Best of Show
Because so many products are introduced at a trade show, it can be challenging to assess them all and find the hardware or software of your dreams. Fortunately, the stalwart editors of Macworld and MacCentral have stepped in and done that for you.
We announced the Best of Show winners: these include Creo, a project management tool that links e-mail, word processing documents and contact info; Kaidan, which enables users to create a 360 degree QuickTime VR movie with 100 degrees of vertical field of view, all in a single shot; and the iMac.
Phil Schiller, Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing and Avie Tevanian, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, gave attendees a tour of Apple’s flagship operating system intended to illustrate “The Power of X.” The demonstration mapped buzzwords like “memory protection, virtual memory, symmetric multiprocessing, multithreading, and multitasking” to everyday tasks like burning a CD while launching other applications.
Product News
MWSF: Extensis updates QX-Tools Pro — New features include the ability to import Microsoft Excel or PowerPoint files into a new document, a palette for utilizing and accessing QuarkXPress shortcuts, and a collection and distribution feature for sending documents directly to a prepress or printing house.
MWSF: SmartDisk lets FireLite, FireFly drives fly — FireLite drives are available in capacities of 20 GB, 30 GB and 40 GB, and have performance rates that easily allow users to access and use data directly on FireLite without first copying it to a personal computer. SmartDisk also introduced FireFly for USB, a portable 5 GB Universal Serial Bus 2.0 hard drive that’s about the size of a deck of playing cards.
MWSF: MacPlay to publish AvP2, goes OS X only — The announcement does not affect any of the games currently under development that already support Mac OS 9. New MacPlay titles from this point forward, however, will support Mac OS X exclusively.
MWSF: Customize your G3, G4 with AppleSkinz — AppleSkinz are special form-fitting polycarbonate covers that attach to the side of the Power Mac G3 or G4’s case.
MWSF: Toast 5 Titanium for Mac OS X released — Toast 5 Titanium Updater for Mac OS X is now available for download. The update is free of charge to registered users.
Apple: WebObjects 5.1 ’embraces Java standards’ — WebObjects 5.1is the company’s Web application development tools and framework. The latest release of WebObjects embraces Java standards, and is providing WebObjects 5 users with a nominal cost upgrade path for a limited time.
MWSF: CMS rolls out automatic backup solutions — With capacities ranging from 10 GB to 100 GB, the Mac ABS offers FireWire connectivity at up to 408 Mbits/second data transfer. It supports Mac OS 8.6, 9.x and X. The ABSplus for iBook and PowerBook users fits in a pocket.
Apple releases iPod Software 1.0.4 Updater — iPod Software 1.0.4 Updater adds support for iPod names of up to 255 characters, according to Apple. Another new feature is the addition of support for languages including Brazilian/Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish.
MWSF: Brushfire 1.5 and a ‘lite’ version announced — Chaparral Software has announced an upgrade to Brushfire, its script analysis utility for intermediate and advanced FileMaker Pro users, developers and DBAs. The cross platform tool detects and organizes FileMaker Pro script errors, among other features.
MWSF: e-on software intros first Mac, OS X application — For Mac OS X only, Vue d’Esprit 4 is a landscape generator that includes SolidGrowth, a vegetation synthesis and rendering technology.
MWSF: Stitcher revved for Mac OS X — Targeted to photographers, Web designers, architects, 3D artists and post-production professionals, REALVIZ Stitcher is a professional application for building high-resolution panoramas.
MWSF: eZediaMX 3.0 for Mac OS X debuts — The newest version of the multimedia authoring software allows users to create projects such as interactive business presentations, and to create templates to re-use in multiple projects.