News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
Microsoft's Mac Business Unit (BU) has announced the release of Messenger for Mac 7, its instant messaging client. Version 7 is a free download, available from the Mac BU's web site. Messenger 7 lets users communicate with buddies on the Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger services, but not those with .Mac accounts or those on the popular AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) service. Messenger 7 adds a number of new features for personal users, including searching through contacts by name or e-mail address, the ability to assign nicknames to your friends, and support for OS X's Bonjour. However, most of Messenger 7's improvements come in the realm of corporate communications.
Dan Moren | Apr 30, 2008
Adobe Systems has announced that its venerable visual web site creation tool GoLive has been discontinued. The company has ceased development and sales of GoLive effective Monday, April 28, 2008. GoLive started life as CyberStudio, an early What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) web editor, the flagship product of German developers GoLive Systems. Adobe acquired GoLive Systems in 1999 and rechristened CyberStudio as Adobe GoLive. GoLive has gone through nine major revisions, culminating in 2007’s release of GoLive 9.
Peter Cohen | Apr 29, 2008
Apple updated its iMac consumer desktop computer line this morning, adding the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processor and more powerful graphics. The new iMacs come in three basic models: The $1599 20-inch with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066MHz front-side bus; 1GB RAM; a 250GB Serial ATA hard drive; and an ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB GDDR3 memory; The mid-range $1999 20-inch model has a 2.66GHz processor with 2GB RAM, a 320GB hard drive and an ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory; The high-end $2399 24-inch has a 2.8GHz processor, 2GB RAM, a 320GB hard drive and an ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory.
Jim Dalrymple | Apr 29, 2008
Strong demand for Macs driven by record laptop sales helped Apple turn a $US1.05 billion profit for its fiscal second quarter. The company sold 2.2 million Macs from January to March, helping drive sales of $US7.51 billion for the strongest March quarter in Apple’s history. Apple’s profit rose 36 percent from the second quarter of 2007, with revenue rising 43 percent. The company reported earnings per share of $US1.16 for the just-completed second quarter, a 33-percent rise over last year’s number.
Jim Dalrymple and Philips Michaels | Apr 25, 2008
WaveMaker has announced the release of Visual Ajax Studio version 3.2, a new version of its web application development environment. It’s available for free download from the web site. Visual Ajax Studio enables you to create web applications using drag and drop assembly techniques. The software supports SOAP, REST and RSS web services and deploys a standard Java .war file.
Peter Cohen | Apr 24, 2008
Apple has acquired a fabless semiconductor company, PA Semi, according to a report at Forbes.com. PA Semi designs energy efficient processors based on the Power architecture that Apple used in its Macintosh computers for many years before adopting Intel's x86 chips.
Mikael Ricknas | Apr 23, 2008
LaCie today announced the release of its 500GB Rugged Hard Disk. The custom-designed external hard drive looks a bit like an inflatable raft. It’s encased in thick orange rubber bumpers on all four sides that help protect the hard disk mechanism from bumps and damage. The drive is enclosed in an aluminum chassis. Inside is a Hitachi TravelStar 5K500, a 2.5-inch internal hard disk drive.
Peter Cohen | Apr 23, 2008
PayPal, eBay’s electronic payment service, plans to take the dramatic step of locking out people using older versions of web browsers in order to stem phishing attacks. PayPal said a “significant” group of people still use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 3, released in 1996, and IE 4, which debuted in 1997. Those browsers lack a phishing filter, which can block users from accessing a reported phishing web site.
| Apr 21, 2008
The MacBook Air has become the best advertisement for why companies should use LED (light-emitting diode) backlights in notebook screens, and is driving adoption, according to market researcher DisplaySearch. LED backlights in display screens are an improvement over old CCFL (cold-cathode florescent lamps) technology for several reasons, including a stunning picture due to more vibrant contrasts, better power savings, and they’re easier on the environment because they contain no mercury and last longer.
Dan Nysted | Apr 21, 2008
On Apple’s discussion forums and elsewhere, some users of newer MacBook laptops complain of problems with QuickTime movie playback. There’s evidence that Apple is trying to isolate the problem, although the company hasn’t released a fix yet. According to customers suffering with the difficulty, some MacBook laptops show flickering when playing back MPEG-encoded videos, including MPEG-4 videos available from Apple’s Web site, such as video of the recently iPhone SDK event in Cupertino.
Peter Cohen | Apr 16, 2008
Online retailing giant Amazon.com launched its MP3 download service last September, but as of February 2008 customers trying out the new service are not coming at the expense of Apple’s iTunes Store. According to a new report from market research firm NPD, only ten percent of AmazonMP3 customers had previously purchased digital music from iTunes. iTunes recently claimed the top spot in the music retailer market, beating out retail megalith Wal-Mart. However, in February Amazon claimed the number two spot, just behind Apple in the number of a-la-carte music tracks downloaded by consumers in the US.
Jim Dalrymple | Apr 16, 2008
Miami, Florida-based Psystar has begun selling a new computer that it says will run Mac OS X Leopard — in other words, a Mac clone. The company is touting the computer as the “Open Computer: The Smart Alternative to an Apple.” “Why spend $1999 to get the least expensive Apple computer with a decent video card when you can pay less than a fourth of that for an equivalent sleek and small form-factor desktop with the same hardware,” says a note on the company web site.
Jim Dalrymple | Apr 15, 2008
Myvu has announced that its Crystal video goggles now work with the iPhone. The Crystal glasses require a new cable which costs $US24.95.
