News Archive for 03/05/22

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Apps: KeynoteGallery, Disco, phptunest ...

05/22, 9:55pm

Apps: KeynoteGallery, Disco, phptunest ...

KeynoteGallery.com features "truly innovative" and uniquely-designed professional themes for Apple's Keynote software. Using the high-quality Keynote Gallery themes, you can create a "show-stopping" presentation with a consistent look and feel across all the slides. Each theme comes complete with the standard eight Apple Keynote masters plus six additional masters. Some themes include bonus masters. All are available in both 1024x768 and 800x600 formats. Theme prices start at $9, with a three-pack collection priced at $24.
Disco 2.2 is multifunctional MP3 player and live mixing tool that emulates a two track DJ mixer/CD player, allowing you to catalog music on your computer, and segue or beat mix between songs for a professional DJ presentation. "With the built-in database and search engine, you'll find requests fast with all the necessary features to produce a compilation or a live mix, like a DJ in a club." [Download - Classic, OS X]
phptunest is a script written in PHP that converts an iTunes Music library from XML format to an HTML table. It allows you to customize the resulting HTML page in many ways. Features include: custom CSS styles, sorting, gzip compression, and open source code. [Download - see site for apropriate files]
Bitcartel has released an update to RadioLover, its $15 Internet radio Recorder. The 1.13 update brings improved stability, cleaner song separation, better proxy support and other minor enhancements. RadioLover can record Internet radio streams and save them as separate tracks, with support for iTunes Radio Tuner, Shoutcast-compatible radio streams, and MP3, M3U, and EXTM3U radio stream playlists. [Download - 2.1MB]

Post: iPod influencing NYC social scene

05/22, 7:40pm

Post: iPod influencing NYC social scene

According to a New York Post article, "there are two types of people in New York: those who have an iPod and those who want one." Authors Mary Huhn and Maxine Shen say the power to "cram a jukebox worth of tunes into your shirt pocket" is having an impact on the New York social scene. "There are iPod parties, jackets, fan clubs and Web sites galore." Scott Koenig, a 39-year-old Manhattan film producer said "it's like having your own radio station."

Concerns arise over iBook program

05/22, 7:30pm

Concerns arise over iBook program

Some Henrico County parents want school officials to delay the iBook computer program before bringing it to elementary schools, to allow time for discussion of safety concerns and content problems. One parent said her middle school child has been exposed to pornographic content on his iBook three times in five months. The $22 million program started last school year when county high school students were given their own laptops.

Tech: Qualcomm, AOL 9.0, MS plans...

05/22, 6:00pm

Tech: Qualcomm, AOL 9.0, MS plans...

Qualcomm today introduced a new line of more powerful chips that will let mobile phone users download large amounts of data without draining as much power; America Online this week made its AOL 9.0 client available to beta testers; "despite Microsoft apologists' best efforts to suggest otherwise, Microsoft's plans to seize control of the PC standards-setting process has been slowly but surely coming for quite some time."

Eovia launches new Ray Dream upgrade offer

05/22, 3:10pm

Eovia launches new Ray Dream upgrade offer

Eovia today announced the launch of a special offer allowing Ray Dream users to upgrade to Carrara Studio 1.1 for $70. The offer is valid for any version of Ray Dream, and runs until the end of July. Carrara Studio was developed as the successor of Ray Dream and offers improvements in user comfort, workflow and feature set. Carrara Studio fully imports Ray Dream files and also allows the edition and modification of all the elements of the original Ray Dream scene. Customers will receive a complete fully boxed version of Carrara Studio 1.1, including both Application and Content CDs with hundreds of free 3D models and textures, a full printed user manual, and a quick reference card as part of the offer. The English/International version of Carrara Studio 1.1 Discovery Edition is available immediately. Upgrades from Ray Dream to Carrara Studio 2.0 are $200.

Architosh: new CAD programs for Mac OS X

05/22, 3:05pm

Architosh: new CAD programs for Mac OS X

Architosh has several new reports including the launch of Piranesi for Mac OS X at Apple Expo (September 2003), ahigh-quality renderer for the AEC environment that can import from a number of architectural CAD and modeling packages, including Form-Z, ArchiCAD, Microstation, Lightwave 3D, and others. ilexsoft's has also launched HighDesign, a new CAD application exclusively created on and for the Macintosh platform. The site also notes that Nemetschek has updated its VectorWorks 10.1.2 product line.

Apple UK participates in CAD, teacher events

05/22, 1:10pm

Apple UK participates in CAD, teacher events

Apple UK notes that Apple "products and solutions will take centre stage at 'The Complete ArchITect Event', which takes place on June 18th at the RIBA building in London. The event will showcase the latest CAD tools, 3D software and imaging solutions for the Mac platform; in addition, industry luminaries will be on-hand to discuss the technology they use in their businesses."

Meanwhile, Apple UK also announced that "ATI Scotland 2003 will be held at Glenalmond College in Perthshire from August 11th to 14th. The four-day event will be a unique opportunity for creative educators to get hands-on with the latest DV technology and to share best practices in the use of digital media in education."

Boris FX unveils Boris Title Toolkit for AE

05/22, 1:05pm

Boris FX unveils Boris Title Toolkit for AE

Boris FX has released Boris Title Toolkit, a set of dynamic new plug-ins for Adobe After Effects. The Title Toolkit plug-ins create broadcast-quality, animatable titles directly in the After Effects user interface: "Boris Vector Text, Text Scrambler, Title Crawl and Vector Shape let After Effects users experience a breadth of titling capabilities in a familiar environment for maximum quality, speed, and creativity. [Users] can create, position and animate titles and vector graphic elements in 3D space with features like Text On a Path, Type On and Motion Blur. The Title Toolkit also provides a variety of ways to randomize, jitter and scramble text characters and styles, build vector shapes that can link to text, create film-quality rolls and crawls, animate text fill, etc." It is available for $200 through the end of June and for $250 thereafter.

MacsDesign Studio updates Web help solution

05/22, 12:55pm

MacsDesign Studio updates Web help solution

MacsDesign Studio today released an update to its Web-based technical support solution: Web Help Desk 6.3, designed for education and enterprise customers, introduces inventory and parts tracking, customizable billing preferences and PDF invoicing. It also adds improved LDAP support for custom schemas, tab-delimited import functions, improved ticketing, and a new billing model. Web Help Desk is built on usng Java, offering platform- and database- independence and scalability with built-in clustering support, It runs on Mac OS X, Windows 2000, Linux, and Solaris 8. Pricing starts at $3,350 for two seats.

OWC debuts 1.33GHz G4 processor upgrade

05/22, 12:50pm

OWC debuts 1.33GHz G4 processor upgrade

Other World Computing (OWC) today debuted its Mercury Extreme product line with a G4/1.33GHz processor upgrade. The $580 upgrade comes with a 30-day, 100 percent money back guarantee, as well as a three-year limited warranty. It features a Motorola PowerPC G4 7455a 1.33GHz processor, 256KB of 1:1 L2 cache on-chip and 2MB of DDR L3 cache (operating at up to 267MHz). The Mercury Extreme G4 is compatible with Sawtooth, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Audio, Quicksilver and Quicksilver 2002 Apple Power Macintosh models and supports all system versions.

KeynotePro releases PitchBoards Keynote theme

05/22, 12:45pm

KeynotePro releases PitchBoards Keynote theme

KeynotePro has released PitchBoards, a storyboarding theme for Apple's Keynote application designed "to give film and video pros the freedom to create great-looking pitch and storyboard presentations quickly." A Classic version includes slide masters for 4:3 and 3:2 video aspect ratios, and an expanded Pro version adds 16:9, 1.85:1, 2.35:1 and IMAX aspect ratios: "Designed with film and video pros in mind, PitchBoards leverages the power and ease-of-use of Apple's Keynote application to make building storyboard and pitch presentations fast and flexible." The Classic version is $20, while the Pro version is $30.

Griffin reintroduces Black PowerMates

05/22, 12:35pm

Griffin reintroduces Black PowerMates

Griffin Technology today reintroduced its Black PowerMates, its multimedia controller with a new bold black design. The USB controller and input device can be used as a volume knob, or programmed for any number of other uses such as a jog/shuttle wheel for movie editing or a scroll wheel for long documents. "We made a few PowerMates in black last year and everyone just went crazy for them. We were completely sold out in less than 48 hours. Now we’re happy to say they’re back – in black." It is available for $45 in either black or in the original brushed aluminum finish.

Wolfram releases webMathematica 2.0

05/22, 9:50am

Wolfram releases webMathematica 2.0

Wolfram Research has released webMathematica 2.0, which incorporates features that make it easier for users to build sophisticated, interactive web applications with the full calculation and visualization power of Mathematica technology. It includes a simplified installation process as well as full version of Mathematica 4.2. Version 2.0 also features support for MathML and SVG, catching Mathematica Message and Print output statements, HTTP file uploads, saving HTTP session variables on the server, and new HTML formatting functions. webMathematica Professional is priced from under $5000 per year, while academic, site, and other discounts may be available. [updated]

Verax ships Verax Quiet kit for G4 MDD/FW800

05/22, 9:35am

Verax ships Verax Quiet kit for G4 MDD/FW800

Verax let us know it will begin shipping its Verax Quiet kit for G4 MDD and FW800 Power Macs from Germany on May 23rd: "we should see them 6-8 days later in the USA. The $290 kits received a positive review from a user on G4noise.com:

"The installation-procedure itself took less than 45 minutes. About 20 minutes of this were due to disassembling/disconnecting cables and MDD-parts and reassembling the whole stuff. The replacement of the PSU-fans and the central-fan (120mm Delta) went like a snap. The placement of the new heatsink is a delicate task and should be done with calm hands and focus and without haste. To me it seems to be manageble for the experienced moders in our circle.

"After the reassembling was complete, Rolf Biehler hit the start-button of my 867 MDD with the casing still open and it was not until I heard the IBM-Deskstar starting to spin and the clicking sound of the heads that I was convinced that my MDD was really on! A little whisper was all, like when you blow your hot tea/coffee, only quieter. Almost unbelievable, but right there in front of me and real!"

.Mac adds templates, responds to problems

05/22, 9:25am

.Mac adds templates, responds to problems

MacNN readers note that Apple's .Mac services has "added 4 new templates to there site 3 Photo and 1 Movie Template. They also have an ongoing series called .Mac Presents on how to better use .Mac." A 60-day trial of the $99 service is available to all users. (Apple also yesterday finally acknowledged the .Mac mail problems, posting a note to its internal support forum: "There is currently a delay in the delivery of messages sent using the .Mac outgoing mail server (smtp.mac.com). No mail will be lost. More information will be posted regarding this as it becomes available.")

FireWireDirect debuts FW800 for notebooks

05/22, 4:50am

FireWireDirect debuts FW800 for notebooks

FirewireDirect has announced its FireWire 800 CardBus/PCMCIA adapter for notebooks. The Type II PC card offers 2-ports: a 9-pin FireWire 800 port for connecting new 800Mbps FireWire 1394b devices and an independent legacy 6-pin port for 400Mbps FireWire products: "The separate legacy and 800Mbps ports are capable of supporting up to 63 devices and with no negative performance impact on the newer, faster FireWire devices while maintaining compatibility with existing cables.....The new card is fully compliant with the new implementation of the FireWire standard, offering speeds of up to 800Mbps." It uses the Texas Instruments (TXN) OHCI-Lynx chipset and is available for $95. The DC_12V Power adapter is an additional $20.

Apps: NXRAID, Opera, Ext2 file utility

05/22, 4:45am

Apps: NXRAID, Opera, Ext2 file utility

NXRAID, a software-based RAID 5 solution for Mac OS X, offers partition- based RAID for IDE, FireWire, SCSI and Fibre Channel systems running Mac OS X. Version 1.2, a free upgrade, addresses issues that have become known regarding four-drive advance configurations, the new slot-loading Xserves and Mac OS 10.2.5 and 10.2.6. The original version, v1.1.1, is available for Mac OS X 10.2.1 through 10.2.4.
Rhon Fitzwater today released LogOutScreenSaver 1.1, an application that Logs user out after a period of inactivity. It also will execute any specific logout script. Version 1.1 adds a configure panel so users can configure countdown time manually, can now lock or unlock the Screen Effects preference pane, and has new documentation. The OS X utility is $10 before a limited-time 50% discount.
Opera 6.02 is now available from Opera Softare, as noted yesterday evening. The alternative web browser, available for both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, is available in a free ad-supported version as well as a $40 paid version with no ads.
Ext2 Filesystem 1.0a2 enables the use of Linux Ext2 formatted hard disks, floppies, CD-ROMs, etc., from within Mac OS X. The freeware includes support for reading, writing, formatting, etc. The new version fixes a kernel panic bug and adds automount content hints for several partition types, including Apple_UNIX_SVR2, Ext3, and Linux_Ext2FS.