MacEdition Pro News : November 8, 2002: Plugged into every outlet
by MacEdition Staff (feedback)
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Plugged into Jaguar
Photoshop jocks are going to be happy to know one of their favorite third-party plugin packages has made the leap to OS X.
Extensis released a upgrade for Intellihance Pro 4, making its automatic capture and correct plugin compatible with both Photoshop 7 and OS X. In the company’s press release, the company hints that the updated plugin is the first of many products that will be updated for OS X.
“The demand for an update to Intellihance Pro from our users who have migrated to Photoshop 7 and Mac OS X has been overwhelming. Extensis is committed to keeping our plug-ins working with the most current and up-to-date parent applications,” said Michael Wong, Intellihance Pro product manager for Extensis. “With this release of Intellihance Pro 4.1, we are taking the first step to migrate select plug-ins from our Tools product line to offer complete support and compatibility with Photoshop 7 and Mac OS X.”
The update is available at the Extensis Web site and is free to all registered users of Intellihance Pro 4. There is an upgrade offer of US$100 open to owners of either Version 2 or 3 of the plugin pack.
Plugged into the big picture
Dr. Bott has reworked its DVI Extractor to allow the attachment of both 24-pin and 29-pin DVI screens to the ADC connector on the video cards of Apple’s more recent G4 Power Mac towers and cubes.
“We are excited to offer solutions to use virtually all displays in conjunction with Apple’s newest ADC video cards.” said Eric Prentice, CEO of Dr. Bott LLC. “Now with DVI Extractor II, running two digital displays has never been easier.”
The new US$37.95 adapter, called DVI Extractor II, also corrects problems the original ADC-to-DVI adapter had with screens made by Eizo and Samsung.
Plugged in for profit
A California company, LiveTime Software, launched the first of four Java-based programs aimed at giving small and medium sized business instant feedback on key business indictors.
The concept, known as Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), aims to collect data from a variety of sources within the organization and distill that data into a real time snapshot so that business leaders can react quicker to changing market conditions affecting the organization.
In its new suite of innovative products, LiveTime Software will use the latest in BAM technology to provide companies with access to real-time information on their business processes so that a proactive approach can be taken to business applications such as technical support and on-line sales and marketing.
“Access to critical performance indicators significantly improves the speed and effectiveness of business operations, saving companies significant amounts of time while reducing operating costs and enabling them to concentrate on new business strategies,” said Dr. Darren Williams, CEO and President of LiveTime Software.
“By incorporating ‘self-help’ and automated assistance functionality, problems may be resolved even before the user is aware there is a difficulty. This can have a very positive impact on the overall business operations of an enterprise,” said Dr. Williams.
The company’s first product, a help-desk application called LiveTime Support, aims to tighten up support activities – the creators of LiveTime Support expect their offering will make any technology service department 15 to 35 percent more efficient through better utilization of time and faster information distribution to clients.
LiveTime Support can be hosted on Mac OS X Server, Windows 2000 Server and Solaris 8. Data can be pulled from any database that is compliant with Version 2 of the Java Database Connectivity standard (JDBC 2). Client access comes through a standard Web server package like Netscape iPlanet, Apache or W2K IIS.
LiveTime intends to release a sales order management package, a marketing program and a business metrics solution in the coming months.
Plugged into video
Trinfinity Software has announced another update to its Seagull Video Player software. The update, which fixes a bug that caused the program to crash when playing a second movie, can be downloaded from the Seagull site.
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