News Archive for 03/08/18

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Power Mac G5 to ship with Mac OS X 10.2.7

08/18, 11:50pm

Power Mac G5 to ship with Mac OS X 10.2.7

c|net reports that although the Mac operating system remains a 32-bit OS, Apple said the G5 machines will ship with a 64-bit-optimized Mac OS X 10.2.7, which "has math and vector libraries that are optimized for the 64-bit chip, as well as the ability to address more than 4 gigabytes of physical memory, breaking through a limitation of 32-bit chips. Application developers can recompile their programs to make further performance gains, Joswiak said. Adobe Systems' Photoshop is among the programs being tweaked to gain an additional speed boost from the G5."

Apps: PhotoRescue, AquilaCalendar, tasks...

08/18, 8:25pm

Apps: PhotoRescue, AquilaCalendar, tasks...

Veta Universal 1.0 ($8) offers the ability to use the Nokia 3650 to control your Mac--including iTunes, DVD Player and the mouse: "Veta Universal is a Series 60 application for your phone. It is designed to work seamlessly with Romeo 0.9.1 (freeware)." [48KB]
PHP iCalendar is looking for a new lead developer: "This is a very active (and very popular) project/program that's hosted at Sourceforge. Any advanced or somewhat talented PHP programmers should add to this exciting project. It will be enterprise ready with a little documentation and by the time it hits 1.0."
PostView 1.3 ($22) is an advanced document and image viewer for Mac OS X. It improves the search engine with support for sub-word (prefix) searches and better speed. It uses EGOS to provide advanced Postscript and PDF services. [1.6MB]
The $30 image recovery utility, PhotoRescue 639, fixes a few bugs in the Canon raw file renderer and now offers free recovery of non-pictures file: "it does not benefit from all the advanced pictures rebuilding algorithms we've integrated in PhotoRescue." [novice, advanced]
The $15 shareware AquilaCalendarMB is a tear off menu bar calendar able to show one, three or six month calendar views: "Apple's EOF technology teams up with Openbase SQL database and the WorksWell reporting engine to deliver state of the art database power and reporting." [11.4MB]
tasks 1.7 is an update to the donationware web-based, hierarchical task manager/to-do list/lightweight project manager. It adds a new mobile version, updated docs, and international version support (French, Catalan, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish). [416KB]

VP brings KnightShift to the Mac

08/18, 6:40pm

VP brings KnightShift to the Mac

Virtual Programming announced today that it will be bringing KnightShift, a unique and mystical RTS/RPG hybrid game, to the Mac platform. KnightShift offers "the best of conventional RPG and RTS games" combined into a "mystic world, full of fantasy and imagination." The player takes control over heroes, real or magical characters, and "leads them to victory."

New automation software debuts for OS X

08/18, 3:40pm

New automation software debuts for OS X

Write Track Media has announced Desktop Assistant, a new product built for Mac OS X that is designed to simplify the process of automating repetitive activity on a Macintosh computer. It is especially helpful for those who are on a computer network with one or more file servers, a FileMaker Pro database server, or those who use -- or want to use -- a number of different AppleScript solutions. It is available for $30 until the end of september, at which point it will cost $60.

Apps: MacMaid, Mactracker, RPGMapMaker ...

08/18, 2:45pm

Apps: MacMaid, Mactracker, RPGMapMaker ...

Dejal Systems today released Time Out!, a free utility for Mac OS X that helps those with busy work schedules remember to take frequent breaks. Time Out! provides "Normal" breaks, and "Micro" breaks, to prevent different types of strain. [Download - 642KB]
MacMaid 2.1 from Realmac Software is a cleaning utility for Mac OS X. The latest version adds a favorites menu, Drag and Drop support for the Fileguard table, better preferences updating, and bug fixes. Registration is $10. [Download - 588KB]
Mactracker 2.0.4 is a maintenance update to the utility that provides detailed information on every Apple (and Mac clone) product. Version 2.0.4 adds the latest hardware releases from Apple, including the the Power Mac G5 and iSight. [Download - Classic, Mac OS X]
Francois Menneteau announced today the release of RPGMapMaker 3.0, a significant update to the tool for drawing maps with polygonal grids. Version 3.0 features a simpler interface, countless new features, and many bug fixes. [Download - 3.7MB]
xDock is a utility that gives you access to some "secret" features of the Dock in Mac OS X. New in version 2.1 is the abillity to change the Dock "Poof" sound that appears when you remove a item from the Dock. Additionally, it is now compatible with Mac OS 10.3. [Download - 1.4MB]
ColorDesigner is a quick and easy tool used to design color sets. It is written by Kasper Jeppesen and is available as a free application for Mac OS X. Release 5 is a set of usability improvements. [Download - 459KB]
Kensington has updated its Wireless Desktop software for Mac to version 1.1. Specific details of the update were not published. The software provides full compatibility and functioanllity for a number of Kensington devices. [Download - 3.0MB]

Forums: PowerMac G5; 15" PB future; OS X mod

08/18, 1:40pm

Forums: PowerMac G5; 15" PB future; OS X mod

Forums roundup: Users of our Power Mac forum discuss, in a number of threads, Apple's recent announcement that its G5 computers are now shipping and coming to stores; owners of older G3 Power Macs discuss their computers' upgrades; PowerBook enthusiasts speculate about the future of the 15" PowerBook G4; Mac OS X users discuss the upcoming Mac OS X 10.3 Panther in a number of threads; avid Mac OS X users post their GUI customizations.

MacGroup-Detroit celebrates 17th anniversary

08/18, 12:20pm

MacGroup-Detroit celebrates 17th anniversary

MacGroup-Detroit is celebrating its 17th anniversary this weekend. It was founded on August 24, 1986 with 5 initial members. Since then MacGroup has become "Michigan's largest" Macintosh Users Group with a membership body of just under 400 members. "At this month's meeting we plan to have fun," the MUG says, "on Sunday we will have Mac OS X Tips and Tricks as well as trivia games and lots of door prizes for winning contestants."

IDG: laptop users adopting wireless networks

08/18, 12:05pm

IDG: laptop users adopting wireless networks

IDG World Expo today provided a preview of the user research report, "The Balance of Power," to be distributed at the Portable Power Conference & Expo, which takes place September 21-23. The report includes a number of interesting statistics collected from notebook users, including: more than 50% of the notebook users say they are already using a wireless network, and 65% of notebook users say that their notebooks operate on battery power one to three hours per day.

Tech: RealNetworks, top 100 brands, iTMS

08/18, 11:40am

Tech: RealNetworks, top 100 brands, iTMS

Morning tech news: RealNetworks and electronics retailer Best Buy plan to announce a deal where Best Buy's store customers can try-out and sign-up for RealNetworks' subscription online music service, Rhapsody; BusinessWeek has posted a list of the top 100 global brands: Microsoft is second overall, Apple is 50th; online music services, including Apple's iTunes, AOL's MusicNet, and the new BuyMusic, are expected to start offering Rolling Stones' songs on September 2nd, while RealNetworks' Rhapsody will have exclusive rights until then.

Apps: Saft, Romeo, Tofu, BiblioTex, SnapWeb..

08/18, 10:50am

Apps: Saft, Romeo, Tofu, BiblioTex, SnapWeb..

The open-source Romeo 0.91 offers remote control of your Mac via Bluetooth and a compatible mobile device. It adds support for more devices, multiple monitor support, scroll wheel emulation, a system menu, more dock options, control of several Macs from a single phone, and better performance. Custom plugins for different applications are available. [723KB]
Hao Li's freeware Saft 2.0 adds a full-screen mode to Safari: "After restarting Safari, you should find an extra menu item under Safari menu, just above the 'Preferences...', called 'Full Screen'...Use the key combination 'Apple-Shift-F' to toggle normal and full-screen mode." [155KB]
cf/x has released several pro-level effects plug-ins for iMovie, which offer the ability to set the area of effect or pick an effect's color straight from the clip as well as effect fade in/out, a user guide, and full-size previews. Many plugs-ins are free, and all plug-ins can be downloaded for free trials. Prices range from $1.50 to $10.
Tofu 0.1 is an early development release of the on-screen text reader that arranges text in columns, like in a newspaper. "Each column is only as high as the window, so there is no vertical scrolling. This means that each line stays in the same vertical position, and only moves past your eyes horizontally." [132KB]
BiblioTeX 1.0 is a $20 database manager for references used with BibTeX (the bibliography tool of LaTeX), allowing users to enter, review, and export your references, using a graphical user interface. It requires Mac OS X. [6.2MB]
SnapWeb creates "complete screenshots of web pages even if the users screen isn't large enough to show the whole page content at once. The resulting images are saved as JPEG or PDF files." Licenses are $15 for private/educational use. It runs on Mac OS X and requires Safari. [340KB]
A Samba 3.0rc1 release candidate is now available: "this is still a non-production snapshot intended for testing purposes. Use at your own risk. One of the main additions in this release is the stable support for both client and server SMB signing."

Roxio announces Toast 6 Titanium for Mac OS X

08/18, 10:10am

Roxio announces Toast 6 Titanium for Mac OS X

Roxio today announced Toast 6 Titanium, an update to its CD and DVD burning software for Mac OS X. Toast 6 offers ToastAnywhere, which enables the sharing of CD or DVD burners across a network or the Internet with other Toast 6 Titanium users; the ability to create Video CDs, Super Video CDs or DVDs with menus, buttons and chapters, and view them on a home DVD Player or computer, and Plug & Burn to create video discs from DV camcorder content with a single click; and drag & drop support for iPhoto. Toast 6 Titanium will be available for $100 in early September in North America and the UK.

EnzymeX 2.0: DNA restriction enzyme tool

08/18, 9:55am

EnzymeX 2.0: DNA restriction enzyme tool

Mek & Tosj have released a completely rewritten EnzymeX 2.0, its application for determining which restriction enzymes should be used to cut specific DNA. In addition, it offers all the specific properties of these enzymes to make sure that every digestion is a success. EnzymeX now includes updated information on over 580 commercially available enzymes, information on activity in buffers from 15 different manufacturer, double digest prediction; manufacturer favorites; and a new reaction mixer and buffer comparison. It runs on Mac OS X only. A single-user license is $5, while a Lab license is $10.

Automatic Duck Pro Import 2.0 ships for OS X

08/18, 9:30am

Automatic Duck Pro Import 2.0 ships for OS X

Automatic Duck has released Automatic Duck Pro Import 2.0 for Mac OS X. It offers all of the functionality of its Automatic Composition Import (ACI), ACI DV, and ACI FCP software products for Avid, Final Cut Pro (FCP), After Effects (AE), and Boris RED. Version 2.0 also adds translation of more Avid effects, including Picture-in-Picture (PIP), Resize, 3D Warp, Superimpose, and 3D PIP; translation of audio levels and keyframes from Avid and FCP into AE; and AAF import (e.g., Avid locators into AE and RED). It also can import FCP timelines into AE on Windows and now supports AE 6.0. It is $500, while upgrades are $200 (and free to purchases after May 1, 2003).

Apple ships single processor Power Mac G5s

08/18, 9:30am

Apple ships single processor Power Mac G5s

Apple today announced that it has begun shipping the two single processor models of its Power Mac G5, while saying that the dual 2.0 GHz Power Mac G5 will ship late this month ("as planned"). Apple also announced that it has received orders for over 100,000 Power Mac G5s since its introduction on June 23. "The Power Mac G5 is a big hit with customers and developers," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The two single processor Power Mac G5 models are available now, so we wanted to get those into customers hands as soon as possible, and we’re right on track to deliver the dual 2.0 GHz Power Mac G5 later this month."

Cinematize 1.0: DVD extraction under Mac OS X

08/18, 4:50am

Cinematize 1.0: DVD extraction under Mac OS X

Miraizon today announced Cinematize 1.0 for Mac OS X, which it says is "the first and only" commercial DVD extraction tool that handles complex DVDs with multiple angles and sound tracks. It supports complex DVD discs with multiple angles, soundtracks, and subtitles; supports both PAL and NTSC formats as well as PCM, AC-3, MPEG, DTS, and SDDS audio; can export to MPEG-2 or QuickTime formats; offers chapter-level extraction; and has a preview function. It is available now for $50. (Japanese and French versions are due at the end of September.)

Palm announces new company name

08/18, 4:30am

Palm announces new company name

Palm today announced it will adopt the palmOne name, following the proposed spin-off this fall of PalmSource, Inc., makers of Palm OS platform software. The new name "will reflect the company's handheld computer hardware and software solutions business and encompass the subbrands Zire and Tungsten, as well as Treo, upon the completion of the planned acquisition of Handspring, Inc., also expected this fall." Products will begin to bear the new brand name in 2004.

NYT: G5 to be in stores "today"

08/18, 4:25am

NYT: G5 to be in stores "today"

The New York Times reports that Apple has over 100,000 pre-orders of the Power Mac G5 and that the new 64-bit computer will be available in US "today" (Monday), while Adobe's free G5-optimized Photoshop plugin will be available on Tuesday, which Adobe says "will improve Photoshop's performance on Apple's G5 computers by 75 to 200 percent, depending on the operation."

Apps: MailTuner, iCalViewer, Lights Out...

08/18, 3:25am

Apps: MailTuner, iCalViewer, Lights Out...

If Then Software's MailTuner (donationware) is a new utility that can fix the Mail.app slowdown that users may see if they have a large number of contacts in the Mac OS X Address Book. It compresses the address book and forces it to update the address index." [110KB]
The freeware iCalViewer 1.05 displays iCal events traveling across a window, the screen, the desktop, or as a screen saver in realtime. It now allows events to optionally go left (instead of right) and offers partial internationalization. [834KB]
EasyFind 2.8.2 (EF), DEVONtechnologies's find-file utility, checks for updates over the Internet, is faster, and features interface improvements. Its drag-and-drop image converter, ThumbsUp 3.2 (TU), can now create file icons when needed, also checks for updates and comes with an improved memory management. [EF, TU]
Photologist 1.2.3 ($20) is a versatile image management, manipulation, and presentation solution offering features for managing photo folders and creating custom photo albums. It adds the ability to display EXIF picture data as well as other updates. [3.0MB]
The $8 shareware Lights Out 2.2 offers advanced control over Apple's Energy Saver with a secondary timer and hot corners for custom functions. It adds the ability to customize Energy Saver settings for individual applications, improved Dock controls, and full support for powerbooks. [1.2MB]
IndexFinger 1.0 creates an index of every web page in a folder, finding every html page in every folder and sub-folder and creating one page which links directly to each of those pages. The $15 site-index utility helps with search engine submissions. [308KB]
MKD's iMote 1.0 is a freeware utility that allows you to control simple iTunes actions from any application using universal keyboard commands. It offers functions for play/pause, next/previous track, and volume. [116KB]
The freeware web gallery and thumbnail application, Image2Web 1.0b3, now in beta, offers custom Web gallery creation with a real-time preview and a WSYIWIG interface. It can add metadata, organize photos, compress images, add headers/footers, and more. [1.3MB]