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| Architosh Staff ([email protected]) |
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Special Expo Report: Part - 5: Apps to look into
One of the best things about Macworld Expo is the potential neat discovery. While some of these applications may have already been know to us -- ok, many of them have -- they may not be known to the busy AEC professional who barely has time to read his monthly copy of Macworld magazine. Here, in no particular order, are some applications and services you should probably know about:
ACTION Files ACTION Files by Power On Software may be the best Finder utility add-on from this award-winning software developer. One of the biggest headaches with the Mac OS's current Finder Open/Save dialog boxes is that you can't sort by various attributes common to List Windows, like Kind, Label (my personal favorite), Size, Name, etc. With ACTION Files you can. In addition, you can perform searches within the Open/Save dialogs as well. Plus there are other handy features such as the ability to resize Open/Save dialog boxes and have access to recent and favorite documents too. Other cool and very useful software from Power On Software include ACTION GoMac which is a Task Bar similar to the one in Windows 95/98. The advantage being that unlike the tear-off Finder menu which you can place anywhere you have one organized and static (stay put) Task Bar on the bottom of your screen. ACTION Menus is another app which enables you to create your own custom menu items, making shortcuts out of menu jumping tasks and creating keyboard shortcuts as well. Power On Software offers additional applications and an ACTION Utilities which includes the three applications above in addition to ACTION WYSIWYG, a font utility program that allows you to view your fonts in their actual typeface in the Fonts menu of your favorite applications. Who's Power On Software? Well, for starters, in addition to being the developers of cool Finder utilities and other software, they are the proud new owners of Qualcomm's Now Up-To-Date and Now Contact, PIM software for individuals and workgroups, in addtion to Qualcomm Eudora Planner.
VTC Computer Based Training VTC is one of best training companies period. We love them, use their CD-ROM QuickTime animated training courses to teach ourselves all kinds of things, like FileMaker Pro and Dreamweaver, etc. This is one company that you should know about. Not only do they have more training CD-ROM's than you can shake a stick at, but are very receptive to your ideas for future CD-ROM's. VTC training CD-ROM's feature voice-over narration of the application you are learning while you watch the instructor's moves via QuickTime movies of the instructor's computer screen -- just like you do in school but you can keep your head focused on your computer screen. We wanted to bring this company to your attention not simply because we love their CD's but because we feel learning via QuickTime technology is really cool and powerful. Unlike a VCR you learn on your desktop, enabling you to just stick in a CD to pick up a sequence of commands that you need at the moment, or take a quick break while you work and go through a five to ten minute lesson. Because the lessons are broken down into very small manageable parts you can move around freely and learn what you want very quickly. The interfaces are also very nice and feature check marks to tell you what lessons you have completed. The company also features VTC Online University where you can learn online via QuickTime 3 or 4. CD's range from 4- 8 hours in time and have up to almost 200 QuickTime movies, organized by chapter with multiple lessons per chapter. Popular titles for the Mac include FileMaker Pro 3/4, MS Office 98, Adobe GoLive (3), Dreamweaver 2, Director 7 Lingo, Quark XPress 4, and many others. Highly recommended.
Meeting Maker 6 ON Technology Corporation's Meeting Maker 6 is a leading real-time scheduling solution for multi-platform environments, including the Palm Computing operating system. The program has both a "thin" web client and a "fat" desktop client to suit a variety of mobile and office-based needs. The Java client runs in a typical Web browser to offer interactive Web-based scheduling. Users can access their schedules and set up meetings from virtually any computer connected to the Internet, with no need for client files on that machine (examples: your family home computer, relative's computer, hotel computer, cyber-cafe, etc., etc.). Meeting Maker runs on any combination of Solaris, Windows, and Macintosh servers with Java, Macintosh, Windows HP-UX, or Solaris Clients. In addition, Palm handheld computers can be clients thanks to the Palm Computing Conduit Development Kit. Palm Synchronization works with both Macintosh and Windows clients. Meeting Maker 6 is a real-time solution, delivering instant access to free/busy time information for users and resources. There is no need to publish updates to the server and there is no lag phase like in email-based systems. You can download a free trial version from ON Technology's website at http://www.meetingmaker6.com.
COREL PrintOffice 2000 for Macintosh This is a new and interesting package designed for the small business market and is highly focused on the Web and print publishing needs of SOHO (small office home office) users. To quote the packaging: "Corel Print Office 2000 for Macintosh makes it easy to create polished documents and impressive Web pages." The suite includes Corel Print Office 5, a design and layout application, and Corel Photo House 5, a powerful photo editing package. Support for digital cameras and scanners is included in the program's capabilities, in addition to sample layouts to get you going quickly. Corel Print Office 5 features an easy-to-use page layout interface, support for multi-page documents, easy Web publishing with URL attachment linking for objects and text, and compatibility with with Macintosh versions of WordPerfect, MS Word and AppleWorks/ClarisWorks. Text formatting features include drop caps, bullets, leading and kerning. The literature claims extensive import/export capabilities. Corel Photo House 5 is a Photoshop-like application for the business user, as opposed to the graphics or design professional. The predominant use probably being preparing images -- mostly photos -- for the Web. There is support for multiple layers, object transparency features, five photo touch-up effects (like red eye removal), "optimize for the Web" buttons and a Finder-like navigation with the Notebook. In addition, there is support for plug-in effects and pressure sensitive tablets. There are a lot more features and benefits to this new suite applications. To learn more visit Corel on the Web at http://www.corel.com.
Next up! ... more nifty apps and the Palm OS. Check back soon!
Expo Report Series: Special Expo Report: Part - 4: Our Expo Photos
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