LaCie (http://www.lacie.com) has announced the LaCie Rugged Safe hard drive, offering multiple levels of data protection. The Rugged Safe features "unbreakable" 128-bit AES hardware encryption, biometric authentication technology, and a shock-proof enclosure. 



Designed for people on the go, the LaCie Rugged Safe is bus-powered through USB or FireWire and is compatible with Macs or PCs. Where other safe products require software installation on every workstation, the Rugged Safe is plug and play. Once configured, it will grant a user access to his or her data on any computer with a single finger swipe. 



The Rugged Safe combines a 128-bit AES encryption engine and biometric fingerprint access -- preventing unauthorized access. Professionals can protect and share sensitive files or intellectual property with up to 10 registered users, according to Erwan Girard, LaCie Business Unit manager.

The...

Konnet Technologies (http://konnetonline.com/store) has released the PowerV Duo, an US$39.99, multi-functional and chic charging station that wirelessly juices two Wiimotes (the remote controls of the Wii game system) and two USB-powered devices at once.

The USB-powered products can include Nintendo’s DS Lite/DSi/DSi LL or Apple’s iPhone/iPod/iPad. The PowerV Duo uses wireless induction technology and reflects charging status through a red or blue LED light

Smart charging makes it impossible to waste excess energy on overcharging, according to the folks at Konnet. The PowerV Duo includes an AC/DC Adaptor cord and two rechargeable Ni-MH 800mAh battery packs.

RapidWeaver theme designer Seydoggy (http://www.seydesign.com) has released Havnit Ultimate, a new theme to date that introduces "smart navigation," "smart layout" and an advanced built-in slide show. It also embraces technologies like CSS3 and HTML5.

"Theme developers previously had to account for end users' choice to opt into or out of some of RapidWeaver's built in features by creating numerous and often insignificant theme options," says SeyDoggy lead developer Adam Merrifield. "Havnit's new smart layout is able to automatically detect and account for the presence of a footer, a breadcrumb, enabled navigation, and even ExtraContent."

Following the trail blazed by a few other RapidWeaver theme developers, SeyDoggy is adopting future forward methods and employing the new HTML5 and CSS3 working drafts, he adds. Because of this, SeyDoggy is fast tracking on their upcoming modern browsers support...

Insider Software has announced the immediate availability of Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop CS5 auto-activation plug-ins for FontAgent Pro for Macintosh. With this release, FontAgent Pro becomes the only font manager to offer auto-activation support for Adobe Creative Suite 5 applications.

FontAgent Pro auto-activation plug-ins can be used on machines running Mac OS X 10.3.9 through 10.6 -- as well as Classic applications. The latest plug-ins provide auto-activation for Adobe Creative Suite 5 using FontSavant technology that ensures you always auto-activate the right fonts in your documents.

All FontAgent Pro auto-activation plug-ins offer Universal Binary support so run natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. Version 4 of FontAgent Pro is required to use the new CS5 plug-ins to ensure correct font activation.

Users of earlier versions must purchase an upgrade to Version 4 to use the plug-ins. Current licensed users running FontAgent Pro 4 or later...

AT&T (http://www.att.com) has launched an AT&T Wi-Fi "hotzone" in New York City's Times Square, providing coverage for AT&T customers visiting and residing in New York who use Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, laptops, netbooks and other devices.

The new Wi-Fi coverage zone is a pilot deployment to explore the use of Wi-Fi to provide an additional mobile broadband option in areas with consistently high 3G traffic and mobile data use. It will hopefully alleviate some of the 3G congestion for iPhone users in that neck of the Big Apple.

AT&T has installed Wi-Fi service in the north central part of Times Square, near 7th Avenue between 45th and 47th Street, to provide a large outdoor hotspot zone that AT&T users can access using any Wi-Fi enabled device. The AT&T Wi-Fi hotzone at Times Square is available at no additional charge for nearly 32 million AT&T customers with qualifying smartphone...

Walmart has lowed the price of the 16GB iPhone 3GS from US$197 to $97. You still, of course, must sign up for the two-year service contract.

Also, the 32GB version is still $297 at the giant retail chain. There are rumors that Apple will announce a new iPhone at June's Worldwide Developer Conference.

On the new "MacVoices" (http://www.macvoices.com, James Lee of Tropical Software tells how he's looking for a few good people to help test and suggest for the upcoming iPhone and iPad versions of TopXNotes.

He talks about the history of their flagship program, where it falls in the note-taking software hierarchy, and why so many users find it easy to understand and adopt. TopXNotes recently received an interface update; Lee covers that, along with his plans for the mobile device version and invites you to contact him to participate. He also has some praise for Apple's iPad/iPhone development policies, and uses some examples from the Mac's past to explain why he supports their efforts to protect us from "the nasty stuff."

"MacVoices" is an Internet show and podcast that delivers in-depth discussions with the most influential people in the Mac industry, as well as "the individuals who are out there...

Kroll Ontrack (http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/apple%2Drecovery%2Dservices/) -- a provider of information management, data recovery, and legal technology products and services -- has announced improvements to its data recovery capabilities for Mac systems, addressing the surge in usage of Apple systems, services, applications and devices, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod.

Through its Ontrack Data Recovery services, Kroll Ontrack’s proprietary Recovery Positioning SystemT feature adds a higher level of precision to the data recovery process, resulting in faster service and a higher quality data recovery, according to Todd Johnson, vice president of Ontrack Data Recovery operations, Kroll Ontrack.

Ontrack Data Recovery engineers report that requests for Mac-specific data recoveries have doubled over the last three...

In this week's poll, we're asking whether you think Apple should released an iPad-like Mac -- in other words, one with a closed system. The poll is located on the right hand side of the home page beneath the Macsimum Opinion column.

In our last poll, we asked if Apple should support Flash on its mobile devices. Seventy-nine percent of you said "no," and 21% said "yes."

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/).

Macsoftex has announced American Poetry 1.0 for iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. It's an US$0.99, searchable compendium of 5,000 poems by 50 of America's greatest poets. The app uses a parchment/sepia motif with a modest Victorian floral border to display poems in a black Times font, which is adjustable in size. A century of American poetry from Edgar Allan Poe and Edna St. Vincent Millay, to Sylvia Plath and William Carlos Williams is represented.

Hot Chili Apps has released Text Buttons 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users. The $0.99 app enables the user to add buttons important contacts. Buttons can be created by using words and symbols in individual colors. Friends and relatives will be represented by a customized icon in the address book and by...

Koingo Software has updated Mac Cleanse (http://www.koingosw.com/products/maccleanse.php), a small Mac OS X application geared towards purifying your system, to version 2.0.1. The upgrade adds an option to always obtain admin auth before a scan/delete in the Preferences window.It also automatically prints out certain types of crash information to the Console.

MacCleanse can perform over 50 tasks that would take nearly an hour to perform manually. It erases caches, logs, cookies, histories, and more. You can purify junk from your system, clear personal information, and recover hard drive space. Mac Cleanse is available for US$19.95. Version 2.0.1 is a paid upgrade ($9.99) for customers owning a 1.x license that's more than six months old.

Mac Cleanse also contains enhanced features for specific applications like FireFox (including beta 3), Mozilla,...

FinderPop (http://www.finderpop.com/), a preference pane that extends OS X's contextual menus using a FinderPop Items folder much as the Apple Menu Items folder used to do for the Apple menu, has been updated to version 2.3.0. The upgrade is ready for Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard").

You can use it as a launcher that takes up zero screen real estate or a filesystem browser. Also, FinderPop sports a Processes menu (so you can command-click a blank menubar area.)

FinderPop is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. The app is free, but if you like it, you're encouraged to make a donation to the developer so development can continue.