To reduce the database size and server load, all articles from 2004 or earlier are archived here.
- December 2004 (52)
- November 2004 (33)
- October 2004 (54)
- September 2004 (43)
- August 2004 (41)
- July 2004 (57)
- June 2004 (82)
- May 2004 (53)
- April 2004 (45)
- March 2004 (49)
- February 2004 (40)
- January 2004 (46)
- December 2003 (44)
- November 2003 (48)
- October 2003 (57)
- September 2003 (45)
- August 2003 (54)
- July 2003 (62)
- June 2003 (46)
- May 2003 (47)
- April 2003 (51)
- March 2003 (63)
- February 2003 (69)
- January 2003 (72)
- December 2002 (63)
- November 2002 (70)
- October 2002 (72)
- September 2002 (73)
- August 2002 (41)
- July 2002 (39)
- June 2002 (19)
- May 2002 (3)
- April 2002 (1)
Wed, 30 Jun 2004
New photo hosting site with great Mac support
Flickr is an interesting new photo hosting service, currently in beta, developed by Ludicorp Research & Development, makers of The Game Neverending.
A new Mac photo upload client is available which supports drag & drop from the finder or iPhoto. Flickr also supports photo posting via email and can automatically post new photos to a weblog. You can also specify Creative Commons licenses for your photos.
Other features include buddy lists & groups.
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.
Apple Previews Xcode 2 with New Features & Enhanced Performance
WWDC 2004, SAN FRANCISCO-June 28, 2004-Apple today previewed the next major
release of Xcode(tm), Apple's powerful suite of developer tools, designed
to make it even easier and faster to build innovative Mac OS X
applications. The combination of a high performance UNIX-based development
environment, a breakthrough user interface and outstanding performance
technologies, has allowed Mac developers including Oracle, Sybase and Alias
to deliver next generation Mac OS X applications. With the preview of Xcode
2, Apple is delivering a major update with support for 64-bit application
development and even faster turnaround times for creating applications for
Mac OS X.
"Since its launch 12 months ago, Xcode has been a hit with the Mac OS X
developer community," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president
of Worldwide Product Marketing. "We are pleased to continue to advance
these great tools so that our developers can build a new generation of
great Mac OS X applications."
"Apple's tools for Mac OS X development are second to none," said Jürgen
Kurz, senior vice president of product development at Quark. "We plan to
use Xcode to develop the next generation versions of our existing products,
as well as some new ones. The highly productive interface will give our
development staff the fastest way to build Mac OS X applications, and the
easiest path to take advantage of new Apple technologies."
"Xcode dramatically increases our productivity and is a crucial part of
all our Mac OS X product development, especially in developing Alias
SketchBook Pro and recent versions of Maya," said Kevin Tureski, general
manager of Maya Engineering at Alias. "Since Xcode uses UNIX and industry
standards, we are able to fully integrate it in our custom build system
with over 14,000 source files, many million lines of C++ code, and a final
Maya product containing 200MB of optimized executables and libraries."
Building on high performance technologies including Fix and Continue, Zero
Link and Distributed Build along with Xcode's groundbreaking user
interface, Xcode 2 further advances developer productivity with new
features such as Dead Code Stripping and Visual Modeling and Design. With
Dead Code Stripping, developers can remove unused executable code from
compiled applications and immediately see the effect in smaller code sizes
and faster customer downloads. Applications are even easier to design,
create and maintain by offering developers a clear visual representation of
the application structure with Visual Modeling and Design.
Xcode 2 also includes:
* 64-bit development tools to build data-intensive applications using
64-bit memory addressing;
* an integrated Apple Reference Library to offer a single search and
presentation interface to all of Apple's online and locally stored
developer documentation;
* Apple's enhanced version of GCC v3.5, the next generation of the
industry-standard compiler;
* graphical remote debugging to display the debugging of data for full
screen applications on remote machines;
* Auto Vectorization to automatically generate Velocity Engine-optimized
code without requiring any source code changes;
* Ant build system support to make cross-platform development of Java
applications even easier; and
* support for Subversion Source Code Management, in addition to supporting
CVS and Perforce, to enable easy integration with a wide range of
development infrastructure.
Pricing & Availability
Xcode 2 will be included in Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger." Tiger will be
available in the first half of 2005 through the Apple Store, at Apple's
retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail
price of $129 (US). More information on Xcode can be found at
www.apple.com/xcode.
Apple Unveils 30" Cinema HD Flat Display
WWDC 2004, SAN FRANCISCO-June 28, 2004-Apple today unveiled a new family of
widescreen flat panel displays featuring the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD
display, a professional-quality, wide-format active-matrix LCD with
2560-by-1600 pixel resolution-the largest high resolution display ever
created. Rounding out the new lineup are new 23-inch and 20-inch Cinema
Displays, offering creative professionals and prosumers the highest quality
flat panel displays in the industry. The new displays feature dual FireWire
and dual USB 2.0 ports built into the display and use the industry standard
DVI interface for a pure digital connection with Apple's latest Power Mac
and PowerBook systems, as well as PCs with a DVI connector. Two 30-inch
Cinema Displays can be driven simultaneously from Apple's new Power Mac
line of desktop workstations, offering professional users a desktop of 8
million pixels.
"Our gorgeous new 30-inch Cinema Display is the largest desktop canvas ever
created, and you can even run two of them side-by-side to get 8 million
jaw-dropping pixels," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Apple's Cinema
Displays have always set the bar for the industry's highest quality
displays, and our new 30-inch display is a giant leap forward for our pro
customers."
The new Apple Cinema Displays feature an all new aluminum design with a
very thin bezel, suspended by an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge
that makes tilting the display almost effortless. Each Cinema Display
features two FireWire 400 ports and two USB 2.0 ports, making attachment of
desktop peripherals, such as a keyboard, mouse, iPod, iSight(tm), digital
and still camera, hard drive, printer and scanner, even more accessible and
convenient. The new displays support the Video Electronics Standards
Association (VESA) mounting interface standard. Customers with the optional
Cinema Display VESA Mount Adapter kit can mount their display in locations
most appropriate for their work environment.
Apple's new family of displays offers the widescreen design (16:10 ratio)
coveted by creative professionals who want access to more horizontal
workspace. The Apple Cinema HD 30-inch display has an unbelievable
2560-by-1600 pixel resolution and the 23-inch Apple Cinema HD display has a
1920-by-1200 pixel resolution, both capable of displaying High Definition
Television (HDTV) content with room to spare. The new 20-inch Apple Cinema
Display professional-quality flat panel offers a 1680-by-1050 pixel
resolution, more than enough room to edit images with all of the palettes
on-screen.
Perfect for creative customers in demanding color environments, Apple flat
panel displays provide maximum color quality using the industry's best
wide-viewing angle technology of up to 170 degrees even when viewing images
off-axis. With a broad color gamut that stays consistent edge-to-edge,
Apple flat panel displays have been certified by SWOP Incorporated as part
of the ICS Remote Director product, the first display-based proofing system
created to approve jobs for press production on-screen without the need for
hard-copy proofs-an innovation that can result in significant time and cost
savings for print professionals.
The 20-inch Cinema Display and the 23-inch Cinema HD Display are designed
to work with DVI equipped Power Macs, PowerBooks and Windows-based
computers. The advanced design of Apple's breakthrough 30-inch Cinema HD
Display requires the high-performance NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL
graphics card and a Power Mac G5 professional desktop. Providing the most
advanced graphics architecture available, the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL
graphics card offers the latest graphics programmability for on-screen
cinematic realism and an astounding bandwidth throughput of up to 35.2
GB/sec to support incredibly high pixel fill rates of 6.4 billion texels a
second. The first card to provide support for two high resolution dual link
interfaces, the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL graphics card provides two
DVI connectors so that two 30-inch Cinema HD Displays can be used with the
Power Mac G5 desktop, resulting in an unprecedented amount of screen
workspace.
Pricing & Availability
The 20-inch Apple Cinema Display and 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display will
be available in July, and the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display will be
available in August, through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), at Apple's
retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price
of $1,299 (US), $1,999 (US) and $3,299 (US), respectively. The NVIDIA
GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL graphics card will be available through the Apple
Store (www.apple.com) in build-to-order configurations of the Power Mac G5
as well as standalone kit in August for a suggested retail price of $599
(US).
Apple Previews Mac OS X "Tiger"
WWDC 2004, SAN FRANCISCO-June 28, 2004-Apple today previewed Mac OS X
version 10.4 "Tiger," the fifth major version of Mac OS X that will ship in
the first half of 2005, extending Apple's leadership in software
innovation. Tiger continues Apple's blazing pace of innovation with more
than 150 breakthrough new features including Spotlight, a revolutionary way
to instantly find any file, document or information created by any
application on the Mac; Safari(tm) RSS, a new version of Apple's acclaimed
web browser that incorporates instant access to RSS (Really Simple
Syndication) data feeds on the web; Dashboard, a dazzling new way to
instantly access a new collection of accessory "Widgets;" and a new version
of Apple's iChat instant messaging client with the industry's first
multi-person audio and video conferencing in a stunning 3D interface.
"With OS X Apple has become, once again, the industry innovator in
operating systems and Tiger will further widen the gap," said Steve Jobs,
Apple's CEO. "Others are now following OS X's taillights, and Tiger will
make it even harder for them to ever catch up."
Spotlight is Apple's new lightning fast way to find any file, document or
information created by any application on the Mac. Much like users can
instantly find songs in iTunes by their name, artist or album, Spotlight
enables users to instantly find just about anything-including emails,
presentations, images, appointments and Microsoft Office documents-then
automatically organizes and displays the results by kind, time or people.
Spotlight technology also powers Smart Folders in the Finder(tm), Smart
Mailboxes in Mail and Smart Groups in Address Book that work like Smart
Playlists in iTunes to automatically keep a user's information organized
and updated.
Safari RSS, a new version of Apple's acclaimed web browser uses the
emerging RSS Internet standard to provide instant access to the most
current information from leading sites such as The New York Times,
BusinessWeek and the BBC. Safari RSS automatically discovers an RSS enabled
site and displays a special icon, which when pressed instantly transforms
Safari into a full featured RSS reader displaying the discovered RSS feed.
With Safari RSS, users can easily create their own personal news clipping
service with up to the minute information from several RSS feeds merged
into one easy-to-read interface.
Dashboard offers users instant access to a new class of accessory
applications called "Widgets." Built on Apple's Expose technology
introduced in Panther, Dashboard provides fingertip access to everyday
tools and information such as stock quotes, webcams, calendars and
calculators. Tiger includes several Widgets and provides a rich developer
environment for developers to extend Dashboard with third party Widgets.
iChat in Tiger supports the new industry standard H.264 video codec for
dramatically better picture quality with no increase in bandwidth. In
addition, the new iChat adds multi-way audio and video conferencing, so
that users can audio conference with up to 10 people and video conference
with up to three other people using a stunning new 3D interface.
Additional new features in Tiger include:
* Core Image and Core Video provide the foundation for new image and video
processing applications, building on the success of Core Audio which is
leading the next generation of innovative audio application development;
* QuickTime support for the next-generation MPEG-4 video codec H.264
delivers incredible scalability across the entire bandwidth spectrum, from
3G mobile media to High Definition broadcast and beyond;
* Tiger can natively run 64-bit processes for database, engineering and
scientific applications to take advantage of the increased performance
unleashed when accessing massive amounts of memory while still running
side-by-side with existing 32-bit applications;
* .Mac Sync using a completely new Sync engine in Tiger ensures that .Mac
subscribers can synchronize their contacts, bookmarks, email preferences
and calendar across multiple machines;
* Automator, an innovative easy-to-use application that automates simple,
complex, or repetitive tasks without requiring the user to write scripts;
* major advances to the open standards UNIX-based foundation including an
updated state-of-the-art kernel with improved SMP scalability, 64-bit
virtual memory, modernized network services and Xgrid, Apple's easy-to-use
distributed computing software;
* improved Windows compatibility that uses powerful open standards-based
networking technologies to make it even easier for Mac OS X users to access
a Windows-based home directory and authenticate against Microsoft's Active
Directory; and
* Xcode(tm) 2, the latest version of Apple's powerful suite of developer
tools, designed to make it even easier and faster to build innovative Mac
OS X applications.
Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" will be available in the first half of 2005
through the Apple Store, at Apple's retail stores and through Apple
Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $129 (US). Users with
a .Mac membership can take full advantage of all the innovative new
features in Tiger to synchronize their information between multiple Macs.
More information on Tiger can be found at www.apple.com.
EditiX 1.4 - XML / XSLT Editor
We are glad to announce the availability of EditiX 1.4. EditiX is a Mac OS X and powerful XML/XSLT Editor.
News :
- Surround CDATA action from the "edit" menu
- Surround Comment action takes the place of the comment/uncomment action
- Global performance improvement
- Last path saved/restored while assigning a DTD, a schema or an XML or result document for XSLT
- New syntax assistant system (header for the context and a filter for user entries supported)
- Multiple errors popup available from the status bar
- Multiple file extensions is supported for a same document type
- Parts of the XSLT editor are now dockable
- A preference file / tab-size has been added
- ...
Sat, 26 Jun 2004
Dot Software Announces New Innovative Web Design Software
Dot Software is pleased to announce Site Studio, which is it's revolutionary new web design program. The program consists of a single window interface that allows the user to intuitively create a full blown web site based on a theme. Within the program dynamic content plugins, which include an image gallery, a blog, a WYSIWYG editor, an HTML editor, an external file tool, and a hyperlink tool, allow you to create the content for each and every page, while selecting a theme controls the looks of the user's web site. It is this design that allows the user to create a web site effortlessly and quickly.
This theme based web site building program features a host of innovative and exciting features:
- Intuitive interface
- 2 layer web sites
- Over 20 themes
- 6 dynamic content plugins (HTML, WYSIWYG, Image Gallery, Blog, External File, Hyperlink)
- Drag and drop reordering of pages
- 1 click FTP and .mac uploading
- Extremely flexible themes
Site Studio is leading the way of cutting edge web design that is both easy and quick. More information can be found about Site Studio here and it can be downloaded here.
Contest: Predict Tiger features to win a GMail invitation
We're having our first contest. The person who correctly predicts the greatest number of new Tiger features wins a GMail invitation.
Here's how it works: add your comments to this story listing the new Tiger features. You must be a registered user so I can contant you with the invitation. Registration is free & easy. If you're registered at any other Drupal site, your username will work here.
The contest ends Monday just before the WWDC keynote starts.
Productive Computing, Inc. Releases Address Book Manipulator Plug-in for FileMaker® Pro and Macintosh OSX
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Diego, CA - June 25, 2004 Productive Computing, Inc. announces the release of the Address Book Manipulator Plug-in as the first FileMaker Pro plug-in that provides a lightning fast two-way data exchange between FileMaker Pro and Macintosh the OSX Address Book using nothing more than simple script steps. No AppleScript or XML programming required!
Features include:
- New Record, Delete Record, Delete All Records
- Save Record
- Set Record, Set Field Data
- Verify Field Data (use for synchronization)
- Get Field Data, Get First Record, Get Next Record, Get Record Count
- FileMaker Pro 5.5 through FileMaker Pro 7.0 compatible
Developers and users will have the tools to be able to manipulate the Address Book (for OSX) directly through a FileMaker Interface! The Address Book Manipulator can exchange data dynamically in a "one to many" format which handles multiple addresses and phone numbers/emails per Address Book record.
Example Uses:
- Move all contacts from your FileMaker contact manager into the Apple Address Book for easy address lookup.
- Easily distribute your corporate FileMaker data to the Address Book without the problems of double entry or missing information.
- Apple's Address Book is integrated into all other programs on the Macintosh. Use this plug-in to bridge the gap.
Click here http://www.productivecomputing.com for a free ten day demo and to review our other FileMaker Pro related products!
* Entourage Manipulator Plug-in:
Exchange data within Microsoft Entourage® (OSX) Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Mail.
* Outlook Manipulator Plug-in:
Exchange data within Microsoft Outlook® Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Mail.
* SendFax Plug-in:
The SendFax Plug-in allows you to fax documents directly from your FileMaker database applications.
* Change Printer Plug-in:
The Change Printer Plug-in allows you to automatically change printer drivers within your scripts. It also lets you copy and move files and send mail with a dynamically named attachment which is useful when creating routines for auto PDF creation and attachment to Email.
* Calendar Popup Plug-in:
Enter dates, date ranges and times into your fields with a popup interface that includes a year at a glance and a side by side mini calendar for entering date ranges.
* Biometric Plug-in:
Add additional security to your solutions by incorporating fingerprint authentication.
* PDF Manipulator Plug-in:
Exchange data between FileMaker Pro and Adobe Acrobat PDF files that have embedded form fields.
* Multi-User Calendar v3 solution:
Create calendars for your consultants, sales people, technicians, meeting rooms, equipment or anything that requires its own schedule. Option to synchronize with Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Entourage as well as the web are available.
* IT Asset Inventory solution:
Organize and label your entire organization's IT assets in one central database solution including Hardware, Software, Users and Passwords.
* Multi-Threaded Message Board:
An easy to install multi-threaded message board system built in FileMaker for the web.
You can download demos of these plug-ins and solutions from our web site at: http://www.productivecomputing.com
Productive Computing, Inc. is one of the Partner Level members of the FileMaker Solutions Alliance, a 2000 member organization of professional FileMaker pro developers. The company specializes in custom database design and FileMaker Pro plug-in development.
Productive Computing, Inc.
Creating Efficiency Through Automation
Phone: (760) 560-0443
Fax: (760) 732-3410
mailto:info@productivecomputing.com
www.productivecomputing.com
Partner Member - FileMaker Solutions Alliance
Runtime Revolution to Attend WWDC 2004
Runtime Revolution today announces that it will be attending the Apple World Wide Developers Conference, June 28th to June 30th in San Francisco. During WWDC 2004 Runtime Revolution will be showing off the features which are currently in development for the next phase of Revolution, the user-centric software development environment. Members of the public and the press are invited to attend the demo sessions, ask questions and try the latest features out for themselves. They are also invited to try out the currently available versions of Revolution Express, Studio and Enterprise.
"We made Revolution 2 the user-centric software development environment for developers of all abilities and backgrounds." Said Kevin Miller CEO of Runtime Revolution adding, "These new features we will be unveiling extend our user-centric approach to some of the leading and most important areas of software development."
Runtime Revolution will be part of the MacTech pavilion for the duration of the WWDC 2004 exhibits fair.
Information on pricing, versions, and local distributors, as well as a free 30-day trial edition of Revolution for all supported platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, classic Mac OS, Linux and Unix, is available at www.runrev.com.
Runtime Revolution Ltd.
Founded in 1997, Runtime Revolution focuses on bringing user-centric development to all major platforms: Macintosh, Windows, Linux, and Unix. Products include Revolution, Revolution Express, and Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor. The company is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. For more information on Runtime Revolution, please visit the company on the web at www.runrev.com.
For more information, or to arrange a product review please contact:
Dr Rod McCall
Runtime Revolution Ltd
91 Hanover Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1DJ
email: rodmc@runrev.com
telephone: +44 (0) 870 747 1165
fax:+44 (0) 845 458 8487
Runtime Revolution 2.2.1 Now Available
Runtime Revolution 2.2.1 Now Available
Free Update of User-Centric Development Environment
Edinburgh, Scotland, June 25th 2004
Runtime Revolution today announces the latest update of Revolution, the user-centric development tool for software authors of all abilities. Revolution is available for every major platform and it's ease of use and powerful feature set make it the quickest and easiest way to develop Internet, multimedia, database and generic software applications. Revolution 2.2.1 is maintenance update and is available free to Express, Studio and Enterprise customers of version 2.2.
"Revolution 2.2.1 is a direct response to customer requests for an incremental update before the next major release of Revolution." Said Kevin Miller CEO of Runtime Revolution adding, "We've made this update free so that users of Revolution 2.2 can benefit from the latest enhancements."
Revolution 2.2.1 builds in the previous releases by improving stability and performance in three main areas:
-The standalone builder
-Error handling and reporting
-The Database library
There are also a number of other minor fixes and improvements.
Information on pricing, versions, and local distributors, as well as a free 30-day trial edition of Revolution for all supported platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, classic Mac OS, Linux and Unix, is available at www.runrev.com.
Runtime Revolution Ltd.
Founded in 1997, Runtime Revolution focuses on bringing user-centric development to all major platforms: Macintosh, Windows, Linux, and Unix. Products include Revolution, Revolution Express, and Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor. The company is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. For more information on Runtime Revolution, please visit the company on the web at www.runrev.com.
For more information, or to arrange a product review please contact:
Dr Rod McCall
Runtime Revolution Ltd
91 Hanover Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1DJ
email: rodmc@runrev.com
telephone: +44 (0) 870 747 1165
fax: +44 (0) 845 458 8487
Boinx Untitled App released - create professional slideshows and win an Apple iSight.
Boinx Untitled App has been released - it lets you create impressing Slideshows. You can add images from your iTunes Library and Audio from iTunes, scale, move and rotate the image, pan & zoom (really cool with panorama pictures) and lost more.
Its a free preview release and you can win an Apple iSight if you find a good name for this Application. So: download it, test it and get your iSight
http://www.untitled-app.com
Camino 0.8 Released
Camino version 0.8 was released tonight. In addition to performance, stability, and rendering improvements inherited from Mozilla 1.7, Camino 0.8 adds a Google Search bar in the toolbar, a more-compact download manager, an entirely rewritten bookmark system, capable of importing Safari, IE, and Mozilla bookmarks, with Rendezvous and Address Book integration and multi-level undo support, session history on back/forward buttons, greatly improved cookie management, and many more changes.
Since the last release of Camino, the following upgrades have been made to the underlying Gecko engine, and are now available in Camino: incremental, type-ahead find in the content area, automatic size-to-fit for image images larger than the viewable content area and numerous performance and web page rendering enhancements, XSLT support, as well as a large number of bug-fixes.
For more information or to download a copy, go to http://www.mozilla.org/products/camino/
Highlights
- A new look and icon set (a graphite set will be made available shortly)
- Upgraded Gecko HTML rendering engine to 1.7final from 1.0, yielding performance and web page rendering enhancements, as well as a large number of bug-fixes
- A more-compact download manager UI
- Entirely rewritten bookmark system, capable of importing Safari, IE, and Mozilla bookmarks, with Rendezvous and Address Book integration and multi-level undo support
- "Top Ten" bookmark collection, based on your ten most-visited sites
- Searchable bookmarks
- Google Search field in toolbar
- Ability to manage individual cookies, sorting and editing cookie allow/deny lists
- Ability to unblock popups on a per-site basis (popup white-listing)
- User profile migrated to ~/Library/Application Support/Camino
- Incremental, type-ahead find in the content area
- Automatic size-to-fit for image images larger than the viewable content area
- Hundreds of smaller improvements and bug-fixes to the user interface
Since the 0.8beta release, the following have been added:
- Click-hold session history menus on the Back and Forward buttons
- XSLT support
- Startup speed improvements with a large bookmark set
- Security fixes for Mac OS X protocol exploit
- Tabbing from URL field to Google Search field works correctly
- Improved bookmark importing
- "View Frame Source" correctly displays the frame's html instead of that of the frame set
- New keyboard shortcuts for switching tabs that work better with non-US keyboards
- More bugfixes and general enhancements to the UI and Gecko rendering engine
gCount updated to version 0.2
gCount is a menubar item that will display the number of unread messages in the inbox of a recently popular email service.
Changes in 0.2: Large memory leak squashed. New icon. The count now reflects unread count of Inbox (it was previously all unread messages), as it should, and there is a preference to switch to the prior count. Added link to Compose Mail in menu.
Download it here.
[ANN] Java Date Picker v3.0 Released
Stand
By Soft, Ltd. just released Java Date Picker 3.0, a suite of powerful
date components for Swing. This is the first major version since
initial release. It adds a new component, JDateField and defines the
framework for future date components.
The dates available for
selection can be restricted according to a specified pattern. Users can
also do single or multiple date selection. So far, the available
components are a one month calendar, a date field and an editable date
picker.
The components can be internationalized, have support
for mouse and keyboard and they can be used with any look and feel
(Metal, Motif, Windows, Aqua and custom ones).
The highlights of this release are:
- New JDateField component.
- JDateField can use date parsers to convert shortcut strings like "today" into dates.
- JDateField includes properties like autoValidate, autoRestore, beepOnError and autoCentury.
- JDateField can set or get the value of a date field at any time.
- Rethought the Javadoc to be a self-contained document for the Java Date Picker API.
- Improved the tutorial to be a light introduction to the API.
For additional information or trial version, please visit http://www.javadatepicker.com.
Tue, 22 Jun 2004
KeepAnEye 1.7
KeepAnEye is a multipurpose monitoring and notification utility which helps you to stay informed efficiently by tracking an unlimited number of data sources. In the one hand, you can watch the data through visual representations which can be freely organized in windows, in the menu bar and in the Dock. In the other hand, it observes the data and warns you when something interesting happens using a powerful notification system. RSS feeds, pictures, stock quotes, eBay auctions, software updates, IP addresses, disk usage… Messages, sounds, e-mails, AppleScripts… Taking advantage of a flexible plug-in architecture, numerous kinds of data sources and actions are supported within a single, homogenous application.
This update aims to improve the overall user experience when using the application and introduces the new Stock Quotes (Yahoo) observer plug-in.
- The observers, groups and actions can now be exported into portable document files (for backup or exchange purpose for instance).
- Added full support for copying, pasting and duplicating the observers, groups and actions.
- Added the Stock Quotes (Yahoo) observer plug-in which survey stock values from the Yahoo web site.
- Updated the eBay and MacUpdate observer plug-ins to catch up with the new layout of the web sites.
- The overall state is better preserved when quitting the application.
- Enhanced the support for the contextual help (tool tips).
- Many other smaller improvements and corrections.
KeepAnEye 1.7 is a $12 shareware which can be downloaded at http://www.inferiis.com/download/KeepAnEye-1.7.dmg.gz
Mon, 21 Jun 2004
G5 Liquid Cooling - exclusive photos
TechSeekers.net has posted some new close-up photos of the new G5's liquid cooling system.
Sneak Peak of New Mac Games
Mac Games and More has discovered new Mac games that have yet to be released but their launches are forthcoming.
Descriptions with screenshots of the games can be found here:
http://www.macgamesandmore.com/newmacgames.html
Included in the wealth of Mac entertainment is a variety of Mac shareware games sporting various types of game play and concepts. Featured on the site is a quality selection of six different games from developers world-wide, but will report on others shortly.
JXMLPad is a java swing component for editing XML content. In this release, all parsing errors are
translated for english and french, user can add easily its own language. Syntax assistants have a title depending on the usage context. User can filter the syntax assistant content by inserting/removing characters. The global performance has been considerably increased. Errors are now better managed avoiding the user.
JXMLPad is available at http://www.jxmlpad.com
Sat, 19 Jun 2004
What is your favorite web browser?
CocoaDev
A Cocoa development community site
Phelios Games
Independent game developer creating entertaining games for Mac. Mac Game Downloads are made available online at Phelios to allow gamers to try games before buying them. With kids and adults of all ages in mind, Phelios strives to create quality games for engaging game play while also providing excellent customer service and free technical support.
MusicalMac
Headlines from the Mac music industry, plus more.
iPodClub
Japanese iPod and music news site.
DontBuyMusic
DontBuyMusic.com is intended to spread word of why BuyMusic.com is not the best choice on the web for acquiring your digital music, and to present to the public some of the better choices available. DontBuyMusic.com does NOT endorse digital music piracy.
OS X Tips & Tricks
An excellent technical resource for MacOS X.
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking is a tool that will help you check your web site position on all major search engines. It saves you hours of tedious work while monitoring your web site's search engine position.
publicspace.net
Quality Trialware & Shareware for Macintosh & Windows, including A Better File Rename and MacBreakZ.
PineHill Products
Developers of CreativePage and SiteToolkit.
Mac POS
XpertMart Point of Sale & Inventory Control was developed in Java and runs on the Macintosh OS X platform. XpertMart is designed specifically for retailers of shoes, clothing sporting goods and accessories since it employs a Style/Color/Size1/Size2 matrix to display sales and stock data. You can also use a matrix to input quantities in transactions such as Purchase Orders, Store Transfers and Invoices. XpertMart for Mac OS X is compatible with a wide range of peripherals including such well-known brands as Zebra barcode printers, Epson ticket printers, Symbol scanners and Magtek card readers.
Colourfull Creations
Colourfull Creations is a designer of hardware and software for the Macintosh Market.
Astoundit Software
Mac OS X software for home and business users.
The Northern Spy
Mac Portal featuring articles & rumors.
MacOnlySource
Your Only source for everything Mac A great we portal for finding anything and everything Macintosh on the internet. A fast loading one page site which allows you to only need one Mac bookmark on your browser. Brought to you by the webmaster of the now extinct Ultimate Macintosh, surfers are welcome to submit their favorite mac links for inclusion.
ZhenyaDesign: Mac forums
Mac Forum Site.
macminer.com
macminer.com makes your quest for Mac-related news simpler, more precise and, above all, successful. Combine the usefulness of a 24h/day news aggregator with advanced search capabilities to cope with your daily information overload.
MacMerc
MacMerc.com is the Mac site for professionals. Important news, innovative tutorials, and hard hitting editorials are wrapped into an easy to read format. If you don't have the time to read the site every day, we have one of the most advanced RSS feeds in the Mac web. Stob by and see what the fuss is all about.
macCompanion
We are macCompanion, an on-line multilingual-capable e-zine that provides monthly book, hardware, shareware and software reviews and an occasional interview. Our intent is to help those considering the Macintosh platform as an alternative to their current platform situation and to also let them begin to feel comfortable in the Macintosh Community.
Mac IT
Description: Notes from a Macintosh systems administrator
Mac Games and More
Downloadable Mac OS X games, icons, screensavers, applications and desktop pictures. Features a growing, sortable database of Mac OS X software including games, utilities and more, and also provides reviews, indie news, Mac tips, world news and more.
Site Update
MacMegasite is now running Drupal. I've moved over all of the user accounts and most of the content. All stories & reviews are available, and if you registered at the old site you should still be able to log in. The old site is still available here for a while.
We now provide both RSS and Atom news feeds. In addition, if you're registered at any other Drupal site, your Drupal ID will work here as well.
Welcome to MacMegasite
We will bring you the latest Macintosh news & information from a Mac software developer's point of view. This site is what you make it, so register & participate.
This site has zero tolerance for spam. Spam is deleted on sight and spammers will be banned permanently.
Reader Specials from MacResQ
Mac OS 10.3 Panther Retail Box
Normally $109.99, take $12 off with Q-Pon code "GROWL"
iPod Power Adapter AC to FW (Adapter only, no FireWire cable) for all
iPods
Normally $24.99, take $5 off with Q-Pon code "PODAC"
iBook G3/500 64/10gb/CD/56k/12" Screen
Only $529.99 with FREE Shipping
iBook G3/700 128/20gb/CD-RW/DVD/56k/12" Screen
Only $649.99 with FREE Shipping!
iBook G3/800 128/30gb/CD-RW/DVD/56k/12" Screen
Only $729.99 with FREE Shipping!
iBook G3/700 256/30gb/CD/56k/14" Screen
Only $799.99 with FREE Shipping!
PowerBook G4/400 128/10gb/DVD/56k/15.2" Screen
Only $729.99 with FREE Shipping!
PowerBook G4/550 128/20gb/DVD/56k/15.2" Screen
Only $829.99 with FREE Shipping!
PowerBook G4/667 256/30gb/DVD/CDRW/15.2" Screen
Only $1029.99 with FREE Shipping!
iCash 2.0
Maxprog is proud to present a new release of iCash, new version 2.0, available now in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese on Maxprog website with several interesting improvements, new features and bug fixes.
iCash is an easy-to-use, full featured and multi-purpose software intended to control your personal finances, keeping track of incomes, expenses, credits, debts and Banks transactions for you.
As simple as creating the accounts you need and move money between them! You don't even need to know about accounting or even care about it!
iCash can serve several small accounting needs for either private users, or clubs, associations, self-employed, small businesses or simply to be used at home, making keeping track of incomes, expenses and Banks transactions a snap. With a few clicks you can begin creating accounts and making transactions in minutes.
What's new:
- Charts (types, categories, accounts, Balance and P&L).
- Transaction splits (groups) can now be created to group existing transactions.
- Enhanced transactions/queries printing. Possibility to print a range or selected.
- Standard toolbar on Mac OS X version giving access to most used functions.
- Preference panel lets you set number format, deactivate transaction auto-completion...
- Statistics panel giving access to money flow per type, category and account.
- Profit and loss summary report.
- Value added Tax handling and reporting.
- Account statement and P&L report period pull-down menu includes years.
- Interface optimizations.
- Enhanced report printing.
- New csv import engine.
MacOS X:
- English: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_X.sit
- German: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_X_DE.sit
- French: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_X_FR.sit
- Spanish: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_X_ES.sit
- Italian: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_X_IT.sit
- Dutch: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_X_NL.sit
- Portuguese: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_X_BR.sit
MacOS Classic:
- English: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash.sit
- German: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_DE.sit
- French: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_FR.sit
- Spanish: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_ES.sit
- Italian: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_IT.sit
- Dutch: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_NL.sitPortuguese: http://www.maxprog.com/shareware/iCash_BR.sit
'fix a troubled mac' - a mac troubleshooting book
'Fix a troubled Mac' v1.4.0 - a Macintosh troubleshooting PDF book has been updated and is available to evaluate for FREE or purchase from:
URL: http://fixa.troubledmac.com
Publisher: dirtymouse
The emphasis on this book is fixing, troubleshooting and resolving problems through knowledge. 'Fix a troubled Mac' is written for intermediate to advanced Mac users and aimed at creative studio and production environments and for anyone that is looking after 5-50 macs.
Mozilla 1.7, ThunderBird 0.7 Released
Following the release of FireFox 0.9 earlier this week, mozilla.org has released Mozilla 1.7, the latest version of their full browser suite, and Thunderbird 0.7, a stand-alone email client.
T-Squared Software releases FootTrack 1.7.1 DV catalog app
June 17, 2004 - T-Squared Software has released an updated version of FootTrack that adds a number of customer requested features as well as addressing some minor issues.
FootTrack is a Mac OS X application that allows you to capture, catalog and easily search your digital video tape footage. You can think of it as iPhoto for your digital video. FootTrack is a tool to help make home and prosumer user's lives easier when it comes to finding just the right clips for your new iMovie/Final Cut project.
This update is free for all registered users. Users that purchase version 1.7.1 will also receive a free update to version 2.0 when it is available later this summer.
The new features:
- Further flexability in organizing your video clips -> Keywords support. You can now create your own hierarchical structure of keywords, then assign them to your video clips. As an example you could create keywords for occasions such as birthdays, graduations, etc. as well as keywords for people in your family. Then you can assign those keywords to the proper clips in order to easily find every birthday clip with your son/daughter in it.
- Added jkl keyboard support (ala Final Cut Pro/Express) when viewing movie clips. When using the movie viewer window you can press L to play forward (repeatedly pressing L will speed up the play rate). Pressing J will either slow down or reverse playback. Pressing K stops the clip from playing.
- Added the ability to mute the sound in the capture window (useful for listening to iTunes while capturing video)
- Fixed some problems with entering recorded dates for analog footage. Date formats that included a '-' such as 25-04-04 were rejected when they shouldn't have been.
- Other minor changes to streamline the user interface (for compressing and importing)
A non-expiring, no-hassle demo version is available at http://foottrack.com/download.html.
FootTrack is available in both English and Dutch (with German in the works).
A single user license costs $39.95US. Educational pricing is also available.
EchoFX Announces USBVision For Mac OS X 1.1.1
Today, EchoFX, a Macintosh software developer, announced the immediate availability of USBVision For Mac OS X 1.1.1 -software support for video digitizing devices including the XLR8 InterView, Belkin VideoBus and others.
Version 1.1.1 is a maintenance release that restores the ability to play sound in the background, no longer interferes with iChat / iSight operation, and releases unused USB bandwidth when video is not present. Problems with Internet version checking when multiple devices are active have also been resolved.
USBVision For Mac OS X 1.1.1 is free to registered USBVision For Mac OS X customers.
USBVision For Mac OS X Overview
The USBVision software offers Mac OS X support for a wide range of devices including XLR8 InterView, Belkin VideoBus and VideoBus II, iRez USB Live and CapSure, Global Village VideoFX, Alpha Data USB Video Adapter, Hauppauge USB-Live and many others -including those originally sold as “PC-only”. Mac OS X support for most of these devices was previously unavailable.
Additionally, the USBVision software will allow up to eight video capture devices to run simultaneously on one computer. Multiple devices can be used with Ben Bird’s SecuritySpy and SubRosaSoft’s HomeGuardian security packages allowing the monitoring of many different video sources. Multiple devices can also be used with video broadcast and webcam packages such as Econ Technologies’ ImageCaster, allowing multiple video sources to be uploaded to the Internet from a single computer.
The USBVision software has been enhanced in a number of ways from the original InterView-only software, including the addition of snapshot button support, audio input support, and increased compatibility with various third-party applications. The USBVision Capture software included, now features hardware accelerated full-screen playback, duration-based recording and AppleScript support.
The USBVision software is available at http://www.echofx.com for $25.00 USD. Customers who purchased the InterView For Mac OS X software or InterView hardware may upgrade to the new USBVision software free of charge. In addition to the software, EchoFX sells the original InterView video capture devices for $64.95. EchoFX now accepts Visa and MasterCard in addition to PayPal. For more information about the USBVision software or the InterView video capture device please visit the EchoFX web site at http://www.echofx.com.
USBVision For Mac OS X Highlights
- Supports a wide range of video capture devices.
- 352 x 240, 29.97 frames per second NTSC video capture.
- 352 x 288, 25 frames per second PAL/SECAM video capture.
- Supports composite and s-video formats.
- High contrast, high quality video better than DV at the same size.
- Excellent audio/video synchronization.
- Low disk space requirements: 4 GB per hour for video and audio.
- High resolution single frame capture.
- Audio support for devices that have audio input, e.g. Belkin VideoBus II.
- Snapshot button support for devices that snapshot buttons, e.g. Belkin VideoBus.
- Multiple device support for broadcasting, webcam, and surveillance applications.
- Dynamic Quality Management, for maintaining the best quality possible during capture.
- Auto-Detect Input And Format, to automatically adapt to the current video source.
- Fast Record Playback, for near real-time playback during captures.*
- Easy to use, AppleScript enabled capture software with fast full screen playback.**
- Software to export movies to any QuickTime supported format, including DV.
- Compatible with a large number of third-party applications.
* Fast Record Playback requires a G4 processor.
** Full screen playback requires a G4 processor and an accelerated graphics card.
About EchoFX
EchoFX, Inc. is a developer of quality drivers and application software for the Macintosh market. Over a decade of experience and attention to detail make EchoFX products robust and easy to use. EchoFX offers expertise with the following technologies: Desktop publishing software, 3D rendering software, Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects plug-ins, plug-in architectures, QuickTime codecs, QuickTime applications, application and system multiprocessing, AltiVec programming, DSP co-processing, USB drivers for Mac OS 9 and X, CPU and cache control software, Kernel level programming for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, PPC and 68K programming, UNIX programming and Windows to Mac porting. For more information contact info@echofx.com.
Hardware problems
This site was down for several hours due to a hardware failure. The good news is the hard drive didn't fail as they feared - it just needed a new IDE cable :)
Basasoft has released BasaOne 1.1
Basasoft has just released BasaOne 1.1 an update to its new Web Application Development Environment for MacOS X. It adds alignment guides, translucent drag, class file creation, a window palette, enhanced JavaScript and more.
With BasaOne you can easily write Web Applications with database access without having to bother about different programming languages, server platforms, databases, etc. It creates Browser independent applications that look the same and work on all supported browsers. Read all about it at the BasaOne web-page. Promotional pricing is Euro 119.00. You can download a fully functional trial version.
FireFox 0.9 Released
Mozilla.org has released FireFox 0.9, their next generation browser.
Features of FireFox include popup blocking, tabbed browsing, smart search tools including Google & dictionary search. New features of 0.9 include:
- Extension Manager
- Theme Manager
- Data Migration/Import
- New Visual Theme
- Better Bookmarks
However, FireFox still has what I consider a serious deficiency: it's the only browser I know of that doesn't have separate settings for home page & action when opening a window or tab, which means if you have a home page defined, opening a new window will ALWAYS open your home page.
The ONLY way you can have it not open a page every time you open a new window is by setting your home page to about:blank, which makes the HOME button useless. I personally prefer using the home button to open a page quickly; I never want to have a page opened automatically whenever I open a window.
PC-Mac PasswordVault v3.1 adds Linux support and rebranding options
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA -- June 15, 2004 -- Lava Software is now shipping PC-Mac PasswordVault v3.1, a password manager which securely stores website usernames and passwords, Internet banking data and software registration details for convenient and easy access on Windows, MacOS X, MacOS Classic and Linux (x86) computers.
The new Linux version offers an identical user interface to the Windows and MacOS versions, giving users a simple and consistent experience on all platforms. In large organizations, this cross-platform compatibility makes it much easier to support users or departments who prefer a particular operating system, whilst maintaining a unified level of security for password information across the organization.
PC-Mac PasswordVault2Go, the portable version of the software bundled with the package, is designed for use on USB flash drives and other portable media. Windows, MacOS and Linux versions of PC-Mac PasswordVault2Go can be installed on a single USB flash drive, making it a secure, portable cross-platform repository of password information. Just plug it into any computer, run PC-Mac PasswordVault2Go and your passwords are instantly accessible, no matter where you are.
Lava Software is now offering customized versions of PC-Mac PasswordVault to universities, companies, organizations and OEM licensees (such as USB flash drive manufacturers). A custom backdrop gives licensees a unique opportunity to raise their profile to users of the software for promotional purposes, or allows them to graphically integrate it with their own organizational style. Prelicensing and extended desktop licensing options are also available.
Graphic screenshots for Windows and MacOS X can be found at:
http://www.lavasoftware.com/passwordvault.html
The free Lite Edition of PC-Mac PasswordVault supports up to 10 services, whilst the Standard Edition supports any number of services. The Standard Edition is priced at USD19.95 per license, and purchasers get download access to the current version of the software for all platforms (both desktop and portable versions), as well as free upgrades for one year. Site licenses are available from USD99.00. OEM pricing and rebranding options are available on request.
About the Company
Lava Software Pty. Ltd., a company incorporated in the State of South Australia, began developing its range of cross-platform software in 1992. More information is available from http://www.lavasoftware.com or by emailing service@lavasoftware.com.
iTunes Music Store Europe launches
Apple iTunes has launched in Europe, or at least the UK, France, and Germany. Apple said that a European Union version of the store is coming this October. Music is priced at €0.99 or £0.79 per track, which is about $1.20 in the US at the moment.
More information is available at Apple.
LoadPod comes to Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta
LoadPod, the service that rips your CD collection into your iPod so that you don't have to, has added local service in several new areas, including: Los Angeles-Pasadena, California; Atlanta-Marietta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Pensacola-Panama City, Florida; Northern Virginia;
The LoadPod network now includes twenty-five States, including major metropolitan areas such as New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Phoenix, Nashville, St. Louis, Baltimore, Orlando, Salt Lake City, and San Diego, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Washington, DC. To learn more about the service, or to schedule an on-site pickup, visit LoadPod.com.
Speed up web browsing with a local name server
If you often find that Safari gives an alert that it can't find a page, but it loads when you retry, the probablem may be slow DNS responses from your ISP. This thread in Apple's discussion forum gives a good workaround. I've tried it myself and I found that it actually does speed up web browsing.
Instead of using your ISP's name server, you can run a caching name server on your own computer. By handling DNS lookups locally and caching results, it will make opening pages quite a bit faster. Here's how to do it:
1. Using your favorite text editor, edit /etc/named.conf and uncomment the following line:
// query-source address * port 53;
It should become:
query-source address * port 53;
2. Edit /etc/hostconfig and change the following line:
DNSSERVER=-NO-
to:
DNSSERVER=-YES-
This will cause the local name server to start automatically.
3. Run the following command in the terminal:
sudo /usr/sbin/named
This will start the name server without rebooting.
4. Finally, go to network preferences and in the TCP/IP settings for Ethernet or Airport enter 127.0.0.1 as the DNS server address.
Try opening a page in the web browser and enjoy the speedup!
Reader Specials from MacResQ
FileMaker Pro 6.0 CD for Mac OS & Windows: Only $79.99! Use Q-Pon code "FM6" when ordering online for FREE
domestic ground shipping!
Contour Design Pink Showcase iPod Carrying Case Normally $32.99, take $4 off with Q-Pon code "PINK"
MacResQ Mini AC Adapter, PowerBook G3 (all), iBook (clamshell), 3400, 2400, 1400 and Duo Series: Normally $59.99, take $5 off with Q-Pon code "MINIG"
Apple CD/ DVD-ROM Drive for PowerBook G4 Series
Normally $59.99, take $10 off with Q-Pon code "DVP4"
Shure E3C Sound Isolating Earphones with Extended Frequency Response with iTrip 2 (iPod w/dock) FM Transmitter Bundle:
Normally $179.99, take $20 off with Q-Pon code "TRE3C"
LoadPod comes to San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Detroit, Atlanta
LoadPod, the service that rips your CD collection into your iPod so that you don't have to, has added local service in several new areas, including the San Francisco, Sacramento, and Berekely areas of California; the Atlanta-Marietta area of Georgia; the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area; the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota; and the Detroit Metro area of Michigan. The LoadPod network now includes twenty-two States, including major metropolitan areas such as New York City, Boston, Miami, Phoenix, Nashville, St. Louis, Baltimore, Orlando, Salt Lake City, and San Diego. To learn more about the service, or to schedule an on-site pickup, visit LoadPod.com.
ADHOC Papers & Conferences announced
The organizers of the Advanced Developers Hands-On Conference have announced the papers that will be reviewed and judged by the attendees, as well as a list of the confirmed sessions. The conference takes place July 21-24 in Dearborn, MI.
The papers are:
- "Weaving the Leopard's Pelt: Simulating Fibers on OS X" by Andrew Pontious. Andrew describes bringing the thread-like mechanism on Windows NT over to the Macintosh operating system).
- "Using Modern C++ Techniques to Streamline Use of Carbon Events" by Scott Ribe.
- "So You Want (or Have) to to be a Project Manager" by Brian J. Geiger. Brian explains what it takes to be an effective Project Manager.
- "Administration of Open-Source, Macintosh Software" by Gordon Worley. An increasing number of software packages make use of open source software, and this paper explains how to administer these open-source projects.
- "Microcontroller Programming for the Rest of Us: A USB-based Programming Board for the BasicStamp II" by J. P. Djajadiningrat.
- "Cocoa Software Development: A Student's First Hand Perspective" by Kris Hansen.
The confirmed sessions are:
- Advanced Debugging for Mac OS X by Eric Albert:
Finding memory problems with libgmalloc, debugging non-reproducible problems from crash logs without symbols, gdb tips and tricks, tracking down problems you encounter in the open source components of Mac OS X , and more. - Cross Platform Networking with OpenPlay by Shawn Platkus:
OpenPlay is an open source, cross platform networking library. It provides a network abstraction layer designed to simplify the task of communicating across multiple computers and operating systems. This session will introduce OpenPlay's API and provide the information needed to begin using it. Tips for avoiding pitfalls that you won't find mentioned in the OpenPlay documentation and how to work around minor bugs will also be covered. - Hacking the Press by Adam C. Engst:
So you've written the next killer app, but what good will that do if no one knows about it? Sure, you can blow some bucks on advertising (and that's not a bad idea), but more important to get press coverage, which you can't buy. In this session, Adam Engst, publisher of the oldest Macintosh Internet publication and long-time writer for numerous Macintosh magazines, will clue you into the secrets of working with the Macintosh press. Learn what information must appear in a press release, how to work with editors and writers, and how to employ guerilla techniques for getting mentioned in the pages of the Macintosh press. - Hands-on Programming with Rendezvous by Daniel H. Steinberg:
In this session we'll follow up on the introductory session and get into some code. Bring your laptop and join in as we Rendezvous enable an application or two and explore some of the relevant APIs. - Hardware Technology Trends by Chad Magendanz:
This session describes the foundations, products and future of PC system architecture, with a particular focus on core logic. We'll cover technology trends that have influenced today's PCs, including the adaptation of processors and chipsets to meet the needs of emerging applications, new bus technologies and wireless networking standards. This session covers a lot of territory very quickly, and includes an overview of current product lines from major chipset vendors with candid analysis of their technicalstrategies. It's really one-stop shopping for much of the content you'd normally receive at the Intel Developers Forum and Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, without the hidden agendas. - Introduction to PyObj-C by Ryan Wilcox:
Cocoa and Objective-C are great tools for application development, enabling you to create applications very efficiently. However, like any C-based language, Objective-C can slow you down: compiling, linking, looking for that lost semicolon. In this session you'll see how the power of Python, a dynamic, object oriented scripting language can be used to develop Cocoa applications easily, quickly, and with less semi-colon headaches. We'll discuss the basics of Python briefly, then dive into PyObj-C, the bridge framework that makes Cocoa happen with Python. - Introduction to Programming with Rendezvous by Daniel H. Steinberg:
Rendezvous is based on the simple question, "If we've settled on IP for communicating in wide area networks, why don't we do the same in local networks?" We'll look at the three legs of the solution: obtaining an IP address without DHCP, obtaining a locally unique name without DNS, and browsing for services in a manner that is both computer- and human-friendly. - Introduction to REALbasic by Jonathan Johnson:
This is an introduction on how to use the REALbasic IDE and an introduction to the language. Why learn REALbasic? It is an evolving object oriented, cross-platform, fully-complied language that combines ease of use with fast, native applications. This session will teach how to create a stable WebServer that can handle over 1,000 connections in under 100 lines of code. - Java on the Mac by Daniel H. Steinberg:
There are tons of Java applications that have been written on and for other platforms that can easily be tuned to look and feel almost like native Mac OS X applications. Mac OS X ships with Java 1.4.1. In this session we'll take the open source testing framework JUnit and tweak it to conform to Apple HI Guidelines. We'll set runtime properties, introduce platform specific code, take advantage of design patterns to tweak the look and feel, and demonstrate deployment options. Why should your user know they're running a Java application. We'll finish by considering what needs to be modified in an application written in Java for the Mac to make it look and feel right on other platforms. - OS X Overriding Overview by Jonathan 'Wolf' Rentzsch:
Tools and techniques to bend Mac OS X to your programming will (while maintaining a stable system). Covers injection opportunities (mach_inject, InputManagers, various plugins) and overriding (mach_override, categories, posing, method swizzling). - PGP Key Signing Party by Gordon Worley:
Come meet with other PGP users to exchange key signatures to build your web of trust. Be sure to bring at least two forms of identification and at least one must include a photo of you. Also, if you won't have a laptop with your keys on it, remember to bring printouts of your key fingerprints. If you're new to PGP, don't worry: we'll help you get set up.
QuickTime for Java documentation and working demos are hard to come by, and the coolest stuff basically requires reading half-obsolete Inside Macintosh books and doing a mental port from C to Java. That's where this session comes in. Chris Adamson shows off neat QTJ tricks. Attend this session and maybe you'll get some ideas for a QuickTime hack!- Taking REALbasic to the Edge by Jonathan Johnson:
This session will show how to use REALbasic to integrate with Objective-C by wrapping objc_msgSendv and using PowerPC machine code all in native REALbasic code. It will explain in some detail how the Objective-C language works, and detail how to create both simple and advanced declares into system libraries from REALbasic.- Test Driven Objective-C Development by James Duncan Davidson:
Test Driven Development (TDD) is probably the big takeaway from the Extreme Programming movement. Well, that and index cards and a few other things. But mostly, it's about unit tests. Objective-C lends itself very well to testing. This session will look at the various options for unit testing including OCUnit, OjbCUnit, TestKit, and along the way peek at a test framework I've been building called UnitKit (along with some interesting lessons learned while trying to build a unit test framework). After covering the options, we'll dive into actually writing tests and seeing how tests can influence the design of a software project.- What's new in HFS+ by David Shayer:
How journalling works, auto-defragmenting, adaptive hot file clustering, HFSX (case sensitive HFS+), hard links and sym links. - Taking REALbasic to the Edge by Jonathan Johnson:
For more information or to register, visit http://www.adhocconference.com/.
Cool feature of new PowerMac G5
The PowerMac G5 systems introduced today have a very cool new feature: System Migration. It takes data & settings from your old Mac and copies it to the new one. John Vink writes about it here.
MacDesktops.net Relaunches
MUGnetwork, today, announced the relaunch of MacDesktops.net, their Desktop Image sharing community. The site had previously been offline due to software problems. With nearly 150 desktop images already, MacDesktops.net features instant desktop publishing, your image is viewable on the site as soon as you submit it.
Apple releases iTunes 4.6
Apple has released iTunes 4.6, which is now available for download in the Software Update panel. iTunes 4.6 includes support for playing your music wirelessly using AirPort Express with AirTunes and a number of other minor enhancements.
Apple Introduces new PowerMac G5 models
Apple has updated the PowerMac G5 line to all dual processor models starting at 1.8 GHz and has also discontinued all PowerMac G4 minitowers.
The top of the line model, starting at $2999, features two liquid-cooled 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5 processors with a front side bus running at 1.25 GHz per processor.
The entry level model starting at $1999 features two 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 CPUs with a 900 MHz frontside bus for each processor.
The midrange system features two 2GHz G5 processors with a frontside bus running at 1 GHz per processor.
All models include a SuperDrive. The low end model includes an 80G hard drive & 256M RAM, while the others feature a 160G drive with 512M RAM.
More information is available here.
AbOrygen releases biOpen for life scientists
AbOrygen officially announced that biOpen is now available for Mac OS X. biOpen is a new DNA and protein sequence analysis and 3D structure visualisation software with a a unique modular architecture. Main features are : extensive modularity in the choice of analysis tools with a price adapted to user’s needs , and easy evolution of the software by dynamic integration of new tools. A demo version of biOpen is available at the editor site: http://www.aborygen.com
biOpen is a new and unique sequence analysis and structure visualization software based on a plugin architecture. Such an innovative concept allows dynamic integration of analysis tools in the software’s core.
Main features are:
- Extensive modularity: biOpen allows you to select the analysis tools you need and to work in a fully integrated environment.
- Easy evolution of your configuration: you can get new tools and integrate them in your biOpen configuration when needed.
- 3D visualization: the relations between the sequence and its structure can be studied with one single software: simply select a part of the sequence and see it light up on the structure.
- Powerful display features: fully synchronized views, dynamic display of analysis results, automated extraction and display of annotations of GenBank sequence files, and even more.
- Project management: organize and save your sequences, structures and results very easily. Import most popular file formats, including DNA Strider. Projects can be exchanged with your work colleagues.
- Graphical export: biOpen views can be simply exported in your favorite word processor or presentation software. You just have to perform a selection and drag and drop it to your document.
A demo version of biOpen is available at the editor site: http://www.aborygen.com
Keynote Theme Park releases da Vinci theme, plus free one.
Let everyone know what a genius you are with the look of Leonardo's famous notebooks. Da Vinci comes with three fonts, including one "from-the-hand-of" the master himself and includes 61 of da Vinci's notebook illustrations made transparent so they float on the background. A Photoshop® Action has also been included to turn any image into a sepia illustration, along with sketch textures for the charts. Da Vinci (1024 x 768) is available for purchase and download from KeynoteThemePark.com for $19.95
The Park has also released a new free theme, Titanium Jr. with a resolution of 800 x 600, five photo cutouts and a bit brighter look to it than their standard Titanium 2. Keynote Theme Park have also posted a tutorial on making great-looking, movable fake photo cutouts for any background using Keynote shapes.
Cladonia Releases V2.0 of Exchanger XML Editor and Exchanger XSLT Debugger
Cladonia Limited announces the launch of the latest release of the popular Exchanger XML Editor V2.0 which incorporates the new Exchanger XSLT Debugger.
Galway, Ireland, June 3, 2004 – Cladonia Limited today announced the immediate availability of Version 2.0 of its Exchanger XML Editor. Among the major enhancements are support for XML Signature specification, a standalone XSLT Debugger, WSDL Analyzer, WebDAV and FTP functionality and overall improved performance. The Exchanger XML Editor V2.0 is available for immediate download from www.exchangerxml.com
Exchanger XML Editor Overview
As well as new features such as XML Signature, XSLT Debugging and WSDL, Exchanger XML Editor also provides support for a broad range of XML-related standards including XML Schema, RelaxNG, XPath, XQuery, XSLT 2.0, SVG, etc. This functionality, coupled with its usablity, cross-platform support and low cost, makes the Exchanger XML Editor ideal for use in both Commercial and Academic environments.
New in Exchanger XML Editor V2.0
The XML Signature specification is now supported, allowing users to sign document content and also to verify that a signature is correct. Enveloped signatures, potentially using ID attributes and/or Canonicalization and XPath transforms, are supported as are detached signatures that allow for the signing of large or non-XML documents. There is also comprehensive support for standalone canonicalization, both inclusive and exclusive, with and without comments, with the user also being allowed to set an XPath for specifying the portion of a document to use when generating the Canonical XML form.
This release contains a comprehensive XSLT debugger with support for Saxon and Xalan. The Exchanger XSLT debugger can be run in standalone mode as well as integrated with the editor, thereby facilitating the debugging of much larger input documents which do not have to be opened in the editor. Transformation scenarios can be used to maintain setup state across editing and debugging sessions and the debugger can also be used in an ad-hoc manner, with the settings (such as input file, stylesheet, processor, parameters and breakpoints) entered on the fly. As well as the usual features like step into, step over, step out of and run to breakpoint, the debugger has support for multiple call stacks and multiple traces that are linked back to the input for improved feedback and also supports dynamically updated local and global variables and parameters. A unique feature for Saxon users allows content of multiple output files (created using the tag) to be redirected to the screen for enhanced debugging functionality.
A WSDL Analyzer has been added that will process a web service description and automatically generate an appropriate SOAP message for invoking the service. SOAP functionality has been extended with SOAP with Attachments (SAAJ), whereby the user can add or remove attachments to a SOAP message and view the resultant MIME message that is generated.
Documents loaded in the Editor will not be modified in any way - this criteria is essential for supporting canonicalization and signatures.
Namespace Prefix Mappings are supported in XPath.
WebDAV and FTP can now be used for opening and saving remote files.
New menu items have been included to add/modify an XML declaration (including the encoding), Document Type Declaration or Schema location and also to resolve XIncludes.
Version 2.0 has significantly improved performance and reduced memory consumption when loading large documents.
Pricing and Availability
Exchanger XML Editor V2.0 and Exchanger XSLT Debugger are all available immediately.
For further information on the products visit http://www.exchangerxml.com/editor/features.htm
A 30 day free trial may be downloaded from http://www.exchangerxml.com/editor/downloads.htm
Exchanger XML Editor V2.0 is available in two editions:
A single-user, multi-platform Academic/Non-profit license costs USD 45.00 (EURO 39, GBP 29)
A single-user, multi-platform Commercial license costs USD 98.00 (EURO 85, GBP 60)
To purchase please visit the Cladonia Online store at http://www.exchangerxml.com/editor/buy.htm . Volume discounts may apply.
About Cladonia Limited
Cladonia is a software company based in Galway, Ireland that specialises in developing XML-based products and solutions. Cladonia also provides consultancy and custom development services to a number of national and international companies and is active in the open source community. Visit Cladonia on the web at http://www.cladonia.com
For more information:
sales@cladonia.com
Tel: +353 91 861625
###
New iPod Community Opens
I am pleased to announce a new site to the growing iPod community - iPodBeat.com (http://www.ipodbeat.com)
The site is dedicated to the millions of iPod fans out there. Apple has made the number one portable music player and we want to make this site the number one site for iPod fans. The site already contains forums, galleries, and up to date news and information regarding products, services, and events that relate to the iPod. The site is well funded, operates off a big pipe, and can handle tens of thousands of users. A dedicated team of editors and programmers will continually update the site with the latest features.
If you need additional information, feel free to e-mail me at info@ipodbeat.com or visit the site!
Sincerely,
Robert Minnick
ipodbeat.com
Apple Security Update 2004-06-07
Apple has released Security Update 2004-06-07, which delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. The update is now available in the Software Update panel.
This update includes the following components:
- DiskImages
- LaunchServices
- Safari
- Terminal
Mac OS X will now present an approval alert when an application is to be run for the first time either by opening a document or clicking on a URL related to the application.
For detailed information on this Update, please visit http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798.
Apple introduces AirPort Express & AirTunes
Apple today introduced the AirPort Express base station and AirTunes software.
The multi-purpose AirPort Express Base Station is about the size of a PowerBook or iPod AC Adapter and includes an Ethernet WAN port, USB port for printer sharing, and an audio mini-jack.
AirPort Express can act as a traditional base station by sharing a DSL or Cable Modem connection on the WAN port, can extend the range of an existing AirPort Extreme network as a wireless bridge, or can connect to a stereo to wireless stream tunes from any Mac.
The bundled AirTunes software adds a feature to iTunes which allows it to select a stereo-connected AirPort Express station to receive streamed audio.
The AirPort Express station is small enough to easily take with you for an instant wireless network anywhere.
Aqua Data Studio 3.7 released w/ Visual Editing & Visual Explain Plan
The new release introduces the ability to visually create and alter database schema objects, including storage objects for databases. The new visual explain plan provides users with the ability to create explain plans and generate diagrams to quickly understand and analyze the operations of any query to optimize speed and performance. Schema extraction now provides the ability to extract the definition of any database object including security and storage objects. The new import tool provides an easy and consistent interface to import data into any database from different data sources.
New Features ...
Visual Editing for Developers (Schema)
Visual Editing for DBAs (Storage)
Visual Explain Plan (Tree and Diagram)
Enhanced Schema Extraction for Developers
Schema Extraction for DBAs
Import Tool
New Look and Feels
Eastern Language Encoding Support
SQL Server Named Instance Support
... more
http://www.aquafold.com/features_3_7.html
Downloads:
http://www.aquafold.com/downloads.html
Screenshots:
http://www.aquafold.com/screenshots.html
Advanced Web Ranking v2.6 released
Caphyon LLC is pleased to announce the release of Advanced Web Ranking 2.6, 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.
Release date: June 7, 2004
Caphyon LLC is pleased to announce the release of Advanced Web Ranking 2.6, 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 2.6
This version features a new and improved report generator, two new Rank Evolution charts for Keywords and Search Engines, and major speed improvements while generating the reports.
- New report generator with many enhancements.
- speed improvements.
- ability to generate the report in background.
- ability to preview the report in the default viewer.
- ability to customize page size and orientation for each report.
- ability to send Text report in the email body instead of attachment.
- ability to hide the chart legend in the PDF and HTML reports.
- PDF reports have links for each URL.
- HTML reports can now contain chart images.
- HTML reports have links for each URL.
- Quick Reports - create reports on the fly.
- Rank Evolution improvements.
- Added Keywords chart.
- Added Search Engines chart.
- Customizable color intensity for inactive graph lines.
- Customizable subject field when the report is sent by email.
- Localization: Added French language.
- Updated Help: Added two more tutorials: Basic and Advanced.
- Various bug fixes and improvements.
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
macCompanion June issue posted
macCompanion June issue released
The June 2004 issue of macCompanion is now online, and the website has been updated at macCompanionmacC Music ContestmacC WeblogmacC RSS BLOG codemacC RSS FeedmacC Tell-a-FriendmacC Feedback
Reader Specials from MacResQ
FileMaker Pro 6.0 CD for Mac OS & Windows: Only $79.99!
Use Q-Pon code "FM6" when ordering online for FREE domestic ground shipping!
Griffin SightLight FireWire Light for Apple iSight Camera
Normally $29.99, take $3 off with Q-Pon code "CARP"
Griffin iTalk iPod Voice Recorder
Normally $34.99, take $2 off with Q-Pon code "CAMPF"
iPodResQ Self-Service Battery Replacement Kit for 1st & 2nd Generation iPods with a FireWire Port: Now only $29.99!
iPodResQ Self-Service Battery Replacement Kit for 3rd Generation iPods with Dock: Now only $29.99!
PR: CONCEPTDRAW 5.2 ENHANCES MS VISIO SUPPORT
CS Odessa releases ConceptDraw 5.2,
the new version of its award-winning flowcharting and diagramming
application for Mac OS X and Windows (www.conceptdraw.com). The update
is free to all registered ConceptDraw V users.
Version 5.2 features improved and enhanced XML for Visio import,
which now provides the full support of well-formed Visio XML documents
and offers the efficient communication with Visio users. The update
also increases program's performance and fixes a number of known problems.
Contact: Kateryna Andruschenko
E-Mail: k.andruschenko@csodessa.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONCEPTDRAW 5.2 ENHANCES MS VISIO SUPPORT
Odessa, Ukraine - June 4, 2004 - CS Odessa releases ConceptDraw 5.2,
the new version of its award-winning flowcharting and diagramming
application for Mac OS X and Windows (www.conceptdraw.com). The update
is free to all registered ConceptDraw V users.
Version 5.2 features improved and enhanced XML for Visio import,
which now provides the full support of well-formed Visio XML documents
and offers the efficient communication with Visio users. The update
also increases program's performance and fixes a number of known problems.
The new version is available as free download from ConceptDraw web site at:
http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/resources/cd5/update.php
ConceptDraw 5.2 enables users to create pro-quality charts and
diagrams in a variety of fields including project management; software
design and development; database design; Web site design;
systems/network integration and administration; business consulting;
marketing; information architecture; resource management; engineering
and science.
The program is available in Standard and Professional versions. The
Standard Edition is aimed at business users, managers and
administrative staff. The Professional Edition is designed
specifically for IT, technical users and developers.
About CS Odessa
Founded in 1993, Computer Systems Odessa supplies cross-platform
productivity tools and graphics technologies to professional and
corporate users. With headquarters in Odessa, Ukraine, CS Odessa sells
ConceptDraw tools internationally from reseller offices in 25
countries. For more information please visit:
http://www.conceptdraw.com.
NETaccounts Version 3.3 Released
NETaccounts is a browser-based online accounting application that helps Australian small businesses to manage their business affairs and makes it easy to manage invoicing & contacts and to prepare important financial reports including BAS statements. Pricing starts at AUD$30 per month.
Version 3.3 of the application was launched on 31 May 2004 and includes a number of improvements and fixes. The update is available to all members and triallers when they next sign-in to NETaccounts.
What's New in Version 3.3:
- The Contact Export feature now supports exporting to MYOB, Quicken/Quickbooks, Mac OS X Address Book, Palm and Outlook/Outlook Express
- The Trial Balance report now supports reporting for a specific date range and is much faster (approx. 10 times faster) than the previous version
- The General Journal entry screen has been overhauled and now allows unlimited line items
- An updated General Journal list screen now:
- Shows all of the line items (incl. GST line items) for the entry in the list view
- Allows for deleting multiple transactions at once
- Allows for quick duplication of transactions directly from the list
- Notifications are now less intrusive
- Improved Safari browser support
- Various other fixes and improvements
System Requirements:
Mac OS 10.2 or later; Safari 1.0 or above (other WebKit-based browsers also supported) or Firefox 0.8 or above (other Mozilla/Gecko-based browsers also supported); Internet connection required (DSL or cable recommended); Also supported on Windows and Linux.
iCompositions to announce iPod mini winner on Internet Radio Friday
In an unprecedented move for GarageBand communities, iCompositions, last month, held a contest with a prize of an iPod mini and Apple In-Ear Headphones. iCompositions has not picked the winner for the contest and will announce it Friday night at 8 pm Eastern on their Internet Radio Station, MUGradio.
KeepAnEye 1.6.2
KeepAnEye 1.6.2 has just been released and can be downloaded immediately at http://www.inferiis.com/download/KeepAnEye-1.6.2.dmg.gz
KeepAnEye is a multipurpose monitoring and notification utility which helps you to stay informed efficiently. It lets you track data sources by providing visual representations which can be freely organized in windows, in the menu bar or in the Dock. Moreover, it observes them and warns you when something interesting happens using a general notification system. RSS feeds, pictures, eBay auctions, web pages, software updates, disk usage, IP addresses... Taking advantage of a flexible plug-in architecture, various kinds of data sources are supported within a single, homogenous application.
Main features include:
- Multipurpose monitoring.
- Stickies-like, menu bar and Dock visual rendering.
- General notification system upon dedicated events.
- Flexible plug-in architecture.
- Homogenous user interface.
This maintenance update introduces various cosmetic enhancements and bug fixes.
- The panes of the observer inspector can now be selected using keyboard shortcuts.
- The display windows of several observer plug-ins have been improved.
- When possible, the various open panels now initially point at the currently selected file.
- A few memory leaks have fixed.
This release also includes many other smaller improvements and corrections.
KeepAnEye is a $12 shareware. It requires any computer running Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) or later with Safari installed, and is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther).