Apple introduced its iAd advertising platform last week and SeekingAlpha.com is forecasting that iAd will earn almost US$5 billion per year in gross ad revenue, of which Apple will take a 40% cut at about $2 billion per year.

The financial webs site is also predicting that Apple will take a 30% cut of the forecasted $600 million revenues from paid apps in 2010. Last week, in introducing iAd, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that, today, when users click on mobile ads they are almost always taken out of their app to a web browser, which loads the advertiser’s web page.

Users must then navigate back to their app, and it's often difficult or impossible to return to exactly where they left. Jobs said iAd solves this problem by displaying full-screen video and interactive ad content without ever leaving the app, and letting users return to their app anytime they choose.

He added that iPhone OS 4 lets developers embed iAd opportunities within their apps, and the ads are...

The versatility of the iPad is a threat to eReader devices, analysts told "BusinessWeek" (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2010/tc20100412_516320...). Wall Street analysts are already slicing their forecasts for Kindle sales, the article adds.

Charlie Wolf, a senior analyst at Needham & Co., has cut his forecast for Kindle sales this year, settling on a range from 2.5 million to three million units, in place of a previous forecast of 3.6 million units. Wolf estimates that Amazon sold 2.2 million Kindles in 2009. "It's not a compelling product," he says of the Kindle, because Apple's iPad offers more features, such as the ability to play video, plus a more compelling design.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster cut his 2010 forecast for Kindle...

Active Storage (http://www.activestorage.com) has introduced Innerpool, a new class of RAID storage solution designed to store Metadata volumes that are so critical to media focused SANs (storage area networks).

“We’ve studied the solution for a long time, and developed patent-pending technology to deliver all of the reliability and performance that we’re known for -- even on-board 72-hour battery backed cache, all on a card that fits inside of an Apple Xserve or Mac Pro," says Active Storage CEO Alex Grossman.

Featuring a "Zero U" design, Innerpool actually resides inside a SAN’s Metadata Controller–yet provides on-board RAID storage via 2.5-inch rotating media drives or performance-tuned Intel SSD drives. Innerpool is installed in pairs, one in each Xsan Metadata Controller and hosts the critical Metadata LUN, rather than tasking the storage systems that host data volumes.

...

Enounce (http://www.encounce.com) has announced thatthat a pre-release version of MySpeed software for the Mac is now available in beta. It allows users to speed up or slow down the playback rate of Adobe's Flash-formatted videos without any "chipmunk" quality to the sound.

Users can change the playback speed of videos such as corporate training, educational courses and seminars, YouTube and more. The software is immediately available to a limited number of beta users. Beta users will receive a 50% discount off the commercially available version, paying only $14.99 for the software at release. Just remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care.

With MySpeed, a slider bar appears on a user's desktop and allows real-time speed changes whenever a Flash-based video is playing in a web browser or standalone player. The software is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 or higher and works with...

Apple has updated the MacBook Pro line with faster processors, next-generation Nvidia graphics and longer battery life. The 13-inch MacBook Pro features the new Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processor for up to 80% faster graphics and a 10-hour built-in battery.

The new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and Apple’s new automatic graphics switching technology that toggles seamlessly between powerful Nvidia GeForce GT 330M and energy efficient Intel HD Graphics processors, according to Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

All 13-inch MacBook Pro models now include faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 4GB RAM, a 10-hour built-in battery and the new Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processor. With 48 processing cores, the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M is the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market, ideal for graphics intensive applications or high performance games, says Schiller....

Ettore Software (http://ettoresoftware.com) has released TypeIt4Me 5.0, an update of its text expander for the Mac. The new version is full 64-bit, Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") compatible.

It also boasts improved expansion speed and a re-designed user interface with a fully resizable clippings editing window. Since 1989, TypeIt4Me has allowed users to set up short abbreviations that expand to words, pictures, phrases, paragraphs or indeed entire pages when typed.

No longer presented as a System Preferences item, TypeIt4Me is now a regular application which can optionally display its icon in the dock as well as in its traditional menubar position.

Available now as a 30-day demo, TypeIt4Me 5.0 costs US$27 ($14 for students and teachers). Upgrades for registered users of previous versions are $9. Users who bought the previous version on or after Jan. 1, 2009, will receive a free upgrade...

At this week's NAB show in Las Vegas, CPC, which specializes in closed captioning and subtitling software solutions, has announced development of a complete software-only HD closed captioning solution for users of Avid Media Composer.

This software-only metadata workflow will save Avid users time and money by eliminating the need for a dedicated external hardware closed caption encoder which can cost US$8,000 or more, simplifying workflows for handling video with closed captioning data, according to the folks at CPC. Closed captioning is required by the FCC for virtually all TV broadcasts in the United States, and by the CRTC for most TV broadcasts in Canada.

This new workflow allows facilities to complete the entire closed captioning process in-house. For an upcoming Media Composer release, Avid has developed a workflow for working with high definition video metadata, including closed caption data. CPC’s closed captioning software is a full caption preparation...

Atempo (http://www.atempo.com), a provider of cross-platform data protection and archiving solutions, has introduced several new features for Atempo Digital Archive designed to address the file archiving needs of organizations in media and entertainment markets.

These new capabilities in Atempo Digital Archive (ADA) 3.1 include the archival of complex file formats with full metadata ingestion, partial and full restoration of creative content and the ability for creative professionals to directly archive from Final Cut Pro. Together with the software’s performance, flexibility and intuitiveness, the added functions further optimize ADA as the preferred solution for customers to integrate digital archiving into the creative workflow, says Marylise Tauzia, director of Product Marketing and Management at Atempo.
 
Atempo Digital Archive 3.1 features the new capability to archive MXF, DPX and MOV files...

In the future you'd better be sure your deodorant is applied, or your iPhone might notice. At least if the Department of Homeland Security's Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) gets its wish.

According to an "InformationWeek" report (http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/government/showArticle.jhtm...), S&T hopes to see prototype phones from Apple, LG, Qualcomm, and Samsung that can sense carbon monoxide and fire in a year or so.

S&T is spearheading a project called the Cell-All initiative. The goal is to equip your cell phone with a sensor capable of detecting deadly chemicals at minimal cost -- to the manufacturer (a buck a sensor) and to your phone’s battery life.

“Our goal is to create a lightweight...

The US Department of Justice is investigating a number of Silicon Valley giants, including Apple, over hiring practices that allegedly include agreements to not poach each others' top talent, according to "The Wall Street Journal" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230470310457517429386762083...). Such agreements could potentially violate labor laws.

The federal government had Apple, Google and other companies over similar deals. Specifically, the probe is looking into whether the companies' hiring practices are costing skilled computer engineers and other workers opportunities to change jobs for higher pay or better benefits, says the "Journal."

Antitrust experts say the Justice Department could argue that an agreement between...

Hundreds of TV viewers in the Washington, D.C. area are just a few days away from their first taste of a new broadcast technology that enables viewing of TV programs while “on the go." For the first time, viewers will be able to watch local digital TV broadcasts on a variety of mobile devices, including specially-equipped iPhones, and iPads.

The Open Mobile Video Coalition’s Mobile DTV Consumer Showcase will begin on Monday, May 3 and continue throughout the summer in the Nation’s Capital. Compared to video delivered over wireless Internet platforms, Mobile DTV delivers always-on video at the highest quality and the lowest cost and is never affected by network congestion, claims Brandon Burgess, CEO of ION Media Networks and chairman of the OMVC (Open Mobile Video Coalition).

The Consumer Showcase will demonstrate how the U.S. digital TV system, now deployed in more than 1,600 stations across the country reaching 300 million Americans, allows each television station...

Cocoamug Software, developers and publishers of great Mac software, has released CosmoPod 4.3.2 (http://www.cocoamug.com/cosmopod/index.html), an update of the Safari extension that lets you download Flash videos from web sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, etc. The upgrade mainly improves the application reliability and memory usage.

CosmoPod can automatically convert downloaded files to an Apple device friendly format, tag them and add them to iTunes. Additionally, you can convert most video already on your hard drive via drag and drop so can be used as a tool to import your DVD collection to your Mac, iTunes, AppleTV, and iPhone.

CosmoPod costs US$12. Version 4.3.2 is a free update for registered users of version 4.x. CosmoPod 3 and earlier users can upgrade for $3.90.