Smile has released PDFpen 7.2, an update to its all-purpose PDF editing tool for Mac OS X. This update includes a new Cloud annotation tool as well as an option for case-sensitive searches. There's a new Editing preference that allows for optional automatic switching between the Edit and Select Text tools. The popup notes on highlights and stamps now offer a Delete note button and the context menu offers Edit and Delete note options. The sidebar's annotation list offers icons for easy identification of annotation type, wrapped text for improved readability, and date, author, and location when available. PDFpen users will notice a new Inspector tab for viewing document permissions. Editing document permissions is still PDFpenPro only. PDFpenPro and PDFpen 7 work with PDFpen for iPad and iPhone v.2, allowing editing across devices when used with Dropbox storage or iCloud Drive. PDFpen retails for US$74.95, and PDFpenPro for $124.95. Family Pack licenses, which cover up to five computers...

Apple continues to add new channels to the Apple TV set-top box. The latest is Showtime's streaming service. The Showtime streaming channel costs US$10.99 per month, although there's a 30-day, free trial period. The channel offers full access to Showtime’s catalog of TV shows, movies, documentaries, specials, and sports programming. It also includes access to Showtime’s live TV feed on either the east coast or the west coast. The new Showtime streaming channel is available automatically on all second- and third-generation Apple TV units. In June Apple added the NatGeo TV station from the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild channel. In May the Apple TV added CBS Sports and USA Now. In April the line-up expanded with NBC Sports Live Extra to the Apple TV line-up. In March, Apple added Young Hollywood, Tastemade, TED, and CNNGo channels.

ecobee's ecobee3, the first smart thermostat to support Apple HomeKit, is now available at Apple Stores across North America for US$249. The ecobee3 thermostat comes with one free wireless remote sensor and supports up to 32 sensors total. Additional remote sensors can be purchased in a package of two for $79. "The new ecobee3 plays an integral role in the connected and energy-efficient home by allowing users to remotely control temperature in the rooms that matter most with simple commands using Siri," says Stuart Lombard, president and CEO of ecobee. Designed for homes with more than one room, the ecobee3 smarter Wi-Fi thermostat and remote sensors measure temperature and occupancy in multiple locations, resulting in increased comfort when you’re home and energy savings when you’re away, he adds. It addresses hot and cold spots in the home and conserves energy to deliver savings immediately after installation. The ecobee3 saves homeowners an average of 23 percent on their heating...

Zevrix Solutions (www.zevrix.com) has launched Package Central 1.9.1, a compatibility update to its file packaging workflow automation solution for Adobe InDesign. The software automates InDesign packaging by processing files from hot folders. Package Central offloads file packaging to a central system leaving operator machines free from the document collection process. The new version adds support for InDesign CC featured as part of Creative Cloud. Package Central 1.9.1 can be purchased for US$149.95 from the Zevrix website, as well as from authorized resellers. A demo is available for download. The update is free for registered users. Package Central requires Mac OS X 10.6-10.10 and Adobe InDesign CS4-CC 2015.

Maintain has served up Cocktail 7.9 (Mavericks Edition), the latest maintenance update for users running OS X Mavericks. Cocktail is a general purpose utility for OS X that lets users clean, repair and optimize their Macs. Version 7.9 adds compatibility with QuarkXPress 11 and the latest versions of supported web browsers. It also contains other improvements and bug fixes. Cocktail 7.9 (Mavericks Edition) requires OS X Yosemite 10.9 to run. Cocktail (Yosemite Edition) for OS X 10.10, Cocktail (Mountain Lion Edition) for OS X 10.8 and Cocktail (Lion Edition) for OS X 10.7 are available for download from Maintain website. Cocktail 8.5 (Yosemite Edition) costs US$19 for a single user license. It's available for purchase from the Maintain website (http://www.maintain.se/cocktail).

Code by Kevin has introduced Manpower 6.0 (http://tinyurl.com/4yaxes), an upgrade of the program that provides a three-pane interface for reading Unix documentation pages on Mac OS X. The new version sports a refreshed user interface and smoother overall performance. To install Manpower, download the latest version. It can be installed anywhere on your Mac. The download is a 30-day demo; you can purchase a license for US$29.99 to use the program past the 30-day trial period. Manpower 6.0 requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher.

A new programming language survey shows Apple’s Swift programming language breaking into the top 20 for the first time, while the future of Microsoft’s Visual Basic (VB) in the top rankings is now "unclear," reports The Register (http://tinyurl.com/nt76be7). The Redmonk consultancy published a six-monthly analysis (http://tinyurl.com/o59g56w) based on Github usage and Stack Overflow discussions. JavaScript tops the list margin, followed by Java, PHP, Python, C#, C++ and Ruby (the last three are ranked fifth). Apple’s Swifthas risen from 22 to 18, making the top 20 for the first time. The next version of Swift (version 2), Apple’s programming language, will be open source. (Open source software is software whose source code is available for modification or enhancement by anyone.) Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said at the recent Apple Worldwide Developer Conference that it will be the “next big programming language” for 20 years to come. Swift...

 IK Multimedia (www.ikmultimedia.com) has announced complementary firmware update that enables high resolution 24-bit/96kHz audio sampling for its iRig PRO and iRig HD mobile audio interfaces. At double the original 24-bit/48kHz sample rate, it makes these ultra-compact mobile interfaces sound even more clean, nuanced and transparent, the company says. The iRig PRO is a compact audio and MIDI interface for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac or PC. The iRig HD is a compact audio interface with a quarter-in instrument input that features an input gain control knob, a multicolor LED and ultra-low-draw power consumption circuitry.

24U Software (http://www.24usoftware.com/) has announced its new audit service for FileMaker solutions. It's a service designed to help managers and business owners to make data-driven decision about further maintenance and development of their FileMaker solutions. Managers and business owners can now order 24U's advice to have their internally developed FileMaker solution audited and prepare a long-term maintenance and development plan. The audit service consists of analysis customer's existing FileMaker solution, identifying existing and potential issues, and suggesting strategy to keep it working and make it support customer's business evolution and growth. Output of the service is a document with a short term and a long term plan addressing all discovered needs and issues. The audit service is being offered for a flat price of US$3,777 when auditing a solution with one key user. An extra $377 is charged for each additional key user being interviewed.

Zevrix Solutions has released Output Factory Server 1.2.1, a compatibility update to its output workflow automation solution for Adobe InDesign. Output Factory Server automates printing and exporting from InDesign by processing files from hot folders. The software offloads output tasks to a central system leaving operator workstations free from the output process. Version 1.2.1 makes Output Factory Server compatible with the 2015 release of InDesign CC featured as part of Adobe Creative Cloud. Output Factory Server can be purchased from the Zevrix web site (www.zevrix.com) for a reduced price of US$299.95 until July 31 (it's $699.95 afterwards), as well as from authorized resellers. A demo is available for download. BatchOutput Server users can upgrade for $350. Output Factory Server requires Mac OS X 10.6-10.10 and works with Adobe InDesign CS3-CC 2015.

CS Odessa (www.conceptdraw.com) has announced a new addition to ConceptDraw Solution Park designed to assist individuals who are looking for county outlines to be represented in maps they draw. The collection of library objects, templates, and example drawings for ConceptDraw Pro are designed to make short work of drawing maps that contain county information. The United States Mapping Solution is available for users of ConceptDraw Pro 10 and ConceptDraw Office 3, via ConceptDraw Solution Park. ConceptDraw Pro retails for US$199 per end user license. ConceptDraw Office 3 includes ConceptDraw MindMap 8, ConceptDraw Project 7, ConceptDraw Pro 10, and the ConceptDraw Solution Park. It retails for $499.

GigSky, a global mobile network designed for travelers, will offer cellular data plans for iPad travelers with Apple SIM in more than 90 countries and territories. With Apple SIM installed, iPad customers can view and select these short-term data plans directly on their Apple tablet, avoiding the hassle of buying a local SIM when they travel. US and UK customers have the added benefit of choosing from these short-term data plans at home. iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 Wi-Fi + Cellular models in the US and UK come with Apple SIM pre-installed. Apple SIM is also available at select Apple Retail Stores for individual purchase.  iPad users can choose a GigSky data plan upon arrival right from their iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 3 with Apple SIM installed, and easily connect to family and friends, stay in touch and share their travel, says Ravi Rishy-Maharaj, founder and CEO of GigSky. Apple SIM will also be available for individual purchase at Apple Retail Stores in 10 additional countries over...

Tropical Software has rolled out iAddressX 3.6, an update of the Mac OS X (10.7 or higher) utility. You can use iAddressX to navigate contacts from a small icon in the system menu, and to initiate various tasks including printing of Dymo labels, dialing regular and Skype calls, sending SMS messages to Skype pals or friend's cell phones, and more. Version 3.6.0 adds an option to show Contacts by Group as a sub-menu, or in the main menu (it's recommended that you enable Contacts by Group if you have many Groups). It boasts a major rewrite of many parts of the code that was originally designed for OS X 10.5 Leopard and older. iAddressX was a Mac OS X Preference Pane. With version 3.6, it's now an app installed as a status item in the menu bar A demo is available for download. For a short introductory period, iAddressX will be available for US$19.95 from the Tropical Software web site (http://www.tropic4.com/iaddressx.html).

.com Solutions has launched FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition 7.47 (www.fmpromigrator.com) with 30 improvements for simplifying the transition from FileMaker Pro to a PHP web application. According to .com Solutions, FileMaker WebDirect to PHP Conversion benefits using FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition include: scaling up beyond 100 concurrent users, owning your application source code, avoiding monthly/annual billing, reusing existing business logic, keeping the existing graphical user interface, and cross platform/device compatibility. FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition is priced at US$$600 per developer. Users can build an unlimited number of web applications having up to 250 forms/reports/layouts with FmPro Migrator during the term of the license key.

Apple Music, Apple's music streaming service, has launched for iOS and Mac OS X devices in over 100 countries. Android is next, and Apple anticipates attracting 100 million paying subscribers. Apple says Apple Music “combines the best ways to enjoy music — all in one place.” It’s a streaming music service, a worldwide live radio station from Apple broadcasting 24 hours a day and a tool for music fans to connect with their favorite artists. Apple Music combines the largest and most diverse collection of music on the planet with the expertise of world-class music experts who have programmed playlists for your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC, Apple TV and Android phones, according to Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. Starting with the music you already know — whether from the iTunes Store or ripped CDs — your music now lives in one place alongside the Apple Music catalog with over 30 million songs, he adds. You can stream any song, album or...

Registration is now open for Apple's annual Apple Camp (http://www.applersvp.com) three-day workshops where kids ages 8 to 12 can "bring their imaginations to life" with apps such as iMovie and iBooks. According to Apple, they'll learn to make movies or create interactive books complete with their own illustrations and sound effects. Kids will storyboard ideas, shoot video, create an original soundtrack in GarageBand on an iPad, and then edit it all together in iMovie on a Mac. Campers will also create their own interactive books. They'll draw illustrations using an iPad, then add sound effects and Multi-Touch features using iBooks Author on a Mac. Each workshop ends with the Apple Camp Showcase so campers can share their finished projects. Space is limited so you should sign up today.

Zevrix Solutions has launched InPreflight Pro 2.11.17, a compatibility update to its document preparation solution for Adobe InDesign. InPreflight is an all-in-one solution to check InDesign documents for errors, automatically collect multiple files for output and ship them to final destination. The new version makes InPreflight compatible with the 2015 release of InDesign CC featured as part of Adobe Creative Cloud. InPreflight Pro can be purchased from the Zevrix website (www.zevrix.com) for US$99.95 (there's a "lite" version for $39.95). A demo is available for download. The 2.11.17 update is free for licensed users of version 2, and $50 from earlier versions. InPreflight requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher and Adobe InDesign CS3-CC 2015.

Soundtrap has launched what it says is the first online music and audio recording studio where users can find and collaborate with people from all over the world on a multitude of devices across iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Mac OS X,and Windows platforms. It lets users record a tune or podcast by accessing a browser across multiple platforms.  Coming out of beta, Soundtrap has also announced US$1 million in seed funding and the commercial availability of its platform.  Soundtrap is currently in use in 150 U.S. schools and the platform has grown from 20,000 to 120,000 users in 175 countries in just five months, according to CEO Per Emanuelsson. He adds that the platform was developed using only HTML5 technologies and it is fully cloud-based for all devices. It's written in the Google DART language and utilizes the audio APIs Web Audio, Web MIDI and Web RTC. To use Soundtrap, users simply open a browser and log on.  They can choose from over 50 virtual instruments, 1,400 royalty free...

Cale, which specializes in unattended payment technology for parking and transit operations, will begin offering secure contactless card readers that accept Apple Pay for its Cale WebTerminal pay stations (CWT) in July. The technology will be demonstrated next week at the International Parking Institute's annual convention and trade show in Las Vegas. Cale's contactless payment option will allow customers to pay using their iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus or Apple Watch. The new contactless reader selected by Cale is also capable of accepting other NFC mobile wallets and will help Cale's customers prepare for the upcoming shift by card-issuing banks to more secure EMV transactions from the current mag-stripe card technology, says Andreas Jansson, managing director for Cale's largest subsidiary, Cale America. He added that the new Apple Pay enabled readers are a game changer for the parking and transit payment industries.  "With the sudden popularity of mobile wallets like Apple Pay and...

Solesignal has announced SmartBackup 3.4, an update to their alternative backup and cloning utility for Mac OS X (10.8 or later). It syncs multiple source items to a destination on an external hard drive, flashdrive or network share. SmartBackup features a 64-bit sync engine built on the latest Apple technologies. Version 3.4 adds an updated sync engine, user interface improvements, bug fixes and more. A single license is available for US$25 from the Solesignal website (http://solesignal.com). SmartBackup can be downloaded and tried for free for a limited number of backups.

Recosoft Corp. (www.recosoft.com) is shipping PDF2ID 4.5 the newest PDF-to-InDesign and XPS-to-InDesign conversion plug-in for InDesign Creative Cloud 2015. It's been enhanced to support Adobe InDesign CC 2015, the latest release of InDesign for both the Mac OS X and Windows platforms. PDF2ID Standard and PDF2ID Professional v4.5 now support batch-converting PDF files to InDesign (indd) format. Additionally, PDF2ID v4.5 natively recognizes Adobe Illustrator files (.ai) files easing Illustrator-to-InDesign file conversion. PDF2ID converts PDF and Windows XPS files into fully editable InDesign files allowing PDF and XPS file content recovery and reuse within InDesign. PDF2ID is the de-facto PDF conversion plug-in for InDesign, allowing anyone to open, convert and edit PDF and XPS documents in InDesign. The plug-in requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 and higher. Pricing ranges from US$99 to $299, depending on the configuration.

As noted by MacRumors (http://tinyurl.com/nppcz5z), Apple has updated the terms of its AppleCare+ Protection Plan for the Apple Watch. It now covers batteries that retain less than 80% of their original capacity within the extended warranty period. Previously, it covered battery depletion of 50% or more from original capacity. Apple will replace smart watch batteries that don't meet the 80% specification free as long as the device is within its AppleCare+ coverage period. If it's not, the cost is $79. Also, the Apple Watch, which originally rolled out in nine countries, arrives in seven more today: Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan. On July 17 the smartwatch is slated on go on sale in the Netherlands, Sweden and Thailand.

Shelter 2, a game in which you play a powerful Lynx, is now available on the Mac App Store. It costs US$14.99 and requires Mac OS X 10.7 or higher. Developed by Might and Delight and released on the Mac App Store by MacPlay (www.macplay.com), Shelter 2 follows the life of a mother lynx, starting as a pregnant animal, giving birth and continuing in to a journey of parenthood where nurturing her cubs is paramount for survival. Shelter 2 includes more elaborate gameplay features than its predecessor, such as stamina, different types of movements, jumps and a variety of prey to kill. Besides hunting there are several maternal and hunting features, such as calling the cubs closer, smell for prey, making sure they drink water from rivers and lifting and carrying your cubs from harm's way. Environments in Shelter 2 are much bigger than its predecessor.

Digital Tribe Games' TinyKeep game (http://digitaltribegames.com/tinykeep/) is now available for Mac OS X and iOS at, respectively, the Mac App Store and Apple App Store for $7.99 and $4.99. Here's how the game is described: "Gamers will assume the role of the hopeless prisoner who must escape TinyKeep. Players lure monsters into traps, knock over torches to set the dungeon alight and free prisoners to help them in their escape. There are many ways to survive the TinyKeep, and many ways to die. "Use traps and environmental hazards to your advantage - fire, spike pits and rotating crushers hurt your enemies as well as you. Collect coins from fallen foes to purchase random player-altering Buffs that just might give you the advantage you need to make it out alive. Rescue other captives to fight alongside you, but beware as you never know which ones have gone crazy trapped up in the Keep. Experience three separate endings to the game, depending on how you play."