Aladdin Systems partnered with RecoSoft to offer PDF2Office

Aladdin Systems has partnered with RecoSoft to offer you PDF2Office, the newest release PDF2Office converts PDF documents into fully editable MSWord, RTF, AppleWorks, HTML etc... files re-creating the original construct and layout of the document - forming paragraphs, applying styles, re-grouping independent graphics elements, extracting images, creating tables, processing headers/footers, endnotes/footnotes and columns/sections - automatically - without any intervention.
Smart, Very Smart!

Sony has confirmed it has discontinued development of EverQuest for Mac

The admission is carried on a forum community dedicated to EverQuest for Mac users. SOE has yet to confirm the admission directly with Macworld UK.


In full it reads: "As a company Sony Online Entertainment will not be making any changes or coding fixes to the Al Kabor server. This decision was a business decision made some time ago by our executive staff and still stands today. Even if we wanted to we could not do the changes as we have no programmers on staff that can accommodate the needs of the Mac. This is probably going to come as a blow to you and your friends but at this juncture this is the situation we are left with". The post was first recognized by Inside Mac Games.

Book of the Week: War Driving Drive Detect Defend

Fantastic and authoritative. The only publication on the subject you will ever need. Learn the history and all the tricks to use and protect every aspect of wireless security. A easy to understand, step by step fun guide to mastering "War Driving" .

We give it a ***** Rating.

Available now from Syngress Press ISBN 1-931836-03-5

Complete review in the next issue of the Digital Dispatch.

Shareware of the week: VueScan 8.0.1

VueScan is a program that works with most scanners to produce high-quality scans that have excellent color fidelity. It takes advantage of the advanced hardware capabilities of most scanners on the market today, and helps you do batch scanning while at the same time producing color-balanced and cropped images. Very usefull if you have a older scanner that refuse to work under OSX 10.3 We give it a ***** Rating.

Apple forms new iPod division, shuffles execs

Apple has created a new division within the company focused solely on the iPod.

Unsanity offers protection from serious OS X security flaw

Unsanity offers protection from serious OS X security flaw

Unsanity today released Paranoid Android, which the company says can protect you from a serious
security flaw under Mac OS X.

GarageBand 1.1 undocumented feature additions

MacJams.com reports that the latest version of GarageBand now supports the popular SoundFont and Soundbank DLS software instrument formats. This means users can add dozens of instruments freely available on the Internet to their GarageBand setup. MacJams has posted instructions for adding SoundFont instruments to GarageBand and links to sources for free instruments.

New Software lets you edit DVDs

DVDxDV is a new software program that transforms DVDs into digital media that can be read by a Mac just like a flash memory card from a digital cam

iPod not moving to Linux anytime soon

In a press release announcing that the Dell DJ is now supported on desktop Linux machines, Lindows CEO Michael Robertson noted that Apple had declined to allow the iPod to work on the operating system

MacCenter to host Florida's First Virtual Book Signing and 'Meet n Geek' Event

MacCenter, South Florida's oldest Apple Specialist Dealer, has announced that it will host the first-ever virtual book signing in South Florida, on Saturday May 22nd, as part of their day-long "Meet and Geek" event.

Mac Merc Help: security flaw hits mainstream

Help: security flaw hits mainstream

If you browse the internet (since you read this, that means you), watch out for the latest OS X exploit. It seems to only be a problem in Panther. The help: protocol can be abused to launch AppleScripts. Why is this bad? Terminal commands can be called from AppleScript. In other words, simply visiting a web page can do serious damage. A proof of concept (harmless, but scary) is located here. What can you do? Download an application like More Internet or GURLfriend and remap the help protocol. If you have any tips, please leave a comment.

Update: NetNewsWire might also be affected, though it is rare you would subscribe to a feed that wants to erase your hard drive.

GarageBand 1.1 update released

An update to GarageBand 1.1 is now available in the Software Update panel.

Fix for OS X vulnerability released

Isophonic Software has released Don't Go There, GURLfriend 1.0, a free easy to use fix for the recently discovered help: URL vulnerability which affects all Mac web browsers that can launch external applications.

Court greenlights Eminem's lawsuit against Apple

In February the Associated Press reported that hip-hop star Eminem had filed suit against Apple, claiming the company did not get permission to use Eminem's hit song "Lose Yourself" in a 2003 television ad spot for the iTunes Music Store. Now the news service reports that a federal judge has allowed the suit to proceed. Guess they should have use the song"Without me...'

LimeWire 4.0 gets new interface, and iTunes integration

Lime Wire LLC has released LimeWire 4.0, a major new release of their peer-to-peer file sharing software for multiple platforms including Mac OS X. New features include an improved interface, integration with iTunes, better search results, a "What's New" feature, search drill down results, faster connections on startup, proxy support, a new search progress bar and more.

Konfabulator updated

Shareware developer, Arlo Rose, released an update to Konfabulator, a Widget-based JavaScript runtime engine, bringing the current version to 1.6.1. The update fixes many user reported bugs including a problem with playing sounds causing some Widgets to disappear; issue with "Hide" option of "Startup Items" control panel making Konfabulator menu inoperable; problems with certain Contextual Menu plug-ins; and more. The update is free to registered users.

Audio Hijack Pro2 to include AAC

Rogue Amoeba expects to release Audio Hijack Pro 2 this July -- it's a major new version of their audio recording and enhancement utility for Mac OS X. The new version will add the ability to record audio using Dolby Advanced Audio Codec (AAC) and the new Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), which was just introduced with recent updates to iTunes and QuickTime.

Stone Design ships Create 11.4.2, PStill 3.4, and more !

Stone Design announced today new versions of Create, its three-in-one illustration, page layout and web authoring software, and PStill, its application for converting PostScript files to PDFs, shrinking and combining PDFs and more. In addition, the company has released StampInStone 2.6, the new version of the tool for watermarking PDFs, and TrueBlue 2.2, an update to a TrueType/OpenType to PostScript Type 1 font converter. All four are free upgrades for existing users. Is that great or what!

Video iPod?

Appleinsider claims that upcoming 4th generation iPods may have some interesting new video capabilities.
That remains to be seen.

Lat Call: Apple Design Awards submissions due Monday

Applications for the Ninth Annual Apple Design Awards are due Monday, May 17 by noon ET
This is the Last Call!

Hitachi to boost production of iPod drive

Hitachi said on Sunday that it plans to spend about US$200 million to double the hard disk drive output of its Thailand factory, including the 1-inch 4GB Microdrives that are used in the iPod Mini.

Apple releases Pro Application Support 2.0

Apple late Friday issued an update for users of its pro software, releasing Pro Application Support 2.0. According to notes provided by Apple, the "update provides improvements for Apple's professional applications, and is strongly recommended for all users of Final Cut Pro, Cinema Tools, Compressor, LiveType, Soundtrack, and DVD Studio Pro. This update improves general user interface appearance and reliability and is required to receive future updates for these applications." The 2.6MB update is available via the Software Update control panel