America Online has made the latest version of its Mac client software, AOL 5.0, available to current AOL users (keyword: "Upgrade"), with a general release expected soon

Handspring, Inc. has released Palm Desktop 2.6 for the Macintosh, which is compatible with the Visor handheld device, and also fixes a USB synchronization problem introduced in Mac OS 9.0.4

Connectix has released Virtual PC 3.0.3 Updater, which improves compatibility for Windows 2000 and Red Hat Linux 6.1, in addition to a handful of other improvements

REAL Software has released REALbasic 2.1, an update to its popular BASIC-derived programming environment for Macintosh. (See "REALbasic 2.0 Gets Real" in TidBITS 493 for an overview of version 2.0.) The latest update provides extensive improvements for compiling REALbasic projects for Windows, improves both performance and database access, and fixes a number of bugs

Apple Computer announced a $233 million profit for its second fiscal quarter of the year. Although the results contain a $73 million gain from continued sales of ARM Holdings, plc., revenues for the quarter were up 27 percent from the same quarter last year, and gross margins were up to 28.2 percent

ACI US, the publishers and distributors of the 4th Dimension database environment and product line, have changed the company name to 4D, Inc. The renaming is intended to let the company better leverage recognition of their flagship product and make it easier for people to find information on the Internet - although you'd think folks sufficiently technical to do database development would realize a company name and a product name don't have to be the same

Power On Software has released Now Up-to-Date & Contact 3.9, a free update to the popular calendar and contact manager bundle that adds the long-awaited capability to synchronize information with Palm handheld organizers

A number of recent product releases are good news for Macintosh users who need to stay current on a variety of operating systems. Starting close to home, Apple has made Darwin 1.0 available for download; Darwin is the open source core of Mac OS X

Apple Computer has released a free Mac OS 9.0.4 update for North American English and International English systems. Mac OS 9.0.4 claims to offer enhanced USB and FireWire support, provide improved networking and power management, plus offer improved video, graphics, and audio functionality

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has ruled that Microsoft Corporation violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by using its position in the Web browser market to "the detriment of competitors." The judge also found that Microsoft could be liable under state anti-competition laws

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 5.0, the latest version of the company's free Web browser. New features in Internet Explorer 5.0 include a completely new standards-based rendering engine called Tasman, a redesigned interface that allows users to choose from nine colors, an Internet Scrapbook feature for saving snapshots of dynamically generated Web pages, a customizable toolbar, and an Auction Tracker that helps you follow online auctions

Deneba Software has released Canvas 7.0.1, a free update to the company's Swiss Army Knife graphics program (see Matt Neuburg's "Canvas 7 - Not Quite Heaven" in TidBITS 517 for a full review)

AvantGo, Inc. has released a Macintosh version of its AvantGo Connect software for downloading and displaying Web pages on Palm OS handheld devices. Previously, Mac users who own Palm devices have been able to run the Palm OS version of AvantGo on their handhelds using synchronization software running in a Windows emulator or by connecting directly to the Internet using an attached modem

After an abortive release last week, FileMaker, Inc. has released Macintosh updaters for FileMaker Pro 5.0v3 that can be applied to Worldwide English or Japanese versions of either FileMaker Pro 5.0v1 or 5.0v2 (See "FileMaker Pro 5 Released to Controversy" in TidBITS 499 for an overview of FileMaker Pro 5's features and functionality.) A new feature in FileMaker 5.0v3 enables a user to open the Define Fields dialog box for a database hosted on FileMaker Pro Server so long as no other guests are connected

Aladdin Systems has announced its acquisition of Trexar Technologies, makers of specialized Mac OS Internet utilities MacTuner (for finding and connecting to Internet-enabled radio and television stations around the world), MacHeadlines (a desktop news ticker), and the long-popular WeatherTracker, which presents weather and forecast information for cities around the world - no word yet on Trexar's recent MacWasher privacy utility

Apple's new Sleep Memory Extension helps protect iBook and PowerBook (FireWire) computers from data loss or corruption when using the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" feature under low memory situations (see "iBook, PowerBook Data Loss Problem Noted" in TidBITS 521)

Power On Software has released an update to ACTION Files, its utility for enhancing open/save dialog boxes (See the review of ACTION Files 1.0 in "Get a Piece of the ACTION Files" in TidBITS 434)

Apple has issued a Tech Info Library (TIL) article warning owners of new PowerBook (FireWire) machines not to install the Password Security control panel

Connectix has shipped a version of its Virtual PC Pentium emulation product bundled with a pre-installed copy of Red Hat Linux. Running Linux within Virtual PC removes some of the performance advantages of running versions of Linux (such as LinuxPPC and Yellow Dog Linux) compiled for the Mac's native CPU, but makes up for it with increased installation simplicity and compatibility with more software that's compiled to run on Linux-based PCs rather than on Linux-based Macs

ACI US, makers of the high-end 4D relational database, have purchased StarNine Technologies, makers of the WebSTAR Server Suite and ListSTAR, from Platinum Equity Holdings