Today's News On One Page
October 12th, 1999
[4:45 PM] VersionMaster: ViaHTTP, IPNetRouter, DHCP Server, and FretPet updated today!
All these software updates and more are listed, detailed, and constantly updated at The Mac Observer's Version Master! Go see for yourself at http://www.macobserver.com/versionmaster/. |
[4:45 PM] MAC-O-RAMA Sale Salutes High-Flying Mac Games
Our good friends at MAC-O-RAMA have announced another sale. This one salutes those high-flying Mac games that really make you soar... [Editor's Note: I apologize for that joke, but it was inescapable. ;-) ] According to MAC-O-RAMA:
So head over to MAC-O-RAMA and check out the sale prices! |
[4:30 PM] ACTION Files Updated With Major New Features
The good people of Power On Software have released an update to ACTION Files. ACTION Files is their popular utility that improves the Open and Save dialogue box among other things. The new version, 1.5, contains major new features including compatibility with Navigation Services. According to Power On:
ACTION Files is priced at US$49.95 at the retail level. The company offers an electronic download for US$29.95. The update is free to registered owners of version 1.x. You can find more information at the company's web site. |
[3:45 PM] Apple Stock Watch: Wall Street Gets the Jitters but Apple Trends Up by Wes George Apple bucked the trend on Wall Street today surging over 3 points before noon for an intraday high of $70 before settling back to close at $67.11/16 up $1 on a second day of strong momentum. Savvy investors are buying but few are selling on the day before Apple announces forth quarter earnings The Dow suffered a sell off at the opening, and just kept going, closing down 231 to 10417 on low volume. Selling restrictions went into effect late in the day. The news today included fears of higher interest rates due to an expected spike in inflation. The dollar was soft in Europe. A coup in Pakistan, an unstable nuclear power, also added uncertainty to all of the world's markets today. Third quarter earnings growth is strong at 20%, but most believe that this is already factored into the market and may feed into a decision by the Fed to hike rates in November. A major defense contractor Raytheon's (RTNb) stock price closed down 19% today dragging a number of Dow components with them, accentuating an already bad day for the market. The Nasdaq Composite index dropped 43.5 to close at 2872.45 due, in part, to profit taking after yesterday's record high for the Nasdaq. Internet stocks were strongly down as a group. Motorola--the world's third largest semiconductor manufacturer-- will announce third quarter earnings after the market close today. Analysts expect the producer of the G4 coprocessor to post a profit of 53 cents per share. The whisper number is 56 cents per share. Investors are watching closely to see how the Iridium bankruptcy in which Motorola holds an 18 percent stake will effect earnings. However, most investors expect Motorola to beat estimates due to strong digital handset sales. Most Apple related stock trended down sharply today with the market. This included Adobe, Symantec, and Macromedia, as well as Apple's AIM partners, IBM and Motorola. On the PC front, Dell, Microsoft, Gateway, and Hewlett-Packard all closed lower. Intel and Compaq. Tomorrow is a big day for Apple. At 2 p.m. (PDT) Apple will announce fourth quarter results in a conference call with Fred Anderson. Apple has already announced earnings to analysts who follow the stock. This may explain AAPL's surge against the general down trend of the market this week as institutional investors buy ahead of the earnings announcement tomorrow. 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. |
[2:30 PM] Sonnet Announces Blue & White Compatibility With Their G4 Upgrades
Sonnet Technologies has announced that their G4 upgrade cards will now work with Blue & White G3s. Sonnet is the second company to announce a workaround for the G4 ROM block installed into Blue & White G3s with a firmware update. According to Sonnet:
The company says that they Encore G4 400/1M upgrade card will ship in November. The card is priced at US$999. 450 MHz and 500 MHz versions will not ship until the 1st quarter of 2000. Pricing on those models has not been announced. The company has not yet added information on this product line to their web site. The Mac Observer Spin: This is good news to the thousands of Blue & White owners who will be looking to get extended use out of their machines, especially those who recently purchased their Blue & Whites. With two companies having broken through the barrier, it is likely that the other G3 upgrade companies will be following suit soon. |
[Column] Wasting Time With The Idiots - When Idiots Talk, Apple Listens (Sort Of) |
[Column] On The Flip Side - Are We Geeks And Nerds? Hell No! |
[12:45 PM] Small Batches of Mac OS 9 Are Delivered to Users After All
Reports on MacOS 9 are again flooding in, this time from customers who have actually received their copies. These orders seem to be limited to educational customers and were originally placed in early September. This is contrary to our story on Friday in which we reported that Apple had informed us that the product was not going to ship until the originally announced date of October 23rd. Last Thursday we reported that The Apple Store was preparing to ship the product as early as Friday. The Apple Store is now reporting that it is out-of-stock and backordered until October 15th, when they expect to resume shipments in larger quantities. Initial reports are positive, and we'll have a full review online shortly. The official line from Apple is still that will begin shipping on October 23rd, the original shipping date. The Mac Observer Spin: This appears to have been a simple miscommunication between the Apple Store and the PR department, but the good news is that a few thousand copies of Apple's new operating system have been shipped! As we said in our original story on this issue, it is great to see Apple actually beat their initial shipping date. |
[11:15 AM] New Video Editing Solution Hits Market
iREZ Software has released a digital-video editing program called Reel-Eyes. Reel-Eyes follows on the heels of Apple's new iMac DV, and the personal digital-video editing program, iMovie. Reel-Eyes provides some of the basic features of the new iMovie, which is handy for those wanting to delve into video editing, but can't buy a new iMac. According to iREZ Software:
Reel-Eyes is available for the very affordable price of US$39.95. You can find more information at the iREZ web site. The Mac Observer Spin: With the new iMac DV and iMovie, products of this type are going to flourish. Entry level products like Reel-Eyes allow everybody to get into the digital-video editing field, which will certainly help the popularity of digital-video editing grow. |
[11:15 AM] PowerMail Updated With OS 9 Compatibility And New Features
CTM Development has updated the e-mail application PowerMail to version 2.4v7. PowerMail provides a powerful alternative to the usual array of e-mail clients available for the Macintosh. Version 2.4v7 adds OS 9 compatibility, as well as a number of new features and bug fixes. According to CTM Development:
PowerMail is available for US$49, and a time-limited demo is available. You can find more information at the CTM Development web site. The Mac Observer Spin: The Macintosh e-mail client market is dominated by huge companies with essentially unlimited budgets and resources. Seeing a quality program like PowerMail come out of a small development house shows that the Macintosh platform continues to foster originality, and, with that, superior products for Mac users. |
[8:30 AM] New Developer Program Promotes Developers Who Promote RealBASIC
REAL Software Inc., the makers of REALBasic, have announced a program supporting developers who design their applications with REALBasic. The Made with REALBasic program will help users, and developers, find and support REALBasic use and development. According to REAL Software:
REALBasic is currently at version 2.0, and is available for US$99.95 for the Personal Edition. You can find more information about REALBasic, and the Made with REALBasic program at the REAL Software web site. The Mac Observer Spin: Programs such as this foster development in the Mac community, and encourage new developers, or those thinking of developing a product, to go ahead and do so. Guaranteed support from a company like REAL Software is a bonus to potential developers, and thus to the Mac community in general. |