TextSoap for Mac OS X scubs up to version 6.4
Unmarked Software has updated TextSoap (http://www.unmarked.com/textsoap) -- a Mac OS X utility for cleaning out the extraneous forwarding marks, invisible characters, and formatting that you often find in e-mails and long documents -- to version 6.4. The upgrade -- free to registered users of 6.x -- improves batch file processing support, speeds up the Markdown conversion and addresses additional issues reported by customers. It also includes an improved implementation of the cleaner that converts the Markdown format to HTML.
TextSoap is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It requires Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") or higher.
Pricing for new customers normally starts at US$39.95. Upgrades for users of TextSoap 4 and 5 start at $19.95.
Publicspace.net wants you to take your Vitamin-R 1.06
publicspace.net has announced Vitamin-R 1.06 (http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/index.html), an update of its Mac OS X compatible productivity tool for creative professionals. The new version sports improvements centering around usability, presentation and workflow.
Vitamin-R is a collection of tools and techniques for managing attention and maintaining motivation. According to the folks at publicspace.net, it complements the task capturing and organizing features of modern to-do list managers by forcing you to concentrate fully on one task a time and keeping distractions at bay. It breaks down large, vaguely defined tasks into a series of short "time slices" of between 10 and 30 minutes, each with specific and actionable objectives.
Vitamin-R provides you with the "Now & Later Board," complete with FastType magic, to give you a place to quickly dump all those things that go through your head and allows to get back to the task at hand. It requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher....
Dropbox unveils iPad/iPhone-compatible Dropbox Anywhere
Dropbox, a provider of Internet file synchronization, sharing and security services, has released Dropbox Anywhere, a set of mobile apps and APIs (application programming interfaces). Users can now have access to their files from virtually any device or mobile app.
With this release, Dropbox is now available for the iPad, Android and BlackBerry, and joins the existing Dropbox iPhone app in providing native support for accessing, viewing and sharing documents and files stored in Dropbox directly from these devices. The company is also announcing the Dropbox mobile API, which will enable developers to create apps that access the contents of users' Dropbox accounts, while keeping them in sync across devices. The new Dropbox apps, as well as the first Dropbox-enabled partner apps, are available now at http://dropbox.com/anywhere .
Providing support for all major mobile platforms, Dropbox Anywhere solves this problem by making documents and media ubiquitously available across the multiple...
75% of iPhone, iPod touch users download entertainment content
According to the latest update to the ''Entertainment Trends in America'' consumer tracking surveys conducted by The NPD Group (http://www.npd.com), market research company, 16% of Americans age 13 or older are using devices other than their home computers to download software applications, music, video, and other entertainment content from the web.
Based on NPD’s entertainment market research, 75% of iPhone and iPod touch users are connecting to the web to download entertainment content and apps, compared to 19 % of game console users and 17% of Blu-ray Disc (BD) set-top product users.
"It’s not surprising that Apple users are ahead of others when it comes to downloading Web-based content, given the breadth of the company’s app catalog and the head start iTunes had selling music for the iPod,'' says Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD. ''Like other groups of early adopters, consumers downloading entertainment content are mostly younger and male; however, as app...
HDD industry to deliver more than 300,000 petabytes of storage...
Despite trying economic times, and an unprecedented decline in hard disk drive (HDD) terabyte shipments for enterprise applications in 2009, HDD vendors forged ahead by introducing new HDD products/form factors that address both current and future enterprise storage market requirements.
According to new research from the IDC research group (http://www.idc.com), HDD shipments for enterprise applications will increase from 40.5 million units in 2009 to 52.6 million units in 2014. Moreover, the HDD industry will ship more Petabytes for enterprise applications in the next two years than it did in the preceding 20 years.
Several ongoing trends will continue to impact enterprise HDD market revenue over the forecast period, including a continued shift away from higher cost performance-optimized HDDs to lower cost capacity-optimized solutions and solid state drives (SSDs) to complement HDDs in storage systems. HDD revenue derived from enterprise markets will grow at only a 1.7% CAGR (...
Seagate introduces GoFlex storage options
Seagate (http://www.seagate.com) has introduced the next evolution of the company’s FreeAgent external hard drives -- its GoFlex storage solutions. The family includes plug-and-play portable and desktop drives with an array of interchangeable cables and desktop adapters that allow each drive to adapt to the interface or device being used.
GoFlex hard disk drives are also specially designed to provide interoperability between operating systems in order to work with both Mac OS X and Windows systems, according to Dave Mosley, executive vices president, Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management, Seagate. For the first time, Seagate will include an NTFS driver for Mac OS X on all GoFlex portable and desktop offerings, enabling storage and access of files from both Mac and Windows computers.
The NTFS driver is simply installed once on your Mac computer, and allows access and storage of files on a Windows-formatted drive. With capacities ranging from 320GB to 2TB, FreeAgent GoFlex...
Compartments is new home inventory app for Mac OS X
LittleFin Software has introduced Compartments 1.0 (http://www.littlefin.com/compartments.html) for Mac OS X (10.5 and higher), an US$19.95 home inventory application. It allows household items to be entered, searched and sorted by location, type, value or any custom tag. Drag and drop photos and other info can be added to each item listing.
The first step in using Compartments is to set up Locations, which are the places in which the user's items are stored. A Location can be a room, a house, a piece of furniture, a briefcase, or a safety deposit box -- any place that contains things to be cataloged. Next, the user creates an Item for each one of their possessions.
The Add Item dialogue box permits one or more of the following entries: item photo, item name and type, location, date acquired, estimated value, make and model, serial number, notes, and tags. Items can be an object, document, or computer file, and all Items can be found in some Location.
Items that share the same tag...
Karelia Software introduces video training for Sandvox
Karelia Software has announced the immediate availability of a screencast video training course for its Sandvox web site builder (http://www.karelia.com/sandvox/training/). The video training course runs for 2.5 hours total, divided into 19chapters.
The training is divided into five sections: The Basics, covering general document management; Page Components, describing the many types of pages, pagelets, and collections; Moving Along, delving into topics such as blogging, making use of the inspector, and customizing designs with banners and logos; Getting Published, showing how to upload a site to any web host, with specific tutorials on three of Karelia's hosting partners; and Advanced Features, walking the viewer through tasks such as injecting custom HTML code onto the page and performing Search Engine Optimization with Google's tools.
The course is available in two forms. Access for viewing the videos online has an introductory price of US$69; this goes up to $79 on May 25. There's...
Encrypt Mail for Mac OS X updated to version 2.0
Apimac has introduced Encrypt Mail 1.0 (http://www.apimac.com/encrypt_mail/), an update of its mail encryption solution for Mac OS X 10.5 and higher. It now offers support for using Mail for sending messages and encrypted files.
Version 2.0 also gives the user the ability to compose messages with encrypted files for Mail. There are user interface tweaks and various code optimizations and improvements to product stability
Designed for both personal and business use, Encrypt Mail is a client for sending encrypted emails and/or encrypted attachments. Mac based recipients will receive a DMG password protected file. Windows and Linux based recipients will receive a ZIP password protected archive instead. All contacts are handled in a list separated from Mac OS X's built-in Address Book.
Encrypt Mail is an alternative solution to manual encryption or PSE keys. To send a message, double click a person in the contact list and a new message window appears already addressed. To send an...
Embed Flash movie in a Mac app with Flash'In'App Cocoa...
Flash'In'App (http://mac.eltima.com/cocoa-framework.html) by Eltima Software is a new Cocoa framework that helps developers load and fully manage Flash movies in their own Mac applications. It contains a set of classes, which offer the ability to load, play and manage any SWF files within the application.
The developed app can communicate with SWF file via an external API (application programming interface), FSCommands and Variables. It is also possible to create custom-shaped windows and running Windows Flash-enabled applications' GUI (graphical user interface) on a Mac.
Flash'In'App fully supports RealVideo files playback and partially supports Silverlight files. End users will need at least Mac OS X 10.4 and higher, and Flash Player 8 or higher to run applications that are developed with Flash'In'App.
Dejal Simon for Mac OS X updated to version 2.5.7
Dejal Systems, LLC has released Dejal Simon 2.5.7 (http://www.dejal.com/simon/), a site monitoring tool for Mac OS X. 7 The new version includes a couple of important fixes, and may be the last release before version 2.6, which drops Mac OS X 10.4 support.
Dejal Simon checks web pages, FTP and DNS servers, local or remote ports or volumes, and other services for changes or failures, and notifies you via e-mail, sound, speech, Twitter, HTML reports, and other means. You can add tests to Simon to track updated sites, to alert you when an important server goes down or recovers, check on Samba SMB, take periodic screenshots of the system, track posts and new comments on your or friends' blogs, check for web mail, make sure a key application is running, get notifications of updates to favorite news and entertainment web sites, keep an eye on auctions, and other uses.
Services include Web (HTTP) to check web pages (including secure ones, and supporting POST and cookies), FTP files and...
TextExpander update for Mac OS X adds support for Unicode line...
SmileOnMyMac (http://www.smileonmymac.com) has updated TextExpander, a Mac OS X utility that lets users define abbreviations for frequently-used text strings and images, to version 3.0.3. The new version features support for Unicode line endings.
A number of bugs have been fixed and overall performance has been improved. The in-product purchases are now handled by e-commerce provider FastSpring.
The regular cost is US$34.95 for a single user license or $44.95 for a five-pack family license. A 30-day fully-functioning demo of TextExpander can be downloaded at the SmileOnMyMac web site. Upgrades to TextExpander 3.0.2 from earlier versions costs $15. Version 3.0.3 is a free update for registered users of version 3.0. It requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later.
Feeder update for Mac OS X adds support for WebDAV publishing
Reinvented Software has updated Feeder (http://www.reinventedsoftware.com/feeder/), a Mac OS X app for for creating and publishing RSS feeds and podcasts, to version 2.1. The upgrade adds support for WebDAV publishing, a completed updated iTunes Store preview and customizable colors for iTunes U page previews.
This release also adds drag and drop Sparkle appcasts, improves MP3 tagging, working with Twitter accounts, gesture support and will now run as a 64-bit application on Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard").
Feeder requires Mac OS X 10.5 and QuickTime 7.0 or better. Feeder 2.1 costs US$39.95 for new users and is a free upgrade for all registered Feeder 2.x users. Upgrades from version 1.x are $14.95. Education discounts are also available. A demo is available at the Reinvented Software web site.
OCRKit for Mac OS X gets better text recognition accuracy
OCRKit (http://ocrkit.com/), a text recognition app for Mac O X 10.4 or higher, has been updated to version 1.2. The new version improves overall text recognition accuracy and stability, and features a new de-screen image filter, which reduces print moire patterns, helping to improve the text recognition rate such difficult documents.
OCRKit transforms images and PDF files into searchable PDFs. With built-in OCR it allows for editable PDF files via drag and drop. And you can find 'em with the Mac's built-in Spotlight desktop search.
OCRKKit comes with support for several OCR languages, including English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish, and even more user-interface translations: English, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Simplified-Chinese and Traditional-Chinese. It's designed for Intel Macs only.
OCRKit costs approximately US$49, though version 1.2. is a free update for registered users. A demo is available for download.
SnapRocket for Mac OS X zooms to version 1.0.2
Gray Matter Labs has updated SnapRocket (http://graymatterlabs.com/snaprocket), a Mac OS X windows switcher, to version 1.0.2. It's a maintenance release with some bug fixes and performance tweaks.
SnapRocket is a keyboard based desktop navigator that doesn't rely on arbitrary window grids or lists. Instead, users can navigate among their open windows using only the cursor keys, switching to any application running on their desktop.
SnapRocket requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher. It's Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs.
SnapRocket costs US$19.95 for a single-user license and $24.95 for a family license. A fully-functional download includes 150 free uses.
OWC doubles solid state drive capacity to 400GB
Other World Computing (OWC) has added a new highest capacity 400GB model to its OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD line. Designed and made in the U.S. from imported parts, the new 400GB model doubles the capacity of previously announced OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD models.
It comes with enterprise level 28% over-provisioning, five year warranty coverage, and is compatible with Mac and PC computers that can utilize single or multiple 2.5-inch SATA compatible drives including all RAID configurations. Priced at US$1,599.99, the 400GB model is available for pre-ordering with shipping to begin 5/21.
Existing models in the line (previously named the Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD) are available for immediate ordering and share the same redundancy, reliability, and form factor as offered by the 400GB model. For more information on the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro RE SSD, including Reseller inquiries, visit http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sand... .
Keynote Zone releases Desktop theme
Keynote Zone (http://www.keynotezone.com) has announced their Desktop Keynote theme. This general-purpose theme is designed to provide a strong association with your desktop and creates a kind of working atmosphere in the entire presentation.
The theme includes 30 layouts, custom designed charts and tables. Available in both Standard and HD versions, the Desktop standard version theme comes in two sizes, and the HD version theme comes in five sizes. Standard versions are US$16, and HD versions are $20. Or you can get 'em all in the Keynote Zone Collection 8 ($69).
Seven more Keynote themes are now available for sale in standard or HD formats at Keynote Zone. They require Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later and iWork '08 or '09.
Update of CosmoPod Safari extension beefs up audio saving...
Cocoamug Software, developers and publishers of great Mac software, has released CosmoPod 4.4 (http://www.cocoamug.com/cosmopod/index.html), an update of the Safari extension that lets you download Flash videos from web sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, etc. The upgrade adds support for saving audio MP3, WMA and more from last.fm, mp3.com, vivamusic.org and others. It also improves command key down user interaction when dropping multiple files for audio extraction.
CosmoPod can automatically convert downloaded files to an Apple device friendly format, tag them and add them to iTunes. Additionally, you can convert most video already on your hard drive via drag and drop so can be used as a tool to import your DVD collection to your Mac, iTunes, AppleTV, and iPhone.
CosmoPod costs US$12. Version 4.4 is a free update for registered users of version 4.x. CosmoPod 3 and earlier users can upgrade for $3.90.
Dragon Stop Motion for Mac OS X roars to version 2.1
D-Zed Software has released Dragon Stop Motion 2.1 (http://www.dragonstopmotion.com/), an update to their professional stop motion animation software for Mac OS X and Windows. The upgrade includes support for the new DDMX-S2 Lighting Controller and the new IOTA 3D Stereoscopic Slider, in addition to other exciting features.
Designed specifically to meet the needs of feature film, commercial, broadcast television and independent film, Dragon Stop Motion controls digital still and HD cameras for shooting single frame animation and effects. The version 2.1 update includes new features that expand on the application's support for monitoring, exporting, composing, animating, automating lighting, and automating 3D shooting.
The Auxiliary Monitor feature allows the user to send the main view to a second monitor (video village). The Image Sequence Export provides flexibility in choosing image formats for frame export, as well as customized naming, etc. Advanced Composition Guides emulate...
FileMaker launches free Business Productivity Kit
FileMaker, Inc. (http://www.filemaker.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple, has announced the latest FileMaker Business Productivity Kit, which is designed to allow businesses selling both goods and services to become more productive and tackle everyday business tasks.
Optimized for FileMaker Pro 11, the new Business Productivity Kit offers ready-to-use templates for businesses that streamline a variety of operations, from managing contacts and suppliers to tracking projects to processing sales and service orders. Two versions are available: a Standard Edition for companies that sell physical goods and a Services Edition for companies that provide services to clients.
Small businesses can use the Business Productivity Kit immediately for tracking customer and vendor contacts, sales, product information, invoicing, shipping and other key business data -- all in one database solution, says Ryan Rosenberg, vice president of marketing and services with FileMaker, Inc.. The kit is...
Extensis releases Portfolio 8.5.5 update
Extensis (http://www.extensis.com) has announced a free update (v8.5.5) to Portfolio 8.5, its single-user digital asset management software product.
The update is recommended for users and includes Camera Raw filter support for the latest and
most popular camera models. Also, full DNG workflow support preserves color adjustments and allows XMP metadata embedding series of performance and stability improvements
With this updated support, Portfolio works with the leading professional Raw-processing applications. The Extensis app automatically catalogs media in any folder, and provides advanced search, batch convert/email and metadata management for various camera formats, including Adobe DNG and Raw files.
Version 8.5.5 is a free update for registered users of version 8.5.x. For new users the cost is US$199.95. Upgrades from previous versions are $99.95.
New 3G connection manager shares data connections with iPads,...
Nova media (http://www.novamedia.de) has unveiled launch2net Premium, an US$49.90, 3G connection manager with the ability to share your Mac's 3G connection with iPads and other devices.
Launch2net Premium supports most 3G surfsticks available and already includes connection settings for network providers worldwide. Connection information is provided by a statistics feature. It also includes an integrated SMS text message manager with support for multipart and multigroup text messages and is linked to the address book of Mac OS X.
Launch2net Premium can share a 3G modem connection using its Mobile Hub technology. Mobile Hub turns a Mac into a Wi-Fi hotspot with just a few clicks and allows other WLAN devices to log into the new network just like any other Wi-Fi network. Mobile Hub features a blacklist to deny access and offers WEP 128-bit security.
Launch2net Premium requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.5.x or 10.6.x. A demo version of launch2net Premium is available for...
Paradigma Software ships Valentina DB 4.6
Paradigma Software (http://www.valentina-db.com) has released Valentina DB 4.5, an update of the columnar database for business and developers, and and Valentina Reports 4.6, the cross-platform database reporting solution for Windows and Mac OS X. The upgrade provides performance improvements, database diagnostic features and user requested improvements and optimizations.
Valentina Reports is a visual report creation and generation engine that drops right into the Valentina DB kernel and generates charts, graphs, complex layouts of data with groups and sub-reports, PDFs and more. It's available on Mac OS X and Windows and for every major development environment -- from .net to Cocoa applications on Mac OS X. Unlimited Report deployment is available starting at US$200.
Valentina DB based products include Valentina ADK and Valentina Developer Network for developers desiring to incorporate the incredibly fast Valentina DB into their applications. VDN also allows royalty free deployment...
Stardom releases SohoRaid
Stardom (http://www.stardom.com) has released SohoRaid SR2 with USB 2.0, FireWire 800, & eSATA interfaces. It's a two-drive hardware SATA RAID array for mobile digital content with Hardware RAID 1 mirroring.
The SR2 is capable of accepting 2 X 2TB drives; if a drive fails all data can be automatically restored. It has a built-in data rebuild verification option. The front LCD control provides both the management of your SATA Hard Drives and SATA RAID status. The Stardom SohoRaid SR2 provides feedback of fan speed, system temperature, rebuild percentage, verification status, and audio alarm settings without installing any additional software.
Because of the built in hardware RAID & no need for software, no additional system resources are used. To reduce energy consumption, the Stardom SohoRaid SR2 is designed of aluminum for heat dissipation and energy savings. A large fan provides cooling and a constant airflow. Contact Stardom for pricing options.
ProStor releases InfiniVault product line
ProStor (http://www.prostorsystems.com) -- which specializes in enterprise-class removable disk storage systems for business backup, archiving and retention management -- has announced the general availability of its ProStor InfiniVault product line shipping with the newly released 1TB RDX removable disk cartridge.
The availability of the new cartridge with an uncompressed capacity of 1TB will immediately benefit InfiniVault customers in rich media applications like healthcare, video archiving and surveillance, according to the folks at ProStor. Users now have access up to 100TB of managed online capacity without having to purchase new hardware.
A ProStor InfiniVault Model 100 System can purportedly manage over two billion studies in DICOM format. A 100 slot system with 1TB RDX cartridges can store 100,000 Multi-slice CT scans or 500,000 MRIs or 2,000,000 X-Rays. Similarly, the same system can store 12,594 standard or 9,773 HDTV broadcast streams or 1,527 uncompressed one-hour...
Screen Sieve for Mac OS X beefs up search abilities
Yellow Lemon Software has updated Screen Sieve (http://www.scsc.no/products/screensieve), its screen-searching utility for Mac OS X, to version 1.2.1. The new version gives users the ability to search not only the currently focused window, but also search the window currently under their mouse cursor.
Screen Sieve is an application that lets users search the contents of their currently active window. Utilizing Mac OS X's built-in support for Accessibility, the software is able to search the windows of any application that supports Accessibility, including most Cocoa- and Carbon-based applications. As the user types, Screen Sieve highlights all visible occurrences of characters, words and phrases, allowing you to locate text in a crowded web-page or highlighting the location of a file in a Finder window.
Screen Sieve supports both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs, and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. Screen Sieve is free, but donations are accepted.
Typinator 4 for Mac OS X adds 'QuickSearch'
Ergonis Software (http://www.ergonis.com) has released Typinator 4.0, the latest version of its tool for auto-typing text and auto-correcting typos system-wide across all Mac OS X applications.
The new version introduces a new feature called "QuickSearch." Instead of inventing and remembering hundreds of cryptic abbreviations, you just type a keyboard shortcut and enter a few characters. Typinator instantly displays a list of matching snippets. Pick the one that you want, and it appears in your document right away. It's like Spotlight for snippets, only much faster, says Ergonis CEO Christoph Reichenberger. QuickSearch can also be used for quickly opening and editing existing snippets.
Typinator 4.0 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or newer, and Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") is recommended.
Typinator can be purchased on the Ergonis Software web site for $19.99 for a single user license. A family pack for installation on up to five computers is $29.99. The upgrade to Typinator 4.0is free for...
REAL Software ships REAL Studio 2010 Release 2
REAL Software, creator of REAL Studio -- a cross-platform development tool for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux developers -- has begun shipping REAL Studio 2010 Release 2. The upgrade introduces 17 new features and 68 improvements.
Improved database connectivity, reporting, ActiveX and IDE printing can be found in this release. Also flickering in Windows applications that occurred when several different types of controls were moved or resized, has been greatly reduced. Finally, this release adds more DLL placement options and a new TextEncoding feature that determines if a string is correctly encoded or not.
REAL Studio Personal Edition for Mac, Windows or Linux is priced at US$99 and is geared for hobbyists and students. REAL Studio Professional Edition, required for cross-platform compilation, is $299. REAL Studio Enterprise Edition, made for full-time developers, is priced at $995. All editions of REAL Studio are now available and can be downloaded directly from REAL Software: http...
Iomega delivers EMC enterprise storage solutions
Iomega (http://www.iomega.com) has announced the worldwide launch of the new Iomega StorCenter ix12-300r Network Storage array. It's a rackmount storage device for small and medium businesses, as well as small enterprise locations such as workgroups, departments and distributed/branch offices.
Supporting groups of up to 250 users, the StorCenter ix12-300r Network Storage array provides up to 24TB of networked storage in a 2-rack unit (2U) form factor. The StorCenter ix 12-300r has sophisticated configuration and networking features often only available in larger enterprise installations, and is ideal for production file (NAS) and block (SAN) data storage, backup to disk (B2D) of critical business data, shared storage for virtualized environments.
The StorCenter ix12-300r mounts in an EIA-310 standard equipment rack and starts with 4TB and 8TB base configurations that can be expanded in four-drive increments of 4TB or 8TB, up to a total of 24TB. In the U.S., configurations of the...
Epson releases Perfection V33, V330 photo scanners
Epson (http://www.epson.com) has announced two all-purpose scanners: the Perfection V33 and Epson Perfection V330 Photo, which are priced at US$89 and $119, respectively. Both models feature 4800 x 9600 dpi (dots per inch) optical resolution and an 180-degree lid for scanning oversized objects.
The V330 however adds a built-in transparency unit that enables it to scan slides, negatives and film. Bundled with these scanners is ArcSoft Scan-n-Stitch Deluxe, which enables users to scan multiple images such as panoramas, oversized artwork, documents, and scrapbook pages (to name a few) which it stitches together automatically.
The Epson scanners sport ReadyScan LED technology, which enables fast scan speeds, eliminates warm-up time and decreases power consumption. The technology is also mercury-free.
Epson's Easy Photo Fix technology allows users to restore color from old/faded prints, remove dust from scanned film or slides, and reduce grain. Four customizable buttons allow for one-...
FTC eyeing iPhone licensing changes, iAd
U.S. antitrust enforcers are eyeing the changes that Apple has made to its licensing agreement with iPhone application developers and are likely to open a preliminary investigation into whether the company's actions stifle competition in mobile devices, "people familiar with the situation" told "The Wall Street Journal" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870361280457522255309149581...). And they're also apparently looking at iAd.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, which are jointly tasked with enforcing federal antitrust laws, are holding discussions over which agency would hold the inquiry, these people said. Apple, the FTC and Justice Department all declined to comment to the "Journal."
Those "people familiar with the matter" said the latest interest from regulators was triggered by complaints from Apple competitors and application developers over the terms of company's agreement with iPhone and iPad app developers. "The Journal" notes that Apple...
NetAirus sues Apple over iPhone technologies
Another day, another lawsuit. NetAirus Technologies LLC has sued Apple over a patent related to wireless handset communications, claiming the defendant's iPhones infringe the technology.
El Segundo, Calif.-based NetAirus lodged its complaint Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. contending that Apple’s iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS products infringe on its patent. The patent in question was granted to NetAirus on September 5, 2006 and seems to cover the broad concept of a “Wireless Handset Communication System."
However, looking at the patent (number ) it seems it's more for a netbook device than a portable phone. Here's the summary: "A small light weight modular microcomputer based computer and communications systems, designed for both portability and desktop uses. The systems make use of a relative large flat panel display device assembly (2), an expandable hinge device (10), battery power source (9), keyboard assembly (16), and wireless...
Apple releases Mac Pro Audio Update 1.1
Apple has posted Mac Pro Audio Update 1.1 (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1042), which addresses an audio anomaly that some customers may hear coming from inside their Mac Pro computer when using FireWire audio devices. This update is for Mac Pro (Early 2009) computers running Mac OS X v10.6.3.
Mac Pro Audio 1.1 is a 515KB download. It requires Mac OS X 10.6.3 or higher and can be obtained via the Software Updates component of Mac OS X's Systems Preferences app.
Psystar granted extension for filing opening brief
They're baaaack. Mac cloner Psystar has been granted an extension for filing an opening brief in its appeal against Apple. The company now has until May 17th, 2010 to file said brief, and Apple’s reply will be due on June 16th, "World of Apple" (http://news.worldofapple.com/archives/2010/05/03/apple-v-psystar-psystar...) reports.
In January Psystar officially filed its Notice of Appeal in the copyright suit it lost against Apple. The appeal involved a copyright infringement suit Apple brought against Psystar to stop the Florida company from selling Psystar computers with Mac OS X installed.
In December 2009 Apple won as permanent injunction against Psystar. Granted by Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, it prevents the Mac cloner from selling clones, installing Mac OS X on any hardware, and selling or copying Mac OS X.
Psystar also can't manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide or otherwise traffic in any technology, product...
Mozaik demos iPad app for interactive streaming video
In what it says is the the world's first demonstration of an iPad application for interactive streaming content, the inVDO app brings the unique, immersive features of Mozaik's !Content (http://www.mymozaik.com) technology to mobile platforms. It purportedly enables viewers to enjoy their favorite movies and TV shows anywhere, and to interact with in-movie brands and products at any time.
inVDO offers the ability to embed search, shop and share capabilities into any form of video content. Its capabilities are made possible by Mozaik's !Content technology, which includes the company's Ads On Demand solution for pull-based advertising, contextual in-video search based on LIPSS search criteria (Locations, Items, People, Services, Soundtracks), and E-commerce integration. With inVDO and Apple's magical iPad, content owners and aggregators are now in a position to offer consumers unique entertainment experiences and be able to monetize at the same time, says Bob Saffari, CEO and Chairman...
Memoires journaling software improves Snow Leopard support
Coding Robots has updated their Memoires journaling software (http://www.codingrobots.com/memoires/) for Mac OS X to version 3.0. The upgrade improves support for Mac OS X 10.6 features and more.
With Memoires, users can choose a day and write as many notes for that day as they like. Then they can browse entries by date using calendar, or search for notes using the instant search feature.
The new version includes Quick Drawings feature, that allows users to create sketches using mouse or trackpad and insert them into journal entries. In addition to RTF and plain text exporting, Memoires 3.0 can now export journals to PDF format. Users can also print single entries, entries for a specified period of time, or the whole journal.
Version 3.0 improves support for Mac OS X 10.6 features, such as grammar checking, automatic correction of spelling errors, smart quotes and dashes, text substitutions, and data detectors. The Universal binary now includes 64-bit version. To help users stay more...
Visioneer releases Strobe 400 scanner
Visioneer (http:/www.visioneer.com), which makes intelligent document imaging solutions, has announced the Strobe 400, an US$2.99 duplex color scanner that measures 11.6 x 2.5 2 inches and weights 22 ounces. When used in duplex mode, it purportedly scans both sides of a page in six seconds.
The Strobe 400 can be connected to computer via the USB 2.0 interface and has a resolution of 600 DPI. It incorporates Visioneer OneTouch with Kofax VRS technology to create images from imperfect originals by which users can scan, file and store all of their documents, plastic ID cards, checks, articles, brochures and business cards. It can be powered through the computer’s USB port, or via wall-power.
The Strobe 400 includes patented Paper Driven and AutoLaunch technologies so scanning begins as soon as a document is inserted into the scanner, says John Capurso, vice president of marketing at Visioneer. It will also automatically convert, at the user’s option, any scanned item into a text-...
WritePad for iPad 3.3 Released
PhatWare Corporation, a leading provider of software products and professional services for mobile and desktop computers, has announced the release of WritePad for iPad 3.3, the advanced handwriting recognition software for iPad.
The new version offers customizable styles, improved recognition and spell checker, inline gestures, and support for external iPad keyboard.
WritePad lets users take notes in their own handwriting with an iPad stylus pen or their finger. The state-of-the-art handwriting recognition software will adapt and learn while it is being used, improving the recognition quality overtime. WritePad supports simple gestures to select text, cut, copy, paste, and insert special characters.
WritePad has a spell checker with it's own custom dictionary, a context analyzer which allows users to dial phone numbers or open URLs embedded in the text, auto-corrector which automatically fixes common spelling and recognition errors, and a Shorthand feature that lets users perform...
Arm Yourself With A Weapons Catalog
DAVA Consulting, LLC has released the first ever encyclopedia of modern weapons for iPhone. You can search, compare, or analyze famous models of weapons.
The iApp presents over 500 models of guns with technical and tactical characteristics. It also includes an extensive library of photos. Handguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and lots of other unique samples from all over the world can be found in Modern Weapons encyclopedias.
The Cost of Hacking
According to BBC News, a jury in Tennessee has convicted a former student of hacking the e-mail account of Sarah Palin.
David Kernell, 22, was found guilty of obstructing justice and unauthorised access to a computer. His lawyer said that his action amounted no more than a college prank.
He illegally broke into Palin's e-mail account during her 2008 Republican campaign for the US vice-presidency.
Kernell, the son of a Democratic lawmaker, faces up to 20 years in prison for the first charge and one year for the charge of hacking.
Hollywood Rethinks Smartphone Distribution
As Hollywood retools its product for the small screens of cellphones, its assumptions about mobile viewing are being upended by surprisingly patient consumers, according to the NYTimes.
“We all thought they’d be watching video clips in the checkout line or between classes,” said Vivi Zigler, the president for digital entertainment at NBC Universal. But owners of iPhones and other smartphones are actually watching long episodes and sometimes complete films, so a growing number of media companies are vying for people’s mobile attention spans. The result - companies, from Hollywood studios to local TV stations, foresee a wireless world that they don’t want to be cut out of.
In light of this shift some of the biggest local TV station owners in the United States announced a joint venture last month to transmit their content to viewers on the go. Roughly 17.6 million people in the United States watched video on their phones in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the Nielsen...
Apple Sells One Million iPads
Apple released the following announcement this morning...
CUPERTINO, Calif., May 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple® today announced that it sold its one millionth iPad™ on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore.
"One million iPads in 28 days—that's less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Demand continues to exceed supply and we're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers."
iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad's revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds—...
Adobe giving Android phones with Flash to employees
Adobe plans to demonstrate a version of Flash for Google's Android software in May at the Google I/O conference. And, according to "CNET" (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20003922-94.html), the company is preparing to give away Android phones running Flash to employees,
The article quotes "three sources familiar with the plan." It's not clear which phone employees will receive (various HTC phones and the Nexus One were mentioned) and it will not be a mandatory shift, says "CNET." Adobe and Google want to encourage Adobe employees to spend as much time using Android and the Flash Player 10.1 as possible, the article adds.
A look at the US markets with the largest concentration of iPads
According to Net Application's May 1 report, the five U.S. market areas with the largest concentration of iPads -- measured by its clients' browser data -- are: San Francisco, California (0.25% Internet share); Grand Junction, Colorado (0.23%); Santa Barbara, California (0.19%);
Honolulu, Hawaii (0.19%); and Bend, Oregon (0.19%).
"Fortune" (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/05/01/the-ipads-of-bend-oregon/) notes that it's a city of 82,000 nearly 200 miles from the nearest Apple Store "that seems to give lie to the notion that iPad fever is a condition that affects only Apple diehards in large metropolitan areas." Bend is the largest town in sparsely populated central Oregon.
'iFixIt' tears down 3G iPad
"iFixIt" has offered a teardown (http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad-3G-Teardown/2374/1) of the 3G iPad and says it shows some interesting differences when compared to its Wi-Fi-only sibling, mostly due to its additional 3G / GPS functionality. Check out the highlights below. Here are some of the highlights of the teardown:
° The immediate visible difference is the inclusion of a black plastic RF window on top of the iPad for better antenna reception.
° The black RF window significantly changes the opening procedure. You can't start separating the display using the notches on the top (à la Wi-Fi version), since that will undoubtedly break the RF window. You have to start from the right side and gingerly proceed to the top and bottom of the iPad.
° There are actually five antennas in this iPad. There are two antennas that handle the cell reception -- one is in the RF window on top, the other attaches to the LCD frame. A single GPS antenna is also housed in the RF window on top. Just...
Net Applications: Safari, iPhone gain market share; Mac OS X...
Mac OS X, Safari and iPhone market share for Internet usage rose from March to April, according to the latest market share survey from NetMarketShare (http://www.netmarketshare.com).
According to the report, among operating systems, Mac OS X had 5.32% of the global market share in April, compared to 5.33% in March (that's global market share; in the US it's almost 10 %). Windows remains dominant with 91.46% as of April. That's down from 91.58% in March. Apple's highest percentage previously was 5.27% in October 2009, so March's number is an all-time high.
When it comes to browsers, Safari had 4.72% in April, while Internet Explorer had 59.95% Firefox had 24.59% and Chrome had 6.73%. That compares to, respectively, March percentages of 60.65, 24.52 and 6.13%, for the browsers.
The iPhone's market share also rose, according to Net Applications. The Apple device had 0.531% of the global market share in April compared to 0.51% in March. The iPod touch also had 0.12% of the mobile market...
TV station moves from paper scripts to iPads
WFXL-TV in Albany, Georgia, has switched to iPads from paper scripts that anchors read on set, reports "Poynter Online" (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=182192). To change pages, anchors just swipe their fingers across the screen.
To add scripts, producers print them to a PDF and send the PDF to an iPad e-mail account. Terry Graham, news director/anchor at WFXL, told "Poynter Online" that the station bought the iPads because it expects to save thousands in paper expenses. The move, he said, is not part of a promotion or partnership with Apple.
On average, Graham says, his station spends $2,000 a month on paper and printer repairs, says "Poynter Online." Once he began thinking about the potential savings for the 15 stations owned by his company, Barrington Broadcasting, the experiment seemed worthwhile.
Lease a MiFi for your iPad for $49.95 per month with no contract
3Gstore.com is announcing a way to obtain Verizon Mobile Broadband. Starting today, they're offering an option of leasing a Verizon MiFi or USB760 for an US$49.95 per month service plan.
3Gstore.com is offering the two most popular devices from Verizon, the Novatel MiFi 2200 and the Novatel USB760. If you have a new iPad, the Verizon MiFi will give you the most 3G coverage compared to AT&T’s network, and with a MiFi you can also use up to five WiFi devices at the same time (iPod Touch, NetBook, MacBook, iPhone, etc), says Michael Ginsberg, president of 3Gstore.com.
"With our new Verizon Mobile Broadband Lease, not only will you save $10 month, but at anytime during the two years, you can easily cancel your lease by simply returning your mobile broadband device, or if you want to keep the device, pay $250," he says. "If you pay $49.95/month for 24 months the device is yours to keep.”
3Gstore.com’s Verizon wireless mobile broadband offerings include:
° Verizon Mobile Broadband...
K4 6.2 compatible with Creative Suite 5
With the availability of Adobe Creative Suite5 vjoon (http://www.vjoon.com) has released K4 6.2, which is fully compatible with CS5. Publishers can immediately take advantage of the combination of multimedia capabilities offered by K4 and Adobe Creative Suite 5 by including videos or picture galleries in dynamic layouts and publishing them into digital platforms like the iPad.
With vjoon K4 6.2, the Hamburg-based software developer enriches its cross-media publishing platform with features for more collaboration and multi-channel publishing -- such as real-time chat communication with sticky notes across different clients, additional preview capabilities in K4 Overview Advanced, and alternative page designs.
The sticky notes feature is also integrated with the browser-based K4 Overview Advanced, introduced with K4 6.2, which means the head of production can participate in the live chat on the document and can request changes to layouts directly from browser-based previews of the...
Quickscript for Mac OS X updated to version 3.0
Axiotron has released Quickscript 3.0, an update of its handwriting recognition application for Mac users.
Quickscript is now available for a 30-day free trial at http://www.axiotron.com/quickscript . Customers can purchase Quickscript beginning next week for the introductory price of US$29 -- a $10 savings from the regular price of $39. This introductory offer expires May 31.
Quickscript offers support for 26 languages and includes an on-screen writing pad with configurable interface, basic gesture support, personal dictionary, handwriting recognition training and the innovative Kopernikus digital assistant feature which lets users perform tasks by writing short commands on the Quickscript writing pad. It's compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6.
