Today's News On One Page
September 29th, 1999
| [4:45 PM] Use Your Mac To Learn About Electric Fields
Yves Pelletier, the maker of the excellent GIF animation tool GIFbuilder, has released yet another educational/learning application for the Mac. M. Pelletier has released YP Electric Field, which helps simulate electric fields. According to M. Pelletier:
The product is priced at US$20 and a demo is available. You can find more information on YP Electric Field at M. Pelletier's web site. |
| [4:15 PM] Apple Stock Watch: Apple Still Heading Down In Another Negative Trading Day
Apple dipped once again today, continuing the downward trend began when Apple announced an earnings warning last week. General trading was again negative today with both the Dow and the Nasdaq closing down and that included most of the personal computer industry as well. Apple closed at 59 1/16, a loss of 9/16 or 0.94%. Volume was moderately high with 5,867,000 shares trading hands, though that represents a roughly 50% decline over trading volumes during the last 5 days. Apple had traded as high as 61 1/4, up one point on the adjusted closing price yesterday, though afternoon trading dragged Apple back into negative territory. Mac related companies closed mix, a positive outcome when compared to the rest of the industry, as Symantec and Motorola both closed higher. Adobe and Macromedia joined Apple in negative-land however. On the Dark Side, IBM, Dell, Microsoft, Intel, Gateway 2000, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq all ended the day lower. The Dow closed at 10213.48, another loss of 62.05, while the Nasdaq closed at 2730.27, a loss of 25.98. 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 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. |
| [2:45 PM] HP Announces ColorSync Support In Printer That Apple Will Distribute
After several years of sometimes on again, sometimes off again support for the Mac in their excellent line of printers, Hewlett-Packard has announced a new support for an Apple technology. The company has announced support for ColorSync in some of its professional line of printers amd has announced that Apple will be distributing the HP DesignJet ColorPro GA through its own distribution channel. According to HP and Apple:
In theory you can find more information on DesignJet printers at the company's web site. In practice, it would appear that the DesignJet page does not bother with any information about actual products, but instead has all manner of other information. The Mac Observer Spin: It's great to see this step between Apple and HP. Printer choice is a great thing, and HP makes some of the best printers on the market. This is not to slight the likes of Epson and other Mac printer manufacturers. Epson in particular deserves major kudos for stepping into the void left by HP when it exited the consumer Mac printer market. In any event, we view this agreement between Apple and HP as a very positive move with ramifications that reach beyond just having another printer available for the Mac. |
| [Column] Computing With Bifocals - Looking at Hacking From Both Sides |
| [9:30 AM] Adobe Announces Incompatibilities Between OS 9 And ATM, Fix To Come Weeks After OS 9 Release by Nora Feder In an odd - some would say 'stealthy' - announcement last Thursday, Adobe revealed that Mac OS 9 harbors a surprise for graphic designers and other users of Type 1 (PostScript) fonts: Adobe Type Manager will not run on the new system, which is slated for October release. Mac OS 9 will "deinstall any version of ATM Light or ATM Deluxe that it detects because all versions of ATM are incompatible with this new OS," according to the September 24 announcement, which we have seen only on the ATM user-support forum on the Web and an unofficial Adobe forum on CompuServe. A user will be able to install a copy of ATM on a Mac running OS 9, but "the machine will crash at boot time when it encounters the ATM control panel INIT," Adobe says. Adobe Type Reunion is also incompatible with OS 9. This means that applications that rely on ATM for Type 1 font rasterization will be unable to show these fonts clearly onscreen, and - more seriously - will not be able to print them on non-PostScript printers, a category that includes most of the inkjet color printers widely used in graphic design studios today for creating comps and proofs. The announcement blames Apple - specifically, "late changes in the OS 9 development cycle" - for the conflict, saying that "Apple removed an API (application program interface) which ATM depends upon. Removing this API causes the computer to crash at boot time when any version of ATM loads." Adobe promises a fix - new versions of ATM Light, ATM Deluxe, and Adobe Type Reunion Deluxe, to be available "after the first week of November." This, however, is some weeks after Apple's scheduled OS 9 release date, and Adobe says the date is subject to change. The Mac Observer Spin: Tucked away at the end of Adobe's statement is a paragraph that says owners of current versions of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and certain other Adobe applications "WILL be able to continue to use PostScript Type 1 fonts in OS 9, even without ATM. This is because these applications have built-in Type 1 font support." This raises a fantastic question: Does Adobe intend to abandon ATM? (The last we heard, it was to be built into future versions of both Mac and Windows operating systems.) Thinking fantastically (even paranoically), It's possible to imagine a software developer in Adobe's shoes thinking that would be a neat trick to pull on Quark and Macromedia - designers would have to stick to Adobe applications if they wanted to use publishing industry-standard Type 1 fonts. The question is fantastic, of course - no company of Adobe's stature (or success) could expect such a ploy to work. Or is this just a gigantic Adobe-Apple communications SNAFU? It has been a while since anyone tried to reassure us that Adobe and Apple are boon companions. Both companies are probably counting on market inertia and the likelihood that the majority of Mac users will never notice the incompatibility. Those who use only TrueType fonts (with no version of ATM or ATR installed) will also be immune. Apple isn't shipping OS 9 on its new G4 computers, which will also help - it takes time, money, and effort to acquire and install OS 9 deliberately, so most of us won't have it. What is clear from software history is that some users will be caught short, with potentially calamitous results. Regardless of how they got to this point, Adobe and Apple are duty-bound to publicize the OS9/ATM incompatibility loudly - and soon - instead of sweeping it under a rug. |
| [8:30 AM] XLR8 Rolls Out 500 MHz G3 Upgrade, Rolls Back Product Line Prices
XLR8 has announced the release of two new PowerPC G3 upgrade cards, the MACh Speed G3z 500 and the MACh Carrier G3 500. Both cards feature a PowerPC 750 (G3) chip running at 500Mhz, faster than Apple's current G3 offerings. The company has also cut prices across the board with price cuts reaching as high as 20%. According to XLR8:
Both products are available immediately. The MACh Speed G3z 500Mhz sells for US$899, while the upgradeable upgrade card, the MACh Carrier G3 500Mhz, is listed for US$999. For more information, please visit the XLR8 web site. |
| [8:30 AM] Power On Expands Mac Utility Empire With ACTION WYSIWYG Power On Software has released Action WYSIWYG. Action WYSIWYG is a font management application allowing users easy access to fonts from most any program. Unlike some font management applications, Action WYSIWYG displays all fonts in a multi-column format, eliminating the need to scroll through a long font list to reach a desired font. According to Power On:
An electronic version of ACTION WYSIWYG is priced at US$29.95 and is available now from Power On's web site. In addition, the retail-packaged software is available at dealers and mail order resellers worldwide, with an estimated street price of US$39.95. Owners of ACTION Files and ACTION GoMac, two of the award winning products in the ACTION Utilities suite, are also eligible for special pricing. You can find more information at the company's web site. The Mac Observer Spin: Power On is quickly becoming a power house in the Mac utilities market. ACTIONFiles, ACTIONGoMac, ACTION WYSIWYG, as well as the other products they have purchased, including DiskLock, Now Up-To-Date, and Now Contact, are among the best utilities on the market. |
| [8:30 AM] New Site Offering Free Desktop Images Launched The design firm Manual Labor has launched a new website devoted to desktop design called texturations.com. texturations.com will feature new computer-generated desktop images each week. According to Manual Labor:
The site, which is newly launched, will be adding archive sections and other resources, and all images are free. For more information on downloading or submitting original desktop artwork, HEad to the texturations.com web site. |
| [8:30 AM] MacRevolution Continues To Expand Mac-Only ISP Services The Macintosh only ISP, MacRevolution, has announced availability from over 1300 access points in The States and Canada, including DSL service to over 200 cities. According to MacRevolution:
MacRevolution offers unlimited internet access for US$18.99 a month. For more information, please visit the MacRevolution web site. The Mac Observer Spin: For the service area to expand as it has is a testament to both MacRevolution's business accumen, as well as the state of the Mac Market. This expansion is made possible by agreements with a myriad of companies who are handling some of the physical connectivity aspects. Those agreements would not be possible without a basic belief in MacRevolution's business model as well as the basic strength of the Mac market by those companies with whom MacRevolution is dealing. Congratualtions to MacRevolution! |
| [8:30 AM] New AppleScript Web Site Launched
Greg Spence has launched a new web site dedicated to scripting via AppleScript at http://bbs.applescript.net. AppleScript is a system-level scripting language allowing automation and customization of control over applications and the MacOS itself. If you are using System 7.5 or later, you already have everything you need to get started scripting. According to Greg Spence:
So go check out bbs.applescript.net web site for more information! The Mac Observer Spin: This is an information packed site that adds to the other great AppleScript sites on the Net. If you have any interest in AppleScript, we definitely recommend that you check it out. |