The WebObjects Community Association and BoxOffice Tickets have announced 2010's World-wide WebObjects Developer's Conference (http://www.wowodc.com), the annual conference dedicated to WebObjects, Apple's enterprise-class web application development framework.

This three-day event will be held Aug. 27-29 in Montreal at the Hotel Gouverneur Place Dupuis. Sessions and Hands-On Labs will be led by WebObjects experts from around the world.

The past few years have seen substantial new development surrounding WebObjects, one of Apple's most mature and time-tested technologies, says Pascal Robert, event organizer and Steering Committee member. Its behind-the-scenes roll in the iTunes music store and the App Store have driven development both by Apple and the global WebObjects community, bringing substantial updates to existing functionality and dramatic new features that keep WebObjects on the cutting edge of...

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been named to the "2010 TIME 100" (http://www.time.com/time/specials/bestworst/0,32232,1984685_1984745_1985...), TIME Magazine's list of "the people who most affect our world." It's his fifth appearance on the list.


Jeff Koons, an artist living in New York City, offered these thoughts on Jobs for the TIME list: "Apple's core ideal has always been to make people's experience of computing as accessible and pleasurable as possible. As a young man, Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, decided to be the Beatles of computing. I once said that I make what the Beatles would have made if they made sculpture, and I can appreciate how Steve, 55, applies their ethos of optimism to his work. The tools he has given us, from the Macs at my studio to the iPhone in my pocket, are like clean...

Intelligent Assistance has released Matchback Magic (http://assistedediting.com/MatchbackMagic/), software that adds matchback information to Final Cut Pro media files to make them very robust through many postproduction workflows, according to Intelligent Assistance CEO Philip Hodgetts.

“With Matchback Magic it doesn’t matter if an editor or assistant renames clips or file names, or even if they lose reel name or Timecode reference," he says. "The conform to master media will still happen correctly.”

Matchback Magic adds metadata into the media file that's carried with the file, regardless of what happens inside Final Cut Pro or to the file. At the end of the editorial process, Matchback Magic extracts that information and provides either a fully conformed (to the original high quality media) Final Cut Pro Sequence, or an ALE file for conforming a Cinema Tools...

Atlona Technologies (http://www.atlona.com) has introduced the AT-HD620, an HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Converter capable of up-converting incoming video signals to dual-link resolutions up to 2560x1440.

The US$279 converter -- due to ship May 1 -- solves compatibility issues that have been plaguing HDMI users looking to take advantage of the technologies offered in new Mini DisplayPort displays, such as the 27-inch iMac and the 24-inch Cinema Display, according to the folks at Atlona. The new AT-HD620 will scale any HDMI input to match native resolution of either display.

With the AT-HD620, a host of new image enhancing technologies are available to users looking to connect an HDMI source to an MDP display. The unit features an HDCP compliant HDMI input, as well as a Mini DisplayPort input that functions as a pass through for Mini DisplayPort sources. This unit can switch between the two inputs, allowing...

WoodWing Software has announced the availability of the Smart Styles productivity plug-in for Adobe's Creative Suite 5. In addition to the compatibility with Adobe CS5, the new version of Smart Styles also supports new interactive styling elements for media, buttons and animations, says WoodWing President Erik Schut.

Other CS5 features supported by Smart Styles CS5 are all frame corner effects, paragraph span columns. Smart Styles CS5 efficiency plug-in is the first WoodWing product available for Adobe CS5. The company is close to the beta stage of CS5 versions of other plug-ins and the Enterprise publishing system, as well. These betas are expected to be released in May.

A free 30-day trial version of Smart Styles CS5 can be downloaded from http://www.woodwing.com/en/Download_Software. It's a $79 upgrade for registered users; for new users the cost is $199...

Eltima Software has released SWF & FLV Player for Mac 3.8 (http://mac.eltima.com/swf-player.html), an upgrade that offers improved downloading of online Flash movies and videos option.

SWF & FLV Player is a Flash movies and videos player that facilitates watching them on a Mac/ The app is available in two versions: free and Pro (USS$19.95); the latter features a number of extra options.

Free Flash Player has such movie control options as forwarding and rewinding SWF and FLV files, zooming the movie in and out, fitting it to current window size or restoring to original one. SWF & FLV Player also lets you create and manage playlists and obtain detailed information about SWF and FLV files (size, SWF version, frame rate, shapes/morphs/fonts/ActionScripts/sounds, etc.).

The pro version of SWF & FLV Player adds: the ability to save online Flash movies...

NinjaGrips (http://www.ninjagrips.com) has released high-traction rubber grips for the iPad. Available in five introductory designs they're designed to allow for easier manipulation and handling of the iPad.

The adhesive-backed grips are crafted from recycled materials and make it easier to set your iPad down on hard surfaces without scratches. NinjaGrips are a great option for those who want to retain the aesthetic lines of the iPad without adding a case, according to the ninjas at NinjaGrips. Due to the thinness of the NinjaGrip material these grips are also compatible with many iPad cases.

NinjaGrips are available for US$15 and will begin shipping the first week of May. The five introductory designs include a ninja-inspired "Shuriken" (pictured), the simplistic "Clean" and "Clean Cut," the classic "Tokyo Sunrise" and the new-age tech "Industrial." All designs also include small corner edge...

Economy-x-Talk has released CC File Converter (http://www.color-converter.com), an utility for Mac OS X 10.4 and later to change the color profile of image files. Some graphics editing software packages call this the color mode, color space, or mode.

For example, images can be in GIF, JPEG, PNG or TIFF format. Additionally, colors can be defined by a CMYK, RGB or other color space. Pictures may print slightly dark on some printers, while slightly brighter, or with a more intense red, on other printers. Devices often need their own color profile. Many people change the color settings of their computer screen, which in Mac OS X implies the creation of a custom color profile.

With CC File Converter you can convert picture files to make images look more similar on different computer screens and different printers, even in different software packages. It has the capability to automatically...

AnyBizSoft Studio, a provider of PDF solutions, has released PDF to Word for Mac (http://www.anypdftools.com/pdf-to-word-for-mac.html), an app that lets you convert PDF files into editable Microsoft Word files.

Tom Chande, CEO of AnyBizSoft Studio, says PDF to Word for Mac allows you to preserve original text content, images, layouts in the converted Word document. It supports batch and partial conversion mode. PDF to Word supports Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 and Microsoft Word X/2004/2008, as well as encrypted PDF conversion.

It costs US$39.95 for a single user license. A demo is available for download.

A decline between a calendar year's fourth quarter and the next calendar year's first quarter is typical of seasonal demand patterns but this decline is less than normal. When compared to 1Q09, shipments in 1Q10 rose 39.0%. Total market revenue in 1Q10 fell 2.0% compared to 4Q09 and rose 40.4% compared to 1Q09.

"PC processor shipments typically decline around 7 to 8 percent going from fourth quarter to first quarter," says Shane Rau director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC. "A decline of 5.6% is modest and wouldn't mean much by itself. However, after the huge rise in shipments we saw in the fourth quarter, it adds more credibility to market recovery and that the PC industry anticipates improvement in PC end demand in 2010."

Looking at market performance by computer form factor, mobile processors declined 6.3% quarter over quarter, desktop processors declined 5.1% quarter over quarter, and PC server processors declined 1.4% quarter over quarter....

CrispSofties (http://www.crispsofties.com/) has updated its iPod.iTunes music synchronization tool to version 4.5, which has been tweaked for iTunes 9.1.1.

iPod.iTunes does real add-synchronization, even in two directions if desired. The source can be either the iPod or the iTunes library. The software evaluates the source for songs, videos, podcasts and/or playlists that are not in the target and only adds these seamlessly, avoiding duplicates. Unlike iTunes' own synchronization iPod.iTunes generally does not delete content in the target. iPod.iTunes can also transfer song dependent data like "My Rating", "Last Played", "Play Count", album artwork, etc.

iPod.iTunes can be used for: keeping files and playlists on different Macs and iPods up to date; doing a full restore of songs, videos and playlists from iPod; reversing the accidental deletion of songs, videos and/or playlists in iTunes,...

HD television and HD radio are realities. It is ironic that the telephone, patented in 1876 – years  before either radio or TV – is the last of the three to get the quantum leap in quality that “High Definition” provides.

However it is here at last, and according to a new study from ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com), about 487 million mobile subscribers will use HD-enabled handsets to carry on clear, comprehensible conversations over upgraded networks in 2015.
 
That may seem surprising, because this market is virtually nonexistent today. Growth is expected to ramp up quickly in 2013, and then skyrocket starting in 2014. Why will growth be so sudden, and where will it start?
 
“The upgrade to HD voice is not especially expensive,” says principal analyst Fritz Jordan. “Newer 3G networks – those deployed since about 2005-2006 – can already use the new format and require...