News Archive for 04/03/05

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Complete history of Apple's Operating Systems

03/05, 10:50pm

History of Apple OS\'

Amit Singh has compiled a complete history of Apple's Operating Systems, starting with Apple's earliest efforts (DOS, Pascal, CP/M, SOS, ProDOS), extending to the Macintosh (System 2-7, A/UX), Apple's initial next generation options (Star Trek, Raptor, Copland, BeOS, and more) and finally the coming of Mac OS X and the last versions of the original Mac OS.

Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual

03/05, 7:30pm

DW MX Missing Manual

Renowned Dreamweaver writer and teacher David Sawyer McFarland has teamed with Missing Manual creator David Pogue to produce a guide to the latest version of Dreamweaver MX. "Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual" ($35) gives Web designers "all the tools and techniques they need to get their work onto the Web faster and more professionally," while brining "stunning, interactive Web sites to life." Unique features of the book include: "live examples," tricks of the trade, design guidance, and more than 500 illustrations.

Apple's stock continues climb

03/05, 6:55pm

AAPL climbs

Apple's surge to a 52-week high today may be due in part to vague takeover rumors circulated over the past few days. Apple's stock hit a high yesterday, and rose even higher today, to close at 26.74 (peaking at $27.49). The stock rose today amid persistent takeover speculation, with the purported suitor this time being consumer electronics giant Sony, analysts said. Since at least the mid-90s, Apple has been posited as a takeover target, with suggested bidders ranging from Sony to Sun. A strong response to its iPod mini has also helped drive Apple's stock higher -- Last month, Apple said it had received 100,000 pre-orders for the device.

Tech: email fee to curb spam; hazardous waste...

03/05, 3:35pm

Tech: email fee

A fee/tax should be imposed for sending email, to curb rampant junk mail distribution, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and others suggest; state officials have designated discarded laptops and flat-screen computer monitors as "hazardous waste'' and are asking consumers to drop off unwanted products at proper recycling centers and not toss them in the trash; The head of Israel-based flash memory maker M-Systems, Microsoft's new hardware partner for the Xbox, confirms that the next version of the game console will not have a hard drive.

nova media supports AT&T's EDGE data network

03/05, 2:00pm

Mobile High Speed 3.23

nova media today unveiled Mobile High Speed 3.23 ($50), the first Mac OS software to support online connections using the EDGE protocol as well as adds support for a Nokia 6620, Motorola T725E and SonyEricsson GC82 PC Card Modem. EDGE, currently available from AT&T in the US, supports download of up to 110 kbit/s and upload speeds of up to 40 kbit/s, depending on the device and the load of the network. Mobile High Speed completes the set up of Mac OS X for an EDGE or GRPS connection by creating a new location with all connection details already in place. It includes more than 200 network settings for most mobile network carriers worldwide and supports more than 87 phones and PC Card modems.

Apps: CandyBar, NVidia flasher, Sound Byte...

03/05, 12:50pm

CandyBar, NVidia flasher

CandyBar 1.6.3 updates the system icon customization utility with "full qualification for Mac OS X 10.3.3" as well as fixes a few bugs and adds drag and drop support for the impending release of Pixadex 1.5. It is a free update to the $13 utility. [3.9MB]
Apple's NVidia FCode flasher 1.1 is available via the company's website (after being moved to a different location). The update is for owners of the Apple Cinema HD Display and a Power Mac G4 with one of the following NVIDIA graphics cards: GeForce2 MX, GeForce2 MX TwinView, GeForce3, or GeForce4 MX. [562KB]
ChronoPhoto 1.02 is a new digital photograph viewer for Mac OS X. The €25 shareware offers fast photo import, large thumbnails, full-screen slideshow, EXIF info display, and more. It runs on Mac OS X 10.2 or later. [797KB]
MultiMode OS X 4.6 ($90) adds ASCII transmitting, ACF Auto-Correlation Function, TCP/IP connections, to receive a stream of decoded text, and several additional SSTV modes. It can decode and transmit several different modes of non-voice communication often heard on shortwave and ham radio. [895KB]
Sound Byte 2.1 ($24) allows users to quickly and easily play a variety of recorded sounds, such as jingles, advertisements, songs, sound effects at sporting events, and more. This version adds the ability to fade the currently playing track, as well as a graphical display showing the elapsed time of the currently playing track. [Classic, OSX]

Feral offers input calibration, game updates

03/05, 12:30pm

Feral Mac game updates

Feral today announced that it is including a new calibration utility with its games: Zonic's Input Calibrator is designed for Feral's Mac games, allowing users to improve the input control (steering wheels, joysticks gamepads, etc.) for any supported game. The utility currently supports Rayman 3 and Total Immersion Racing and is included in the new updaters for both games. The company also released new patches for F1 Championship 1.04, Warrior Kings 1,01, Ghost Master 1.02, Total Immersion Racing v1.01, and Rayman 3 v1.01--all of which fix outstanding bugs in each game. Finally, the company has posted a XIII In-game Video taken from the Mac version of XIII.

AAPL climbs to new intraday high of $27.49

03/05, 11:05am

AAPL up on iPod report

Shares of Apple hit a new intraday 52-week high of $27.49 in morning trade after a report in The USA Today said "the company's new iPod mini digital music player has been a runaway success. The paper said the mini iPod is virtually sold-out, with nearly 100,000 snapped up since its launch two weeks ago:

"'I've never seen a product line sell like this," says Jack Wahrman, senior merchandising manager at New York's J&R Music World. "The iPod is a phenomenon.' On its Web site, Apple tells shoppers to expect a one- to three-week wait. 'We're asking people to be patient with us,' says Greg Joswiak, Apple marketing vice president. It's not a component shortage that's causing the backlog. "We're making and shipping them as fast as we can," Joswiak says. He says teens are taking to the cool colors. And the mini is appealing to athletic fans, who like exercising with an ultralight device."

Music industry sales decline slows in U.S.

03/05, 10:55am

Music industry sales down

Citing gains made combatting piracy, the music industry Friday announced that wholesale shipments of CDs, music videos, and other format in the U.S. during 2003 fell 2.7 percent, considerably less than the 7.8 percent decline in the previous year. That translates to a 4.3 percent decline overall in the value of music shipments to retail outlets, or $11.05 billion in 2003 compared with $11.60 billion in 2002, according to The Financial Times.

UMPG launches new song licensing site with iPod promo

03/05, 10:10am

synchExpress iPod giveaway

Universal Music Publishing Group is giving away 15GB iPods to promote the launch of its new site, synchExpress. Designed with music supervisors in mind, the site allows users to search, listen, and license tracks that span from 1920 to the present. Users who license a song for a fee of at least $25,000 through synchExpress from now through April 1, 2004 will receive a free iPod. While the site will not load natively in Safari ("requiring" Internet Explorer 5.0 or later), Safari users can access the page with details on the iPod giveaway.

Apps: Interarchy 7.0.1, getTunes 2.0

03/05, 9:55am

Interarchy 7.0.1, getTunes

• Interarchy 7.0.1 ($40) brings several small modifications and bug fixes to the robust FTP client. Interarchy 7 is fully Mac OS X native, features tabbed browsing, a new icon view, and a wealth of other features. [2.7MB]


• getTunes 2.0 (free) is a free iTunes plug-in that allows users to download music from Rendezvous-shared music libraries, instead of simply streaming the songs. The new version has been completely rewritten in Java, features a graphical UI, multi threading support, and includes the source code [107KB]

Roku cuts HD1000 price 40 percent

03/05, 9:25am

Roku HD1000 price cut

Roku has dropped the price of its HD1000 set-top digital media player to $300 and introduced a new $500 Gallery Collection bundle that includes six Art Packs, normally $70 each, with the unit. The HD1000 integrates into a home network to pipe music, photos, and art stored on a computer to a television. The device supports HDTV and can read a variety of flash-based storage mediums. The Art Packs include a series of high definition art work and screen savers.

Apple racks up seven CNET Top 100 awards

03/05, 8:25am

Apple in CNET Top 100

Apple finds many of its products in CNET's new Editors' Top 100 Tech Products list. The Power Mac G5 is naturally the best desktop for creative pros while the 12-inch PowerBook G4 takes top honors in the curious category of best Apple notebook. Final Cut Pro 4 and iLife '04 both land in the top 10 software products. In digital music, the iPod is CNET's best overall MP3 player while the iPod mini is the best ultraportable hard drive player; iTunes Music Store is the best online music service.

Audible.com, Micro Center in iPod promotion

03/05, 8:00am

Audible, MicroCenter promo

Audible.com and Micro Center today announced a co-marketing relationship that will see Micro Center promote and sell Audible's flat-rate AudibleListener membership plans at its retail stores and through its catalog. In conjunction with the promotional campaign, users who sign up for 12 months of AudibleListener through Micro Center will receive $100 off an iPod. Two AudibleListener plans are available: PremiumListener for $20 includes two audiobooks per month while BasicListener for $15 includes one audiobook each month and a one-month subscription to audio digests from leading publications.

MacMice ships new aluminum mouse

03/05, 7:25am

Aluminum mouse ships

MacMice has started shipping The Mouse AL, a two-button optical scroll mouse designed to match Apple's PowerBook G4 and Power Mac G5 offerings. The Mouse AL features a silver-Aluminum case with a clear acrylic outer shell and a solid, unbroken top mouse surface. It sells for $40.

Griffin releases Final Vinyl 1.1, Turntable Cable

03/05, 1:25am

Griffin Final Vinyl 1.1

Griffin Technology today released Final Vinyl 1.1, its software that allows the recording of vinyl records using just the Griffin iMic or PowerWave and a turntable. Version 1.1 also adds several new features including sound waveform based cue editing and complete Panther compatibility. Griffin also introduced the Griffin Turntable Connection Cable ($13) with built-in grounding. The six-foot cable offers stereo RCA jacks and a turntable grounding screw on one end, and a mini-jack on the other to connect a turntable to the Griffin iMic or PowerWave.

Apple to open store in Charlotte, North Carolina

03/05, 1:20am

Apple Store in Charlotte

Apple will open a new retail store in Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday, March 12th at 10:00 a.m. The Apple Store SouthPark is located at the corner of Sharon and Fairview Roads in Charlotte. The Apple Store is located in the new Nordstrom wing. The store was first reported in September 2003.