Peachpit releases new \"Robin Williams Mac OS X Book\"

Peachpit has released "The Robin Williams Mac OS X Book, Panther Edition," by Robin Williams and John Tollett ($30). "No matter how many bells and whistles a new operating system offers [...] using that new OS can be an intimidating process." The book covers printing, sending e-mail, exchanging files, surfing the Internet, working with Panther's all-new Finder, using Exposé to work with windows, getting started with iChat AV, expanded coverage of networking, improved Web access with the Safari browser, working with Mail, and more.

Movie Magic releases EP Scheduling 4.0 demo

Movie Magic has released a demo of EP Scheduling 4.0, a new version of its application designed for script breakdown and scheduling. The new Mac OS X native application can create unlimited multiple schedules and shooting scenarios within a single file as well as combine different boards with different calendars. Other featres include an advanced search, PDF support, an element manager, a new interface, and customized strip/report layouts. The full version will be released in the May-June timeframe for a discounted $400. Upgrades will start at $200.

Details emerge on reseller lawsuits against Apple

Reporting on the several lawsuits brought by resellers against Apple, The San Jose Business Journal reports that at least one reseller developed a computer program to help obtain the allegedly confidential information used to support the resellers' case against Apple and says that Apple's misreprsentation of the profit its retail stores generates amounts to shareholder fraud, resulting in formal complaints filed with the SEC and FTC: "Apple says the invoices are confidential information that Mr. Santos obtained in violation of company policy. Mr. Santos created his own software program to seek out order numbers corresponding to Apple invoices. Apple attorney Dana Linker sent a cease and desist letter June 23, 2002 to the resellers' attorney.... Mr. Santos responds that Apple had no "terms of use" policy on its Web site that would prohibit what he had done. On July 7, 2003, Apple posted a revised policy that did."

Seagate/Oxford conflict addressed

FireWire Depot has detailed an issue with new Seagate drives, where using these drives in Master/Slave pairs with Oxford (911 or 922) based bridgeboards. Instructions for correcting the issue were provided by FWD.

Automatic Duck Pro Import C3

Automatic Duck announced today at NAB that a new plug-in, called Pro Import C3, is under development for Discreet Combustion 3. With Pro Import C3, users will be able to import OMF and AAF files from Avid and Final Cut Pro editing systems into Combustion. Users will be able to import their complex Avid and FCP sequences, with all the clips separate, layers intact, and many of effects remaining. Pro Import C3 is compatible with Combustion 3.0.2, a no-charge update to Combustion 3 that will be available within weeks from Discreet. Pro Import C3 ($500) is expected to ship later this spring for Mac OS X.

Mac Networkers Retreat Announced

MacRetreats today announced the first Mac Networkers Retreat, a 3-day gathering of Mac Networking and IT professionals to be held July 7 to 9 on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara. Campers and counselors will move into the ocean-side dorms on the campus, attend lectures and workshops in the University lecture halls, eat meals together in the school cafeteria, and take part in late night discussion groups in the dormitory recreation rooms and lounges. The all-inclusive pricing for the Retreat is $700 before June 1 and $800 after - and provides retreat tuition, housing and meals.

Tech: VoIP; Dell cuts player price; Gmail privacy

Evening tech news: Quality problems caused by poor Internet connections could hold back online voice calling; Dell today cut the price of its digital music player 20 percent to $200 from $250 as it tries to compete with the industry leading iPod from Apple; a new Google email service that stores messages where users cannot delete them may violate Europe's privacy laws, a citizens' group said on Monday after lodging a complaint with UK authorities.

Apple posts security update for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther

Apple today released Security Update 2004-04-05 (10.3.3) for Mac OS X 10.3.3 users, which it says delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. The free update includes updates to CUPS Printing, libxml2, Mail, and OpenSSL. It is available via the Web and via the Mac OS X Software Update. Update: The update is also available for Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. [Panther, Jaguar]

Apple co-founder Wozniak to receive honorary degree

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will receive an honorary doctorate of sciences degree from North Carolina State University. The degree will be conferred by Chancellor Marye Anne Fox on May 15, at the Spring Commencement ceremonies. Wozniak visited NC State's students, faculty, and staff in 2003, and toured research centers within the College of Engineering to "witness the innovative work of the students and faculty firsthand." The visit was organized by students in PackMUG, the NC State Macintosh Users Group, and attended by over 600 students, faculty, and staff from NC State and surrounding universities.

Apple launches online Genius Bar Reservation System

Apple today launched its Genius Bar Reservation System for its new ProCare membership program lauched last week. As first noted by MacNN, The $100 ProCare program offers advance reservations, rapid repair turnarounds, and other "benefits". The new system is touted by Apple to save time: "Every day at every Apple Store, the Genius Bar is open to offer hands-on, real-time solutions to Apple-related technical problems. Walk-in customers will usually experience a wait to speak with a Genius. By using this Genius Bar Reservation System before you go, you can reduce or eliminate this delay."

Mail Factory designed to print labels, envelopes

BeLight Software today announced a new Mac OS X tool to design and print envelopes, shipping and address labels. Mail Factory allows the user to save time and money on preparing address labels, offering integration with Address Book, Entourage, and other sources as well as support for most popular labels (Avery, DYMO, APLI, AOne, Herma, etc.) and envelope formats as well as DYMO LabelWriters printers. It also features the ability to add logos, use the package images and design templates, and apply graphic effects. It includes sozens of ready-made designs and 500 clipart images. It will be released in May for $30.

PowerLogix debuts 1GHz G3 upgrades with larger cache

PowerLogix today announced two new CPU upgrades based on the new IBM PowerPC "G3" 750GX CPU. The low-power IBM PowerPC 750GX is similar to the 750FX chip, but has has twice the L2 cache of the FX (1MB vs 512k), and is available in faster clock speeds. PowerLogix, which says it has been the sole supplier since February of 2003, will continue to sell PPC FX-based upgrades. The new 1GHz Blue Chip G3 Pismo ($400) is compatible with all Pismo PowerBooks and allows users to adjust the CPU speed on-the-fly for additional battery life (up to 30 minutes). PowerLogix also introduced the 1.0GHz PowerForce G3 ZIF ($350), which is compatible with the PowerMac G3 Beige, Blue and White, and original PCI PowerMac G4.

Apple sees shift in developer profiles

Apple says it is seeing a definite shift in Mac developer profiles, noting "a spike in the number of enterprise code writers [and] a large number of UNIX, Java and Open Source developers migrating to its Mac OS X operating system," according to InternetNews.com: "'This is a change from last year with our focus on enterprise and IT,' [Apple VP of Worldwide Developer Relations] Okamoto said. 'One of the things we're doing is adding content and laboratories with more education. We're adding to our tools space including an update of our Xcode development tool.'"

Reader: review of VGA Silencer for ATI Raden 9800

Kent Salas has posted a review of the VGA Silencer by Artic Cooling for the Radeon 9800 video card, which "cools and quiets ATi Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition Retail card but takes a PCI and RAM slot, in a G4 Digital Audio tower, to do it...There have been some complaints of the fan noise on the Radeon 9800 card being compared to that of a hair dryer, mostly the OEM edition, not the Retail version which I bought." It includes 18 photos and a step-by-step guide for installation.

Apps: Actual ODBC Driver, Ask the DJ, Audio Hijack

Actual ODBC Driver for SQL Server 1.3 ($30) is an ODBC driver that lets OS X users access MS SQL Server and Sybase databases from applications such as Excel and FileMaker Pro. The new version adds support for Omnis Studio and PHP. It can be used with Excel (using Microsoft Query X) and offers a full setup assistant. [1.8MB] DopeWars (free), a popular game for Palm OS, is now available for free for FileMaker 5, 6, and 7: "The most politically incorrect game in the world just got worse. Buy and sell drugs, work the loan shark, run from the cops, and loot unconscious dealers. Ain't life grand?" [multiple options] Ask the DJ 1.6 ($30) brings a Japanese localization, support for track titles in NiceCast (1.5.1 and up), and improved smoothness and stability. The sophisticated, yet easy to use mix engine which analyses the music's rhythm to perform DJ-like transitions between tracks. [1.6MB] Audio Hijack Pro 1.3 ($30) updates Rogue Amoeba's application for recording any audio; it includes a fix for recording iTunes when crossfades are on, as well as other small improvements. Audio Hijack Pro 2 is in "heavy" development, and is expected to be released sometime this summer. [2.7MB] Audio Hijack 2.1.1 ($16) sports several bug fixes, as well as an Advanced Hijacking feature, allowing audio to be pulled from some pro audio applications that were previously not hijackable. Nicecast 1.5.1 ($40), for broadcasting music from Mac OS X, also gains support for interaction with Ask The DJ, as well as improved AppleScript support and several bug fixes. [AH, OSX] Xenophaquinox 2.1 ($10) updates GoldfishSoft's "challenging but entertaining" puzle game that features one- and two-player modes, as well as five difficulty levels. It offers better computer intelligence, more complete documentation, and the option to play timed games. [596KB] WinSwitch 1.2 (freeware) updates the freeware opensource replacement for Apple's Fast User Switching menu on Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. It now queries NetInfo to display only those local accounts accessible from the user's machine. Version 1.2 includes a major rewrite of the underlying mechanism, performance improvements, and new German and French localizations. [290KB] iTunes Library Manager 3.01 ($5) is an AppleScript application that makes backup copies of the iTunes Library database file, allowing users to easily save multiple iTunes Library configurations which can be retrieved and loaded at any time. Version 3.01 is a maintenance release and includes additional helper AppleScripts. [214KB] BasaOne 1.0.4 (€120) is an update to the Web Application Development Environment for Mac OS X. With BasaOne you can easily write Web Applications with database access without having to bother about different programming languages, server platforms, databases, etc. [888KB]

Hemera releases new image collection for education

Hemera today released EduArt, an extensive image collection featuring over 56,000 high-quality images on CD and DVD specifically designed to meet the visual needs of students and educators. The images in EduArt are divided into themes such as Animals, Cars, Chemistry, Class, Computers, Dinosaurs, Flags, Geography, Health, History, Insects, Math, Music, Planes, Plants, Science, Sports, Teachers, Technology, Trains, Trucks, and more. EduArt sells for $30. [Site not updated.]

Apple ranks average for online customer satisfaction

Apple places in the middle of the pack for online customer service in Spring 2004, according to a new report from The Customer Respect Group. With a score of 6.6, Apple places slightly below average (6.8) in the Computer Products & Services sector. The study was conducted by "interviewing a representative sample of the adult Internet population" and measured indicators of simplicity (ease of navigation), privacy (respects customer privacy), attitude (customer-focus of site), transparency (open and honest policies), responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries) and principles (values and respects customer data).

ATTO announces 4-Gigabit Fibre Channel technology

ATTO Technology today announced plans to add 4-Gigabit Fibre Channel technology to its Celerity Fibre Channel Storage Adapter line and FibreBridge Fibre Channel-to-SCSI bridge line. Within the next year, the 4-Gig/sec. Fibre Channel standard is expected to emerge as the dominant SAN technology for next-generation disk and tape storage systems, according to the company and four-gigabit Fibre Channel offers a backward-compatible investment, supporting both 2-Gigabit and 1-Gigabit Fibre Channel. The ATTO FibreBridge 4-Gigabit products will be available in a 4U compact-PCI form factor and in a 1U rack-mountable version. The 4-Gigabit line of Celerity Fibre Channel Storage Adapters will map into the existing single-, dual-, and quad-channel adapters.

Automobiles and Apple stickers

apfelautos.com is a Web site devoted to posting user-submitted photos of vehicles with Apple stickers. The site celebrates its second anniversary today and currently features 335 photos, including an Apple sponsored Rally Car from Australia, a Lotus Elise, and a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air.

Xerox announces two new affordable laser printers

Xerox today introduced two new laser printers: the Phaser 6100 and Phaser 3130. The Phaser 6100 is Xerox's least expensive color laser printer, retailing for $700 and offering four-pass color laser technology capable of printing at up to 1200 dpi and 5 ppm, with 64MB of RAM standard. The Phaser 3130 is a monochrome laser printer that features 17 ppm print speeds, 1200 dpi resolution, and 32MB of RAM. It sells for $300.

Listening habits are being revolutionized by the iPod

The Boston Globe takes a look at what happens when a person suddenly gains access to thousands of songs at their fingertips with the addition of an iPod to their life, as well as other trends that have taken off as a result of the iPod. Meanwhile, The Independent caries an article discussing the difficulties many iPod owners apparently are having with using the device and figuring out how to add their CD collections to it.

Apple to open Kansas City retail store

Apple is looking for workers for retail positions in the Kansas City area, according to Monster.com and Apple's Jobs Web site. These postings indicate that Apple may be opening a retail location in Kansas City, at the Country Club Plaza. According to a MacNN reader, the Country Club Plaza is an upscale shopping district in Kansas City.

Apps: Revolution, ShareAlike, EasyWMA, DoThisNow...

Revolution 2.2 is the latest release of the software development environment provides improved appearance on Windows XP and Mac OS X, an all-new standalone builder, and more. Revolution is the user-centric development tool for users of all abilities. Revolution Studio starts at $300, while the Enterprise edition is $900. EP Scheduling 4.0 ($650) is designed for script breakdown and scheduling. The new Mac OS X native applicaition offers support for multiple boards, multiple calendars, non-syntax sort, drag and drop report/strip designer, an element manager and a new robust find feature. [form] EasyWMA 1.0 (donationware) is a small utility that allows users to convert Windows Media Audio (WMA) files to MP3s for better compatibility with Mac applications such as iTunes. "EasyWMA has a very simple user interface, full drag and drop support, and can even do batch processing to convert your whole library of WMA songs in one click." [1.2MB] ShareAlike 1.0 (donationware) is a simple utility that will allow you to share your iPhoto and iTunes photos and music with other users of the same computer: "For example, Dad can share his complete iPhoto library with Mom, who has a separate user account on the same computer." [330KB] MacQibla 3.0 is now in private beta testing and the developer is soliciting Mac OS X beta testers to test the Islamic calendar and prayer time calculation tool. Users should have some familiarity with the Islamic calendar and prayer times as well as previous beta testing experience. [330KB] Keynote Gallery has released two new themes for Apple's Keynote: Spirituality ($10) with a "gold, glowing religious look on 38 masters. It includes 5 custom bullets, 6 custom chart fills plus 2 underlines. Evidence sports uniquely-shaped cutouts, multiple cutouts and bleeds for use with Keynote's Push and Cube transitions and includes 42 masters and many "extras." DoThisNow 1.0 ($20) is an application that allows users to setup their computer to run repetative, time critical or simply perform mundane tasks on a custom schedule. Users can launch any application or file, display a customized message, delete files (if it exists), delete the contents of a specific folder, execute an AppleScript, optimize the system, and empty the trash. [2.6MB] RBUnit 1.0 (free) is a new development that helps create high-quality programming code for REALbasic; it includes a Test Runner UI that provides a quick, visual indicator of test results and allows multiple testing groups for each project; the tests are easily repeatable to support refactoring. The Enterprise Edition ($40) includes the full-source code. [110KB] DVDpedia 1.3.3 ($18) is a DVD cataloging software for Mac OS X that retrieves all DVD information from the Internet and can organize collections using a familiar iTunes-like interface. It now integrates with the Address Book for borrowing movies, downloads info from Amazon and IMDB, offers more flexibility in printing and HTML export, etc. (Use 'MacNNReader' for a 10% discount). [1.8MB]