July 29 - 4:00pm EDT   LightWork Design has announced LightWorks 7.9 will debut at next month's SIGGRAPH computer graphics exhibition. The company is also promising a new progressive rendering technology and an update to its LightWorks Studio Edition. LightWorks is a 3D graphics rendering toolset. Version 7.9 adds Ambient Occlusion, which adds ambient lighting features for 3D images. New to v7.9 are Complex Reflective Shaders for generating realistic material effects, including reflectance shaders like Glossy Reflections, Frosted Glass, Enhanced Car Paint and others. There are extended CgFX material effects added to v7.9, as well as refinements to Specular Final Gather that provide faster ... [full story]

July 18 - 7:35pm EDT   In brief: We have posted a review of Colin McRae Rally Mac, MacNN is seeking experienced web/Xcode developers, Adobe's Flash 2 Beta for Mac OS X undergoes a bug fix, an iPhone 3G ringtone tool debuts, and The Macintosh Business Users Society will hold a meeting in Philadelphia this month ... We have posted a review of Colin McRae Rally Mac. This game features over 30 cars and many famous scenic spots from the sport. While the game is a port of Colin McRae Rally 2005 on the PC, the game holds up well to age, with its rapid frame rate, and solid game mechanics. Despite Colin's comparably modest system requirements, which allows play on high-end PowerBook G4 or PowerMac ... [full story]

July 9 - 5:45pm EDT   Despite NVIDIA's claims, the Inquirer reports all, not just a select batch, of the company's G84 and G86 chipsets used in GeForce 8400M and 8600M graphics cards are suffering from heat-related failures due to an unidentified substrate or bumping material used to help make the video hardware. They all share the same application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which is the source of the problems, in both notebook and desktop PCs. The chips have been failing since last year, and earlier this month, NVIDIA said the problems will drop the value of its shares to the tune of 25 percent, and is budgeting $200 million for repairs. [full story]

June 5 - 12:05am EDT   It is a common fact the Mac is great for creating and working with graphics, but for too many people, the idea of drawing anything, especially on the computer, is too intimidating. Even worse, most graphics programs for the Mac assume you’re already an experienced graphics artist who won’t mind spending $400 or more for a high-end program loaded with every possible feature. Fortunately for aspiring artists, Toon Boom Studios has teamed up with artist Peter H. Reynolds (author of the books “The Dot” and the “Judy Moody” series) to create Animation-ish. [full story]

May 21 - 4:50pm EDT   AMD on Wednesday announced details on utilizing new GDDR5 memory in upcoming next generation ATI Radeon graphics cards. Graphics Double Data Rate version 5 is expected to become the new industry standard, the company says, as it provides up to four times the data speed rates of GDDR4 memory. [full story]

May 20 - 8:05pm EDT   In brief: We have posted a review of DeskUNPDF, Lingoport is offering classes on writing globalized Mac apps, Apple came in 11th in Web traffic in April, and the Lasso Wiki source code has been released ... We have posted a review of DeskUNPDF for Mac from Docudesk is a very easy to use utility that converts Adobe PDF files into a modifiable form. You can edit, rearrange, add, or delete text, plus place tabular data into Excel spread sheets. You can also export the imbedded graphics. You can also take PDFs that contain spreadsheet and database data and extract that data as Coma Separated Values (CSV) and import it into an Excel spreadsheet. You can also import the information ... [full story]

April 17 - 3:25pm EDT   CS Odessa today released ConceptDraw 7.6 an update to its drawing and business diagramming software package. The professional business graphics software permits users to create sophisticated and high-quality organization charts, flowcharts and business graphics as well as the ability to create network and database diagrams. Version 7.6 includes a specialized flowchart library as well as traditional flowcharting shapes with more than 150 objects available for use. ConceptDraw 7.6 also significantly improves text editing performance and support of Chinese and Arabic characters. ConceptDraw 7.6 is a no charge update for all registered users of ConceptDraw 7.x. Owners ... [full story]

April 15 - 3:15pm EDT   The long-awaited NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT upgrade for Mac Pros has been released. The graphics card features 512MB of dedicated GDDR3 memory, uses the PCI Express interface, and includes two dual-link DVI ports, and is capable of driving up to two 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays. It requires a Mac Pro (bus speed 1.33GHz) with PCI-Express. The card is priced at $280 and can be purchased as a standalone, user-installable item or as a build-to-order option for Early 2008 Mac Pros through the online Apple Store. Controversy ensued when Apple introduced this upgrade card as an option available exclusively to newly purchased Mac Pros in January. At the time, users presented ... [full story]

March 19 - 2:25pm EDT   Gefen has introduced a new USB to DVI Graphics Adapter that allows users to connect additional displays Mac OS X systems. This tiny adapter allows a plug and play connection of a DVI or VGA display to any USB 2.0 port so you can add digital video displays or projectors to your laptop and personal computer for simultaneous video delivery without needing a DVI port. Output video is delivered in the DVI-I format, allowing for either VGA or DVI display compatibility. [full story]

March 13 - 2:15pm EDT   Feral Interactive has announced a release date for Fable: The Lost Chapters, a new action role-playing game for the Mac: Monday, March 31st. The game invites players to take the role of a legendary Hero and create his life story from child to old man. "Players are challenged to undertake quests and perform great deeds and in so doing must make a multitude of choices and decisions along the way. Each decision and every action shapes the character of the Hero; skills, appearance and even morality are all affected." The game will retail in the US for $50.00, £35 (inc VAT) in the UK and 50 euros throughout Europe. It is currently available for pre-order from Feral's online ... [full story]

March 12 - 2:00pm EDT   Domainer 1.6 ($40) an application for web site owners, marketers and investors track and manage their domain names. RAGE Domainer allows web site owners to centralize domain details, as well as those of their competitors, with one easy tuse application. Domainer also provides an overview of a domain's value through various popularity measures including Google PageRank, AlexaRank, incoming back links, and social tags.This free update allows exporting and printing of Domain details to provide a quick overview of domain information and popularity for clients or personal use. [Download - 10.8MB] Vvidget 10.5.2 ($190) used to automate graphs for desktop applications, dashboard widgets ... [full story]

February 25 - 2:40pm EST   iToppers.com has launched a redesigned website featuring new original graphic skins for iBooks, MacBooks, and MacBook Pros. The revised site also allows visitors to order a custom skin with personally-chosen graphics. "Now you can add even more style to the best looking portable computer out there with iToppers graphic skins for your Apple MacBook and iBook," the website reads. "Easy to install, [they] protect your MacBook or iBook from scratches." Customized iToppers are priced at $40 for the 17-inch MacBook Pro, $35 for the 12-inch iBook, and $37 for the 14-inch iBook. Premade iTopper skins are priced individually, with most ranging between $17-20. [full story]

February 13 - 7:50pm EST   Mac OS X 10.5.2 and the accompanying graphics update were released to alleviate both minor and substantial issues, but may have instigated a few issued of its own. According to users in Apple's Discussion forums [1|2|3|4], the update has created some printing problems, compatibility issues with third-party wireless routers, sound-related glitches, software freezing, and failures when using Time Machine to back up data. [full story]

February 11 - 9:00pm EST   Accompanying the Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.2 and Tiger security updates earlier today, Apple also unveiled new versions of Leopard graphics drivers, and Web Objects 5.4.1. The new graphics update advertises that improves the stability and compatibility with the Mac OS. The update is available from Apple as a free download, both through Software Update and the company's website, and requires 10.5.2 to be installed. [full story]

January 11 - 12:55am EST   Owners of the previous revision Mac Pros may be out of luck if they wish to upgrade to the new Nvidia 8800 GT card that is available to the new towers. Several threads in Apple’s forums [1|2|3] indicate mixed impressions, even when users contacted Apple directly; the US representatives were adamant that the card would not function on an older Mac Pro, while Apple UK employees said the card would. Users have presented research that shows the cards should be backwards compatible, some are so confident in their beliefs that they ordered an upgrade kit without waiting for official confirmation. [full story]