Week of July 6 1998   Jul 10 I've always thought SuperCard was a great tool, and even though they never released a Windows player, it remains a useful one. And for Windows support you can use the Roadster player (a browser plug-in.) So I'm pleased that Incwell, the new publishers of SuperCard have announced the next version; SuperCard 3.5. This will be released in September as an electronic download. SuperCard 3.5 will have the following upgraded features: MacOS 8 Appearance Manager support Performance Improvements (Speed) Enhanced and Accelerated Project Editor Enhanced SuperEdit and Updated Script Editor Drag-and-Drop support AppleScript support Full SuperTalk support for QTVR movies Direct support for Speech Recognition Enhanced graphic export/import, file I/O and AppleEvents support Enhanced scripting support for search and replace, expression evaluation and comparing of fields, user properties and other containers. Price: $129.95. Upgrade from SuperCard version 2.5 or earlier $99.95 Upgrade from SuperCard version 3.0.x purchased before 6/4/98: $69.95 Upgrade from SuperCard version 3.0.x purchased after 6/3/98: $39.95 Purchase a CD-ROM copy for an additional $15.00. If you purchase your upgrade before August 15, 1998 you will receive a additional $10 discount on each copy upgraded. <www.incwell.com Information page "SuperCard 3.5">   GRAPHICS ProJPEG is a Macintosh and Windows file-format plug-in for Adobe Photoshop 3.0 for creating and editing highly optimized, Web-ready progressive and baseline JPEG images. Version 3.0.1 has just been made available and costs $49.95. ProJPEG claims the following features: Better compression quality than Photoshop's built-in compressor Dual image previewing - two previews allow you to contrast original image quality to JPEG compressed image quality simultaneously. Live absolute file size display - providesinformation on the compressed size of your JPEG file Download time estimation Full range controls - choose any compression option Advanced image smoothing controls - improve compression and image quality Sampling control over emphasis - Better sampling gives better image quality and turning the option off will get you back to the best possible compression. Baseline and progressive encoding - support for baseline JPEG encoding as well as progressive encoding, which allows for incremental image display in Web browsers. <www.boxtopsoft.com info page "ProJPEG">   Jul 9 Iomega has released the Macintosh G3 Buz box. The buz features: PCI card combining Ultra SCSI (Narrow) with video capture and output using real-time Motion JPEG compression hardware. Buz Box for easy connection of analog video and audio. Provides in and out connections for stereo audio, composite video and S-video. Video Editing software: Adobe Premiere 4.2 LE (upgradeable to Premiere 5.0 for $199), Apple QuickTime 3 Pro. Audio software: Iomega RecordIt™* To install you will need an Apple Power Macintosh G3 model (PowerBook, upgraded PCI Macintosh products and clones not supported). at least 32 MB of RAM and 130 MB hard drivespace required for installation. You'll need a lot more hard disk space if you actually want to capture video! [I've been looking forward to the Mac Buz box because of it's low price, and the fact that my PC doesn't support the PC Buz box. Though I'm more interested in DV than analog video these days, the Buz might make a useful adjunct to a Firewire card. The Ultra SCSI card, even though it is "Narrow" may be useful for connecting disk drives for using for video digitizing; essentially making the Buz box "free." - Ed] <www.iomega.com specifications page "Macintosh G3 Buz box">   Interactive Pictures Corporation (IPIX), has announced the IPIX Mac Wizard. The IPIX Wizard was previously only available for the PC. IPIX is a competitor to QuickTime VR. An IPIX image is created from two opposing photographs captured by a fisheye lens. The IPIX Wizard re-maps the images, seaming them into an immersive whole. IPIX can then be linked together, linked to traditional photographs and renderings, enhanced with audio files, or incorporated into other development environments. IPIX images can be used for information communication, presentations, or pure entertainment. IPIX Mac Wizardwill run on all PowerPC configurations with a minimum of 64MB of RAM. The Mac Wizard is priced at $349.95 and will begin shipping July 30. <www.ipix.com>   GRAPIHCS Corel has announced CorelDRAW 8 for Power Macintosh. In addition to the two main applications, CorelDRAW 8 and Corel PHOTO-PAINT 8, CorelDRAW 8 for Power Macintosh also includes: Diamondsoft Font Reserve) 1.02: A database driven font utility developed to solve most of the font management and usability problems still plaguing the publishing community today. Canto Cumulus Desktop LE 4.0: Ag media management system CorelTRACE 8: A raster/bitmap-to-vector tracing utility that converts scanned or manually created raster artwork into vector images. Several third party Adobe Photoshop compatible plug-in filters, more than 1000 high quality clipart images (EPS format), 100 high quality digital photos (compressed JPEG format and Kodak Photo CD format), 1,600 TrueType(R) and Type 1 fonts, and more. Available for a suggested retail price of US $695 for the full version or US $249 for an upgrade or competitive upgrade version, CorelDRAW 8 for Power Macintosh is expected to be on store shelves by early fall 1998. <www.corel.com> Macromedia has announced that Macromedia chairman Bud Colligan, John Doerr and Richard Kramlich plan to end their terms as board members. These changes will be effective at the company's shareholder's meeting July 30, when the board plans to elect Rob Burgess, CEO of Macromedia, as its new chairman. Also nominated to the Board are Stewart Alsop, information technology pundit and venture partner with New Enterprise Associates, and Mark Kvamme, chairman and CEO of CKS Group. <www.macromedia.com>   Jul 8 Wired reports that Silicon Graphics will shut down Cosmo Software after talks to sell the division to Sony fell through. Silicon Graphics has not determined what will happen to the software (Cosmo Player, Cosmo Worlds and PageFX -[I just received the shipping version of the software - Ed]). This announcement is particularly significant because SGI was practically the founder of VRML, having created a file format/language on which VRML was based. <www.wired.com news article "SGI to Close Cosmo Software">   Terran Interactive is now shipping Media Cleaner Pro 3.0, a media optimization and compression tool. Media Cleaner Pro allows content developers to compress audio, video, and still images for CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Kiosk and the Web. Developers who purchase Media Cleaner 3.0 will receive a free license for QuickTime Pro. Major new features include QuickTime 3 support, still image processing and an improved interface. Media Cleaner 3.0 is available for the Mac OS. The product can be purchased for a street price of $359 (U.S.) directly from Terran Interactive or through resellers and mail order catalogs. Registered owners of earlier versions of Media Cleaner can upgrade for $129. Customers in the U.S. who purchased Media Cleaner after April 1, 1998 are eligible to receive a free upgrade to version 3.0 with proof of purchase. <www.terran.com>   At MacWorld Lari Software will unveil a beta version of Electrifier Pro, a tool for creating dynamic media with special effects, streaming delivery, and support for all QuickTime 3 media types. Users can apply modifiable actions and effects that are accurate to 1/1000th of a second and supports interactivity such as highlighting and URL hotspots Interested purchasers can pre-order the Mac OS version of Electrifier Pro for an online price of $395, or sign up on the Lari site to be notified when it ships. The Windows version of Electrifier Pro will ship after the Mac OS version. <www.electrifier.com>   Jul 7 There's now a Poser Listserver: poser@lists.metacreations.com Send an email with the word "subscribe" as the subject- you can leave the message body empty. A help file will be mailed with the subscription reply giving you further instructions for the list. An independant message board is also being maintained <venus.beseen.com/boardroom/q/17260/>   Macromedia has announced Macromedia Web Design 101, a tool suite for faculty of degree-issuing institutions that offer Web design or Web design-related courses. Macromedia Web Design 101 includes six hours of hands-on course curriculum for each of Macromedia's Web design tools; Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash and FreeHand, which includes sample files and project assignments. Macromedia Web Design 101 also includes 90-day versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash and FreeHand for installation on up to 50 lab computers and will be available directly from Macromedia for US $14.99 in Summer 1998. In conjunction with Macromedia Web Design 101, Macromedia also announced special student pricing of US $99 each for Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash and FreeHand through October 31, 1998 - available at any Macromedia education reseller. Contact Macromedia at 800-457-1774 or visit Macromedia's Web site <www.macromedia.com/macromedia/edu/web101.html>   Avid is shipping Avid Cinema for the Power Macintosh G3, Avid's first consumer video editing and publishing product for retail sale. Designed for the novice user, Avid Cinema provides consumers with an easy-to-use, affordable way to digitally capture, edit and publish professional-looking movies on any Power Macintosh G3 system with Apple's Audio/Video capture board capabilities. Cinema was originally developed in 1996 by Avid Technology, Inc., in conjunction with Apple, Avid Cinema for the Macintosh. Avid Cinema is available for purchase from Avid at MACWORLD Expo, and will be available for purchase by the end of July through the Avid Cinema Webstore <www.avidcinema.com> as well as through retail distribution for a USMSRP of $139.   Avid is also demonstrating at MacWorld a new digital media workgroup solution designed to allow corporate communicators and educational departments to create and share visual media. The shared solution features Avid Xpress, a digital video creation system, Avid Cinema, a consumer-level video editingsolution and QuickTime 3.0. When linked together via networking connections, the two applications allow users to take advantage of video assets created by Avid Xpress using Avid Cinema. Users can pull Avid Xpress video clips off a shared server, preview them in streaming fashion using QuickTime's Movie Player application, then drag and drop them into the desired order to form a video sequence in Avid Cinema. Customers can implement Avid's digital media workgroup solution by purchasing the Avid Xpress software-and-board kit solution for each content creation station and Avid Cinema software for each client workstation, and linking the workgroup via standard LAN connection. Avid Xpress is available through Avid's worldwide reseller network in four configurations starting at $9,995. <www.avid.com>   Jul 6 InternetWorld reported in April that SGI was looking to sell their Cosmo Software unit because it didn't fit with their future plans. Cosmo Software develops VRML tools and plug-ins. The article quoted Silicon Graphics Inc. as saying they would divest the subsidiary by the end of June. We've heard that SGI had been in talks with Sony to sell Cosmo Software to them, but that these talks have fallen through. We've also heard that there have been layoffs at Cosmo Software. While Cosmo Software officially shipped PageFX last week, they haven't released an update for the Macintosh Cosmo Player plug-in which expired last week. <www.internetworld.com news article "Ailing Silicon Graphics Puts VRML Unit on the Block">   Cosmo Software did ship last week PageFX, which is an interactive composition tool which uses the VRML format for publishing. You can download a trial copy at the Cosmo Software site. <www.cosmosoftware.com>   Videonics, Inc is shipping the production version of its Effetto Pronto Digital Video Effects and Compositing System for the Macintosh platform. Effetto Pronto, which means "fast effects" in Italian, is designed for users who wish to add 3D special effects, titles and layering to their productions. Designed to be platform-independent, it includes the Effetto QuickTime-based compositing software and Pronto, a dedicated PCI effects processing engine. Effetto Pronto includes the PCI Card and Software for a U.S. suggested retail price of $4,995. An optional daughter-card for output to NTSC or PAL monitors will retail for a suggested U.S price of $495. <www.videonics.com>   Media 100 version 4.5 is reviewed in MacWeek by Sonja Schenk. The product receives a thumbs up for it's improved sound handling, though it criticizes the product for it's lack of advanced video editing features. <www.macweek.com review "Media 100 xr 4.5 a sound upgrade">   PHOTO Nikon has has released an update of NikonView 900 browser which would cause a system crash if you attempted to print the Thumbnail page. <NikonView 900 1.1 update>   PHOTO MacWeeks' Rick Oldano reviews the Kodak DCS 520 camera. This $14,995 camera, which is based on a Canon camera body, offers a 200-to-1600 ISO range, 3.5-frames-per-second capture rateand a 1,168-by-1,728-pixel image. The camera is also sold by Canon as the EOS-D2000. Start saving now! <www.macweek.com review "Kodak camera sets new standard">     Get QuickTime 3.0 ImageReady beta Cosmo VRML plug-in | Multimedia Workshop | Industry News | Online Reference | Contact Us | Find | Copyright 1998 by Multimedia Workshop. All rights reserved Send news or comments to : news@m2w.net All trademarks, service marks, and graphical logos appearing on this website are the property of their respective owners, and are used for identification purposes only. No endorsement of Multimedia Workshop by the trademark owners is intended or implied.