MACinations November 03

Avid Free DV

Avid Free DV is a simple video editing application for Mac OS X, available in return for filling out a registration form - a teaser for the company's professional products. Avid Free DV is feature-streamlined, standalone software which includes basic video and audio editing capabilities, up to two streams of real-time effects and support for both Windows XP and Macintosh OS X platforms. http://www.avid.com/freedv/index.asp

DiscBlaze

DiscBlaze 2.0.3 burns CDs and DVDs, burns Toast images, erases rewritable media such as CD-RWs, creates CDs for use on both Macs and PCs, and burns multi-session CDs. The new version adds the ability to burn ISO disc images, revamped burn lists, and the ability to set which platforms specific files are visible on when burning a Mac/PC hybrid disc. DiscBlaze is US $19 for Mac OS X 10.2.6. http://www.radicalbreeze.com/blaze/index.html

TinkerTool

TinkerTool 3.01 is a multi-function system utility for Mac OS X that makes it possible to access user settings not available through the standard System Preferences application . The new version is now an application instead of a preference pane. It is compatible with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and adds more options, including preventing the "Empty Trash" warning, disabling more Finder animation, enabling the use of dark labels for desktop icons, enabling a diagnostic menu in AddressBook and some extended options in Disk Copy, new font settings for Cocoa applications, and more. TinkerTool is free for Mac OS X. http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html

Security Update 2003-10-28 Released

Although Mac OS X 10.3 Panther fixes a number of security-related flaws that existed in previous versions of Mac OS X, Apple has wasted no time in releasing Security Update 2003-10-28 via Software Update last week. Security Update 2003-10-28 fixes a problem that could allow unauthorized access to a system through a vulnerability in QuickTime for Java. The update is only for computers running Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, and is a 782K download.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120266

Eudora 6.01 Released

Qualcomm has updated Eudora to version 6.0.1, fixing a number of minor bugs and updating the company's email client for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther compatibility. Eudora 6.0.1 is available as a free update under Mac OS X (a 5.5 MB download) or Mac OS 9 (a 5.7 MB download).
<http://www.eudora.com/download/eudora/mac/6.0.1/Release_Notes.txt
http://www.eudora.com/download/

Another Launcher 3.0

Another Launcher 3.0 enables you to open applications, files, folders, system preferences, and bookmarks by browsing system-wide spring-loaded menus, entering abbreviations, pressing hot keys, and clicking hot corners. It also offers volume browsing, file copying and moving, access to bookmarks and Address Book data, iTunes control, and more. The new version removes restrictions on hot keys, allows editing of its search engines list, improves local folder browsing, simplifies the interface, and makes other changes. Another Launcher is US $15 for Mac OS X 10.2 and up. http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?thema=launcher

Greeting Card Factory

Nova Development released Greeting Card Factory, an application for designing and printing greeting cards and similar projects. It includes 3,000 exclusive greeting cards and customizable projects, 45,000+ premium-quality graphics, 300+ fonts, 500+ 24-bit color photographs, text effects, the ability to send electronic greeting cards, and more. Greeting Card Factory is US $49.95 for Mac OS X and Mac OS 9. http://www.novadevelopment.com/products/productinfo.aspx?productcode=gcm

Volumes Menu

Volumes Menu 1.0 adds a menubar menu to the top right corner of the screen from which you can browse all mounted volumes, eject removable media and network volumes, and move and copy files by dropping them on Volumes Menu's icon in the menu bar and then choosing a target. Volumes Menu is free (donations requested) for Mac OS X 10.2 http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?thema=vmenu&sprache=english

Use Entourage with iCal

ZappTek's iCal via Entourage 0.2 changes iCal to use Entourage instead of Mail for emailing event reminders. The new version has been updated for iCal 1.5.1, and alternate versions have been released for Eudora, Mailsmith, and PowerMail. iCal via Entourage is free (donations appreciated) for Mac OS X. http://www.zapptek.com/ical-mail/

All-purpose remote control

Romeo 0.9.2 turns a Bluetooth-enabled Sony Ericsson phone (and other compatible devices) into an all-purpose remote control for any Bluetooth-enabled Mac. It includes menus for iTunes and DVD Player and allows you to create more menus using Applescript and key or mouse emulation. The new version adds improved connections, click-and-drag and click-and-hold actions, basic AppleScript support, and other changes. Romeo is free for Mac OS X. http://www.irowan.com/romeo/

Internet search agent

DEVONtechnologies' DEVONagent 1.0 is an Internet search agent that includes plug-ins for querying a variety of search engines and databases, scanning Usenet, and more. It collects the search results, downloads and analyzes them, and presents them in a list, sorted by relevance, with a summary of relevant paragraphs. It can also display pages directly using an integrated Safari-based browser. DEVONagent is US $35 for Mac OS X 10.2 (with Safari installed). http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonagent.php

New iPod accessories

Apple has announced two significant new iPod accessories from Belkin that extend the functionality of the iPod - the US $49.95 iPod Voice Recorder and the US $99 iPod Media Reader. They will only work with iPods with a dock connector, and iPod software version 2.1 or later. http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/

Media Reader

The Belkin Media Reader for iPod lets you transfer images from your digital camera to your iPod. Now you can take more pictures and not worry about running out of space on your digital camera card.
The iPod's internal hard drive has the capacity to store thousands of digital photos and frees up your camera's memory card so you can take more pictures.
Software support that's built into the iPod (iPod software version 2.1 or later), allows the transfer of pictures quickly via FireWire.