Bohemian Coding and Laurent Baumann have updated Fontcase (http://www.bohemiancoding.com/?Fontcase), a font manager for Mac OS X 10.5 and higher, to version 1.5. The new version adds auto-activation, duplicates detection, a speed increase and stability, among other things. Fontcase focuses on metadata. For every font and weight, you can add a variety of metadata. You can set tags, genres, assign designers and foundries and more. They are not just pieces of text, but actually show up in the source list, right under your smart collections. Everything in the interface can be dragged. Fontcase has several preview options. You can preview fonts with any sample text you want and you can view individual glyphs, as a waterfall text and as body text. If you want to go in more detail, there's a special Compare mode which was designed to compare a small set of fonts and allow you to choose the right font from them. Just like in iTunes, you can share your Library with other people. However, in...

The iPad and its accessories are now available for pre-order at the online Apple Store (http://www.apple.com). They're due to ship on Saturday, April 3. At least the Wi-Fi only versions will; the Wi-Fi + 3G model will hit US store sleeves in late April. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April. The Wi-Fi iPad sells for a suggested retail price of US$499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB models. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. The iPad Keyboard Dock -- which combines a fully functional iPad dock with a slim, compact aluminum Apple keyboard featuring special iPad function keys -- costs $69. The iPad -- which not only protects your iPad, but holds in it positions...

The Macinmind gang has updated Radiologik (http://macinmind.com/Radiologik), radio DJing and automation software for Mac OS X, to version 1.7. This release includes several optimizations for 24/7 radio stations, both streaming and terrestrial. Radiologik is comprised of a set of two programs that seeks to address the specific needs of radio broadcasting in an accessible and focused way. It's made up of two program queue players, one independent/voiceover player, and one library player. It has audio outputs that are selectable with user labels. The players overlap for proper cold starts and stops (no cross-fades). Radiologik also offers: custom start/stop and fades per track; live searching in its library (a la iTunes); and iTunes Library importing. It plays MP3, AAC, ITMS protected AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV files. Radiologik Scheduler user]s iTunes as its database utilizing playlists and, particularly, smart playlists for song selection with its own top logic. Smart...

The PandaWare Company (http://www.pandaware.com) has updated TimeCache -- its time and expense billing app for oMac OS X 10.3.9 and higher -- to version 8.0.7. The upgrade offers a new Project Totals report for viewing only totals of selected projects TimeCache 8.0.7 also offers the option to automatically show a "business information" text block in reports and invoices. The new version also sports a number of small improvements and bug fixes. TimeCache is a Universal Binary Macintosh application. It offers support for timed or manual entries, retainer billing, customizable invoices and reports, printing options, and flexible data entry options. It also offers tracking of all a user's computer activity, the ability to save fine-grained details with time and expense entries, can use Apple Address Book entries for client contact information, can produce charts of billable time and expenses, and can import from and export to iCal calendars. TimeCache Manager costs US$70 per user,...

MacTech Magazine (http://www.mactech.com) has released video of graphics running on commercial virtualization solutions running on Intel-based Macs. MacTech's goal was to answer the often asked questions about how graphics perform under virtualization. The video (http://www.mactech.com/graphics-virtualization-vmware-vs-parallels) is online now and was inspired by the very large suite of over 3,500 tests that was performed comparing the MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Pro that MacTech released in February. The purpose of that testing and the article released are to answer the questions about performance for the different virtualization solutions available, as well as the differences between Windows XP and Windows 7 in virtual machines, as well as multiple processors and 64-bit vs. 32-bit. Go here (http://www.mactech.com/articles/special/1002-VirtualizationHeadToHead/) for the full article. This is the third year that MacTech has done extensive benchmarks on virtualization products...

Global smartphone shipments grew 37.2% last year -- and the iPhone saw a 97.9% year-over-growth in shipments. While Apple saw the greatest success, Nokia's shipments also jumped 37.3 percent and Research in Motion saw a spike of 41.2 percent. Analyst Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company -- as reported by "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/11/apple_sees_98_iphone_growt...) -- told clients that the smartphone market has turned into a "land grab" that's "virtually certain" to lead to a brutal battle between Microsoft and Google. He said Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series won't kill the iPhone, which exists in a class by itself, but it will be a potential "Android killer." Windows Phone 7 Series, Wolf said, is evidence that Microsoft "finally gets it."

Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com) says it will soon be adding a new B&N eReader for the iPad.   Designed specifically for the Apple device, the B&N eReader will give customers access to more than one million eBooks, magazines and newspapers in the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, as well as the existing content in their Barnes & Noble digital library. That includes eBooks and content customers have downloaded to their nook™ eBook reader.)    To be released around the time of iPad’s expected availability, the new Barnes & Noble eReader will join B&N's growing list of free eReader software for most computing and mobile devices including the Mac, PC, iPhone, iPod touch and Blackberry. 

Novothink (http://www.novothink.com), a global manufacturer of energy alternative electronic devices, has released the Solar Surge, anApple licensed solar charger case for the iPod touch. The solar charger case enables anyone to power up from the sun while carrying their iPod. iPod touches can now be effectively and efficiently charged anywhere under the sun by simply being attached to a Solar Surge, according to Ian Dorfman, president of Novothink. Along with the custom designed and engineered charger case that includes solar panels that provide continuous charging from the sun, Solar Surge also includes a USB 2.0 cable that is compatible with standard USB charging ports to provide high capacity charging and data exchange. To estimate solar needs for iPhone 3G and 3G S usage, Novothink encourages users to take advantage of their free Solar Planner available at the company's web site. Available in a variety of colors, Solar Surge for the iPod touch is priced at US$69.95 and will be...

Maintain has released Cocktail 4.6.1 (Leopard Edition), the latest maintenance update of Cocktail (http://www.maintain.se) for users running Mac OS X 10.5.x ("Leopard"). This version adds ability to stop Cocktail from logging out, restarting or shutting down the computer at the end of a scheduled program. The update also features improvements on the clear Adobe Flash Player caches and cookies procedure as well as overall performance improvements. Cocktail 4.6.1 (Leopard Edition) requires Mac OS X/Mac OS X Server 10.5 or later and is tested for compatibility with Mac OS X/Mac OS X Server 10.5.8. Cocktail (Leopard Edition) for Mac OS X 10.5 and Cocktail (Tiger Edition) for Mac OS X 10.4 are available for download from the Maintain web site. Cocktail is a general purpose utility for Mac OS X that offers a variety of practical features designed to simplify the use of advanced UNIX function. A single user license costs US$14.95.

Developer Benedict Lowndes has released a beta of WindowFlow (http://windowflow.com) for Mac OS X. The app provides keyboard commands for organizing your application windows. You can move and resize windows which will snap into alignment with each other. Window tiling allows you to select a messy group of windows to be re-organized to make the most of your screen space. The app's interface also acts as a window switcher, allowing you to browse all of your open application windows. WindowFlow is currently in the final stages of beta testing, with a discounted for early adopters. WindowFlow Pro will be priced at $22, but is available for purchase during the beta period for $12. WindowFlow Standard will be priced at $12, but is available for purchase during the beta for $8. Just remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care.

Monkeybread Software is offering new REALbasic DynaPDF plug-in licenses. For adding PDF creation to your applications, you can now use the new DynaPDF Starter License for US$199. In addition Monkeybread is offring new prices for the other REALbasic DynaPDF Plug-in licenses: For the different between Starter, Lite, Pro and Enterprise licenses (and pricing), go to http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/realbasic/dynapdf.shtml .

Smith Micro has launched Poser Pro 2010, an update of the Mac OS X compatible (10.4 and higher) tool that lets professional artists and production teams add 3D characters to their projects. It sports over 2.5GB of ready-to-use content such as pre-rigged, fully textured 3D characters. Poser Pro 2010 also boasts such advanced features as a Talk Designer, Walk Designer, Morph Brush, Face Room, Dynamic Hair and Cloth Tools and many more. New in the latest version are: ° A revamped user interface with a user configurable work environment; ° A content management system that allows easier access to content collections with the ability to search both a library’s content and Smith Micro’s online market Content Paradise by category and keyword, providing a hierarchy list view and more detailed pop-up expanding previews; ° The ability to combine indirect diffuse illumination with improved irradiance caching and path tracing; ° An improved rigging system that includes multiple Falloff Zones and a...

The rock band Pink Floyd have won a High Court battle to stop their record label, EMI, from selling album tracks as singles at places such as the iTunes Store. The legendary band, signed to EMI since 1967, said their contract meant their albums could not be split up without their permission. The BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8561963.stm) reports that a judge agreed, saying the contract contained a clause to "preserve the artistic integrity of the albums". EMI has been ordered to pay £40,000 (approximately $60,000) in costs, with a further fine to be decided. The group, whose latest contract was signed before download stores like iTunes appeared, also disputed the way royalties for digital sales were calculated.

"Consumer Reports" has published results of its latest survey (http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/03/best-and-worst-tech...) on the best and worst companies for computer tech support. And Apple, as you might expect, excelled. Scores are based on an annual survey from the Consumer Reports National Research Center this past January of over 7,000 desktop- and laptop-owning subscribers to "Consumer Reports." Respondents weighed in on the ability of manufacturer's tech support to solve their problems, the communication and knowledge of phone support staff, how long they were placed on hold, and the quality of the company's online support. "Consumer Reports" grouped together computer labels made by the same company (HP and Compaq were ranked together, for example). Of the six major manufacturers, one earned top marks across the board (guess who?), and left the others in its wake in terms of overall satisfaction. In striking contrast, another manufacturer received...

WD has introduced its new My Passport AV portable media drives (http://www.westerndigital.com/MyPassportAV), which are designed specifically for video storage and playback and come with 320GB of capacity for US$109.99. A large and increasing number of game consoles, camcorders, TVs, DVRs, Blu-ray players and media players, including the WD TV Media Player family, allow consumers to connect a USB drive and play the multimedia content from the drive on an HD TV. The My Passport AV portable media drive is designed to meet the requirements of this video streaming environment. The My Passport AV portable media drives operate with the Direct Copy feature offered in Sony's new Handycam video recorders. Direct Copy lets Handycam users offload and archive HD video directly to a My Passport AV portable media drive without a computer, creating room to shoot more HD videos when their Handycam hard drive becomes full. Consumers can then play back their stored videos using Sony's latest Blu-ray...

Another day, another lawsuit. Apple, AT&T, Research in Motion and other mobile companies are defendants in a new patent suit that covers a broad range of smartphone related technologies, including e-mail syncing and Bluetooth connectivity. According to "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/10/apple_iphone_targeted_in_p...) the suit was filed earlier this month in a U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas by a company called SmartPhone Technologies, based in Frisco, Texas. It accuses Apple of violating six patents owned by the company covering a range of topics, including Bluetooth connectivity, e-mail syncing, bandwidth conservation and general smartphone functionality. The suit alleges that Apple and its iPhone are liable for infringement of the patents and have caused damage to SmartPhone Technologies, notes "AppleInsider." In addition to Apple, a number of prominent smartphone companies and mobile operators are named as defendants, including...

Sun Microsystems' former CEO, Jonathan Schwartz, says that Apple CEO Steve Jobs threatened to sue Sun for infringing on its intellectual property in 2003 for a user interface design. According to "CNET" (http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20000215-264.html?part=rss&subj=news&t...), Jobs delivered his threat to Sun personally, Schwartz said, calling his office to say the graphics in Sun's operating system 3D interface, Project Looking Glass, were "stepping all over Apple's IP," and that if Sun commercialized it, "I'll just sue you." Sun countered with its own patent portfolio, according to "CNET." With Apple, Schwartz raised the similarities between Apple's Keynote presentation software and Concurrence, software from Schwartz's start-up Lighthouse Design, which Sun acquired, the article says. And he pointed to Sun's operating system patents, relevant given its Unix history and the fact that Apple's Mac OS X uses Unix technology. "Steve was silent," Schwartz said.

Apple has released MainStage 2.1.1 (http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/mainstage/), an update of the live performance application that turns the Mac into a streamlined live rig. It's part of the Logic Studio suite. This update resolves several issues, among them stability fixes for 32-bit Audio Unit Bridge plug-ins. MainStage 2.1 requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later. Logic Studio Pro costs US$499.

Boris FX, a developer of integrated effects technology for video and film, has announced that the Boris FX Visual Effects and Motion Graphics Expo, an online trade show, will take place from Monday, March 15, through Thursday, March 18. The event will feature: live webinars; new technology previews; partner presentations; daily raffle prizes; and Q&A's with product managers. For more info regarding the Boris FX Visual Effects and Motion Graphics Expo, including webinar access details, visit http://www.borisfx.com/events.php#expo .

Eltima Software has released Folx 1.0 (http://mac.eltima.com/download-manager.html), a free download manager for Mac OS X. It can download not only common files, but also torrent content. With Folx all your downloads can be split into two threads. The app also sports Tags. Just mark your downloads with tags that characterize them  best, and you'll be able to find them anytime. When downloading several files you can prioritize the ones you need to download faster by just dragging them to the top of the queue. Folx can also automatically resume your downloads in case the process was interrupted for some reason (if resuming is supported by a server). It's also available as an US$19.95 pro version in which downloads can be split in up to 10 threads to achieve even faster download speed. If you need to download torrent content, Folx also features built-in torrent search, meaning you can look for needed torrent right from Folx by just entering a keyword into the dialog. You can also...

About Objects is set to offer an updated version of its iPhone development training course that now includes full coverage of iPad development. Classes will be held in Cupertino, California, on April 24-30, and in Reston, Virginia, May 24-28. The folks at About Objects say the new five-day course, "Introduction to iPhone and iPad Development," is part of a series that's proven popular with developers from such companies as Apple, eBay, Genentech, Intuit, Raytheon, NASA, and Yahoo! There are two other courses in the series: ANSI C Programming, and Objective-C for Beginners. This allows developers to "right-size" their training by choosing the mix of classes they need. Classes are taught by two well-known iPhone developers: Jonathan Lehr, founder of About Objects, and Aaron Morse, developer of numerous iPhone apps including TapDefense, and Trenches. Both have extensive training backgrounds that include years of teaching beginner-level, intermediate, and advanced development topics...

"Fast Company" has announced its annual "Most Innovative Companies" issue, which honors major brands including Apple (naturally), Facebook, Google, Cisco, Disney, and GE, along with such rising newcomers Intermap Technologies, Foursquare, and Clearwire. Overall, "Fast Company" recognized 250 plus companies, including the Top 50, 59 Innovation All-stars culled from past Top 50 honorees, plus ranked the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in 24 categories, including advertising and marketing, biotech, film and TV, media, music, and mobile. Intermap was named in the top 10 mobile companies list that also included Apple, Google, Amazon, Ford, and others. To create this year’s Most Innovative Companies issue, "Fast Company" had its editorial team analyze information on thousands of businesses across the globe. It’s not just about revenue growth and profit margins; it’s about identifying creative models and progressive cultures -- to define the many forms of innovation that exist across the...

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 The new version introduces features to make it easier to create and edit snippets. Users can define a keyboard combination, also known as a hotkey, to open a quick entry window for snippet creation. The last-expanded snippet can also be edited via a hotkey, making it easier to keep snippet content updated. TextExpander 3 features new "fill-in" snippets. A fill-in snippet can have multiple blank fields in the snippet content that prompt for additional information to be entered manually. For example, a user can invoke a fill-in snippet for a receipt and proceed to fill in the name, product, and order number for the recipient. New options for searching and finding snippets have been added. Users can now locate snippets via a search field in the menu bar. They can also type a few letters and then display...

According to a new Stanford University study, iPhone users are becoming so reliant on their iPhones that they are actually reporting being addicted to their the Apple devices. Almost half of the respondents in the 200 person study acknowledged an iPhone addiction, reports "The Huffington Post" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/09/iphone-addiction-study-pa_n_490...). Students were asked to rate their addiction to their iPhones on a scale of one to five, from "not at all addicted" to "fully addicted." 45% answered with a four or above. The "Post" notes that the iPhone is seen less as an outside device and more of an extension of the person due to the amount of personal information held on it and the ways in which students use it to organize and facilitate their social lives. Stanford esearchers were surprised by how readily students seem to anthropomorphize the device.