Hot Mac News

[Panag]

avid & MAC

Avid Unveils Symphony for the Mac
New Versions of Media Composer, Film Composer, and Avid Xpress also to support Mac OS X
Tewksbury, MA - January 21, 2003 - Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today unveiled its Symphony™ system for the Macintosh platform and new Mac OS X versions of the Media Composer®, Film Composer®, and Avid Xpress® systems. Symphony v4.7 for the Mac platform will offer real-time 10-bit DVE, Ultimatte keying and color correction processing on Mac OS X, Apple's latest high-performance operating system.

"Today's release is important for three key reasons - we are responding to significant customer demand for Symphony on a Mac, we are upgrading our Mac products to Apple's new, higher-performance operating system, and we are incorporating color correction capabilities across our entire editing product line," said David Krall, CEO of Avid. "Our goal is to provide our customers with choice, whether it's platform, performance or price, and these advancements are important steps in that direction."

"The Mac platform is known for its use in creative environments, including film and video editing," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We are thrilled that Avid is developing products for Mac OS X, particularly Avid Symphony, its most powerful Mac-based product to date."

Cross Platform Support
New in both the Mac OS X and Windows versions of Symphony, Media Composer and Avid Xpress software is real-time color correction, as well as 23.976 fps project support for all Media Composer systems. Avid's new MetaSync™ capability, which allows editors to synchronize virtually any kind of metadata with traditional video and audio content, will also now be available on these Mac-based products.

Pricing and Availability
The Avid Symphony v4.7, Media Composer XL v11.7, Film Composer XL v11.7 and Avid Xpress v5.7 systems are expected to be available through Avid's worldwide reseller channel in Q1 2003. Pricing is expected to be as follows:

As an introductory offering, new Avid Symphony v4.7 systems will be priced up to 22% off the regular $90,000 USMSRP through March 28, 2003.
Media Composer v11.7 models will start at $12,000 USMSRP.
Film Composer XL v11.7 will start at $53,000 USMSRP.
Avid Xpress v5.7 will start at $5,999 USMSRP.
Specific pricing and upgrade information will be announced at the time of shipping. For more details, visit www.avid.com.

About Avid Technology, Inc.
Avid Technology, Inc. delivers the solutions that Make, Manage and Move Media™. As a recognized digital standard for professionals who Make the world's media—from video, audio and film to animation, special effects and streaming media—Avid's products are used to make more television and news shows, commercials, music videos and CDs, corporate/industrial productions and major motion pictures combined than any other nonlinear editing manufacturer in the world. Building on its award-winning heritage, which includes several Emmy® awards as well as an Oscar® statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design and engineering of the Avid Film Composer system for motion picture editing, Avid is extending its reach by redefining how digital media is shared, stored and distributed. To Manage today's increasingly rich collection of dynamic media, Avid provides powerful servers, networks and media tools to help customers search files, share media and collaborate on new productions, both locally and globally. Avid's solutions also empower users to easily Move media, whether on air, over cable or satellite or through the Internet. Like no other media company today, Avid's end-to-end solutions span the continuum of media creation, management and distribution. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Tewksbury, MA. More information about Avid is available at www.avid.com.

© 2003 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product specifications and availability are subject to change without notice. All prices are USMSRP for the U.S. and Canada only and are subject to change without notice. Contact your local Avid office or reseller for prices outside the U.S. and Canada. Avid, Avid Xpress, Media Composer, Film Composer, MetaSync, Symphony and Make, Manage and Move Media are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Oscar is a trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Emmy is a registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

hi ,

intresting , www.avid.com

have a nice mac day

[Panag]

stop complaining and look at apple , ....

January 20, 2003
Apple Takes on Enterprise Shine

Glancing at the year's first personal technology announcements, you might think company names had been swapped. We checked, and it really was Microsoft promoting smart wristwatches and refrigerator magnets in Las Vegas, while Apple was showing portable workstations that raise the bar for untethered enterprise productivity in San Francisco.

We're struck by how much these companies have in common, despite the pointless feuding that often erupts between each vendor's proponents in the halls of enterprise IT. Microsoft is excoriated for pushing customers off the Windows 9x platform by offering Office 11 for NT/2000/XP only, but Apple is likewise pressuring users to make at least as big a jump to Mac OS X. Microsoft is distrusted for seeking to own the entire space of enterprise and consumer IT, but Apple is likewise its users' sole source.

But fair is fair: If Apple should be rightly subject to some of the same criticisms as Microsoft, it should also receive the same respect from enterprise buyers for setting the pace of innovation. With its Unix-derived operating system, 800M-bps FireWire, 54M-bps 802.11g and short-range Bluetooth wireless, fast graphics, and built-in DVD recorder, Apple's 17-inch PowerBook is as cool as it gets for power users; enterprise IT will like its 12-inch model, which combines notebook portability with workstation capability, including a newly integrated suite of category-leading multimedia tools.

Apple offers a well-crafted graphical operating environment, on an open-source-based operating system, supported by best-of-breed, standards-based development tools such as Borland Software's JBuilder. Mac OS X is gaining ground among users who formerly kept both a Unix workstation and a Windows PC on their desks but now find one machine meeting both needs. The Macintosh is also proving itself in large-scale adoptions, as in the state of Maine's issuing of an iBook to each seventh-grade student.

If one thing is still missing from the picture for enterprise buyers, it's management tools. Apple is addressing this concern with its Remote Desktop, enabling interactive support and centralized software distribution over wireless, as well as wired, networks.

To those who gripe about having only one real end-user IT choice, we have a suggestion: Stop complaining and look at Apple.

hi ,

a story from eweek , the last line really does it

there is some news going around that APPLE plans to open a couple more retail store's in europe , ... but nothing officials yet , ...

have a nice MAC day

[Gatekeeper]

Er, I don't think I'll be buying anything from Avid anytime soon ...

[Panag]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Er, I don't think I'll be buying anything from Avid anytime soon ...

hi ,

what you neither , .....

dont worry , join the club , well it is a bit expensive , .....

but its probably not intended for your everyday mac user , .....


however they have some good software
its intresting to browse the site , very soon we shall have those programs at a peanut of what they ask now

but then it shall be made by apple , not only cheaper but even improved

have a nice APPLE day

[Panag]

the 2002 videomaker best products of the year awards

hi ,

to long to post , so take a look

a link from mac ; https://www.videomaker.com/scripts/a...=9212&GU=le929

have a nice day

[Panag]

TECHNOLOGY
Apple's Bumper Crop
Steve Jobs brought out a bushel of cool new stuff at Macworld--if Apple keeps this up, its core business might just end up being software.
FORTUNE
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
By Brent Schlender


A couple of weeks ago Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs bounded onstage at the Macworld trade show in San Francisco to engage once again in his unique brand of performance art--the keynote speech. This was his 20th or so such gig since returning to Apple in 1997, and the production values had never been slicker as he demoed new or improved software and rhapsodized about flashy new laptops (see And What About Hardware?). He was so compelling that it's tempting to review the show rather than the products he plugged.

But speeches are ephemeral. What matters are the goods. While Jobs didn't unveil anything to point Apple or personal computing in a radical new direction, the company is fulfilling its pledge to make the Macintosh into the ultimate digital hub--a machine that enables ordinary people to create, manipulate, and enjoy digital media of all sorts (video, photography, MP3 audio), not to mention browse the web and cook up business presentations as flashy as Jobs'. His speech also underscored how Apple hopes to cash in on its growing software prowess, as much to goose revenues amid an industry slump as to give conventional Windows PC users more reasons to switch to Macs.

The centerpiece was iLife, a bundle of upgraded versions of previously released software--iMovie for editing video, iPhoto for working with digital photos, iDVD for burning multimedia content onto discs playable on TV, plus iTunes 3, Apple's current MP3 software. More than the sum of its parts, iLife puts the "multi" back into multimedia, making it easy to mix and match music, pictures, and video in a single production. Previously users had to rummage through their Macs to find, say, Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" for the soundtrack to a slide show or to select still photos to put into a movie. Now each iLife component can reach directly into the others' archives. In a sense, iLife is to do-it-yourself multimedia what Microsoft Office is to business documents.

Each program has been souped up. iPhoto now makes it possible to retouch photos and correct for color and contrast rather than rely on a third party like Adobe's Photoshop. iMovie has a new feature called the Ken Burns Effect (it lets you pan across photos to create the illusion of motion the way Burns does in his documentaries) and more-sophisticated sound editing. iDVD makes it easier than ever to transfer movies and slide shows to disc, with professional-looking navigation menus that can be viewed on the TV via a standard DVD player. While there are many video editors, photo managers, and MP3 jukeboxes for Windows PCs, and they continue to improve, iLife keeps the Mac comfortably ahead in terms of features and, especially, ease of use.

The iLife package will be preloaded on all new Macs. For existing Mac users, iMovie, iPhoto, and iTunes can be downloaded free from www.apple.com. iDVD, however, will cost $49, ostensibly because it's so large it has to be delivered on CD-ROM. (The same disc will also contain the other iLife programs.) Sounds a little fishy to many Mac users, but given the quality of the software, $49 is a bargain. And of course there's another catch--iLife will run only on Macs loaded with Apple's OS X 10.2 operating system.

Next, Jobs showed off Safari, a turbocharged Internet browser that operates exclusively on Macs running OS X. For several years Jobs & Co. had hoped that the Internet could be a great equalizer in its quest to grow its market share--less than 4% in the U.S., just over 2% worldwide--because more and more computing tasks, particularly in business, are handled via a web browser. But it hasn't happened, in part because Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Navigator run noticeably more slowly on Macs. Hence Safari, another free download, which not only outperforms IE and Navigator but also is easier to customize and can block pop-up ads.

Jobs, who has always made most of his presentation slides himself, was almost breathless when introducing his favorite new software--a $99 presentation program called Keynote. He didn't just show demos of Keynote; he actually used it to organize and illustrate his speech. "They made this just for me," he crowed. It's probably the most elegant application software Apple has ever created. The cinematic transitions and special effects are similar to those in iMovie, and there's a suite of subtly beautiful thematic graphics templates, many of which came from iDVD's menus. It was no surprise when Jobs told me he spends more time using Keynote than any other program on his own Macs.

Which proves my next point. As easy and as much fun as it is to cook up a video or photo album or DVD with iLife (or a speech with Keynote), it's also incredibly time-consuming. Last year, for the 50th birthday party of FORTUNE columnist (and my old friend) Stewart Alsop, I made a 15-minute video roast that included still photos, videoclips, background music, sound effects, and as many sight gags as I could fit. Satisfying as the experience was--especially when I showed it to the 100 or so guests--the reality is, I spent nearly 80 hours on it: downloading and editing pictures with iPhoto also can eat up days, as does converting your CD collection to iTunes. (It took me three months of evenings and weekends to rip my collection of 2,500 CDs onto a 120GB hard-disk so I could use my iPod to listen to them.) Apple's new software is a pleasure, but let's face it: To even begin to get the full benefit, you have to have a top-of-the line Mac, a gargantuan hard disk, and lots of time to burn. And it helps to be as obsessive about production values as Steve Jobs himself.

[Panag]

Switching to MAC : real stories

We’ve received thousands of emails from people who have successfully switched from PCs to Macs. Executives. Parents. UNIX users. Students. Researchers. Retirees. Here are some of their true stories. We’ll continue to add letters during the coming days — we have many good stories to share with you.

I Am Impressed

I am the President of a company that helps companies run their web sites.

We have about 500 servers in our data center. We run both Free UNIX (Linux and FreeBSD) and Microsoft NT and 2000 Servers. About 50% Microsoft and 50% UNIX. I am very familiar with both operating systems.

I have been following what you are doing with OS X for some time, but never had actually used it. I heard several people in our company mention it, and would always listen with interest.

I stopped by your Apple store in King of Prussia, PA, and spoke with Jeff Elliott. He took over 1 hour to explain the new system to me and get me interested in it. I bought a iBook the very next day from apple.com.

I am so incredibly impressed with OS X 10.2 and your iBook that I bought 200 shares of Apple stock today and have been telling everyone about it. I am buying one iBook for my father, another PowerBook to replace my desktop at work and several more for people that work here.

Working closely with computers and technology for over a decade, with 9 years of commercial Internet experience, I just wanted to say that I have not been so impressed IN YEARS!

— DC

Slowly She Won Me Over

I was born into an IBM family. We bled blue and could sing the IBM fight song from memory. My first computer was an IBM XT. My father passed his distaste for Apple along to me. Macs were the enemy.

After college, I used Macs at my job with a local newspaper, but still used a PC at home. Then I met the woman that would become my wife. She was an uber-Mac fanatic and was signed on as the IT director for the newspaper. Slowly she won me over.

In October of 2000, I finally bought my first new Mac! A beautiful graphite iMac DV. Soon after, a tangerine iBook followed. Now we have an eMac too and run our own design business from our house. I can’t even imagine trying to use a PC in my everyday life now. I’ve totally switched and life is so much easier!

— MT
Kindred Spirits

I was shopping in my local mega-mall and stumbled across an Apple store. Intrigued, I wandered in. The salespeople showed me the iBook, and I was hooked. Using it was effortless. I glided through OS X without a hitch; the desktop, dock and windows are so intuitive, I felt like I knew how to use a Mac as soon as I tried it.

My iBook is the best computer I have ever had. Not only is it gorgeously designed (how could I compare thee to a beige box?), I can expand my digital repertoire easily. My music, my photos, my schedule, all connect easily to my Mac. Rather than being limiting, buying a Mac was one of the most liberating things I’ve ever done. My computer is finally able to think outside the box as much as I do.

— EK

The Technopeasant’s Tale

I’m a total technopeasant. But as a professor for twenty years I was bound to the PC, terrified of switching and making a mess.

My girlfriend and other friend were at me for ages to make the switch. then finally I saw the iBook and I was seduced in seconds. It’s pretty, it’s fast and I love to stroke it! I was tired of waiting for my pc laptop to boot, to connect, to save, to quit. And the keyboard is so much more responsive — it forgives my hopeless two-finger typing.

I’m won over. And changing over, even for a technopeasant, was simple — all my documents are there in a jiffy and I just have to open them up and see the difference.

— DL

hi ,

well now you hear it from some-one else

have a nice MAC day

[Panag]

WINTER NAMM 2003 : ANAHEIM GOES AUDIO CRAZY

By Stephanie Jorgl
For four whole days, five full halls in the Anaheim Convention Center were marinated with a zesty blend of musical delicacies, as the Winter NAMM 2003 music markets convention took over the city. The bi-annual closed-to-the-public conference hosts music exhibitors from all over the world.

The convention kicked off Jan 16, showcasing the latest audio goods, software and hardware for the gear hungry. While some halls featured orchestra instruments, others displayed the latest drums, guitars and amps. But Hall A — the true-lust hub for the computer-based recording addict — was filled to the brim with digital audio/MIDI recording/editing software and hardware.

Virtual instruments and samplers, sound modules and effects plug-ins, USB-connectible controllers and mixers, Moog modeling plug-ins, and iGuitars were all the buzz of this year’s Winter NAMM. And there were plenty of new arrivals for Mac OS X.

Mac OS X-ready Software
Ableton demoed its renowned Live 2.0 recording and mixing software. The new edition includes better navigation features, the ability to turn off beat-matching and to record at different tempos, plus better automation features, like indicators that tell you whether a track is immediately affected by plug-ins or automation during playback.

Arboretum displayed its Montage audio and DV graphics-editing software, and its Raygun noise-filtering program. Both are ready for Mac OS X.

BIAS showed off its Mac OS X-ready background noise filtering plug-in, SoundSoap, and its DSP plug-in program, Vbox. Further, BIAS demoed its well-known, now Mac OS X-ready audio editing programs, Peak and Deck.

Bitheadz announced coming support for Audio Units across its entire product line, and demoed its Unity Synth Expander, Unity Session and Unity DS-1 for Mac OS X.

Celemony serenaded the crowds with its very realistic harmonic pitch-shifting software, Melodyne 2.0, which is ready for Mac OS X, and announced that the program will soon be available in an Audio Units version.


TC Works it in Logic 6. TC’s PowerCore card fuels you with some serious DSP.


Cycling ’74 announced Mac OS X support for Max/MSP, Jitter, Pluggo 3.1 and RadiaL, and hosted demos of its intensive line of programmable plug-in software.

Digidesign hosted a booth showing off ProTools 6 for Mac OS X. The booth was lined with demos by third-party plug-in developers. The new ProTools includes better navigation, improved MIDI features and a smooth new Aqua interface.

Emagic showed off Logic 6. Crowds were wowed by the brand new, CPU-saving “Freeze Tracks” function, which frees up host processing power by about 90%, giving Logic users the limitless plug-in power normally reserved for non-host-based studio setups.

Further, Emagic demonstrated Logic 6’s fluid support for Mac OS X, smoother video synchronization, expanded control surface support and a brand new channel EQ plug-in.

MOTU kicked out an impressive lineup, including Digital Performer for Mac OS X — which will include Audio Units support, and showed off the MachFive, a new surround-sound virtual sampler that will run in any host audio/MIDI application.

Propellerhead Software announced Rewire 2.0 support for ProTools, and demoed its phenomenal Mac OS-X ready Reason 2.0 virtual rackmount studio. The new version of Reason adds features such as the ability to break the sequencer window off to the side of the sliding rack interface, for a better use of your Apple Cinema Display, or PowerBook screen.

Sibelius announced G7, its guitar-tab software for Mac OS X.

Steinberg previewed Nuendo 2 in Mac OS X. Steinberg is already shipping an impressive array of Mac OS X apps, including Cubase SX, Cubase SL, PLEX, Virtual Guitarist “Electric Edition,” HALion String Edition — Vol. 1, Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V, Waldorf Attack, D-Pole, D’cota and GRM Tools Vol 1 and 2.

Waves announced that its forthcoming Waves 4.0 program will support Mac OS X, eventually adding support for Audio Units.

Get Virtual In Mac OS X
Akai finally came around to the virtual synth world, unveiling its Z8 virtual sampler in Mac OS X with support for Audio Units.

Applied Acoustics showed off its awesome sound synthesis studio, Tassman 3.0, now ready for Mac OS X. Tassman combines some of the best retro synthesis and sound processing techniques with physical modeling technology.


Get Physical. Applied Acoustics’ Tassman for Mac OS X gives you the retro modular action you need so badly.

Sampled & Surrounded. MOTU’s new MachFive surround-sound virtual sampler will work in the host audio app of your choice.


Arturia kicked out the swells with its new Modular System, a virtual synth that emulates a Moog Modular.

Emagic demonstrated its line of virtual synths and samplers, including the ES2 bass synth, the EXS24 virtual sampler, the EVP73 and EVP88 virtual pianos and the EVOC20 vocoder.

IK Multimedia showed off its brand new Sample Tank 2, AmpliTube Live and T-Racks software, which are now available for Mac OS X, and announced coming Audio Units support for Amplitube Live.

Native Instruments (NI) rocked the crowds with non-stop demos of its irresistibly intense and ever-growing collection of virtual instruments, virtual samplers, effects and virtual instrument-building software.

NI unveiled a stunning new lineup of five new Mac OS X-ready products which all support Audio Units, including REAKTOR 4, REAKTOR SESSION, VOKATOR, INTAKT and KOMPAKT. NI also announced new partnerships with Stanton — for Final Scratch — and with East-West.

Further, NI demoed its Mac OS X-ready DJ software, TRAKTOR, which works seamlessly with iTunes and the iPod. The program is set up so you can encode and organize your music collection with iTunes, and then import it directly into TRAKTOR’s track collection for instant access to your DJ playlist.

Spectrasonics’ virtual instruments Trilogy, Atmosphere and Stylus are all now available for Mac OS X. Spectrasonics also announced coming support for Audio Units for its entire virtual instrument collection.

VirSyn flashed crowds with its Audio Units and Mac OS X-ready virtual synth, TERA.

Controllers and Devices
Apogee unveiled the Mini DAC, a portable USB-connected device that supports sample rates up to 192KHz, and has the ability to USB-enable other devices with its digital-thru-mode digital-audio converter, which connects via USB to a DAW. It’s the perfect complement to the portable USB-connected Mini-Me.

Edirol showed off its vast line of Mac OS X-ready controllers and audio/MIDI interfaces, including the M-100FX, a new USB-connected, 10-channel mixer with built-in effects, plus its new MA-20D digital reference monitors.

Emagic demoed its newest high-quality, portable, USB-connected MIDI/audio interface, the EMI 6|2m, as well as its Audiowerks PCI-connected audio interfaces.

Evolution unleashed its UC33 — a virtual instrument/DAW controller, which is a perfect sidekick for the NI collection, and plugs and plays with pretty much every other virtual instrument or sampler, as well. Evolution hosts an entire line of USB-connected MIDI/keyboard controllers that are ready for Mac OS X.


Get a Rise. Emagic’s new Channel EQ gives you eight bands of parametric EQ action.


M-Audio unveiled an assortment of audio and MIDI interfaces, including the new FireWire 410 — a 4-in/10-out FireWire audio interface, the all-in-one Ozone USB 24-bit/96KHz audio interface and MIDI keyboard, the Audiophile USB, BX5 Studiophile reference monitors, the MobilePre USB Preamp and the Radium 49 USB MIDI controller.

MOTU scorched the crowds with its high-definition 192KHz PCI-connected audio interface, as well as its Mac OS X-ready, FireWire-connected 896 and 828 audio interfaces.

Roland showed off its GI-20 — a 13-pin USB interface for guitars, with GK-20 hex pickups, and announced coming support for Mac OS X. Meanwhile, Brian Moore Guitars showed its iGuitars, which feature built-in pickups that drive Roland’s new GI-20.

ST Audio announced the arrival of Mac OS X drivers for its DSP24 series soundcards.

Terratec delivered Mac OS X support for its line of soundcards.

TC Works launched a Mac OS X driver for its PowerCore DSP card, adding Audio Units plug-in support and further-enhanced system performance. The PowerCore DSP card allows you to run high-quality plug-ins in your native host DAW program, without taxing the machine.

Universal Audio showed off its renowned UAD-1 DSP processing card, which now is fully compatible for use on multi-processor machines. The Mackie-distributed card is scheduled to support Mac OS X and Audio Units in 2003, as well as the ability to use multiple cards in the same Mac.

Peace Offering
Crywolf wooed audiophiles with its CoolMac soundproof and cooling cabinet enclosures, which are designed for the Xserve and the Power Mac. Crywolf’s line of soundproof enclosures may be just what you need for silencing computer

[Panag]

SAFARI MAY INDEED BE THE BEST MAC BROWSER EVER

DR. MAC
Safari may indeed be best Mac browser ever
By BOB LEVITUS
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
IT'S Apple software that really distinguishes Macs from PCs, and Apple introduced a bunch of it at Macworld Expo earlier this month.

First there's Safari, Apple's new Web browser. The Apple hype machine crows: "It's the fastest and easiest to use Web browser ever created for the Mac." "Its highly tuned rendering engine loads pages over three times faster than Microsoft's Internet Explorer for the Mac." "It runs Javascript over twice as fast." Steve Jobs modestly predicts that "many will feel it is the best browser ever created."

It would make me sick if it weren't mostly true. Safari is wicked fast, with a clean, uncluttered interface and a feature I love -- a special field in its toolbar that lets you search the Web via Google without going to the Google Web page first.

I've been using Safari for several weeks, and even though it's still in beta, it has become my browser of choice. It is much faster than the others, and it may very well be the best browser ever created. Not bad for a program that's not even done yet.

Join more than 1 million other Mac users and download the beta. It's at www.apple.com/safari.

Moving right along, I've seen a lot of Steve Jobs keynote performances at various Macworld Expos, and I've always been impressed by the stuff Steve shows on the big screens. I always figured he had a room full of graphic artists, QuickTime engineers and video gurus working around the clock, but I was way wrong.

It turns out that Jobs has been using the ever-so-appropriately named Keynote, Apple's just-released $99 presentation program. Keynote is reminiscent of PowerPoint, but with that slick Apple interface. And since it takes advantage of cool OS X technologies like Quartz, QuickTime and OpenGL, it has superb typography, Photoshop-like image resizing, and high-quality transitions. Plus, it includes 12 Apple-designed themes, and just like the themes you get with iDVD, the Keynote themes are gorgeous.

When I got my copy, I went back to my hotel that night and created a slide show for the Dr. Mac's 2002 Shareware, Freeware and Otherware Awards I was hosting later that week. I spent less than 90 minutes on it, and, ignoring my own advice, I didn't even glance at the manual.

It came out great. And since Keynote allowed me to export it as a QuickTime movie, you can see it for yourself at homepage.mac.com/boblevitus/iMovieTheater9.html.

Two other software announcements capped off Jobs' keynote.

First, Final Cut Express, a new and less expensive program for editing video. Based on Apple's award-winning Final Cut Pro software, priced at $999, Express leaves out some of the pro features most people would never use and costs just $299.

The last software announcement concerns something old, iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto and iDVD, and something new, the name you call them. Forget about iApps or the Digital Hub. From here on out they're to be addressed as iLife.

Steve Jobs says that "iLife does for our digital lifestyle what Microsoft Office did for office productivity. Apple is far ahead of its PC competitors in offering the best-in-class applications for digital music, photography, moviemaking and DVD creation; and now they all work together seamlessly."

You can say that again.

The iLife applications are free with new Macs. Beginning today, iPhoto 2 and iMovie 3 will be available for free download at www.apple.com. The iLife retail package, with all four applications, will be $49.

Alas, iDVD 3 still requires an internal Apple SuperDrive.

Bob LeVitus is a leading authority on Mac OS and the author of 41 books, including Mac OS X For Dummies 2nd Edition and The Little iTunes Book 2nd Edition. E-mail comments to doctormac@boblevitus.com.


hi ,

well actually Safari is the best browser so far , EVER

dont forget to get safari

have a nice day

[Panag]

APPLE STRENGTHENS SERVER SUPPORT

Apple strengthens server support
Partners unveil application support for Xserve


By Ephraim Schwartz January 27, 2003



Despite its nascent status, Apple Computer's server division is gaining momentum among ISV partners and corporate users of its Xserve and OS X operating system.



Grey Zone, an extranet software developer Visa International, Terayon and Kelly-Moore on the books, will announce this week a partnership with Sybase to create an enterprise-class application for xtranets running on Xserve .

Before the first quarter ends another ISV, Smith Micro Software, will also weigh in with enterprise software for , launching WebDNA 5.0, enterprise edition.

WebDNA is a scripting language with a built in database for generating Internet-based business applications. The enterprise version will consume Web services in the first version and create Web ervices in the second version.

In addition, Grey Zone will announce a deal on January 28 to co-market its content management solution and conduct joint technical development of an application stack for its SecureZone 5 Extranet software atop Sybase's relational database management system.

SecureZone currently runs on Linux based systems, however Grey Zone executives said the addition of Sybase into the mix gives them an enterprise class database for Apple .

"MySQL [Linux DBMS] doesn't have the resources that Sybase has. Our software is just as much a transaction based solution as any other transaction software would be and Sybase is optimized for that high level transaction capability," said Daniel Duerr, founder Grey Zone .

Terayon , a manufacturer of broadband communications equipment with 500 employees and revenues in the $100 million range is one of the first companies to move to Grey Zone 's software .

"We had previously been hosting at Exodus on Linux but the cost was prohibitive and we made the decision to host ourselves," said Matt Ott, director of Marketing at Terayon, in Santa Clara , Calif.

After reviewing numerous platforms, Ott said Terayon went with the Mac platform for its ease of use and price performance, especially in the area of storage where Mac supports less costly IDE drives rather than SCSI which is typical of 1U rack mounted servers.

"We have a bunch of Unix guys around here and they go in through the command line and I go in through the GUI and everybody is happy," said.

Ott added that SecureZone supports unlimited users unlike the Windows licensing model. The SecureZone application encompasses functionality for personalization, customized Web site creation, authoring, Web management access control and security. Secure Zone for Sybase will ship by the end of the first quarter and will start at $25,000 for one server and five groups.

According to one industry analyst, Apple stands to benefit from the combination of more ISVs rolling out enterprise applications for Xserve and the current anti-Microsoft climate.

"There are a lot of forces in the anti-Microsoft camp and Apple is another good alternative. And for the enterprise, IT managers are looking for the kind of support that Sybase can provide. They offer more structure than Linux can supply," said Jim Johnson, chairman of he Standish Group in West Yarmouth , Mass.

Currently, Apple has approximately 3.5 percent market share among desktop users but well under 1 percent in the server market, largely due to the fact that Xserve was introduced late last year, said.

Smith Micro's application will include a server-side application for content management with a Web-based interface. WebDNA version 5.0 will have a wizard that allows users to step through the process of searching and consuming a UDDI service and tailoring it for the user's environment by generating code to interface with that Web service.

Phil Bonesteele, WebDNA's director of product development and professional services said the company has always supported Apple but the addition of OS X erver makes it far easier to create Web services.

"In the course of the last year we have seen that Apple is taking a growing proportion of our new sales," said.

Will Apple be a significant player in the enterprise? Many analysts argue it is unlikely ut Apple partners dealing with enterprise customers have a different perspective.

ProVar , one of Apple's only enterprise specialist VARs that deal with large publishing, new media and entertainment companies, said OS X erver is on a roll. After receiving single unit sale orders by companies that just wanted to kick the tires, the company now receives orders for multiple units in the , 20s and 100s.

"We are getting into accounts that would never look at a Mac before this. It is a breakthrough product for Apple for two reasons: the OS is Unix based, and number two because the server form factor is appealing a 1U rack mount server RAID 5 built in," said Wiley Corbett, CEO of ProVar in Greenville , NC.





Ephraim Schwartz is editor at large at InfoWorld. Contact him at ephraim_schwartz@infoworld.com.

[Panag]

APPLE PLATFORM IS INFOWORLD WINNER

2002 Technology of the Year: Apple platform
With Unix at its core and OS X on the upswing, Apple’s offerings get tastier



Last year, Apple could have made an easy case for aborting its play for the business and Unix markets, retreating back to its cozy "creative professional" niche. Looking in from the outside, we saw loyal customers and software vendors balking at the tedious upgrade to OS X. We watched the Linux/Unix/BSD/open-source crowd descend on Apple, critiquing and demanding changes to the platform without spending a dime on it. Mac desktops and the new Xserve took a beating from ever-faster, ever-cheaper PCs, and it looked as though Motorola's 32-bit PowerPC processor might have reached the end of the road.

Instead of backing down, Apple rolled up its sleeves. A rapid-fire sequence of updates addressed bugs and gaps in OS X. Apple stuck with and expanded its open-source efforts, ignoring harsh criticism from GNU for not being open enough. It's been unusually forthcoming on the hardware front, posting detailed technical documents and putting up QuickTime videos showing customers how to install their own upgrades.

With its platform, Apple tried to balance three seemingly conflicting goals: Keep existing Mac users happy, make OS X's GUI and application support as rich and accessible as Windows', and be regarded as the best Unix client platform on the market. The Mac platform is taking shape as one that users and developers outside Apple's established niche markets can embrace.

We'll highlight one aspect of the platform that's evolving particularly well: the Unix layer. Apple spent a lot of effort to make OS X source-code compatible with BSD. There are some quirks that complicate the porting of text-based Unix applications and services to the Mac, but 2002 updates to the OS and development tools netted vast improvements. OS X is now a supported build target for the most visible open-source projects, meaning the latest cut of Apache or Mozilla is likely to hit the Mac at the same time it hits Linux, BSD, and Solaris.

Plus, Apple finally addressed what was a showstopper for some Unix developers. On January 7, Apple released its beta of the first hardware-accelerated X Window server for OS X. It seems like a small thing, but hundreds of open and commercial Unix graphical applications would not run, or would run with unacceptably poor performance, under OS X. There is more work to do, but the Apple platform is here to stay.

[Panag]

hi ,

DO MORE


SEE MORE


SPEND LESS


Mac users or pc users who want to change ; go to www.apple.com

so of the new prices are really low

so low that its amazing

have a nice cheap Mac Day

[Panag]

Quicktime , from www.creativemac.com

JANUARY 16, 2003
QuickTime in a Production Environment
Making the most of the format that powers the medium
by Andrew Beach

QuickTime is far and away the most flexible, versatile and, yes, powerful tool available to the video/film/animation/music industry. In a modern production house, where most work is already done on computers, there is no reason why QuickTime cannot be used for pre-production, as well as production and postproduction work. Using QuickTime as a workflow tool will help your company quickly share ideas, test footage, and sample graphics across the office and across the globe.
QT Pro and its Importance
I cannot stress enough the importance of using QuickTime Pro as opposed to the regular QT player. In its basic installation on any computer, QuickTime is a fully functional player--able to play any .mov or .mpg file locally or through an Internet connection. This is what all free (and occasionally not free) video players (e.g. the Windows Media Player, or Real Player) offer consumers. QuickTime even offers consumers some bonuses in addition to this for no cost, such as an absence of advertising.

However, Apple also produces what they term a "professional" version of QuickTime. It is, in fact, the exact same QT installed on every Macintosh and available as a free download for both Mac and Windows from their Web site, but with a bevy of functionality unlocked with the purchase of a serial number. "Oh dear, I have to buy something," you're thinking. Yes you do, but believe me when I say that at $29.99, QuickTime Pro is the least expensive and most robust tool that any digital professional can have in their toolbox. (QuickTime Pro license keys are also provided free with some non-linear editing applications, such as Apple's own Final Cut Pro.)

Registering QT allows any user to export to any supported codec or architecture (including MPEG-1 and MPEG-4), open an image sequence, add audio and video layers, extract the same and enable or disable any track from playing. (This function becomes more important when creating a multimedia project.) There is an additional purchase needed to export MPEG-2, but if you work with DVD, this is an important asset as well.

But this is not all. Users gain an "in" and "out" marker on every file, allowing them to select a particular area (though this is not as fine an in and out as I'd like) to copy, cut, add or otherwise effect. One of the most simple, yet pleasant options available is playing back videos full screen. By selecting "Full Screen?" from the Movie menu or using Command-F, you have the ability to play back a movie on either a black background or by completely filling the screen--a valuable asset for presentations and any televisual experience required on your computer.

Pre-production
All digital projects start analog--that is, they all start with the imagination of writers, directors and other creative talent involved. Yet most of us work digitally, and, what's more, most of us deliver digitally, so why not move our ideas to the digital realm as quickly as possible?

Concepts
Before creating, try research. When working on a commercial spot, for example, where a style and editing consistent with a 1930s Hollywood musical is required, what better reference than a couple of Fred Astaire clips? Similarly, to designers in the print world who collect photographs, magazine pages and old ads in books to provide direction, those in the digital realm would be well served to create collections of QuickTime video clips that will help keep your creative bearings on track.

Before running out to convert the local video shop into a random access resource, there are two important things to keep in mind:

1. These should be for personal reference use only--handing out even short clips of someone else's work isn't being creative, it's just stealing.

2. Staying organized is key--don't try to load up a laptop or even a desktop with a ton of clips that are only looked at for a short time when beginning a project. When planning on building up a resource of clips for future reference, export a lower resolution than broadcast quality (see "Encoding video" below), then burn all the clips to CD-Rs or DVD-Rs. Then just keep them on the shelf right next to the dictionary and encyclopedia where they belong.

Pre-visualizing
Pre-visualization is not a new concept, yet surprisingly few people outside special effects companies seem to use it. Storyboards, while providing insight compositionally, do not fully explore how a scene will edit together. By digitizing storyboards in the QuickTime format and trying out simple moves and edits in NLEs or motion graphics packages--many of which are built around QuickTime technologies--one can quickly begin to see which shots will be needed on set--all before a camera is even picked up. For filmmakers, Pre-viz has typically been a mental exercise of running through a given shoot before committing it to film, but by borrowing some of the pre-production exercises of the animation and special effects world, your production will only benefit.

Sharing footage
In filmmaking, film dailies serve a variety of purposes. They are used to check many details, including color, lighting and scenery. In the digital realm, dailies can fulfill several important tasks, though typically different. Shared project sites, where low-resolution versions of raw footage, graphics and rough edits can be used to help communicate progress as well as to collaborate on ideas, can be invaluable, particularly when dealing with clients. QuickTime movies over the Internet can serve as virtual meetings to test edits, music tracks and motion graphics

Postproduction
While QuickTime's benefits in the realm of post-production are relatively well known, it's important to highlight its flexibility. No other video application can support as many codecs and resolutions as QT or will allow content to move between as many digital packages. Quicktime is, in fact, like a Swiss army knife to the industry; its handiness seems limitless.

Beyond post: encoding video
Video on the Web will continue to be a growing phenomenon; as bandwidth increases and the size of video files decreases, users expect more content to be made available for consumption. A distinct lack of understanding of the nature of what video geared toward network delivery needs to be is the primary reason some fail at successfully posting quality video. While some may balk at this, the simple fact is there are some limitations to what the technology can currently accomplish and it is important to be aware of them. This doesn't mean, however, that we should stop challenging the level of quality in the work we delivery in such media.

Hopefully, the following tips will help you to improve your Web-based video:

Edit/design for the Web (if possible): Though not always practical, if planning to show work on the Web, don't make the edit so rapidly paced that the player can't refresh the image fast enough, and don't design graphics so small that it becomes indiscernible in the Web format.
Smaller frame sizes mean fewer pixels per frame, which equals less data per second in the long run. The largest size typically used for Web delivery is 320 x 240, or half the resolution of a standard television.
Lower framerates: Video simply doesn't need 29.97 or even 24 frames per second to have smooth motion video on the Internet. In general, start at 12 FPS and scale up or down accordingly. Fast-paced action (like a person running) may require more frames per second; slower action can typically use less.
Don't be afraid to crop: Applications like Discreet's Cleaner allow video to be cropped before scaling to the finished size so that the main action is as large as possible. Don't be afraid to dramatically trim the edges, but make sure to check that this cropping works for all scenes.
Data rates are data rates: Data rates are the amount of information, audio and video, that can be transferred, in a given second. The same 56 Kbps we refer to as a "dial up connection" is this data rate. Be aware that the higher the data rate per second, the larger the file, thus the longer it will take for the file to reach the end user.
If you're trying to create a streaming file, the rules are very straight forward: You can't exceed the end user's bandwidth per second, including a certain amount of overhead. One of the greatest benefits of QuickTime files in the area of encoding is their ability to "Fast Start," or progressively download. This means that even while the file is still downloading, a viewer will be able to begin watching the movie.
Wired video and multimedia
QuickTime engenders itself to multimedia more than any other video player. It's quite straightforward to embed QuickTime movies into programs such as Macromedia's Director--a popular program for creating self-contained presentations and kiosk displays. Likewise, the open architecture of QuickTime has lent itself to companies like Totally Hip, of Vancouver, B.C., in creating programs to completely edit, script and control the QuickTime movie. Live Stage Pro allows digital professionals to completely re-tool QuickTime's interface, removing the silver frame altogether, as well as adding scripting that creates DVD-like functionality (such as chapters, alternate audio and captions).

Perhaps one of the most impressive examples of this functionality and design currently available to the public is http://www.bmwfilms.com, created by Fallon Worldwide. Each of their short films by well known directors is available for download and, when launched, opens in a sleek, customized interface that has alternate audio tracks available as well as QTVRs and other amazing technology. The only caveat to this beautiful presentation is that files sizes tend to be larger than 100 MB, effectively locking out all but the most dedicated of dial up users. When functionality like this can be packaged in such a way to be more readily available to slower speed connections as well, we will begin to see seeing a great deal more work in this area.

QuickTime's flexibility and usefulness make it an invaluable tool. The greatest asset digital professionals can afford themselves is to become a versed user of the medium. Spending time exploring its various capabilities will facilitate your creativity and make your work easier to manage.

Andrew Beach: The Internet and film have been passions of Andrew's for many years, leading to collaborating on short films with international writers and developing new ways to converge the realms of video and computer.

Andrew took a position where he combined his ideas and knowledge of moving image to digital media at, Deepend, a world-renowned London interactive design agency. Later as head of Deepend's New York convergent media team he helped develop content delivery systems for new media, including broadband and interactive TV, as well as relationships with partners like Apple.

As a founding partner and Director of Convergent Media for Last Exit LLC ( http://www.lastexit.tv), Andrew continues to apply experience to compelling moving image work and to innovative content delivery.

Andrew's recent lectures include QuickTime Live 2001 in Beverly Hills, Production East 2002 in New York City, and the School of Visuals Arts in NYC where he is an adjunct professor in the Computer Arts Department.

[Panag]

Join us at an Apple store for a special night showcasing local student and teacher projects created using a Mac. See how they bring learning to life and hear a presentation by an Apple Distinguished Educator. You can also find out how to host an Apple store School Night event of your own.

The following retail stores are presenting School Nights: Woodfield, SoHo, CambridgeSide, Palo Alto, Tysons, Pasadena and Lenox Square.

Wednesday, Jan 29
6:30 p.m.


hi ,

more info at www.apple.com/retail/schoolnight_events.html

have a nice day

[Panag]

UNRIVALED DISPLAYS . BREAKTROUGH PRICES

Apple’s brilliant flat panel displays offer certified color at unbelievable prices. All displays in the Apple family offer crisp pixels, the best viewing angle technology and a broad color gamut so you can judge your work accurately. And they won’t break the bank — or your back, for that matter.

Indie budget, blockbuster view
The latest addition to the lineup is the 20-inch Apple Cinema Display, weighing in at hefty 1680 by 1050 pixels, plenty of room to edit your latest feature. This gorgeous new display delivers the same wide aspect and great picture quality of the 23-inch model at an incredible price, just $1299. And don’t forget it’s actually super-light and super-thin, too.

Top-of-line meets bottom line
Or step up to the amazingly well priced 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, now only $1999.

With 2.3 million digital pixels — more than enough (1920 by 1200 pixels) to support HD content in its native format, with space to spare — the 23-inch is perfect for video professionals using a Power Mac G4.

Only pennies per pixel
The 17-inch Apple Studio Display supports a resolution of 1280 by 1024 pixels — equivalent to the work space you get with a 21-inch cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor. Now every desktop can afford more desk space since the 17-inch Studio Display now costs $699.

Wide viewing angle
But the breakthrough prices don’t come at the cost of performance. When you sit down at an Apple display, you see the whole picture immediately, from virtually any angle, except perhaps from behind. That’s because Apple displays use the best viewing angle technology on the market today to ensure that your eye can see the digital signal from the computer without your adapting to the device’s limitations.

Apple uses the best viewing angle technology to minimize color shift when you’re not looking straight at the display. And who does? First of all, if you invite another person, say a client, for instance, to look at an image onscreen with you, you can’t both be looking at it from the same angle. And even if you’re the only one looking at the screen, the Apple Cinema Displays are so wide, that you end up looking at images in the corner at a steep angle anyway. You can look at pixels on Apple displays at angles up to 170°.

Connect USB peripherals
A conveniently located, built-in two-port USB hub lets you plug in peripherals like your printer, scanner, external hard disk or digital camera.

Power it up
The power button on the front of these displays lets you turn them on, put them into low-energy-use sleep mode, or wake them from sleep — with a single touch.

All-digital, active-matrix LCD Flat-panel displays produce flicker-free images with twice the brightness, sharpness, and contrast ratio of a typical CRT display. The high-performance graphics engine in the Power Mac G4 or PowerBook G4s provides an all-digital signal between the computer and the Apple flat-panel displays, producing undistorted screen images every time. Thanks to this all-digital approach, there’s no need to convert the digital signal to analog form (a process that inevitably leads to image degradation, since translation errors often cause screen distortion and artifacts).

Certified color
All-digital technology means you get consistent color from edge-to-edge as well as color consistency over time. Apple flat panel displays are immune to heat, humidity and electromagnetic fields that can cause color changes to a CRT. And while Apple displays leave the factory at tuned to perform out-of-the-box, you can use calibration devices such as the GretagMacbeth Eye-One to create a custom ColorSync profile. This gives you the peace of mind that an Apple display will integrate perfectly into your color workflow, ensuring accurate color from screen to print.

In fact, Apple Cinema Displays were chosen by ICS, Inc., for their Remote Director 2.0 system, which is the first display based soft proofing system to be SWOP certified. The prestigious SWOP certification means you can use the system to approve press production jobs onscreen without the need for hard-copy proofs.

Effortless adjustment
All three displays have a unique hinge that allow you to effortlessly adjust your viewing angle back and forth as you please, with your fingertips.

Fast pixel response
Apple flat-panel displays are engineered to display intensive full-motion video and game graphics without artifacts. When compared against other LCD displays, Apple displays perform better across the entire spectrum, preventing ghosting and banding in gray levels, not just black and white. Try it out in the real world.



Energy conservation and environmental benefits
The power consumption of the Apple displays is incredibly small. Even the 23-inch Cinema HD Display, for instance, uses a as low as one third the power of a CRT monitor (of comparable size). Because the Apple displays generate a fraction of the heat, it takes less energy to cool an office or school with many displays.

No cable clutter
The Apple Display Connector (ADC) makes set-up a snap. A single cable with a quick-latch connector carries all digital video, USB and power signals from your Power Mac G4 to the display. No more separate USB and power cables to clutter up your desktop.


hi ,

well that is great news

so go out and buy those screens

have a nice day