News Archive for 03/11/17

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

Mango Dental releases demo of office suite

11/17, 11:30pm

Mango Dental demo

Mango Dental Software has released a demo of its Mac OS X native dental practice management solution. The Mango office suite provides patient tracking, billing and insurance processing as well as electronic claims processing and digital radiography. Prescription generation, mixed Classic and OS X support, wireless, and Palm handheld integration are also available as options. It will be available in the first quarter of 2004. (Pricing not finalized; The company is looking for feedback from interested practices. Suggestions and questions should be emailed to info@mangodental.com.) [Download - Classic, OS X]

Greek users start petition for OS X language support

11/17, 11:20pm

Greek support petition

A group of Greek-speaking Macintosh users have started a petition demanding that Apple include support for Greek in the next revision of the Mac OS X operating system. Inclusion of a localized version of the operating system (with Greek menus, dialogues etc.), would be desired, but not essential, according to the petition starters.

Boris FX 7.0 now shipping with OpenGL support

11/17, 10:30pm

Boris FX 7.0 now shipping

Boris FX is now shipping Boris FX 7.0, an update to its integrated effects and compositing application with new OpenGL acceleration and faster renders as well as keyframe control with over 20 new filters and paint tools for advanced masking and compositing. Other new features include new filters, hundreds of customizable animation presets for Natural Media, vector paint tools for advanced masking and compositing, vector spline editing for rotoscoping and masks, motion blur for all shapes, animated gradients, and more. Upgrades are $200.

Tech: MS music store; Kasparov beats computer; …

11/17, 9:55pm

Tech: MS music store…

Evening tech news: Microsoft confirms plans that it will launch its own music download store, putting it on a path to direct competition with Apple's iTunes and a growing list of rival digital song stores; chess great Garry Kasparov defeated computer program "X3D Fritz" to score a vital win in the third game of his latest man-versus-machine match; Sun said on Monday it would use AMD's high-end processors to build and sell powerful business computers, continuing a shift in strategy designed to help revive its business strategy.

Spectorsoft ships flagship security software

11/17, 9:30pm

Spector for OS X ships

Spectorsoft has begun shipment of Spector 3.0, its security/spy software for Mac OS X. Spector works by automatically taking periodic screen shots of a Mac's screen and saves those screenshots to a local or network drive for later viewing. Screenshots can be taken as often as every few seconds, or as infrequently as once every few minutes. The $100 application for Mac OS X and Classic can also records keystrokes.

Washington Apple Pi to host PantherPalooza

11/17, 9:15pm

PantherPalooza announced

Washington Apple Pi -- a Mac user group -- will present PantherPalooza, November 22, at the Northern Virginia Community College. "This is a must-see demonstration for those who have already pounced into the OS or are just thinking about it. Expect to hear some great Panther tips and tricks too, along with our usual question and answer session." Admission is free, and there will be door prizes, a raffle, and other attractions.

Apps: Mercury, pearLabelizer, MacGPS, TimeCache …

11/17, 9:00pm

Apps: Mercury, pearLabelize

Mercury 0.1 is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X, now available for use by the general public version. Mercury includes a basic contact window, buddy list management, and chat windows similar to those found in iChat. [Download - 1.5MB]
pearLabelizer 0.4 is a simple utility used to print addresses or other text onto specific labels of a label sheet. Version 0.4 adds support for saving and opening label sets, the option to automatically save the current label set on exit, an option to keep labels selected, and more. [Download - 152KB]
James Associates has released MacGPS Pro 4.0.4 is an "important" maintenance update to the GPS software that works with Garmin and Magellan GPS receivers for transferring Waypoints, Routes and Tracklogs. Specific details of this update were not published. [Download - unavailable]
PandaWare has updated TimeCache, its popular time and expense billing application, to version 5.1.7. A free update, TimeCache 5.1.7 fixes a bug with saving data in certain situations. A free 30-day trial version is available, after which registration is $50. [Download - OS X, Classic]
iPod2iTunes 2.3.5 allows users to sync an iPod to an iTunes music library -- an operation that is usually prevented to curb file sharing. Version 2.3.5 improves support for PC-formatted iPods, corrects minor issues with Mac OS X 10.3, increases tolerance for corrupted tracks, and introduces other minor changes. [Download - 473KB]

Apple user group news: LA, Atlanta groups

11/17, 6:00pm

LA, Atlanta MUG news

The next gathering of the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group (lafcpug) will be held Wednesday beginning at 6:45 p.m. at the LA Film School in Hollywood. Scheduled to present is Philip Hodgetts, who will give an overview of working with FCP under Apple's new Mac OS X 10.3.
The Atlanta Macintosh User Group (AMUG) is holding its next meeting tomorrow (Tuesday), where members will be voting on new officers and the 2004 budget. Also to be held is part 1 of AMUG's overview of Panther with guest presenter Mark Underwood of KAUi Software.

Apple releases Bluetooth 1.4.1 update for Mac OS X

11/17, 5:00pm

Bluetooth 1.4.1 available

Apple has released Bluetooth 1.4.1 for Mac OS X via the Software Update, which it says provides enhanced stability for Bluetooth connections. This release also improves performance with human interface devices (HID) including enhancements to wake from sleep.

Reader: Apple buys MTV airtime during "Punk'd"

11/17, 4:45pm

Apple Punk\'d airtime

According to a MacNN reader, last night's episode of MTV's hit show "Punk'd" was sponsored in part by Apple. Apple's new iPod ad was played during the commercial break. Punk'd stars Ashton Kutcher as he orchestrates practical jokes and deceptions on fellow celebrities.

Apps: iCab, ATI driver, Xupport, Darwin, Still Life

11/17, 4:05pm

iCab, ATI Displays, Darwin

iCab 2.9.7 is a bugfix release release to the compact browser. It includes a new version of the OpenSSL library which fixes some security issues of previous versions of this library, solves problems with Panther, and also includes MisFox, which allows to change Apple's Internet system settings. [Classic, OSX]
ATI's newly posted ATI Radeon Display Utilities 4.1.1 for Mac OS 10.3 Panther are not supported under older operatings systems. "The ATI Displays versions included in previous installers do not work correctly with Panther, Mac OS 10.3. Specifically, Mac2TV, the Advanced pane including VERSAVISION and the OpenGL Overrides features of ATI Displays were unusable if installing the software for the Radeon 9800 Pro after installing Mac OS X 10.3." [2.4MB]
Apple's Darwin team has released its Darwin 7.0.1 Installer CD. This is a single Installer CD that will boot and install Darwin on Macintosh computers supported by Mac OS X 10.3, as well as certain x86-based personal computers. The version of Darwin installed by this CD corresponds to the open-source core of Mac OS X 10.3. [431MB]
Printer Setup Repair 4.0 for Mac OS X fixes problems where the Printer Setup Utility will not open, printers cannot be added, etc. It adds Panther compatibility, a redesigned interface, and a new option to verify/repair the Print & Fax preference pane. Upgrades to the $15 utility are $5. [531KB]
Still Life 2.2.3 ($25) is a stand-alone application that enables users to pan and zoom over digital images and thereby produce a video for use in iMovie, iDVD or any other multimedia project. Now features include pro-quality OpenGL rendering and true cross-dissolves along with AppleScript support, watermarking and TV safe area overlay. [1.5MB]
AppMac has released wKiosk 3.0b5, the first public beta of its full screen web browser designed for public spaces. Administrators can block access to the Finder, authorize or don’t authorize URls, disable forceQuit functiond…and more secure functions. It can also manage email service. [email]
Flash AV Players 2.4.5 is a new Flash application/streaming solution to broadcasts MP3, SWFand JPEG files by loading playlists in XML format. It also offers a playlist search engine, navigation and sound controls, preloading according to connection speed, crossfade of movies, adding of backgrounds and comments. Registration is €30/site. [419KB]
Chilton Webb has posted two SuperCard externals: "One is an update of an old favorite, and a new external I don't think anyone in the SuperCard community has seen before. If you have a request for a SuperCard external you don't see there, email me directly and let me know."
Xupport 2.0b4 provides a clean GUI (Graphical User Interface) to configure many Mac OS X options, that are not or hard to configure manually, and more. It includes several unix command to optimize and secure your Mac, and activates features that are disabled by default. [630KB]

MCE offers 2x DVD-R/RW/RAM drive upgrade for iBook G4

11/17, 2:55pm

iBook G4 with DVD-R/RW/RAM

MCE Technologies today began offering Apple's new 12" and 14" iBook G4 notebook computers with a 2X DVD-R/RW + DVD-RAM drive option. Each Apple iBook with the internal MCE DVD-R/RW + DVD-RAM drive includes DVD Authoring Software for Mac OS X for the creation of video DVDs, and Toast Lite software for burning audio and data CDs. The drive is compatible with iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto and other applications capable of burning CDs and DVDs. The 12" 800MHz Apple iBook G4 with internal 2X DVD-R/RW + DVD-RAM drive is $1,300, while the 14" iBook G4 933MHz and 1GHz, similarly equipped, are $1,500 and $1,700, respectively.

Jobs named to The Ad Age Marketing 50, 2003

11/17, 12:10pm

Jobs among top 50 marketers

Steve Jobs has been selected among The Ad Age Marketing 50, 2003, which highlight the top brand successes of the year: "Steve Jobs this year becomes the first person to be named to Advertising Age’slist of leading brands three times. He’s made the Marketing 100 twice, as well as this year’s section, the even more selective Marketing 50. Not bad for a guy who never had a traditional marketing career. This year, Mr. Jobs wins for turning the charged debate over the illegal downloading of music over the Internet into a marketing opportunity. His dual platform approach includes successful marketing of the iPod music player in tandem with iTunes, its online music store."

MacPlay to ship BG:Throne of Bhaal for OS X on Nov 21

11/17, 12:00pm

BG:Throne of Bhaal for OS X

MacPlay today announced a Mac OS X version of Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, the expansion pack to the best-selling role playing game (RPG) Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn: "Like its predecessors, Throne of Bhaal uses official rules from Dungeons & Dragons, the long-running pen-and-paper RPG from Wizards of the Coasts. Players can either import their entire party from Shadows of Amn or create a new, high-level character and have the opportunity to choose a new class, the wild mage. They can also ask any of the non-player characters (NPCs) from Shadows of Amn to join them in their quest." It will begin shipping for Mac OS 9/X on November 21 for $30.

Serious Mac OS X file-save bug could delete files

11/17, 11:35am

Mac OS X file-save bug

MacNN readers note a serious file-save bug that affects all Cocoa application, which could caused deletion of an entire (non-boot) partition: "If you try to save a file with a name that is *much* too long (say, 1000 characters), OSX will apparently suffer some kind of buffer overflow, and overwrite the folder you're trying to save that file into. It will warn you that it might overwrite something, but if you're not paying attention or if you instinctively hi enter... You could potentially completely overwrite a partition (obviously not the system drive for permission reasons, but any partition), if you're saving at the root of that partition."

Stupendous offers 'Bigger & Bolder' iMovie plugins

11/17, 11:30am

\'Bigger & Bolder\' plugins

Stupendous Software has released 'Bigger & Bolder', a new title plugin pack for iMovie that contains 35 titles featuring motion and strong graphic elements: "Many of the titles have controls to allow modification of the appearance and motion of the text. This plugin is a follow-up to the 'Big & Bold title plugin, which features 40 iMovie titles. Along with the "Suave & Serifed" title plugin, the new plugin brings the total number of Stupendous Software's titles for iMovie to 129. Each plugin has a demo version which includes a number of fully functional free titles, providing 15 free titles." The new pack is free to registered users of the Stupendous Bundle ($200) and is $25 separately.

Fink 0.62 quickly builds Unix apps under Mac OS X

11/17, 11:20am

Fink 0.62 fixes bugs

The Fink project has released Fink 0.6.2, a new binary distribution, which it says "is an important milestone in the transition to Mac OS X 10.3 and completes the transition to version 3.3 of the Gnu C Compiler. Fink now supports all users running Mac OS X 10.2 with GCC 3.3 enabled as well as all users running Mac OS X 10.3: "This is a bug-fix release, intended to address two problems: the dselect/user deletion bug, and a problem with ownership of files. The dselect bug was addressed by updating the fink, dpkg, and apt packages."

Groupcal offers Exchange calendaring via iCal

11/17, 11:10am

Groupcal 1.0 public beta

Snerdware's Groupcal 1.0b allows users to take "full advantage of the all the group calendaring features of Exchange directly from Apple iCal. Finally, view and share your calendar schedules quickly, easily, and transparently with your coworkers running Outlook. All with no Exchange Server 2000 install." It now features Exchange 2003 support. The public beta expires January 15, 2004. It requires Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, iCal 1.5.1, Safari 1.0, and a valid Exchange email account. [form]

PGP offers OS X support with PGP Universal 1.1 beta

11/17, 9:30am

PGP Universal Satellite

PGP has announced the first Public Beta release of PGP Universal Server/Satellite 1.1, which now fully supports S/MIME messages and X.509 certificates in addition to OpenPGP keys and messages; offers client-only support (PGP Universal Satellite) for Mac OS X; includes LDAP Directory Synchronization; and includes PGP Universal Web Messenger, which displays a full webmail-style secure Inbox for messages (with support for HTML, attachments, internationalization, load balancing, etc.). PGP Universal is a "soft appliance," requiring dedicated, x86-based hardware to run on. PGP Universal Satellite 1.03 for Mac OS X, which requires PGP Desktop 8.03 and Mac OS X 10.2, was made available early this month.

Wired releases MediaPress X 1.0 for its MPEG encoder

11/17, 9:00am

MediaPress X 1.0

Wired Inc. has released Mac OS X-native software for its MediaPress encoder, its third generation MPEG encoder, featuring realtime encoding from a variety of external devices, as well as transcoding of QuickTime files. MediaPress X 1.0, now built for Mac OS X, features real-time previews functions, built-in plackback, multi-mode batch encoding, chapter markers for DVD authoring, audio level meters, better MPEG export control.

NEC debuts new 20-, 21-inch LCD displays

11/17, 8:50am

NEC 20\"/21\" displays

NEC-Mitsubishi today announced new ultra-thin-frame 20-inch NEC MultiSync LCD2080UX+ ($1,500) and 21-inch NEC MultiSync LCD2180UX models ($1,550). They offer crisp images and text with a native resolution of 1600x1200 @ 60Hz, a high brightness of 250cd/m2 and contrast ratio of 400:1 (LCD2080UX+) and 500:1 (LCD2180UX). Other integrated technologies include LAN-based image controls, a DVI-I/DVI-D/VGA connectors; full-motion video with response times of 30ms or less; flexible horizontal and vertical viewing angles up to 176-degrees (88-degrees up, down, left and right), and a height-adjustable stand as well as the capability to pivot. Both will ship next month.

ProjectForum, CourseForum updated with theme support

11/17, 8:35am

ProjectForum, CourseForum

CourseForum Technologies has launched ProjectForum 3.0 and CourseForum 3.0, major updates to its powerful web forum software for business and educational collaboration. ProjectForum ($200) helps groups stay in constant communication, whle CourseForum ($80) brings greater interaction to online or face-to-face courses, helping students to learn more effectively and saving time on routine questions. Version 3.0 adds a new GUI and offers the choice of several different themes for each forum; it also adds new capabilities making it easier to integrate existing web information directly into forums, both standalone web pages and web services.

HighDesign 1.1 adds 30 features, Panther support

11/17, 8:10am

Ilexsoft HighDesign 1.1

Ilexsoft today released HighDesign 1.1, an upgrade to its professional CAD and illustration package with advanced vector and other specialized tools. HighDesign 1.1 provides new tools and enhancements, such as the new Edit toolbar, the Print Area tool and Quartz support. Other new features include support for Panther, a new Polar Multiply / Distribute tool, image auto-scrolling, enhanced linear and angular units handling (with support for bearings) and improved DXF compatibility. It is a free upgrade. Both Standard ($150) and Professional ($350) versions are available for Mac OS 9/X.

Apps: Cocktail, Creatures, Kunvert, Proteus, Lightbox

11/17, 8:05am

Cocktail, Lightbox, ...

Lightbox 1.02 ($25) is professional photo management package for Mac OS X, offering support for multiple photo libraries, RAW conversion, photo backup, etc. Version 1.02 features enhanced CD burning, Panther compatibility, enhanced RAW previewing, contact sheet printing, an export JPEG menu item, and support for Canon EOS 300D, Fuji S7000, and Nikon D2h cameras. [3.5MB]
Creatures 1.0 is an artificial life program that allows users to "explore life, death, and evolution in a complete artificial environment. Animals live in Creatures' artificial world, seeking food, reproducing, and trying not to die. Run experiments and watch evolution on your desktop." It is $15 shareware for Mac OS X 10.2 and higher. [851KB]
Wonder Warp has released a freeware application called Back in the Day for Mac OS X. The application accesses a built-in database in Mac OS X to display what happened on any day of the year in history in a simple GUI interface. [261KB]
Kunvert 1.5 is a free application to convert PDF files to JPG. In adition it can convert more formats, such as GIF, PICT, BMP, and PNG, to JPG or PICT as well as perform scaling operations during conversion. It now includes the posibility of converting all the pages in a PDF file for a $5 registration fee. [1.7MB]
The $12 shareware Cocktail 3.1.1 is a general purpose utility for Mac OS X 10.2 or later. The application simplifies the use of advanced UNIX functions, gives access to hidden Mac OS X settings and let you easily optimize your system. It includes bug fixes, minor speed optimizations, and a new uninstaller. [1.7MB]
Global Graphics today launched a Mac OS X version of its PDF creation software: Jaws PDF Creator 3.4 lets users convert documents from virtually any application into the universal PDF file format with support for PDF 1.4 specification and 128-bit encryption. It is $80 with upgrades starting at $25. [form]
FinKit 1.6 is a flexible financial calculator that calculates annuities, perpetuities, bonds, dates, leases, loans, etc. It performs on-the-fly currency conversions using rates that are updated via the Internet. Version 1.6 of the $25 shareware runs on Mac OS X 10.1 or later and adds new Capitalized Cost calculation. [1.4MB]
Ext2 Filesystem 1.0 is a final version of the freeware utility that enables the use of Linux Ext2 formatted hard disks, floppies, CD-ROM's, etc from within Mac OS X. Includes support for reading, writing, formatting, etc. [622KB]
Navicat 4.4 ($95) is a powerful MySQL front-end for administrating and monitoring MySQL server on Mac OS X platform. The new version adds conversion of DBF, CSV, Text or XML files to/from MySQL database using the Import/Export Wizard. It also supports for exporting queries result, executing SQL batch file, and emptying and duplicating a table. The database management tool is available for Mac OS X 10.1 or later. [1.3MB]
Proteus 3.05 ($15) updates the multi protocol instant messaging client for Mac OS X. It offers AddressBook integration, a dock menu, a system menu, custom away messages, and other advanced features. Version 2.03 has improved support for Mac OS X 10.2 along with other fixes. [5.7MB]

Steve Jobs among CRN's Top 25 Most Influential Execs

11/17, 2:20am

Jobs among CRN Top 25 Execs

IBM's Sam Palmisano tops the list of CRN's Top 25 Most Influential Executives this year. Others include eBay's Meg Whitman, Sony's Hideki Komiyama and Apple's Steve Jobs--all of whom the publication says contributed a unique vision to the world of high technology: "Once again, Steve Jobs, the king of digital cool, managed to raise Apple's mindshare, if not market share, though his quest to stay at the forefront of innovation in the PC and consumer arenas."