MacWEEK articles from July 1996

MacWEEK archives from July 1996

Apple's comeback challenge: executive plan plots strategic shifts. (Company Business and Marketing)
July 8, 1996... With an eye toward the future, Apple is firming up its new corporate strategy. Building on themes recently expressed by top management, an internal company plan reportedly creates a "strategic framework" for markets and product development....

New COO Landi turns spotlight on user value. (Marco Landi) (Apple's Comeback Challenge) (Company Business and Marketing)(Interview)
July 8, 1996... Apple's new front man is Marco Landi, chief operating officer -- ex-semiconductor and consumer-electronics manager for Texas Instruments Inc. in Europe and Asia, and, once upon a time, a shoe salesman in his native Italy. Landi, 51, spoke to...

Navigator 4.0 racing to beta. (Netscape Communications' developing Netscape Navigator 4.0 Web browser) (includes related article on last Navigator 3.0 beta release) (Product Development)
July 8, 1996... Netscape Communications Corp. is readying a major new offensive in the Web browser wars, and the company is arming Navigator for groupware development. While the Mountain View, Calif.-based company is finalizing Navigator 3.0, a parallel...

Mathematica 3.0 to get new interface, functions. (Wolfram Research's technical computing environment)(Product Announcement)
July 8, 1996... Wolfram Research Inc. will shortly release Mathematica 3.0, the first major revision of the technical computing environment in three years. Version 3.0 of the cross-platform software will boast a major overhaul of the interface, expanded...

Mariner on course for productivity market. (Mariner Software's Mariner Write word processor)(Product Announcement)
July 8, 1996... Word processor slated for August Just when Microsoft Corp. and Claris Corp. thought they had sewn up the Mac productivity-software market in the United States, a new competitor from Japan comes to challenge their domination. Mariner Software...

ARA Version 2.1 update available online for real. (Apple delayed Apple Remote Access 2.1 remote access software) (Product Information)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Apple last month delayed the online availability of Version 2.1 of Apple Remote Access, citing what it called an "engineering resources" problem. The company said the free update should be available through most of Apple's online software...

Adobe hands off Fetch; Extensis to lower price. (Extensis to develop, market and support Adobe Systems' Fetch multimedia database) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Ending months of speculation about the future of Fetch, Adobe Systems Inc. last week tossed its multimedia database over the fence to Extensis Corp. While both companies declined to disclose details of the deal, Portland, Ore.-based Extensis...

STF flying high after Pleiades acquisition. (STF Technologies acquires Pleiades Research) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... STF Technologies Inc. last week acquired Pleiades Research Corp., a maker of voice- mail software. Blue Springs, Mo.-based STF, a developer of Mac fax software, said it would integrate Pleiades technology into STF products. W. Rick Wyand, STF...

FWB retools storage utility. (FWB Hard Disk ToolKit 2.0 hard disk utility)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... FWB Inc. recently dressed up its popular hard disk utility with a new streamlined interface, automatic functions and support for Enhanced IDE drives. The company also released an update to its CD-ROM driver package. Version 2.0 of FWB's...

Apple's ads target key businesses. (four-part business advertising campaign) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Apple will soon release the next two pieces of its current business advertising campaign. The multimillion-dollar four-part campaign, designed by the Los Angeles ad agency BBDO West, began in early June and targets Apple's four key business...

Microsoft, Apple to 'empower' users. (Microsoft Empowerment Pack collection of Microsoft and Apple utilities) (includes related article on Microsoft's Internet add-ons)(Product Announcement)
July 8, 1996... Empowerment Pack includes Internet tools "Apple and Microsoft don't often show up in the same room without a judge," said Dave Meltzer, Microsoft Corp.'s group product manager for Macintosh applications. Yet Meltzer and Jim Gable, Apple's vice...

System 7.5.3 hits retail shelves. (Apple's operating system)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Apple last week released the retail version of System 7.5.3, the latest version of the Mac OS. Apple said the package, which is distributed by Claris Corp., carries an estimated street price of $99. System 7.5.3 rolls into one release...

B.C. Software's Final Draft 4.0 fades in. (script writing program)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... B.C. Software Inc. is now shipping the latest installment of its Final Draft script writing program. The $249 specialized word processing application assists film, stage and television scriptwriters in keeping tabs on such story elements as...

MacHack's new wish list. (conference attendees outline needed enhancements to Mac platform) (Technology Information)
July 8, 1996... Dearborn, Mich. -- Attendees of this year's MacHack conference again produced a list of what they consider to be significant issues and concerns about the Mac platform. The 11th-annual MacHack, billed as a technical conference for leading-edge...

Tahoe climbs higher. (Pinnacle Micro's Tahoe 640 portable 3.5-inch and Vertex 5.25-inch magneto-optical drives)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Users on the go can look forward to Pinnacle Micro Inc.'s Tahoe 640, a portable 3.5-inch magneto-optical drive with a 640-Mbyte capacity. The first drive of its kind announced for the U.S. market, it is expected in the third quarter. The...

Extreme storage. (Mediastore's Extreme drive)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Mediastore of Orange, Calif., recently shipped its Extreme drive, which combines Iomega Jaz and CD-Recordable mechanisms. Aimed at backup and authoring applications, Extreme costs $1,299 with a Yamaha double-speed read-write CD-R 100 mechanism; a...

APS cuts CD-R costs. (APS Technologies cuts price of APS CD-R) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... APS Technologies Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., recently cut the price of its APS CD-R system by more than $200. The recorder, now $599.95, reads and writes at double speed. It comes with CharisMac Engineering Inc.'s Discribe 1.0 mastering software...

PD jukeboxes. (Panasonic Computer Peripheral's LF-J100A, LF-J50A PD/CD-ROM Libraries)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Panasonic Computer Peripheral Co. of Secaucus, N.J., this month will ship PD/CD-ROM Libraries, a new line of autochangers with Phase-change Dual drives. The drives can read CD-ROMs at quadruple speed and rewritable PD optical discs housed in...

Put another MO in the jukebox, baby. (Maxoptix's MX-52XT jukebox)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Maxoptix Corp. recently shipped new jukeboxes based on 2.6-Gbyte 5.25-inch magneto-optical drives. The MX family comes in capacities from 52 to 670 Gbytes, starting with the 20-slot 52XT model at $5,995. The top-of-the-line 258-slot model uses...

Apple stock sinks to 10-year low. (Company Financial Information)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Apple's stock price dropped to its lowest in a decade the last week of June. The price of Apple's stock, which has dropped steadily since last fall, when it hovered above $40 per share, hit $19.88 June 26, its lowest since Nov. 24, 1986, when...

Vendors write lower prices for CD-R drives. (Plasmon Data's Afterburner 4240 CD-Recordable drive, Smart and Friendly's CD-R 1002 Toast)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Two vendors have turned up the heat in the CD-Recordable market with new drives and lower prices. > Plasmon Data Inc. this week will release Afterburner 4240, which will cost $699 and $769 for internal and external models, respectively. The...

Adaptec readies Remus redux. (Remus 1.4, Remus Lite 1.4 RAID software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Adaptec Inc. will unveil the latest iterations of its Remus and Remus Lite RAID software at August's Macworld Expo in Boston. The free update will fix bugs, let users create larger arrays and improve support for high-performance RAID systems....

Gentia 3.0 gains new OLAP server. (Planning Sciences' high-end suite of database analysis tools)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Planning Sciences Inc. last month shipped an update to Gentia, its high-end suite of client-server software. With Gentia's cross-platform database-analysis tools, developers can set up an OLAP (online analytical processing) system, allowing...

NiMH battery for PBs lasts 30 percent longer. (Battery Technology's MC-4000 nickel-metal hydride battery for PowerBook 100 systems)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Battery Technology Inc. shipped at the end of June the MC-4000, a nickel-metal-hydride battery for the PowerBook 100 series. The $119.95 battery will last 30 percent longer than the nickel-cadmium batteries that come standard in those...

Radius hits a double. (VideoVision PCI and Radius Edit 2.0 digital-video products)(Product Announcement)
July 8, 1996... Ships PCI card, video-app update While weathering bad fortune in recent months over its failed clone business, Radius has been hard at work on its two key digital-video products, VideoVision PCI and Radius Edit 2.0. The hardware-software...

Microsoft and Apple: no media integration. (Apple and Microsoft not integrating Apple's QuickTime 2.5 and Microsoft's ActiveMovie multimedia technologies) (Product Development)
July 8, 1996... But detente may spur new talks Apple and Microsoft Corp. moved to quell rumors that they are integrating their multimedia efforts. The two companies told MacWEEK that they are hard at work refining their own disparate interactive media...

MovieWorks sequel runs faster, does video. (Interactive Solutions' MovieWorks Interactive 3.0 multimedia-authoring software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Interactive Solutions Inc. in June delivered a sequel to Movie-Works, the company's low-cost, QuickTime-based suite of multimedia-authoring software. MovieWorks Interactive 3.0, priced at $129.95, is Power Mac-native, allowing it to run up to...

OptiCal makes screen debut. (The Color Partnership's OptiCal monitor-calibration system)(Product Announcement)
July 8, 1996... Mac users with an eye for color accuracy can now look to OptiCal, a new monitor-calibration system from The Color Partnership that shipped last week. The complete OptiCal package comprises software as well as the OptiMate Monitor Sensor, a...

HoloDozo adds texture to 3-D. (M.M.M. Software's set of Adobe Photoshop 3-D plug-ins)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... German developer M.M.M Software takes 3-D very seriously. Last week the company released HoloDozo, a $149.99 set of 28 Adobe Photoshop plug-ins that map textures onto different 3-D shapes. The software uses Apple's QuickDraw 3D technology...

DTI plug-in puts the squeeze on ad scans. (Digital Technology's AdCompress Adobe Photoshop plug-in application)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Mac-based publishers who want to get a handle on camera-ready ads and line art can tap into a new Adobe Photoshop plug-in package from Digital Technology International Inc. AdCompress, priced at $995, comprises Acquire and Export modules that...

Mac gear hits Viscomm.(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Digital imaging may be all the rage, but at June's Viscomm West '96 exposition in San Francisco, traditional film-based cameras were still in the foreground. Mac-based show goers looking for new digital developments found several new items,...

Xtras get handle on EPS files. (TechPool Software's PS RIPLink interpreter, PS EditLink interpreter)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... TechPool Software Inc. recently released two Macromedia Xtra plug-ins for importing EPS and PostScript files. PS RIPLink, which shipped in June for $99, is a PostScript Level 2 interpreter that lets users of Macromedia Inc.'s XRes image-editing...

Adobe revenue up, net down. (Adobe Systems) (Company Financial Information)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Adobe Systems Inc.'s revenues rose for its second quarter of fiscal 1996, but profits dipped compared with the same quarter a year ago. According to the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, total revenues for the quarter ended May 31 were...

LCD hardware extends range. (LCD projectors and panels)(Product Announcement)
July 8, 1996... The latest batch of LCD projectors and panels, most introduced in June, is shedding new light on the Mac-based presentation market. All the products support Mac and Intel-standard PC signals and include remote controls. > Polaroid Corp. of...

Sonic readies integrated Net servers. (Sonic Systems creating Internet servers) (Company Business and Marketing)
July 8, 1996... Sonic Systems Inc. will hop aboard the crowded Internet train next week at Mactivity '96 in San Jose, Calif., where it will unveil a family of integrated Internet servers. The product line will debut with FTP; Dynamic Host Configuration...

Web editing is DTP of the '90s; WYSIWYG HTML promise unfulfilled. (WYSIWYG HTML tools are not flexible enough) (Technology Information)
July 8, 1996... A band of HTML editors has recently marched into the Mac market, and several more players are warming up to join the parade. But the new offerings don't impress professional Web page designers, who say the current WYSIWYG tools lack the...

New design freedoms in HTML 3.2. (World Wide Web Consortium's new version of the Hypertext Markup Language) (Web Editing is DTP of the '90s) (Technology Information)
July 8, 1996... The World Wide Web Consortium recently announced HTML Version 3.2, which adds a collection of popular Web page tags, including those for tables, attaching Java applets and designating colors by name rather than hexadecimal number. Yet the new...

Farallon ships combo PC Card. (Farallon Communications's EtherMac LAN Modem PC Card)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Farallon Communications Inc. last week began offering PowerBook users one more item for their PC Card slots. The company shipped the EtherMac LAN/Modem PC Card, a Type II PC Card that combines a 28.8-Kbps modem with 14.4-Kbps fax transmission...

Miramar to put Mac files on Win 95. (Miramar Systems' PC Maclan 6.0 resource sharing software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Users of Microsoft Windows 95 will become full citizens of Mac-centric networks this month when Miramar Systems Inc. ships PC Maclan 6.0. Previously called Personal Maclan Connect, this $199 Windows application lets Intel-standard PCs access...

Dendera to add a P to HTML editing. (Dendera Software's P HTML editor) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... A small California company is cooking up plans to add a new ingredient to the bubbling HTML editing stew pot. The newest item on the menu, called simply P by its developer, Dendera Software, will be a graphical HTML editor offering support for...

Retrieve It! fetches Net text. (MVP Solutions' Retrieve It! 2.5 text-search utility)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Uses Web servicesto search on Internet MVP Solutions will join the Internet pack in August when it releases Retrieve It! 2.5, the latest version of the company's text-search utility. On top of Retrieve It!'s existing capabilities to do...

AppWare becomes Microbrew, Net development environment. (Network Multimedia's Microbrew Internet development environment)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... AppWare, the well-traveled, cross-platform application-development environment that Network Multimedia Inc. acquired earlier this year from Novell Inc. of Provo, Utah, has been renamed and repositioned as an Internet development environment....

Castelle unveils Mac fax client. (Macintosh FaxPress Software Option Mac client for FaxPress fax servers)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 8, 1996... Castelle Inc. this summer hopes to make Mac users in corporate environments full citizens in the world of client-server faxing. Castelle in August will ship the Macintosh FaxPress Software Option, a Mac client that works with the company's...

New Fast Ethernet switches, module. (PlainTree Systems' WaveSwitch 4205 Fast Ethernet switch, TX P8 Fast Ethernet Bridge Repeater)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... PlainTree Systems Inc. this month will ship a new line of Fast Ethernet switches and a Fast Ethernet repeater module for two of its existing switching chassis. The WaveSwitch 4205 will be available with five 100BASE TX or 100BASE FX...

CE, Diamond face Q2 losses. (CE Software, Diamond Multimedia Systems) (Company Financial Information)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Two Mac networking vendors last month said they expect to post lower earnings in the second quarter. In June, CE Software Inc. swapped CEOs and announced a one-time charge for the current fiscal quarter. CE, a West Des Moines, Iowa, company...

Network traffic. (News Briefs)
July 8, 1996... > Oracle servers to be on AIX > Internet Phone 4.0 is shipping Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., is working with Apple to certify the Oracle database server family for use with the AIX-based Apple Network Servers. The Workgroup and...

Milum's WebCruiser to help catalog sites. (Web browser)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Trying to categorize the vast number of Web sites out there is enough to give anyone the shudders, yet Milum Corp. is giving it a try with WebCruiser. Priced at $49.95 and due in August, WebCruiser will serve as a local directory of Web sites....

A glorious heresy.(Editorial)
July 8, 1996... When newly appointed Apple Chief Operating Officer Marco Landi stepped into a room full of reporters at PC Expo in New York last month, he entered alone. Nothing unusual in this for mere mortals like us. But at Apple, where history dictates that...

AppleScript has a role but not on the Frontier. (third-party Frontier scripting language better than AppleScript, illustrates problems with Apple third-party developer relations)(The Second Decade) (Product Information)(Column)
July 8, 1996... AppleScript is by no means the only instance in which Apple has stepped into territory already staked out by third-party developers, but it's one where the lines are drawn with particular clarity. That's largely because the principal third...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
July 8, 1996... Worrying about MMX Henry Norr's column "PPC doesn't need MMX" (06.17.96, Page 26) is the first one I've read that really scares me. I barely considered going to Wintel for this new MMX computer system. I bought a PowerCenter 132 from Power...

Apple needs a lesson in Customer Service 101.(The Mac Manager) (Company Business and Marketing)(Column)
July 8, 1996... I think Apple CEO Gilbert Amelio has it right. If the company's recovery goes according to plan, we'll all look back and wonder, "What was all the fuss about?" But that's also the rub, isn't it? What if the recovery doesn't go according to...

Apple Workgroup Servers deliver improved value. (Apple Workgroup Server 8550/132, 7250/120) (includes related article on bundled with software with Workgroup Servers) (Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
July 8, 1996... Score card: Key: 5 Excellent 4 Very good 3 Good 2 Fair 1 Unsatisfactory WS 8550/132 3 (Good) Apple price: $6,879 Hits: Improved performance; simple to set up and keep up; excellent bundled...

MovieFlo' 2.0.2 warps video with fluid dynamics. (Valis Group's digital video software) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
July 8, 1996... Score card: MovieFlo' 2.0.2 Rating: 4 (Very good) The Valis Group List price: $699* Hits: Generates high-quality image distortions; "hot links" to Adobe Photoshop; excellent selection of tools and masking capabilities....

FrameMaker-to-HTML conversion flexible, slow in WebMaker 2.2. (Harlequin's utility) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
July 8, 1996... WebMaker 2.2 Rating: 3 (Good) Users of Adobe Systems Inc.'s FrameMaker who need to turn long documents into multipage Web sites will find a friend in WebMaker 2.2, a FrameMaker-to-HTML utility from Harlequin Inc. The $99 program...

PaperPort Vx SCSI adapter. (Visioneer's PaperPort Vx SCSI adpater for the scanner- and document-management system) (Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
July 8, 1996... The biggest drawback to the $299 PaperPort Vx, Visioneer Inc.'s second Mac incarnation of its scanner- and document-management system, is its frustrating reliance on a serial-port connection. But we're in luck: The long-promised SCSI adapter for...

PageMaker 6.0.1 update. (Adobe Systems' DTP software) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
July 8, 1996... Many observers characterized Adobe PageMaker 6.0 as the least-polished PageMaker release ever. Version 6.0.1, which is available now free to registered users, should go a long way toward dispelling that perception. For the most part, the...

Interruptions are source of glitches with serial ports. (Macintosh serial ports)(MacInTouch) (Product Information)(Column)
July 8, 1996... Macintosh serial ports have always been a little peculiar. Rather than creating distinct networking and serial communication subsystems, the Mac's original designers squeezed the two functions together. The end result was a fast, inexpensive,...

Middleware realizes system for client-server databases. (middleware to help Macintosh clients tap into databases) (includes related article on using data warehousing) (Technology Information)
July 8, 1996... Tools to help Macintosh clients tap into database servers are smoother than ever. But setting up the underlying systems that let users access theinformation -- whether from a desktop platform or a mainframe database -- remains a trouble spot for...

Apple names new R&D leader. (Apple Executive VP of Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer Ellen Hancock) (Company Operations)(Brief Article)
July 8, 1996... Ending months of speculation about who will guide Apple's technology, the company last week named Ellen Hancock executive vice president of research and development and chief technology officer. Hancock, who starts July 8, fills the top R&D...

StockWatch. (News Briefs)(Illustration)
July 8, 1996... 07.02.96 Weekly Close Change Apple 21.00 0.38 MacWEEK Composite* 258.78 10.01 Software Developers Adobe ...

The Knife takes a holiday.(Mac the Knife) (News Briefs)(Column)
July 8, 1996... MacWEEK is racing to press two days early this week, the better to enjoy a long weekend honoring the Glorious Fourth. Meanwhile, everyone's fave gay blade has concocted his own high-tech salute to our nation's independence. Forget those...

Strata and Specular remodel 3-D packages. (Strata Inc's StudioPro 2.0, Specular International Ltd's Infini-D 3.5) (Product Development)
July 15, 1996... Great balls of fire -- there's a whole lot of shading going on in the 3-D world. Two leading developers, Strata Inc. and Specular International Ltd., have each announced major upgrades to their 3-D modeling, rendering and animation packages. Both...

Power to hit 225 MHz. (Power Computing Corp's PowerTower Pro 180, 200 and 225 models)(Product Announcement)
July 15, 1996... With a hop, skip and a jump, Power Computing Corp. next week will race for the gold in desktop performance. Sources said the company will introduce the PowerTower Pro line, a trio of high-end systems. These include one machine with a 225-MHz...

Symantec C++ effort shrinks. (will concentrate on Java platform) (Company Operations)
July 15, 1996... After a disappointing quarter, Symantec Corp. is cutting back operations and reportedly pruning its C and C++ development teams to focus on Java. The company said last week that revenues for the first fiscal quarter of 1997, ended June 28,...

ResNova Net servers aim to eclipse WebStar. (ResNova Software Inc's Boulevard and PWS available)(Product Announcement)
July 15, 1996... BBS vendor ResNova Software Inc. is moving into the stand-alone Web server market by taking a few pages from the market leader's playbook. ResNova last week announced an August ship date for two Mac-based Web servers that will work with...

DOS boards not quite best of both worlds. (Apple's Power Mac 7200/120 PC Compatible and PC Compatibility Card) (Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
July 15, 1996... Score card: Power Mac 7200/120 PC Compatible Rating: 4 (Very good) Apple price: $2,799* Hits: Surprisingly well integrated Pentium system; nicely preconfigured. Misses: Performance not as good as a dedicated PC system; doesn't...

Data Translation lowers price of Media 100 qx. (Data Translation Inc's video capture boards) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... The Multimedia Group of Data Translation Inc. has fired off another salvo in the digital video-editing battle by lowering the price of its Media 100 qx system. The company dropped the price on its S-video version by $1,000 to $4,995. A board...

WebStar 1.3 ships, support for server plug-ins added. (Internet/Web server software from Quarterdeck Corp)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Quarterdeck Corp. last week shipped Version 1.3 of WebStar, a free update that adds support for server plug-ins. The new version implements the WebStar API, which is designed to replace CGIs (Common Gateway Interfaces) with plug-ins that share...

HP software lets users control printer from Web. (HP's JetAdmin for the Intranet)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Hewlett-Packard Co. of Palo Alto, Calif., this fall expects to release software for printing over the Internet. Called in the interim JetAdmin for the Intranet, the free software will let users control HP printers from a Web browser, the...

Nisus Writer to become an OpenDoc container. (improved word processing software from Nisus Software Inc)(Product Announcement)
July 15, 1996... Nisus Software Inc. said it plans to take the wraps off the next version of Nisus Writer at August's Macworld Expo in Boston. Among the additions to the word processing software will be OpenDoc capabilities. Nisus said it plans to turn the...

Iomega cuts Jaz prices, rolls out card. (prices cut on Iomega Jaz removable cartridge drives, Iomega Jaz JetFast SCSI-2 adapter introduced)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Carrying its tune to the mass market, Iomega Corp. this month released branded Jaz drives into the distribution channel, cut prices and introduced a low-cost SCSI accelerator card. The company said it expects street prices of $499 and $399,...

Organizer scheduled for August update. (upgrade from Claris Corp) (Product Development)
July 15, 1996... Claris Corp. has penciled in August's Macworld Expo in Boston to unveil the next version of its Organizer personal information manager. Claris said the update, Version 2.0, will ship by the end of August and gain Internet capabilities and links...

Mac market in slump. (Industry Trend or Event)
July 15, 1996... Sales of Macintosh software and hardware are significantly down this year, according to two recent surveys. Hardware sales plummeted in the spring, according to a year-on-year review from Computer Intelligence InfoCorp. And despite growth in...

Mac app models molecules. (Wave Function Inc's MacSpartan)(Product Announcement)
July 15, 1996... Wavefunction Inc. is shipping MacSpartan, a new, native Power Mac version of its molecular-modeling package that previously was available only for workstations and mainframes. Aimed at research chemists and teachers, the software, which costs...

For the record.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
July 15, 1996... The 07.08.96 story about Mathematica 3.0 (Page 1) incorrectly identified David Wagner, president of Principia Consulting, as David Warner.

Apple plays up to game developers. (introduces Game Sprockets API)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Just before Fourth of July, Apple fired off Version 1.0 of the Game Sprockets software developers kit, a new suite of APIs that Apple said provides access to features such as sound and speech recognition. The SDK contains the NetSprocket API for...

Metrowerks manages source code. (upgrades CodeManager)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Metrowerks Inc. of Austin, Texas, this month shipped an update to CodeManager, its cross-platform source-code management software. CodeManager is based on Microsoft Corp.'s Visual SourceSafe version-control software, and the update includes...

Developer cornucopia. (Xplain Corp's MacTech CD)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Xplain Corp. of Westlake Village, Calif., publisher of MacTech magazine, is offering the latest edition of its MacTech CD, chockablock full of articles, source code and development-related utilities. The CD, which costs $49 plus shipping and...

Transoft to speed file sharing. (Transoft Corp's StudioBoss FC)(Product Announcement)
July 15, 1996... Transoft Corp. will release its high-speed StudioBoss FC network system at August's Siggraph 96 conference in New Orleans. The company will also offer high-performance RAID systems. Aimed at pre-press, video editing, animation and graphics...

Diver data-analysis tool gets update. (Dimensional Insight Inc's Cross Target upgraded)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Dimensional Insight Inc. kicked off summer by sprucing up its CrossTarget family of cross-platform data-analysis and reporting tools. According to the company, the update includes a new version of CrossTarget's Diver tool, which lets users...

UserLand links Frontier to BBEdit text editor. (ODB Text Editor)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... UserLand Software Inc. released a freeware tool in June, its ODB Text Editor, that lets developers use the text editor BBEdit from Bare Bones Software Inc. of Bedford, Mass., to edit text stored in the object database in UserLand's free...

Magna powers up. (releases Empower 5.0.5 and Empower Professional 5.0.5)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Magna of Campbell, Calif., has added some muscle and a new look to its security software packages, Empower and Empower Professional. The new versions, both 5.0.5, feature a simpler user interface, multilevel access controls, PCI Mac compatibility...

TransferPro speaks Mac. (Digital Instrumentation Technology Inc's file transfer software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... Digital Instrumentation Technology Inc.'s new file transfer utility allows users to read and write Mac files on Intel-standard PCs. TransferPro for Windows 95 can handle Mac disks from 1 Gbyte to 4 Gbytes per partition, as well as the 2-terabyte...

Comment keeper. (Commentator from Omicron Software Systems Inc)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
July 15, 1996... A new utility from Omicron Software Systems Inc. of New Providence, N.J., keeps tabs on Finder Get Info comments for users who haven't upgraded to System 7.5.3. Commentator scans a disk volume and compiles a text file containing Get Info...