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Tue, 29 Jun 2004
DX Toolbox 2.0.0 Released
Black Cat Systems announces the release of DX Toolbox version 2.0.0, a radio propagation / conditions analysis and forecasting tool for amateur radio operators, shortwave listeners, and other radio enthusiasts. DX Toolbox is just $19.99.
This version adds improvements to the propagation forecasting tools.
Complete information about DX Toolbox and downloads may be obtained from http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/dxtoolbox.html
DX Toolbox is an application which gathers a variety of solar and geomagnetic information from real-time online sources, and presents them in charts and tables, including:
- A - Index
- K - Index
- Solar Flux
- Sun Spot Number
- X-Ray Flux levels
- X-Ray flares
- Solar Wind
- Geomagnetic Field
- Radio Blackout conditions
- Geomagnetic Storm conditions
- Solar Radiation Storm conditions
A grayline map of the world is also available. Propagation between locations within the grayline region of the world is often greatly enhanced. DX Toolbox's grayline map makes it easy for you to determine where those locations are.
A propagation forecast map shows the estimated signal level for a given frequency from all parts of the world, for given solar conditions, and the time of day and day of year. A plot of the expected signal levels between two points on the Earth for all 24 hours of a day may also be graphed.
A grid square calculator determines grid squares from longitude and latitude, and a world map shows grid squares and time zone information.
The following reports are available:
- WWV Geophysical Alert
- 27 Day Space Outlook
- 45 Day AP Forecast
- Geomagnetic Data
- Daily Geomagnetic Data
- Daily Particle Data
- Daily Solar Data
- GEOALERT
- Daily Magnetometer Analysis Reports
- Hourly Magnetometer Analysis Reports
- Predicted Sunspot Numbers and Radio Flux
- Report of Solar-Geophysical Activity
- Solar and Geophysical Activity Summary
- Solar Region Summary
- Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
- Current Space Weather Indices
- Space Weather Event Reports
- Daily Space Weather Indices
- Summary of Space Weather Observations
- 3-day Space Weather Predictions
DX Toolbox is available native for Mac OS X, Mac OS 8/9, and Windows. It requires an active internet connection to run.
Black Cat Systems creates and distributes Macintosh software, with a specific emphasis on programs for the scientific, amateur radio, and health markets.
Information about Black Cat Systems entire line of products can be found at http://www.blackcatsystems.com
"Cupertino, start your photocopiers!"
The developers of konfabulator take a nice swipe at apple at their website. Tiger's dashboard feature seems to be a pretty blatant ripoff of konfabulator.
Tiger Talk
What do you think of the Tiger announcement? What's your favorite new feature and what feature don't you like?
gCount 0.3 Released
gCount is a menu bar item that displays the number of unread messages in your GMail account. Version 0.3 adds many new features:
- Sound notification of new mail.
- Login info is now stored in keychain, no longer in the preferences plist. If you used v0.1 or v0.2 and launch v0.3, it will migrate your old login info to the keychain and delete it from the plist.
- Two modes: Icon mode and Text mode. When in Icon mode, another item in the menu appears at the top, displaying the count of unread emails. In the future these two may be merged together (an icon mode with count in it).
- The menu bar now displays an error icon/message if there are problems with your username and password and throws up an error dialog.
- gCount now checks to see if a newer version is available when starting up (there is an option to disable this), and there is a corresponding "Check for Updates…" menu item for manual checking. It also checks to see whether the current version is compatible with the email service.
- gCount can now handle mailto: urls, open Mail.app's Preferences and change the "Default Email Reader" to gCount to enable this feature.
- A welcome message is displayed when gCount is launched for the first time.
- Before updating unread status or checking for gCount updates, gCount now checks to see if it is connected to the internet. If it isn't, then it doesn't attempt to update.
Download it from http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~natan/gcount/
UPDATE: Version 0.31 has been released, which fixes a few small bugs.
MacDesktops.net posts first Tiger and Cinema Display desktops
MacDesktops.net, today, posted the first available desktop images of Tiger and the new Cinema Displays. More will come in the near future and sharing of your own desktop images is always encouraged. MacDesktops.net is a venue for sharing desktop images and currently has more than 200 images shared by users.