Type of Article: MacMinute Web Site

Steve Jobs’ “other” company, Pixar Animation Studios, has reported a 30% fall in third quarter earnings — a loss that some analyst’s felt would be worse. Pixar’s latest film, “Monsters, Inc,” is currently a smash hit at the box office.

An interesting Wired article discusses Maya for Mac OS X, questions its existence, and predicts that the US$7,500 software will be discontinued by the summer. “No one in the industry can understand why Alias launched this widely acclaimed product, directing millions of dollars and its talented engineering staff to write more than 20 million lines of code for the Mac’s new and unproven OS X.”

The Mac Show, an Internet-based live radio show focusing on all things Mac, has announced their guest lineup for tonight’s broadcast (9:00-11:00 pm ET). Tonight’s guests include Jon McCarron of Mac.Tucows.com, who will be on to detail his monthly shareware picks; Gene Steinberg of The Mac Night Owl to discuss the iTunes 2.0 for Mac OS X installer bug; Chuck Joiner with the User Group Focus; and Mac Basics with Ron Fairborn.

4D, Inc. has announced that 4D Academic Standard Edition is now available free of charge to academic and not-for-profit organizations. The academic version of the Web-embedded development tools, which includes the 4D application, 4D Runtime and additional 4D utilites, is a full production version with no limitations in functionality.

Belkin today introduced its new line of USB Media Reader/Writers, which include versions for CompactFlash (US$29.95), SmartMedia ($34.95), MultiMedia Cards/Secure Digital Cards ($29.95), and a dual-reader for CompactFlash and SmartMedia ($49.95). All four products are bus-powered and will begin shipping in North America on November 12.