Shares of Apple stock briefly dipped below US$400 ($399.75, to be precise) on Wednesday. AAPL stock has traded just above $400 for most of the day, down more than 5% from its opening price of $420.60.

The stock is now trading at its lowest levels since 2011. Its market capitalization value has lost more than US$275 billion since late 2012.

As noted by "AppleInsider" (www.appleinsider.com), market watchers believe Apple's slipping shares could be attributed to a warning of weak results that was issued by supplier Cirrus Logic. The company, which makes energy and audio chips, notified investors that it would see lower shipments of a high-volume product as an unnamed customer migrates to a newer component from Cirrus.

Apple has updated iPhoto and Aperture, its consumer and professional photography apps. The updates are available via the Mac App Store.

Aperture 3.4.4 adds improved Photo Stream support, and addressed an import issue when using Nikon's P7700 camera. iPhoto 9.4.3 also offers improved Photo Stream support, some Mountain Lion optimizations and some bug fixes.

Rolocule Games has announced rolomotion, a technology the company says precisely tracks various iPhone movements and allows users to play games using natural motion gestures on televisions with an Apple TV connected.

Rohit Gupta, founder and CEO of Rolocule Games, says that, unlike other motion gaming consoles, there's no need for extra sensory and gaming hardware as rolomotion converts an iPhone or iPod touch into a motion controller. The first rolomotion-powered game, Motion Tennis, will stream to a high definition secondary display on your HDTV.

The game is due for release on the Apple App Store in May. Gupta says Rolocule Games plans to roll out its limited beta invites in the last week of April to those signing up on http://www.rolomotion.tv .

WD has unveiled WD SmartWare Pro, a software tool that gives customers the power to back up their files to any USB external hard drive or the cloud using their personal Dropbox. Additionally, in the event that a file is deleted, lost, or a previous version of a file is needed, WD SmartWare Pro lets you restore and retrieve backed-up data.      

Once the software is setup and the drives are connected, WD SmartWare Pro visually presents customers' files and folders in a control center where they can manage multiple external hard drives and their Dropbox account. WD SmartWare Pro is compatible with WD products such as My Passport and WD Elements portable hard drives, as well as external USB drives from other manufacturers. Additionally, WD SmartWare Pro works with WD network attached storage drives such as My Book Live.

WD SmartWare Pro is currently available as a free 30-day trial at www.wdstore.com. After the...

Apple's hardware development operations are expanding to the Orlando, Florida, area, where the company "apparently plans to design, build and test custom chips for future devices," reports "AppleInsider" (www.appleinsider.com).

Most of Apple's internal hardware development is housed out of the company's corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California. However, "AppleInsider" discovered several Orlando-based job openings, including seven positions related to developing and testing processor hardware. Apple is also looking for Orlando area employees who can develop drivers for graphics processors.

Bubble Chart Pro, which lets you create bubble charts, has been revved to version 4.3. The upgrade combines charts and business analytics.

Bubble Chart Pro is available in three versions. With Bubble Chart Pro, managers can create bubble charts in as few as four clicks. They can modify and drill-down into the underlying data by directly interacting with the bubbles on the chart so they can model different scenarios. In addition, the bubble charts are fully-customizable, so managers can get the look that they want.

Bubble Chart Pro PLUS adds a SMART prioritizer that assigns an objective value score for each project based on the business' strategy and goals. The SMART prioritizer is built on research by scientists from Harvard, MIT, and the University of Southern California. Bubble Chart Pro OPTIMAL adds a fast optimizer.

Bubble Chart Pro has editions for both Mac and Windows. A free demo version can be downloaded at Bubble Chart online (...

Dynamsoft has made available a new software development kit (SDK) that adds to its existing Mac features for cross-platform support and also adds Sandbox for increased security.

The SDK, ImageCapture Suite 9.0, enables development of web applications for image acquisition, processing and management. It’s designed for programmers, R&D managers and CIOs in industries requiring heavy scanning for digital document management. Such industries include healthcare, finance, government and others that require processing paper documents to digital formats.

ImageCapture Suite 9.0 boasts compatibility with all mainstream browsers for use on Mac or Windows platforms. The SDK enables developers to create image acquisition apps using just a few lines of code.

ImageCapture Suite 9.0 is available starting April 16 and is licensed per web server. A royalty-free option is also available. There are three general versions. The Plugin Edition starts at US$1,199. The ActiveX...

AOC (us.aoc.com) has unveiled the Q2963PM, a 29-inch, 21:9 super wide screen HD monitor that combines IPS LED technology with a variety of connectivity options.

The Q2963PM is equipped with dual three-watt enclosed speakers and WFHD 2560x1080 resolution. With multiple inputs like DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI, the display will also enable you to multiply your screen with Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture capabilities. This means you can watch a movie through a connected Blu-ray player on one half of the screen and browse the Internet through your connected laptop on the other half, and more. MHL technology will also allow you to mirror your smartphone on the monitor’s 29-inch wide screen. The AOC Q2963PM is now available for US$499 at Amazon, Microcenter, New Egg, Tiger Direct, Canada Computers and other national retailers.

The panoramic Q2963PM display offers a 21:9 aspect ratio, which allows widescreen movies to be viewed without black bars on the top and bottom...

Apple has agreed to pay US$53 million to settle a class action accusing the company of failing to honor warranties on iPhones and iPod touches, according to an agreement obtained by "Wired" (http://tinyurl.com/cmnabxy).

The article says the settlement, set to be filed in a San Francisco federal court in the coming weeks, provides cash payouts to "potentially hundreds of thousands" of iPhone and iPod touch consumers who found Apple unwilling to repair or replace their faulty phones under Apple’s one-year standard, or a two-year extended, warranty.

Apple chief litigation counsel Noreen Krall signed the agreement Wednesday. Apple admits no wrongdoing in the settlement, which needs a judge’s approval, sys "Wired."

Nevosoft has introduced Hypnosis Lite 1.0 for Mac OS X (10.7 or higher).

Here's how the game is described: "Hypnosis invites players into a world of surprises, mini-games, and puzzles. The game is played from the perspective of hypnotherapist Maya Anderson, a smart, just, and statuesque woman. When Mark Blanche, the chief physician at a psychiatric clinic, mysteriously disappears the police suspect murder and call Maya in to help with their investigation and Dr. Blanche's patients. She arrives and discovers that the patients are behaving stranger than usual. As a skilled hypnotist, she enters the subconscious of the patients and experiences their inner worlds.

"In the psyches of the patients, players will be attacked by their phobias, which they battle in mini-games that serve as pleasant distractions from the main adventure. All of the characters are exceptionally brilliant: a painter, a musician, a scientist, a businessman, and others, each with their own bright...

Fallen Leaf Soft has announced Horus News Reader for Mac OS X. It's a news reader "that brings a tablet/smartphone experience to computers."

Thanks to the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad all news are two swipes away with Horus News Reader, according to the folks at Fallen Leaf Soft. You can scroll vertically to navigate through the different feeds and horizontally to read all the news of a feed. As all the feeds are available without selecting them or their categories, the user can customize the color of every feed to organize them. Developed using OpenGL.

Horus News Reader can also manage podcasts and videopodcasts, providing a link to the media file associated in a news item. The user can also share his favorite news using the integrated Share Sheet available since OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

Horus News Reader is available in the News category of the Mac App Store (http://tinyurl.com/bpmhlye...

Kensington says its line of USB 3.0 Docking Stations and Multi-Display Adapter products are now compatible with Mac OS X devices.

Designed with DisplayLink‘s new driver for Mac, Kensington’s productivity devices will work with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard through OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. The new compatibility enables Apple computer users to supplement connectivity to their devices, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro or iMac.
 
Using either of the Kensington USB 3.0 Docking Stations and Multi-Display Adapter, Apple users can now add multiple monitors, use additional USB ports, and leverage Gigabit Ethernet for fast data connection. The products are designed to help increase productivity and are ideal for hot desk environments where you aren't restricted to one make or model of laptop. For more info go to www.kensington.com .