Cross Culture has released Mergemill Pro 4.5, an update of their app for cleansing and de-duplicating data. The latest release is an enabler that automates many of the data extraction and processing steps in data mining.

Mergemill Pro takes diverse sources of data -- such as databases, web pages, e-mails and more -- and merges them with templates to produce the desired output, from web pages to customized e-mails. The program features data-processing capabilities such as data filters, multi-level data sorting, BASIC scripting, and multiple search-and-replace actions.

Mergemill Pro supports Unicode and other text encodings, and has project scheduling and auto-run functionality. Users can control output in templates through scripting with tags for content insertion, arithmetic expressions, looping, branching, statistic calculations and for marking text blocks for variable assignment or special output actions.

Mergemill Pro 4.5 is available for Macs running OS X...

RunRev has announced LiveCode 6.0, the first open source edition of its rapid application development platform that allows you to create your own mobile and desktop apps.

LiveCode 6.0 comes just five weeks after the close of one of its Kickstarter campaigns. RunRev raised nearly half a million pounds (US$750,000) to fund the development of the next generation app development platform.
 
LiveCode 6.0 represents the company’s first Community Edition, free to anyone wanting to access the LiveCode engine for custom development of full-featured mobile and desktop apps. Educators, students and business professionals have put support behind the development of open source LiveCode, recognizing the platform’s ability to change the face of programming in learning and commercial environments, according to the folks at RunRev.
 
LiveCode 6.0 is released under the GPL3 license, which allows anyone interested in developing mobile apps to do so with the LiveCode...

At this week's National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) event, Boris FX (www.borisfx.com) announced Boris Continuum Complete (BCC) 8.2.

The upgrade features up to 100% improvement in render time for OpenGL-accelerated filters. In addition, nearly all BCC AVX for Avid filters can now be rendered in real-time.

BCC 8.2 FxPlug for Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion is available now as a free download from www.borisfx.com for BCC v8.x FxPlug users. BCC 8.2 AE for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, BCC 8.2 AVX for Avid, and BCC 8.2 for Sony Vegas Pro will be available as free downloads for BCC v8.x users during the second quarter of the year.

Cory Moll, the founder of a union for Apple's retail employees is leaving the company after deciding to pursue other options, reports "CNET" (http://tinyurl.com/bqfpzss).

He's been with Apple since 2007 and founded the Apple Retail Workers Union. He's leaving his job by his own choice as of today, notes "CNET."

"I feel that the time has come to go explore the world, discover new opportunities and learn new skills," Moll said in an e-mail.

Tension Software has updated DB-Text -- a tool to import, edit and manage text based archives -- to version 1.2. The upgrade offers new export functions with new dialog and selection of exported fields.

DB-Text 1.2 also sports improved iImport functions, a Sandbox release, advanced preferences, auto detection of CSV or TAB file format to import, and minor bug fixes. DB-Text is available for US $6.99 both from the Mac App Store and the Tension Software web site (www.pomola.com/products_dbtext/ ).

At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show this week in Las Vegas, Intel made some key announcements regarding Thunderbolt technology, the fastest data connection available in your personal computer.

Intel introduced the Intel DSL4510/4410 Thunderbolt controllers which add DisplayPort 1.2 capability when connecting to native DP displays, improve power management, and reduce platform bill of materials cost.

Intel (www.intel.com) also previewed early prototype silicon of its next-generation Thunderbolt controller codenamed Falcon Ridge, which runs at 20Gbs, enabling 4K video file transfer and display simultaneously. Initial production is expected before the end of this year, with ramp in 2014. 

At this week's National Association of Broadcasts (NAB) event, Sonnet announced the Echo Express III-D desktop and Echo Express III-R rackmount Thunderbolt-to-PCI Express Expansion Chassis, the newest members of the company's Echo family of Thunderbolt expansion chassis for PCIe cards.

Featuring three PCIe slots, a 300W power supply, and 75W auxiliary power connector, both new Thunderbolt-to-PCIe expansion chassis enable the use of a wide variety of high-performance PCI Express cards -- originally designed for use in desktop computers -- with any Mac with a Thunderbolt port. These Sonnet products support every Thunderbolt-compatible PCIe card available.

Both the Echo Express III-D desktop and Echo Express III-R rackmount chassis feature dual Thunderbolt ports to support daisy-chaining of devices, and are designed for users needing the optimum solution for connecting three PCIe cards to their computer. Each new chassis supports up to three full-length, full-height,...

At this week's National Association of Broadcasts (NAB) event, Blackmagic Design announced the US$995 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, a pocket sized digital cinema camera that includes features such as Super 16mm sized 1080HD sensor, super wide 13 stops of dynamic range, built in SD card recorder for Apple ProRes, lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW capture and active Micro Four Thirds lens mount.

The new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera has most of the features of its bigger brother, including its feature film look, but has been redesigned with a smaller size that is less than an inch thick and can be held easily in your hand, says Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic Design. It's so small that it can be used in situations in the field where a larger camera could be dangerous, he adds.
The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera features an industry standard Super 16 sensor size. The camera includes a SD card recorder that allows the full sensor dynamic range to be recorded in...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) -- which recently denied Apple’s trademark application for the iPad mini because Apple's patent filing merely described the product -- has now withdrawn its objections, notes "MacRumors."

A second objection related to Apple's use of the iPad mini overview page as its specimen proving that the named product was being offered for sale. "The issue has in fact mostly been resolved without Apple having had to address the examiner's objections," notes "MacRumors" (www.macrumors.com). "Presumably responding to the publicity surrounding the initial decision, the USPTO has preemptively withdrawn its two main objections to Apple's objections."

Avid has announced Avid Pro Tools 11, an update of its digital audio workstation for music and audio production. This latest version enables audio professionals to take on the most demanding productions with new, high-...

Sorenson Media has released Sorenson Squeeze 9, an upgrade of its video encoder that improves the encoding workflow and optimizes multi-screen video encoding.

Benefits of the newest version of Squeeze include industry-first HTML5 optimization; an enhanced, more intuitive streamlined user interface and optimized user experience; enhancements to video quality and speed; and improvements to the product’s review and approval functionality.

According to Mitch Holyoak, vice president of engineering for Sorenson Media, says Squeeze 9 makes encoding video files for playback in HTML5 easy and intuitive. Users simply drag and drop a single HTML5 preset onto a source file, and Squeeze then automatically creates two output renditions of the file -- one in MP4, the other in WebM -- together with a coding of the video onto an HTML5 web page, using the video tag. The two renditions enable native video playback in all major browsers, including Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer, and...

A "handful" of Samsung smartphones infringe an Apple patent on text selection, according to the initial determination of a U.S. International Trade Commission judge, notes the "IDG News Service" (http://tinyurl.com/br27qyd).

The patent in question concerns the selection of text on the browser of a handheld device by covering it with a translucent layer, where the layer becomes active for user inputs, the article adds. In his initial decision, Judge Thomas Pender found several Samsung phones did infringe two parts of U.S. patent RE41,922, filed by Apple in 2002.

A federal judge will not allow a lawsuit accusing Apple, Google and other technology companies of conspiring not to poach each other's employees to proceed as a class action, "but left the door open for affected workers to eventually sue as a group," reports "Reuters" (http://tinyurl.com/ckhy4yx)

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, said the five software engineers who brought the case had yet to show that the proposed class plaintiffs had enough in common to allow them to sue together. However, in light of new evidence, she said the nature of the "alleged overarching conspiracy" and desire to litigate it all at once weighed "heavily" in favor of class certification. As a result, she gave the plaintiffs a chance to seek class certification again, notes "Reuters."