Florian Soenens has released a beta of IconBox 2, an update of its icon organizer for Mac OS X. You can sign up to participate at http://www.iconboxapp.com .
In version 2, you can create and manage new boxes, with unlimited nesting capabilities of sub boxes. You can also create new smart boxes designed specifically to recognize different icon types.
IconBox 2 also offers real time search capabilities and more. Just remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care.
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Don't count FireWire out just yet. The 1394 Trade Association (http://www.1394ta.org) -- of which Apple is a member -- is predicting a strong year of expansion for FireWire across a wide range of markets in 2010, as the electronics industry returns to growth and designers adopt faster FireWire speeds.
The trade association foresees continued expansion into higher speed computing, storage and consumer electronics products, with steady growth of 1394-enabled products in the industrial cameras and instrumentation segments, where FireWire is established as the interface of choice. The 1394 standard (FireWire to we Mac users) also is becoming the preferred interface for automotive networking applications.
Texas Instruments issued the following statement about 1394 prospects: “Texas Instruments continues to see strong demand for its 1394 products across multiple end equipments. The consumer video market...
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Bjango (http://www.bjango.com) has updated iStat Menus, its system monitoring app for Mac OS X, to version 3.0. The upgrade includes a large number of enhancements and fixes, as well as a completely new preferences user interface and streamlined installation.
iStat Menus allows you to monitor a plethora of handy information about your Mac, such as CPU & memory usage, disk usage, network usage, temperatures and fan speeds, right from your menubar. The battery extra is brand new to version 3, offering two configureable low battery warnings and menubar information that’s customizable for each power state. It also monitors Bluetooth keyboards and mice, plus uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs). It is far, far more customizable than the standard OS X extra.
Almost every aspect of iStat Menus has been enhanced in version 3.0. The Sensors extra now includes the ability to change the fan speed on Intel-...
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Arten Science has released the Custom Facility for cuteCipher (http://www.cutecipher.co.uk), cross platform software for encrypting and protecting your documents and files.
To use cuteCipher, you drag your files onto cuteCipher, enter a secret word and click the Encrypt button. It's based on the R10Cipher software from Arten Science and offers Blowfish encryption. The Custom lets you offer facility encryption to your customers in a customised version for a one-off price.
cuteCipher works with Mac OS X 10.4 and higher, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. It's Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs.
cuteCipher custom builds are available now. Prices start from US$400 for a customised version of cuteCipher for in-house use and a customized version of dCipher for up to 100 clients. Customization includes your logo and text. The standard version of cuteCipher is...
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iTacet Software has released Cookie Platter 1.1 (http://www.itacet.com), an update of the US$12 Mac OS X application that automatically deletes all unwanted cookies and saves specific cookies based upon a user's favorite web sites. The new version adds support for Google Chrome. Chrome bookmarks can be used as a source of preferred domains and more.
The software can process cookies for multiple web browsers simultaneously and allows customization by browser, domain and type of cookie. Users can group all domains into their root domain, as well as the ability to preview the cookie's web site without opening a browser and more.
Cookie Plater requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher, Safari 4 or better and/or Firefox 3.5 or greater. A 14-day demo is available for download. Version 1.1 is a free update for registered users.
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Yazsoft has introduced Playback 1.5.2 (http://www.yazsoft.com/products/playback/information/), an update of their zero configuration media server for Mac OS X 10.5 and higher.
It allows anyone to share their media with any Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or other UPnP compatible device. In the 1.5.2 update Shared folders now default to "Show me everything" mode. The "Playback Menu" component is now a 64-bit application. And there are Italian and Swedish localizations.
Playback can share media stored in folders or even make entire disks available to a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. No configuration is required. By default, it will share almost any content on the users system. And Playback automatically integrates with iTunes, iPhoto, and Aperture. Users can share all content from these applications transparently or choose specific playlists and albums...
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Bricksoftware has released CuteClips 3.1 (http://cuteclips3.com/) for Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") and higher. It's an update of the clipboard history app. The new version offers better support for Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard"), better preview for URLs, support for TIFF image data on the clipboard, and a cleaned up preferences window.
CuteClip is designed as a companion to the Mac OS X clipboard. It sits in the background and continuously records changes to the clipboard in order to provide access to them when the user needs it. CuteClips 3 is a complete rewrite with a focus on simplicity, according to the folks at Bricksoftware.
To activate CuteClips 3 the user can either use the the menu item or a hot key, which defaults to Command/Shift-V, the shortcut for pasting but with a pressed shift key. CuteClips can either be controlled by your mouse or keyboard.
To prevent clips from being...
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South Korea’s culture minister, Yu In-chon, strode into a government briefing room Monday for what seemed to be a routine photo-op as his ministry announced a $50 million program to help develop the country’s budding electronic-books industry. However, he had an iPad -- and that caused trouble.
When he pulled out an iPad, held it up and remarked about how nicely it displays electronic books, tech bloggers pounced on hims because South Korea’s communications "Wall Street Journal" (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/04/26/south-korean-officials-ipad-cause...).
The ministry later issued a statement saying the minister chose the iPad to “maximize his presentation” because of its large screen, the article adds. It said it borrowed the iPad from...
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On Tuesday, April 27, Quark will host “Publish Investment Content Dynamically for Competitive Differentiation,” a free eSeminar for the investment research community.
During the eSeminar, which is being offered at 10 am and 12 noon (Eastern), a panel of practitioners and technology partners will discuss how XML-based dynamic publishing can drive competitive differentiation for financial firms in 2010. To register go to http://publish.quark.com/content/FinancialServiceseSeminar .
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Some had speculated that Mac OS X 10.7 -- whenever it arrives -- would offer a Mac App Store akin to the Apple App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. However, CEO Steve Jobs has shot down those rumors.
"Redmond Pie" (http://www.redmondpie.com/os-x-10.7-wont-feature-app-store-9140689/) reports that a Mac developer Fernando Valente emailed Jobs for clarification in this regard. As usual, Jobs reply was short and to the point. He simply said "nope" to the rumor.
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Quark (http://www.quark.com) has launched its new QuarkXPress Maintenance Program that offers customers access to unlimited priority technical support, the opportunity to upgrade from any previous version to QuarkXPress 8, and the option to receive any upgrades during their maintenance periods, free of charge.
The QuarkXPress Maintenance Program is available to new customers who purchase QuarkXPress 8 or to existing users who upgrade to version 8. To mark the launch of the new program, Quark has also launched a special offer, until June 30, that enables anyone that has already purchased QuarkXPress 8 since Feb. 1 to also purchase QuarkXPress Maintenance.
“The QuarkXPress Maintenance Program is a great opportunity for creative professionals who are using earlier versions of QuarkXPress to upgrade to QuarkXPress 8 and protect their investment for up to two years with free future upgrades," says...
"Layers" (http://www.layersmagazine.com/) , the “how-to magazine for everything Adobe," has launched its new Adobe CS5 Learning Center (http://www.layersmagazine.com/cs5) to help readers and online visitors better familiarize themselves with the latest version of Adobe Creative Suite 5.
The Layers Adobe CS5 Learning Center includes nearly 35 in-depth tutorial videos on Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. It features pros such as Adobe Worldwide Design Evangelist Terry White and NAPP instructor RC Concepcion.
Photographers, graphic and web designers, art directors, video producers, educators and students of all interest and skill levels will have free access to the Layers Adobe CS5 Learning Center.
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App4Mac has updated wKiosk Browser (http://www.app4mac.com/wkiosk.html), a web browser designed for Internet kiosk applications, to version 6. It's a Mac OS X solution for presenting web-based content (HTML, Flash, PDF, videos, etc.) and applications on public access terminals with or without access to the Internet.
Version 6 is fully optimized for Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard"). It'a also rewritten in Objective C 2.0 with a Cocoa framework (instead of Carbon) and is powered by the most recent version of Apple webkbit engine (compliant to Acid 3 test / HTML 5). There are various other improvements as well.
You can use wKiosk to individually restrict access to web sites, the operating system, system settings, and applications. Your computer will be protected against any manipulation from the time you boot until you shut it down. Since wKiosk is built with Apple Safari Engine,...
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Koingo Software (http://www.koingosw.com) has released MacPilot 4 and Librarian Pro 2 for Mac OS X. Upgrades are free for owners of the Utility Package or buyers within the past six months. For all others, the upgrade option is $$9.95.
Sporting numerous user interface enhancements and 91 new features, the main highlight of MacPilot 4 is the ability to create save points. You can now ssave the system state and restore later with only a few clicks.
Librarian Pro has gone from a personal home inventory solution to an advanced tool for any rental business, according to the folks at Koingo Software. Version 2.0 has a new borrowing system, the ability to track late fees, a borrowing history, and the ability to manage multiple copies of the same item. Coming soon in a free update for 2.0 users will be a completely revamped product gallery view mode where items appear on a bookshelf.
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The next meeting of The Macintosh Business Users Society of Greater Philadelphia (http://www.macbus.org/) will be held on Tuesday, April 27, at 6:30 pm.
MacBUS member Dale Fletcher will demonstrate the inner technical workings of the iPad. A general Mac troubleshooting Q&A session will also be held. Attendees are encouraged to bring questions and invite friends or coworkers who may find the meeting beneficial.
MacBUS was the first user group in the United States to focus on the business and professional uses of the Macintosh operating system. The group of approximately 75 members meets this month at:
MacBUS was the first user group in the United States to focus on the business and professional uses of the Macintosh operating system. The group of approximately 75 members meets this month at:
Hunt Room
Dorrance Hamilton Hall
University of the Arts
320 South Broad...
Paragon Software (http://www.paragon-software.com) has released Paragon Volume Snapshot for Mac OS X. It's an US$39.95 snapshot-based, back-up solution for protection of both data and systems.
With Paragon Volume Snapshot, you can ccreate an exact point-in-time copy of your data & system. When a disaster strikes, you can recover your data. Unlike Time Machine and other file-level backup utilities, our solution has very fast backup and restore capabilities, according to the folks at Paragon. Now you can back-up running applications and locked system files. If your system fails, there's no need re-install; just boot from the Mac OS X Install DVD and launch the restore operation.
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NetGear has announced the ProSafe Quad WAN Gigabit SSL VPN Firewall, which it says is the first business firewall to provide in excess of 1Gigabit per second (Gbps) performance for under US$500..
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) firewall for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and distributed enterprise, the SRX5308 delivers up to 1 Gbps of firewall throughput. It sports four Gigabit WAN ports that provide session-based load balancing and features a hardware-accelerated data flow architecture that enables 1 Gbps LAN-to-WAN of stateful firewall throughput. What's more, the SRX5308 affords remote users the ability to build VPN tunnels to the corporate office to access centralized data using the IP Security (IPsec) standard or software clientless Secure Socket Layers (SSL).
The SRX5308 firewall supports up to 125 IPsec VPN tunnels and 50 SSL VPN tunnels simultaneously, for enhanced protection from network security threats. The NetGear ProSafe Quad WAN Gigabit SSL VPN...
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Houdah Software (http://www.houdah.com/) has updated HoudahSpot, their Spotlight front end for Mac OS X, to version 2.7. With the upgrade, the "any text" criterion also matches text content of files.
HoudahSpot 2.7 now also offers the option to enable global shortcuts independently of the global menu (status bar item). Shortcuts allow for activating HoudahSpot and provide access to the popular BlitzSearch window.
HoudahSpot is a Spotlight front-end for Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") and 10.6 ("Snow Leopard"). With it, users may create detailed queries to pinpoint the exact file they want to get to.
HoudahSpot costs US$30 for a single-user license. Version 2.7 is a free update for registered users.
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Zevrix Solutions (http://www.zevrix.com) has announced BatchOutput 3.7, an update to its professional solution to automate printing and exporting to various formats from Adobe InDesign. The upgrade offers a new way to combine automatic output and digital delivery.
With BatchOutput 3.7, the final output files such as PDF, EPS and JPEG can be automatically sent to FTP and local destinations using File Courier, a professional digital delivery solution from Zevrix with advanced features.
BatchOutput automates InDesign output workflow of printers, ad agencies, service providers and publishing houses. With the software, users can select the files to output and adjust the settings, instead of opening and printing each document manually. For example, BatchOutput can be left to output hundreds of InDesign files overnight, and the completed job can be picked up next morning.
BatchOutput also allows users...
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Eltima Software has updated SyncMate (http://mac.eltima.com/sync-mac.html), software for syncing data between a Mac to Windows Mobile handheld devices The upgrade now lets you sync files between Macs and Android phones.
SyncMate lets you synchronize Favorites, Contacts, Calendar, Notes in mobile device with Bookmarks, Address Book, iCal, Stickies on Mac OS X. The software enables Internet sharing between the Mac and the mobile device. The connection can be made via USB cable or Wi Fi.
SyncMate is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher.
SyncMate is available in two editions. SyncMate Free Edition is a synchronizer for Mac and Pocket PC/smartphone devices that will help you keep all your documents, text messages, contacts, calendar entries and events and other stuff organized. With the SyncMate Free edition...
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Fast-teks (http://www.fastteks.com), an on-site computer services company, and Gillware Data Services (http://www.gillware.com), an online data backup provider, have teamed up to offer a unique remote backup solution to Fast-teks’ customers.
Gillware’s Remote Backup technology is a multifaceted business-grade backup solution designed to protect mission critical data from permanent loss, says Fast-teks Chief Technology Officer Christopher Tain. Data are backed up remotely using secure Internet connections.
Samsung Electronics (http://www.samsung.com) has announced the fastest external hard drive yet in its Story Station product portfolio -- the Story Station 3.0 with the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface.
The 3.5-inch external hard drive purportedly offers 10 times faster speed compared to the previous USB 2.0 interface.The USB 3.0 interface offers a maximum transfer rate of 5 gigabits per second (Gbps) compared to 480 megabits per second (Mbps) in USB 2.0. Users can now transfer 4 MB of music (equivalent of a 3-minute song) or image files (6megapixel camera in hi-resolution photos) in approximately 0.02 seconds and an HD movie in 2.3 minutes, says H.S. Lee, vice president, storage marketing, Samsung Electronics. The new interface is backward-compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1 interfaces.
The minimalist design was inspired by retro electronics and combines a grey, brushed aluminum casing with the logo...
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PacketVideo has updated its TwonkyBeam (http://www.twonkymedia.com) connected home solution to version 1.21, adding support for Mac and Firefox users. Firefox and Mac users can now beam media from sites such as YouTube, Flickr and Last.fm to connected devices throughout the home.
Separate downloadable versions of TwonkyBeam are now available for PC users running the Internet Explorer browser, Mac users running the Firefox browser, and PC users running the Firefox browser. What's more, as of version 1.21, the software now supports more high definition YouTube videos, beaming the highest resolution video available on YouTube pages. When HD video is unavailable, TwonkyBeam automatically selects the next highest quality level for streaming to devices.
Additionally, TwonkyBeam now works better than ever with an expanded number of devices such as Yamaha MusicCAST2 wireless multi-room music systems...
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Each student enrolling in the new Mini-MBA: Digital Marketing Executive Certificate Program this summer at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will receive an iPad. It will be an integral part of the 12-session program, customized with Apple’s help to provide a new dimension to executive education in a field that is defined by technology, says Eric Greenberg, a CMD faculty member who is program director of the digital marketing mini-MBA.
Rather than offering the program online, the Rutgers Center for Management Development (CMD) is seeking to merge the benefits of in-person classroom learning with the power and flexibility of digital technology, he says. Rutgers faculty are working with Apple to customize the iPad for use in the course, and with programmers to develop apps specific for each of the 12 three-hour modules.
“The Digital Marketing Mini-MBA is a perfect course to pilot since it is designed for marketers who have an interest in learning and...
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Apple has hired Matt Casamassina of IGN to serve as the global editorial games manger for its iTunes App Store, reports "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com).
Casamassina got started in covering gaming when he launched N64.com, a site that was later bought by IGN, the article adds. After 13 years of reviewing games and covering the industry, he's known to many readers in the gaming industry as a prime source for information about Nintendo. In a blog posting (http://mouthonfire.com/?p=34d), Casamassina had this to say:
"Anybody who has read my work through the years will know that I’ve long been a huge Nintendo fan, but if there is one company that could entice me away from covering Mario and Zelda it’s the one owned by Steve Jobs. Beginning early May, I will join Apple as global editorial games...
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