Made for Use has introduced a suite of Mac OS X templates for use with Apple iWork and Microsoft Office. They were previously available only for iOS.

The templates are packaged individually or in a choice of two bundles: Templates for iWork Pro -- Pages, Numbers, and Keynote; or Templates for Office Pro -- Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Every template contains customizable slides for tables, pictures, charts, diagrams, quotes, and more.

Templates for Pages Pro 1.0 costs US$19.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category. Templates for Numbers Pro is $19.99, and Templates for Keynote Pro is $19.99. Templates for iWork Pro (Bundle Edition) includes all three sets of templates for $49.99.

Templates for Word Pro 1.0 is $19.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category. Templates for Excel Pro is $19.99, and Templates for PowerPoint Pro is $19.99. Templates for...

Etón Corp. has released the Etón BoostSolar (http://bit.ly/10kx5JJ), a splash-proof, solar-powered backup battery pack designed to provide power to handheld devices. It's available at Amazon.com and REI stores at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of US$99.99.

Equipped with an interchangeable, rechargeable lithium battery (5000 mAh) to fully charge most smartphones two and one half times, it also features a 5V/2A USB port for charging tablets. The BoostSolar will fully charge in 16 hours via the sun, or in seven hours by way of the Micro-USB DC input.

It can also charge multiple backup batteries in succession. Simply snap in a removable battery pack and allow it to charge, and then immediately replace it with another to gain unlimited backup power. Other features include a LED battery charge indicator, a rubberized and IPX-4-rated splash-proof exterior in addition to fastener holes and straps to...

Apple has been told by a German court to change its rules for handling customer data, reports "Bloomberg" (http://tinyurl.com/bqm6fno)

A Berlin court struck down eight of 15 provisions in Apple’s general data-use terms because they deviate too much from German laws, the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverbandconsumer group said in a statement on its website. The court said Apple can’t ask for "global consent" to use customer data or use information on the locations of customers.

The German press office of Apple declined to comment. The ruling, which only applies to Germany, can be appealed, notes "Bloomberg."

Google, HTC, Red Hat, and Rackspace all filed friends of the court briefs on behalf of Samsung on Monday urging the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals to rule against Apple's request for a Android device sales ban in the two company's ongoing patent infringement fight, reports "The MacObserver" (http://tinyurl.com/ccme6zb)

Apple has been pushing for a permanent injunction blocking the sale of some Samsung devices following a win in court. Naturally, Samsung doesn't want to see a permanent injunction over concerns that retailers and consumers will be intimidated into staying away from its products, notes "The MacObserver."

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.

Intel has taken the wraps off its new, low-power, high-performance microarchitecture named Silvermont. The technology is aimed squarely at low-power requirements in market segments from smartphones to the data center.

Silvermont will be the foundation for a range of innovative products beginning to come to market later this year, and will also be manufactured using the company's leading-edge, 22nm Tri-Gate SoC manufacturing process, which brings significant performance increases and improved energy efficiency, according to Dadi Perlmutter, Intel executive vice president and chief product officer.

The Silvermont microarchitecture delivers industry-leading performance-per-watt efficiency, he adds. The highly balanced design brings increased support for a wider dynamic range and seamlessly scales up and down in performance and power efficiency, according to Perlmutter. Intel’s Silvermont microarchitecture was designed and co-optimized with Intel’s 22nm SoC process...

At Adobe MAX, The Creativity Conference, Adobe says it has accelerated its shift to the cloud with a major update to Adobe Creative Cloud, the company’s flagship offering for creative professionals. Adobe has also announced Photoshop CC.

The update to Creative Cloud is packed with features that re-imaging "the creative process through a new set of 'CC' desktop applications and enhanced cross-device collaboration and publishing capabilities," according to Adobe. With this update, creative files can be stored, synced and shared, via Creative Cloud, on Mac OS X, Windows, iOS and Android. What's more, Behance, an online creative community, is integrated with Creative Cloud, so customers can showcase work, get feedback on projects and gain global exposure. For more info go to http://tinyurl.com/c5cly75 .

As part of the update to Creative Cloud, Adobe has announced Photoshop CC, which includes new...

ShoreTel has announced the ShoreTel Dock, which it says is the industry's first business-grade docking station that transforms iPhones and iPads into desk phones when paired with ShoreTel Mobilit

Users simply slide their ShoreTel Mobility enabled iPhone or iPad into the ShoreTel Dock and get instant access to the battery life and call quality of a business desk phone. The ShoreTel Dock only requires a single power adaptor and automatically keeps Apple handheld devices charged so employees. When combined with ShoreTel Mobility and conferencing applications, users can take advantage of voice, instant messaging (IM), presence and conferencing on their iOS device.

"ShoreTel is the only unified communications provider delivering an intuitive and easy-to-use solution that truly optimizes how end users communicate for work," says Pejman Roshan, vice president of product management at ShoreTel. "We didn't try to change or replace devices users already love, but instead...

The European Commission has informed Motorola Mobility of its preliminary view that the company's seeking and enforcing of an injunction against Apple in Germany on the basis of its mobile phone standard-essential patents ("SEPs") amounts to an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by EU antitrust rules.

While recourse to injunctions is a possible remedy for patent infringements, such conduct may be abusive where SEPs are concerned and the potential licensee is willing to enter into a license on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (so-called "FRAND") terms. In such a situation, the Commission considers at this stage that dominant SEP holders should not have recourse to injunctions, which generally involve a prohibition to sell the product infringing the patent, in order to distort licensing negotiations and impose unjustified licensing terms on patent licensees.

Such misuse of SEPs could ultimately harm consumers, according to the Commission. Read more at...

Ken Winograd and Space-Time Associates (http://www.winograd.com) has updated TinyBooks Pro, its Mac accounting and bookkeeping program, to version 8.0.3. The upgrade includes improvements in the Professional Invoice Printer and the Professional Check Printer windows. It also sports more logical tab-ordering, and new pop-up menus allowing instant access to previously saved invoice or check templates.

TinyBooks Pro is a single-entry bookkeeping and accounting system designed for sole proprietors, home and other small businesses, and family finances. To use you enter your expenses and income, and TinyBooks Pro does the rest. Current and year-to-date on-the-fly totals are continually displayed. Fully automatic bar-charting of all expense and income accounts make the determination of monthly trends intuitively obvious, according to the folks at Space-Time Associates.

TinyBooks Pro 8.0 costs US$79.99 for...

U.S. (uscellular.com) says it will begin carrying Apple products -- namely the iPhone -- later this year. The wireless carrier made the announcement as part of its quarterly earnings update.

U.S. Cellular reported service revenues of US$996.3 million for the first quarter of 2013, versus $1,023.8 million for the comparable period one year ago. Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders and related diluted earnings per share were $4.9 million and $0.06 respectively, for the first quarter of 2013, compared to $62.5 million and $0.73, respectively, in the comparable period one year ago.

"We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year," Mary N. Dillon, U.S. Cellular president and CEO, said in a press release. "By further strengthening our device portfolio, we'll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S. Cellular,...

On Thursday the Pentagon cleared BlackBerry and Samsung mobile devices for use on Defense Department networks, reports "Reuters" (http://tinyurl.com/csxzmrk). Apple mobile devices using iOS 6 are expected to receive clearance sometime this month.

"This is a significant step towards establishing a multi-vendor environment that supports a variety of state-of-the-art devices and operating systems," Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

The move to open up Defense Department networks is expected to set the stage for an intensified struggle for Pentagon customers among BlackBerry devices, Apple's iPhones or iPads and units using Google's Android platform such as Samsung Electronics' phones, according to "Reuters." The Pentagon currently has some 600,000 users of smart phones, computer tablets and other mobile devices. The department has 470,000 BlackBerry...