EvangeList Digest Monday, April 6 1998 Volume 01 : Number 1145
In this issue:
$$ - BBS in a Box 23 ships (8,600 Mac archives) Followup - Mac Upgrade and Repair $$ - Java web authoring and Multimedia Authoring Tools PR - Peak 2.0 Audio Editing Software Job - Mac Specialists Wanted Tidbit - More NT Woes Tidbit - Third Party Consensus of Mac Superiority Over Windows Job - Software QA Specialist/Manager (Minneapolis MN) PR - WebSTAR 3.0 W*API SDK PR - Lasso 2.5.1 Available Tidbit - QuickTime and MoviePlayer 3.0 as a Signal Processing WorkShop
=========================================================================== Submissions to EvangeList: <mailto:evangelist@apple.com>.
Help: <http://www.lists.apple.com/evangelist.html> or <evangelist-info@public.lists.apple.com> ===========================================================================
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:10:16 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: $$ - BBS in a Box 23 ships (8,600 Mac archives)
This special offer is from:
AMUG CD Inc., <sales@amug.org>
BBS in a Box 23 Ships! (4 CD set - 8,600 archives) BBS in a Box is the standard for Mac users wanting the highest quality Mac file library. This 4 CD-ROM set is a GREAT personal library with file descriptions.You can view it on-line at <http://cdrom.amug.org/>
Contains art, business, demos, eductaion, fonts, games, internet, midi, music, publishing, quicktime, system tools, internet tools, updates, and utilities.
How to Purchase The BBS in a Box 4 CD set for Mac retails for $69.00 in US funds, however, EvangeList members can purchase it for $39.00 during this special offer. To participate send the appropriate amount plus $5.00 shipping US ($10 international) to:
AMUG CD, BBS-in-a-Box EvangeList offer 745 N. Gilbert Road #124-275 Gilbert, AZ 85234 United States of America
International orders please include $10.00 shipping. Visa/MC/AE/DISC may be utilized by calling (602) 497-2244 or Fax at 602-497-2266 or <sales@amug.org>. Include your name, address and phone for shipping.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:10:26 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Followup - Mac Upgrade and Repair
This follow-up message is from:
TStauffer, <TStauffer@aol.com>
I've gotten great feedback from Evangelistas (and some of the other lists that picked up my original post) regarding tips and anecdotes for my upcoming book on Mac Upgrading and Repair. To recap, I'm about 50% done with the first draft of this 800 tome dedicated to primers on all sorts of technology, step-by-step instructions for installing new components and troubleshooting guidelines on a dizzying (at least for me) array of software and hardware topics.
I see this book as the perfect companion -- not a replacement -- for both "Sad Macs" and "Mac Secrets"...but that's just my opinion ;-)
I still need great tips and anecdotes from Evangelistas who want their names in lights (well, printed on bright white paper). Right now I'm taking these tips and putting them in sidebars along with, of course, full credit for the tip's author. These tips range (so far) from PRAM battery anecdotes to restoring a lab full of Macs. But I need more, especially on *troubleshooting* hardware and software. As promised, a few of the best tips so far are posted on my Web site, along with some of the topics that desperately need new tips. (I'll try to update both about once a week during the writing schedule, more frequently this summer. We'll also be getting a new domain soon.)
<http://shutup101.com/todd/>
If you have a tip, send e-mail to <tstauffer@aol.com> with the subject line "Mac Anecdote" and include the *exact* way you'd like to be credited for your tip, e.g.:
John J. Halbig "The Digital Guy" Cupertino, CA
Let me know if you want your school, business, organization, position, etc. mentioned.
Thanks for all the help from everyone who's written so far. I'm trying to make this book a community effort that shows exactly why the Mac is not only the best computing platform, but the Mac community is the best one to be a part of as a professional or hobbyist. Most of all I want to turn Mac owners of all sorts on to resources like Evangelist and Evangelistas. All notes of encouragement and ideas are welcome.
- - Todd
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:10:20 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: $$ - Java web authoring and Multimedia Authoring Tools
Keyword: Market by market, Multimedia
PNR2, <PNR2@aol.com>
For the month of April we are pleased all evangelist subscribers a 20% discount off our award winning Java and Multimedia authoring tools. Free trial versions as well as full for-sale copies are available on our website at <http://www.imcinfo.com>
ActionLine-Build interactive, multimedia rich web pages without programming or scripting. Regularly $199.00-evangelist price $159.00.
Special Delivery-A multimedia authoring tool for the Macintosh. Regularly $99.00-evangelist price $79.00.
Media Cataloger-Organize your media files into a visual database tool including keywords and rapid sorting. Movies, graphics, sounds in all popular formats are supporter. Regularly $24.95-evangelist price $19.00.
Berkley Integrated Audio Software, Inc. (BIAS) today announced version 2.0 of Peak, a comprehensive revision of their highly acclaimed digital audio editing software for the Apple Power Macintosh. This new version adds a number of high-end features, many new useful tools, improves features from previous versions, and sports a brand new user interface. Version 2.0 has a more powerful, robust feature set than ever before, and sets a new standard for dedicated stereo waveform editing on the Macintosh.
High-end Features for Professionals Peak's power as a professional-caliber audio tool is evident with the inclusion of a number of high-end features, including the ability to record, edit, and process 8-, 16-, 24-, and 32-bit audio files (depending on available recording hardware). Peak 2.0 also adds support for playback and recording through DAE, enabling Peak to run seamlessly on all Digidesign hardwarethat supports DAE, and offering full access to TDM and Audiosuite plug-ins from within the Peak program. Additionally, Adobe Premiere audio plug-ins can now be used in real-time within Peak 2.0. SMPTE synchronization has been added, making Peak an asset to any video workstation. Peak 2.0 supports encoding RealAudio 5.0 for authoring sound files to the Internet. Finally, BIAS has included the ability to burn audio directly to CD from within the Playlist in Peak 2.0, and most popular CD burners are supported.
Peak's user interface has been greatly improved in version 2.0. All dialogs are now Appearance Manager savvy, taking full advantage of the latest Macintosh OS8 features. A user customizable toolbar has been added, as well as a floating palette with selection/zoom/pencil/scrub mouse modes. A QuickTime movie window has been added, and is fully compatible with Peak's scrubbing capabilities, making Peak an ideal tool for multimedia production. A contents window displays the markers, regions, and loops contained within an audio file. Regions can be dragged from the contents window directly into a Playlist. Finally, users can now independently select either the right or left channel for editing and processing.
BIAS has added a host of useful new features to Peak 2.0. With the addition of support for the Yamaha A3000 and Ensoniq ASR-X, Peak 2.0 provides users with access to even more sampler hardware than before. Peak's new Loop Tuner dialog makes finding the right loop point in audio files easy. A Pencil tool has been added for sample-level editing, and includes a smoothing option. BIAS has also added support for Ensoniq's PARIS file format (.paf) to the already long list of audio file formats supported by Peak. Finally, Peak 2.0 now includes more on-board DSP processing than ever before.
In addition to the many new features in Peak 2.0, BIAS has gone the extra mile to improve many of the features from previous versions of Peak. The Import CD dialog now includes the ability to select multiple tracks of audio for importing. An improved sample transfer feature enables the user to instantly send a sample, or group of samples, back to the original location in the sampler. A tempo calculator has been added to the Loop Surfer, which determines the tempo of the selected audio. The inclusion of a Nudge Regions dialog adds the ability to fine-tune transitions between regions. The Open... dialog now includes file information regarding the file length, type, sample rate, bit depth, and number of channels. Audio meters are more responsive, calibrated to dB, detect clipping, and include peak hold. Recording in Peak 2.0 has been improved, allowing users to record SDII or AIFF audio files and process through third party Adobe Premiere audio plug-ins in real-time while recording is in progress. Finally, Peak 2.0 allows users to create and read WAV audio files with full support of marker, loop, and region information stored in the file.
Peak 2.0 has an MSRP of US$499.00 and will be available at the end of Q2, 1998. Upgrades from version 1.5 - 2.0 are US$129.
We are a technical recruiting firm based in New York City. We are currently looking for some qualified Mac Specialists.
There are two positions available right now. They are:
1. Mac Support - Hardware Specialist: Must be Apple Certified. The position is an Open-ended contract. It is with one of the top ten advertising firms here in NYC.
2. Quick Mail Administrator: Quick Mail is the e-mail system that the firm is currently working with. This position is on a consultant basis for 4-6 months. This position is with one of the top ten advertising firms here in NYC.
If you are interested or have any questions, give us a call or send us your resume.
Also, check out our web-site at www.millconcepts.com.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:10:51 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - More NT Woes
Keyword: Advocacy, Windows Daymares
This tidbit is from:
Bruce Toback, <btoback@optc.com>
Nicholas Petreley's column in the March 30, 1998 issue of InfoWorld contains an interesting comparison of Windows NT reliability with that of other PC operating systems. The article discusses what NT users have come to call BSODs -- blue screens of death, or operating system crashes. These occur with annoying frequency in some Windows NT environments. "For example," Petreley writes, "I can get a BSOD simply by accessing (or, in some cases, simply inserting) any of three improperly-written CD-Recordable disks that I had."
Windows NT has a wholly undeserved reputation as an almost miraculously reliable operating system; articles like Petreley's help counter that fantasy with a healthy dose of experience.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:10:56 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - Third Party Consensus of Mac Superiority Over Windows
Keyword: Advocacy, Why Macs Are Better
This tidbit is from:
TomSawyer, <adelgado@cse.fau.edu>
It's a pro UNIX article covering Windoze daymares and subjects such as totaly cost of ownership. Why would this interest a Mac Evangelist? It's not a Mac source making it harder to pass off as biased zealotry. This next quote also points out something that's good to be shared through non-Mac sources for the same reason.
"If all that is true, why is Windows so popular, anyway? As anybody who is familiar with the history of computing is aware, Microsoft only adopted GUIs because Apple had demonstrated that the Macintosh with its GUI could maintain a significant market share even in the face of Microsoft's marketing might. The original Windows GUI was a clumsy knockoff of the Mac GUI, deliberately modified to be just enough different to avoid legal problems. Windows 95 is a slightly more consistent rehash."
Power On Software has a new opening for a software quality assurance specialist or manager to plan, organize and help carry out product testing. Experience with internal and beta testing preferred. The successful candidate will be working closely with our engineering and product management teams, maintaining bug tracking databases and training our tech support group on new products.
Our products include network management & security software and the ACTION Utilities, the first of which ACTION Files has just shipped. The products can be seen on our web sites <http://www.poweronsw.com> and <www.actionutilities.com>.
The ideal candidate will have a very good understanding of Macintosh hardware, system software and networks. You should also be familiar with the Windows environment and internet/web site maintenance. Good communication skills, both written and oral, are essential.
Salary commensurate with experience, health insurance, 401K, casual downtown Minneapolis office with free parking.
With the release of WebSTAR 3.0 comes an update to the W*API SDK for building W*API Plug-Ins. The current version of the W*API is now 1.3. Changes include:
- - Support for multihoming. - - Several previously read-only parameters are now settable. - - New parameters for finer awareness of the server environment. - - Several new error messages. - - Support for receiving of HTTP 1.1 chunked data.
Previous W*API SDK versions and additional W*API info can be found at:
<ftp://ftp.starnine.com/pub/webstar_dev/>
Questions about developing W*API plug-ins should be directed to the WebSTAR-Dev mailing list (subscribe at <http://www.starnine.com/address-list-editor.html>>.
__________ This msg originated from the MacDev-1 listserv and was selectively redistributed on your favorite list -- EvangeList. To subscribe to MacDev-1, check out <http://www.mactech.com> or send an email to<MacDev-1@listmail.xplain.com>
Blue World Communications, Inc. today announced the immediate availability of Lasso 2.5.1, a maintenance release for the company's award-winning solution for Web- and Java- enabling FileMaker Pro for Mac OS from FileMaker, Inc. The update provides enhanced stability and offers a new license agreement enabling registered users to run up to two copies of Lasso 2.5.1 on a single CPU with a single serial number.
The update improves stability for the CGI, Plug-in and Server editions of Lasso by addressing the following problems:
- - Using -search in an image tag is now functional. - - If no value is issued in the next/prev tags, the -opEnd and -opBegin tags are no longer stripped . - - Malformed conditional statements no longer cause Lasso to break in the debugger. - - Memory leaks in Encoding and Decoding UTF strings have been patched. - - A conflict between WebTen 2.0 and Lasso's RFC1123 date resources has been resolved. - - An obscure problem with the Lasso Server resulting in Type 1 or 2 errors has been fixed. - - Some inconsistencies with the string tags were corrected.
With Lasso 2.5.1, Blue World has revised its license agreement permitting registered users to install and use two copies of either the CGI/Plug-in edition or two copies of the Server edition on the same CPU using a single serial number. The previous license agreement allowed only a single instance of Lasso to exist on a single CPU.
Blue World advises all Lasso 2.5 customers to download and install the Lasso 2.5.1 update available at:
<ftp://ftp.blueworld.com/Lasso251/>.
In addition, Blue World today made available an online Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database to assist Lasso users by providing answers to common questions. Users may browse, search and submit to this regularly maintained resource. The FAQ database is located at:
<http://www.blueworld.com/lasso/faq/>.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:11:04 -0000 From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Tidbit - QuickTime and MoviePlayer 3.0 as a Signal Processing WorkShop
This tidbit is from:
Juan de Dios Santander Vela, <jdvela@lander.es>
There's been a lot of movement around .mp3, and the reduction in spa- ce it provides for music you have: if you have SoundApp PPC 2.4.4 or higher, you can reproduce MPEG Audio Layer I, II or III with a comp- ression ratio of about 11:1.
But with the release of QuickTime 3.0, if you upgrade it to the Pro edition, you can save any sound you can import with new compression codecs, including QDesign Music compressor, wich can give you compre- ssion ratios around 28:1.
To do this, just export your just imported CD track, or any AIFF, or System 7 sound --in fact, any audio format QT 3.0 now supports--, and click the options button. A dialog will allow you to select the compression codec you want to apply.
And if you're exporting a whole movie, not just an AIFF or a movie's soundtrack, play with the Filter... button in the Options dialog. You will be able to correct the HLS & RGB average values of the mo- vie, to blur or sharpen it, to detect edges... You can even type a convolution kernel to filter each frame of the movie in any way you want, converting the MoviePlayer in a signal processing workshop.
And you can also set the compressor for the exported movie, inclu- ding the new Sorenson codec, QuickTime conferencing H.263, and the rest of QT 2.5 known codecs...
Only problem is that most codecs are tremendously assymetrical, this is, they take very little to be played, but take a lot to be compres- sed, perhaps not to much of a problem for those screaming G3's, but nearly impossible to do on 68k Macs --which by the way I don't know if the offer this possibilities--, and still a heavy duty for my hum- ble PowerMac 7200/120, loaded with 48MB.
I still have to see what's the impact of memory assigment on compres- sion time, and a lot of things to try, but hey, I downloaded it yes- terday!
Hope at least some of you find this helpful, and let's kick butt!
------------------------------
End of EvangeList Digest V1 #1145 *********************************
