News Archive for 02/05/08

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

Apple VP Cook registers to sell $7.4M shares

05/08, 10:50pm

Apple VP Cook registers to sell $7.4M shares

Apple Executive Vice President Timothy Cook has registered to sell 310,000 shares of common Apple stock, according to filings released Wednesday by the SEC. Cook listed April 25 and April 29 as the approximate dates of the transactions, which he valued at $7.4 million, according to Dow Jones. (We noted previous filings by VP Nancy Heinen and CFO Fred Anderson.)

Speed Download: increased download speed

05/08, 9:55pm

Speed Download: increased download speed

Speed Download v1.8.1 is a free update to the $20 download manager designed for Mac OS 9/X that purportedly increases download speeds by as many as five times. Speed Download uses simultaneous downloading to avoid speed caps put in place by content providers. New features in version 1.8.1 include an enhanced Speed Download plug-in, new log management under Mac OS X, more reliable FTP connectivity and several bug fixes.

VueScan 7.5.26; high quality scanning utility

05/08, 9:20pm

VueScan 7.5.26; high quality scanning utility

VueScan v7.5.26 is a universal scanning utility for Mac OS 9/X that works with most flatbed scanners. VueScan produces higher-than-normal-quality scans by automatically enhancing color and contrast. Registered users of VueScan are entitled to unlimited free updates, a four-computer license and full hardware support. This maintenance update includes improved hardware compatibility and better focus point indication.

Fluid 1.0 released

05/08, 9:00pm

Fluid 1.0 released

Fluid v1.0 is a Mac OS X screensaver that offers a "soothing" and relaxing visual display via Apple's built-in screensaver technology. Using OpenGL -- and taking advantage of Velocity Engine -- Fluid renders live movement and imagery that is not pre-rendered or produced. Each frame of Fluid is rendered in a seamless tile that can be used in conjunction with programs like SaverLab for desktop background use. Fluid is freeware; demo videos are available.

Olympus intros Camedia D-550 ZOOM

05/08, 8:25pm

Olympus intros Camedia D-550 ZOOM

Olympus America announced today the Camedia D-550 ZOOM, a new digital still camera that offers consumers high-quality pictures on a 3-megapixel CCD. The $400 unit boasts "seamless" 2.8X optical and 3.6X digital zoom technology offering a combined zoom range of 10X. A 5.8-16.2mm zoom lens (36-100mm equivalent in 35mm photography) yields the standard 2.8X zoom. The D-550 employs a 3:2 recording mode to help users create perfectly-sized 4X6 prints.

Guide for Mac OS X Server available online

05/08, 3:20pm

Guide for Mac OS X Server available online

Søren Theilgaard's guide for Mac OS X Server "tries to describe what Apple has left out in its documentation, and what is specific of interest for Mac OS X Server administrators." The first 3 chapters as well as the Table of Contents of the $20 shareware is available online.

Apple UK offers two new promos

05/08, 3:05pm

Apple UK offers two new promos

Apple has introduced a "Music On" promo in the UK, which offers a £70 rebate (or 120 euros in Ireland) to customers purchasing an iPod (either model) and select Mac systems. It is available from the Apple Store and Apple resellers, according to Macworld UK. Meanwhile, Apple UK and its preferred ISP Demon Internet are offering £90 in savings (in the form of AppleStore credit) to customers buying a Mac and subscribing to Demon's ADSL service. Both offers end June 30th.

PiXELS 3D v4.0 adds features to 3D modeler

05/08, 2:40pm

PiXELS 3D v4.0 adds features to 3D modeler

Pixels Digital is now shipping PiXELS 3D v4.0, an update to its powerful 3D modeling, animation, and rendering program. Version 4.0 integrates ShaderMaker Pro, a patch-bay style interface allows artists to easily create realistic, cinema-quality procedural shaders and also includes particle systems are also included. In addition to NURBS surfaces, PiXELS 3D version 4.0 gives the user more object types, including new primitives, curves, polygons, and metaballs as well as Relational modeling and stackable, non-destructive modifiers. It also brings a completely new 100% OpenGL (hardware-accelerated) user interface. It is available for $600 or as a $250 upgrade.

iODBC 3.0.6 adds OS X support to drivers

05/08, 2:05pm

iODBC 3.0.6 adds OS X support to drivers

iODBC 3.0.6 adds OS X support to the open-source platform-independent implementation of both the ODBC and X/Open specifications.

Macintosh Explorer 3.1:better support for OSX

05/08, 2:00pm

Macintosh Explorer 3.1:better support for OSX

The $15 shareware Macintosh Explorer 3.1, Rage Software's file browser and file management tool, provides improved support for OS X featuring long file name support, unix paths and scroll wheel support, and provides the ability to rename files and folders within the file lists and includes faster live resizing on OS X. [Classic, OSX]

FileMaker Server 5.5v2 fixes several bugs

05/08, 1:05pm

FileMaker Server 5.5v2 fixes several bugs

FileMaker has quietly posted FileMaker Server 5.5v2 Update for OS X, which fixes bugs with Remote Administration, properly runs schedules, fixes setting issues for the FileMaker Server Config, supports high-ASCII characters in passwords, and allows scheduled backups of folders containing closed databases to properly execute. A MacNN reader provided some feedback on the updater:

" I had problems with the updater. I was told by FileMaker support that there was an issue with the updater that doesn't allow it to install correctly, and even can corrupt the existing installation. They said they are working on the issue. I think that FM's QA is in serious need of an overhaul. They still have the same problem installer available for download!"

World Clock Deluxe 3.2: display clocks

05/08, 12:45pm

World Clock Deluxe 3.2: display clocks

World Clock Deluxe 3.2, a $12 shareware clock utility for OS X, displays up to 24 clocks in a horizontal or vertical palette and in the Dock, can show UTC and Internet Time, lets you assign labels and colors to clocks, and allows you to add custom cities and time zones as well as calculate date and time conversions. It runs in English, Japanese, German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian. Version 3.2 adds more palette options, an improved GUI, and other options.

Patch enables Entourage email from iPhoto

05/08, 12:45pm

Patch enables Entourage email from iPhoto

Simon Jacquier's iPhoto Entourage Patcher is a "hack" that brings the ability to send pictures directly from iPhoto 1.1.1 using Microsoft Entourage (rather than Mail.app).

Apple nominated for British Design awards

05/08, 12:40pm

Apple nominated for British Design awards

Apple has "made it onto the shortlist of nominations for the prestigious British Design and Art Direction (D&AD) awards" with both the Titanium PowerBook G4 and iBook nominated in the Products for Work category, and the iPod nominated in the Products for Health and Leisure category, according to Macworld UK.

TextLightning 1.2 converts PDF to RTF

05/08, 11:45am

TextLightning 1.2 converts PDF to RTF

TextLightning 1.2 is a OS X native utility for converting PDF files to RTF format, by reconstructing as much of the original formatting as possible, including fonts, paragraphs, justification, margins and international characters as well as ligatures. A demo of the $20 utility is available online.

Olympus introduces Camedia C-720 Ultra Zoom

05/08, 11:20am

Olympus introduces Camedia C-720 Ultra Zoom

Olympus today introduced the Camedia C-720 Ultra Zoom, which features a 8X optical zoom lens (24X total seamless zoom) in a compact and stylish body. The camera offers 3 megapixel resolution and controls for aperture priority, shutter priority, igital and spot metering; adjustable white balance; multiple flash settings including slow sync flash; and auto bracketing and exposure compensation as well as an Electronic Viewfinder that displays a plethora of information. The $600 digital camera will be available June 2002 with an Auto-Connect USB cable, Video Out cable, carrying strap, lens cap with retainer cord, 2 LB-01 CR-V3 Lithium batteries, a 16MB SmartMedia card, and Olympus Camedia Master Software 4.0.

4-Sight Fax 5 beta brings OS X support

05/08, 11:10am

4-Sight Fax 5 beta brings OS X support

Soft Solutions today announced a customer beta release of 4-Sight Fax 5, a new version of its fax server solution that now supports OS X. It provides TCP/IP access to remote, cross-platform users, offering the ability to send/receive faxes over any Internet connection and supports users in cross-platform environments (Mac OS 8/9, OS X; Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP). The new client interface include an expanded address book, a powerful queue search capability, and expanded viewing features. OS X support for the server as well as an e-mail-to-fax gateway is currently under development and is planned for release with version 5.1. it is available for $600 for one line supporting 5 users.

Apple releases iPhoto 1.1.1

05/08, 10:45am

Apple releases iPhoto 1.1.1

Apple has released iPhoto 1.1.1, an update to the photo organizing, sharing, editing application, after pulling v1.1, which was inadvertantly made available last week and cauased problems for some readers. Changes in iPhoto 1.1.1 include new brightness/contrast controls, integration with Mail.app, set photos as desktop background, choose a photo album to play as slideshow as the OS X screensaver, create a self-contained QuickTime slideshow (with music & transitions), searcht the photo library by photo comments, view all EXIF metadata associated with a photo JPEG file, and preserve file names as photo titles when importing images from the Finder.

Quantum Chemistry for OS X

05/08, 8:20am

Quantum Chemistry for OS X

SCM has released the first OS X port of its quantum chemistry software ADF2002: "This is the first time ADF has been made available on the Mac platform. The release means chemists can now perform complex quantum chemical calculations using Density Functional Theory (DFT) on their desktop and portable Macs. The Amsterdam Density Functional (ADF) program is software for first-principles electronic structure calculations (quantum chemistry). ADF is used by research chemists worldwide in basically all fields of chemistry. It is particularly popular in inorganic and heavy element chemistry, and in various flavors of spectroscopy."

Kensington intros small 4-port hub, keypad

05/08, 8:05am

Kensington intros small 4-port hub, keypad

Kensington has introduced its PocketHUB, the "world's smallest" self-powered 4-port USB hub, and Pocket KeyPad, a new keypad accessory that includes a two-port USB hub.

Adaptec PowerDomain SlimSCSI 1480 1.0 beta

05/08, 7:55am

Adaptec PowerDomain SlimSCSI 1480 1.0 beta

Adaptec has released the first (beta) version of its PowerDomain SlimSCSI 1480 driver for Mac OS X 10.1.3, which "will only function on PowerBooks with built-in 1394 ports:" PowerDomain SlimSCSI 1480 1.0b1.

Apple offers new promo on FCP, DVD Studio Pro

05/08, 7:50am

Apple offers new promo on FCP, DVD Studio Pro

Apple's Finish your movie under budget offers a $300 mail-in rebate savings on the purchase of Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro through May 31, 2002.

FireWire KeyChain available in new models

05/08, 7:35am

FireWire KeyChain available in new models

WiebeTech has announced five new preconfigured versions of its FireWire KeyChain, including 32MB ($120), 64MB ($140), 128MB ($170), 256MB ($220), and 1GB ($400) versions. The user configurable version without module is available for $100; it is compatible with Flash memory and IBM MicroDrives.

chartConstructor 1.0 for Gantt, PERT charts

05/08, 7:30am

chartConstructor 1.0 for Gantt, PERT charts

chartConstructor 1.0 is a $30 shareware application used to build project management charts: "[it] is perfect for small and medium size businesses that need to create Gantt and PERT charts, but don't require some of the features and cost of other options. Once created charts can be printed or exported as image files for inclusion in other documents, or on the web."

SnapTalk 3 brings OS X support, encryption

05/08, 7:25am

SnapTalk 3 brings OS X support, encryption

Glass Bead Software has released SnapTalk 3 for OS X, which offers secure encrypted messaging over TCP/IP as well as AppleTalk networks. The secure instant messaging and file transfer/compression software runs native under OS X, and is fully compatible with Mac OS 8/9. Other enhancements include automatic compression for all file transfers, an unlimited set of 'Quick Reply' responses, group messaging, timestamps, 'hot' URLs, and sophisticated archiving. [Classic, OSX]