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

Seattle, WA – TOM BIHN, designer, manufacturer and retailer of laptop bags – is offering nine backpacks, briefcases, and messenger bags to fit Apple’s new 17″ aluminum MacBook Pro, including the following bags.

The Checkpoint Flyer The Checkpoint Flyer is the only “airport checkpoint friendly” laptop bag designed in sizes specifically for Apple laptops. The Checkpoint Flyer allows one to send their laptop through the x-ray machine while still inside its protective laptop case. $220 (USD). Ships direct from TOM BIHN within one business day.

The Size 1 Brain Cell The TOM BIHN Brain Cell laptop case has gained a reputation for offering some of the best protection anyone can get for their laptop with 8mm thick soft foam padding and a 12mm thick strip of memory foam inside a 4mm hard corrugated plastic shell that protects from the front, back, and bottom. $60 (USD). Ships direct from TOM BIHN within one business day.

The Super Ego Distinguished by an interchangeable strip available in over 15 colors and fabrics, the Super Ego is a large messenger bag capable of carrying the 17″ MacBook Pro and a ton of other stuff. Three different shoulder straps are available to choose from. $150 (USD). Ships direct from TOM BIHN within one business day.

All TOM BIHN bags are made in Seattle. We use the highest quality U.S. made materials from 1050 denier ballistic nylon to YKK splash-proof zippers. We stand behind our bags with a Lifetime Guarantee.

TOM BIHN
All 17 MacBook Pro Bags
The Checkpoint Flyer
The Brain Cell
The Super Ego

TOM BIHN has been designing and creating bags for over 30 years. The TOM BIHN Inc. headquarters and factory are located in Seattle, Washington, where the company is dedicated to creating quality products and quality jobs. The public is welcome to visit the TOM BIHN Seattle Factory Showroom and see where the bags are made. TOM BIHN products are available for order with worldwide shipping at the company’s website.

San Francisco, USA – Creaceed is glad to present the version 2.0 of Hydra, its HDR photography application, to Mac users and the press at Macworld in San Francisco (booth S-332 in the Moscone South).

Hydra goes beyond the physical limitations of camera sensors. From a series of regular photographs of the same scene (some overexposed and some underexposed), Hydra creates an High Dynamic Range (HDR) image which is much closer to what one can actually see. Hydra is a 100% Mac application with a pretty user interface and is the only HDR application with a plug-in for Aperture.

Hydra 2.0’s new features:
* “Perceptive”, the new default tone mapper for improved and more natural results
* “Homography”, the new default alignment technique which is very useful for small distortions
* The Loupe, a new tool for real time 1:1 full quality preview
* The Aperture Plug-in and the stand-alone application now share the same interface
* More Pro Options for tuning every step of the image processing pipeline

Minimum Requirements
* Mac OS X 10.5.4 Leopard or later
* Any Intel Mac or a PowerMac G5 with at least 64MB of VRAM (GPU) required
* Highly recommended: Mac with Intel processor and at least 128 MB VRAM.

Pricing and Availability:
Hydra 2.0 is made of a stand-alone application and a plug-in for Aperture. As of today, Hydra 2.0 can be purchased on Creaceed’s website for $79.95 (USD). The upgrade price for Hydra 1.x registered users is $19.95 (USD).

Creaceed’s Website
Hydra 2.0
Hydra’s New Features
Hydra’s FAQ
Upgrade information for registered users

Creaceed, a Belgian company with a passionate team experienced in signal and image processing, provides intuitive and easy to use creative applications to Mac professionals and consumers: Hydra, for HDR image creation from regular photos; Morph Age, for morphing and warping images and movies; and Magnet, for adding special effects to QuickTime movie with motion-tracking features. Creaceed also provides iPhone users with Vocalia, a speech recognition application.

Guastalla, Italy – Tellini is pleased to announce the release of Tablatures 1.11. Tablatures is the first and only Mac OS X editor for PowerTab tablatures. PowerTab is a well-known and widely adopted tablature editor for Windows systems and thousands of transcriptions in this format are available on the net. Tablatures is thus an essential tool for guitar players wishing to learn new songs as well for trainers.

Version 1.11 enables the user to place floating texts anywhere on the tablature. It also improves the beaming algorithm and the rendering of consecutive octave offset symbols (e.g. “8va”).

Other general features of TabView include:
* Export tablatures in MIDI format for playback or use in other applications (for instance, GarageBand).
* Advanced playback of the tablature: follow the playback on screen, loop over selected parts, slow the tempo down for practice sessions.
* Create beautiful prints of the tablature: you don’t need to stay in front of your monitor to play along your favorite song.
* Share your music even with those members of your band that don’t own a Mac: Tablatures and PowerTabEditor share the same file format.
* Read and play most GuitarPro 3-5 tablatures.

Requirements:
Tablatures requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Tablatures is a shareware product. It can be ordered through our online store at the price of 39 EUR. Registered users are free to upgrade to any 1.x version of the product. The trial version is available on the website.

Tellini Website
Tablatures 1.11
Download Tablatures
Purchase Tablatures
Screenshots

Simone Tellini began developing commercial and shareware applications about 10 years ago on Amiga computers. Not afraid to move on to different platforms, he switched to Windows for some time. Eventually, he couldn’t resist the charm of Mac OS X and, since 2005, Simone develops shareware games and utilities for this fine operating system.

Austin, Texas – macZOT will be featuring REALbasic Personal Edition for 50% off on January 7th until 10 PM PST. REALbasic is a rapid application development environment that compiles high-quality, native Mac applications. Whether you are new to programming or a seasoned developer, REALbasic will let you write your own applications, faster. macZOT is known for offering great Mac applications at reduced prices, but for one day only.

About REALbasic
REALbasic is an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use development environment. It is fully object-oriented and compiles to native X86 and PowerPC machine code. With REALbasic you can create a wide variety of applications from utilities to games to enterprise-class applications. REALbasic Personal Edition is regularly priced at $100, but will be offered for $50 through macZOT. Upgrades from REALbasic Personal Edition to REALbasic Professional Edition (required for cross-platform compilation) are $250.

About macZOT:
macZOT is the leader in bringing great deals on Mac software to the Mac community. macZOT offers a different Mac application at a discounted price every day, usually between 30-75% off the regular retail price.

macZOT
REALbasic Personal Edition
Download REALbasic
Screenshot
Screenshot/App Icon

REAL Software was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. We currently serve more than 125,000 users in over 130 countries. Our users range from commercial developers to Java, C++ and Visual Basic Developers, to students and hobbyists. REAL Software is privately held, privately financed and consistently profitable.

Meadville, Pennsylvania – Nuclear Nova Software has announced Escape, their classic 2D puzzle game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. By leveraging the iPhone’s unique abilities and interface, Escape offers addicting gameplay with challenging puzzles that will keep you occupied for hours. Escape features 60 levels, while the free ad supported Escape Lite has a selected 12 levels. Escape is currently on a 40% off limited time early bird sale.

In escape you use bombs, teleporting pads, push blocks, keys, cannons, traps, and more to solve each puzzle. Throughout each level you must dodge shooters and guards while working towards the exit.

Escape was originally programmed for the uDevGames 2002 Macintosh programming contest. Escape was then reworked into a fully featured shareware game and released in early 2003. Over the past six years over one hundred levels and two hundred features have been added to Escape. Most improvements come from direct customer suggestion from both email and the Nuclear Nova Software forum. The iPhone version is a complete replica of the Macintosh game, no features have been left out.

Supported Languages:
* US English

System Requirements:
* iPhone, iPhone 3G or iPod Touch 2.2

Pricing and Availability:
Escape Lite is free and is available exclusively through Apple’s App Store. Escape is only $2.99 USD (40% off early bird sale, regularly $4.99) and is available exclusively through Apple’s App Store.

Nuclear Nova
Escape
Escape Download Link
Escape Lite Download Link
Screenshot

Located in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Nuclear Nova Software is a privately funded company founded in 2002 by Jake Leveto. Jake is currently studying at the Rochester Institute of Technology for Microelectronic Engineering. Nuclear Nova Software was founded with the intent of developing unique and challenging games with compelling game-play for the Mac platform and iPhone. Copyright 2002-2008 Nuclear Nova Software. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

San Francisco, CA – We-Envision is pleased to announce “myCard”, a simple, secure iPhone / iPod Touch app that lets you Beam your business card info (vCard) to other people using any available Internet connection. Available on Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, myCard allows you to directly share your contact information with another myCard user, or send it to anyone else using email.

“We set out to develop a contact sharing application that is lightweight, fast, secure, does not require you to create an online account, works with EDGE, 3G or wi-fi, and is extremely easy to use,” says Jim Teece, President and CEO of Project A, and one of the principal partners in We-Envision. “It’s one of several of the ‘missing apps’ for the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms we plan on releasing in 2009. Apps that we see as becoming ‘Must Have’ as soon as people start using them and the word gets out.”

“This is a great tool that works well for business users as well as a great way for you to share your personal contact info with friends or people you meet day to day,” adds Jim Teece. “I meet people all the time and have been wanting this app as long as I have owned the iPhone”

Version 1.0 of myCard is available today via the Apple iTunes App Store and represents the 26th iPhone app shipped by We-Envision.

myCard is offered at no cost during MacWorld 2009 as a Special Introductory Offer. After the introductory offer period the price will be set at $0.99 and a free receiver-only app will be released.

How it works:

myCard has two simple methods to quickly and securely share your contact information:

Beam myCard (from iPhone/iPod Touch to iPhone/iPod Touch over the Internet): Used when the receiver has installed myCard. Just tell the recipient a short code to type in, and your card arrives in seconds via a secure connection. The recipient can easily return a card in the same step.

Email myCard (using vCard): Delivers your card as an industry-standard vCard to anyone who does not have myCard (or even an iPhone). The recipient simply adds your vCard attachment to their own address book (whether using iPhone-based email, or practically any other email system, mobile or desktop).

Features and Benefits:

You choose which card to beam and myCard will remember the last card you sent. This makes it quick and easy to send your card again, with no retyping.

iPhones can use myCard anywhere on the cellular network, without wi-fi.

Select which parts of your card to beam with a simple tap. For example, leave off personal information such as your mobile phone or notes if you don’t want those shared.

Choose your own “skin” to personalize the application. Simply assign any image/photo in your Photo Album (for example, download a fun image from an iPhone wallpaper site).

Secure and simple pass-code interface to protect your information during the transfer. Beam mode uses end-to-end SSL/TLS encryption. Email is uploaded using SSL/TLS.

Seamless integration with the standard Contacts app interface makes myCard familiar and easy to use. Just select which card is yours (or the one you want to send) and beam it.

The information sent can include any photo or image attached to your contact card.

We-Envision
myCard
Download myCard
Open Door Networks
Project A

We-Envision is an innovative collaboration of two separate software companies (Open Door Networks and Project A). The mission of We-Envision is the design, development and deployment of the best independent software solutions for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Open Door Networks, Inc. was founded in 1995 by Alan Oppenheimer, co-creator of AppleTalk, the original network system for the Macintosh. Open Door is a leading provider of Internet solutions for Apple products. Project A, Inc. was founded in 1990 by Jim Teece and is a leading developer of 100% database-driven websites deployed for clients world-wide. Both companies are located in Ashland, Oregon.

Open Door Networks, Inc. was founded in 1995 by Alan Oppenheimer, co-creator of AppleTalk, the original network system for the Macintosh. Open Door is a leading provider of Internet solutions for Apple products.

San Francisco, CA – We-Envision is pleased to announce a contest to win a copy of all 25 We-Envision iPhone apps tied into the Macworld release of myCard, a free (during Macworld) app. myCard is a simple, secure iPhone / iPod Touch app that lets you Beam your business card info (vCard) to other people using any available Internet connection.

“We are one of the most prolific developers of unique applications for the iPhone, with 25 apps in the app store,” says Jim Teece, president and CEO of Project A, Inc., a partner in We-Envision, “and we wanted to launch our contest at Macworld since we will be there launching myCard and it’s the only large gathering of Apple enthusiasts under one roof.”

“We launched our first app, the highly acclaimed iEnvision, on the opening day of the app store,” says Alan Oppenheimer, president of Open Door Networks, a partner in We-Envision, “and we have been very successful with our other apps that soon followed. So we wanted to celebrate the new year with a contest to enable someone with an iPhone or iPod Touch to win a copy of all of our apps.”

Beyond the flagship iEnvision, the apps range from Art Envi (an early number-one app in Japan) through Yosemite Envi (one of the “12 apps of Christmas”). Most sell for 99 cents each. Recent hits include Ferrari, Haircut and Earth Envi. A $1.99 travel series currently includes London, Paris and Hawaii Envi. “Premium” applications include Art, Space and Parks Envi Deluxe for $3.99 each. The complete list is available on the We-Envision Web site.

How the contest works
Simply download and install the free myCard app from the Apple App Store on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Tap the small ‘i’ icon in the lower right hand corner and tap on the register button to fill out the form and submit it.

There is no cost for myCard during Macworld and no cost for the free receiver-only version that will be available after Macworld, however chances to win are limited to one entry per email address.

We will announce the name of the winner on February 1, 2009.

We-Envision
myCard
Download myCard
Open Door Networks
Project A

We-Envision is an innovative collaboration of two separate software companies (Open Door Networks and Project A). The mission of We-Envision.com is the design, development and deployment of the best independent software solutions for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Open Door Networks, Inc. was founded in 1995 by Alan Oppenheimer, co-creator of AppleTalk, the original network system for the Macintosh. Open Door is a leading provider of Internet solutions for Apple products. Project A, Inc. was founded in 1990 by Jim Teece and is a leading developer of 100% database-driven websites deployed for clients world-wide. Both companies are located in Ashland, Oregon.

Open Door Networks, Inc. was founded in 1995 by Alan Oppenheimer, co-creator of AppleTalk, the original network system for the Macintosh. Open Door is a leading provider of Internet solutions for Apple products.

San Francisco, CA – WaterField Designs, an innovative leader in custom laptop sleeves and designer bags and cases for consumer electronics, announces a new, custom-fitted, protective SleeveCase for the 17-inch aluminum MacBook Pro. WaterField Designs manufactures in San Francisco enabling them to design and ship custom cases for new electronic devices lightning fast. The new size 17-3 SleeveCase is available now for pre-order from www.sfbags.com and will ship January 16, 2009. WaterField also offers a 17-inch MacBook Pro compatible Suede Jacket Sleeve, HardCase and Racer-X.

“To protect your investment, it is important to cushion your 17-inch MacBook Pro while in transit,” explained owner, Gary Waterfield. “You’ll want your case to fit snugly for optimal protection – the WaterField Designs case is an exact fit for the new 17-inch MBP dimensions and it’s very protective. For scratch protection, our Suede Jacket Sleeve is a great option; it doubles as a screen-cleaner too”

The SleeveCase secures and protects the 17-inch aluminum MacBook Pro without zippers, allowing quick access to the laptop. It combines a nearly indestructible ballistic nylon outer shell with a high-grade, 6mm neoprene interior that absorbs shock as it cradles the computer. A loop at one end lets users hold the SleeveCase while easily removing the device. Travelers passing through airport security can leave the MacBook Pro protected in the TSA friendly sleeve while it makes its way through the x-ray apparatus, thereby minimizing loss or damage at security checkpoints.

When inserted into WaterField’s VertiGo, Cargo or Cozmo bags, the SleeveCase protects the MacBook Pro from other bag contents and can remain inside the bag when the computer is removed. Alternatively, one can opt to add a strap to the sleeve and use it as stand-alone case.

Availability and Pricing:
SleeveCase size 17-3: $45.00. Options include: a Suspension Shoulder Strap with D-rings ($18.00), a Simple Shoulder Strap with D-rings ($12.00), the Piggyback accessory pouch ($22.00). Pre-order now. Ships: January 16, 2009.

Suede Jacket Sleeve 17″ fit: $35.00. Available now.
HardCase size 17″: $249.00. Available now.
Racer-X 17″: $189. Available now.

The 17-3 SleeveCase is compatible with the Large Cargo ($219-269,) Large Cozmo ($189-$219), and X-Large VertiGo ($89). To protect accessories see the Gear Pouch ($19-$25), CableGuy ($19-$25), and Keyboard Cases ($29-$49). All products available exclusively from WaterField Designs.

SleeveCase Product Page
WaterField Designs
Press Images

WaterField Designs manufactures custom-fitted, high-quality cases and bags for a full-range of laptop computers, cameras, and other digital gear. All products are manufactured to exacting standards in San Francisco. More information is available from their website.