Brand: MacNews

Terra Soft has begun shipping Yellow Dog Linux 2.1, a new version of the operating system for PowerPC systems. Yellow Dog Linux 2.1 features version 2.4 of the Linux kernel and is the first PowerPC version of Linux to offer support for NVIDIA’s GeForce2 video card. Software that comes bundled with Yellow Dog Linux (some 900 applications) has also been updated to the latest versions.

O’Reilly XML.com has published an article by Apple’s Bill Humphries that discusses how to create a Web interface for a FileMaker Pro database using two implementations of XML tools under Mac OS X.

Microsoft this afternoon posted a lower-than-expected first-quarter profit of US$1.2 billion, or 23 cents per share, as revenues rose to $6.13 billion from $5.8 billion a year earlier. During the quarter, Microsoft realized a $1.2 billion investment loss, which accounted for much of the reduced earings. Microsoft also said it sees the PC market as being flat to slightly down in the coming quarter.

Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption, a role-playing/adventure game inspired by its pen-and-paper RPG counterpart, has reached golden master status and is scheduled to ship from MacSoft within a few weeks, according to Inside Mac Games. MacSoft also plans to ship Survivor, a game based on the popular reality TV show, in November, as well as second editions of both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

An interesting New York Times article (free registration required) discusses the increased popularity of digital cameras among professional photographers, who have traditionally shunned the devices. Advances in technology, the need for quick transmission, and events that produce adverse conditions for traditional cameras, such as last month’s attacks, have made digital cameras far more commonplace in a photographer’s bag.