| -FEBRUARY 2000 |
 Fiery
Z4 Comes to Ricoh 6000 SeriesFEB. 29—Ricoh Corp. and Electronics for Imaging Inc. say they've brought together the Fiery Z4 server and the Aficio Color 6000 series of copiers and printers, offering optimization specific to the Aficio line. The Z4 is supposed to be four times faster than any other solution previously offered in the category.  |
| Sony
Recalls Battery Packs, Offers Replacement FEB. 29—The following is quoted from a Sony release today detailing the recall of some battery packs that shipped as accessories for certain Sony products, including Sony Handycam camcorders, Digital Mavica and professional still cameras, Glasstron audio/video eyewear, portable DVD players, still image printers, Video Walkman personal video players, Video Light camcorder accessories and MD Discam camcorders. |
| Quark
To Release Fix for OS 9 Stall FEB. 29—Quark Inc. will release a maintainence version of its popular XPress desktop publishing software that will address the slowdown users have experienced under OS 9. The release will be available withing the "next several weeks," according to a post in the MacFixIt forum on troubleshooting OS 9. The post was made by a Quark technical support supervisor Feb. 23. At press time, Quark had not confirmed the story or given a more specific release date. |
| Apple's
Market Share Rises to 10.9 Percent in January FEB. 28—Apple's retail and mail order market share rose to 10.9 percent in January with a 17 percent growth in unit sales, according to PC Data’s January Retail/Mail Order Hardware Report released today. |
| Rexel
Starts Distriuting Affinity DV Editing System in Australia FEB. 28—Rexel Australia Video Systems has begun distributing Affinity, an uncompresed digital video editing, effects, compositing and finishing product for the Macintosh, in Australia. The system, made by Accom Inc., offers five simultaneous real-time streams of uncompressed or compressed video—background, embedded background key, overlay, embedded overlay key and title. |
| Hardware
Makers Show Off DVD+RW at CeBIT FEB. 25—Manufacturers at the CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany today pledged support for the 4.7 GB DVD+RW format in future RW products and demonstrated the technology in applications like real-time video recording. |
| NewerRAM
Launches New RAM for New PowerBooks FEB. 25—NewerRAM says it's released RAM upgrades for the new line of PowerBooks unveiled two weeks back at Macworld Tokyo. For the PowerBook, NewerRAM upgrades of 32 MB, 64 MB, 128 MB and 256 MB are available. |
| Widecom
Launches 54" Scanners FEB. 25—Widecom Group Inc. today introduced it new 54" color and monochrome scanners. Priced at $19,950 for the color model, the new scanner is designed to compete with 36" systems in the same price range.
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| Ricoh
To Launch 3.34 Megapixel Camera with Voice Capture FEB. 24—Ricoh Corp. West Caldwell, N.J., says it will launch a 3.34 megapixel camera this summer that offers voice recording, Motion JPEG recording and uncompressed TIFF capture for still images. The RDC-7 can even attach sound files to still images for annotations for work out in the field. Sound files can also be stored separately as WAV files using 8 MB of onboard memory or SmartMedia expansions. |
| Corel
Bundles Print Office with Agfa Scanners, Cameras FEB. 24—Corel Corp. says it will start bundling its Print Office 2000 software with Agfa digital cameras and scanners. The software supports Mac and PC multi-lingual versions and will be bundled with Agfa's new SnapScan e40 and SnapScan e50 scanners and CL18 digital cameras. The languages currently available are English, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Spanish and Dutch. |
| Seagate
Cranks Up Cheetah Line to 15,000 RPM FEB. 23—Seagate Technology Inc., Scotts Valley, Calif., says it's created a hard disk drive that runs at 15,000 RPM and achieves a record 3.9 millisecond seek time. The company says it expects OEMs to start supplying samples of the drives, one of which at least will retail for less than $1,000, early in the second quarter. |
| Kingston
Cranks Max PowerBook Memory to 1 Gig FEB. 23—Kingston Technology Co. Inc., Fountain Valley, Calif., says it's released a 512 MB, 144-pin SDRAM SODIMM for use in the new Apple PowerBooks launched at Macworld Tokyo last week. The module increases the maximum upgradable RAM in the machines to 1024 MB, and it marks the first time a 512 MB module has been available for the PowerBook. (In fact, it marks the first time any notebook has reached a 1 GB capacity.) |
| Retro
AS-1 Digital Synthesizer gets UI, Functionality Improvements in 2.0 FEB. 22—Capitola, Calif.-based BitHeadz has unveiled version 2.0 of its Retro AS-1 software-based digital synthesizer. Users who purchased version 1.0 after Jan. 1 will be eligible for a free upgrade to the new version when it becomes available later this month. The Macintosh release, which features an enhanced user interface and additional audio processing functions, is scheduled for Feb 23. |
| Helios
Offers ColorSync XT Free for Macs FEB. 22—Helios Software GmbH has posted the Macintosh PowerPC version of its ColorSync 2 XT software on its Web site for free download. ColorSync 2 XT is a widely used extension for QuarkXPress 4.x that offers color management beyond XPress' built-in ColorSync support.
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| Newer
Lowers Prices on G3, G4 Upgrades FEB. 22—Newer Technology, Wichita, Ks., is lowering prices on its G3 and G4 upgrade cards by as much as $100. The MAXpowr G3 500 MHz and the G3 500 MHz ZIF with 1 MB backside cache running at 250 MHz now sell for $699. The MAXpowr G4 350 MHz with 1 MB backside cache running at 175 MHz is now priced at $599, down from its previous $699. Newer has dropped its G3 300 MHz accelerator, as well as its G3 L2 upgrade and its PowerBook G3 BookEndz product. The new entry-level G3 upgrade from Newer will be the G3 400 MHz with 1 MB backside cache running at 200 MHz. |
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Epson
Releases Mac Version of Cataloging Tool |
| Good
Juju: Big Voodoo Cards Coming to the Mac FEB. 21—According to a post on 3dfx Interactive's gaming site, 3dfxgamers.com, the company seems committed to releasing a quad-chip Voodoo 5 AGP card for the Macintosh sporting 128 MB video memory by the second quarter. The cards will support OpenGL, Glide and possibly Rave technology and will retail for $599, the company says. Other new Voodoo cards will also start shipping at the same time, including a dual-chip Voodoo 5 model for $299 with 64 MB video RAM and a single-chip Voodoo 4 model with 32 MB video RAM for $179. The single-chip card will come in PCI and AGP varieties, while the Voodoo 5 line will support only AGP hardware.
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Multi-Processing
G4s? Drool.... |
| Boris
FX To Release Graffiti 1.0 FEB. 18—Boris FX, based in Boston, says it will release Graffiti 1.0 at the NAB show in Las Vegas in April. Graffiti is a resolution-independent, vector-based title animation plug-in application for creating basic rolls, animated kerning with blurs, character-based animation and three-D extrusion within non-linear editing systems. The software, which runs on Macintosh and Windows platforms, also comes with a number of text effects, including particles, lighting and Z Space for intersecting text tracks in three dimensions.
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| Final
Cut Pro Requires Sound Manager 3.6.3 FEB. 17—According to Apple, users of the new FireWire PowerBooks will require Sound Manager 3.6.3 to run Final Cut Pro on their machines. The models, introduced Tuesday in Tokyo, are shipping with version 3.6.2. Apple's advice is to open the Software Updates control panel and click "Update Now." However, as noted on the MacFixIt Web site, some users' Software Update does not recognize that a Sound Manager update is available. As of press time, Sound Manager 3.6.3 was not available on Apple's Software Updates site. A posting of the update is expected soon. |
| Hardware
Makers Get Cracking on New ATA Specification FEB. 17—Hardware makers APT Technologies Inc., Dell Computer Corp., IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Maxtor Corp., Quantum Corp. and Seagate Technology yesterday announced they are working together to develop a new storage interface specification called Serial ATA. |
| NEC
Announces 50" Plasma Monitor, New Projectors FEB. 17—NEC Technologies Inc. has released a new 50" plasma monitor designed for public display applications--or people who just like really big monitors. The $14,995 PlasmaSync 50PD1 has built-in support for monitor doubling, allowing for a split-screen view, and comes equipped with NEC's AccuShield Phosphor Protection technology. |
| Daily
Deal: Mac Catalogers Offer Rebates on New Systems FEB. 17—Macintosh catalogers MacWarehouse and Club Mac have already announced special offers for purchasers of new systems announced at the Macworld expo in Tokyo. MacWarehouse has started offering a $100 mail-in rebate on new Power Macintosh G4 systems, as well as new PowerBooks and the iBook Special Edition, with 64 MB RAM upgrades. |
| Farallon
Announces 11 Mbps Wireless Solution for Older PowerBooks FEB. 16—Farallon Communications Inc., San Leandro, Calif., says it will ship a new wireless networking product for older Apple PowerBooks and PC notebooks in April. The product, called SkyLINE, offers performance comparable to Apple's AirPort wireless networking solution, delivering network speeds up to 11 Mbps. The SkyLINE is compatible with Apple's AirPort (as is the earlier 2 Mbps version), allowing users of older notebooks to access AirPort wireless networks. The company says the PC card also supports other IEEE 802.11 DSSS compatible access points from vendors like Nokia, Lucent and Maxtech. Farallon says users of the older 2 Mbps cards will be eligible for special upgrade offers. |
| Apple
Ups Performance of Power Mac G4 Line FEB. 16—It's October 1999 all over again! Apple Computer yesterday announced the immediate availability of speedier G4 computers, binging them up to 400 MHz, 450 MHz and 500MHz, replacing the older 350 MHz, 400 MHz and 450 MHz models, and matching the originally announced clock speeds of the first G4 machines. |
| Apple
Unveils New PowerBook at Macworld Tokyo FEB 16—Apple Computer Inc. yesterday unveiled two new PowerBooks running G3 processors at 400 MHz and 500 MHz and adding support for AGP graphics with the ATI Rage Mobility chipset. Priced at $3,499, the 500 MHz model offers 128MB SDRAM, 1MB L2 backside cache, 12 GB hard drive and a 6x-speed (max) DVD-ROM drive. At $2,499, the 400 MHz model offers 64MB SDRAM, 1MB L2 backside cache, 6 GB hard drive and a 6x-speed (max) DVD-ROM drive. |
| iBooks
Get New Look, Speed Bump FEB 16—Apple's iBooks received some cosmetic and substantive upgrades yesterday at the Macworld expo in Tokyo, including the launch of the iBook Special Edition, the portable counterpart to the iMac DV Special Edition, which comes wrapped in a clear and graphite case. The Special Edition iBook offers a G3 processor running at 366 MHz, 64 MB of memory and a 6 GB hard drive. The tangerine and blueberry iBooks keep their 300 MHz clock speed but received several component upgrades, including AGP 2x graphics support with the ATI Rage 128 Mobility chipset with 4 MB of video memory. |
| VST
Unveils Slew of FireWire Storage Options FEB 16—VST Technologies Inc., Acton, Mass., unveiled new storage options yesterday at the Macworld expo in Tokyo, including a 250 MB Zip drive for the new PowerBook announced by Apple Computer Inc. (and prematurely announced by VST) and a FireWire Zip250, which includes two IEEE 1394 ports. The unit is powered through the FireWire port, so no external power supply is required. Both devices will read and write 100 MB and 250 MB Iomega Zip disks. The VST FireWire Zip250 lists for $349.95. Pricing was not available at press time for the model designed for the new PowerBook. The company also announced a new 100 GB FireWire-based portable RAID, which it says it will demonstrate today at the Macworld expo. |
| Sony
Takes on Connectix ... Again FEB 16—Having lost its copyright infringement suit against Connectix Corp. last week, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. has filed a new petition to block Connectix from marketing its PlayStation emulator for the Macintosh. According to a report from Bloomberg, the suit seeks unspecified damages and a court order to bar Connectix from infringing its patents. |
| Freeway
Adds Efficiency, Graphics Options to HTML Editor FEB 16—SoftPress Systems, Oxford, England, today unveiled version 3.0 of its Macintosh Web design package. The company demonstrated the pre-release of a localized Japanese version (Freeway 3-J) at the Macworld expo in Tokyo. The company says the final consumer release will be available March 21 electronically. A CD-ROM version with a printed manual is anticipated for an early April release. A full version will list for U.S. $299, while an upgrade will cost $49 (electronic delivery) or $79 (CD-ROM plus manual). |
| Thin
Client Maker for FileMaker Pro from New Millennium Communications (FEBRUARY 15, 2000) -- New Millennium Communications, Inc. announces the availability of SecureFM 5, which allows a system administrator to entirely disable users' ability to create new FileMaker Pro databases and let users only have access to assigned databases on a specified server.
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| Connectix
Teams with Red Hat for Linux on Macintosh (FEBRUARY 15, 2000) -- Connectix Corporation, makers of the Virtual PC family of products, announced the signing of a new OEM agreement with Red Hat Inc., the provider of open source Linux operating system solutions.
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Quadmation
Unveils PlayerPro 5.5 for Mac |
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Macromedia
Delivers Director 8 Shockwave Studio |
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