News Archive for 03/05/08

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OS X Server 10.2.6 update available

05/08, 9:10pm

OS X Server 10.2.6 update available

Apple has made available the Mac OS X Server 10.2.6, the server-specific version of the 10.2.6 update, which was released earlier this week via the Software Update utility.

NASCAR Racing 2003 nears release

05/08, 5:45pm

NASCAR Racing 2003 nears release

Aspyr today reported that NASCAR Racing 2003 Season has entered the duplication phase, and will begin shipping shortly. "Battle your way to the lead of the pack in the most immersive racing game of the season," the says Aspyr.

OWC drops prices on FireWire optical storage

05/08, 4:05pm

OWC drops prices on FireWire optical storage

Other World Computing (OWC) today announced that it has dropped its prices by up to 26 percent on its DVD-R/W+CD-R/W and CD-R/W FireWire storage solutions. Each OWC device supports the FireWire 400 standard, as well as USB 2.0. OWC's Mercury Pro DVR-105 DVD-R/RW+CD-R/RW FireWire+USB storage solutions are now priced at $340 ($120 off). The OWC Mercury Pro 52X24X52X-speed FireWire+USB 2.0/1.1 CD-R/W storage solutions is $120 ($50 reduction). Both ship with 25 pieces of CD-R media and one or more software packages for CD and/or DVD creation.

Apps: PageSpinner, AACelerator, Energy...

05/08, 1:00pm

Apps: PageSpinner, AACelerator, Energy...

Optima System has released PageSpinner 4.5 Preview 2, the first generally available release of the new version of Optima's $30 web authoring package for Macintosh. PageSpinner 4.5 features enhanced OS X support and integration, an improved editor, support for syntax color coding of PHP, JavaScript and CSS, text zoom, a recent file menu, support for Safari and Mozilla, built-in file transfer functions and more. [3.1MB]
mac:method has posted a maintenance release to its MPEG-4 encoder, AACelerator 1.02. The update features better iTunes 4 and iPod Compatibility , a Script Menu Items for iTunes 4, a make4iPod utility to convert song files created with AACelerator into AAC files capable of being synced with your iPod, and saved Preferences. It is $12 shareware for Mac OS X. [494KB]
Energy is a $20 shareware puzzle game: "Energy is a new 100 level puzzle to fill your free time with fun, and to give you that extra boost you need without copious amounts of sugar. Help out an old colorblind factory worker by sorting petanque balls by color. Once bases are filled with like-colored balls, they energize giving you the power to continue your colorful quest." [7.0MB]
Antilog has released Barres I.2.1, its barcode creation utility for Macs. It can generate UPC (12 digits), EAN13 (13 digits), and SCC14 (14 digits): "Simply launch the application, type in the desired barcode number, and resulting barcode graphic (a resolution-independent PICT image) is automatically copied to your clipboard file." It works with Mac OS 7/8/9 and is $11 for a single-user license. [466KB]
HumanSoftware's OttoPaths 1.5 for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X is a selection plug-in compatible with applications supporting Photoshop plug-ins. It allows designers to create paths, flow text along any type of Path and can also be used to step and repeat paths or create tables/stars/grids/rounded rectangles and more. It is $100.

ITC releases ITC Designer Font Collection

05/08, 12:45pm

ITC releases ITC Designer Font Collection

ITC has released the ITC Designer Collection, an assortment of 200 fonts for graphic professionals. The product includes licensing for five users and is available for an introductory price of $1000, a savings of $500 off the list price of $1,500:" The ITC Designer Collection was created to provide an affordable means for graphic professionals to acquire a solid foundation of high-quality typefaces. Fonts were selected to ensure a versatile assortment of type styles including serif and sans serif text fonts, script designs, decorative displays and headline fonts." It is available on one CD-ROM for both PostScript and TrueType formats for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms.

Corel ships Corel Painter 8 in North America

05/08, 12:40pm

Corel ships Corel Painter 8 in North America

Corel today announced that Corel Painter 8 is available for purchase across North America: "Corel Painter 8, the premiere software for digital painting and sketching, provides professional artists with creative power, features for enhanced productivity and improved compatibility with Adobe Photoshop. With over 400 new brushes, a variety of new creative features for professionals and a re-designed user interface, digital artists will find countless ways to be creative using Corel Painter 8." It features a new color mixer, brush creator, sketch effect, an updated user interface, and layer masks/channels as well as Photoshop file compatibility. Corel Painter 8 is $300; upgrades are $150, and the academic version is $100. Customers can purchase the upgrade if they own Painter, Painter Classic or Adobe Photoshop 5.5/6/7.

AAPL upgraded by Smith Barney analyst

05/08, 10:35am

AAPL upgraded by Smith Barney analyst

Analyst Richard Gardner at Smith Barney upgraded Apple (AAPL) to "in-line" from "underperform" on "the belief that the PC maker's recently announced "ITunes" music store could potentially be worth an additional $3 to its share price. Therefore, he raised his price target to $18 from $15. The stock is trading down 15 cents at $17.50. 'While our revised target suggests little upside potential, we see relatively limited downside potential from current levels as well,' Gardner said in a note to clients," according to CBS MarketWatch.

Booq ships PowerSleeves for PowerBook G4s

05/08, 10:05am

Booq ships PowerSleeves for PowerBook G4s

Booq is now shipping its ballistic nylon PowerSleeves for the latest PowerBook G4s (12- and 17-inch models). Booq's PowerSleeve12 ($40) and PowerSleeve17 ($50) are made from extremely durable and lightweight 1680D ballistic nylon; the compact sleeves leave room for magazines, notepad, power adapter or other accessories. The top-loading PowerSleeves incorporate non-scratch velvety interior, 0.5" thick high-density foam padding all-around, snap-lock flap, stylish black & metal zipper pulls, as well as Booq’s signature detachable shoulder strap system. The strap is made from the most durable seatbelt nylon and comes with a movable, breathable, non-slip shoulder pad.

MacPlay to ship 2 new titles this month

05/08, 9:55am

MacPlay to ship 2 new titles this month

MacPlay has announced that its first two gaming titles developed by Virtual Programming are expected to ship this month. Europa Universalis II, expected to ship on May 12, "offers you the opportunity to rewrite history. Relive the years 1492-1792 and lead one of 90 different Nations, including China, Britain, and the Cherokees, to world domination. This real-time strategy game includes 9 gameplay scenarios, over 500 historical missions, and more than 200 random events that affect gameplay." It is $30.

Meanwhile, Another War is expected to ship by May 30th: "you play an adventurer trapped in his own private war as World War II rages around him. When he attempts to rescue a friend from the clutches of German soldiers in Nazi-occupied France, he gets more than he bargained for. In fact, he eventually finds himself in Leningrad, where German and Soviet scientists guard a secret project." Pre-orders for the $30 Mac OS X-only title are available online.

Arden Fair, Al Moana stores to open May 17th

05/08, 9:45am

Arden Fair, Al Moana stores to open May 17th

Apple will open its Arden Fair (Sacramento) and Al Moana (Honolulu) retail stores on Saturday, May 17th, follwoing the opening of two new stores this weekend. We previously noted the opening of the Sacramentio Apple Store in February and several readers are noticing the familar white Apple logo in the Arden Fair Mall.

Apple, Macromedia presentations at MWNY

05/08, 9:40am

Apple, Macromedia presentations at MWNY

IDG World Expo today announced that Apple and Macromedia will each deliver a feature presentation at Macworld CreativePro Conference & Expo, both of which are open to all registered attendees: "An [unnamed] Apple executive will take the stage on Wednesday, July 16 at 9:30 a.m. to deliver a feature presentation. Then, Macworld CreativePro attendees will hear from Norm Meyrowitz, president of Macromedia Products on Wednesday, July 16 at 3:00 p.m. Meyrowitz is known for overseeing the teams that created Director, Shockwave, Dreamweaver, and Macromedia Flash." The event takes place from July 14-18 at New York City's Javits Center.

iPods available Internationally; gap problems

05/08, 9:25am

iPods available Internationally; gap problems

Readers report that new iPods are available in Singapore, UK, and Australia. Meanwhile, MacNN reader Marcelo P. Lima reports: "The new Apple iPods announced on April 28, 2003 insert a gap between all songs played, whether they are MP3 or AAC files. CDs created with iTunes 4 also have these gaps between songs." Apple has also posted several iTunes 4 KB articles including: Copying Music Between Authorized Computers, Missing Shared Folder May Prevent Authorization, Users of Shared Music May Be Automatically Disconnected (limit of 5 users), and Locating Downloaded files.

Apps: chartConstructor, Revolution, DVDxDV

05/08, 9:20am

Apps: chartConstructor, Revolution, DVDxDV

Mozilla.org has posted Mozilla 1.4b1, an update to the popular open-source browser project. Users can now specify "blank page," "home page," or "last page visited" for each of first window, new window and new tab as well as the default font, size and color for HTML mail compose. It also includes better options for image blocking/disabling, CRAM-MD5 and DIGEST-MD5 AUTH support in Mozilla Mail, and Proxy auto-config (PAC) failover. [14.8MB]
headshack has released chartConstructor 1.3, a "major" update to its $30 project management application. Highlights of this update include improved printing support, powerful task filters, automatic optimization of tasks and multiple selection in PERT Charts. [573KB]
Runtime Revolution today announced a release candidate for Revolution 2.0rc1. Version 2.0 includes an XML library, SOAP support, Unicode text entry, a report generator, video capture, improved database access, an integrated debugger, drag & drop support, and other features. Pricing for the multi-platform development tool starts at $100. [Classic, OSX]
DVDxDV 1.03, the software which exports the audio/video from iDVD created DVDs, offers improved performance, and supports for a wider variety of DVDs: "DVDxDV makes it easy to take clips off of your home DVDs and send them to your family and friends over the Internet. This is because DVDxDV supports all of the video formats available to your MacIntosh computer through QuickTime." A 30-day demo of the $25 application is available. [605KB]
SignalScope 1.1 is a real-time audio spectrum analyzer and oscilloscope designed to work with Mac OS X compatible audio hardware. The state of SignalScope's controls can now be saved for recall the next time the application is run and the Preferences now include the option to set different colors for the display background, cursors, grid lines, and signal trace. [587KB]
Macaroni 1.4.1 is a tool which handles regular maintenance for Mac OS X, including the Mac OS X "repair privileges" process as well as Unix-style maintenance. Macaroni's Unix-style maintenance now cleans old data files not cleaned by other maintenance tools, including files left behind by Mac OS X's printing system, and others. [583KB]
Panic has released the latest version of the Iconfactory's OS X system icon customization tool, CandyBar 1.5.2. It is "fully qualified for use the the OS update from Apple and anyone using 10.2.6 or planning on upgrading soon, should download this new version of CandyBar and replace your previous version. This is a free update to registered users." [3.8MB]
Games4Mac has posted a mirror of the UT2003 Mac demo, which Destineer released yesterday. The download is 136MB. [option click]

Steve Jobs to kickoff WWDC 2003 in SF

05/08, 9:00am

Steve Jobs to kickoff WWDC 2003 in SF

Apple today announced that Steve Jobs will kick off its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote on Monday, June 23, 2003, beginning at 10:00 a.m. PDT at San Francisco's Moscone West. The five-day event, which runs from June 23-27, will feature more than 170 scheduled in-depth technical sessions with new content designed to serve a wider range of Mac developers, including a dedicated track for QuickTime developers and content creators.