Forums: Luxpro discussion, Tiger features, ...

Topics of discussion on the MacNN Forums: Sonnet's 1.7GHz Power Mac G4 upgrade.... Speculation regarding the next Power Mac G5 revision.... A poll of Power Mac owners to find their current model.... The amount of RAM Power Book owners have installed in their machines.... Discussion of the capabilities of a 12" iBook for everyday computing.... An iPod shuffle knock-off from Luxpro.... The most anticipated features in Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger."

Mac site PowerPage must reveal records

Top Story: Apple has the right to subpoena the electronic records of PowerPage, which published items about an unreleased product, a judge ruled this afternoon. "Unlike the whistleblower who discloses a health, safety or welfare hazard affecting all, or the government employee who reveals mismanagement or worse by our public officials, (the enthusiast sites) are doing nothing more than feeding the public's insatiable desire for information," Kleinberg wrote, "An interested public is not the same as the public interest." Apple has been seeking the right to subpoena the Mac sites to learn the identities of the worker or workers who leaked information about Asteroid, an unreleased music product. In the ruling, the judge said, "Defining what is a 'journalist' has become more complicated as the variety of media has expanded ... But even if the movants are journalists, this is not the equivalent of a free pass."

Marware's SportGrip protects iPod shuffle

Marware has unveiled its SportGrip protective case for the iPod shuffle. Available for shipment on March 14th and in a variety of colors, the silicone SportGrip offers a non-slip grip surface that shields the Shuffle from damage, while offering easy access to the buttons. Use the included attachment ring and carabiner to secure your shuffle to a zipper, belt loop, backpack strap, lanyard or any other convenient location. SportGrip will sell for $9 and is available in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Plum, Pink, White, Gray, Black.

PocketLight emulates some "Spotlight" features

PocketLight is a free application for Mac OS X 10.3 that provides search capabilities for Mail.app mailboxes, iCal events, Address Book records, and files in a specified folder. According to the developer, PocketLight is designed to provide "limited Spotlight for Panther" -- that is, some of the features offered by Apple's "Spotlight" technology, which will be featured in Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger." PocketLight is accessible through a menubar icon or by hotkey and displays the results grouped by category. The current release is intended as a preview release, and is offered for free. "The possibilities of PocketLight are of course very limited when compared to the upcoming Spotlight technology ... we all have to wait for another few months for the real Tiger experience."

PangeaVR provides OpenGL acceleration to QTVR

Pangea today released PangeaVR, a new, free, Web browser plug-in that brings OpenGL acceleration to Quicktime VR movies. According to Pangea, “interactive panoramic photography” (QTVR) has quietly been making huge leaps in realism. Today’s hi-end QTVR movies "are truly mind-blowing." The standard panoramic renderer in Quicktime does its drawing in software, so navigating a large full-screen panorama can be slow. The PangeaVR plug-in solves this problem by rendering Quicktime VR panoramas with OpenGL to achieve smooth animation. This is the first web browser plug-in to use hardware acceleration in this way. The PangeaVR plug-in is entirely free, and is only available for Mac OS X. Pangea plans on releasing the source code to the plug-in very soon, and they are encouraging programmers to port it to other platforms.

Jobs' net worth increases to $3 billion

Steve Jobs, head of Apple and Pixar, ranks 194 on Forbes' list of the world's richest people, up 68 spots from last year. Jobs is worth $3 billion this year, according to the report, up from $2.1 billion from last year's survey. Still atop the list is Microsoft cofounder and chairman Bill Gates, with a net worth of $46.5 billion. Paul Allen, Gates' partner in the early days of Microsoft is now worth $21 billion, according to the report. The collective net worth of the 691 billionaires listed is $2.2 trillion, up $300 billion from the combined worth of the 587 people listed last year.

Aspyr to preview War Chest, Battlefront

Aspyr Media will showcase Medal of Honor Allied Assault War Chest and offer a sneak preview of Star Wars Battlefront, Friday, March 18th at 7:00 p.m. at the monthly Aspyr game night at Austin's Apple store. The Apple Store at Barton Creek Mall hosts this free community event each month to demonstrate Mac gaming with the latest Macintosh hardware. Aspyr representatives Andrew Brazell and Glenda Adams will give a short demonstration. War Chest is an add-on to the popular Medal of Honor Allied Assault war game. Battlefront is an action/shooter game that gives fans and gamers the opportunity to re-live and participate in all of the classic Star Wars battles like never before.

Frenesia offers retro arcade action

Mac Games and More today announced the release of a new game for Mac OS X called Frenesia. The game was made with the 2D game engine, PTK. The 2D "Shmup" game takes simple neon graphics and "concentrates heavily on challenging game play." The retro arcade game targets the die-hard, expert 2D shooter game players. "If you like intense arcade action, and you are an excellent shmup player, Frenesia just might be for you. I'm not going to lie. You have to be really good." Frenesia costs $7.

iPhoto plug-in allows AU/NZ users to order prints

The Shoe Box today released an iPhoto plug-in that allows all Australian and New Zealand users of iPhoto to order photographic prints from within the the iLife application. The company says it uses Premium Kodak paper for all prints and allows users to simply click the "Order Prints" to place a secure order with the company. Shoe Box says that the orders are shipped the same day, so "the majority of users will get their photos back the next day." The iPhoto plug-in supports iPhoto 4/5.

New Tunewear leatherette, leather, sheepskin cases

Tunewear has announced the Prie Classic, Prie Lux, and Prie Pearl carrying cases for the fourth generation iPod and the iPod mini. The Prie Classic is made of high quality leatherette and costs $25, while the Prie Lux ($35) is made of genuine leather, and the Prie Pearl ($45) is made of smooth sheepskin. The Classic comes in key lime, ruby pink, canvas grey, and jet black. The Prie Lux is available in black, brown, green, and cream. The Pearl comes in "pearl blue," "pearl violet," and "pearl bronze." The new Prie series 4G and mini will both be available at the end of March.

PGP announces Desktop 9.0 public beta

Encryption solution provider PGP today announced immediate public beta availability of a new version of its PGP Desktop personal encryption solution. The completely redesigned PGP Desktop 9.0 incorporates PGP Universal technology to provide automatic encryption, decryption, digital signatures, verification, and recipient key lookup. New features in PGP Desktop 9.0 include full disk encryption and AOL Instant Messenger traffic security, S/MIME interoperability, and expanded smart card support. Highlights of version 9.0 also include: improved ease of use, PGP Messaging, Support for PGP Zip archives, and advanced compression algorithms BZip2 and ZLib. The beta is available in English, German, and Japanese versions.

Fetch 5.0 nears release, invites beta testers

Fetch Softworks announced this morning that Fetch 5.0, the latest version of the popular file transfer client for Mac, has entered beta testing. Fetch 4.0 was among the first FTP clients to support Mac OS X, and is the most downloaded FTP client for the Mac, according to the developer. Fetch 5.0 adds SFTP support, improved server and firewall compatibility, and a completely rewritten user interface emphasizing simplicity and ease of use.Users interested in beta-testing Fetch 5.0 can apply at the Fetch Softworks website. Customers purchasing Fetch 4.0.3 on or after March 10, 2005 will receive a free upgrade to Fetch 5.0. Upgrade pricing for other Fetch 4 customers will be announced when Fetch 5.0 is officially released.