The PowerMac G5 monoprocessor 1.8 GHz does no longer exist. After it was withdrawn from the American Apple Store, it is now discreetly disappearing from the European Apple Stores. Since its release, the G5 mono 1.8 has visibly suffered from various problems (uncertain sleep mode and shut down, unstable FireWire ports, major problems with Tiger) that touch on a design and production defect rather than a software problem, vaguely brought up by Apple. The total absence of communication from Cupertino on these problems, the endless wait for a potential update of the firmware, and finally its withdrawal from sale after just 9 months can't put our minds at rest, both on this machine and the design and production quality of current Apple products.

If some people considered this machine was an iMac G5 "dressed up" as a PowerMac, for many others it looked like a very attractive choice because of its price, its proper performances and its "tour" architecture. Today in the Apple catalogue there is no PowerMac under $2000. And I personally think it is a serious mistake...

Eventide announced today a $200 limited-time rebate for the Anthology bundle. The rebate, which runs from July 1 through September 30, 2005, gives any Eventide plug-in or Digidesign MassivePack owner, cash back on the bundle. Included in the Anthology bundle are H3000 Band Delays and new H3000 Factory plug-ins. Are also included : five plug-ins from Clockworks Legacy (H910, H949, Omnipressor, Instant Phaser, Instant Flanger) and two plug-ins taken from Eventide's processor Orville.

To claim the rebate, you must be a registered Pro Tools HD owner, have purchased any Digidesign MassivePack or any other Eventide plug-in, and have purchased the Eventide Anthology bundle from an authorized Eventide dealer between July 1 and September 30, 2005.

The whole web is talking about it as if it were this week's event, and I'm snowed under messages asking me to announce the news which is not exactly a recent one. So this leads me to remind you that MacMusic announced last June 20 that the Live 5 Beta version is available. Almost a month later, this beta version is, of course, still available and downloadable.

Ableton is waiting for your bugs reports and other comments.

Native Instruments had updated Kontakt to version 2.0.2. This new release adds a lot of enhancements and bugfixes : output configuration can now be changed and saved in hosts, big browser fonts, output config dialog now allows easy switching between channels, hanging notes problem has been fixed, library issues with incorrect glide default value have been fixed, library issues with loading in non-DFD modes have been fixed, issues with high CPU load have been fixed, issues with start-up crashes have been fixed, and more....

This update is free for Kontakt users.

Today JazzMutant announces that the Multitouch Control Surface Lemur is finally out of the factory and available worldwilde. The Lemur is a sleek portable controller for live performance computer music applications featuring a 12" LCD display and a proprietary touch screen interface that can simultaneously track multiple fingers. The Lemur's interface objects can be customized with JazzMutant's "physical" properties that include friction, smoothing, and fade-in and fade-out.

The street price is 2190 euros and available for European citizens directly from JazzMutant web site. For American and Canadian citizens, they must order their Lemur at $2495 directly to Cycling'74.