News Archive for 04/10/14

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Briefly: 30" ACD ships, AAPL up 13%, .Mac benefits

10/14, 7:20pm

\'Mini\' stores at airports?

In Brief: Apple VP Ron Johnson noted that Apple's new mini stores were the same size as retail outlets in airports, hinting at future possible locations for its retail outlets.... Apple is offering .Mac members 300 free Apple Loops from GarageBand Jam Packs 1, 2, and 3 as well as a "buy two, get one free" offer for its GarageBand Jam Packs, allowing them to purchase all three packs for $200.... Readers are noting that the Apple Store is beginning to ship the 30-inch Cinema Displays (along with the Nvidia GeForce 6800 GPU), following months of delays.... Apple's stock is up more than 13% to $44.98 at market close, following better-than-expected earnings and a strong FYQ1 2005 outlook.

Apps: Xcatalog, Print It!, Kids GoGoGo, BasaOne...

10/14, 5:10pm

Xcatalog, Print It!...

Xcatalog 4.2/6.2 is a QuarkXPress 'XTension' for XPress 4.x and 6.x. New features in this release include: a very useful quick-start tutorial document and sample files, a new, greatly improved user manual, and support for QuarkXPress Tags indexing tags. Pricing starts at $800. [Download - 2.2MB]
Print It! 2.0 ($30) for Mac OS X allows users to: "instantly select and print anything they can see on their monitors -- even if it's not normally selectable or printable -- and this includes any combination of text, pictures, and graphics -- literally, anything." This update adds new preference items, an Auto-Scaling Guide, and system-wide keyboard shortcuts. [Download - 1.2MB]
Kids GoGoGo 8.7.0 ($30) is the latest version of the parental control program for Mac. Version 8.7.0 adds a new kgggIM program, database optimizations, and the ability to ""unblock the news sites." [Download - 3.7MB]
Dossier 1.2 ($25) is a personal and workgroup information manager in the format of a journal or diary. It includes Rendezvous networking, live search, "smart" folders to organize entries based on rules, password protection and encryption, and more. The new version features a new look, bug fixes, and documentation updates. [Download - 1.1MB]
BasaOne 1.2 is an update to the Web Application Development Environment for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, MySQL and PHP on Mac OS X. Version 1.2 adds QuickTime audio and video support, speed and font drop-down lists, and interface enhancements. [Download - 1.6MB]
iWatermark 2.0 ($20) is a major update to the watermarking application for Mac. Version 2.0 features new effects such as aqua and emboss; includes information on how to use with iPhoto; and is now faster and "even easier to use." [Download - 2.4MB]

Rise of Nations 'Gold' edition to ship in Nov.

10/14, 3:30pm

Rise of Nations \'Gold\'

Destineer's MacSoft today announced that it would release Rise of Nations as a "Gold" edition to include the recently released Thrones and Patriots expansion pack. Rise of Nations is an historical realtime strategy (RTS) game which combines the epic scope of traditional turn-based strategy (TBS) games with the fast-paced action of RTS games. The game allows players to create new cities, improve their city infrastructure and expand national borders. Players have the option to win through military might using everything from slingshots to cannons to stealth bombers, or they can corner the market on key commodities as they wheel and deal with a wide variety of nations. It will ship in November for $50.

Apple unveils new "mini" retail stores, locations

10/14, 3:25pm

Apple \"mini\" stores debut

Apple today unveiled its new "mini" retail store, an all-new design featuring stainless steel walls and seamless white floors and ceilings. The mini store is half the size of Apple’s smallest store to date, which Apple says will allow it to be placed in a variety of new locations to "introduce Apple’s innovative products to even more customers." Apple will open its first six mini stores this Saturday at 10 a.m. in Palo Alto, CA; San Jose, CA; Santa Rosa, CA; Tukwila, WA; Bridgewater, NJ; and Rockaway, NJ. Apple's CEO Jobs attended the news conference Thursday to unveil the new stores at a shopping mall near Palo Alto, marking his first public appearance since he underwent a successful operation on his pancreas in late July.

iTunes Music Store Downloads Top 150 Million Songs

10/14, 2:20pm

iTunes tops 150 million

Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 150 million songs from the iTunes Music Store. The 150 millionth song was "Ex-Factor" by Lauryn Hill and was purchased by Beth Santisteven from Ignacio, Colorado. Apple said iTunes users are now downloading more than 4 million songs per week, a rate of over 200 million songs per year. The company also announced the immediate availability of iTunes gift cards at all Best Buy locations. iTunes gift cards were previously available from Target stores, Apple retail stores and the Apple online store.

Briefly: mini Apple Stores, G5 patent, iPod event

10/14, 1:20pm

Mini Apple Stores event

In Brief: Apple has scheduled a press briefing today (Thursday) at one of the upcoming "mini" Apple Stores--at a mall near Stanford University--near the existing retail outlet in downtown Palo Alto, Ca.... The next MacBUS (Philadelphia) meeting will be held on October 26, 2004 with a look at 4th Dimension.... The USPTO on Monday issued Apple a patent for the ornamental design of its professional Power Mac G5.... The Playlist Club will hold its next event at the Progress Bar in London on October 23 where attendees can bring in their own 15-minute playlist on an iPod.

BusinessWeek: A Bitter Apple Replay?

10/14, 1:10pm

A Bitter Apple Replay?

Alex Salkever of BusinessWeek discusses Apple's refusal to open the iPod/iTunes sytem, saying that Microsoft, other cell phone carriers, and thinning margins could challenge the company's longer term future in the music industry: "If Apple licenses FairPlay, it could sacrifice some sales and profits from its iPod line in the near term. But over the long haul, sowing the seeds of mass adoption of its DRM standard and its iTunes music software will help ensure that Apple's own future hardware offerings aren't marginalized. Jobs should sacrifice some of control and integration to make sure Apple has a seat at the table -- and a say in cutting up the larger, more lucrative digital-content pie."

New touchscreen for 17" PowerBook due in Nov.

10/14, 12:50pm

Touchscreen for 17\" PB

Web UK today announced that its TouchSTAR pSeries17 touchscreen enhancement for Apple's 17" PowerBook will be available world-wide beginning November 15, 2004 for €500. The new TouchSTAR pSeries17, first shown at the Apple Expo in Paris, is the first in the new line of TouchSTAR products for Apple's portable and desktop LCD displays. TouchSTAR products allow Apple users to easily add or remove touchscreen functionality to their displays without system modification using a patent-pending slipcover design. The TouchSTAR frames are made of durable aluminium that matches Apple's designs.

PowerProduction ships StoryBoard Artist 4

10/14, 12:45pm

StoryBoard Artist 4

PowerProduction Software is shipping the new Mac OS X version of StoryBoard Artist 4, the professional imaging software for turning ideas into creative blueprints and storyboards. The software allows pre-production ideas to be presented using a combination of imaging techniques, including drawing, photo import, other graphics, or using one of hundreds of bundled pre-drawn characters/props/locations. It includes drawing tools wih support alpha channel and color transparency as well as library palettes of new pre-drawn images. It offers a new Pan and Zoom feature to add intraframe pans, tilts and zooms as well as interframe timing and transitions, sound effects and music in the visually intuitive timeline. Quick ($280), Artist ($800) and Artist Studio ($1600) versions are available.

Griffin ships iBeam Flashlight and Laser Pointer

10/14, 12:15pm

Griffin ships iBeam

Griffin today began shipping its iBeam Flashlight and Laser Pointer for iPods. The iBeam package consists of two separate devices: a snap-on flashlight and a class III laser pointer. Both units come with a snap-on protective cap that can be attached to any keychain for convenient portability and accessibility. The iBeam lights are intended for intermittent use when they connect to the top of the iPod in place of the iPod’s headphones. The new Griffin iBeam package that includes both the laser pointer and flashlight, costs $20.

Archos debuts Gmini XS200 20GB music player

10/14, 10:15am

Archos debuts Gmini XS200

Archos today announced its Gmini XS200, which it says is "the world's smallest" (2.9" x 2.3" x .7") 20GB hard drive-based digital audio player. The ultra-portable player features a 2.2" gray-scale LCD screen and includes an easy to use icon-based interface. The new player also features the proprietary ARCLibrary advanced music management program, which lets users delete, rename, copy and move files, and create folders directly on the device -- without using a computer. It also offers support for MP3, WMA, and WAV music files, can store data, offers USB 2.0 connectivity, and more. The Gmini XS200 will be available later this month for $250.

DeckLink 4.5 supports HD down conversion, DVCPRO HD

10/14, 10:00am

Blackmagic DeckLink 4.5

Blackmagic Design today announced its DeckLink for Macintosh v4.5 software update, which provides broadcast-quality realtime HD down conversion to standard definition and DVCPRO HD support. The company says that all DeckLink cards are compatible with this new broadcast quality down conversion, which also delivers full broadcast quality and retains full 10-bit video bit depth throughout the processing path. Support for DVCPRO HD compressed video provides high-quality compressed video capture and playback in a format that is suitable for online mastering, but has a data rate low enough for realtime storage on standard computer ATA hard disks. This DVCPRO HD codec is included as part of Final Cut Pro HD; all DeckLink HD cards now fully support this format.

Merrill Lynch raises AAPL target to $49

10/14, 7:00am

Merrill: AAPL at $49

Merrill Lynch overnight raised its price target on Apple stock to $49 from $44 after the PC maker delivered higher-than-expected earnings for the September quarter. Merrill analysts raised the earnings estimate for fiscal 2005 to $1.20 a share from 95 cents a share, saying that Apple's earnings upside in the quarter "was entirely in iPods as Mac sales suffered from continued shortages of the G5 chip from IBM....Because we believe in the halo effect of iPod, the positive impact on Mac sales may still be coming."

Sonnet offers Tempo Bridge ATA solution for G5s

10/14, 12:40am

Sonnet Tempo Bridge

Sonnet today announced the Tempo Bridge, which allows users to install a 3.5-inch parallel ATA hard drive inside a Power Mac G5, the first Apple computer featuring the Serial ATA (SATA) drive interface. "Serial ATA, the emerging high-performance drive interface technology, offers greater performance than parallel ATA and uses smaller cables and connectors for better cooling. However, SATA is incompatible with ordinary parallel ATA drives. The Tempo Bridge creates an upgrade path for using a spare drive, or moving one from an older computer to a new G5." It will begin shipping on October 25 for $50.

Pandromeda releases MojoWorld 3 for 3D artists

10/14, 12:35am

MojoWorld 3 for 3D artists

Pandromeda today released the MojoWorld 3, its artist solution for creating 3D worlds and planets using a number of tools for terrain- and world-building. MojoWorld's unique procedural fractal generation engine instantly creates an entire spherical planet with unlimited detail, complete with sky, sun, moon, stars and water--all of which can be modified, transformed and animated. The Standard Edition ($200) offers PhotoBillboards, high-quality vegetation, river terrains, terran import/export, interactive light sources, MojoFX 2D special effects, SmartGuides, transformation tools, navigation tools, Planet Wizard 3 to mix n' match library of presets, a new layout mode, and more.