News Archive for 02/11/26

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

Apps: xGates, Ridge 2.05, SID 1.5

11/26, 10:50pm

Apps: xGates, Ridge 2.05, SID 1.5

Soth Development has released xGates, a new game that is "exiting," "sophisticated" and "outrageously bloody." The game, which pits the player and his/her chainsaw against the "evil forces" of "corporate monopolist tyranny," allows its users to vent "rage and daily frustration." xGates is not reccomended for children. [Download - Classic, OS X]
Juggy Software has released Ridge 2.05, an updated version of its $10 bandwidth usage monitoring utility. With Ridge, users can measure and restrict the amount of data their Macs upload and download from the Internet. Version 2.0.5 fixes a number of small bugs, including one afflicting users of Mac OS X 10.1. [Download - 403KB]
R.A.D Productions has made available a preview version of a major update to its Web site content download utility. Suck It Down 1.5 beta will download all the videos, images and audio files from a target Web page. The items can then be placed in a user-selected folder. [Download - 1.0MB]

ArtMatic Pro 3.0, VTrack 1.5 released

11/26, 10:00pm

ArtMatic Pro 3.0, VTrack 1.5 released

ArtMatic Pro 3.0 is an update to the programmable graphics synthesizer that adds a host of new features, including: native support for Mac OS X, an optimized rendering engine that it is up to 50 percent faster than before, support for high-resolution input pictures, a scalable user interface, AIFF support for animation by sound, and more. "It is the perfect tool for artists and non-artists alike," says developer U & I Software. Pricing is $250 as an online download, or $300 on a CD-ROM. [Download form]

U & I Software today also released VTrack 1.5, an OS X-native version of its video sequencer with integrated ArtMatic rendering. New features, in addition to OS X support, include: the ArtMatic Pro 3.0 rendering engine, support for sound-only events, the ability to associate sounds with pictures and independently-assignable transfer modes for all events.[5.1MB]

Apple updates Power Mac firmware

11/26, 6:50pm

Apple updates Power Mac firmware

Apple has released a firmware update for its latest Power Mac G4 computers. The Power Mac G4 Firmware Update 4.4.8 -- which is intended for use with "mirrored drive door" machines -- improves fan control behavior and reduces high speed fan cycling when running in Mac OS 9. It is available via the "Software Update" Control Panel.

Apps: CrushFTP, TitleTrack, CURLHandle, ...

11/26, 6:45pm

Apps: CrushFTP, TitleTrack, CURLHandle, ...

CURLHandle 1.7 is a minor update to the Cocoa development class that "subclasses NSURLHandle and wraps around curl." It can be used for HTTP PUT, GET, POST and FTP, or "anything that the curl handles." The latest version works with curl 7.10.2, includes NSNumber interger support, and offers SSL support. [Download - 695KB]
Showcase Media Solutions today announced a special upgrade offer in anticipation of the upcoming release of its TitleTrack Jukebox 3.0 for Mac OS X. The company is offering $40 off the price of the complete TitleTrack Jukebox hardware and software solution. The bundle includes Jukebox 3.0b for OS X, version 2.0 for Classic and the USB-to-Serial connector hardware connector needed to connect a Mac to a home audio system. When the final release of TitleTrack 3 for Mac OS X becomes available, purchasers of this package will receive a free upgrade.
CrushFTP -- a popular $25 file transfer protocol server suite for Mac OS 9/X -- has been updated to version 3.0b29. This beta release addresses a bug that caused groups to display incorrectly and 'remote admin' glitches. Additionally, it includes new default IRC bot commands, and an easier-to-use 'mirror manager.' [Download - Classic, OS X]
Yesterday, we noted the availability of "the Amazing Slow Downer" for Mac OS 9. Several readers let us know that a Mac OS X version of the application is also available.

Maya 4.5 Personal Learning Edition coming

11/26, 5:15pm

Maya 4.5 Personal Learning Edition coming

Alias|Wavefront today announced that it would make available the much-anticipated Maya 4.5 Personal Learning Edition in December. Personal Learning Edition will allow those interested in acquiring Maya skills to do so without purchasing a commercial license. "Having a non-commercial version of Maya available for practice has allowed us to understand how this professional 3D tool can benefit our multimedia animation and design projects," said Nick Hower, Partner at Kitchen Sink Studios. In response to requests from the Maya Personal Learning Edition community, enhancements have been made to make version 4.5 a more effective learning tool. For example, the global watermark -- which is placed on all Maya Learning Edition documents -- is no longer visible when working in wireframe mode, so users can concentrate on developing their modeling skills.

Apps: Media 100i 8.1, ToDo X, Gimp-Print...

11/26, 2:55pm

Apps: Media 100i 8.1, ToDo X, Gimp-Print...

Media 100 has released Media 100 i 8.1, an update to its professional video editing software package. The changes are not noted and the software is only available to registered support members. [form]
Omicron has released ToDo X, a simple, dedicated to-do list application written in native Cocoa for Mac OS X. The $15 shareware app supports multiple to-do lists and allows a to-do item to appear in more than one list. Each item can have unlimited attached notes, and items can be copied, linked or moved among lists via drag-and-drop. [121KB]
Gimp-Print 4.2.4 is an update to the open-source printer driver package for Mac OS X; it includes 197 drivers supporting over 300 printers. It requires (but does not include) ESP Ghostscript 7.05.5 for Mac OS X. [5.3MB]
Photo to Movie 1.09 allows users to create a movie by zooming and panning over an image: "It presents a simple interface to specify the starting and ending frames and generates full quality QuickTime or DV Stream files (compatible with iMovie). Photo to Movie [$10 shareware] only runs on Mac OS X." [308KB]

Feral, MacPlay ship F1 Championship Season

11/26, 2:40pm

Feral, MacPlay ship F1 Championship Season

Feral Interactive today announced the North American release of EA Sports' F1 Championship Season 2000. Distributed in North America by MacPlay, it "is the only officially endorsed Formula 1 racing game ever to come to the Macintosh. This highly acclaimed racing simulation puts you in control of a high adrenalin racing simulation, backed by a pumping soundtrack and full audio commentary from the pit just as F1 team members hear it. Every world circuit that’s in the real Championship is recreated in startling detail and it is fully customizable to A1 and Blue Flag rules." The $50 title runs on both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.

Boston FCP User Group meeting tonight

11/26, 2:05pm

Boston FCP User Group meeting tonight

Boston's Final Cut Pro Users Group (BOSFCPUG) is holding their monthly meeting this evening at Boston University's Comm 101 Hall at 7:00pm. Tonight's speakers include Denis Flynn of Discreet, who will give an overview of CLEANER 6 for OS X and discuss the many ways to improve QuickTime compression.

Shreve discontinues Mac parts, used Mac sales

11/26, 10:10am

Shreve discontinues Mac parts, used Mac sales

Shreve Systems is discontinuing sales of Mac parts and used Macs, according to a notice on its Website: "After 24 years of impeccable service to the Apple and Macintosh community, we at Shreve Systems will be closing our doors and focusing our efforts into bringing the same level of renowned service to our sister company, Shreve Audio. Shreve System has enlisted the professional services of Remarketing Associates and will be conducting a public auction to liquidate all of our remaining inventory. This auction will be held DEC 13 2002 at our warehouse at 1200 Marshall st. Shreveport. La."

Apple to relocate Beijing AppleCentre

11/26, 10:00am

Apple to relocate Beijing AppleCentre

BeiMac (Beijing's Macintosh User Group) reports that Apple is relocating the AppleCentre at Landao Towers: "The Wonderful Plaza is opening on the same date as well. The commercial centre is in the eastern part of Beijing and has good transportation links. The grand opening will be on Saturday, 30 November 2002...The current space at Landau Towers is extremely low and is described as nothing more than "an islet". It shows no more than a maximum of five Macs on display, is poorly stocked, and has no network system."

Apps: Drop Drawers X, aClock, NewsHunter

11/26, 9:55am

Apps: Drop Drawers X, aClock, NewsHunter

Sig Software has released French, German and Japanese localized versions of its Drop Drawers X 1.6 for Mac OS 9/X. Version 1.6 added support for many OS X technologies, including Quartz anti-aliased text, window transparency, long file names, native hot keys and contextual menu plug-ins. Drop Drawers is a $20 application/document launcher.
aClock 3.0 adds dynamic magnification -- similar to that used in the Mac OS X Dock -- and small bug fixes to the 'skinnable' analog clock for Mac OS X. Developer 'YourHead' encourages users to develop their own skins, using its open-source aClock Skin Builder, which makes skin development a "drag-and-drop operation." [Download - aClock, Skin Builder]
Parker Software's NewsHunter 2.0.8 is a maintenance release to the $50 usenet utility (i.e., newsreader) software. It is available for Mac OS X; a demo is available online. [1.9MB]

University offers iBooks to students, faculty

11/26, 9:50am

University offers iBooks to students, faculty

Florida-based Saint Leo University is offering every incoming residential student as well as full-time faculty an iBook, according to a MacNN reader who spotted the following blurb in a college brochure (also noted in a press release): "We'll give you the Apple! Instead of bringing an apple to your teacher, Saint Leo is giving every residential student their own ibook laptop computer. Each computer will be equiped with Apple's AirPort system giving you wireless acess to the internet." (Interestingly, the University also links to directly to its custom Apple Store from its homepage.)

Linguisoft debuts new writer's toolkit

11/26, 7:30am

Linguisoft debuts new writer's toolkit

Linguisoft has announced the availability of Grammarian PRO X, a 'writer's utility toolkit' that features spell-checking, grammar-checking and a dictionary. It also offers automatic correction, and an "AutoType" feature that allows users to type common phrases via keyboard-combinations. The $40 utility for Mac OS X can also analyze the readability and "human interest" of a piece of writing.