Apple has confirmed (http://maps.apple.com/vehicles/) what's been suspected: that the company has been using a fleet of vehicles to collect street-level imagery for its Maps app for Mac OS X and iOS. "Apple is driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps," Apple says "Some of this data will be published in future Apple Maps updates. We are committed to protecting your privacy while collecting this data. For example, we will blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication." A new Transit view in an upcoming Maps update includes directions for public transportation like buses, trains, subways, and ferries. Maps can even survey the entrances and exits of a station so you can find the quickest way in and out. Transit in Maps will launch with support for many of the world’s most traveled cities (Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco,Toronto, Washington DC). The app will...

Excel Software (www.excelsoftware.com) has released AppProtect 4.0, an update of the protection software for Mac OS X and Windows. It applies protection with a human controlled or automated online activation process to a compiled application in minutes without programming, according to the folks at Excel. It supports MAX MSP 5, 6 or 7 music applications or Unity games. AppProtect works with OfficeProtect to generate a protected application from an Excel spreadsheet. AppProtect can be used to protect a standard Mac OS X application (.app), Windows executable (.exe) or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (.xlsm).  A single user license is US$295 on either Mac OS X (10.7 or later) Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 8.1) or Mac OS X 10.7 or later.

Apple has announced the 2015 Apple Design Award winners at this week's Worldwide Developer Conference. The award goes to developers whose iOS and OS X apps "combined design and technology in powerful ways." The iOS and Mac winners are: • Shadowmatic by TRIADA Studio • Metamorphabet by Vectorpark.com • Robinhood by Robinhood Markets, Inc. • Fantastical by Flexibits Inc. • Affinity Designer by Serif Labs • Crossy Road by Hipster Whale • Workflow by DeskConnect, Inc. • Does not Commute by Mediocre AB • Vain Glory by Super Evil Megacorp • Pacemaker by Pacemaker Music AB Student winners are: • Elementary Minute by Klemens Strasser • jump-O by ByteBrushers

Point In Space Internet Solutions has announced availability of FileMaker Pro 14 database hosting on FileMaker Server 14. "FileMaker Pro 14 provides many updates to the FileMaker product, including new scripting, design and performance features" says John May, Point In Space's President.  "By hosting on FileMaker Server 14, all of these new features are available to our clients." Point In Space is offering FileMaker Pro 14 hosting, available immediately, at the same price as their other FileMaker accounts. Current Point In Space customers should contact the company directly regarding details on migrating from previous FileMaker versions. Go to http://www.pointinspace.com/filemakerpro14hosting/ for more info.

Apple says Apple Pay is making everyday payments even better by adding support for rewards programs and store-issued credit and debit cards with iOS 9. It's also heading to the United Kingdom. Apple Pay in the US is expanding merchant acceptance to over one million locations next month and bringing support for Discover this fall. With this addition, the payment system will accept credit and debit cards across all major card networks, issued by the most popular banks, representing 98% of all credit card purchase volume in the US, says Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Internet Services, With the addition of Apple Pay, the Passbook app in iOS has become much more than simply a place for keeping coupons, gift cards, boarding passes and tickets. So, starting this fall with iOS 9, it's been renamed Wallet, bringing additional options at checkout with Apple Pay support for rewards and store-issued credit and debit cards. To get the most out of purchases, users add participating...

Apple has introduced Apple Music, an app that the company says "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, says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. It will be available starting on June 30 in over 100 countries. 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. You can stream any song, album or playlist you choose — or let Apple Music do the work for you.  Curation is the soul of every playlist created...

Apple has unveiled iOS 9, giving a preview of new iPhone, iPad and iPod touch software that will be available this fall. In this upcoming release, iOS devices become more intelligent and proactive with powerful search and improved Siri features — all without compromising users’ privacy, according to according to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. New multitasking features designed specifically for iPad allow you to work with two apps simultaneously, side-by-side or with the new Picture-in-Picture feature, to keep watching a video while browsing the web, composing email or using any other app. Built-in apps become more powerful in iOS 9 with detailed transit information in Maps, a redesigned Notes app with new ways to capture ideas, and an all-new News app for the best news reading experience on any mobile device. "iOS 9 is packed with more intelligence throughout, and delivers big updates to the apps customers use most — Maps supports public...

Troi Automatisering (www.troi.com) has released Troi Encryptor Plug-in 3.0 for FileMaker Pro 14. It's an update of the tool for for securing your FileMaker data, exporting or emailing your data without risk and importing safely back into FileMaker. Version 3.0 adds support for 64-bit architecture with FileMaker Pro 14. It also adds AES-256 bit encryption, up from 128-bit in earlier versions. A fully functional demo version of Troi Encryptor Plug-in 3.0 is available for downloading at Troi's website. Troi Encryptor Plug-in 3.0 works with FileMaker Pro 12, 13 and 14. The plug-in can also be used with runtimes created by FileMaker Advanced 12, 13 and 14. The plug-in is available for OS X 10.6.x or higher, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Licenses cost US$79 per user. Details on developer licenses and multi-user discounts can be found on the Troi web site. Troi Encryptor Plug-in 3.0 also works with FileMaker Server 12, 13 and 14 as a server-side plug-in and as a plug...

MacPlay has announced that Colossal Order's hit title, Cities in Motion Collection, is now available on the Mac App Store. It requires Mac OS X 10.6.3 or higher. Cities in Motion is a city-based mass transportation simulator. Players operate their own transportation company, building a public network with a variety of vehicle types, including buses, trams, and subway trains. By meeting the needs of city residents, the player tries to make as much profit as possible. To celebrate the release, Cites in Motion Collection is available during the month of June for 50% off the regular price: US$24.99 instead of $49.99. Cities in Motion Collection includes the Cities in Motion and all DLC and cities.

AltConf has received a letter from Apple’s legal representatives demanding that AltConf refrain from streaming or displaying any video content from the Apple Worldwide Develper Conference. This includes the Keynote and State of the Union stream on Monday, June 8, which has been a part of the AltConf program for the last few years. This also affects the Viewing Room, where video sessions from WWDC were going to be shown in the hopes to create a collective place where AltConf attendees could view and discuss WWDC content together. All AltConf speaking sessions have remained untouched and will proceed as scheduled. Hero tickets are unaffected, as these only apply to seating in the two speaking theaters of AltConf. According to the correspondence from Apple’s legal representatives, “Apple exercises control over not only the content of its messaging, but also the manner in which those messages are packaged, distributed and delivered.” AltConf’s streaming of Apple content “would strip...

Apple has announced that the Apple Watch will be available in Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan beginning Friday, June 26 from the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.  "The response to Apple Watch has surpassed our expectations in every way, and we are thrilled to bring it to more customers around the world," says Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice president of Operations, in a press announcement. "We’re also making great progress with the backlog of Apple Watch orders, and we thank our customers for their patience. All orders placed through May, with the sole exception of Apple Watch 42 mm Space Black Stainless Steel with Space Black Link Bracelet, will ship to customers within two weeks. At that time, we’ll also begin selling some models in our Apple Retail Stores." The Apple Watch is available in three collections: Apple Watch Sport, priced at $349 and $399; Apple Watch, available from $549 to $1,099;...

Metason (http://www.metason.net) has released ArtistInfo 2.4 , an update to their Mac OS app that presents a concise overview of artists involved in a music album. Band members, musicians' biographies, played music instruments, discographies, performed musical genres, and upcoming concerts are displayed in detail. Version 2.4 offers synchronization with Spotify, and supports the playback of discovered album tracks and songs using either the local iTunes music collection or Spotify's audio streaming. ArtistInfo requires Mac OS X 10.9 or later. It costs US$5.99 and is available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Music category.

Storek Studio (http://storekstudio.com) has introduced nVeil for Mac OS X, a graphic remix tool. The app generates works of digital abstract cubism by filtering photos or video through vector-drawn veils. Colors and motion come from the source imagery, and can be further modified with nVeil's controls. The app plays with the hidden image, always displaying a harmonic palette of colors, and syncs most music with nVeiled video, through the proximal incidence algorithm. nVeil requires Mac OS X 10.7 and higher. It's comprised of two Mac apps, nVplay and nVmake. nVplay costs US$29 and includes 100 predesigned veils. nVmake, the veil-making app, is priced at $39. Both apps are available in a $49 bundle.

Zevrix Solutions (www.zevrix.com) has released LinkOptimizer 4.9.44, a maintenance update to its workflow automation solution for Adobe InDesign. LinkOptimizer allows users to reduce the size of InDesign links and speed up processing by automatically eliminating excess image data, performing essential image adjustments and converting file formats. The new version recognizes profiles in user's ColorSync folder, improves alpha channels handling during format conversion and introduces other bug fixes and improvements. LinkOptimizer 4.9.44 requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher and is available for purchase from the Zevrix website for US$259.95 (there's a "lite" version for $179.95) as well as from authorized resellers and Adobe Exchange. A demo version is available for download. The update is free for LinkOptimizer 4.x users and is a $130 to upgrade from previous versions.

Xojo, the company that enables 290,000 developers to build native cross-platform applications for the web, mobile and desktop, has announced a Xojo game coding competition open to the entire Xojo community. Xojo Wars is a programmable space battle and was designed by Xojo, Inc. Using Xojo, participants implement the intelligence for their space ship to fight three other ships in a series of battles. Using the guides provided by Xojo, Inc., participants can control the ship direction, firing, tracking of enemies and more. "You don’t need to have a lot of programming experience to enter," says Paul Lefebvre Xojo’s developer evangelist and Xojo Wars creator. "It’s designed so that even new users can get up to speed quickly. Xojo is free to use for learning and development, so no purchase is necessary to participate in the gaming competition." Xojo is offering a kickoff webinar that will include all of the information needed to participate, it can also be viewed on-demand after it airs....

Lutron Electronics (www.casetawireless.com) says its Caséta Wireless Smart Bridge now supports Apple's HomeKit. The Smart Bridge is part of the Caséta Wireless Lighting Starter Kit. With the HomeKit-enabled Smart Bridge, homeowners can now control their Lutron Caséta Wireless dimmers using Siri on their iPhone or iPad. The Caséta Wireless Smart Bridge with HomeKit support allows homeowners to control lights in specific rooms or areas. For example, just before bed, tell Siri “turn the lights off” and the Caséta Wireless Smart Bridge will turn off lights throughout the house. Unsure if the basement light is still on? Ask Siri to check and if so, turn it off. The Caséta Wireless can also be set to recognize a user’s location automatically. Through geofencing, lights will automatically be turned on as you approach your home so that you never come home to a dark house. The Caséta Wireless Lighting Starter Kit, with HomeKit-enabled Smart Bridge, is available for US$229.95 at Apple Stores...

Open source devotees aren’t quite as addicted to Apple as other people online, but they still use Apple overwhelmingly over other products and systems. Web application developer Eldarion (www.eldarion.com) conducted an online survey of people who use and contribute to open source, people who use open source but don’t contribute to it, and people who neither contribute nor (knowingly) use open source. 132 people responded to the survey in March and April 2015. ° Nearly three out of four (73%) open source contributors use at least some Apple products. ° The majority of open source contributors (65%) use OS X as their main operating system, with 22% using Linux and 8% using Microsoft Windows. ° More than one in two (57%) open source contributors surveyed use the iPhone, while 38% use an Android phone. ° The top reason given by open source contributors for choosing Apple was “I like the ecosystem” (33%), followed by “dependability” (30%), “better than Microsoft (21%), and “other” (16...

iHome says its HomeKit-enabled smart plug (model iSP5) will be available for pre-order on June 15 at iHome.com for US$39.99 and is expected to start hitting retail destinations in late June and throughout July.    With the HomeKit-enabled iHome iSP5 SmartPlug, consumers can use Siri or the iHome Control app to control lamps, fans and other home devices from anywhere with their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Users can also group several iHome SmartPlugs into individual “scenes” to control multiple connected devices within a home. Additionally, the iHome Control app allows for the creation of custom scenes to control multiple SmartPlugs with a single command, or to create schedules for complete home automation. Its fits a standard wall socket and won't block the other outlet. The slim design allows for one plug to be free, or the installation of two SmartPlugs in one standard wall socket. The iHome iSP5 SmartPlug requires a Wi-Fi connection and HomeKit requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod...

EPI (www.lcdmonitors.philips.com) has announced the Philips UltraClear 40-inch 4K UHD Display (BDM4065UC), an Ultra High Definition with a 40-inch diagonal and 3840 x 2160 resolution. It delivers four times as much detail as 1080p Full HD. The sleek display features an ultra-narrow bezel to complement any modern space. The Philips UltraClear 40-inch 4K UHD Display is now available on Amazon.com for US$799. The UltraClear utilizes high performance panels with high density pixel count, true 8-bit + FRC color depth and high bandwidth sources like Displayport, HDMI, Dual link DVI and MHL. The panel’s optimized pixel management technology offers 176/176 degree extra wide viewing angle. 
The display also features MultiView functionality to enable active dual connect and view so that users can work with multiple devices like computers and laptop side-by-side simultaneously.

The Creative Pro User Group (CPUG) Network says the inaugural Bay Area SuperMeetUp will take place on Friday, June 26, 2015, at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Held in association with Future Media Concepts and the FCPX Creative Summit, the Bay Area SuperMeetUp will feature a keynote by Randy Ubillos (pictured), former chief architect of Final Cut Pro at Apple. In addition to Ubillos, there will be presentations by Blackmagic Design, Adobe, Other World Computing and That Studio. Ubillos recently retired from Apple after 20 years. In that time he was chief architect on a wide range of products such as Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro X, Aperture, iMovie '08 through '11, and iPhoto for iOS. In addition, he also created versions 1 through 4.2 of Adobe Premiere Pro. Doors will open at 5 p.m. with the "SuperMeetUp Digital Showcase," featuring over a dozen software and hardware developers including Atomos, Boris FX, FCPWORKS, Flanders Scientific, HDDISK, Imagineer,...

AKVIS (www.akvis.com) has announced AKVIS SmartMask 7.0 for Mac OS X (10.6 and higher) and Windows. The app lets you create selections and mask objects on images. Version 7.0 brings new features and tools: Refine Edges, standard selection tools, new post-processing tools' options, new Print options, and other changes and improvements. All registered users of SmartMask can upgrade to the new version for free. A 10-day demo is available for download. A Home license is US$69. AKVIS subscribers can buy the product at a special reduced price of 10% off. One license key allows activating and using the software on two computers.

Stopframe has published the Apple Watch eGuide, an US$2.99, 157-page eBook by author T.A. Rudderham that's available in Apple's iBookstore that's packed with Apple Watch tips and tutorials. Readers will learn how the Apple Watch is made, discover in-depth guides to apps, and more. The eBook also looks at technologies such as haptic feedback, a flexible Retina display, the Digital Crown and a heart rate monitor. Apple Watch eGuide works with any iOS device with iBooks 1.5 or later and iOS 4.3.3 or later or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later.

24U Software (www.24usoftware.com/) has released 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In 5.0, an upgrade to their popular FileMaker plugin for Mac OS X and Windows. 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In enables FileMaker Pro 14 to display dynamically created OS-native error messages, input dialogs, and progress bars in both 32-bit and 64-bit modes. Version 5.0 takes full advantage of the 64-bit architecture. It also( offers better stability when multiple copies of the plug-in are accidentally installed at the same time. 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In 5.0 is available for download free of charge as a fully functional 14-days trial version; it can be activated after purchasing a license. Licenses for 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In start at US$49) per user; volume discounts are available for five or more users. Existing customers can upgrade to the new version at 50% off the regular prices if placing an order within 14 days upon release -- and 30 % off if buying later. Customers who have bought 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In on or...