New & Noteworthy: iBook praise; USB KVM switch; iMic; Atmosphere

Thumbs up for the iBook The new iBook continues to get rave reviews, even from non-Mac-specific publications as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe.

MiniView II USB KVM switch features "USB sniffing" IOGEAR will incorporate the first ever USB sniffing technology in its MiniView II USB KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch. USB sniffing technology makes hot keys and On-Screen Displays (OSD) available to a USB KVM for the first time. The improved technology provides mouse and keyboard emulation so users' systems will not lose connection with their USB input devices.

New version of iMic Griffin Technology has released a new version of their popular iMic USB audio recording and playback adapter. The new revision sports a number of enhancements. It now has greater output power and can support low impedance headphones instead of only supporting line output. The input frequency response for the iMic input has been widened and now supports 10hz-20Khz. Also input gain can now be adjusted on the fly in the iMic control, the Sound control panel and many audio applications. The recently released iMic Control 1.1 is available from Griffin's web site.

Nicolas Martin found that you "cannot input using a stereo mic with a stereo miniplug to iMic without also using a mono adapter to plug it into the iMic." Update: Douglas Wyman claims this is not the case - and sent us a recording to prove it.

Atmosphere only does Windows Adobe has released a beta of Atmosphere, their new 3D authoring software. However, as of now, there is only a Windows version. (Thanks, Stephen Reiss.)