Year: 2001

JMTek plans to begin shipping USBDrive, its line of keychain-sized USB drives, beginning December 20. The drives range in capacity from 16MB to 1GB and require no drivers, allowing them to be used on a wide range of operating systems, including Mac OS 8.6 through Mac OS X 10.1. Pre-orders of the USBDrive are currently being accepted: 16MB (US$39.95), 32MB ($69.95), 64MB ($99.95), 128MB ($179.95), 256MB ($349.95), 512MB ($599.95) and 1GB ($899.95).

Pressplay, a partnership between entertainment giants Vivendi Universal and Sony to offer a subscription-based Internet music service, will launch tomorrow with a free two-week trial offering 200 streams and 20 downloads, according to c|net.

In a statement sent from Apple to members of the media, CEO Steve Jobs reaffirmed his opposition to Microsoft’s US$1 billion proposed settlement of private lawsuits. Microsoft lawyers are meeting with mediators today to improve the terms of the settlement. “Microsoft’s proposed settlement compels schools to adopt Microsoft technology,” Jobs said. “Most educators, along with Apple, think this is simply wrong.

Adobe has begun taking pre-orders for InDesign 2.0, as noted by MacNN. The desktop publishing software will ship next month and will run natively under Mac OS X. InDesign 2.0 carries a US$699 price tag; upgrades from 1.x are $99.

Intelli Innovations has released Package Tracker 3.7, a new version of its multi-carrier package management software for Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS X. PackageTracker allows users to organize, manage, and track shipments, and much more. Version 3.7 adds Tracking History, a new QuickTrack option, as well as improvements to Airborne Express support and a new AppleScript Studio example, PT Automation, that queries Package Tracker for tracking details, item summaries and carrier name guesses. Package Tracker 3.7 is available for US$34.95.