NZMac.com News

OpenOffice 3.0 Beta Released

Darryn Lowe — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:23:03 +0000

OpenOffice Org has announced the release of the first public beta of OpenOffice 3.0.

Of particular note to Mac users this official version is 100% Mac OS X native. In other words no more need for X11 to be installed. This release has full import capabilites for Office 2007 files but cannot save in this format. It also fully supports the new features of ODF 1.2.

There is more scripting support even with basic Visual Basic scripting (something Microsoft removed from Office 2008 Mac) although it's unclear if this is supported under Mac OS X.

A list of features can be found here:

http://marketing.openoffice.org/3.0/featurelistbeta.html

The download can be found here:

http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/

Vodafone to offer apple iphone in ten markets

Philip Roy — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:48:21 +0000

{snippet updated}Vodafone today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten of its markets around the globe.

Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network.

NZ press link and Worldwide press link. Please check the forum discussion also. Tues 10pm - Vodafone have been in touch but are unable to provide any more detail at this time.

Apple updates the iMac

Philip Roy — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:40:07 +0000

{snippet apple_store2}

Apple today updated its all-in-one iMac line with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and the most powerful graphics ever available in an iMac. With prices starting at just NZ$1,899 inc GST, iMac includes faster processors with 6MB L2 cache and a faster 1066 MHz front-side bus across the entire line, and 2GB of memory standard in most models. The 24-inch iMac now offers a 3.06 GHz Intel processor and the high-performance NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS graphics as options, extending iMac's lead as the ultimate all-in-one desktop computer for both consumers and professionals.

"The iMac's gorgeous aluminium and glass all-in-one design has been an incredible hit with our customers and is just one of the reasons Mac sales are growing three and a half times faster than PC sales," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With the latest Intel processors, a faster new graphics option and more memory, customers now have even more reasons to love the iMac."

Packing dual-core performance into the convenience of a striking all-in-one design, the new iMac includes faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors across the line; a 1066 MHz front-side bus; up to 4GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory; and a widescreen flat-panel display supporting millions of colours. For the first time, the 24-inch iMac features an optional NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB of video memory, to deliver up to two times standard performance for graphic intensive applications*. Providing the latest in high-performance connectivity options to quickly and conveniently transfer digital photos, music and video, iMac includes built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi networking for up to five times the performance of 802.11g**; Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; Gigabit Ethernet; built-in iSight video camera; a total of five USB 2.0 ports (including two on the Apple Keyboard); and one FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800 port.

The iMac furthers Apple's commitment to environmental progress with highly recyclable and durable materials including scratch-resistant glass and professional grade aluminium. Every model in the iMac line is rated EPEAT Silver and the power-efficient iMac also meets the stringent Energy Star 4.0 requirements for power consumption.

Every Mac in the Apple lineup comes with iLife ‘08, the most significant update ever to Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto and a completely re-invented iMovie, both seamlessly integrated with the new .Mac Web Gallery for online photo and video sharing. Every Mac also includes Leopard, the sixth major release of the world's most advanced operating system which features Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac***; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock and major enhancements to Mail and iChat. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their home computer from a Mac over the Internet while on the road****.

Pricing & Availability
The new iMac line is available immediately through the {snippet apple_store} and Apple Authorised Resellers.

The new 20-inch 2.4 GHz iMac, for a recommended retail price of NZ$1,899 inc GST, includes:

20-inch widescreen LCD display;
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066 MHz front-side bus;
1GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
built-in iSight video camera;
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

The new 20-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, for a recommended retail price of NZ$2,298 inc GST, includes:

20-inch widescreen LCD display;
2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066 MHz front-side bus;
2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
built-in iSight video camera;
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

The new 24-inch 2.8 GHz iMac, for a recommended retail price of NZ$2,799 inc GST, includes:

24-inch widescreen LCD display;
2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066 MHz front-side bus;
2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
built-in iSight video camera;
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

Build-to-order options and accessories include: a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB of video memory and up to a 1TB Serial ATA hard drive on the 24-inch iMac; up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM and up to 750GB Serial ATA hard drive on the 2.66 GHz 20-inch iMac; and up to 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM and up to 500GB Serial ATA hard drive on the 2.4 GHz 20-inch iMac. Additional options include: Apple Wireless Keyboard and Wireless Mighty Mouse; AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme Base Station; the AppleCare Protection Plan; and pre-installed copies of iWork '08, Logic Express 8, Final Cut Express 4 and Aperture 2.

*Testing conducted by Apple in April 2008 using preproduction 24-inch iMac units with 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Based on Quake 4 using 1920 x 1200 High Quality setting. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of iMac.

**AirPort Extreme is based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification. Actual performance will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network and other factors.

***Time Machine requires an additional hard drive (sold separately).

****The .Mac service is available to persons aged 13 or older. Annual membership fee and internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.

Apple reports record second quarter

Alan Smith — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:54:00 +0000

Revenue Up 43 Percent Year-Over-Year

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 second quarter ended March 29, 2008. The Company posted revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million, or $.87 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 32.9 percent, down from 35.1 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 44 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 2,289,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing 51 percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 10,644,000 iPods during the quarter, representing one percent unit growth and eight percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 1,703,000.

"We're delighted to report 43 percent revenue growth and the strongest March quarter revenue and earnings in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With over $17 billion in revenue for the first half of our fiscal year, we have strong momentum to launch some terrific new products in the coming quarters."

"We're thrilled to have generated $4 billion in cash flow from operations in the first half of fiscal 2008, yielding an ending cash balance of $19.4 billion," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the third quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $7.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.00."

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q2 2008 financial results conference call utilizing QuickTime, Apple's standards-based technology for live and on-demand audio and video streaming. The live webcast will begin at 2:00 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq208/and will also be available for replay.

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Company's estimated revenue and earnings per share. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and uncertainties include potential litigation from the matters investigated by the special committee of the board of directors and the restatement of the Company's consolidated financial statements; unfavorable results of other legal proceedings; the effect of competitive and economic factors, and the Company's reaction to those factors, on consumer and business buying decisions with respect to the Company's products; war, terrorism, public health issues, and other circumstances that could disrupt supply, delivery, or demand of products; continued competitive pressures in the marketplace; the Company's reliance on sole service providers for iPhone in certain countries; the continued availability on acceptable terms of certain components and services essential to the Company's business currently obtained by the Company from sole or limited sources; the ability of the Company to deliver to the marketplace and stimulate customer demand for new programs, products, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the effect that product transitions, changes in product pricing or mix, and/or increases in component costs could have on the Company's gross margin; the effect that product quality problems could have on the Company's sales and operating profits; the inventory risk associated with the Company's need to order or commit to order product components in advance of customer orders; the effect that the Company's dependency on manufacturing and logistics services provided by third parties may have on the quality, quantity or cost of products manufactured or services rendered; the Company's dependency on the performance of distributors and other resellers of the Company's products; the Company's reliance on the availability of third-party digital content; and the potential impact of a finding that the Company has infringed on the intellectual property rights of others. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results is included from time to time in the Company's public reports filed with the SEC, including the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 29, 2007, its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 29, 2007, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 29, 2008 to be filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.

Final Cut Server - now shipping

Philip Roy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:46:43 +0000

{snippet apple_store2}

Apple today announced that Final Cut Server, a powerful software solution for media asset management and workflow automation, is now shipping. A scaleable server application, Final Cut Server automatically catalogues large collections of assets, allows searching across multiple disks and SAN volumes and enables viewing, annotation and approval of content from anywhere using a PC or Mac.

"Whether producing a 30-second spot, the nightly news or a major motion picture, Final Cut Studio is the choice of editors around the world," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of Applications Product Marketing. "With the introduction of Final Cut Server, collaboration just got a whole lot easier for millions of editors, producers and clients who work with Final Cut Studio."

"For the past few months we've been using a beta of Final Cut Server to manage our entire workflow pipeline, 24/7, and it held up beautifully," said Evan Schechtman, CTO of Radical Media. "Best of all, Final Cut Server integrates seamlessly with our home-grown solutions so it's actually adding new value to systems we've relied on for years."

Final Cut Server automatically catalogues media and generates thumbnails, poster frames and low-resolution clip proxies for quick browsing in user specified formats. A cross-platform client enables a PC or Mac to use Final Cut Server's broad search capabilities, which extend from simple keywords to complex combinations of IPTC, XMP and XML metadata. Final Cut Server also configures a range of highly specific access controls that define user permissions on an asset or project basis.

Final Cut Server scales to support workgroups of different sizes, ranging from a two-person post house to a multi-national news organisation and can automate as much, or as little, of the production pipeline as needed. A configurable event-based response model tracks job status, monitors media changes, and automates review and approval notifications and complex sequences of tasks—all through a series of simple menu selections.

Tightly integrated with Final Cut Studio for a seamless extension of the workflow, Final Cut Server includes Compressor 3, Apple's industrial strength digital encoding and compression tool, which delivers pristine format conversions for publishing to DVD, broadcast television, the Internet, Apple TV and iPod.

Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Server is available immediately through the {snippet apple_store} and Apple Authorised Resellers for a recommended retail price of NZ$1499 inc GST for one server and 10 concurrent client licenses, and NZ$2999 inc GST for one server and unlimited client licenses. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Server can be found at www.apple.co.nz/finalcutserver.

Sweet Home 3D

Darryn Lowe — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:02:47 +0000

I have for quite sometime been trying to find a simple CAD program so as to be able to design houses. I used to be pretty good at technical drawing at High School and I've got plenty of ideas for designs that I want to see if they'd work.

The biggest problem I have had has always been finding cheap/free programs that could do what I wanted. Most of the time I was directed to apps like Inkscape and such...but using these sorts of apps are a pain. Then I managed to stumble on Sweet Home 3D and my search ended. Here is an application that is not only everything that I wanted in this sort of app but is also Open Source thus free.

{xtypo_rounded_right2}Installation & Documentation

Ease of use

Value for money

Price approx
Open Source (free)

Software/Hardware Requirements
Java
Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and above
400 MHz or above processor
256 MB memory

Available from
sweethome3d.sourceforge.net
{/xtypo_rounded_right2}

Written in Java it is actually a reasonable performer with no slowdown that I have seen. Also as it is written in Java it implements a system feel so it feels like a Mac app although more akin to an old Aqua app than the new style. The interface is clean and the 3D view of your designs prove invaluable.

One very nice thing is the range of objects that come with it allowing you to add furniture, windows, doors, sinks, etc and what isn't in the application can be downloaded from various sources. It supports the OBJ, LWS or 3DS formats (imported via a wizard) giving you a number of sources to use for other objects.

Drawing walls is very simple by clicking the Draw Walls button which allows you to click/drag/click walls. The grid allows you to accurately place the length of wall you want and the length is noted in a tooltip style box by the cursor.

One missing feature is the ability to paint the wall thus giving you a better idea how your house would look. I don't know if this will be implemented in a later version but it would be nice because at the moment you get only a white wall which is bland to say the least.

A seriously awesome feature is the Virtual Visit where you setup a little man icon and you can rotate the man to basically see how your house would look if you were inside it, standing there. The other view is an aerial Isometric view that lets you see what it would look like in 3D.

There doesn't seem to be a roof view giving you a better idea of what the finished view will be but on having said that this isn't really the aim of the program. The aim of the program is, to quote:

Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design application that helps you placing (sic) your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview.

...so it's more for interior decorators than for architects.

One place this can be great fun to use is The Sims where you can design your house and then use those designs in the game. If you're character likes it, then I guess you know you did good. If your character wants to set fire to themselves instead, then... well you should have given your character more mechanical skills so he could have put out the fire, or at least more cooking skills so he wouldn't have set fire to the kitchen in the first place. This of course does not mean you can export to Sims format although how cool would that be?

Needless to say this app has fulfilled my needs and has allowed me to see if my ideas have a show of working. Maybe, if I could pull together some dosh for some land I could use this to at least give an idea of what my house would be like. AutoCAD it is not but it is fantastic for what it does set out to do... allow you to see where things will fit in the grand scheme of things.

Codeweavers releases crossover games for Mac and Linux

MattD — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:04:16 +0000

New offering delivers gamers the ability to play more games on the platform and machine of their choice.

CodeWeavers, Inc., a leading developer of software products that turn Mac OS X and Linux into Windows-compatible operating systems, announced the release of CrossOver Games for both Mac and Linux, available immediately.

Crossover Games delivers gamers a low-cost tool allowing them to play popular windows games including World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and many Steam games including Team Fortress 2, Counterstrike Source, Civilization 4, Peggle, and many others on the platform and machine of their choice.

"One of the differences between CrossOver Games and our current CrossOver products is that it's going to be a little more 'bleeding edge'," said Jeremy White, President and CEO of CodeWeavers. "The Wine development community, including CodeWeavers, is cranking out a lot of important improvements to game support. We want to get those improvements into the hands of gamers now. CrossOver Games, we think, will fit in with the edgier technology needs of gamers."

CrossOver Games features many recent game advancements developed in the open-source community. "This is our way of promoting the incredible work of the open-source community," said White. "It also marks a positional change in our product line. There's a perception that our products primarily make Windows office productivity applications run under our CrossOver products. The truth is, CrossOver also runs many popular games on Macs and Linux PCs as well."

CrossOver Games is available for purchase directly from CodeWeavers and its authorized resellers. It is a download-only product. The cost for the product is $39.95 USD, which includes 12 months of free product support and software updates.

FileMaker Pro 9

Philip Roy — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:23:50 +0000

I've been a serious FileMaker Pro user for the past 8 years or so, but have used the software on and off before then also. It's only in the past few years that I've started using it almost exclusively any time I want to automate business or work processes on my Mac. From creating and sending invoices, to a neat little 'reminder' system (that sends personalised emails out to people after 4 weeks to check how they are going with the help I've given them) FileMaker has always been an incredibly powerful, yet amazingly simply to use database system.

For this review, rather than try to look at the product as a whole (something I find admittedly hard to do after using it for so long and having reviewed it previously) I decided to focus on what the reported new features are and comment on them.

{xtypo_rounded_right2}Installation & Documentation

Ease of use

Value for money

Price approx
$ 519.75 NZ + GST

Software/Hardware Requirements
Mac OS X 10.4.8
PowerPC G3, G4, G5 or Intel-based Mac
256MB of RAM
CD-ROM drive

Available from
FileMaker.com.au and
Buyers Guide
{/xtypo_rounded_right2}FileMaker Quick Start screen - The new FileMaker Quick Start Screen connects you directly to the information you need, every time you launch FileMaker Pro.

Start screens are becoming a more and more regular occurrence on Mac applications. The iLife and iWork programs have them and FileMaker's own Bento has one as well, as commented in my recent review. Like Bento, the startup screen here has links to help information, which is very useful for those wanting to get to know the application, as well the ability to create databases from an always impressive set of templates.

Conditional formatting - It is now much easier to apply conditional formatting to fields and objects

In short, this is an easier way to format the look of a field or format based upon a condition that can be assigned directly to this field. I really like this feature. It means that on pages such as invoices, you can easily assign a condition or calculation (for example) that puts "OVERDUE" in big red colours for you every time to grab your attention. This has been possible in the past, but in a far more complex way.

Email a link to a hosted database - Rather than figuring out the URL for your hosted database and then writing and distributing instructions, you can now choose a single command to generate an email with an automatically generated hyperlink.

This is a useful new addition for those wanting to share a database across a network, but who find the process of getting this up and running a challenge. I've worked with staff that have shared a database but didn't know what IP addresses and the like were, so I had to come and help with the creation of the connection from one machine to the next. With this feature, it makes FMPro users a little more capable without making the challenge too difficult.

Append to PDF - Now you can consolidate multiple reports into one PDF

This seems to be an excellent and simple-to-use addition to the PDF functionality. I can see that it would be great if you are running various scripts and then wanting to collate the output gradually into one master PDF.

Software update notification - FileMaker Pro 9 automatically checks for new software updates every week

Great...but this kinda thing is fairly standard and should have been implemented some time ago.

{xtypo_quote_right}FileMaker is and has always been, a robust, powerful and easy-to-use database solution{/xtypo_quote_right}Connect to SQL - You can easily create a live connection between SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL databases

This is a fantastic change for those wanting database connectivity. Previously, data from other databases had to be imported into tables and then queries run from there. This new version provides live data querying to SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2000, Oracle 10g, Oracle 9g or MySQL Community Edition 5.0 databases, but keep in mind on a Mac you'll need to have the appropriate ODBC driver(s) installed.

It means that data added to an external database becomes part of any connected FileMaker database without any import processes having to be scripted or manually run. This is a very useful change.

Script grouping and editing tools - help you organise your scripts so that you can find them more quickly

A nice new feature that lets you group a series of scripts into a folder in the script listing window (see image below), so that you have a lot of complex scripts you can make the script listing page a bit more manageable. It's a little like being able to take multiple layers in Photoshop and store them all in one related folder in the layers pallete.

However, what really surprises me is that they haven't taken the concept further. Is it the list of lots of scripts that is hard for developers or is it excessively long scripts that you write that are the hardest to work with? Why they didn't take a great feature similar to Adobe's Dreamweaver, where you can select a series of HTML code and collapse it into its own section is beyond me (see the image below).

It would have meant that in exceptionally long codes where you know a small sub-routine is definitely working, you could collapse it out of the way for a moment whilst you examined other parts of one script. However this would have meant a reworking of their scripting display window I suspect.

Enhanced layout objects - Auto-Resize Layout Objects, Enhanced Tab Control, and Enhanced FileMaker Web Viewer

These enhancement are great, but it's starting to feel a little like Apple's promotion of the number of features in Leopard. When slight enhancements are listed as a significant change (and a change they are...admittedly) then it's concerning to know that perhaps not much under the hood has changed? That said, the features such as auto-resizing an object on a layout is a great additional to your layout tools.

There are some other minor additions to the software but the ones listed above are the changes promoted by FileMaker as being the most significant.

Conclusion
I wrote the review in a way that highlighted the changes in this version for two reasons. First, FileMaker is and has always been, a robust, powerful and easy-to-use database solution. Secondly, it shows a small concern that I've had with FileMaker; that in producing a new version with so few changes, it makes me question the release rate for the product...or rather, why a jump in numbers from version 8.5 to 9? Whilst the process isn't incorrect (what is known as a "dot/point release" such as 8.6, 8.7 etc usually are seen as bug fixes and full releases as a new product) I've still felt with releases for some time a sense of "is that all?". Again, this isn't a criticism of the product, but perhaps a reflection of its maturity. It leads me to say however that I don't think those using a previous version that they are happy with need to rush out and get this product, unless it meets new needs that other versions have failed to provide.

FileMaker Pro updates don't hold that much excitement for me as many other application updates do. It's not like the nervous wait of a new product, it's more the recognition when an update comes out, of some nice new features and the occasional "wow". But the last time that "wow" happened for me with FileMaker was with the introduction of tables in FileMaker Pro 7. Don't get me wrong, I love FileMaker Pro and use it almost daily. I was gutted the other day when I thought I had trashed (and not backed up) one of the best databases (and the most easiest to use) that I had created. Luckily, I'd just accidentally bumped it into another folder on my desktop.

FileMaker Pro 9 is a superb product and one that still amazes me with its simplicity for database creation and its versatility and power. Every new version builds upon that strength, but perhaps not in such a way that ever person needs to rush out and get the new version. Check out the new features...then make your mind up yourself.

Apple releases Safari 3.1

Philip Roy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:40:11 +0000

The World's Fastest Browser Now on Mac and Windows

Apple today introduced Safari 3.1, the world's fastest web browser for Mac and Windows PCs. Safari loads web pages 1.9 times faster than IE 7 and 1.7 times faster than Firefox 2. Safari also runs JavaScript up to six times faster than other browsers, and is the first browser to support the latest innovative web standards needed to deliver the next generation of highly interactive Web 2.0 experiences*. Safari 3.1 is available immediately as a free download at www.apple.com/nz/safari for both Mac OS X and Windows.

"Safari 3.1 for Mac and Windows is blazingly fast, easy to use and features an elegant user interface," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "And best of all, Safari supports the latest audio, video and animation standards for an industry-leading Web 2.0 experience."

The incredible performance of Safari, combined with its elegant user interface, lets users spend more time surfing the web and less time waiting for pages to load. Safari features an intuitive browsing experience with drag-and-drop bookmarks, easy-to-organise tabs, an integrated Find that shows the number of matches in a page and a built-in RSS reader to quickly scan the latest news and information.

Safari 3.1 is the first browser to support the new video and audio tags in HTML 5 and the first to support CSS Animations. Safari also supports CSS Web Fonts, giving designers limitless choices of fonts to create stunning new web sites.

Pricing & Availability
Safari 3.1 is available immediately as a free download at www.apple.com/nz/safari for both Mac OS X and Windows users. Safari software updates are delivered seamlessly through Apple's Software Update application, which automatically checks for updates.

Safari 3.1 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Leopard or Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.11, a minimum of 256MB of memory and is designed to run on any Intel-based Mac or a Mac with a PowerPC G5, G4 or G3 processor and built-in FireWire. Safari 3.1 for Windows requires Windows XP or Windows Vista, a minimum of 256MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor.

*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. HTML and JavaScript benchmarks based on VeriTest's iBench Version 5.0 using default settings running on an iMac 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Windows XP, with 1GB of RAM.

Apple introduces new AirPort Express with 802.11n

Philip Roy — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:22:53 +0000

{snippet apple_store2}

Apple today updated its AirPort Express mobile base station with 802.11n to deliver up to five times the performance and twice the range of the previous model*. Priced at just NZ$149 inc GST, AirPort Express is the world's smallest 802.11n-based mobile base station.

It can be plugged directly into the wall for wireless Internet connectivity and USB printing at home or easily brought on the road for wireless freedom wherever there is an Internet connection. AirPort Express features AirTunes, which works seamlessly with iTunes to give users a simple and inexpensive way to wirelessly stream iTunes music from a PC or Mac to any room in the house.

"Apple is leading the way with a broad range of innovative 802.11n base stations for almost any wireless networking need," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "From the small and portable AirPort Express, to AirPort Extreme for workgroups of up to 50 users and the new Time Capsule for automated backups, Apple customers now have more great ways to extend their wireless networks with 802.11n."

AirPort Express features a single-piece, compact design weighing just 188 grams, providing maximum portability. AirPort Express offers both PC and Mac users the ability to share a single DSL or cable broadband connection with up to 10 simultaneous users. Users can also share a printer wirelessly that is connected to the USB port. Apple's AirPort Utility software provides easy step-by-step instructions for setting up and configuring AirPort Express; and with its advanced security features, AirPort Express safeguards data on networked computers with support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2), 128-bit WEP encryption and a built-in firewall. Apple now includes 802.11n as standard in its entire line of AirPort base stations and Mac notebooks as well as iMac, Apple TV and Time Capsule.

AirPort Express includes a built-in combination digital and analogue audio connector allowing users to connect to a home stereo or powered speakers. iTunes automatically detects remote speakers and displays them in a simple pop-up list for the user to select. Once the remote speakers are selected, AirTunes wirelessly streams iTunes music from the computer to the AirPort Express base station. Multiple AirPort Express base stations can be set up around a home, each connected to a set of powered speakers for a whole-home music experience. AirPort Express can also extend the range of an existing AirPort Extreme wireless network.

Pricing & Availability
AirPort Express is available immediately through the {snippet apple_store} and Apple Authorised Resellers for a recommended retail price of NZ$149 inc GST.

*AirPort Express is based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification. Actual performance will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network and other factors.