News Archive for 02/06/11

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WSJ: Macs on top in small reader poll

06/11, 10:15pm

WSJ: Macs on top in small reader poll

A recent Wall Street Journal online reader survey indicates that about sixty percent of participants are either planning to, or already have purchased a Macintosh computer. A majority of voters -- by only a handful -- said that they already own a Mac and plan to use Macs indefinitely.

Rage Pro Lombard patch: graphic acceleration

06/11, 8:05pm

Rage Pro Lombard patch: graphic acceleration

MacNN reader Derek Miller notes that Mac OS X 10.1.5 adds support for Rage Pro graphics acceleration for Aqua and QuickTime, but says it omitted Rage LT Pro chips (stock in some PowerBooks, such as the Lombard, and available on the ATI XClaim 3D Plus PCI card). He notes that James Denton has created a patch that enables Rage LT Pro acceleration: the Rage Pro Lombard patch. [URL updated]

Email Merge 2.1 generates HTML emails

06/11, 7:55pm

Email Merge 2.1 generates HTML emails

Email Merge v2.1 adds HTML email functionality to the popular Sig Software mail composition program. Email Merge allows users to quickly and easily create 'individualized' email messages for mass distribution. Businesses can use Email Merge to send personally-addressed messages to customers from database information included in plain text files or FileMaker Pro databases.

Mac RDU 2.7 driver for Retrospect 5.0

06/11, 7:45pm

Mac RDU 2.7 driver for Retrospect 5.0

A new Retrospect Driver Update for Retrospect 5.0 is now available: Mac RDU 2.7 is recommended for all Retrospect 5.0 users, adding new drivers for a handful of previously supported devices as well as support for Benchmark VS640, Exabyte VXA AutoPak 1x10, EZQuest Boa CDR/w 24X10X40 FireWire Ext, HP SureStore Tape, Autoloader 1/8 Series, and VST SmartDisk FWCDRW-V8.

Discribe update adds 48X support

06/11, 6:20pm

Discribe update adds 48X support

Discribe v5.0.18 adds support to the $70 CD authoring package for new high-speed CD-RW drives with write speeds of up to 48X. A 48X CD 'burner' can create a full disc in 1-2 minutes. [Classic, Carbon]

Vicomsoft Internet Gateway 8.02 posted

06/11, 5:45pm

Vicomsoft Internet Gateway 8.02 posted

Vicomsoft has released Internet Gateway 8.02, an update to its network access management tool that corrects file privileges related to RapidCache, correctly uses the Modem Control Panel to initialized modems, has improved support for USB ADSL devices to handle large uploads and emails correctly, includes DNS server improvements, has support for multiple modem connections, and limits the number of DHCP client addresses to the number of registered users.

JobOrder for Architecture now shipping

06/11, 5:40pm

JobOrder for Architecture now shipping

Management Software has released JobOrder 10.1 for Architecture, a professional version of its business process management software customized specifically for architecture. IThousands of enhancements offer architects and related professionals with precise control over their scheduling, estimating, job costing, project management and accounting operations. It includes activity efficiencies for architecture, expense distribution and credit card distribution, invoice analysis report enhancementsm, notification rules for email reminders to clients, PERT Charts, and other enhancements.

Stimulus 2.1: maintenance rev. for media app

06/11, 5:35pm

Stimulus 2.1: maintenance rev. for media app

Stimulus v2.1 is the latest update to Electric Butterfly's photo, music and video organizer. In addition to providing comprehensive media organization, Stimulus acts as a player/viewer for content. The update to the $12 application includes performance refinements and several minor bug fixes. [Classic, Carbon]

AOL 8.0 for Windows sports OS X-like GUI

06/11, 5:30pm

AOL 8.0 for Windows sports OS X-like GUI

Internally-released beta versions AOL 8.0 for Microsoft Windows closely resemble the Mac OS X version of AOL's client software, according to reports. The latest interface includes pastel colors and more fluid interface operation. In related news, Apple recently acknowledged that Mac.com users can log in to AOL's instant messaging service using Mac.com login credentials.

Education 'Curious George' title ships

06/11, 3:50pm

Education 'Curious George' title ships

Curious George Downtown Adventure for Mac helps children ages three to six develop critical learning thinking skills, according to developer Knowledge Adventure, who announced that it would ship the title starting today. The learning game helps build children's analytical and logic skills by presenting them with challenges inspired by the classic "Curious George" book series, first published in 1941.

Free 5-connection Mammoth PostgreSQL

06/11, 2:55pm

Free 5-connection Mammoth PostgreSQL

Command Prompt has posted an evaluation version of Mammoth PostgreSQL for OS X. The release contains a 5 connection Mammoth PostgreSQL, LXP the XML application server for PostgreSQL and Mammoth Browser a GUI-based data management application.

Jobs, Ive on the role of design at Apple

06/11, 2:50pm

Jobs, Ive on the role of design at Apple

The Financial Times quotes CEO Steve Jobs about the role of design in Apple products: "The way we define design at Apple is not just about what products look like, it's about how they work." Jonathan Ive also notes Apple's small design team which focuses on making products less intrusive: "With the new iMac, if you just sit there for 10 minutes and move the display around, you quickly forget about its design. The design gets out of the way. We are not interested in design statements. We do everything we can to simplify design."

Apple FireWire guru to keynote at conference

06/11, 1:40pm

Apple FireWire guru to keynote at conference

Mike Teener, the founder of the FireWire ("IEEE 1394"), will present a keynote address at this year's 1394 Developers' Conference, to be held June 25-27 at the Microsoft campus in Redmond. Teener is currently Plumbing Architect at Apple--a title that he also held from 1988 until 1996.

Aspyr ships Clive Barker's Undying for Mac

06/11, 1:15pm

Aspyr ships Clive Barker's Undying for Mac

Aspyr Media today shipped Clive Barker's Undying for the Mac, a first-person, 3D action adventure game with five separate quests that challenge the player to "unravel the curses". The $40 title is described as "a nightmarish adventure with just the right mix of horror and imaginative gameplay. The year is 1923 and players are Patrick Galloway, a rugged adventurer and investigator of the supernatural."

PopChar X 1.1 helps with unusual characters

06/11, 1:05pm

PopChar X 1.1 helps with unusual characters

PopChar X 1.1 is the Mac OS X version of PopChar Pro, which helps users type unusual characters without having to remember keyboard combinations. The latest version incorporates several new features as well as fixes bugs.

Silk brings Quartz rendering in Carbon apps

06/11, 1:05pm

Silk brings Quartz rendering in Carbon apps

Silk v1.1 is a haxie from Unsanity that enables Quartz text rendering in Carbon applications under Mac OS X 10.1.5. This brings antialiased text in applications such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla and many others. The update has added default exclusions for AIM, AOL, and Radio UserLand, improved error handling and partial German translation.

Apple begins technology seminars for edu

06/11, 10:35am

Apple begins technology seminars for edu

Apple's system engineers will deliver two-day Technology Seminars for Education targeted at technology directors and computer coordinators. The seminars combine hands-on training, presentations, discussion, and peer networking on topics such as OS X, OS X Server, backup strategies, Mac Manager, QuickTime streaming, and UNIX/Comannd Line 101. The first seminars begin in mid-July in the Midwest (Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana).

MacOpener updated to support FireWire devices

06/11, 10:15am

MacOpener updated to support FireWire devices

DataViz today announced it has added FireWire support to to its Mac-mounting software, MacOpener. The update supports music programs such as TrentSoft's EphPod, which allows Windows users to transfer, organize, and play MP3s from the iPod. The $50 application allows PC users to open Mac disks as if they were PC disks.

Tech: IBM storage, Piracy, MS on WiFi

06/11, 10:05am

Tech: IBM storage, Piracy, MS on WiFi

Morning tech news: Researchers at IBM have developed an ultra-dense storage technology codenamed "millipede", which resembles "molecular" punch cards and can "store as much as 20 times the data of the magnetic storage media used in today's computers, cramming as much as 25 million printed textbook pages of data on a surface the size of a postage stamp;" Software piracy grew last year, breaking six years of progress by software companies to stamp out illegal use, according to a trade group report; and Microsoft is not supporting the 802.11a standard due to backward compatibility issues with the AirPort-compatible 802.11b standard.

MemoryStick 1.1 watches OS X memory

06/11, 10:00am

MemoryStick 1.1 watches OS X memory

MemoryStick 1.1 provides a graphical display of your RAM usage under Mac OS X and optionally uses sound to signal pageouts: "frequent pageouts are a sign that you are thrashing the hard disk."

Online Flash effect production tool available

06/11, 8:10am

Online Flash effect production tool available

Mandomartis has released Advanced Effect Maker, an online tool for creating Flash applets: "These applets are not based on Java, but on Macromedia Flash 5.0. Any users with basic web design knowledge can easily adapt them for their home pages and currently may choose from 23 customizable web effects [including] slide shows, scrollers, tree navigation menus, text effects and page counters." Access is $30 for 3-months or $60 for an entire year for commercial accounts, while inviduals can register for a freeware account, which offers access to a restricted number of Flash applets.

Adobe posts localized InDesign updates

06/11, 7:55am

Adobe posts localized InDesign updates

French and German versions of the InDesign 2.01 update are now available at Adobe's website. (Adobe also recently posted AdobePS 8.8, its PostScript driver for Mac OS 8/9 that enables you to print documents from any application to a printer that includes Adobe PostScript.)

New iMovie 2 plugins for OS X users

06/11, 7:55am

New iMovie 2 plugins for OS X users

eZedia today released eZeScreen 1.0 ($40), the second in a series of plug-ins for iMovie 2. It offers professional blue screen and green screen video effects: "Users can position an additional movie over an iMovie 2 clip and adjust the transparency and fade levels of any selected color to add animated logos, talking heads, or any QuickTime supported movie." The company's eZeMatte 1.0 ($30), released in April 2002, allows any QuickTime supported image to overlay an iMovie clip, allowing users to add borders, frames, themes, logos or any customized graphic. Both require OS X.

NetBarrier offers firewall, antivandal tools

06/11, 7:40am

NetBarrier offers firewall, antivandal tools

NetBarrier X 10.0.3 from Intego adds the ability to filter Apple Remote Desktop, bring a new contextual menu in the Firewall table, and has new default services and ports. NetBarrier ($60) provides Firewall, Antivandal, and Internet Privacy functions.

URL Manager Pro 3.0 final now available

06/11, 7:35am

URL Manager Pro 3.0 final now available

Alco Blom's URL Manager Pro 3.0 for Classic and OS X is now available. The popular bookmark utility adds the Mondriaan menu extra or 'menulet' for access to your Favorites from the OS X menu bar. The $25 shareware offers integration with the browser menu bar (and dock), improved history functions while surfing, many import/export functions, and contextual menu/menubar support.

Keyboard Maestro adds new Hot Key actions

06/11, 7:30am

Keyboard Maestro adds new Hot Key actions

Michael Kamprath's Keyboard Maestro 1.1.1 fixes many minor bugs and introduces new hot key actions to the $15 productivity and system utility that offers Hot Key functions, a keyboard Program Switcher, and a clipboard-enhancement utility that offers multiple clipboards. New actions include 'Quit Application', mute/increase/decrease sound, and other enhancements. A free, lite version of the $20 utility offers limited functionality.

Font Agent 10.1 adds support for Classic apps

06/11, 2:40am

Font Agent 10.1 adds support for Classic apps

Insider Software today announced FontAgent X 10.1, an update to the OS X app that adds font-activation support for Classic applications and improves the font management utility's multi-library functionality. It supports the simultaneous opening of multiple font libraries, define font sets that from multiple font libraries, activate/deactivate sets of fonts simultaneously from multiple libraries. verify fonts on-the-fly as they are activated, and preview any text string in any size in any typeface. Upgrades to the $90 utility are $50. A demo manages up to 250 font files.