MacWEEK articles from December 1997

MacWEEK archives from December 1997

G3 servers on deck. (Apple's Power Mac G3 servers) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... After shoring up its desktop offerings with the new G3 Power Macs, Apple will reportedly turn its attention to its server line with two new systems scheduled for a January debut. Sources said Apple is preparing a pair of servers based on its...

Inside OpenGL: 3-D API handles low-level tasks. (Technology Information)
December 1, 1997... It's a hard-knock life for a technology: As soon as it leaves the nurturing care of its developers, the struggle to become an industry standard begins. Apple's QuickDraw 3D has been locked in a mind-share battle with OpenGL, another 3-D API that...

FullPress server nears Rhapsody. (Xinet's Open Prepress Interface server) (Product Development)
December 1, 1997... Prepress networking vendor Xinet Inc. is tuning its Unix-based FullPress OPI server package to play on Rhapsody for Macintosh. Sources said the new version of the company's high-performance client-server software is due in the first quarter of...

High-end PostScript tools follow path to Rhapsody. (OneVision's DigiScript, DigiServer and OneVision-Imposition work flow tools) (Product Development)
December 1, 1997... An OpenStep developer based in Germany is planning to add another piece to the Rhapsody puzzle with new versions of its prepress applications that are tuned to Apple's next-generation operating system. OneVision GmbH said it plans to deliver...

QTVR studio creates scene. (Claris' QuickTime VR Authoring Studio multimedia authoring software) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1997... QuickTime VR Authoring Studio 1.0 4 1/2 QuickTime VR is great multimedia technology. Up until now, though, it has been painful for the average multimedia author to use Apple's QuickTime VR author- ing tools, which were previously based on the...

CorelDraw 6 update ships. (Corel's Suite 6.1 graphics and word processing software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Corel Corp. in November shipped an update to CorelDraw, the centerpiece of the company's $595 CorelDraw 6 Suite word processing and graphics bundle. First announced in September (see 09.08.97, Page 13), CorelDraw 6.1 lets users assign URLs to...

MacWorks ships Millennium clones.(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... MacWorks LLC this week intends to ship its Millennium line of Mac clones based on Daystar Digital Inc.'s Genesis systems (see 10.13.97, Page 29). Each Millennium system, housed in black casing, uses a Tsunami logic board and provides six PCI...

Totally Hip gets $10M investment. (Totally Hip Software sells tools to Columbia Diversified Software Fund Limited Partnership) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Totally Hip Software Inc. last week said it had sold three software products to Columbia Diversified Software Fund Limited Partnership. Under the terms of the deal, Vancouver, British Columbia-based Totally Hip will receive $10 million for...

Motorola plans new cable modem. (Motorola Multimedia Group's CyberSURFR Wave) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Motorola Multimedia Group last week announced a faster version of its Cyber- SURFR cable modem that the company said will approach the speed of a T1 con- nection. The CyberSURFR Wave, due in the first quarter of 1998, will have a throughput of...

Gift ideas for Duo devotees, backyard surfers and the junior set. (3JTech's Pegasus modem, IBM's Cordless Computer Connection wireless connection device, Claris' ClarisWorks for Kids) (The Second Decade) (Product Information)(Column)
December 1, 1997... With the holidays upon us, I'd like to share a few gift ideas for any Mac users on your list. First, for the Duo devotee in your life, I want to pass along a solution I've just found for the slow-modem problem mentioned here last week (see...

Iomega gains injunctions against media rival Nomai. (XHD cartridges may not claim Zip compatibility) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Nomai S.A. will not be distributing its Zip-compatible XHD cartridges anytime soon - at least not with its current claims of compatibility. Roy, Utah-based Iomega Corp., maker of the Zip, last week said the U.S. District Court for northern...

StockWatch 11.25.97. (News Briefs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... 11.25.97 weekly close change Apple 17.38 -1.13 NASDAQ 1589.05 -37.51 MacWEEK Composite* 134.57 -4.35 Adaptec...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 1997... Apple online Apple's online store is more than just another paper-bound marketing idea; it affects nearly every aspect of the way Apple does business (11.10.97, Page 1). This was no simple feat, and pulling it off may be far more impressive to...

ECRM launches new imagesetter. (Marlin)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... ECRM Inc. in November landed the Marlin, a new high-speed color imagesetter intended to lure newspaper publishers. Based on the same design as ECRM's KnockOut imagesetters (see 10.28.96, Page 16), the $85,000, four-up device features internal...

Panasonic readies diminutive camera. (Panasonic Computer Peripheral's PV-DC1080)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Panasonic Computer Peripheral Co. is adding bells and whistles to its PalmCam line of pint-size digital cameras with a new model due in January 1998. The $549.95 PV-DC1080 will have a detachable electronic flash, an optical viewfinder and a 2x...

PhotoTools 2.0 comes into fine focus. (Extensis' Photoshop add-ons) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1997... PhotoTools 2.0 4 1/2 PhotoTools 1.0, Extensis Corp.'s collection of Adobe Photoshop add-ons, was an instant hit. Version 2.0 builds on the solid foundation of the first release with major improvements in interactivity and some nifty new...

LCD tablet is a natural. (Wacom Technology's Wacom PL-300) (Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1997... Wacom PL-300 3 (Good) It's hard to beat a pressure-sensitive tablet for painting or drawing on the Mac. But for those who find it hard to draw on a tablet while looking at the computer monitor, Wacom Technology Corp. has an alternative: The...

Connecting ColorSync profiles with scanners. (Out of Gamut) (Technology Information)(Column)
December 1, 1997... I'm often asked about creating ColorSync profiles for scanners. My usual advice is not to bother. It's not that scanner profiles don't work; it's just that most scanner software hasn't caught up to the point where they're really useful. Almost...

Panasonic ships new camcorders. (Panasonic Computer Peripheral;s PV-DV700, PV-DV710 Digital Video Camcorders)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Panasonic Computer Peripheral Co. introduced a pair of compact digital video camcorders featuring FireWire interfaces at Comdex/Fall '97. Aimed at consumers, the $2,000 (street price) PV-DV700 Digital Video Camcorder and the $2,500 (street...

Opcode composes music bundles. (Opcode Systems' SoftStudio for professionals, Musicshop Bundle for consumers)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Opcode Systems Inc. in November began shipping two new bundles for the Mac music market. Each is aimed at providing a turnkey solution for music produc- tion. SoftStudio, priced at $699, is a bundle of professional-level applications,...

Phase One adds twist to QTVR objects. (QuickTime VR Turntable)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Digital imaging developer Phase One Inc. in late October shipped a turntable for creating QuickTime VR object movies. The $3,295 Phase One QuickTime VR Turntable can be controlled by the company's image-capture software and QuickTime VR...

Commotion expands. (Puffin Designs' Commotion 1.1 painting and special effects software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Puffin Designs Inc. in late November released a new version of Commotion, a painting and special-effects tool for post-production film and video. Initially released in September, Commotion is a $2,500, Mac-only package that lets users add...

Passport's Encore 4.2 imports MIDI faster. (Passport Designs' music software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Passport Designs Inc. said it will be back for another Encore in mid-January - Encore 4.2, to be exact. The company is adding features and an improved capability to import MIDI to the high-end notation package. Encore 4.2 will more quickly...

Plug-in brings surround sound to Premiere. (Santa Barbara Film and Audio's PanHandler sound conversion software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Santa Barbara Film and Audio last week began shipping PanHandler, a plug-in for Adobe Premiere that brings surround-sound encoding to digital video projects. Priced at $159, PanHandler, created by Kelly Industries of Arleta, Calif., requires...

Emblaze Video: lukewarm output. (GEO Publishing's streaming video program) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1997... Emblaze Video 1.0 2 (Fair) Emblaze Video 1.0 is an extremely simple, easy-to-use tool for producing streaming video that can be viewed without a plug-in. But that simplicity comes at a price: The $295 Java-based program from GEO Publishing...

Search tools hold their own. (six commercial products) (Product Information)
December 1, 1997... While most heavyweight search-engine tools aren't available for the Macintosh, users say the handful of Mac-based search engines can deliver sufficient power and sophistication for small and medium-sized Web sites. Many of the search engines...

Maxum unwraps NetCloak 2.5. (Maxum devlopment's site customization tool)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Maxum Development Corp. this week will ship a revision to NetCloak, its $195 Web site customization tool. NetCloak 2.5 is compatible with more Web servers, according to Maxum, includ- ing systems that support multiple domains. The company said...

Volano chats up Java with client-server rev. (VolanoChat 2.0, VolanoChat Pro 2.o chat software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Volano LLC this week announced two updates to its Java-based Internet chat software: VolanoChat 2.0 and VolanoChatPro 2.0. Both products comprise a server and a client that downloads when a user accesses a chat room. Volano said the products...

Claris renews Home Page. (version 3.0 of Web authoring software) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Claris Corp. put the latest version of Home Page, its Web authoring tool, into public beta last week, and the company said it expects to deliver the full version by the end of January. Home Page 3.0, which was announced in September (see...

Apache Web server heads to Rhapsody. (Apple port, Tenon Interssytems' Webten port) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Apple has ported the Apache Web server to Rhapsody, and Tenon Intersystems will also bring the Web server to the new operating system. Apache is a free Unix-based Web server developed and maintained by a con- sortium called The Apache Group...

Lasers light up market. (five printers announced or pending)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1997... Three vendors took advantage of November's Comdex/Fall '97 trade show in Las Vegas to show off new color laser printers. Apple, meanwhile, delivered its latest LaserWriter, and a promised Sharp model showed up on the shelves of Xerox Corp. *...

Apple updates LaserWriter driver. (LaserWriter 8500 contains version 8.5.1)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Apple last month updated its LaserWriter printer driver to Version 8.5.1 with the release of the LaserWriter 8500 printer. The new print driver adds a Desktop Printer Utility that Apple said will let users create different types of desktop...

Infowave drivers turn to Ricoh copiers. (Infowave Wireless Messaging, Ricoh Company drivers for Aficio printer/fax/copier systems) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Infowave Wireless Messaging Inc. and Ricoh Company Ltd. last week announced an agreement to produce Infowave printer drivers for Ricoh's Aficio 200 series of all-in-one copier/printer/fax systems. The Mac printer drivers, optimized for the...

Mac to serve medical images. (DesAcc' Digital Jacket software server for medical market)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... DesAcc Inc. is slated to release this month what it said will be the first dedicated Mac server for the medical market. Dubbed Digital Jacket, the software will utilize DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine), a communications...

Fog City revs up LetterRip. (version 2.1 of Fog City Software's mailing-list manager)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Fog City Software Inc. in November delivered a speedier and more savvy version of its LetterRip mailing-list manager. Version 2.1 changes the format for storing lists of subscribers, speeding processor access, the company said. A processor - an...

Science software still on track. (Wolfram Research to support platform) (Company Business and Marketing)
December 1, 1997... Following recent announcements by leading Mac scientific-software developers that they are throwing in the towel, Wolfram Research Inc. in late November reaffirmed its commitment to the platform. Champaign, Ill.-based Wolfram, developer of...

The Mac as an engine of science, today and tomorrow. (science, engineering and technical applications) (The Mac Manager) (Company Business and Marketing)(Column)
December 1, 1997... Normally, I don't respond to spam all that well. I'm not talking about the charming, delightful and flavor-filled mystery meat, but the electronic vari- ety. (Hell, I love the mystery-meat stuff!) Anyway, as a poor slob who receives more than...

ATTO unveils FC-AL devices. (ATTO Technology's ExpressPCI FC Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop PCI card, AccelNet FC hub and FibreBridge SCSI to FC-AL converter)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1997... At the Comdex/Fall '97 show in Las Vegas in November, ATTO Technology Inc. unveiled new products supporting the high-performance Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop interface. The company said it expects to release this month the ExpressPCI FC, its...

ReUDO shows off wireless linking. (Xin/XoutIII RedEye, Xin/XoutIII Windows CE file exchange software, R LiNk DUO utility for downloading digital camera images) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... ReUDO Corp. in November demonstrated three tools for wireless transferring of files to and from Macs. The company, which showed off the products at Com- dex/Fall '97 in Las Vegas, said it expects to ship them in January 1998 at Macworld Expo in...

Apple issues two MkLinux DR updates. (Developer Release 2.1 Update 6 of OS and a fix)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Apple earlier this month released two revisions of MkLinux, its port of the Linux version of Unix to Power Macs. The first update, Developer Release 2.1 Update 6, includes a new Open Software Foundation Research Institute Mach microkernel and...

Diamond readies modem. (Diamond Multimedia Systems' Supra) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. in November displayed a PC Card modem for Apple's PowerBooks. At Comdex/ Fall '97 in Las Vegas, Diamond announced its Supra PC Card modem. The device will connect at 56 Kbps, the company said, using the K56flex...

Newer adds G3 cards. (Newer Technology's MaxPowr G3 PowerBase and ZIF upgrade cards)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Newer Technology Inc. at the end of November announced two new options for Mac clone users to move into the G3 realm - this time for systems from Power Computing Corp. and UMAX Computer Corp. Newer said it will ship in January the MaxPowr G3...

Panasonic preps fast drives. (Panasonic Computer Peripheral's LF-D101 DVD-RAM drive, KXL-810A CD-ROM drive)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Panasonic Computer Peripheral Co. said it will ship a DVD-RAM drive and media in January 1998. In addition, the company unveiled a portable CD-ROM drive. The $799 LF-D101 DVD-RAM drive will be an internal SCSI device. Media, housed in...

Readers note policy at the Apple Store, plus new G3 details. (MacInTouch)(Column)
December 1, 1997... Readers so far have not turned up any major flaws in the new G3 models, and the Apple Store seems to be working as planned, but various issues and obser- vations are popping up as people get to know the new systems. Starting with the store, a...

An ocean of liquid crystal. (LG Electronics' 500 LC flat-screen monitor)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... An ocean of liquid crystal. LG Electronics U.S.A. Inc. of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is riding the LCD wave on its latest flat-screen monitor, the 15.1-inch LG 500 LC. The diminutive 12-pound display is 2.5 inches thick with a maximum resolution...

List made, checked twice. (Mac the Knife) (News Briefs)(Column)
December 1, 1997... It's a holiday tradition chez Knife: As the Old Year totters rheumatically toward the spinning metal jaws of the coming millennium, this serrated prophet of rage amuses himself by compiling signs of the coming apocalypse. Burly fish-and-game...

LCDs abound. (Mitsubishi Electronics America's LCD40 and LCD50)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... LCDs abound. Not to be left on the sidelines of the LCD display game, Mit- subishi Electronics America Inc. in November rolled out two flat-screen monitors: the 14-inch LCD40 and the 15-inch LCD50. Each has a maximum resolu- tion of 1,024 by 768...

Looking better in black. (Proview Technology's SA-768-B, SA-564-B and SA-455-B black cased monitors)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Looking better in black. Proview Technology Inc. of Garden Grove, Calif., recently debuted a series of monitors wrapped in sleek, black casing. The fashionable displays come in 17- and 15-inch models - each based on a flat square CRT - and a...

The multimedia crowd. (Optiquest's V115 21-in monitor)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... The multimedia crowd. Optiquest Inc. of Walnut, Calif., is aiming to please the graphics and animation crowd with the introduction of the 21-inch V115, based on an Invar shadow-mask CRT. The display has a maximum resolution of 1,600 by 1,280...

Hip, new and 19 inches. (Panasonic's PanaSync SL90 monitor)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1997... Hip, new and 19 inches. Joining the hordes of vendors introducing 19-inch monitors is Panasonic Co. of Secaucus, N.J. The PanaSync SL90, announced in November, is based on a CRT with a 0.25mm dot pitch. The display features a maximum resolution...

New G3 laptops on course for Q2. (Apple's Main Street and Wall Street notebook computers, based on the PowerPC 750 "G3" processor) (includes related article on PowerBook 2400c subnotebook computers)(Product Announcement)
December 8, 1997... New PowerBooks will take to the streets next spring as Apple releases a pack of G3-based models. Sources said the machines, code-named Wall Street and Main Street, will shift the company's notebook line to new performance levels. Two...

QuickTime 3 looking good. (Apple's desktop video software) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 8, 1997... QuickTime 3.0 Beta Test Way back in 1991, Apple introduced QuickTime, a file format for time-based media. This event could have been overlooked in a period when the company seemed to introduce new technologies each month. Six years later,...

AppleShare IP to open Windows to networks. (AppleShare IP 5.0 Internet and file server suite) (Product Development)
December 8, 1997... Apple is revamping its Internet and file-server suite, AppleShare IP, and the company will ship the new incarnation in mid-March, sources said. AppleShare IP 5.0, released this summer, builds on the traditional AppleShare features to include...

Helios servers getting in tune with Rhapsody. (Helios Software announces Rhapsody support for PDF HandShake, EtherShare, PCShare, and EtherShare OPI)(Product Announcement)
December 8, 1997... In a move that could lend further credence to Rhapsody's prospects as a publishing platform, server veteran Helios Software GmbH is reportedly prepar- ing to throw its support behind Apple's next-generation OS. Meanwhile, Helios announced that...

Developers eager to tap power of QuickTime 3.0. (Macromedia, Radius adopt Apple's new video platform) (Product Information)
December 8, 1997... The arrival of QuickTime 3.0 could secure the multimedia technology's ascendance as a cross-platform standard, developers and industry analysts said last week. Apple said its first fully cross-platform system software release has already drawn...

MegaDrive unveils new EV-200 RAID. (MegaDrive Systems)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... MegaDrive Systems Inc. last week shipped its EV-200 RAID System. The hardware-controlled array offers mirroring and striping, as well as RAID levels 3 and 5. MegaDrive said the system supports hot-swappable drives, fans and power supplies....

YARC cuts price on RIP server. (YARC Systems' XP Server for Canon CLC copier) (Product Information)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... YARC Systems Corp. announced last week it trimmed the price of its Canon CLC color PostScript RIP server. The company said the YARC XP Server for Canon U.S.A. Inc.'s color copier now costs $7,495, down from $9,995. To further reduce the price,...

Lari graphics tool draws path to QT 3. (Lari Software LightningDraw/WEB 1.1)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Lari Software Inc. last week released an update to its LightningDraw/WEB illustration tool that takes advantage of QuickTime 3.0. Version 1.1 of the $99 tool can save original or imported vector graphics as QuickTime 3.0 files and gives users...

Jobs to deliver Macworld keynote. (Steve Jobs) (Industry Trend or Event)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Apple and IDG Expo Management Co. said last week that Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the keynote speech at January's Macworld Expo in San Fran- cisco. "We hope to have some surprises in store," Jobs said in a statement. He will...

Hot list: 3-D resources.(Directory)
December 8, 1997... A 3-D artist's life doesn't have to be a solitary one. There is a thriving 3-D community on the Web offering support and resources. * 3D Artist Magazine http://www.3dartist.com This site supplements the news, resources and articles that...

Reflections on Apple pricing: progress, yes, but also problems. (The Second Decade) (Company Business and Marketing)(Column)
December 8, 1997... Back in September I argued here that eliminating clones would solve Apple's financial woes only if the company took advantage of its renewed monopoly on Mac OS systems to increase prices (see 09.15.97, Page 3). A reader recently challenged me to...

Apple names new VP of developer relations. (Clent Richardson) (Company Operations)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... In the second shakeup this year for Apple's third-party outreach program, the company last week named a new vice president of developer relations. Apple last week announced the resignation of Vice President David Krathwohl and said its new...

McAfee, Net General merge, acquire PGP. (McAfee Associates, Network General merger results in Network Associates; Pretty Good Privacy) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Network Associates Inc. apparently was born hungry. Shortly after its forma- tion last week, the network security and management software company acquired encryption developer Pretty Good Privacy Inc. Network Associates is the result of a...

Apple posts beta printer driver for G3 Macs. (version 1.0.3) (Product Information)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Apple last week posted a beta printer driver that fixes an incompatibility problem between Power Macintosh G3 systems and Color StyleWriter 4100 and 4500 printers. The current driver, Version 1.0.3, displays an error dialog box and will not...

StockWatch 12.04.97.(Illustration)
December 8, 1997... 12.04.97 weekly close change Apple 15.63 -1.75 NASDAQ 1613.42 24.37 MacWEEK Composite* 128.89 -5.68 Adaptec...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
December 8, 1997... Web sites: Dicey Three cheers for Darcy Dinucci! I fall into what she refers to as the second group of Web users: those who prefer to design their own Web experience (11.24.97, Page 20). I use a generation-old browser and a minimal set of...

PostScript utility improves blends. (SK Software ScreEnhance)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... A German developer recently introduced a PostScript utility that improves grayscale images on older printers. According to SK Software, its $29.95 ScreEnhance utility improves image qual- ity by smoothly blending 256 levels of gray (see...

New QX-Effects 3 is tops for designers. (Extensis Corp's QX-Effects 3.0 DTP software) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 8, 1997... QX-Effects 3.0 5 (Excellent) Proving that breaking up is sometimes easy to do, Extensis Corp. has set free one of the most useful XTensions for QuarkXPress from its versatile QX-Tools 2.0 collection. QX-Effects 3.0 is now available as a...

Photo printers enter scene. (Panasonic PV-PD2000, Ricoh RXP-10)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... To complement the growing number of digital cameras in the hands of consumers, Panasonic Corp. and Ricoh Corp. will each soon ship their first digital photo printers. Digital photo printers do not use a page description language; instead, they...

Agfa drops price on DuoScan flatbed. (scanner) (Product Information)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Agfa dropped the price of its midrange DuoScan flatbed last week by $1,200, or 25 percent. Introduced in 1995 for the graphic arts market, the high-resolution scanner now costs $3,795. The DuoScan features Agfa's TwinPlate technology, a...

UFO to add NT versions to ColorFlare RIP servers. (UFO Systems ColorFlare CF190, CF270, CF3350)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... UFO Systems said it expects to add Windows NT versions to its line of ColorFlare RIP servers for color copiers and wide-format inkjet printers. The company said the forthcoming NT versions are due in the first quarter of 1998. UFO's current...

Transverter Pro Plus handles work flows. (TechPool's file format conversion software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... TechPool Inc. last week beefed up Transverter Pro with a new version that adds work-flow automation and high-resolution output features to the utility. Transverter Pro Plus, available for a street price of $800, lets users drop files into a...

Phase One hones camera-back capture app. (Image Capture Software for the Mac OS 3.1)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Phase One Inc. this month is slated to ship a new version of capture software for its line of digital camera backs. Version 3.1 of Image Capture Software for the Mac OS will ship free with Phase One camera backs; upgrades will cost $499....

LG Electronics debuts its first digital camera. (LG Electronics USA LDC-F20)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... LG Electronics U.S.A. Inc., known for its GoldStar microwave ovens and bread makers, has introduced its first digital camera. The $499 LDC-F20 camera features a rotating 1.8-inch LCD viewfinder that can also be used to display captured images....

AlphaMania goes mask crazy. (Media Lab Inc's AlphaMania 2.0 graphics utility) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 8, 1997... AlphaMania 2.0 4 (Very good) One of the most difficult and time-consuming development tasks in Macromedia Director is preparing and organizing graphics for your Director movie. Media Lab Inc. solves many of these problems with AlphaMania, a...

VideoShop 4/3D ships. (Strata's desktop video editing package)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Strata Inc. in late November shipped VideoShop 4.0/3D, the first desktop video editing package to support 3-D special effects, according to the company. VideoShop is a nonlinear video editing application that Strata acquired last year from...

Spike 1.5 detects more QT errors. (YAV Interactive Media's batch-processing tool; QuickTime)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... YAV Interactive Media last week launched Version 1.5 of Spike, a batch-processing tool for finding hiccups in QuickTime movies. Available from the company's Web site (http://www.yav.com/docs/SpikeDL.html), the $65 shareware package analyzes...

Symbolic ties sound system to PowerBooks. (Symbolic Sound Capybara PC Card)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Symbolic Sound Corp. recently began shipping a PC Card interface that lets portable-Mac users tap the company's high-end sound-processing system. The $225 Capybara PC Card, a Type II design, connects PowerBooks with the Kyma Sound Design...

Steinberg rebuilding its audio plug-ins. (Steinberg North America Spectralyzer, RedValve-It, Free-D)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Steinberg North America Inc. in January will tune up several of its audio plug-ins and introduce a new module for 3-D sound sculpting. The company said it will convert two plug-ins to its own Virtual Studio Tech- nology (VST) used in its Cubase...

In Hollywood, digital-effects houses go it alone on Mac.(Key Frame) (Product Information)(Column)
December 8, 1997... The early adopters of the Macintosh in Hollywood were stubborn, inventive, creative people who refused to be hijacked by Silicon Graphics Inc. into mort- gaging their homes so they could create digital effects and computer graphics. From the...

Adobe bundles video tools. (Adobe Systems' After Effects and Adobe Premiere) (Product Information)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Adobe Systems Inc. last week released a money-saving bundle of its popular video editing and effects packages. The company is offering Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere for $2,495; that's a discount of about $300 if the packages are...

NYC to host Web wares. (Fall Internet World '97 in New York City) (Industry Trend or Event)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Despite Apple's absence, Fall Internet World '97 this week in New York will host a plethora of vendors demonstrating everything Internet, including Web authoring tools, multimedia software and Internet connection hardware. Apple said it is...

SiteCam upgrade prevents hacks. (Rearden Technology SiteCam 1.1 image capture software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Rearden Technology in November updated SiteCam, its tool for capturing live images and time-lapse movies and publishing them on the Internet. Rearden said SiteCam 1.1 adds security features, better streaming of video, improved movie archiving...

Apple takes WebObjects to version 3.5.(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
December 8, 1997... Apple last week released Version 3.5 of WebObjects, the integrated Web development tool the company gained from its acquisition of NeXT Software Inc. in December 1996. WebObjects is used to create Web catalogs and storefronts. Version 3.5 can...