LEGO Star Wars: Complete Saga available on the Mac App Store
Feral Interactive says LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is now available on the Mac App Store. It requires Mac OS X 10.6.7 or higher, costs US$29.99 and is available in the Games category.
Developed by TT Games and LucasArts, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga uses LEGO bricks to recreate the scenes, characters and settings from all six Star Wars movies in a universe packed with 36 levels of action and tongue-in-cheek humor. Characters such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, C-3PO and R2-D2, players live out the scenes from the movies -- while building objects out of LEGO bricks and knocking them down, and collecting LEGO studs to unlock new characters and content.
The game also features multiplayer co-op abilities that allow a second player to join, dropping in at any time to help the first player complete missions or master tricky tasks. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga lets you unlock more than 160 characters from the Star Wars movies.
FCPUG SuperMeet coming to London June 23
The Final Cut Pro User Group Network says the London FCPUG SuperMeet will return to the Great Hall at the Kensington Conference and Event Centre in London, England on Thursday, June 23.
The final agenda won't be announced until shortly before the event date; however, producer, director, editor, consultant and Apple-Certified trainer Larry Jordan will present info on the latest in Final Cut Pro. In addition, Colorist Alexis Van Hurkman will show off DaVinci Resolve 8 from Blackmagic Design.
Autodesk's Joe Billington will demystify Smoke on Mac OS X. And there will be special user-generated films from Red Giant Software and Genarts. Rounding out the evening will be the "World Famous Raffle."
Doors to the SuperMeet will open at about 19:00 with the SuperMeet Digital Showcase, featuring over 15 software and hardware developers including Blackmagic Design, AV3/GET, Genarts, G-Tech, Jigsaw, LaCie, Red Giant Software, London Filter Company, Qube Master, Tiffen, and others. Here, attendees...
PointWorks releases PrimeFiles 1.5.5 for Mac OS X
PointWorks has released PrimeFiles 1.5.5 for Mac OS X. In the new version, folders can be browsed using the global menu. Version 1.5.5 is also ready for Mac OS X Lion.
PrimeFiles lets users collect, access, browse and preview their favorite and frequently used apps, files or folders. Users can create collections without rearranging any files in the Finder. What's more, they can launch applications or open documents and add information such as a comment, tags or a rating to personalize each item.
PrimeFiles will store a link to each file, so the original files are neither rearranged in the Finder nor moved to a proprietary database. This allows users to create collections of items related to a certain task or job while keeping the original files at their locations.
PrimeFiles 1.5 requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later and an Intel Mac. It costs US$19.95 and is available at the PointWorks online store (http://www.pointworks.de/). A 15-day trial version is available for download.
Vitamin-R update for Mac OS X adds Growl notifications
Publicspace.net has released Vitamin-R 1.64 (http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/index.html), an update of its Mac OS X compatible productivity tool for creative professionals. The new version adds support for the Growl notification framework.
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 10.6 or higher.
The single user version of...
DisplayLink launches new Mac drivers
DisplayLink has launched new software drivers for Mac OS X, its first major Mac driver update in over a year.
Immediately available for download from http://www.displaylink.com, the DisplayLink version 1.6 drivers feature improved performance and other enhancements that help Mac users create multi-monitor computing setups with USB 2.0 cables.
DisplayLink’s USB virtual graphics technology allows any Intel-based Mac to connect up to four separate monitors over USB. The newest driver also supports the USB video of various USB docking station products.
DisplayLink’s USB Graphics Macintosh Driver 1.6 supports Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. There's a beta driver for Lion now available on the DisplayLink Forum.
Package Central 1.2 ready for InDesign CS 5.5
Zevrix Solutions has announced updated Package Central (http://zevrix.com/PackageCentral.php), a document packaging workflow automation solution for Adobe InDesign, to version 1.2. The new version is compatible with InDesign CS 5.5.
Originally developed for a publisher in the United States, the software automates InDesign packaging by processing files from hotfolders. Package Central offloads packaging to a central system, leaving operator workstations free from the output process. The software offers font auto-activation, e-mail notifications, detailed logs and more.
Package Central can be purchased for US$299.95 from the Zevrix Solutions website, as well as from authorized resellers. A demo is available for download. Package Central runs on Mac OS X 10.4.2 or higher, is a Universal Binary, and works with Adobe InDesign CS2-CS5.5.
Jumsoft releases iWork templates for the iPhone
Jumsoft (http://www.jumsoft.com) has launched a template set for Pages for the iPhone, an adapted version of its Inspiration Set for iPad. The new universal Inspiration Set for iOS includes 55 templates.
Inspiration Set for iOS provides a selection of templates from greeting cards and invitations to flyers and brochures. Some templates are composed of up to four different sections, so that the package supplies nearly 90 layouts.
Most elements in Inspiration Set for iOS can be recolored, moved, or removed. Users can type or paste in their own text, add and remove text boxes, and change the fonts. Stock images can be replaced with users' own photos or pictures. All 55 templates included are available in both A4 size, the standard paper size in most countries and U.S. Letter, the most common paper format in the United States and Canada.
Inspiration Set for iOS 1.2 costs US$1.99. It's available worldwide exclusively through the Apple App Store in the Productivity category.
OrgPublisher ready for Mac OS X, Safari
Aquire (http://www.aquire.com), which specializes in workforce planning and analytics solutions, has released OrgPublisher 10.1, the newest version of the company’s intelligent organizational charting and workforce reporting software used by human resources professionals at enterprise companies around the globe.
Multi-language publishing features and additional browser capabilities add versatility to the upgrades launched in version 10.0 last December. Version 10.1 benefits from the interactivity of the Microsoft Silverlight application framework. Users now have the ability to view charts and reports on additional operating systems (Mac OS X and Linux) and through more browser options, including Safari and Mozilla Firefox, than ever before.
These additional options allow increased accessibility to view and distribute charts and graphs to increased users across more systems, says Lois Melbourne, CEO and co-founder of Acquire. The built-in Silverlight technology also updates the look...
Many Tricks updates Mac OS X window moving, zooming utility
Many Tricks (http://manytricks.com) has released version 2.0 of Moom, the successor to their window zooming and moving utility. The upgrade offers the same mouse and keyboard interfaces of its predecessor, but expands its powers with an entirely new Custom feature.
The Custom feature allows users to create customized Moom actions. These actions can then be accessed via a drop-down menu in Moom's mouse interface, via Moom's menu bar icon, or via user-assigned keyboard shortcuts.
Each of these customized actions also includes a special menu icon that reflects the defined action. For example, if a user creates an action that moves a window to the left edge, and sizes it at 50% of the screen's width, then the icon will reflect the left edge position and 50% size. Users can also group related tasks together, and distinguish those groups via menu separators and titles.
Moom 2 is a free upgrade for all purchasers of Moom 1.x, whether those users purchased directly from Many Tricks or via...
ATTO Technology announces support for Mac OS X Lion
ATTO Technology (http://www.attotech.com) says it's readied driver support for its 8Gb/s and 4Gb/s Celerity Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s ExpressSAS/SATA HBAs and RAID Adapters, as well as its Ultra 320 ExpressPCI SCSI line of HBAs, for Mac OS X Lion. A
“The availability of these drivers reinforces ATTO’s commitment to the Apple market by delivering support for the newest developer’s preview of Apple’s operating system, OS X Lion," says said Wayne Arvidson, vice president of marketing at ATTO. "Mac users can now choose from a full spectrum of high-performance adapters for SCSI, Fibre Channel and SAS environment.”
ATTO offers several productivity and performance-enhancing solutions for the Apple market also supporting the developer’s preview of Lion. Xtend SAN software allows Mac users to garner the benefits of Internet SCSI (iSCSI), one of the fastest growing storage networking protocols today, Arvidson says.
With iSCSI, users can take advantage of...
Apple releases iBooks 1.3
Apple has released iBooks 1.3 (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8#), an update of its free reading app for iOS devices.
iBooks includes the iBookstore, where you can download the latest books or your favorite classics. You can browse your library on a beautiful bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a tap, and bookmark or add notes to your favorite passages.
Version 1.3 can "Help your children learn to read with the new read-aloud feature included in select children's books from the iBookstore," says Apple. It's a 15.3MB download.
Asigra introduces enterprise cloud backup solution
Asigra (http://www.asigra.com) a cloud back-up recovery and restore (BURR) software provider since 1986, has launched Asigra Cloud Backup 11 with Cloud BURR industry firsts, including: data protection of handheld devices; the first multi-tenanted client to reduce management resources; and an automated cloud license server.
The new software is the first enterprise-class cloud backup platform to protect the entire digital footprint (storage, servers, desktops, and laptops on the enterprise LAN as well as remote tablets, smartphones, and laptops), provide data Recovery and Restore Assurance (R2A) for consumers, and establish new performance benchmarks.
Asigra Cloud Backup 11 provides a single, adaptable, and flexible Cloud BURR platform for end-to-end data protection -- from handhelds to distributed data centers. As users today generate business content on their mobile devices (tablets and smartphones), corporate IT must respond and protect this data to ensure compliance requirements...
iPad update accelerating within enterprise IT
Rove (http://www.roveit.com), a provider of mobile IT management solutions, says the release of Rove Mobile Admin which now turns the iPad into a high-performing, secure IT management platform, is experiencing dramatic sales growth.
“The iPad is a real game changer for the IT support discipline," says Russell Ure, President and COO of Rove. “It combines both mobility and a powerful diagnostic tool that allows IT admins to more effectively work with their users and be less tied to their desks. Six months ago we saw a few pilot installations; since then approximately half of the 3100 organizations who deployed Mobile Admin are actively investigating the deployment of iPads.”
Quark introduces new usability features in Quark XML Author 4
Quark has introduced Quark XML Author 4.0 for Microsoft Word, which allows users to create structured XML content in the word processor.
The release of Quark XML Author 4.0 introduces new usability features, enhanced DITA mapping features, and an optional module for publishing to the DITA Open Toolkit. Quark XML Author 4.0 also supports Microsoft Office 2010. The new version continues to close the gap between word processing and complex XML schemas for non-technical Word users, says Michael Boses, director of XML products for Quark. New usability features provide users more ways to create complex XML within Word that would otherwise require complex coding.
Quick Start Templates are custom starter documents that provide guidance to users. Guidance can come in the form of custom instructions, examples, placeholders, and other features. Display of guidance text can be toggled on and off.
Intelligent Styles replace XML elements with improved Word Styles and can be accessed with a single...
Apple sends message to MobileMe users
Users of Apple's MobileMe service have received the following email from Apple:
"Dear MobileMe member,
"We'd like to share some exciting news with you about iCloud -- Apple’s upcoming cloud service, which stores your content and wirelessly pushes it to your devices. iCloud integrates seamlessly with your apps, so everything happens automatically. Available this fall, iCloud is free for iOS 5 and OS X Lion users.
"What does this mean for you as a MobileMe member?
"When you sign up for iCloud, you'll be able to keep your MobileMe email address and move your mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks to the new service.
"Your MobileMe subscription will be automatically extended through June 30, 2012, at no additional charge. After that date, MobileMe will no longer be available.
"When iCloud becomes available this fall, we will provide more details and instructions on how to make the move. In the meantime, we encourage you to learn more about iCloud.
"Sincerely,
"The MobileMe Team"
Apple posts iTunes 10.3
Apple has released iTunes 10.3 (http://www.apple.com/itunes/) for Mac OS X and Windows. It introduces support for iTunes in the Cloud, which automatically pushes purchased apps, books and music to all your devices signed in with your Apple ID.
You can browse past iTunes Store purchases and re-download them to you machine or iOS device, if the files aren't already present. You can also enable automatic auto-downloading across all devices, so that any song, app, or book you buy on your iOS device will download to your Mac, as well.
Mad Catz brings gaming mice to the Mac
Mac Catz Interactive has released a free Mac OS X driver for the Cyborg R.A.T. range of professional gaming mice. Once installed, the driver enables Mac users to experience the advanced feature set of the line of mice.
"With the start of the Apple 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference now underway, we thought it the ideal occasion to introduce our award winning range of gaming mice to the millions of Mac users around the world.” says Darren Richardson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. “We are convinced that the driver will open up a significant new audience for us and look forward to supporting the Mac gamer as we further grow our market share in this category."
The driver is available for download from http://www.cyborggaming.com/macdriver and is fully compatible with all versions of Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later.
Pioneer Elite AV receivers are iOS friendly
Pioneer Electronics (USA) has unveiled its new line of Elite branded AV receivers (http://macte.ch/sNuCH) are designed to meet the needs of today’s connected consumers and their portable devices.
The five new Elite models consist of the VSX-40 ($450), VSX-50 ($600), VSX-51 (US$700), VSX-52($900) and VSX-53($1,100). All five new utilize the Elite audio and video technology and the VSX-50 and up have network features like Pioneer’s proprietary iPhone and iPad apps including iControlAV21 and Air Jam2, as well as Apple’s AirPlay, DLNA Certified (1.5) and Internet radio to become the hub of a consumer’s home network and entertainment system.
Starting with the VSX-50 and up, each Elite receiver is network capable, offering Ethernet connectivity to provide consumers with a wide range of new content, set-up and control of their home theater system. Chris Walker, director AV marketing and product planning for the home entertainment division of Pioneer Electronics (USA), says that features and...
In Hub Magazine survey 'old' brands like Apple rule
The older a brand is, the stronger its identity tends to be -- and this includes Apple -- according to a new survey of 550 marketing executives to be published in the July issue of "The Hub Magazine."
The survey presented marketers with 30 pairs of brands and asked them to select the one they deemed to be stronger. Respondents chose the older brand as having the stronger identity 70% of the time.
“The results are surprising, since popular culture worships youth and marketers rarely miss an opportunity to promote what’s shiny and new,” say Tim Manners, editor of The Hub Magazine.
This was the third year the magazine fielded the survey, and the pattern held true in the previous two years, Manners adds. He speculates that the results might be partly attributed to the Hub’s senior-level audience, which skews older.
“It might also be that older brands simply have more credibility because of their longevity,” he says.
Each of the 30 matchups was presented in a particular context. For...
Wal-Mart selling iPhone 4 for $147
Walmart announced Monday that it will sell the iPhone 4 for $147 at select stores from now until June 30, reports "PC Magazine" (http://macte.ch/5qTdg).
The price drop applies to the AT&T and Verizon Wireless versions of the Apple smartphone, as well as black and white models. Users will be required to sign up for a two-year wireless and data agreement with either carrier to get the $147 price.
Walmart currently only sells the 16GB version of the iPhone 4 in black and white. Both are listed for $197 on the Walmart Web site, but are "out of stock online," notes "PC Magazine."
SoftRAID 4.0.7 ready for Mac OS X Lion
SoftRAID (http://www.softraid.com) has released SoftRAID 4.0.7, an update to its RAID product for Mac OS X. The new version is ready for Mac OS X Lion.
"We wanted to provide our customers with a seamless transition to Lion," says SoftRAID President Tim Standing. "We have been working closely with Apple Engineers for the past four months identifying and fixing bugs in both SoftRAID and in Mac OS X that would affect SoftRAID users who upgrade to Lion. I am confident that with this release we will provide a reliable SoftRAID experience for Lion users."
SoftRAID version 4.0.7 is available as a fully functional demo that allows prospective customers to try SoftRAID for 30 days. Registration is US$129. Users of SoftRAID 3 can purchase an upgrade to version 4 for $69.
AKVIS Noise Buster 8.0 gets GPU acceleration support, more
AKVIS (http://www.akvis.com) has released Noise Buster 8.0 for Mac OS X and Windows with new tools and features, such as support for GPU acceleration, batch processing, support for RAW files, and more.
Whether your digital images are from a digital camera or a scanner, you may often notice the so-called "noise." Noise can appear in photos taken in low light or when the camera is set to a high ISO. It can be seen as grains that compromise the smoothness of a photo or random red and blue pixels that spoil the color accuracy of a snapshot. The reduced detail and clarity of such images can be improved with noise removal software.
AKVIS Noise Buster reduces both luminance and color noise in digital images without blurring the edges of objects. The new GPU option in the program's Preferences is only active if a computer has an appropriate video card. The image processing speed depends directly on a video card.
The new Edge Intensity parameter makes edges and borders more visible without...
Alien Skin Software announces natural media plug-in for...
Alien Skin Software has announced Snap Art 3, the new version of its artistic natural media plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Photoshop Lightroom.
Snap Art turns a photo into a work of art that looks completely handmade. You make the creative choices while Snap Art takes care of all the tedious work of drawing brush strokes, says the app's designer, Tom Welsh.
Snap Art can render hundreds of styles and media, such as oil paint, watercolor, pencil sketch, and newly added ones like crayon. Version 3 uses more refined stroke placement, making the subject natural and recognizable, according to Welsh.
Snap Art 3 will be available in August at the Alien Skin web site (http://www.alienskin.com) for US$199. Owners of Snap Art 1 or 2 may upgrade for $99. Free upgrades will be automatically sent to everyone who purchased Snap Art 2 directly from Alien Skin Software in April or later.
Snap Art 3 is a plug-in and requires one of the following host applications: Adobe...
Spell Catcher X 10.4 adds MobileMe syncing, more
Rainmaker Research (http://www.rainmakerinc.com/) has released Spell Catcher X 10.4, an upgrade to the collection of writing productivity tool for Mac OS X 10.5 or higher.
Spell Catcher checks spelling in up to 16 languages. It also offers shorthands, thesaurus lookup features and more. Version 10.4 adds MobileMe syncing, updated linguistics, user interface improvements, and other new features and enhancements.
Version 10.4 is a free upgrade for those that purchased on or after May 1, 2010. For other registered users, the cost is US$14.95.
Spell Catcher X retails for $39.95. A "lite" license for Spell Catcher X is available for $29.95 and excludes some advanced features. Spell Catcher X users can purchase language plug-ins for Dutch, Canadian English, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Russian and Norwegian Bokmal for an additional $10 each.
Security Camera for Mac OS X gets Dropbox support
The Alice Dev Team (http://www.alicedev.com) has released Security Camera 2.0 for Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. It can now send pictures to your Dropbox account.
Security Camera 2.0 also adds password protection to the application. You can also now set up the software to arm after 30 seconds/one minute/three minutes/five minutes/15 minutes/30 minutes of idle time. When armed, Security Camera snaps anyone who drags a mouse, touches Multi-Touch trackpad or presses any key.
The application’s purpose is quite simple. It snaps a picture of everyone who wakes the computer up, and archives these photos with a date and time stamp.
Security Camera is available on the Mac App Store for US$2.99.
WeatherSnoop for Mac OS X updated to version 2.5
Tee-Boy has announced WeatherSnoop 2.5 (http://www.weathersnoop.com) for Mac OS X 10.5.8 and higher. Designed to procure, analyze and publish weather data, the app interfaces with a variety of personal and professional weather stations as well as Internet-based data sources.
It supports a wide range of weather stations, including the Davis Vantage Pro, Oregon Scientific WMR100/WMR200/WMR968, LaCrosse WS-2315, Ambient Weather WS-1080/WS-2080, Weatherwise WS-1080-SOLAR, Columbia Weather Systems Capricorn 2000EX, iROX PRO-X, Honeywell TE923, Peet Brothers ULTIMETER 100/800/2000/2100 and RainWise MKIIICC-LR / CC-3000. Version 2.5 also features also features enhanced graphing and visualization features.
WeatherSnoop is available for US$59.99; a "lite" version is available for $19.99. A demo is available for download.
Apple posts WWDC keynote video
Apple has posted a video of the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference keynote in which Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud debuted. Yu can see it at http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/11piubpwiqubf06/event/ .
Apple did not broadcast the event live. You'll need QuickTime to view the online video.
Mac OS X Lion to roar in July; available at the Mac App Store
At the kickoff of its 2011 Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple announced that Mac OS X Lion will be available at the Mac App Store next month. Sporting more than 250 new features and 3,000 new developer APIs (application programming interfaces), it will cost US$29.99.
“The Mac has outpaced the PC industry every quarter for five years running and with OS X Lion we plan to keep extending our lead,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, during today's WWDC keynote. “The best version of OS X yet, Lion is packed with innovative features such as new Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, and Mission Control for instantly accessing everything running on your Mac.”
New Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations built into Lion let you interact directly with content on the screen for a more intuitive way to use your Mac, he says. New gestures include momentum scrolling, tapping or pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web...
iOS 5 includes Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, more
Apple has previewed iOS 5, the latest version of its advanced mobile operating system, and released a beta version to iOS Developer Program members. It will be available to consumers this fall.
The iOS 5 beta release includes over 200 new features that will be available to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users. New iOS 5 features include: Notification Center, a way to view and manage notifications in one place without interruption; iMessage, a new messaging service that lets you send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS devices; and Newsstand, a new way to purchase and organize your newspaper and magazine subscriptions. With the new PC Free feature, iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box and get software updates over the air with no computer required.
“Perhaps iOS 5’s paramount feature is that it’s built to seamlessly work with iCloud in the Post PC revolution that Apple is leading," says Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
With iOS 5 and iCloud, you just...
iCloud is Apple's new set of free cloud services
Apple has, at long last, introduced iCloud, a set of free new cloud services that works with applications on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your devices. When anything changes on one of your devices, all of your devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.
“Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said during his keynote address at the 2011 Worldwide Developer Conference. “iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it -- it all just works.”
He adds that the former MobileMe services -- Contacts, Calendar and Mail -- all have been completely re-architected and rewritten to work seamlessly with...
German music site has Apple/iCloud complaint
A German music site has lodged a competition complaint against Apple ahead of its iCloud announcement later today, reports "The Register" (http://macte.ch/Gimw5).
Simfy accused Apple of deliberately delaying approval of the company's iPad application in order to favor its own products. The German company lodged its complaint with the German Federal Cartel Office and will also complain to European Union competition regulators.
"The music company said in a blog post that it was a great fan of Apple products," says "The Register." "But it said it was unacceptable to wait more than three months for approval of its iPad app without any reason being given. It accuses Apple of abusing its dominant position, and control of the app store, in order to bolster its own products."
iFunia releases Media Converter for the Mac
iFunia has released iFunia Media Converter for Mac, an update to the company's conversion software. It costs US$49; a demo is available for download at the product web site (http://macte.ch/tvYUY).
iFunia Media Converter helps Mac users convert any video, DVD and audio to the formats they need. It combines a video converter, DVD ripper, and audio converter, allowing video fans to convert video/audio files, and rip DVDs without switching from one program to another.
Presets allow users to convert videos and DVD movies to play with Apple devices, Apple software, mobile phones, game players and more, including the iPad 2, iPhone 4, and latest iPod touch. With the built-in video and audio editor, users can trim videos. What's more, iFunia Media Converter also has a deinterlacing function that help users to remove interlacing artifact of the DVD movies and videos.
My Living Desktop ready for Mac OS X Lion
Amuse has released My Living Desktop 4.9 (http://www.mylivingdesktop.com/) for Mac OS X, a new version of their video desktop and screen saver utility. The upgrade is ready for Mac OS X Lion and adds new scenes.
My Living Desktop is a cross between a video desktop (moving wallpaper) and screen saver. With its built-in video importer, users can import their own movie scenes for use as video desktops. Anyone can have family movies, movies of friends and special events, vacation movies and more as their desktop -- or as a screen saver.
My Living Desktop boasts a variety of high-definition movie videos shot from all around the globe, accompanied by nature sound effects. Upon purchase, download access to additional hi-def movie videos are available from within the software itself.
The application also sports Automatic Serenity Breaks. This feature allows the user to have My Living Desktop automatically remind them to take a break. Simply specify the interval or time(s) of day and a sound...
Scribble Worm wriggles onto the Mac App Store
Golden Hammer Software, makers of Big Mountain Snowboarding, have released Scribble Worm for Mac (http://scribbleworm.com), a new puzzle game that makes use of the multitouch trackpad. It requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher, costs US$0.99 and is available in the Games category of the Mac App Store.
Here's how the game is described "Use your drawing skills to create a worm that can make it through a maze of different obstacles to reach the apple at the end. Use a mouse or multiple fingers on the trackpad to draw new worms that move based on the patterns you draw. The patterns come to life as cutesy worms scribbled in crayon, wriggling their way across the paper. The goal is to reach an apple elsewhere on the page by drawing a shape and anticipating the path of the resulting worm.
"Each puzzle page contains a different set of obstacles and requires a different drawing technique to complete. The puzzles range from shaping a worm to maneuver around static boundaries to bouncing trick shots...
Disk Drill Media Recovery comes to the Mac App Store
CleverFiles Software (http://www.cleverfiles.com/) has released Disk Drill Media Recovery at the Mac App Store for US$9.99 until June 10. It requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later and can be found in the Utilities category.
Disk Drill Media Recovery is a new edition of the Disk Drill tool. It has almost all the features of its bigger brother, and runs the same up-to-date recovery algorithms. The main difference between Disk Drill Media Recovery available on the App Store and Disk Drill's standard edition available for purchase directly from CleverFiles online is the absence of Recovery Vault technology and the inability of the new release on the Mac App Store to recover data from the main Mac's hard drive.
These limitations are introduced as a result of somewhat tight requirements for developers willing to sell their software on the Apple's App Store, according to the folks at CleverFiles. After June 10, Disk Drive Media Recovery will cost $49.99.
Cookie Stumbler Express baked to version 1.1
WriteIt! Studios (http://www.writeitstudios.com) has updated Cookie Stumbler Express, an application to keep your Mac's privacy safe, to version 1.1. It's a maintenance update and is free for registered users.
Cookie StumblerExpress deletes either automatically via a preset schedule, or as a one-click-solution, for all advertising/tracking cookies and all cookies not included in the bookmarks and/or history. CSE can be customized via its keep-list. Via a heuristics engine, Cookie Stumbler Express recognizes the majority of ad/tracking cookies. Additionally, all other cookies can be deleted.
Cookie Stumbler Express 1.1 costs US$6.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Utilities category. It supports Mac OS X 10.6.7 or higher and all major web browsers for Mac OS X such as Safari, Firefox, Camino, Chrome, Chromium, OmniWeb. CSE also manages "Flash cookies," or, in other words, local shared objects.
Priority Matrix comes to the Mac
Appfluence has introduced Priority Matrix 1.0 (http://www.appfluence.com/pmrmac), the Mac version of their productivity software. It requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later, costs US$19.99, and is available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category.
Priority Matrix is designed to help users spend their effort on tasks with the highest return-on-investment. Featuring drag-n-drop and free cloud sync, the app lets you organize your activities by criticality and immediacy.
The folks at Appfluence say they've focused on making the fastest possible way to add items by creating a set of keyboard shortcuts, so that users can add items after items without reaching back for the mouse. A video showing Priority Matrix in use can be seen at http://www.appfluence.com/video .
Outlook Exchange Accounts Optimizer updated to version 1.3
Softhing (http://www.softhing.com) has announced a new version of Outlook Exchange Accounts Optimizer. OEAO 1.3 works with Mac OS X 10.5.x or 10.6.x and the new Outlook for Mac 2011.
This utility automatically moves old mail from your Outlook Exchange account to a replicated structure within Outlook local folders. You select how many days of mail to keep in Exchange, and OEAO does the rest. It can handle multiple accounts and be set to run automatically.
OEAO costs US$25 for a single user license. A demo is available for download.
Cloud-based content management available for iOS apps
StorageRoom (http://storageroomapp.com) from Thriventures is a new cloud-based CMS that serves content to mobile applications on multiple platforms.
Native mobile applications require content in raw formats such as XML or JSON, while current content management systems are focused on taking content and serving it as unstructured HTML, says Thriventures founder Sascha Konietzke. StorageRoom has been developed by experienced iOS developers and solves this problem by providing a cloud-based CMS optimized for mobile applications, he adds.
With StorageRoom developers configure the required content types by picking various column types, input options and validation rules. Editors can then manage the content in a web-based interface and developers can query the RESTful API (application programming interface) from their mobile applications.
In addition, content can be exported from StorageRoom and distributed with the application itself for offline access and synchronization. All of this is...
SMEStorage, WebHostingBuzz partner on hosted cloud offerings
SMEStorage (http://www.smestorage.com), an open cloud platform provider, and WebHostingBuzz, a global web hosting provider, have partnered to offer a managed Cloud File Server proposition for small businesses.
Businesses will be able to get a fully provisioned Cloud File Server on WebHostingBuzz infrastructure, which provides the ability to support organizations who want to embrace an always-on file server with client desktop cloud file integration with Mac, Windows and Linux systems. The solution is targeted to customers who wish to embrace SaaS and Cloud, but who want, or need, their own separate managed environment away from a multi-tenant ecosystem, says SMEStorage CEO Ian Osborn.
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Apple now number two among US smartphone vendors
According to comScore (http://www.comscore.com), a "group that measures the digital world," 74.6 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in April 2011, up 13% from the three-month period ending in January 2011.
Google Android ranked as the top operating system with 36.4% of U.S. smartphone subscribers, up 5.2 percentage points. Apple also gained share, capturing the #2 position with 26% of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 25.7% share, followed by Microsoft (6.7%) and Palm (2.6%).
For the three month average period ending in April, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top original equipment manufacturer with 24.5% of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 20.9% share and Motorola with 15.6%tshare. Apple jumped to the #4 position with 8.3% share of mobile subscribers (up 1.3 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 8.2% share.
CNS Image plug-in for FileMaker revved to version 1.5
Comm-Unity Networking Systems has released CNS Image 1.5, an update of the FileMaker Pro plug-in for working with images stored in container fields or on your hard drive.
With this plug-in you can: do custom imports and exports; change image formats; stretch, crop, resize, rotate, and flip images; and apply filters like blur, contrast, brightness, emboss and the like to images. Version 1.5 is a complete rewrite of the plug-in, which fixes several issues and brings with it a Server Edition for using with FileMaker Server.
CNS Image is available immediately at http://cnsimage.cnsplug-ins.com/ for both Mac OS X and Windows. a demo is available for download.
Version 1.5 is a free upgrade for anyone with a 1.x.x license. For new users the cost is US$65 for a single-user license.
Apple to pay music labels upward of $100 million for iCloud
Apple will fork over between US$100 million and $150 million in advanced payments to the four major music labels in order to get its "iCloud" off the ground, three separate sources told "The New Year Post" (http://macte.ch/R0bek).
Apple has agreed to pay the labels between $25 million to $50 million each, as an incentive to get come board, depending on how many tracks consumers are storing, the article adds. The size of the advance payments have been a "major hold-up for Google, which had been negotiating with the music companies and now will likely have to pony up higher fees to get a rival cloud service into action," music industry sources told "The Post."
Apple has been carefully monitoring "cloud" moves by Amazon, Google and Spotify. Amazon made the move first in March when it launched a music "locker" service, dubbed Amazon Cloud Player, that lets users upload their music to Amazon's computers and listen to their songs from any browser. Google followed suit in May with its Music...
Pixelmator Team unveils Pixelmator 2.0 Chameleon
The Pixelmator Team (http://www.pixelmator.com) has unveiled Pixelmator 2.0 today, an upgrade of the Mac OS X image editing tool for creating, editing and enhancing still images.
Pixelmator 2.0, codenamed Chameleon, features drawing tools, Content-Aware technology-based Fill, a Healing Tool, new retouching tools, a Smudge Tool, and more. The new, full-featured and precise drawing tools in Pixelmator allow users to add, create and edit vector shapes, according to Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team.
In addition to Pen, Freeform Pen, Convert and Path Selection tools, Pixelmator also includes pre-drawn shape tools for adding triangles, lines, circles, rectangles, and even custom shapes from the new Shapes palette into compositions. Fill and stroke settings for created shapes, as well as shadows, can be adjusted in the new Shape Settings palette. The drawing tools are designed for creating buttons, icons, web page elements, illustrations or any other items for use in image...
iDevGames announces uDevGames 2011
iDevGames will kick off the sixth running of its uDevGames Mac game development contest (http://www.udevgames.com) on July 1, giving the developers three months to design, create, and polish their games, including all coding, graphics, and sound.
The entire Mac gaming community is invited to follow the progress of these games as they are being created, play them when they are finished, and vote for the "Best Overall Game." Entries will also be judged in the categories of Best Gameplay, Best Graphics, Best Audio, Best Story, Most Original, and Most Polished by their peers. Winners will be announced on Oct. 14, and prizes distributed to the developers for the top three entries in each category.
Past contests have resulted in over 150 games created by independent Mac developers from around the world and have awarded entrants with a total prize pool valued at over US$100,000. he source code for all games entered into the uDevGames contest is released back to the community under Open...
Seidio releases Activecase for the iPad 2
Seidio has released the Active case for the iPad 2, providing on-the-go protection for users of the Apple tablet.
Seidio Active maintains superior shock absorbing protection and full functionality in a case that is up to 33% lighter than competitor cases with the same amount of protection, says David Chang, Seidio CEO and founder. The two-layer case combines an interior lightweight polymer to absorb shock and a hard exterior skeleton designed to give added protection to the device’s corners and sides.
The multipurpose protective cover transforms into a stand with 15 different angles complementing the many functions of the iPad 2. Active for the iPad 2 is available immediately for US$69.95 at http://www.seidio.com/active .
Kona's Crate game coming to the Mac, iOS devices
Zoo Entertainment has announced plans for its indiePub label to release Kona’s Crate (http://macte.ch/3b58U), a physics-based title, this summer for the Mac, PC, iOS and Android devices. The Mac and PC versions will cost US$4.99; the mobile device versions will be priced at US$2.99.
Here's how the game is described: "Kona’s Crate is a physics-based game in which players need to help deliver a crate of celestial supplies to Kona, a star hungry mystic waiting on his island. The crate rests on a jet-powered platform, which players must cleverly maneuver to complete their delivery on time.
"Based in a mystical, hidden world, Kona’s Crate offers plenty of unlockable levels and achievements. Players can choose from a variety of campaigns totaling 60 challenging levels that increase in design and difficulty, with 60 additional levels available through updates. But players shouldn’t let this simple task fool them! Tricky obstacles are set in place to impede progress, forcing players to dodge...
TrendNet demos 450 MBps dual band, wireless N media bridge
TrendNet (http://www.trendnet.com) has demoed a 450Mbps, dual band, wireless N media bridge, model TEW-680MB. It's due for release in late fall and will cost US$169.99.
The 450Mbps Dual Band Wireless N Media Bridge networks computers, gaming consoles, televisions, and DVRs to the Internet with 450 Mbps wireless connection speeds. Four Gigabit Ethernet ports allow users to connect all networked media center devices to the Internet over a high performance network.
Dual band technology provides users the option of connecting media center devices to the common 2.4GHz network, or to the 5GHz network, which typically offers less interference from competing networks and wireless devices.A n external Wi-Fi Protected Setup or WPS button connects this wireless bridge to a router at the touch of a button.
Monotype Imaging adds self-hosting option to Fonts.com
Monotype Imaging Holdings, a global provider of text imaging solutions, has added a self-hosting feature to its Fonts.com Web Fonts solution (http://webfonts.fonts.com/), enabling enterprises to host Web fonts using their existing servers or content delivery network.
Monotype Imaging’s self-hosting feature is available for Fonts.com Web Fonts subscribers at the professional level. Customers download a kit that steps them through the hosting process. Customers select the fonts they need, and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) code is provided for rendering in all major browsers.
In the future, as browser companies release new browsers or enhanced versions, customers will be able to download updated CSS code to ensure compatibility, says Chris Roberts, vice president of marketing at Monotype Imaging. Any enhancements that Monotype Imaging applies to its fonts, such optimizing a font to improve legibility, will also be available
While the self-hosting option gives enterprises control over...
