MacWEEK articles from November 1996

MacWEEK archives from November 1996

Apple maps '97 merger of Mac OS 8 and BeOS. (Be) (Product Development)
November 4, 1996... High-level talks with Be heat up. Apple and Be Inc. were at the bargaining table last week, hashing out a deal that could bring the small, Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's OS into Apple's fold. Sources said that while terms of a company or...

Where are the PB clones? License limits curb laptops. (clone makers do not have portable licensing design for Apple PowerBook notebooks) (Product Information)
November 4, 1996... While users are ready and willing to buy Mac OS laptops from clone manufacturers, Apple has not provided its clone partners with a portable licensing design. In fact, the company said, it may not do so before PowerPC Platform systems ship....

ClarisWorks 5.0 delayed, suite is due next summer. (productivity suite) (Product Information)
November 4, 1996... It's going to be a blue Christmas for those awaiting a ClarisWorks update. ClarisWorks 5.0, the OpenDoc container version of the productivity suite originally scheduled to ship by year-end, has been delayed six months, said Claris Corp....

De Luca reveals Internet route for Claris apps. (Web features to be enhanced across products) (Company Business and Marketing)
November 4, 1996... "The Internet is the third platform," said Claris Corp. President Guerrino De Luca, who last week heralded a new direction for the company's products. While keeping its eyes on cross-platform software for the Mac and Windows, the Apple subsidiary...

UMAX SuperMac C600/240 performance stands out. (UMAX Computer's Pentium-based Mac clone) (Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
November 4, 1996... Score card SuperMac C600/240 5 Diamonds (Excellent) UMAX Computer Corp. Estimated street price: $2,295 Hits: Excellent performance; good price; good hardware bundle; upgradable processor and cache; fast hard drive. Misses:...

QMS to unveil its first two dye-sublimation printers. (ColorScript 460, 480)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... QMS Inc. this week will debut its first two dye-sublimation printers and unveil a new business unit aimed at graphics professionals. The ColorScript 460 is slated to ship this week for $7,999; it will be replaced in January by the $9,999...

Symantec posts Q2 gain in net income, revenue. (Company Financial Information) (Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Symantec Corp. announced it had a net income of $882,000 on revenues of $109.2 million for its second quarter ended Sept. 30. For the same three-month fiscal period in 1995, the Cupertino, Calif., company reported revenues of $108.5 million with...

CE Software spins out new Internet affiliate. (CE Software Holding announces Net Target Internet software company) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... CE Software Holdings Inc., the West Des Moines, Iowa, parent company of CE Software Inc., last week announced Net Target, an Internet software company. San Francisco-based Net Target is headed by Ford Goodman, the former CEO of CE Software,...

Mac slides in Q3 share. (Apple's share of US and worldwide computer markets) (Company Business and Marketing)
November 4, 1996... Clone makers contribute little Apple's share of the U.S. and worldwide computer markets dropped during the third calendar quarter, according to market-analysis companies Dataquest Inc. and International Data Corp. Dataquest of San Jose,...

Nisus Writer 5 to be OpenDoc container. (Nisus Software introduces word processor)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Nisus Software Inc. plans to ship this week the OpenDoc version of its flagship Nisus Writer word processor. The application is among the first to take advantage of OpenDoc, a technology that lets users embed components that perform specific...

Sharp laser prints 40 ppm. (Sharp Electronics' AO-4100P laser printer)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Sharp Electronics Corp. took a dive into the network printer pool at the end of October when it released a 40-page-per-minute laser printer. The $27,995 AO-4100P is a cross-platform, duplex printer that boasts a 300,000-page-per-month duty...

Oracle Power Objects 2.0 goes native. (client/server development tool)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Oracle Corp. said it shipped at the end of last week Version 2.0 of its Power Objects client-server development tool. With the upgrade, the tool runs native on Power Macs, Oracle said (see 09.23.96, Page 4). The initial Power Objects was...

Tactician revs business tools. (Tactician Standard, Button, Micro-Marketing Machine, Selling Machine, Heavy Duty marketing, sales and business-planning suites for visualizing, analyzing data now available on Power Mac)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Tactician Corp. is now shipping Power Mac versions of its sales, marketing and business-planning suites for analyzing and visualizing data. The new versions of Tactician's five main products run as much as four times faster, Tactician said....

Aladdin app tidies disks. (Aladdin Systems' Spring Cleaning utility suite)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Spring Cleaning rids the unwanted Aladdin Systems Inc. this week plans to ship Spring Cleaning, its utility suite that helps users sweep out unwanted files from their hard drives. The $69.95 software is based on The Excelsior Group's...

Portable CD-ROM drive to include 3-D sound. (Panasonic Computer Peripheral's KXL-783M CD-ROM drive includes built-in speakers)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Panasonic Computer Peripheral Co. said it plans to unveil at this month's Comdex/Fall '96 in Las Vegas a CD-ROM drive that can do double duty. The $499 KXL-783M will act as an 8x CD-ROM drive and a stand-alone CD player, thanks to its built-in...

For the record.(Correction Notice)
November 4, 1996... A chart in the 10.28.96 issue comparing Intel-standard PCs and Macs (Page 4) should have shown that the Dell Dimension XPS Pro200n contains a 200-MHz Pentium Pro processor. An article in the 10.21.96 issue (Page 1) overstated the amount of...

CD-Speedster to give CDs a boost. (Syncronys Softcorp's CD-Speedster caching driver)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Syncronys Softcorp plans to ship late this month what it calls a speedy optimized caching driver for CD-ROM volumes. CD-Speedster, to be priced at $39.95, will combine a full driver utility (comparable to FWB Software LLC's CD-ROM ToolKit,...

Sony refreshes monitor line. (Sony Electronics' Multiscan CPD-200sx 17-inch monitor)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Sony Electronics Inc. is now shipping a new 17-inch display and has updated four monitors from its lower-end Multiscan sx line and midrange Multiscan sf line. Aimed at general users, Sony's new $700 Multiscan CPD-200sx is a 17-inch monitor...

Visigenic preps Mac version of ODBC SDK 3. (Visigenic Software's Open Database Connectivity for Macintosh 3.0)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Visigenic Software Inc. said it plans to bring to the Mac Version 3.0 of its Open Database Connectivity software developers kit. Open Database Connectivity, or ODBC, is Microsoft Corp.'s standard for managing connections between client...

Pinnacle readies Apex. (Pinnacle Micro's Apex MO drive)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Pinnacle Micro Inc. last week said it is in pilot production of Apex, its 4.6-Gbyte magneto-optical drive that was first slated to ship a year ago and then delayed because of manufacturing difficulties (see 05.20.96, Page 6, and 08.07.95, Page...

Xerox to unveil 30-ppm printer. (DocuPrint 4232, 4512 laser printers)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Xerox Corp. this week is slated to pick up the pace of its workgroup laser line when it unveils the DocuPrint 4232, a new 30-page-per-minute printer. The company is also scheduled to roll out the DocuPrint 4512, an inexpensive 12-ppm model...

IBM on track for short run. (IBM's InfoPrint Operations for Macintosh client software, InfoColor 70, InfoPrint 4000, InfoPrint 60 output devices)(Product Announcement)
November 4, 1996... Mac print client app in the works IBM Corp. is making moves toward the Mac in the short-run printing market with forthcoming software and a new line of heavy-duty output devices. The company in October announced plans to release a Macintosh...

IsoDraw 4.0 will draw on interactivity. (technical illustration application)(Product Announcement)
November 4, 1996... In no mood for dawdling, The IsoDraw Co. will follow September's Version 3.5 update to its technical-illustration application with another revision in December. In addition to a price jump of $600, the vector-based IsoDraw 4.0 will take on an...

SuperCard to deal Internet authoring. (Allegiant Technologies' SuperCard 3.0 multimedia authoring software)(Product Announcement)
November 4, 1996... Allegiant Technologies Inc. has a new SuperCard up its sleeve -- and at half the price of the current version. Due in December for $329, SuperCard 3.0 will sport a simplified interface, Internet authoring and several new features. The current...

Invision tunes CyberSound VS synthesizer. (Invision Interactive's CyberSound VS 2.0)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Invision Interactive Inc. this week announced Version 2.0 of its software-based synthesizer, CyberSound VS. Version 2.0 will have a lower price and a redesigned interface when it ships later this month. Like its progenitor (see 12.11.95, Page...

ATI delivers multifunction Xclaim VR accelerator card. (ATI Technologies' Xclaim VR, Xclaim 3D graphics accelerator cards)(Product Announcement)
November 4, 1996... ATI Technologies Inc. this week is slated to ship its omnibus PCI graphics accelerator board. The Xclaim VR, a 4-Mbyte all-in-one card priced at $349, offers QuickDraw 2D and 3D acceleration, QuickTime movie capture and accelerated playback,...

Leaf takes shot at video. (Leaf Systems' DCB II Live digital camera back)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Camera back previews 4 fps At last week's Viscomm 96 conference in New York, Leaf Systems Inc. shipped the DCB II Live, a new digital camera back that displays live video previews on a computer screen. Based upon the company's existing DCB...

Sony readies 24-inch wide-screen monitor. (Sony Electronics' GDM-W900 24-inch wide-screen monitor) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Sony Electronics Inc. will stretch monitors sideways early next year with the release of a 24-inch wide-screen monitor. With a 22.5-inch diagonal viewing area, the GDM-W900 will be capable of displaying two 8.5-by-11-inch pages side by side,...

Insider, Rascal rev font apps. (Insider Software's Font Box 2.0, Rascal Software's Font Sneak 2.3 font utilities)(Product Announcement)
November 4, 1996... Font wranglers Insider Software Inc. and Rascal Software recently updated their font utilities. > Insider Software is shipping Version 2.0 of Font Box, the company's software for reorganizing, consolidating, matching and repairing fonts....

3-D package stakes claim in Mac landscape. (Books That Work's 3D Landscape 2.0 available for Power Macintosh)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Books That Work last month broke new ground with a Power Mac version of 3D Landscape, the company's landscape design and visualization tool. Available now for an estimated street price of $60, 3D Landscape 2.0 for the Macintosh marks the...

X-Rite tool checks color on press. (Auto-tracking Spectrophotometer turnkey color-measurement system)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... X-Rite Inc. is promising to take some of the guesswork out of color printing with a turnkey color-measurement system designed for color presses. X-Rite's Auto-tracking Spectrophotometer is a device that attaches to the press and measures the...

Diehl Graphsoft Q1 profits soar. (Company Financial Information)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Diehl Graphsoft Inc., developer of MiniCad, reported that first-quarter profits in fiscal 1997 ended Aug. 31 were almost triple the amount received in the same period last year. Profits at the Columbia, Md.-based company rose to $352,977 for...

Tropix plays jukebox. (Alaras' Tropix Archiver multimedia cataloging software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Alaras Corp. in October announced a software upgrade that extends the storage options available to users of Tropix, the company's multimedia cataloging software. Alaras Tropix Archiver, which costs $10,000 to $80,000, depending on the number...

Terminals to hit Web browsers. (White Pine Software's WebTerm Toolbox Navigator plug-in)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... White Pine to ship WebTerm plug-in White Pine Software Inc. is merging the graphical face of the Web with the character-based terminal interfaces of yesteryear. The company said it expects to ship this month a Netscape Navigator plug-in that...

Thursby puts Mac clients on NT nets. (Thursby Software Systems' DAVE)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... There's a whole world of Windows servers out there, and Thursby Software Systems Inc. wants to link your Macs to them. The company said it expects to ship by the end of this month Mac client software that implements file and print server...

FirstClass takes data offline in Version 3.5. (SoftArc's FirstClass 3.5 e-mail/conferencing software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... SoftArc Inc. in October rolled out Version 3.5 of FirstClass, the company's e-mail and conferencing software. Available now, the update lets users work offline and add third-party plug-ins. The offline capability is provided by a replication...

IMC boosts Java applet tool. (Interactive Media's ActionLine 1.1 Java multimedia authoring tool)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Interactive Media Corp. last month rolled out its latest version of ActionLine, a Java multimedia authoring tool. With ActionLine, users can employ a graphical scripting interface to create Sun Java applets containing interactive graphics and...

MacRadius secures remote servers. (Cyno Technologies' MacRadius 1.0.1 authentication server application)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Security company Cyno Technologies Inc. late last month shipped the first Mac-based authentication server based on the RADIUS protocol. MacRadius 1.0.1, available now, is Cyno's application for centralizing account information about dial-in...

Xtra ties Director to Web. (Human Code's XtraNet published by G/matter for Macromedia Director)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... G/matter plug-in links multimedia Users of Macromedia Director who want to link their creations to the Internet got some extra help in October. Human Code Inc. of Austin, Texas, has developed an Xtra plug-in for Director 5.0 called XtraNet,...

Zoom to close Tribe after slim Q3 profit. (Zoom Telephonics to close Tribe Computer Works) (Company Operations)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... On the heels of disappointing quarterly results, Zoom Telephonics Inc. in October announced plans to close recently acquired Tribe Computer Works. For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, Zoom of Boston posted a profit of $253,000 on revenue of...

Conferencing box to stand alone. (RSI Systems' Video Flyer stand-alone desktop videoconferencing peripheral)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... By tying together three ISDN lines, users of RSI Systems Inc.'s Video Flyer will experience broadcast-quality video in Mac-based desktop videoconferencing. RSI last week introduced Video Flyer, a stand-alone peripheral that will plug into a...

MailDoor to sort e-mail. (Open Door Networks' beta of MailDoor to provide easier access to multiple domains)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 4, 1996... A new software tool due in December will offer administrators easier entry to multiple domains. Open Door Networks Inc. this week will release a beta version of MailDoor 1.0, the company's add-on for the Apple Internet Mail Server (AIMS)....

FrameMaker Web tool. (Quadralay's WebWorks Publisher 3.0 tool converts FrameMaker variables to HTML)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Converts graphics and text to HTML Adobe FrameMaker users last month gained another method for converting documents to HTML. Quadralay Corp. released WebWorks Publisher 3.0, a $895 tool that works with FrameMaker from Adobe Systems Inc. of...

mBed beta tool sings. (mBed Software's mBed 1.0b5 multimedia plug-in for Navigator)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... The latest beta version of mBed Software Inc.'s multimedia plug-in, Version 1.0b5, has been posted on the company's Web site. The Netscape Navigator plug-in, which allows users to view dynamic multimedia elements on Web pages, now enables...

New clients for Faxcom. (Biscom's Faxcom for LAN, Faxcom for cc:Mail Mac clients for client/server fax systems)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Biscom Inc. in October rolled out two new Mac clients for its client-server fax system. The company delivered Faxcom for LAN and announced Faxcom for cc:Mail. Faxcom for LAN lets Mac users access Biscom's client-server fax system, which is...

MiniSwitch ships. (Dayna Communications MiniSwitch 8-port Ethernet switch)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Dayna Communications Inc. this week plans to unveil an eight-port Ethernet switch aimed at small workgroups. Expected to ship in mid-December and cost about $820, the DaynaStar MiniSwitch-8 will be compatible with Category 3, 4 and 5 unshielded...

Network traffic. (News Briefs)
November 4, 1996... > Focus unveils 1400 Ethernet card > NetObjects to support HotSauce MCF > Tapestry transformed Joining the flock of products for the new PowerBook 1400 is an Ethernet card from Sudbury, Mass.-based Focus Enhancements Inc. The company in...

Sites just outside fire walls spark security concerns. (includes related article on Netscape's Secure Sockets Layer standard) (Internet Web Online Service Information)
November 4, 1996... Organizations find ways to share intranet-based information. Intranets achieved instant popularity because they offer a relatively low-cost and easy-to-administer route to client-server computing. Yet most organizations find their intranets...

Decision '96.(Editorial)
November 4, 1996... Evidently, an end is at hand to Apple's long period of indecision about its OS future. Having a clearly delineated operating system strategy and timetable is imperative for the company -- and developers and users -- to move forward. There's a...

Multiplying processors key to computing's future. (multiprocessing)(The Second Decade) (Technology Information)(Column)
November 4, 1996... The announcement of Exponential Technology Inc.'s 533-MHz X704 processor was certainly welcome news, but I'm looking forward to the day when progress in personal computing ceases to depend on the development of ever larger, more complex and more...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
November 4, 1996... Needed: Ease of search Both Richard Geimer (10.14.96, Page 19) and Henry Norr (09.30.96, Page 32) have pointed out, quite correctly, some serious problems with Apple's corporate Web site. More serious is the lack of searching capability on...

Move OS ahead and stay compatible in emulation. (Mac OS compatibility an issue in developing new OS)(The Mac Manager) (Product Development)(Column)
November 4, 1996... By now you've certainly read Apple's official update to its developers about the future Mac OS (http://devworld.apple.com/ellenletter.html#appledevelopers). If not, go read it. What I want to focus on here is just one aspect of a future Mac...

Ambitious Canvas 5.0 succeeds most of time. (Deneba Software's illustration application) (includes related article on Canvas output) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 4, 1996... Score card Canvas 5.0 4 Diamonds (Very good) Deneba Software List price: $599* Hits: Does the best job of any illustration program at integrating bit-map editing features; thorough, powerful drawing tools; nice interface...

PowerCADD 3.0 offers low-cost, highly accurate and faster CAD. (Engineered Software) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 4, 1996... Score card PowerCADD 3.0 4 Diamonds (Very good) Engineered Software List price: $795* Hits: New six-place accuracy; fast, floating-point math; tool-rich, yet easy-to-use interface; drag-and-drop floating Symbol palette....

StarNine Personal WebStar: basic, no-frills Web server.(Beta Test) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 4, 1996... As StarNine and ResNova Inc. gear up for the battle of the heavyweight Web servers, the two companies are also going toe-to-toe in a preliminary bout: the championship of the personal Web server division. StarNine's Personal WebStar is slated to...

QuickDNS Pro 1.1 a flexible domain name server for Mac. (Men & Mice) (includes related article on functions of DNSes) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 4, 1996... Score card QuickDNS Pro 1.1 4 Diamonds (Very good) Men & Mice List price: $290* Hits: Excellent performance; secondary name service option; easy to manage; scriptable; Power Mac-native. Misses: Inadequate documentation....

After much testing, OT 1.1.1 is finally out and working. (Open Transport 1.1.1)(MacInTouch) (Product Information)(Column)
November 4, 1996... Upgrading to Open Transport 1.1.1 is a no-brainer. Sure, backing up is still a prerequisite, and some freaky glitch could theoretically pop up, but this seems to be the first good, solid release of Apple's new-generation networking code. A long,...

Newspapers rev sales using automation apps. (newspaper sales personnel benefitting from sales-automation software suites) (Technology Information)
November 4, 1996... PowerBooks and Mac-based sales-automation software suites are putting data at the fingertips of newspaper salespeople, allowing them to use information in new and creative ways. These sales-automation suites are much more than...

Custom portfolio gets the clients. (Design Edge's multimedia portfolio to profile firm's 3-D design abilities) (Technology Information)
November 4, 1996... Design Edge creates the ultimate canned pitch using an array of multimedia tools. To wow high-end clients who've seen it all, you must have a portfolio with a difference. That was the marketing challenge for Design Edge, which presents designs...

Amelio predicts new OS: Apple PR tries spin control. (Apple CEO Gilbert Amelio predicts Apple to introduce new OS in 1998) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Last week at the American Electronics Association conference in Monterey, Calif., Apple CEO Gilbert Amelio reportedly told attendees that in 1998 his company will release a new OS written from scratch. News service accounts reported Amelio saying...

Wall Data kills Mac plans. (to stop AS/400 and terminal emulation products for Mac) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Nearly three years after acquiring them from Apple, Wall Data Inc. last week said it will stop developing terminal-emulation and AS/400-connectivity products for the Mac. Following disappointing quarterly results in October, the Kirkland,...

AOL flattens pricing, rolls out Version 3.0. (America Online) (Internet/Web/Online Service Information)
November 4, 1996... America Online Inc. last week announced a new price plan, reorganized its corporate structure and launched new software for Power Mac users. Subscribers can now pay $19.95 a month for unlimited connection time, AOL said. Customers who pay for...

PB 1400: a mixed bag. (users respond to Apple's new PowerBook 1400 PowerPC-based notebook) (Product Information)
November 4, 1996... Buyers laud CD, screen, slam speed Better reliability, a larger screen and a CD-ROM drive: Users lauded all three elements of Apple's new PowerBook 1400. But the system's less-than-stellar speed and limited initial availability may lead some...

PowerTools to offer do-it-yourself clones. (Infiniti)(Product Announcement)
November 4, 1996... With value-added resellers in mind, PowerTools Corp. in December plans to release a line of stripped-down Mac clones. The company's new Infiniti machines will come with a floppy drive but without the usual RAM, Level 2 cache, hard drive or...

Holiday treat: prices drop on Power Mac, server lines. (Apple cuts prices for Workgroup Servers, all Power Macintoshes) (Product Information)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... Apple last week cut dealer prices on all Power Macintoshes and Workgroup Servers to bring them in line with earlier cuts on Performas. As previously reported, Apple dropped the retail prices of all Power Mac models and various Performas by as...

StockWatch. (News Briefs)(Illustration)
November 4, 1996... 10.31.96 close weekly change Apple 23 -1.75 MacWEEK Composite* 175.19 -1.01 Software Developers Adobe 34.64 ...

Claris page strong on tech support. (Claris' Web page) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... But the popular vendor might want to experiment with selling software on its site Users seek out a software company's Web site primarily for online technical support for products they own or for new product information. Claris excels at...

Cooper-Hewitt Museum. (Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's Web page)(Reader Picks) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 4, 1996... http://mixingmessages.si.edu Unfortunately, I've never been to New York's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, nor seen its current exhibit, Mixing Messages: Graphic Design in Contemporary Culture. The Web site, however, looks so tasty that...

Hot list: RAM. (News Briefs)
November 4, 1996... The sites below provide quick, easy access to RAM information as well as tips on Mac memory usage and upgrades. > Newer Technology Inc. http://newertech.com/faqs.html This site has FAQ lists on memory configurations. In addition, the company...

Exile on Main Street USA.(Mac the Knife) (Humor)(Column)
November 4, 1996... This week America stands vertiginously on the threshold of a Dole administration; a new day is dawning across all 47 of these United States (and the Arizona territories). Thanks to the big GOP tent being erected by the likes of Ralph Reed, Dan...

Mac developers ready for change. (approve of possible Mac OS plans to combine with BeOS) (Apple, Vendors Think Be) (includes related article potential importance of Be OS developers) (Product Information)
November 11, 1996... The next chapter of the Mac OS may start with a Be, and developers said they are eager to see the story unfold. Mac vendors last week said they welcome reports that Apple and Be Inc. are considering amalgamating their OS technologies, even...

Apple, vendors think Be: future OS to run System 7.5 apps in virtual machine. (new OS to be more compatible with current software) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... Future OS to run System 7.5 apps in virtual machine Users might have their cake and eat it, too: Sources said Apple is pledged to creating a System 7.5 compatibility box for its upcoming OS. The upshot is that the new OS will reportedly be more...

NetObjects tool to fuse Web-site design, control. (Fusion for Macintosh Web-site creation tool)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 11, 1996... Start-up NetObjects Inc. this week will preview the long-awaited Mac version of Fusion, the company's Web-site creation tool. Aimed at expert Webmasters who are frustrated with current graphical tools, Fusion will combine high-end design tools...

HyperCard reshuffled for Web as Apple plots course for 3.0. (Apple's HyperCard 2.3.5 Value Bundle, version 3.0 under development)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... Hoping to give a new meaning to "Home" on the Internet, Apple next week will begin shipping the HyperCard 2.3.5 Value Bundle. Meanwhile, Apple is offering some glimpses into HyperCard's future. The $99 bundle will update the company's user...

Apple retunes retail channels to boost VARs. (revamps sales channels to improve sales, operations) (Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... Apple last week shook up its sales channels to streamline operations and promote sales. Aimed at Apple's key markets and the resellers that supply them, the company dumped restrictive distribution practices and provided new incentives to sell...

Immedia's XPress route: shortcut to multimedia. (Quark's QuarkImmedia multimedia authoring QuarkXTension) (Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 11, 1996... Score card QuarkImmedia 1.0 4 Diamonds (Very good) Quark Inc. List price: $995 Hits: Very easy to learn and use; exported projects are cross-platform; creates graphically rich sites, with excellent control over layout, fonts...

Beta available for Apple's Mac OS Runtime for Java. (Java virtual machine)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 11, 1996... Apple this week will release the beta version of Mac OS Runtime for Java. The Java Virtual Machine will let Mac developers create Sun Java applets and stand-alone programs or embed them into PowerPC or 680x0 programs. The package includes...

Power Computing ready to do executive shuffle. (to name Joel Kocher new CEO and president, Steven Kahng to continue as Chairman) (Company Operations)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... According to a PC WEEK online story, Macintosh clone maker Power Computing Corp. of Round Rock, Texas, this week will shuffle its executive ranks. Sources said the company will name Joel Kocher as its new president and chief operating officer....

Global Village releases free 33.6-Kbps update. (Global Village Communication's update for TelePort Platinum 28.8Kbps modems)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... Global Village Communication Inc. recently released a free 33.6-Kbps update for its desktop modems. Global Village said the firmware update works on TelePort Platinum 28.8-Kbps modems purchased in North America only; it will not work on the...

Iomega to shrink disks for portable devices. (N*hand floppy disks) (Product Development)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... Tries to displace flash memory Iomega Corp. is spinning a new scheme for portable storage: 20-Mbyte floppy disks roughly half the size of business cards. The company will show prototypes at Comdex/Fall '96 this month in Las Vegas. The new...

Pilot PDA cleared for Mac OS landing. (US Robotics' Pilot Mac Pac connectivity and synchronization software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... U.S. Robotics Corp. last week announced Mac connectivity and synchronization software for its handheld Pilot PDA. The company said it intends to ship the software by the end of November. The Pilot has been sold since April, but connection...

Mopier: Print, copy, staple. (HP's printer/copier)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... To aid and abet people making multiple copies on office printers rather than photocopiers, Hewlett-Packard Co. last week released a printer-cum-copier called the Mopier. Essentially the company's 600-dpi LaserJet 5Si under a different name,...

Motorola StarMax 3000 joins 240-MHz clone club. (Motorola Computer Group's StarMax 3000/240, 180, 200 Mac clones)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... Tracking the rising speeds of the PowerPC 603e processor, Motorola Computer Group will add three models to its StarMax 3000 series of Mac clones, including a 240-MHz version. The systems are expected to ship in December. The $2,795 StarMax...

New color laser from Panasonic to hit 1,200 dpi. (Panasonic Communications & Systems' KX-P8475)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
November 11, 1996... Panasonic Communications & Systems Co. is set to ship a high-speed, high-resolution color laser printer by the end of 1996--eight months later than expected. The 600-by-600-dpi KX-P8475 will be slightly faster and less expensive than first...