News Archive for 01/09/04

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FILTERiT 4.01 update adds a revert function

09/04, 10:35pm

FILTERiT 4.01 update adds a revert function

CValley's free FILTERiT 4.01 update adds a revert function to the $130 effects plug-in suite for Adobe Illustrator.

Jobs on Vanity Fair's Top 50 leaders

09/04, 10:25pm

Jobs on Vanity Fair's Top 50 leaders

Steve Jobs is No. 10 on Vanity Fair magazine's Top 50 leaders of the information age.

OS X: 4D Server 6.7.5, Buena Effects packs

09/04, 9:55pm

OS X: 4D Server 6.7.5, Buena Effects packs

osx.macnn.com has notes about a native 4D Server 6.7.5 for OS X, new Buena Effects packs for OS X applications, and Baseview's NewsEditPro 3.4 and NewsEditPro IQue 3.4 text management systems.

4D Server 6.7.5: OS X native database

09/04, 9:50pm

4D Server 6.7.5: OS X native database

4D today announced the immediate availability of 4D Server 6.7.5, an OS X native version of its client/server and web development application. 4D 6.7.x native Mac OS X client software is currently under development, expected to ship before the end of the year. The update, compatible with both Mac OS 8/9 and Window clients, is free for registered 4D Server 6.7 users and upgrade priced starts at $$300 for 4D Server 6.5 users.

Retrospect supports Apple-brand CD-RW drives

09/04, 9:40pm

Retrospect supports Apple-brand CD-RW drives

Dantz Development tomorrow is expected to announce that Retrospect Backup 4.3 will support most internal Apple CD-RW drives shipped with Power Mac G4, iMac, and iBook computers using Shared Device Access Protocol (SDAP), an industry standard for arbitrating access to storage devices. Mac OS 9.2.1 includes Apple's SDAP Authoring Support extension, which allows SDAP-compliant control of Apple hardware. Restrospect Driver 2.2 update is available now in English, French, German, and Japanese as well as a Retrospect Extensions Update, which updates the device related extensions to add ATAPI CD-RW support and to improve FireWire and USB support with Retrospect. [links updated]

NewsEditpro 3.4: editorial management system

09/04, 7:35pm

NewsEditpro 3.4: editorial management system

Baseview has released OS X native versions of NewsEditPro 3.4 and NewsEditPro IQue 3.4 text management systems. Version 3.4 of the editorial management system offers more sort options, new boolean and relevancy searches, and support for hotoshop, Quark CopyDeskSE and Adobe InCopy, including a helper pop-up that has been added for Story Editor (NewsEdit, CopyDesk or InCopy) and Image Editor (NewsEdit or Photoshop). The Pro version also a new chat function for easy communication between editors.

WebMerge 1.7: more HTML layout options

09/04, 7:30pm

WebMerge 1.7: more HTML layout options

WebMerge 1.7, a cross-platform application that generates static Web pages from database files, now offers better flexibility for building index pages as well as minor enhancements to its AppleScript support and documentation. The $70 application works with any database that supports Merge or tab-delimited export formats, including FileMaker Pro and Microsoft Access.

Wired: Opportunities for Apple in PC industry

09/04, 7:25pm

Wired: Opportunities for Apple in PC industry

A Wired article talks about possible opportunities for Apple is slumping economony, given its unique position among the PC makers: "And the company may be poised to become a much bigger player down the road, market watchers said: 'As a brand, Apple is one of these top names in the country...'"

Reader: 'perfect' TiPB carrying case

09/04, 7:20pm

Reader: 'perfect' TiPB carrying case

A MacNN writes: "I just found a perfect urban life companion for a PowerBook G4 Ti. Though not widely known, a company called drop makes a bag called 'macdaddy' (surprise!) which has a padded second bag inside. This padded bag fits PowerBook G4 Ti perfectly. The whole bag is very stylish and comes in 3 colors: yellow, blue and black. Price? I got mine for below $60 w/o tax. You can find the bag around the town in these skater shops or dj shops."

Effects Pack updates for OS X

09/04, 7:20pm

Effects Pack updates for OS X

Buena Software has released Effects Pack 1 (EP1), EP2 and E3 v2.0, three sets of QuickTime video effects plug-ins allow users to apply a wide variety of filters and transitions to their movies in applications that use QuickTime effects, including QuickTime Player Pro and Adobe Premiere. Version 2.0 adds native support for OS X applications. Pricing starts at $30 per pack with discounts for buying 2 or 3 sets. Upgrades are $10.

Afternoon tech: Hancock, USB, AMD

09/04, 3:15pm

Afternoon tech: Hancock, USB, AMD

Afternoon tech news: Former Apple executive Ellen Hancock has been ousted from her position as CEO of Exodus Communications after the company announced a sharp downturn in revenue and profits resulting from a sluggish Web services market; Many of the promised USB 2.0 devices, which offer transfer speeds up to 40 times greater than the initial USB standard, are beginning to ship in quantity; Intel and AMD are working to come to an agreement over the diverging bus standard technologies, 3GIO and HyperTransport.

WeatherMan 1.2: real-time weather info app

09/04, 2:38pm

WeatherMan 1.2: real-time weather info app

Dean Davis has posted WeatherMan 1.2, new versions of his $10 weather application for Mac OS 8/9 and Classic that downloads real-time weather information directly from the National Weather Service Weather Gateway. Version 1.2 adds support for metric unit display and better support for dial-up users. [Classic, Carbon]

Astrologyk 3.0: astrology software for OS X

09/04, 2:34pm

Astrologyk 3.0: astrology software for OS X

Astrologyk 3.0 is a new version of the astrology software (previously known as 'Astrology'), bringing a new native Carbon version and support for moon's nodes as well as plug-in architecture that supports "interpretation." [Classic, Carbon]

LiveKeys XT 1.0 customizes QuarkXpress

09/04, 2:30pm

LiveKeys XT 1.0 customizes QuarkXpress

Badia Software today announced the release of LiveKeys XT, a plugin for QuarkXpress that allows users to fully customize keyboard shortcuts for menus, tools, style sheets and other commands in QuarkXPress. The $40 XTension also offers the ability to save and load custom shortcut sets. A demo is expected to be posted later this week.

A Farewell to Kings 2.0 gets updated graphics

09/04, 12:33pm

A Farewell to Kings 2.0 gets updated graphics

The Rob Steward Company has released an update to its $15 shareware strategy/solitaire game, A Farewell to Kings 2.0, which now offers native OS X support as well as "greatly improved graphics," new games sounds, more preferences, and other enhancements. [Classic, Carbon].

Olympus announces 4 Megapixel camera

09/04, 12:15pm

Olympus announces 4 Megapixel camera

Olympus today announced the D-40 ZOOM, which it claims is the "world's smallest" 4 Megapixel digital camera. It features a 2.8x optical zoom lens, a new 10-position Mode Dial for pre-defined and custom exposure settings, and a Optimum Image Enlargement mode that enlarges images up to 3200 x 2400 pixels (7.7 Megapixels) in SHQ or HQ mode. It is due in October for $800.

Sleeper 3.5: shareware energy-saving utility

09/04, 12:05pm

Sleeper 3.5: shareware energy-saving utility

Sleeper 3.5, an update to St. Clair Software's screen saver and energy-saving utility, now saves multiple configuration settings, offers more customization options for energy-saving functions, adds support for desktop LCD displays, and offers new options to control processor cycling.

Apple Australia director retires after 20yrs

09/04, 12:05pm

Apple Australia director retires after 20yrs

Apple Australia's managing director Diana Ryall will be retiring for personal issues, after 20 years with the company. She was Australia's Employer of the Year for 2000. Ryall will be succeeded by Ben Bowley, Apple Australia's former marketing chief, according to Macworld UK.

Koingo updates shareware utilities

09/04, 11:50am

Koingo updates shareware utilities

Koingo Software has released Alarm Clock Pro 3.7.4 for better performance under OS X and Contact Keeper 3.74 to fix a problem with the built-in dialer.

FileFreak 3.4: app-name keyboard launcher

09/04, 11:50am

FileFreak 3.4: app-name keyboard launcher

John Scalo's File Freak 3.4 is an update to the $13 shareware utility for Mac OS 8/9 and X which allows you to quickly access your files by just typing a few letters.

LaCie ships enhanced DVD-RAM/R combo drive

09/04, 11:35am

LaCie ships enhanced DVD-RAM/R combo drive

LaCie is now shipping an enhanced version of its combination DVD-RAM/R drive with FireWire connectivity. The external drive includes LaCie's new two-chip, single firmware interface, which allows the combo drive to be easily moved between FireWire-equipped systems (Mac or Windows). Pricing starts at $690, including cables, software drivers, one 4.7GB DVD-R and one 4.7GB DVD-RAM disc. LaCie also offers 4.7GB DVD-R General media for $12 as well as DVD-RAM media at $25 for the single-sided 4.7GB disc, and $45 for the double-sided 9.4GB disc.

Pony Express 1.5: updated email utility

09/04, 11:35am

Pony Express 1.5: updated email utility

Alchemy Labs has released a "major" update to its e-mail checker for the Mac OS, Pony Express 1.5. The $10 shareware now offers support for message headers listing, updated status display, an improved contextual menu, and better support for "skins." It supports unlimited number of POP3 and IMAP4 accounts, including mac.com accounts.

Thursby announces MacSOHO software special

09/04, 11:25am

Thursby announces MacSOHO software special

Thursby Software announced today, a Fall special on MacSOHO, its file share software for the home office/small office market. The cross-platform sharign software is available for $50 (half-off) through the end of the year.

Apple Store Boston grand opening notes

09/04, 11:25am

Apple Store Boston grand opening notes

Barrett Madden passed along some comments about the AppleStore in the North Shore Mall in Boston, which had its grand opening this past weekend:

"The line that morning went to the opposite end of the mall, and by the time I arrived that afternoon, it had settled down to a steady 15 minute wait for people to enter the store, due to the volume of pedestrian traffic.

"Apple was handing out T-shirts that a translucent-style blue apple and the word Northshore on the front, and a barcode with an apple cut out of it and the words Shop Different on the back. Very cool. Purchases were bagged in translucent blue bags with a white apple on them, and were visible throughout the mall."

MoneyDance 3.0 and MyBooks 5.1 debut

09/04, 10:40am

MoneyDance 3.0 and MyBooks 5.1 debut

Appgen Software is offering newly packaged versions of Moneydance 3.0 and MyBooks 5.1, which will be on display at at the Retail Visions Conference which takes place from September 4th-7th in Orlando. Appgen is marketing the OS X tools as a viable alternative to Quicken and QuickBooks.

BellSouth beefs up Mac support

09/04, 10:35am

BellSouth beefs up Mac support

MacNN reader Keving Watkins reports that BellSouth's FastAccess DSL, which previously required a $150 installation for Mac users, is now shipping Mac software with their Alcatel USB modems for user self installation. "(Tech Support) said it was just recently released to the public as a download and that although the USB modems didn't actually ship with the software, it was 'available for download and would be included with the modems at a future date.'"

textSOAP 3.0.2 adds multiple undos

09/04, 10:30am

textSOAP 3.0.2 adds multiple undos

textSOAP 3.0.2 is a text cleaning utility that removes garbage characters, formats line breaks, and performs other functions. The new release adds multiple undos, a de-install option, improvements of the text engine under OS X, and the alleviation of a BBEdit bug.

FileMaker portable channel debuts

09/04, 10:00am

FileMaker portable channel debuts

FMPasap is a new mobile channel exclusively for FileMaker Pro users, available for the Palm, Pocket PC, or Internet-enabled mobile phone. The service includes tips, tricks, shareware, freeware, articles, and courseware.

BASh v.16.0 offers 29 new methods

09/04, 9:55am

BASh v.16.0 offers 29 new methods

Deep Sky Technologies has released BASh v1.6.0 a 4th Dimension component which provides enhanced functionality for 4D including a dynamic stack space module for reusing variable space, and encoding and cryptography routines. The new version offers 29 new methods and other improvements.

Epson C80 offers water resistant ink

09/04, 9:30am

Epson C80 offers water resistant ink

On the high end, Epson now offers the C80 color ink jet printer which features new inks that are water resistant and light resistant and is priced at under $150. The printer delivers up to 20 pages per minute (ppm) of black text printing and up to 10 ppm color. The C80 offers both USB and parallel connectivity. A version called the C80WN includes 802.11b (AirPort) wireless networking.

Epson offers new inkjet printers

09/04, 9:00am

Epson offers new inkjet printers

Epson has introduced two new four-color, desktop color ink jet printers. The C60 is priced at $79, prints at a 2880 x 720 dots-per-inch (dpi) hardware resolution and uses ink droplets as small as four picoliters. The printer can purportedly output up to 12 pages per minute (ppm) of black text and up to eight ppm of color graphics and text. The C40UX offers 1440 x 720 resolution and print speeds up to 8 pages per minute.

Former Mac OS clone manager hired

09/04, 4:45am

Former Mac OS clone manager hired

In the wake of Palm's Be buyout, Insignia Solutions has hired Lamar Potts, who previously worked at both Apple and Be as senior vice president of worldwide sales. Interestingly, Potts was the vice president of Apple's MacOS licensing business unit, which was responsible for managing the spread of clones.

PrintToPDF 2.2.5 released

09/04, 4:40am

PrintToPDF 2.2.5 released

PrintToPDF 2.2.5 is the latest release of a shareware printer driver that creates PDF (Portable Document Format) files. Users do not need to have the full Acrobat package installed for PrintToPDF to work. The new version fixes a bug with JPEG image handling, improved horizontal text space, and made several other minor enhancements.

Time Palette 5.0 gets OS X support

09/04, 4:35am

Time Palette 5.0 gets OS X support

Time Palette 5.0 displays the current local time for any city worldwide, renders real-time, photo-realistic maps of the world with correct sun-shading, and calculates a wealth of global time, geographic, astronomical and weather data. The new release offers OS X compatibility, a new user atlas, a favorites feature, and twilight graphs.

StickyBrain 1.3.1 released

09/04, 4:30am

StickyBrain 1.3.1 released

StickyBrain 1.3.1 is a replacement for the Stickies application standard in most Mac OS versions It includes a full-featured word processor and can be used to write letters, keep to-do lists, remember phone numbers, e-mail addresses and internet passwords. The new release includes a number of bug fixes and other improvements. [Classic, Carbon]

Iconfactory foreman to appear on TechTV

09/04, 4:25am

Iconfactory foreman to appear on TechTV

Iconfactory foreman Gedeon Maheux will appear on the TechTV show - "Call for Help" on Monday, September 10th, 2001. Maheux will be demonstrating The Iconfactory's IconBuilder Photoshop filter as well as providing tips and tricks for icon authors when designing and creating icons for Mac OS X and Windows XP. The show airs live at 5pm est / 2pm pst.

xAlizer assits in web log analysis

09/04, 4:25am

xAlizer assits in web log analysis

sPearWay has begun shipping xAlizer, a tool that assists Webmasters in setting up web log analysis using The Webalizer. The tool can be used to produce usage statistics in HTML format for viewing with a browser. The results are presented in both tabular and graphical forms.

Video from Peabody store opening

09/04, 4:10am

Video from Peabody store opening

MacNN reader David Dondero has put up a video with footage from the opening of Apple's retail store in Peabody, Massachusetts on Saturday, September 1st.

HP buying Compaq

09/04, 4:00am

HP buying Compaq

Hewlett Packard is buying Compaq Computer for $25 billion, potentially creating a company that will rival IBM in terms of sheer size (more than 145,000 employees) and revenue (about $85 billion per year). Sales totals of the merged company would also exceed any other personal computer maker, including Dell. Both companies were mum regarding the potential for further job cuts in the wake of the acquisition.