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Sat, 31 Jan 2004
Drums On Demand Debuts Live, Acoustic Drum Loop Collection for GarageBand
To meet the growing need for quality music loops for GarageBand among songwriters and recordists, Drums On Demand has released its popular Vol. 1 loop CD in Apple Loops format. The collection includes nearly 900 live, acoustic drum loops organized into 41 easy-to-use “Song Sets” — all designed to help you quickly put together a drum track that sounds like you hired a pro session drummer in a high-end studio. MP3 examples of all 41 Song Sets are available at http://www.drumsondemand.com/apple.htm
What makes Drums On Demand different from other loop CDs is its song-based organization system, creative live drumming and plug-and-play mix. Each Song Set includes as many as 33 verse, chorus, fill, bridge, break, intro, ending and other loops, ranging from one to eight measures in length. Simply find the master verse or chorus loop that fits your song and use the other loops and segments in the Song Set to quickly build a drum track that feels and sounds like a live session drummer playing a real song -- because that’s exactly what it is.
A wide selection of styles and BPMs, combined with GarageBand’s tempo-matching capabilities, makes the royalty-free Drums On Demand CD a highly versatile tool for songwriting and multimedia production. Or you can quickly make great backing tracks for guitar jams.
Mixed with an ear for punch and musicality, the loops were tracked into 24-bit Pro Tools with top-of-the-line microphones and mixed down using high-end compression and processing. The result is the fastest, most flexible way to create a live-sounding, high-quality drum performance for your project. Suggested Retail Price: $49.95 (U.S)
KEY FEATURES INCLUDE
• Royalty Free
• Rock, Pop, Country styles
• Multiple Time Signatures
• High end, quality mix
• 24-bit 44.1Khz, great for both GarageBand and SoundTrack
• 41 Song Sets, Ranging from 72 to 170 BPM
• Multiple snares
• Brush and rim-based loops
• Contemporary beats and fills
• Pro drumming
• Single Hits Collection also included
For more information contact Quint Randle at info@drumsondemand.com
Backgrounder: The Drums On Demand Team
Todd Sorensen is an accomplished session drummer and percussionist as well as a composer and producer. His playing and writing can be heard everyday on shows like NBC's The Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning Americaand more. He also composes for TV, radio and album production. His work has been featured in film trailers for such blockbusters as Tomb Raider 2, X Men 2 and Spiderman.
Guy Randle has been engineering and producing full time since 1977 when he founded Rosewood Recording Company. With more than 25 years of experience behind the board, his track record includes projects ranging from major label artists to independent albums with total unit sales in the millions.
Quint Randle has made a career out of making life simpler for working musicians and songwriters. He founded Gig Magazine in 1986 and his book, Making Money Making Music, is available at bookstores nationwide. He has also written for a variety of music industry publications such as Mix Magazine. The Drums on Demand concept and organization system grew out of his own songwriting and production work because other drum CDs were lacking.
iCompositions - The Internet's Largest GarageBand Community
iCompositions.com is the internet's largest Apple GarageBand Community featuring forums with over 600 users and the Auditorium for user composition uploads. The Auditorium already has over 300 compositions uploaded!
AirPort Wireless Specials and More
Apple AirPort Extreme Wireless Networking Card
Normally $79.99, take $7 off with Q-Pon code "EXTAIR"
AirPort Wireless Networking Card - New Cards!
Normally $79.99, take $5 off with Q-Pon code "FREEDOM"
MacResQ Mini AC Adapter, PowerBook G3 (all), iBook (clamshell), 3400,
2400, 1400 and Duo Series: Normally $59.99, take $10 off with Q-Pon code
"ITTY"
PowerMac G4/400 128/27gb/DVD/Zip/56k Graphite
Normally $579.99, take $50 off with Q-Pon code "50G4"
Exp. 2/03
40MB of free loops for GarageBand
Bitshift Audio has released 40MB of free Apple Loops for GarageBand.
Their resident beat programmer, Art Gillespie (aka bitshift), is so excited about GarageBand and the new Apple Loops file format that he put together this collection of free electro/breakbeat drum and synth loops from his forthcoming Apple Loops CD 'bitshift's bangin' beats' for everyone to download for free.
In GarageBand, simply drag the loops to a 'Real Instrument' track and you'll be jamming along with bitshift's breakbeat madness. And thanks to the Apple Loops file format, the loops will always fit in perfectly with your song's tempo and key. Users of other audio software packages can enjoy the loops, too, as Apple Loops work in any application that supports AIFF files.
Darwine: Windows apps on the Mac without Windows
Darwine is a new project to bring Wine, an Open Source implementation of the Windows APIs, to Mac OS X.
The Darwine project intends to port and develop WINE as well as other supporting tools that will allow Darwin and Mac OS X users to run Windows Applications. There are two major phases to this project. The first phase is the port of WINE to Darwin/x86 with XDarwin (XFree86). While the basic compatibility is there, as Darwin is largely FreeBSD, we need to overcome the hurdle of its Mach kernel which uses the Mach-O format rather than ELF. The second phase is to then port WINE to Darwin/PPC and Mac OS X by integrating the Bochs IA-32 interpreter. Additional supporting tools for launching Windows applications from the desktop and an integrated installer are desireable items for the package.
This project is distinguished from simply using Bochs to run Windows because there is no Windows here. Just WINE and Bochs will be needed to run Windows applications directly under X. That will enable vastly better performance, better integration, and easier administration.
For Mac OS X, the ideal would be to eventually use the native GUI. Probably Carbon-based rather than Cocoa as the GTK porting efforts have found.
Think of Wine as a Windows compatibility layer. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely alternative implementation consisting of 100% Microsoft-free code, but it can optionally use native system DLLs if they are available. Wine provides both a development toolkit (Winelib) for porting Windows sources to Unix and a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows binaries to run on x86-based Unixes.
Links:
Tue, 27 Jan 2004
A New Game ABRACADABRA from Phelios - Demo Available
Phelios, Inc, announced the release of their new game, Abracadabra, which was made with their game engine, PTK.
About Abracadabra
Abracadabra is an arcade game that will take you on a magical trip. Create or destroy your destiny with the “Whack!” of a magic wand. That wand, by the way, is of key importance and could save your life. With it, you’ll make or break walls. Speaking of key, your mission is to find one without having your journey thwarted. You’ll use your supernatural powers wisely to protect you from the crazy creatures trying to foil your task.Don’t worry, there isn’t just evil lurking, you’ll also discover magic potions, and mystical fairies that will take you shopping! Yup, grab some golden “ka-ching” and fill your cart with supernatural powers and more…
Features
-Solve 15 FREE levels, and all over 115 levels in the full version!
-Tutorial levels in English, Japanese, German, Italian and French
-Awesome graphics and animation
-Cool sound effects
-Magical Hip Soundtracks
System Requirements:
-For Mac: OS X 450 MHZ processor or higher
-128 MB of Memory
Abracadabra is available online for $24.95.
Download the demo here
For more information about Abracadabra, click here
View The Abracadabra Game Trailer video
For more information:
Contact Patrice Krysztofiak via email: contact@phelios.com
Phelios Mac Games and PC Games Shareware
Game Developer Tools including the Game Engine PTK
Apple Security Update 2004-01-26
Apple has released a new security update, which is now available via the Software Update panel.
Security Update 2004-01-26 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components:
- Apache 1.3
- Classic
- Mail
- Safari
- Windows File Sharing
Additionally, Security Update 2003-12-19 has been incorporated into this security update. Those components are:
- AFP Server
- ASN.1 Decoding for PKI
- cd9660.util
- Directory Services
- fetchmail
- fs_usage
- rsync
- System Initialization
Bongo Boogie available from our store
Bongo Boogie is among the new products added to our store. You can help support us by visiting our store and buying your favorite products.
New GarageBand Community Site
I've opened a new GarageBand community site. ShareYourMusic.com is a place where you can share your GarageBand creations and talk about music in general.
20 years of Macintosh
Twenty years ago today, on Jan. 24, 1984, Apple introduced the first Macintosh. Let's look back at the first Mac and how it evolved.
I bought my first Macintosh, an original 128k (it was simply called "Macintosh", not "Macintosh 128k"), serial number F4040USM001 in Feburary 1984. By today's standards, it was a primitive machine, with only 128k of RAM, no hard drive, a built in 400k floppy drive, a tiny black & white screen, and a blazing fast 8 MHz 68000 processor. At that time, most systems had 64k of RAM and a 4 MHz or slower processor.
The only non-Apple software available on the first day was Microsoft Basic & Multiplan (an early spreadsheet). In those days, a Lisa was needed to develop software, and the only language available was Pascal. Microsoft Basic couldn't produce stand-alone applications and didn't allow any access to the Mac toolbox. The first language that could actually produce true Macintosh applications was MacFORTH. Eventually Apple's Macintosh Development System (MDS) assembler and Consulair C became available, which made it possible to build full stand-alone applications on the Macintosh itself.
An external floppy was a rare luxury and a few companies like Tecmar even made hard drives that connected to the serial port. Finally GCC introduced the HyperDrive, an internal 10M hard drive (followed by the HyperDrive 20). The HyperDrive had to be installed by a dealer, since the original Mac couldn't easily be opened by users and had no internal expansion capabilities.
Finally, Apple introduced the 512K Macintosh the following year and several memory upgrades were available for the original Macintosh. The Mac Plus was a huge improvement, with 1M of RAM, an 800K floppy drive, and a SCSI port whcih made it easy to connect an external hard drive. However, it still used the same 8 MHz processor.
The Mac II was the first expandable Macintosh, the first one that supported color, and the first one which used a faster processor, a 16 MHz 68020.
Finally, Apple put it all together with the SE/30, one of the most popular Macs ever, which combined a 16 MHz 68030 CPU with an internal hard drive & expansion slot in the convenient all-in-one design of the original Mac. It sold for the same $2600 the original Mac sold for, which gave it the best performance for the price of any Mac up to that time.
System 7 was the first major overhaul of the original Macintosh OS. For the first time, multitasking was supported and many new system services were introduced which made it possible to write much more powerful applications that cooperated with each other and shared data.
Today, even a basic G5 system sells for less the price of the original Mac and is many times faster, yet it still retains the essential Macintosh personality.
simpleDays 3.2 Update Announcement
Product Name: simpleDays
Version: 3.2
Type: Shareware
Category: Personal Information Manager
Price: $15.00 (Free to registered users)
Version Release Date: January 23, 2004
System Requirements: Mac OS X
Demo Version: Limited to 3 saved items
NOTE: This update is free to registered users.
Purpose:
Suite of personal information management tools
Description:
Version 3.2 of simpleDays is a maintenance update of this integrated suite of personal information and time management tools. Features include: a perpetual calendar, popup reminders of special events, "to do" management, a personal journal, a day planner, contact information management, storage of and access to internet favorites and email addresses, searchable on-line help, and more.
New in this version:
- fixed a bug that removed some formatting when text was highlighted in the journal text field.
- preference choice to show or hide console on opening of calendar window now saves properly
- calendar window now remembers its position between program runs
- reminder days marking on main calendar changed from underlining to red digits
- reminders sort by date correctly now
- fixed a bug that could affect reminder data when edited
- preference setting for Journal text color fixed
Product URL: http://www.ttpsoftware.com/simpledays.html
Download URL: http://www.ttpsoftware.com/simpleDays3.sit
Home Page: http://www.ttpsoftware.com
Contact: mailto:contact@ttpsoftware.com
MacJams.com Announces GarageBand Song Contest
MacJams.com, an online community for Apple GarageBand software users, has announced its first ever GarageBand song contest. The competition runs until February 14, 2004, and the winner will be selected according to user ratings of each song. Check out MacJams.com for full details and to submit a song or review the current entries!
Phelios Updates Bongo Boogie Just in Time for Chinese New Year
Phelios announced the release of a significant update to their game, Bongo Boogie, the breakout game with monkeys that have gone bananas. The update coincides serendipitously with the Chinese New Year 2004: The Year of the Monkey.
The Bongo Boogie updates include:
- Size reduction from 29 MB to 11.5 MB which means a lot less download time!
- Supports Gamepad play (on PC only for now but coming to Mac soon)
- Fix highscores on main page
- Simplified the introduction dialog box
Click here for information about Bongo Boogie and a Game Trailer
iTunes Music Store has RSS feeds
The iTunes Music Store has a Custom RSS Feed Generator. Just select your favorite genres and whether you want new releases, just added, top items, or featured items to generate a custom feed which you can subscribe to in a news reader such as NetNewsWire.
Use your Mac's keyboard with GarageBand
microSynth is a software synthesizer that lets you use your Mac's keyboard to play music.
The latest version of microSynth is able to send MIDI messages to other applications such as GarageBand, so you can now play music on your Mac's keyboard even if you don't have a MIDI keyboard.
To use it, start up both microSynth and GarageBand. Create a software instrument track in GarageBand, turn on recording, switch to microSynth and start playing on the keyboard.
Deals from MacResQ
MacResQ Mini AC Adapter for PowerBook G4 & White iBook
Normal price: $59.99, get it for $49.99 with Q-Pon Code "ACPWR"
MacResQ Mini AC Adapter, PowerBook G3 (all), iBook (clamshell), 3400, 2400, 1400, Duo
Normal price: $59.99, get it for $49.99 with Q-Pon Code "G3ACPWR"
Lexmark X75 PrinTrio All-In-One USB Printer, Copier and Scanner
Normal price: $69.99, get it for $59.99 with Q-Pon Code "ALLONE"
Exp. 1/27
Absolute Software secures top-ten US school district
Absolute Software Corporation (TSX-VEN: ABT), a provider of services and software for computer security and asset management, today announced a three-year purchasing agreement with the School District of Philadelphia, the seventh largest school district in the U.S. to put their security product on all of the district's Macs & PCs.
The agreement is expected to generate up to $1.5 million US in sales contracts over the next three years, depending on the term and number of units purchased. The district plans to place Absolute’s Computrace ?Plus software on all its desktop and notebook computers purchased over the next three years, as it gradually replaces its existing 30,000 PCs and Macs.
“After completing an extensive evaluation process, we selected ComputracePlus because we felt it was the best computer tracking and loss control solution on the market,” said Vincent DeTolla, Executive Director for Educational Technology of the School District of Philadelphia. “This purchase is a crucial part of our strategy for securing and controlling our computer population.”
“As part of this agreement, we now have one of the top ten school districts as a reference account,” said Bob Chow, president of Absolute. “This will help us capitalize on the education market for administrative software, which is estimated to be $400 million US* this 2003-2004 school year. In addition, we have seen an increase in laptop and notebook purchases in the education market, which aligns with our product strategy.”
About ComputracePlus:
Delivered as a software service or as enterprise software, ComputracePlus is a computer tracking and loss control solution that ensures remote, mobile and desktop computers are secure and locatable. ComputracePlus helps security departments monitor asset location daily, protect valuable corporate data and attempt to recover computers if they are stolen. ComputracePlus is available for both Macs and PCs.
About Absolute Software
Absolute Software is a leading provider of computer security and asset management services and software for corporate, government and education customers. Absolute Software helps organizations overcome the security risks and asset management challenges associated with their computers— remote, mobile and local. Over 2,000 customers rely on Absolute every day to secure, track and manage their computer population. For more information please visit www.absolute.com.
Disclaimer: I'm an employee of Absolute Software, although this website is in no way associated with the company.
iChat AV Meeting Place Clears 10,000 Members
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For further information, contact:
Debbie Martin
704/907-6670
dmartin@indexcor.com
iChatFinder.com
iChatFinder.com Clears 10,000 Member Mark
Meeting Site for Macintosh iChat AV Users Continues Explosive Growth
Charlotte, NC January 20, 2004 - iChat AV and iSight users are not alone any more! Launched immediately after the beta release of Apple's innovative iChat AV instant messaging software last year, iChatFinder was developed to encourage Macintosh users to experiment with their new audio and video conferencing capabilities. Designed as a "General Interest iChat Meeting Place" to expand and improve upon the more limited iChat personal ads sites, iChatFinder lists nearly 800 conversation ice-breaking topics that range from just trying out iSight to Astrophysics and exotic cars. As well as restricting membership to ages 18 and older, the site also shuns chat rooms and adult content in favor of a pleasant, safe, community environment for Mac iChatAV and PC AOL Instant Messaging (AIM) enthusiasts from 103 countries. Registered members use a simple interface to search for other users by combinations of interests, age, location and gender, among many other options. After obtaining a list of screennames from a customized search, members contact each other directly using their IM software. There are two levels of membership: a free basic membership and an Elite Services option that adds several valuable features such as iChatRSVP for arranging iChat schedules with offline members.
Based on hundreds of suggestions from members, the site offers Online/Offline status indication, Privacy Settings to limit the accessibility of a member's screenname, onsite personal mailboxes, messaging with offline members, online accessible contact lists, detailed summaries of visitors to each member's profile, free photo editing, and a host of other iChat support features. According to Rob Payne, VP Technology for parent IndexCOR, " iChatFinder is unmatched in practical user features that compliment and enhance the iChat AV experience."
Although hundreds of member occupations are listed, iChatFinder's Macintosh orientation has attracted a large proportion of members engaged in graphic arts, web publications, and other creative digital media pursuits, resulting in a growing network of professionals that foster business and employment opportunities in these fields. Member ages average 34 years, ranging from 18 to 82 and nearly 50% post photographs alongside their profiles and interest lists.
PC AOL instant messaging users are welcome on iChatFinder, but current technology limitations dictate that Mac iChat AV users are only able to engage in text chats with PC users. To enable PC users to enjoy similar services to those enjoyed by iChatFinder members, IndexCOR launched VideoChatFinder.com earlier this month, following the release of AOL's new AIM 5.5.3501 Beta for Windows video conferencing software.
IndexCOR LLC is an internet services company focused on the professional development of unique high growth consumer and business internet ventures from Research to Implementation and Growth. IndexCOR serves global markets from offices in North Carolina, USA and Wales, UK.
Macintosh and iSight are registered trademarks of Apple Computer. iChatFinder, iChatRSVP, and VideoChatFinder are trademarks of IndexCOR LLC.
New GarageBand discussion forum
I've just created a new forum to discuss GarageBand. Share your tips & tricks or ask questions about Apple's coolest app ever here!
Mac Halo 1.03 Update Has Finally Come
The Halo 1.03 update has finally come. This allows you to play on all 1.03 servers, which is great since most 1.02 servers were laggy and there weren't very many.
This update also requires you to use the cd now. Mac Halo shipped as 1.02 because the PC version of 1.03 came out as the Mac version was in duplication, and the programmers at Westlake have been working feverishly to get the patch out for Mac quickly. Well they did their job and now Mac gamers should be happy. Full story here.
Adding loops to GarageBand
PowerFX has announced a collection of add-in loops for GarageBand or Soundtrack. I haven't seen any instructions for adding loops to GarageBand, so here's how to do it.
Start up GarageBand and click the 'eye' icon to show the loop collection. In the loop view, click the list view switcher at the bottom left to switch it to list view. Select the AIFF or MP3 files for the loops to be added in the finder and drag them to GarageBand's loop list.
The new loops will be imported, indexed, and added to the list in the appropriate categories.
New search engine ranking application
Caphyon has announced the release of Advanced Web Ranking 2.3, an update to its Mac OS X tool that helps users check a Web site position on all major search engines. This new version features advanced filters for the Current Rank report, backup and restore functionality, and the ability to generate reports for a previous date. Advanced Web Ranking costs US$49 for the Standard edition and $99 for the Professional edition.
Caphyon LLC is pleased to announce the release of Advanced Web Ranking 2.3, a tool that helps check your web site position on all major search engines. Advanced Web Ranking runs on Mac OS X, Windows 98/2000/XP, Linux and Solaris.
Checking your web site position is a very time consuming task. For example, if you have 10 keywords that you want to monitor, and you want to check the top 20 positions for 10 search engines, you need to perform about 200 (10 keywords * 10 engines * first 2 pages) individual searches to get the results. Then you need to compare the results one by one to find where your site is positioned. It may take you days to complete this task if you do this manually. That's where Advanced Web Ranking comes to help.
Advanced Web Ranking is able to query over 130 search engines and quickly find out if you're moving up or down in the rankings, or if your site is listed at all. It will track the progress of your rankings over time and display that information in an easy to read and understand graphical and tabular reports. It can help you check not just the position of your website but the position of your competitors' web sites as well.
Advanced Web Ranking has the ability to generate and email reports after an update was finished. Couple that with the Scheduled Updates ability, and you will be able to turn on your computer in the morning and find reports on your websites ranks waiting for you in your Inbox. As a SEO, you can have updates being run and sent to your customers every night without even lifting a hand. Various types of reports (Current Rank, Top Sites, Web Site, etc.) can be created in any of the formats Advanced Web Ranking supports (PDF, HTML, Excel, XML or Text). Then they can be emailed to any of the addresses you pick from the Address Book, or saved to a folder where you can access them over the Internet.
What's new in Advanced Web Ranking 2.3
This new version features advanced filters for the Current Rank report, backup and restore functionality and the ability to generate reports for a previous date:
Added date selection for the Current Rank report
Added data filters for the Current Rank report
Added backup/restore functionality
Added scheduled backups
Added ability to remove data from project for a certain time interval
Added ability to generate reports for a previous date
Added ability to set the search depth for each project
Added ability to temporarily remove search engines and keywords from project
Updated Custom Report to take advantage of filters and date selection
The Custom Report can now be saved to a folder
Advanced Web Ranking costs USD $49 for the Standard edition and USD $99 for the Professional edition.
The application can be downloaded from:
http://www.advancedwebranking.com/download.html
More details about the application can be found at:
http://www.advancedwebranking.com
A first look at GarageBand
My copy of iLife '04 arrived today and I've had a chance to try out GarageBand.
The iLife package contains both a DVD with all applications and a CD containing everything except iDVD & GarageBand. If you don't have a DVD-ROM drive, you can't install the last two applications.
I'm not a musician and I haven't used any other music software, so I'm trying GarageBand as a complete novice.
It's very easy for a non-musician to create soundtracks suitable for slide shows or presentations using only the included loops even without a MIDI keyboard or other instrument. When you drag a loop to the song, it's automatically adjusted to blend with the other tracks - almost anything you add will be made to sound "right".
There are two types of loops: real instruments (shown in blue), which are actual sound samples, and software synthesized instruments, which are shown in green. For software instrument loops, you can change the instrument while maintaining the same notes. You can also edit the actual notes in those loops. Real instrument loops can't be edited, other than cutting & pasting.
I attempted to import and edit a CD track, but I found that selecting portions of the track are very tricky, especially for long tracks.
On my 12" PowerBook G4 (867 MHz, 640M RAM) with several other applications running I often saw the system overload alert while playing a song with more than 3 or 4 tracks. Selecting "better performance/larger buffer" in the Audio/MIDI preferences seemed to eliminate it. On my G4 1 GHz minitower, GarageBand is very fast and responsive and I never saw that alert.
Finally, you can export your finished song to iTunes, where it will automatically appear in a new play list. The song is created as an AIFF file rather than MP3 or AAC, so it will take up a lot of space. You can convert it to MP3 in iTunes to reduce the size.
Navicat 5.0 (MySQL Manager) Released!
A powerful feature- Visual Query Builder is added in Navicat 5.0 (MySQL Manager) for Mac OS X. The new version also includes a View Table Structure function, bug fixes for file imports, and interface improvements.
An evaluation version of Navicat for Mac OS X 10.1 or later is available for download at http://www.navicat.com/shareware.php3
Navicat (MySQL Manager) is an easy-to-use and powerful graphical database management tool with intuitive user interface for MySQL server. In addition to normal database administation functions, Navicat also provides other advanced features such as import/export, backup, and data transfer. It also includes a full featured graphical manager for setting the users and access privileges, local and remote connections (protected by SSL), and more. Navicat comes with a well-edited manual and installation guide.
Major features include below:
-Support Multiple Connections for local or remote MySQL servers
-Browse MySQL databases
-Create and delete databases, tables, indexes and users
-Modify data
-Create, Save or Run SQL queries
-Manage user privileges [security configuration]
-Backup/Restore database
-Import/Export data - (It supports up CSV, TXT, DBF and XML file types. )
-Data Transfer - transfer data from one MySQL server to another MySQL server (1. Local to Remote , 2. Remote to Remote , 3. Remote to Local)
Phelios Updates PTK, the SDK Now Supports 3D
Game (and Game Utilities) developer, Phelios, announced the release of PTK version 1.30, a significant update to PTK, the game SDK. Since its last update incorporating a brand new sound engine, GamePad support and further enhancements, PTK now supports 3D.
This means that the new PTK can now be used as a framework for 3D games ( you can now enable/disable the ZBuffer ), or use the PTK to create 2D games with a 3D flavor in just a couple of lines. The 3D objects commands are very simple which gives you an immediate result on the screen; there's no need to code thousands of lines.
PTK Capabilities are as follows:
- 3D - .ase reader (currently supports 1 non animated Mesh - 1 Texture) , Milkshape ASCII reader (in beta), animations can be achieved by keyframing (several 3D objects sharing the same texture)
- Web commands to send web queries / download files (example: online highscores like Swap)
- PTK's built-in sound engine named, KSound runs in both Mac and PC platforms and reads the following formats: WAV, OGG, XM, MOD, S3M & IT. Due to several requests and the lack of sound engines existing for the Mac platform, Phelios decided to offer KSound as a separate module for Mac programmers who use an SDK other than PTK.
- Color-Keying in addition to alpha channels (simplify the port of PC DirectDraw apps to Mac OS X)
- Better Video Memory handling (Rectangular texture support if available)
- Gamepad can now be incorporated into Mac and PC games using PTK. Gamepad options for players will maximize the games' value for developers, as many console players look to weave back and forth from computer to console. The PTK and its modules are provided as static libraries, which coders tend to favor, as they won't reveal programmers' distribution with any external files.
PTK has been thoroughly tested with:
- Mac - Codewarrior and Project Builder
- PC - Visual Studio and Codewarrior
Other Developers Comment about PTK
Jadeware.org's main programmer, Julien Meyer, has used PTK for 4 of his games: Android, Grizzly, and Ultranium 2 & 4, and is very pleased with PTK's results. "Vive La PTK!" he says, "Thanks to PTK, I'm able to sell games like this."
Italy-based game developer, Celso Riva with Winter Wolves Game Studio has recently used PTK for 2 games and talks about the ease of PTK when he first tried it, "I have made a small game in about 2 hours yesterday, and I know practically nothing of C!" His second use of PTK was more involved with an upcoming game called, "Spin Around," to be released in the next few weeks.
A downloadable demo for PTK is available for developers for free. In this demo, the developer trying PTK is able to assess all its functionality. The demo is branded with a watermark (PTK logo) on top of the screen.
Downloadable demo, pricing and details for PTK can be found at the Phelios PTK site. Click here.
ABOUT PHELIOS, INC.
Games
Phelios, Inc. is an independent video game developer offering electronic delivery software. Their main ambition is to create entertaining games for the MAC and PC platforms. With very small kids to the brightest adults in mind, Phelios strives to produce quality games to provide people of all ages and backgrounds with engaging game play while also providing excellent customer service and free technical support.
Developer Tools
As developers themselves, Phelios understands the need to be able to concentrate on content without the distractions of research and tools, so they decided to make their own technologies available to others, hoping it will minimize software developers' time spent on ancillary tasks. Their tools are designed with the essential philosophy that developer tools should be a breeze. In other words: Phelios' software tools are powerful and streamlined for user ease without the bulk of long, complicated code.
For more information:
Contact Patrice Krysztofiak
Email: contact@phelios.com
Information related to PTK can be found here.
Phelios Mac Games made with PTK can be found here.
Apple Reports First Quarter Results
Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2004 first quarter ended December 27, 2003. For the quarter, the Company posted a net profit of $63 million, or $.17 per diluted share. These results compare to a net loss of $8 million, or $.02 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue for the quarter reached a four-year high of $2.006 billion, up 36 percent from the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 26.7 percent, down from 27.6 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 44 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The quarter’s results include an after-tax investment gain of $3 million which increased earnings per diluted share by $.01.
Apple shipped 829 thousand Macintosh® units during the quarter, up 12 percent from the year-ago quarter, as well as 733 thousand iPod® units, up 235 percent from the year-ago quarter.
“It was an outstanding quarter for Apple, with double-digit unit and revenue growth and over 730,000 iPods sold,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "We’re kicking off 2004 with strong momentum, especially for Mac OS X, which is now used by almost 40 percent of our installed base, iPod and the iTunes Music Store, which has a 70 percent share of the legal music download market.”
“We are very pleased to have exceeded our revenue and profit targets for the first quarter,” said Fred Anderson, Apple’s CFO. “Continued strong asset management enabled us to increase cash by $225 million to just under $4.8 billion. Looking ahead to the second quarter of fiscal 2004, we expect our third consecutive quarter of year-over-year double-digit growth in both revenue and earnings, with revenue of about $1.8 billion and earnings per diluted share of $.08 to $.10.”
Phelios Posts New Game Trailer for Abracadabra
In preparation of their approaching January release of ABRACADABRA, Phelios Inc. posted a new game trailer.
The trailer of Abracadabra uses a Swing era Loungese reminiscent of the lingo in the movie, Swingers but in rhyme and incorporates a lively soundtrack that marries Loungy Swing with Game Pop. The game, Abracadabra mixes a medieval theme with an audio backdrop of Swing/Lounge music. The spot for Abracadabra can be found here:
Click here to see the trailer of Mac Game, Abracadabra
About Abracadabra
Abracadabra is an arcade game that will take you on a magical trip. Create or destroy your destiny with the Whack! of a magic wand. That wand, by the way, is of key importance and could save your life. With it, you and your wizard friend can make or break walls. Speaking of key, your mission is to find one without having your journey thwarted. You'll use your supernatural powers wisely to protect you from the vile creatures trying to foil your task.
Don't worry, there isn't just evil lurking, you'll also discover mystical fairies that will take you shopping! Yup, grab some gold and fill your life with ka-ching, then buy extra power and other things magical...
Features
- A helpful tutorial is integrated into the game within the first few levels of Abracadabra to acquaint players with the controls. The new player can view the tutorial in the language of their choice: English, French, German, Italian and Japanese.
-15 free levels (demo version)
-Over 115 levels in the Full Version
-Hip, Fun Soundtrack
-Cool sound effects
-Smooth, beautiful animation and effects
-Absolutely addictive game play
Game Reviewers who wish to request Abracadabra for testing and review,
Contact Patrice Krysztofiak via email: contact@phelios.com
Mac Games and Shareware
TunesAtWork shares iTunes music over the internet
TunesAtWork lets you listen to your personal iTunes music collection while at your office or lab, even though your iTunes collection resides at home.
TunesAtWork is a specialized web server that runs on your home Macintosh and serves web pages that present your music collection (including playlists) organized visually much the same as in iTunes itself. This makes it easy to find what you're looking for.
Clicking the various links in the web page will cause MP3 files to be streamed from your home Mac to the computer where your browser is running. As long as that computer (where the browser is running) has a helper application that can play streamed MP3 files (e.g., WinAmp on Windows, MacAmp or iTunes itself on Macintosh), you will hear your music on that computer.
TunesAtWork is free. It requires a Mac, OS X, iTunes 4, and a high-speed internet connection.
For more information or to download a copy, visit http://www.tunesatwork.com/.
Turbo Photo
New cd-rom for budget-conscious graphic designers
makes stock photos more affordable than ever.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (January 9, 2003) Graphic designers on a tight budget may appreciate the new Turbo Photo Library CD-ROM, by Turbo Photo. Its features 500 high resolution royalty-free images for only $49 - a price level unparalleled by other major stock photo providers. Corel is the most comparable company to offer 'affordable-level' stock photo CD-ROMs, however it maintains a higher price. Corel CD-ROMs are priced from $24.95 - $499.95, most of which fall into the higher end of the range (Source: http://www.fotosearch.com/corel).
Turbo Photo, a new stock photography business founded in Bend, Oregon, announces its entry into the stock photo business with its flagship product, Turbo Photo Library. The single volume CD-ROM contains 500 royalty free high-resolution photos, encompassing a variety of categories. The JPEG images range from 2048x1536 to 2560x1920 and are 9MB-14MB when expanded in an image editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop. The images can print up to 8.5"x 6.4" at 300dpi and are ideal for small to medium-size print jobs, like collateral, direct mail, or print ads.
Most professional stock photo CD-ROMs contain approximately 100 or fewer images, so having an additional 400 images than the average CD will offer more convenience to a designer. Turbo Photo Library CD-ROM allows a designer plenty of stock photo assets with less CD swapping. The images are cataloged and keyword tagged in Extensis Portfolio, so it is easy to browse and find the right image.
The main benefit of the Turbo Photo Library is its extremely affordable price - lower than any other stock photo CD-ROM offering. For just $49 (plus $5 shipping), designers on a tight budget will have a smile on their face and great photos at hand with this new product. Visit www.turbophoto.com for more information.
Contact:
Trent Mueller
President
Turbo Photo
P.O. Box 7333
Bend, OR 97701
805-801-4967
trent@turbophoto.com
www.turbophoto.com
Trolltech launches worldwide Qt/Mac developer contest
Trolltech launches worldwide Qt/Mac developer contest --
Win great prizes for Qt applications on the Mac
OSLO and PALO ALTO, January 7, 2004. Trolltech® today announced a worldwide
contest for Mac® developers. The contest is for the best commercially
developed and free software from thousands of talented software application
developers worldwide. The purpose of the contest is to increase the number
of applications on Mac OS X®, and to show the potential of Qt® on the Mac
platform.
Eligible entries can be any English language version of a software
application developed using Qt/Mac 3.3 on Mac OS X 10.3 or later.
Application entries are divided into three categories:
- Best Original Free Qt Application
Individual/community developed application using the Qt/Mac Free Edition - Best Ported Free Qt Application
Individual/community developed application originally written with Qt/X11
Free Edition for UNIX®/Linux® and ported to Mac OS X using the Qt/Mac Free
Edition - Best Original Commercial Qt Application
Individual or company developed application using the Qt/Mac Professional or
Enterprise Edition
The contest winners will be awarded with iPods™and a chance to win a Power
Mac G5. For each category, first prize will win a 40GB iPod and the runner
up will win a 20GB iPod. Deadline for submitting applications is 6:00 p.m.
PST, May 7, 2004. An overall winner of the contest will also be selected and
receive a Power Mac® G5!
The contest is open to individuals who are independent software developers
and to software companies. Individual developers may enter works created
individually or in collaboration with other eligible contestants. The
winning entries will be announced in connection with Apple's Worldwide
Developer Conference 2004.
“Trolltech is very excited about this contest,” said Eirik Chambe-Eng,
co-founder and President of Trolltech. ”We wish to encourage developers to
experience the ease with which Qt-based applications can be ported to the
Mac - and to show Mac developers that if you are looking for a C++, Aqua
look and feel, native performance alternative on the Mac, Qt is what you’re
looking for.”
For more information on the contest visit www.trolltech.com/qtmaccontest or
come to our stand SIP2 at the Mac Tech Center at MacWorld 2004 - San
Francisco, CA, January 6-9.
About Trolltech:
Trolltech® is a software company with two flagship products: Qt® and
Qtopia®. Qt is a multi-platform 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 line of Zaurus PDAs. Trolltech is headquartered in Oslo, Norway,
with offices in Brisbane, Australia, and Palo Alto, California. More about
Trolltech can be found at http://www.trolltech.com.
WorldSync Debuts SyncDeK 5.0
Trustworthy and Powerful Data Replication for the Rest of Us, SyncDeK
5.0 is Easily Configured, Providing Standards-based Data Synchronization
for FileMaker Pro
SAN FRANCISCO, January 6, 2004 - Macworld Expo Booth #SIP3 - WorldSync,
Inc. today publicly demonstrated for the first time SyncDeK(R) 5.0,
bi-directional asynchronous data replication technology for FileMaker(R)
databases.
SyncDeK 5.0 is powerful software that automatically tracks changes and
synchronizes specified fields between distributed databases based on
configurable rules, using commonly available Internet protocols. SyncDeK
5.0 is being demonstrated throughout the show in both the SyncDeK booth
(#SIP3) and in the FileMaker booth (#817).
"SyncDeK enables intelligent and secure exchange of structured data between
real people, anywhere," explained Jason Erickson, founder and CEO of
WorldSync, Inc. "We chose to support FileMaker synchronization first
because FileMaker empowers real people in business to solve their
information management challenges with little to no previous database
experience. The SyncDeK-FileMaker combination is a huge leap forward for
information empowerment."
Designed for use by remote sites and mobile workers, often working offline,
SyncDeK combines the power of Java-based background services with the
flexibility of Internet communication protocols to sync XML data. SyncDeK
5.0 is written in Java, and leverages XML to manage data exchange,
automatically and transparently, while providing field-level conflict
detection and resolution according to extensible rules.
Highly configurable and scalable, synchronization applies to individual
data fields or entire FileMaker files across client/client, client/server
or server/server networks. SyncDeK's Java-based background service
communicates with an accompanying plugin for FileMaker Pro, enabling
developers to control synchronization directly from within FileMaker.
SyncDeK 5.0 also introduces a new SyncDeK Developer module for establishing
and maintaining synchronization settings, controls and options. The SyncDeK
Developer provides the advanced tools necessary for developers to simply
configure SyncDeK for cost-effective, true synchronization in their
FileMaker solutions.
"SyncDeK empowers our development to extend IT services to edge departments
or workgroups in the enterprise," said Eric Jungemann, general partner and
founder of InfoMatrix. "FileMaker and SyncDeK are a potent combination for
mobile/remote full featured data synchronization. It's easy to implement
and administer while featuring low cost of ownership relative to similar
products which provide true distributed capabilities."
"The days of hair pulling drama to put data in the hands of the people who
need it anywhere, anytime, are over," concluded Erickson. "We took years of
consulting experience which drove SyncDeK's evolution and re-architected
the code to produce a standalone commercial product - one that is simple to
administer, more powerful and much faster."
Pricing and Availability
SyncDeK 5.0 is scheduled for release in the coming weeks on Mac and
Windows, with custom support services also available. Customers who have
purchased SyncDeK since August 15, 2003 are eligible for a free upgrade.
SyncDeK Developer is priced at $1299. SyncDeK 5.0 deployment licenses are
priced at $999 for SyncDeK Server and $199 each for SyncDeK Clients.
About WorldSync, Inc.
WorldSync, Inc. develops SyncDeK, the ultimate tool for distributing data
among FileMaker Pro applications any time, anywhere. SyncDeK offers data
replication for the rest of us, empowering today's mobile workgroups and
collaborative communities with simple, powerful and trustworthy technology.
WorldSync, Inc. is a privately held company, headquartered in Berkeley,
Calif. Further information about WorldSync, Inc. and SyncDeK can be found
at http://www.syncdek.com/.
PowerBook SuperDrive Special
PowerBookResQ "SuperDrive" DVD-R/CD-RW Burner Self Service Upgrade for G4 PowerBooks with Combo Drive: Normally $299.00, take $20 off with Q-Pon code "SD20" Exp. 01/13
G3/G4 Hard Drive Upgrade
Get all the storage you need for your G3 or G4 PowerMac, or your iMac!
These drives are widely acknowledged to be the fastest 7200 RPM IDE
drives on the market. Save $20 when you purchase by 1/14/04!
180gb IBM/Hitachi 180GXP 7200 RPM IDE Hard Drive, ATA/6 8.5ms 8MB Buffer
Normally $179.99, take $20 off with Q-Pon code "180G"
G4/500 Special
Take $50 off this loaded G4/500 system when you order by 1/14/04.
PowerMac G4/500 256/27gb/DVD-RAM/Zip Graphite
Normally $689.99, take $50 off with Q-Pon code "GR50"
G4 Memory Upgrade
While we're on the subject of upgrades, we've got a great special on
512MB PC133 memory this week for your G4 system.
MacResQ 512mb PC133 SDRAM DIMM
Normally $99.99, take $10 off with Q-Pon code "512MB"
MacPAD 1.0
MacShareware.net has made available
MacPAD 1.0 at their website.
As featured in a TidBITS article last month by Adam Engst, MacPAD is an
application that allows software developers to set their product
information in a central location, where shareware websites can go and
check for the latest versions of software without the developer having
to waste time submitting their changes multiple times.
While MacPAD will be made available separately, the version found on
MacShareware.net includes a Software Developers Kit (SDK) that includes
source code for developers to have automatic version checking built
into their software. Source code is included for Carbon, Cocoa,
REALBasic and php.
The software utilities and source code have been provided for free to
the Mac community by many developers, including Kevin Ballard, Mark
Fleming, David Dunham, Tom McGrath and Ricardo Batista.
The web site address is http://macshareware.net and the
MacShareware.net SDK with MacPAD 1.0 can be downloaded from
http://macshareware.net/sdk.html.
Playlist to DVD
Apple has released a very cool new application called Playlist to DVD for iLife 04.
Another way to enjoy and share your music--turn your favorite iTunes playlist into a DVD for playback in home entertainment systems! The created DVD has on-screen navigation menus showing a list of upcoming songs and the current track's album art and artist info.
The Playlist to DVD application creates a QuickTime movie containing the audio tracks and album art from a chosen iTunes playlist. The newly created movie, and an album art slideshow, are automatically added to the currently open iDVD project. And since the added 640x480 movie is created with chapter markers, it's easy to sequentially navigate its tracks using standard DVD controls.
An iDVD project can hold an exported playlist that contains a maximum of 99 tracks with a maximum total combined length of up to 90 minutes.
Playlist to DVD was developed with AppleScript Studio and is available as a free download here.
No Boundries or Rules software
The New software is called NBOR - which stands for No Boundaries or Rules™ and it's designed to let you operate your computer in a way that makes sense to you. You get to decide what you want to do, when you want to do it and, to a large extent, how you do it. This sounds exactly what Apple users have come to expect from their software over the years. The full story text can be found at http://www.surf-bits.com.
What is NBOR?
NBOR - which stands for No Boundaries or Rules™ - is designed to let you operate your computer in a way that makes sense to you. You get to decide what you want to do, when you want to do it and, to a large extent, how you do it. We're not talking about changing the color and placement of icons or task bars here. We're talking about a world that can really only be believed if it is seen for oneself.
NBOR is not an operating system. It's a powerful self-contained environment that sits on top of the Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems.
What can I do with NBOR?
NBOR (pronounced nâ-bôr) doesn't do everything. But it has been designed to replace the everyday functionality of a range of conventional computer programs. We need to say here that the magic of NBOR software is not just what you can do, but also in how NBOR and its environment, called Blackspace™, works. The how plus the what of NBOR are truly a breakthrough in intuitive computer interface design. Words are inadequate to describe the howof NBOR, but we can list some of the tasks you'll be able to perform in Blackspace.
- Create dynamic multi-media presentations in a fraction of the time required with existing programs.
- Type and edit impressive documents without any word processing programs.
- Easily lay out documents with text, graphics, photos and sound with no desktop publishing programs.
- Produce professional-quality slide shows and animations from images in minutes or less without presentation or animation programs. Note: with the Player you can see an animated film created in less than 15 seconds.
- Protect anything you create in Blackspace with unique passwords (containing trillions of possible combinations) that are teach-your-grandma simple to use.
- Create very compelling NBOR media (including animations, sounds, pictures and graphics) and deliver them to people around the world via NBOR's unique YCAATing capability.
- Co-create online with multiple friends, co-workers, clients or classmates with an immediacy and realism that is like working side-by-side with these people.
- And much more.
How does NBOR work?
Instead of using separate programs, everything you can do with NBOR - including features and functionality not found anywhere else - is performed in the same environment, called Blackspace, at the same time using one intuitive set of graphic tools, called Universal Tools™, which are based on familiar objects and ways of doing things we learned as children.
Using Universal Tools in Blackspace, you're free to work in your own space in your own way with your own style of doing things. You are free to think and realize your own creativity in ways that have simply never been possible before. You are free from being told how you must work. You are free from windows, pull-down menus, screens filled with icons that you don't understand, results that seem to come from out of nowhere, strict protocols that often make no sense, and rules that you can never fully remember.
New Mac-compatible home entertainment devices
MacSense and Elgato have introduced new home entertainment devices which can access media stored on your Mac.
HomePod™ from MacSense is a stereo component which lets you stream your MP3 & other music files wirelessly via built-in 802.11g or via wired ethernet. It's compatible with PCs & Linux as well as Macs.
Elgato's eyeHome lets you play music, photos, and video on your TV and home entertainment system. eyeHome can access existing iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie content as well as Elgato's eyeTV. It even lets you browse the web on your TV using Safari's bookmarks.
Xgrid Technology Preview
Apple has released a technology preview of Xgrid, which turns a group of Macs into a supercomputing cluster.
Xgrid turns a group of Macs into a supercomputer, so they can work on problems greater than each individually could solve. You can let Xgrid operate in screensaver mode, so whenever you aren’t working, your Mac can crunch away at some data set. Or if you have a group of Macs dedicated to the task, Xgrid makes it easy to set up a cluster that works around the clock, every day of the year.
Without needing any programming knowledge, you can see the power of sharing resources when you set a group of Macs to drawing sophisticated graphics. As you add more Macs to the cluster, the program draws more quickly, as in the included Mandelbrot set demo. If you’re a geneticist, you’ll appreciate the Xgrid BLAST application that lets you compare sets of genetic sequences even more quickly.
Xgrid uses zero configuration Rendezvous to discover available resources, so you never have to enter IP addresses to set up a cluster. An easy-to-use System Preference panel lets you control how your machine gets used by the network, and also tells the cluster which computer can send problems to the group for number crunching. Xgrid takes the grunt work out of splitting jobs and collecting results. Many scientists who already use command line tools in their work will immediately be able to take advantage of Xgrid and have the power of a cluster without the hassle of setup.
More information & a download is available here.
Apple posts modified 1984 ad
Apple has posted a slightly modified version of their famous 1984 ad. The woman who throws the hammer at the screen now has an iPod.
Keynote thoughts
Maybe it was the overhyped expectations, but today's keynote was probably one of the least exciting ever. Steve's Reality Distortion Field seemed to be broken.
Although Office 2004 and the iLife updates look great and GarageBand is very cool, there was really nothing that made you want to run out and buy it immediately.
The G5 XServe & XServe RAID are great improvements, but there were no new machines for most average users. I'm sure everyone was surprised that Apple didn't introduce a new model for the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh.
The iPod mini is much too expensive. It needs to sell for under $200, especially since the full 15G iPod costs only $50 more.
Share your thoughts here.
Macworld 2004 Keynote recap
Here's my recap of Steve Jobs' two hour Macworld keynote. The big announcements were new XServe & XServe RAID products, the long-rumored mini iPod, and lots of new software, but no new desktop or laptop systems.
Steve got on stage in his trademark black turtleneck, mentioned there are 60,000 viewers connected with broadband in 100 countries.
Steve talked about the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh, with a slide of the original Mac 128 and showed the original Mac brochure. He then showed the 1984 commercial. This will be "a great Mac year".
Steve talked about Panther, Expose, iChat AV, and the new Finder. 9.3M active Mac OS X users, 40% of the installed base. 10M active users expected this quarter. This is the fastest OS transition ever. Over 10,000 native applications are available.
Final Cut Express 2: "Pro video editing for everyone" with real-time filters & effects. Five DV streams can composite in real time.
Microsoft Office 2004, introduced by Microsoft's MacBU manager, Roz Ho & lead program manager Kris Barton. Kris showed Word's new notebook view, quicksearch, creating Entourage tasks from Word. Formatting palette becomes transparent when unused. Word can record audio while typing. Excel introduces a fully editable page layout view, page setup in formatting palette with realtime feedback. Project Center integrated with all Office applications, Kris showed it in Entourage. Project Center manages files, schedule, contacts, notes, and everything associated with a project, and allows projects to be shared. Rules can automacially associate items with a project.
"The G5 is our future roadmap in processors". Steve talked about Virginia Tech's supercluster built on 1100 dual processor G5s, the world's third fastest supercomputer. He then showed a video of the supercluster being assembled.
Steve introduced the G5 Xserve, 1U form factor with single & dual 2 GHz G5 processor, ECC memory, DDR 400 up to 8GB, up to 250GB of storage. Dual GB ethernet, FireWire 800, USB 2.0. Ships with Mac OS X v10.3 Server and unlimited user license. Basic server 2.0GHz single processor for $2,999, dual 2.0GHz for $3,999, "compute node" version for $2,999. Upgraded XServe RAID to 3.5TB of online storage - 30 percent increase. SFP connectors built in for Fibre Channel. RAID set slicing up to 16 per RAID, file expansion without repartitioning.
iTunes: 30 millionth song sold, close to 1.9M songs per week. iTunes Music Store has 70% of legal downloads. New features including Billboard charts, with the Top 100 for every year back to 1946 (which I noticed this morning), 1,000 Classical albums (12,000 tracks) added. Music store now has 500,000 songs. Steve announced Pepsi iTunes give-away starting Feb. 1, 2004.
iLife '04: Like Microsoft Office for the rest of your life. No iTunes update. iPhoto 4 now supports up to 25,000 photos with zero waiting, date based organization, smart albums, fast preview, Rendezvous photo sharing, rating, enhanced slideshow.
iMovie 4: trim clips directly in timeline, alignment guides, new & enhanced titles, import video from iSight. Sharing feature automatically exports to .Mac Homepage.
iDVD: 20 new Hollywood themes, enhanced menus, enhanced slideshows, navigation map, pro encoding - 2 hours at higher quality. Can now archive a project & burn on a different machine.
GarageBand: a major new Pro music tool for everyone. Turns yorur Mac into a pro-quality music tool & recording studio. Digitally mix up to 64 tracks, play over 50 software instruments, use over 1000 professional audio loops, record live audio performance, more than 200 audio effects, pick from vintage or modern guitar amps. Supports USB or MIDI keyboard. Steve invited John Mayer to demonstrate it. Steve then demonstrated what a non-musician can do with loops. John then demonstrated the guitar amp effects. GarageBand can export to iTunes.
iLife still sells for $49 including GarageBand. Free with every new Mac. Runs on Panther & Jaguar. Will be in stores Jan. 16. Jam Pack for GarageBand includes ver 100 more instruments, 2000 more loops, 15 more guitar amps, sells for $99. Apple will sell an entry level USB keyboard for $99. Steve then showed an iLife video featuring Elijah Wood, Tony Hawk, and Sheryl Crow.
iPod: 730,000 sold last quarter. Two million sold in two years. Number one in units sold & revenue in October & November. "We think the December numbers are going to be even higher." 10Gb model upgraded to 15Gb at the same price. In-ear headphones for $39. Steve showed a new iPod ad. Steve then talked about flash memory MP3 players and wants to go after the high-end flash player market. He introduced the iPod mini, the second member of the iPod family. iPod mini has 4Gb, holds 1000 songs, 0.5 inches thick, and sells for $249. iPod mini is the size of a business card, has exactly the same user interface as an iPod, uses the same iPod dock connector. "one more thing" - it comes in colors. Will ship next month in the US, April worldwide.
Preliminary KDE Binaries now available
opendarwin.org has preliminary binaries of several KOffice applications available for download. WARNING: These are not really usable and may not be safe to use, although I've been able to run them with no ill effects on my PowerBook.
According to their release notes:
These packages were built on Panther, so they won't work on Jaguar. When
things have stabilized more, we'll start looking into making real package
drops, rather than just packaging up whatever happens to build.
They may not work. They may not even install. They may make your monitor
explode in a shower of glass. EVEN LCDs, WHICH DON'T CONTAIN ANY GLASS!
They may make your children grow horns, and cause the people in your
neighborhood to explode spontaneously while doing the Macarena. They will rip
out your eyeballs, and eat your soul with a really dull spoon, laughing and
cackling while forcing Cheerios up your nose. They will make your intestines
explode in a rain of confetti, while evil clowns bite your feet.
In short, we're not ready for bug reports yet, we know there's lots of broken
bits, just be patient and look here for updates, and in the meantime, here's
a little toy to play with.
You very likely will need to run "killall kdeinit" when you're done running
any KDE apps. Currently it doesn't clean up after itself properly.
Have fun!
The downloads are over 200M in several parts, and the installed package is about 1G, including the required Qt library. The products are placed in /opt/kde. Unlike OpenOffice.org, these are native Mac applications which don't require X11.
KChart
KSpread
KWord
If you're willing to risk it, you can download the packages at kde.opendarwin.org.
SilverNetworks releases SilverCreator v1.1
SilverNetworks today released a
significant update to its free game development system, SilverCreator,
now at version 1.1.
SilverCreator v1.1 fixes almost 40 bugs - too many to explain all of
them here. And it adds notable new features including a redesigned sound
manager, sprite editor, and prompt window; improved memory management,
more sprites, new scripting commands, expanded sound support, undoable
graphics filters, and much more.
SilverCreator v1.1 enables anyone with Mac OS 7.6 to Mac OS X to
create and develop your very own games for the Macintosh at a price that
can't be beat. Creating a game is as simple as drawing some graphics,
typing some text, clicking some buttons, and compiling your masterpiece
to a standalone Macintosh application.
Advanced developers can take advantage of the powerful event-based
scripting language to create advanced and engaging games. Full QuickTime
support is included (including Flash and QuickTime VR support) as well
as a fast sprite system with full transparency support. You can even
create online games where 2 players can play over the internet, with the
built-in and easy to use socket support.
One you've made your game, you can compile it for Mac OS X
(Carbon), Classic PPC, and even for 68K machines. Unlike other game
creators, there are no royalty fees on games you create - you are free
to give them away or charge any price you see fit.
You can download SilverCreator v1.1 now for Mac OS X and Mac OS 7.6 -
9.2.2 by going to http://www.silvercreator.net/. Everything you need
to start creating your own Macintosh games is included.
SilverNetworks creates, publishes, and distributes freeware and
shareware software including games, development tools, internet/intranet
programs, and utilities. You can access all of SilverNetworks' products
at http://www.silvernetwork.net/.
Colourfull Creations releases Maxi Bidder update
January 1, 2004; Colourfull Creations releases Maxi Bidder update for Macintosh OS X and Macintosh OS 9. Colourfull Creations updates Maxi Bidder the popular eBay snipe tool for Macintosh eBay Bidders. The update includes a New Bidding Engine, New Error Messages, Completed auctions are now marked, Fixed a problem when adding a completed auction to the snipe list, New timed bidding engine, Added an Auto-Update of auction items added to the snipe window, fixed several cosmetic problems, and Fixed a problem with time sync converting from 2003 to 2004. For more information and to download go to: http://www.colourfull.com
Colourfull Creations releases Simple Weather update
January 1, 2004; Colourfull Creations releases Simple Weather update for Mac OS X and OS 9. Simple Weather has new features that include: smaller window size, for OS X users Simple Weather will now show "weather in the doc", and a few other minor fixes. Simple Weather has an easy to set up and easy to understand interface that “just gives you the facts” that you need to keep you informed throughout the day and week. For more information and to download a demo go to: http://www.colourfull.com
KOffice Mac Port
The native KDE & KOffice port seems to be coming along nicely. Several parts are already working, although no public release is available yet. We may end up seeing KOffice before the native Aqua version of OpenOffice.org.
Keynote Themes: SuperSet 1 CD
Keynote Theme Park has released SuperSet 1 on CD, a collection of our first twelve rich and varied themes that customers tell us are “awesome”, “phenomenal” and “the epitome of Keynote themes”.
It also includes a 40-slide Tips presentation that includes, among many other items, instructions on how to align photos and objects between two slides for those dynamic Cube and Push transitions! Keynote Theme Park's unique themes feature low contrast but detailed backgrounds, bleed photo cutouts for dynamic transitions, tiled backgrounds for seamless Push transitions, complimentary backgrounds, charts and tables sized according to cutout masters, custom chart fills and bullets, extra design elements for each theme and more! These are finely crafted themes that take optimal advantage of Keynote’s phenomenal possibilities. Price: $99.00 + $5 shipping.
Keynote Theme Park will be an exhibitor at MacWorld! Drop by booth SIP1 in the North Hall and say hello!