Vinotekasoft (http://www.vinotekasoft.com) has uncorked Vinoteka 1.6.1, an update of their wine cellar management software for Mac OS X. The upgrade fixes an issue with Migration failure for Mac OS 10.5 users.
Vinoteka costs US$34.90 for a single user license. You can get a family pack for $79.90 or a business pack for $109.90. Version 1.6.1 is a free update for registered users.
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iTacet Software (http://www.itacet.com) has released Cookie Platter 1.0, an US$9 Mac OS X application that automatically deletes all unwanted cookies and saves specific cookies based upon a user's favorite web sites.
The software can process cookies for multiple web browsers simultaneously and allows customization by browser, domain and type of cookie. Users can group all domains into their root domain, as well as the ability to preview the cookie's web site without opening a browser and more.
Cookie Plater requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher, Safari 4 or better and/or Firefox 3.5 or greater. A 14-day demo is available for download.
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"Mobile News" (http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/News/424800/o2_in_consumer_tariff_overhau...) is reporting that O2, Apple's original mobile partner in the UK, will launch a two-year Apple iPhone tariff for £25 per month. The tariff will include 100 minutes and unlimited texts.
"Mobile News" says that the smartphone is also expected to be made available with O2's Simplicity SIM-only tariffs for the first time, with the iPhone available at full price. The carrier will also purportedly drop its free "unlimited" bolt-on deals, previously available on all "high value" deals of £35 per month or above.
O2 previously offered customers a number of unlimited offers including on-network calls, internet, landline, weekend calls, Wi-Fi or texts. All O2 tariffs will now include unlimited texts only, says "...
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In a report to clients issued Friday, Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty offered a scenario in which Apple shares could US$435 by 2012 due to the iPad and new iPhones in June.
As reported by "Fortune," Huberty told clients she ewas anticipating unit sales of six million iPads in calendar 2010, considerably higher than the Street's consensus of 3-4 million.
She also forecasts iPhones in June that offer "both a lower total cost of ownership and new functionality, potentially including gesture-based technology."
Huberty offered three scenarios -- bull, base and bear -- but leans heavily toward the bull, describing three paths to share prices as much as 115% above Apple's closing price Thursday of $202 per share. You can read all the details here:...
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Big Nerd Ranch Europe is offering a new Cocoa Bootcamp (http://bignerdranch.com/classes/cocoa_i) April 19-23. Taught by Cocoa instructor Scott Ritchie , it provides a look at Apple's object-oriented development environment.
The class offers both an introduction to the fundamentals of coding in Cocoa and a walk-through of some of its most challenging advanced features. Students attending the class should have some experience in Java or C++ programming in order to maximize their experience. The primary text of the class, "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X," was authored by course instructor, Aaron Hillegass, and provides the framework by which lessons are taught. Short lectures are immediately followed by programming sessions.
Students signing up before March 15 can apply for the early bird fee and save €200 off the price of €2800. The Big Nerd Ranch Europe incorporates...
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DevDay for iPhone (http://iphonedevday.com) is an interactive on-day conference for software developers and business professionals who want to learn how to build and market iPhone applications. DevDay for iPhone will take place at Dexter House in London, UK, on April 26.
Key speakers at DevDay for iPhone include Raven Zachary and Daniel Steinberg. Zachary, president of Small Society, who directed the Obama '08 iPhone application for the Obama Campaign, will provide the keynote presentation. Steinberg -- the editor for the new series of Mac Developer titles and the author of "Cocoa Programming, A Quick-Start Guide for Developers" by Pragmatic Programmers -- will present on the latest in iPhone app development with a deep dive into Core Animation and a workshop on developing applications for the recently announced iPad (subject to the release of the current NDA on the iPad software development kit by Apple...
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On the new "MacVoices" (http://www.macvoices.com), Grant Dahlke of Other World Computing shows the speed of their new Extreme Enterprise solid state drive by booting into all of the Adobe Creative Suite apps at once.
"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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At Thursday's shareholder meeting, Apple senior vice president of retail Ron Johnson said Apple is planning to open 25 retail stores in China, although he didn't say when.
Apple opened its first Chinese retail store in Beijing in July 2008. Plans for a second store in Beijing were announced in mid-2009, but it still hasn't materialized.
Apple now has 283 stores in 10 countries. Approximately 100 stores were remodeled during the 2009 calendar year and 10 new stores opened, including one in Louvre in Paris and Upper West Side in New York.
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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/)
Adobe has announced Connect Pro Mobile, a free application for its enterprise Web conferencing solution Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro. Connect Pro Mobile was built using Flash Professional CS5 beta and published as a native iPhone application -- the very first Adobe-authored application that uses the Packager for iPhone technology. With this release, Connect Pro Mobile offers users mobile access via an iPhone or iPod touch to rich communications including collaborative meetings, training sessions and Web seminars.
Onederr offers Social Fun Box 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users who want to liven up their Facebook and Twitter posts. With the US$0.99 app, users can add symbols, icons and emoticons, as well as share their location, photos and original...
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Apple has released Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.1. The upgrade adds support for RAW images from 11 new cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '09.
The upgrade is available via the Software Update Component of the Mac OS X System Preferences app. It's a 6.7MB download and requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later.
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On this week's "Tech Night Owl,"Gene Steinberg, the Owl himself, and guests look banishing Google from your Mac, the 2010 Macworld Expo and more.
Author and commentator Kirk McElhearn tells you why he’s working hard to banish Google from his Macs, as he regards the service as potentially harmful to your privacy. That very subject is also covered from a somewhat different point of view by Adam Engst, of "TidBITS" and Take Control Books. Engst also discusses the surprising success of Macworld Expo 2010, which was held without Apple’s participation.
In another segment, Lee Givens, an AOL Mac product manager, tells you about some of the service’s future plans, and describes their newest application updates for the Mac and iPhone, which include seamless integration with Facebook, Twitter and other popular social networking services.
You can tune into the live broadcast stream Thursday nights from 6-8 Pacific, 9-11 Eastern from...
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At Thursday's Apple shareholder meeting, CEO Steve Jobs defended the company's large cash stockpile of about US$40 billion. And two environmental proposals were rejected.
He said he prefers having cash for investments to paying dividends or doing stock buybacks, notes "Bloomberg" (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=AAPL%3AUS&sid=aJg...). Apple is holding onto cash to take “big, bold” risks, he said.
"When you take risks, it's like jumping in the air," Jobs said. "When they don't work out, it's nice to know the ground is always there."
Also, during the meeting, shareholders rejected two proposals that sought to force the company to do more to analyze its impact on the environment, notes the "Associated Press" (...
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Matias (http://matias.ca/) has released the USB 2.0 Keyboard + Smartphone Stand, which is iPhone and iPod touch compatible. It's available now for US$49.95.
It has a a stand built into the keyboard, so your iPhone or iPod touch can now be part of your desktop work environment. Matias CEO Edgar Matias says the arrangement offers quick access to iPhone/iPod touch apps that lets you do quick calculations, check your stocks, access Twitter, check Facebook updates, control iTunes and more.
The USB 2.0 Keyboard + Smartphone Stand also comes with custom keypad and trackpad apps to control your Mac.
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Some Boxee users have teamed up to resurrect the ATV-Usb creator and craft an updated solution specifically for the Boxee Beta (http://blog.boxee.tv/2010/02/25/get-a-bite-of-this-%E2%80%93-boxee-beta-...) on the Apple TV. If you already have Boxee Alpha installed on your AppleTV, you should be able to just update Launcher and then update Boxee to install it, as no new patchstick is needed.
Boxee provides cross-platform, freeware media center software with an user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room. It's still under development.
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Quicken Essentials for Mac is now available from Intuit. Its release marks Intuit’s first Mac-native application for Quicken -- that is, a product developed specifically to run on a Mac operating system, instead of adapting a product originally designed for a PC, says Aaron Patzer, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Personal Finance Group. “
He says that QEM offers a Mac look-and-feel, easy navigation, and all the keyboard shortcuts users expect on Mac. Setup purportedly only takes 10 minutes. Users simply search for their bank, and synch using their online credentials.
QEM currently imports data from 12,000 financial institutions, with support from 18,000 expected by year's end. This is nearly quadruple the previous support of banks, credit unions, credit card companies, brokerage houses and lending institutions.
QEM “learns” the most popular categories from users, improving categorization over time, according to Patzer. The converter feature...
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ProteMac has announced ProteMac LoginTrap 1.0 (http://protemac.com/LoginTrap/), a tool designed to prevent unauthorized usage of a Mac. It monitors all log-in events and detects whether a log-in attempt was successful or failed.
After a log-in attempt is made the program captures an image from the iSight camera, so that you are able to see who is trying to break into your Mac. An alarm e-mail with iSight camera snapshot attached is sent immediately after a log-in attempt.
ProteMac LoginTrap requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. It's Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It costs US$29.95 for a single user license.
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Phidgets has released the 1120 FlexiForce Adapter, a tool designed to make it easy for users to connect the Tekscan FlexiForce force sensors to their computers.
"Phidgets users have been using our voltage divider to interface the FlexiForce sensors. While it does work, it was not a very elegant solutions and it did have some reliability problems," says Chester Fitchett, CEO of Phidgets.
Like all Phidgets sensors and adapters, the FlexiForce Adapter connects to one of the analog inputs on the 1018 -- PhidgetInterfaceKit 8/8/8. The FlexiForce sensor is a thin and flexible printed circuit, which can be integrated into most applications. The FlexiForce force sensor can measure force between almost any two surfaces.
Phidgets has also added three models of Tekscan's 8-inch FlexiForce sensors to its product line to cover the following force ranges: 0-1lb., 0-25lb., and 0-100lb. Users can program Phidgets using an application programming interface (API) that's...
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Apparent Corp. has updated Barcode Producer (http://www.itsapparent.com/barcodeproducer/), its barcode creation software suite for Mac OS X, to version 5.8. The app can now create wider ITF-14 barcodes for shipping containers and pallets of retail products.
Width is customizable by available W/N ratios for the ITF-14 symbology. Barcode 5.8 also has interleaved 2 of 5 barcode enhancements. The app now offers Light Margin Indicators for I2of5 barcodes, used for numeric industrial applications. Light Margin Indicators ensure designers don't infringe upon the barcode's required quiet space. Finally, the new version has updated icons for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop integration, automatically matching the version installed.
Barcode Producer is a tool for creating barcodes visually, with one-click export for Adobe Creative Suite products, including Illustrator...
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ActyMac has released ActyMac DutyWatch Remote 1.0 (http://actymac.com/DutyWatch_Remote/), a distant computer monitoring application for Mac OS X that can be used on an iPhone or iPod touch. The US$149.95 app lets you monitor a specific computer or a group of computers that have ActyMac DutyWatch installed within a local network.
The program's interface enables a user to check each employee's activity and control their productivity at any time during the day, week or month even being far away from the office. ActyMac DutyWatch records all typed emails, chats, IMs, web sites or web searches. The program captures screenshots of current activity and stores all running programs.
With the help of DutyWatch Remote the monitoring statistics can be viewed on iPhone and/or iPod touch devices or in an Internet browser. A user can find out what applications are used, what web sites...
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V-Moda (http://www.v-moda.com) has announced the Remix Remote, their latest fashion-forward in-ear headphone with an integrated three-button remote. It's designed to work with the iPhone, iPod and Mac notebooks and ha a suggested retail price of US$99.99.
A remote and high fidelity microphone allows hands-free access for users to answer calls and control their music library. The in-line three-button remote allows the user to control the music playback, volume, VoiceOver or Voice Control functions.
The Remix Remote sports a newly tuned 9mm V-Masque neodymium dynamic driver and a Beat-Port air flow system. V-Moda's BLISS (Bass Level Isolating Soft Silicone) noise-isolating technology further reduces outside noise and enables deep punchy bass, according to Val Kolton, V-Moda CEO and founder.
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InfoLogic has announced MathMagic Pro Editions 6.91 for Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress for Mac OS X (http://www.mathmagic.com/product/pro.html), their multi-purpose equation editor for mathematical equations and symbols. MathMagic Pro Editions come with InDesign Plug-ins and Quark XTensions to enable InDesign and QuarkXPress the equation editing capability right inside their documents.
Version 6.91 can extract all equations out from MS Word documents(.doc and .docx) to external files. It can batch-convert the equations to any formats that MathMagic support, such as EPS, JPEG, PDF, PICT, MathML, or LaTeX. Equations created with MS Equation Editor, MathType, and MathMagic are supported in the conversion. Other graphic objects used in MS Word documents can also be extracted and saved in a folder as separate files.
Additionally, MathMagic 6.91 includes other new and...
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The Escapers has released Flux 2.0 (http://theescapers.com/flux2/), an update of the Mac OS X app that allows drag 'n drop creation of web pages without the need of knowledge of XHTMLICSS (though you can twiddle with the code if you like).
Now users can work directly off FTP and SFTP sites, so there's no need to repeatedly download and publish your site. But if publishing your site from your local computer suits your workflow, Flux can not only publish to FTP, SFTP, and MobileMe, but Flux can also compress all your images on the fly while publishing. This means that your large PNGs get compressed before they get uploaded.
You can apply effects to images from within the app. You can also attach JavaScript actions to your page and embed QuickTime movies, Flash and other objects. Some templates are supplied to get you started.
Flux is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC...
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On the new "MacVoices" (http://www.macvoices.com), security guru Rich Mogull of "TidBITS" and Securosis talks about what is and isn't worthy of concern in the world of computer, iPhone and iPad security.
He wrote the cover article in the March 2010 issue of "Macworld," and helps makes sense of what you really need to pay attention to when it comes to your online activity. Mogull delivers the top tip in iPhone security, talks about the iPad, and where your biggest vulnerabilities are.
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Samsung Electronics (http://www.samsung.com) and Skype have announced that the new Samsung LED 7000 and 8000 series models of 2010 high-definition televisions will feature embedded Skype software, allowing Skype users to make video and voice calls through the TVs.
Samsung will begin shipping TVs with Skype software in the Korean market today, and worldwide in the first half of 2010. The LED 7000 and 8000 series televisions include Samsung’s free Internet@TV service, which allows access to select online content. Consumers who connect the TVs to the Internet can attach a FreeTa;l TV Camera for Samsung provided by In Store Solutions (ISS), available at http://www.skype.com/store, making it possible to place and receive voice calls and video calls. Voice calls will use Skype’s SILK audio codec.
Using the TVs’ remote controls,...
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Pentax (http://www.Pentaximaging.com) has announced the eleventh generation Pentax Optio waterproof digital camera (US$329.95). It offers enhanced waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, and coldproof performance and features a Digital Microscope mode with LED lighting to capture small subjects.
Designed with the look of mountaineering equipment, the Optio W90 kit includes a woven web fabric strap complete with a carabiner to attach the camera to a backpack and other outdoor gear. The 12.1-megapixel Optio W90 with a 5X optical zoom (28-140mm equivalent) is waterproof to 20 feet and shockproof to four feet. Other features include: Eye-Fi wireless SD memory card connectivity; a 2.- inch LCD with 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio; movie capture in widescreen 720p HD video at 30 frames per second; and an HDMI por.
Pentax also announced the latest model in the manufacturer’s megazoom digital camera line...
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