News Archive for 04/09/22

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

PC Magazine reviews Apple's Power Mac G5

09/22, 6:25pm

PC Mag reviews the PM G5

PC Magazine's 4-out-of-5 review of the new Power Mac G5 says that "the new dual-2.5GHz Power Mac G5 is a nice step up from the Power Mac G5s we've seen before. Graphics pros and media outlets that need the fastest available speed will want to upgrade now, but most users with recent-vintage G5 machines (especially dual-2.0GHz models) don't need to jump on this upgrade...Though the latest Power Mac G5's sleek, perforated tower doesn't look much different from previous models, the new system has a few new tricks under its hood. Chief among them are dual 2.5-GHz G5 processors—a noticeable step up from the 2.0-GHz processors of the previous top-end Mac. And Apple's brilliant new Cinema Displays (a 23-inch in our bundle) knocked our socks off."

TIME names the iMac G5 as 'Gadget of the Week'

09/22, 6:20pm

\'Gadget of the Week\'

Apple's new iMac G5 has been named 'Gadget of the Week' by TIME magazine. Calling it a "'desktop replacement' replacement", TIME's editors say it offers much of what users are looking for in a computer (except for portability): "Rather than spend money on its silly "Switch" ad campaign, the company has spent it inventing actual reasons for people to switch from Windows to Mac, not least of all personal style. The iMac G5 is super suave, but it's also a pretty good deal. If you're big enough of an Apple fan to own an iPod, you probably already have a good idea of what the iMac G5 is all about: the familiar white sheen, the brushed metal L-shaped stand, the brilliant widescreen LCD."

Apps: Spamnix, Pooch, Tinderbox, Chemika, MovieEdit3D

09/22, 5:50pm

Spamnix, Pooch, Tinderbox

Spamnix 2.01 ($30) for Eudora is a plug-in for Qualcomm Eudora that blocks unwanted spam email. It uses Bayesian filtering, a statistical machine-learning technique. Version 2.0 offers the abiilty to view the Spamnix report on any message (filtered or unfiltered), language-based blocking of messages, blocking of messages with executables, attachment name-based filtering, and more. [3.9MB]
Pooch 1.5.5 updates the parallel-processing software for Macs. It adds "new technologies to access and run clusters behind firewalls. And it introduces support for using high-speed Myrinet hardware and the open-source LAM/MPI implementation." Pooch v1.5 is available for $175 for the first compute node then $125 for each node thereafter. Pooch Pro v1.5 is available for $200 for the first compute node then $150 for each node thereafter.
Tinderbox 2.3 ($145) is an update to Eastgate's personal content management and outlining software that stores notes, ideas, and plans. Users can build relationships by arranging notes, organizing them with shape and color, linking them. It offers more than 80 improvements and enhancements, including better, more attractivetext, improved font rendering, better highlighting, border/gradients for mpas, new syntax searches, and more. [4.5MB]
4D Agenda 1.4 is a 4D plug-in that allows displaying calendar events in a day, week, and month view, dragging events to different locations within the calendar, creating calendars for multiple users, and querying to retrieve events. It adds full drag-and-drop support, 12/24 time, improved offscreen drawing, and dragging of new events. 4D Agenda is available for Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, and Windows with 4th Dimension 6.7 and later. [1.1MB]
Chemika 2.0 (free) is a chemistry utility designed to help students learn the periodic table. Version 2.0 has an improved interface with a color coordinated table. [5.5MB]
MovieEdit3D 0.92 ($10) lets you create a 3D scene showing multiple DV files moving and rotating through 3D space. It includes plugins that allow 3D warping or grid effects to be applied to any of the movies as well as allows users to export the final scene to a DV file (for iMovie import). It includes five bundled plugins: "wave, grid, nurbs test, multiple copies, and sphere." [720KB]

Apple earns 4-cents per iTunes track, labels on top

09/22, 2:45pm

iTunes song profits slim

Record companies are taking such a large cut from tracks sold online that many of the burgeoning online music stores will go out of business, experts warned yesterday. The Independent reports that labels, who take home the largest share of revenue generated from online music, make more money per track than they do with CD sales: "But figures from the US show that Apple, the dominant legal download business in Europe and the US, retains just 4 cents from each 99-cent (55p) track sale while 'mechanical copyright' holders - generally the record labels, who own copyright in the song's recording - take 62 cents or more. Music publishers take the rest - about 8 cents." The article notes that while the number of online music services grows (and many are expected to close their doors in the coming years), Apple has the distinct advantage--i.e., it is profiting through sales of its iPod.

Allume ships StuffIt Standard 9.0

09/22, 2:40pm

StuffIt Standard 9.0

Allume today announced StuffIt Standard 9.0, the newest version of its file compression and access software for Mac OS X. The new version provides a redesigned user interface that allows users to create StuffIt, StuffIt X, Zip, and Tar archives from a single convenient location. Users can now save archives directly to CDs and DVDs as well as utilize the integrated FTP to upload directly to remote servers. StuffIt Standard 9.0 features a number of performance enhancements that improve compression and decompression speed on any Mac, and also offers dual-processor improvements for Power Mac G5 users. Version 9 brings improved archive management, Mac-friendly Zip archive creation, and more. It also includes the free StuffIt Expander 9.0. StuffIt Standard is $50 ($20 upgrade).

Briefly: Alpine Flash demo, Tiger news, iMac G5

09/22, 12:25pm

Mac OS X Tiger features

In Brief: Alpine has posted a Flash demo of its new KCA-420i iPod interface.... LightWork Design has released the LightWorks HDRI Starter Collection, a set of High Dynamic Range Image files for use with the LightWorks rendering engine.... Apple is integrating its online Apple Store into early (private) builds of Mac OS X Tiger, which also feature updated iCal and Font Book applications.... The new iMac G5 is drawing shoppers to Apple retail stores because of its space-saving design and power, according to store employees.

Tech: MS server crash, Google browser?, JPEG exploit

09/22, 11:35am

MS server crash

Morning tech: A "design anomaly" in SoCal's air traffic control system caused Microsoft server crash and an 800-plane pile-up... Google appears to be planning to launch its own Web browser and other software products to challenge Microsoft after hiring a key Java programmer from Sun and four people who worked on Microsoft Internet Explorer... Yahoo is developing its own music player software, backed by MusicNet-provided downloads and subscriptions, that it plans to run alongside the recently purchased Musicmatch... Computer code that takes advantage of a flaw in the way many Microsoft applications process JPEG images has been published on the Internet and could be a precursor to actual attacks on vulnerable PCs.

RocketRAID 1820A RAID 5 PCI card supports Mac OS X

09/22, 11:25am

RocketRAID 1820A PCI card

HighPoint Technologies has announced Mac OS X compatibility for its recently launched RocketRAID 1820A hardware-based RAID solution. The 8-channel PCI-X to Serial ATA (SATA) RAID 5 host adapter offers full Tagged Command Queuing support (and compatibility with WD Raptor 74 GB SATA hard drives). The RocketRAID 1820A offers RAID 5 data transfer rates of up to 480MB/sec (read) and 300MB/sec (write), while support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD as well. The 64-bit, 133MHz PCI-X architecture supports total transfer rates of 1200 MB/s. HighPoint released drivers that are compatible with both G4- and G5-based Power Macs running Mac OS X Jaguar and Panther.

ColorVision debuts ColorVision Spyder2Pro Studio

09/22, 11:15am

ColorVision Spyder2Pro

ColorVision today announced ColorVision Spyder2Pro Studio, the next generation of its color-management technology, which it will showcase at the Photokina International Trade Show in Cologne, Germany. The sleek, redesigned, dual-phase Spyder2 colorimeter delivers improved on-screen color accuracy and features precise calibration and highly accurate ICC profiles for CRT, LCD and laptop displays. Spyder2PRO software ofers improved white-point correction routines, automated black and white luminance adjustments, improved methodology for loading calibration data at startup, a Profile selection tool, and multiple monitor calibration. It will begin shipping on October 1 for $300 and includes nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 Standard Edition, Pantone colorist, and ColorVision DoctorPRO to enhance, edit, correct, and specify colors on images, screens, and printers.

Intuem RW 3.0 adds ReWire, audio play-through support

09/22, 11:05am

Intuem RW 3.0 preview

Intuem has announced Intuem RW 3.0, an update to its audio application for Mac OS X. Version 3, now available as a preview, offers full ReWire 2 support, audio play-through, a newly designed Mixer, several new "Pro" features, and a host of convenience features. Intuem RW can receive almost any combination of audio channels from a ReWire device, and can send MIDI to any defined bus/channel on a ReWire device, while the new audio play-through feature lets users apply AudioUnit effects to incoming audio in realtime (including ReWire audio input). Other new features include new Mixer modes and appearance styles, control of playback speed, audio file preview (Mac OS X Panther), drag & drop support from the Finder, and more. It is available as a $40 upgrade until the final release ($50 thereafter). The full version is $80.

Briefly: IM music, Mac switchers, PowerBook G4 spots

09/22, 9:00am

IM music, Mac switchers

In Brief: Yahoo may use instant messaging to help itself compete with others in the online music market (after it acquired Musicmatch last week)... Kodak ranks highest in customer satisfaction in two digital camera segments, while Sony and Canon each rank highest in one, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Digital Camera Satisfaction Study released today.... More students are buying Macs because of the iPod and concerns of PC crashes, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator.... Apple has listed serial number ranges for PowerBook G4s (both "Titanium" and "Aluminum" models) that may exhibit faint white spots on the display, noting that users should contact AppleCare about possible troubleshooting and replacement.

WiebeTech debuts ToughTech enclosure, rack-mount RAID

09/22, 8:35am

New WiebeTech products

WiebeTech today announced its ToughTech FireWire desktop enclosure, which features anti-shock FlexMount protection, fanless operation with venting, and FireWire 400/800 and USB2 interfaces. ToughTech also features air venting ports on the bottom of the drive to help prolong the life of the hard drive. The enclosure is also manufactured from aluminum to efficiently dissipate heat away from the drive as well. It is available with FireWire 400/USB 2.0 or FireWire 800/USB 2.0 interfaces with prices starting at $80 (case-only). Pre-configured models of up to 400GB are available.

Mediafour releases MacDrive 6

09/22, 8:25am

Mediafour MacDrive 6

Mediafour has released MacDrive 6, the latest version of its cross-platform file sharing software enabling Macs and Windows PCs to easily exchange files. It now offers support for Windows XP, 2000 and 2003, allowing users to burn CD-R and CD-RW Mac CDs and Mac DVDs and making it easy to transfer files and make backups. In addition to formatting, Windows users can now partition Mac hard drives and the suite also adds support for international file names (as well as Unicode file names). Version 6 also offers per-drive settings, large file names, and more. The full version is $50, while upgrades are $20. The boxed version is expected to ship at the end of the month.

Forums: PB v PB, iMac display quality, iBook design

09/22, 2:00am

Forums round-up Sep 21st

Topics of discussion on the MacNN forums today include: One member's problems with a refurbished Power Mac G5.... the decision between a Power Mac G5 and a PowerBook G4.... comparing the quality of Apple's latest iMac G5 display offerings to that of its Cinema Display and previous iMac models.... discussion of iMac G5 noise generation, with complains from some users, while praise from others.... the future of the iBook case design.