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Thursday, March 5, 1998
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News Index 1)WallStreet Information
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Thursday, March 5, 1998
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News Index 1)WallStreet Information
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| New 3-D Game News |
We haven't been known to pay extreme amounts of attention to Game software, however a few hot titles should be on their way in the very new future, and we felt the need to inform you of their status.
Unreal
After breifely speaking with Mark Adams, the engineer porting Unreal to the Macintosh platform, also known for his role in porting Quake, and Duke Nukem 3D, he informed us that Unreal is moving along smoothly. He also noted that Unreal had just entered its alpha stage. The Macintosh version of Unreal is on schedule to ship shortly after the PC version. You can check out a couple images from the game here. Image 1, and Image 2.
Carmageddon 2!
Stainless Steel Software has indicated that a Macintosh version of Carmageddon 2 would be developed. For those of you who don't know, Carmageddon is a 3-D racing game, where the player obtains credits for smashing into other drives, flipping over barriers, running over pedestrians, and so on. In my opinion, this is the best 3-D racing game available. The first version is a blast. A 3dfx patch will be available soon, and we expect 2 to ship with 3dfx support.
Diablo
A source close to the Diablo development team over at Blizzard has informed us that the testing on Diablo is all but completed and we should expect the game to surface some time very soon. Most likely within the month. But the question is, does anyone really give a damn anymore?
Starship Titanic
Starship Titanic, which was developed by Douglas Adams of Simon & Schuster Interactive, is a 3-D adventure game with amazing graphics. According to S&SI the game is due out the first week in April. A reader forwarded us a few screenshots from the game. Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, and Image 4.
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| QuickTime For Java! 02/23 |
Apple has once again started to stir up the QuickTime for Java development within Cupertino. Projects that were once aimed for the limelight years ago are now starting to surface on the realms of completion.
QuickTime/Java Projects
According to a reliable source, there are actually two QuickTime Java projects underway at Apple. The first, a very mild project which will work with existing technologies and provide Java interfaces to QTML through a technology we have been asked not to mention at this time. The second however, will be the long term, years over due, big bang of projects. Biscotti, appropriately code named by Apple QT engineers, will be a Java Class Library that provides video, sound, animation playback, imaging of styled text and 3-D graphics. According to sources there will be support for streaming media as well. Also featured will be double buffering and flicker free graphic performance. We've also heard of the inclusion of transition effects, time-synchronization controls, behaviors and multiple refresh rates. The QuickTime for JAVA libraries should be announced at the JavaOne conference this March.
This all should allow for Java applets to play all forms of media supported in QuickTime 3.0 including MIDI, .WAV, .AU, MPEG, QuickTime VR (virtual reality) and 3-D files. Developers should be able to implement individual players for each type of media into their Applets.
According to a reply (shown below) from an Apple Engineer on the status of the project taken from the MRJ-DEV List, the project is currently in limited seeding as of February 17th 1998.The project is in limited seeding right now, so let ::removed:: know what you
are working on (or plan to work on) and he can get you set up.Think Different?
Apple had a closed door meeting at Macworld which they referred to as the Biscotti Developer Briefing. The meeting was covered under non disclosure agreement and the press was not allowed. The notice from this meeting can be found below. According to sources who attended the meeting a lot of focus was directed on the technology and it was evident that this was going to be the beginning of a very big thing. The new Apple 'Think Different' ads will focus on Quick Time and Quick Time for Java.Fwd: Biscotti Developer Briefing & QuickTime Product
To: MRJ-DEV@public.lists.apple.com
Subject: Fwd: Biscotti Developer Briefing & QuickTime Product
From: Bill Stewart <removed>
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 09:50:36 -0800
Sender: owner-mrj-dev@public.lists.apple.com
For all of you who have pre-registered for the Biscotti Developer
Briefing thank you very much. Here is all of the information that you
have been waiting for.
Due to some scheduling conflicts we have had to move the time of the
Biscotti Developer Briefing. The new time is on Thursday January 8th from
2:00 until 4:00. The Biscotti Developer Briefing will now be held at the
San Francisco Marriott in Pacific Room G which is located on the 4th
floor.
We still have plenty of room so if you now of anyone else who would like
to attend please tell them to contact David Harrington at <mailto: "David
Harrington" <removed>>.
This meeting will be covered under non disclosure.
There is a separate QuickTime Product Briefing that will be open to the
public on Wednesday Jan 7, 1997 from 2-3:30 were Peter Hoddie, QuickTime
Architect, will demonstrate new technologies and highlight added features
and functionality promised in the next version of QuickTime - QuickTime
3.0. This session will be located at the Marriott Club Room in the San
Francisco Marriott. Please RSVP for this event to Sheri Dupart,
408-974-9492 <mailto: "Sheri Dupart" <removed>>.
Biscotti will not be covered at this meeting!
Thank you and if you are unable to attend or have any questions please
let me know.
DLHA Surprise Event?
According to this same source, there is going to be a surprise event at a major industry conference coming in a few months pertaining to this technology. A sure announcement to drive APPL's stock price up. This, though very likely, is highly unconfirmed.
War In The Promise Land?
We've been told of a minor war currently ongoing within Apple's Cupertino headquarters over Apple Technologies vs. NeXT technologies. Apparently, the former NeXT engineers want to be the Java guys, and they want to take Biscotti away from the QT and MRJ engineers to muck up on their own- which would prove to be a bad thing. Ahh, I can see the 80's all over again. Maybe they'll go to a bar, whip out their Palm Pilots and Newtons and start hitting each other from across the room. (see Apple II & Macintosh Group in 1984)
According to unconfirmed reports, the Biscotti project is slated to be completed some time in the late spring on 1998. We however, do not stand behind any of this. It just seems a little too soon to get everything in order. But with the new QuickTime ad campaigns starting shortly, you never know.If you have any further information on this subject, please inform us.
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| Global Village Modems In PowerBooks? 02/23 |
A few days ago we received a couple of e-mails pertaining to a rumor of Global Village modems being placed inside the Wallstreet line of PowerBooks. Apparently, the rumor originated when a few AOL beta testers, currently testing AOL 4.0, noticed a few new modem files in the latest build (beta 38). One of these new modem files is labeled 'PowerBook/GV Internal 56k', with 'GV' standing for Global Village. (an image of this can be seen here)
Up until now, Apple has always bundled their own brand of modems inside their family PowerMac/Performa and PowerBook lines. This could not prove to be substantially profitable in any way to Apple. A deal with Global Village, which allows Apple to buy modem cards in bulk and ship them inside the new G3 line of PowerBooks, would prove to be not only better for Apple but more appealing to the customer in terms of quality.
We found these rumors both a possibility and interesting, so contacted a few people in hopes of coming to a conclusion. Once source, close to the AOL 4.0 client development, hinted to us that our assumption that the file was included for the future support of the Wallstreet/Mainstreet line was right on target. This same source also informed us that Apple has planned to include 56k Global Village modems inside future versions of the 1400 and 3400 line of PowerBooks. Though this may seem odd that Apple will continue to make updates to the 3400 when the PowerBook G3 is as dominate as it is, the 1400 still has its place. This information may also be several months old with the plans of including Global Village modems in the 3400 moving directly to the PowerBook G3 line.
When contacting sources at Global Village, one source tells us that he remembers hearing talks on the subject of Apple OEMing modems from them for use in future versions of their PowerBook, and very possibly low-end desktop models. A second source declined to comment on the subject replying partly, 'Global Village has made no public announcement on this subject'.
Doing away with the development and production of hardware components such as this is one of Steve Jobs major goals while at Apple. In fact, if he had things his way, Apple would be a Software/NC development corporation. In some cases relying on a third party for hardware components can work out for the better, and this seems to be the case as far as we are concerned when it comes to this situation.If you have any further information on this subject, please inform us.
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| Rhapsody DR2 News 02/23 |
We received some reliable information on the status of Rhapsody DR2 Code named 'Titan' from a source who shall remain anonymous.
- Rhapsody "DR2" is indeed off to the CD presses as we speak and should be making its way to developers snail-mail boxes shortly.
- PowerMac G3 support has been implemented with the the Titan build.
- Titan contains far more optimization than before.
- Tests show the build to be 3 times as fast in most operations than the previous release.
- QuickTime for Rhapsody "DR1" is included in the 'Titan' release however we have not received official word on whether or not QD3D is included in this build.
- We received some VMX benchmarks last week. Titan is proving to be faster than anyone would have expected earlier on.
- QuickDraw 3-D is 5-6 times as fast with VMX than without, and MPEG decompression is much much faster and cleaner.
- Titan was seen running on a PowerBook 3400/240 and seemed to function flawlessly.
This is just a very short list off of the top of one of our sources heads. We hope to bring you a full report of Rhapsody DR2 when it is received by developers some time in the very near future.
If you have any further information on this subject, please inform us.
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| Kaleidoscope 2.0 - Stunning! 02/23 |
A source who shall remain anonymous was able to give the reality team some time to play with the new Kaleidoscope 2.0 CDEV and Schemes being developed by Greg Landweber And Arlo Rose. We aren't know to be great fans of the Kaleidoscope technology, but 2.0 really caught our attention. The scheme files along with the new cdev patch virtually all of the MacToolBox's UI-related traps; all of QuickDraw, most of the Window Manager, and a vast majority of the Menu Manager to be exact.
The scheme files come very close to exceeding those planned for Allegro, in terms of visual enjoyment. Each scheme will have its own Finder colors and icons. The three schemes currently in the archive, Gaijin,Mekong, and Scherzo, all contain 3-D shaped windows.
Being that this was only development version 3, things tended to be a little on the slow side, we expect this to improve with future releases.
You can view a screen shot of each theme below.(Removed At Authors Request)
KaleidoscopeMekong.JPG
KaleidoscopeGaijin.JPG
KaleidoscopeScherzo.JPGThough, we suggest trying the links below first, as the server may be faster. Someone was kind enough to mirror the images for us.
KaleidoscopeMekong.JPG
KaleidoscopeGaijin.JPG
KaleidoscopeScherzo.JPG
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| Adobe Premiere 5.0 Inside Look 02/23 |
This report has been removed until we consult further with Adobe.
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| This Week's Apple News 02/23 |
Lionel Apple Car?
-Lionel catalogs list an Apple Flatcar in the 1998 catalog! It's $85.00 and will be available in mid-1998.
-The car will be available thru mail order: Stuyvesant Trains and Hobbies: 212-254-5200.Artemis - Power Mac 5700
-Han-yi Shaw has created his own campaign and portrayal of the Power Mac 5700 other wise known as Artemis. Check it out http://student-www.uchicago.edu/users/ywoo/PW5700.html.
Allegro Development
-A new version of Allegro has been seeded within Apple headquarters this past weekend. We are suspecting d12.
New Statistics Utility
-Advanced Reality Communications, Inc. announces the availability of a
beta version of Traffic Report, a statistics utility that processes
Internet server logs, for Apple Macintosh and Power Macintosh. You can
find a copy of TrafficReport at -http://www.batnet.com/jasonv/trafficreport/Why Did Bill Gates Run Across The Road?
-because someone was chasing him with a cream pie...
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