News Archive for 02/10/01

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Dr. Bott cuts hub pricing

10/01, 10:10pm

Dr. Bott cuts hub pricing

Dr. Bott has announced reduced pricing on its T7Hub, gHub, and T3Hub, which now sell for $48, $35 and $28, respectively. The T7Hub is the "only" seven-port USB hub that supports seven devices, drawing 0.5 Amps each. gHub provides indicators for both connectivity and overcurrent protection to simplify troubleshooting. T3Hub weighs less than an ounce and supports USB devices that normally require external power.

Columnist: the importance of being sleek

10/01, 9:15pm

Columnist: the importance of being sleek

Columnist Stephen Manes discusses the "importance of being sleek," in a recent article for Yahoo! Finance. The two leading all-in-one computers -- Apple's iMac and the Gateway Profile 4 -- share some similar design principles, but, in the view of Mr. Manes, were created with different priorities. While the iMac's case design clearly bests the Profile 4's "bolted-together" appearance, Manes suggests that the Gateway packs more value. Mr. Manes praises the crisp, albeit "unusually sized," display of the iMac, but criticizes the machine's DVD decoding capabilities. To the credit of the iMac, Manes says that the Mac's 6-pin FireWire ports and DVD authoring features help counter the Gateway's lower price tag.

MOTU releases Digital Performer 3.1 update

10/01, 8:20pm

MOTU releases Digital Performer 3.1 update

MOTU has released Digital Performer 3.1, an update to its digital audio and MIDI sequencer for Mac OS 9. The update contains installer archive that installs DP 3.1 patch, FreeMIDI Files, MAS update, Update Notes.pdf and REX Shared Library.

Freeverse releases 3D Hearts Deluxe 7

10/01, 8:00pm

Freeverse releases 3D Hearts Deluxe 7

Freeverse Software today released 3D Hearts Deluxe 7, the latest version of its $20 Hearts game for the Mac. The new release offers support for the GameSmith opponent matching service, and a number of other improvements over 'Colin's Classic Hearts' and earlier versions of '3D Hearts.'

CharisMac offers Dr. Fix-It sale pricing

10/01, 7:00pm

CharisMac offers Dr. Fix-It sale pricing

CharisMac is offering its Dr. Fix-It DVD / CD repair and cleaning kit for $35 throughout the month of October. The new price represents a $5 discount on the motorized optical media cleaning kit, which includes a user's guide, cleaning apparatus, repair apparatus, two extra polishing heads and two extra repairing heads.

Manic Minefileds 2.1: Minesweeper type game

10/01, 5:05pm

Manic Minefileds 2.1: Minesweeper type game

Manic Minefields 2.1 is a Mac OS 9 & X shareware ($10) game based on the classic Minesweeper. It features "12 uniquely designed minefields with beautiful graphics and crisp sound effects." The update includes sound effects during game play, some minor improvements and a bug fix. [site currently unavailable]

AOL Instant Messenger 4.5.863 adds security

10/01, 4:55pm

AOL Instant Messenger 4.5.863 adds security

America Online has released AOL Instant Messenger 4.5.863, an update to its instant messaging client for Mac OS 9 & X. The release brings long filename support, fixes bugs and updates security.

Apple unveils .Mac for Education

10/01, 4:15pm

Apple unveils .Mac for Education

Apple has introduced the educational version of its .Mac Web service. .Mac for Education allows education institutions to purchase an unlimited number of .Mac one-year subscriptions via purchase order at a special price of $60 per user (a minimum of 10 subscriptions is required). The education .Mac differs slightly from the consumer version; 50MB of iDisk storage (100MB for a consumer), a Mac.com IMAP email account with 10MB of storage (15MB for consumers), HomePage Web page builder, Backup software and Virex software.

REALbasic 5 will support both Mac and Windows

10/01, 4:05pm

REALbasic 5 will support both Mac and Windows

REAL Software has announced that REALbasic 5, the next version of its software development environment, will support both Macintosh and Windows. "REALbasic for Macintosh users have been able to create applications for both Macintosh and Windows since 1999. This new version will allow Windows users to do the same thing." The software will ship in the first quarter of 2003.

OmniWeb 4.1.1 brings RealOne support

10/01, 3:50pm

OmniWeb 4.1.1 brings RealOne support

The Omni Group has released OmniWeb 4.1.1, its Mac OS X native web browser. The update brings support for the RealOne player/plugin, improved HTTPS/SSL support and addresses known issues with Jaguar. Also, new Swedish and Finnish localizations have been included, brining the total to 15 languages.

Royalty-free border patterns for Photoshop

10/01, 3:40pm

Royalty-free border patterns for Photoshop

Innovations has released Shapes Vol. 15 - Border Pattern Designs, a royalty-free set of 400+ border patterns, angular, triangular and blocky designs for Photoshop 6 and 7. The price is approximately $10.

Speed Download 1.9.1 updates download util

10/01, 1:20pm

Speed Download 1.9.1 updates download util

YazSoft's download acceleration and organization utility, Speed Download 1.9.1 adds the ability to control the application from the 'Terminal' application (and thus from any connected computer). It is also now seamless with all popular Mac browsers and allows users to set the download position for each item in the queue.

Freeware hfstar archives HFS+ info

10/01, 1:15pm

Freeware hfstar archives HFS+ info

Metaobject's hfstar 1.13.19 is a version of gnutar for Mac OS X that supports archiving HFS+ specific information such as resource forks, type and creator codes as well as other Finder flags. It now handles incremental updates and is compatible with the open-source backup system Amanda. Hfstar is distributed under the terms of the GPL and is available at no charge.

Developer tools compatible with Jaguar

10/01, 1:10pm

Developer tools compatible with Jaguar

Aladdin Knowledge Systems today announced that its Privilege Software Commerce Platform (SCP), which offers anti-piracy and electronic distribution capabilities for application developers is now compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. Privilege SCP for Mac OS X enables state-of-the-art software to be delivered securely, through Product Activation authentication and trial ware demo creation as well as Electronic Software Distribution supervision.

Amtec releases Tecplot 9.2 for OS X

10/01, 12:45pm

Amtec releases Tecplot 9.2 for OS X

Amtec today released Tecplot 9.2 for Mac OS X, its technical plotting software with integrated XY, 2- and 3-D capabilities. The versatile plotting and data analysis software offers general technical plotting and high-end 3-D visualization abilities and produces create superb on-screen graphics and presentation-quality output. The $1,500 application is designed for engineers and scientists working with large data sets created by numerical simulation software, data from analysis and testing, and those seeking a one-stop-shop for data visualization. The release of Amtec's industry-specific add-on modules for Mac OS X is expected later in the month.

Open Door updates firewall advisor utility

10/01, 10:35am

Open Door updates firewall advisor utility

Open Door Networks is shipping Who's There 1.3, a free update to its firewall advisor for Mac OS X, which helps users analyze, investigate and respond to access attempts. Version 1.3 updates the product for use with Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, provides support for Jaguar's new Mail application, and includes updates to the service definitions. The $30 application supports the Norton Personal Firewall, Mac OS X Server, Brickhouse, and any other firewall that uses Mac OS X's built-in firewall and logging capabilities.

Keyboard Maestro 1.2 adds new features

10/01, 10:30am

Keyboard Maestro 1.2 adds new features

Michael Kamprath's Keyboard Maestro 1.2 adds an improved Window Switcher (for switching, closing, and minimizing windows), a new Macro Action to select a menu item by name in any application, new system actions (increase/decrease Screen Brightness and improved Increase/Decrease/Mute Sound actions), a new French-localized version, and other enhancements. A lite version of the $20 utility is limited to 20 hotkeys (with 4 actions/key) and 4 clipboards. It requires Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar or later.

Netware Client 1.03 adds Jaguar support

10/01, 10:25am

Netware Client 1.03 adds Jaguar support

Prosoft Engineering late last month released NetWare Client for Mac OS X - IP Edition v1.0.3, allowing Mac OS X users to connect to a Novell IP-based network. Now compatible with Jaguar, it allows users to authenticate and use NetWare natively using the IP protocol, eliminating the need to propagate AppleTalk on your local area network. It offers native NCP file handling, NDS browsing for finding and authenticating to NetWare servers, support for NSS volumes (for file sizes of up to 8-terabytes and allows billions of volumes and directories), and support for RSA Secure Login. It is free to owners of its Data Rescue data recovery utility and $150 for commercial purchases.

Steve Jobs to deliver Macworld Expo keynote

10/01, 10:15am

Steve Jobs to deliver Macworld Expo keynote

IDG today announced that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the opening keynote address for Macworld Expo/San Francisco 2003 on Tuesday, January 7, 2003 at 9:00 am PT. San Francisco's largest annual technology event takes place January 6-10, 2003 at The Moscone Center in San Francisco. (We recently noted that IDG opened online registration.)

.Mac subscribers top 180,000

10/01, 10:10am

.Mac subscribers top 180,000

Apple today announced that more than 180,000 Mac users have subscribed to Apple's .Mac suite of Internet services. "The launch of .Mac has been a phenomenal success," said Sina Tamaddon, Apple's senior vice president of Applications. "And now we're adding iSync support in .Mac, enabling users to synchronize their calendars and address books across multiple Macs connected to the Internet." The press release also notes that the Virex anti-virus software, Mac.com email, iDisk, HomePage and iCards features of .Mac can also be accessed using Mac OS 9. Previous iTools can take advantage of a $50/year offer ($50 off) offer, which was recently extended until October 14.

Yahoo! Messenger 2.5 gets SuperWebcam

10/01, 8:25am

Yahoo! Messenger 2.5 gets SuperWebcam

Yahoo yesterday released Yahoo! Messgenger 2.5, an update to its branded instant messaging client, which features Super Webcam for sending video (up to 20 fps at 320x240) to friends, new emoticons (available via an emoticon selection menu), smoother anti-aliasing under OS X, Unicode support, new dock notification, custom message colors, conferencing, and friend's list group editing. [Classic, OSX]

MacHack announces keynote speaker

10/01, 8:20am

MacHack announces keynote speaker

MacHack today announced its keynote speaker for its 18th annual developer conference, which takes place June 19-21, 2003. Ken Arnold, Chief Architect of EventMonitor, Inc., will kick off the 72-hour marathon conference at 12:01 am: "As one of the original architects of the Jini platform, an open-software architecture that enables developers to create network-centric services that are highly adaptive to change, Arnold spearheaded Sun Microsystems' community source effort. He was also the lead engineer on Sun's JavaSpaces product." Conference registration costs $450 ($100 off until 2/28/03) and includes access to all conference events, three meals and the conference banquet.

October virus definitions posted

10/01, 8:15am

October virus definitions posted

October anti-virus definitions are available for Symantec's NAV as well as Intego's VirusBarrier, but have not yet been updated for McAfee's Virex. [NAV8, NAV7-OSX, IVB]

Crescendo/PCI G4-700MHz due in mid-October

10/01, 7:55am

Crescendo/PCI G4-700MHz due in mid-October

Sonnet Technologies has added Crescendo/PCI G4 700MHz processor upgrade for PCI Power Macs to its upgrade line (as well as the CCrescendo/PCI G4 800MHz, which shipped in August 2002). Both products utilize Motorola's new 745X AltiVec-enabled G4 chip and include 1MB of L3 backside cache. The new design allows processors to run at multiplier higher than the previous 9x limitation and also addresses "voltage requirements, signal compatibility with the host system, and heat dissipation issues." It is due to ship on October 15 for $350. Sonnet has also added Crescendo/PCI G3 500mhz/512k upgrade--also due in mid-October--to its product line for $150. Mac OS X compatibility is offered via a $30 software solution (Jaguar compatibility is a free upgrade to existing owners).

4D releases WebSTAR 5.2 with mail server

10/01, 7:50am

4D releases WebSTAR 5.2 with mail server

4D today released 4D WebSTAR v5.2, an update to the 4D WebSTAR Server Suite V that includes a new integrated Mail server. The high-speed mail server offers SMTP/POP/IMAP server support with secure remote administration, support for multiple domains, advanced relay blocking, and DNSBL and SMTP Authentication. It is available as a free update to users of 4D WebSTAR V, including an unlimited-mailbox license option for all owners of 4D WebSTAR V who registered by August 31, 2002 (also available through October 31, 2002 to all new upgrade purchases).

4D today also released 4D Mail, its high-performance Mail server for Mac OS X. It features an easy-to-administer SMTP/POP/IMAP mail server with secure remote administration, anti-spam features, advanced relay blocking, and allow/deny, plus 4D WebMail support, and anti-virus features. 4D Mail licensing is $150 for a 10-mailbox license, $250 for a 100-mailbox license (additional 100-user expansion licenses are $150, or an unlimited license for $1500).

MS offers Office v.X promo with Mac purchase

10/01, 7:35am

MS offers Office v.X promo with Mac purchase

Microsoft today announced a joint limited-time offer with Apple, offering Office v. X for Mac for $200 with the purchase of a new Mac: "The special price for Office v. X with the purchase of any new Mac is the latest demonstration of Microsoft and Apple's shared commitment to offering Mac customers great products at great values. It marks the first time that the Office for Mac suite has been made available to purchasers of Macs." The offer is good from October 1st through January 7, 2003. A similar offer is running in Japan from August until December 2002, and Microsoft says it plans similar promos for customers in Australia, Europe, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore in November.