Universal Shake 4.1 Drops in Price -- The latest Apple program to be released as a universal binary for native performance on Intel-based Macs is Shake 4.1, Apple's high-end video composition software used in many Hollywood productions. However, the more interesting news is that Apple slashed the price, from $3,000 to $500 (yes, the number of zeroes on those figures is correct). Rather than aiming solely for special-effects houses, the company is positioning Shake as an extension to Final Cut Studio. As Mike Curtis (who has extensive post-production experience) points out at his HD for Indies blog, however, Shake is not the sort of friendly application that average users are likely to pick up quickly; the price cut may indicate that Apple is moving on to Shake's successor, a possibility bolstered by the fact that Apple also announced that it is no longer selling the Apple Maintenance Program for Shake. Current owners of Shake 4 can upgrade to version 4.1 for $50. [JLC]

<http://www.apple.com/shake/>
<http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/>
<http://www.hdforindies.com/2006/06/apples-shake -now-only-499-and-what-it.html>
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/jun/ 20shake.html>