Archive - Feb 2005

Locally owned, RipIt Digital Music launches iPod loading and MP3 digital music service in Chicago.

Chicago, Illinois – February 28, 2005 – The iPod has created its own industry and is growing everyday. RipIt Digital Music, www.RipItDigital.com, has launched their digital music services in the Chicago area and joins the niche industry. RipIt Digital Music bridges the gap between the consumer, who wants to use an iPod but does not have the time or knowledge to work the technology. As a locally owned and run company, RipIt Digital Music provides iPod loading, iPod tutoring and CD to MP3 conversion.

nib4j is a simple but powerfull Java library that permits the use of Apple's Interface Builder to design Swing-based user interfaces. It creates Swing menus, frames and dialogs from Carbon nib files and provides a complete separation of UI and application code.

The new version supports the creation of cross-platform UIs with use of JGoodies Forms. With the nib4j Viewer you can try out your Swing interfaces without writing any code and do a cross-platform test showing different Look & Feels.

Laughing Dragon Games is giving a free copy of Derelict, their game of non stop alien fighting, to the person who can provide the best name for their new mascot.

"Veenix®: Design & Type Tools Adds Font Database Features"

LAKE GROUP SOFTWARE announces version 3.2 of "Veenix®: Design & Type Tools", a set of 20 easy-to-use Macintosh OS X font and design tools for Mac creatives -- conveniently organized in one small-footprint application.

Version 3.2 introduces the WYSIWYG Font Database, a full-featured font viewing and printing system for installed and uninstalled fonts. The system offers user-defined font classification and sorts as well as auto-classification of several types of fonts, including: narrow or compressed or fonts, wide or expanded fonts, monospaced fonts and specialty fonts (image fonts, expert fonts and non-traditional fonts.) The new Type Book printing services allow printing by category or by folder of origin. Other font related features include: character set viewing, font comparison, font measurements, font activation/deactivation and font installation.

MacInTouch reports: Jef Raskin passed away peacefully on Saturday February 26th, 2005.

Jef Raskin died of cancer on Saturday February 26th, after being sick for several months. A wonderful spirit and renaissance man, who inspired me and many others. He created the Macintosh project at Apple in 1979, naming it after his favorite apple. He left Apple to form Information Appliances, where he designed the Canon Cat with an innovative interface. He continued refining human interface design, publishing his ideas in The Humane Interface (Addison Wesley, 2000.) The Humane Interface ideas are being implemented in the Raskin Center project Archy, where his son, Aza, is a programmer.

Helixent Technologies today announced the release of iFlicks 1.1. iFlicks makes it easy to store, browse, and play all your favorite movies. With great features such as the gallery view and smart collections, you are in control of your movie library. In addition, Amazon Web Services support eliminates the hassle of entering information about a movie by hand. Integration with Netflix makes it easy for you to rent movies and keep informed about new releases and popular films. A demo version of iFlicks is available as a free download. iFlicks sells for $29.95.

SCExplorer is a freeware application which let you explore Mac OS X System Configuration framework dynamic store.

The dynamic store contains a snapshot of the current network state. It also holds a copy of the preferences that define the currently active configuration (i.e. location) and other system resources.

Kiel, Germany (February 26, 2005) - turingart is pleased to announce the upcoming BETA test for its
new cross platform run sheet management solution 'Action!'.

'Action!' is designed to help event agencies, TV/radio stations and show producers. Using a build
in database, producers define shows, edit run sheets and enter cues.

A multi-platform Eclipse-based technology that enables users to create partitions xml files that can be used to define a WASXD applications partitions and partition expressions. This tool enables developers more aggressive caching techniques and improved overall performance packaged with the J2EE application.

Wrap up reports and reviews are in and SCALE 3x, the third annual Southern California Linux Expo appears to have been a huge success, with over 900 attendees, 30 seminars and 42 booths on their exhibit floor. Linux Journal and FedoraNews (1, 2, 3) have their articles online. In addition LinuxQuestions.org's LQRadio has a series of interviews available as mp3. They include interviews with Flight Gear booth,LinuxChix LA and Brion Vibber of Wikipedia. They plan to release more interviews with Linux Astronomy, LAMPSIG, and SCALE's PR Director Orv Beach in the near future. Pictures and presentation slides are also available on the SCALE website.