Brand: MacNews

Smith Micro Software has released FAXstf X 1.0, a Mac OS X version of its popular fax software. The cocoa application offers support for Apple’s internal modems, saves faxes in PDF format, allows users to send faxes from any document-based application, features integrated support for Mac OS X’s Address Book and Print Center, and more. FAXstf X 1.0 requires Mac OS X 10.1.1 or later and is available for US$59.95.

Juri Munkki has released Cameraid 1.2, a new version of his digital camera utility that allows users to quickly download, preview, and manipulate images. Version 1.2 offers performance enhancements, support for QuickTime movies, new and improved batch renaming, and several user interface enhancements. Cameraid 1.2 is US$15 shareware.

Apple has released PowerBook Firmware Update 4.2.9 for 550MHz and 667MHz PowerBook G4s running Mac OS 9.1 or later (users of Mac OS X must start up from a Mac OS 9.1 or later partition or drive). The new version adds improvements to FireWire target disk mode when running Mac OS X, improves starting up on systems with 1GB RAM and enables netbooting over Gigabit Ethernet.

Although two online music subscription services backed by the record labels, MusicNet and Pressplay, are now available for use, music fans who have taken advantage of peer-to-peer services such as Napster and now Audiogalaxy, Gnutella, Kazaa and others are continuing to do so, according to c|net, and are raising a critical eye to the new services.

The Washington Times has selected Apple’s PowerBook G4 as its top notebook computer of the holiday season, praising its wireless network capabilities, widescreen LCD and its ability to run Mac OS X 10.1 with exceptional speed. The newspaper’s top desktop selection is Hewlett-Packard’s Pavilion series.