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

Santa Clara, California – MyService has announced overnight iPhone repairs. Cracked screen? Liquid spill? No power? Bring your iPhone to life for the fraction of the cost of a new one. With an average 24hr turnaround you’ll be back on your phone in no time. All parts are brand new and services are performed by Apple certified technicians.

According to MyService president Justin Sanderson, “Ever since the original iPhone came out, our customers have been asking about where to go to get their iPhones repaired. We’ve received tons of quote requests and phone calls describing all manner of accidents (cracked screens, liquid spills, angry pets, etc.) We’re excited to be offering our customers this new service.”

What the service includes:
A free diagnostic, free roundtrip shipping, professional installation of any new parts, and a shipping container.

How the service works:
MyService instantly emails you an overnight UPS return label. Pack your iPhone in it’s original (or similar) box and send it in to MyService. Once your iPhone arrives at MyService, an Apple certified technician performs a complete diagnostic on your iPhone. Your service advisor will keep you informed every step of the way. After the service is complete, your iPhone is cleaned, tested and sent back to you. All services are completed within 24 hours of arrival.

MyService
Schedule Your iPhone Repair

MyService is an Apple Authorized Service Provider who delivers complete repair and upgrade services for Apple computers. Since 2001, they have serviced over 30,000 Macs working with consumers, education facilities and businesses throughout the U.S., building a reputation for quality, one computer at a time. With an average 24 hour turnaround time and free roundtrip shipping, MyService makes the service process fast and easy. No phone trees, no runaround, just great service. Copyright 2001-2009 MyService. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Derbyshire, UK – Arten Science has released the REALbasic Starter Kit for Macintosh and Windows. The RB Starter Kit executable demonstrates and documents a module of predefined functions that will mainly be of use to new and intermediate REALbasic Developers. The RB Starter Kit contains an executable for Macintosh and Windows.

Purchase of the Starter Kit gives you the source code for the examples application. The modules that perform the functions remains encrypted but can be used in any of your projects without restriction.

As well as the module that can be used within your own projects, the source code for the examples application can be used to learn how to do things such as automatically creating a local SQLite database to store the locations and sizes of all the windows in your application, how to populate and react to events on a Listbox Control, use of Toolbars, Menus Etc. RBStarterKit1 also includes the Syntax Highlighter Module.

The Syntax Highlighter Module operates against any EditField in your REALbasic Application. As you type, your words are matched against a text file containing keywords, words that you wish to have highlighted in some way on your EditField, an example would be a SQL Query or a Language Editor.

Whatever you type in the EditField is highlighted if contained within your Keywords File. This text file can be easily created and then edited to include or exclude additional keywords. The Syntax Highlighter is supplied as an Encrypted RB Module which you include in your own applications.

Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X Version 10.3 or higher / Windows XP / Vista / 7
* Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel / Windows Executable
* G4 Processor, 1GHz or faster/ Intel Pentium
* 20 MB Hard Drive space

Pricing and Availability:
The example application can be downloaded from Arten Science online. RBStarterKit is available to purchase for £30.

REALbasic Starter Kit
Download
Purchase
Screenshot 1
Manual

Arten Science was setup in 2007 to design, develop and market quality commercial software for the Apple Mac OSX (Universal Binary), Windows XP/Vista and Linux with GTK 2.x. We also provide Bespoke Software Development and Technology/Database/Security Consultancy services. In addition to creating new solutions for our customers, all of our commercial products can also be tailored, modified and enhanced to suit your specific requirements. We can help you to use software to solve business problems and create business opportunities.

San Francisco, CA – Apple Investor News, the always-updating website offering total aggregation of Apple, Inc. financial and AAPL (Nasdaq:NM) stock news, has relaunched today with a new design, improved search results, and pop-up article preview. Apple Investor News aggregates headlines from thousands of sources into 23 distinct news categories including AAPL Analysts, Rumors, Industry Dialogue, Apple iPod, iPhone, Apple Mac Computers, Steve Jobs, Apple Stores, Apple vs. Microsoft and others.

“This site has a rich, continuous stream of Apple investor-related news, and from what I can tell, everything that could possibly matter is included and things that don’t matter are not,” says David Bunnell, technology entrepreneur, founder of Macworld and PC World, and former chairman of Upside Media. “Tech Investor News has figured out how to make news aggregation sites that are really relevant and comprehensive.”

Apple Investor News is now part of the just-launched Tech Investor News, a definitive technology sector news aggregator and network of company-specific aggregators for the Top 20 tech stocks. The search filtering engine has been improved for greater accuracy and the sites have been redesigned so headlines are more readable. The sites will also include a pop-article feature so visitors can preview a news story by placing their cursor over a headline.

Apple Investor News uses a process called Intelligent News Search, which uses layers of complex filters to place headlines into relevant and useful categories. Human editors continually update and refine the search filters, making the results more accurate than fully automated aggregators. Headlines are always updating, all day, every day. The sites auto-refresh every 15 minutes.

“Apple Investor News showed there’s a need for definitive news aggregators for the enthusiast, professional and business audiences, people who need more than just the top stories on a given day,” comments Frank Cioffi, editor and publisher.

Apple Investor News was originally launched in May 2007. It was founded by Frank Cioffi, a former broadcast journalist and marketing communications veteran who specializes in technology media and media relations. It is based in Marin County, California.

Apple|Enthusiast, sister site to AIN, aggregates headlines of interest to users of Apple products including news on the Mac, iPods, iPhones or software, hardware, tips, hacks, accessories, games or the best deals for Apple-related products. Apple|Enthusiast will be relaunched later in 2009.

Apple Investor News
Tech Investor News
Apple Enthusiast

Tech Investor News is the definitive technology sector news aggregator and network of company-specific aggregators for the Top 20 tech stocks. Apple Investor News was our first news site, originally launched in May 2007. It was founded by Frank Cioffi, a former broadcast journalist and marketing communications veteran who specializes in technology media and media relations. Tech Investor News is based in Marin County, California.

Espoo, Finland – Nocsos Ltd announces the availability of myDBR reporting solution for MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server. myDBR is an innovative web based reporting solution with support for latest smart phones (Android, iPhone, and Symbian). myDBR reporting solution brings unparalleled speed of authoring even the most complex reports. By automating most of the work needed on traditional reporting systems, myDBR increases productivity and offers a cost effective reporting solution. myDBR is available as a free download from myDBR website.

With myDBR, enterprises can minimize costs during report life cycle. Reporting systems full costs to organizations consists of report specification, implementation and maintenance. By using advanced features in MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server databases, myDBR is able to increase report authoring productivity to a higher level. myDBR automates report authoring tasks, allowing users to concentrate on the business logic. By offering monitoring support including tracking of report behavior and usage, myDBR decreases report maintenance costs and helps to keep reports up to date.

myDBR includes easy to use features for creating reports for every need, from advanced tabular report features to full range of charts to visualize numeric data. myDBR also integrates AT&T’s Graphviz graph visualization software for creating graphs and network diagrams, and Google Maps for creating map mashups.

myDBR’s unique approach to reporting allows users to build a true report network instead of single or loosely connected reports. When adding new reports to the myDBR’s report network, users are allowed to have full interactions between reports thus taking the most out of the report authoring effort and providing natural access to the data for the end user. With myDBR’s report network feature, user is able to create a network of reports which models the business process and environment.

With myDBR, up to date reports are available whenever needed without any additional installations, infrastructure or costs. myDBR reporting solution fully supports latest mobile devices in addition to all modern desktop web browsers. myDBR is optimized for Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone and Symbian based smart phones, enabling users location independent access to reports with their mobile devices.

Price and availability
The myDBR reporting solution version 1.0 is available as a free download starting today from myDBR website.

myDBR
System requirements
Download myDBR
Screenshots
Application Icon

Nocsos Ltd is a privately held company located in Espoo, Finland. Nocsos develops, licenses and supports myDBR, a reporting solution for MySQL for Microsoft SQL Server. MySQL is a registered trademark of MySQL AB. Microsoft SQL Server is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Android and Google Maps are registered trademarks of Google Inc. iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Symbian is a registered trademark of Symbian Foundation. Graphviz is a registered trademark of AT&T.

Denver, Colorado – In a tough economy the iPhone offers many ways to manage and save money, options which are far more cost effective than owning a PC. The average cost of an iPhone app ranges anywhere from $1.99 to $9.99. Compare this to the cost of a desktop application such as Quicken or Money. Quicken Deluxe retails on Amazon for $40.

Code Beyond a Denver based corporation, recently introduced an iPhone App – Dough – that takes the value equation to an even higher level. Dough allows the user to manage an unlimited number of accounts, reconcile checking accounts, do budgeting, and manage bills for only $6.99.

“Dough was the result of many months of work studying hundreds of emails of existing iPhone Apps and using a decade of experience with Quicken on the PC” says Vibi Varghese, CEO of Code Beyond.

“In the final result we tried to create something that was easy to use combined with the most commonly used features. We wanted the users to tell us what was missing. This way we would avoid the pitfall of traditional software companies who fill their products with so many features only to make it extremely hard to use”

Products like Dough have another advantage over Quicken on the PC. It goes everywhere with the owner. This makes it easy to enter transactions as they happen, which is something that keeps most people from staying on top of their finances.

Other noteworthy products on the iPhone include: Checkbook – basic electronic checkbook for $1.99, Money – personal asset tracking for $9.99, iExpenseIt – business expense tracking for $4.99 and Save Benji’s – tracking product prices for $0.99.

With the cost of the iPhone at only $199 including a two year contract, the phone with an app for everything is a great choice for consumers who want to skip computer purchases to save money in a tough economy. And with Dough combining three Apps (Checkbook, Budget and Bill Payment) in one, there are now even more ways to save money on the iPhone.

Dough 1.2
Download and Purchase

Code Beyond is a Denver based E-commerce business, founded 2001. Dough can be purchased in the Apple App Store Finance Section. Copyright 2001-2009 Code Beyond. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Berkeley, CA – MacEase Software is pleased to announce that it has added to TheMacBundles.com comments from numerous highly regarded members of the Mac community. MacEase Software and Kagi have worked together to present a new model for marketing software which provides users with the best software at the best prices and assures developers that they will receive an equitable share of the proceeds generated by the sale of their software.

By creating a very efficient business model that significantly reduces overhead and eliminates the middlemen, TheMacBundles.com is able to offer the best software at the best prices. This represents a true win-win situation both for consumers and for developers because the savings are passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices and almost all of the proceeds from the sales are distributed to the participating developers.

In these challenging economic times, it’s more important than ever that consumers get the best bang for their buck, and TheMacBundles.com provides this while also ensuring that developers receive the support that they need to maintain development of existing programs and invest in development of innovative new software.

Further, TheMacBundles.com offers only top notch software in its bundles from developers that also have demonstrated a commitment to top quality customer service and technical support.

TheMacBundles
MacEase

Steve Becker, the owner of MacEase, has been developing freeware and shareware for the Macintosh since 1997. The software from MacEase specializes in collecting, saving, organizing and printing information. The focus at MacEase is to develop software that extends the capabilities of the user’s computer, improves workflow and productivity, and enhances the user experience.

Traverse City, Michigan – MacUpdate has kicked off its Spring 2009 software bundle, the most ambitious bundle the company has launched to date. Featuring 11 first-rate Mac applications including two major commercial titles, Micromat’s TechTool Pro 5 and Parallels Desktop 4, the bundle delivers more than $500 worth of software for just $49.99.

Included in the bundle:

* TechTool Pro 5 ($98): Just released in January, TechTool Pro 5 is the newest version of Micromat’s acclaimed disk utility. TechTool Pro 5 will keep your Mac running in top shape! Check the health of your RAM and hard drives, repair problems, optimize performance, and be ready in case disaster ever strikes! Buyers will receive a link to download a bootable DVD image of the software to burn, which can be used to boot and fix all but the newest March 2009 Macs.

Notable Mentions: MacFormat Choice Award (5/5 rating), 4/5 rating from Macworld U.S., 4.5/5 rating from MacUser UK

* Parallels 4 ($79.99): Run Windows, Linux, and more alongside your Mac with ease. Parallels supports virtual machines with up to 8 cores, 8GB of RAM, and 3D acceleration for maximum performance. Parallels recently bested the competition in performance in most tests conducted by MacTech magazine.

Notable Mentions: 5/5 rating from MacUser UK, 4/5 rating from MacFormat, 4/5 rating from Macworld UK

* Circus Ponies Notebook 3 ($49.95): Organize your digital life. Take comprehensive notes with audio annotations, track your tasks, and collate you ideas, clippings, photos, and more with this versatile organizer.

Notable Mentions: 4.5/5 rating from Macworld, 4.5/5 rating from Macworld Australia, 4/5 rating from Mac|Life

* Intego NetBarrier X5 ($49.95): Robust firewall and intrusion detection. Make sure that online only what you want gets out of your Mac and that nothing you don’t want gets in.

Notable Mentions: 4/5 rating from Macworld

* DVDRemaster Pro 5 ($44.99): Backup your DVDs and put them on other Apple devices. The easiest and most powerful tool for duplicating DVDs, creating backups, and converting movies for use on other devices like iPod, iPhone, and AppleTV.

Notable Mentions: 4/5 rating from MacUser UK

* Multiplex ($35): Your Mac is your new DVD player. Browse and watch your entire DVD collection from your Mac with a gorgeous interface.

* RipIt ($18.99): Copy DVDs to your hard drive with one-click and create region-free, encryption-free backups. The perfect complement to DVDRemaster Pro and Multiplex!

Notable Mentions: 4/5 rating from Macworld

* MoneyWell ($49.99): Manage your personal finances. Direct connect banking, envelope budgeting, transaction and cash flow management all in a simple, single-window interface.

Notable Mentions: 4/5 rating from MacUser UK

* Paperless ($44.95): Digital document manager. Manage your receipts and document collections from a single app. Great for expense reports, taxes, and dozens of other uses!

* Posterino ($24.95): Put your photos to good use. Create attractive posters, stylish postcards, photo frames, greeting cards and more.

Notable Mentions: 5/5 rating from Macworld UK

* BetterZip ($24.95): Take Mac OS X’s built-in .zip compression tool to the next level. Extract only the files you want, create and encrypt archives, split large files, and more!

Notable Mentions: 4/5 rating from MacUser UK, one of John Gruber’s favorites (DaringFireball)

“It’s great to be delivering another stellar line-up of applications to Mac users,” said Nate Houle, coordinator of MacUpdate Promo. “Especially in this economy, we’re pleased to be able to offer such quality apps with broad appeal at such a low price.”

Pricing and Availability:
The MacUpdate Holiday Bundle is available for $49.99 exclusively from MacUpdate Promo through June 12.

Buy the Bundle
MacUpdate

MacUpdate was founded in 1997 and has since become the leading Mac software site on the Web. The site remains independently owned and operated and represents one of the largest Apple communities online. MacUpdate Promo was launched in 2006 and delivers 24-hour daily software deals and periodic bundles.

San Diego, California – TAS Games today announces Good vs Evil 1.1, their strategy and action game for iPhone and iPod Touch. The game pits Good against Evil in a unique battle filled with strategy and action. Good vs Evil is a mix of chess and real time battles. Attacking an enemy transports you to a death match in the dungeon where each character has specific attack attributes and weapons.

For example, the Warrior shoots swords and has a slow attack speed whereas the Warlock shoots a laser which causes maximum damage. The winner of the battle conquers the space on the board. Each battle places you in a unique dungeon with magic power ups. No two battles are ever the same. The game has an RPG aspect as well. Work to level up your characters to make them stronger for the ensuing fight.

Good vs Evil features an extensive single player game with two different modes and three different difficulty settings. Each of the six types of play has a global high scores leader board. Can you become the archon? Perhaps the greatest feature of the game is its 2 player mode. Play Good vs Evil against a friend anywhere on a single iPhone or iPod.

Feature Highlights:
* 1 player and 2 player on a single device
* 16 characters with unique weapons and abilities
* Unique mix of strategy and action
* Level up system for each character
* 6 different types of Magic to use in the battles
* Intuitive touch screen controls
* Realistic battle sound effects
* Play as both Good and Evil
* Two game modes
* Three difficulty levels
* Global high scores leader board

System Requirements:
* iPhone and iPod Touch 2.2.1 or later
* 7.8 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Good against Evil 1.1 for iPhone is only $0.99 (USD) and available exclusively through Apple’s App Store.

Good vs Evil 1.1
Game Screen 1
Game Screen 2
Download and Purchase
Trailer #1
App Icon

Located in San Diego, California, TAS Games was founded in 2008. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Litchfield Park, Arizona – Retina-X Studios, LLC, the creators of the first spy software for the iPhone, announced today the immediate availability of Mobile Spy version 3.0 for the Apple iPhone. Using this groundbreaking iPhone spy technology, users can now track GPS locations, SMS messages and calls of children or employees inside an SSL secured online control panel.

Mobile Spy runs in total stealth mode and no mentions of the program are shown inside the iPhone. The software runs in the background behind all other applications. After the software is setup on the phone, it silently records the entire text of all SMS text messages along with the associated phone number.

The software also records inbound and outbound call information with duration of the call. Version 3.0 adds GPS location recording every thirty minutes when a signal is available. Immediately after activities are logged, they are silently uploaded to the user’s secure online account. Accounts can be checked online from any web browser without needing further access to the phone.

“Mobile Spy is a priceless piece of software. After having some doubts about honesty, this really helped set the record straight and confirmed my suspicions.” says Derrick, a Mobile Spy user. Retina-X Studios CEO James Johns states “This new version adds the ability to learn the truth about actual locations. Tracking by GPS is very helpful for monitoring teens or employees to make sure they’re using their vehicles in an acceptable manner.”

This exclusive system helps businesses enforce their Acceptable Use and Vehicle Policies on company provided phones. The software can also monitor teen or family phones. It gives a parent the ability to remotely monitor their child’s texting activities by logging into a secure website from any web browser. Another common use is to backup a user’s own cell activity as a record of all important text conversations.

Mobile Spy runs on all iPhone models and smartphones running the Windows Mobile or Symbian OS operating system. This includes Windows Mobile 2003, 2003 SE, 5.0 and 6.0 and Symbian OS 8.x and 9.x which are available from most major mobile carriers. The iPhone version of Mobile Spy can be found online.

Mobile Spy 3.0
Purchase
Screenshot
Screenshot
Secure Control Panel

Retina-X Studios, LLC designs and develops tools that let users monitor their individual PC, network or smartphone. Mobile Spy has been mentioned by CNN, NBC, CBS News, BBC, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Reader’s Digest and other media outlets. Copyright 2009 Retina-X Studios, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Offenburg, Germany – With Birdie v1.6, Pleasant Software takes the next step and releases a major update for its golf scoring application for the iPhone and iPod touch. In response to the #1 feature request, Birdie v1.6 enables users to start rounds in training mode. In this mode, Birdie tracks additional data like putts, drive length, fairway hit and more.

New in Birdie v1.6:
* New “Training Round” mode for tracking statistical data like putts, fairway hit, drive length etc
* Measuring drive lengths with GPS on iPhone 3G
* Extended scorecards
* It’s now possible to send game results as CSV files by e-mail
* When searching for courses by name, Birdie now automatically tries to find nearby courses for the entered location
* Several more improvements and bug fixes

Birdie is an elaborate solution, not a bunch of features; Birdie delivers all the features golfers expect from a golf scoring application and the user-friendliness and fun experience, users expect from a native iPhone application.

Besides the ease of use and speed, Birdie provides many enhanced features like automated calculation of course handicaps and scorecard results. Birdie not only counts each player’s strokes during a game, it also automatically calculates the game’s results according to different rules including “Stroke Play”, “Stableford”, “Par Event” and “AGS”.

Features include:
* Count up to four players per flight
* Track strokes, putts, fairway hits, drive lengths and more
* Caclulation of each player’s course handicap
* Steadily growing database with thousands of golf courses around the world
* Send game results by e-mail as HTML scorecards or as CSV files

Perfect for both: iPhone and iPod touch; Birdie is perfectly suited for use on an iPhone or iPod Touch during a game of golf: One of the biggest problems with all available web-based golf score applications is that they are mostly unusable due to no or very unreliable Wi-Fi and cell connections on most golf courses. Birdie is perfectly usable offline, which makes it well suited for the iPhone in low or no reception areas as well as for the iPod Touch.

System requirements:
iPhone or iPod touch with OS 2.0 or newer

Pricing and Availability:
Birdie v1.6 costs $18.99 (USD) and is available on the iTunes App Store. Updates from previous versions of Birdie are free.

Pleasant Software
Birdie 1.6
Download and Purchase
Press Images

Pleasant Software develops simple, elegant and easy to use applications for the Macintosh since 1989 and the iPhone since 2008. Our products concentrate on perfectly solving a specific task by offering the user a highly elaborate set of tools bundled in a unique, feature rich yet not overloaded and incredibly easy to use software. Current products include Übercaster, ShowMacster, Birdie, TwittMS and PiP. For more information visit them online. All Material and Software (C) 2009 Pleasant Software, Offenburg/Germany. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, and iPod, are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.