Colligo, which specializes in enterprise SharePoint collaboration, has launched Colligo Briefcase for Mac, which integrates SharePoint into the Finder. SharePoint is enterprise collaboration software from Microsoft. "The Colligo Briefcase product suite extends capabilities offered by Microsoft’s OneDrive for Business (formerly SkyDrive Pro) solution by including support for a broad range of platforms — including Mac, iOS and Windows — allowing connectivity to both on-premise and cloud-based SharePoint, and providing advanced ECM features such as email management and metadata," says Trevor Dyck, director, Product Management, Colligo. He adds that areas where Briefcase for Mac benefits companies are:   ° User adoption: allowing access to company-wide projects across PC, Mac and handheld device users, means employees can engage more easily in company-wide projects, where those would have been difficult for Mac users with a previously poor experience.   ° Document management: where Mac...

Alchaemy has introduced customization options for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines. The company says it doesn't paint your Apple laptop, but anodizes it the way Apple does so it has the same finish. There are various customization choices. For example, Alchaemy can customize your MacBook Pro with Retina display in 15 color options — plus tweak a 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display to match. There are two processes: COLORZ, which coats the standard aluminum with the color of your choice, and SHYNE, which plates your device in chrome, black diamond. You can send in an existing device to be transformed, or buy a new one from Alchaemy. Pricing varies by customization request and the system to be customized. Basic customizations start at US$99. Go to www.alchaemy.com for more info.

Apple has announced that leading auto manufacturers are rolling out CarPlay, the "smarter, safer and more fun way" to use iPhone in the car. It gives iPhone users a way to make calls, use Maps, listen to music and access messages with just a word or a touch. Users can control CarPlay from the car’s native interface or just push-and-hold the voice control button on the steering wheel to activate Siri without distraction. Vehicles from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will premiere CarPlay to their drivers this week, while additional auto manufacturers bringing CarPlay to their drivers down the road include BMW Group, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia Motors, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor Company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota Motor Corp.  "CarPlay has been designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car," says Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPhone and iOS...

A German court has thrown out two patent lawsuits against Apple by non-practicing IP licensing firm IPCom, one of which sought US$2.2 billion in damages over alleged infringement of a wireless patent, reports "FOSS Patents" (http://tinyurl.com/nnclgfu). Early this month IPCom accused Apple of using a patent for technology that gives emergency calls priority on mobile networks. The company says the patent is essential to the implementation of 3G mobile standards, and a narrowed version of the patent was upheld by the European Patent Office (EPO) last month following challenges from Apple, Nokia, HTC, Ericsson and Vodafone.

Beltone First has hit the market. It's a hearing aid capable of streaming  stereo sound from an iPhone, iPad and iPod touch without the need for an additional pendant-like device. Wearers can also customize their hearing experience through the Beltone HearPlus app. The app allows users to set preferred volume levels as well as treble/bass settings, and use geo-tagging to assign and adjust to the acoustics of frequently visited places like home, work, favorite restaurants and more. Beltone HearPlus also features a "Find My Hearing Aid" function to help users pinpoint their hearing aids if misplaced. Go to www.beltone.com for more info.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) concluded that Samsung’s claims that Apple infringed on its wireless patents are acceptable, and does not violate the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing principles, reports "The Korea Times" (http://tinyurl.com/kkywrlj). “What’s important is how sincerely the two companies tried to resolve the patent dispute, but it is difficult to believe that Apple was sincere in negotiating with Samsung to iron out their differences,” an FTC official said. “Therefore, we don’t think Samsung unfairly used the lawsuit to hinder Apple’s business activities.” This is all part of the ongoing, global legal battle. Apple and Samsung have filed more than 30 lawsuits against each other across four continents. For example, Apple alleges that Samsung copied the slide-to-unlock technology of its iPhone and iPad devices.

UT Wire has introduced the Cable Station 2 and Cable Station Mini for organizing and accessing cords. The Cable Station offers a way to organize messy and tangled cables on a desk. It creates a station for loose cords that can be mounted using double sided tape on the top, back or side of a desk, table or media stand to gather and organize multiple cords from the computer, router, speakers, telephone and more.   The five slots store individual cords separately, holding them in place and preventing loose cords from slipping under the desk. Individual cords can be extended or removed, and the Cable Station can be written on so you can identify which cord belongs to which device.   Available in two sizes, the 2.75-inch Cable Station 2 and 1.5-inch Cable Station Mini have a manufacturer's suggested retail price of US$5.99 each. Go to www.UT-Wire.com for more info.

Brotens has announced Room Lighting Calc for Mac OS X. It's an OpenGL native Cocoa application designed to perform lighting calculations for prismatic rooms. According to the folks at Brotens, with Room Lighting Calc you don’t need to be a specialist. Simply fill the form and in few seconds you’ll be able to prepare a complete and professional lighting report, formatted wit your style, they add. Room Lighting Calc works with parametric 3D objects (faces, vaults, quadric, domes, cubes, spheres, cones, etc..) used for modeling. The light sources are managed entirely by RoomLightingCalc, which allows you to import, display, edit and format IESNA LM-63 (American standards), EULUMDAT (European standards) and even DXF data files. Room Lighting Calc requires Mac OS X 10. or higher. A demo is available at the Brotens web site (www.brotens.com). Registration is US$ 69.99.

Managing Editor Inc. (MEI) has released Page Director Ad Layout System 5.7, ALS for Magazines 5.7 and AdForce 5.7. For ad layout groups working in Adobe InDesign, ALS 5.7 is compatible with Creative Cloud. For QuarkXPress users, ALS 5.7 is also compatible with QuarkXPress 10. In addition to supporting the latest page layout software, ALS 5.7 includes numerous bug fixes. ALS 5.7 is certified to run natively on Intel-based Macs running Mac OS X 10.6.8 and higher. ALS for Magazines 5.7, a version of MEI's ad-placement solution, and AdForce 5.7, a system for ad-layout and issue-management designed for small to mid-size newspapers, are also universal applications. Upgrading is free for customers in MEI's Premium Site Support Agreement program. For more info go to http://www.maned.com .

TransGaming says three new DLC packs for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified on Mac, are now available for purchase on the Mac App Store.The DLC content includes the following:    ° The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Hangar 6 R&D: "In the days leading up to the events of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, Agent Nico DaSilva volunteers for a series of secret psycho-medical experiments to identify and treat a terrifying new pathogen. Maximize your combat skills and push your team to its limits to protect them from terrifying hallucinations as the experiments turn dangerous."   ° The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - CodeBreakers: "A top secret government communications facility responsible for intercepting and decoding enemy transmissions has gone radio-silent. In a desperate attempt to turn the tides of the secret war, Special Agent Carter and his squad must investigate the incident, eliminate any threats, and make contact with personnel in order to bring the facility back online and crack the...

The Walt Disney Studios has unveiled its exclusive cloud-based digital movie service, Disney Movies Anywhere. This all-new app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and Web experience enables consumers to discover, purchase, manage, and watch movies from Disney, Pixar, and Marvel at home and on the go. iTunes is the premier digital movie provider for Disney Movies Anywhere. The debut of Disney Movies Anywhere coincides with the digital release of Disney's hit film "Frozen" and features Disney's library of over 400 active digital titles. In addition, for a limited time, Disney Movies Anywhere users who activate and connect their Disney Movies Anywhere account to their iTunes account will receive a free digital copy of Disney Pixar's animated film, "The Incredibles." Disney Movies Anywhere unlocks digital content across platforms and devices, enabling access to user-owned Disney digital content and movies in the Disney Movies Anywhere ecosystem and through iTunes. Consumers canL explore live...

St. Clair Software has rolled out an update (version 2.0.1) for App Tamer, its Mac utility that manages applications to deliver more efficient CPU usage and increased battery life. App Tamer's unique AutoStop capability automatically slows down or pauses applications when you switch away from them, and then restarts them when you click back to them. Version 2.0.1 addresses several performance issues, as well as fixing problems that were reported by users of version 2.0. App Tamer will operate on any Mac running Mac OS X version 10.7 or higher. You can try App Tamer free for 15 days. A license to continue using it after the trial period is US$14.95. If you bought App Tamer 2.0 this update is free. If you purchased App Tamer 1.x after July 1, 2013 the update is also free. If you purchased your license before that date you can upgrade for $7.9. Go to http://www.stclairsoft.com/ for more info.

Stefan Preuss has introduced AcChen 1.0 for Mac OS X. It's a "find the matching tile" type of game. Here's how it's described: "Clear the board by finding two items with identical symbols. Master the 60 different levels and 12 bonus maps in the single player campaign. Every 5th level you play is a bonus level. Unlock new levels by beating the clock or play in 'chill mode' without any pressure: no timer, no score just happy tile hunting." AcChen requires Mac OS X 10.8 or later. It costs US$2.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Games category. Go to http://miscstuff.de for more info.

Mapdiva has unveiled Artboard 1.9, an update of the Mac OS X graphics design app for creating vector drawings and illustrations. The new version adds text styles. 
With Artboard, you can design logos, posters, floor plans, technical drawings, fun fashions, web graphics, and more. Unlike pixel-based images, vector graphics are composed of editable objects that are scalable. Artboard requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later. It costs US$29.99 and is available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Graphics & Design category. It is a free update for current users of the app. A free trial is available from Mapdiva online (http://www.mapdiva.com/artboard/).

Adobe has announced Camera Raw 8.4 Release Candidate for Mac OS X and Windows. It adds support for 14 cameras, including Nikon D4s, Canon EOS Rebel t5 and Fujifilm X-TI. The release candidate also includes a new preview mechanism for better before/after image comparisons and an improved set of color matching profiles for Fujifilm X-Trans cameras. What's more, it corrects issues reported from the Camera Raw 8.3 release. Camera Raw 8.4 is available as a free update for both Photoshop CC and Photoshop CS6. Please note that Camera Raw 8.4 for CS6 only includes updated camera and lens profile support as part of the recent camera raw policy change.  Go to http://labs.adobe.com for more info.

Timo Josten has given us Dropshare 2.1 for the Mac. It's a maintenance upgrade. Dropshare is a menu bar app that enables you to drag and drop files, screenshots and even directories to your own server to share them. For it to work correctly, you have to have a server of your choice and a working SSH user account at your disposal. Dropshare 2.1 costs US$1.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Utilities category. It requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later. Go to http://mkswap.net/dropshare/ for more info.

IK Multimedia has announced T-RackS CS 4.5, the newest release of the T-RackS CS (Custom Shop) mixing and mastering plug-in. The new version includes a model of what can be considered the "holy grail" of mastering EQs plus multiple enhancements of the T-RackS Custom Shop environment aimed at streamlining its usability for both previous and new users, according to the folks at IK Multimedia. It offers a mixing and mastering shell system that allows the user to have up to 26 outboard processors all available in one product for your DAW or desktop, both singularly or together. The Master EQ 432 is available from the IK Store or from the T-RackS Custom Shop for an introductory price of $149.99. All other T-RackS processors are also available for purchase from the IK Store or directly from within the T-RackS CS "Custom Shop" app. Individual pricing varies. T-RackS CS is a free application that can be downloaded after registration from IK Multimedia's T-RackS web site. Go to www.t-racks....

Ripeware has released Presentation Prompter 5.2. It's an update of the Mac teleprompter app built for performers, speakers, newscasters, actors, narrators, and anyone else who has ever used cue cards or read from a script. The new version has a revamped prompting engine that improves scrolling performance on OS X Mavericks and on Macs with Retina displays.  It also adds support for prompting on as many displays as your Mac can support. Presentation Prompter is available for US$99 at http://presentationprompter.com  and on the Mac App Store. It requires OS X 10.6 or newer. A demo is available for download.

LaCie has announced the availability of 5TB, 7200 rpm hard-drive capacities in its 5big Thunderbolt Series, 2big Thunderbolt Series and d2 Thunderbolt Series. The deliver external storage products that range from 5TB single drive systems to 25TB RAID. LaCie’s 5big Thunderbolt now features a capacity of up to 25TB, which makes it the largest 5-bay storage solution on the market. It also boasts speeds up to 785MB/second. All products can be purchased at the LaCie Online Store and LaCie Resellers. Pricing starts at US$449.99 for the 5GB 5big Thunderbolt drive. Go to www.lacie.com for more info.

Jane Jensen has entered into an agreement with Phoenix Online Publishing, the new independent publishing division of Phoenix Online Studios, to release her upcoming adventure game Moebius: Empire Rising for Mac and PC systems on April 15. Pricing hasn't been announced. Here's how the game is described "In Moebius: Empire Rising, players will step into the shoes of Malachi Rector, a high-end antiquities dealer with a photographic memory, a genius for history, and an uncanny talent for discerning genuine artifacts from cheap knock-offs. At the request of a secretive government agency, Malachi flies to Venice to determine whether a recently-murdered woman resembles any particular figure in history. "Why would the U.S. government offer him $50,000 to perform this odd job? Why does a stranger he meets randomly in the desert seem like someone he's known all his life? And how come every time Malachi lets down his guard, someone tries to kill him?   "In the layered mystery of Moebius: Empire...

Convert64, a base64 encoder, for Mac OS X has been revved to version 2.1.0. The app lets you determine what type a file is, encode or decode base 64 files, embed image data into the HTML of your website, and more. Convert64 2.1.0 sports Retina display support as well as performance tweaks and bug fixes. It requires a 64-bit Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. Convert64 2.1.0 costs US$2.99 and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Utilities category. Go to http://www.45rpmsoftware.com/convert64.php for more info.

Jumsoft (http://www.jumsoft.com) has again increased its product assortment with the latest update to Toolbox for Pages 1.2.10 for Apple's page layout application. The update adds 58 fresh Pages themes, 10 pattern sets, seven frame themes, and 20 other sets of design elements to the current selection. The designs can be used for creating and illustrating brochures, catalogs, proposals, and other types of content. The new illustration sets are also available in Toolbox for Keynote. Toolbox for Pages is a free download at the Mac App Store that offers a way to view and purchase Jumsoft's product sets for Apple's Pages application. In total, the collection contains hundreds of Pages templates as well as clipart images, doodles, patterns, frames, bullets, and other items. Users can purchase these by piece, by category, or by set. In addition, the first item in each category can be downloaded at no charge. For prices of the in-app purchases, visit their respective pages on the Mac App...

FxFactory has introduced Bristol to its family of SUGARfx plugins. An animated 3D theme, it uses 15 animated elements that can be completely customized to fit any project. With Bristol, you can use main titles, multiple screen bumpers, title generators and transition elements to create anything from a clean, monochromatic look to a design with a wild color combination, according to the folks at FxFactory. The plugin was designed for exclusive use in FCP X. Bristol is available for US$49. For more info go to http://fxfactory.com/info/bristol/ .

Enolsoft has released PDF Toolset for Mac. It's a multifunctional PDF tool with an optimized SDK [software development kit] and advanced OCR [optical character recognition] engine embed. PDF Toolset is equipped with a set of technical tools for manipulating PDF files. Users can manage PDF pages with merging and splitting, compress PDF files with five modes and extract images and text from PDF with OCR on a Mac. Enolsoft PDF Toolset for Mac is available now through the Enolsoft website (http://www.enolsoft.com). The retail price of Enolsoft PDF Toolset for Mac is US$29. A demo is available for download.