Apple To Launch iTunes For Windows, Thursday

C|Net reports that Apple has scheduled an "Apple Event" for Thursday, October 16th, at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. In an invitation to journalists, Apple stated, "The year's biggest music story is about to get even bigger."

Apple is excpected to release iTunes for Windows, bringing all the highly praised functionality of the iTunes application, along with access to the iTunes Music Store, to Windows users. The release of the iTunes for Windows may come in the form of an across-the-board release of iTunes 5 for both Mac and PC, bringing additional functionality to Mac users as well.

Apple's music efforts edged into the Windows market last year with the release of the iPod for Windows, doing wonders for iPod sales. The release of iTunes for Windows represents an additional, massive foray into that market and should result in a marked increase in iPod sales. This would be the main profit potential for Apple in this endeavor, Apple's commission on song sales from the iTMS being less than $.10/track.

Whether Apple's expected iPod peripherals are unveiled at this event is a matter of speculation.

Slashdot: OSX 10.2.8 Take 2

Mac OS X 10.2.8 Update, Take Two



OS X users will find Mac OS X Update version 10.2.8 is available via 'Software Update'. If you did not install the previous 10.2.8 update, the size of the new update is 40.6MB. If you installed the previous update, the size of the new update is small, ~680K... if you can connect to the network, that is. Clearly you get different downloads depending on what you did with the previous 10.2.8 update. Apple Knowledge Base article 25524 has the details. It looks very familiar. I will not installing mine right away, how about you?

Slate: why do Consummers Always Lies in Focus Group

Here's a paradox: Fifty million Americans have registered for the national Do Not Call list, suggesting they don't want to be bothered by telemarketers and won't buy if they are. Yet telemarketers want to keep calling them. Why? Because the marketers realize that what consumers say they want and what they actually do are not the same: Those who don't want to be called actually buy from telemarketers when they are called. This evidence of consumer untrustworthiness got Moneybox thinking about focus groups. If consumers lie, what good are focus groups?

Evidence suggests focus group participants often lie. "The correlation between stated intent and actual behavior is usually low and negative," writes Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman in his influential book How Customers Think . After all, he notes, 80 percent of new products or services fail within six months when they've been vetted through focus groups. Hollywood films and TV pilots—virtually all of which are screened by focus groups—routinely fail in the marketplace.

Think Secret: Xgrid Almost Ready for Prime Time

Apple is developing a distributed/parallel computing solution called Xgrid, according to the company's Web site.

Apple recently put up a mailing list, xgrid-users . According to the page, the mailing list is for discussion regarding use and deployment of Xgrid. No archived messages exist.

The page describes Xgrid as "Apple's solution for parallel and distributed high performance computing."

In October 2002, Apple filed a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the name "XGRID," describing it as "computer hardware and software." In the past, various rumors have surfaced with regard to the Xgrid product and its purpose.

Apple currently sells a "cluster node" configuration of its rack-mounted Xserve that features dual G4 processors but slimmed-down extras

TidBits: iCal, iSync and Stuffit Updated

iCal 1.5.1 and iSync 1.2.1 Released -- Apple updated its calendar and syncronization utilities today, improving performance and adding support for more devices. iCal 1.5.1 tweaks the calendar's interface slightly, turning the Info window into a sliding drawer and adding the capability to set custom category colors. The new version also adds notes and alarms to To Do items, supports events in multiple time zones, and can publish or subscribe to calendars served behind firewalls. The update is a 6.2 MB download , and requires Mac OS X 10.2.3 or higher.

iSync 1.2.1 adds calendar synchronization for Sony Ericsson P800, Nokia 3650 and Nokia 7650 phones, plus the capability to transfer pictures associated with Address Book records that appear when calls come in from those contacts. Additional synchronization support has been added for Sony Ericsson T616 and Z600 phones. If you're a .Mac subscriber and use iSync to synchronize your Safari bookmarks, iSync can synchronize them for viewing and editing at bookmarks.mac.com . iSync 1.2.1 is a free 5.5 MB download and requires Mac OS X 10.2.3 or higher, and iCal 1.5.1 for synchronizing calendars. Palm handheld device users need to install the iSync 1.2 Palm Conduit, an 892K download (an obscure direct download link is provided at the bottom of the iSync download page ).

StuffIt Standard Edition 8.0 and StuffIt Engine 8.0.1 Released -- Aladdin Systems has released StuffIt Standard Edition 8.0 , the most recent version of the bundle containing DropStuff, DropZip, DropTar, and the free StuffIt Expander. New features include faster compression, interface improvements to DropStuff, and support for more file formats (see " What's New in StuffIt Deluxe 8.0 " in TidBITS 698 for details). StuffIt Standard Edition 8.0 costs $50, with upgrades for registered users at $15. A free 15-day trial version is available as a 7.2 MB download, and remember, downloading StuffIt Standard Edition is how you get the free StuffIt Expander.

Don't stop downloading, though, since Aladdin has also released the free StuffIt Engine 8.0.1 Updater . It addresses an issue where a bundled Mac OS X application (as opposed to a Classic application or a single-file application) compressed in a .sit file (as opposed to StuffIt's more modern .sitx file format), won't launch after being expanded. The problem stems from the fact that the .sit file format predates (and thus can't store) Unix file permissions that are necessary for bundled Mac OS X applications to launch. To work around this limitation, Aladdin previously set the execution bit on all expanded files, but Apple warned against that approach, so Aladdin removed it in StuffIt 8.0. Unfortunately, failing to set the execution bit properly proved too inconvenient for users, so the StuffIt Engine 8.0.1 Updater restores the previous workaround until Aladdin can develop a more elegant solution. You can avoid the problem with bundled Mac OS X applications by using the .sitx file format (everyone who has StuffIt Expander 7.0, which shipped with Mac OS X 10.2 and the last security update for Mac OS X 10.1.5, can expand .sitx files). The StuffIt Engine 8.0.1 Updater is a 3.9 MB download.

@Stake Report Bluetooth has Security Gaps

A report released this week by digital security firm @Stake argues that devices that are equipped with the short-range wireless technology, Bluetooth, could be easily attacked. The report highlights experiments showing that devices boasting the technology can be detected easily and, in some cases, that personal data from the gadgets can be downloaded.

Adobe Announce 4 New "Flavors" in the CS Family: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and GoLive

Photoshop CS: Loaded with indispensable new features, Photoshop CS helps creative professionals craft the highest quality images more quickly and efficiently. It increases user control, with a redesigned File Browser enhancing search, sorting and sharing capabilities and a new Histogram Palette monitoring changes in the image as they are made.

Illustrator CS: Featuring 3D effects, refined typography and lightning performance, new Illustrator CS is a major upgrade to the industry standard for vector graphics for print, the Web, and other media.

InDesign CS: With a wealth of new features, InDesign CS delivers powerful production capabilities, creative freedom and cross-media support - enabling customers to design, lay out and print pages, as well as export content to the Web, more rapidly and reliably.

GoLive CS: A major release of the powerful, integrated Web publishing tool for creative professionals, GoLive CS speeds Web site design and production with innovative capabilities including Package for GoLive from InDesign, and GoLive Co-Author as well as advanced Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) visual authoring and extensive support for Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

All products to be reviewed in a near issue of the Digital Dispatch

Adobe Announce InCopy CS

Adobe today announced Adobe InCopy CS, a new and improved version of the professional writing and editing program that integrates tightly with Adobe InDesign CS and the all-new Adobe Creative Suite (also announced today). InCopy CS puts copyfitting control back in the hands of editors. With InCopy CS, writers and editors have more control over the integrity of their copy, reducing editorial revision cycles and enhancing collaboration among editors and designers.

Stay tuned for a full review of Adobe InCopy CS in a up comming issue of the Digital Dispatch

Adobe unveiled Adobe Creative Suite

Today, Adobe unveiled Adobe Creative Suite, an offering that combines new full-version upgrades of Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe InDesign CS, and Adobe GoLive CS, with Acrobat 6.0 Professional. It also introduces the innovative Version Cue file version manager - technology that will save creative professionals time and revolutionize interaction within creative teams!

Stay tune for a complete review of the Adobe Creative Suite in a up comming issue of the Digital Dispatch.

Adobe and Xerox Announce Strategic Initiative to Promote Print Production Workflow Standards

Adobe PDF, JDF, XML and PostScript Technologies Incorporated into Xerox FreeFlow Initiative

Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) and Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX) today announced an initiative to jointly support and promote the widespread adoption of emerging print industry standards for both static and variable information workflow technologies. The standards include Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF), JDF (Job Definition Format) job ticketing, Adobe PostScript®, XML (Extensible Markup Language), and variable information workflow technologies.

The initiative is part of Xerox FreeFlow Digital Workflow Collection that improves digital workflow - the process by which print jobs make their way from creation through final production and fulfillment.

Maxtor Open Sales Office in Moscow

Maxtor announced that it has opened a sales office in Moscow to provide
in-country sales and technical support. This will allow Maxtor to expand its
presence in the Russian market and to enhance its services to existing and new
customers. Rusian will now have the chance to "Spin" a little faster and safer!

Apple Announces Mac OS X “Panther”

More Than 150 New Features

Apple today announced that Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther,” the next major release of the world’s most advanced operating system, will be available on Friday, October 24, beginning at 8:00 p.m. Panther delivers more than 150 breakthrough new features including a completely new Finder™ that provides one-click access to a user’s favorite files and folders; Exposé, a revolutionary new way to instantly see all open windows at once; and iChat AV, a complete desktop video conferencing solution for business, education and consumers.

Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers will host special events Friday night, October 24, at 8:00 p.m. to celebrate the introduction of the most ground-breaking version of Apple’s UNIX-based operating system to date.

ALADDIN SYSTEMS LICENSES SPAM FILTER BY MAILSHELL

Aladdin Systems, Inc., an Aladdin Systems Holdings, Inc., company (OTC BB: ALHI), today announced that it will publish Aladdin SpamCatcher, a desktop spam-filtering program developed by Mailshell Inc., the leading OEM provider of anti-spam software. Aladdin also licensed Mailshell's software developers' kit to create additional Aladdin SpamCatcher products for other languages and platforms. 

Aladdin Systems Wins Digital River's 2003 ICE Awards

Recognized for Best Network Marketing Campaign

Aladdin Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of Aladdin Systems Holdings, Inc (OTC BB: ALHI). today announced that Digital River selected it as a winner of a 2003 ICE Awards for Internet Commerce Excellence. Digital River's ICE Awards were presented in four categories to client companies putting e-commerce best practices to work in creative new ways to drive revenue and efficiencies through their online stores. At an awards ceremony hosted by Digital River in Phoenix, Arizona, Aladdin Systems was honored for Best Network Marketing Campaign. The company earned more than $1 million in gross online sales using network marketing during the second quarter. We at the Digital Dispatch would like to Congratulation to everyone at Aladdin.

Drawing from Digital River's global online distribution network of 34,000 companies, we've established important third-party co-marketing relationships and generated an infinite number of reasons to converse with customers," said Jonathan Kahn, Aladdin's president and CEO. "Through our network relationships, we've significantly expanded our market reach, offered our customers a wider variety of software titles and created more attractive promotions. During the second quarter alone, our network marketing efforts earned us more than $1 million in gross sales."