QuickTime v2.2 WILL ENHANCE MAC MUSIC

Apple Computer today announced significant enhancements to the QuickTime(r) Music Architecture (QTMA) that will enable title developers to easily enhance their content by creating their own musical identity. These enhancements will be part of the QuickTime 2.2 release expected later this spring. QuickTime is the multi-platform standard used by multimedia software tool vendors and content creators to store, edit and play synchronized graphics, sound, video, text and music in multimedia applications and on the Internet. "Music is an important part of all multimedia content," said David Nagel, senior vice president and general manager of Apple's worldwide research and development division. "Today's announcement demonstrates Apple's commitment to providing leading-edge software that supports the integration of media such as music, video and animation in a consistent, seamless fashion across multiple platforms. QuickTime 2.2 is expected to be available to end users in Spring 1996, free of charge through Apple's home page on the World Wide Web and various online services.

February 21, 1996

HOTWIRED POLL MAC vs. PC

HotWired is conducting a poll asking you to vote for the computer platform of choice. Thanks to you Mac fanatics and Guy Kawasaki's EvangeList, the current standings are weighing in heavily for Macs. If you have not voted yet please go to the HotWired site and cast your ballot. Let's trounce the PCs. Current standings for HotWired Poll: 74.9%...Macs 21.7%...PCs 02.9%...Neither

THOUGHT YOU WERE HAVING A BAD DAY?

From Matthew Hicks comes this info about a wonderful??? Windozed site, Windows95 Annoyances ARGHHH! If you need something to cheer you up check it out, you will get a good laugh as well as fodder for you lunch meeting tomorrow. By the way if there ever is a Mac site like this we had all better toss our beloved Macs out the Windoze.

FRACTAL DESIGN GOBBLES UP RAY DREAM

Fractal Design Corp has acquired Ray Dream Inc, in a stock deal valued at aproximately $47 million dollars. The comined companies are expected to lay off just a small amount of its 100+ employees. Ray Dream Inc. is expected to maintain it's headquarters in Mountain View California. Ray Dream's CEO will become President of the new combined comapny.

February 20, 1996

AWARDS APLENTY HEAPED ON APPLE

Apple Computer recently secured a slew of product and technology awards from the computer trade press. Granting a key honor, BYTE Magazine this month awarded its 1995 Editors' Choice Award of Excellence to the Power Macintosh 7500 and Power Macintosh 8500. According to BYTE, an Award of Excellence "honors a hardware or software product whose technical innovation sets a new standard for products in a particular class." The Power Macintosh 7500 and 8500, introduced at Macworld Boston in 1995, delivers advanced performance via a RISC-based PowerPC microprocessor, running at 100-MHZ and 120 MHz respectively; three industry-standard expansion slots enable easy connections to faster peripherals and high-speed networking. In addition to affordable pricing, BYTE praised the systems for multimedia capabilities including integrated audio, speech, telephony, video playback and capture, CD-ROM hardware, whiteboarding and QuickTime conferencing. Also, BYTE selected the Apple ColorLaser 12/600 PS, Macintosh System 7.5.2, the PowerBook 5300C, QuickDraw 3D and QuickTime VR to receive its 1995 Editors' Choice Award of Distinction. The Apple Power Macintosh 9500 was honored with BYTE's 1995 Editors' Choice Award of Merit. "The honors and awards granted to Apple products by the computer trade press do much to help validate Apple's commitment to being a leading-edge innovator and provider of powerful computing solutions," said Brodie Keast, vice president of product marketing at Apple Computer. "We are extremely pleased that our latest generation of RISC-based Macs secured such a great nod of approval from the industry." In addition, the Macintosh monthly magazine, Macworld, recently named Apple Computer as the recipient of several 1996 World Class Awards, winners included the Power Mac 7500/100, which won the Computer System award; QuickDraw 3D, which secured the Best New Technology Award; and the Apple LaserWriter 16/600 PS, which won the Business Printer award.

APPLE ISSUES PRESS RELEASE RE: MOTOROLA

Apple Computer has issued a long press release regarding the licensing of the MacOS. Instead of putting the contents here we are providing a link to the press release.

February 19, 1996

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Apple Licenses the Mac OS to Motorola, Expands Licensing Opportunities

CUPERTINO, California- In line with its commitment to open licensing, Apple Computer, Inc. today announced that it has licensed the Mac OS operating system to Motorola, in a broad licensing agreement which for the first time allows a licensee to sublicense the Mac OS to other manufacturers. The agreement allows Motorola to distribute the Mac OS with computer systems it will build based on the current Power Macintosh hardware architecture, as well as on the PowerPC Platform specification. Motorola will also be able to sublicense the Mac OS to other computer manufacturers to whom it sells Mac OS-compatible motherboards or computer systems. Apple expects that Motorola will further grow the Mac OS platform by enabling, for the first time, other manufacturers who buy boards or systems from Motorola to sell Mac OS-compatible systems without the requirement of signing a licensing agreement directly with Apple. However, Apple will continue to certify all systems sold with the Mac OS to ensure customers of complete compatibility. "We believe that Motorola, a key player in this industry, has the resources and technical strengths, especially in the communication area, to help enrich the Mac platform and to expand its benefits to new markets and new customers," said Dr. Gil Amelio, chairman and CEO, Apple Computer, Inc. "This agreement is a major milestone in our licensing program, and is a clear demonstration of our commitment to open licensing." This agreement will benefit computer customers by providing them additional sources for Mac OS-based systems, and a broader range of feature-set, price, support, and distribution choices. It also provides the Mac OS software developer community with an exciting business \ proposition for existing as well as for new markets. This licensing agreement is another step in Apple's transition to a broadly open licensing model. Since it first announced its intention to license the Mac OS in September 1994, Apple has committed itself to creating a successful business opportunity for its licensees and has followed a two-phase strategy. In the first phase, Apple has focused its efforts on a relatively small number of licensees, in order to provide them with the level of technical support they needed to successfully implement Apple's proprietary hardware design. Apple, the Apple logo, and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks, and Mac and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. PowerPC is a trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation, used under license therefrom. All other brand names mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders, and are hereby acknowledged

February 18, 1996

BIG BLUE'S DEEP BLUE SUFFERS BIG DEFEAT

Garry Kasparov, on Sunday defeated his inanimate adversary, the IBM computer Deep Blue. "If you program in too much knowledge it slows the computer down, and we've discovered that speed is more important than chess knowledge," said Frederick Friedel, an adviser to Kasparov who is the creator of Fritz, a leading chess computer that can examine up to 180,000 chess positions per second (Deep Blue is almost 1,000 times as fast). "A computer that looks deeper faster is better than a computer that looks shallower with greater knowledge of chess." *IF YOU DID NOT UNDERSTAND THIS QUOTE, DON'T WORRY WE DID NOT EITHER!!

February 17, 1996

Photo by AP

APPLE PROBLEMS "VERY FIXABLE"

CUPERTINO, Calif. - Apple Computer Inc. CEO Gilbert Amelio says he's 100% confident about Apple's future and that the problems the company has are "very fixable." Amelio, has spent the last two weeks putting out the many fires he has inherited. Amelio will be outlining his plan to return Apple Computer to profitability by going "back to its roots"

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