New & Noteworthy: Napster; MacHack CD; DVD stuff; more

Napster 1.0b2 is an update to this music file sharing client. It includes many bug fixes and improved Mac OS X support. However, sharing does not work under OS X as of 10.0.4, so you should turn it off in preferences. IMPORTANT NOTE: All previous versions of Napster have been disabled. This change is part of Napster's effort to comply with court orders.

Margin Note: As you might guess, users are not enthused with the new Napster. Posts on VersionTacker suggest moving on to LimeWire (a Gnutella client) instead. Personally, we have not found Gnutella to be as good as Napster used to be - before the court orders. But the old Napster no longer exists. Napster was fantastic while it lasted. We were consistently amazed at its ability to come up with the songs we sought, no matter how obscure. We would have gladly paid a reasonable fee to maintain access to that vast library. Maybe someday Gnutella or a revamped Napster will again scale that height. We can only hope.

MacHack 2001 CD MacHack has announced availability of a CD-ROM containing 82 hacks from the 2001 conference. Most of the hacks come with source code. The CD also contains this year's papers and many of the presentations.

Interarchy 5 to feature FTP Disk The upcoming Interarchy 5.0 will feature a new option called FTP Disk. It will allow you to mount a remote FTP folder directly into the Mac OS Finder and use it just like any other folder on your local hard drive. "This feature takes FTP to a new level on the Mac, making frequently accessed servers that you use a transparent part of your workflow. It has a similar interface to iDisk, where you create an FTP Disk and then mount it when you need it and then unmount it when you are done."

DVDBurner: a new DVD-RAM/R drive Panasonic has announced a new DVD-RAM/R drive. Called DVDBurner, it is shipping now to OEM customers and will be available to retail customers in October.

Verbatim DVD RW media Verbatim has announced that it will be shipping 4.7GB DVD RW media this fall. Delivery of the new discs will coincide with the availability of the new DVD RW drives which are being showcased during PC Expo this week. "The DVD RW specification provides a smooth migration from CD technology to DVD technology while preserving customer investments in existing CD and DVD-ROM products," said Tim Clatterbuck, Verbatim's director of optical storage marketing.

Director's Cut PCI Miglia Technology has announced that it is shipping a PCI enabled version of its PAL/NTSC analogue to digital video (and reverse) converter, Miglia Director's Cut PCI. Miglia Director's Cut PCI enables users of older PCI based Macs that do not already have a FireWire port to use both the DV bridge and also new generation DV cameras. With a computer and Miglia Director's Cut PCI all the user will need to add is a simple video editing application.