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(November 22, 2004) With the new SV iMini -- announced today by H2O Audio -- iPod Mini users can take their music skiing, kayaking, snowboarding or out in the rain. The waterproof case includes a dial-and-button control system to enable all the functions of the iPod Mini’s Click Wheel. The SV iMini is impact resistant and watertight to up to ten feet of depth. When moisture is not a concern, users may use their favorite headphones instead of the included waterproof earphones if they wish. The SV-iMini will go on sale in December for $150. H2O Audio is taking pre-orders now at www.h2oaudio.com.
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H2O Audio
(November 22, 2004) Roxio has begun selling a new back-up application for copying video DVDs called Popcorn. The program uses an interface very similar to Roxio’s popular Toast program to copy non-encrypted video DVDs. This excludes most commercial DVDs sold and rented at stores. Using compression, Popcorn can copy the video from a 9GB dual-layer video DVD to a standard 4.7GB blank DVD. It includes disc label and jewel case cover design software, as well. Popcorn supports video discs created from Toast, iDVD or DVD Studio Pro; widescreen or full screen aspect ratios; multichannel audio and content from popular ripping utilities. It requires OS 10.2.8 or higher and is currently on sale as a download only for $50 at www.roxio.com.
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Roxio, Inc.
(November 16, 2004) Today Sony Electronics Inc. announced that it will begin shipping Mac-compatible software with its DRX-710UL-T external double-layer DVD drive in December. This is the first time a Sony DVD burner will ship with Mac-compatible software, and specifically, the drive will include Roxio’s Toast 6 Lite. With double-layer writing capability (on double-layer blank DVD media only), the DRX-710UL-T drive can fit up to four hours of MPEG-2 (DVD-quality) video on one or disc, or up to 8.5 GB of stored data. The drive may sit horizontally on a desk or vertically in its stand and writes DVD+R DL discs at 2.4x, DVD+R at 16x, DVD-R at 8x, DVD±RW at 4x, CD-R at 48x and CD-RW at 24x. Users can connect the drive to a Mac via USB 2.0 or FireWire (cables included). Sony’s estimated price for the DRX-710UL-T is $230. Visit www.sonyburners.com for more information.
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Sony Electronics, Inc.
(November 16, 2004) Realmac Software released RapidWeaver 3.0 for OS 10.3 today. The novice-friendly Web design application lets Mac users with no knowledge of HTML, CSS or Javascript create stylish Web sites quickly and easily. RapidWeaver 3.0 facilitates sharing photos, movies, blogs and more with a drag-and-drop interface and creates pages from a variety of styles and templates. The new update adds .Mac publishing, iPhoto album integration, new Themes, an improved interface, faster operation and many more enhancements. It costs $35 from www.realmacsoftware.com or is free for any registered users of previous versions.
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Realmac Software
(November 16, 2004) This week Plextor Corp., in partnership with Elgato, released the ConvertX Personal Video Recorder for G4 or G5 Macintosh systems of 500MHz or faster, OS 10.2.8 or higher and 256MB RAM (512MB recommended). The ConvertX box is about the size of the average external hard drive and connects via USB 2.0. It includes a cable-ready TV tuner with a coaxial cable input, composite A/V input and S-video input, so users can view and import video from satellite receivers, camcorders, DVD players and more. Elgato supplies its EyeTV software with the ConvertX to enable all the time-shifting and recording features of standalone PVRs, such as pausing live TV, skipping forward and backward and easy timed recordings. TitanTV.com provides an online Electronic Program Guide (United States only), so users can set their ConvertX to record shows remotely from any Internet connected computer. Backing up recordings to CD or DVD is an option, but requires software sold separately. The ConvertX is available now for $230. www.plextor.com
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Plextor Corp.
(November 9, 2004) The non-profit Mozilla Foundation released its Firefox 1.0 Web browser for OS X today. It was created to try to fulfill the demand for a robust, user-friendly and trustworthy browser. Its built-in features include tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, online fraud protection and fast toolbar searches of leading sites, such as Google, Yahoo!, eBay, Amazom.com, Dictionary.com and others. Firefox will also import bookmarks from MS Internet Explorer and other browsers. It utilizes extensions to expand its capabilities, and several dozen extensions, as well as themes for modifying the look and feel of Firefox, are already available at www.mozilla.org. From this site you can also download Firefox 1.0 for free, or purchase a Firefox 1.0 CD-ROM and Guidebook for $15. Firefox 1.0 requires OS 10.1 or higher and Mozilla recommends a G4 or better with 256MB of RAM.
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The Mozilla Foundation
(November 3, 2004) After some speculation that the game would not be released for the Mac, Aspyr Media, Inc. today announced that it will publish Id Software’s Doom 3, a new first-person shooter game from the maker of the previous Doom titles, the classic Quake games and others. Doom 3 capitalizes on Id’s new 3D graphics engine to present scarily real 3D monsters, unprecedented details and real-time lighting and shadows. The game also prides itself on its real-world physics and 5.1 surround sound. Its storyline involves the player as part of a Marine deployment to Mars sent to protect the Union Aerospace Corp. facility. The company is there to harness the power of teleportation, which an ancient Martian civilization has realized. However, this goal will not be achieved without an epic struggle against an alien invasion.
The extraordinary visual experience of Doom 3 cannot be enjoyed without some hefty processor power. The game requires a G5 1.5GHz or faster, 384MB RAM (512MB recommended) 2.2GB of hard disk space and an ATI Radeon 8500/Nvidia GeForce 3 or better graphics processor. Its frightening images and violence have earned it an “M” rating for “Mature.” Aspyr is now taking pre-orders for $50 at www.aspyr.com and is anticipating availability for February 2005. More information is also available at www.doom3.com.
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Aspyr Media, Inc.
(October 26, 2004) Announced to the public today, the Apple iPod Photo offers all the functionality of an iPod and adds the ability to sync iPhoto albums from a Mac (OS 10.2.8 or higher required) and then view them on the iPod Photo’s color screen. Aside from the color screen, the iPod Photo looks just like the white Click Wheel iPod and comes in 60GB ($600) or 40GB ($500). The Click Wheel makes scrolling through up to 25,000 photos (on the 60GB iPod Photo) simple. Users can also create and view slideshows with music directly on the iPod Photo. To view photos and/or slideshows on a TV, the iPod Photo comes with a headphone jack cable with RCA stereo audio and video connectors. The included dock also has an S-video output. The extended battery life of the iPod Photo provides 15 hours of music playback or five hours of slideshow viewing. Windows users can also sync their photos to the iPod Photo in Adobe Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Album or from their My Pictures folder. On a Mac, the iPod Photo works with iPhoto and iTunes 4.7, a new update released today.
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Apple Computer, Inc.
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