The Reputation Institute (http://www.reputationinstitute.com), an international organization devoted to advancing knowledge about corporate reputations, has released a list of the most reputable companies in the world. Apple ranks number six on the list.

The study provides a first ever assessment of the global reputation landscape -- the companies that are most liked, trusted, and respected by the general public across 24 countries, says Dr. Charles Fobrun, chairman of the Reputation Institution. Data collection was powered by Survey Sampling International.
The study was conducted in two parts. In January 2010, Reputation Institute measured the reputations of the world’s 600 largest companies in their home countries. The highest rated companies in each of 32 countries were then selected as candidates for a second study that also rated the world’s most visible and valuable...

As the battle lines sharpen between Google's vision of a mobile web and Apple's application ecosystem, the leading figures in Europe's mobile industry are meeting in London for their annual C-level get-together at the Open Mobile Summit next week.

Taking place on May 26 and 27 at the London Hilton Tower Bridge hotel, the Open Mobile Summit is where experts in the converging mobile, Internet and media industry meet once-a-year, to map out the future. This year’s closing plenary asks "Will the Web win?"

There are a few delegate tickets left, so if you want to participate, go to http://www.openmobilesummit.com/lon/register/ now and enter your details. The latest agenda is available here: http://www.openmobilesummit.com/agenda.aspx .

SintraWorks has updated PDFClerk Pro (http://sintraworks.com/index.php/sintraworks/pdfclerk_home/), a PDF document editor for Mac OS X, to version 3.9.4. The upgrade sports added scripting properties, sticky sketch creation mode and a number of bug fixes.

PDFClerk Pro allows a large number of manipulations to existing PDF documents, as well as allowing the creation of PDF documents from non PDF material, such as graphics and text, or a mix of the two. The application offers default behavior to create new PDF documents with both basic and more advanced layouts, and print booklets for personal use, distribution to clients, staff or students.

PDFClerk Pro 3.9.4 is available as a single-user license for approximately US$44. A demo is available for download with a limitation that each page is stamped with a watermark.

In-Poculis Mahjong (http://www.in-poculis.com), a Mahjong solitaire game for Mac OS X, has been updated to version 3.1 The game comes with 120 levels and six themes: Christmas, Halloween, Asian, Easter, Wonderland and Future.

Here's how the game is described: "How to play: find matching mahjong pieces amongst the plethora and click them to get them off the screen. All of the mahjong pieces can be cleared, but it takes some discipline, strategy, and a little bit of luck to win the five medals of each theme."

In-Poculis Mahjong is free. However, if you like the game you're encouraged to donate to fund future development.

Apple will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address by CEO Steve Jobs on Monday, June 7, at 10 a.m. This year’s WWDC sold out in a record eight days to over 5,000 developers.

The five-day event running from June 7 to June 11, is focused on providing advanced content for skilled developers across five key technology tracks: Application Frameworks; Internet & Web; Graphics & Media; Developer Tools; and Core OS. Apple engineers will deliver over 100 solutions-oriented technical sessions and labs.

There will be five iPad and five iPhone Apple Design Award winners announced at WWDC 2010 (alas, Mac apps need not apply). There's no requirement to enter and winners will be selected from the Apple App Store based on criteria that includes design, technical excellence, innovation, quality, technology adoption and performance. Visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 website for registration and more details at...

Here are the latest iPhone/iPod touch/iPod/iPad apps announced. You can find 'em at the Apple App Store (http://www.itunes.com/appstore/).

dBelement has announced Reader, a free ebook reader for the iPad. It sports an organized bookshelf interface and a built-in "public library."

Along the same lines, Inkstone Software has released QuickReader 2.0 and partnered with Feedbooks to offer instant access to 6,500-plus free and indie published e-books directly from within the new version of the US$5.99 eBook reader.

DynaDream has debuted uFall 1.0, a $0.99 game for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. Your mission is to fall down as a fast as you can to avoid the falling cracked glass enemy and reach the goal so you can switch to the next level.

OS&B has introduced Hazard Manager 1.0 for the iPad. A free workplace inspection app, it allows automation of the entry,...

The Mac OS X operating system has seen some impressive growth this year, according to Chitika Research (http://www.chitika.com), a full-service on-line advertising network serving over 2 billion monthly impressions across more than 80,000 websites.

From January through March, Mac computers made up just over 7% of the market share, according to traffic numbers coming into the Chitika advertising network. In April, however, that number spiked to 10.25%. Perhaps thanks to the increased foot traffic at Apple stores across the U.S., the Mac managed to pick up 3% of the home computer impressions market over the course of a single month.

Apple’s main competitor in the operating system business, market leader Microsoft, bore the brunt of the shift -- between March and April, 2010, the market share of Microsoft’s Windows operating system dropped from 89% to just over 85%, says Chitika. Linux, the open-source...

Limit Point Software has released Mailings 1.9.69 (http://www.limit-point.com/Mailings/Mailings.html), an update of the application for batch emailing that delivers any web page or plain text document with attachments to multiple recipients for marketing, news announcements, product updates, etc. The new version adds support for the Google Chrome web browser.

Mailings delivers web pages, plain or HTML text documents to multiple recipients for marketing, news announcements, product updates etc. It integrates with mail clients, most common browsers, Address Book and Entourage.

Mailings is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. It costs US$10; upgrades are always free. A demo is available for download.

Tagtrum has released version 2.1.8 of beaTunes (http://www.beatunes.com), the iTunes add-on for Mac and Windows. The new release fixes some issues with importing and exporting file information.

It can detect various types of metadata, such as beats-per-minute and musical key, as well as find and fix typos and inconsistencies such as misspelled artists and rarely used genres.
BeaTunes analyzes the color and tempo (BPM) of your songs, intelligently creates playlists of matching songs, corrects your iTunes Music Library (typos, wrong genres, etc.), lets you blog about your playlists and more.

A seven-day demo version is available at the product web site. Registration is US$31.95. Upgrades to version 2.1.8 from 1.x are $11.95 and free for registered 2.x users. beaTunes requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or higher.

Showing a bit of overdue love for the Mac, Apple has kicked off a "Why you'll love a Mac" campaign (http://www.apple.com/why-mac). It urges folks to "Make the ultimate upgrade. To a Mac."

"Why get a new PC and just upgrade your computer, when you can get a Mac and upgrade your entire computer experience?" Apple says.

It lists several reasons folks should choose a Mac, including:

° It's designed to be a better computer.

° It comes with software you'll love to use.

° It comes with the world's most advanced operating system.

° It comes with award-winning support.

° It runs Office and works with your existing PC files.

° It's compatible with your stuff.

° It doesn't get PC viruses.

° It's loaded with the latest technology.

° It runs Windows and Windows applications.

Apple has updated its online service MobileMe, adding some new features, but especially improving security with all of the web-based apps, reports "The Mac Security Blog" (http://blog.intego.com/2010/05/21/apple-updates-mobileme-making-it-more-...). MobileMe is the company's US$99-per-year suite of Internet tools.

The change is the addition of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), a function used to provide encrypted communications between a user’s web browser and a remote server. Users will find that, when they load a page for a MobileMe app, the URL begins with https rather than http. This, together with the padlock icon in the browser, show that communications are secure.
This means that when a user writes an e-mail in their browser using MobileMe Mail, the content of the e-mail is sent to the...

Markus Mueller has updated MindNode Pro (http://www.mindnode.com/), a mind mapping app for Mac OS X (10.5 and higher), to version 1.5. The upgrade adds image support and visual file links and brings a completely redesigned new toolbar.

MindNode Pro features an interface that lets the user focus on expressing and developing ideas. By leveraging technologies introduced in Leopard, MindNode Pro's new features are carefully integrated and only surface when required, Mueller says. You can print, share and export mind maps as TIFF image, FreeMind, PDF, HTML or OPML.

MindNode Pro costs approximately US$24.95 for a single-user license. Version 1.5 is a free update for registered users. A demo is available for download.