News Archive for 01/12/05

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Possible: OS 9.2.2, Wacom driver conflict

12/05, 9:20pm

Possible: OS 9.2.2, Wacom driver conflict

A MacNN Reader notes a possible conflict between Mac OS 9.2.2, running as the Classic environment in OS X, and Wacom tablet drivers: It appears under the 9.2.2 updater that Wacom drivers for their tablets, currently 4.71-4 do not load in Classic OS X. I continue to get an error stating the drivers did not load."

MYOB patches AccountEdge

12/05, 6:10pm

MYOB patches AccountEdge

AccountEdge, the popular business management solution from MYOB, was updated today to version 2.0 Patch 5.5.5. The update brings enhanced compatibility of downloaded bank and credit card statements and fixes other minor issues encountered by some users. [Classic, Carbon]

Stopwatch CSM 2.01: multiple timers

12/05, 4:55pm

Stopwatch CSM 2.01: multiple timers

MaBaSoft has released Stopwatch CSM 2.0.1, an update to its Control Strip-based stopwatch/timing utility. The $8 shareware module displays one or more stopwatches to time different events and keep track of how long you work.

Maine program to give iBooks may be cut

12/05, 4:35pm

Maine program to give iBooks may be cut

This week's public announcement of Apple's winning bid to supply Maine's seventh- and eighth-graders with iBooks could help persuade lawmakers to preserve the $30 million program, even as they consider ways to cover a state budget shortfall, according to MainToday.com, which notes that it could give "controversial initiative the edge it needs to withstand budget cuts when the Legislature returns in January."

Apple releases Mac OS 9.2.2 update

12/05, 4:15pm

Apple releases Mac OS 9.2.2 update

As anticipated yesterday, Apple has released its Mac OS 9.2.2 update via the Software Update Control Panel. The update "improves Classic application compatibility in Mac OS X and delivers updated support for Macintosh systems that are based on the PowerPC G3 or G4 processor."

Mac Sacrifice screenshots posted

12/05, 4:15pm

Mac Sacrifice screenshots posted

Games4Mac has published five screenshots of MacPlay's Mac OS 9/X port of the popular PC game 'Sacrifice.' The Macintosh version of Sacrifice is set to be released on Friday December 7; MacPlay is currently accepting pre-orders.

Heuris shipping MPEG Power Professional 2.5

12/05, 4:05pm

Heuris shipping MPEG Power Professional 2.5

Heuris is now shipping MPEG Power Professional 2.5, an update to its $1000 software-based MPEG video encoding tool for professionals. Version 2.5 is up to 50 percent faster, offers higher resolution scaling, improved handling of titles and improved vector matching and improved DV support as well as AC-3 muxing abilities in DVD version as well as a more efficient transport multiplexer, dongle-less authentication system, and PAL/NTSC templates.

Tech: Excite@Home; AOL Time Warner; Agere

12/05, 3:30pm

Tech: Excite@Home; AOL Time Warner; Agere

Afternoon tech news: Excite@Home has announced that it will shut down in February of 2002, after AT&T dropped its $307 million bid for the ISP/Web portal; AOL Time Warner Chief Executive Gerald Levin will retire in May 2002 and will be succeeded by Richard Parsons, the company's co-chief operating officer; Telecommunications component maker Agere Systems Inc. says it will cut 950 jobs in an effort to break even.

iPod picked as "top five worst" holiday gif

12/05, 2:00pm

iPod picked as "top five worst" holiday gif

While faring quite well in other polls and tech-gift guides, a recent poll conducted by TechTarget finds Apple's iPod among the top five worst holiday gifts. TechTarget polled "1,000 computing professionals" to produce the results, which also found Nintendo's GameCube, and the Blackberry wireless handheld to be among the worst holiday gifts. The top five holiday gifts, according to TechTarget, include an HDTV, DVD-RW drive, and digital video camera.

Lawyer says MS is trying to squeeze out Apple

12/05, 1:50pm

Lawyer says MS is trying to squeeze out Apple

A team of attorneys representing Florida consumers who say they were overcharged by Microsoft Corp have issued a statement decrying the recently proposed settlement for a series of class action suits. Jim Thompson, one of the attorneys opposing the settlement, says "The main area of the marketplace where Microsoft is not dominant is in the field of education. This settlement will extend its monopoly into this area by giving their software to the schools and thereby squeezing out Apple and any semblance of competition." The proposed settlement would donate $1 billion worth of Microsoft software, refurbished personal computers and other resources to more than 12,500 of the nation's poorest schools.

ViewSonic introduces $300 19" display

12/05, 1:30pm

ViewSonic introduces $300 19" display

ViewSonic has introduced the A90f monitor, a 19" CRT display priced at $300. The display features ViewSonic's "PerfectFlat" technology, a 0.21mm horizontal (0.25mm diagonal) dot pitch, 1600x1200 maximum resolution, and an optional USB hub. The A90f includes a three-year warranty and is available immediately from retailers.

LXR discontinuing Mac testing application

12/05, 12:50pm

LXR discontinuing Mac testing application

LXR is discontinuing its the Mac version of LXR*TEST 5.1, its integrated testing package for teachers and educators, because of the Mac's small marketshare. Josef "ScienceMan!" Martha writes "as a Mac-using educator, I’m tired of being treated like a second class citizen. They are perfectly willing to sell to the Mac platform, as long as we are content with a version that isn’t fully featured, and won’t be supported or updated."

New Shapes collections for Photoshop

12/05, 12:45pm

New Shapes collections for Photoshop

Sapphire Shapes Vol 10 & 11, designed for Photoshop 6 and Elements, are 2 new volumes of vector shapes that contain 400 vector shapes each, based on a star/starburst theme for dramatic vector/layer effects. Each is £13 ($18).

World Clock Deluxe 3.1.1 supports OS X

12/05, 12:35pm

World Clock Deluxe 3.1.1 supports OS X

World Clock Deluxe 3.1.1 for OS X is a new $12 shareware time tool that displays up to 24 clocks in a palette floating on top of all open windows, can show UTC and Internet Time, lets you assign labels and colors to clocks and allows you to add custom cities and time zones and calculate date and time conversions. It runs in English, Japanese, German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian.

Online petition for metadata in OS X

12/05, 12:35pm

Online petition for metadata in OS X

John Siracusa writes "as suggested by various Apple employees on Apple's developer mailing lists, a proposal [and petition] regarding the future of file system metadata in Mac OS X has been created created by the Mac developer and user community."

Loan Calc 1.4 adds new interest options

12/05, 10:55am

Loan Calc 1.4 adds new interest options

Maxprog's Loan Calc v1.4, a new release of its Loan calculator that calculates repayments amount, monthly and total interest, total repayments and generates a full repayment list from a start date. Version 1.4 adds Continuous, biweekly, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually and annually compounding interest support; nominal and effective/compounded interest support. [Classic, Carbon]

IPNetShareX 1.0b1 offers UI for natd, ipfw

12/05, 8:45am

IPNetShareX 1.0b1 offers UI for natd, ipfw

The freeware IPNetShareX 1.0b1 from Sustainable Softworks offers graphical access to the OS X Network Address Translation (natd) services: "Natd is an inherent Mac OS X service which can be set up to share a single Internet connection among multiple computers without requiring a dedicated hardware router. IPNetShareX can be used as a Mac OS X alternative to the basic Internet sharing feature of IPNetRouter." However, it does not have IPNetRouter features such as filtering, DHCP server, and port mapping.

Plugin for FCP Pro, After Effects interchange

12/05, 8:35am

Plugin for FCP Pro, After Effects interchange

Automatic Composition Import FCP is a plug-in suite designed to bring compatibility and interchange between Final Cut Pro 3.0 and Adobe After Effects 5.0 or 5.5. The OMFI-based package includes two plug-ins: an export component for Final Cut Pro, and an import component for After Effects. It is expected to ship in January for both Mac OS 9 and OS X.

c|net: QT poised to make comeback?

12/05, 8:30am

c|net: QT poised to make comeback?

"QuickTime prepared to make its comeback" discusses QuickTime's role in the industry: "QuickTime still has sway in the film and video world...but has almost no presence in online music, the fastest-growing segment of the digital entertainment market. In a sign of its underdog status, Apple is tying the future of the technology to the acceptance of a new digital video standard known as MPEG-4."

Griffin iMac firmware updated for OS X 10.1

12/05, 8:25am

Griffin iMac firmware updated for OS X 10.1

Griffin Technology's iMic v1.1 firmware for its iMic USB audio adapter fixes a problem with OS X 10.1 with the Rev 1 iMics and the previous firmware update.

Connectix launches Virtual PC 5.0

12/05, 8:25am

Connectix launches Virtual PC 5.0

Connectix today launched Virtual PC 5.0, an update to its PC emulation environment for the Mac that runs on both Mac OS 9 and OS X. It includes Windows XP support, DVD-ROM data support, and Virtual Switch for increased networking capabilities as well as "undoable" drives for quickly backing out of any Windows session. It is also offers shared Zip, Jaz, CD, and DVD drives, enhanced support for dragging and dropping files directly between virtual machines, and full mapping between the Macintosh keyboard and a standard PC keyboard. Upgrades are $80 and Wind98 and PC-DOS versions are $200 and $100, respectively. Win2000 and XP Home versions will begin shipping in late December and early January respectively.

Apple's iDVD 2.05 update available on Web

12/05, 8:15am

Apple's iDVD 2.05 update available on Web

Apple's iDVD 2.0.5 Update, now available for direct download, includes "enhancements to the burning process, more accurate progress reporting and error notifications, and corrects a situation where some files would mistakenly be identified as iDVD 2 documents."

Adobe acquires digital photo software vendor

12/05, 8:15am

Adobe acquires digital photo software vendor

Adobe has acquired privately-held Fotiva, Inc., which develops digital photography software solutions to help consumers manage, store, enrich, and share digital photographs. Adobe says plans to leverage Fotiva's development to deliver a "dramatic improvement its first-generation, Web-centric solutions and hobbyist-oriented software."

Active4D 2.0fc2: server-side scripting for 4D

12/05, 8:10am

Active4D 2.0fc2: server-side scripting for 4D

Aparajita Fishman has released the latest public beta release of Active4D 2.0fc2, a dynamic server-side embedded scripting language for 4th Dimension which brings the functionality of Microsoft's Active Server Pages to the 4D environment. The new version is Carbonized, offers a full suite of timestamp commands, and commands to convert to and from UTC datetimes. Active4D is $100 per developer, per platform for the Developer license, while deployment licenses are priced at $700 per server for the first year ($270 renewal). [Classic, Carbon]

AtWork 2.2.1: Cocoa-native billing/invoicing

12/05, 8:00am

AtWork 2.2.1: Cocoa-native billing/invoicing

Ian G. Gillespie's Cocoa-native billing/invoicing application, AtWork 2.2.1, fixes a few bugs, adds support for customizing events and improves document saving.

Reader: iDisk passwords safely transmitted

12/05, 8:00am

Reader: iDisk passwords safely transmitted

A MacNN reader writes about a quiet update in OS X 10.1.1:

"I just upgraded to 10.1.1 while doing some work on my home network, (I'm setting up a firewall) and I noticed something...In the course of sniffing my network traffic I noticed that my iDisk name and password is not sent in the clear (basic authentication) anymore. It seems that Apple must have switched the authentication scheme to digest when they released 10.1.1 Now iDisk is as secure as all those banking and online broker sites. DIgest is a secure one way hash that can't be decrypted. Both sides use the algorithm to encrypt the name and password and compare the result."

Semi-Annual WAP Computer Show and Sale

12/05, 8:00am

Semi-Annual WAP Computer Show and Sale

Washington Apple Pi's Semi-Annual Computer Show and Sale will be held this Saturday, December 8th at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College from 9am to 2pm. Admission is $5.00 per person (a $1.00 discount coupon is available). The Show and Sale offers "everything from RAM, late-model Macs and other computers, software, hardware items and more..[and] will also offer a repair and install clinic."

AppleScript Studio in December Dev update

12/05, 7:45am

AppleScript Studio in December Dev update

A MacNN reader notes that the recently introduced AppleScript Studio is included on the December 2001 Developer Tools available through the ADC connection. (The latest pre-release version of the CarbonLib 1.5fc4 SDK for Mac OS is now available to all ADC Members as well.)

MacBreakZ! 3.0 supports OS X

12/05, 7:45am

MacBreakZ! 3.0 supports OS X

publicspace.net has released MacBreakZ! 3.0, which brings OS X compatibility to the "personal ergonomic assistant which monitors your keyboard and mouse activity and helps you structure your computer use in a healthy manner which prevents computer-related injuries from developing."

TypeRecorder 1.2 stores keystrokes

12/05, 7:45am

TypeRecorder 1.2 stores keystrokes

Rampell Software hsa released TypeRecorder 1.2, an update to the software application that automatically records and saves all keystrokes, effectively preventing data loss while also monitoring unauthorized activity. Version 1.2 can automatically hide these records to hinder unauthorized access and provide more privacy and also features numerous internal improvements. A 25-day trial o the $15 shareware is available online.