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Shareware reviews for ZD Net/Mac:
Samizdat
NOTE: All of the following files disappeared from circulation
for a variety of reasons, ranging from copyright infringment to
sale to a commercial entity. Please don't write and ask me how
you can get any of them.
9th Paradigm Project
Anthropology HTB Demo 3.1 (HyperCard)
ChessMaster 4.4
DeepDischarge 1.1.0
Desert Town Square (eWorld)
eWorld Aid 1.0
Fat Free (PPC) 1.0
Happyweed 1.2
Lagoon Town Square 1.1 (eWorld)
MacEmatics 1.2
Newton AreaCodes (Kearney) 0.1
Sound Toy 1.0
Star Fleet Exam 1.2
TGP 1.50
9th Paradigm Project
Category: REMOVED
Author: Rob Elmore
Congratulations, traveler. You've found the key to the universe,
the unified field theory and the secret to world peace all in
one go. We couldn't tell anyone it was here -- for obvious reasons
-- but we're pleased to welcome you to a joyous future. Or something
like that.
The 9th Paradigm Project is an outline for Rob Elmore's ideas
for future human development on the planet Earth, a glowing future
born out of an innocuous seed project: construction of a pipeline
between Alaska and Russia, beneath the Bering Strait. He describes
how this project will solve energy crises of both countries, enable
further projects (such as an intercontinental "smart" highway
from London to Disneyworld), and promote peace among all nations.
In his vision, we will eventually be able to tame gravitational
"wells" between planets, and the common person will enjoy the
peaceful fruits of space travel.
No comment.
NOTE: This *long* and painstakingly detailed presentation runs
on Microsoft's free PowerPoint viewer, included: it will NOT run
on a full version of PowerPoint. Therefore, open it by dragging
the presentation on top of the Player, or opening it from within
the Player rather than double-clicking it. Also, press "Cancel"
when asked to log on to Mr. Elmore's home machine: you'll then
be given a chance to find the needed files (in the same folder
as the presentation) on your local machine.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: alaska russia soviet united states america oil gas energy plan
conspiracy bering strait
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Freeware
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Anthropology HTB Demo 3.1 (HyperCard)
Category: REMOVED
Author: Jeffrey Iverson
Anthropology HyperTextBook Demo uses HyperCard to present a basic
text-only overview of the subject, including notes on various
tribes, philosophies and methods of studying humanity. A bibliography
is also included.
The information here covers a wide range of topics but does not
go into great detail on any of them. For more depth, you'll need
to pay the shareware fee. Still, enough information is provided
to give you a working knowledge of the subject.
Version 3.1 significantly improves the interface and re-arranges
the information. Alas, you'll need the full version to enjoy some
of the stack's slicker features (such as illustrations).
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: humanity academic study people peoples human stack hypertextbook
hyper text book
Requires: HyperCard 2.x or later or HyperCard Player
Price: Shareware $19 (single-user)
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ChessMaster 4.4
Category: REMOVED
Author: Quade Publishing
Probably no game has been implemented on computers as often as
chess: its complex, logical structure appeals to programmers and
its popular standing guarantees high public interest. Most of
these implementations have been reasonably good, and play by some
of them has consistently beaten all but the very best human opponents.
ChessMaster is a flexible, intelligent and inexpensive version
that belongs on any enthusiast's Macintosh.
ChessMaster's main strength is the variety of play options available.
Players can choose from eight levels, from the sophomoric (about
a 1000 USCF rating) to the prickly (USCF 1900 or better); note
that level 8 is the easiest, level 1 the most challenging. In
addition, one can play white or black, challenge another human
opponent (or watch the computer play itself), or orient the board
vertically or horizontally. There is also a smorgasbord of notation,
demonstration, and monitoring variations.
Five historical games are included for review; a welcome feature
which ChessMaster lacks is the ability to watch those historical
games being dynamically replayed, instead of just seeing the final
position and notation. Still, it's a good, solid chess program
which will challenge most players. No READ ME file. Black and
white only.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: CHESS STRATEGY FUN GAME WAR CLASSIC BOARD BLACK AND WHITE
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $9
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DeepDischarge 1.1.0
Category: REMOVED
Author: Jeremy Kezer
DeepDischarge is one of a suite of hardware management applications
for notebook Macs by Mr. Kezer, each of which does a simple job
thoroughly and efficiently. The purpose of this one is to discharge
your notebook Mac's battery more thoroughly and efficiently than
with the method Apple recommends.
Why would you need to discharge your battery? Well, there's a
phenomenon known as the "memory effect" which affects all rechargeable
nickel-cadmium batteries (and some would claim also the nickel-metal-hydride
batteries). Unless these batteries are fully discharged, they
develop a "memory" which causes them to lose storage potential.
DeepDischarge circumvents this problem by forcing the Mac to expend
as much energy as possible until the hardware quits: no dimmed
screen, no hard disk spin-down, no sleep. As a result, a $5 shareware
expense can result in a much greater return in prolonged battery
life.
NOTE: will not work on PowerBook 100 or Portable.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: POWERBOOK DUO BATTERY POWER MEMORY CHARGE NICAD NIMHY
Requires: PowerBooks 140-180c or Duos, System 7 or later
Price: Shareware $5
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Desert Town Square (eWorld)
Category: REMOVED
Author: PattyR, SteelDream and Ogilvie on eWorld
It's an ever-changing world out there, folks.. and it can be a
new world in here too, thanks to the development of customized
"worlds" to greet eWorld visitors upon entry. Simply drop the
"eWorld One" document in this archive into your "eWorld Files"
folder according to the included instructions and you'll find
yourself strangely transported to..
..a desert town, baked brown by the omnipresent sun, where cacti
and palm trees grow and the Community Center sports a cooling
pool. This is a subtle change from the usual, green-blue Town
Square: no aliens (as in the Martian Town Square) and no additional
sounds (as in the Valentine's Town Square). Still, Desert Town
Square imparts a sense of other-worldliness with a humor that
is so dry, it's parched.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: eworld dry sand west custom customize welcome online on line
Requires: eWorld client software
Price: Freeware
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eWorld Aid 1.0
Category: REMOVED
Author: Jonathan Durkee
You can't be a happy monkey without a prehensile tail, and you
can't be an efficient eWorld citizen without Jonathan Durkee's
astounding utility, eWorld Aid. It fills a gap in the eWorld software
to allow -- get ready for this -- downloading in the background.
For those of you who respond to this news with an unimpressed
"huh," here's what that means: no longer do you have to wait for
a download to finish to go back to chatting happily among your
eFriends, reading eNews, or downloading eCoolStuff from eZiffNet/Mac.
Here's an example of how it works: find a file you'd like to download.
Start the download as you normally do. The "Get a File" progress
window will appear for a few seconds, telling you how long the
transfer will take, and then it will disappear. Where did it go?
It was put behind all the other eWorld windows ("backgrounded"
in techie talk), giving you back control of your system.
Some caveats: downloading in the background noticeably slows down
all other eWorld activities, as your computer (and eWorld's) struggles
to do two things at once. Also, unlike on FirstClass BBS systems,
you can still download only one file at a time. Finally, be aware
that eWorld Aid is incompatible with some system configurations,
so test it out before attempting a background transfer at a critical
time. Still, it works for most users, and will multiply your efficiency
-- and reduce your online costs -- substantially. Essential stuff.
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Keywords: communications background download windows multitasking online
service
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Freeware
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Fat Free (PPC) 1.0
Category: REMOVED
Author: Hubert Figuiere
When plans for Power Macs were first announced in 1993, word was
that developers would have two options in producing applications
to work on both the new and old chips: they could package two
versions of the same program, or they could create a "fat" application
which contained both 680X0 and PPC Native code. Due to the additional
costs involved in shipping two versions of a program, most chose
the latter: and now, a year later, hard drives on 680X0 Macs throughout
the world are choking on the extra space fat code requires --
but which can't be used by those older Macs.
Want to get rid of it? Use Fat Free, a utility which hacks all
of the PPC-native code from fat applications. It's quick and clean,
and the documentation is clear -- including caveats about hacking
applications and details of other uses for the program. Also available
in a 680X0 version (which makes more sense -- doesn't this seem
like a poor candidate for a PPC-native application?) Supports
drag and drop.
WARNING: As with any utility which hacks code, save an unmolested
copy of your target application before running Fat Free. Also
note that many fat applications require PPC-native code, even
if it's not directly used, so removing it may cause devastating
results. USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION! (Or, as the author says, "Use
at your own RISC.")
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: hack ppc native emulated emulation 680x0 convert strip file
size disk space hard drive
Requires: System 7 or later
Price: E-mail or PostcardWare
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Happyweed 1.2
Category: REMOVED
Author: Christopher B. Council
Hold on to your helmets, space cadets, because here comes.. Happyweed!
This Pacman-like game is destined to become a classic among Mac-using
stoners, not only for its playful and witty treatment of a serious
issue (persecution of marijuana users), but on the basis of its
implementation alone: the graphics, action, and control are terrific.
As with the original arcade game Pacman (or its many imitators
on the Mac, such as Bachman, Macman, or the unofficial Mac-based
Pacman), the idea is to run about a maze-like board, collecting
points while avoiding pursuers; in addition, there are special
points which will temporarily turn the tables, as you can attack
the pursuers for points. The distinguishing feature between Happyweed
and the other Pacman-like games is obvious: the points are marijuana
leaf clusters, and the special points are pipes.
The only problem I had with this game is that it was obviously
written first on another platform, and then ported over to the
Mac. As a result, there is no menu bar during the game, and graphics
are coarser than you would expect on a Mac-native game. But they
are beautiful, and the author has managed to avoid many of the
pitfalls other ported games fall into (such as bad text design,
non-standard windows and crashes).
So give Happyweed a try: as an expression of pot culture it's
a trip, and as a game it's a keeper.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: HAPPYWEED ACTION ARCADE GAME FUN PACMAN CHASE MARIJUANA POT
EUPHORIA PIPE
Requires: 768K of free memory, System 7 or later, 16 colors, 13" monitor
or larger
Price: Shareware $You decide
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Lagoon Town Square 1.1 (eWorld)
Category: REMOVED
Author: Diosa Corporation
It's an ever-changing world out there, folks.. and it can be a
new world in here too, thanks to the development of customized
"worlds" to greet eWorld visitors upon entry. Simply drop the
"eWorld One" document in this archive into your "eWorld Files"
folder according to the included instructions and you'll find
yourself strangely transported to..
..a watery world, where buildings pop strangely out of the depths
of a crystal-blue sea, where a cargo plane delivers the mail and
where the Town Square statue is balanced precariously in a rowboat.
The scene begs a few questions: how do those tall, modern buldings
stand? What about pile rot? And if the "Info Booth" is on a pier
-- signifying that the whole scene is near the shore -- why doesn't
that evil-looking "Diosa" submarine run aground?
No matter. It's quite a nice fantasy, created by the fine folks
who run the Diosa Yachting area on eWorld. This archive includes
graphics, a custon "Welcome" sound, and complete installation
instructions. Version 1.1 replaces the jolting klaxon "Welcome"
sound of version 1.0 with something more soothing.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: eworld custom customize welcome online on line wet water ocean
sailing sail row rowing
Requires: eWorld client software
Price: Freeware
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MacEmatics 1.2
Category: REMOVED
Author: Neil Schulman
MacEmatics is a simple flashcard-like program designed to quiz
beginning math students in four areas of arithmetic: addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division. The program opens by
asking you for your name (by which it addresses you for the rest
of the testing period), the number of questions you'd like to
answer, and the level of difficulty, from one to five (which corresponds
fairly well to elementary school grade levels).
It's hard to go wrong with a presentation this simple, and there
are a few features which make MacEmatics especially fun. The sound
effects, for one, are great: about six or seven different sounds
which mean "you got that one right" kept me going for a while
just for the laughs, while gunshots, explosions, and Homer's Simpson's
"D'ohh!" greet incorrect answers. Success is certainly well rewarded,
with flashing "#1"s and cheering crowds congratulating you on
a perfect score. The interface can be a little intrusive at times,
especially in the opening few screens, and it would be nice if
there were a control built into the stack to turn off the sounds.
However, one nice feature was added in version 1.2: the ability
to enter numbers "backwards," as one naturally does when adding
large numbers (i.e. ones first, then tens, etc.) In any case,
this is a straightforward and appropriate math quiz for students
at grade levels 1-5.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: EDUCATION MATH FLASH CARDS TEST QUIZ
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or greater
Price: Shareware $8.95
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Newton AreaCodes (Kearney) 0.1
Category: REMOVED
Author: William Kearney
Good ol' Bill Kearney's done it again with a stable, useful and
appropriate little hack for the Newton MessagePad. This one adds
an extra choice to the "Formula" application in the Extras drawer:
an area-code finder. The operation is easy as can be, assuming
you're pretty good at getting the PDA to recognize your handwritten
numbers: simply write the three-digit U.S. area code in the space
indicated, hit "Find", and it'll return detailed information on
the location of the area code. The information given is often
better than you'll find on the list in your phone book (assuming
it has one): entering my home code of 415, for example, returned
"San Francisco (West Bay Area), California", taking into account
the peninsula which also carries this code.
Unfortunately, the opposite function is not included: that is,
you can't write in "San Francisco" and get "415" back. The author
has indicated that this is a gap he's planning on filling in the
future.
This package contains only area codes for U.S. numbers. In the
documentation which accompanies this product, he mentions that
he'd be open to developing international versions of this useful
app, given enough user feedback. So come on, eWorldians in other
countries.. you know what to do..
NOTE: This is a beta version and, as such should be installed
only after backing up sensitive data. Also note that there is
another Newton application of the same name by Bill Colsher (also
in this library).
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: telephone phone region united states bell call hack communications
telecom number
Requires: Newton MessagePad, Newton Connection Kit or similar
Price: Shareware: $5
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Sound Toy 1.0
Category: REMOVED
Author: C. Todd Robbins
Forget your piano lessons, son, and go out and play ball with
your friends. These are the best days of your life, after all,
and pianists grow up to be unemployable dweebs with wrist problems.
Besides, you now have C. Todd Robbins award-winning Sound Toy
through which to express your musical self!
Sound Toy is a colorful interface to an improvisational world
that's.. well, it's hard to explain. You move the pointer over
a patchwork-quilt-like graphic: as it passes over the various
"panels," a sound is released. There's enough sustain on the sounds
that they stop being discrete effects, and you may actually end
up with a semi-musical tone poem. Adding the accompaniment helps
-- just click in the center panel for a cool bass ground. Yea..
It's the logical extension of RapMaster Deluxe (available in this
library), which turns any hip-hop wannabe into a nerdish DJ, of
sorts. But Sound Toy has the advantage over it in its color and
playfulness -- and it's many hundreds of pounds lighter than a
piano!
NOTE: Running this in the background will make you crazy.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: fun music game color improv improvisation buttons accompany
accompaniment accompanist
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $10
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Star Fleet Exam 1.2
Category: REMOVED
Author: Darryl Payne
Question: What T.V. show has spawned two sequels and six movies
over the past 25-odd years? Answer: Star Trek! All right, that
one was easy: for harder questions, dip into Star Fleet Exam,
a self-standing application which tests your knowledge of various
Enterprises, their crews and their adventures. True to keeping
with the fantasy immersion of a true Trekkie, scores are reflected
in Academy rank, from Midshipman to Fleet Admiral 5. Correctly
answering five questions in a row ostensibly results in an increase
in rank: in testing, however, the program occasionally erred by
penalizing right answers.
This version includes 100 questions, which is enough for a short
evening's entertainment: more are available by paying your shareware
fee. NOTE: Running Star Fleet Exam will change the font in title
bars of all windows to Geneva.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: QUIZ GAME FUN TEST STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION TV MOVIES
Requires: System 7 or greater
Price: Shareware $15
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TGP 1.50
Category: REMOVED
Author: John Lindal
TGP stands for "Teacher's Grading Program," and it will serve
to simplify a task many teachers find tedious. The main strength
of this program lies in its calculation features, which allow
grades to be weighted, adjusted, and totaled, with a letter grade
being generated automatically. Especially useful is the ability
to enter grades either as absolute values or as a percentage of
the highest grade possible, making scores from a test with 57
questions easy to calculate. Transition from paper-based grading
to TGP is easy: data are presented in the spreadsheet-like format
common in standard grading books, and entry is simplified by allowing
movement about the page using the keypad.
Printing options are extensive, allowing you to output raw scores,
personal grade sheets, student rosters, and a wide variety of
statistics. Note, however, that TGP program is password-protected:
you won't be able to save your data until you pay the shareware
fee.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: EDUCATION TEACHER STUDENT GRADING SPREADSHEET
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $25
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This page was last updated on Monday, February 09, 2004 at 3:06pm CST.
All contents copyright 2005 by Tom Geller.
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