Year: 2002

Bains Software has released Mail Beacon 1.5, an update to its email checking/notification software. The new version adds Mac OS X compatibility and other enhancements. Mail Beacon is US$10 shareware.

The Business Software Alliance has determined that software piracy grew last year for the first time since 1994, reports the Associated Press. A report being issued tomorrow by the BSA trade group attributes the recent rise in piracy to the growing computer market in countries such as Vietnam, China and India. According to the study, Vietnam has the highest business software piracy rate in the world, with a stunning 94 percent.

Apple is readying its largest marketing campaign since “Think Different”, according to c|net. The ads, dubbed “Real People”, will begin airing this week and feature PC users who switched to the Mac. Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris directed the spots, which will point to a new page on Apple’s site that has not been updated.

Here it is… the moment you’ve been waiting for! MacMinute’s First Birthday Giveaway Winners have been compiled and are now available for your viewing pleasure. All of us here at MacMinute would like to extend a special congratulations to our Grand Prize winner, Gilly Rosenthol, who picked herself up a brand new 800MHz flat-panel iMac! There were a lot more prizes to be had then that, however, and you can view the complete list from the link above.

Crescendo Software has released Picture Play 1.6, the latest update to its image composition tool. Picture Play lets you combine digital photos, scanned images, or any other graphics to create rich and diverse compositions with editable text content, backgrounds, and stylish effects including translucency, transparency, rotation and more. Version 1.6 offers a significant number of feature additions and bug fixes, all of which are documented at the site.