Today's News On One Page

October 21st, 1999

[5:00 PM] VersionMaster Latest Updates: NetFinder, PandoCalendar, And CoolCam

NetFinder has been boosted to version 2.0.2b2, PandoCalendar has been updated to version 5, and CoolCam has been bumped to version 1.2. These are the most recent updates listed at The Mac Observer's VersionMaster. You can find all the most recent updates with this service.

The Mac Observer's VersionMaster

[5:00 PM] Share Your Calendar Of Events On The Web With iCalendar

Yenco.com has announced the release of iCalendar. iCalendar is a shareware app that allows individual and groups to share their calendar of events over the web. According to Yenco.com:

YENCO.COM and Simcor are proud to announce the release of iCalendar for Mac Version 1.0! This shareware product enables individuals, groups, and organizations to easily share their calendar events with the world of internet users! The product features a variety of controls to easily customize the appearance and content of calendars. It generates industry-standard JPEG calendar images, HTML calendar and event pages, and links the events to the calendar by automatically creating an ImageMap.

Jim Sims, owner of Simcor.com, stated "This is a very useful application for organizations! Give a team manager a copy of this with a set of icons that relate to his team and it will be a great time saver. Imagine, a Little League Baseball team with icons for 'won' 'lost', 'home', 'away' and other icons - this is great tool for letting the parents know what is happening with the team."

iCalendar Features:

  • Color sets in all seven iMac colors.
  • Three predefined calendar sizes.
  • Custom color picker.
  • Custom cell size selection.
  • A variety of font, size, and style controls.
  • Event Editor to add / modify calendar cell text.
  • Event Editor to add / modify text for event sub-pages.
  • Event Editor to add / modify URL links to existing web pages.
  • Calendar cells can be highlighted.
  • Icons can be added to calendar cells.
  • Icons can be imported from IconFactory IconDropper Packs.
  • Internet link to IconFactory included in the Icon import window.
  • Stored icons can be exported when upgrading (registered users only).
  • Preview scrolling window for checking calendar settings.
  • Export of calendar image to clipboard.
  • Export of calendar image to industry-standard JPEG file format.
  • Generation of HTML calendar page.
  • Generation of HTML event sub-pages.
  • Generation of ImageMap to link calendar and event sub-pages.
  • HTML generated passes HTML 4 validation, including iCab "smiley" test.
  • Upload file button to quickly launch FTP software of choice to post calendar pages online.
  • External document storage of calendar settings.
  • Built-in context-aware help system.
  • Internet style text feedback on links.
  • Cool application and document icons.
  • Built with SuperCard 3.6

iCalendar is priced at US$20 as shareware. You can find more information on the product at the company's web site.

Yenco.com

[3:45 PM] The Apple Stock Watch: Wall Street is confused, but Apple ends up $1
by Wes George

IBM renewed Y2K fears yesterday by announcing that they expect server, minicomputer and main frame sales will stagnate this quarter as corporate IT officers go into an upgrade freeze in preparation for Y2K. Apple with less than 1% of their sales in high end enterprise servers is largely immune to this type of hit on earnings. IBM ended the day down $16 to close at $91.

The Dow end down 94.67 or 0.90% to close at 10297.69, however that was a 120 points higher than its 10177 low for the day. The Nasdaq came back off a low of 2724 to close up 12.99 or 0.51% at 2801.12 in a late day rally.

Apple was up $1 to close at $76 1/8, a gain of 1.33%.

Apple related stocks Macromedia, Adobe, and Symantec all end down. Apple's PowerPC partners, IBM and Motorola ended the day mixed, with Motorola closing higher and IBM closing lower.

Apple's rivals Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell ended the day lower. Gateway beat the trend up about 20% on news of alliance with America Online to market and distribute each other's products. Intel and Microsoft joined Gateway in the winner's circle. Silicon Graphics (SGI) was down on yet another disappointing earnings announcement.

The 30-year Treasury bond dropped up 9/32 while the yield was up to 6.36% from 6.33% late Wednesday.

For full quotes on all the companies mentioned in this article, we have assembled this set of quotes at Yahoo! for your reference. We also have many of these same quotes reported live (20 minute delay) on our home page. For other stories regarding Apple's stock activity, visit our Apple Stock Watch Special Report.

Apple

[2:15 PM] iTeen Online Joins The Mac Observer

AUSTIN, TX. (October 21st, 1999) The Mac Observer announces that the team of iTeen Online has joined their staff to produce a weekly column called iTeen. iTeen will offer news, information, and opinions on computers from a teen perspective.

Steve Siercks, Jordan Streiff, and Chris Rogers will collaborate to produce these weekly columns as well as product reviews. Bryan Chaffin, Editor-in-Chief for The Mac Observer is happy about this new perspective being added to the site. "Apple's new product line is bringing in more and more young Mac users into the market, and the iTeens have a proven track record for providing the information that these teens want," says Mr. Chaffin. "We are proud to be able to offer an information source that is for teens from teens."

"As the iTeem began to grow, it was very hard to maintain a whole web site," says Steven Siercks. "We are very happy to be at The Mac Observer and hope that our readers will come join us in our new home!"

About The Mac Observer
Founded in January 1997, The Mac Observer features daily Mac news, analysis, resources, and weekly columns. One can visit The Mac Observer at http://www.macobserver.com.

Read the first iTeen column called "The iBook Uncovered."

The Mac Observer - iTeen

[Column] iTeen - The iBook Uncovered

[12:30 PM] Next Version Of WebShocker To Enter 30 Day Beta Test

Recosoft Corporation has announced that the next major release of their web animation tool, Web Shocker 2.0, will be available to the public as a free, 30 day beta level trial package before final release. Full public betas seem to have gone the way of the Edsel, but Recosoft hopes to fine tune the final release with your help. According to Recosoft:

WebShocker v2.0 sports a new and improved user interface and incorporates over 200-plus new features and enhancements over version 1.0.

WebShocker 2.0 offers a powerful yet streamlined interface for creating the smallest and most compact GIF Animations, Animated Banners, Java Animations and QuickTime Movies.

Features include:

  • Create high quality GIF animations, Animated Banners, Java animations and QuickTime Movies that can be enjoyed by everybody using Web-safe Colors.
  • Place your frames by dragging-and-dropping them to the desired location. You can even drag graphic files from the system and drop them into your animations.
  • Create, Edit, Transform and Warp images using sophisticated image manipulation and painting and retouch tools.
  • Import QuickTime Movies, AVI files and MPEG files as an animation. You can edit each frame to your hearts desire. Import standard graphics files such as Photoshop, PICT, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, TARGA, BMP and others.
  • Directly read images from scanners and digital cameras to create photographic animations.
  • The Onion Skin Feature shows a translucent image of other frames underneath the current one. Use the Onion Skin Feature to precisely position images between different frames.
  • Batch Convert GIF animations, QuickTime Movies and others from one type to another.
  • An Export Assistant is provided to aid in the animation export procedure. Preview and Visually Inspect the differences between the quality of an animation and its size to determine what is best.
  • The File Size Reduction feature optimizes file size by removing unused colors and similar areas between images, reducing download time to the minimum.
  • Specify GIF settings such as loop count, transparency, background color, frame removal and frame delay.
  • Load and Apply Color Palettes stored in GIF and PICT files for your animations. Save loaded color palettes for later use.
  • Create Custom Color Palettes and Brush Shapes to tailor your work environment.
  • Create animations from 1 - 24 bits deep and as large as 800 x 800 pixels.

WebShocker 2.0 will be priced at US$39.95. A special upgrade price of US$29.95 will be available for those that purchased Web Shocker 1.x before September 1. For those that purchased Web Shocker 1.x after September 1, the upgrade to version 2.0 will be free. You can find more information at the Recosoft Corporation web site.

Recosoft Corporation

[12:00 PM] Two Days Left To Win Lara Croft, And You Might Find A Game Piece Here Today

MAC-O-RAMA's contest offering Tomb Raider III has but two days left. MAC-O-RAMA has placed Lara Croft images on 5 Mac web sites. If you find one, click on it to go t a contest registration page. We don't want to offer any hints or anything, but we think you may find a game piece for MAC-O-RAMA's Lara Croft Give Away here at The Mac Observer.

<More Hints>

Here at The Mac Observer, we take great pride in our coverage of *MacOS News*. It's a hard job, but a fun job, made possible by one of the finest staffs *Around*. In fact, we think we may have one of the best teams anywhere on *The Web*.

</More Hints>

According to MAC-O-RAMA:

Only 2 days left to join in MAC-O-RAMA and Aspyr Media's Tomb Raider 3 Adventure! Find the Lara "game piece" then click and enter to win a FREE copy of Tomb Raider 3, cool t-shirts and more! The Lara "game piece" will appear on two featured sites each day... doubling your chances to win.

The adventure ends Friday, October 22, 1999. Go to MAC-O-RAMA's home page at for the featured sites of the day. Check for contest rules and clues. Play everyday for the most chances to win! Two winners will be selected daily. Just remember, you only have 2 days left!

PRIZES: Each of the 10 winners will receive 1 copy of Tomb Raider 3, a way cool Aspyr t-shirt, a totally awesome MAC-O-RAMA t-shirt plus other nifty stuff! One Grand Prize winner will be drawn (from the 10 winners) to receive a Lara Croft doll!

Good luck in the contest!

MAC-O-RAMA

[Column] Ask Dave - Mac/PC Security Through Cable Modems

[1:30 AM] Mac Gamer's Ledge Voices Thoughts On Mac Gaming Market

Mike Dixon, Mac Gamer's Ledge publisher, has written a very good piece on Apple and the Mac gaming market. Mr. Dixon looks at the issues behind the issues and offers ideas on how to improve things. This article is a very good read about a subject that is important to the entire Mac market, not just gamers.

Mac Gamer's Ledge Editorial

[9:00 AM] SurfDoubler Update Allows Users To Connect 3 Macs On One Internet Connection

Vicomsoft has released an update to SurfDoubler and SurfDoubler Plus to version 6.1.1 for each. SurfDoubler is a software solution for sharing a single connection to the Internet between multiple computers. The new update allows users to connect up to 3 computers, up from 2, to the internet. According to Vicomsoft:

Vicomsoft, a market leader in providing Internet sharing and parental control software for home networks, announces the immediate availability of version 6.1.1 of SurfDoubler and SurfDoubler Plus, their software solutions for home users wishing to connect more than one computer to the Internet.

With the release of version 6.1.1, SurfDoubler and SurfDoubler Plus users can connect two, or now optionally three computers to the Internet via modem, cable modem, ISDN or DSL. SurfDoubler Plus has the added capability of allowing parents to protect their children from undesirable sites, with its content filtering and timed access settings.

SurfDoubler and SurfDoubler Plus are both available for Windows 95/98/NT and for MacOS 7/8/9. The optional additional user costs only $19 for SurfDoubler and only $25 for SurfDoubler Plus.

SurfDoubler is priced at US$54, while SurfDoubler Plus is priced at US$74. To add a third user bumps the price of SurfDoubler to US$73 and SurfDoubler Plus to US$99. You can find more information on SurfDoubler, and SurfDoubler Plus at the company's web site.

Panda Systems

[9:00 AM] Freeware Desktop Calendar Program Updates With New Features

The good people at Panda Systems have updated their freeware desktop calendar program, PandoCalendar. The new version, 5.0, includes several new features and other improvements. According to Panda Systems:

PandoCalendar is a freeware Macintosh application that places a small customizable calendar on your desktop. The calendar may be customized by changing the frame, background color, text color, font, and font size. You can also attach notes to specific days for past or future events, and have PandoCalendar automatically plot the days you work. Great for people who don't have a Monday-Friday work schedule!

Version 5.0 - Added the option of having the current week always centered in the calendar, an invisible grow box in the bottom right of the frame, the option to use 24 hour time format, user definable margins when printing, made the URL and E-mail address in the about box clickable, and combined Cycles, Yearly, Monthly and Weekly recurring notes. Created new preferences and note database file formats and moved them to the new "PandoCalendar" folder in the "Preferences" folder. Fixed a conflict with Aaron, and made reminders more likely to unblank a screen saver.

PandoCalendar is freeware. You can find more information on the product at the company's web site.

Panda Systems