News Archive for 08/06/03

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Check Point VPN-1 support for iPhone

06/03, 11:20pm

Check Point VPN for iPhone

Check Point Software Technologies on Monday announced Check Point VPN-1 support for the iPhone, allowing the popular device to access virtual private networks through its gateways. Check Point VPN-1 now supports the L2TP client found in all current and future iPhone versions to provide immediate IPsec VPN access to corporate servers. Check Point VPN-1 is available through a number of the company's various products, with pricing dependant on the coupled hardware.

Redcort announces Virtual TimeClock Pro 6.0

06/03, 9:00pm

TimeClock Pro 6.0

Redcort Software, publisher of Virtual TimeClock, a time & attendance software for Windows and Macintosh computers, has announced details on their upcoming Virtual TimeClock Pro 6.0 release. Virtual TimeClock Pro is employee time clock software that enables businesses of any size to track employee time and attendance; the timesheet software is a secure replacement for mechanical employee time clocks and paper employee timesheets.

Apple expands iTunes U into four countries

06/03, 8:25pm

Apple expands iTunes U

Apple on Tuesday further expanded its international iTunes U offerings into four new countries: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. According to Macworld, the free resource provides students with access to a wide variety of educational rich media from colleges and universities around the world, including UC Berkeley, University of Melbourne, Texas A&M, MIT, Yale, and Trinity College Dublin, among many others.

Briefly: Incipio Leather cases review

06/03, 7:45pm

Digital Foci framer

In brief: We have posted a review of Incipio Leather iPod and camera cases, Digital Foci offers Custom Framer Program, Robosoft to develop for 3G iPhone, HTML snippets set for Typinator debuts ... We have posted a review of Incipio Leather iPod and camera cases. The camera case, unlike most portable camera cases, has no frills, fuss or pockets. It is simply a hard leather box with a fold-over lid. The case clips onto your belt or pocket with an attached black hard plastic clip. The top flap secures with a magnet. This is a quick shot solution, i.e. the camera is always at your fingertips to whip out with one top flip and pull. The case does have a cut out on top through which you can thread the strap, but I never used it because it adds another step to camera removal. When out on a shoot, I often carry more than one camera and it’s convenient to attach one securely to my belt.

Apps: TimeCache, Web Confidential

06/03, 7:30pm

RouteBuddy

TimeCache 7.0.10 ($30) time and expense billing application. It offers tracking of all computer activity, can use Apple Address Book entries for client contact information, can produce charts of billable time and expenses, and can import from and export tiCal calendars. Version 7.0.10 fixes a bug that could cause a crash when printing some report formats. This is a free update to the Universal Binary Macintosh OS X application. [Download - 14.8MB]
Web Confidential 3.8 ($20) professional password manager for Mac OS X. Web Confidential uses an intuitive, easy-to-use cardfile metaphor for passwords. The tool gives you access to your passwords from within your browser and from the Mac OS X Dock. When you need access to a user ID and password, a handy floating utility window shows all the information you might need about your password. This latest version is Leopard compatible and adds a Recent Searches popup menu to the search field. The upgrade is free for registered owners of Web Confidential. [Download - form]
RouteBuddy 2.1 ($100) GPS mapping program for Mac OS X. Provides native Mac OS X support for Garmin and NMEA GPS devices, and allows users to manage and display their GPS data using high-precision vector-based road maps. This release adds a new caching system to greatly improve performance,provides additional route management and printing support, and can track your GPS location in real time. Several crashing bugs have also been addressed, and searching and waypoint management have also been improved. [Download - 19.8MB]
Contactizer 3.6 ($120) personal information management application. The new release includes a dozen new features and enhancements, and now fully Leopard compliant. Contactizer 3.6 sports a Cover Flow mode (Leopard Only feature) that shows your contacts in a business card like presentation, a Task Quick Entry Panel (even works when Contactizer is not running), a new multi-calendar sync system and many user interface enhancements. Contactizer 3.6 is fully compatible with Mac OS X Tiger and Mac OS X Leopard and it is distributed as a Universal Binary and runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. [Download - 25MB]
MMScript 1.1 ($35) a plug-in for FileMaker Pro. This plug-in allows you to create Script Events that call FileMaker Pro Scripts in your Database. The plug-in also allows you to call a script when the user has been idle for any specified amount of time. New to version 1.1 is the ability to do shell scripting as well as many underlying enhancements and bug fixes. The new release also has updated core plug-in code to include all changes/enhancements from other CNS Plug-ins. [Download - form]

WebKit: new speedier JavaScript engine

06/03, 7:15pm

WebKit SquirrelFish

The WebKit development team on Tuesday unveiled a new JavaScript rendering engine called SquirrelFish for the open source browser, making the browser perform 1.6 times faster on the SunSpider benchmark. SquirrelFish is billed as a register-based, direct threaded, high-level bytecode engine with a sliding register window calling convention. The engine was designed around current theories and research progress performed by professors, and developers of the Lua programming language.

Macs right for some small businesses, not others

06/03, 5:40pm

Macs right for small biz

As Apple's popularity in the PC market grows, many in business are debating the switch, but some in the industry caution that while Macs have gained a lot of interoperability, the move may not be smart for some. CNN Money writes that the switch to Mac can be beneficial to some, even offering cost reductions in overall system price and maintenance over traditional Windows serving solutions. Writer Jonathan Blum also notes that there are some software hurdles in particular instances, which can sometimes be easily remedied.

WebScripter 2.0: PHP, CSS tool released

06/03, 5:25pm

WebScripter 2.0

The Alchemist Guild has announced the release of WebScripter 2.0, a new release of the integrated development environment (IDE) for programming in several popular web scripting languages such as:  PERL, PHP, CSS, HTML/XML, JavaScript and Ruby. The tool offers features including: text editing, previewing web pages, testing scripts, managing projects, navigating code and FTP integration. The developer says that in this release, the original concept was scrapped and redesigned from the ground up with a modern OS X GUI using tabs for editing and split views for integrating features into a single window. The new design is "compact, concise and helps to keep the user in close contact with the experience. WebScripter 2.0 is priced at $40.

Sena offers leather cases for MacBook Air

06/03, 5:10pm

Sena cases

Sena Cases has announced four new slim designer notebook cases made specifically for the MacBook Air. Styles include the patent-pending Pullino Designer Case for the MacBook Air and the LeatherSkin Case which offers an ultra-slim design, and allows the device to be fully functional without removing the notebook from the case. All the cases are designed from Italian Napa Leather. The Senna Pullino Designer Case for the MacBook Air features pull-out strap for easy release of the MacBook Air and includes velvet lining to protect the device from scratches and damage. It's priced at $240.

Mag: Jobs #2 in influencing mobile technology

06/03, 4:40pm

Mag: Jobs #2 in mobile

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the second-most influential person in the realm of mobile technology, claims Laptop. The magazine has published a ranking of some 25 people in the field, but places Jobs near the top primarily for the iPhone. On this topic the publication quotes David Carnevale, VP of multimedia content and distribution at iSuppli. "When you look over the last twelve months or so at Apple," he says, "what impresses me is their ability to continue to evolve their existing product lines as they introduce significant new things like the iPhone."

Prosoft drive utils ship on Leopard startup DVDs

06/03, 4:00pm

Prosoft & Leopard Boot DVD

Prosoft has updated two of its programs, which now have the option of free Leopard Boot DVDs. The discs should allow users to run the applications when a hard drive is otherwise unaccessible. The first of the programs, Data Rescue II, is intended for emergency file recovery, and can copy information from corrupt or unmountable hard drives, and restore data normally considered deleted. Mac OS X 10.2 or later is required, though the boot disc can run on any Mac from a G3 onwards. The base software costs $100.

Analyst predicts large potential iPhone market

06/03, 3:55pm

Analyst predicts market

As the WWDC approaches, excitement for the 3G iPhone builds, and industry analysts predict that Apple will have many new potential users with current and future carriers. Barron's Online writes that Pacific Crest's Andy Hargreaves on Tuesday offered his take on the whole situation. Hargreaves notes that the carriers with which Apple has agreements have grown in subscriber base to 669 million people, an increase of 520 million in just the last month.

WSJ: Icahn hopes to oust Yahoo chief

06/03, 3:55pm

Icahn Hopes to Oust Y CEO

Activist investor Carl Icahn wants to replace Yahoo chief Jerry Yang in the event that a proxy battle for the control of the company's board is successful, says the Wall Street Journal. An interview with Icahn reveals that is goal is to remove Yang in the belief that the long-time Yahoo executive has no interest in selling his company to Microsoft regardless of the price. The sudden use of extremely expensive severance packages, as well as other moves, are evidence that Yang is determined to keep the company independent at all costs, Icahn argues.

Aspyr delays Call of Duty 4 for Mac

06/03, 3:20pm

Call of Duty 4 delayed

Aspyr, a developer well-known for porting Windows games to the Mac, has announced that its conversion of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has been delayed. The title was originally slated to ship in early- to mid-summer, but is now said to have been "pushed back slightly," and should ship sometime in the third quarter of 2008. It is expected to go on preorder soon for $50.

Epson intros new-gen Stylus NX400 all in one printer

06/03, 3:15pm

Epson Stylus NX400 printer

Epson today introduced its new generation of all in one printers with the flagship Stylus NX400. The new printer features a 2.5-inch LCD to preview photos and documents, while a PictBridge port and memory card slot that support nearly all formats thanks to an adapter mean a computer is not required to print photos or files from cell phones or digital cameras. Automatic photo correction software allows users to edit photos before printing them.

MS to keep Win XP for ultra-budget desktops

06/03, 3:10pm

MS Keeps Win XP for Nettop

Microsoft today acceded to demands and said it would continue support for Windows XP on "nettops," a term coined by Intel that describes any very low-cost, small desktop designed for Internet access, including the Eee Box. The move is credited to the success of a plan to extend XP for micro notebooks such as the ASUS Eee PC. Users want the familiarity of Windows on these systems or an easier path for those new to computers, Microsoft claims, alluding to a tendency for some budget systems to ship with Linux to lower the price.

ModeLabs intros Bluetrek Metal ultra-slim headset

06/03, 2:50pm

Bluetrek Metal BT headset

ModeLabs Group on Monday introduced what the company claims is the lightest and thinnest Bluetooth headset yet with the Bluetrek Metal. Despite being made mostly of metal, the headset's claimed weight is just 5.5 grams, or less than a fifth of an ounce. The French company's newest product is about 4mm (0.16 inches) thick as well.

AMD plans response to Intel, VIA mini notebooks

06/03, 2:25pm

AMD-based Netbooks

AMD is working with PC builders to offer its own answer to a slew of micro notebooks based on Intel chips, visitors to AMD's booth at Computex have found today. While specifications are unclear, a number of companies are building systems using low-power Turion 64 processors as well as AMD's integrated ATI Radeon for graphics. Systems will follow a similar pattern and use Linux with lower-end systems and Windows on some higher-end models.

AMD ships quad-core Opterons for single CPU PCs

06/03, 1:50pm

AMD Quad Opteron 1300

AMD today seized on the Computex show to launch a new set of quad-core Opterons aimed at high-end home users and budget workstations or servers. The 1300 series is rated for just one processor socket and meant for users that are comfortable with four cores; the feature set is the same as for the full-power 2000- and 8000-series, including better power saving and support for virtualization and the company's signature HyperTransport bus.

LG debuts trio of Blu-ray drives

06/03, 1:45pm

New LG Blu-ray drives

Electronics monolith LG says it has released three new Blu-ray drives (not pictured): the BE06, GBC-H20L, and GBW-H20L. The first of these is an external drive, connected through a USB 2.0 port and a DC power adapter. It is said to be compatible with "all" Blu-ray, CD and DVD formats, but can only burn the latter two, up to 16x speeds when handling DVD+RW/-RW. BD-R discs can be read at 6x speed, while BD-RE media is streamed at 2x. The drive costs $380.

E-Ten debuts trio of Glofiish at Computex

06/03, 1:05pm

E-Ten phones at Computex

Cellphone maker E-Ten has debuted a trio of new Glofiish phones at the Taiwanese Computex expo. Leading these according to MobileBurn is the X900, a touchscreen device running the professional version of Windows Mobile 6.1. Although the device also has HSDPA broadband, its primary feature may be the style of touch control, which is said to resemble the TouchFLO interface used on HTC's Touch handsets. A difference is that the X900 uses 3D effects and large icons better suited to fingers.

Canon intros two 'world's first' LCoS projectors

06/03, 12:20pm

Canon REALiS projectors

Canon this morning launched two new projectors to add to its flagship REALiS line that make use of liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) technology with the REALiS WUX10, and REALiS SX80. The WUX10 becomes the company's top-of-the-line offering in the category; at just 0.7 inches, the WUX10's three LCoS panels are the smallest in any projector with a 1920x1200 (WUXGA) native resolution.

Piper: History favors investing before WWDC

06/03, 12:05pm

Piper on WWDC trading

People looking to make a short-term profit on Apple stock may want to consider buying before a company event, and selling the week after, a new Piper Jaffray analysis suggests. The group says it has researched the trading history for the past 14 major events, and determined that Apple stock tends to climb 0.4 percent between the day before an event and a week after it; if the former duration is extended to a week before, the growth becomes 4.2 percent. During the events themselves, Apple stocks slide an average of 0.7 percent.

Intel unwraps 8GB SSD for handhelds

06/03, 12:00pm

Intel Z-P230 Solid-State

Alongside its new chipsets, Intel on Tuesday has also unveiled the Z-P230, a new version of its ultra-small solid-state drive. The flash disk is roughly four times smaller than a 1.8-inch hard drive found in an ultraportable notebook but holds either 4GB or 8GB of storage on chips that are no larger than a penny, as much as quadrupling the storage available through the Z-P140 introduced less than a year ago. The added capacity makes the drive a good match for handhelds as well as extremely low-cost desktops and notebooks, according to Intel.

Apple confirms Apple Expo pull-out

06/03, 11:10am

Apple confirms Expo no-go

Apple is confirming rumors that it will not attempt September's Apple Expo in Paris, a French publication reports. Anonymous sources noted yesterday that Apple's normal floor space at the event, generally reserved months in advance, has remained nowhere to be seen in plans for 2008. An Apple representative now says that the company has officially withdrawn from the Expo, as part of a deliberate, long-term strategy.

Hynix demos ultra-small 32GB flash memory

06/03, 11:10am

Hynics Small 32GB Flash

Hynix today unveiled a new upgrade to its flash memory that it hopes will dramatically improve the capacity of portable media players and other flash-bound devices. The company's version of three-bits-per-cell technology lets the company stack data to offer as much as 32 gigabytes of data into a tighter space. Despite the capacity jump, the 32GB chip occupies 30 percent less area than a more typical two-bits-per-cell flash chip, the company says. The space would allow a single chip to hold as many as 8,000 average-size MP3 tracks.

Monopoly reaches iTunes Store

06/03, 10:30am

Monopoly at iTunes Store

The latest game on the iTunes Store is Electronic Arts' adaptation of the classic boardgame Monopoly, Apple has announced. As with the original game, players buy, trade and sell real estate in order to push their fellow players out of the market. The latest digital form makes this more appealing to the senses, with music, sound effects and animated player pieces.

Starbucks offer of free Wi-Fi to cardholders official

06/03, 10:25am

Starbucks free Wi-Fi

Yesterday's report of specialty coffee chain Starbucks offering free-of-charge Wi-Fi access to customers has been made official, the company confirms through its sign-up page posted today. The deal offers two hours of uninterrupted access each day to Starbucks Card owners who use or top up their cards at least once a month, encouraging them to make regular visits to Starbucks that the company hopes will translate to increased coffee sales.

NVIDIA rolls out GeForce 9M mobile graphics

06/03, 10:05am

NVIDIA GeForce 9M

NVIDIA on Tuesday officially unveiled the next major upgrade to its notebook graphics lineup. The GeForce 9M series is built on a new, multi-core graphics engine that the electronics designer claims is as much as 40 percent faster than earlier 8M chipsets. Video encoding is up to five times faster, the company claims. The new design is also home to the first mobile chipsets with Hybrid SLI; notebooks can switch off the dedicated video and revert to integrated graphics to save power while on battery or when running less demanding tasks.

Apple opens third Houston store, confirms Paris shop

06/03, 9:45am

Third Houston Apple Store

Apple has announced that its third store in Houston, Texas will open this Saturday, June 7th. The shop (not pictured) is located within the Willowbrook Mall, near Dillards and JC Penney, and on opening day will be open from 10AM to 9PM. Sunday hours are 11AM to 7PM, and weekday hours are a consistent 10AM to 9PM. As with other Apple Stores, people will have access to services like the Genius Bar, personal training, and personal shopping appointments; no workshops, however, are scheduled within the first three days of the store's opening.

iHome rolls speakers with built-in iPod dock

06/03, 9:30am

iHome iH69 and iH70

iHome this morning made official two iPod speaker systems designed to make the most of available space for computer users: the iH69 and iH70 both incorporate an iPod dock directly into the base of the left satellite, reducing the clutter of a stand-alone dock. The addition not only charges and plays the iPod but also syncs with any Mac or PC connected to the speakers through USB.

Intel launches 4-series chips with new GPU

06/03, 9:10am

Intel 4-series Chipset

Intel today used Computex to formally unveil its 4-series chipsets, the foundation for its mainstream desktops as well as a clue to the graphics technology that will underpin all basic Intel-based systems in the future. The G45 Express chipset is the first to include Intel's new Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD video platform and represents a fundamental leap over the X3000 and X3100 in previous mainboards. The chipset is the first from Intel capable of full hardware acceleration of most HD video formats up to and including 1080p Blu-ray; the technology offloads most of the work from the main processor, even with background apps, and boosts the image quality of the picture itself.

Radiohead catalog comes to iTunes Store

06/03, 9:05am

Radiohead on iTunes

Radiohead's back catalog is now at the iTunes Store (link), Apple has announced. Although the British band was previously selling material from its latest album, In Rainbows, its earlier albums had been left off, possibly due to licensing issues. In Rainbows was initially launched as an independent download, for which customers could pay as much or as little as they felt it was worth. A traditional CD release and digital distribution on Amazon followed.

Acer launches Atom-based Aspire one portable

06/03, 7:45am

Acer Aspire One

Acer this morning made its launch into micro notebooks official with the Aspire one. Following closely in the style of systems from ASUS and MSI, the 8.9-inch portable is based on an Intel Atom processor that Acer claims should last for about 6 hours on an optional battery, or slightly longer than the MSI Wind's 5.5 hours. This is helped by the switch to flash storage on the base model: simpler configurations include an 8GB module in place of the hard drive used in some other mini portables.

MSI formalizes Wind for US, ships June 16

06/03, 7:15am

MSI Wind Launch Firmed Up

MSI this morning finalized the US specs and details for the Wind, its entry into micro notebooks. The 10-inch, LED-backlit system is available in Linux and Windows versions that share virtually identical features: at the center is a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor that MSI claims will net each Wind as much as 5.5 hours of battery life, or much more than systems based on older Celeron processors. Each also comes with an 80GB hard drive rather than flash memory.

Apple school deal offers free iPod touch

06/03, 6:55am

Free iPod touch Edu Promo

Apple today began one of its more ambitious back-to-school promos by offering a free iPod touch to faculty and students buying a Mac through either the online Apple Store or retail stores that offer educational deals. The campaign offers a $299 rebate equivalent to the price of an 8GB iPod touch if both the iPod and the Mac are on the same order; buyers can also upgrade to a 16GB or 32GB and apply the full discount. Those who prefer the iPod nano can opt for an 8GB model at a reduced $199 rebate.

Asus unveils Eee PC 901, 1000, 1000H ultra-portables

06/03, 1:20am

Asus unveils Eee PC 1000

Taiwanese PC manufacturer Asus on Tuesday unveiled three new Eee PC models – the 901, 1000, and 1000H – which confirmed earlier observations of the three models. Asus says that all three models take advantage of SSD drives in place of standard laptop hard drives, making them ideal for outdoor computing, journalism, or other mobile careers. The Eee PC models all feature wireless networking, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a nearly full-sized keyboard.

MacPractice users to get SuniRay sensor

06/03, 12:20am

MacPractice users to get S

Developer of MacPractice DDS, and Suni Medical, Imaging, Inc. announced a collaboration to develop a MacSensor solution, comprised of the newly introduced SuniRay sensor and MacPractice DR (Digital Radiography/Photo) software. The new SuniRay dental sensor uses the latest CMOS technology, and delivers high image quality with maximum diagnostic capabilities for dentists. SuniRay’s ergonomic design and rounded corners ensure easy positioning and optimal patient comfort.

Preliminary Eee PC 1000 photos surface

06/03, 12:10am

Eee PC 1000 photos surface

Ahead of the expected launch later Monday night, some photos of the Asus EeePC 1000 have surfaced, showing two models: the 1000, and the 1000H. BlogEee reveals that the ultra-portable will feature a keyboard 92-percent the size of a standard laptop keyboard, while appearing to have a similar build to that of the EeePC 901, including the built-in 1.3 megapixel web camera, touchpad, power buttons, and status light indicators.