Mac Product Watch (7/10-7/14)

In space, no one can hear you frag: Terminus 1.5 updates Vicarious Visions' space-trading and combat-simulation game, fixing various display bugs.

How much is that mint copy of Giant-Size X-Men worth? Human Computing has released ComicBase 5.0, the latest version of its comic-book inventory and evaluation application. The new versions contains pricing and index information for more than 150,000 titles and features an improved interface and search tools. The standard edition is $129; the deluxe edition, which includes an extra CD-ROM with more cover art and movies, is $149. Upgrades from Version 4.0 and 3.0 are $50 and $65, respectively.

MonkeyBread Software's HTML Timer 1.0 is a shareware utility for scanning HTML files (including graphics, frames and multimedia components) and determining download times.

All we can say is, "Whoo-hoo!" Deus Ex, one of this year's most anticipated games on any platform, has shipped for the Mac, thanks to Aspyr Media and the porting skills of Westlake Interactive. The adventure game, based on the Unreal Tournament 3D engine, lets you play a secret agent caught in a near-future world rife with intrigue, nanotechnology and conspiracy theories that would make Dale Gribble blush. Originally developed for the PC by Ion Storm, Deus Ex will retail for $50.

Mendota Software has released Cutout 3.0, the latest version of its planning program for architects, adding the ability to stretch objects, an improved reshape tool, metric scales and more. It's $10 shareware.

Theorist Interactive's LiveMath Maker 3.0 (formerly known as MathView and Theorist) gains a new palette for quick access to functions, a new Starter library, graph tags and more. A single-user license is $99; site and educational licenses are also available. Theorist has also updated its free LiveMath 3.0 plug-in for Web browsers that allows LiveMath users to embed dynamic LiveMath notebooks into pages. It also allows anybody with the plug-in to read these pages.

Buena Software has released its Effects Pack 3 of 10 filters for QuickTime movies. This $30 set includes fractal, motion, compositing and other filters.

Group Logic Inc. has released MassTransit 3.6, the latest revision of its high-speed file-transfer software for remote proofing. Version 3.6 offers improved speeds, file prioritization and bug fixes.

Snak 4.1 is the latest version of Kent Sorenson's IRC client that adds faster text display, a fully updated mIRC server list and other new features. The update to the $20 shareware is free.

Abstrakt's iMago 1.0 is a set of plug-ins for the FileMaker Pro database that allows automatic creation of image thumbnails. It's $49.

OnStream has announced its Echo FireWire and Echo USB high-capacity tape drives. Both 30GB removable drives, which are differentiated by their respective connectivity standards, come bundled with full versions of Dantz's Retrospect backup software. The Echo USB is currently available for $299; the Echo FireWire will ship in early fall for $599.

Inprise/Borland will include Mac OS X support in its JBuilder 3.5 Java development environment. This OS X-savvy version will ship at the same time as Mac OS X's full release sometime early in 2001.

Adobe Systems Inc. has released updates to the rest of its type utilities, Adobe Type Manager Deluxe 4.6 and Adobe Type Reunion Deluxe 2.6. Both add OpenType font support and better compatibility with Mac OS 8.1 through 9.0. Be warned: these are big downloads -- around 23MB.

Media 100 Inc. has announced Media 100 i, its new series of professional-level interactive streaming-media tools. Media 100 i will use what the company calls EventStream, a technology that addresses and integrates other streaming-media standards for creation of hot spots, URL calls and chapter marks. The four components of Media 100 i will be available in the fall for prices ranging from $3,495 to $17.995.

Beatware's e-PicturePro graphics creation tool for the Web adds 3D text, image slicing and integration with most popular Web page applications to the company's e-Picture 1.0. It's $199.

In space, no one can hear you frag: Terminus 1.5 updates Vicarious Visions' space-trading and combat-simulation game, fixing various display bugs.

How much is that mint copy of Giant-Size X-Men worth? Human Computing has released ComicBase 5.0, the latest version of its comic-book inventory and evaluation application. The new versions contains pricing and index information for more than 150,000 titles and features an improved interface and search tools. The standard edition is $129; the deluxe edition, which includes an extra CD-ROM with more cover art and movies, is $149. Upgrades from Version 4.0 and 3.0 are $50 and $65, respectively.

MonkeyBread Software's HTML Timer 1.0 is a shareware utility for scanning HTML files (including graphics, frames and multimedia components) and determining download times.

All we can say is, "Whoo-hoo!" Deus Ex, one of this year's most anticipated games on any platform, has shipped for the Mac, thanks to Aspyr Media and the porting skills of Westlake Interactive. The adventure game, based on the Unreal Tournament 3D engine, lets you play a secret agent caught in a near-future world rife with intrigue, nanotechnology and conspiracy theories that would make Dale Gribble blush. Originally developed for the PC by Ion Storm, Deus Ex will retail for $50.

Mendota Software has released Cutout 3.0, the latest version of its planning program for architects, adding the ability to stretch objects, an improved reshape tool, metric scales and more. It's $10 shareware.

Theorist Interactive's LiveMath Maker 3.0 (formerly known as MathView and Theorist) gains a new palette for quick access to functions, a new Starter library, graph tags and more. A single-user license is $99; site and educational licenses are also available. Theorist has also updated its free LiveMath 3.0 plug-in for Web browsers that allows LiveMath users to embed dynamic LiveMath notebooks into pages. It also allows anybody with the plug-in to read these pages.

Buena Software has released its Effects Pack 3 of 10 filters for QuickTime movies. This $30 set includes fractal, motion, compositing and other filters.

Group Logic Inc. has released MassTransit 3.6, the latest revision of its high-speed file-transfer software for remote proofing. Version 3.6 offers improved speeds, file prioritization and bug fixes.

Snak 4.1 is the latest version of Kent Sorenson's IRC client that adds faster text display, a fully updated mIRC server list and other new features. The update to the $20 shareware is free.

Abstrakt's iMago 1.0 is a set of plug-ins for the FileMaker Pro database that allows automatic creation of image thumbnails. It's $49.

OnStream has announced its Echo FireWire and Echo USB high-capacity tape drives. Both 30GB removable drives, which are differentiated by their respective connectivity standards, come bundled with full versions of Dantz's Retrospect backup software. The Echo USB is currently available for $299; the Echo FireWire will ship in early fall for $599.

Inprise/Borland will include Mac OS X support in its JBuilder 3.5 Java development environment. This OS X-savvy version will ship at the same time as Mac OS X's full release sometime early in 2001.

Adobe Systems Inc. has released updates to the rest of its type utilities, Adobe Type Manager Deluxe 4.6 and Adobe Type Reunion Deluxe 2.6. Both add OpenType font support and better compatibility with Mac OS 8.1 through 9.0. Be warned: these are big downloads -- around 23MB.

Media 100 Inc. has announced Media 100 i, its new series of professional-level interactive streaming-media tools. Media 100 i will use what the company calls EventStream, a technology that addresses and integrates other streaming-media standards for creation of hot spots, URL calls and chapter marks. The four components of Media 100 i will be available in the fall for prices ranging from $3,495 to $17.995.

Beatware's e-PicturePro graphics creation tool for the Web adds 3D text, image slicing and integration with most popular Web page applications to the company's e-Picture 1.0. It's $199.