The MacTrack – iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch and Mac News

This is a music video for Geoff Smith‘s Ones and 0s, a song about how nasty comments on a blog post can really hurt a person.

Ones and 0s by Geoff Smith from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.

[Courtesy of Cali Lewis, Geek Brief TV ]

Do you wish you could see thumbnail previews of all the tabs you have open in Firefox?  Well now you can with the great Firefox Showcase add-on.

This add-on allows you to display thumbnails of all open tabs in a variety of ways: single window, tab or in a sidebar.

To choose a tab just click on the preview image.  To access the preview thumbnails click on the tab drop-down on the far right of the tab bar.

Try it – you’ll love it!

Luxembourg, Europe – Houdah Software is proud to announce a major update to HoudahSpot, their popular file search utility for Mac OS X. HoudahSpot 2.2 is a free update. and is a recommended update for all Leopard users.

HoudahSpot 2.2 introduces a completely rewritten BlitzSearch feature. BlitzSearch combines the simplicity of Spotlight with the power of HoudahSpot. When called upon, the BlitzSearch window slides out of the top of the screen. You may now enter a search string, opt to search by file name, text contents or Spotlight comments, as well as pick a template to apply.

BlitzSearch takes care of creating your HoudahSpot query. This opens a world of possibilities: additional criteria, countless columns to choose from, custom sort order, file name or path filters …

HoudahSpot 2.2 also brings enhanced AppleScript support. Not only may your scripts call upon BlitzSearch, they also get access to search results as well as to the current selection.

HoudahSpot 2.2 integrates well LaunchBar, QuickSilver and PathFinder. The use of AppleScript, custom URL

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Walnut Creek, California – net4mac is a social network built exclusively for Mac users. In order to become a part of the community and use all its features, users need to download an innovative application designed for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Today, we are launching version 1.5 with many improvements.

The net4mac application allows you to:

* Create an account and login to the service (internet connexion required)
* Create your profile including your location, job, activities, skills and the type of Macs, iPhone, iPod, etc. that you own.
* Add friends to your profile and manage them (remember, the service is only for Mac users)
* Contact members, send invitations to join the community, and manage your messages
* Create your own groups of interest and invite friends to join them (people using the same application, in your same location, sharing the same passions, etc)
* Browse and join groups you find interesting – share discussions, events and more
* Create events and invite Mac users (this is useful if you want to announce the presentation of a product / service, etc)
* Search members using different of criteria (for example, you can find people that use the same Mac or software)
* Discover people around you (other Mac users in your neighborhood)
* And many more functions

There are many good reasons to use an application instead of a website:

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I’ve been using Parallels desktop for a few weeks now and here are my inital impressions.

From the first moment of loading the install package I’ve been really impressed by Parallels implementation of co-hosting Windows on my Mac. From the beginning of the windows install everything has gone smoothly and without any incidents.

I choose ‘Express Install’, ‘Windows XP‘. I was prompted for my windows license key and install disk (it has to be a Service Pack 2 build – see this page for details on how to upgrade your install disk from SP1 to SP2). Parallels handled the windows install from this point onwards performing a quick and efficicent unattended install of Windows XP (no user intervention needed). After a couple of the windows instance restarts (part of the usual Windows rigmarole) I had a brand new clean windows desktop within a Mac application window.

Interestingly, of the many numerous installs I’ve done of Windows (must be well in excess of 100) this was the fastest and smoothest I’ve ever encountered.

Parallels Desktops allow you to run Windows in 3 modes:

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San Jose, CA – app4mac today released CheckUp 1.2, a new update to the innovative tool that allows you to check the health and monitor the behavior of a Mac computer (even from a remote computer). Built from the ground up with Mac OS X technologies, CheckUp features an amazing user interface. CheckUp works with any Mac with a PowerPC G4, G5 or Intel Processor.

CheckUp is first designed to monitor the usage of CPU, Memory, Disk Drives and Network Adapters. You can display detailed information about all running processes and pause or terminate these at any time. By adding rules that will be triggered when certain conditions are met for a specified resource on the computer, you can receive visual notifications.

For example, CheckUp can alert you when a certain resource exceeds a certain value or when a hard drive seems to have hardware failures, even when the application is not opened (thanks to an innovative background process and the use of S.M.A.R.T technology). CheckUp can also help you to determine if your computer is able to run Mac OS X Leopard or determine if your computer have enough memory to run all your Applications at the same time.

The graphical user interface is designed with a top priority on high usability in mind. Unlike other competing

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Wichita, Kansas – QuickerTek, the leader in wireless Apple products, announces the Apple Juicz – a new way to power the Apple MacBook Air using solar power. Three models are priced from $500 to $1,000 USD and fold to a convenient 10.5 size and come with a cool Element messenger bag. These solar panels charge the MacBook Air while in use.

The Apple Juicz Solar Charger requires the sun to charge your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. The flexible thin-film solar cells will charge the MacBook Air in five hours. Since the MacBook Air has a non-removeable battery, alternative power options are welcomed by the Mac community. Especially “green” options.

There are three different solar panels:
* 55 watt model $1000.00 – recharges the MBA in 5 hours, unfolds to 60 x 42 inches
* 27 watt model $600.00 – recharges the MBA in 8 hours, unfolds to 41.5 x 30.5 inches
* 18 watt model $500.00 – recharges the MBA in 14 hours, unfolds to 30.5 x 30 inches

All models require an upgraded MagSafe power adapter. QuickerTek can modify the customer’s adapter for

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Unleash your inner geek: select an element from the periodic table and see a geeky, but fun, video about it

Portland, Oregon – You Software has announced the immediate availability of You Control 1.7, the award-winning utility for creating custom menus on the Mac. This update introduces improvements for better support of iCal on Leopard, as well as a number of enhancements and fixes for other modules in You Control. The Calendar module is one of 19 modules included with You Control. You Control modules are the building blocks that allow users to create a wide variety of custom menus, with all kinds of information directly available from the menu bar.

The Calendar module provides quick access to all of the user’s iCal calendars. New in version 1.7 is support for iCal calendars served via a CalDAV server (such as the iCal Server on Mac OS X Server). This version also improves the handling of To Dos created in Leopard’s Mail application and provides general performance improvements.

In addition to the Calendar module changes, several other modules have also been updated based on user feedback. Highlights include:

* Improved compatibility for RSS feeds in the News Reader module
* Support for Microsoft Word 2008 in the Fonts module (when used in conjunction with You Control: Fonts)
* Minor fixes and enhancements in the Clock, Weather, and iTunes modules

We recommend that all You Control users running Mac OS X 10.4 and higher update to this version.

You Control: Fonts 1.3.1, You Control: Tunes 1.7 Also Released
In conjunction with the release of You Control, both You Control: Fonts and You Control: Tunes have been released with updates introduced in You Control 1.7. You Control: Fonts introduces support for Microsoft Word 2008, allowing simple, consistent font selection in this popular word processor.

About You Control:
You Control is a powerful utility for creating custom menus that extend the functionality and usability of your Mac. You can place your user-created menus in a variety of locations, including the Menu Bar, any corner of your monitor screen, or you can pop your custom menus up anywhere on the screen using key commands you specify.

You Control is loaded with time saving tools that make working with OS X better, faster and easier. In addition to taking control of iTunes, you can create custom menus that allow you easy and instant access to your Address Book Contacts, iCal events, news, stocks, weather and any file or folder on your Mac.

Pricing and Availability:
You Control 1.7 is a free upgrade to registered users and is compatible with both Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) and

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Stockholm, Sweden – Snarb.tk today announced the immediate availability of Cover Stream 2.2, a major update to their unrivaled iTunes controller that extends iTunes Cover Flow to the desktop. The new version adds Jukebox mode, mouseover desktop controls, integrated lyrics support, a daemon launcher and plenty of options to customize application behavior and appearance. The new version also resolves a number of bugs in earlier releases and is a recommended update for all users.

Cover Stream is one of the most popular iTunes controllers for the Macintosh, and a true piece of eye candy! Developed exclusively for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Cover Stream extends iTunes Cover Flow to the desktop,

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Does your iTunes library need some TLC, attention, cleaning, sorting out and general first aid?  I know mine certainly does, so I was really excited to learn of a potentially great new utility called ‘TuneUp‘, from TuneUpMedia, the features of which are:

Your music collection is a mess. TuneUp fixes it:

• Automatically clean your mislabelled music
• Find your missing cover art
• Be alerted to upcoming concerts based on your collection
• Get the best music content from the web.

Find your missing cover art.

• Automatically search for missing cover art
• Choose from multiple album covers
• No more grey music notes
• Bring sexy back to your iPhone and iPod

Currently only available for Windows users (boo!) but soon to released for Mac users as well (hurrah!).  You can sign-up for a notification when TuneUp is available for the Mac at the TuneUp website or by clicking here.

TuneUp comment about the availablity for the Mac on their blog:

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If you’d like to keep one particular website separate, in it’s own window and in effect turn it into a mini application then take a look at a free program called Fluid.

Simple to set-up, all that’s required is the web address and you can then create a site specific browser:

Save it on your desktop (or wherever you wish) and you’ve now got an icon for the web site of your choice.

Sometimes is useful to keep sites in their place and locked to one window rather than loosing them in amongst many tabs.  For example, keep eBay, Facebook, or the BBC News web site in their own window allowing them to be located quickly, easily and efficiently.

Perhaps a niche application but a useful one nonetheless.

Hagenberg, Austria – Ergonis Software today announced the release of Typinator 3.1, the latest version of its highly acclaimed tool for auto-typing text and auto-correcting typos system-wide across all Mac OS X applications.

The new version integrates the recently released HTML snippets set providing over 100 abbreviations for elements of the HTML 4.01 standard. Typinator 3.1 also improves compatibility with many popular applications like Coda, VMWare Fusion, Butler, Zend Studio, and others. In addition to many functional improvements, the menu bar icon has been redesigned to better match the style of Apple’s menu extras – and for the user interface purists, it can now even be turned off. Visit Ergonis Software’s website to learn more about all changes in the release and to download and try the new version.

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Crevalcore, Italy – Doseido Software is delighted to announce the first release of Headline, their next-generation news reader for Mac OS X Leopard. Combining a sleek, clean interface with a powerful user experience, Headline is designed to make catching up with the latest blog posts, articles and news feeds quick and more enjoyable.

Headline starts with a revolutionary interface and then gets better. It’s easy to filter out contents by switching from Today, This Week, This Month, All, Unread or Favorites items. And with Favorites, users can easily mark articles with the click of a button, and return to them at any time. Users can view articles in Headline directly or optionally via Safari Read the rest of this entry »

Hutto, Texas – Macgamestore today announced the release of Jewel Quest III, the next installment in the extremely popular Jewel Quest series. The game is published by iWin.

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Nashville, Tennessee – RingtoneFeeder has evolved since its launch in April 2008 and the subscribers are getting more value for their money now than when they signed up originally. When RingtoneFeeder first started the subscribers would be getting just a single ringtone every week.

Currently the subscribers are receiving 4 ringtones every week. One vocal and one instrumental ringtone, both of them in two versions, with and without a ringing sound embedded. This option was made available recently based on user feedback, but the price structure remains the same.

The annual subscription which is priced at just $19.98 will now provide 218 ringtones as the subscriber will

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Washington, DC – KavaSoft today released KavaTunes 3.2, the web jukebox for iTunes. KavaTunes makes websites that look and work just like iTunes, so you can browse, search and play your music from any web browser. KavaTunes features continuous playback, so you can queue up an album or playlist and listen to one song after another.

KavaTunes can add album artwork to your music library, and includes artwork in the catalog. KavaTunes can also create web catalogs that look and work just like an iPod. Visitors can browse and play your music using the familiar iPod clickwheel interface.

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iPhone Spoof Ad

Oh dear, looks like us Brits aren’t going to get the promised price cut on iTunes track downloads, full details are available via this BBC News Link:

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | UK iTunes shelves music price cut.

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A short video about the key new features in WordPress v2.6: