News Archive for 03/11/12

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MacSoft's Age of Mythology to be available next week

11/12, 9:00pm

Age of Mythology goes GM

MacSoft announced today that Microsoft Game Studios' best-selling real-time strategy game, Age of Mythology, for Mac OS X recently went 'gold master' and is now in the final stages of manufacturing. Discs have been replicated and product will begin shipping from MacSoft's fulfillment center on Friday, November 14. MacSoft estimates that Age of Mythology should start showing up on store shelves in the US by the middle of next week. "Age of Mythology transports players to a time when heroes did battle with monsters of legend and the gods intervened in the affairs of mortal men."

Atlassian updates JIRA with new features (version 2.5)

11/12, 8:40pm

Atlassian offers JIRA 2.5

Atlassian Software Systems today released JIRA 2.5, bringing "vast enhancements" to its issue management application. Improvements include the ability to internationalize the product for new languages, customise field management, edit issues in bulk, and group projects into specific categories. The JIRA Professional commercial license is $1,000, while the Enterprise commercial license is $4,000. Both licenses include unlimited projects, users and issues plus free upgrades and support for a year.

Addlogix releases last batch of USB Christmas Trees

11/12, 8:25pm

USB Christmas Trees

Addlogix (formerly CompuCable) is now releasing the final batch of the USB Christmas Trees for this holiday season. These 4" tall transparent Christmas trees plug right into any USB port -- ranging from a Cinema Display to a firePOD. Built-in LED draws power from the bus and oscillates through a rainbow of 6 different colors. Supplies are limited.

iPod now available through Virgin Megastores

11/12, 8:10pm

iPod at Virgin Megastores

Apple has announced that the iPod is now available to order through all 165 Virgin Megastore and Virgin Xpress retail locations in the U.K. "We're thrilled to be working with Virgin Retail to bring the iPod to even more customers," said Mark Rogers, Apple's sales director and general manager for the U.K. and Ireland.

Tech: shareholders question MS; lightest laptop; more

11/12, 6:00pm

Tech: lightest laptop; more

Evening tech news: After watching Microsoft stock fall despite this year's tech rally, Microsoft shareholders sharply questioned Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer during the company's annual meeting yesterday in Bellevue; c|net has published a report on technology in education, and the increasing acceptance of corporate education deals, even in the absence of proof that computers measurably improve learning among younger students; Sony has unveiled a new notebook that it describes as the world's lightest -- it uses carbon fibre casing and has a 10.4-inch liquid crystal display, weighs about 1.75 pounds, and is less than one centimetre thick.

Apple to launch stores "within a store" in Australia

11/12, 1:45pm

Australian Apple Boutiques

Apple plans to open five Apple stores "within a store" at Australian retail chains in time for Christmas. According to Australian IT, "the new stores within David Jones will be structured differently to Apple's previous, less than successful attempts at selling computers in the department store chain, as well as Harvey Norman." The five locations in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, the Gold Coast and Sydney are scheduled to open December 1, 2003 and will be staffed by trained Apple employees.

Sonnet ships new Presto Gigabit Ethernet PCI card

11/12, 1:35pm

Sonnet ships Ethernet Card

Sonnet Technologies has begun shipping its new Presto Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 Ethernet PCI Adapter Card, for improved network performance. "The high-speed adapter runs at ten times the speed of 100BaseT and is compatible with all 10/100/1000BaseT hubs switches and router." The Presto Gigabit supports Mac OS X 10.2 and later, and Windows 98 SE, Me, XP,2000.

Marathon announces DisplayLock for Apple Displays

11/12, 12:15pm

Marathon DisplayLock

Marathon Computer has announced the DisplayLock for Apple Displays designed to secure Cinema Displays to any flat surface for both safety and security. DisplayLock's solid aluminum bar fits through the bottom of the Cinema or Studio Display's plastic kickstand, and is secured into a bracket attached to the desktop. The bracket can be secured in a fixed position, or by means of a single center screw that allows the Display to swivel." The $20 mechanism uses special Allen wrench (included) for deterring theft.

Apps: Days Away, iShelter, mTrading, URL Manager

11/12, 12:10pm

iShelter, URL Manager

Pariahware's Days Away 1.2 ($10) is a Mac OS X application that periodically reminds the user of upcoming events. Users can now import events from iCal calendars, show more than one event at a time, choose longer delays between reminders, and more. [994KB]
iShelter 1.0 can easily backup/syncronize your data to another ssh-enabled server simply by using drag and drop. It offers incremental backup, compression, and automatic transfer via ssh (secure shell) tunnels and also preserves timestamps, owner, group, file access permissions. It is $10 and runs on Mac OS X 10.2 or later. [306KB]
Alco Blom has released URL Manager Pro 3.1.1, a maintenance release with fixes for Panther (and other bugs) as well as new features such as a new Sort button in the toolbar (Shared Menus now again work for Safari in Panther.). The popular bookmark utility for Mac OS 9/X is $25. [2.7MB]
mTrading 1.2 updates AppFactory's companion for personal investors. The "major upgrade" can watch stocks, perform basic transactions, perform future profit/loss estimations, offers multiple portfolio views, personalize the home screen, and track international markets. It is $15 through the end of the month. [2.8MB]
The shareware uCalendarX 3.1 adds Panther compatibility as well as the ability to import/export iCal files to the easy-to-use calendar and PIM application. It also offers custom output ranges, UI improvements, and several bug fixes. [2.1MB]
Yellow Mug Software's EasyFrame 1.0 ($12) is fully interactive application that allows you to add frames to photos: Users can "try on" different borders, drag the result directly to Mail or other applications, and can save the image. It runs on Mac OS X 10.2 or later. [830KB]
PDF Browser Plugin 1.2.3 updates the freeware browser plugin for Mac OS X that allows users to view PDF documents directly within the browser page (without launching an additional application). This version fixes a problem with frames under Mac OS X 10.2 and also adds a Czech localization. [212KB]

Extensis, Now founder creates You Software

11/12, 10:50am

You Software founded

Craig Barnes, the founder of Extensis and Now Software, is launching a new company, You Software, to develop and market a complete line of productivity software that will "fundamentally make the Mac OS X software you already own (such as operating systems and applications) easier to use and customize, so your computer works the way you want it to work. In the next 90 days, You Software will ship several titles designed for Mac OS X. These initial System Enhancement Utilities are focused on the real world needs of users and make using Mac OS X faster, easier and more efficient."

Speed Download 2.1 accelerates, manages downloads

11/12, 9:00am

Speed Download 2.1

YazSoft has released Speed Download 2.1, a free update to its download accelerated and management utility. It offers a Panther-optimized engine and is available in Italian, Dutch, German, French, Swedish, Chinese, and Japanese localizations. Other features include improved contextual menus, direct file transfers between machines with Speed Download 2 (internet or Rendezvous), download priority, improved 'Sensitive Servers' performance, custom post-processing based on file extension, better FTP performance, better modem performance, and better dock status display. Upgrades are $15, while the full version is $20.

Media Lab brings AlphaMania 2 to Mac OS X

11/12, 8:50am

AlphaMania 2+Effector Sets

Media Lab today announced AlphaMania 2 + Effector Sets ($200) for Mac OS X: "AlphaMania 2 adds an entirely new kind of cast member to Director that can create delightful and dramatic interactive visual effects with surprising ease. AlphaMania 2 + Effector Sets are the only tools that allow Director authors to include video-style special effects that render and composite live on stage as their project is playing. This means that the effects can react to what the end user of the Director movie does, enabling a uniquely memorable interactive experience."

KDS debuts 19-inch LCD with integrated speakers

11/12, 8:35am

KDS 19-inch LCD display

KDS today introduced its latest 19-inch flat panel monitor to complement its existing Radius flat-panel display line-up. The Rad-9b offers consumers a large format, multimedia LCD display for an array of business, graphics-intensive and consumer applications. The ultra-thin (1.62-inch), stylish-black LCD features two built-in two-watt stereo speakers, a 500:1 contrast ratio and 1280x1024 resolution as well as a 0.29mm pixel pitch and 16.7-million displayable colors. The Rad-9b is currently available for $650.

GameRanger 3.5 adds Unicode support, other features

11/12, 7:25am

GameRanger 3.5

Scott Kevill has updated GameRanger 3.5 with full Unicode support, offering support for non-Roman alphabets in chat rooms, game rooms, private messages, etc. Other changes include anti-cheat measures for Ghost Recon, support for the Clone Campaigns update, support for Premium-only games, Undo/Redo, better Panther compatibility, and other bug fixes. The online gaming service offers internet and multiplayer gameplay for dozens of popular games. The basic service is free, while a $50/year Premium edition offers extensive personalization options, in-game voice communication, and more.

LCedit+ 3.1 software updated for lighting controllers

11/12, 7:15am

LCedit+ 3.1

LCedit+ 3.1 updates the advanced LanBox lighting editor, for multiple platforms. This new version of LCedit+ adds a complete (spreadsheet-like) table-based cuelist editor for creating and editing of complex cues. Users can also now use nearly any key combination as programmed button actions. Other changes include UI improvements, a new LCedit+ tutorial/reference, a new "reconnect interfaces" command, and more fixtures definitions. The software works with the LanBox-LC, -LCX and -LCM are DMX-512 lighting controllers, which feature built-in sequencers, faders, patchers, lighting memory etc. [Classic, OSX]

IntelliPrompter 1.3 sports Unicode, improved MS import

11/12, 7:10am

IntelliPrompter 1.3

Intelli Innovations has updated IntelliPrompter 1.3, its advanced teleprompting software built for Mac OS X. Version 1.3 adds Unicode input for support Japanese and other two-byte international character sets; improvements to the Microsoft Word importer; and supports up to 20 tagged "jump points" in the teleprompter text. IntelliPrompter features a SmoothPrompt scrolling engine, text styles and background effects, full screen direction, multiple monitor and LCD projector support, AppleScript compatibility, storyboards, and handheld remote control support. Pricing starts at $80 (with a free "Finding Nemo" DVD on purchases of $130 or more for a limited time). [Classic, OSX]