iKit (http://www.ikit.com) has released the US$S40 iPad Leather Folio Case. It's available in black and gray and comes with a screen protector and cleaning kit.
Made of genuine cow leather, the Leather Portfolio's slim padded design gives you access to all your functions and protects the device. It features an interior and exterior embossed design with secure access.
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Amazon.com has announced "Kindle for Mac," a free application that lets readers around the world enjoy Kindle books on their Macs.
The U.S. Kindle Store currently offers over 450,000 books, including New Releases and 102 of 111 New York Times Bestsellers. Kindle books can now be read on the Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC and Mac, and, soon, the iPad. Customers in over 100 countries can go to http://www.amazon.com/kindleformac to download the Kindle for Mac application for free today.
Kindle for Mac features Amazon’s Whispersync technology that automatically saves and synchronizes bookmarks and last page read across devices. A customer can read some on their Mac, read some on their Kindle, and always pick up where they left off.
According to Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle, with Kindle for Mac, readers can:
° Purchase, download, and read...
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iPad pre-orders are now averaging 10,000 per day, according to Daniel Tello, a Venezuelan blogger-analyst who writes about Apple using the name "Deagol" (http://aaplmodel.blogspot.com/).
Tello has been tracking order numbers submitted by volunteers since March 12 at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern) when Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad. By his calculations, which are based on a precise count of order numbers and an estimate of how many of them were non-iPad orders, Apple passed the 180,000 unit mark on Wednesday.
"I think sometime during Friday, perhaps before noon, the counter should roll to 200,000 units pre-ordered," he told "Fortune" (http://brainstormtech....
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China Mobile hopes to offer both the iPad and a version of the iPhone that supports China's homegrown 3G mobile standard, comments by China Mobile's top executive showed on Thursday.
As reported by "Computerworld" (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9172598/China_Mobile_wants_iPad_a...), China Mobile is "interested in the iPad" and has told Apple it hopes to see a version of the iPhone that works with the government-backed 3G standard it is using, Wang Jianzhou, CEO and chairman of China Mobile Limited, said at a news conference.
Wang's remarks are the first from a Chinese company interested in offering the iPad, notes "Computerworld." And Apple hasn't even said whether it will sell the device in China....
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Wrapsol (http://www.wrapsol.com) has introduced Wrapsol ultra, a patent-pending line of adhesive films to include a shock absorption property that provides both drop and scratch protection for the iPhone and iPod lines, Blackberry, Motorola Droid and Nexus One handsets, the Sony PSP and several other devices.
Wrapsol purportedly protects the entire device front to back with a flexible film that evolved from paint and bumper protection in the automotive industry, including Formula One cars. The adhesive film technology used in Wrapsol ultra provides a level of shock protection .
Wrapsol ultra protective films use a new dry application process. The products come in recycled, reusable and 100% recyclable packaging and start at US$24.99.
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Harman International (http://www.harman.com) is introducing new products this spring across three divisions: home entertainment, mobile/in-car and multimedia.
For the movie buff and sound enthusiast at home, Harman brings to the market new 5.1 home entertainment solutions: the Harman Kardon HKTS 20 (US$699) and HKTS 30 ($899). It boasts a 200W powered, 200mm subwoofer and two-way loudspeakers. It includes a dual-driver center-channel speaker.
The JBL MS-8 ($799) product for the mobile category. It's a system integration digital processor that can purportedly optimize any vehicle’s performance in about 10 minutes. By following a step-by-step procedure, the MS-8 maximizes frequency response, bass performance, dynamics, clarity, detail and stereo imaging.
In multimedia, Harman brings back new, improved versions of time-honored favorites such as the brand-new Harman Kardon Go + Play Micro ($299), the...
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Not surprisingly, HTC Corp. says it disagrees with Apple's legal actin=ons against it and has outlined those disagreements and reiterated its commitment "to creating a portfolio of innovative smartphones that gives consumers a variety of choices."
Earlier this month, Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC for infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said . "We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
But now "HTC disagrees with Apple's actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to...
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Apple has released Logic Pro 9.1.1 ("http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/download/), an update of the music creation and audio production tool. The new version delivers improved compatibility and numerous fixes, according to Apple.
Logic Pro 9.1.1 requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later. For new users the cost is US$499.
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Jerome York, a director of Apple and former chief financial officer of IBM and Chrysler Corp., is hospitalized and in critical condition in Pontiac, Michigan.
According to "BusinessWeek" (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-17/jerome-york-apple-director-h...), York, 71, collapsed at his Rochester, Michigan, home Tuesday night, according to his wife, Eilene York, and was taken to Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital by ambulance. She said today that doctors told her that he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
“Jerry had the guts and brains to identify the needed changes at many of America’s greatest companies, including Chrysler, IBM, General Motors and Apple, helping them to reach their greater potential,” Steve Miller, a...
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Here are the latest iPhone/iPod touch/iPod/iPad apps announced. You can find 'em at the Apple App Store (http://www.itunes.com/appstore/).
App Cubby has announced KaleidoVid 1.0, an US$0.99 app for iPhone 3G and 3GS devices. It creates kaleidoscopic images from everyday objects using the iPhone's built-in camera.
FizzPow Game has released PandaMania: Legend of the Fu Manchu for the iPhone and iPod touch. It's a $1.99 arcade-style game.
Gamedoctors has launched ZombieSmash!, a $1.99 game for the iPhone and iPod touch. It's a physics-driven castle defense game.
Smartphones Technologies has launched College Basketball Bracket Challenge for the iPhone and iPod touch. The $1.99 app is available just in time for the men’s basketball tournament.
David Day, a hiking guide writer for trails in Utah and Colorado, and TalkingRockies, has shipped new mobile guides for Utah...
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On the new MacVoices (http://www.macvoices.com),Take Control Books author Joe Kissell tackles the subject of converting your email from POP to IMAP.
What is POP? What is IMAP? Kissell walks us through the answers and why you should care. Along the way, he looks at why now is an especially important time to consider the move, syncing, downloading, deleting and expunging your email, and more. Kissell also reveals what caused him to become such an outspoken advocate of backups (yes, it had to do with email), provides some specific considerations for making the move, how Gmail fits into the IMAP picture, and more.
MacVoices is an Internet show and podcast that delivers in-depth discussions with the most influential people in the Mac industry, as well as "the individuals who are out there making it happen on the front lines of the global Apple community," according to host Chuck Joiner.
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On this week's "Your Mac Life," you'll hear interviews with David Day about "Hiking Utah's Incredible Backcountry", Greg Scown, founder of Smile On My Mac about TextExpander 3 and a piece about "No Laptop, No Problem!"
You can listen in this and every Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 8 pm (Pacific). Live video is on Your Mac Life! You can watch the show live at http://yml.macosg.com/ -- or you can listen in to the plain old audio feed at http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/QT/stream.mov .
You can join one of the two Chat Rooms that run during the live show -- on the live video site or on the dedicated IRC Server at irc.chat-solutions.org in the #yourmaclife Channel .
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iWrap (http://www.getiwrap.com/) is taking pre-orders for their invisible, scratch-proof cover for the upcoming iPad.
iWrap uses unique film that offers more clarity and more durability, according to iWrap Product Manager Tim Chaves. The film also uses advanced UV inhibiting technology and a strong adhesive, he adds.
In addition, iWrap's full-body wraps are designed to offer the most complete coverage possible, according to Chaves. iWrap for the iPad costs US29.95. There are also versions for the iPhone and all iPod models.
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Syncro Soft (http://www.oxygenxml.com) has released version 11.2 of its XML Editor and XML Author containing a set of tools supporting all the XML related technologies.
Oxygen combines content author features like the CSS driven Visual XML editor with a XML development environment. It has ready-to-use support for the main document frameworks DITA, DocBook, TEI and XHTML and also includes support for all XML Schema languages, XSLT/XQuery Debuggers, WSDL analyzer, XML Databases, XML Diff and Merge, Subversion client and more.
Version 11.2 of oXygen/XML Editor improves the XML authoring, the XML development tools, the support for large documents and the SVN Client. Also, he diff and merge support from oXygen is available also as a separate application, oXygen XML Diff.
Oxygen XML Editor and XSLT Debugger is available in three editions: Multi-platform Academic/Personal license: USS$64 (...
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Ken Winograd and Space-Time Associates (http://www.winograd.com) has updated TinyBooks Pro, its Mac accounting and bookkeeping program, to version 7.0.3. The upgrade improves the importing of old TinyBooks documents, improves the built-in help text and error messages and improves the Recur Dialog.
It also adds the ability to delete all items in the current month, and adds three new Preferences (to Auto-Sort New/Modified transactions on entry, to enable/disable the Total Transaction Amount field, and to show Monthly and Reported Amounts as inclusive or exclusive of taxes.)
TinyBooks Pro is a single-entry bookkeeping and accounting system designed for sole proprietors, home and other small businesses, and family finances. To use you enter your expenses and income, and TinyBooks Pro does the rest. Current and year-to-date on-the-fly totals are continually displayed. Fully automatic bar-charting of all...
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iPresentee (http://www.ipresentee.com), a developer of add-ons for Apple’s iWork and iLife applications, has released iWeb Themes 7.0 to be used with iWeb. iWeb is the web site creation component of Apple's iLife suite.
iWeb Themes 7.0 is available in standard and iPhone editions. The new release includes five themes for iWeb: Blue Style, Shining Star, Greenish Style, Tango and Developer. Each iWeb user may build a web site for a desktop computer and mobile device while maintaining the same site design within iWeb.
iWeb themes for iPhone are specific resolution and incorporates bigger fonts, images etc. New themes for iPhone includes everything to create the impression of iPhone native site, according to the folks at iPresentee. What's more, all themes have standard edition templates so you can build two specific sites -- for an iPhone and Mac or PC while keeping the same design within minutes...
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Ludosity Interactive has released Bob Came in Pieces 1.3 (http://www.ludosity.com/games/bob) for Mac and Windows systems. The game was previously Windows only.
Bob Came in Pieces is a physics based puzzle adventure game. The game is about the alien called Bob. He has crashed on a strange planet, lost a bunch of parts for his ship and above all, is late for work. Players must fnd the lost parts and rebuild your ship along the way to solve physics-based puzzles. You can build your ship any way you like in the ship builder.
The game has 14 chapters of designs and puzzles. It costs US$9.99; a demo is available for download.
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Law firm Bingham McCutchen has announced that Daniel Cooperman, the former general counsel at Apple and Oracle, will rejoin its Silicon Valley office and focus on “corporate and transactional matters.”
Cooperman was at Apple between 2007 and 2009. "Perhaps in an indication of the pressures of Apple’s extra frenetic pace," Cooperman is the second of three general counsels that Apple has had since longtime counsel Nancy Heinen left the company in 2006, notes the "Wall Street Journal" (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/03/16/former-apple-counsel-joins-bingha...). The role is currently being filled by Bruce Sewell.
When Cooperman left Apple, the official statement was that he was retiring (he's 59). However, in an interview with the "WSJ," he said he...
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Purple Ghost Software has released Key Ace (ttp://www.purpleghost.com/news.php), an US$9.99 hotkey utility for Mac OS X that lets you assign actions to various key combinations.
You can configure shortcuts for daily tasks such as opening browsers or controlling play, pause and stop functions on iTunes. ou can specify any key combination to be used as the hotkey to activate the specified action.
There are many actions you can specify for a hotkey. These include controlling iTunes (play/pause, next track, prior track, stop), launch any application on your system, open any website URL, eject your CD/DVD, adjust system volume up/down, and send any keystroke.
You add hotkeys to groups and each group can be setup to have the hotkeys in that group work in all applications, work in only the specified applications or to work in all except the specified applications.
Key Ace installs as a system preference pane. This lets you change hotkeys and change Key Ace...
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Apple has added features to its iWork.com public beta. It's a service Apple is developing to share iWork ’09 documents online.
Using your Apple ID, just click the iWork.com icon in the Keynote, Pages or Numbers toolbar to upload your document and invite others to view it online. Viewers can provide comments and notes, and download a copy of your document in iWork, Microsoft Office or PDF formats. A consolidated online list of all your shared documents indicates when your viewers have posted comments.
With the latest public beta, you can share links to yourdocuments via social networking services. What's more, there's an updated interface for iPhone and iPod touch users to access info.
iWork ’09 is available through the Apple Store (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of US$79. iWork ’09 is available for $49 with the purchase of...
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Satmetrix (http://www.satmetrix.com), which specializes in customer experience programs, has released its 2010 Net Promoter Industry Benchmarks for the technology, insurance, financial services, airlines, telecommunications, retail and online services industries. Leaders included well-known brands such as Apple, USAA, Charles Schwab, JetBlue, Verizon Wireless, Trader Joe’s, Costco and Amazon.com.
The rankings are based on survey responses from more than 19,500 U.S. consumers nationwide who had purchased products or services from each company within the previous 12 months. A company’s Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is based on customers’ likelihood to recommend the company’s product or service. NPS is calculated as the percentage of customers who are Promoters, rating the company 9 or 10 on a zero-to-ten point scale, minus the percentage who are Detractors, rating 6 or lower. Consumers also rated each...
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Handmark (http://www.metropcs.com/pocketexpress/) -- which specializes in the development and distribution of mobile media -- has announced its support of the iPad.
The company plans to bring a variety of apps it powers for media partners to the iPad, in addition to its own, branded mobile apps. Handmark currently supports mobile applications for a variety of brands around the world including Zagat, New York Daily News, Forbes, Oxford University Press, Goal.com and others.
The iPad adds to the broad portfolio of mobile platforms Handmark supports, including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm webOS, Kindle and others.
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Monkeybread Software has released version 1.1 of the MBS REALbasic Updater Kit for Mac OS X and Windows. It's designed to help you in adding an automatic update feature to your application.
Version 1.1 fixes a few bugs and improves the version number parsing. The Updater Kit requires REALbasic 2008 or newer and a license of the MBS REALbasic Complete License.
The Updater Kit is available for US$99. You can learn more and try the sample application at
http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/realbasic/UpdaterKit/ .
Timac has released Cornichon (http://www.timac.org/cornichon/), a tool you can use to dynamically profile Mac OS X applications on the system and track the process' performance over time (CPU usage, resident memory size, total memory size, etc).
The Cornichon application includes the ability to see the different collected data of a process in real time in a graph and export the data as TAB files that you can later easily import in Apple Numbers or Microsoft Excel.
Cornichon requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later. It costs approximately US$7.
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iPresentee (http://www.ipresentee.com), a developer of add-ons for Apple’s iWork and iLife applications, has released iWeb Themes 7.0 to be used with iWeb. iWeb is the web site creation component of Apple's iLife suite.
iWeb Themes 7.0 is available in standard and iPhone editions. The new release includes five themes for iWeb: Blue Style, Shining Star, Greenish Style, Tango and Developer. Each iWeb user may build a web site for a desktop computer and mobile device while maintaining the same site design within iWeb.
iWeb themes for iPhone are specific resolution and incorporates bigger fonts, images etc. New themes for iPhone includes everything to create the impression of iPhone native site, according to the folks at iPresentee. What's more, all themes have standard edition templates so you can build two specific sites -- for an iPhone and Mac or PC while keeping the same design within minutes...
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