News and Recent Releases
News and Recent Releases
A Mac OS X notepad
AirPort 3.1.1 Improves Performance and Compatibility
Useful utility - Application Wizard
Default Folder X 1.8
Email client designed for children
Email notification utility
MacLinkPlus file conversion utility
Mac OS X automation utility
Mac OS X outliner
Microsoft abandons Outlook Express
New pricing and packaging for Microsoft Office v. X
OmniWeb 4.5 Released
Photo to Movie
Program function keys
Genealogy Utility - TreeTracker
iOrganize X 5.0b1 is a Mac OS X notepad that offers categories, Services support, a Dock menu and contextual menu, emailing of notes, regular expression searches, and other features. The beta release adds an updated database engine, support for multiple notepads, improved search speed, more keyboard shortcuts, and other changes. iOrganize X is $19.95 for Mac OS X. http://www.iorganizex.com/
AirPort 3.1.1 Improves Performance and Compatibility
Apple has released version 3.1.1 of the AirPort software, which includes version 5.1.1 of the AirPort Extreme Base Station firmware. Changes in AirPort 3.1.1 include performance enhancements between wired and wireless clients, stronger handling of multicast traffic on LANs, and better performance and behavior when using NAT and DHCP in the AirPort Extreme Base Station. AirPort 3.1.1 is a 7.8 MB download, available via Software Update or directly from Apple. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=70176
Application Wizard 1.2 places a small menu panel on your screen, from which you can open, quit, show, and hide single applications or groups of applications. You can select multiple applications on the fly, start or stop Classic, relaunch the Finder or Dock, and more. The new version adds an option to automatically open groups at startup or login and an option to hide groups in the Open, Quit and Switch menus. Application Wizard is US$15 for Mac OS X 10.1 and up. http://www.mabasoft.com/products/applicationWizard.html
Jon Gotow of St. Clair Software has released Default Folder X 1.8, the latest version of his utility for enhancing standard Open and Save dialogs in Mac OS X. Returning to the Mac OS X version of Default Folder X now is an old feature that enabled you to Option-click an item in a Save dialog to copy its name to avoid retyping. Other improvements include system-wide keyboard shortcuts for opening Favourites folders, the capability to set a single default folder for all applications (handy for those people who save documents randomly all over their hard disks), increased performance, and minor user interface enhancements. The update is free for registered users; new copies cost US$35. Default Folder X 1.8 is a 3.1 MB download. http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/
Email client designed for children
KidzMail 1.1 is a full-featured email client designed for children. It enables them to draw pictures and send them to people by choosing recipients from a list of pictures and names, and it also allows parents control the address book. The new version adds authenticated SMTP, a zoom button in the mailbox window, support for international characters, and other changes. KidzMail is US10 for Mac OS X and Mac OS 9. http://kidzcan.net/kidzmail/kidzmail.html
MailHere 1.1 is an email notification utility that can check multiple POP3, IMAP, and .Mac accounts for new mail. It can play a sound or display a notice on the desktop when new mail is waiting and show the number of messages available. The new version adds the ability to open an email program when new mail arrives, allows custom sounds (or no sounds) to be specified, and more. MailHere is US$5.99 for Mac OS X 10.2. http://www.jumsoft.com/mailhere/
MacLinkPlus file conversion utility
MacLinkPlus Deluxe 14 from DataViz is a file conversion utility that can open and translate files of any type, whether or not the user has the original application that created the file. Version 14 includes new file translators, integration with Address Book, AppleScripts for power users and more. http://www.dataviz.com/maclink14
iKey 1.0.3 is a Mac OS X automation utility that can run actions based on keystrokes, menu items, and dates. It can open applications or documents, perform system actions, run scripts, open URLs, simulate mouse clicks, combine actions into sequences, and more. The new version adds printer actions, network actions, "wait application" actions, an enhanced "Replace in selection" shortcut, and other changes. iKey is US$20 for Mac OS X 10.2. http://www.scriptsoftware.com/ikey/
OmniOutliner 2.2.3 is a Mac OS X-only outliner and organizer that offers infinite undo, per-level styles, typed and calculated columns, multiple columns per row, checkboxes, XML export, AppleScript support, and more. The new version adds a number of fixes, including one for an international text input issue and one for a drawing bug where the line height of text changes slightly. OmniOutliner is US$29.95 for Mac OS X 10.1 and up. http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/download/
Microsoft abandons Outlook Express
Microsoft will not do any more development work on the world's most popular email client. It might be the world's most widely distributed email client, but Microsoft has confirmed that it has no intention of further developing Outlook Express. See the report at
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39115680,00.htm
Microsoft has also let slip that it will stop making Internet Explorer as a stand-alone product.
http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020451,2135615,00.htm
New pricing and packaging for Microsoft Office v. X
Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit announced new pricing and packaging for its Microsoft Office v. X suite. The US$499 Professional Edition includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage, plus Virtual PC for Mac 6.1 (running Windows XP Professional). The US$399 Standard Edition includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage, without VPC. And the US$149 Student and Teacher Edition includes the same suite as the Standard Edition and is available to both students and teachers. The new editions will be available on August 18. http://www.microsoft.com/mac/
The Omni Group has released OmniWeb 4.5, a major update of its Web browser for Mac OS X. The Omni Group developers have tossed out the program's previous home-grown rendering engine in favour of Apple's WebCore and JavaScriptCore frameworks (which are in turn based on the open-source KDE project), the same technology underlying Safari. The result is faster and more consistent page loading and better support for Web standards, while enabling the OmniWeb developers to concentrate on unique features such as voice-controlled navigation, history searching, and extensive security and filtering options (for example, not displaying images that come from servers known for pushing ads). OmniWeb 4.5 is a 4.3 MB download. A license to use the full version costs US$30, but the update is free for those who have licensed OmniWeb 4.x versions. http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/
Photo to Movie 2.1.1 can create movies by zooming and panning over a still photo, with options such as accelerating or decelerating during movement, and then export to any QuickTime movie format, including DV Stream, NTSC, and PAL. The new version improves preview playback speed and fixes some bugs, including one where the widescreen format would not be properly exported. Photo to Movie is US$29.95 for Mac OS X 10.2. http://lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.html
Xkeys 1.1 enables you to program function keys to launch applications and open files and folders. Function keys can also display submenus with a list of different items to launch. The new version adds the ability to run AppleScripts, the ability to open multiple items with one hot key, modifiers for hot keys, and other changes. Xkeys is free for Mac OS X 10.2. http://zarkonnen.damnsw.net/projects/xkeys.html
TreeTracker 1.1 combines family genealogy with family photos, enabling you to build relationship charts to display and navigate your family tree and to add photos for each person on the tree. It includes a setup assistant, drag-and-drop from iPhoto, printing of custom reports, and other features. TreeTracker is US$21.95 for Mac OS X 10.1 and up. http://www.devoesquared.com/TreeTracker.html
You have the capacity to learn from your mistakes. You'll learn a great deal today.
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MACinations August 03 |
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