David Thomas has updated Private Eye to version 2.51, a viewer for Sprites, DrawFiles, JPEGs, ArtWorks, GIFs and PNGs. It has recently gained some editing features including a bitmap effects system.Version 2.50 had a bug which could stop the effects window working on any OS earlier than RISC OS 4. (I was calling Wimp_AutoScroll which didn't exist up until WindowManager 4.00). Bug fix release 2.51, now available, fixes the problem and also tidies up some vanishing icons in the templates.

Private Eye 2.51 can be downloaded from the MyRISCOS downloads section.

A short while ago, Martin Würthner made the latest ArtWorks Viewer application available on his web site.  An important point to note about the latest version is that some earlier versions were only available as commercial purchases, whereas Martin has decided to make version 2.10 available to everyone for free.

Paul Sprangers has updated ConvText to version 2.04, a scripted search and replace program. ConvText provides an easy search-and-replace utility for all kinds of files, making use to easily create scripts. You can read an in-depth review of this application here . You can download the new version of ConvText from the My RISC OS downloads section.

New features in this new version include:

• The number of scripts, as well as the number of lines per script is now configurable. 
• A configuration window is added, accessible from the iconbar menu.
• A website button is added to the Info window.
• The structure of the Stronghelp manual is slightly modified.

Chris Johnson has produced a brand new application, Text > Draw, here's Chris' USENET announcement: "Diagrams produced in Draw often need to be annotated using standard draw text objects. However, a draw text object can have only one text style. When annotating technical or scientific diagrams, for example, it is often necessary to include subscripts, superscripts, greek
characters, mixed styles such as italic and normal, etc. Thus, to enter an equation or a chemical formula would involve the entry of a number of separate text objects as small as single characters, with subsequent careful grouping and alignment to construct the complete equation.

Paul Beverly, the owner and editor of Archive magazine (http://www.archivemag.co.uk) every month for the last twenty years says in the latest issue that he is stepping down but will still be seen at shows and on mailing lists and newsgroups.

Paul did not want to close Archive down as he feels that it plays a very important part in the RISC OS market, so he started looking for a new editor.

Knightsfield School is hoping to recruit an ICT technician to support the work of teachers and pupils in the school.

New uploads are going to appear regularly from now on so keep an eye out for some hot new programs coming your way!

Have you made an application? If your application is not on the downloads section of the site, then why not submit it? It will be downloaded by hundreds of users, you can even keep track of it! Simply go to the downloads section of the site which is linked to from the sidebar and click on 'Add Application'.

Blasts of the Xtreme released their latest budget game, Sword Clash at the Wakefield show in May. This latest game costs a mere £5.00 in their BOTX Budget Range and has hours of fun!

Sword Clash is a graphic text adventure for RISC OS based in Carew Castle, Wales in the medieval times where you are captured in battle and you have to escape...

Sword Clash contains real, interesting graphics, foot-tapping music, mind-boggling puzzles and mases and lots more! Hours of fun guaranteed! To buy Sword Clash, email: sales@blastsofthextreme.tk. More information can be obtained from the USENET announcement: http://www.tinyurl.com/2fwehc and http://www.blastsofthextreme.com

'VanPeebles' have been working with Acorn Gamez to bring classic and new RISC OS games to YouTube to refresh people's memories, Chocks Away, Pandora's Box and Stunt Racer 2000 are only some of the fantastic videos that you can watch on the video sharing website YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=AcornGamez and more are updated daily.

Unfortunately, you cannot view YouTube videos on RISC OS but MPEG versions of these videos (which is supported on RISC OS) are planned to be released soon on the RISC OS game website, AcornGamez: http://www.acorngamez.com

Knightsfield School are in need of a Head of Care and After School Activities Coordinator and although this post is not to work directly with the ICT in school, it would be benificial for the pupils for the post holder to have a good knowledge of RISC OS computer systems.

The post is to work in the evenings with the residential pupils and will manage a small team of care staff and also organise the after school activities programme.

More details on this job opportunity can be found at http://www.knightsfield.herts.sch.uk/jobs/hcare/hcare.htm.

R-Comp released Messenger Pro 5 in time for the Wakefield 2007 show, the latest version of the commercial email and news client. According to R-Comp, the latest version includes improved printing and better mail searching, editing and sending.

R-Comp also updated their NetFetch, UniPrint software as well as others ready for the Wakefield show that took place last May. UniPrint 3.20 now has better scanning support and NetFetch 3.02's RSS feed handling has been improved as well as Atom support and better spam filtering.

All of R-Comp's new and old products can be bought from their website: http://www.rcomp.co.uk.

Wakefield 2007 has been and gone, probably the biggest release at the Wakefield show was ArtWorks 2.7 by MW-Software. Possibly the best feature in this new update was the new multi-page feature for multi-page documents and PDF export.

A new ArtWorks viewer is freely available from MW-Software: http://www.mw-software.com and supports multi-page documents as well as all the other features in ArtWorks.

R-Comp's Andrew Rawnsley will be reducing typing-time for the next few weeks due to medical problems with neck/arms and doctor's advice. So, expect brevity in emails if you do get a reply and telephone support will also be limited.

R-Comp are hoping that normal service will be resumed prograssively during July, sale are not affected.

R-Comp are responsible the brilliant Grapevine instant messaging suite, Messenger Pro the extremely popular email program and various game ports: http://www.rcomp.co.uk.

A port of Virtual Acorn's popular commercial RiscPC emuator has been in the works for a good few years now, with it being displayed at countless shows and user group meetings but no actual product to buy. That all changed at Wakefield 2007 when Aaron Timbrell of Virtual Acorn announced the release of a Beta version of Virtual RiscPC for PowerPC Macintosh computers, the beta can be bought from Virtual Acorn's website: http://www.virtualacorn.co.uk.

Following our earlier Pre-Show news update, there have been more pre-show announcements of products becoming available including a MAC version of Virtual RISC PC which was possibly not expected! So hopefully there will be a few more nice surprises before the end of the show.

With the Wakefield show very nearly upon us, the usual pre-show announcements have begun to start flowing.