News Archive for 03/02/05

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Tech: Dell on floppies; 'Net worm; ...

02/05, 7:45pm

Tech: Dell on floppies; 'Net worm; ...

The Internet worm that nearly cut off Web access in South Korea and shut down some U.S. bank teller machines doubled the number of computers it infected every 8.5 seconds in the first minute of its appearance; Microsoft is "warning" that the success of the open-source movement could hurt its sales, potentially forcing the software giant to cut prices and sacrifice both revenue and profits; Dell Computer says the time is right to stop including floppy disk drives as standard hardware on its consumer desktop computers.

12" PBG4/iMovie 3 special coverage continues

02/05, 6:05pm

12" PBG4/iMovie 3 special coverage continues

Our special 12" PowerBook G4 and iMovie 3 coverage continues today. More owner comments about heat is included in the PowerBook report; further bug reports have been added to the iMovie 3 issue catalog.

Boris FX Continuum Complete 2.0 effects

02/05, 4:30pm

Boris FX Continuum Complete 2.0 effects

Boris FX today announced Continuum Complete 2.0, a package of 110 filters for Adobe After Effects 5.5, Apple Final Cut Pro 3, Discreet combustion 2.1, and Boris RED. The package includes 16-bit processing, optical flow for high-quality footage retiming, 32 new filters including new texture generators, hundreds of user-customizable presets, filter-specific electronic help, and substantial revision of all existing filters to add new features and optimize render quality and speed. It is available now for $600 with upgrades starting at $200. It is a free upgrade for users who purchased after December 1, 2002.

User calls for Apple Power Cord recall

02/05, 4:10pm

User calls for Apple Power Cord recall

USC's Daily Trojan reports on a potentially dangerous defective Apple power cords and a law student's efforts to have the power cords recalled because of saftey concers due to aberrent electrical discharges (sparks). The same problems were evidently echoed by other readers in Apple's Support Forums, but Apple refused to acknowledge the problem (or resolve the situation) and subsequently deleted the posts (as well as links to the online petition requesting a recall of defective power cords).

Digital Peripheral Solutions acquires QPS

02/05, 2:50pm

Digital Peripheral Solutions acquires QPS

Digital Peripheral Solutions (DPS) today announced that it has purchased the assets and brand name of QPS Inc., the manufacture of computer hard drives, CD burners and DVD burners, as part of QPS's reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The new company will continue manufacturing its Que!-branded products and distribute them through the retail channel, provide customer and technical support, and introduce new products in the coming months. DPS specializes in external storage devices that include DVD, CD and hard drives for PCs, Macs, notebooks and other devices with a self-described mission to "deliver advanced, award-winning products complete with all appropriate software and cables."

Apps: OmniGraffle, IntelliMerge, GameRanger

02/05, 2:50pm

Apps: OmniGraffle, IntelliMerge, GameRanger

The Omni Group has released OmniGraffle 2.1.1, its Mac OS X diagramming and charting application. The update provides minor bug fixes. [13.2MB]
Intelli Innovations has released an update to its $80 e-mail merge software for sending business and personal e-mail. IntelliMerge 3.1 adds Mac OS X 10.2 Address Book integration, improved batch unsubscribe, and improved Bounce Checker, and and SQL Dump and XML export improvements. [Classic, OSX]
Scott Kevill's GameRanger 3.1.2 adds several new features to his online gaming service for Mac users, including automatic game detection, email address validation, automatic mute when chat view is collapsed, and fixes for several games. [182KB]
MicroMat's Drive 10 v1.1.4 update is an update to its advanced disk utility for Mac OS X, offering both disk repair and data recovery functions as well as automatic, regular backups of important volume structure data. It addresses issues with Energy Saver, updates for French and Italian localization, and improved Volume Structure Rebuild/Repair routines. [3.5MB]

iDay 2003 seminar offers iLife discount

02/05, 1:50pm

iDay 2003 seminar offers iLife discount

Avondale Media today announced that Apple will be offering a 20% discount on the iLife suite to all attendees of the next iDay seminar, which takes place on Saturday, February 8 in Palo Alto, California. The Saturday's iDay 2003 will also feature a guest speaker: Joe Lambert, who will speak on the power of digital storytelling and on the capabilities that the Mac and iLife software bring to storytellers. iDay 2003 is an eight-hour seminar devoted to iLife as well as Adobe Photoshop, Apple's Final Cut Pro and Express, and DVD Studio Pro. The seminar's focus is on helping Mac users of all levels master today's digital media tools. Registration is $100; a half-off discount to user group members is also available.

Apps: Virus updates, iPhoto plugin...

02/05, 11:05am

Apps: Virus updates, iPhoto plugin...

BetterHTMLExport 2.01 is a shareware ($20) export plugin for iPhoto that exports html pages. Version 2.0 offers compatibility with iPhoto 2, expanded documentation, export of IPTC information from images, a software update checker, and new variables available for templates--as part of the new and improved template mechanism, which allows you to create your own additional templates and install them. [179KB]
ScriptOrganizer for FileMaker Pro is a simple tool which enables developers to efficiently organize scripts in ScriptMaker. It offers multiple script selection, sort functions, Script menu customization, and script renaming functions. The $60 tool is fully compatible with all .FP5 and .FP3 files and runs on Mac OS 8/9/X.
February updates for Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus and Network Associates' Virex 7 are now available. [NAV7-OSX, NAV8, V6, V7]

Extracting video from TiVo under OS X

02/05, 10:20am

Extracting video from TiVo under OS X

A reader has written instructions for extracting video from a TiVo Series 1 with Mac OS X: " I was frustrated with the lack of information available on TiVo Community and Deal Database forums for Mac owners. The only solutions I found on these boards were overly elaborate and involved either Virtual PC or an additional Wintel box."

Greco leaves IDG, could hurt Macworld Expo

02/05, 10:05am

Greco leaves IDG, could hurt Macworld Expo

Macworld Expo promoter Charlie Greco is leaving local trade show giant IDG World Expo to work for tech consulting firm Gartner Group, of Stamford, Conn. The Boston Herald notes the departure may "complicate efforts to ensure that corporate star Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, makes an appearance at the trade show next year," however, Greco said he expects to see the computer maker set up a booth alongside hundreds of companies that sell products for its machines.

Apple retail stores coming to Mass, Florida

02/05, 8:05am

Apple retail stores coming to Mass, Florida

Readers note that Apple is searching for employees for upcoming retail store locations in Chestnut Hill, MA as well as Boca Raton, FL. MacNN reader Benjamin Lowengard describes the possible Chestnut Hill locations: "I'm not sure if it's headed for the Atrium mall or the Chestnut Hill Mall--both of which have many locations for a store. The Atrium is a nicer mall with Williams Sonoma, Borders and a great Vietnamese local restaurant chain. The Chestnut Hill mall has Brooks Brothers, HMV and Bloomingdales." Meanwhile, another reader passed along an unconfirmed report about an upcoming store in Toronto, Canada: "I've heard from a reliable source that a large Toronto store which has been for sale for almost two years has been purchased by Apple. It's on Queen Street East, just east of Broadview, in an area known as the Queen-Broadview Village." [updated]

WiebeTech debuts Forensic NoteBook DriveDock

02/05, 1:35am

WiebeTech debuts Forensic NoteBook DriveDock

WiebeTech today announced Forensic NoteBook DriveDock, a write-blocked FireWire bridge that can be used for forensic analysis of notebook data storage devices and will be "especially useful for law enforcement and criminal investigation marketplaces." It allows data to be read from drives without risk of writing data back to the drives. (The original Forensic DriveDock is already available and supports 3.5-inch drives.) The $300 compact device uses the Oxford 911 FireWire bridge, is bus-powered, and requires no drivers.

CandyBar 1.5 for system icon customization

02/05, 1:35am

CandyBar 1.5 for system icon customization

CandyBar 1.5 is the latest version of the Mac OS X system icon customization application. Version 1.5 brings support for iContainers, a new way to package and distribute icons, developed jointly by Panic and The Iconfactory. iContainers are a large group of icons packaged into one handy container - a single file, allowing users to import and export entire CandyBar icon sets from a single file. A demo of the $13 software is available now.