Worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7% increase from 2010, according to Gartner. By the end of 2011, Android will move to become the most popular operating system (OS) worldwide and will build on its strength to account for 49% of the smartphone market by 2012, according to the research group. Sales of open OS devices will account for 26% of all mobile handset device sales in 2011, and are expected to surpass the one billion mark by 2015, when they will account for 47% of the total mobile device market. “By 2015, 67% of all open OS devices will have an average selling price of $300 or below, proving that smartphones have been finally truly democratized,” says Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner. “As vendors delivering Android-based devices continue to fight for market share, price will decrease to further benefit consumers. Android's position at the high end of the market will remain strong, but its greatest volume opportunity in the longer...

Fortunate Bear has announced Illuminate 1.0 (http://fortunatebear.com/products/illuminate/) for Mac OS X (10.6 and higher). The US$19.95 app is designed to allow users to find the right window when they need it. It does this by providing three ways to find windows: a graphic window switcher so users can search by sight; a quick switch feature to bring up a window by typing part of its title; and full text search to find windows containing the given words or phrases. Illuminate also provides customizable shortcuts, so everything can be done via the keyboard. Illuminate's Cycle Windows feature provides a visual window switcher so users can find the window they want just by looking. Unlike Expose for Mac, Illuminate shows no more than five windows on the screen at a time, so the window thumbnails remain large and legible, according to the Fortunate Bears. Illuminate provides a customizable switch window shortcut to navigate to the desired window and activate it. Illuminate also allows...

AV3 Software has introduced its new Production Power Packs. To kick-start the Production Power Pack initiative, AV3 Software partnered with Boris FX -- a developer of integrated graphics and effects technology for the broadcast, post-production, film, and multimedia markets. This first, specially priced package bundles AV3 Software's Get dialog search application powered by Nexidia with Boris AAF Transfer for a search-and-transfer combination for any editing environment within Apple Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer. Boris AAF Transfer is a bi-directional sequence transfer tool, allowing editors to exchange projects that include transitions, effects, image and time warps, third party effects, and keyframes between Final Cut Pro and Avid editing and finishing systems. The AV3 and Boris FX Production Power Pack provides editors with the ability to transition projects between NLEs, preserving not only the dialog "hits" from Get, but all metadata -- from transitions to third party...

Eltima Software (http://www.eltima.com) has updated Elmedia Player -- a media player for the Mac (OS X 10.4 or later), which can play all most popular Flash and video formats and allows downloading online videos and their external resources directly to the hard drive -- to version 1.0.6. The new version provides improved downloading capabilities with HTML5 support. Elmedia Player Pro lets the user download the underlying multi-media resources such as images, graphics and external video, along with the original video file.To download videos from the web with Elmedia Player Proall you have to do is enter the link to the webpage where your video is located and choose the files you want to download from the list. Elmedia Player also provides its users with organization and management: media library inspired by iTunes, usual and smart playlists creation, volume adjustment in the application (not interfering with system volume, which is unique for Flash files) and more. Elmedia Player Pro...

Freshcode, a Macintosh publisher and developer, has released Bodega 1.5, an update to its Mac software discovery and download application. Bodega provides "corner store" access to the latest apps for the Macintosh directly from the Mac desktop. Version 1.5 provides increased speed and performance enhancements, and is now purportedly up to 500% faster than previous versions. The Bodega app updater actually looks for and provides updates for all apps installed on the user's hard drive. It doesn't matter whether applications were downloaded from, or purchased through, Bodega; so long as the applications on the user's hard drive are Sparkle-enhanced, Bodega will keep on eye out for updates issued by the developer. When found, Bodega lets the user know an update exists, and will even download and install it for them. Bodega requires Mac OS X 10.5 or greater. The Bodega 1.5 update is free to all Bodega users and available via Bodega's "Check for Updates" feature. For complete information on...

Global Delight has updated Voila (http://www.globaldelight.com) -- an image capturing, annotating and sharing tool that sports the ability to capture a region from the screen in rectangular, circular, polygonal or free hand form -- to version 3.0.4. It's now available at the Mac App Store for US$19.99 and requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. In version 3.0.4, support has been provided to choose the camera of your choice while making the capture. Another new feature is the option to save the web page archive. With this feature, users can opt to save the web page archive along with the web snap. This enables them to refer and open the web page within the application's browser. Voila offers full screen capture, timed capture or a menu capture. In addition, the software is integrated with a blend of annotating tools like texts, arrows, callouts, sprays, stamps and more. Additionally, you can share your work via email or iPhoto. A 15-day demo of Voila is available at the Global Delight web...

Apple's patent infringement suit against makers of unlicensed accessories for the company’s iPod, iPhone and iPad devices can proceed, a federal judge ruled yesterday, reports "Bloomberg" (http://macte.ch/5Pej8). In July 2010 Apple sued eForCity Corp. and six other companies (Accstation, Itrimming, Everydaysource, United Integral, Crayzondigital and Boxware) in the California Northern District Court in San Jose, California, for infringing nine patents. Most defendant companies are related and are located in El Monte, California, according to court papers. Apple said in its complaint that the companies weren’t participants in its “Made for iPod” program, and were producing products of “inferior quality and reliability, raising significant concerns over compatibility with and damage to Apple’s products.” The infringement case stands, despite eForCity’s argument that it was procedurally improper. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said Apple properly stated its claims in its complaint....

Apple has achieved a record 17% iPhone market share among teens with an additional 37% of respondents indicating interest in buying an iPhone in the next six months, according to a new survey by the Piper Jaffray research group, as reported by "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com). The percentage of teens who own the iPhone jumped from 14% in October of last year to 17% this spring. The number of teens who plan on buying an iPhone in the next six months rose from 33% last fall to 37% this spring. According to Piper Jaffray, intent to buy has historically translated into subsequent market share gains. What's more, the 21st bi-annual Piper Jaffray teen survey of 4,500 high school students found that Apple continues to dominate the teen market and has driven "surprisingly quick adoption" of tablets by teens, the article adds. The survey -- which includes tablets for the first time -- says 22% of teens now own a tablet and 20% plan to buy one in the next six months. Though the...

Apple ordered as much as 12PB -- yep, 12 petabyes or 12,000 terabytes -- of capacity from Isilon Systems (http://www.isilon.com/), notably to manage the video download of its customers using iTunes, according to "Storage Newsletter" (http://macte.ch/qD0tZ), quoting an inside source of the new division of EMC. It's probably the largest of its 1,500 customers recorded at the end of December, including 20% in Europe, the article adds. Apple's deal with Isilon was said to "probably" make the iPhone maker the largest customer of the storage provider, according to "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com). Other clients of Isilon include Ancestry.com, Clear Channel, MySpace, NBC Universal, Sony, World Wrestling Entertainment, XM Satellite Radio. Isilon's Scale-out Storage Platform, powered by the OneFS operating system, combines a suite of management applications and enterprise-class hardware. The company's three product lines provide a range of options to address enterprise storage...

Apple has promised a white iPhone will arrive sometime this spring, but according to a new store update it’s looking like the handset has taken one step back, not closer to launch, says "SlashGear" (http://macte.ch/lmV6N). After the Apple Store went down overnight, the white iPhone SKU was gone from the system. As "SlashGear" notes, this could mean that Apple is preparing a different version with a new SKU, or it might mean that the company has given up on the white iPhone idea altogether. Last month an iPhone fan wrote Phil Schiller, Apple's vice president of worldwide marketing, on how to get a white iPhone. Schiller reportedly answered with a terse, Jobs-ian answer: "The white iPhone will be available this spring (and it is a beauty!)." The white iPhone has been troubled since the start. When Apple announced the iPhone 4, it said it would be available in black and white models. However, on June 23, 2010, Apple issued a statement that the white models "have proven more challenging...

Apple has posted a listing (http://macte.ch/anDEC) for a new full-time vacancy in the role of "Thunderbolt Software Quality Engineer" with specific experience writing tools for and testing firmware and software, "who will be part of the team to drive the software quality and integration for an exceptional customer experience." The SW QA role in this position includes creating tools to assist in validating software and firmware tests, building automated suites, hands-on functional testing, bug reporting/regression, maintaining test guidelines, and project QA status reporting. "The candidate is responsible for qualifying cutting edge Thunderbolt firmware and software, requiring expertise in testing high speed buses and PCIe devices," says Apple. "The team is the key part in driving Thunderbolt software quality, involving new HW and SW, working with creative, smart people, world-class products and cutting edge technologies." Thunderbolt is a new high-speed computer connection technology...

Sales of iPad 2 are running at a rate faster than its predecessor, and Apple took delivery of 2.4-2.6 million units in March, according to "DigiTimes" (http://macte.ch/UFgTs), quoting unnamed sources at "upstream touch panel suppliers." Based on a conservative estimate, Apple is likely to take delivery of 4-4.3 million units a month, or a total of over 12 million units, of iPad 2 tablets in the second quarter, said sources told "DigiTimes." TPK Touch Solutions and G-Tech Optoelectronics are eagerly expanding their capacities for cover lenses currently, with TPK expected to ramp up its cover lenses for 3.5-inch touch panels to five million units and for 10-inch panels to 2.5 million units in June, the article adds.

QuickerTek is bringing back their Carry Handles (http://macte.ch/4RXzX) for the first and second generation 15-inch MacBook Pros. This US$79.95 lightweight carry handle is made from non-flex aircraft quality aluminum. The Carry Handle attaches with a bracket mount that uses the existing screw holes on the back of the computer. It's doesn't alter your Apple laptop, and is completely reversible. The Carry Handle ensures that the Mac laptop doesn't slip and hit the floor, according to the folks at QuickerTek. The design lays the handle out and the bracket elevates the 15-inch MacBook Pro, allowing better airflow underneath the laptop.

Seagate (http://www.seagate.com) has announced the availability of its new GoFlex Slim portable hard drive -- a 9mm, 2.5-inch external drive designed for the latest trend of portable, thin, laptops and netbooks. Initially showcased at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics show in January of this year, the new GoFlex Slim performance drive is now available on http://www.seagate.com, in-store and at select online retailers. A 320GB version of the GoFlex Slim drive can be purchased for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of US$99.99. At 9mm, it's 38% leaner than the current GoFlex ultra-portable drives. In fact, the new GoFlex Slim drive is roughly the width of a pencil and can slide into a pocket, purse or messenger bag. It's equipped with a 7200RPM drive and a USB3.0 interface. Alas, it will only run at USB 2.0 speeds on Macs as they don't support USB 3.0. However, the GoFlex Slim portable drive will also be available in a version for use specifically with Mac OS X computers...

Noise Industries, developer of visual effects tools for the post-production and broadcast markets, and development partner PHYX are bringing the VFX community PHYX Keyer 2.0 for the FxFactory platform. PHYX Keyer 2.0 is an amplified collection of keying plug-ins designed to work inside Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion and Apple Final Cut Express applications. PHYX Keyer 2.0 is GPU-accelerated for speed increases of up to 300% and introduces three new professional-quality plug-ins to the existing pack; Composite Matcher, FastKeyer, and MatteFuse. Version 2.0 contains tools to create composites, repair uneven green/blue screens, create and manipulate mattes, neutralize green/blue spill, and match background color and edge lighting. It introduces three new keying plug-ins that help create and refine keys using efficient algorithms for a variety of shooting conditions. PHYX Keyer 2.0 includes a variety of highlights: PHYX Keyer 2.0 is available now as a free...

Andrei Doubrovski has announced Script Arsenal 1.0 (http://script-arsenal.com/), a catalog allowing you to manage and apply your Photoshop scripts. Script Arsenal ships with over 100 ready-made scripts for creating various effects and streamlining your everyday workflow. Users are able to extend the catalog by including additional scripts, either downloaded from the Internet or with their own customized scripts. The catalog interface is available in eight languages. The catalog interface is available in eight languages. What's more, the scripts coming with it are multilingual as well. At any time you can alter the way they are displayed in the catalog. If that's not enough, the icons help you to visually identify an item's purpose. All the scripts are compatible with Photoshop CS3 and newer versions for Windows and Mac OS X. Using most of them doesn't require a substantial Photoshop experience. Script Arsenal requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher and Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later. It...

CS Odessa (http://www.conceptdraw.com/) has released seven tools for users of ConceptDraw Office 2 that assist managers in the making of decisions and innovation planning. Professional Analytical Tools are now available in the Business Productivity Area of ConceptDraw Solution Park. The seven management and planning tools allow for the visualization of any process. Solution Park is an online collection of visual solutions designed to provide productivity increasing solutions for all ConceptDraw products. The tools that have been added to the ConceptDraw Solution Park are: ° Affinity Diagram, which allows one to organize data into groupings based on natural relationships; ° Relations Diagram, which displays all interrelated cause-and-effect relationships and factors; describes desired outcomes; ° Prioritization Matrix, which prioritizes items based on weighted criteria; ° Root Cause Tree Diagram, which breaks down broad categories into finer levels of detail; ° Involvement Matrix,...

SecureMac has announced MacScan 2.8, the latest version of its anti-spyware privacy and security software for Mac OS X.  This new version of MacScan enhances protection against the latest threats for Mac OS X, adding usability enhancements and bug fixes. MacScan 2.8 has been updated to offer compatibility with Firefox 4 for removal of blacklisted tracking cookies, as well as web files such as browsing and download history to ensure better internet privacy and security. Additionally, the updaet contains an improved user interface plus the latest spyware definitions and tracking cookie blacklist.  MacScan retails for US$29.99 and can be purchased using Paypal or credit card, either through the built-in registration system, or via the MacScan webstore (http://macscan.securemac.com). Upgrades from previous versions of MacScan 2 are free, and can be obtained by either selecting "Check for Updates" under the "MacScan" menu, or by downloading the demo version from http://macscan.securemac....

Apple co-founder Steve ("Woz") Wozniak is rooting for the iPad, which he says has been a mission for Steve Jobs' since day one, reports "The Huffington Post" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/apple-cofounder-steve-wozniak-t...) . Speaking to a gathering of engineers at Storage Networking World in Santa Clara, California, Woz told his audience that tablets were intended for "the normal people in the world." He said the iPad had been Steve Jobs's ultimate goal since Apple was founded in 1976. "But it was just hard to get there, because we had to go through a lot of steps where you connected to things, and (eventually) computers grew up to where they could do ... normal consumer appliance things," Woz said.

Computer sales continue to grow, but at a slower pace than expected, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore writes in a note to investors -- as reported by "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com). He's reduced his computer unit growth, excluding tablet sales, for 2011 to a 4% year-over-year increase, compared to his previous prediction of 9%. Though computer sales saw a significant reduction in estimates, Whitmore boosted his 2011 tablet sales forecast to 45 million, up from 40 million. And he thinks 35 million of those tablets will be iPads. "In aggregate, we believe iPad will remain dominant with 70% market share," says Whitmore. "Our tablet unit estimate remains below Consensus due to our concerns that non-iPad tablets will underwhelm."

Nasdaq OMX has announced a rare rebalancing of its Nasdaq-100 index, which will reduce the "big weighting" of Apple, reports the "Wall Street Journal" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870458700457624323156649384...). The company currently makes up more than 20% of the index. Apple’s stock value accounts for just over 20% of the index, but after the restructuring it will account for slightly over 12%. Still, at 12.3% Apple will still be the largest single component on the index. The rebalancing was driven in part by "the seemingly unstoppable rise in Apple shares, which are up more than fourfold in the past two years," says the "WSJ."

Apple has won its appeal in a patent lawsuit related to its Cover Flow and Time Machine technologies, reports "The Mac Observer" (http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/court_overturns_cover_flow_patent...). The new ruling doesn’t invalidate the Mirror Worlds patents. Instead, it only stated that Apple didn’t infringe on the company’s patents, saving the company from a US$625.5 million judgement, says "The Mac Observer." In 2008 Mirror Worlds Technologies, a Texas based company, accused Apple of violating four distinct but related patents that touch on creating "streams" of documents that are automatically sorted according to time stamps, including future dates assigned to calendars and other reminders. The company said that just about all of Apple's product line infringes on a system for organizing data by time, "but draws its closest connection with the Time Machine backup feature in Mac OS X Leopard." Apple was ordered by a jury to pay damages to Mirror Worlds for infringing...

ATTO Technology (http://www.attotech.com) has launched its latest offering in its family of high-performance products, the FastFrame 10Gb/s Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC).  The FastFrame NIC is the only card of its kind on the market offered in quad, dual and single port options for PCIe 2.0 data interconnects, according to Timothy Klein, president and CEO for ATTO Technology. ATTO’s 10Gb Ethernet NICs not only meet and exceed the growing demands of traditional host-to-host networking, but they also expand the possibilities to Ethernet-based storage by supporting Data Center Bridging, he adds.   ATTO’s FastFrame NICs, based on Intel chip technology, offers network connectivity for Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems FastFrame 10Gb/s NICs will be available for shipment in late April. Pricing hasn't been announced.

JixiPix has announced Grungetastic 1.0 (http://www.jixipix.com/grungetastic/grungetastic.html), a design and photography application for Mac OS X 10.5 or later. It's is available for US$7.99 at the Mac App Store in the Graphics & Design category. Grungetastic is an app for distressing and adding grunge to your photos. You control everything from colors to multiple overlays to borders. The software includes over 80 overlays and almost 40 borders. A "Randomize" button truly randomizes all of the effect controls. All aspects of the process can be adjusted on-the-fly without needing to enter into a dialog or modal state. Grungetastic supports full-size images. There's a preview mode and visual presets with the ability to create custom presets using the "Save" menu.