Apple has released iMovie 9.0.9 for Mac OS X 10.7.4 or later. It addresses issues where iMovie does not recognize video cameras connected to your Mac.
iMovie 9.0.9 also improves compatibility with projects imported from iMovie for iOS and includes stability improvements. It's available at the Mac App Store or at http://tinyurl.com/aohgjqf .
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Freshcode has introduced DropClip for Mac OS X. It's a Dropbox add-on that lets you direct people to Dropbox files you've shared with them.
To use you right click on a file or folder in a shared Dropbox folder and choose the Copy DropClip link. Users can then paste the URL link it creates in Mail, Gmail, Skype or any other type of communication tool to send it to a co-worker, a friend or family.
DropClip costs US$1.99 and is available at the Freshcode web site (http://madefresh.ca/dropclip/). A demo is available for download. DropClip is a Mac-only app that requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher.
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WD has released its My Passport Ultra line of portable hard drives, which combine additional layers of data protection with USB 3.0 connectivity in a slim, compact design and four color choices.
Available in 500 GB, 1TB and new 2TB capacities, My Passport Ultra portable hard drives have built-in WD SmartWare Pro backup software with Dropbox integration, hardware encryption and password protection. A protective pouch is included with the My Passport Ultra to help shield it.
My Passport Ultra portable hard drives are protected by a three-year limited warranty and are available from the WD store at wdstore.com and at select retailers and distributors. The My Passport Ultra 500GB has a manufacturers suggested retail price of $99.99 USD, and the My Passport Ultra 1TB is $129.99. (The 2TB version is due later this year.)
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Karelia Software (www.karelia.com) has updated Sandvox, their web creation software for Mac OS X, to version 2.8. The upgrade can optimize website image content for viewing on Retina displays.
Sandvox 2.8 also introduces two new designs, new LinkedIn and Pinterest sharing buttons, a new social media sharing bar and more. The app also includes two new modern design options, offering left or right sidebars suited for showcasing photographs and galleries.
Sandvox 2.8 requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or higher and costs US$79.99. It's available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category (http://tinyurl.com/chgts4l). It is also available from The Karelia Store (https://secure.karelia.com/buy_now/).
The Sandvox 2.8 update is...
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Managing Editor (www.maned.com) has released MEI Portico 2.5, the latest in the Adobe development partner's lineup of solutions for publishers.
MEI Portico lets publishers create custom branded user interfaces for their mobile and tablet apps. The new version of MEI's custom storefront software lets app publishers present content items other than traditional folios in their apps.
The Portico experience management platform can support a wide range of non-folio content, like FaceTime sessions and Google Maps to cross-promotional items like referral URLs to iTunes Store downloads and rich media ads, making apps powered by Portico more than just a collection of folios, according to Brett Kizner, MEI's director of new product marketing. For more info go to http://tinyurl.com/d9hqzxc .
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A Florida woman is seeking more than US$5 million from Apple on behalf of thousands of iPhone owners who allegedly bought phones with defective power buttons that would not lock or turn off, reports "GigaOm" (http://tinyurl.com/cweh8dv).
In a class action suit filed in San Jose, California, Debra Hilton claims that Apple knew about a defect in a flex cable that controls the on-off button, but chose to stay quiet about it to sell more phones. As evidence, she points to Apple discussion forums, a fix-it video on YouTube and comments by a self-described iPhone repairman who says the power button defect is prevalent on the iPhone 4 which went on sale in 2010, notes "GigaOm."
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D-Link is shipping a new line of AC Routers with the availability of the Wireless AC1750 Router (DIR-868L), Wireless AC1200 Router (DIR-860L), Wireless AC1000 Router (DIR-820L) and Wireless AC750 Router (DIR-810L). They have street prices of US$169.99, $149.99, $119.99 and $79.99, respectively.
Offering next-generation Wi-Fi speeds, D-Link’s latest 802.11ac Routers deliver a range of wireless speeds and price points for creating a reliable and strong Wi-Fi home network ideal for HD video streaming, online gaming, and multiple user activities, says Daniel Kelley, vice president of marketing, D-Link Systems.
The Wireless AC1750 Dual Band Gigabit Cloud Router and Wireless AC1200 Dual Band Gigabit Cloud Router deliver speeds of up to 1750Mbps (N450Mbps+AC1300Mbps) and 1200Mbps (N300 + AC867Mbps) respectively. In addition, the Wireless AC1000 Dual Band Cloud Router offers speeds of up to 1000Mbps (N300Mbps + AC650Mbps) and the Wireless AC750 Dual Band Cloud Router...
Apple wants to add Galaxy S4 to a second patent case against Samsung, reports "FOSS Patents" (http://tinyurl.com/dyavkwk).
Narrowing will occur in several steps until the spring 2014 trial, the article adds. Ultimately, by February 6, 2014, the parties will have to limit their asserted patents claims to five (per side) and their accused products to ten (per side). The purpose of the responses Apple and Samsung submitted yesterday was to identify 22 accused products per side, notes "FOSS Patents."
This is all part of the ongoing, global legal battle. Apple and Samsung have filed more than 30 lawsuits against each other across four continents. For example, Apple alleges that Samsung copied the slide-to-unlock technology of its iPhone and iPad devices.
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Expeditions: Conquistador, a tactical role-playing game, will be available for Mac, PC, Mac and Linux systems on Steam on May 30. It will also be available on GOG.com, Gamersgate and several other platforms.
Here's how Expeditions: Conquistador is described: "Playing as a Spanish Conquistador, the player has to lead his or her party through the untamed wilderness of the New World, making hefty decisions along the way. Decisions that could significantly alter the course of history. The game project was financed through Kickstarter, and developed by the Danish development studio Logic Artists ApS. bitComposer will market Expeditions: Conquistador worldwide.
"Expeditions: Conquistador offers the player in single or multiplayer mode the opportunity to conquer an unknown continent, or to fight on the side of the indigenous people as they defend their homeland from the invaders. This will require not only tactical skills in battle, but also diplomatic finesse...
Penclic has released the Bluetooth B2 Mouse, it's available at Amazon.com for US$89.95. It's Mac and PC compatible.
The Bluetooth B2 Mouse wirelessly connects to your computer. It sports five click buttons with a scroll wheel and laser pointer. The mouse operates without the use of a mouse pad.
According to the folks at Penclic, the Bluetooth B2 Mouse -- available only in white -- will run two months on one charge with its rechargeable battery. It has a wireless reach of up to 16 feet.
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EditShare has released the Field 2, its next-generation portable shared storage solution with integrated asset management.
The turnkey platform includes file ingest, advanced project sharing/bin locking, and archiving capabilities in an all-in-one, high-performance and rugged chassis. Designed for on-location shoots, ENG trucks and remote offices, the new Field 2 is durable, light and compact and meets airline carry-on regulations.
With an optional integrated Flow SDI ingest card, users can record up to two channels of HD in industry-standard codecs such as XDCAM-EX35, Avid DNxHD and DVCProHD. Flow’s edit-while-capture capability lets users start editing the moment they begin recording.
With an optional lightweight expansion unit, a single Field 2 configuration can scale to 32 terabytes. And using the integrated EditShare Sync Tool, users can send data from a remote location back to home base over a simple Internet VPN connection. For more info go to...
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Bits&Coffee has released BatchPhoto 3.7, an update of its all-in-one photo manipulation program for Mac and PC that lets photographers, web designers, business people, and families enhance photos. To use you select a group of photographs, and, with a single operation edit, resize, convert, watermark, and rename every image in the group.
BatchPhoto Enterprise takes batch photo editing one step further by completely automating the process. All the user needs to do is to create a "hot folder" for the program to monitor. BatchPhoto can monitor several folders at once, either on the computer, network or FTP sites, and apply custom edits for the newly added or modified images in each one of them.
For example, with BatchPhoto Enterprise the user can transfer hundreds of RAW images from a DSLR digital camera to a "hot folder" and have all the images automatically resized, rotated, watermarked with a logo, renamed, converted to TIFF and uploaded to a site via FTP or to...
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Reggie Ashworth (www.reggieashworth.com) has announced AppDelete 3.2.9, a new version of his application deletion utility. The upgrade has been optimized for Mac OS X 10.7, supports new languages and more.
You can drag any item that can be uninstalled onto AppDelete: spplications, widgets, preference panes, plugins, screensavers, etc. You can also activate AppDelete in many ways: dragging items onto main window, onto dock icon, selecting in menu, right-clicking using AppDelete workflow, dragging from Launchpad, and throwing items in the trash. When the preview screen appears you can uncheck any items you would like to exclude.
You also have several choices: delete the items, log only the items, or archive (copy) the items to a .zip file for safekeeping or reinstall at a later date. The items you delete will be moved to the trash and arranged in a folder so that you can see exactly what was...
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Adobe's announcement that it will drop its traditional, perpetual license model for Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and its other professional creative apps in favor of a Creative Cloud software subscription model rubbed lots of folks the wrong way. Now there's a petition to keep the Creative Suite perpetual license model alive, notes "The MacObserver" (http://tinyurl.com/bpox6gd).
The petition, started by Berek Schoffstall at Change.org, can be found at http://tinyurl.com/d7kzz4f . Schoffstall has this to say: "You should support this petition because Adobe is making their already expensive products even more expensive in the long run. Adobe is robbing small business, freelancers, and the average consumer. They do not seem to understand that every company is a not multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporation that has...
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Last week Apple informed its tech staff that major changes to the AppleCare and AppleCare+ service programs will be enacted starting this fall, "with a broadening of current policies likely to cut costs and make the service more attractive to consumers," according to "AppleInsider."
The article says there will be changes to the way repairs for iPhones will be handled. In addition, employees will have access to advanced diagnostics tools that can remotely assess hardware issues and relay the data directly to technicians, according to "AppleInsider." Finally, Apple will reportedly reconfigure its paid AppleCare service as a subscription model, or introduce a new tier, which will be attached to a customer rather than a specific product.
The new in-house repairs are to be rolled out across the U.S., with international support coming online soon thereafter. Apple expects to save nearly $1 billion per year with the change in policy. Read more at...
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Lunabee Pte has released the Mac version of their password manager app, oneSafe. Along with the iOS version, it allows users to sync their sensitive information across all their devices using iCloud.
oneSafe for Mac also boasts features such as automatic backup, the ability to drag and drop files into the app, a high encryption level (AES 256), over 100 card templates for entry and retrieval of information, double protection categories and more. It requires Mac OS X 10.8 or higher.
oneSafe 1.0 for Mac OS X costs US$12.99. It's available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category (http://tinyurl.com/ccubhrz).
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Foundry376 has announced Spark Inspector, a tool that brings realtime introspection to the world of iOS development. It's available for download immediately (www.sparkinspector.com/).
Here's how the folks at Foundry376 described Spark Inspector: "Apple provides great developer tools, but interface bugs can be tricky to uncover. The Spark Inspector changes the game with an entirely new debugging perspective: a stunning, three-dimensional view of an app's interface that updates in real-time as it runs. Pan and zoom around your interface to reveal how layouts are structured, and unearth bugs quickly using Spark's powerful display options. Fine-tuning views?
"The Spark Inspector mimics Interface Builder, and allows you to preview adjustments to your app's views in real-time. Make runtime modifications to everything from button frames to CALayer shadows and transforms, right from the Inspector's...
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Remoter Labs has announced Remoter 1.4 for Mac OS X (10.6 and higher), an update of the productivity app that allows users to remotely control Macs via Screen Sharing, and Windows or Linux PCs using the VNC or RDP standards. The new version sports an updated icon, font smoothing support, a session editor option and more.
Remoter offers one of the fastest implementations of the VNC and RDP protocols on the Mac platform, according to the folks at Remote Labs. It uses Bonjour for set-up. Features include sound redirection, RDP, Telnet and SSH, which also allows for secure VNC/RDP over SSH.
Port-forwarding and/or dynamic DNS is no longer needed in order to establish connections from outside the computer's network. Servers can be sorted by name, type or usage, and a search box allows to easily find the desired server.
Wake-on-LAN support is also built-in. When the server session is setup using Bonjour or NetBIOS, the MAC address is automatically populated....
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Judge Paul S. Grewal has upheld Apple’s request that Google reveal its search methodology for collecting Android documentation for the iPhone maker’s upcoming patent infringement trial against Samsung, reports the "Wall Street Cheat Sheet" (http://tinyurl.com/c6qhjvg)
The judge dismissed Google’s claims that Apple was overreaching, by compelling the Internet search giant to reveal the search terms and methods it is using to compile the requested Android documentation, the article adds. Google argued that Apple’s pretrial information request was unduly burdening the company, but the judge disagreed with this perspective.
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Apple has released Thunderbolt Firmware Update 1.2 (http://tinyurl.com/ctyjsoe). It provides stability fixes for Thunderbolt and Target Disk Mode.
It's a 1.22MB download and requires Mac OS X 10.8.3 or higher. When your computer restarts a gray screen will appear with a status bar to indicate the progress of the update. Don't disturb or shut off the power on your computer during this update. Note: Your computer must be plugged into AC power for the update to install.
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QuickerTek has released the Quicky Junior 3 USB wireless network adaptor designed for the MacBook user that needs a "little extra boost in power, but doesn't need a full blown system enhancement."
It's the third generation in Quicky Junior line. The company says it's improved in both the physical and electronic arenas.
Redesigned with the antenna actually folding into the body, the Quicky Junior 3 adds capability to use the 802.11 a 5.8Ghz band wireless specification. After the initial installation simply plug it in to any available USB port and start using your network.
Priced at US$79.95, the Quicky Junior 3 comes with a small USB a/b/g/n remote stand adaptor. For more info go to http://tinyurl.com/br7z7ts .
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Houdah Software (http://www.houdah.com/) has updated HoudahGeo, a geocoding solution for the Mac, to version 3.4. The new version can load track logs from QR codes created by the gps4cam iPhone application, can now infer camera clock settings when given the exact time a photo was taken and more.
HoudahGeo costs US$29 for a single-user license for new users. Version 2.8 is a free update for registered users. HoudahGeo requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher.
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Tropical Software's TopXNotes (http://www.tropic4.com/) note manager for the Mac has been updated to version 1.7.5. The upgrade offers performance enhancements and bug fixes.
TopXNotes will now keep your notes synchronized between TopXNotes for Mac and TopXNotes Touch for the iPhone and iPod touch. Version 1.7.2 includes a new Preference for setting vertical and horizontal text margins and a new Preference to choose manual or automatic note delete.
TopXNotes 1.7.5 requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later. It costs US$39.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category and at the Tropical Software (http://www.tropic4.com).
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Reinvented Software (http://reinventedsoftware.com/) has announced Together 3.0 for Mac OS X. The new version adds thumbnails, tab expose, stationery, history, autosave and versions, along with improved favorites, previews and Shelf, all wrapped up in a smart new design. Also, exclusive to the Mac App Store version, Together 3 can now sync libraries with iCloud.
Together 3 requires Mac OS X 10.8 or later and is available with iCloud support from the Mac App Store, or without iCloud as a 15-day trial from the Reinvented Software web site. Version 3.0 is a paid upgrade for all previous versions of Together.
A full license will cost US$39.99 and an upgrade (not available from the Mac App Store) is $19.99, with free upgrades for anyone for purchased Together 2.x from the Reinvented Software web site within three months of version 3.0's release. For 15 days after Together 3's launch, the...
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Sonnet has introduced an upgrade of its xMac mini Server, a Thunderbolt-to-PCI Express (PCIe) expansion system and 1U rackmount enclosure for a Mac mini with a Thunderbolt port.
The xMac mini Server accommodates one full-length, full-height PCIe card and one half-length, half-height (low-profile) card. The updated xMac mini Server now supports a double-width PCIe card's daughter card and includes BNC connector mounting holes on the enclosure's rear panel. In addition, the length of the xMac mini Server is now just 15.8 inches.
The enhanced xMac mini Server (part number XMAC-MS) is now available at a suggested retail price of US$1,295. The xMac mini Server 2H (part number XMAC-MS-2H) is also available now for $1,295. The xMac mini Server Quiet Fan Module (part number XMFAN-Q) is available for $79.95. More information on these products and compatible PCIe expansion cards is available at http://...
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