News Archive for 03/01/10

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National Geo. Maps developing TOPO! for OS X

01/10, 8:40pm

National Geo. Maps developing TOPO! for OS X

National Geographic Maps is developing a Mac OS X version of its TOPO! State product line of topographical maps. Company representatives indicated that the products will be available this summer, with most or all of the features found in the Windows version. National Geographic is not seeking beta testers at this time.

Video-on-demand: keynote, Power of X

01/10, 8:30pm

Video-on-demand: keynote, Power of X

Apple has made available video-on-demand streams of Steve Jobs' 2003 Macworld San Francisco keynote address and the Power of X presentation, which was also held at this week's expo.

Apple updates Safari Web browser

01/10, 8:25pm

Apple updates Safari Web browser

Apple has posted another build of its Web browser, Safari Update 1.0 Beta (v51) 1-10-03, a "recommended" update for all users. The changes are not available, but it may correct a Safari data loss issue experienced by some.

"Macintosh iLife" book/DVD combo released

01/10, 6:15pm

"Macintosh iLife" book/DVD combo released

The Macintosh iLife, a new book/DVD hybrid produced by Peachpit Press, will enable Mac users to master Apple’s latest ‘i’ applications, according to the publisher. Available in February, The Macintosh iLife is a completely revised version of the best-selling ‘Macintosh Digital Hub,’ by Jim Heid. The Macintosh iLife is an illustrated, full-color guide to iTunes 3, iPhoto 2, iMovie 3, and iDVD 3. The book includes a companion DVD-Video disc containing more than 90 minutes of interactive tutorials and tips.

Prosoft ships Data Recycler X, Data Backup

01/10, 5:30pm

Prosoft ships Data Recycler X, Data Backup

Prosoft Engineering this week showed its two new products Data Recycler X and Data Backup. Data Recycler X is a $50 software utility tool built for Mac OS X and is designed to safeguard valuable disks and data by scanning available volumes to check file system integrity, monitoring the hard drive to help prevent accidental deletion of valued data, and providing early warning system for imminent drive failure.The $50 application is available at the Expo and will be available at the online store soon.

Data Backup is a new backup utility available for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. It offers scheduled and immediate backup, scripted operation, file filters, mirror backup, evolutive (with saved previous versions), and incremental backup functions. A demo of the $50 utility is available online.

Apps: Burn, Xmines, KidsGoGoGo, Hive, EZ shop

01/10, 5:15pm

Apps: Burn, Xmines, KidsGoGoGo, Hive, EZ shop

Blackhole Media -- developer of the Macintosh version of the now-defunct Napster file sharing service -- has released Burn, a new personal expense tracking application. It has unlimited undo and can print out your lists of expenses. "With Burn, you can track the cost of your road trip, figure out your weekly coffee bill, and ensure you don't exceed your monthly budget." [Download - 102KB]
XMines 1.0 ($5) is a clone of the classic Minesweeper game, in which the player is challenged to uncover a set of hidden mines. XMines features a native Cocoa Interface, three difficulty levels -- Easy (10 mines), Intermediate (40 mines), and Hard (100 mines) -- and the ability to change tile colors. [Download - 147KB]
KidsGoGoGo 6.5 adds improved filtering, Safari support, DailyDB compatibility, "restricted apps" integration, and user-specific settings to the parental controls application for Mac OS 9/X. It filters unknown adult-only sites "by analogy," as well as known adult sites by database. It filters known or unknown Web contents without slowing down your browser, according to the developer. [Download - Classic, OS X]
The Hive is a FileMaker Pro plug-in that enables colleagues to plan appointments, meetings, to-dos, and projects. It connects easily to other FileMaker files, enabling users to reference all date-sensitive project, contact, and content information through a shared calendar environment. [Download - Download form]

Tony Hawk 3 for Mac in duplication

01/10, 5:15pm

Tony Hawk 3 for Mac in duplication

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for Mac is now in duplication, according to Macintosh developer Aspyr Media. Pro Skater 3 is the most recent Mac-compatible installment of the popular skateboarding video game. It is currently available for pre-order for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X and will be available shortly in retail stores for $40.

SanDisk launches WiFi combo cards, DPV viewer

01/10, 5:00pm

SanDisk launches WiFi combo cards, DPV viewer

SanDisk has introduced a line of "combo" wireless Wi-Fi (802.11b) cards with integrated memory storage. The Connect product line includes four products - dual-function 128 megabyte (MB) CompactFlash (CF) and 256MB SD cards that combine Wi-Fi and flash memory as well as single-function CF and SD cards with Wi-Fi connectivity. SanDisk plans to add 256MB cards to the CF Connect product line by the middle of 2003. The Wi-Fi (802.11b) CF and SD Connect cards are $100. The dual-function CF cards, available now with 128MB of capacity, is $130 while the dual-function 256MB SD cards will be priced at $150. The CF dual-function card and the SD Wi-Fi card will be available in March and the SD dual-function card is expected to ship at mid-year.

The company's new SanDisk DPV allows consumers to remove the storage card directly from their digital camera, plug it into the photo viewer and instantly view images on their TV. It has media slots that accept CF, SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard, SD and MemoryStick media. The unit is slightly smaller than a VHS cassette and includes a remote control to view multiple pictures in preview mode, delete, rotate and zoom. It also provides the setup for a customized slide show of digital images stored on the card. It will ship in mid-February for $80.

PowerAnywhere for AirPort basestations

01/10, 4:50pm

PowerAnywhere for AirPort basestations

MacWireless has announced PowerAnywhere, which utlizes the connecting CAT5 cable to carry power to AirPort basesations. The solution uses a pair of adapters to carry DC power to carry power over the Ethernet data cable--up to 250 feet away for Airport II (Dual-Ethernet Snow) and 150 feet away for Airport I (Single-Ethernet Graphite). It will ship in mid-January for $50.

Primera ships Bravo Disc Publisher

01/10, 4:40pm

Primera ships Bravo Disc Publisher

Primera this week announced its Bravo Disc Publisher with Mac compatibility. Bravo is designed for hands-free, automated production of up to 25 CDs or DVDs per job using an advanced robotic mechanism to transport discs into the built-in burner. It offers full color printing onto the disc surface at up to 2400 dpi resolution. The Bravo CD Publisher (48x CD-R) is $2000, while the Bravo DVD Publisher with a Pioneer DVD-R/CD-R recorder (4x DVD-R/16x CD-R) is $2500. A business card adapter kit ($200) is also available to copy and print 80mm mini-discs and business card shaped CDs.

Rorke Data ships ImageSAN OSX software

01/10, 4:25pm

Rorke Data ships ImageSAN OSX software

Rorke Data has announced the storage industry's first Storage Area Network (SAN) file management application. ImageSAN OSX is a "cost-effective enabling technology for sharing files, distributing content creation from the workflow perspective, and ultimately improving artistic collaboration. ImageSAN OSX, together with ATTO's fibre-channel connectivity hardware provides a complete SAN solution, designed for high-bandwidth applications like non-linear editing and effects creation." An evaluation version is available online.

Architosh: Macworld SF 3D/CAD round-up

01/10, 4:15pm

Architosh: Macworld SF 3D/CAD round-up

Architosh has published two articles featuring Mac 3D/CAD highlights from this week's Macworld Expo. The two-part series takes a look at PowerCADD 6, VectorWorks 10, SketchUp, MacDraft 5, Form-Z 4.0, ArchiCAD, and AEC Systems' new Project Converter.

Adobe discontinuing ePortfolio service

01/10, 3:45pm

Adobe discontinuing ePortfolio service

Adobe will discontinue its ePortfolio service effective February 28th, according to a notice issued by the company. Adobe has already discontinued new registrations for its online service, which allows users to create electronic portfolios to showcase multimedia work and also allows other to search for skilled workers talent by category, skill or location. Adobe says that adoption rate was slower than expected, and it has become impractical for the company to continue providing the service. ePortfolio users have been informed of the service's termination, and have been advised to recover any files from Adobe's systems by the 27th of February.

Pasadena store grand opening report, photos

01/10, 3:10pm

Pasadena store grand opening report, photos

MacNN reader John Engelke provided us with a report and photos from the Apple Store Pasadena grand opening, which took place last Tuesday at 6PM:

"I posted pictures I took at the grand opening of the newest Apple Store in Pasadena. The grand opening was Tuesday night, and it was the biggest event in town. Several hundred people were waiting for the doors to open, and the line continued throughout the evening. The staff gave away 1,000 T-shirts in a little less than two hours!!! The store really looked great inside and out. It was fully stocked but no 17" PowerBooks, although there were plenty of promotional posters on the walls. The large, brightly lit Apple logos really stood out among the other shops on Colorado Blvd."

New Sony Memory Stick Media, PRO format

01/10, 3:00pm

New Sony Memory Stick Media, PRO format

Sony Electronics introduced two new types of Memory Stick media. Memory Stick with Memory Select Function incorporates multiple 128MB memory units on a single card designed to "separate their personal data into the individual memory units via a switch located on the back of the media." The card will be be initially available with a total capacity of 256MB (128MBx2) and will be available in April for about $160. Sony's new MagicGate Memory Stick Duo media is due in the Spring: "One-third the volume and half the weight of standard-size Memory Stick media, the new card was designed for use with smaller digital devices, including cellular phones and wearable portable audio players." It will be available in 64MB ($70) and 128MB ($110) capacities and will ship with an adapter.

Sony also announced its new Memory Stick PRO media in sizes up to 1GB. The new generation of memory cards offers an improved transfer speed of up to 160Mbps, support for real-time recording of data, and access control functions as well as MagicGate copyright protection technology for secure transfer and playback of commercial and copyrighted content. Memory Stick PRO media-enabled devices are expected to ship in spring 2003, while some devices currently in the market are able to accept the new format cards either natively or through a downloadable software patch. Memory Stick PRO media will be available at retail in April in 256MB ($190), 512MB ($440) and 1GB ($880) capacities.

Apps: Safari Enhancer, Gestures, Colloquy

01/10, 2:40pm

Apps: Safari Enhancer, Gestures, Colloquy

Gordon Byrnes has posted Safari Enhancer, a freeware application for enabling several hidden features of the Safari browser, including a debug menu that allows the user to select what browser Safari identifies itself as, how security certificates are handled, and importing bookmarks from different browsers, and specifying a minimum font size for Safari. [325KB]
Gestures allows users to associate actions with either hot keys (key combinations), mouse movements or both: "Actions are useful shortcuts for common operations such as opening a document, performing an Apple Script, iTunes commands or key combination." The $20 application runs on Mac OS X. [720KB]
Macweb (Expo booth 3361) is previewing its Internet Application Server middleware on Mac OS X at this week's iApp Server for FileMaker is an Apache module and WebSTAR V plug-in that enables FileMaker Pro developers to quickly and easily build fast, dynamic, and interactive online database applications.
Colloquy 1.0 is a freeware IRC Client offering an "elegant" multi-window interface, multiple servers for extreme multi-tasking, nickServ support for automatic identification from your keychain, "revolutionary" auto-actions for more natural conversations, including background colors as well as drag-and-drop DCC file transfer (including resume) and message highlighting. The source code is due soon. [1.1MB]
Totwise 1.01 is an update to the youth program management software designed primarily for preschools and day care centers. This maintenance update fixes a few small bugs and includes minor performance enhancements. It runs on Mac OS 8/9/X. It is free for managing 100 kids or less and $1000 (plus $1 per student) for others.

Macsense announces HomePod

01/10, 2:20pm

Macsense announces HomePod

Macsense (Expo booth 646) this week announced the HomePod, a digital device that allows users to take advantage of existing 802.11b wireless networks to beam MP3 files stored on their Macs or PCs to devices located anywhere in the house: "Imagine being able to select from any computer in your home or office and choose the music you want to listen to on any speaker or headphone set. It is scheduled to ship in late March for $200.

BodyStudio integrates Poser 3D into Maya

01/10, 2:10pm

BodyStudio integrates Poser 3D into Maya

Reiss Studio in cooperation with Curious Labs has released BodyStudio for Macintosh. BodyStudio integrates Curious Labs' Poser 3D character animation technology in Alias/Wavefront Maya, allowing Maya and Poser users to render and playback Poser animations directly inside Maya. "Maya, BodyStudio and Poser users have been increasing their productivity with high-quality, pre-rigged Poser characters that are dropped into scenes, or being used as a basis for creating new 3D characters. Now Mac-based Poser users will have access to the same award-winning tools used to create effects for movies such as The Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, and Final Fantasy. BodyStudio enables anyone to get an immediate start using Poser content within Maya."

Safari Web browser downloads top 500,000

01/10, 2:05pm

Safari Web browser downloads top 500,000

Apple today announced that Mac users have downloaded more than 500,000 copies of its new Safari web browser since the free public beta was posted on Apple’s web site on Tuesday, January 7: "Mac users have gone wild over Safari. With its speed, innovative new features and ease of use, Safari is the Mac browser our users have been waiting for," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

Apple receives BETT award for flat-panel iMac

01/10, 1:05pm

Apple receives BETT award for flat-panel iMac

Macworld UK reports that Apple has received awards at the UK IT in education show BETT for the third year in a row: "Apple's LCD iMac received top hardware prize in the secondary schools category. The company's iDVD won a prize in 2002, while AirPort and iBook claimed prizes in 2001. The BETT Awards are recognised as being the Oscars of the UK education technology industry."

Apple posts FireWire 800 information

01/10, 1:00pm

Apple posts FireWire 800 information

Apple has posted an overview of FireWire 800 technology and a link to the FireWire 800 Technology Brief PDF file.

Secure.CC updates eShox commerce solution

01/10, 12:15pm

Secure.CC updates eShox commerce solution

Secure.CC today announced updated versions of its ecommerce solutions, eShox 1.2 and mShox 1.2. The "complete shop" storefront solutions for Mac OS X includes new features to allow software vendors to provide serial numbers to customers after checkout and the ability for customers to lookup serial numbers at any time in their account history. Customers may also now have separate billing and shipping addresses and optionally be included in informational distribution lists from the vendor. Other new features include updated and enhanced FedEx integration, tab-delimited export functions, and other optimizations. A 25% introductory discount on the $400 package is currently available.

Bretford showcases Digital Hub Workspace

01/10, 12:00pm

Bretford showcases Digital Hub Workspace

Bretford (Expo booth 3835) is showing its Digital Hub Workspace, a personal computer desk that features an ergonomic height adjustment system that sets the worksurface to the user's height preference (24.5 to 43-inches), a wrap-around shape for increased usable workspace, optional storage and shelving spaces, an integrated 10-outlet power distribution system, and cable management features. The fixed-height model is $550, while the high-end Pro model (with a variety of add-ons) is $1,800. Optional add-ons include: Power Hopper and Monitor Screen ($270), Articulating Task Light ($200), Cable Management Tools ($20), Digital Gear Locker ($100), and G4 CPU Mount ($80). The Digital Hub Workspace is available in Amber Maple, Shadow Blue, Select Cherry and Mac White.

Apps: Acquisition, LiteSwitch X, wKiosk

01/10, 11:25am

Apps: Acquisition, LiteSwitch X, wKiosk

Acquisition 0.704 is a modern client for the $10 shareware gnutella peer-to-peer file sharing network. It is built using Cocoa, and requires Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. The new version features a substantial improvement in network connectivity, improved stability and performance, and redesigned download and upload views. [1.3MB]http://www.xlife.org/files/Acquisition0.704.tgz
POPmonitor 2.1, available for MacOS 8/9/X, is a $25 shareware email tool for deleting spam and other unwanted e-mail before mail is downloaded into a client application. It can automate the removal of unwanted messages by creating lists of trusted/blocked senders and by creating custom filters based on several criteria and offers the option to bounce messages to simulate a non-existing e-mail address. [Classic, OSX]
Proteron has released LiteSwitch X 1.5.2, an update to its $15 Mac OS X keyboard application switcher. Version 1.5.2 fixes a critical bug that prevented anyone from using the LiteSwitch X hot keys if they had selected Option-Tab or Control-Tab as the Hot Key Trigger. [517KB]
CatDV 3.04 (Personal Edition) is an update to the video logging and cataloging application for DV and other media. It includes a new timecode calculator, drag and drop support, two grouping levels for browsing the clip database, a larger buffer during capture, multiple database searches, printing enhancements, improved movie export, and other enhancements. it is available for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X for $80 (upgrades are $30). [Classic, OSX]
AppMac has released wKiosk Browser 1.1, an update to its full screen, secure web browser for internet kiosks. The $150 Mac OS X application is powered by the Netscape Gecko HTML engine and offers functions to disable force quit, URL access control, password-protected preferences, application monitoring, and customization options. [8MB]

Sonic Desktop ships Edge Vol 5 music library

01/10, 11:05am

Sonic Desktop ships Edge Vol 5 music library

Sonic Desktop today announced the release of Edge Volume 5: Drums/Rhythms/Pulse, which includes a unique and versatile compilation of percussive soundscapes for creating distinctive, professionally produced backdrops for a wide range of cinematic themes. Edge Volume 5 is a diverse collection of 20 rhythmic tracks spanning numerous musical genres, including Industrial, Jazz, Electronica, New Age, Rap, Tribal and many more. It features live drum performances, processed and layered with hand percussion, Korg Wave and studio effects to create complete rhythmic arrangements. Edge CDs are available in 44k-Pro ($130) and 22k-Multimedia ($70) formats. The 44k version can be purchased at a special introductory price of $100 now through February 9th.

LaCie debuts new large-area LCD, CRT

01/10, 11:05am

LaCie debuts new large-area LCD, CRT

LaCie introduced the LaCie photon20vision, a 20-inch flat-panel LCD that provides 1600 x 1200 native resolution, "state-of-the-art" color accuracy, increased brightness and contrast, a rotating function for Mac OS 9, allowing it to be used in either landscape or portrait mode. Users can detach it from the base to adapt to various ergonomic environments and it also offers tilt and swivel adjustment for optimum viewing control. It ships with a color-enhancing, metallic hood to reduce glare and unwanted reflection, an ADC to DVI adapter, an ergonomic desk clamp to save desk space and an extendable arm to accommodate multiple users in a variety of workspace environments.

LaCie also introduced its 22-inch LaCie electron22blue IV CRT display, which features a 20-inch viewable area and is equipped with Wide Viewing Angle technology. The monitor features flat aperture grille, is equipped with a four-port USB hub, and provides a maximum resolution of 2048x1536 as well as features a new super bright mode for users working in video and gaming applications. The $900 monitor ships with a VGA-to-VGA cable, and a color-enhancing blue hood to reduce glare and unwanted reflection.

LaCie debuts new FireWire 800 drives

01/10, 11:00am

LaCie debuts new FireWire 800 drives

LaCie has launched new line of desktop hard drives that support faster 800Mbps FireWire speeds. The new drives range from 200GB to 500GB capacity, have an aluminum casing, have external power to keep the drive cool without the necessity of a noisy fan, and emit up to 50% less noise pollution than traditional external drives. The drives will ship in February 2003 in capacities of 200GB ($480), 250GB ($540), 400GB ($880), and 500GB ($1000).