News Archive for 05/06/23

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CatDV 4.0 updates video logging, media database app

06/23, 6:50pm

CatDV 4.0 debuts

CatDV 4.0 is a major update to Square Box Systems' flagship video logging and media database application. CatDV 4.0 is a cross-platform media asset database, designed for all types of media file--but offers an emphasis on video formats. It offers timecode support, automatic scene detection, automatic logging of DV footage, and the use of preview movies when the original media are offline amd also has full support for media types other than video, such as still images with EXIF metadata tags. Other features include extensive metadata support with unlimited user-defined logging fields and powerful search and print capabilities.

Apps: Eggplant, Account Manager, QuizMaker, iClip...

06/23, 6:15pm

Eggplant, iClip...

Eggplant 2.2 (options) updates the cross-platform test automation tool for Mac OS X with improved compatibility with Tiger as well as improved performance. Designed specifically for GUI-level testing, Eggplant combines image-capture-and-compare technology with a powerful scripting language that allows QA teams to automate tests and other repetitive tasks.
Account Manager 1.5 ($180) helps users/developers manage user access to FileMaker databases, allowing them to leverage the new security structure of?FileMaker 7. It supports enforcement of predefined password lengths, requiring a user to change their password every X number of days, temporary access to user groups, easily locating user records, broadcast messages to users, and more. [Download - form]
QuizMaker Pro 5.5 ($18) is a testing application which can create, archive, administer, grade, and analyze multiple choice, matching and short answer quizzes. It can also notify students of their scores, and allow them to review missed questions. Version 5.5 offers improved networking, total test time limits (as well as per question limits), more customization, etc. Site licenses are $100. [Download - 3.6MB]
MyJazzBand ($40) is a new Cocoa/CoreMIDI jazz accompaniment generator that uses intelligent chord and scale analysis to create and play realistic bass, piano, and drum accompaniments. It can be used as a jazz improvisation practice aid and compositional tool. [Download - 973KB]
iClip 3.6 ($20) is the latest version of the multiple clipboard and scrapbook software. Version 3.6 features significantly improved support for picture clippings with alpha channels and major improvements to files copied as clippings from the Finder. This version also features several bug fixes and other improvements. [Download - 3.7MB]
Sophie is an e-book reader for Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger." It includes Rivertext.com's latest e-book collection, with "five extraordinary stories" by Franz Kafka. Sophie was developed by Rivertext.com and Fourth World Media. [Download - 8.0MB]

CatDV Live Capture Plus 1.0 automates video capture

06/23, 5:35pm

CatDV Live Capture Plus

Square Box Systems today released CatDV Live Capture Plus, a new capture utility for transferring video images from Digital Video tape onto a computer. Live Capture Plus continuously monitors the signal being captured and automatically rewinds the tape and retries the capture if any errors are detected. The technology is designed to help solve the problem of dropped frames and similar errors. It can output to DV QuickTime movies (for use in FCP), as DV Streams (for use in iMovie), or compress them to any other QuickTime-supported format, including MPEG-4 and the new H.264 codec in QuickTime 7.

DLO cuts iBoom price by $20

06/23, 4:35pm

iBoom price cut

Digital Lifestyle Outfitters announced today that the popular DLO iBoom boombox for iPod and iPod mini has a new low price of $130. It features 20-watts of amplified music power, a digital FM radio, and a bright, amber backlit display. The DLO iBoom, which runs on 6 D batteries or AC power, is the portable iPod Boombox that lets users take their iPod’s music anywhere. Previously $150, the iBoom is now available for just $130 at Target, CompUSA, Fry’s, iPod retailers nationwide. "The iBoom is the only portable speaker solution for iPod that has an FM radio, so users can check the news, sports, traffic or the weather while they are out and about," the company said.

Columnist follows up on Michael Dell quote

06/23, 4:00pm

Michael Dell followup

Fortune columnist David Kirkpatrick has followed up on his widely covered article that quoted Michael Dell as saying his company would be interested in selling machines loaded with Mac OS X. "While Dell's interest is newsworthy, I doubt Jobs will let him sell OS X anytime soon. The Apple CEO has said he won't, though in the past he has been known to say that he won't do things right up until he does them. And such a move would be challenging for Apple financially. That's because, for all of the company's software smarts, its revenues are still heavily reliant upon computer hardware." Although Mac OS X may not make it to other vendor's hardware in the near future, "readers are convinced that Jobs' strategic switch to Intel will mean great things for Apple, regardless whether it includes licensing to Dell or others," writes Kirkpatrick. "People are especially excited about being able to run Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system on the same Intel-based Apple machines that run OS X."

Belkin acknowledges Power Pack defect

06/23, 3:00pm

Belkin defect

Belkin has issued an official company statement regarding reports of defective Power Pack units. Problems were first reported on iPodNN and other websites last week. Many users said their Power Pack for iPod shuffle would not charge the device. "A manufacturing defect that affects some production units of our Power Pack for iPod shuffle has been identified: despite the fact that the Power Pack is providing the appropriate voltage, a connected iPod shuffle may not charge." Continued on iPodNN. . .

Belkin acknowledges Power Pack defect

06/23, 2:55pm

Power Pack defect

Belkin has issued an official company statement regarding reports of defective Power Pack units. Problems were first reported on iPodNN and other websites last week. Many users said their Power Pack for iPod shuffle would not charge the device. "A manufacturing defect that affects some production units of our Power Pack for iPod shuffle has been identified: despite the fact that the Power Pack is providing the appropriate voltage, a connected iPod shuffle may not charge."

Allume revamps Internet Cleanup with version 3.0

06/23, 1:30pm

Internet Cleanup 3

Allume today announced Internet Cleanup 3.0 for Mac, the latest version of the popular privacy tool that protects users from unscrupulous monitoring of their private information. Users can now schedule a cleaning of forms' auto-fill data, e-mail attachments, instant messaging log files, Web files, and more. In addition, Internet Cleanup 3.0 offers protection from Spyware, provides secure file deletion, monitors transmissions of data over the Internet and browser cookie management. The MSRP for Internet Cleanup 3.0 is $30, available directly from Allume and popular retailers and catalogs. Internet Cleanup Mac users can upgrade for $15.

New Widgets Preference Pane offers more control

06/23, 12:50pm

Widgets Prefs Pane

Widgets Preference Pane for Mac OS X allows users to "truly take control" of Dashboard. Users can see all of the installed Widgets and deactivate, activate or delete any of them. To prevent various security exploits, users can lock both the System and User Widget folders via Tiger's new Access Control List (ACL) security system. Widgets Preference Pane makes it possible to display widgets on the desktop, and to replace the Dashboard shelf graphic. Amnesty Widget Browser allows Dashboard widgets to live directly on the Desktop as well as offers legacy Panther users to run Widgets. Meanwhile, Chris Barr has released widgets for CNN, Digital Clock, and Bible Gateway, while Paniris has released WordPressDash 0.2, which is built for WordPress users and offers category support, and Random Password, which creates custom passwords based on certain criteria.

Briefly: LEGO hits beta, Google payments, FileMaker 8

06/23, 12:00pm

Aspyr LEGO hits beta

In Brief: Aspyr today announced that LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game for Mac has hit beta status and is scheduled to ship this August for $30.... Google has confirmed that it is developing an online payment system, although it says it has no plans to take on eBay's PayPal service.... FileMaker is expected to announce a major upgrade to its FileMaker Pro database suite in the coming with new workflow and sharing features.... America Online has begun moving away from its proprietary content policy, placing most of its news, sports, chats and other features on the open Internet--in a bid to better compete wtih Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.... The Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX, already available to users, is its most advanced computer graphics chip, leveraging the same technology that's going into Sony's PlayStation 3 game consoles.

Mediaboard ONE manages images, movies

06/23, 11:50am

Mediaboard ONE released

InterServices New Media today released Mediaboard ONE, its media cataloging and asset management application that can easily manage images and movies by tracking locations of media files--on a CD/DVD, on an internal disc or on a network server. It automatically creates catalogs, creates intelligent thumbnails, offers the ability to add info (comments, keywords, etc.) and includes a new Autofill feature to quickly extract useful data, such as EXIF data. In addition, Mediaboard ONE now offers a new digital light table, an enhanced image/movie viewer, and an enhanced workflow feature that includes several pre-defined workflows. It is available now for $40 (single-client) or $500 (5-user workgrup license which offers a centralized database server).

Apple experiences strong growth in May retail sales

06/23, 11:40am

Strong May retail sales

Apple showed signs of strong retail growth in May, despite a lackluster month for the overall PC industry. According to NPD, retail PC shipment growth fell to 4% in May, led by desktops, falling 10% year-over-year and 8% month-over-month; however, retail notebooks shipments were much stronger, growing 23% year-over-year, in line with March figures. "From a vendor perspective, Apple Computer was the big winner, growing units 79% year-over-year overall and 94% year-over-year in standalone retail," the research firm said. Gateway also did well expanding its retail business 37% year-over-year, while HP experienced a sales decline of 10% year-over-year, according to Forbes.com.

Apps: RSS Menu, TFTP Server, QuicKeys X, CryptoEdit..

06/23, 10:25am

RSS Menu, TFTP Server

RSS Menu 1.3 (free) is a very simple application that allows you to read any RSS or Atom feeds found on various websites. Version 1.3 adds support for Mac OS X 10.4, support for feedgroups, a button to remove the cache files, and more. [Download - 235KB]
TFTP Server 2.8 (free) allows users to configure a "Trivial File Transfer Protocol" server. Due to major changes made by Apple to all network services that relied upon the underlying xinetd superdaemon, the TftpServer applications doesn't yet work with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger." [Download - 214KB]
QuicKeys X 3.1 ($100) is the "first automation utility" specifically designed for Mac OS X. Automator Workflows can now be incorporated into QuicKeys 3.1 shortcuts as standalone items or part of a larger QuicKeys sequence. [Download - form]
CryptoEdit 1.0 ($20) is a full featured word processor for text, rtf and rtfd files. It saves documents encrypted using Blowfish algorithms and can import and export from/to standard documents. It can "save and read files at fast speed, almost no difference with plain format software." [Download - 162KB]
info.xhead 1.0 ($20) is a secure personal database application. It is a fully extensible personal database and includes functionality to define custom data category templates, import and export data, iPod integration, .mac synchronization, and Spotlight searching integration. [Download - 751KB]
Atomic Mac 6.1.0 ($25) offers is a periodic table of elements and nuclear database for the Macintosh. This new version adds ionic and crystal radii information for ions, the ability to graph the first, second, and third ionization potentials for the various elements, and includes several bug fixes. [Download - 3.0MB]

Review: SportGrip for iPod shuffle

06/23, 9:45am

SportGrip review

We've posted a review of the SportGrip for iPod shuffle from Marware. "Listening to your music collection on your iPod shuffle might relax you, but carrying the iPod shuffle around raises worries about protection and transportation. How do you protect your iPod shuffle and prevent it from accidentally falling off its cap? What if you don’t want to wear the supplied lanyard? Fortunately, Marware has responded to these needs with an excellent product, the SportGrip for iPod shuffle." The case is individually available in ten colors with a black carabiner for $10. You can also purchase a Sport Grip Three-Pack in Black, White and Gray or Red, Blue, and Black for $25.

iPod news: ZVUE Player, Shuffle Muffles, iPod knockof

06/23, 9:40am

iPodNN news

iPodNN roundup: The new ZVUE Video Player is a compact iPod-like device for playing music, watching movies, and viewing photos.... Hotromz.com has introduced a new line of "unusual" hand crafted cases known as "Shuffle Muffles."... ProClip USA has announced its Padded Adjustable Holder with Tilt Swivel for standard-sized iPods.... The "Ipod MP4 Player" is the latest in a series of iPod knockoffs from China.... Don't miss the latest iPod news: be sure to check iPodNN or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Reviews: Harmony 676, Tracker Widget, SportGrip...

06/23, 9:15am

Reviews roundup

MacNN Reviews roundup: Monkey Business Labs offered us a preview of their new To Do Tracker Widget available for download on Friday.... Logitech's Harmony 676 is a universal remote for the home theater designed to integrate up to 15 different devices.... Sony's latest DVD burner for Mac, the DRX-720UL-T, is neither exceptional nor flawed: it's somewhere in between.... The Disc Stakka CD and DVD Manager provides the storage hungry with up to 500 easily accessible, protected and neatly sorted disks, within an arm's reach.... The SportGrip for iPod shuffle does its job as promised, but it might not be for everyone.... "eBay Photos that Sell: Taking Great Product Shots for eBay and Beyond" is a stunningly rich and focused instruction manual worthy of inclusion in product photography classes.

ZVUE device plays movies, music, photos

06/23, 8:45am

ZVUE Player

The new ZVUE Video Player is a compact iPod-like device for playing music, watching movies, and viewing photos. Unlike the iPod, there is no internal storage offered. Rather, it uses memory cards for storing content. The device is priced at $150 with a 32MB card. Discounts are offered on the purchase of larger cards, however. The 2.5" display offers a resolution of 176 x 120 pixels. Many video formats are supported, including AVI, MPEG, HHe, mini-DV, Quicktime, and more. The device plays MP3 and Ogg music files. MP3 files created by applications such as MusicMatch Jukebox and Apple iTunes (Windows or Macintosh) are supported. Windows Media is not supported for either audio or video. The ZVUE is compact, measuring 4.33 x 2.91 x 1.1 inches. It features a USB interface for writing to SD and MMC cards formatted as FAT or FAT-32.

Hand-made 'Shuffle Muffle' cases for iPod shuffle

06/23, 8:35am

\'Shuffle Muffle\' cases

Hotromz.com has introduced a new line of hand crafted "slip cases" for the iPod shuffle. The "Shuffle Muffles" are described as "unusual" cases that are "not mass-produced and are not made in China." Instead, the company says that they are handmade by the owner of HotRomz.com in Northern California. "Available in bright fun colors, these unique protective shuffle covers range from plain to furry to wild. The 'Shuffle Muffle' slides onto the iPod shuffle easily, with an opening at the top for the lanyard and an opening at the bottom for the earbud jack. Now iPod shuffle owners can dress up their shuffles, and wear a fun creation that reflects their mood and taste." The $15 cases ships in its own box with a Certificate of Authenticity.

ProClip offers padded iPod holder with tilt/swivel

06/23, 8:20am

Padded iPod holder

ProClip USA has announced its Padded Adjustable Holder with Tilt Swivel for standard-sized iPods. The new Holder adjusts in width for a a cusom fid to accommodate silicone/skin type and other encased iPods such as DLO Jam Jacket, iSkin eVo series, Power Support Silicone Jacket, Speck SkinTight, XtremeMac Silicone Sleeve, and other cases. It features adjustable sidewalls: "simply loosen the 4 thumbscrews on the back of the Holder, pull the left and right sidewall away from each other, place the iPod into the holder, press the sidewalls against the iPod to a fit where the iPod still can slide in and out of the Holder, and tighten the thumbscrews." It is available now for $40.

Apple sells 50 million songs through iTunes in Europe

06/23, 7:40am

EuroiTunes passes 50M mark

Apple today announced that it has sold more than 50 million songs in its first year from the European version of its iTunes Music Store. The European iTunes Music Stores were launched in the UK, France and Germany in June 2004, and now operate in 17 European countries. The stores have catalogues of over one million songs each, and feature content from all major music companies and over 1,000 independent record labels. "We're thrilled to have sold and delivered over 50 million songs in our first year", said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Applications. "We'd like to thank European music fans for making iTunes such a success".