News Archive for 03/09/05

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Numerology 1.2 supports Audio Unit hosting

09/05, 8:45pm

Numerology 1.2 supports Audio Unit hosting

Numerology 1.2 is a modular MIDI sequencing and Audio Unit plugin host for Mac OS X. The latest release adds support for Audio Unit hosting, an LFO module, and extensive parameter modulation features. Numerology can now be used as a self-contained virtual studio for sequencing, synthesis, effects and mixing. Several enhancements have also been made to help new users get up to speed quickly, including new examples, an expanded demo mode, and updated documentation. Numerology is $70 for Mac OS X 10.2.5. [5.7MB]

Arboretum HyperEngine-AV multimedia editor

09/05, 6:45pm

Arboretum HyperEngine-AV multimedia editor

Arboretum Systems has released HyperEngine-AV 1.2.1, its $150 multimedia editor that can combine seamlessly video, photos, sounds and text to create slide shows, family movies, and business presentations: "Media clips can be dragged and dropped, imported or captured in realtime from a FireWire DV camera, then freely arranged in the workspace to make movies. Realtime, editable transitions are automatically created when video clips are dragged on top of each other and over a dozen video effects are available and can be applied to any video clip. Audio clips can be edited, arranged, stacked, and processed to generate stunning soundtracks."

LaCie posts SilverKeeper v1.1 disk utility

09/05, 6:40pm

LaCie posts SilverKeeper v1.1 disk utility

LaCie today released SilverKeeper v1.1, specifically designed to provide a simple backup solution for OS 9 and OS X Macintosh users. LaCie SilverKeeper says "the application takes the complexity out of backing up documents, video, photos, music, and graphics files. The software can be used with any storage device that will mount on a Macintosh desktop. In addition, SilverKeeper is included with all of LaCie's storage products." The free software for Mac OS 9/X features both scheduling and synchronization functions and can create bootable backups.

Tech: Asia OS; HP breakup; MS benchmarks

09/05, 5:30pm

Tech: Asia OS; HP breakup; MS benchmarks

Evening tech news: A plan by Japan, China and South Korea to develop an operating system alternative to Microsoft's Windows software could raise concerns over fair competition, a Microsoft exec says; Hewlett-Packard, the world's No. 2 computer maker, probably will be broken up because it is being "squeezed" by International Business Machines Corp. and Dell Inc., according to Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Steven Milunovich; stepping up its campaign against the Linux operating system, Microsoft on Thursday released file and Web serving benchmark results that, it claims, show that Linux on the mainframe lags behind Windows 2003.

Windows Media Player 9 'coming soon'

09/05, 2:55pm

Windows Media Player 9 'coming soon'

Confirming an earlier MacNN report from July, Microsoft quietly announced the upcoming availability of Windows Media Player 9, which would bring the player to the same version as its Windows counterpart: "Coming Soon! Windows Media Player 9 Series for Mac OS X will deliver compatibility with 9 Series audio and video content." Windows Media Player for Mac 7.1 is currently available for Mac OS X.

SoftCare to preview K4 update at IfraExpo

09/05, 2:40pm

SoftCare to preview K4 update at IfraExpo

SoftCare, developer of the K4 Publishing System for Adobe InDesign and InCopy, will exhibit at this year's IfraExpo from October 13th to 16th in Leipzig. At stand 4D231, SoftCare and five partner companies will show K4 as well as various production solutions surrounding K4. Sneak Previews will give visitors an idea of what to expect from the upcoming version of the popular editorial system. Improved XML support is one of the major new developments in the upcoming version. Text, image and ad objects can be tagged in InDesign to conveniently structure K4 articles.

Rayner releases Word Rage 2: New Word Order

09/05, 2:15pm

Rayner releases Word Rage 2: New Word Order

Rayner today released Word Rage 2, the sequel to the popular Mac OS X word game. The new version features RageNet, an Internet-based registry of worldwide high scores. Gameplay is enhanced by the addition of three "Freebies" which can be used once per game. Sound has been added to the game as well. Word Rage 2: New Word Order is a challenging game of word guessing. Your goal is to guess as many five-letter words as possible, as quickly as you can. Every time you make a guess, the letters in your guess are color-coded to represent where they are in the actual word.

Apps: SFX Machine, MenuMeters, WebCopier...

09/05, 2:05pm

Apps: SFX Machine, MenuMeters, WebCopier...

SFX Machine RT 1.02 ($100) is a real-time version of the SFX Machine audio effects plug-in. It is available in Audio Unit format for Mac OS X, as well as VST format for Mac OS 8/9/X. The 1.02 update adds a Randomize button and also includes optimized audio processing and other enhancements. [2.9MB, ]
MenuMeters 1.1 is a set of CPU, memory, disk, and network monitoring tools for Mac OS X. It adds limited compatibility with Panther, basic PPP control, disk open/eject functions, interface-based preferences for the Net meter, and more scaling options as well as other improvements. It is open-source freeware. [397KB]
Snowmint Creative has released v1.1 of the SM2DGraphView, its open-source framework for Cocoa development on MacOS X. The framework provides an NSView subclass which draws a graph of lines and/or bars including axis labels: "The SM2DGraphView framework is a very easy to use graph view that should work admirably for the average non-scientific application." [241KB]
WebCopier 1.2 is now available as a native Mac OS X application. The multifunction offline browser copies websites to a local drive; it follows links precisely, including JavaScript parsing and can download up to 100 files simultaneously. It is $30. [332KB]
FoolMoonDesign has released a free screensavers for Mac OS X, including bLine (draws random Bezier lines), Clouds, and Digital Clouds.
LQ Graphics' Photo to Movie 2.2 enables you to create a movie by zooming and panning over photos. It presents a simple interface to specify the starting and ending key frames and generates high quality QuickTime movies. It adds DV stream export back for iMovie 2 compatibility, and other enhancements. [1.7MB]

Big Nerd Ranch announces $500 discounts

09/05, 1:55pm

Big Nerd Ranch announces $500 discounts

Big Nerd Ranch announced today Core Bootcamp, October 13-17, 2003. A $500 tuition discount will be given to any students who have purchased Core Mac OS X and Unix Programming, by authors Mark Dalrymple and Aaron Hillegass. For those with time constraints and specific development goals, Core Bootcamp offers a rigorous, distraction-free learning schedule, instructor assistance with designing your first project, and substantial discussion opportunities with instructors and classmates.

SD Times: positive review of Xcode dev tools

09/05, 10:40am

SD Times: positive review of Xcode dev tools

The SD Times has posted a first look at Xcode, Apple's upcoming set of developer tools: "Apple is doing wonderful things for programmer productivity.... Xcode is an IDE that appears similar to Visual Studio .NET. It has ample coding and project-management features and a near-infinitely configurable set of switches to condition the way the code is compiled and linked. Like VS.NET, Xcode supports the C, C++, Java and Objective-C general programming languages plus others specific to the operating system, such as AppleScript."

Blackmagic DeckLink: 10-bit video PCI card

09/05, 10:30am

Blackmagic DeckLink: 10-bit video PCI card

Blackmagic Design today debuted a new advanced QuickTime PCI capture card called Blackmagic DeckLink HD. The (G5-compatible) uncompressed 10-bit video PCI card that can do both standard definition SDI video, as well as full HDTV video formats. DeckLink HD can instantly be switched between SDTV SMPTE-259M SDI video and HDTV SMPTE-292M SDI video for 1080i/1080p/720p video editing and design. It features HD/SD-SDI video & audio input and output, as well as a Sony compatible RS422 serial deck control port. Also included is a second independent HD/SD-SDI output for video monitoring, and consumer digital audio SPDIF output for audio monitoring. It will ship in 3-4 weeks for $2,000.

Microspot debuts Photo Tools CD package

09/05, 10:25am

Microspot debuts Photo Tools CD package

Microspot Limited has announced the new combined digital media management, photo-editing and print utility package, Microspot Photo Tools CD for Mac OS X, which it is offering for a special introductory price of $80, saving over 50% off the boxed products sold separately. Microspot Photo Tools CD contains the recently updated applications PhotoXtra, PhotoFix and PrintmiX, offering a complete package for organizing, storing, editing and printing various types of digital images. The package also includes 100 royalty free images.

Northland for Mac goes Gold

09/05, 10:25am

Northland for Mac goes Gold

Funatics Software gmbh and e.p.i.c. interactive today announced that RTS Northland for the Mac has gone gold and is on its way into duplication. Northland, which only very recently has been published for the PC, tells the story of Bjarni the Viking: "The story begins where the plot of 'Cultures 2 - The Gates of Asgard' ended. After perilous adventures our four heroes defeated the Midgard serpent and thus saved the world. " The $40 stand-alone adventure strategy game features a single player campaign with 8 missions including several sub missions and 3 difficulty levels.

KB: OF passwords, Xserve RAID issues, Safari

09/05, 2:35am

KB: OF passwords, Xserve RAID issues, Safari

KB roundup: Apple says that the capital letter 'U' cannot be used in an an Open Firmware password (see How to Set up Open Firmware Password Protection); A host computer may experience a kernel panic when trying to mount an Xserve RAID volume if the journal on the server is not large enough; and Safari may not open a webpage because of too many redirects.

Apps: Jiggler, CyTV, Xnet, Clipboard Printer

09/05, 2:20am

Apps: Jiggler, CyTV, Xnet, Clipboard Printer

Stick Software's freeware Jiggler "keeps your Mac awake through those lengthy tasks when it would rather fall asleep, by jiggling your mouse periodically. No more having to open System Preferences to change your sleep time and your screensaver delay, only to have to change them back again at the end." [117KB]
Authentic Sound Studio 2.0 ($50) is a digital recording, mixing and editing application. It features multitrack recording, 16-track mixing, live mixing, disk-based, non-destructive editing, frequency domain filtering and many effects. [2.2MB]
Clipboard Printer ($13) is an expansion of the UNIX GUI utility called 'xclipboard' that allows users an quick and easy way of printing, managing, and saving to disk, multiple clipboards. It requires the Java Virtual Machine. [Classic, OSX]
Mozilla Thunderbird 0.2 is a redesign of the Mozilla mail component designed using the XUL user interface language. It has a smaller code footprint, performance improvements, an improved default theme, improved spell checker, redesigned options, improved customization, and better stability. [11.1MB]
CyTV 0.21 is a streaming solution for the elgato EyeTV USB tuner. It allows you to watch a video stream of the currently active channel over a wired or wireless network. The VideoLAN Client (VLC) media player is used to play the stream, so while the server has to be a Mac, the client can be pretty much any platform. [251KB]
The $50 Mac OS X shareware BITcom Xnet 1.4.5 monitors local and remote servers and routers, sends out alerts if a server is going down, checks services and maximizes uptime. The shareware offers Web support, SMS for mobile phone alerts, user-specific service monitoring, and unlimited server monitoring. [481KB]

equinix releases APC Tracker for UPS devices

09/05, 1:45am

equinix releases APC Tracker for UPS devices

equinix has released APC Tracker 3.01, which described as a "Cocoa application for UPS devices in a network that powers specifically off Mac OS X and Xserve. It investigates the status of the UPS and will properly shut down the client computer once power gets interrupted." Version 3.0 adds email suport, network failure detection, shutdown on network timeout , support for custom scripts, syslog support, a client/server architecture, and simultaneous monitoring of multiple APC Tracker Servers. A single computer license is $130.

CFO Anderson offers details on Apple

09/05, 12:05am

CFO Anderson offers details on Apple

We've published two articles from Apple's corporate briefing with CFO Fred Anderson at the Smith Barney Citigroup Tech Conference. (Part 1, Part 2). It includes notes about Apple's retail segment, it's market focus, R&D, and other notes on the company.