Brand: MacNews

Apple today issued a press release regarding the “breakthrough” implementation of BLAST software that it created alongside Genentech. On a dual-1GHz Power Mac G4, the Apple/Genentech implementation of BLAST, which is used to accelerate protein and DNA searches in biomedical research, is up to five times faster than a 2GHz Pentium 4 system.

O’Reilly recently published an article that covers three plug-ins for Apple’s iPhoto, as well as Apple’s own iPhoto AppleScripts. The article comes on the heels of the publication’s detailed look at iPhoto.

Adam Iser has released Adium 1.5b6, the latest beta of the popular alternative AOL Instant Messenger client for Mac OS X. The new version automatically connects users to AOL’s new AIM server, after the company disabled the server Adium, Fire, and other third-party clients had been connecting to.  Updated 12:00: AOL’s previous AIM server appears to have been restored, as older versions of Adium and Fire are once again able to connect.

The Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) has published its benchmark scores for Motorola’s new MPC7455 processor, which is used in the 933MHz and dual-1GHz Power Mac G4 systems.

Microsoft has released a Network Security Update for Office v. X, which “allows you to run Microsoft Office v. X files and any standalone programs of Office v. X for Mac more securely on a network.” Users must first apply the Entourage v. X Hotmail Update before they can apply the Security Update, as noted by VersionTracker.