Brand: MacNews

MacMinute has learned that Apple will continue to offer and manufacture the original iMac indefinitely. Despite wanting to move the iMac family to a new and faster design, an Apple executive, who asked not to be named, told MacMinute, “The original iMac is too important just to be tossed away. It’s an essential part of our education and low-end consumer strategy.” The gumdrop computer continues to be offered in 500MHz (US$799) and 600MHz ($999) configurations from Apple and resellers.

At Macworld Expo this week, roxio (booth #935) announced and is demonstrating Toast with Jam, which combines Toast 5 Titanium with Jam 5, a new version of its pro audio CD authoring software. Toast With Jam is slated to ship in March for US$199 and will include Peak LE VST from BIAS.

Olympus has added Mac support for some of its >digital voice recorders, including the DS-150, DS-320, DS-2000 and DS-3000, as noted by MacNN. The company has released its DSS Player for both Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS X, which allows users to download and play recordings from the device.

Niemeijer Consult has announced the forthcoming release of KeyStrokes Lite for Mac OS X, an assistive tool that allows physically impaired Mac users to type with a mouse, trackball, head pointer or other cursor input device. KeyStrokes Lite offers five interactively resizable keyboard models, works with U.S. and International keyboard layouts, handles command-key combinations, and more.

Sybase, Inc. Monday announced plans to develop Open Client for Mac, an Internet-enabled development tool kit for developers delivering Mac applications across a variety of database systems, and Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise 12.5 (ASE 12.5) for Mac OS X. ASE 12.5 will allow developers to build applications with native Mac OS X support for database applications. The company plans to deliver both products later this year.