News Archive for 02/12/12

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

WebCam Driver 1.0 allows Macs to use USB cams

12/12, 11:55pm

WebCam Driver 1.0 allows Macs to use USB cams

IOXperts, has released USB WebCam Driver 1.0 for Mac OS X, a generic software driver that enables more than thirty USB "webcams" to work with the Macintosh. The $20 program will include support for even more devices with future releases, says IOXperts VP of Engineering Dave Koziol. A complete list of compatible units is available on the IOXperts Web site.

NewTek offers holiday "bonus pack"

12/12, 7:50pm

NewTek offers holiday "bonus pack"

NewTek today announced the LightWave Holiday Bonus Pack, an offering that provides $1,400 in learning materials free to purchasers of a full commercial license copy of LightWave 3D ($1600). The bundle includes books, DVDs, CDs, discounts for NewTek-sponsored seminars, and magazine subscriptions.

Forums back online

12/12, 6:45pm

Forums back online

MacNN has correct a number technical problems that caused our discussion forums to be unavailable this afternoon.

Formac updates drive-specific software

12/12, 6:10pm

Formac updates drive-specific software

Formac today released devideon x.2, the second release of its DVD authoring software for the Mac. devideon x.2 allows users to design custom DVD menus, add chapters and use parallel encoding to accelerate the DVD creation process. The software is shipped with Formac’s next-generation devideon superdrive, which incorporates the latest Pioneer A-105 mechanism with a 4X DVD write speed. This release adds the ability to burn a movie project as a Super Video CD, features a better user interface, and takes advantage of the proprietary PARENC routine, which allows the application to encode several movie chapters simultaneously to MPEG2.

Startup unveils new carrying bags

12/12, 5:40pm

Startup unveils new carrying bags

Santa Cruz Digital Styles today released the TiStick ($90) and SnowSeal ($80), two laptop carrying bags for Apple's PowerBook G4 and 12" iBook. Both bags -- which represent the company's first product line -- sport a clear outer pocket for CD storage or personalization, and feature a colorful microsuede lining. Both products also utilize a water-repellant zipper design, sport integrated handles and come with a padded contoured shoulder strap. Santa Cruz Digital Styles donates 1 percent of its profits to charitable organizations for providing technology to underserved communities.

Australian University drops Mac support

12/12, 1:05pm

Australian University drops Mac support

The University of Western Australia (UWA), which began teaching IT courses on the first Macs in the mid-eighties, has dropped Mac support from its teaching programs, claiming that the cost of Apple hardware was the reason for the decision (up to 2.5x the cost): "There was nothing about OSX we didn't like, we just couldn’t really afford the hardware costs." The Australian IT article notes that in contrast, the University of NSW installed a new Mac lab last year with 20 machines, primarily for teaching human computer interface (and is also working on Cocoa software development courses).

Apps: Barcode Producer, XRG, DockFun!...

12/12, 12:35pm

Apps: Barcode Producer, XRG, DockFun!...

Intelli Innovations has released Barcode Producer 1.7, an update to its $90 barcode generation software for Mac OS 9/X. This update adds higher quality text rendering for PICT and TIFF exports, a new Window menu, and support for printing to Dymo LabelWriter printers. [1.1MB]
XRG (X Resource Graph) is an open-source system monitor application for Mac OS X. It will monitor your CPU usage, memory usage, network activity, disk activity, and your local weather. [362KB]
DockFun! 3.6 adds application launcher features and full control from the status bar to the $15 shareware utility for maintaining multiple docks under Mac OS X. [2.4MB]
Aspyr has posted a demo of Return to Castle Wolfenstein: "You are B.J. Blazkowicz, a highly decorated Army Ranger recruited into the Office of Secret Actions (OSA) tasked with escaping and then returning to Castle Wolfenstein in an attempt to thwart Heinrich Himmler's occult and genetic experiments." The $50 title runs on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. [106MB]
SloppyDisk has released Descender, a new arcade game based on the classic Tetris. Descender offers "16-bit graphics, fluidly-moving pieces, and beautiful backdrops" as well as one- and two-player modes. A demo of the $12 shareware is available for Mac OS 8/9/X. [7.3MB]

NYT looks at Wi-Fi boom, future

12/12, 10:15am

NYT looks at Wi-Fi boom, future

A special New York Times report takes a look at The Wi-Fi Boom, noting security and troubleshooting with which users are faced as well as the tangible benefits of universal (free) access; another article examines the future of Wi-Fi: "On the horizon are advancements in the technology aimed at providing truly reliable security, network speeds up to four times faster, and the potential for voice calls or streaming audio and video over a Wi-Fi network.Unfortunately for Wi-Fi adopters, those next steps may not all lead in the same direction, at least at the outset." Finally, columnist David Pogue notes that Apple still leads other Wi-Fi vendors in user-friendlification. [free registration required]

Fink 0.5a brings full Jaguar support

12/12, 10:00am

Fink 0.5a brings full Jaguar support

Fink 0.5a is a free, open-source UNIX porting project for Mac OS X, offering full Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) compatibility: "Applications included in Fink range from well-known UNIX desktops such as kde3 and GNOME, open-source alternatives for graphics editing such as the Gimp, and special-purpose applications for genetic and molecular modeling. In total, over 700 binary packages for Mac OS X as well as over 1800 source packages can be easily installed (and removed) with the aid of fink."

chartConstructor 1.2: project management app

12/12, 10:00am

chartConstructor 1.2: project management app

headshack today released chartConstructor 1.2, an update to its project management application, which allows for the creation of both Gantt and PERT Charts. It adds the ability to enter task durations in hours and minutes as well as in days and also includes Start-to-Start, Start-to-Finish and Finish-to-Finish dependencies as well as support for reading and writing CSV (comma separated values) files. The $30 shareware is designed for small- to medium-sized business.

RedLightRunner adds 'Legacy Free Shirts'

12/12, 9:50am

RedLightRunner adds 'Legacy Free Shirts'

RedLightRunner today added two new Legacy Free Shirts, featuring the communications protocols of the modern Macintosh - USB, Firewire, and Ethernet. The shirts are available in both short and long sleeved configurations. RedLightRunner offers a number of Apple logo collectibles, including over 300 different Apple items (Apple T-shirts, watches, pens, posters, MacAquariums, etc.).

Apple pulls IP over FireWire download, info

12/12, 12:30am

Apple pulls IP over FireWire download, info

MacNN reader James Holt notes that Apple has quietly pulled its IP over FireWire preview software release: "Apple has pulled ALL mention of the preview release of IP over firewire as well as the download." The software allowed Macs and other devices to use existing IP (networking) protocols and services over FireWire, including AFP, HTTP, FTP, and SSH.

Spring 1.0: concept-centric desktop app

12/12, 12:25am

Spring 1.0: concept-centric desktop app

Spring 1.0 is a new desktop application for Mac OS X: "a hyper-visual, web-inspired rethinking of the desktop" with integrated support for AIM transers, Amazon.com, personal intros with others, visual web search, store locators, desktop weather, easy access to maps/directions and stock charts. The $22 application is available as a time-limited demo. [4.1MB]