News Archive for 02/11/04

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New application converts Canon files under X

11/04, 10:30pm

New application converts Canon files under X

CRW-X is a free Mac OS X application that converts CRW (Canon) or TIF files to PSD (Adobe Photoshop), PPM (Portable Pixelmap), or PNG (Portable Network Graphic) format. Currently, Canon offers no native Mac OS X solution for photographers who take pictures in "raw image format." CRW-X runs a purported two times faster than Canon's Raw Image Converter for the Classic Mac OS.

DVI Extractor revision: greater compatibility

11/04, 8:45pm

DVI Extractor revision: greater compatibility

Dr. Bott has added DVI Extractor II ($38) to its Apple Display Connector product line. The new device allows displays with 24-pin DVI-D or 29-pin DVI-I connectors to be used with the latest Macs that sport the new ADC connector. DVI Extractor II offers two improvements over the original DVI Extractor: it sports a DVI-I connector that allows users to connect digital displays that come with a dual-purpose DVI-I video cable; displays that have not worked on the Mac in the past -- including models from Eizo and Samsung -- can now be used with DVI Extractor II.

iDVDThemes offers dozen bundle

11/04, 7:40pm

iDVDThemes offers dozen bundle

iDVDThemes has unveiled twelve new "motion menus" for iDVD 2, as part of its "Volume One" collection ($25). All the themes, which extend a users library, are simple to install work from within iDVD. Users access the themes from the same menu as the pre-installed themes.

Tech: End to MS case draws near, more...

11/04, 7:40pm

Tech: End to MS case draws near, more...

The years-old Microsoft antitrust case may be nearing an anti-climatic conclusion as a federal judge gives her blessing to a proposed settlement; in a controversial move, surrounding a controversial topic, game-maker Acclaim said today that it would not include "topless nudity" in a new release for Sony's PlayStation 2, in response to retailer outrage; profits of the Steve Jobs-lead animation studio Pixar exploded in the third quarter by 600 percent, thanks to the DVD debut of its hit movie "Monsters, Inc."

Elemental Audio Systems supports AudioUnit

11/04, 6:50pm

Elemental Audio Systems supports AudioUnit

Elemental Audio Systems today made available AudioUnit-compatible versions of its line of audio manipulation plug-ins. Previously available for VST only, Firium, Eqium, and Inspector are now three of the first commercially available plug-ins to support the new Mac OS X system-level audio plug-in format, according to the developer. The AudioUnit versions can be used with Apple's Emagic Logic -- the first Mac OS X-compatible sequencer to contain support for AudioUnits.

Maine iBook program changes school experience

11/04, 6:05pm

Maine iBook program changes school experience

This September, all 15,000 grade 7 student in Maine were given Apple iBooks for educational use, and proponents are already citing the program's success. Said to be the first of its kind in the world, the iBook program, which was announced last school year, has already "fundamentally changed" the "teacher-student" experience, explains technology analyst David Atkin, writing for The Globe and Mail.

Startup to offer solutions for tech support

11/04, 5:20pm

Startup to offer solutions for tech support

LiveTime Software today unveiled a product roadmap that includes technical support, analytic and e-commerce software for Mac OS X, Windows 2000 and Solaris. The first product to be released -- LiveTime Support -- provides Web-based, real-time support and 'helpdesk' services for small- to medium-sized technology companies. LiveTime Support will ship "later this month." Plans are reportedly in place for three more products -- LiveTime Orders, LiveTime Marketing and LiveTime Metrics -- for release early next year.

CMS fails to deliver some popular devices

11/04, 5:00pm

CMS fails to deliver some popular devices

CMS Peripherals is struggling to deliver certain models of its 'ABSplus' backup solution for Mac OS X, according to company representatives. The company announced significant price cuts in September, but has since been unable to steadily deliver 60GB devices. Unless customers -- like MacNN reader Robert Pickering -- opt to downgrade their order to a 40GB model, CMS Peripherals offers little hope. Mr. Pickering was told that CMS expected to get the 60GB drives "in by last week," but now is being told by its vendor that "they will not be available until mid November."

"Mac OS X for Unix Geeks" from O'Reilly

11/04, 4:20pm

"Mac OS X for Unix Geeks" from O'Reilly

O'Reilly has released "Mac OS X for Unix Geeks," a $25 guide to "figuring out the BSD Unix system and Mac-specific components ... inside Mac OS X." It includes an overview of the Terminal application, understanding of Open Directory (LDAP) and NetInfo, issues related to using the GNU C Compiler, building the Darwin kernel and running X Windows on top of Mac OS X.

Apple expected to update iBook line this week

11/04, 3:45pm

Apple expected to update iBook line this week

Apple is expected to update its iBook line later this week, according to c|net. "The Mac maker plans to drop prices by $200 across the iBook line, bringing the price of the entry-level model under $1,000, sources said. The new iBooks are also expected to be 100MHz faster than previous machines, sources said." Availability of the current iBook and PowerBook models have been pushed from 1-2 days to 3-5 days, reflecting a possible update soon.

PC support, reliability down; Apple improves

11/04, 2:40pm

PC support, reliability down; Apple improves

PC World Magazine reports that PC support remains poor and reliability is lower, but Apple is improving more than any other computer maker regardless of desktop system, according to 30,000 readers. "Overall, just half the people reported hold times of 5 minutes or less; fewer people said their problems were resolved within five days; and in a new measure, only 53 percent said their problem was resolved the first time they called tech support." Apple's desktops and IBM's notebooks were rated Good in both computer reliability and service. "...customers are very impressed with Apple's technicians."

Apps: Treo Mail, iEvents, World Calendar ...

11/04, 2:15pm

Apps: Treo Mail, iEvents, World Calendar ...

Handspring has released Treo Mail 1.5, an update to its wireless email service that now includes support for Lotus Notes and high speed data networks such as 1xRRT and GPRS. Other improvements include direct access to URLs, email addresses and phone numbers within email as well as other enhancements that take advantage of the color displays on the Treo 270 and 300. A 30-day trial period is available; the annual price is $50.
iEvents 1.5b1 is a $20 Mac OS 9 & X tool that creates custom calendar websites that can be uploaded to internet servers or an iDisk. "It is ideal for individuals, schools, user groups, or any organization that wants to share their calendar of events online." [975KB]
MCF Software has updated two of its applications, ListSTAR 2.3 and SimpleText Filter for EIMS 1.4. ListSTAR 2.3 ($275) is a list server and email manager for Mac OS X. It now works correctly under the Classic environment, and fixes errors and GUI issues. SimpleText Filter for EIMS 1.4 ($75) allows users to specify text to search for within an email message and to reject messages that contain a match.
The PandaWave has released an update to its calendar application for Mac OS X, World Calendar 1.2. It can convert dates between 15 different calendar systems, as well as provide local times for the quarters of the moon, sunrise and sunset. [928KB]
Seagull Video Player 2.2.3 for Mac OS 9 & X is an update to the application for creating video playlists and playing them on full screen. The update fixes a bug that caused crashing while switching between movies. [Classic, OSX]

Apple posts Holiday Gift Guide

11/04, 12:50pm

Apple posts Holiday Gift Guide

Apple has posted this year's Holiday Gift Guide, a collection of both third-party and Apple products that are recommended as gifts for Mac users. The gifts are organized by product type, interests of the gift receiver and price.

Which? gives iPod "best buy" for MP3 player

11/04, 12:25pm

Which? gives iPod "best buy" for MP3 player

Which?, the magazine for the UK Consumer's Association, has given the iPod its "best buy" for MP3 players, based on sound quality, performance, ease of use and features. "We're smitten with the iPod. Previously, it was the preserve of Mac users, but there are now PC-compatible versions as well." The iPod was rated above competition from Sony, Creative Jukebox and Archos.

Monaco debuts new color profiling tools

11/04, 11:55am

Monaco debuts new color profiling tools

Monaco Systems made three announcements today for its color profiling tools. It announced the MonacoOPTIX solution for profiling LCD and CRT displays under bot Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. A limited time $75 rebate program is available for users with the MonacoSENSOR or other similar monitor calibration devices. The MonacoOPTIX sensor is also integrated into the latest version of MonacoEZcolor, a $550 color management solution that creates custom ICC profiles for your monitors, scanners, and printers. Finally, MonacoDCcolor is a new $400 digital camera profiling solution for generating high quality ICC color profiles for digital cameras.

Detto ships Move2Mac migration software

11/04, 11:40am

Detto ships Move2Mac migration software

Detto is now shipping Move2Mac, its PC to Mac migration product, its $60 application that migrates files and settings from a PC to Mac. The package, which includes a USB cable, transfers documents, spreadsheets, photos, music, files, folders, IE favorites, databases, graphics, Outlook Express address book, backgrounds, and more. It supports Windows 98, 98SE, Millennium, 2000 and XP with support for Windows 95 via a parallel-to-USB cable due later this year.

Apps: Audio Hijack, DAVE, printer drivers...

11/04, 11:20am

Apps: Audio Hijack, DAVE, printer drivers...

Rogue Amoeba has released Audio Hijack 1.5, which "enhances the audio output of any Cocoa or Carbon application on your Mac. Use it to add professional-quality DSP effects to any application which outputs audio content and to record audio output from all your applications." A demo of the $16 application is available. [1.5MB]
Thursby's DAVE 4.0p1 patch fixes networking and sharing problems in the company's $150 file and print sharing package for cross-platform environments. [512KB]
HP has posted updated OfficeJet 5.5.6 drivers and Lexmark posted updated Lexmark W812 v8.0 drivers. [HP, LM]
Skin a Dock 1.0b1 can apply 'skins' (visual styles) to the dock and can also make the Dock background transparent, and customize the Poof cloud. It includes several standard skins created by Matthew Bice. [site not available at 11:00 am ET]

MacDraft: 2D design, drafting, illustration

11/04, 11:00am

MacDraft: 2D design, drafting, illustration

Microspot's MacDraft 5.1 is an update to its $350 2D design, drafting and technical illustration package that includes a full complement of drawing tools, as well as both ANSI and international standard dimensioning capabilities. The multi-layered, scaled drawing environment adds Mac OS X 10.2 compatibility, improved DWG/DXF read and save, interchangable files with Microspot PC Draft 4.3.5, and automatic-scaling feature for improved opening of DWG files.

New Opera 6.0b2 available with bug fixes

11/04, 10:30am

New Opera 6.0b2 available with bug fixes

Opera has released Opera 6b2 with shared library support, which offers Mac developers the ability to use Opera's superior rendering engine in their products. Beta 2, available for Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS X, also includes fixes related to the cookie manager, quick preferences, keychain in forms, and link bar. Interested developers can contact Opera to use the shared library in their applications and preview HTML pages from within third-party applications. The $40 application will run for free in an ad-supported mode until the registration is paid. [3.9MB]

Quickoffice offers Palm support for MS Office

11/04, 9:10am

Quickoffice offers Palm support for MS Office

Mobility Electronics has released Quickoffice v6.1 for Mac OS X, which allows Mac users to utilize Quickoffice for viewing and editing Microsoft Office v.X files on Palm OS handhelds. It features a suite of productivity applications, including the Quicksheet spreadsheet, Quickword word processor and Quickchart graphing module. It provides synchronization functions and also makes a copy of files to be synchronized to users' handhelds. The $40 application requires Palm Desktop and HotSync Manager version 4.0 or later and any handheld running Palm OS 3.0 or later.

Apps: SymmetryWorks, iStorm, Ogg Vorbis

11/04, 9:05am

Apps: SymmetryWorks, iStorm, Ogg Vorbis

Artlandia has announced a prerelease version of SymmetryWorks 2.0, the company's plug-in for Adobe Illustrator for creating surface patterns. Version 2.0 introduces a "new level" of automation in pattern design by using new features called 'art replicas' and 'layouts'. The final version is due later this year. Free upgrades are offered with purchases of a new license ($125).
iStorm 1.1 is an update to the "innovative collaboration tool, that lets users work, talk, and think together. With iStorm, a user can open up a document, and immediately start brainstorming it with other collaborators over a network." Version 1.1 brings password protected collaborations, customizable and improved toolbars, image caching, much more robust network code, and auto version checking. A demo of the $20 application is available online. [4.5MB]
Sigler & Flanders has released EDR 2.0, an electronic drug reference application for Mac OS X, Mac OS 9.x, and Windows. Version 2.0 offer information on over 700 drugs now, a new self-quiz module, full color photographs of 400 drups, a new interface, better navigation tools, and custom bookmarks. A demo of the $80 application is available online.
David Chen reports locating an iTunes 3 compatible Ogg Vorbis decoder plugin for Quicktime 6.0.2 under MaOS X as well as a console-based Mac OS X / Darwin oggenc Ogg Vorbis encoder with support for MacOS X CD Audio AIFF-C format. [plugin, encoder]
Whamb is a $13 skinaable digital audio player for Mac OS X only that supports MP3 and OGG VORBIS files as well as MP3 audio streams. [1.7MB]
db Reports 3.1.2 is the latest release of the cross-platform report writing application that can extract, format, and print data from 4D Server 6.7, FrontBase, mySQL, ODBC, OpenBase, Oracle, postgreSQL, PrimeBase, and REALDatabase. It fixes group printing problems and has other bug fixes.
Project Timer 1.3 is described as a "major upgrade" to Script Software's popular time tracking program for Mac OS X, Classic and Windows. Version 1.3 includes a new "Pause" button, the ability to put an image into reports, better notification measures, and improved printing as well as a new "minimal" interface dialog. [Classic, OSX]

.Mac woes continue with account deactivations

11/04, 8:30am

.Mac woes continue with account deactivations

Apple continues to struggle with its .Mac subscription services as dozens of readers report temporary, but inconsistent outages over the weekend, quadruple billing for a single .Mac subscription and unexpected account deactivations for paid account holders as of November 1st: "It appears that this is affecting a whole lot of .Mac subscribers, and that the problem has been caused by something Apple did during their maintenance Nov 1."

Mac laptops to include integrated BlueTooth?

11/04, 8:20am

Mac laptops to include integrated BlueTooth?

Apple earlier this year applied for FCC approval for its yet-unreleased Apple BlueTooth module, which "is to be used only in Apple manufactured computers including the Apple iBook and Apple Titanium." Documents filed with the FCC, which include a "Request for confidentiality," indicate an initial projected release date of July 17, 2001, which was subseqently pushed back to August 19 and further extended until November 1, 2002. Rumored revisions to the PowerBook and iBook may be released later this month and may include integrated BlueTooth functionality as the documents describe two different operating antennae: "The Apple Blue Tooth module can be used with either of two different antennas. One is a PCB dipole antenna and the other is a dipole antenna over a ceramic substrate."

More store openings, photos posted

11/04, 8:05am

More store openings, photos posted

Apple will open stores new retail stores Menlo Park (Edison, NJ) and King of Prussia ( King of Prussia, PA) this Saturday, November 9th. Over the weekend, Ricci Adams and Justin Williams documented the grand openings at the Apple Store Keystone in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Apps: Audiocorder, HexEdit, IP*Works!...

11/04, 8:00am

Apps: Audiocorder, HexEdit, IP*Works!...

Audiocorder 3.6.0 allows your Mac to act as a sophisticated audio recorder with advanced functions such as volume trigger, scheduled recording times, and AIFF file-format support. The $20 shareware can also play back AIFF, WAVE, and mp3 sound files. [Classic, OSX]
HexEdit 1.85 brings performance improvements when working with very large files (100+MB), a new faster search engine, an improved file comparison function, and other enhancements. The open-source hexadecimal file editor handles both data and resource forks. [411KB]
MAKI Enterprise has released parental control program Kids GoGoGo 6.2.0 for Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS X, its parental control application. t adds support for database recovery, a more robust Web database, improved speed, and a new "temporarily sleep" function. The Internet filtering software starts at $30 for a single user.
IP*Works! 5b1 provides developers with "more then 30 components that bring unprecedented new functionality in the hands Mac OS X developers facilitating the integration of Internet functionality within native Mac OS X applications." It is currently available in more than 20 editions, targeting various Platforms, IDEs, and component technologies including Windows, Microsoft .NET, Java, Pocket PC, Linux, Solaris, and now Mac OS X.
Black Cat Systems has released Health Tracker 2.1.1 to track various health related measurements. The latest version adds improvements to the graphing, and fixes several bugs. It is $10 shareware. [Classic, OSX]