News Archive for 01/10/11

Choose an article from the archive listing on this page or refine your selection using the controls in the gray box below.

PC Mall to report earnings

10/11, 9:30pm

PC Mall to report earnings

PC Mall, Inc, the parent company of MacMall, has scheduled its third quarter conference call and results release for Wednesday, October 17, 2001. The conference call is scheduled for 11:00 AM EDT, 8:00 AM PDT and will be carried live on Vcall.

OS X: best-looking PC OS ever

10/11, 8:00pm

OS X: best-looking PC OS ever

The Mecury News is the latest media outlet to write a glowing review of OS X, saying that "OS X is probably the best-looking PC operating system ever, with its jewel-like Aqua interface and its photo-realistic icons."

IBM to introduce new PowerPC chips next week

10/11, 7:45pm

IBM to introduce new PowerPC chips next week

eWeek reports that IBM next week will announce a new PowerPC chips ranging from 700MHz to 1GHz. Code-named 'Sa-hara,' it may also include enhancements to match the "current performance advantages of the PowerPC G4's AltiVec acceleration and is expected to be the successor to the G3 line:

"The Sahara chip will feature an 'AltiVec-like acceleration' and not require the AltiVec co-processor in order to provide a speed boost to applications. Details were not yet available as to whether this is due to new hardware or code mapping, but sources said Sahara's technology is entirely distinct from AltiVec. Sahara will be constructed using a combination of copper and silicon-on-insulator technolo-gies....

Sources also said a revised version of Sahara, called Sahara 2, will be released sometime in 2002. Although details are scarce, Sahara 2 will be moved from Sahara's CMOS 8 (0.18 micron) to CMOS 9 (0.13-micron) fabricating technology."

Macs solution to hacker security?

10/11, 7:00pm

Macs solution to hacker security?

Wired's Fighting Evil Hackers With Bucks notes one government official recommendation is to use Macs to improve security: "Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Michigan) offered his own suggestion for improving America's computer security: Use a Mac. 'I own a Macintosh. I got through Y2K -- I didn't even think about it. And I've never had any problems with viruses. Maybe there's a lesson to be learned.'

PowerDelete brings new delete function to OSX

10/11, 6:55pm

PowerDelete brings new delete function to OSX

Graham Bakay has released PowerDelete for OS X, which "makes a shift-backspace send a forward delete signal, for those of us without the forward delete key (old macs, portables). It's based around iJect, a similar utility that prevents you from ejecting things accidentally."

Grammarian 2.1.4 works with more applications

10/11, 2:50pm

Grammarian 2.1.4 works with more applications

Casady & Greene's Grammarian 2.1.4 brings improved support for Adobe Illustrator, FrameMaker 5, and BBEdit 6.1.2 as well as a new engine which greatly improves the grammar checking functions. Version 2.1.4 of the $50 application also improves compatibility with Classic under OS X. It is a free update for registered users.

Toonboom update for OS X 10.1 due next week

10/11, 2:35pm

Toonboom update for OS X 10.1 due next week

Jeff Melrose reports receiving a follow-up indicating that TBS would process a refund for Toonboom Studio, which we noted had problems working under OS X 10.1, or wait until next week, when the company says it will post an OS X-compatible version of its Toonboom Studio animation package. It will be a free update for registered users, according to an email from the company.

OS News: OS X overdone UI, performance issues

10/11, 2:30pm

OS News: OS X overdone UI, performance issues

OSNews has posted a first look at OS X 10.1, which offers critiques on an "overdone" Aqua interface and continuing speed issues.

"an OS that except of a slick GUI does not bring anything new in the OS and technology scene, but just a life boat for Apple as a company in the whole. Nothing like a filesystem like XFS or BFS, not a good software manager like QNX's, or the advanced (and easy to use) networking features that WindowsXP brings. MacOSX lacks not the killer application, but a set of killer features."

FinalWord 2.5: text editor for Classic, OS X

10/11, 1:10pm

FinalWord 2.5: text editor for Classic, OS X

PineHill Products has posted FinalWord 2.5, an update to its $16 text editor that adds a new OS X-compatible icon, shortcut features, better Aqua support, and compatibility with OS X 10.1.

New Yamaha 24x/10x/40x CD-RW family

10/11, 12:55pm

New Yamaha 24x/10x/40x CD-RW family

Yamaha's new CRW3200 LightSpeed3 family of optical recorders feature Yamaha's Audio Master Quality Recording System: "When Audio Master recording mode is enabled, the system widens the lands and the pits, significantly reducing jitter created during CD-R recording, improving audio and music recording quality to a level rivaling professionally prepared music CDs." The 24x/10x/40x units, housed in "Platinum White" casing, have a 8MB buffer, include patented SafeBurn technology, and feature Partial Constant Angular Velocity (P-CAV) for support of the 4X-10X CAV mode. The internal E-IDE CRW3200EZ will begin shipping in late October 2001 for $200, while models with UltraSCSI ($350), FireWire ($330), and USB 2.0 ($300) are expected to ship in November.

Panorama 4.01: RAM-based database updated

10/11, 12:35pm

Panorama 4.01: RAM-based database updated

Panorama 4.01, released earlier this month, offers dozens of new features and enhancements to the "ultra-fast" RAM-based database application. Version 4.01 includes automatic guides for nudging graphic objects, an improved Enhanced Image Pack with Quicktime-savvy routines (support for GIF, LZW compressed TIFF and Photoshop files), a new Wizard manager, support for more complex charts, and new simulation mode. A personal license (up to $30) offers use of the database by single person on multiple computers.

SQLBoss Developer 1.0pr2 for managing SQL

10/11, 12:30pm

SQLBoss Developer 1.0pr2 for managing SQL

The second (and final) preview release of SQLBoss Developer 1.0pr2 is available now. The $100 application for rapid database development on remote hosts can create and change databases and export their work as fully functional PHP files. Itt includes all features of SQLBoss Monitor and is available for a 25% discount through the testing period. A free demo is available with registration.

QuickDNS Pro 3.5.2 fixes bugs in DNS utility

10/11, 12:20pm

QuickDNS Pro 3.5.2 fixes bugs in DNS utility

Men & Mice's QuickDNS Pro 3.5.2, a maintenance release to the $500 DNS management utility, fixes a cache corruption issue, improves query responses, and has other enhancements. A free trial of the client/server package is available online.

Cleaner faces challenges under OS X?

10/11, 11:50am

Cleaner faces challenges under OS X?

Christopher Blomquist forwarded a note from Media 100 tech support about the future of the Cleaner Live product under OS X, which apparently faces some developmental/technical challenges. (Although the sale to Discreet was recently finalized, the representative says "it probably does change the future development plans;" however, noting that an official answer will likely have to come from Discreet.

"At this point it is very unlikely that there will be a version of Cleaner Live running on Macintosh. Support for hardware drivers under OS-X is still very difficult, but aside from that we find most prospective customers are within corporates where Macintoshes are still considered unwelcome by the IT managers! As a company we started on Macintosh and many of us use them every day. For this particular product, Windows 2000 and the opportunity to use rack-mountable PCs simply better suites our requirements...Our development team are looking into the possibility of offering a QuickTime encoding option using QuickTime 5, but there is no set release date for this feature right now."

Media 100 completes $16M sale to Discreet

10/11, 11:50am

Media 100 completes $16M sale to Discreet

Media 100 has finalized the sale of its streaming media software assets to the Discreet division of Autodes. The all-cash deal, announced on August 30th of this year, included the sale all intellectual property rights, as well as branding rights of Media 100's CineStream and Cleaner family of streaming media software solutions for $16 million. (Today, it reported a net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2001 of $5.0 million, or $0.40 per share.) Meanwhile, a report on osx.macnn.com has a note about the future of the Cleaner product line for OS X.

Adobe reaffirms earnings, despite 9-11 attack

10/11, 11:30am

Adobe reaffirms earnings, despite 9-11 attack

Adobe affirmed its fourth-quarter targets on Thursday despite saying that "it could not assess the impact of the Sept. 11 attacks. Adobe expects earnings of 27 cents or 28 cents a share on revenues of $310 to $320 million this quarter.

SnapperHead 4.1 takes remote pictures of dtop

10/11, 11:15am

SnapperHead 4.1 takes remote pictures of dtop

Stimpsoft's SnapperHead 4.1 is a "handy little app that sends screenshots to people who enter your IP address into a web browser." Version 4.1 can handle multiple requests, while v4.0 added the ability to capture specific areas of the screen, contextual menu support, and other features. The utilty is free.

Apple to introduce new iBooks, PowerBooks

10/11, 11:10am

Apple to introduce new iBooks, PowerBooks

MacNN sources note that Apple will officially introduce new speed-bumped PowerBooks and iBooks later this month. The new PowerBook will feature G4 processor speeds of 667MHz and 550MHz, larger harddrives (20GB/30GB), a Radeon Mobility graphics processor, Gigabit ethernet, and a bundled AirPort card. The new Titanium PowerBooks are expected to be the same prices as the current models. Apple is also expected to introduce new speed-bumped iBooks with a faster 600MHz G3 processor, larger hard drives (15GB/15GB/20GB), and more memory (128MB) as well as cut pricing on its high-end machine combo-drive unit by about $100. Current models are expected to be modestly discounted to clear remaining inventory, after the expected October 16. [updated]

MicroMat posts TechTool Pro 3.05

10/11, 11:00am

MicroMat posts TechTool Pro 3.05

As anticipated yesterday, MicroMat has posted TechTool Pro 3.05, an update to the popular disk drive utility, adding the ability to edit file/folder attributes, better recovery options, and support for Mac OS 9.2.1.

DrayTek posts new OS X drivers

10/11, 10:55am

DrayTek posts new OS X drivers

Christoph Hoevel writes DrayTek has just released new OS X drivers V1.4 for the miniVigor USB-ISDN-Modem. The new version brings OS X 10.1 compatibility and is not compatible with 10.0.4: "you better backup the old driver before you try the new one."

Hacking IE 5.1 to search Google from browser

10/11, 10:55am

Hacking IE 5.1 to search Google from browser

An article has instructions on how to hack IE 5.1 to search Google from the address bar.

Kids GoGoGo 4.5: parental control app

10/11, 10:50am

Kids GoGoGo 4.5: parental control app

MAKI Enterprise has released Kids GoGoGo 4.5, an update to its parental control application that offers better filtering of image searches, improves performance, and disables the browser's back button.