News Archive for 04/11/03

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Apple blocks outdated iTunes clients from store

11/03, 6:00pm

Apple blocks old iTunes

Apple has begun blocking users of outdated versions of iTunes from accessing the company's Music Store. Users must have version 4.5 or later of iTunes to access the store and purchase songs. iTunes 4.7, the latest version, is a free download, and users of blocked versions are asked to update their software.

Parliant updates PhoneValet's voice mail system

11/03, 1:35pm

PhoneValet update

Parliant today announced a new release of PhoneValet Message Center (PVMC). Version 2.1 significantly enhances PVMC's voice mail system by letting users listen in live as callers leave messages. It also enhances PVMC's ability to host informational services (like theater listings and club info lines). "Through a new real-time call screening capability, PVMC 2.1 gives you the flexibility to take important calls immediately while ensuring that callers left in voicemail continue to be treated to a professional telephone experience." PhoneValet costs $200.

Elemental Audio updates audio EQ plug-ins for Logic 7

11/03, 12:40pm

Elemental Audio plug-ins

Elemental Audio Systems today announced the availability of the newest versions of its two flagship audio equalizer plug-ins, Firium and Eqium. In addition to new features and improvements, these new versions include improved Audio Unit support for better compatibility with Apple Logic 7 and other up-to-date Audio Unit applications. Firium and Eqium support a range of common plug-in formats and are compatible with popular host applications including Digidesign Pro Tools, Steinberg Cubase, and BIAS Peak. Both plug-ins are available individually for $129 each or bundled for $169. The updated versions are free to registered customers.

Mossberg slams iRiver player, recommends iPod Photo

11/03, 12:25pm

Mossberg on iPod Photo

After comparing Apple's new iPod Photo to the 20GB iRiver H320, renowned Wall Street Journal columnist, Walt Mossberg, writes: "The iPod Photo was just as easy, and satisfying, to use with photos as it is with music. It's a winner, if a little pricey. But the iRiver player is complicated and clumsy, designed by techies for techies." In conclusion, Mossberg says he cannot recommend the iRiver for average, nontechnical users. "But the new iPod Photo is a great choice for storing and sharing digital photos. We just hope it comes down in price."

Aspyr to publish DOOM 3 for Mac

11/03, 11:25am

DOOM 3 for Mac

Aspyr announced today that it is bringing id Software’s blockbuster hit, DOOM 3, to Macintosh. The game is under development for Macintosh by id Software, and will be published by Aspyr. "The ruins of an ancient Martian civilization have unlocked the secrets to teleportation and the Union Aerospace Corporation will stop at nothing to harness this world-altering technology. As part of a Marine detachment sent to protect the facility, your duty seemed simple enough – until the invasion. Now, in an epic clash against pure evil you must fight to understand who is with you, who is against you, and what must be done to stop this nightmare from reaching earth." The game, which requires a PowerPC G5 1.5 GHz or faster microprocessor, is available for pre-order for $50.

BusinessWeek: "Can The iPod Keep Leading The Band?"

11/03, 10:45am

BW on iPod share

A BusinessWeek column looks at the future of Apple's dominance in the digital music player sector. "Apple has to continue to out-innovate a growing crowd of contenders ... Although they haven't much dented the iPod's appeal so far, a horde of rivals, including Dell, Sony, Virgin Electronics, and Samsung, will offer north of 100 iPod wannabes this holiday season." The article warns Apple's dominance could be short lived as other companies move in "Just look at Palm in PDAs, Nintendo in game consoles, and Apple itself in PCs. Already, rival music players offer more features at lower prices."

Propel Internet accelerator for Mac

11/03, 8:50am

Propel Accelerator for Mac

Propel Software Corporation announced today it has developed Propel Accelerator for Macintosh, a fast Internet accelerator for the Mac OS X platform. The software improves the Internet experience by accelerating the delivery of web pages to the user's browser. Using proprietary, patent-pending technology, Propel Accelerator downloads the highest quality Internet content (both graphical and text-based) with minimum latency and maximum speeds over low-speed connections. "Instead of simply converting its Windows application version to the Macintosh, Propel has designed its Macintosh accelerator as a system-level utility that is simple and intuitive to use." Propel Accelerator is designed to work with OS X 10.2 and higher. The software will be distributed through ISPs in December 2004 for an additional service cost of $8 a month.

VLC Media Player 0.80 adds dozens of features

11/03, 8:35am

VLC Media Player 0.80

The VideoLAN team has released VLC Media Player 0.80, an update to the very useful utility for playback of various video and audio files. The new version adds an audio equalizer, Vobsub support, multichannel audio downmixing, a new plugins cache system to speed up launch time, Windows Media Server RTSP support, support for iTunes Music Store previews, and improvements to the subtitles/OSD subsystem. The new version also includes vastly improved DVD support, a new screen capture input plugin, multipart JPEG webcam and muxing support, and complete re-writes of the input and transcoding layers. The player is a free download.

Analyst: Apple to sell 2.68 million iPods in Q1

11/03, 8:00am

2.68 million iPods in Q1

Several media outlets this morning are quoting Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Steven Milunovich, who claims that Apple may sell as many as 2.68 million iPods in the December period, almost four times the year-earlier total. "Demand for the music players, which let users download, store and play thousands of songs, made Apple the second-best performing stock in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index this year." The computer company said last month that sales will rise to as much as $2.9 billion in the period that ends Christmas Day, as gift buying fuels a "marked increase" in iPod shipments and customers snap up a new version of the iMac computer released in September.

GraphicConverter 5.3 available for download

11/03, 7:55am

GraphicConverter 5.3

Lemke Software has released GraphicConverter 5.3, which boasts nearly 20 new features including xmp metadata support, extended AppleScript support, new hand as caliper rule tools, an improved browser toolbar, and more. The new version of the shareware image editor also updates a dozen existing features and corrects several known and potential bugs. GraphicConverter costs $35 and is available for both Mac OS X and Classic. [Classic -7.3MB] [Mac OS X -11.1MB]