Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi is telling clients that he expects Apple to sell between 300,000 and 400,000 iPads over launch weekend–including pre-sales. But he figures the device will sell five million in its first full year at market and 6.8 million in fiscal year 2011, according to "All Things D" (http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20100330/ipad-expectations-“over-zealous”/?mod=ATD_rss).

"We note that the initial iPad launch will be a US only launch and will not include 3G models; we suspect that total (including pre-sales) first weekend sales will be slightly higher than the original iPhone’s first weekend (270K), given the iPhone had a similar price, and was US exclusive (although it did not offer pre-orders),” Sacconaghi told clients. "Our analysis suggests that iPhone sales run rates have fallen significantly (i.e., by a factor of 4x – 9x) following launch weekends; we think a drop-off in sales at the high end of this range is likely appropriate for the iPad,...

Earlier this month it was announced that Valve (http://www.valuesoftware.com) will be bringing Steam, Valve's gaming service, and Source, Valve's gaming engine, to the Mac. And the company is now accepting beta testers for the Mac service. You can sign up at http://store.steampowered.com/macbeta/ .

Steam and Valve's library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April.

"As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients," says Valve President Gabe Newell, "The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services."

"Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very...

Elan Microelectronics Corp., a Taiwanese maker of chips and touch-screens, has asked a U.S. trade agency to ban the import and sale of some Apple products, including the iPad, because of alleged patent infringement.

"BusinessWeek" (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-30/elan-files-itc-complaint-aga...) reports that Elan’s complaint was filed yesterday with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington claims Apple “knowingly and deliberately” used Elan’s technology, while continuing to introduce infringing products The petition also seeks to ban imports of the iPhone and iPod touch products, Elan said in the complaint.

Elan sued Apple in April 2009 , alleging infringement of two of its touch screen patents, The...

Trailrunner (http://www.trailrunnerx.com), a Mac OS X solution for folks doing long distance sports, has been updated to version 3.0. The user interface has been redesigned from the ground up.

This includes the management of routes, the local track network and the new diary. TrailRunner can now display maps specially created and geared towards to runners, bikers and any other outdoor enthusiasts.

With TrailRunner you can plan workout routes on a geographical map, export the route directions as small NanoMaps onto an iPod and import workout data from the Nike + iPod sports kit back into the workout diary. Other features are an exercise plan, .Mac weblog publishing, a GPS, GPX and KML import/export, an integrated map and elevation data download from global mapping services like USGS topo maps.

TrailRunner is donationware. You can download the software, and, if you like it, make a...

Economy-x-Talks has released Clipboard Link (http://clipboardlink.economy-x-talk.com) for Mac OS X (10.3 and higher) The app enables you to share the contents of the clipboard of your computer with other computers on the same local network.

You can copy a text or picture on one computer and paste it on any computer connected to your network and running Clipboard Link. To use the software, copy a text or picture from any window first and start Clipboard Link. Now start Clipboard Link on another computer on your local network.

The name of your first computer will appear in the Clipboard Link window on the second computer. Click the Copy button next to the name of the first computer. The clipboard of the first computer has now been transferred to the second computer.

Clipboard Link costs approximately US$11. A demo is available for download.

Boris FX (http://www.borisfx.com), a developer of integrated effects technology for video and film, has announced that a new Boris Continuum Unit, Shaders, is now available.

The Boris Continuum Shaders Unit includes 13 Boris Continuum Complete filters and transitions that take advantage of Apple’s real-time FxPlug architecture. Among the included filters are a full suite of keying and compositing tools, film effects, glow effects, 3D perspective filters and transitions, and an all-new Flicker and Shake filter.

The Boris Continuum Shaders Unit allows editors to view animated previews of presets and saved effects in an effects browser window. Presets can be viewed in real-time using actual clips from the timeline.


The Boris Continuum Shaders Unit supports Apple Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, and Motion. The Shaders Unit is the latest addition to previously-released Boris Continuum Units:...

MacSpeech (http://www.macspeech.com) has updated MacSpeech Scribe, the a personal transcription solution for the Mac, to version 1.0.1. It's a maintenance update with some bug fixes.

With MacSpeech Scribe, those running Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") can transcribe their recorded voice into written text with up to 99% accuracy, in a single button click, according to Andrew Taylor, founder and CEO of MacSpeech. The app automatically creates an individual speech profile, in one of 13 different English dialects, from an initial recorded sample of the person's voice. A single MacSpeech Scribe license can create and use up to six individual voice profiles, each compatible with all accepted audio file formats. MacSpeech Scribe accepts audio files in .wav, .aif, .aiff, .m4v, mp4, or .m4a formats.

When composing a letter or other document by voice, users can include spoken punctuation, and MacSpeech...

System Support Products (http://www.sspi-software.com) has updated Mail Forward for Mac OS X -- e-mail forwarding application for AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, MSN, and Yahoo web mail accounts -- to version 5.0.

Standard POP and IMAP e-mail accounts can also now be forwarded. A maximum of 20 different e-mail accounts can be entered into the app, each with its own forwarding address. A built-in scheduling feature permits mail to be forwarded automatically at a specified time interval.  A default forwarding address can be specified, simplifying initial set-up. Release 5.0 of Mail Forward is a complete re-write of the application, greatly enhancing its speed and reliability, according to the folks at System Support Products.

Mail Forward for Mac OS X costs US$19.95. A 30-day free trial is available for download. Registered users of Mail Forward who have purchased within one year prior to this...

According to research firm Canalys, Apple's iPhone OS accounted for about 15% of smartphones sold last year, running third behind phones using Nokia's Symbian OS and Research in Motion's OS.

Those own 47% and 21% of the market, respectively, according to "TheStreet" (http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10713461/1/google-not-apple-to-rul...). While Apple has grown much faster than those two brands, it still lags by almost 10 million units, the article adds.

Nokia's Symbian is selling more than twice the units of its closest competitor. But given that sales growth is in the low single digits, the big movers could overtake it sooner rather than later, says "TheStreet."...

TechSmith Corp. (http://www.techsmith.com) has released Camtasia for Mac 1.1, an update of its screen recording products. The new version includes region capture so users can record only the area of the screen they choose, or select from a preset region. The new release also supports multiple monitor environments, the ability to pause and resume recording sessions, and the option to do voice-only recordings.

Camtasia for Mac 1.1 is integrated with TechSmith’s Screencast.com hosting service for free video sharing and tracking. It requires Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later. Camtasia for Mac 1.1 costs US$99 for new users, but is a free upgrade for current customers.

PriceGrabber.com explores eReader and eBook shopping trends in its latest "eReader and eBook Trends Consumer Behavior Report." The report reveals that while the Amazon Kindle is the brand leader in eReaders, more consumers plan to purchase the Apple iPad.

The report includes survey responses from 1,631 online consumers from Feb. 8–25. While eReaders are still becoming mainstream, the Amazon Kindle leads its competitors in brand recognition, with 61% of consumers having heard of the Kindle. Fifty-five percent of consumers indicated that they have heard of the iPad. Thirty-four percent revealed that they have heard of the Sony Reader, and 28% of consumers have heard of the Barnes & Noble nook.

The iPad will become the most sought-after device that can be used as an eReader in the coming year, according to the PriceGrabber.com study. While more consumers are familiar with the Kindle, the iPad is the most popular eReader among consumers planning to purchase in the...

Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum thinks Verizon is passing on the chance to be an iPhone carrier in the US -- see http://www.macnews.com/content/verizon-pass-iphone -- but "The Wall Street Journal" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304370304575152242601774892.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories( has a different take on the situation.

The "WSJ," quoting "people briefed on the matter," says Apple is developing a new iPhone to debut this summer and also appears to be working on a model for Verizon Wireless. The people briefed on the matter told the "WSJ" that one of the new iPhones is being manufactured by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which produced Apple's previous iPhones. The model that has CDMA capability, used by Verizon Wireless, is purportedly being manufactured by Pegatron Technology Corp., the...