Foxconn Technology Group has resumed hiring at a Chinese factory as it prepares to make a new iPhone, reports "Bloomberg" (http://tinyurl.com/cajs4t9), quoting an unnamed "person familiar with the plans."

Workers have been recruited at Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou, eastern China, for the past month, ending a hiring freeze imposed in February, said the person, "who asked not to be named because the plans haven’t been made public." The extra workers will assemble the new device as well as existing models and have been added at Apple’s request to boost capacity, according to "Bloomberg."

Akvis has released Akvis AirBrush 1.0. The Mac OS X compatible software makes photos look as if they're airbrush paintings made with a special airbrush tool.

The program is designed to help users create a piece of art out of any picture. Akvis AirBrush is available in versions for Mac OS X (10.4 and higher) and Windows, and can be used as a standalone program and as a plug-in to photo editors.

Airbrushing is a painting technique based on the use of a special tool called an air brush or spraying gun. Since it’s a touch free technique, it allows the painter to add light strokes, minor details, and blurry edges.

Akvis AirBrush is equipped with 40 presets to help you get started. They can be applied "as is" or can be modified. The software lets you save your favorite photo-to-painting settings as a preset and use them further. It's possible to import and export your presets. You can share your favorite settings with other fans of this technique. What's more, the...

Sinusoid has released VideoSpeak, a new Mac OS X app for adding synthesized speech audio tracks to existing videos and movies. It allows you to create a voice-over without the use of a microphone or other audio equipment.

You can use as many voices as you wish within a video -- and even have different voices talking to each other. Novelty voices can be used to add interest to funny videos. VideoSpeak is designed for people producing instructional videos, according to the folks at Sinusoid.

Once the user has finished adding the voice tracks, the video is exported to a QuickTime movie file. The original video is never edited; it's only read and a new video produced with the new synthetic spoken voice tracks.

VideoSpeak uses Apple's Speech Synthesis system for Mac OS X, which has a wide range of voices available as standard from the operating system. In addition to the standard voices, users can download localized voices from Apple with accents for the local...

Powerocks (www.powerocks.com) has announced the US$34.99 Tarot, which it describes as the world’s thinnest portable power bank. It's designed to fit in a wallet, pocket, or small purse to provide an emergency charge for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

Available in black, silver, or pink, the Tarot is about the same size as a credit card (but thicker), weighing just 1.79 ounces with measurements of 3.5 x 2.1 x 0.28. Its 1500mAh capacity gives you power to recharge smartphones and tablets with one emergency charge.
 
To charge your devicet, just connect the included Micro USB cable from Tarot to the phone/device. For the iPhone or other devices that don’t use Micro USB, attach the device’s USB adapter to the Tarot’s USB cable to charge. To recharge the Tarot after use, connect its USB Cable to a USB computer or outlet.  The Tarot’s four blue LED lights will tell you how much power is...

G5 Entertainment and Funzai have teamed up for Art Mogul on the Mac. It's available at the Mac App Store. The price is normally US$4.99, but it's on sale for a limited time for $2.99.

Here's how the game is described: "Art Mogul tests you to see if you have an artistic eye required to be a world-renowned mogul of the arts. You will travel around the world, bidding at exciting auctions, exposing fakes and masterpieces as well as acquiring priceless collections. Find over a thousand objects, open your very own art gallery and build your art empire that will stand the test of time.

"One of the distinguishing features of Art Mogul is uniqueness of game sessions. It's up to you to buy a famous artwork in the gallery that is a guaranteed original, or look for masterpieces in the cafes, though they often host skilled counterfeits. To lower the price of the painting you need to find various items on it. If you find all the hidden objects, you'll get a large discount. Then you...

Apple is requesting that US$85 million in damages against Samsung be reinstated as the judge erred in dismissing jury-awarded damages for two Samsung devices, reports "CNET" (http://tinyurl.com/cpj4n2q).

In a March ruling in the case, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh cut damages on some Samsung products found to infringe Apple's patents, carving $450.5 million off the original $1.05 billion judgment and calling for a new trial on the damages to recalculate them.

However, Apple has complained that Koh made a mistake in reducing at least part of the damages by excluding two devices.The company has filed a conditional motion with U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California asking Koh to reconsider her order granting a new trial on the jury-awarded damages she tossed related to the Galaxy S2 sold by AT&T and the Infuse 4G.

This is all part of the ongoing, global...

Vito Technology (http://vitotechnology.com/) has announced an upgrade to Star Walk, the augmented reality iOS app for spotting over 200,000 stars, planets, constellations, satellites and galaxies in the night sky.

The new version includes comprehensive stargazing calendar that shows all visible celestial events for your area, explains their nature and sets a reminder in iCal for ones you chose to see. Other additions include comet tracking and iridium flares.

Star Walk is a astronomy guide that shows celestial objects (stars, constellations, satellites, etc.) in the exact positions on the sky above you, providing information about them. It's designed to help anyone even remotely interested in astronomy find their way across the sky, determine where to look for any chosen object, rewind or fast-forward time to see how celestial bodies move. It inspires curiosity about the Universe and helps...

MOSO has announced version 1.3 of the Xmplify XML Editor (http://xmplifyapp.com). It's a XML editor built specifically for Mac OS X 10.6 and higher and provides a fully XML-aware editing environment with DTD and XML Schema-based auto-completion.

Version 1.3 is the first 64-bit release of Xmplify. It also brings other improvements and fixes.

Xmplify is available for US$59; both volume and educational discounts are available. Version 1.3 is a free upgrade for Xmplify 1.x users.

Appsoft Studio has released Splash Colors FX 1.0 for Mac OS X. The tool turns color photos into black and white ones and can help highlight certain objects by revealing their original colors.

Users can highlight the most important parts of photos and give them new looks. Users may refresh the details and share photos on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or send them via Mail and Messages.

Splash Colors FX uses a dynamic brush to reveal the original colors of photos. It also contains adjustable effects for putting some final touches to your photos.

Splash Colors FX requires Mac OS X 10.7 or later. It costs US$0.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Photography category (http://tinyurl.com/ccxlxr7).

Kenburg Technology has announced LightLinez, a pocket-sized (12 cm) Apple Lightning to USB 2.0 charge and sync cable for the iPhone 5, iPad mini, and all Apple Lightning devices.

It has the complete charge and sync functionality of a full length cable. The Lightning connector housing is small enough to fit into a protective case, such as the LifeProof or Otterbox, eliminating the need to remove the case to charge and sync. 

Designed for use at home or on the move, LightLinez's shorter length allows you to slip the cable into a pocket, purse or small storage space for transport and reduced clutter and tangle. It's 88% shorter than the standard 1-meter cable.

The LightLinez is available at www.kenburgtech.com and http://www.radtech.us/products/kenburg-short-lightning-to-usb-cable for US$18.95.

FileMaker Inc. says that, as of Sept. 30, 2013, FileMaker Go 11 for iPad and FileMaker Go 11 for iPhone will no longer be available for purchase on the iTunes App Store.

Customers who purchase FileMaker Go 11 before that date will still be able to download it from the iTunes App Store when, for example, replacing an existing iPad with a new iPad. However, after Sept. 30, FileMaker Go 11 will not be available for purchase for new devices. FileMaker Go 12 for iPad and FileMaker Go 12 for iPhone continue to be available free on the iTunes App Store.

FileMaker Go 11 for iPad and FileMaker Go 11 for iPhone (formerly named FileMaker Go 1.2) only open databases that use the .fp7 file format. Databases with .fp7 file format are created with FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced 11, 10, 9, 8.5, 8, and 7. FileMaker Go 11 is not compatible with databases created with FileMaker Pro 12.

FileMaker Go 12 only opens databases that use the .fmp12 file format. Databases with .fmp12 format...

At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Adobe announced the general availability of Adobe Primetime (formerly Project Primetime), a TV publishing and monetization platform for programmers and pay TV service providers.

The company also announced technology collaborations with dozens of industry leaders, including encoders, cloud platform providers, and content delivery networks (CDNs) to pave the way for TV content across every connected screen. Ecosystem partners include Akamai, Amazon Web Services, Cisco Systems, Elemental Technologies, Envivio, Harmonic, iStreamPlanet, RGB Networks, thePlatform and others. Comcast Cable and NBC Sports Group have signed on as first Adobe Primetime launch partners.

Adobe Primetime enables programmers and pay TV service providers to capitalize on the rising consumer interest in watching and engaging with digital video while helping protect and maximize the value of their content, David Karnstedt, senior vice...