News Archive for 03/08/28

Choose an article from the archive listing on this page or refine your selection using the controls in the gray box below.

iTunes beats music rivals for awareness

08/28, 7:55pm

iTunes beats music rivals for awareness

Market research body NPD Group found that Apple's iTunes music service registered the highest awareness, with 20% of consumers aged over 13 knowing of the service, according to NewMediaAge: "Among Macintosh users, the initial target market for iTunes, the awareness level jumped to 46%. 6% of Mac users also said they'd paid for a song or album via iTunes. In contrast, services like Rhapsody and Pressplay, which have been on the market for longer than iTunes, only showed 14% awareness among consumers. Less than 1% said that they had downloaded music from either site."

Trans Intl ships 1GB RAM module for 12" PB

08/28, 6:05pm

Trans Intl ships 1GB RAM module for 12" PB

Trans Intl. today announced a 1GB DDR266 memory modules for the 12" Powerbook G4: "The Apple 12 inch Powerbook (867 MHz G4 Model) has one memory expansion socket for main memory expansion, with 128MB RAM soldered on the logic board, Trans Intl's 1GB DDR266 memory modules allow the system's memory to be upgraded up to 1152MB (maximum), which was earlier limited to 640MB bringing the 12-inch Powerbook memory capacity equal to other Apple Powerbook G4s." It is now available worldwide for $500 (while a 512MB RAM module is $100).

Peachpit publishes 3rd iPod guide

08/28, 4:50pm

Peachpit publishes 3rd iPod guide

Peachpit has published "Secrets of the iPod, Third Edition" ($20) by Chris Breen. "To get the inside skinny on all you can do with the latest iPod models, you need this fun, practical, thoroughly updated volume." Topics include the reengineered, all-touch interface; customizable menus; on the-go playlists; support for more audio formats; a new travel alarm clock; wired remote control; convenient charging and syncing dock; and the trio of fun games.

Wolfram Research releases gridMathematica 1.1

08/28, 4:50pm

Wolfram Research releases gridMathematica 1.1

Wolfram Research has released an update to its grid computing application, gridMathematica 1.1, which now includes Mathematica 5, Wolfram's technical computing software. The update delivers large performance gains in dense numerical linear algebra, support for sparse numerical linear algebra, large-scale linear programming, arbitrary precision computation, and interprocess communication speed. Pricing is per eight nodes.

iPod honored as Best Internet Audio Product

08/28, 4:25pm

iPod honored as Best Internet Audio Product

For the third time in four years, Apple has been honored by the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA). Following the success of the iMac DV (Best Multimedia Product) in 2000, and Final Cut Pro (Best Video Editing Product) in 2002, EISA has named Apple’s iPod digital music player Best Internet Audio Product for 2003-2004.

Apple to attend Visa Pour L'Image

08/28, 4:20pm

Apple to attend Visa Pour L'Image

Apple will attend "Visa Pour L'Image," the 15th annual International Festival of Photojournalism, which takes place in Perpignan, France, from September 1st to 6th. Visit the Apple booth and discover "how Mac-based solutions can revolutionize your photography workflow." Also catch the Apple seminar at 10:30 each morning in the Salle Jean-Claude Rolland.

Jobs to deliver Apple Expo keynote

08/28, 4:20pm

Jobs to deliver Apple Expo keynote

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, will deliver the opening keynote address at Apple Expo 2003 in Paris on Tuesday, September 16th at 10:00 CET at the Palais des Congrès. Apple Expo 2003 will be held at the Paris expo in Porte de Versailles, Hall 4, from September 16th to 20th.

"The Big Advantage in Being Small"

08/28, 4:15pm

"The Big Advantage in Being Small"

Business Week writer Charles Haddad comments on the Mac's immunity to viruses such as the SoBig.F worm, which flooded the Internet last week. "And though I was tethered to the World Wide Web, I was spared this ordeal. What saved me? These worms have no appetite for Macs, especially those running the latest operating system, OS X. And, it seems, I'm among the few here who uses a Mac ... Neither the disgruntled nor the crusader wants to bother attacking a computer that represents only 3% of worldwide PC sales."

Wall Street unsympathetic to Apple niche

08/28, 4:00pm

Wall Street unsympathetic to Apple niche

Even though Apple's iTunes online music store is "doing boffo business" and its new Power Mac G5 "has been met with mostly great reviews," the First Call consensus rating among Wall Street analysts for Apple's stock is a 2.9, according to CNN/Money. "So this is essentially a Hold recommendation which, as most investors know, is a nice way of saying Sell....'Apple has always been the oddball in the computer industry,' said Matthew Kelmon, president of Kelmoore Investment. The criticism that Wall Street often makes when evaluating Apple's prospects is that it's a niche company that will never supplant Microsoft.'"

Apps: Cocktail, WindowShade, Galerie ...

08/28, 3:00pm

Apps: Cocktail, WindowShade, Galerie ...

Cocktail is a general purpose utility for Mac OS X that simplifies the use of advanced UNIX functions, gives access to hidden Mac OS X settings and lets users easily optimize their systems. [Download - 555KB]
Galerie is a freeware program for Mac OS X that allows users export the current iPhoto album as a Web page. It offers: accented character export in HTML; EXIF data in Web pages; pictures quality selection; HTML templates; watermarking, image-shape control, and dozens of templates. [Download - 572KB]
Unsanity has released WindowShade X 3.0, which finalizes the new Minimize in place functionality, and fixes several bugs. WindowShade X brings the familiar window-collapsing effect from Classic Mac OS to Mac OS X, and allows users to control window shadow settings. [Download - 1.8MB]
xDNS builder 2.1 is a Web server utility that allows users to set up and maintain Domain Name Service (DNS) on Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server via a graphical interface. Version 2.1 offers better performance, new options for Mail servers, English and French version localizations, and bug fixes. [Download - 6.6MB]
Eudora Internet Mail Server (EIMS) 3.2 is the latest version of the popular Internet mail server software for the Mac. EIMS Server X 3.2.2b3 fixes a bug that caused EIMS to incorrectly add groups to a users group list; adds a check in EIMS X BTree manager for out of order keys; and other bugs. [Download - 212KB]
iVisit is a real-time videoconferencing application for Mac OS X. It is available in "Plus" ($25) and "Lite" (free) variations. The "Plus" version adds priority support, the ability to host rooms, and priority choice of user names. Registration is required to download iVisit. [Download - see site]
BitVice 1.3.3 ($40) is the latest version of the MPEG2 encoder for the Mac. Version 1.3.3 adds support for SVCD and XSVCD, and fixes a bug in the "feedback" class in rate control causing an illegal exception thrown. [Download - 903KB]

Iconfactory releases "One-bit" icon set

08/28, 2:00pm

Iconfactory releases "One-bit" icon set

The Iconfactory today announced the availability of "One-bit", the latest addition to the growing collection of ready-to-use icons at Stockicons.com. One-bit is a simple, but flexible collection. These aliased, 1-bit icons are Intended for cell phone or PDA-based applications. Because of its simple nature, the One-bit collection is easy to customize. One-bit is available today as an electronic download for $200. Stockicons.com provides developers and designers with high-quality, affordable royalty-free collections of icons.

Stone Studio updated for Mac OS X Panther

08/28, 1:15pm

Stone Studio updated for Mac OS X Panther

Stone Design today announced the availability of new a new version of Stone Studio, its popular design suite for Mac OS X. The new version delivers support for Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther," in addition to other new features and improvements. Included are Create 11.1.4, PhotoToWeb 1.6.1, SliceAndDice 2.7.3, PStill 2.8.1, PackUpAndGo 2.4, TimeEqualsMoney 2.3.5, GIFfun 3.7, StampInStone 2.4.1, and FontSight 1.3.1. Stone Studio is available for $300.

SanDisk introduces Extreme/Ultra II cards

08/28, 12:35pm

SanDisk introduces Extreme/Ultra II cards

SanDisk today introduced its Extreme CompactFlash line of high-performance digital filmcards, which deliver a minimum write speed of 9MB/sec and a minimum read speed of 10MB/sec. They are available at retailers now in capacities of 256MB, 512MB and 1GB for $110, $230, and $440, respectively. SanDisk also introduced the SanDisk Ultra II line of CompactFlash and SD flash memory cards. The new SanDisk Ultra II CF card will initially be available in three capacities - 256MB ($105), 512MB ($210), and 1GB ($430). The 256MB and 512MB SanDisk Ultra II CF cards started shipping this month while the 1GB cards will be available in the next thirty days.

IBM releases XL C/C++ compiler

08/28, 12:15pm

IBM releases XL C/C++ compiler

IBM has released a beta version of its XL C/C++ compiler for Mac OS X, as noted on the MacNN Forums. It is based on the "proven technology" of its VisualAge C++ compiler for AIX. Update: IBM has also released a beta of XL Fortran V8.1 for Mac OS X.

Reader: iTMS parody unfair, misleading

08/28, 11:40am

Reader: iTMS parody unfair, misleading

In response to our posting of DownhillBattle's parody of Apple's iTunes, MacNN reader "Aaron" has published an article explaining why artists receive the lowest portion of the money from song sales, and why the parody could be misleading.

FireStore FS-3: new portable DV disk recorder

08/28, 10:50am

FireStore FS-3: new portable DV disk recorder

FOCUS Enhancements today began shipping its newest portable DV disk recorder, the FireStore FS-3, an external drive storage system that can be directly connected to a DV camcorder to record video, audio, and time code in non-linear editing (NLE) native formats (DV-OMF, QuickTime, AVI 2, Canopus AVI, Matrox AVI, etc.). It weighs approximately two pounds. The FireStore FS-3 includes a shock protection buffer, a full-featured control panel, a backlit LCD, 4-pin XLR power input, 6-pin external FireWire drive connection and a 6-pin DV video input/output port. The FireStore FS-3, which includes a 40GB FSHDD-1 removable FireWire disk drive, is $2000.

Pixture Studio releases QuickImageCM 2.1

08/28, 10:30am

Pixture Studio releases QuickImageCM 2.1

Pixture Studio has released QuickImageCM 2.1, an update to the freeware contextual menu item for retouching and editing photos without launching an additional application. It features basic photo retouch/editing feature (scaling, triming, filter conversion with 18 filters), printing, undo, revert, etc. Version 2.1 adds a Red Eye removal filter, area-specific filtering, and a new French localization resource. [588KB]

TIBCO sues Apple over Rendezvous trademark

08/28, 10:25am

TIBCO sues Apple over Rendezvous trademark

TIBCO Software announced today that it has filed suit against Apple for trademark infringement of TIBCO's 'Rendezvous' trademark. The suit, filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Apple has carried out acts infringing on TIBCO's trademarks, with the intention to trade on TIBCO's goodwill and harm TIBCO's business. It days that it seeks remedies for the competitive and economic harm caused by Apple's acts, according to a press release.

eShox 3 upgrades PHP/MySQL ecommerce pkg

08/28, 2:30am

eShox 3 upgrades PHP/MySQL ecommerce pkg

Secure.cc has released eShox 3, an update to its flagship product. The complete PHP/MySQL ecommerce solution offers support for Apache, Tenon iTools and now 4D WebSTAR V web servers. The upgrade adds multi-user administration with multiple user levels; support for manufacturer logins for order processing; real-time statistics of store revenue (with cost/profit graphs); unlimited pricing and cost levels for products; and support for FedEx, UPS and Airborne tracking number. It is available now starting at $300.

TNW: Xserve puts Linux to 'shame'

08/28, 12:50am

TNW: Xserve puts Linux to 'shame'

A TechNewsWorld review of the Xserve concludes: "While decidedly Apple, Xserve puts to shame many of the Linux distributions available by tying together the diverse number of applications that are needed to administer an equivalent Linux server into a simple, GUI-driven interface. Xserve plays well in a Windows network, but also accommodates a variety of network constructions -- all from a tight 1U package." Separately, the Federal OMB, which oversees the Federal Enterprise Architecture, has added Mac OS X and Linux to its list of supported platforms.

Reader posts PSBench7 Tests on Power Mac G5

08/28, 12:40am

Reader posts PSBench7 Tests on Power Mac G5

A MacNN reader has posted a set of PSBench7 benchmarks of the 1.6GHz PowerMac G5: "In comparing these results to others from Ace's Hardware, it seems as though the 1.6GHz G5 is roughly about as fast overall to an Athlon 2400+, but if you notice, on some of the benchmarks, the G5 creamed even the P4 3.0GHz with HT [HyperThreading] on. So I think with the dual-2GHz and a lot of RAM, the G5 is going to cream everything that's out there right now."

WiebeTech reduces pricing on over 35 products

08/28, 12:05am

WiebeTech reduces pricing on over 35 products

WiebeTech today announced price reductions--of up to 37%--on many of its most popular storage products. The company's popular MicroGB+ pocket drive with a 40GB/5400RPM/8MB cache drive has been reduced by $40 to $230, while its high-end 1.2 Terabyte Quad BayDock FireWire storage system has been cut by nearly $1500 to $2540. WiebeTech said that more than 35 different product configurations have been permanently reduced in price and that it has simplified its product line. "In addition, we are bundling all of our BayDocks storage sytems with an extra tray insert. This allows users of the removable BayDocks to always have the ability to store or swap an extra drive."