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Tue, 31 Dec 2002
Free Online Icon Collections For Developers
You can find one of the biggest online (and FREE) icon collections for developers at the following http://www.dotnet-coding.com/jpeg_lib/default.htm. You can find icons in the JPEG and ICO formats. It is for free for everyone to download.
[note: most of these are Windows-like and are provided in Zip format]
GTK+OSX For Macintosh OS X
GTK+OSX has released a native Macintosh Aqua port of the Linux-based
GTK+ open source graphical user interface library. GTK+ (GIMP Toolkit)
is a popular widget library supporting graphical applications for Linux.
GTK+OSX version 0.1 is an alpha release intended for developers.
Although this release is useful only to developers, it will make it possible to port a lot of X11 software such as GIMP to the native Mac OS X GUI without XDarwin.
Check out the whole story at http://www.osxfaq.com/Press/12-31-02/gtk-12-31-02.ws.
My predictions for MacWorld SF 2003
Here is what I think we will see for the MacWorld SF 2003 show coming up next week... UPDATED - iCal 1.0.1 and iSync 1.0 released...
- iMac G4 updates - hopefully up to 1 GHz and with a 133 MHz system bus speed. It would be nice to come standard with faster 7200 RPM hard drives (instead of the 5400 RPM they come with now) on the SuperDrive models, to speed up video editing. Also, I think we will get rid of all of the 15" LCD models and have a full line of 17" wide-screens.
- The Xserve RAID will finally appear. It was suppose to debut sometime earlier this year but Apple postponed it until 2003. Somehow I doubt it will use the new PowerPC 990 processor from IBM, and just come standard with Dual 1 GHz or Dual 1.25 GHz processors.
- I am doubting this will happen, but it would be great if they updated the iMac G3 with a 100 MHz speed boost (to bring it back up to its 700 MHz mark) and lowered the price down to $699 (or even lower). This would then leave room to lower the eMac G4's price to go lower.
- iSync 1.0 final will be released. I'm not sure what will be different or if any bugs that are currently in the program will be fixed as I don't have an iPod or supported cell phone that works with iSync.
- I would love for an iCal update, with a speed boost and the ability to wake up your Mac if you have an alarm set for while its sleeping.
- It's about time for iMovie and possibly iDVD updates. Not sure what will be new in the updates.
There you have it... please feel free to discuss what your ideas are for MWSF.
Updated: On January 2nd, 2003 Apple released iSync 1.0 and iCal 1.0.1 which fixed the slow performance issue.
Encrypting a users's home directory on Mac OS X
Joshua Gitlin has written a document telling how to set up a user in Mac OS X with an encrypted home directory.
Crystal ball gazing time
Here are my predictions for what Apple has in store for us in 2003.
- iMacs will reach 1GHz, with 17" and 19" screens. Dealers are already running out of stock on 15" iMacs, so this will probably happen at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco next week.
- We'll see faster iBooks, most likely based on the 'GOBI' G3 rather than G4. I'd personally like to see a G4-based iBook, although I doubt it will happen. I plan to replace my 500 MHz iBook Dual USB in 2003, and although I like the speed of a TiBook, I prefer the form factor, more rugged case, and better Airport range of the iBook.
- We'll probably see a new, smaller desktop system to replace the aging minitower. The minitower form factor will probably be kept for higher end systems where more expansion capabilities are needed, but the entry level and midrange desktops will be smaller & lighter.
- High end systems and XServes will use IBM's 970 CPU.
- iPods will gain more PDA functionality & wireless connectivity. We may also see a new iPod-like device designed as a stereo component instead of a portable MP3 player.
- Quark XPress will finally be released for Mac OS X. As the last remaining major application that hasn't been ported to OS X, a native version will allow the many users who depend on it to finally switch.
- MacOS X 10.3 will be released, with major Rendezvous enhancements. A laptop will automatically see the user's home directory on the server and share all data. Sharing data between computers on a network will get even easier, as shared folders on other computers automatically appear without having to explicitly mount mount them. iTunes will share playlists between networked machines, as Steve Jobs demonstrated last year. It may also include Apple's own browser based on Chimera, although I doubt it.
Share your thoughts & predictions here.
Fri, 27 Dec 2002
My top freeware picks for 2002
Here are my picks for the top freeware & shareware products of 2002.
- Chimera It's still not finished, but Chimera is already the fastest & most usable browser for Mac OS X without the bloat or quirks of the others. If you haven't already checked it out, try it - you'll be pleasantly surprised.
- NetNewsWire Lite A news aggregator that brings the latest stories from your favorite web sites directly to your desktop. The shareware version, NetNewsWire Pro, also features weblog editing.
- Carbon Copy Cloner A fast & easy way to make a bootable copy of any hard disk
- Fire A single instant messaging application that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, Jabber, and ICQ.
- Apple's iApps (iCal, iSync, iChat, iPhoto, iTunes). These may not be the best in their class, but their integration and synchronization capability makes them truly useful. I used Palm Desktop for many years, but with he introduction of iSync I switched to Jaguar's built-in address book and iCal since I can easily synchronize them between my G4 and my iBook and download my calendar & contacts to my HandSpring Visor and my iPod.
- TigerLaunch adds a very convenient launch menu to your menu bar which lists all of your applications. You can configure it to show additional folders & elminate any applications. It can also optionally add a project menu listing all CodeWarrior & ProjectBuilder projects in a "Projects" folder in your home directory.
- Youpi Key A simple keyboard macro & automation utility similar to QuicKeys.
- Fink provides a safe & convenient way to install open source Unix software such as X11 and MacGIMP without disturbing any standard system components.
- MU Menu lists the latest software updates from MacUpdate in your menu bar.
- Application Enhancer. Unsanity's Application Enhancer system provides a way to enhance and extend OS X applications.
Add your comments and picks here.
Unsanity release Labels X 1.1.1
Labels X adds file labeling features into Mac OS X. This means, you can apply various color tints to file icons, and sort the files by label. This gives you more freedom and options in organizing your files. Additionally, Labels X shares file label information with Mac OS 9, so no matter, where you label your files - you will see the labels in both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X (file labeling is a built-in feature in Mac OS 9).
Features:
- Applies color tint labels to Finder icons;
- Adds "Label" column to Finder list view to sort files by label;
- Easy-to-use contextual menu to view and change labels for files;
- Simple preference pane with an ability to change label names and colors;
- Only $7 with lifetime free upgrades.
New for v1.1:
- Labels X are now compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 as well as Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar".
- File labels are now shown in Dock popup menus containing file listings.
- Labels contextual menu will be disabled for files you do not have correct access privileges for.
- Fixed the issues with mis-coloring of icons in the toolbars, search results, and window proxy icons.
- Fixed a bug with non-English label names displaying incorrectly in the Labels contextual menu.
- Updated for Application Enhancer 1.2.
- New installer.
- Misc code cleanups and bug fixes.
New in v1.1.1:
- Fixed a bug with Labels X affecting Recent Items functionality in Mac OS X 10.2.
For more information or to download a copy visit http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/labels/.
Humane OS X replacement
The Humane Environment is an open source alternative GUI in OS X, created by Jef "creator of the Mac" Raskin. Still in development and very much a proof-of-concept.
When Raskin created the Macintosh project at Apple, his fundamental insight was to design a popular-price product starting from the human interface. Instead of starting with the sexiest processor or the coolest operating system as others did, he went from the user's needs to creating hardware and software to support the desired interaction. Combining then-current trends (many of which had been developed or improved at Xerox PARC) with his own interface inventions (such as click-and-drag for making arbitrary selections and moving objects), and the work of many colleagues, the result of Raskin's project became a major factor in the industry changeover to the modern Graphic User Interface (GUI). Computers became much easier to learn, and accessible to a wider range of users.
But interfaces have not moved with changing times. After a decade of research into cognitive psychology and by paying attention to people's constant computer complaints (and his own annoyance), Raskin realized that today's GUIs are fundamentally flawed. The interface-building tools that companies and open-source prouducts provide enforce bad interface design practices. They are wrong. Period. Raskin figured out how to fix the problems. His popular book, The Humane Interface (Addison-Wesley, 2000) explains all this in some detail.
Now, a few of Raskin's ideas have been turned into usable, open-source, open-ended software so that you can try them for yourself. The initial system, built without funding (or the chains that come along with it), when described, doesn't sound like much. It consists of a Python programming environment that is also a word processor, or perhaps the other way around (in any case, it's its own IDE), and which has some other interesting abilities. But two things about it take it far beyond this pedestrian description: its user interface and its API.
The Humane Environment (THE) is as easy to learn as a GUI (or easier) yet as fast to use (or faster) than the command-line systems we struggle to learn but love to use. It is easier to add new software to than any previous interface-based system.
For more information or to get involved with the project, visit http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/.
Merry Christmas from MacMegasite
The staff of MacMegasite would like to wish all of our readers a merry Christmas. Updates will probably be infrequent for the next week.
New Mail feature in 10.2.3 - Run AppleScript
The Mac OS X 10.2.3 update adds a great new feature to Mail.app: the ability to run an AppleScript as a rule action.
You can attach an ordinary Applescript as a rule action, or write a
script that uses the 'perform_mail_action' handler if you want to
access the messages that matched the rule or the rule object itself:
Example:
on perform_mail_action(info)
tell application "Mail"
set selectedMessages to |SelectedMessages| of info
set theRule to |Rule| of info
repeat with eachMessage in selectedMessages
set theSubject to subject of eachMessage
set theRuleName to name of theRule
set theText to "The rule named '" & theRuleName & "' matched this
message:" & return & return & "Subject: " & theSubject
display dialog theText
end repeat
end tell
end perform_mail_action
In the example, 'info' is an Applescript record with two keys:
|SelectedMessages| and |Rule|.|SelectedMessages| is a list of message
objects that match the conditions for the rule. As messages are fetched
and evaluated in batches, this list may contain more than one message,
so be sure to take that into account.
|Rule| is the rule object that
triggered the script action. (Note: We hope to have a Scripts menu in
Mail for the next major release of Mac OS X, which will extend the
perform_mail_action handler to also act on selected messages).
Mon, 23 Dec 2002
[from the AppleScript Users mailing list]
MP3 & Windows Media File vulnerability found
Security experts are warning of a vulnerability in MP3 and Windows Media files that can be activated simply by a user hovering a mouse over an infected file. The vulnerability could let attackers take over a user's PC.
Note that this doesn't seem to affect Macs.
The flaw in Windows XP can force the operating system to run code when a music file is played by Windows Explorer, the operating system's file-browsing application. Hovering the mouse pointer over a file will open a preview of it and trigger the file's payload, if it has one. The vulnerability doesn't affect Windows Media Player, Microsoft says.
The popular Nullsoft Winamp free media player is also vulnerable.
Further information and patches to Windows and Winamp are available in several places on the Web: the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University; Foundstone, with advisories for both Windows XP and Winamp; Microsoft; and Nullsoft, which has an update to Winamp.
Sun, 22 Dec 2002
To stay updated on this story, visit InformationWeek.
Useful command line tool: bbdiff
Sat, 21 Dec 2002
bbdiff is a command-line interface to BBEdit's find diferences command. It works like the standard 'diff' command, but instead of showing the differences in the termianl, it opens both files in BBEdit and does a "find differences". Bbdiff is implemented as a perl script that uses AppleScript to communicate with BBEdit.
NetNewsWire Pro 1.0b1 Public Beta
Ranchero Software's NetNewsWire Pro adds a weblog editor, notepad, and AppleScript support to the RSS newsfeed reader.
Pro features:
- The Weblog Editor allows you to post to Radio, Blogger, Movable Type, and other types of weblogs. It works with most of the popular weblog systems.
- The Notepad is an outline, a place to take notes and store headlines, subscriptions, URLs, and files.
- The Find command looks for specific text in headlines.
- AppleScript support allows you to get and set information about headlines and subscriptions.
- The Scripts menu runs your AppleScript scripts from within NetNewsWire.
- Headlines are now stored between runs, which means you can download the news and then read it on the train or anywhere you don’ve have web access.
For more information or to download a copy, visit http://ranchero.com/software/netnewswire/probeta/.
Hess Memorial Macworld Events and Party Page
Macworld Expo San Francisco is just over the
holiday hills and The Hess Memorial Macworld Events and Party Page is where
you can find ALL the related events. Even if you don't go to the show,
check the list for related Internet events. There's no reason to be left
out just because you're not in San Francisco! I made the list, so you
should check it twice.
Now in its seventh year (14th show), the Hess MacWorld Events list is *the
only* source for every event and press function held during MacWorld Expo
week in San Francisco, Jan. 6th through Jan. 10th.
All companies, user groups, and web sites are requested to send their
announcements before Sunday, Jan. 5th. Please email any scheduled events,
press conferences, or product information to press@ilenesmachine.com.
Companies are encouraged to post a product announcement or contest on the
"Fun Stuff to See at the Show" page. Please send a 2-line description and
booth number so that users can get a head start on the best booths to
visit. A $10 contribution is requested for these listings and a
contributions link is on the page.
Look for the parties and events at:
http://www.ilenesmachine.com/partylist.shtml -- Link here
http://www.ilenesmachine.com/macworld/sf03/partylistfunsf03.shtml -- Fun
Stuff Page (in progress)
http://www.ilenesmachine.com/partyregis.html -- user registration
for Ilene's Machine notices
Don't forget to tell your staff about the Hess Events List also, so they
can take advantage of all the fun events at the show when on break at the
show or in the office.
These pages are made possible by my dancing fingers and your generous
banner ad support. Two banner spots are still available, so please call
today for more information. Companies not attending the show would do well
to advertise their upcoming Mac OS X products on the page. This is the
*only* web site with pass-along readership!
Special thanks go out to Bare Bones Software, Small Dog Electronics and
ResExcellence for supporting the party list! Please support these vendors.
Users can help support the list by clicking the contributions link in the
yellow box on the Hess Memorial Macworld Events List. Please help if you
can.
New Windows Win32 API to Mac OS X Porting Guide Available
Apple has published the "Windows Win32 API-Mac OS X Porting Guide"
to help Windows developers porting their existing C or C++ Windows
applications to Mac OS X. The guide introduces Windows programmers
to the Mac OS X procedural APIs for key areas such as 2D/3D
graphics, user interface, text handling, networking, and
multiprocessing. It also directs readers to additional resources on
the ADC website, in third-party books, and elsewhere.
http://developer.apple.com/macosx/win32porting/
Deep Links from EFF
Deep Links features noteworthy news items, victories, and threats from
around the Internet.
- RIAA Statisticians Have Group Hallucination? -
The RIAA has been complaining about a 10% drop in profits. Gee, it's
pretty hard to squeeze a profit out of merchandise you never ship
(even when you're gauging retailers), eh Hilary?
- In with the GNU Radio -
Salon looks at one of the coolest, most useful, and controversial
technologies ever.
- ACLU Award Winners Endorse a Flat Fee for P2P -
Attorneys Ken Hertz and Fred Goldring tell the content industry to
stop going after consumers and focus on the real problem: their
outdated, artist-impoverishing business models.
- New Zealand May Dodge the DMCA Bullet -
They're trying to get WIPO-compliant without the collateral damage of
the DMCA.
Electronic Frontier Foundation Seeks Consumer Rights
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today urged
the Librarian of Congress (LoC) to recognize the rights of consumers
to skip past commercials on DVDs, view DVDs sold only outside the
U.S., and play copy-protected CDs on the players of their choice.
EFF has long sought exemptions from the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act's (DMCA) prohibition on bypassing technological protections used
to limit consumer use of DVDs and copy-protected CDs.
Public-interest advocacy organization Public Knowledge joined EFF in
filing the comments to the LoC, prepared with the assistance of law
students at the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic of
Washington College of Law.
EFF asked the LoC to create DMCA exemptions for four types of digital
media:
1) music on copy-protected CDs
2) movies on DVDs whose region coding restrictions prevent playback on
U.S. players
3) movies on DVDs which prevent skipping of commercials
4) movies in the public domain released on DVD
If granted, these exemptions will allow consumers to make full use of
the music and movies that they've lawfully obtained.
The entertainment industry encodes DVDs by region sold in an attempt
to control release and pricing of movies sold worldwide. Region 1
includes the United States.
"Many great films are available only outside the U.S.," said EFF Staff
Attorney Gwen Hinze. "We urge the LoC to allow film buffs to play
movies they've legitimately purchased outside the U.S. without fear of
breaking the law."
The recent distribution of "copy-protected" CDs has made some CDs
unplayable on PCs and DVD players. "The music industry intends to stop
copying, but the copy-protected CDs they sell are completely
unplayable in many PCs and newer disc players," said EFF Senior
Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "When I buy a CD, I
should at least be able to play it on my CD players."
The LoC has called for comments as part of a triennial process of
granting exemptions to the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.
Legislators charged the LoC and the U.S. Copyright Office with
reviewing the effect of the anti-circumvention provisions on the
public's ability to make non-infringing uses of copyrighted works
secured by digital protection technologies.
This rulemaking procedure allows the LoC and the Copyright Office to
grant limited three-year exemptions to the DMCA's blanket prohibition
on bypassing technological protection measures. In that way, users
could access particular classes of copyrighted works that are
protected by digital protection mechanisms.
Links:
- This release
- EFF comments to Librarian of Congress and U.S. Copyright Office
- U.S. Copyright Office Notice of Rulemaking
- EFF prior comments to LoC and U.S. Copyright Office in 2000
- "How to Win (DMCA) Exemptions and Influence Policy" by Seth Finkelstein
Script Editor 2.0 Beta
Apple has released a beta of Script Editor 2.0, a totally rewritten version of the AppleScript editor for Mac OS X.
New features include:
- Simplified easier-to-use interface
- Find and Replace in script text
- Auto-wrapping of long script statements
- Multiple undos
- No 32K limit on script size
- New Dictionary Browser with color coding and grouped events & classes
- Application scriptability
- Contextual Menu Scripts for faster script writing
- Support for Application Services
For more information, visit http://www.apple.com/applescript/script_editor/. The beta can be downloaded here.
PowerMail 4.1 Released
Designed as a robust and sustainable alternative to ordinary Macintosh e-
mail applications, PowerMail 4.1 is based on the PowerMail Engine(tm),
a robust foundation for cross-platform e-mail clients encompassing 10
years of mail and directory experience.
PowerMail 4.1 is available as a $29 upgrade for PowerMail 3 users. New features include:
- "Recent Mail" interactive log window
- Partial POP3 downloads
- SSL security
- Server-side mail management
- Enhanced address book
- User interface redesign
- Text clippings
- Mail schedulings and locations
- Mac OS X 10.2.3 (Jaguar) compatibility
- Inline spell-checking on Mac OS X 10.2 or later
- Integration of the Apple OS X 10.2 address book (which itself
synchronizes to Palm devices and cell phones using iSync)
- Unlimited undo's in text fields
- English, Japanese, French, German and Dutch plugins
A full list of changes for PowerMail 4.1 and 4 can be found at:
http://www.ctmdev.com/documentation/Read_me.htm
PowerMail 4.1 can be evaluated for 30 days; download it from:
http://www.ctmdev.com/download.shtml or
http://www.powermailtech.com/pm4.sit
* New copies of PowerMail remain priced at US$ 49 for now, and
can securely be purchased from:
https://www.ctmdev.com/sales.shtml
* PowerMail 4 is the first for-pay upgrade of PowerMail since
April 2000; all current registered owners of PowerMail are
eligible for an upgrade at US$ 29 per copy (with discounts
for site licenses of course). Upgrades can be securely
ordered from :
https://www.ctmdev.com/buy_pm3/start
I still prefer Jaguar's Mail.app, since it handles multiple email addresses better (you don't have to create an account for each address, you can list multiple addresses on one account), it has better spam filtering, and can filter messages to folders on an IMAP server, while PowerMail can only filter messages to local folders.
Apple Security Alert 2002-12-19 Mac OS X 10.2.3
Apple has documented several security issues that have been fixed in Mac OS X 10.2.3, which is now available in the Software Update control panel.
- fetchmail: Fixes CAN-2002-1174 and CAN-2002-1175 which could lead
to a potential denial of service when using the fetchmail command-line tool.
fetchmail is updated to version 6.1.2+IMAP-GSS+SSL+INET6
- CUPS: Provides fixes for the following potential issues that could be
exploited remotely when Printer Sharing is enabled. Printer Sharing is
not enabled by default on Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server.
CAN-2002-1383: Multiple Integer Overflows
CAN-2002-1366: /etc/cups/certs/ Race Condition
CAN-2002-1367: Adding Printers with UDP Packets
CAN-2002-1368: Negative Length Memcpy() Calls
CAN-2002-1384: Integer Overflows in pdftops Filter and Xpdf
CAN-2002-1369: Unsafe Strncat Function Call in jobs.c
CAN-2002-1370: Root Certificate Design Flaw
CAN-2002-1371: Zero Width Images in filters/image-gif.c
CAN-2002-1372: File Descriptor Resource Leaks
In addition, Mac OS X 10.2.3 provides the following enhanced security features:
- Random initialization of TCP Timestamp: This enhancement was submitted by
Aaron Linville through the Darwin open source program. It prevents a remote entity
from discovering how long a machine has been up based on the ID in the TCP packets.
- Disk Utility now provides the option to zero data on the disk, providing an
additional method for securing information.
Mac OS X 10.2.3 Software Update may be obtained from:
- Software Update pane in System Preferences
- OR -
- Apple's Software Downloads web site:
Updating from Mac OS X 10.2:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n120164
The download file is named: "MacOSXUpdateCombo10.2.3.dmg"
Its SHA-1 digest is: 46df611279b9981425be2cff23c3b3ed868d1809
Updating from Mac OS X 10.2.2:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n120165
The download file is named: "MacOSXUpdate10.2.3.dmg"
Its SHA-1 digest is: a51ed65311ad59879db7e728779e9cd4084057b5
Information will also be posted to the Apple Support web site:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798
Mac OS X 10.2.3 Update Available
Apple has released the Mac OS X 10.2.3 update, now available via the Software Update control panel.
The 10.2.3 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, utilities, and technologies: AppleScript, Classic compatibility, Disk Copy, Disk Utility, Image Capture, Mail, OpenGL, Print Center, and Rendezvous. It provides audio, disc recording, graphics, printing improvements, as well as AFP and WebDAV networking improvements. The update also provides updated security services and includes the latest Security Updates.
For detailed information on this Update, please visit http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n107263.
A-OK! The Wings of Mercury 3.0.2 Now On Mac OS X!
December 19, 2002. Brick, NJ - YOU ARE GO! has released A-OK! The Wings of Mercury 3.0.2 for Mac OS X. A free upgrade for the Mac OS 9 version has also been released. These versions incorporate some improvements in cloud rendering and reduce mission start up time by 95%. The Mac OS X version supports 3D HID-compatible joysticks.
A-OK! The Wings of Mercury is priced at $59.95 and $29.95 for an upgrade from 2.x. A demo version, which can be upgraded to a full version right from the program, is available for download at the A-OK! WoM web site. (www.aokwom.com) The Windows version is now in development.
Yet another Windows worm
Shop at MacMegasite
Trolltech releases Qt Script for Applications
Interview with Spring creator
Qilan 2.7b3 public beta released for Jaguar
FTP Suite for REALbasic Updated
A-OK! WoM Merchandise
Visitors to www.aokwom.com can visit the A-OK! WoM Store and buy A-OK! WoM gear such as T-shirts, mugs and license plate frames. More items will be added early 2003.
Background
A-OK! The Wings of Mercury simulates America's first spacecraft, Project Mercury, and opens a new frontier in computer simulations. The operation of every gauge, light and switch in the spacecraft is simulated to a high degree of fidelity. So accurate are the spacecraft systems that users consult reproductions of the actual flight documentation used by the Mercury astronauts. The simulator can generate hundreds of failure scenarios that require split-second decisions to survive.
A-OK! The Wings of Mercury ships with A-OK! Mission Control Center, an application that simulates the consoles at Mercury mission control.
A-OK! The Wings of Mercury also ships with a suite of tools that allows users to edit the launch and landing areas, calculate retrofire and ground station contact times and other mission-critical tasks.
The demo version is restricted to sub-orbitial, non-networked simulations and does not allow the use of the A-OK! Tool Kit. In addition, to removing these restrictions, registered users will be entitled to free updates from version 3.0 to 3.9 and priority in bug reporting and follow-up.
YOU ARE GO! is a division of Pyramid Design, a software development firm, based in New Jersey. In addition to A-OK! WoM, Pyramid Design is a software development contracting and consulting firm.
Lioten, also known as Iraq_Oil, is a Windows network worm spreading through
shared folders. It was found on December 16th, 2002 in the wild.
internet for Windows 2000 and Windows XP machines which have shared folders
with other users and are not protected by a firewall. Once a suitable
machine is found, the worm guesses a password, logs in to the machine,
copies itself over as an EXE file (usually named iraq_oil.exe) and executes
it. After this the worm restarts spreading.
There is no further information on what the worm does in addition to
spreading. Also the reason for the reference to Iraq is unclear.
The worm exploits the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) service at a port
445. Basic firewall techniques prevent access to this port.
The worm launches 100 threads each of which starts generating random IP
numbers using the system clock to generate a seed value.
For every generated IP a connection is made to the port 445. If the
connection is successful, it tries to list the list of users in the machine
and tries to guess their password, using passwords from an hardcoded
internal list which contains a blank password and the following words:
admin
root
111
123
1234
123456
654321
1
!@#$
asdf
asdfgh
!@#$%
!@#$%^
!@#$%^&
!@#$%^&*
server
These passwords are tried both in plain text and in Unicode.
If the file is copied successfully, a remote task is scheduled so that the
process will be run on the remote machine.
The executable is packed with UPX.
So what else is new?
We're pleased to announce the MacMegasite Store, which features Mac utilities from Advenio Software, Ancodia Software, Chaotic Software, Fetch Softworks, Andreas Schwarz, and Selznick Scientific. We hope to add other products in the future.
Trolltech's new multiplatform scripting toolkit tightly integrates with the
Qt libraries to provide a powerful combination of C++ and script-based
interfaces for developers
OSLO, Norway and SANTA CLARA, Calif. - December 18, 2002 -Trolltech, the
leading provider of single-source, multiplatform C++ software development
tools, today announced the beta release of Qt Script for Applications
(QSA). QSA is Trolltech's new multiplatform scripting toolkit for Qt-based
application developers.
QSA lets developers and end-users extend and customize Qt applications
through a powerful ECMA standard scripting environment.
"QSA was designed to provide Qt developers with the ability to create
extendable, customizable applications without having to re-release a new
version of their application every time a small modification is needed,"
said Eirik Eng, Trolltech president. "By tightly integrating the scripting
libraries, most Qt applications are inherently scriptable. Applications do
not need to be re-written to implement this functionality, which we feel is
one of the key strengths to QSA."
Key components of QSA include:
QSA library: This integrates into Qt and allows C++ application developers
to make their Qt-based applications scriptable.
Qt Script: An easy-to-learn, multiplatform, interpreted scripting language.
Qt Script is based on ECMAScript, which is also the foundation of
JavaScript.
Qt Scripter: A multiplatform Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that
can be deployed on a royalty-free basis with QSA-enabled Qt applications.
End users and VARs (Value Added Resellers) can use Qt Scripter to visually
design custom forms, and to write, run and debug forms and Qt Script code
in script-enabled applications.
C++ developers may create a script-enabled Qt application by specifying
which features should be scriptable. The script-enabled application may
then be distributed, including QSA libraries, and the Qt Scripter. This
allows VARs, support staff, or end customers to customize the application
to meet their specific needs.
Key features and benefits:
wrappers
requirements
fast response to customers without having to create premature new versions.
customizations for their customers
Pricing and Availability
QSA pricing will be announced on a date closer to the final release. QSA
1.0 is expected to be released in Q2, 2003. Evaluation versions are now
available to Qt license holders. Please contact mailto:sales@trolltech.com
for more information.
Licensing
QSA will be released under a commercial license for Linux/Unix (X11),
Windows and Mac platforms. Additionally, QSA will be released under the GPL
for free software development on the Linux/Unix (X11) platforms.
About Trolltech
Trolltech is a software company with two flagship products: Qt and Qtopia.
Qt is a multiplatform C++ application framework developers can use to write
single-source applications that run-natively-on Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac
OS X and embedded Linux. Qt has been used to build thousands of successful
commercial applications worldwide, and is the basis of the open source KDE
desktop environment. Qtopia is the first comprehensive application
environment built for embedded Linux, and is used in Sharp's new Zaurus
SL5500 and SL-A300 PDAs. Trolltech is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with
offices in Brisbane, Australia, and Santa Clara, California. More about
Trolltech can be found at http://www.trolltech.com.
Mac Net Journal has published an interview with Spring creator Rob Beal.
User Creations Spring 1.0 is an innovative desktop application that lets you work with contacts, applications, and data as objects in your workspace. Spring users can share their contacts with others, and create custom objects for applications & web services.
CommonGround Softworks Inc.
today is pleased to announce the availability of an OS X 10.2 (Jaguar)
compatible version of Qilan (2.7b3), their web database connectivity product, as a public beta release.
The Qilan 2.7b3 public beta is available for download as a free time
limited trial. A nominal web based registration process will allow access
to the file download area and generation of enablement keys.
This upgrade also adds the capability to access Microsoft Access database
schema and data. Please review the 2.7b3 ReadMe notes for this
configuration. We expect that the final version 2.7 will be released as a
paid upgrade for existing Qilan users for $99 USD.
Qilan Overview:
Qilan provides a powerful tool for web developers seeking to overcome the
limitations of existing products, who seek to integrate, migrate or scale
upward from existing web projects. Web pages can be built using your
favorite HTML authoring environment, then imported into Qilan. The Qilan
graphic environment allows for complex web based projects without "coding".
Web hosting providers wishing to harness the power of OS X can use Tenon
Intersystems iTools 6.5 with Qilan to provide secure eCommerce and
commercial quality content delivery.
Qilan allows web sites to communicate with single or multiple "backend"
data sources. The Qilan graphic environment builds query and report logic
that reside on the web server. This logic is applied across supported
database vendor products. "Write one question and ask multiple
databases".Queries can be sent to one or many databases over the Internet,
and the results displayed on a single web page. Qilan driven web pages can
perform updates, data transfers, and data synchronization between databases.
Supported databases:
The Qilan development environment is a native Mac OS X application.
Database communication is multiplatform using JDBC. CommonGround Softworks
Inc. develops software focused on Internet database connectivity for the
Mac OS.
CommonGround Softworks Inc.
info@commongrnd.com
http://www.commongrnd.com
Pyramid Designs, a software development
firm, announces an update to FTP Suite, a set of classes and code modules
that allows FTP operations to be implemented in REALbasic applications.
This is a free upgrade for 1.0 licensees.
FTP Suite for REALbasic 1.1 Released
New functionality for REALbasic FTP solution.
FTP Suite is a set of classes that allows you to implement the FTP protocol in REALbasic projects. After populating the appropriate properties of the FTP Transfer Class, a single call allows your application to transfer or delete a single file, multiple files or a complete directory, including subdirectories.
Hobbyist License $29.95
Professional License $59.95
Source Code Licenses available, inquire at products@pyramiddesign.us.
A demo which contains a detailed programmer's manual and demo program is available at:
http://www.pyramiddesign.us/products.html
Features
Get File – Transfers any number of files from the server to the local computer. All files must reside in the same server directory and will all be placed in the same local directory.
Get Directory – Transfers all the content from a server directory and copies the entire directory structure to the local machine. - NEW!
Get Directory List – Returns a list of all the files and subdirectories in a given server directory. - NEW!
Put File – Transfers any number of files from the local computer to the server. All files must reside in the same server directory and will all be placed in the same local directory.
Put Directory – Transfers all the content from a local directory and copies the entire directory structure to the server.
Delete File – Deletes any number of files on the server. All files to be deleted must reside in the same server.
Delete Directory – Deletes all the files and directories from the specified server directory.
End FTP Session – Stops the current FTP transfer as soon as possible. - NEW!
Configurable Transfer Type – Selects Binary or ASCII format for FTP data transfers. - NEW!
FTP Suite been tested on Mac OS and Microsoft Windows.
RealOne Player final released
RealNetworks has released the final version of RealOne player for Mac OS X. However, their download page tries to entice you into joining their SuperPass program, which isn't necessary to download the free player.
RealOne Player can be downloaded from http://www.real.com/realone/mac/index.html, but DON'T click on the orange "download now" button - that will ask for a credit card number (even though they claim it won't be charged) to enroll in their SuperPass program. Instead, use the "free RealOne Player" link at the top right corner of the page.
The new player features include:
- Online Radio
- Near-DVD quality video
- Multi-channel audio
- New sleek user interface
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.1.1 or later, 128 MB RAM, G3 or G4 CPU.
Supported Browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 or later or Netscape 6.2 or later. OmniWeb, Chimera, Opera, and Mozilla aren't supported by the RealPlayer plugin.
Sun, 15 Dec 2002
New technology tells what you're listening to
A company called Bandlink has developed technology for record companies that allows a cd played in a personal computer to contact their server and relate statistics such as what track you're listening to and when you're listening to them.
Every time someone plays an "enhanced" CD, while connected to the Internet, their Bandlink application is launched. CD owners are granted exclusive access to Live Interactive content and CD Specific Chat Communities. Streaming Video, Photos, Tour Information, News and other items can be integrated with the CD experience.
CD based content can be updated at anytime through Bandlink's web based Content Management Tools. Photos, News, Tour Dates, New Releases, and more can all be updated in "Real Time". All changes instantly affect all CDs sold in the past or present.
Record companies can go online any time and check to see how many people are listening to their CD, what songs they are listening to, and how long they are listening. It can also optionally allow users to enter personal information so the record companies can collect demographic information. It can also allow the creation of CD-specific chat rooms and instant messaging to chat with other people listening to the same CD at the same time.
Their site doesn't address any privacy concerns, such as whether it's possible to opt out of their data collection or what the record companies will do with the data they collect. It also doesn't mention a Mac version and I'm pretty sure it will be PC only.
You can read more about it and discuss it here.
Electronic Frontier Foundation Rejects Broadcast Flag
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently
rejected Hollywood's "Broadcast Flag" proposal, advising the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to set aside Hollywood's latest bid to
undermine fair use and stymie innovation.
EFF filed comments with the FCC opposing the Broadcast Flag proposal
because the proposal would give Hollywood unwarranted control over the
development of digital television (DTV) and related technologies to
the detriment of creators and consumers of the technologies.
"A broadcast flag mandate is an ineffective solution to a non-existent
problem," explained EFF in its comments on the proposed rulemaking
submitted to the FCC. "At the same time, any broadcast flag mandate
will impose genuine and substantial costs on consumers and innovators.
It would raise the cost of DTV devices while reducing the value that
they represent to consumers. It would stifle innovation in DTV and
general-purpose technologies. It would abridge the First Amendment
freedoms of software authors. All of this, in the end, will impede,
rather than encourage, the transition to DTV."
The Broadcast Flag--a signal to be added to all DTV broadcasts--is a
critical weapon in Hollywood's arsenal aimed at strangling innovation
and fair use. In the "Content Protection Status Report," the
entertainment industry sets out a roadmap for giving entertainment
companies control over the design of general-purpose computers, over
analog-to-digital converters, and over the Internet itself.
The FCC initiated the Broadcast Flag proceedings last summer after
receiving a letter from Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, author of the
Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA). The
CBDTPA is a sweeping proposal that would require technologists to seek
permission from entertainment companies prior to making new
technologies available to the public. Industry observers have
described the Broadcast Flag as a "mini-CBDTPA."
EFF has led the effort to educate the public about the Broadcast Flag,
attending every meeting of the Motion Picture Association of America's
Broadcast Protection Discussion Group and popularizing relevant issues
on the "Consensus at Lawyerpoint" weblog.
Links:
- This release
- EFF comments to FCC on Broadcast Flag proposal
- Consensus at Lawyerpoint weblog
- GNU Radio
- EFF "Intellectual Property - Video - HDTV/BPDG/Digital
Television/Digital Cable" archive
launch 1.0b1: a command-line launcher for Mac OS X
Nicholas Riley has released Launch 1.0b1, a very useful command line tool for launching applications, documents, and URLs.
Apple provides a simple command-line launching program called open with Mac OS X. It offers few options—launching applications by name or by path, launching TextEdit, or opening a number of applications, documents, folders, or URLs. With the exception of special support for TextEdit, launch does everything open does, plus:
- opens URLs and email addresses in your preferred helper application, or sends URLs to any other application of your choice
- lets you specify applications by their four-character creator (e.g. 'ToyS') or Java-style bundle ID (e.g. com.apple.scripteditor), both of which allow you to move or rename an application without changing references to it
- asks applications to print documents, something the OS X Finder doesn't let you do any more
- pipes output to applications
- launches applications in the background
- launches Carbon applications in Classic
- reports errors intelligibly
- shows information about any item on disk, including its file type, creator, data and resource fork sizes, dates and bundle ID (where applicable).
launch is useful by itself, but is even better when used in scripts. Assign a shell command to your favorite Mac OS text, graphics or resource editor. Browse your favorite Web site with a few keystrokes. launch requires Mac OS X 10.1 or later with Developer Tools installed.
You can download a copy here.
Canon releases long-awaited Mac OS X drivers
Canon has finally released Mac OS X compatible drivers for several of their scanners, including the N650U and and N1220U, which have been promised for several months.
The drivers can be downloaded here.
According to their description:
The ScanExpert v3.8.0X Application is compatible with the iMac, G3 & G4 systems with built-in USB ports. The ScanExpert v3.8.0X Application is for the CanoScan scanners N650U/N656U/N1220U running on Mac OS X v10.1.3 or higher in "Native Mode". This self-extracting application installer assists the user with a guided installation procedure through an intuitive interface. Once the file has UnStuffed, double-click ScanExpert_v380X to begin installation.
(Note: Adobe Photoshop 7.0 for Mac OS X or Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 for Mac OS X must be installed prior to installing ScanExpert v3.8.0X for the CanoScan N650U/N656U/N1220U scanners)
The installer is one of the worst I've seen. You first run an "Install Anywhere" installer, which places the real installer on your desktop and then launches Internet Explorer (even if it isn't your default web browser) to display the installation instructions, which is simply to unplug your scanner & double-click the icon it placed on your desktop.
This package consists only of a PhotoShop plugin rather than the full Canon Toolbox application. It also doesn't support the quick scan button on my N650U.
The website as a business
This article at Low End Mac talks a bit about the economics of running a web site, something I've been thinking about a lot in the last few days.
Although MacMegasite is fairly successful and gets over 1000 hits a day, it hasn't made any money at all. The hosting is paid a year in advance, so right now the cost isn't an issue yet.
Depending on what happens between now & next May when I have to pay again for the hosting, I may shut this site down. I also don't really have the time to properly maintain this site.
You can help by shopping through our affiliate links for Amazon, MacResq, and eSellerate (Fetch). It doesn't cost you anything extra, but it pays us. If you have a story or press release to submit, use our Submit News link. Participate in our forums and help build an active community. If more of our members participate, I wouldn't have to write everything and could devote more time to my real job (Mac developer for Absolute Software).
IBM PowerPC 970 supports AltiVec
With the introduction of the PowerPC 970, IBM has taken PowerPC performance to new heights. At up to 1.8 GHz, the PowerPC 970 is the fastest PowerPC yet introduced. But the 970 employs much more than frequency to answer the demands of high-performance computing customers. The 970's multiple execution units including an AltiVec compatible vector processor are fed by an up to 900-MHz processor interface bus, which can deliver data at a rate of up to 6.4 GBps.
In designing the PowerPC 970, IBM's goal was to provide a high-performance, simultaneous multiprocessor-enabled, 64-bit platform. Additionally, 32-bit applications needed to be supported with the same level of performance. To achieve this goal, the award-winning POWER4 architecture developed for multiprocessor IBM server systems was chosen for the base design.
The PowerPC 970 design starts by remapping one of the POWER4 processor cores to 0.13-micron technology and increasing its frequency up to 1.8 GHz. Next, one of the L2 cache banks was resized to 512 KB. These POWER4 features were then complemented with a vector-processing engine and a redesigned bus interface to keep the 970 fed with data. The result is a higher-performance single-core POWER4 derivative that includes enhanced multimedia processing on a smaller, lower-power die.
By implementing a proven 64-bit server architecture, this new family of processors will enable new classes of 64-bit solutions. Some of these solutions will take advantage of the greater than 4-GB physical memory space, while others will employ the wider data paths for uses such as performance improvements on multiprecision calculations.
In addition to its support of new 64-bit solutions, the 970 retains full native support for 32-bit applications. This not only protects 32-bit software investments, but provides these 32-bit applications with the same high-performance levels that it extends to 64-bit uses. This native, nonemulated, 32-bit support is not limited to application code, which runs unmodified. 32-bit operating systems with minor updates can also take advantage of the PowerPC 970's outstanding performance.
The PowerPC 970 features a 64-KB instruction cache and a 32-KB data cache. These level 1 caches are backed by a 512-KB unified L2 cache. These caches help to ensure that the dual fixed point, dual floating point, dual load store and vector units are kept busy. The PowerPC 970 can dispatch five instructions (including one branch) per cycle, and can issue up to eight instructions to the execution units per cycle.
In addition to high performance general -purpose processing, application-specific acceleration (such as multimedia) can be achieved through the AltiVec vector engine. Codeveloped by IBM, this engine extends the PowerPC instruction set with 162 Single-Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) instructions.
More information is available here.
Perhaps we'll see this CPU in future Macs. Although recent Intel-based systems have caught up to and surpassed Macs in performance, the PowerPC remains very competitive with Intel chips even at much lower clock rates due to its superior instruction pipelining architecture which allows it to run more simultaneous instructions and branch prediction that lets it maintain optimal cache performance.
Food Chain game CD for under $3!
Cajun Games announces a further price reduction of its award winning Macintosh game, Food Chain. While supplies last, Food Chain is available for Macintosh computers on CD-ROM directly from Cajun Games for the inventory-clearance blowout price of just $2.95 plus $1.95 shipping/handling. Food Chain is highly addicitive fun for all ages and at this low price, makes a great stocking stuffer for the holiday season. The CD also contains over 25 shareware favorite games.
For more info, please visit http://www.CajunGames.com/foodchain/
Add an entire album to a playlist
I wasn't aware of this feature until now, but iTunes provides a simple way to add an entire album or all tracks by an artist to a playlist.
If you enable browse mode in iTunes' library, you can drag an album or artist from the browse list to a playlist. It will copy all tracks from that album or artist to the playlist.
Spring 1.0 Released
Imagine that you don't have to go to five different applications to communicate with the same person. Imagine that booking a flight or train is as simple as opening a canvas with a map and dragging between the two cities. Imagine inviting someone to a favorite place is as simple dragging a line between the person and place.
Spring is an innovative, web-inspired desktop for OS X which lets you create your own workspace using standard objects and objects that you create yourself or share with other Spring users.
Features include:
- Effortless AIMing! Drag between any Spring Object and a person to transfer it to them via AIM (SM)
- Visual Amazon Products (Via Watson)
- 1-Drag Flight Booking For every airport in the US
- 1-Drag Personal Intros Drag between two people to introduce them
- 1-Click and 1-Drag Evites To your favorite places with your friends and family
- Visual Web Search Drag between a person, place, product, etc and a search well to search by name
- Ubiquitous Mapping/Directions From your home/work to any person or place
- 1-Click Store Locators From your home/work
- Desktop Weather Personalized to your zip code
- Desktop Stock Charts
When you create your own user info object, you can share it with other Spring users to allow them to easily communicate with you. Other user-created objects are also available.
For more information or to download a demo, visit UserCreations.
Bare Bones Software supports EFF
Bare Bones Software today announced they will donate US$10 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for every copy of BBEdit purchased directly from them at the full retail or cross-upgrade price through December 31, 2002.
"We have tremendous respect for the EFF's role as a defender of civil liberties in the electronic age," said Rich Siegel, founder, president and CEO of Bare Bones Software. "We are proud of the part our products play in their mission, and we're pleased to offer our material support of their efforts."
Ren Bucholz, EFF Activist, said, "We are thrilled that Bare Bones is supporting the EFF. We've been using BBEdit for years, and it's terrific to know that they make great products *and* care about civil liberties."
About the Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the world at:
http://www.eff.org/.
About BBEdit
BBEdit is a high-performance HTML and text editor for the Macintosh. It is designed and crafted for the editing, searching, transformation, and manipulation of text. BBEdit provides an array of general-purpose features which are useful for a wide variety of tasks, and includes many features which have been specifically developed in response to the needs of Web authors and software developers.
For more information on BBEdit, or to download a fully functional demo version, visit the company's web site.
Fetch 4.0.3 Released
Fetch Softworks today announces the release of Fetch 4.0.3, a
free upgrade to the award-winning File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client for
the Macintosh. Fetch 4.0 was among the first FTP clients for Mac OS X, and
quickly became one of the most frequently downloaded Mac applications.
Version 4.0.3 offers improved compatibility with Apple's Mac OS X Jaguar
release, version 10.2, along with dozens of improvements in such areas as
AppleScript support, Kerberos security, and the use of SOCKS gateways. At
the same time, Fetch 4.0.3 remains the only Mac FTP client that supports
all versions of Mac OS starting with System 7.0.
You can buy it here
Opera 6.0 Final released
After a long beta period, Opera 6.0 Final for Mac OS X has been released.
For more information or to download a copy visit http://www.opera.com/mac/. The Opera team can be reached at the newsgroup opera.mac at news.opera.com.
Major changes in Final
Bug fixes:
- Drop of bookmarks folder results in tabs in tabbed windows.
- Updated preference dialogs.
- Fixed problem with multiple bookmark files.
- Fixed problem with empty bookmark menu.
- Fixed problem with dragging address bar proxy icon.
- Fixed problem with splash screen when starting from other application.
- Fixed crash on quit in background.
- Enabled reload frames, reload all and load all images.
- Dialog resizing for translation.
- Disabled non-working menus.
- Updated default searches on personal bar.
- Fixed truncation of addresses in progress and status bar.
- Fixed problem with file upload.
- Fixed warning about sending passwords under OS 9.
- Fixed crash with save windows.
- Fixed problem with pop-ups windows in tabbed mode.
- Fixed problem with panels not displaying.
- Fixed problems with clicking on banners.
- Fixed crash at authentication dialogs and crash.
- Enabled context menu for add and remove foreground skin.
- Fixed quit crash on open modal dialogs under OS X.
- Enabled autosave of windows settings file.
- Fixed wrong text on "Reload every".
- Fixed crash problem with pop-ups that occur after closing windows.
- Fixed problem with multiple sheets in tabbed windows.
- Fixed problem with keychain access when opening new page.
- Fixed problem with empty select menus in forms.
- Removed non-working menus in Quick Preferences and Link bar.
- Added preference for skinning.
- Enabled skinning, default turned off on OS 8.6 - 9.2.
- Fixed problem with click-through closing in windows under OS X.
- Fixed problem with opening new windows with docked bookmarks.
- Updated preferences dialogs.
- Fixed problems with history pop-ups.
- Fixed inactive menus after startup dialog.
- Enabled bookmark search.
- Fixed problems with startup dialog.
- Fixed problem with focus on open window in background.
- Enabled keyboard navigation in listboxes.
- Fixed problems with navigation in docked bookmark windows and panels.
- Enabled search in docked bookmarks.
- Enabled borders in listboxes.
- Unicodified forms listboxes.
- Fixed problems with horizontal bookmark scrolling.
- Fixed problem with dragging from a docked bookmark window to the browser area.
- Fixed problem with Unicode input in search and URL dialogs.
- Fixed problems with modal dialogs at startup.
- Enabled middle mouse button on multi-button mouse.
- Fixed alignment of text and icons in the personal bar.
- Enabled preference for showing text on right in toolbars.
- Fixed problem with panels being saved as pages.
- Disabled startup dialog at first run.
- Add preferences for startup dialog.
- Added preference for not showing zoom slider.
- Fixing problem with chasing arrows and "chevron" arrow.
- Enabled Unicode support in text-transform:Uppercase/Lowercase.
Opera 6.0 is nice & fast, but still very quirky. I plan to stick with Chimera.
I need help here
A few days ago someone sent a massive spam with my email address as the return address. I'm still receiving bounce messages, which has cost me several hours of work, and I would like to take legal action against the people responsible if there's any way I can. If you've received a copy of that spam, please forward me a copy with full headers.
I've asked several people who complained to forward me a copy and none of them have sent it yet. I've already received two copies of the original spam sent with a different return address.
Please forward it to mike3k at onepost dot net, which is my public email address that already receives spam.
I plan to change my email address since the deluge of bounce messages makes it nearly impossible for me to use any more.
EMAIL MAGICIAN 2.0 UNVEILS SETUP WIZARD
Email Magician, the popular utility for Eudora Mac, has arrived at version 2.0. The new version includes a powerful Setup Wizard with 37 screens designed to teach you the program's features while you configure the software for your unique email habits. The new price is $36. The upgrade is free for registered users.
The program checks for around 1,500 spam characteristics when it generates hundreds of spam filters and "possible spam" filters customized to your individual needs. But this veritable "Swiss Army Knife" for Eudora is more than a solution to your spam problems. By detecting with whom you regularly correspond, Email Magician automatically creates filters, mailboxes, and address book entries.
And it doesn't stop there. Email Magician also automates many tasks related to optimizing your email activities, including one-click archiving of email messages, with options to export to FileMaker and strip html from messages. The program provides an "intelligent" Urgent Filter note-pad, where you jot down phrases and email addresses that tell the program to override existing filters and, for example, gather all your "to do" items into a single mailbox for quick disposition. Automatic deletion of empty mailboxes and "orphan-filters," meaning filters targeting missing mailboxes, streamlines your email correspondence even further. So do options to create of filters and/or mailboxes for all nicknames in your address books, easy creation of "group" addresses, filter naming, and much more.
Never make filters, mailboxes, or nicknames in Eudora again! Put spam in its proper place. Let Email Magician keep all your mailboxes clean. Email Magician can create hundreds of filters, mailboxes, and nicknames in the time it takes to manually construct a single filter.
View screenshots, listen to the official Email Magician Song, or download a trial copy of Email Magician at http://www.yav.com/emailmagician.html
You can download the program directly from:
http://www.yav.com/files/EmailMagician.sea.hqx or http://www.yavelow.com/ftp/pub/EmailMagician.sea.hqx.
Spammer using my email address
Earlier tonight I received a piece of spam, and I'm now receiving many bounces containing the same spam which looks as if it was sent from my email address.
The original spam said that I replied to someone's personal ad, which I didn't, since I'm NOT looking for any dates. It also includes a link to a web site in Estonia (country code EE).
I'm really mad and I plan to take legal action against anyone involved. I also plan to make sure the web site it refers to is shut down.
MacZ Software releases HTML Converter 2.0
HELSINKI, FINLAND -- The Finnish Mac software developer MacZ Software
has released a new version of free HTML utility, HTML Converter.
HTML Converter is a free utility for converting special characters to
corresponding HTML character codes in HTML, PHP and ASP files.
These character codes are required by web browsers for displaying
special characters correctly. HTML converter will also handle
correctly JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheet code.
The new version has been rewritten from scratch. Its engine is now
open source and about 10 times faster than previous version. Support for
ISO Latin-1 encoding is added. The conversion engine itself runs on
several platforms in command line interface.
HTML Converter 2.0 is Cocoa application, and it runs native under Mac OS X.
To download HTML Converter 2.0 for Mac OS X, HTML Converter CLI
(command-line interface) for several other platforms or source code,
go to HTML Converter product page at HTML Converter product page
Fink 0.5.0a Released
Fink 0.5.0a is the final release of the popular open source package installer for Mac OS X 10.2.
Fink is a project that wants to bring the full world of Unix Open Source software to Darwin and Mac OS X. As a result, we have two main goals. First, to modify existing Open Source software so that it will compile and run on Mac OS X. (This process is called porting.) Second, to make the results available to casual users as a coherent, comfortable distribution that matches what Linux users are used to. (This process is called packaging.) The project offers precompiled binary packages as well as a fully automated build-from-source system.
To achieve these goals, Fink relies on the excellent package management tools produced by the Debian project - dpkg, dselect and apt-get. On top of that, Fink adds its own package manager, named (surprise!) fink. You can view fink as a build engine - it takes package descriptions and produces binary .deb packages from that. In the process, it downloads the original source code from the Internet, patches it as necessary, then goes through the whole process of configuring and building the package. Finally, it wraps the results up in a package archive that is ready to be installed by dpkg.
Since Fink sits on top of Mac OS X, it has a strict policy to avoid interference with the base system. As a result, Fink manages a separate directory tree and provides the infrastructure to make it easy to use.
For more information or to download the latest version, visit fink.sourceforge.net.
If you have a previous version of Fink installed, you can upgrade to 0.5.0a by opening the terminal and typing fink selfupdate. If you're running a very old version you may have to do that twice to complete the upgrade.
Unsanity LLC Releases Labels X 1.1 and Xounds 1.4
Dec 9, 2002 -- Unsanity LLC announces the immediate availability of Labels X 1.1 and Xounds 1.4. Updates to these two popular haxies include bug fixes and enhancements.
Labels X 1.1
Description: Bring back file/folder labeling features of Mac OS 9.
Download: http://www.unsanity.net/labels-x-11.dmg
Changes in this version:
- Labels X is now compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 as well as Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar".
- File labels are now shown in Dock popup menus containing file listings.
- Labels contextual menu will be disabled for files you do not have correct access privileges for.
- Fixed the issues with mis-coloring of icons in the toolbars, search results, and window proxy icons.
- Fixed a bug with non-English label names displaying incorrectly in the Labels contextual menu.
- Updated for Application Enhancer 1.2.
- New installer.
- Misc code cleanups and bug fixes.
Xounds 1.4
Description: Bring back appearance sounds from Mac OS 9.
Download: http://www.unsanity.net/xounds-14.dmg
Changes in this version:
- Substantial speed-ups of the code, causing up to 30x performance increases in playing sounds.
- Updated for Application Enhancer 1.2, including new and improved Exclude List feature.
- Included with a new, improved version of Unsanity Installer.
- Window dragging sound in Cocoa applications starts playing immediately, just like in Carbon ones.
- Volume mount and unmount sounds are now played again.
- Panning for multi-monitor setups should be calculated more correctly now.
- Fixed a bug with XoundSets when non-English characters in their names were not working.
- Fixed a bug with window dragging sound getting 'stuck' sometimes.
- More various bugfixes all over the code.
Both of these haxies are distributed as shareware. For more information on Unsanity haxies, please visit:
http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/
Unsanity LLC is the creator of other popular haxies such as Application Enhancer, WindowShade X, FruitMenu, Xounds, Dock Detox, Silk, Cee Pee You, and ShadowKiller. Unsanity is dedicated to providing quality software for the Macintosh community.
OpenOSX Ships OpenWeb 2.5 CD
OpenOSX's today began
shipping a new version of their popular OpenWeb for Mac OS X 10.2.2+
product. This version brings updated software, dozens of additional
enhancements and applications including optional support for the new and
slightly experimental Apache 2 Web Server series. The product includes
separate Apache 1.27 and 2.0.43 based packages for the long list of
software included. Both versions may be installed on the same system
separately or simultaneously.
The OpenWeb product was designed to empower webmasters with a wide range of
ready to use tools as fast, conveniently and easily as possible. By
double-clicking the installer, the OpenWeb CD will install and fully
configure a suite of popular server software and web-applications
including: a secure shopping cart, an advanced content management and
publishing system, web-based graphical server administration (supports DNS,
SSL, Apache, MySQL, Samba and more), SQL database backends, a search
engine, bulletin board system, advertising management and more.
The product is based on Apache versions 1.3.27 and 2.0.43 with PHP 4.3.0RC2
(built as Apache 1 and 2 modules), Jakarta Tomcat 4.1.12 along with mod_jk
1.2.1 (also built as Apache 1 and 2 modules), Perl 5.8.0 with mod_perl
versions versions 1.27 and 1.99_07, MySQL 3.23.53 with MyODBC 2.50.39,
OpenSSL 0.9.6 with mod_ssl 2.8.12. A free PHP 4.3.0 update will be made
available when 4.3.0 is finalized.
Apache 2 offers many new features over previous versions including enhanced
scalability. Tomcat along with mod_jk allows the serving of Java Sevrer
Pages and Servelets directly from the web server without the need to use a
port number. Perl with the mod_perl module enables a persistent Perl
interpreter embedded in your web server. This avoids the overhead of
starting an external interpreter and alleviates the penalty of Perl
start-up time, benefiting fast dynamic content.
The OpenWeb package is available immediately for us$60 and upgrades from
previous versions of the product are us$20. OpenOSX also has complementary,
specially priced, O'Reilly book bundles and 6-month hassle-free
CD-subscriptions available. Limited installation support and documentation
is included. Visit the OpenOSX web site for more details.
OpenOSX is a company dedicated to serving, and expanding, the Macintosh
community. Founded on the premise that many computer users are intimidated
by the UNIX command-line, OpenOSX committed itself to one mission- bringing
popular Unix software to both the "Unix-challenged" and the seasoned, Mac
inclined system administrator in a friendly, Mac environment.
Mac Geek Gift Ideas
This is the time of the year when most people realize that they didn't get a gift for person X and time is quickly disappearing. They will most likely be crushed so you better get moving. I've posted some of the better gifts for the nerd in your life (or maybe just yourself) over at MacMerc.
I'd love to read some feedback about what items you think should make it (I'll listen and add them ASAP). Comment below and I'll check back periodically to initiate the changes!
SmartDog web search utility for Mac OS X
SmartDog searches web pages and fetches only what you want.
SmartDog searches web pages for words and phrases
and alerts you when they appear.
You can configure SmartDog to search whenever you want
and as many web pages as you like.
SmartDog will email or SMS the text surrounding your
search word so you can use the information right away.
You also have the option of clicking on a link to view the
items or you can have SmartDog save the HTML for you.
For more information, visit http://ezpzapps.com/SmartDog/.
Photologist 1.1 Update Released
Photologist provides users with easy but powerful ways to work with digital photos. Manage photo folders and create custom photo albums. Show photos with slide shows, web albums, and custom print layouts or print layout templates. Scale photos visually. Crop, rotate, and flip images. Adjust photo brightness, contrast, and color. Edit images pixel by pixel. Apply special effects, styled text, shapes, and background colors. Use Photo Finder for quick, easy, and flexible photo searches. Batch process image files (rename, scale, apply shape, add keywords, categories, and comments).
Photologist is a versatile image management, manipulation, and presentation solution. It provides users with easy but powerful ways to work with digital photos. Key features include:
Managing Photos
- organize photo folders (copy, move, and make aliases)
- create custom photo albums from multiple sources
Showing Photos
- run customizable slide shows
- make web photo albums
- create and send eCards
- create screen savers
- print custom layouts with image overlapping and picture transparency.
- visually scale and drag photos to email messages or other applications
Editing Photos
- visually scale photos
- crop, rotate, flip images
- adjust brightness and contrast
- adjust colors
- remove "red eye" and edit individual pixels
- apply special effects to pictures
- apply styled text to photos
- make picture words from images
Finding Photos
- use Photologist's Photo Finder to locate photos by name, keywords, comments, or a range of dates
- run successive searches to broaden or narrow the results
- search recursively within a folder (search into nested folders)
Browsing Photos
- choose from a variety of photo viewing options (gallery, slide show, screen saver, viewer window)
Processing Photos (individual images, selected images, or whole folders of images)
- rename images (use Photologist's flexible renaming system for batch renaming)
- attach keywords, categories, or comments to photo files
- resize (scale) pictures
- apply shapes and add color backgrounds
New in this version:
Quicktime slide show movies with over 100 transition effects
Print layout templates
Print layout template maker for creating custom multiple image layouts
Preference option to open created web page in browser
Improved scrolling speed in Gallery window
Screen capture utility
Contact sheet utility
Numerous interface and performance enhancements
The download includes an illustrated User's Guide (web browser required)
Product URL: http://www.ttpsoftware.com/photologist.html
Download URL: http://www.ttpsoftware.com/photologist.sit
Home Page: http://www.ttpsoftware.com
Contact: mailto:contact@ttpsoftware.com
IP Over FireWire pulled
Apple appears to have pulled the IP Over FireWire preview release, as well as the KnowledgeBase documents related to it. No explanation was given, although users report that it deletes all locations in the Network system preference panel.
Improve Griffin PowerMate's mute feature
The Griffin PowerMate is one of the coolest devices you can add to your mac, and here's a way to make it even better.
I've never been completely satisfied with the PowerMate's mute feature, since if iTunes isn't the frontmost application it will mute the sound level while iTunes continues to play.
Here's how you can make it pause iTunes even if it isn't the frontmost application. To do this you'll need a keyboard macro utility such as Youpi Key.
Create a macro which executes the following script:
tell application "iTunes" to playpause
Assign it a unique keystroke (I used Command-Option-Control-Shift-M).
Next, go to the PowerMate system preference panel and add a user action for long click to global settings. Set it to send the same keystroke you assigned to the script.
You can now pause iTunes at any time by pressing and holding the PowerMate button, while a regular click will still mute the sound level. The length of a long click can be adjusted in the PowerMate settings pannel.
Free automation utility for Mac OS X
Youpi Key is a free automation utility which allows you to execute scripts and other actions from a keystroke, menu, or at a specified time.
Available actions include:
- open file (an application or a document)
- display folder hierarchy
- manipulate applications
- open internet address
- show in Finder
- put in clipboard
- play sound
- open system preferences
- run Unix commands
- run system action
- simulate key
- simulate keyboard
- simulate mouse
- pause
- run script
- manipulate windows (Mac OS X 10.2)
- simulate menu (Mac OS X 10.2)
Any action can be available for all applications or a specific application.
For more information or to download a copy, visit http://perso.club-internet.fr/phupe/english/YKIndex.html.
New multimedia and e-learning authoring software debuts
Knoxville, Tennessee -- December 5, 2002 -- Discovery Systems International, Inc. (DSI) today announced the immediate availability of onViz, a new authoring tool for creating multimedia and e-learning software that runs on Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows computers.
onViz enables people to quickly create interactive applications for computer-based instruction, electronic books and reference manuals. In addition, people can develop their own interactive video, expert systems, product and services demos, advertising, presentations, simulations, kiosks, games, and any other media rich interactive content.
The diverse group of people using onViz includes K-12 teachers, college and university professors, corporate trainers, multimedia developers, consultants, sales and marketing personnel, manufacturers, healthcare practitioners, aviators, artists, museum curators, social workers, government agencies, and individuals creating their own software for sale.
"onViz is a product that I think fills a genuine need in the marketplace -- A Mac-based cross-platform authoring tool with some very high-performance features," said Michael Heckman, Senior Producer at Cool Films.
Creating a software program is as simple as drawing a line between graphical elements on a flowchart. onViz enables people to create interactive content without having to learn programming code or scripting languages, and includes dozens of features for creating software programs that run identically on Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows computers.
"onViz has significant value as a multimedia and e-learning authoring tool because it has been carefully designed and tested for ease of use, flexibility, reliability, and cost effectiveness," said Janice Tocher, president of DSI.
Applications created with onViz can connect to the Internet and launch a Web browser or open almost any other software application or document residing on computers using the Apple Macintosh or Microsoft Windows operating systems.
onViz-authored applications can also be configured for delivery of interactive content over various computer networks including the Web. Data can be automatically retrieved from different network locations, including simultaneous file retrieval from multiple networks including the Internet. For applications such as e-learning or networked kiosks, onViz can automatically generate report files and send the data to any network destination.
A Macintosh computer is presently required for authoring. To ensure backward compatibility with older operating systems and computers, the onViz authoring environment runs on Macintosh OS 8.6 or later. Authoring within the Macintosh OSX operating system is forthcoming.
"Several customers that are using Microsoft Windows have purchased an Apple Macintosh computer and onViz simply because our product is easy to use, includes the features they need, and they find this approach less expensive than many alternatives," Tocher said.
onViz is the result of a 4-year research and development effort. Although it builds on the strengths of the company’s older CourseBuilder authoring software, it is an entirely new product.
Introduced in 1987, DSI’s CourseBuilder was one of the first commercially available products for authoring interactive applications on personal computers. CourseBuilder pioneered the multimedia software industry as the first such commercial software application to use a visual method for programming, which has become common throughout the industry.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
onViz presently retails for $599, with a price of $475 for academic and non-profit customers. Upgrades from DSI’s CourseBuilder product are $299 through December 31st. onViz can be purchased immediately from DSI’s Web site, and an evaluation version is available as a free download. The evaluation version limits the size of applications created; otherwise it is fully functional.
Competitive upgrades and site licenses are also available.
ABOUT DISCOVERY SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL
Discovery Systems International (DSI), founded in 1992 and located in Knoxville, Tennessee, creates interactive content development tools with the belief technology should enable people to express their creativity unimpeded by the technology used.
For more information, visit DSI’s Web site
Or contact Discovery Systems International, Inc.
P.O. Box 1188
Knoxville, TN 37901-1188
Toll Free: +1 888.284.5389
International: +1 865.637.0311
Fax: +1 865.609.2460
info@discoverysystems.com
onViz is a trademark of Discovery Systems International, Inc. Other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
ActiveDeveloper v2.10 IDE Released for MacOS X 10.2
Today InterACTIVE-Technology
released the MacOS X Jaguar 10.2.x and gcc3 enabled version of ActiveDeveloper - their Runtime Objective-C&C IDE, JIT compiler and Debugger
with support for Cocoa and WebObjects.
The ActiveDeveloper IDE cuts your API learning curve and allows incremental
Development of any Project. With ActiveDeveloper you get a Runtime Object
IDE allowing you to build NATIVE apps and servers directly at Runtime while
they run. Thereby bringing you a whole lot closer to the Objects you work
with ...
ActiveDeveloper
- "Grow" your Apps - through incremental JIT Compilation
- Develop, Test, Debug and Play - at runtime
- Edit-compile-play cycles in 1-2 seconds
- Deploy NATIVE Apps - with NO ActiveDeveloper dependency
Get InterACTIVE Today -- ActiveDeveloper is available for Cocoa and
WebObjects on MacOS X 10.x, Windows 2K/NT/9x and OpenStep.
ActiveDeveloper - Pricing:
Commercial Single platform (Thin) multi user license - only $ 99
Personal Single platform (Thin) single user licenses - only $ 49
Educational Single platform (Thin) 5-pack user licenses - only $249
Download ActiveDeveloper from
http://www.interactive-technology.com
Screenshots of ActiveDeveloper:
http://www.interactive-technology.com/Screenshots/
Get InterACTIVE with NATIVE Cocoa and WebObject.
Free Holiday Photo Cards Available for Portraits & Prints
This Holiday season Mac OS X users get an early gift
from Econ Technologies - Free Holiday Photo Cards. Download over 40 Holiday
templates for use with Portraits & Prints™, the powerful photo printing
solution for Mac∆ OS X. Go to Econ Technologies and see how easy it
is to print your holiday photos with Portraits & Prints and your Mac.
Make this holiday season a little less hectic using your Mac to bring your
digital photos to life. Choose from a wide variety of holiday themes
featuring 4X6, 4X5, and even photo mask cards. Just add these holiday
templates to Portraits & Prints and they are ready to go. Change text by
just clicking on the text button and typing in your own custom message.
Portraits & Prints is the complete Mac OS X solution for modifying and
printing digital images. Choose from the variety of templates that comes
with Portraits & Prints or create your own using Template Maker. With this
companion application, place any size and number of photos, graphics, and
text to templates. Even customize the holiday templates and give them your
own personal touch.
Portraits & Prints can even be integrated with iPhoto. Try out the demos,
check out the holiday templates and see how easy it can be to turn your Mac
into a photo studio!
Purchase Portraits & Prints for $20.00 and its companion Portraits & Prints
Template Maker for $10.00 online at the Econ Technologies, Inc. web site
(http://www.econtechnologies.com). Econ Technologies, Inc. continues to
create Powerful, Affordable, Easy applications for the Mac OS X operating
system. For more information on Econ Technologies’ products, please contact
Joseph Japes at 407-365-4209 or at jjapes@econtechnologies.com.
Tiny record company announces innovative license
With the major record companies placing more restrictions on their content, it's refreshing to see one tiny company take the opposite approach.
Anonym Records announced a new licensing arrangement which lets owners make unlimited copies of their CDs and even allow others to copy it as long as they agree to pay for a license.
We refuse to pay kickbacks, discounts, bribes, whatever you call it, to get our products into CD stores. If you see us in a store, it's a sure sign the owner simply knows good music, because we didn't kick back a single cent to get the CD there, so, buy one from them, just to reward them!. But...
To completely bypass the corrupted marketplaces for the distribution of sound and ideas, let us be the first, (I think), company to offer you the ability to pay online for a legal license to copy our recordings at home, using our product, (or a legal copy of our product), as your source.
If you don't own one of our CDs, but like the music, this is your chance to legally copy your friend's version of our product.
No kidding.
To all of you who have purchased our products online or at a store, take note, the following license applies to you. You own the product, and you get to use it for life.
It gives you permission to make copies in any form for your personal use, for your entire life, and permission to let others copy the product, should they agree to pay for the license.
I hope other record companies follow their lead and come up with other innovative distribution arrangements, although I doubt it will happen as long as they want to continue their outdated ways of doing business.
Read RSS & XML news feeds in Entourage
Genecast has an RSS to NNTP gateway which lets you subscribe to and read RSS feeds in your favorite Usenet news reader such as Entourage or NewsWatcher.
RSS feeds are the most convenient way to get the latest news from your favorite websites. Aggregators such as NetNewsWire and Radio Userland make it easy to subscribe to feeds.
Thanks to Genecast, you no longer need additional software to read RSS feeds. You probably already have a Usenet news reader such as Microsoft Entourage or Outlook Express.
To use this service, add a news server account for freenews.genecast.com. A paid service is also available, which provides additional feeds and the ability to add your own RSS feeds.
Download news to your iPod
PodNews 3 is a utility for downloading headlines, weather forecasts, lyrics and notes to your iPod.
PodNews 3 supports hundreds of news sources out of the box (including MacMegasite), covering a broad range of subjects including Mac news, sports, current events and entertainment. You can also add a source for any site with an RSS or RDF stream at the click of a button.
PodNews 3 also lets you download weather forecasts, lyrics, stock quotes, and driving directions. You can also create your own notes. All items appear under Contacts in the Extras menu on your iPod.
For more information or to download a copy, visit http://www.clichesw.com/podnews/.
PGP Personal & Desktop 8.0 Released for Mac OS X
PGP Personal 8.0 and PGP Desktop 8.0 have been released for Mac OS X.
PGP Personal 8.0 includes PGP Disk, which allows you to create encrypted disk volumes, and PGP plug-ins for popular email applications including Mail.app and Entourage.
PGP Desktop 8.0 adds administrator features and support for corporate groupware applications.
For more information, visit PGP Corporation.
MacChampion upgraded Alepin, their Note Pad replacement to version 2.11 today!
The MacChampion Team has released Alepin 2.11 today. Alepin is a Note Pad replacement for OS X which offers a plethora of features, while keeping the interface as simple and elegant as possible.
Here are some of the features:
•As simple and clean an interface as we can make it
•Simple navigation of multiple pages
•Categories Drawer, allowing you to name and organise pages into folder-like Categories
•Live URLs
•Shortcuts to enter Date, Time or both
•Auto-open specific file on launch
•Auto-save of documents
•Auto-backup of files
•Quick Find through all pages
•Supports all Cocoa features (services, spell-checking, etc)
•Floating window feature for note-taking
•Internet version checking
•Copy and Paste of graphics with Carbon applications (which TextEdit cannot do)
•Import from Note Pad, Stickies X and folders of text/rtf/rtfd files
•File format offering great file recovery in case of file corruption
•Registers as a System Service
Keeps track of creation and modification dates for pages
•Information bar to edit name and view creation and modification dates.
•Imports from Stickies X and folders of text/rtf/rtfd files!
•Can auto-create a new page after pasting or dropping
You can download Alepin 2.11 from the macChampion web site http://www.macchampion.com/
Alepin is shareware and costs $10
Enjoy!
- The MacChampion Team
Direct Print Standard
Six leading digital imaging companies have today announced a new direct printing standard for the connection of digital cameras and photo printers. With DPS you will be able to connect a compatible digital camera directly to a compatible photo printer (initially via PTP USB) and initiate prints directly from the camera - no need for a PC. This new standard was initially developed by Canon, HP, Epson and Sony. Fujifilm and Olympus joined discussions later and a collective specification has been finalized.
PALO ALTO, Calif., and TOKYO, Dec. 2, 2002 -- Canon Inc., Fuji Photo Film Company, Ltd., HP, Olympus Optical Company, Ltd., Seiko Epson Corporation and Sony Corporation today announced a proposal for an industry standard that enables consumers to easily print photos by directly connecting their digital still cameras to their printers -- no PC required.
Until now, each company had its own proprietary solution for direct printing -- without a computer -- between their own branded digital still cameras and printers. This situation has proven to be limiting to consumers, as they are unable to achieve the same convenience and ease of use when using a combination of products of different brands. The unified specification, tentatively named "DPS," ensures compatibility across digital cameras and printers, regardless of brand, giving consumers the flexibility and simplicity to create high-quality photos.
The specification was originally developed by Canon, HP, Seiko Epson and Sony. Fuji and Olympus later joined discussions and collectively the specification was finalized. Together, these six companies, all leaders in digital imaging, will continue to advocate industry adoption of this new standard, which is expected to spur the growth of digital photography.
More information about DPS is available at http://www.camera-direct.info/