News Archive for 03/08/15

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Power outage affects G5 chip production

08/15, 7:05pm

Power outage affects G5 chip production

Power outages struck IBM's computer chip fabrication plant in East Fishkill, N.Y., affecting production as key products for Nvidia and Apple ramp up, according to eWeek: "With power restored, IBM engineers on Friday afternoon were bringing up the tooling equipment, and preparing to begin production. "'At a guess, I'd have to say later Saturday,' O'Leary said of the production timetable."

Akumen offers FireWire 800 drive enclosure

08/15, 6:10pm

Akumen offers FireWire 800 drive enclosure

Akumen Online today debuted the Ascent XHD 800, an external drive enclosure with both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 connectivity. The Ascent XHD 800 case, which also has a legacy 1394b port, uses the Oxford 922 FireWire/USB bridge. The includes both USB and FireWire 800 cables, and drive formatting software. The drives are available as an enclosure kit ($140) or in capacities of 80GB ($230), 120GB ($250), 200GB ($370), 250GB ($440), and 320GB ($550).

IT Dept Full Employment Act keeps Macs out

08/15, 6:00pm

IT Dept Full Employment Act keeps Macs out

The lack of Mac adoption at the enterprise--despite the turn to Linux--level may be in part due the IT Department Full Employment Act, according to Robert Cringely: "I am not claiming that every organization should throw out its PCs and replace them with Macs, but the numbers are pretty clear, and the fact that more Macs don't make it into server racks has to be based on something, and I think that something is CIO self-interest. Macs reduce IT head count while Linux probably increases IT head count, simple as that."

Apps: GyazMail, WallStreetMenu, LoudK...

08/15, 2:05pm

Apps: GyazMail, WallStreetMenu, LoudK...

GyazMail 1.1 is an email client ($18) for Mac OS X with support for multiple accounts, individual file messages, custom font display, 2- or 3- pane display, sync with Apple's Address Book, and auto-completion. Version 1.1 adds basic HTML display, keyboard shortcut customization, and Keychain support. [2.6MB]
VVI's Vvidget graphing system v8.5.8 is an update to its graphing system for Mac OS X: Vvidget Pro is used for realtime visualization, process control and analysis systems; Vvidget Builder is used to layout graphs; Vvidget Palette is used to build graphs into developer's custom applications, and the Peer Visual Server is used to generate dynamic graphs and reports.
LogicalVue's Schema 2.0 ($50) is an IDE for use with REALbasic databases, It connects to REALdb, MySQL, OpenBase and any database for which you have an ODBC driver, including Oracle and Access and can copy/convert any database to a REALbasic database as well as display tables, columns and scripts. [Classic, OSX]
WallStreetMenu 1.1 ($8) is a customizable Mac OS X menu item which enables users to keep track of Stocks, Mutual Funds and Indices. Data is supplied by Yahoo! Finance and has a 15 minute delay from realtime. [140KB]
LoudK 1.0 is described as the "premier MIDI input device for the Mac OS that uses your computer keyboard for input. Now you can trigger software and hardware samplers and other MIDI software with just your computer." [OSX]
The freeware Classic Window Management 1.1 gives "you the option to have windows in Mac OS X behave like they did in Mac OS 9, where all of an application's windows stayed grouped together. So when you click on one window, all windows belonging to that application come to the front." [91KB]

Aspyr ships Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

08/15, 1:30pm

Aspyr ships Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Aspyr today announced it has begun shipping Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, which "lets players take on the role of legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk and 13 other professional skateboarders as they skate through enormous free roaming levels, choose from 190 progressively harder goals and build their skills to perform 14 of the greatest skateboarding stunts of all time." The Mac OS X title is $40.

Apps: ChangeIPAddress, SecuritySpy, WebCalX

08/15, 10:30am

Apps: ChangeIPAddress, SecuritySpy, WebCalX

Apple's ChangeIPAddress v.1.0 script allows you to change the IP address of a computer using Mac OS X Server versions 10.2 to 10.2.6 when "you experience issues after having changed the primary IP Address of a Mac OS X Server." [45KB]
Sophisticated Circuits has released beta versions PowerKey 4.2b (for PowerKey Pro 650 Admin), and Kick-off! 1.6b, adding a new type of crash recovery and a separate log for activity (in addition to compatibility with the built-in "syslog" utility).
Ben Bird's SecuritySpy 1.0b28 is an update to his multi-camera video surveillance software that offers FTP support and motion detection. It offers a new timelapse feature, support for the Canon VB-C10 network camera, and other bug fixes. Pricing starts at $50 for a single camera. [684KB]
PHP iCalendar is a php-based iCal file parser that displays iCal files in a "nice logical, clean manner with date-based navigation, printer view, RSS-enabled, and searchable." It supports 12 languages, is fully theme-able, and has complete timezone support as well as now supports multiple calendars. [150KB]
WebCalX 4.3 for Mac OS X allows you to publish your calendar as HTML-site on the internet. It supports custom designs, recurring events and large calendars. The update to the $5 shareware offers revamped FTP functions and other enhancements. [1.3MB]
Abscissa 3.2.1 is a program for scientists designed to make 2D-plots from data given in an ASCII table form. Data can be created and modified by means of a user defined formula. A least-square-fit routine helps to optimize the parameters of this formula in order to fit the given data best. [496KB]

SanDisk launches Memory Stick Duo cards

08/15, 10:00am

SanDisk launches Memory Stick Duo cards

SanDisk today introduced its new, more compact SanDisk Memory Stick Duo flash memory cards, which will ship next month. The new Memory Stick Duo cards are designed for 2.5G and 3G mobile phones, while the higher performance Memory Stick PRO Duo cards are targeted for digital music players, digital still (e.g., Sony's new DSC-U50) and video cameras.

Sony debuts two Cyber-shot digital cameras

08/15, 9:25am

Sony debuts two Cyber-shot digital cameras

Sony today announced the latest model in its line of Cyber-shot F-series digital cameras: With its lens-centric design, the new 8 megapixel (MP) DSC-F828 camera is encased in a black, magnesium alloy body and offers four-color filter CCD technology, Carl Zeiss T optics, 7x optical zoom, and extensive manual controls. It is due in mid-November for $1,200. Sony also introduced its new pocket-size Cyber-shot DSC-U50 (photo above) featuring a 2MP CCD and a 180-degree rotating lens. The $200 camera is due in October in black, silver and metallic orange.

Microspot announces MacDraft 5.5 for Mac OS X

08/15, 9:00am

Microspot announces MacDraft 5.5 for Mac OS X

Microspot has announced MacDraft 5.5 for Mac OS X, the latest version of the 2D CAD software. Version 5.5 of the 2D design, drafting and technical illustration application was developed exclusively for Mac OS X, and adds Quartz Graphics support, picture import, the ability to use the resize palette with pixel maps and paragraph text, and and up to 100 levels of Undo. Pre-orders are $300 (boxed) or $270 (electronic delivery). No release date was available.

Bias ships Peak 4 professional audio software

08/15, 4:15am

Bias ships Peak 4 professional audio software

BIAS released Peak 4, a new version of the stereo waveform editing application. Peak 4 offers support for Audio Unit plug-ins, new sample-based reverb technology (ImpulseVerb), multi-processor support, direct Redbook CD burning, new DSP tools, a mastering-quality compressor/limiter (Sqweez), and a streamlined interface sporting a new brushed metal look. Upgrades to the $500 Mac OS X-only application are $150.

Apple extends Mac OS X District Licenses

08/15, 1:00am

Apple extends Mac OS X District Licenses

Apple has extended its Mac OS X District License program through September 27, 2003. Districts with 1000 or more Mac OS X-capable systems can upgrade all of their systems for $25 per system. This includes a license to run Mac OS X, iLife, Keynote and "Getting Started with Mac OS X" self-paced training; districts, however, must purchase Apple Maintenance Program at $50 per system for a free upgrade to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Apple, however, says that it is "interested in moving all of our valued K-12 customers to Mac OS X. If your district has less than 1000 Mac OS X-capable systems, please call 1-800-747-7483" for special assistance.