News Archive for 03/03/26

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KB notes: PowerBook G4, Xserve issues

03/26, 7:55pm

KB notes: PowerBook G4, Xserve issues

Recent additions to Apple's knowledge base include the following: how to install Active Transceivers on the host side and avoid communication errors (Xserve RAID); identifying the input/output (I/O) ports of PowerBook G4 computers; when to use the optical drive protector included with the Xserve (Slot Load) server; you may see the Fibre Channel PCI card listed twice in Apple System Profiler when an Xserve or Xserve (Slot Load) server has a Fibre Channel PCI card installed; When some audio cables are inserted into the audio line-in port or headphone ports on the PowerBook G4 (17-inch) computer, a small gap may be noticeable between the connector and the side of the computer's case.

Tech: 911 tracking; IBM & nVidia; eBay

03/26, 5:25pm

Tech: 911 tracking; IBM & nVidia; eBay

Evening tech news: Three U.S. wireless carriers are now stepping in unison with a technology strategy to meet a federal mandate requiring them to be able to locate cell phones that dial 911, within 50 meters; IBM said today it will make a next-generation graphics chip for nVidia Corp, winning business away from nVidia's long-time partner, TSMC; a case where a couple allegedly stole more than $100,000 from more than 500 bidders has cast suspicion on eBay's anti-fraud software.

Apps: JEdit, Nutshell, Report Magic, Daktari

03/26, 4:10pm

Apps: JEdit, Nutshell, Report Magic, Daktari

Jedit 4.2.1 is an update to the English version of the text editor developed in Japan. It supports both Classic and Mac OS X as well as AppleScript, multi-style, a split-editing window, multiple undo, HTML coloring, Sherlock FCB Search, bookmarking, paragraph formatting, Object Embedding (image, sound, QuickTime Movie and alias), Macro Menus, read-out and recording, summarizing, unicode, print preview, and sorting. It is $25 shareware. [2.0MB]
Ecamm has released Nutshell 1.0 ($25), a new Mac OS X tool for creating self-expanding installers for the Palm as well as a freeware Drag'n'tooth 1.0, a Mac OS X tool for easily sending files to your Palm using Bluetooth. [DT]
Report Magic 2.2 is an update to the website log analysis tool that uses webserver log files to build visual charts and HTML pages for analyzing web traffic (visitors, search words, pages viewed, etc.). It adds a new CGI mode, allowing users to run reports from a web form and also adds four new languages modules: Finnish, Norwegian, Japanese and Traditional Chinese. Other enhancements include better labels on graphs, improved navigation when embedded with TOP or BOTTOM, and warning messages for unrecognized settings. [2.5MB]
Daktari brings "a familiar iApp metaphor to managing files for web sites. Additionally, Daktari provides an html editor for editing the html files of web (site) projects...Commands in Daktari's menus will insert tags for format, content, form elements, and JavaScript, leaving you free to develop the code and content of a web page." The $25 utility runs on Mac OS X. [1.9MB]
Juggy Software's Ridge 2.09 can meter and restrict the amount of data your Macs upload and download from the Internet. The software, which will alert you when that limit has been reached, sports a graphical interface to help you meter traffic on your machine and to better detect slowdowns and bottlenecks. [443KB]

AMUG announces Maclanta Xpo 3.0

03/26, 2:55pm

AMUG announces Maclanta Xpo 3.0

The Atlanta Macintosh Users Group has announced that Maclanta Xpo 3.0 will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2003 at the Art Institute of Atlanta from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The day-long event will feature a keynote by Apple's Jack Quattlebaum, computer classes taught by AMUG, SwapFrest for purchasing/trading products with vendors and other attendees, Mac repair services, a Cyber Cafe for Internet access, and a computer auction.

CREATE replaces Macworld Expo NY

03/26, 2:00pm

CREATE replaces Macworld Expo NY

IDG World Expo and Apple today announced CREATE, a new event which will repace Macworld Expo in July and will "focus on technology and professional solutions for the creative arts, including design and publishing, video and music. To be held July 14-18, 2003 at New York's Javits Center, CREATE will offer an agenda full of the creative community's best practices, including new insights from cutting-edge artists in a wide spectrum of disciplines... CREATE's in-depth conference program is designed for beginners and experts, professionals and consumers - all those who want to immerse themselves in creative arts."

Apps: PSD2FLA, Barcode Validator, FinKit...

03/26, 11:35am

Apps: PSD2FLA, Barcode Validator, FinKit...

Media Lab's PSD2FLA 1.0 is a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that lets you save your layered Photoshop design as a Flash 5 .fla file, allowing users to open a Photoshop design file directly in Flash for direct editing (adding animation, interactivity, etc.). It can can create a multi-layerd Flash 5 .fla from a multi-layer PS file, supports Photoshop 4 and Flash 5, and can optionally ignore hidden layers. The $90 application runs on Mac OS X. A limited demo is available. [1.0MB]
Intelli Innovations today introduced Barcode Validator, the Company's new hardware and software combination for identifying and verifying barcodes printed on physical surfaces. It includes both the Barcode Validator 1.0 software and the IntelliScanner 3200v USB for barcode testing and identification. The IntelliScanner 3200v USB features seamless integration with Barcode Validator software, CCD scanner array (no lasers to clean or maintain), audible and visual scan indicators, and a 7 foot cable. The $700 system supports a wide variety of barcode symbologies.
KeynoteHQ has released Premium Theme Pack 3, featuring church-oriented themes for Apple's Keynote presentation software. Premium Theme Pack 3 includes three themes in both 800x600 and 1024x768 sizes. The themes (Palm Sunday, Church Theme, and Cathedral) include photograph "cut-out" master slides, custom bullets, and other "objects" that can be used in presentations. Premium Theme Pack 3 is $10. Free themes are also available.
MOTU has posted updated OS X drivers for its MOTU PCI-324 and PCI-424 audio systems: MOTU PCI Audio for OS X (requires OS 10.2.2 or later). It will install a CoreAudio Driver for Mac OS X and provides consoles with support for 2408, 2408mk2, 1224, 308, 24i, 1296, 2408mk3, and 24I/O under Mac OS X. It does not, however, support sample rates greater than 48K with the PCI-324 card, but the company says a future update will upport 96K on the PCI-324 card. [3.7MB]
FinKit 1.3 is a multi-function financial calculator for Mac OS X that lets a user solve problems involving the time value of money. The latest version provides 17 calculations such as effective and equivalent rates, single and multiple payments, annuities, credit cards, loan amortizations and more. It also perform do currency conversions between the 182 currencies (using updated rates via the Internet). [1.5MB]

MacWireless offers alternative AirPort power

03/26, 10:45am

MacWireless offers alternative AirPort power

MacWireless Power Over Ethernet (POE) allows users to mount an AirPort base station without a nearby electric power outlet. The updated version now uses a compact cable assembly approach, allowing users to use any Ethernet cable to carry power to the Base Station--up to 250 feet away for AirPort snow (Dual-Ethernet) and 150 feet away for AirPort graphite (Single-Ethernet). A pair of adapters carry the DC power in the data cable. It is $30 (but does not work with Airport Extreme, which the company says it is now designing).

Apple ships XServe RAID to customers

03/26, 10:20am

Apple ships XServe RAID to customers

MacNN reader Rick Glowe reports reciept of Apple's XServe RAID, which the company originally demoed last May (and promised by the end of year, but later delayed its released). Apple's XServe, officially announced in February, is a 3U rack storage system offering up to 2.5TB of storage capacity, which Apple claims has the industry's "most aggressive" price point of just over $4 per GB.

The Xserve RAID features dual independent RAID controllers, a dual 2Gb Fibre Channel interface, and dual power supplies as well as Apple's Java-based RAID Admin software, which provides detailed event information about the system, automatic email notifications, and an intuitive interface for setting up, managing and monitoring multiple XServes. Pricing starts at $6,000.

Apps: ShredIt, Stimulus, Safari Debugger

03/26, 9:55am

Apps: ShredIt, Stimulus, Safari Debugger

Mireth Technology has released version 5.2 of ShredIt X, a privacy utility that securely deletes files, folders and disk free space. It adds the ability to shread "free space", i.e., files that have been previously deleted and a new Department of Defense 5220 standard compliance option. It is a free upgrade to the $20 utility for Mac OS X. [1.1MB]
Stimulus 3 is an update to the image viewer and audio/video player, adding support for 20 popular file formats, an image rotator, a playlist/favorites creator, a search engine, a new interface, faster performance, a screen magnifier, an adjustable slideshow timer, and other improvements. The $15 application is available for Mac OS X only. [1.8MB]
Flaming Pear has released two new sets of Photoshop-compatible plugins for both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X: The Creative Pack ($25) features Organic Edges (luminous curves and webs into images), Boss Emboss (deep sculpting), Vibrant Patterns (kaleidoscopic imagery), and Wavy Color (deforms hues). The Webmaster Series ($40) includes Browser Preview, which shows the effects of compression, colors sets, and monitors on web images; Web Posterize, which lets you design in web-safe colors, and Web Scrubber, which snaps colors to the web-safe set. [CP, TWS]
Safari Debugger 2.2 ("donationware") allows you to enable many hidden features in Safari by activating the debug menu. Using this menu, you can enable tabbed browsing in v62 and higher, fix problems with banking sites, and troubleshoot your own webpages. This minor update adds enhanced support for newer versions of the Safari web browser and also features a slightly refined user interface. [95KB]

Media 100 to demo Media 100 iHD at NAB 2003

03/26, 9:45am

Media 100 to demo Media 100 iHD at NAB 2003

Media 100 will conduct a technology demonstration of a new Mac OS X-based HD/SD editing system at NAB 2003 in April. The nonlinear system, dubbed Media 100 iHD, incorporates newly-developed HDX Technology (HDX) that features 10-bit uncompressed HD and SD I/O and real-time, broadcast-quality format conversion between any HD and SD formats, offering resolution-independent mixing and matching of HD and SD source material in the same timeline as well as 10-bit uncompressed native HD editing--for under $10,000.

FireWire Depot debuts Combo drive cases

03/26, 4:50am

FireWire Depot debuts Combo drive cases

FireWire Depot is now shipping the newest version of the Cutie family, the Cutie DX ($125), and as well as the Cutter 2.5" enclosures ($120). The FireWire/USB enclosures offer three connectivity solutions (FireWire, USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 ports) and also support booting from the enclosure. Both accept all accept 9.5mm laptop drives (currently as large as 60G). The company also announced several 1394b (FireWire 800) products, which are expected to ship in the mid-late April/May timeframe. The products will include 3.5" and 5.25" drive enclosures, PCI cards, 3-ft. 1394b cables ($30), 6-ft FireWire 800 (9-pin) to FireWire 400 (4-pin) cables, 1394b-to-1394a adapters ($20) and other accesories.

MCE announces DVD-R upgrades for most Macs

03/26, 4:35am

MCE announces DVD-R upgrades for most Macs

MCE Technologies today announced a comprehensive lineup of internal DVD recordable upgrades for the Mac on the market today, including upgrades for the Power Mac G4, Power Mac G4 Cube, PowerBook G4, Power Mac G3, PowerBook G3 (FireWire/Bronze), iBook (Dual USB), iMac (Flat-Panel), iMac (Slot-Loading), and iMac (Rev. A-D).

Orange Micro debuts FireWire 800 PCI card

03/26, 4:35am

Orange Micro debuts FireWire 800 PCI card

Orange Micro today announced it would ship its OrangeLink FireWire 800/1394b PCI card in May 2003. The OrangeLink FireWire 800/1394b PCI card is equipped with two 9-pin FireWire 800/1394b ports so users can simultaneously use two FireWire 800/1394b devices and also offers backwards-compatibility with an additional 6-pin FireWire 400/1394a port. It is designed to operate in a 64-bit PCI slot, but will also function in a 32-bit PCI slot (with limited performance). The $90 card includes video editing software (not specified).

MacHack reaffirms June 19-21 conference dates

03/26, 4:30am

MacHack reaffirms June 19-21 conference dates

MacHack today announced that it will continue with its previously scheduled dates in June, despite the recent WWDC 2003 date change by Apple: "Speakers, sessions, travel plans, people have had arrangements in place for months now. Our dates may make it difficult for some to attend both conferences, and we intend to work with them to find ways for them to continue to participate. MacHackoffers many things to attendees beyond what they can learn at WWDC. There is plenty of expertise in a lot of areas committed to a strong MacHack." The press release quotes the MacHack chairman: "What Apple says at the Worldwide Developer Conference is all nice theory, how things should work; what our sessions do is delve into how things _do_ work. Sessions like these provide the return on investment for companies and individuals." MacHack 18 takes place June 19-21, 2003, while WWDC 2003 was rescheduled (after dates and registration deadlines had been announced) for June 23-27, in San Francisco.

Morrison releases FontDoctor 5.5 upgrade

03/26, 4:20am

Morrison releases FontDoctor 5.5 upgrade

FontDoctor 5.5 is an update to Morrison SoftDesign's application for font problem diagnosis, repair, and organization. The font utility will locate and eliminate hard-to-find font problems, including scanning font folders (on local hard drives or over a network) to locate and repair common font illnesses, such as missing Postscript fonts, missing bitmaps, corrupt/damaged fonts, font ID conflicts, extra fonts sizes, and mixed fonts types. Version 5.5 of the $70 application ($20 upgrade) includes a new Font Mover window, faster diagnosis, and other new features.