News Archive for 02/03/13

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TechTV gives iMac 'thumbs-up'

03/13, 10:00pm

TechTV gives iMac 'thumbs-up'

A TechTV review compliments the new iMac for its excellent display, functional design and array of 'digital hub' software titles. Columnist Brett Larson, however, points to the "outdated" GeForce2 video card as an area for future improvement "We only wish Apple would stop using outdated video hardware in its machines." The iMac received a final rating of 4/5.

BW: IT may suggest PCs to keep job, not price

03/13, 8:25pm

BW: IT may suggest PCs to keep job, not price

"Perhaps the PC's dominance of the workplace is about power -- not money." writes Charles Haddad of Business Week. Because Macs generally require less support and maintance than PCs, information officers may be keeping PCs in the business place to keep their jobs -- the more support needed, the more work, and power, they have.

Canadian proposal to tax blank media

03/13, 7:40pm

Canadian proposal to tax blank media

A Wired article entitled "Tariff on Blank CDs? Blame Canada" brings to light a proposed bill that would issue a tax on blank CD-R/Ws ($.59 per disk), memory cards ($.08 per megabyte) and blank DVDs ($2.27 per disk). Also affected by the possible tax are manufacturers of MP3 players, who would be paying $21 for each gigabyte of memory available on the device. An anti-proposal site shows a comparision of what the media costs now to what it will cost if the proposal passes -- which is doubtful according to legal experts.

MacNN Search updated

03/13, 5:35pm

MacNN Search updated

The MacNN Power Search (as well as the search sidebar) has been updated to work correctly now. Searches may be performed on the last few years of news items -- features, reviews, and comment searches will be added soon as well as a search of the complete archive going back 5 years.

Vendors blame retail stores on iMac shortage

03/13, 5:30pm

Vendors blame retail stores on iMac shortage

According to a c|net article, long time Apple vendors are citing the lack of Apple's new iMacs due to the fact that Apple is stocking their own retail stores first, something that Apple promised would not happen. Some retailers, especially near the new Apple Retail Stores, have only recieved a handful of new iMacs, while hundreds have been shipped to Apple's own stores.

throttled 0.2.3 caps upstream bandwidth

03/13, 5:15pm

throttled 0.2.3 caps upstream bandwidth

throttled 0.2.3 is a bandwidth throttle for Mac OS X. It allows a cap to be put on upstream bandwidth to keep download speeds high when the server is sending at full speed. Added in the latest version are ACK packet prioritization, and removal of the throttle on local network addresses.

Book teaches SVG "in 24 hours"

03/13, 4:05pm

Book teaches SVG "in 24 hours"

Teach Yourself SVG in 24 Hours is a new tutorial book helping designers and developers get up-to-speed using Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), a W3C standard for defining vector graphics. The book details how to create SVG graphics, effects, typefaces and more on the Mac, and includes an Adobe CD containing the latest SVG Viewer and 30-day tryout versions of Illustrator, GoLive, and more. It is available from Amazon for $21.

Kilometre Browser 0.9.3 displays Mac files

03/13, 3:40pm

Kilometre Browser 0.9.3 displays Mac files

Kilometre Browser v0.9.3 is a utility for Mac OS 9 that shows files stored on Macintosh disks with up to 255 characters. It allows supports renaming of files as well as editing of Finder comments and file visibility/lock attributes. Added in the update are contextual menus and improved alias support.

DesignSoft StopWatch Plus; native OS X timer

03/13, 3:20pm

DesignSoft StopWatch Plus; native OS X timer

DesignSoft StopWatch Plus is a Mac OS X native multi-timer and time sheet that keeps track of billable and nonbillable time on projects. It features savable time sheets, convenient GUI, and extensive undo/redo functions. A free demo is available; price is $60.

HP promises 4800-dpi technology in inkjets

03/13, 3:00pm

HP promises 4800-dpi technology in inkjets

Hewlett-Packard will incorporate 4800-optimized dpi technology in many of the company's future inkjet printers. The 4800 x 1200-optimized dpi resolution to be employed in future HP inkjet printers is an alternative photo mode for printing high-resolution source images on premium photo papers and is is "the first in a series of innovative technological enhancements HP will introduce this year." (We previously noted a recall of some of HP's inkjets for a faulty powercord.)

UltraBURN DVD-R: new dvd authoring drive

03/13, 2:55pm

UltraBURN DVD-R: new dvd authoring drive

FirewireDirect.com is shipping its new UltraBURN DVD-R, a DVD authoring mechanism that burns DVD-R and DVD-RW, as well as CD-R and CD-RW media. It uses the newest generation Pioneer DVR-104 drive which reads DVD titles at 6x, writes DVD-R discs at 2x as well as reads CDs at 24x, writes CD-R at 8x, and writes to CD-RW at 4x. An external FireWire version is $550, while an internal drive is $400. It ships with DVD/CD authoring software (Discribe) as well as a DVD-R disc. The company is also selling Jewel-cases DVD media for $4/disc and in bulk for $2.60/disc (spindle pack of 50).

WebDesign 1.5 better supports OS X

03/13, 2:30pm

WebDesign 1.5 better supports OS X

The $30 shareware HTML editor, WebDesign 1.5, includes OS X improvements such as sheets, scrollwheel support, live resizing, and support for long file names as well as a much improved attribute editor and options for relative or absolute paths. [Classic, Carbon]

OWC partners to deliver UltraTek/66 v2.2.4

03/13, 2:25pm

OWC partners to deliver UltraTek/66 v2.2.4

Other World Computing today introduced UltraTek/66 v2.2.4, a new software upgrade that brings OS X compatibility to the VST UltraTek/66 PCI card. Included as part of the UltraTek/66 firmware upgrade is the AV-TekTM Audio/Video utility, which enables owners of pre-G3 Macintosh computers to adjust their storage transfer rates on the fly for smooth running audio and video applications. The $10 shareware registration fee entitled users to receive any future updates and support from OWC.

MySQL Studio offers database tools

03/13, 2:10pm

MySQL Studio offers database tools

PremiumSoft's MySQL studio for OS X is a $65 set of graphical database management, reporting and monitoring tools for MySQL database systems. An evaluation version is available online.

Learner Profile 3.0 software for educators

03/13, 2:05pm

Learner Profile 3.0 software for educators

Sunburst is shipping enhanced versions of its $400 Learner Profile assessment software for educators. Learner Profile 3.0, a database and reporting tool, has a modified to accommodate national, state and local standards. It also allows teachers to share information via an automated import/export, the ability to generate summary reports using a wider range of report options, and includes a full-featured, integrated gradebook to record students' grades, attendance, and other info.

MacPerl 5.6.1 improves performance

03/13, 1:35pm

MacPerl 5.6.1 improves performance

MacPerl 5.6.1, the first new release of MacPerl in four years, is now available. It can be built from the main perl source using freely available tools and offers performance improvements, bug fixes, improved documentation, more tools/modules, and a Web-based installer.

WingNuts 1.1 supports game controllers

03/13, 12:35pm

WingNuts 1.1 supports game controllers

WingNuts 1.1 adds support for most HID compliant USB game controllers under OS X, improved screen resolution and color depth control, better support for VooDoo cards, and other bug fixes to the $25 airplane shooter title.

Troi Grabber Plugin 1.4b1 for FM Pro 5.5, OSX

03/13, 12:30pm

Troi Grabber Plugin 1.4b1 for FM Pro 5.5, OSX

Troi Grabber Plug-in 1.4b1 adds FileMaker 5.5 and OS X compatibility to the FileMaker tool for grabbing pictures from a video input source and putting them directly into a FileMaker container field. It also adds the abiltiy to record a movie from a video input source and save it on the hard disk and get timecodes of a recorded movie.

Graphisoft releases special edition ArchiCAD

03/13, 12:15pm

Graphisoft releases special edition ArchiCAD

Graphisoft has released ArchiCAD 20th Anniversary Edition, a special version of ArchiCAD 7, which contains bonus materials such as hundreds of 3D parametric objects developed in Graphisoft's GDL format as well as texture finishes for the model and compliance with NCS (National CAD Standard) for the US release, according to Architosh.

WebSTAR V 5.1r2 offers fixes, updated PHP

03/13, 11:40am

WebSTAR V 5.1r2 offers fixes, updated PHP

4D's WebSTAR V 5.1r2 includes a fix for truncatomg long pages served from Lasso, WebCatalog, and some other plug-ins and CGIs as well as updated CGI and FastCGI distributions of PHP 4.1.2 and an updated 4D Link plug-in.

Syslog Gen X: free GUI for OS X logging

03/13, 11:30am

Syslog Gen X: free GUI for OS X logging

Syslog Gen X is a GUI for creating a syslog.conf file, which offers control over the built-in logging facility in OS X. Events can be sent to the console, saved to a log file on the hard drive, or sent to a remote machine on the network running a syslog program.

Empower Pro Phone 1.2 adds stereo phone calls

03/13, 11:25am

Empower Pro Phone 1.2 adds stereo phone calls

Empower Pro Phone 1.2, a Mac-only application for making Internet-based phone calls, addresses an issue with mono/stereo microphones and adds more input device support. The $30 application is available with a 50% discount for a limited time. [Classic, Carbon]

The DeInstaller 1.0 helps remove applications

03/13, 11:15am

The DeInstaller 1.0 helps remove applications

Nicolas Zinovieff has released The DesInstaller 1.0, a handy utility for removing installed packages: "[it] reads the receipts generated when you install a pkg file with Apple’s Installer. Every file installed by this package is removed, even if it has been modified, and [can be] archived if you ask the DesInstaller to. If you decide to use a reinstaller, you will get a tgz archive, for portability, and a shell script with a 'term' extension, to be double clickable."

Corel Bryce 5 movie tutorials available

03/13, 11:15am

Corel Bryce 5 movie tutorials available

The Atomic Learning Library has released its Corel Bryce 5 screen-movie tutorial series, featuring the OS X version of Bryce. The series features nearly three hours of narrated tutorials broken into short movie clips for streaming over the Web. The first few Bryce 5 tutorials are available for free, while the series is available as part of a $50 annual subscription to the entire library. Atomic Learning also features several free tutorial series on Apple's iPhoto and iMovie, and a free orientation to Mac OS X.

Playthrough FX: free real-time effects app

03/13, 11:10am

Playthrough FX: free real-time effects app

Playthrough FX 1.0 is a free application that applies effects in real-time to the sound input and plays it through the speaker.

SetiDockling 2.1 supports new client

03/13, 11:05am

SetiDockling 2.1 supports new client

Rémi Zara has updated SetiDockling 2.1, a free utility that monitors the progress of the distributed computing clients running on the computer. Version 2.1 includes support for the Distributed.net client, new proxy support for Seti@home clients, control of display color, improved AppleScript support, and other bug fixes.

NI intros products at Frankfurt Musikmesse

03/13, 11:00am

NI intros products at Frankfurt Musikmesse

Native Instruments made several new product announcements at Frankfurt Musikmesse 2002 in Germany, including Kontakt, a new software sampler; Reaktor 3.3, Reaktor Session, Traktor DJ Studio 2.0, and NI-Spektral Delay 1.5.

Duo Digisette MP3 player gets Mac drivers

03/13, 10:35am

Duo Digisette MP3 player gets Mac drivers

The Duo Digisette MP3 player, which can be used in a tape deck, now has beta drivers available for Mac OS 9 and OS X, according to a MacNN reader: "It requires iTunes 2.x. The recorder also records voice dictation in ADPCM file format. To get these voice files to work one will need to download SoundApp and convert the file to another format."

Darwin Streaming Server 4 outranks others

03/13, 10:30am

Darwin Streaming Server 4 outranks others

Peter Goldman writes "Network Computing has an in-depth look at streaming video server solutions -- highlighting and giving top honors to Apple's Darwin Streaming Server 4 (DSS4) as compared to Microsoft Windows Media Services (MWMS) and RealNetworks RealSystem iQ (RiQ)." The article rates DSS4 with a "B+", RiQ with a "B+", and WWMS with a "C-".

Effect Essentials plug-ins for After Effects

03/13, 10:25am

Effect Essentials plug-ins for After Effects

Buena Software has released Effect Essentials plug-ins suite for Adobe After Effects. The set of 10 video effect plug-ins work with 8-bit and 16-bit per channel video, are AltiVec-enhanced, and include Super RGB curves, HSV Curves, Frame Manipulator, Pixel manipulator, Digital Interference, Edge Manipulator, Radial Glow, HSV Manipulator, and the fully-functional Camera Flash plugin. A 25-day demo of the $350 suite is available online.

Drumbeat 1.0.6: file, MP3-sharing app

03/13, 9:35am

Drumbeat 1.0.6: file, MP3-sharing app

Drumbeat 1.0.6 is an update to the file-surfing/MP3-download application, offering many bug fixes and improvements. An OS X version has entered final testing and should be available soon.

OS X: Cubase SX, AS for FrontBase, more

03/13, 9:30am

OS X: Cubase SX, AS for FrontBase, more

osx.macnn.com has news on Steinberg's Cubase for OS X, new AppleScript support for FrontBase, an update on the zlib compression library vulnerability noted yesterday morning, a link to the Apple Developer note on OS X 10.1.3, and other reports.

Palm unveils new browser for handhelds

03/13, 9:25am

Palm unveils new browser for handhelds

Palm's new $20 Palm Web Browser is a fully-featured HTML browser for the Palm m125, m130, m500, m505, m515 and i705 handhelds, offering Web browsing functions for any URL, the ability to bookmark and categorize favorite sites, easily save information for offline viewing, and cache a history of visited sites. It is scheduled to be available in the US on April 8 and at the end of April in Europe.

Steinberg intros Cubase SX audio system

03/13, 9:25am

Steinberg intros Cubase SX audio system

Steinberg today introduced a new version of its professional music recording & production system, Cubase SX, at Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany. The OS X-compatible application includes a new user interface, graphic automation of all parameters, 5.1 surround mixing, real-time MIDI processing, a complete set of virtual instruments, a new "Nuendo-based" audio engine, Waldorf synthesizer technology, unlimited Undo/Redo, an edit history, and support for 24-bit, 96kHz audio. It is due end of Q2 2002 for $800. Upgrades from Cubase VST/32 be $150, while upgrades from Cubase VST Score and Cubase VST are $200 and $300, respectively.

Canon intros new Digital ELPH cameras

03/13, 9:05am

Canon intros new Digital ELPH cameras

Canon has introduced new PowerShot S330 and S200 "Digital ELPH" cameras. The S330 offers a 3x optical zoom, while the S200 includes a 2x optical zoom. Both feature a 2.0 megapixel CCD sensor; direct print functions to Canon printers, a movie mode (with sound), a new Photo Effects mode, and an OS X-compatible software bundle. They are due to be released in March and April for $500 and $450, respectively.

Apple intros Portable Digital Media Lab in UK

03/13, 9:00am

Apple intros Portable Digital Media Lab in UK

Apple has introduced its Portable Digital Media Lab to UK education customers. The mobile content creation suite features a 500MHz Combo iBook, a Canon MV400i Digital Camcorder and the Canon's 2.1 megapixel Ixus V Digital Camera as well as a sleek, padded, hard-shelled carrying case that features a "liftomatics" system that enables the iBook to be raised in the case and internal connections so all three batteries can be charged with a single power cord. It is available for £2,467 and ships with a FirewWire cable as well as free training.