WinZip 10 public beta announced

WinZip have released a public beta version of WinZip 10.0, the latest version of the popular archiving software.

The biggest change in this version is that the software has finally been broken into two versions – Standard and Professional, offering paying users additional functionality in the Professional version, while allowing others to use the Standard edition without an annoying nag screen.

Version 10.0 has a revamped interface designed to mimic XP’s Windows Explorer, and claims to zip archives faster. The software now supports the PPMd and bzip2 compression formats, and can burn from zip archives directly to writable optical media such as CDs and DVDs.

The main addition to the Pro edition is an automation feature called ‘WinZip Job Wizard’ which allows scheduled archiving instructions to be set.

Almost all the other features we’re used to now come completely free in the Standard edition.

Mindjet releases MindManager viewer

I’m a great believer in mind maps, so its good news to see that Mindjet have released a free viewer application that makes it a lot easier to share mind maps created with MindManager X5 with others who do not have the application.

The free MindManager Viewer is available for Windows NT® 4.0 SP6 / 2000 / XP and is now available for download.

Mindjet has also released a browser plug-in for Internet Explorer (no Firefox support as the plug-in relies on Active X) that allows you to share your maps over the web.

Rumour also has it that Mindjet will be releasing v6 of their MindManager product very shortly.

Pandora’s Box

Pandora looks like an interesting concept – a personalised music channel.

You put in the name of a group and it builds a music channel with songs similar to that music, all picked by professional musicians.

I think I still prefer to listen to music offline, but I can see this might be interesting when you are stuck at your PC pulling an all-nighter.

Cheat Sheets

Need a cheat sheet? Click here to go to a blog that has listed tons of them for you.

Acquisition Day

Monday 13th September seemed to be the day to announce major new acquisitions:

Oracle bought Siebel for $5.8billion
eBay bought Skype for $4.1billion although $1.5billion is dependent upon performance.

iPod integration with car stereos

Apple has announced that it has signed agreements with Acura, Audi, Honda and Volkswagen to feature seamless iPod integration in factory car stereos in their 2006 models. According to Apple, 30 percent of cars sold next year will come pre-equipped with iPod support.

I’d like to see other car manufacturers follow suit. Here’s hoping these sort of things will be standard when I next update my car.

7th September – Apple Day

Apple announced a number of new, cool products on 7th September:

iTunes v5
iPod Nano
Apple/Motorola ROKR phone

The Nano looks superb – in both white and black – I’m sure I’ll succumb very shortly!

The Perfect iTunes Equalizer Setting?

A pointer to a story in MacFormat from September 2004 which gives settings for a more vibrant output from iTunes – check it out!

More chilling Katrina photos

Don Park has a stunning set of before and after photos of New Orleans – simply chilling!

Redrawing the map

Hurricane Katrina has had a devastating effect on New Orleans and the surrounding area. To get some idea of the extent of the flooding, take a look at this Katrina view release of Google Maps.