Howard Katz has posted the January, 2005 issue of Apple II News & Notes, the free monthly newsletter covering key Apple II news. The newsletter may be freely redistributed in user group newsletters..

Gerard Putter has released version 3.4 of Virtual ][, his excellent 8-bit Apple II emulator for Mac OS X systems.The new version has the following improvements:

• Emulation of the Grappler+ printer interface card instead of a generic printer card.
• The emulated Epson FX-80 printer now supports user-defined characters.
• High-resolution graphics rendering quality has been improved, especially for text drawn on the graphics screen.
• Improved compatibility when using the Apple //e ROM.
• Improved the maximum speed of the emulated 6502 and Z80A processors by about 10%.
• Improved behavior of the analog game controller emulation when resuming a virtual machine; this lets you resume a game in a more controlled way.
• Changed the underscore character on the Apple //e to more closely match the original.
• Fixed a bug that could cause display problems when scrolling the print preview.
• Fixed a bug handling graphics printing in Epson FX-80 emulation.
• Fixed a bug in the disk drive code that could cause ProDOS to get stuck in an endless loop.

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Ryan Suenaga, editor of Juiced.GS magazine has announced that the first issue of volume 10 will be completed at the end of February. If you haven’t renewed (or subscribed) yet, don’t forget to do so!.

Hardware designer Jeri Ellsworth is profiled in this article in the Salem Statesman Journal..

Ventislav Tzvetkov ported his game Garden to the Apple II. This colorful digger clone can be downloaded with sourcecode from his website. He discusses the artificial intelligence in this Usenet post..

The Eamon Adventurer’s Guild web site has just posted a new Eamon text adventure game. Eamon #250, The Tomb of Razaak, is available for download, and there’s a review of the game available as well..

Lyle Syverson has posted the January, 2005 issue of The Lamp!, the monthly overview of the best posts on Syndicomm Online’s A2 forum. The newsletter is available in text, AppleWorks, and HyperCard IIgs formats..

Lucas Scharenbroich, author of the Generic Tile Library among other Apple II projects, has revamped his web site to be easier to navigate. He’s published the API for the GTE, and has a work-in-progress description of the GTE blitter and sprite code. If you’re interested in writing games for the Apple IIgs, be sure to check it out!.

Steve Fish purchased an Apple I computer 28 years ago. It sat in a closet until last week when he was inspired to dig it out, dust it off, and turn it on. He tells the story of how he acquired the computer and has posted pictures of the old gem..