: Universal mobile game platform

Afternoon console news: Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens have announced plans to develop a universal mobile game platform for more easily deploying games on cell phones and other popular handheld devices; Majesco has announced a first-person shooter coming to the Game Boy Advance, Dark Arena; Activision has announced that Spider Man: Mysterio\'s Menace for the Game Boy Advance will be a side-scrolling action game and released the first screenshot of the game; and Majesco has released the first screenshots from the Playstation 2 version of Raven Software\'s Quake III-engine shooter, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force.

Contextual menu plugin for renaming updated

A Better Finder Rename 3.7 introduces an option to completely rename a file to a pre-defined name to the $15 contextual menu utility for renaming files (with functions for batch processing).

USB device supports realtime MPEG-2 encoding

Pixela Corp has announced the \"world\'s first\" hardware-encoder that captures video via USB and supports realtime MPEG-2 encoding and playback.

SwitchBack 3.3: synchronization utility

Glendower Software\'s shareware SwitchBack 3.3 utility \"makes it easy and safe to synchronize two disks, so that both contain your most recently updated documents....It has been designed principally for those people with two computers (especially desktop and PowerBook).\" A freeware \"Lite\" version offers limited functionality and an OS-X version (beta) is being offered to registered users for testing.

UberTunz 0.5b: mp3 player for OS X

UberTunz 0.5b, now in beta, can create and manage playlists for playback, supporting mp3 files and any other QuickTime 5.0 supported format. The freeware Cocoa application includes limited id3 tag support as well.

RPG Planet and Stomped Summoner Interviews

Both RPG Planet and Stomped have published interviews with Volition on its upcoming 3D role-playing game for the Mac and PC, Summoner. RPG Planet talks with Assistant Producer Anoop Shekar while Stomped chats with Shekar, Lead Artist Adam Pletcher and Lead Level Designer Mitri Van. \"For me the best part of Summoner is the story line,\" said Shekar in an interview with Stomped. \"I love the twist and turns the story takes and how each of the four main characters grow through the course of the game.\"

MadsonLine posts info on PB G4 accessories

MadsonLine announced shipping dates and added a few new products to its PowerBook G4 line of accessories. The $60 MadsonLine G4 Saver neoprene carrying case and the $90 G4 MicroAdapter (black), a 5 oz power adapter replacement, are due on April 1st. Both the G3-to-G4 \"Generation Gap\" Adapter converter, a $20 adapter that converts older style adapters to work with the G4 PowerBook, and the $40 G4 EmPower Aireline adapter which connects your G4 directly to most standard airline power plugs are due to ship on April 23rd. MadsonLine also introduced a new Titanium-style G4 MicroAdapter ($90) and a G4 Auto/Air Adapter ($75), which integrates a transformer into the barrel of the adapter. Both are due to ship around May 21st.

Staples selling Mac OS X early

A MacNN reader notes that Staples has begun selling copies of Mac OS X: \"Many do not know Staples carries a few Macintosh products including the OS (in low quantities). But not being Apple-savy, my local Staples recieved their copies of Mac OS X yesterday and put them on the shelf. I went home with a new copy last night and proceeded to start backing up my Mac so to start installation today. If you don\'t want to wait until Saturday, quietly check out Staples.\"

Tech: PC slowdown, Dell-Samsung, 3Com warns

Afternoon tech news: HP CEO Carly Fiorina says she expects the PC slow-down in the US will spread to Europe; Dell and Samsung have inked a $16 billion deal for Samsung to provide Dell with memory components, monitors, optical disk drives, and LCDs; 3Com has warned it expects to post a wider loss—$215 to $235 million—this quarter on reduced revenues; and 52 dot-com companies closed shop in February, down slightly from the 54 closing in January.

Dartware tests InterMapper for OS X

Dartware, LLC has a posted an OS X-compatible version of InterMapper 3.1a2, its networking monitoring and notification utility.

Operation Recovery for Mac Rogue Spear

*DAMN Gamer has released a new mod and map for the Mac version of Rogue Spear, the tactical first-person shooter from MacSoft. Operation Recovery lets players lead a team of military specialists to rescue US Prisoners of War held by the North Vietnamese while Jester Halls, a new map for both single and multi-player, features two levels joined by three stairwells that provide reduced visibility and the opportunity for ambush or other strategic maneuvers.

Bungie releases new Halo movie

Bungie Studios has released new in-game footage of its upcoming first-person action gaming for the Microsoft X-Box, Mac and PC, Halo. The movie, which runs for over ten minutes in 160 x 120 resolution, shows the presentation given by Bungie\'s Jason Jones and Joseph Staten at Microsoft\'s Gamestock 2001. A high resolution version is also available, although Bungie\'s servers have been overloaded since the movies\' release and no mirrors for it have been set up thus far. Thanks Mac Halo.

Games: Mumbo Jumbo on Mac OS X

games.macnn.com has posted comments from Mumbo Jumbo\'s Mark Dochtermann on Mac OS X as a gaming platform in addition to updates on Escape from Monkey Island, Tony Hawk\'s Pro Skater 2, American McGee\'s Alice and a Mac version of the level editor for Tomb Raider: Chronicles. Also, the site has new information on expansion set Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. [updated]

Intego updates NetBarrier 2, fixes bugs

NetBarrier 2.0.3 is a maintenance update to Intego\'s firewall utility, fixing bugs and adding other minor improvements. The update can also be obtained through Intego\'s NetUpdate feature.

MYOB posts QuickBooks Conversion Assistant

MYOB has created a Conversion Assistant that outlines how users of QuickBooks Pro can easily convert data and switch to using MYOB AccountEdge. The Conversion Assistant is available as a free download, or on CD for $19 including shipping and handling.

Level editor for Tomb Raider: Chronicles

Aspyr Media has announced its intent to bring the level editor that ships with Tomb Raider: Chronicles for the PC to the Mac. Traditionally, level editors that ship with the PC games are not converted to the Mac during the porting process due to time, cost or technological restraints. Aspyr Media and developer Westlake Interactive are trying to change that by including a working level editor with the Mac version of Tomb Raider: Chronicles.

Mumbo Jumbo\'s Dochtermann on Mac OS X

Mumbo Jumbo Games co-founder Mark Dochtermann, who previously worked on games at Ritual Entertainment including SiN and Heavy Metal: FAKK2, is now participating in the original development of Myth III: The Wolf Age and Mac ports of titles such as Baldur\'s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Mark took a moment to share his thoughts on Mac OS X as a gaming platform just three days before its worldwide release.

Apple UK lowers G4/733 CD-RW price

Apple UK has quietly lowered the price on the 733 MHz CD-RW Power Mac by £100 to £2,099. The price at the US Apple Store remains $2,999. Apple officially introduced the configuration just a week ago, citing a greater-than-expected yield of 733 MHz processors that exceeded SuperDrive availability.

ConceptDraw 1.59 revved; beta of Viewer app

ConceptDraw 1.59, a free update for registered users, adds support for Navigation Services and the System Color Picker as well as fixes printing and import issues experienced by some users. The company has also posted a beta version of its freeware ConceptDraw Viewer 1.0b, a cross-platform application that view and print Concept Draw files. The Carbonized application offers tools for scrolling and zooming documents, printing functions, Internet integration, and multiple (simultaneous) document viewing.

Oliver on American McGee\'s Alice

The latest monthly newsletter from Aspyr Media contained a Q&A with Westlake Interactive\'s Brad Oliver on the continuing development of American McGee\'s Alice for the Mac, a Quake III-engine third-person action game that translates Lewis Carroll\'s lovable classic into a dark, sick, and twisted world.

Asante introduces 8-port gigabitswitch

Asante has introduced the 8-port FriendlyNET GX4-800GBIC Gigabit Ethernet switch, which features seven 10/100/1000BaseT ports and one 1000BaseX GBIC module interface. The switch will ship within 30 days for $2,000. The company also offers a 4-port version for $1150.

Logitech introduces cordless optical mouse

Logitech today announced the Cordless MouseMan Optical, a cordless mouse that features a proprietary optical sensor with an 800 DPI resolution (twice that of current optical mice) and a three-month battery life. The mouse features two buttons on top, one thumb button, and a scroll wheel. The Cordless MouseMan Optical will ship early next month for $70.

Console: GBA on sale in Japan

Morning console news: The Game Boy Advance, Nintendo\'s new handheld gaming device that will ship in the U.S. on June 11, went on sale today in Japan where it began with very strong sales in its first day on store shelves; THQ and Fox Interactive have announced the release of Aliens: Thanatos Encounter for the Game Boy Color; Rocket Power: Gettin\' Air for the Game Boy Color is now shipping from THQ and Nickelodeon; and two-time X-Games BMX champion T.J. Lavin stars in MTV Sports: T.J. Lavin\'s Ultimate BMX for the Playstation, which begins shipping today.

Roundup: GeForce2 drivers, \"Moonlight\"

Yesterday we noted Apple\'s new GeForce2 MX drivers, ADC seeding of WebObjects 5 and \"Moonlight\" updates, formal acknowledgement by Apple of no DVD support in OS X, and Yamaha\'s new 20x CD-RW drives. Other updates include FullColor XT 1.0, MacHTTP 2.3, Adobe\'s NN6 extension for GoLive 5, and the new Koan Dreamweaver extension.

Tech: RealArcarde, Motorola loan, HP handheld

Morning tech news: RealNetworks is putting the finishing touches on RealArcade, a platform for downloading and playing games (it\'s unclear whether the Mac will be supported); the Agricultural Bank of China will provide Motorola with a $362 million credit line to aid the company in constructing a $1.9 billion chip plant; HP has introduced a new, color PocketPC handheld expected to sell for around $400; and Nokia says it is \"well on its way\" to achieving a 40 percent market share of the cell phone industry.

ATI to aquire FGL Graphics

ATI Technologies—one of two companies that supplies Apple with video cards—has signed a letter of intent to acquire SONICblue\'s FGL Graphics division for as much as $10 million. FGL is a leading provider of graphics accelerators for NT and Linux; the acquisition would spark ATI\'s entry into the workstation graphics market.

Roundup: Hardware editorial, EFMI goes gold

Yesterday we published The Hardware Alternative, an editorial discussing the new gaming-focused hardware offerings soon to be available to Mac users and how it changes the viability of the Mac as a gaming platform; Human Head Studios announced a Mac version of expansion pack Rune: Halls of Valhalla, while also revealing new details on the game; Apple posted new drivers for the NVIDIA GeForce2 MX graphics cards in many of their Power Mac G4 models; Creative Labs announced their intent to ship the SoundBlaster Live! for the Mac in the weeks ahead, even as the company executes cost-cutting measures amid a slumping economy; Aspyr Media provided current estimated system requirements for Tony Hawk\'s Pro Skater 2 for the Mac, which is slated to hit store shelves in April; and the Mac version of Escape from Monkey Island reached golden master and is expected to be on store shelves before the end of the month.

HP debuts LaserPrinters with Web functions

HP has introduced a series of LaserJet printers with new integrated Web functions that \"allow customers to scan documents directly to the Web, remotely manage printers and supplies, and print information directly from wireless devices.\"

Macromedia completes merger with Allaire

Macromedia yesterday announced the completion of its merger with Allaire Corporation, which was announced on January 16, 2001: \"The transaction brings together market-leading server, development and playback software to make building professional Web sites more efficient, affordable, and accessible.\"

New Website for Cocoa developers

CocoaDevCentral.com is a new site that is \"geared towards newbie Cocoa developers. We\'ll regularly post tutorials, news, Q&A\'s, and more, all with the goal of easing people into Cocoa development in both Objective-C and Java.\"

Website offers Actions, Extensions for GoLive

Didier Laget\'s ActionExt Website has links to Actions and Extensions for Adobe GoLive. (Yesterday we noted Adobe\'s NN6 Support for Adobe GoLive 5 extension that fixes several display issues with Netscape 6.)

LogotypeMaker 2.01 fixes a few bugs

LogotypeMaker 2.01 is a bug-fix release to Blue Line Studios\' application for selecting logo typefaces.

Jasmine 0.904 adds \'File\' menu functions

Kumulipo\'s Jasmine 0.904 multitrack recorder/editor/mixer, now nearing GM status, adds multiple track edits/mixes with new File Menu functionality and Mac OS 9.1 compatibility, according to the Website.

Intuit misses Mar 15 deadline for Canadians

Mark Hicken notes that Intuit has missed its scheduled March 15 release date for providing NetFile compatibility for Canadian QuickTax customers, noting the patch is now scheduled for release for the week of March 19.

Adaptec DirectCD patch supports more drives

Joe Borzellino has posted DirectCD New Drives Patch 1.2b1, which adds support for several third-party drives (Yamaha CRW8824S, Sony CRX140E, Sony CRX140S Sony CRX145S, SAF CD-RW 6424S) to his freeware Adaptec DirectCD hack that brings support for additional drives, allowing users to write UDF formatted disks with officially \"unsupported\" drives.

Final Cut Pro 2 not supported under OS X

Galen Scorer notes that the recently released Final Cut Pro 2 does not support OS X natively: \"...not even in Classic mode! What kind of signal does this send to the Mac community when apple does not even put the effort into making their own programs supported under the new OS.\" Apple\'s Website says that it is \"working to bring a version of Final Cut Pro to Mac OS X that takes full advantage of the new operating system.\" [updated]

Sticky Brain 1.2: better window management

Chronos has released StickyBrain 1.2, an update to its $35 personal productivity application described as the \"ultimate information storehouse [that] incorporates a \'sticky note\' interface to compile and sort almost any type of information including text, pictures, sounds, file/application links, contacts, web ande-mail addresses, internet passwords, etc.\" Version 1.2 adds Window management features and is a free update. [v1.1 updater-1.3MB; Classic, Carbon--2.4MB]

Tech: Earthlink/AOL email; wireless Internet.

Early morning tech news: AOL\'s junk mail filter software was responsible for loss of email sent by some Earthlink customers to AOL accounts over the past 10 days. Cingular Wireless plans to become the first U.S. carrier to deploy faster wireless Internet connections based on next-generation wireless technologies, promising second-quarter launches in California, Nevada and Washington in the second quarter with the North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia markets to follow later in the year.