Here are the latest updates for Mac OS X apps. iKeeper 4 -- a new version of the application that helps you to keep track of your internet passwords and product information -- is now available on the Mac App Store for US$8.99. The upgrade includes advanced searching, address book integration to quickly fill in Internet and product contact info, new list display options to hide sensitive data and copy it directly to the clipboard, improved list navigation and more. Pages Templates App Company has released Templates App for Pages 1.1, an update to their $9.99 collection of Apple's Pages Templates. Available at the Mac App Store, it features 133 Pages templates. 24U Software (http://www.24usoftware.com/) has introduced an update of 24U FM Bench for FileMaker Pro 11, together with a new website and an addition of the per-seat license option. The new FM Bench website focuses on helping customers with their optimizations, with a How-To Guides section that lists videos explaining how to...

"Reuters" (http://macte.ch/XTd0I) reports that working conditions at Chinese manufacturing plants where iPads and iPhones are made are far better than those at garment factories or other facilities elsewhere in the country, according to the head of a non-profit agency investigating the plants. The Fair Labor Association (FLA) announced on Feb. 13 that it was beginning a study of the working conditions of Apple's top eight suppliers in China, following reports of worker suicides, a plant explosion and slave-like conditions at one of those suppliers, Foxconn Technology Group. Auret van Heerden, president of the FLA offered no immediate conclusions on the working conditions, but he noted that boredom and alienation could have contributed to the stress that led some workers to take their own lives, says "Reuters." As part of its independent assessment, the FLA will interview thousands of employees about working and living conditions including health and safety, compensation, working hours...

You can independently control the volume level for any open applications on your Mac with SoundBunny (http://www.prosofteng.com/products/soundbunny.php) from Prosoft Engineering. It costs US$9.99 and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or higher. "Finally a way to control the volume level independently for all open applications on your Mac," says Greg Brewer, CEO of Prosoft Engineering. "Now you can listen to your music or movies loud without the interruption of whoosh' from an incoming mail notification or 'ping' of a new instant message. SoundBunny is easy to set up. It requires a simple restart upon installation, so that it can load core system processes appropriately. Once you've restarted simply drag the volume level sliders for each open application and you're off and hopping.

Two Chinese B2C e-commerce sites, Amazon China and Suning.com have removed the iPad from sale "in an apparent move to avoid implication in the Apple versus Proview legal battle over the use of the iPad name in mainland China, reports " Asia Tech News (http://macte.ch/n11Vv). A search for "iPad," "iPad 2" or "any relevant permutation" yields results only for accessories for (or rivals of) Apples tablet on both those sites. However, the removal doesn't seem to be the result of a request from Proview Technology, which is laying claim to the iPad trademark and which has been seeking to halt both imports and exports of the device in China, notes "MacRumors" (http://www.macrumors.com). China's Proview Technology, a tech firm claiming to own the iPad trademark, plans to seek a ban on shipments of the Apple tablet in and out of China. The company triumphed over Apple in a lawsuit in southern China late last year and is looking to enforce the court ruling. Proview is petitioning Chinese...

Apple is once again cutting the minimum amount it charges advertisers to run a campaign on its iAd mobile ad system and boosting the amount it pays mobile app developers, reports "Ad Age" (http://macte.ch/XVbil). iAds combine the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of Internet advertising, according to the late Steve Jobs, when he introduced the service in 2010. He said iAds, which are built into iOS 4 and later, allow users to stay within their app while engaging with the ad, even while watching a video, playing a game or using in-ad purchase to download an app or buy iTunes content. Advertisers will now have to spend justUS $100,000 for Apple mobile campaigns running in iPhone and iPad apps, down from a previous $500,000 threshold and a significant reduction from the initial starting price of $1 million in 2010, when Jobs unveiled Apple's first ad product. In addition, app developers will receive 70% of ad revenues from iAds running on their apps, compared to a previous...

LaCie (http://www.lacie.com) has announced the availability of the 2big Thunderbolt Series. With speeds up to 327MB/s, the Thunderbolt interface delivers speeds three times faster than FireWire 800. For data transfer gurus, that means 1TB of data -- that's nearly 235,000 MP3's, 750 iTunes movies, or more than 450,000 photos -- can be transferred in less than an hour! Furthermore, you can daisy chain multiple 2big Thunderbolt devices to increase overall performance. The LaCie 2big Thunderbolt series also features: RAID flexibility; hot-swappable drives; and an aluminum heat sink for cooling. It's available in 4TB and 6TB capacities through the LaCie Online Store and LaCie Storage Partners starting at the suggested retail price of $649.

Native Instruments has released Dark Pressure (http://www.native-instruments.com/darkpressure), a new Maschine Expansion, created in association with DJ and producer, Steve Lawler, and sound design house, Loopmasters. The pack brings the sound of underground dance music to Maschine and Maschine Mikro, containing a selection of kicks, snares, hi-hats and percussion samples, as well as pre-produced rhythms optimized for techno, tech-house, minimal and similar genres. Dark Pressure includes 42 kits with over 200 corresponding pre-programmed patterns. This is also the first Maschine Expansion to include 64 pre-sliced percussion loops for instant remixing. A smaller version of Dark Pressure is also available for iMaschine -- the groove sketchpad for the iPhone and iPod touch. Dark Pressure is available at the NI Online Shop for US$59. The mobile version is available through an in-app purchase on the Apple App Store for $0.99.

CS Odessa (http://www.conceptdraw.com), developer of the ConceptDraw Pro cross platform business graphics and diagramming tool, has announced a new Rapid UML Solution in the Universal Diagramming Area of the ConceptDraw Solution Park. The Solution, based on ConceptDraw Pro’s RapidDraw feature, allows you to build diagrams quickly. It's available for download at no charge to current owners of ConceptDraw Pro 9. For users with UML experience, this new solution presents an opportunity to create many types of diagrams in moments, using the intuitive RapidDraw interface, according to the folks at CS Odessa. The UML diagrams in this Solution are divided into three broad categories: Structure Diagrams, Behavior Diagrams, and Interaction Diagrams. The seven Structure Diagrams are the core components that must be present in any system being modeled. These include Class, Component, Composite Structure, Deployment, Object, Package, and Profile diagrams. To assign functionality, we have three...

Emendo Media has announced Templates for Keynote Pro 2.0, the free universal update of their collection of 36 customizable templates designed to supplement the 12 basic templates included with Apple's Keynote application on the iPad. "With the new interface we wanted to give our customers on the iPhone and iPod touch the best user experience possible and make our app even more mobile," says chief programmer Jan Heiermann. "With the limited space on the iPhone and iPod touch screen, compared to the iPad´s 9.7 inches, it was crucial to get a very open and easy to use interface. The significant reduction of the app´s size will allow users to faster download and update the app." Templates for Keynote Pro 2.0 costs US$4.99. It's available at the Apple App Store in the Productivity category.

Apple CEO Tim Cook today made a presentation at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. He touched on several topics; following is a summary of each point. Working conditions "Apple takes working conditions very seriously, and we have for a long time," Cook says. "Whether the workers are in Europe, Asia or the U.S., we care about our workers ... we believe every employee has the right to a safe working environment without discrimination and an opportunity to earn a competitive wage." He also discussed the educational opportunities Apple offers for its employees. "In terms of problems we're working to fix, no one in our industry is doing more to improve working conditions than Apple," Cook says. "We're constantly auditing facilities, going deep into the supply chain, looking for problems, reporting problems and fixing problems." He said that use of underage workers is rare in Apple's supply chain. However, the goal is to eliminate it entirely, he added. Cook also said...

The purchase of a number of Nortel Networks patents by a partnership that includes Apple, Microsoft and Research In Motion has passed antitrust scrutiny, the US Department of Justice has announced -- as reported by "ZDNet" (http://macte.ch/7R8Ro). The DoJ's antitrust division came to the same conclusion on Apple's planned acquisition of certain Novell patents, and of Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings, the article adds. In August 2011, Nortel Networks Corp. (http://www2.nortel.com) announced its subsidiary, Nortel Networks Limited (NNL), and certain of its other subsidiaries, including Nortel Networks Inc. and Nortel Networks UK Limited (in administration), have completed the sale of all of Nortel's remaining patents and patent applications to a consortium consisting of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony, for a cash purchase price of US$4.5 billion. The sale includes more than 6,000 patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless 4G,...

China's Proview Technology, a tech firm claiming to own the iPad trademark, plans to seek a ban on shipments of the Apple tablet in and out of China, a lawyer for the company told "Reuters" (http://macte.ch/soyzz). The company triumphed over Apple in a lawsuit in southern China late last year and is looking to enforce the court ruling. Proview is petitioning Chinese customs to stop shipments of iPads, notes "Reuters." Apple has accused Shenzhen Proview of infringing its iPad trademark and filed a lawsuit to that affect last year. However, in December 2011, the Intermediate People's Court in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen rejected Apple's complaint against Proview Technology (Shenzhen). The court said Proview lawfully registered the iPad trademark as long ago as 2000 for products in a number of countries, including China. In December 2011 the Intermediate People's Court in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen rejected Apple's complaint against Proview Technology (Shenzhen). The court...

ThinkGeek has announced the iCADE 8-Bitty, a handheld video game controller in the classic style 8-bit style for the iPad or iPhone. It will be available later this year for US$24.99. The iCADE 8-Bitty is a wireless game controller that sports a classic D-Pad and button layout reminiscent of retro 8-bit game consoles from the 80’s and 90’s. It's battery powered and features a fully-functional directional game pad and eight buttons The iCADE 8-Bitty pairs wirelessly, just like ThinkGeek's larger iCADE. It's compatible with a growing list of retro game apps, including the Atari Classics collection, Pac Man, Super Mega Worm, and more. Because the 8-Bitty uses a completely open interface system, any app developer can easily add game support, according to Ty Liotta, head of ThinkGeek's GeekLabs.

Dukane has announced two new iPad charging carts for the education/business market. The MCCD1 charges and syncs and the MCC1 simply charges.  Both carts are made of drill proof metal and are fire resistant. The MCCD1 is available now for US$2,250. The MCC1 will be available in approximately four weeks with pricing of $1260. For more info go to http://www.dukane.com/av/JL/MCC1.pdf and http://www.dukane.com/av/JL/MCCD1.pdf  

Selectsoft has introduced Speak & Learn French 1.0, its new educational app for Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. It's available at an introductory price of US$4.99 at the Mac App Store in the Education category. Speak & Learn French boasts over 700 words and phrases, With it you can explore realistic settings such as the supermarket, restaurant, and city streets, and play "find it" games in immersive environments.

24U Software has released 24U Appearance OSAX 4.0 (http://www.24usoftware.com/) for Mac OS X 10.6 and higher. Due to removed support for old technologies, such as Carbon and PowerPC, it's been rewritten from scratch to use the most current Mac OS X technologies. and run natively on 64-bit architecture. 24U Appearance OSAX is an AppleScript scripting addition for adding advanced user interaction to any AppleScript script. It extends the AppleScript functions by adding commands to post notifications, display enhanced Appearance alerts, floating message windows, floating progress indicators, and dialogs. 24U Appearance OSAX 4.0 is immediately available as a free 14-day trial. A permanent license for one user starts at US$39; users of the previous version can upgrade for $29. Volume discounts are available for five or more users.

Reggie Ashworth has announced AppDelete Lite 3.2.3, an update to his U$3.99 Mac application deletion utility via the Mac App Store. Via drag 'n drop it will uninstall anything along with all of the associated items. Aperio Lux has announced deepClock 1.4 for Mac OS X, an update of the US$1.99 app that displays a decorative clock on your Mac's desktop. It's available at the Mac App Store in the Lifestyle category. One Geek Army has introduced updated version (2.6.2) of MovieIcon 2.6.2 for Mac OS X 10.7.x ("Lion"). The $9.99 -- available at the Mac App Store in the Utilities category -- automatically searches out video cover art for users' movie and TV show titles, The 2.6.2 version update includes requested user features, improved IMDb searches for lesser known titles, and iTunes artwork embedding. Dot Hill Systems Corp. (http://www.dothill.com), a provider of SAN storage solutions, says the version of its firmware for AssuredSAN 3000 storage systems will include VMware vStorage APIs...

It's anticipated that Apple will roll out a new iPad -- the iPad 3 -- next month -- and perhaps a new Apple TV as well, according to several sources, including "9to5Mac" (http://www.9to5Mac.com) and "MacRumors" (http://www.macrumors.com). The next gen iPad is expected to boast an ultra-high resolution 2048 x 1536 display (a retina display) that exceeds the resolution of 1080p content. However, Apple only offers a maximum of 720p HD content on their iTunes Store and the current Apple TV maxes out at that resolution. A retina display iPad would be a good launchpad for 1080p iTunes Store offerings. If this happens, an Apple TV update with 1080p support would only make sense.

U.S. consumer technology hardware and consumable sales fell just one half of a percent in 2011 ending the year at nearly $144 billion, according to the The NPD Group (http://www.npd.com). During that time Apple ruled the roost as the top consumer electronics brand. The research group says that nearly 60% of all sales in 2011 were driven by the top five categories; computers, TVs, tablets/e-readers, mobile phones, and video game hardware, according to NPD’s Retail and Consumer tracking services and Mobile Phone Track. Computers (notebooks and desktops) generated the most revenue with nearly US$28 billion in sales, accounting for almost 20%of sales, but that figure was a decline of 3% from 2010. Tablets/e-readers were the clear winner in 2011, nearly doubling sales to $15 billion in 2011. "U.S. hardware sales growth is becoming harder and harder to achieve at the broad industry level," saysStephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. "Sales outside of the top five...

Investigators started seizing iPads on Thursday in Shijiazhuang, southwest of Beijing, after receiving letters from Shenzhen Proview, an official of the economic investigation unit of the city's Xinhua district, told "ABC News." "All the Apple iPads in the big shopping malls and supermarkets have been taken off shelves in Xinhua district," he added. The official wouldn't say how many devices had been seized or the number of retailers affected. Apple has accused Shenzhen Proview of infringing its iPad trademark and filed a lawsuit to that affect last year. However, in December 2011, the Intermediate People's Court in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen rejected Apple's complaint against Proview Technology (Shenzhen). The court said Proview lawfully registered the iPad trademark as long ago as 2000 for products in a number of countries, including China.

X-Doria (http://www.x-doria.com) has announced the Defense and Defense Pro Screen Protection for iPhone 4S/4, iPod touch and iPad 2. "For most people, the worst part of installing screen protection is getting it on straight the first time," says Brian Harrington, product development director. "With Defense and Defense Pro, we've solved this problem with our exclusive Defense alignment system." The result is X-Doria's exclusive Defense alignment system which makes a perfect installation easy, he adds. The system sports an alignment grid printed on each piece of a Defense screen protection. After installation, the grid peels away.  The Defense alignment grid is viewable in iOS Safari and found at http://www.xdefen.se .

Tension Software (http://pomola.com/) has announced NoteList 3.0, an update of the Mac OS X application for storing data in a free format using text and images with full word processing capabilities. It's now "sandboxed" for the Mac App Store. A sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs. Apple is requiring it for Mac App Store apps. NoteList 3.0 also lets you sort by creation date and modification date, sports an improved simplified layout and interface, and has enhanced filter and search functionalities. The application is document based and can manage an unlimited number of documents. Any document can store an unlimited number of notes where any single note can be a full text in TXT format or a RTF text with images embedded. NoteList requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or higher. Tension Software is offering it at a special price of US$10 for a limited time at the Mac App Store.

Here are the latest updates for Mac OS X apps. VeprIT (http://veprit.com) has announced Photo Sense 1.7.0, an update of its photo editing software for Mac OS and iOS. The new version introduces a customizable crop aspect ratio in the crop tool and other improvements. Reggie Ashworth has released AppDelete 3.2.3, an update to his US$7.99 application deletion utility for Mac OS X. The app can uninstall anything along with all of the associated items. Version 3.2.3 adds preference to quit when clicking the red close button and a default Archives folder for archiving. MacXDVD has introduced MacX DVD Ripper Pro 3.9.0 and MacX Video Converter Pro 3.5.0 with iPad 3 support. The new version of the DVD ripper for Mac and video converter for Mac now supports all Apple devices. MacX DVD Ripper Pro and MacX Video Converter Pro are priced at $34.95 for a single-user license.

The Recording Academy has honored the late Steve Jobs with a Special Merit Grammy Award. The Trustees Award for Jobs was made in recognition of his contributions to the field of music with the iPod and iTunes Music Store. "This year's honorees offer a variety of brilliance, contributions and lasting impressions on our culture," said President/CEO of The Recording Academy Neil Portnow. "It is an honor to recognize such a diverse group of individuals whose talents and achievements have had an indelible impact on our industry."   The Lifetime Achievement Award honors performers who have made contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording while the Trustees Award recognizes such contributions in areas other than performance. Both awards are determined by vote of The Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees. Technical GRAMMY Award recipients are determined by vote of The Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees as...