News Archive for 02/01/28

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Features added to DockSwap & TelnetLauncher

01/28, 10:50pm

Features added to DockSwap & TelnetLauncher

piDog Software has released updates to two of its popular applications, DockSwap and TelnetLauncher. Dockswap v1.3, which allows Mac OS X users to save Dock states and switch between them at will, has been updated to allow users to use "Dock Menu's" to access saved docks. TelnetLauncher v1.4, a utility for saving and launching telnet and ssh sessions, has been updated to include shortcuts to the command line interface. [DS, TL]

Reader: Sebelius for OS X coming soon

01/28, 6:50pm

Reader: Sebelius for OS X coming soon

Reader Ricci Adams has noted the following:

I talked with a representative from Sibelius software yesterday at a music conference. She said that Sibelius for OS X should be coming out in a few weeks. They recently released beta 3 to their testers and reports are coming back that it is stable.

Proxim releases USB 802.11b adapter

01/28, 6:35pm

Proxim releases USB 802.11b adapter

Proxim has unveiled its first USB-based wireless networking solution for Macs. The Skyline 802.11b USB adapter allows non-AirPort ready Macs, such as the original iMac, to join wireless networks. It works with any USB-equipped Mac, and is fully 802.11b compliant.

iPFFS 2.1: import audio from multiple sources

01/28, 6:30pm

iPFFS 2.1: import audio from multiple sources

iPod Free File Sync v2.1 is a utility which browses and imports music from Apples iPod and multiple other audio sources. International versions of iTunes are now supported and an auto copy feature has been added to the new version.

BoardRoom 2.0 allows messaging on FM Pro 5.x

01/28, 5:05pm

BoardRoom 2.0 allows messaging on FM Pro 5.x

The BoardRoom v2.0 is a FileMaker Pro 5.x extension that provides instant messaging support for up to 250 users. Audio and visual notifications, quoted text in replies, time stamping and broadcast messaging are features included in the free software.

Znippetizer-X: text sorting/grouping software

01/28, 4:25pm

Znippetizer-X: text sorting/grouping software

Znippetizer-X v1.3.6 is a small tool that allows temporary storage and grouping of small amounts of text information. The text is stored and can be easily accessed via a small floating utility window. Bug fixes and an improved interface are new in this version. [Classic, Carbon]

Trash X 1.2.1 improves speed, fixes bugs

01/28, 3:50pm

Trash X 1.2.1 improves speed, fixes bugs

Northern Softworks has released Trash X v1.2.1. The $7 utility allows users to instantly delete files and folders without sending them to the trash, emptying the trash only on selected disks, and secure deletion ('shredding') of files and folders. Improved in the update is application speed, visual feedback of "shredding" and minor bug fixes.

pro Fit 5.6: OS X native numerical data tool

01/28, 3:30pm

pro Fit 5.6: OS X native numerical data tool

QuantumSoft has released pro Fit v5.6, its Mac OS X-native application for analyzing and presenting numerical data and mathematical functions. The update is free to current users; a free trial version is available; new user liscenses cost $95.

PrefsOverload 3.5.1 improves interface, bugs

01/28, 3:30pm

PrefsOverload 3.5.1 improves interface, bugs

PrefsOverload v3.5.1 is a maintenance upgrade to the Preferences folder managing tool. The Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X update fixes bugs and adds interface improvements.

FruitMenu 1.5 adds assignable hotkeys

01/28, 3:05pm

FruitMenu 1.5 adds assignable hotkeys

Unsanity has released FruitMenu v1.5, an update that adds the ability to customize and enhance the Apple Menu in Mac OS X. Version 1.5 adds assignable hot keys, a new contextual menu module, a 'Recent' menu for application/documents/folders, IP address display and other enhancements.

SimpleFTP 1.0: shareware ftp client

01/28, 12:10pm

SimpleFTP 1.0: shareware ftp client

On-Core has released SimpleFTP 1.0, a fully featured shareware ($15) ftp client that supports multi-threaded connectoins, resumeable downloads/uploads, bookmarks, and other standard features. A 15-day trial is available online.

ODBC driver support mult-threaded connections

01/28, 12:05pm

ODBC driver support mult-threaded connections

August Software has released updated ODBC drivers and SDKs that now provide multi-threaded Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) support to applications on Mac OS, OS X, Darwin, Yellow Dog PowerPC Linux, Windows, Red Hat Linux and Linux Mandrake. The new release allows applications to launch multiple SQL database threads that run concurrently against one or more host databases, The free ODBC drivers, SDKs and its low-cost ODBC Router provide access to virtually any SQL database system including MS-Access, ORACLE, Pick/Universe, SQLServer, SYBASE, DB/2 and many others. [SDK: Classic, Carbon, Darwin]

Histogram Carbon II adds OS X support

01/28, 11:50am

Histogram Carbon II adds OS X support

Arios SoftWare has released Histogram Carbon II, a rewrite of its dedicated histogram graphing application that offers full customization options. It now includes OS X compatibility and multi-file support as well as an improved rendering engine and an updated interface.

Artist Fred Durst: iPod "amazing"

01/28, 11:25am

Artist Fred Durst: iPod "amazing"

In an recent radio interview, 'Limp Bizkit' lead singer, Fred Durst, tells a local radio station that the Apple iPod was one of his only Christmas presents and how the device is "amazing."

osOpinion: Apple Poised for FireWire Jump

01/28, 11:20am

osOpinion: Apple Poised for FireWire Jump

osOpinion has posted a look at the future of Apple's FireWire technology as the company preps new technology. "The next major step in FireWire interfacing enhancement carries the moniker SBP-3 (Serial Bus Protocol 3). Current FireWire devices use SBP-2. The new protocol will purportedly reduce unnecessary bus traffic and improve overall throughput, as well as decreasing CPU load."

ProSQL 1.1.3, IntelliMerge 1.3.5 posted

01/28, 11:20am

ProSQL 1.1.3, IntelliMerge 1.3.5 posted

Intelli Innovations has released ProSQL 1.1.3, which adds the ability to read SQL Dump files with UNIX-style returns to its local and remote database management software. It also released IntelliMerge 1.3.5, which brings three additional rules for invalid e-mail addresses (improves accuracy for the address checker), OS X save sheets in the message editor, and the ability to undo while composing a letter. [PS: Classic, Carbon; IM: Classic, Carbon]

Image Rodeo v1.2 adds HTML template features

01/28, 11:10am

Image Rodeo v1.2 adds HTML template features

Developer Clyde McQueen has announced Image Rodeo v1.2 for Mac OS X, with much-anticipated HTML template features. Image Rodeo v1.2 builds template-driven photo albums for web distribution. Image Rodeo supports a hierarchy much like the Finder and can comfortably handle thousands of images, according to the developer. Users can rotate photos and add titles and captions for personalization.

WebMerge 1.9.2 generates static pages on OS X

01/28, 11:05am

WebMerge 1.9.2 generates static pages on OS X

Fourth World today released WebMerge 1.9.2, a Carbonized version of its $70 tool for generating static Web pages from database files. It works any database that exports in Merge or tab-delimited format, including FileMaker Pro and Microsoft Access. Fourth World is also offering new "workgroup pricing" discounts for multi-license purchases. [Classic, Carbon]

Palm launches new i705 handheld

01/28, 10:40am

Palm launches new i705 handheld

Palm today launched the Palm i705, its new $450 handheld featuring wireless connectivity, an always-on "push" email from up to eight email accounts (with LED, vibrate, or sound notifications); secure, end-to-end, behind-the-firewall email for corporate users; web browsing via Google search or URL entry; and classic Personal Information Management (PIM) features. Palm also announced that AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) service and a host of other AOL services are available on the handheld as well.

MBE shuns Mac users with 'Price It' service

01/28, 10:30am

MBE shuns Mac users with 'Price It' service

Jared Traum reports that the 'Price It' section of the Mail Boxes Etc. website is apparently for Microsoft Windows users only: "I was appalled by this lack of service and wrote them an complaint email. I told MBE I would no longer be using their services and would let my friends, family, and clients know to find other places to do their packing and shipping." Concerned parties can contact MBE.

Tiff-Sight 1.2.1 helps view fax-format files

01/28, 10:25am

Tiff-Sight 1.2.1 helps view fax-format files

Tiff-Sight 1.2.1, Blue Globe's $15 shareware application for viewing tiff-based fax and multipage TIFF files, corrects a file association problem in the Finder under OS X, allowing users to open a file by dragging it onto the Tiff-Sight icon in the Finder.

Apple ships iMac, takes 150,000 pre-orders

01/28, 10:25am

Apple ships iMac, takes 150,000 pre-orders

In addition to new Power Macs, Apple also announced that it has received more than 150,000 pre-orders for the flat-panel iMac and that it has begun shipping the new high-end SuperDrive iMac starting today.

New OpenDB 2.1 installs, configures databases

01/28, 10:20am

New OpenDB 2.1 installs, configures databases

OpenOSX.com is shipping its $30 OpenDB 2.1 CD, which installs and configures relational database management systems on OS X, including MySQL 3.23.46, PostgreSQL 7.1.3, MyODBC 2.50.38, phpMyAdmin 2.2.2, phpPgAdmin 2.2.0 and other packages.

PrintMagic 1.0 offers printing controls

01/28, 10:15am

PrintMagic 1.0 offers printing controls

Stephen Becker's new PrintMagic 1.0 utility offers extended control of printing, including the ability to select/print non-contigous text blocks, customizable shortcuts, text annotations, and font/size selection. A demo of the $20 utility is available online.

Final Draft 6.0 brings OS X support

01/28, 10:05am

Final Draft 6.0 brings OS X support

Final Draft 6.0 is an update to the professional screen software package, offering OS X compatibility as well as an improved interface, PDF export, more script templates, a new "Ask the Expert" and formatting wizards, and the ability to register scripts directly to the Writers Guild of America (coming in Spring 2002). Upgrades to the $200 are $50 for a limited time.

MacZin: new Chinese PDF magazine

01/28, 10:00am

MacZin: new Chinese PDF magazine

Fred Jame, former Editor-in-Chief of Macworld Magazine's Chinese edition, along with other former Macworld editors have together started a new Chinese Mac magazine called "MacZin." MacZin is a free monthly, Mac-centric, Chinese magazine distributed using Adobe's PDF technology. It provides Chinese Mac users an alternative source of information, including product reviews, in-depth analysis and tutorial articles. MacZin also has a website for distribution, reader exchange and online polls.

CNN: Maine's laptop initiative faces hurdles

01/28, 10:00am

CNN: Maine's laptop initiative faces hurdles

CNN has a follow-up on the State of Maine's plan to give new iBooks to every seventh- and eigth-grader in the state, noting that the contract with Apple has a clause that allows the sate to back out if funding falls short: "The contract is being called the largest single purchase of computers for public school classrooms. It includes wireless networks, technical support and maintenance...[However,] Not all lawmakers are thrilled with spending so much money while the state faces a potential $250 million shortfall, and some are suggesting scaling back or eliminating the laptop plan."

Reader: driver supports wide range of tuners

01/28, 9:55am

Reader: driver supports wide range of tuners

MacNN reader Richard Sarkis writes in response to a report posted Friday: "There already exists a driver that support a surprisingly wide variety of TV tuner cards on Mac OS X. PCI based TV Tuner cards (Mac or PC versions) based on the Bt848, Bt848A, Bt849A, Bt878, Bt878a, Bt879 chipsets could potentially be used with the kext driver and viewer application on Mac OS X. The software source code can be found inside Apple's CVS repository under: [Darwin]/IO/Drivers/PCI/AppleBt8xx/"

osXigen v1.1 has BBEdit integration

01/28, 9:55am

osXigen v1.1 has BBEdit integration

osXigen v1.1 is an update to the Cocoa-based ftp client that now includes BBEdit integration, new icons, the ability to list hidden files, support for IIS5/ Windows 2000, per-server default options, an improved logging engine, nd other performance enhancements.

UPN Enterprise television show uses Macs

01/28, 9:50am

UPN Enterprise television show uses Macs

King Chung Huang notes that UPN's Enterprise television show uses G4 Cubes to power the "Bridge" of the ship: "I just read an article that idrivex (an Apple Developer) wrote after visiting the set of the UPN show Enterprise. In it, he reveals that all the displays on Enterprise are run by 16 G4 Cubes."

MacRPM Utilities updated

01/28, 9:40am

MacRPM Utilities updated

Sveinbjorn Thordarson has released MacRPM Utilities v1.2, an update to the open source bundle of utilities for Mac OS. MacRPM is a SourceForge project that can display information about, and extract files from, Red Hat Package Manager archives. RPM archives are commonly used for 'packaging' Linux software.

Apple launches 'Screen Saver'' rebates

01/28, 9:40am

Apple launches 'Screen Saver'' rebates

Apple also launched its "Screen Saver" promotion, offering up to $500 back on with the purchase of a flat-panel display and a Power Mac G4. Apple is offering $100 rebate with the 15" Apple Studio Display, $300 rebate on the 17" Apple Studio Display, and a $500 rebate on the 22" Apple Cinema Display. (Both the Power Mac G4 and the Apple display must be purchased on the same day; the promo runs through March 31, 2002.)

Power On releases Now Up-to-Date 4.1.1

01/28, 9:30am

Power On releases Now Up-to-Date 4.1.1

Power On Software has released Now Up-to-Date & Contact 4.1.1, an updated version of its popular contact management software that offers several improvements to printing under Mac OS X as well as a number of enhancements to server performance.

Apple intros new 1GHz Power Macs

01/28, 9:15am

Apple intros new 1GHz Power Macs

Apple today announced new speed-bumped Power Macs, including a high-end dual 1-GHz Power Mac G4 with a NVIDIA GeForce4 graphics card and a SuperDrive for $3,000. Apple claims the high-end Power Mac offers 15 gigaflops (15 billion floating point operations per second) and says it runs "applications like Adobe Photoshop up to 72 percent faster and encodes DVD Video over 300 percent faster than a 2-GHz Pentium 4-based PC." Other models include processors running at 933MHz and 800 MHz. The low-end model ships with an ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card (with 32MB of memory) and a CD-RW. The configurations are:

• 800MHz/256L2/256MB/40GB/CD-RW/7500 Radeon/56k $1,599
• 933MHz/256L2/2MBL3/256MB/60GB/SuperDrive/GeForce4/56k $2,299
• dual1GHz/256L2/2MBL3/512MB/80GB/SuperDrive/GeForce4/56k $2,999

Speed-bumped Power Mac details

01/28, 4:10am

Speed-bumped Power Mac details

The 933MHz and dual-1GHz Power Macs feature an updated SuperDrive and improved cache architecture with 2MB of double data rate (DDR) L3 cache per processor (running at half the speed of the processor--up to 500MHz). All Power Mac models offer dual monitor support and an OS X software bundle that includes: "Ambrosia Software Snapz Pro X, Caffeine Software PixelNhance 1.5, Code Line Communications Art Directors Toolkit for X, Lemke Software GraphicConverter 4.1, Omni Group’s OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner, James Thompson PCalc, FileMaker Pro Trial 5.5, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0, Earthlink 2.5, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 5.1 and Smith Micro FAXstf X Preview, as well as Apple Developer Tools X."