News Archive for 04/03/12

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Forums: G5 case mod; PB durability; iMac green light

03/12, 8:45pm

Forums: G5 case mod

Topics of discussion on the MacNN forums today include: one user's Power Mac G5 case modification; discussion of the new PowerBook G4's durability after a member significantly dented his 17" PowerBook's case; the iMac "green light of death" problem, experienced by a small group of owners; GNOME 2.6's transition to ' spatial mode' file navigation from browser-like navigation.

Roxio Toast user survey and sweepstakes

03/12, 4:55pm

Roxio survey

Roxio is conducting a survey of Toast users to gauge satisfaction with the product, and assess interest in new features. Respondents are entered into a sweepstakes drawing to win a $500 Amazon.com gift certificate.

Apple's QuickTime loses in Video Codec Shootout

03/12, 1:50pm

Video Codec Shootout

ExtremeTech's Video Codec Shootout evaluates four different video codecs for home use, including DivX, Windows Media Video 9, QuickTime 6.5/Sorenson 3, and QuickTime 6.5/MPEG-4: "We give the nod to both DivX 5.1.1 and WMV9 -- it all depends on your priorities. If you're going to stick to computers as playback devices, the faster speed of DivX is welcome. If you want to play your stuff on the PDAs, portable video players, and DVD players coming out later this year and beyond, WMV9 has broader industry support and is worth the extra encoding time. Both codecs delivered quite impressive image quality."

Macs, FCP used for production of Academy Awards

03/12, 11:45am

Oscars used Macs, FCP

The opening montage in the 76th Academy Awards was cut and comped on the set with Macs running Final Cut Pro, according to Apple Hot News: "Director Troy Miller of LA-based Dakota Pictures shot much of the film against green screen backgrounds, using clever composites to convince the audience that Crystal was really 'there.' And to convince themselves that the illusions were working, the Dakota crew used PowerBooks and a Power Mac G5 editing station running Final Cut Pro to create and view the shots on the fly, on set, as the footage was captured."

'HP Music' goes live, Apple offers iTunes for HP

03/12, 11:35am

Apple-HP alliance launches

HP yesterday launched a website for HP Music, its forthcoming music download service based on iTunes (part of the HP-Apple alliance). Apple also began offering an HP-specific version of iTunes for download for both HP and Compaq customers, according to The Register: "The 'special' HP/Compaq version of iTunes is version 4.2 of the software, as per the Mac and non-specific Windows versions of the software. The chief difference is believed to be code to allow Apple to track downloads made by HP customers rather than those of its own."

Apps: Speed Download, Ridge, Conversion, AE Monitor

03/12, 9:15am

Speed Download, Ridge...

MacResponder 1.5 scans email accounts periodically and automatically sends replies as well as features rule-based settings to trigger actions based on the sender or the subject. The new version features an improved email engine, speed improvements, new options for POP3 and SMTP authentification, and a new option to avoid sending replies to messages which were already on the server at application launch. [362KB]
Suck It Down 1.7 ($20) will download any type of data from a Website. Users can specify file extensions to easily download images, movies, mp3s, pdfs and more. It also provides preview for downloaded images and QuickTime compatible files, like movies and mp3s. [2MB]

• Speed Download 2.3.2 ($20) brings several minor new features and bug fixes to the powerful download manager. Speed Download 2 both manages and optimizes Web downloads as well as monitoring your software for updates. [Download - 2.1MB]


• Ridge 2.1.1 ($10) can meter and restrict the amount of data that can be uploaded and downloaded from the Internet, offering a feature to alert users when that limit has been reached. Version 2.1.1 improves performance and adds a German localization. [Download - 577KB]


• Conversion 1.1.1 (free) is a unit converter that features 373 units and 9,811 different conversion tables. [Download - 2.3MB]


• AE Monitor 1.5 ($30) helps developers understand Apple Events and integrate Apple Event functionality into their applications. It now includes automatic code generation to replicate Apple Events; the ability to monitor applications one at a time; event rules; enhanced performance, customization, etc. [Download - form]

Macromedia revs Dreamweaver MX 2004

03/12, 8:15am

Dreamweaver MX 2004 7.0.1

Macromedia has released Dreamweaver MX 2004 7.0.1, a free update that significantly improves performance (up to 70 percent on Mac OS X), improves stability, restores the Timeline feature from the original Dreamweaver MX, and more. Dreamweaver MX 2004 sells for $400.

Hitatchi ships 400GB hard drive

03/12, 7:45am

Hitatchi ships 400GB drive

Hitatchi has started shipping in limited quantities its new 400GB Deskstar 7K400 hard drive. The drive, noted earlier this week, is the highest capacity on the market, spins at 7,200 RPM, and features both Serial and Parallel ATA connectivity. It also features new Rotational Vibration Safeguard technology "used to ensure drive performance in high rotational vibration environments, where there are multiple drives in a single enclosure" as well as Hitatchi's enterprise-class spindle motor. Pricing is currently unavailable.