Brand: MacNews

Game Guru Extraordinaire Peter Cohen of MacCentral has served up a report from MacSoft regarding Civilization III. The third incarnation of this popular game is designed by Sid Meier, and offers new a graphics engine that will provide better looking maps, animation and graphics, according to Peter’s report. Civilization III will also offer new customization tools, enhanced combat, and trade and diplomacy features.

ZDNet reports that the European commission has drafted a proposal, supported by the police, that would see all emails and Web traffic be logged and kept up to seven years. Ministers involved in the European Council have agreed to back the police on the issue.

Strata 3D Pro, a 3D modeling, rendering and animation tool, has been updated to version 3.5. Pricing is as follows: US$895.00 retail, $559.00 academic and $24.95 to upgrade from version 3.0.

The Apple expo in Paris, France is scheduled to run September 26-30 at the Porte de Versailles venue. No further details are available, but this is Apple’s only European showcase, notes a brief report on MacUser UK.

…Not too well according to Stephen Baker, technology columnist for BusinessWeek’s Paris bureau. Baker examines some of the advances we have already seen in portable wireless technology and notes that the best is yet to come. The question is where does Apple stand in all of this? Baker uses an iMac — he wrote his column on one — but doesn’t think Apple is doing enough to advance their product offering into this space. “My suggestion? Apple should team up with Motorola. Apple has the brand and knows computers. Motorola does phones.