Macworld Expo ramblings (SF 99): StuffIt 5.0.2; Virtual Game Station and more
Macworld Expo ramblings (SF 99): StuffIt 5.0.2; Virtual Game Station and more
StuffIt 5.0.2 and Spring Cleaning 3.0 Aladdin released a StuffIt Deluxe 5.0.2 Update (it is not on their web site as of this writing, but expect it soon). It is now at their web site. Upgraded 5.0.2 versions of the freeware Expander and Drop Stuff should be out by next week. The updates give much increased speed to Expander and DropStuff. They should also fix previously mentioned problems with Text Encoding. Finally, there will be less chance of problems decoding binhex files. No mention was made of addressing the Eudora issue, covered here last time.
Aladdin also showed a forthcoming Spring Cleaning 3.0. It is a completely rewritten much faster version. It also has a few new options, including File Checker (which checked your disk for damaged files).
Update: Cuneyt Ocaklilar still had the Text Encoding problem with the True Finder Integration control panel (although other StuffIt components worked properly).
Games galore For the first time that I recall, there was an entire section of the Expo devoted to games. One of the games I demoed was Yoot Tower, Sega's Mac first latest addition to the Sim Tower genre. You have a choice of three locations: Kegon Falls, Tokyo an Waikiki. If you liked Sim Tower, you will definitely want this. The level of control and detail has been expanded to the point where you can modify the menu in the restaurants.
Virtual Game Station Connectix released a new emulator that allows you to play Sony PlayStation games on your Mac. It was shown at the keynote address and the speed looked excellent. Of note: It only works with Apple G3 Macs. 680x0 Macs upgraded with G3 processors cannot use it. A person from Newer Technologies told me that this was because the emulator demands the increased 66MHz system bus speed of the G3s.
VST Blaze VST was showing its new FireWire Hard Drive. As was shown in the keynote demo, it works without needing any external power and is hot swappable (you don't have to restart the Mac to add it to the chain). It was not as clear what is involved in disconnecting the drive. You may have to "close" the drive (via a software command) before you disconnect it; otherwise, the drive may not get the data in the write cache before you remove it. An even smaller version of Blaze (that fits in your pocket) is due by June.
Update: A VST rep confirmed that you should always Put Away (unmount) the drive before disconnecting it.
Newer Technology was showing its Firestorm AV and Firestorm DV adapters (they are not released yet). These allow you to connect devices (such as VCRs) that do not have FireWire ports to the FireWire chain.
Xclaim VR 128 As highlighted in the keynote, Apple's new G3 Macs will feature ATI's Rage 128 acceleration. Within a few months, it will be available in ATI's graphics cards: Xclaim VR 128 and Nexus 128.
The Imation booth as showing a Keyspan USB card that allows you to connect an Imation SuperDisk to non-USB Macs. By the way, all SuperDisk users should make sure they get the latest available drivers from Imation's web site.
Sophisticated Circuits Rebound! is a combination hardware and software device for detecting system crashes and automatically rebooting. Announced at the Expo is a new 2.0 version of the software.
DataViz was showing Documents to Go. It sends spreadsheets and word processing documents (such as Excel and Word) to a Palm Pilot. You can view and navigate through the files on the Palm, but not edit them.
DriveSavers announced a special Referral Program that allows resellers and service providers to offer DriveSavers' data recovery services to its customers.