News Archive for 03/08/07

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Apps: FTPit, Taco HTML Edit, MacDopplerPRO...

08/07, 7:00pm

Apps: FTPit, Taco HTML Edit, MacDopplerPRO...

Comm-Unity's FTPit 1.5 ($45) for FileMaker Pro 4.x and above uses the File Transfer Protocol to allow you to transfer files to and from any FTP site. This version adds a new feature to download a text file from an FTP site directly into a field.
Taco HTML Edit 1.5 is a freeware HTML editor, adding a customizable Quick Insert Menu, live preview, multi-document projects, and other improvements. It also offers customizable tag coloring, code clips for HTML code, multiple HTML wizards, document templates, and syntax/HTML error detection. [986KB]
Dog Park Software's MacDopplerPRO 1.87 is an update to the application that features full 3D projection models of the earth, satellite tracking, high resolution maps and more. It adds Internet reload of Keps, an Az/El Rotor Driver for SatEL, and improved dialog response for slower Macs under OS X. [Classic, OSX]
iPod It 2.0.2 fixes a number of problems, including issues with weather downloads in the US, the displaying of Address Book entries, and Macs that don't have Entourage installed. It also adds France and Germany to News downloads. The $15 app transfers PIM data from your Mac to an iPod. [436KB]
iDVDthemePAK.com today released free updaters for ThemePAK 3 through 6 for full compatibility with Apple's iDVD 3.0.1 software. The updates fix a problem with the text in Drop Zone themes turning white during preview in iDVD 3.0.1.
Forty-Two DVD-VX Plus v1.5 offers an easy-to-use DVD-to-popular AVI format transcoding utility. It has added features like output to Dreamcast or Archos friendly format and autobitrate calculation to get your large movie's to output to either one or two CD-R size chunks for easy burning. [9.8MB]

Minolta debuts new digital cameras

08/07, 6:25pm

Minolta debuts new digital cameras

Minolta today introduced the stylish new 3.2 megapixel DiMAGE Z1, featuring a built-in 10x Mega-zoom lens, support for recording TV-quality 30 fps VGA movie, and a 60 fps sampling rate to determine the optimum focus. The new DiMAGE G500 offers 5 megapixel images and a dual memory-card slot (Memory Sticks and SD Cards) in an elegantly styled metal case (3.7 x 2.2 x 1.2 inches) weighing only 7 oz. Minolta also introduced its DiMAGE A1 series of digital cameras featuring a 5-megapixel SLR-type CCD, a 7x optical zoom lens, dual-focal macro system, an extra-fine image-quality option. The new DiMAGE E323 is an easy-to-use, compact 3.2 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens (4x digital), SD memory card support, and video recording options. (Pricing and ship dates were not available.) [site not updated]

Curious Labs ships Poser 5 for Mac OS X

08/07, 6:10pm

Curious Labs ships Poser 5 for Mac OS X

Curious Labs has released Poser 5, a 3D-character design and animation tool for artists and animators. Users can create 3D Figures using a diverse collection of ready-to-use 3D human and animal models and users can quickly output movies and images from your posed figures for content in Web, print, and video projects as well as add life to your 3D worlds using exported, posed figures. It offers highly accurate male, female and children figures; the ability to directly manipulate facial expressions; grow dynamic hair that can be styled and animated' amd am all-new hybrid micro-polygon and Ray Trace render engine along with a host of extras, including props and textures. It is $200 with upgrades starting at $100.

Apimac Slide Show 6.0 presentation software

08/07, 5:05pm

Apimac Slide Show 6.0 presentation software

Apimac Slide Show 6.0 is a final release of its slide show and presentation tool for multimedia files. It is now compatible with Mac OS X and adds a choice of custom image as a background for presentations. The Standard Edition ($30) includes the ability to export stand-alone presentations to run under Mac OS X and Mac Classic. The Professional edition ($50) adds a Windows Standalone Presentation compiler, which makes possible to run stand-alone presentations on Windows PC. [Classic, OSX]

FirewireDirect debuts FireWire 800 3.5" driv

08/07, 5:00pm

FirewireDirect debuts FireWire 800 3.5" driv

FirewireDirect.com has introduced its Ultra III 800, a new line of external FireWire-based 3.5" desktop hard drive systems and the first in this line to employ the new, faster FireWire 800 data interface as well as a USB 2.0 interface. It boasts a sleek, Titanium-styled chassis, ships with FireWire and USB cables, includes drive formatting software for both Windows and Mac, and is available and shipping now in Enclosures and a series of high performance drives up to 320GB.

OmniWeb 4.5 offers improved Web standards

08/07, 4:40pm

OmniWeb 4.5 offers improved Web standards

The Omni Group today released the final version of OmniWeb 4.5, offering greatly improved standards support to the award-winning browser. OmniWeb 4.5 incorporates the open source WebCore and JavaScriptCore frameworks from Apple Computer Inc., which brings renewed support for the latest Internet standards suc a CSS, HTML, XHTML, and JavaScript to the Mac OS X browser. In addition to greater compatibility, OmniWeb 4.5 also has improvements to bookmarks, AutoFill, plug-ins, history indexing, and more. It is a free upgrade to the

Macromedia Xtras offer playback on Mac OS X

08/07, 2:25pm

Macromedia Xtras offer playback on Mac OS X

Integration New Media (INM) has announced that two of its Macromedia Xtras now offer playback on Mac OS X with the Authorware 7 Mac OS X player. INM's SecureNet Xtra ($200) allows your Authorware pieces to communicate through proxy servers with or without authentication, and can perform secure HTTP network operations from Authorware packaged pieces or directly in authoring environment. V12 Database Engine ($550) allows users to quickly and easily add powerful, scalable databases to your Macromedia Authorware projects.

SmartSound offers "Cool" music collection

08/07, 1:55pm

SmartSound offers "Cool" music collection

SmartSound today released Edge Volume 6: Chill-Out/Cool Moods/Lounge, a "collection of music - including acid jazz, downtempo, bossa nova and lounge - that captures the hip yet cool sound of today's most popular TV commercials. ...Edge Volume 6 features music appropriate for scoring any footage that needs a fun yet hip sound. The 12 tracks on the CD offer a range of musical styles, letting users invoke feelings from retro kitsch to cool relaxation." SmartSound music and sound library CDs are available in two formats: 44k ($100) and 22k ($50).

Apps: DVDxDV, FontWizardXT, FTP Peel...

08/07, 1:45pm

Apps: DVDxDV, FontWizardXT, FTP Peel...

Status Symbol 1.2 for Mac OS X and iChat AV users can manage your iChat status with messages for eating, sleeping, working & other routine functions. The application can also display stock info, weather info, system info, personal info, iTunes info, and iChat info as your iChat status. It adds new Headline News and Fortune Cookie modules and a new custom message timer. [2.6MB]
DVDxDV 1.054, the $25 application which exports the audio/video from DVDs, is now available. The new version is G5-ready and provides better performance for dual processor systems. [1.1MB]
Final Draft 6.06 is a free update to the professional screen writing software for film, television, and theater. The update fixes a few bugs. The full version is available for $200 [8.3MB]
FontWizardXT 3.6 for Quark Xpress 6 (and Mac OS X), offers extended EPS export options, including font embedding, export of multipage documents, and partial page exports. It supports Type1, TrueType, OpenType and MultipleMaster fonts. It features Quark 6 compatibility and export styles (similar to print styles). It is €120 with upgrades starting at €40. [96KB]
The $20 shareware FTP client, FTP Peel 1.0, offers keyboard shortcuts, advanced preferences, a toolbar, an iTunes-like filter/search box, integration with BBEdit/PageSpinner, AppleScript support, Magic Mirror for syncing files, an activity log, and recursive functions. [2MB]
Calerga has updated SysQuake 2.5 (insights into scientific problems) and LyME 2.6 (for handhelds), which are now based on version 4.1 of the scientific programming language LME, offering a high degree of compatibility with Matlab. LME now supports integer numbers and arithmetic, and extended numerical differential equation solvers to handle discontinuities and hybrid systems.
SQL4X Manager J 2.6 Preview offers graphical access any JDBC compliant database server. The new release includes an all new PHP and JSP code generator. It supports MS SQL Server 2000, MySQL, Oracle 7/8/9i, PostgreSQL, OpenBase and Sybase as well as basic support for IBM DB2, MS SQL Server 7, and PrimeBase. Pricing is $60 (Basic), $100 (Professional), or $150 (Enterprise).

FlashAmp offers audio visualization for Flash

08/07, 1:25pm

FlashAmp offers audio visualization for Flash

FlashAmp 2 is an audio visualization and lip-sync utility for Macromedia Flash MX and Flash 5. It allows you to control animations and other events in Flash using amplitude or spectrum (frequency) values derived from sound files. FlashAmp offers the ability to output amplitude data and cue point names as well as supports WAVE, AIFF, MP3, and SWA formats. Flashamp 2 Lite ($45) adds stereo sound support, dB scaling, and on-screen/file output options. The Standard version ($65) also adss batch processing and audio level normalization, while the Pro version ($120) offers spectrum analysis and optional logarithmic scaling of frequency bands. It runs on Mac OS 8/9/X.

ColorBlind EDIT available for Mac OS X

08/07, 12:55pm

ColorBlind EDIT available for Mac OS X

Imaging Technologies today released ColorBlind Edit 5 for Mac OS X, ITEC's first Mac OSX offering to the professional color management industry. "ColorBlind Edit's powerful tools enable a user to add a personal, artistic touch to digital imagery by modifying ICC profiles. By adjusting the ICC profiles rather than the image itself, ColorBlind Edit increases the consistency and reproducibility of color across all scanners, printers and monitors. It is available immediately for $500.

Mumbo Jumbo ships Super GameHouse Collection

08/07, 12:50pm

Mumbo Jumbo ships Super GameHouse Collection

Mumbo Jumbo has begun shipping GameHouse's Super GameHouse Collection 2, which features 20 of the most popular solitaire card games, including Yukon, Free Cell, Klondike, Spider, and Vegas. Players can save their games and come back to them later, track their win-loss records, take advantage of unlimited undo options, and select the perfect music track for playing solitaire. They can also play in full-screen or window mode. The $20 title runs on Mac OS X.

Apple posts AirPort drivers, firmware on Web

08/07, 10:45am

Apple posts AirPort drivers, firmware on Web

Apple has posted its AirPort 3.1.1 drivers on the Web along with the included AirPort Extreme 5.1.1 firmware (for either Mac OS X or Windows clients); however, at least two readers report having to revert back to the v5.04 firmware: "My Base Station experiences consistent freezes with either all three lights on when I use P2P clients that use intense bandwidth (v5.1 firmware) or it just randomly goes 'dead' with loss of Internet connectivity (v5.11). I've had to revert back to the v5.04 AEBS firmware for it to operate without any problems." [AirPort 3.1.1, AEBS 5.1.1

WP examines iTMS, BuyMusic.com marketing

08/07, 10:35am

WP examines iTMS, BuyMusic.com marketing

The Washington Post has posted on article on "Cracking the Code of Advertising," which compares the marketing efforts for Apple's online iTunes Music Sore and BuyMusic.com: "Successful businesses need strong icons, and Apple's guitar is the first memorable icon associated with a pay Internet music site. The fact that BuyMusic attacked Apple's guitar is proof of its nascent power. The guitar could be to Apple what the yellow "running man" icon was to AOL as it became the top Internet service. BuyMusic may be latching on to Apple's guitar to generate buzz, but in the long run, Apple's rival will need to create its own Gibson."

Planar launches touch-screen LCD monitors

08/07, 10:20am

Planar launches touch-screen LCD monitors

Planar Systems has launched a new line of flat-panel, touch-screen monitors. The new 15-inch ($700, 400:1 contrast ratio), 17-inch ($950, 500:1) and 19-inch ($1,300, 500:1) PT models are designed for interactive information kiosks and point-of-sale terminals. The "rugged" line of monitors models with resistive touch-screen technology with USB touch-screen drivers. Planar's PT monitors are available for immediate delivery, with black or white bezel and speakers.

PhotoReviewer helps manage photos on OS X

08/07, 10:15am

PhotoReviewer helps manage photos on OS X

Stick Software has released PhotoReviewer 1.0, a photo management tool for Mac OS X that helps users flip though photos: "[it] doesn't compete with iPhoto; rather, it goes between your digital camera and iPhoto, or between your internet connection and iPhoto. It's the quickest, easiest way to sort and weed your photos;." The $10 shareware can sort images into different folders, find and delete duplicates, and rename images.

St. Clair Software ships Default Folder X 1.8

08/07, 10:10am

St. Clair Software ships Default Folder X 1.8

St. Clair Software today released version 1.8 of Default Folder X, an update to its open/save dialog enhancer. Users can now option-click on the name of an existing file to copy it. Other improvements include system-wide hotkeys for opening Favorite folders, the ability to set a single default folder for all applications, increased performance and stability, user interface enhancements and more. The $35 software is localized for English, French, German and Japanese.