News Archive for 02/07/15

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DEVONthink 1.2.3, bundles announced

07/15, 10:25pm

DEVONthink 1.2.3, bundles announced

DEVONtechnologies has announced version 1.2.3 of its $40 information management system. DEVONthink 1.2.3 introduces auto-classification capabilities, supports PDF/RTF content addition via TextLightning technology and offers a purported forty-percent speed boost over the previous release. DEVON and MetaObject also announced today ThunderPack, a cost-effective bundle of TextLightning ($20) and DEVONthink.

PhotoCircus: slideshow screensaver creator

07/15, 10:05pm

PhotoCircus: slideshow screensaver creator

PhotoCircus is a slideshow screensaver creator for Mac OS X that allows creative users to create customized screensavers with their own pictures. The application features a simple interface, alpha channel support and image annotations.

MuchoFileInfo 1.4: file, folder utility

07/15, 9:15pm

MuchoFileInfo 1.4: file, folder utility

MuchoFileInfo 1.4 is a free utility, which can modify files' creator and type, rename them or change file's Finder flags.

Omni offers MWNY deals on top products

07/15, 8:20pm

Omni offers MWNY deals on top products

The Omni Group today announced that it would offer special Macworld New York pricing on its most popular software titles. OmniWeb and OmniOutliner will both see $10 knocked off their $35 price tags, while OmniGraffle will be reduced form $65 to $50. The Omni Group will also include a free copy of its disk maintenance utility, Omni DiskSweeper, with the purchase all three products. Individual licenses of OmniDiskSweeper will be available for $10 (normally $15).

Newer ships upgrades for older G4 systems

07/15, 6:30pm

Newer ships upgrades for older G4 systems

Newer today debuted two new processor upgrade product lines for Apple's older PowerBook and Power Mac G3 series computers. The $350 NUpowr G4 promises to significantly boost performance of any 'Wall Street' or 'Lombard' PowerBook, with the addition of a 500MHz G4 processor. Newer also unveiled faster MAXpowr G4 ZIF upgrades for the Power Mac G3 series. All upgrades are Mac OS X-compliant.

DropDMG 1.6: disk image creation utility

07/15, 6:00pm

DropDMG 1.6: disk image creation utility

DropDMG 1.6 is an incremental update to Michael Tsai's disk image creator for Mac OS X. DropDMG automates the 'imaging,' compression, and post-processing of disk images. Version 1.6 adds better system integration, more contextual menu support, a new help file for use with Apple Help and bug fixes related to privileges.

Mactracker 2.0 adds info clones, machine info

07/15, 5:20pm

Mactracker 2.0 adds info clones, machine info

Mactracker 2.0 Preview 1 will see a Macworld Expo debut this week and be available for download shortly thereafter. Mactracker provides information on every Macintosh and Mac clone ever made and includes sound recordings of the varying "startup chimes" since the original Macintosh. Version 2.0 adds more information courtesy of the Apple-History and a better interface.

Apple posts final version of QuickTime 6

07/15, 3:50pm

Apple posts final version of QuickTime 6

Apple has released QuickTime 6.0 for Mac OS 9/X and Windows. Beta versions QuickTime 6.0 were recently demonstrated as a part of the forthcoming "Jaguar" release of OS X. More recently, Apple posted public previews of the software package, seeking feedback from users. Apple's QuickTime Web site sports interface elements from Mac OS X 10.2, including the latest iteration of the Aqua 'gel' button. Additionally, the $30 QuickTime 6.0 Pro software offers MPEG-4 authoring, full-screen movies, movie library creation, user movie editing/mixing and slide shows.

Spamfire 1.2: anti-spam email filter

07/15, 3:45pm

Spamfire 1.2: anti-spam email filter

Spamfire 1.2 is an anti-spam email filter that deletes unwanted commercial and pornographic email. The $20 lite version works to delete spam from a single email account and it does not include any filter updates, while the $30 pro version can delete spam from any number of email accounts and automatically downloads filter updates to ensure that you have the most up-to-date spam protection available. Version 1.2 now decodes Base64 messages, understands understands attachments, and has other mail improvements.

Sapphire adds Vol.6 to Illustrator pack

07/15, 3:45pm

Sapphire adds Vol.6 to Illustrator pack

Sapphire Innovations has released the sixth volume of its Adobe Illustrator plug-in set for the Mac OS. Sapphire Pack Vol 6 - Perspectives adds functionality for the creation of three-dimensional perspective drawings via "perspective girds." Volume 6 can be purchased for about $10 as a standalone set, or as a part of the $84 Volume 1-6 bundle. The perspective plug-ins work with Illustrator 8,9 and 10 under Mac OS 9/X.

Keyspan ships new Presentation Remote

07/15, 2:20pm

Keyspan ships new Presentation Remote

Keyspan is now shipping its new Presentation Remote, an $80 remote control device that radio frequency (RF)-based control for your Mac at(obstructed) distances of up to 40 feet: "We knew that we could tailor a remote more specifically for the presentation market...we reduced the number of buttons, added mouse control and also added a laser pointer." Keyspan's alternative Digital Media Remote offers control of audio and video players on a PC, including MP3 players, DVDs and audio CDs.

Macworld product deals, GVP price cuts

07/15, 2:10pm

Macworld product deals, GVP price cuts

Afternoon deals roundup: Although it won't exhibit at this year's Macworld New York expo, Bare Bones Software announced special MWNY pricing on BBEdit and Mailsmith -- each now $80; Gideon Softworks today announced the Gideon Macworld NY Bundle in which users have the opportunity to pick up three programs bundled together for $25 ($10 savings); ClubMac has announced pricing cuts on GVP Storage solutions, lowering the price of external FireWire hard drives to $160, $180 and $250 for 40GB, 80GB and 120GB, respectively.

Microsoft releases Entourage X Palm sync app

07/15, 1:45pm

Microsoft releases Entourage X Palm sync app

Microsoft today released Handheld Synchronization for Entourage X, which offers the ability to synchronize, or transfer items (contacts, tasks, notes, and calendar events) between Microsoft Entourage and a Palm handheld. Microsoft has published a guide to Synchronizing Entourage data with Palm handheld data. The English-only release requires Office v. X SR1; Microsoft is currently developing a version of Microsoft Handheld Synchronization that applies to the Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish versions of Entourage X.

FireWire case offers LCD for performance info

07/15, 1:20pm

FireWire case offers LCD for performance info

Granite Digital has begun shipping its new Smart Drive Series of FireWire enclosures, which includes low-profile, external storage enclosures with built-in LCD+keypad user interfaces, which displays real-time status and performance information on the drive, including the FireWire-IDE bridge, the hard disk, the FireWire connection, and the host computer. Other diagnostic and utility menus allow testing, verifying, and deletion of data on the hard disk without a host computer. The company says it plans to add features for failure prediction, RAID, and even host application integration. Smart Drives are available with or without 3.5" hard drives ($200), include ATA-6 compatibility for hard drives larger than 137GB; and include a 3 ft. 6 pin FIREVue Gold Diagnostics Cable.

Localized Spring Cleaning 5.0 shipping

07/15, 1:20pm

Localized Spring Cleaning 5.0 shipping

Aladdin today shipped Japanese, German, and French versions of Spring Cleaning 5.0, its uninstall utility that offers 16 tools designed to "clean Macintosh computers and protect online privacy. New 5.0 features include: customizable searches, enhanced Internet cookie editing, drag and drop capabilities, a System Menu to provide shortcuts to features, and root access allowances." Aladdin began English shipments of its $50 utility in late May.

MacPlus looks at Jaguar 6C87

07/15, 1:15pm

MacPlus looks at Jaguar 6C87

French Mac Website MacPlus has a look at the latest preview build of Jaguar 6C87 (English translation), a private seeding of the upcoming OS X release. The article notes that that the build brings more options for background image (rotation, random), an improved 'Get Info' dialog in the Finder for modifying user/group privileges, new options for purchasing additional iDisk space, alternative Finder layouts, more user options (including more photo choices), more font smooting choices, and more Finder options as well as other improvements.

TC Works updates pro audio apps: Spark 2.51

07/15, 1:05pm

TC Works updates pro audio apps: Spark 2.51

TC Works has released Spark 2.51 and Spark XL v2.51 updates for its high-end audio editing and mastering application. It brings improved performance, better file handling, 192-KHz sample rate support under Classic when used with ProTools HD Systems, and extended length recording when using SDII file format.

IGS Twisted 1.2.1: OpenGL-based screensaver

07/15, 12:50pm

IGS Twisted 1.2.1: OpenGL-based screensaver

IGS Twisted 1.2.1 is an update to the OpenGL-based screen saver that has more than 15 different controls for the "bunch of squares in 3D space." It adds a main-monitor only preference option, has a new Trails Algorithm for less CPU time, and has anti-aliasing for better visualization.

MacPlay pre-orders for Soldier of Fortune II

07/15, 12:45pm

MacPlay pre-orders for Soldier of Fortune II

MacPlay today that the Mac version of Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is available for pre-order, offering free shipping for all customers in the continental US. The $50 title is built on an enhanced version of the Quake III Arena game engine for explosive special effects and fast action gameplay. It is scheduled for worldwide release July 31, 2002. It is available for OS X only.

MS makes 'pre-emptive strike' announcements

07/15, 12:40pm

MS makes 'pre-emptive strike' announcements

Microsoft today launched the first of "several pre-emptive strikes against Apple Computer's Macworld trade show by making announcements about new technologies far ahead of their delivery to market," according to c|net. Microsoft today announced details about the next version of its digital media technology, code-named Corona, which will be known as Windows Media 9 Series and is expected to make other digital media and consumer announcements.

HP bundles Corel apps with HP Scanjet 7400

07/15, 12:20pm

HP bundles Corel apps with HP Scanjet 7400

Corel today announced that PHOTO-PAINT 10 and CorelDRAW 10 for OS X will be bundled with the HP Scanjet 7400 series scanners. The bundles will be localized in English, French and German. Corel PHOTO-PAINT 10 will be bundled on the entire HP Scanjet 7400 series scanners, while CorelDRAW 10 will be included on the HP Scanjet 7490c model. (Corel recently announced that Corel Graphics Suite 11 will be available for the Mac.

Microsoft, Corel question OS X adoption rate

07/15, 10:25am

Microsoft, Corel question OS X adoption rate

Microsoft and Corel have questioned Apple's efforts in marketing OS X and the operating system's adoption rate among users, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) says it had hoped to sell as many as 750,000 copies of Office v.X within a year of its November 2001 release, but that to-date it has sold only 300,000 copies. Microsoft's Kevin Browne, head of the MacBU, said that after the next major release in 2003, Microsoft may have to re-evaluate its business with Apple if "things don't dramatically turn around." Apple's Phil Schiller responded to the "misplaced concerns" by questioning the $500 tag of the productivity suite and also noted that Apple was on target with 10% of its 25 million user base currently using OS X (Schiller said Apple expects 5 million OS X users by the end of year). Meanwhile, Adobe's sales of Mac products in the second quarter increase, as it released native OS X applications such as Photoshop 7.

Canon intros two USB flatbed scanners

07/15, 10:00am

Canon intros two USB flatbed scanners

Canon today also introduced two new USB flatbed scanners, the CanoScan LiDE 20 ($80) and CanoScan LiDE 30 ($100), which have a new "sleek and stylish design" (just over an inch thick) and add new features including "one-pass multi-scan" mode and multiple-page scanning to PDF. The scanners are expected to ship later this month with a software bundle that includes ScanGear CS , CanoScan Toolbox, ArcSoft PhotoStudio, ArcSoft PhotoBase and ScanSoft OmniPage SE OCR software. The scanners will ship with both Classic and OS X drivers.

Canon intros 3 new Color Bubble Jet printers

07/15, 9:55am

Canon intros 3 new Color Bubble Jet printers

Canon today introduced two new Bubble Jet Direct photo printers and one entry-level Color Bubble Jet printer for the consumer and SOHO markets--all of which have new Exif Print support for easy, smart processing of digital images.

Sybase ASE Early Adopter Program

07/15, 9:20am

Sybase ASE Early Adopter Program

Sybase today announced its Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) Early Adopter Program, offering free use of its ASE 12.5 on OS X platform and free newsgroup support from July 17, 2002 until the product becomes generally available in September 2002. Sybase claims that ASE 12.5 is "the first major enterprise-class relational database management system to ship to Mac developers." ASE 12.5 for Mac OS X includes XML Management Package, which provides support for Java and XML.

SereneScreen Marine Aquarium begins testing

07/15, 9:20am

SereneScreen Marine Aquarium begins testing

SereneScreen Marine Aquarium 0.99, now in beta testing for OS X, offers an aquarium simulation on the desktop. The $22 registration offers displays up to seven fish from a selection of 21.

Usenet reader MacSOUP 2.5b1 supports OS X

07/15, 9:15am

Usenet reader MacSOUP 2.5b1 supports OS X

Stefan Haller is publicly testing MacSOUP 2.5b1, a Carbonized version of his $20 sharware off-line newsreader. Other changes include support for multiple email accounts and multiple personalities, email threading, support for ISO-8859-15 and UTF-8 character encodings, a text-field filter for group listings, and other changes. [Classic, OSX]

Adobe announces Photoshop Elements 2.0

07/15, 9:00am

Adobe announces Photoshop Elements 2.0

Adobe today announced Photoshop Elements 2.0 an update to its digital imaging software, which includes "new features that simplify the process of editing digital photos." Designed for photo hobbyists and amateur photographers, it offers common lighting and color correction in a single dialog window, while viewing the original side-by-side with the modified version.

Dates for MacHack 18 developer conference

07/15, 9:00am

Dates for MacHack 18 developer conference

The MacHack planning committee has announced dates for the annual developer conference, MacHack 18. The conference will take place from June 19-21, 2003 at the Holiday Inn Fairlane in Michigan, where events will begin at 12:01 AM on June 19. MacHack includes technical sessions, academic papers and formal and informal coding clinics throughout the 72 hour conference. Conference registration costs $425 with a $100 discount until February 28th, 2003 and includes access to all conference events, 3 meals and the conference banquet.

CanOpener 5.0 adds OS X support to file util

07/15, 8:45am

CanOpener 5.0 adds OS X support to file util

Abbott Systems is now shipping CanOpener 5.0, an OS X native version of the file utility that provides "emergency access to any file. It lets you recover text from damaged files, foreign files, virus infected files.. just about any file. And special text filters let you extract specific types of information." It is $65, while upgrades are $30 and site licenses are $500.

Petition to bring Borland Delphi/Kylix to OSX

07/15, 8:40am

Petition to bring Borland Delphi/Kylix to OSX

Mac users have begun a petition to get Borland to port Delphi/Kylix to MacOS X, as "it could use the QT libraries for the CLX compatibility and can still allow the developer to write native compiled MacOS X applications. If you are interested in the possibility of being able to deploy your Kylix applications under Windows, Linux (which are currently supported) and MacOS all from the same project file with minimum number of IFDEFs please sign the petition."

eyeTV: digital video recorder for TV input

07/15, 8:35am

eyeTV: digital video recorder for TV input

El Gato Software today launched EyeTV, a USB-based external personal video recorder (PVR) that can record shows ahead of time or stop live programming for an instant replay. Users can perform searches up to 14 days ahead via TitanTV's online programming guide, which is provided free of charge with the purchase price. The $200 device includes a 124-channel cable-ready TV tuner and MPEG-1 file format encoder to digitize TV signals (1 hour is about 650MB). A $20 discount on El Gato's eyeTV is being offered during Macworld Expo for both show and online orders. c|net also notes that Formac also plans to introduce Studio DV/TVR, which is designed for video fans and professionals and offers the ability to store up to 48GB of data on an internal drive. The $1000 device utilizes the MPEG-2 format and can hold up to about four hours of recorded video.

Audion 3: MP3 app gets mp3PRO, iPod support

07/15, 8:20am

Audion 3: MP3 app gets mp3PRO, iPod support

Panic has officially released Audion 3, an update to its popular MP3 application that can "encode, edit, mix, sort and manage, and visualize." The upgrade adds the ability to manage songs on the iPod, song transitions, mp3PRO playback/encoding, the ability to record sound files, broadcasting options for a personal streaming radio station, inline tag editing, contextual menus, batch encoding, a sleep timer, faster encoding, LAME 3.92 encoding support, and other enhancements. Upgrades to the $30 application are $18. [Classic, OSX]

Quickie Web Albums 2.3 adds compression

07/15, 8:15am

Quickie Web Albums 2.3 adds compression

LAJ Design's Quickie Web Albums 2.3 is cross-platform application that creates custom Web Photo (and movie now) albums. The $23 application can now include movies in web albums and has new image compression options. [Classic, OSX]

New online AppleScript workflow training

07/15, 8:10am

New online AppleScript workflow training

TECSoft today announced its new Workflow Automation with AppleScript Online Training Course. The interactive online course teaches "AppleScript and how to create powerful software automation solutions" via 12 hours of training content, 26 QuickTime movies, 13 hands-on exercises, demos of real-world AppleScript automation,, and run-time or trial versions of FileMaker Pro, Canto Cumulus, and QuarkXPress, as well as the scripts for the demos and exercises.

Vue d'Esprit 4.1: upgrade to 3D scenery app

07/15, 8:05am

Vue d'Esprit 4.1: upgrade to 3D scenery app

Vue d'Esprit 4.1, a free update to its $200 3D natural scenery application, adds LightWave 6+ LWO2 file format import, Cinema 4D terrain exports, Direct static Poser scene imports for OS X, and TrueSpace 5 file format import as well as other improvements. Vue d'Esprit ships with 2 CDs, which contain a variety of samples and also includes a 360-page manual.

Mariner Write 3.0 adds MS .doc, OS X support

07/15, 7:50am

Mariner Write 3.0 adds MS .doc, OS X support

Mariner Software today announced an upgrade to its flagship product Mariner Write 3.0. Version 3.0 of the multi-language word processor has significant performance improvements, OS X compatibility, and other fetures such as the readability of Microsoft Word documents, mail merge functionality, PDF export options, and on-the-fly spell checking. Upgrades to the $70 (online delivery) application are $25. The company also released DocDrop, a free utility to convert Microsoft Word documents (.doc) files into Rich Text Format (.rtf) files. The open-source application is based on the GPL wv libraries, offering users a free and easy way of converting their folders of Word Documents to Rich Text Format in Mac OS X or Classic Mac OS. [MW3.0, DD]

Apple extends Internet delivery with Akamai

07/15, 7:45am

Apple extends Internet delivery with Akamai

Akamai today announced that Apple begun using Akamai's EdgeSuite for improved global distribution of its QuickTime movie trailers from Apple.com. The press release notes that the network recently supported the delivery of more than 20 million dwonloads of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones as well as an "Internet record" Webcast of 16.5Gb/sec of video to more than 81,000 live simultaneous viewers.

XtremeMac intros new iPod accesories

07/15, 7:40am

XtremeMac intros new iPod accesories

XtremeMac today announced several new iPod accessories, including the iWallet, genuine black leather case offering a tri-fold design that features a "see through panel for your Driver's License or other important documents" and small compartment for storage of other personal items or accessories. Its iShare Earbud Splitter ($10) allows multiple users to share and enjoy the same iPod from up to 8' feet way and can be daisy-chained without loss of sound quality, strength or volume. The company also introduced three new matching iPod Xwire Gold Audio cables ($10), which are 7' in length (RCA cable for connection to a home stero, stereo mini connecto, and extender cable). The company also introduced a $20 iPod Cassette Adapter.

ArcanePerl 1.0: new Perl dev tool

07/15, 7:25am

ArcanePerl 1.0: new Perl dev tool

ArcanePerl 1.0 is a professional development tool for writing, editing, and running Unix Perl scripts. The $10 shareware offers an "Insert Menu" for various Perl syntax such as print, file input/output, if blocks, subroutines, split, replace, and math.