News Archive for 03/09/04

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Tech: auction halted; Movielink speeds up

09/04, 11:45pm

Tech: auction halted; Movielink speeds up

eBay has halted an auction to resell a music download that was purchased through Apple's music store, saying the attempted sale violates its listing policies; spammers, scammers and porn purveyors can hide on the Net, because regulators let them register under aliases with stolen credit cards, members of a congressional subcommittee say; the online movie-watching service Movielink has upgraded its service to allow viewers to start watching films within minutes after purchase, rather than waiting up to two hours for a film to download.

Promos: Pro Tools; low price iPods

09/04, 11:35pm

Promos: Pro Tools; low price iPods

Promotions: Starting September 2003, every new Digidesign Pro Tools system includes Reason Adapted, Ableton Live, AmpliTube LE, SampleTank SE and T-RackS EQ; DealExpress is offering Apple's 10GB, 15GB, 20GB, and 30GB iPods for $230, $330, $330, and $440, respectively.

Apps: SimCity, MBS Plugin, OmniOutliner ...

09/04, 7:20pm

Apps: SimCity, MBS Plugin, OmniOutliner ...

Monkeybread Software has Released MBS Plugin Collection v3.3, a large $80 collection of Realbasic plug-ins to extend Realbasic with more than 6000 features. It adds over 1200 items, including CoreGraphics Direct Display classes, integrated plug-ins for HASP and Rockey dongles, and WebKit support. [Download - 12MB]
SimCity 4 v1.0.1 addresses some video-related issues with the game. All users are advised to install the update. The updated fixes a problem related to custom resolutions, enhances compatibility with various ATI cards, fixed a display problem which caused a black screen (no video), and addresses a failure to save cities when user's Documents folder was on a different partition. [Download - 4.7MB]
Sarwat Khan has today released three new programming tools for Python programmers: userdefaults, plistservices, and CFPython. userdefaults can store and retrieve persistent user preferences using Mac OS X's CFPreferences API; plistservices can read and write Mac OS X XML property list data; and CFPython is a C library for the Python C API and CoreFoundation.
The Omni Group released version 2.2.4 of OmniOutliner, its outlining and organizational tool. The new version provides localization updates recommended for French users. [Download - 1.6MB]
Herodotus is a Web browser history search application. It allows you to search the history file of many popular Mac web browsers. Supported browsers include: Safari, Internet Explorer, OmniWeb, Netscape / Mozilla, Camino, and Opera. [Download - 835KB]
QuickTime Effects 1.2 ($10) allows users of various video editing suites to apply a number of effects to their work. Effects include mixer, motion blur, aspect ratio conversions, and flip. [Download - 537KB]
Easy Barcode Creator 1.5 is a major upgrade to the $130 desktop barcode creation software that allows users to create ready-to-print barcode graphics in vector EPS format. Version 1.5 offers TIFF export, support for more barcode types, improved check digit calculation system, Mac OS X 10.3 support, and new easy access File/Save menu items. [Download - 1.0MB]

Contour adds optical sensor to Perfit mouse

09/04, 5:30pm

Contour adds optical sensor to Perfit mouse

Contour Design today unveiled a new version of its Perfit Mouse with new optical technology, improved reliability, and increased functionality. It features an 800dpi optical sensor that increases cursor performance and accuracy along with reliability as well as a horizontal scroll wheel for intuitive scrolling. The mouse also features a two position side rocker switch provides users with two more programmable buttons. It is available in multiple sizes and for both right- and left- hand users. The medium right hand and large right hand mouse is available now for $110 with other sizes expected to follow shortly.

Keynote Theme Park release Black Ti theme

09/04, 4:05pm

Keynote Theme Park release Black Ti theme

Keynote Theme Park has released Black Ti, a new theme for Apple's Keynote presentation software: "The same 19 photo cutout designs from Titanium 2 are included along with darker chart fills and black pearl bullets. Extras include oversized white and black pearls, a bow tie and Moon photo objects, one complimentary master slide (inverse), three screw heads, two metal "lines" and a number of opaque and translucent PowerFills. Individual themes are available for download at $13 or in sets of three for $30"

Popwire to debut new encoding products at IBC

09/04, 4:00pm

Popwire to debut new encoding products at IBC

At IBC next week, Popwire Technology will announced several new products, including Compression Master (desktop encoder), Compression Master DV (DV-only encoder), Compression Engine (server-based system), and Cluster Framework (high-end server system).

Aladdin posts StuffIt InstallerMaker 8.0 beta

09/04, 3:10pm

Aladdin posts StuffIt InstallerMaker 8.0 beta

Aladdin today announced a preview release of StuffIt InstallerMaker 8.0 for Mac OS X. The newest version of InstallerMaker runs natively on Mac OS 10.2, while still creating installers for System 8.1 or higher (Classic and OS X environments). Developers can install to protected locations, customize File Permissions, execute shell or AppleScripts from an Installer, reuse "Find" results to speed subsequent tasks, find partial paths, and handle bundles as if they were single files for the purpose of updates and upgrades. It is a free upgrade to current licensees.

Photos from Richmond, VA Apple Store opening

09/04, 1:05pm

Photos from Richmond, VA Apple Store opening

MacNN reader Jeff Rew has posted photos from the grand opening of the Apple Store in Richmond, VA: "Quite a few people there. It opened with a cheer of "APPLE! APPLE! APPLE!" News crews were inside too. The Apple store was the only one in the entire mall with a line in front of it. (The mall itself opened today too.)"

Pangea releases Otto Matic game title

09/04, 12:30pm

Pangea releases Otto Matic game title

Pangea Software today has re-released its epic sci-fi action-adventure game Otto Matic. Previously, Otto Matic was being published by Aspyr Media and was only available on CD. It is available for download for $20: "We've always considered Otto Matic to be the best game we’ve ever done." A limited demo is available.

Apple gains mindshare among young in US

09/04, 7:30am

Apple gains mindshare among young in US

Apple became one of the coolest companies in America during the summer, as it became one of the top 5 brands for young people, according to Wired News. Apple was the most popular choice among respondents for the company they would most like to endorse if they were celebrity. Young users also named the iPod as one of the top 2 "cool new gadgets". They also were the most likely to name the iMac and iPod as "extremely" well designed products. "Apple appeals to young people because celebrities they perceive as cool use their products, like musicians, filmmakers and designers....Apple's slick advertising contributes to that image, as do its upscale retail stores."

GeeThree offers new 'Slick' iMovie plugins

09/04, 2:35am

GeeThree offers new 'Slick' iMovie plugins

GeeThree has released new volumes of its Slick iMovie plugins. Slick 5 ($50) includes over 100 new plug-ins including animated titles, fun effects (animated background, colorized video, moving video), and slick transitions (dissolve, TV flash, zoom, blend). Slick 6 ($70) includes plugins for color correction, Film Reel (video thumbnails), Highlite series (moving highlights), Stopwatch (timecode overlay), VideoWall (montage of moving clips), VidMotion (multiple keyframes) and Whiteboard. GeeThree also announced Slick Caption ($50), which can add captions/subtitles to DV footage.

Sonnet unveils 802.11g wireless PC Card

09/04, 1:10am

Sonnet unveils 802.11g wireless PC Card

Sonnet Technologies has announced the Aria extreme, a CardBus adapter that provides 802.11g wireless networking for certain PowerBooks. The Aria extreme is compatible with Apple's Airport Extreme Base Station as well as other 802.11g base stations and is also backwards-compatible with previous 802.11b Wi-Fi network devices; it supports both 64-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption and requires Mac OS X 10.2.6 with AirPort 3.1 software. It will ship in mid-September for $80.

Apps: ProScale, Xbench, Link Checker, Fugu...

09/04, 1:05am

Apps: ProScale, Xbench, Link Checker, Fugu...

Gluon has released ProScale 7, its flagship XTension for QuarkXPress. Version 7 is now Mac OS X native, offers context-sensitive palettes, and includes a new scaling palette: "Using the new palette, users can now select any number of objects on the page and then instantly fit the objects to a prescribed column width with a single button click." It is $140 with upgrades starting at $100. [984KB]
Spiny's Xbench 1.1.1 updates its freeware Mac OS X benchmarking application with more changes for the PPC 970, an improved vecLib FFT test consistency, improved optimization on the AltiVec basic test, and better optimized stream tests for G4/G5. [278KB]
dot software's Link Checker 1.2 ($20) is a website tool that searches for broken links or images. It adds interface improvements, new toolbar icons, better support for multiple sites, and improved report generation. [Classic, OSX]
Fugu 1.1b is a GUI frontend to the commandline Secure File Transfer application (SFTP). It adds external editor support (BBEdit, BBEdit Lite, SubEthaEdit, TextWrangler), image previews, support for OpenSSH 3.6, added ability to use compression, force SSH1 connections, and take additional ssh command line options and Rendezvous support. [793KB]
DVDRemaster 1.0 ($40) is an utility for Mac OS X to recompress large DVDs so that they fit on standard DVD5: "Since video accounts for most of the data found on DVDs, it recompresses the video stream and leaves the other streams untouched. Recompression of the menus is optional." It has modules for requantizing video and video recompression. [543KB]

macXware debuts four software titles

09/04, 12:20am

macXware debuts four software titles

macXware today debuted four new titles that are available now: ScreenRecord is a $25 recording tool that allows users to capture continuous images on screen as a QuickTime movie; MediaEdit Pro is an $80 movie and graphic editing tool that allows you to add effects and transitions, edit movies, paint directly on video with familiar painting tools, and add/edit audio. PhotoEdit ($30) offers powerful image editing and painting tools, including mask editing, professional paint tools, custom brushes and effects, and many filters and effects. MacFonts ($30) is a set of 1000 professionally designed type faces (creative, elegant, and professional categories) along with a font management utility for quick installation, activation and deactivation of fonts.

New 2GB memory upgrade for 17" iMac

09/04, 12:10am

New 2GB memory upgrade for 17" iMac

Trans Intl. today began shippping its 2GB DDR266 memory upgrade for the 17-inch flat Panel iMac, which expands the system's main memory up to 2GB. The upgrade consists of 1GB DDR memory module for the user slot ($500) and 1GB DDR memory module for the factory slot ($220), doubling the memory density of the expansion slots from the previous 512MB limit. Trans Intl says its memory modules conform to Apple's electrical and mechanical design guide lines, operating at a clock rate of 133MHz and transmiting data at 266 Mbps.