January 2004 Archived News

Airport Software 3.3 (Posted 1/31/2004 at 10:12 PM)
This software update provides improved AirPort wireless networking software, and is recommended for all users with an AirPort Extreme and AirPort enabled computer or an AirPort Extreme base station. This software provides support for the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) specification for the AirPort Extreme base station and AirPort Extreme and AirPort clients. Please see AirPort Help for more information on WPA. Also included in this release is v5.3 of the AirPort Extreme base station firmware. Instructions for updating the base station firmware can also be found in AirPort Help. The AirPort Extreme base station and AirPort Extreme client are Wi-Fi Certified" for 802.11b and 802.11g interoperability.

Security Update 2004-01-26 (Posted 1/31/2004 at 10:11 PM)
Security Update 2004-01-26 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components: Apache 1.3, Classic, Mail, Safari and Windows File Sharing. Additionally, Security Update 2003-12-19 has been incorporated into this security update. Those components are: AFP Server, ASN.1 Decoding for PKI, cd9660.util, Directory Services, fetchmail, fs_usage, rsync and System Initialization.

DiscBlaze 3 (Posted 1/31/2004 at 9:59 PM)
DiscBlaze 3 is a major update to the CD/DVD burning burning utility for MacOS X which adds the ability to burn Audio CD's (from any QuickTime compatible audio files) and many other enhancements.

Cinematics 1.1 (Posted 1/31/2004 at 9:57 PM)
Cinematics is an innovative media player that allows you to build and manage playlists of digital movies on your Macintosh.

Menu Master 1.1 (Posted 1/31/2004 at 8:23 AM)
Menu Master has been updated with Panther compatibility.

Final Cut Express 2.0.2 (Posted 1/31/2004 at 8:22 AM)
The Final Cut Express update includes some fixes and improvements.

SwitchBack 3.8.1 (Posted 1/26/2004 at 9:23 AM)
SwitchBack is a file synchronization and backup utility, designed for MacOS X 10.3. SwitchBack makes it easy and safe to synchronize two folders, so that both contain your most recently updated documents.

SharePoints 3.4.2 (Posted 1/26/2004 at 9:10 AM)
SharePoints is an application or a preference pane that makes it easy to add and delete share points like in the old Finder.

iWork 2.0.1 (Posted 1/26/2004 at 9:08 AM)
iWork is an easy to use time-billing and invoicing application. It integrates with iCal and Address Book, offers tax support and easily generates custom invoices.

Retrospect 6.0 (Posted 1/26/2004 at 9:01 AM)
Retrospect 6 is now available for purchase via electronic download.

Scrap Book 1.0 (Posted 1/26/2004 at 9:00 AM)
Scrap Book is a Cocoa application for Mac OS X and is a place to store notes, images, lists, instructions, recipies and more.

Encrypted Mail and Mac OS X Panther (Posted 1/23/2004 at 2:36 PM)
Apple just added support for S/MIME in the latest version ofMail that ships with Panther according to this article referenced on the PowerPage.

FinderScape 1.01 (Posted 1/23/2004 at 2:32 PM)
FinderScape allows you to browse your files in 3D using OpenGL.

Clear Call (Posted 1/23/2004 at 2:27 PM)
Clear Call makes conference calls easier to hear. It"s is a box that plugs directly to any conference phone to deliver automatic volume matching for conference call participants. The final version is now available.

ShapeShifter 1.1 (Posted 1/21/2004 at 1:26 PM)
ShapeShifter is a new product that lets you change the overall appearance of your Mac using 'themes'.

IMSI Aquires Aladdin Systems Inc. (Posted 1/21/2004 at 1:23 PM)
MacCentral has copied an announcement that Aladdin Systems Inc., the makers of Stuffit and other utilities, has been acquired by IMSI.

Konfabulator 1.5.4 (Posted 1/21/2004 at 1:18 PM)
Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine for Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your AirPort signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather.

LiveSearch 1.2 (Posted 1/21/2004 at 1:15 PM)
LiveSearch lets you find any type of file in an instant by typing just a few letters and much more.

A Better Finder Rename 6.1 (Posted 1/21/2004 at 1:08 PM)
A Better Finder Rename for the first time allows files to be renamed based on names in a tab-delimited text file.

SideTrack 0.7.6 (Posted 1/20/2004 at 10:05 AM)
SideTrack is a replacement driver for the trackpad (touchpad) found on Apple PowerBooks and iBooks. It brings many of the advanced trackpad features found on Windows laptops to MacOS X such as vertical scrolling at left or right edge of pad, horizontal scrolling at top or bottom edge of pad, map hardware button to left or right click, and map trackpad taps to no action, left click, left click drag (with or without drag lock), or right click.

FTPeel 1.1 (Posted 1/20/2004 at 9:59 AM)
FTPeel is an FTP client with a "MagicMirror" feature that allows you to mirror a directory on the FTP server even if it is not identical.

Groupcal 1.0 (Posted 1/20/2004 at 9:53 AM)
Groupcal allows you to take full advantage of the all the group calendaring features of Exchange directly from Apple iCal. Finally, view and share your calendar schedules quickly, easily, and transparently with your coworkers running Outlook. All with no Exchange Server 2000 install.

iCal 1.5.2 (Posted 1/19/2004 at 11:57 AM)
iCal is a calendar application that enables you to unify, manage and share the many calendars in your life. With iCal, you can view multiple calendars at the same time, share your calendars with friends and family, subscribe to personal-interest calendars, and access your calendars on the Internet using your .Mac account.

iCal 1.5.2 gives you the option of viewing your calendar, event, or To Do information in a drawer or in a separate window, and includes a number of performance and reliability enhancements. If you use iSync to synchronize your calendars across computers and devices, you need to upgrade each computer to iSync 1.2 (or later) and iCal 1.5.2.

Traveler's Clock 1.0 (Posted 1/19/2004 at 11:55 AM)
Traveler's Clock is a screen saver for people who sleep in hotels/motels while traveling. It provides a white-noise generator for masking outside noise, an alarm that wakes you with an MP3 (or other sound file) of your choice, and it turns your laptop screen into a large-format, low-light clock that can be seen from across the room.

Postfix Enabler for Panther 1.0.9 (Posted 1/16/2004 at 2:56 PM)
Postfix Enabler for Panther allows you to enable and view details on the Postfix mail server built into Panther.

BasaOne 1.0.1 (Posted 1/16/2004 at 2:54 PM)
BasaOne is an IDE that allows development of object oriented applications to be deployed through web browsers. It builds upon a framework of classes that have been developed to provide a basic but solid foundation upon which to build your own classes and applications.

SendFax Plug-in for Mac OS X (Posted 1/16/2004 at 2:51 PM)
The SendFax Plug-in enables developers to send faxes directly from a FileMaker Pro database application under the OSX 10.3 Panther operating system.

Panther Cache Cleaner 2.2 (Posted 1/15/2004 at 12:10 PM)
Panther Cache Cleaner has been updated and includes numerous OS X maintenance and utility options.

SoundTrack 1.2 (Posted 1/15/2004 at 12:05 PM)
SoundTrack has been updated by Apple and it is recommended that all users install the update.

oXygen XML Editor 3.0 (Posted 1/15/2004 at 12:03 PM)
oXygen XML Editor 3.0 offers import/export of transformation scenarios, access to FTP/WebDAV from transformation dialog, WebDAV over HTTPS, schema conversion support, better validation reporting, more format and indent options, code completion for RNC and DTD editing, more FOP options, external browser configuration, support for more encodings, and more.

AppleWorks 6.2.9 (Posted 1/15/2004 at 11:58 AM)
AppleWorks has been updated and supports mice with scroll wheels and improves the performance and reliability of AppleWorks presentation and spreadsheet environments. AppleWorks 6.2.9 also offers improved printing and resolves issues using web based templates and clip-art on networks using proxy servers.

Apple First Quarter Results (Posted 1/15/2004 at 11:56 AM)
Apple has posted their first quarter results and showed a net profit of $63 Million compared with a net loss of $8 million for the same quarter last year.

Apple Nibbles at New Markets (Posted 1/14/2004 at 11:33 AM)
A ComputerWorld Article on Apple and how the XServer is working its way into new markets.

SyncDeK 5.0 (Posted 1/14/2004 at 11:28 AM)
SyncDeK solves a long-standing need with distributed FileMaker databases - making sure that any changed data is synchronized between databases. It also received a 2004 Macworld Expo "Best of Show" Award.

TunesAtWork 0.8 (Posted 1/14/2004 at 11:26 AM)
TunesAtWork lets you listen to your personal iTunes music collection while at your office or lab, even though your iTunes collection resides at home. It is a specialized web server that runs on your home Macintosh and serves web pages that present your music collection (including playlists) organized visually much the same as in iTunes itself.

MacBreakZ! 3.6 (Posted 1/14/2004 at 10:45 AM)
MacBreakZ! has been updated and features new localised versions, Mac OS X 10.3 Panther optimizations, user interface tweaks and a number of minor bug fixes.

Ecto 0.1.9 (Posted 1/14/2004 at 10:44 AM)
Ecto is a feature-rich desktop blogging client for Mac OS X, supporting a wide range of weblog systems, such as TypePad, MovableType, Nucleus, Blogger and more.

Cunning Fox 1.0 (Posted 1/14/2004 at 10:42 AM)
Cunning Fox is a tool to stop and continue the running applications under Mac OS X. Moreover it provides information about application such as CPU usage, memory, etc.

Advanced Web Ranking 2.3 (Posted 1/13/2004 at 11:20 PM)
Advanced Web Ranking is a search engine ranking and positioning software for webmasters and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts.

Maestro (Posted 1/13/2004 at 11:17 PM)
Maestro lets you explore Mars with the program that NASA scientists use to operate the Spirit rover.

SuperDuper! (Posted 1/13/2004 at 11:14 PM)
SuperDuper! can be used as a flexible disk copying utility, but it goes well beyond mere duplication. Its unique "Safety Clone" feature lets you install potentially risky drivers or system updates without fear of creating an unbootable or unworkable system - or losing access to your critical personal data.

Plasticom (Posted 1/12/2004 at 2:47 PM)
Plasticom allows a surgeon to work with a patient before plastic surgery and create a visual approximation of how he or she will look afterward.

SpamSieve 2.1.1 (Posted 1/12/2004 at 2:31 PM)
SpamSieve has been updated and is now much faster at processing messages when there are many blocklist and whitelist rules. Also improved the speed of loading, deleting, and sorting rules.

SecuritySpy 1.0b38 (Posted 1/12/2004 at 2:23 PM)
SecuritySpy is a multi-camera video surveillance application for the Macintosh.

Celview 3.0.3 (Posted 1/12/2004 at 2:21 PM)
Celview for Macintosh provides you with the ability to connect to IBM AS/400 and Mainframe systems, providing 3270 and 5250 terminal emulation, file transfer, and printing capabilities.

PMX 2.20 (Posted 1/12/2004 at 2:20 PM)
PMX is a simple Project Management application for Mac OS X. With it you can manage resources, time and cost associated with any project.

Keyspan debuts USB Server (Posted 1/9/2004 at 4:47 PM)
Keyspan has debuted a USB Server, which allows you to add USB devices -- such as printers, scanners, hard drives, and more -- to your network so that any desktop or laptop Mac can access them.

Playlist to DVD (Posted 1/9/2004 at 4:41 PM)
The Playlist to DVD application creates a QuickTime movie containing the audio tracks and album art from a chosen iTunes playlist. The newly created movie, and an album art slideshow, are automatically added to the currently open iDVD project. And since the added 640x480 movie is created with chapter markers, it's easy to sequentially navigate its tracks using standard DVD controls.

The 20 Macs That Matter Most (Posted 1/9/2004 at 9:44 AM)
A Wired article that lists the twenty most important Macs since 1984.

A Microsoft-Friendlier Macworld (Posted 1/8/2004 at 2:13 PM)
An article that starts "while light on Gates-baiting at this year's confab, Steve Jobs still gets his digs in: "Microsoft is copying us again, and it's fun!"

HP Branded iPod (Posted 1/8/2004 at 2:10 PM)
HP and Apple announced a strategic alliance to deliver an HP-branded digital music player based on Apple"s iPod. As part of the alliance, HP consumer PCs and notebooks will come preinstalled with Apple"s iTunes software and an easy-reference desktop icon to point consumers directly to the iTunes Music Store.

FileMaker Pro ScriptPak (Posted 1/8/2004 at 10:54 AM)
FileMaker Pro ScriptPak adds almost 200 voice commands for controlling virtually every aspect of FileMaker Pro version 6, including commands unique to Browse, Find, Preview, and Layout modes.

APC Tracker 3.0 (Posted 1/8/2004 at 10:18 AM)
APC Tracker allows you to monitor and configure APC batter backups (UPS).

Missing Sync for Palm OS 2.0 (Posted 1/7/2004 at 11:45 AM)
Missing Sync for Palm OS can transfer files 3 to 40 Times Faster than HotSync Manager and it enables sharing the Mac's Internet connection with the handheld to send and receive email, browse the web, and sync AvantGo.

Missing Sync for Internet Sharing and AvantGo 1.0 (Posted 1/7/2004 at 11:44 AM)
Missing Sync for Internet Sharing and AvantGo enables sharing the Mac's Internet connection with a handheld to send and receive email, browse the web, and synchronize AvantGo.

RadicalPhoto (Posted 1/7/2004 at 11:38 AM)
RadicalPhoto is an easy to use photo enhancer and image converter.

Mac Minder 2.0 (Posted 1/7/2004 at 9:13 AM)
Mac Minder now has a new look and numerous new features including the ability to monitor applications in the background.

Trans Lucy (Posted 1/7/2004 at 9:11 AM)
Trans Lucy is a new way to watch DVDs on your computer. Trans Lucy lets you float the video display above your other applications and it allows you to make the video display translucent so you can still see and work with your documents that are "behind-the-scenes."

MailSmith 2.1 (Posted 1/6/2004 at 3:12 PM)
MailSmith 2.1 is a free upgrade for all registered Mailsmith 1.5 customers who are running Mac OS X and also includes version 2.1 of SpamSieve.

Mellel 1.7 (Posted 1/6/2004 at 3:07 PM)
Mellel is a major update to the multi-lingual word processor for Mac OS X. The release offers a new and innovative auto-numbering, table of contents and mentions tool.

iPod Mini (Posted 1/6/2004 at 12:00 PM)
Apple announced the iPod Mini that has 4 Gigs of memory and will sell for $249. Also announced they sold 730,000 iPods last quarter and have sold over 2 million iPods. They are currently number 1 in both units and revenues. They now have new in-ear headphones that are available as an add-on for $39 and they have increased the 10 Gig iPod to a 15 Gigs.

iLife '04 (Posted 1/6/2004 at 11:19 AM)
Apple has announced a new version of iLife with new versions of iTunes, iPhoto 4, iMovie 4, iDVD 4 and GarageBand. The new version of iPhoto includes a number of new features such as support for up to 25,000 photos with zero wait, Rendezvous photo sharing, smart albums, rating and more. iMovie includes the ability to trim clips in place, audio scrubbing, improved titles, iSight import, sharing and more. iDVD includes pro quality encoding, 2 hours per DVD, enhanced themes, project maps, enhanced slideshows and more. GarageBand is a pro music tool that is a full recording studio.

iTunes Music Store (Posted 1/6/2004 at 10:48 AM)
Apple annouced new features on the iTunes Music Store including charts and over 500,000 songs.

XServe RAID (Posted 1/6/2004 at 10:40 AM)
Apple has introduced a new version of their XServe RAID storage which is now qualified on a number of Fibrechannel switches and operating systems.

G5 XServe (Posted 1/6/2004 at 10:38 AM)
Apple is introducing a new XServe that comes with a G5 processor and Mac OS X Server 10.3 unlimited.

Microsoft Office 2004 (Posted 1/6/2004 at 10:20 AM)
Microsoft is announcing Microsoft Office 2004 for Macintosh. The new version includes many new Mac first features including a notetaker in Word and a new way to manage projects with Entourage.

Final Cut Express 2.0 (Posted 1/6/2004 at 10:18 AM)
Apple is announcing the release of Final Cut Express 2.0 today.

Entourage Email Archive X 1.8 (Posted 1/6/2004 at 9:35 AM)
Entourage Email Archive X (EEA X) is a utility for archiving emails and attachments you have received or sent using Microsoft Entourage X in Mac OS X.

Retrospect 6.0 (Posted 1/6/2004 at 9:33 AM)
Dantz will be releasing Retrospect 6.0 soon with full support for Panther.

You Control (Posted 1/6/2004 at 9:28 AM)
You Control is a flexible menu utility that allows you to put commonly used items, including files and folders, at your fingertips.

MacWorld San Francisco Keynote (Posted 1/6/2004 at 9:25 AM)
Apple will be broadcasting Steve Jobs MacWorld San Francisco keynot live via Quicktime.

BumperCar (Posted 1/6/2004 at 9:23 AM)
BumperCar is a web browser for children that supports Internet Content Rating Association self-rated sites, has a built-in profanity filter, whitelists, and much more. It can even enforce a time limit, and can prevent uploading of personal data.

Macabinet 1.5.1 (Posted 1/6/2004 at 9:14 AM)
Macabinet now has a preference to show Macabinet drawer only when the mouse is within the vertical space of Macabinet.

TotalAccess 2004 (Posted 1/5/2004 at 2:24 PM)
TotalAccess 2004 is available as a free download with new features such as their web accelerator.

Impression 2.0 (Posted 1/5/2004 at 2:21 PM)
Impression allows you to back up and restore file directories by using optical disks or disk images and is now fully compatible with Panther.

QuickMail Sold to Outspring Software (Posted 1/5/2004 at 2:19 PM)
QuickMail has been sold to a new company called Outspring Software.

VirtualDesktop 3.0 (Posted 1/5/2004 at 2:17 PM)
VirtualDesktop includes compatibility with Mac OS X v.10.3 "Panther" and aims to increase your productivity by enabling you to separate tasks from multiple projects into their own virtual desktops and easily switch back and forth. It works with Expos", a major feature in Panther, to allow you to reveal windows on the active desktop and switch between them with VirtualDesktop Pro.

PhoneValet Message Center (Posted 1/5/2004 at 12:55 PM)
PhoneValet can take messages on all your lines at the same time " into one of up to 11 mailboxes.

Global Warmth (Posted 1/5/2004 at 12:52 PM)
Global Warmth can receive the latest weather and forecast from your favorite weather stations from around the US and the planet - and display the info just the way you want, including as a menu extra, as a floating command center with hot tips, the classic thermometer view, on the dock icon, and in the multiple station viewer.

BackTrack (Posted 1/5/2004 at 12:50 PM)
BackTrack silently logs to a daily log file everything you type in any application. The log file contains the application name, the window name, the date & time, and what you typed.

Work Planner Pro (Posted 1/5/2004 at 12:50 PM)
Work Planner Pro is a FileMaker database that allows you to prepare and print work schedules for staff or employees.

Maxwell's Dream (Posted 1/5/2004 at 12:48 PM)
Maxwell's Dream can be used to calculate the field, the wave impedance and the capacity of Triplate transmission lines.

iListen 1.6.4 (Posted 1/5/2004 at 12:31 PM)
iListen adds the ability to address items in the Mac OS X Services menu and adds support for Hierarchical Menus in its built-in Script Editor.

Kids GoGoGo 8.0 (Posted 1/3/2004 at 10:19 AM)
Kids GoGoGo, the web browser that allows parental screening, has been updated and is fully compatible with Panther.

OmniWeb 5 Preview (Posted 1/1/2004 at 10:50 AM)
OmniWeb 5 Preview has screen shots of the next version of the OmniWeb web browser with a number of new features.