News Archive for 01/12/19

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Snak 4.8.1 fixes bugs, better integration

12/19, 11:35pm

Snak 4.8.1 fixes bugs, better integration

Snak, an IRC client for both OS 9 and OS X, has been updated to version 4.8.1. The update fixes bugs found in version 4.8 and includes a number of usability improvements; better AppleScript support, useful spam filtering, and integration between iTunes and Snak.

New PowerBooks in stores

12/19, 7:35pm

New PowerBooks in stores

A MacNN Reader notes that the new CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive PowerBooks are available in Apple retail stores now, "They are already available at the Apple store for purchase and take home, no need to wait for delivery."

Carr Software announces teaching aids

12/19, 7:30pm

Carr Software announces teaching aids

Carr Software has announced two new elementary teaching aid programs. MacLessonPlanner Pro! 1.0 can create templates for lesson plans; MacGrader Pro! 1.0 allows teachers to keep all of a student's grades for the entire year in a single file. Both programs are developed by an elementary school principal and former 4th grade teacher and are aimed at elementary school teachers. MacLessonPlanner and MacGrader are $15 shareware.

IPNetMonitor v2.5.2 (candidate) available

12/19, 6:55pm

IPNetMonitor v2.5.2 (candidate) available

Sustainable Softworks has released IPNetMonitor v2.5.2. Candidate Version 2.5.2 fixes bugs with DHCP Test as well as logs TraceRoute PortScan errors during copy and paste actions. IPNetMonitor 2.5 provides a set of twelve commonly used Internet tools that allow Macintosh users to monitor and debug their connections to the Internet. IPNetMonitor costs $30 to register.

Netatalk 1.5 RC1 adds encrypted logon

12/19, 6:45pm

Netatalk 1.5 RC1 adds encrypted logon

Netatalk 1.5 Release Candidate 1, an AFP (Apple File Sharing Protocol) server for Linux and BSD Unix, is now available. Netatalk is a collaborative effort by 26 SourceForge developers. Netatalk v1.5 RC1 adds encrypted logon and fixes bugs.

Palm announces quarterly revenue of $290.6M

12/19, 6:30pm

Palm announces quarterly revenue of $290.6M

Palm Inc., today announced quarterly revenue of $290.6 million, up 36% over the previous fiscal quarter. Although revenue is down 44% from the $522.2 million reported for the same period last year, Palm's management remains optimistic, "This quarter's significant increase in revenue and improved results over last quarter reflect that we have gained traction in the marketplace and restored operational rigor," Eric Benhamou, Palm's chairman and CEO said this afternoon. Palm manufactures Palm OS-based handheld computers as well as licenses its operating system to other top PDA makers like Handspring and Sony.

AIM updated: file transfers, IM support, more

12/19, 6:20pm

AIM updated: file transfers, IM support, more

AOL has released AOL Instant Messenger v4.5.494 for Mac OS X. The new version adds file transfer support, partial direct IM support and new buddy icons. Additionally, AOL has squashed many bugs, added secure passwords and AppleScript support.

HTML Creator v2.8.1 fixes bugs, adds menus

12/19, 6:20pm

HTML Creator v2.8.1 fixes bugs, adds menus

AK Software today released HTML Creator v2.8.1, a Web page editor that allows users to create and edit HTML pages. It includes tools that can generate JavaScript, advanced HTML, and Cascading Style Sheets. Version 2.8.1 brings many organization changes to the menu system and bug fixes to the $15 shareware.

Discribe 5.0 due at MWSF w/DVD, OS X support

12/19, 5:35pm

Discribe 5.0 due at MWSF w/DVD, OS X support

Charismac will release Discribe v5.0 at Macworld Expo in January 2002. Version 5.0 of the CD/DVD mastering/authoring application will include a host of new features including DVD mastering support, video CD support, and integration with Apple's Disc Burner and iTunes as well as native OS X support. The application will offer for over 250 CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW mechanisms and supports the creation of CDs in most all popular formats including: CD Extra, Hybrid, ISO-9660 and both track-at-once and disc-at-once audio as well as offers support for ATAPI, SCSI, FireWire (1394) and USB recorders. It is expected to cost $70 (price reduction of $30), while upgrades and competitive upgrades will be $30.

CNN: Apple promises "breakthrough" product

12/19, 4:00pm

CNN: Apple promises "breakthrough" product

CNN reports that Steve Jobs will unveil a new consumer product that is "innovative, revolutionary, and different" at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco on January 7.

MS settlement: "mockery" of class action

12/19, 3:00pm

MS settlement: "mockery" of class action

Microsoft's settlement of the private antitrust actions filed against it 'makes a mockery of class actions' because it deliberately fails to compensate plaintiffs and is likely to be rejected by the court perhaps in the next couple of days, according to the plaintiffs' lawyerq quoted by Forbes.com.

Architosh: workstation-class graphics?

12/19, 1:20pm

Architosh: workstation-class graphics?

Architosh reports on a rumor that Elsa may release 'workstation class' graphics board for the Mac, the new version of Shade Professional and Personal (noted here earlier today), and an image gallery of Shade Professional R5.

Tech: PlayStation 2, HP leads notebook race

12/19, 1:20pm

Tech: PlayStation 2, HP leads notebook race

Afternoon tech news: Sony's Playstation 2 edged out Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube, according to holiday sales figures released by an independent third-party; Hewlett-Packard was top PC notebook vendor in retail sales in October, although sales fell 9 percent in the month compared with October 2000; Japan's second-largest chipmaker, NEC, will halt chip production at its Scottish plant by April as demand for electronic devices and mobile handsets in Europe shrinks.

No Mac support in PressPlay service

12/19, 12:50pm

No Mac support in PressPlay service

A MacNN reader writes about the newly launched PressPlay on-demand music subscription service that offers music via streaming and downloads: "The press play music service launched today and has restrictions suchs as not being able to play previously downloaded songs if you cancel your subscription, being unable to burn tracks unless online, being unable to burn more than 2 songs per artist per cd, etc... It also only works with Windows. wonder how long this one is going to last." (We also recently noted Universal's newly released copy-protected CDs, which do not work on Macs.)

SysQuake 2 helps undersand complex systems

12/19, 12:45pm

SysQuake 2 helps undersand complex systems

Calerga has released SysQuake 2 and SysQuake 2 LE for both Mac OS 9 and OS X. SysQuake 2 helps understand mathematics, physics and engineering and offers rapid design of high-performance technical systems. Version 2 provides a better integrated development environment, a smoother learning curve for simple tasks, improved graphics, object-oriented programming, and libraries of functions which extend its core programming language. SysQuake 2 LE, a limited free version, also adds high-quality numerical functions, the ability to share data with internal/external sources, the ability to add custom commands/functions written in C or other compiled languages; and low-level file access.

MOTU intros 2U FireWire audio interface

12/19, 12:35pm

MOTU intros 2U FireWire audio interface

MOTU has unveiled the 896, a two rack-space 96 kHz FireWire audio interface with 8 channels of 24-bit analog I/O, 8 channels of ADAT optical digital I/O, 8 built-in mic pre-amps, AES/EBU digital I/O, word clock sync, and sample-accurate ADAT SYNC. It also offers CueMix Plus no-latency monitoring of live input with separate front-panel volume control over the monitored input signal. The $1,300 audio interface includes AudioDesk, MOTU’s audio workstation software, and is expected to ship in the first quarter of next yera.

Kids earn their Macs by volunteering

12/19, 12:25pm

Kids earn their Macs by volunteering

The North Lawndale Time Dollar project, which lets young volunteers earn a refurbished Macintosh computer in exchange for 20 hours of pitching, was started by a freelance computer consultant and helped by a local Macintosh users group called The Rest Of Us, whose members also donate computers and software. (Charter One Bank also donated eleven new iMacs and a network printer to Buffalo 7th and 8th graders at Lincoln Academy.)

Reaktor 3.05 improves ASIO, DXi support

12/19, 12:20pm

Reaktor 3.05 improves ASIO, DXi support

Reaktor 3.05 is a free update to the sound design studio that can be used as a synthesizer, sampler, effects processor, groovebox, etc. It brings enhanced ASIO and DXi support, improved stability, and allows Mac users to load all ensemble files written with the PC version.

MacHack issues 'Call for Speakers'

12/19, 9:55am

MacHack issues 'Call for Speakers'

MacHack, an annual conference for developers, has issued a "Call for Speakers" asking developers interested in hosting/conducting sessions related to software (and hardware) development to submit proposals b February 1st. Each accepted speaker receives discounted admission to the conference. MacHack 17 will take place June 20-22, 2002 in Dearborn, Michigan.

New retail Apple Store coming to Texas

12/19, 9:50am

New retail Apple Store coming to Texas

MacNN reader Joe Ryan notes yet another (unannounced) retail Apple Store expected in Texas (we also noted an upcoming store in New Jersey):

"Saw your note about the new NJ store. I thought I'd pass on another store opening: Grapevine Mills in Grapevine, TX. This is only about 40 minutes away from the Willow Bend store, but it's by far the largest mall in the area and will give Apple a lot of exposure. The store front is currently boarded up wtih a 'coming soon' and an Apple logo on it. It's across from Bed Bath & Beyond, which is one of the larger stores in the mall."

MacPlay to debut two new games at MWSF '02

12/19, 9:40am

MacPlay to debut two new games at MWSF '02

MacPlay today announced it will debut No One Lives Forever and Icewind Dale at Macworld Expo in January 2002. No One Lives Forever is described as "one of the most critically acclaimed first person shooters, while Icewind Dale, a "classic dungeon crawl," incorporates gameplay elements from Baldur's Gate, offering players a chance to "hone their combat skills while exploring the enormous caverns and dungeons beneath the Forgotten Realms campaign setting." Both titles are expected to ship for both OS X and Classic in early 2002.

OS X: Cocoa-native Oni, StimpSoft updates

12/19, 9:25am

OS X: Cocoa-native Oni, StimpSoft updates

osx.macnn.com has a report on the release of the Cocoa-native version of Oni, notes on updates to StimpSoft's free utilities, and news about Adobe's lack of OS X support in its recently release Distiller 5.0 server software.

IPNetShareX 1.0b2: graphical access to natd

12/19, 9:20am

IPNetShareX 1.0b2: graphical access to natd

Sustainable Softworks' IPNetShareX 1.0b2, which provides graphical access to the Mac OS X Network Address Translation (natd) services that can share a single Internet connection with multiple computers, fixes a crash when starting starting a local caching name server.

Adobe barred from selling InDesign 1.5

12/19, 9:00am

Adobe barred from selling InDesign 1.5

A US federal district court judge yesterday filed a preliminary injunction order against Adobe, barring it from distributing its InDesign 1.5 page-layout software amid allegations of copyright infringement by PC software maker Trio Systems, according to Macworld UK. "The injunction affects InDesign 1.5, as well as the Adobe Design Collection, a software kit including InDesign, a company spokeswoman said. However, the company will continue to distribute the software outside of the US, where the court has no jurisdiction."

OmniGroup releases Cocoa-native Oni

12/19, 8:50am

OmniGroup releases Cocoa-native Oni

The Omni Group today released Oni 1.0 (v1.31) for OS X, a Cocoa-native version of its upgrade for the anime-styled action adventure game. The update requires Oni for Mac OS 9 and OS X 10.1.

Macs influenced 'Lord of the Rings'

12/19, 8:40am

Macs influenced 'Lord of the Rings'

Stephan Somogyi talks about how Macs influenced 'Lord of the Rings', which used Glenn Anderson's HiDef preview app that "accepts individual uncompressed frames sent to it over gigabit Ethernet via FTP, and allows users to do useful things with them. But what's important about HiDef to the non-film-nerd is that it runs on a Power Mac G4 under Mac OS 9, and neither of those facts are likely to change soon."

Salon looks at state of Mac game market

12/19, 8:40am

Salon looks at state of Mac game market

Salon.com's look at the state of Mac Game Market, noting that "a solid seller in the Mac market may rack up one third of the unit sales of an A-list PC title...call up a Mac game developer today, ask them how it's going, and you'll hear them say things like 'it's been a great year' and 'we're optimistic.'"

New Pro, Personal versions of ExpressionTools

12/19, 8:30am

New Pro, Personal versions of ExpressionTools

ExpressionTools has introduced new Professional and Personal versions of ExpressionToolsShade, its advanced 3D modelling program. Shade Professional R5/E, which is expected to be available on December 19, is $1,500, while Shade Personal R5/E is due in mid-January 2002 or $500 (printed manuals are an additional $90). Shade R5/E adds new features such as flexible rotation for Ball Joints, support for multiple object cameras, enhanced Polygon Mesh editing functions, an import function for Motion Capture Data (BVH files), and other features.

Reader: Apple ships Combo PowerBook G4

12/19, 8:10am

Reader: Apple ships Combo PowerBook G4

Cameron Marshall writes that he received email confirmation from Apple, indicating that his new DVD/CD-RW Combo PowerBook G4 has shipped: "It left Taoyuan City, TW, 12/19/01 4:12pm, which I'm guessing is local time. Looks like Christmas may come on time after all." (Yesterday we noted a forthcoming special Combo upgrade program from Apple for all 550MHz/667MHz PowerBook owners.)

Opera 5.0 betas posted for Classic, OS X

12/19, 8:10am

Opera 5.0 betas posted for Classic, OS X

Opera has released updated versions of its alternative browser, Opera 5.0b5 for Classic and Opera 5.0b3 for OS X. The updates offer a new 30 day banner-free period, cookie editor, PNGs with alpha channel support for the toolbars, a new status bar, improved drag & drop (with support for dragging urls to the transfer window to download). [Classic, Carbon]

AppleWorks 6.22 update for International

12/19, 8:10am

AppleWorks 6.22 update for International

Raymond Ocampo notes that Apple finally released its AppleWorks 6.2.2 Update for all international versions.

Reader Mac modification: Project: BlueIce G4

12/19, 8:05am

Reader Mac modification: Project: BlueIce G4

Kent Salas writes about a Mac modification he applied to a Mac G4 called Project: BlueIce G4: "Basically I took a G4 cut some window holes in the chassis, made the case covers transparent and installed some case lighting."

Roundup: Combo Drive upgrade, IE 5.1 Classic

12/19, 7:45am

Roundup: Combo Drive upgrade, IE 5.1 Classic

Yesterday we noted Apple's Combo Drive upgrade path for select PowerBook G4 owners, Microsoft's Internet Exploer 5.1 for Classic, a new Apple Store in New Jersey, Apple's new start page agreement with AOL, and teh release of Package Tracker 3.7, GameRanger 2.1.4, Default Folder 3.1.3, and VueScan 7.3.5.

Rad 1.2b1: software for radiation detection

12/19, 1:05am

Rad 1.2b1: software for radiation detection

Black Cat Systems has released an OS X version of Rad 1.2b1, its interface software for the $150 GM-10 radiation detector, which plugs into any Macintosh or Windows computer (using a standard serial port), and detects alpha, beta, gamma, and x-ray radiation.

Blaze 1.5 text editor gets spell check

12/19, 1:00am

Blaze 1.5 text editor gets spell check

Blaze 1.5 adds Export to Styled HTML, Spell Check, better shortcuts, and the ability to import HTML to the $12 shareware text editor. [Classic, Carbon]

Aspyr offers free site license to education

12/19, 12:50am

Aspyr offers free site license to education

Aspyr is offering a free site license upgrade to all schools (K12 or university) who purchase a single retail copy of its recently released action/adventure game, Otto Matic ($35 + $8 shipping & handling). The mail-in only offer is limited to the first 200 educational institutions and allows educators purchasing Otto Matic to install the game on all computers at the school's location. The game runs under Mac OS 8/9 and OS X.

StimpSoft updates free OS X utilities

12/19, 12:50am

StimpSoft updates free OS X utilities

StimpSoft has posted updates to two of its freeware OS X utilities: Son of Weather Grok 4.1.4 adds a dock item menu to the application icon, including the ability to change weather stations if the application icon has a window "attached"; Skwonk! 1.1 adds the ability to skwonk an Airport network (choose "Select Network" from the File menu), and has better error handling (more descriptive messages). [SOWG, SK]

IPNetRouter 1.6.3 adds DynDNS client

12/19, 12:45am

IPNetRouter 1.6.3 adds DynDNS client

IPNetRouter 1.6.3 adds a new DynDNS client to the Internet sharing utility, allowing users to submit a dynamic IP to DynDNS.org for proper secondary domain routing. The $90 software includes a complete IP router, a built-in DHCP Server, NAT with inbound port mapping, and IP filtering to setup your own firewall as well as support for PPPoE and QuickTime streaming.