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

Madison, Wisconsin – Can the draw of an iPhone game inspire Swine Flu donations? VFSoftware LLC poses this question with the release of their first app, Beat the Swine ‘09, in which player progress yields increased donations to the CDC Foundation’s Swine Flu relief efforts. In the game, players known as “Swine-Busters” square off against H1N1 as an antibody/blood-cell superhero inside their own infected body. As a player’s reported score goes up, so does his/her contribution, starting at 10 cents and ranging to 100% of VFSoftware’s revenue from their $0.99 sale.

The game plays in a classic dodge-the-bad-guy style with a medically inspired Swine Flu theme. Players progress through body parts beginning with Symptoms, then the Digestive System (which H1N1 has been found to infect, unlike most flu variations), and finally the Respiratory System. The player is rewarded points after each completed level, increasing donations and linking progress in the game to increased aid in the fight against the real world pandemic.

VFSoftware’s Beat the Swine ‘09 is the first iPhone app to raise monetary donations for H1N1 relief. While the Swine Flu theme itself is not new – existing apps such as Swine Flu Tracker and the new HMSMobile Swine Flu Center provide current pandemic info and prevention tips – Beat the Swine ‘09 addresses it in a novel way. The app looks to leverage the iPhone’s gaming community to generate real quantifiable aid, an attempt not yet seen on the platform.

Beat the Swine ‘09 begins simply and quickly gains depth as the player gets accustomed to the patterns of viruses and nuances of avoiding them. The game has Easy and Hard modes, providing a broad range of difficulties to engage gamers of all types. Movement and ‘jump’ control use the iPhone’s capabilities in an innovative way, and original artwork helps create a compelling journey through the body.

It will be interesting to watch the reception of Beat the Swine ‘09 in the dynamic iPhone market. The game would most accurately fit into a new category of ‘Cause Apps’, which up until this point has been markedly absent from the iTunes App Store. With little precedent, it’s hard to tell whether or not users will be willing to pay for such an app. If Beat the Swine ‘09 has success, we may witness a wave of ‘Cause Apps’ to follow. If not, perhaps the iPhone app is not yet a viable avenue to rally donations.

Device Requirements:
* iPhone or Second Generation iPod Touch 3.0 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Beat the Swine ‘09 is only $0.99 (USD) and available exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.

Beat the Swine ‘09 1.0
Purchase and Download
Screenshot
Splash Screen

VFSoftware LLC was founded in May 2009 by long-time software developer Robert Fenchel, recent Michigan grad Michael Fenchel and sophomore at UC-Boulder Jeff Fenchel. Alex Connelly, a senior at University of Vermont, is an equal partner in Beat the Swine ‘09, responsible for all artwork. Jake Brower, a recent graduate of Cooper Union, created original music and sounds for the game. Copyright (C) 2009 VFSoftware LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Alameda, California – Karelia Software today released version 1.2.1 of the Karelia iMedia Browser, a free utility that adds the familiar “media browser” experience to just about any Mac application. The new 1.2.1 version provides full compatibility for Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” by fixing a number of issues that were a result of changes to the new operating system. Most notably, the update solves a problem with display of the “back of the window” where licensing information and display settings are found.

Version 1.2.1 also adds two new localizations: Brazilian Portuguese, contributed by Paulo Neto, and Russian, contributed by Alexandr Slavyshensky. Rounding out the update are enhancements to the display of icons to match the updated look of iTunes version 9, enhancements to the Aperture library parser, and several fixes that will increase stability.

A stand-alone utility, the Karelia iMedia Browser lets users quickly and easily browse and drag photos, music, movies, and bookmarks into most applications. The browser loads in the contents of one’s Pictures, Music, and Movies folders and the libraries of applications including iPhoto, Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, iTunes, GarageBand, and Safari.

In addition to being used in Sandvox, Karelia’s award-winning website development application, the iMedia framework is used by developers around the world in a number of third-party applications, including FotoMagico from Boinx Software, MarsEdit from Red Sweater Software, Posterino from Zykloid, HoudahGeo from Houdah Software, and Skitch from Plasq. (Developers who are interested in integrating iMedia into their applications are encouraged to visit the iMedia Google Code Page.)

Version 1.2.1 can be downloaded from Karelia’s website. It is a Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel architectures, and requires Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger”, 10.5 “Leopard,” or 10.6 “Snow Leopard.”

Karelia Software
iMedia Browser 1.2.1
Direct Download Link
iMedia Google Code Page
Screenshot
App Icon

Karelia Software is the California-based company that originally brought you Watson, the ground-breaking Macintosh Web utility, winner of the MacWorld “Eddy” and the Apple Design Award for “Most Innovative Application.” Karelia is headed by Dan Wood and Terrence Talbot. We joined forces to create Sandvox when we realized that even for the technically inclined, it was just too painful to get words and pictures on the Web.

London, United Kingdom – XChange UK, the source for extended technology worldwide are pleased to announce a new exclusive PitStop Pro 09 Competitive Upgrade from FlightCheck Pro or FlightCheck Designer. This competitive upgrade gives existing users of FlightCheck Professional or FlightCheck Designer the opportunity to upgrade to the power of PitStop Pro 09 and save £200! PDF has become the standard for delivering press-ready files and PitStop Professional, unlike native file checking software like FlightCheck Professional or FlightCheck Designer, allows users to make minor edits to a PDF job at any stage – even just before press time.

PitStop Pro 09 is an Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) plug-in indispensable for every graphic arts and publishing professional. Its interactive and automated editing capabilities allow everyone to perform advanced PDF editing and correction up until the very last moment. PitStop Pro offers the most comprehensive and intuitive preflight experience available. Its powerful Certified PDF(R) technology provides immediate visual feedback and allows tracking of every edit made to a PDF. Having proven to be a real job-saver, PitStop Pro offers immediate return on investment. PitStop Pro’s comprehensive interactive inspection and editing tools enable changes of virtually all of the attributes of a PDF available. Global Change speeds up the editing by offering universal modifications throughout an entire document and Action Lists automate repetitive tasks.

“We are both a design studio and pre-press facility. As a result we receive a large number of jobs submitted by outside clients. When the work was coming in (on disk) as Quark and InDesign files we found that FlightCheck was a very good way to examine the job and make sure that everything was presented as press ready. Over the last few years more and more jobs are being submitted either by email or to our FTP site as PDF files. Flightcheck can check these but PitStop, by virtue of running inside Acrobat offers a far more sophisticated way to prepare jobs for output. At the same time we developed a digital print service and large format printing which have their own prerequisites and PitStop can cater for all this. The main point that I find PitStop wins over Flightcheck (which can do a lot of this stuff) is that it allows you to make minor edits to a job at a very late stage. If a job arrives in full process colour but should have main text in a spot colour then PitStop is your weapon of choice. I have corrected text; moved objects; changed particular fonts and even added a missing object at very late stages in the workflow.” – Richard Gardner, Colourtone Print & Graphics, UK

Top new features for PitStop Pro 09 include:
* PitStop Pro 09 is faster than ever before and has a user interface optimised to help you be as efficient as possible. Toolbars, menu items and panels have been streamlined and work together more smoothly as before.

* With PitStop Pro 09, making document-wide changes is easier and faster than ever before. The redesigned, enhanced global change engine offers many additional benefits: effortlessly save different versions of global changes with predefined settings and keep shortcuts to your favourite global changes at the top of the global change panel. The range of global changes that can be implemented throughout the document has also been dramatically extended.

* PitStop Pro 09 includes powerful design layout tools that can quickly visualise existing page boxes and safety zones. Design layouts including proper page boxes and printer marks can instantly be applied as well.

* PitStop Pro 09 consolidates tools to focus more on how you use them in your daily work, and additionally it offers support for workspaces. Each workspace lets you configure exactly those tools and panels you want to see.

The competitive upgrade is available now through XChange UK. To order, or for more information, users can visit the website, or call on 44(0)845 259 0255 during UK business hours.

XChange International
PitStop Pro 09 Competitive Upgrade

XChange are a leading supplier of desktop graphic and publishing applications, QuarkXTension(R) technology; Adobe InDesign(R), Acrobat(R) and Photoshop(R) Plug-ins(R) and other design and publishing utilities. XChange offer extended technology products from across the world specific to the graphic design, print and publishing industries and make them available to an extensive user base via their printed catalogue or online at their web site. The company are headquartered in Central London and also offer specialist training on many of the solutions they sell.

Kiev, Ukraine – Orb Games today released Kamikaze Race 1.0, an exciting racing/action game for iPhone and iPod touch. The game puts players into a seat of an extremely fast car, amidst the busy road, with jammed accelerator pedal and brakes that refuse to work. Players have to survive as long as possible, challenged to earn achievements and to compete against other players in online leaderboards.

Designed and developed by Orb Games, Kamikaze Race for iPhone/iPod touch is a simple, yet very addicting game that can be controlled with just one finger. Kamikaze Race is a sequel to the original flash game of the same name that was released by Orb Games in January 2009, instantly becoming a huge Internet hit, played over 50 million times so far. With brand-new supercharged graphics, three unique cars to unlock and nine achievements to earn, Kamikaze Race for iPhone/iPod touch will offer even more fun and dozens of hours of replay value.

The goal of the game is to stay alive for as long as possible, driving the car at insane speed and setting the new records to dominate in the worldwide top player’s list. In addition, the integration with Facebook allows players to share their results and achievements on the wall to make friends envious and to challenge them.

Game Features:
* Proven simple and fun gameplay
* 3 most insanely fast cars to drive and wreck
* Local and global high scores tables
* Achievements to earn for outstanding performances and driving in style
* Facebook integration to post results and achievements on the wall

Device Requirements:
* iPhone or iPod touch 2.2.1 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Kamikaze Race 1.0 is only $0.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.

Kamikaze Race 1.0
Purchase and Download
Gameplay Video
Screenshot
Splash Image

Orb Games is an independent game developer and publisher based in Kiev, Ukraine. The company is focused on creation and publication of online and social games, as well as games for mobile platforms. Orb Games operates an online game portal – TastyPlay. Past hit games developed by Orb Games include the Hero on the Hudson, Homeboy Heroes (AKA Favela Heroes), Dress Code series. More games can be found at TastyPlay website. Copyright (C) 2009 Orb Games. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Kilmarnock, UK – Malkinware today is delighted to announce Reference Tracker 1.5, an update to their popular academic reference manager and research tool for Mac OS X. Reference Tracker is an indispensable tool for writers, researchers or students. It creates documents that store all the citations and references in an essay, research project, or book and automatically creates formatted reference lists in a variety of popular reference styles to insert when needed.

Among Reference Tracker’s unique features is there is no need to type out all the details of a referenced book. Just give Reference Tracker the book’s ISBN and it will fetch all the details from the internet automatically. If the user doesn’t have the book in hand, typing keywords into its built-in publication search will get a list of matching results. With a single click, search results will be added to their reference list.

When referencing an online web resource, the application can pull all of the details from Safari or Firefox with just one click. And Reference Tracker can pull all the details from Apple’s Mail as well. Reference Tracker offers built-in sticky notes too. Users may easily add as many comments or notes to as many references as they wish.

Reference Tracker can send a formatted reference list directly to the end of word processing documents. The dynamic ‘Send To’ menu will show a list of open documents in Microsoft Word, Apple Pages and Nisus Writer Pro. Users can easily append their formatted list to the end of an open document, or create a new document with the contents of the list.

Feature highlights include:
* Create Full References in a single step
* Reference Web Pages and Emails with a single click
* Easily import existing Reference Lists from word processors or reference managers
* Integration with Microsoft Word, Nisus Writer Pro and Apple’s Pages
* Easily Organize References
* Export formatted lists to anywhere
* Add Sticky Notes to References

Version 1.5 sports many new improvements including:
* Added support for the APA 6th Edition reference style
* Added support for the MLA 7th Edition reference style
* Bug fixes and general improvements

Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X Version 10.4 Tiger, 10.5 Leopard or 10.6 Snow Leopard
* Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel
* 7.5 MB Hard Drive space
* Internet Connection required for ISBN and Publication search

Malkinware is constantly enhancing Reference Tracker, and encourages customers to contact support if they have a reference style or word processor they would like to be included. For a full feature list, please visit see their Website.

Pricing and Availability:
Reference Tracker 1.5 is available for only $44.95 (USD). Version 1.5 is a free and recommended update for all existing 1.x customers. A fully-functional, 21-day trial version is available. Student and Educational discounts are offered for $29.95 (USD).

Malkinware
Reference Tracker 1.5
Download Reference Tracker
Purchase Reference Tracker
Screenshots
App Icon

Headquartered in Kilmarnock, United Kingdom, Malkinware is a privately funded company founded in 2007 by Jim McGowan. Leveraging his longtime experience from the education field, Jim’s goal is developing best-of-breed reference tools for the Mac platform, complemented by first-class support. Reference Tracker is their flagship application, with more applications in development for release in the near future. Copyright 2007-2009 Malkinware. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Apple Pages and Mail are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft Word is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc.

New Rochelle, New York. MulitEducator today announced the release of Electrical Pro 1.0, their new information calculation tool for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Building on the success of Electrical Formulator, the program adds 35 essential charts to the 100 electrical formulas in the standard Electrical Formulator. The application has been designed from the ground up to leverage the iPhone’s unique abilities and interface. Electrical Pro will slowly grow to include more and more electrical charts. Electrical Pro also includes excerpts from the National Electric Code.

Perfect for any electrician or electrical engineer, Electrical Pro combines charts that cover important specifications, as well as, safety requirements with over 100 formulas that can calculate everything from voltage drop to transformer sizing.

The charts in the program include:

MOTORS
* Locked Motor Indicating Letters
* Standard Horsepower Ratings
* Synchronous Speed RPM
* Wire Specs

POWER DEMAND
* Clothes Dryer Demand
* Electric Range Demand
* Other Kitchen Demand
* Lighting Loads
* Multi-Family Demands
* Efficiency Ratings

WIRING
* Color Wiring Codes
* Current Carrying Capacity of Aluminum Wire Single Conductor
* Current Carrying Capacity of Aluminum Wire Three Conductor
* Current Carrying Capacity of Copper Wire Single Conductor
* Current Carrying Capacity of Copper Wire Three Conductor
* Conductor Application and Insulation
* Current Adjustment for More then Three Wires in Cable
* Electrical Conductors- Physical and Electrical Properties- Solid Wires
* Electrical Conductors- Physical and Electrical Properties- Stranded Wires
* Flexible Cords and Cables Current Capacities
* Insulation Temperatures
* Maximum Number of Conductors and Fixture Wires in Flexible
* Maximum Number of Conductors and Fixture Wires In Electrical Metal Tubing
* Maximum Number of Conductors and Fixture Wires In Flexible Electrical Metal Tubing
* Number of Conductors in Outlet Device and Junction Boxes
* Volume Required Per Conductor
* AWG Wire Sizing

VOLTAGE DROP
* Wire Size vs. Voltage Drop

SAFETY CODES
* Branch Circuit
* Minimum Cable Covering
* Minimum Size Equipment Grounding Conductors for Grounding Raceway and Equipment

Formulas Include:

BATTERIES
* Starting motor amperage
* Number of cells required
* Operating time

BTU CONVERSIONS
* COSTS
* Cost of operating lights and appliances
* Cost of using appliances
* Hours of usage of new bulb
* Insulation years to payback
* KILOWATTS AND JOULES CONVERSIONS

GENERATOR
* Direct Current Generator
* Generator amperage output
* Generator efficiency

IMPEDANCE
* When resistance and reactance are known
* When resistance inductive reactance are known.
* Kva to Kw
* Parallel Circuits
* Total resistance
* Capacitance
* Reactance (X)
* Inductive Reactance
* Capacitance Reactance
* Bandwidth

MOTORS
* Locked rotor current
* Single-phase motors
* Three phase motors
* Motor KVA calculations
* When Fla is known
* When motor KVA per horsepower is known
* Motor KVA when above not known
* Speed of motor

OHM’S LAW
* Calculate for power
* Power
* Calculate for Resistance
* Calculate for voltage

TRANSFORMERS
* Primary amperes
* Secondary amperes
* Transformers sizes full load cur
* Single phase 208 V
* Single phase 240 v
* Single phase 480 v
* Three phase 208 v
* Three phase 240 v
* Three phase 480 v
* Rated full load
* Impedance of secondary
* Amperage capacity from secondary

VOLTAGE DROP
* Voltage drop calculations feet
* 1 phase copper
* 1 phase aluminum
* 3-phase copper
* 3 phase Aluminum
* Voltage drop calculations meters
* 1 phase copper meters
* 1 phase aluminum meter
* 3 phase copper meters
* 3 phase aluminum meters

WIRING
* Wire size
* Wire length copper
* Wire resistance
* Wire length aluminum
* Amp to be calculated
* Conduit size

There are also nearly 100 general conversion formulas that are a part of the program. Electrical l Formulator v.1.0: also allows for all formulas to be saved and/or e-mailed.

Supported Languages:
* US English

Device Requirements:
* iPhone or iPod Touch 2.1 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Electrical Formulator 1.0 for iPhone is $6.99 (USD) and available exclusively through Apple’s App Store. The 100 formulas and 30 charts and excerpts from the National Electric Code are just the start of what MultiEducator expects will grow to include the complete National Electrical in coming releases (Available in Free Updates to owners of previous versions of the Electrical Formulator Pro program).

MultiEducator
Electrical Pro 1.0
Download and Purchase
Screenshot – Charts
Screenshot – Main Menu
Screenshot – Calculation

Located in New Rochelle, New York, MultiEducator is a privately funded company, was Founded in 1994 by Amy Erani and Marc Schulman. MultiEducator’s goal is to enable students to learn history in a completely new way. Throughout MultiEducator’s years in business, the company has continuously expanded its services and product line. In the summer of 2008 the company sold its HistoryShopping site to concentrate on the content part of the business. It then initiated its newest division developing software for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. In October 2008, MultiEducator released its first application, for the Apple iPhone, entitled: the "Formulator". As one of the earliest producers of multimedia software, MultiEducator has been providing schools and the general public with rich, compelling history software for almost two decades. Copyright 2008-2009 MultiEducator. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Waterloo, ON and Boston, MA – SuperMegaUltraGroovy and toastycode today announced the immediate availability of TapeDeck 1.3, an update to their popular audio recorder for Mac OS X. In this release, TapeDeck adds the ability to record full-quality audio using lossless compression, answering the requests of many professional and hobbyist users.

“In TapeDeck 1.3, you can now record the highest quality audio without breaking the storage bank,” said Chris Liscio, the founder of SuperMegaUltraGroovy. TapeDeck now records using the Apple Lossless Audio Codec in High Quality mode, so recordings from TapeDeck will preserve their full fidelity when dragged into Garage Band, Logic Pro, or any professional audio application that supports ALAC audio. However, the size of the stored audio will still be compressed, so the disk footprint is kept to a minimum.

“TapeDeck lends a familiar interface to the otherwise intimidating process of recording audio,” said Dan Sandler, the founder of toastycode. “With TapeDeck 1.3, we maintain that familiarity to the user, yet the underlying recording quality has improved by leaps and bounds.” Users still have the familiar High-, Medium-, and Low-Quality recording options that they’ve grown used to in earlier TapeDeck releases. “We just turned the High Quality knob up to eleven under the hood.”

Pricing and Availability:
A free trial of TapeDeck 1.3 is available for download from the product site. TapeDeck 1.3 is a free update for all licensed users of TapeDeck. For new users, TapeDeck costs $25 (USD), and the free trial limits all recordings to 5 minutes, captured in low quality.

About toastycode:
Daniel Sandler started releasing software under the toastycode label on the fourth of July, 2006 with the debut of Pyrothèque, his love letter to a misspent youth in a computer lab full of Mac Pluses, ImageWriters, and pixellated fireworks.

TapeDeck 1.3
Screenshot

Chris Liscio founded SuperMegaUltraGroovy in 1999, writing BeOS audio software during his undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo. SuperMegaUltraGroovy also develops Capo, and FuzzMeasure, the 2006 Apple Design Award runner-up in the Scientific Computing Solution category.

Foster City, California – Independent software developer Eknath Kadam today is proud to introduce Grammar Express: Tenses 1.0, his new grammar and course testing application for iPhone and iPod Touch. Designed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique capabilities, Grammar Express: Tenses is a complete course in mastering English grammatical tenses.

Perfect young and older adults alike, Grammar Express provides on-the-go students of all genre with an opportunity to improve strategies for grammar success. It features over a 100 pages of lessons explaining each grammar tense with clear easy-to-follow examples (Over a 1000 in all), allowing them to learn proper grammar rules and then test their understanding by taking any of the quizzes. Users can prepare by topic, and all questions are sorted by topic as well detailing what each topic will cover. The application also sports a beautiful bar chart so that users can track weak areas and give more focus on them.

Feature Highlights:
* Over 100 pages of grammar lessons and rules with over 1000 examples
* Over 1000 multiple-choice questions with explanation
* Choose number of questions you would like in each test
* Shows test results in HTML format
* E-mail the test results and track progress
* Handy “Progress Meter” module keeps track of performance in a particular topic or mock test
* Choose own timer settings
* Shake the iPhone/iPod to skip a question
* Cool sound effects (Can turn be off if desired)
* Choose a zoom factor for question graphics
* Special algorithm that randomizes questions every time a test is taken

Research suggests that kids and adults learn most quickly when playing learning games with real-time error-feedback. Grammar Express includes a custom timer setting to assist in improving response times under exam constraints. This is particularly useful for students who find it necessary to gauge how well they will do prior to taking important school exams. At the end of each quiz, the user is presented with test summary and explanation for each test question, showing the time it took, the score, which questions were answered correctly and which questions were wrong. Mixed test questions are presented randomly from all topics, and users can easily email results to friends, or their tutors.

Methods:
* Future continuous tense
* Future forms of To Be
* Future forms of To Do
* Future forms of To Have
* Future perfect continuous tense
* Future perfect tense
* Future tense
* Past continuous tense
* Past forms of To Be
* Past forms of To Do
* Past forms of To Have
* Past perfect continuous tense
* Past perfect tense
* Past tense
* Present continuous tense
* Present forms of To Be
* Present forms of To Do
* Present forms of To Have
* Present perfect continuous tense
* Present perfect tense
* Present tense

“I felt the iPhone and iPod touch could both prove to be great devices for a higher educational purpose,” said independent software developer Eknath Kadam. Careful analysis proved that teenagers do download a lot of educational apps, and this is essentially how Grammar Express was born. The content is authored by Ashok Rajeshirke, who has been teaching English for last 30 years. The app comprises very innovative way of learning rules with descriptions and a lot of examples and then practicing with hundreds of test questions. I am sure this will prove to be a great tool for mastering English grammatical tenses. Many more apps are to follow which will cover other topics in English grammar.”

Device Requirements:
* iPhone or iPod Touch 2.1 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Grammar Express: Tenses 1.0 is only $4.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Education category. Review copies are available upon request.

Grammar Express: Tenses 1.0
Purchase and Download
Screenshot
Application Icon

Located in Foster City, California, Eknath Kadam is an independent software developer whose focus is concentrating on educational solutions for the iPhone platform. The company was founded in 2008. Copyright (C) 2008-2009 Eknath Kadam. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Chicago, Illinois – Yazsoft today announced Playback 1.2, a major update to their zero configuration media server for Mac OS X. With a focus on ease-of-use, Playback allows anyone to share their media with any Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or other supported UPnP compatible device. Playback can also share media stored in folders or even make entire disks available to a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. No configuration required.

Playback is engineered for extreme performance, while at the same time delivering a streamlined design with unparalleled reliability and stability. By default, it will share almost any content on the users system. And Playback automatically integrates with iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, Adobe Lightroom 2, and Photobooth too, making it a perfect complement to Apple’s iLife Suite. Users can share all content from these applications transparently or choose specific playlists and albums.

Those who like to tinker will appreciate Playback’s built-in Access Control List (ACL) and bandwidth throttling. The ACL allows users to control which devices have access to their media. Bandwidth throttling limits the transfer rate from the computer to their UPnP device. This allows others on the network to do other internet related activities, such as surf the web and check their email.

Playback was engineered for extreme speed, while offering complete control of shared content. Media is served via lighttpd, the same rock-solid technology that powers YouTube, Wikipedia, and many other popular sites. Playback sports many creature comforts as well, including Growl notifications, Spotlight based searching, on-screen thumbnails (powered by QuickLook), and much more. Playback even includes a handy Status menu which conveniently displays live stream info, at-a-glance.

Feature Highlights:
* Streamlined design
* Unparalleled performance and stability
* Share movies, music, and pictures
* Transparent integration with iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, Photobooth, and Adobe Lightroom 2
* Complete control of shared content
* Spotlight based searching
* Quicklook thumbnails for all media
* Bandwidth throttling
* ACL access
* Growl notifications
* Status menu with live stream info
* And much more

What’s changed in 1.2:
* New: Official support for the following UPnP devices: Popcorn Hour A-110, D-Link MediaLounge, Pinnacle Showcenter
* New: Sort shared media by Name or Date Modified. This feature will only work with devices that respect list ordering

* New: Enhanced support for streaming files over 4GB in size
* New: Improved Quicklook preview performance and resolution
* New: Added totally new toolbar icons
* New: Added German translation
* Misc: Updated French translation
* Misc: Support for more third-party devices is coming soon
* Misc: Updated built-in Help manual

System Requirements:
* Requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later
* 47 MB Hard Drive Space
* Any Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or other supported UPnP compatible device
* Network connection (Gigabit recommended for HD)

Pricing and Availability:
Playback 1.2 is offered at the low price of $15.00 (USD) for three (3) licenses, and can be purchased from the Yazsoft website. A free 7 day demo is also available for download.

Playback 1.2
Download Playback
Purchase Playback
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Application Icon

Yazsoft was founded in 2001 to develop software expressly for the Mac platform. With an emphasis on total customer satisfaction, Yazsoft makes up a development team of 5 professionals, each responsible for coding, marketing, and total customer support. Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Yazsoft. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Spotlight and QuickLook are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Portland, OR – TimeStream Software, a Portland, Oregon iPhone and iPod Notescast developer, has turned the iPod Classic, iPod nano and iPod Video into eReaders with its popular Notescast titles. Installing to the “Notes” feature found on nearly every iPod in use world-wide today, Notescasts are interactive books on the iPod, each containing up to hundreds of pages of digital copy linked to related photos and additional text. While new, users can already download such Notescast titles as:

* “Walt Disney World Guide” Notescast – A complete guide to Walt Disney World Resort – 230 Pages with photos.

* “Walt Disney World Secrets” Notescast – A revealing tour of the little known secrets throughout Walt Disney World(R) Resort.

* “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” Notescast – This classic American tale now on the iPod Classic, iPod Video and iPod nano.

* “Top 10 Yosemite Hikes” Notescast – A guide to the Top 10 hikes of Yosemite National Park – Complete with photos.

* “Pride and Prejudice” Notescast – One of the most popular novels of all time…now on the iPod. – 240 Pages.

In addition, with the iPod’s installed base of over 100 million users across all demographics worldwide, major brands, including Hilton Hotels, Sheraton, DoubleTree and others are now looking to TimeStream Software to develop custom Notescasts as powerful new mobile marketing tools, a idea the Mobile Marketing Association calls “A groundbreaking concept.”

“We’re excited to introduce an all new use for the iPod.” said Mike Westby of TimeStream Software. “The fact that nearly every iPod in use worldwide today is already configured to install Notescasts is obviously a big plus for distribution of our product and new mobile marketing tool.”

A growing list of Notescast titles are available for free and for sale at the Notescast web site.

TimeStream Software
Notescasts
Walt Disney World Notescast
Walt Disney World Secrets Notescast
Tom Sawyer Notescast
Screenshots

TimeStream Software, an iPhone and iPod developer in Portland, Oregon, is an industry leader in the development of custom mobile marketing Notescasts for the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as the iPod Classic, iPod Video and iPod nano. Working with major global brands, such as Hilton Hotels, DoubleTree, Westin, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and others, its innovative custom Notescast titles allow accounts to drive revenue from an all new customer base of over 50 million iPhone and iPod touch users, as well as over 100 million iPod Classic and iPod nano users. The foremost developer of Notescasts, TimeStream Software is the first company to develop a mobile marketing solution for the globally distributed iPod Classic, iPod Video and iPod nano, thus opening an entirely new marketing distribution vehicle which the Mobile Marketing Association calls “A groundbreaking concept.” And to complement the iPod legacy devices, TimeStream Software also brings its development skills and marketing expertise to the iPhone and iPod touch. Learn more about mobile marketing with Notescasts at TimeStream Software’s web site.

Hanover Park, Illinois – RemObjects Software, LLC today is proud to introduce Data Abstract for OS X, their new framework for Mac and iPhone developers. Data Abstract is a comprehensive framework that takes the burden out of data access and allows developers to concentrate on the core part of their application – data presentation and business logic, without having to worry about the intricate details of dealing with the underlying database.

Data Abstract for OS X is a 100% native Objective-C library and supports development for both Mac OS X desktop apps (Leopard and Snow Leopard) as well as iPhone/iPod touch. It was designed from the ground up to fit in nicely with the tools that Mac and iPhone developers already use, such as Xcode, Cocoa and Objective-C.

Available in three separate editions for .NET, Delphi and OS X, Data Abstract allows the creation of database applications on any of these individual development platforms, or to create platform-spanning solutions that run on a variety of client computers and devices. Data Abstract will communicate seamlessly with servers written using the other editions for .NET/Mono or Delphi, allowing developers to extend their existing project/solution with new clients for these new platforms.

Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X Version 10.5 Leopard or later (Snow Leopard compatible)
* Xcode 3.1 or later
* Supports iPhone SDK 3.0 and later
* 30 MB Hard Drive space

Fitting in with general Cocoa development paradigms, Data Abstract for OS X is fully designed for asynchronous (and optionally synchronous) data access, making it easy to write applications that keep a responsive user interface while data access and communication with the middle-tier server is under way. Data Abstract for OS X is wire compatible with its sister products as well, making it easy for developers to write applications for other platforms (such as Windows clients or Linux based servers), and have all platforms communicate seamlessly.

The availability of third party tools and components has gone a long way towards propagating software development on other platforms. RemObjects software is the first major component vendor to step into the Mac OS X and iPhone development tools market. And with Mac and iPhone gaining market and mind share, RemObjects software believes a vibrant third-party ecosystem will help drive application development for these platforms.

Pricing and Availability:
Data Abstract for OS X is available now, and pricing starts at $899 (USD) for new users. Attractively priced bundles including other platforms are available as well. Data Abstract for OS X includes RemObjects SDK for OS X.

RemObjects Software
Data Abstract for OS X
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Located in Hanover Park, Illinois, RemObjects Software, LLC is a privately held company co-founded in 2002 by marc hoffman. RemObjects Software focuses on providing market-leading solutions that form the foundation of their customer’s software projects, and help developers define the very architecture of their application. Their libraries are the infrastructure that successful software projects are built upon. RemObjects Software has been one of the major component vendors for Delphi and a leading vendor in the Microsoft .NET development arena for over five years, and are now expanding the reach of their award winning development solutions to Mac OS X and iPhone developers using Cocoa and Objective-C. Copyright 2002-2009 RemObjects Software, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple and the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

S. Hackensack, NJ – The SmartCase(TM), is a new iPhone 3G/3GS accessory by IvySkin that brings a premium power and protection experience to iPhone’s owners. It offers ivyskin’s newest Glass Touch-Thru case called Quattro-T4 bundled with the new Quattro battery. Although there are a few companies that offer an extended battery for the iPhone, none offers one as part of a case that is also fully removable.

With the introduction of the world’s first Xylo touch-thru case for iPhone, and recently a breakthrough Glass Quattro Touch-Thru cases; It’s time to introduce the world’s first SmartCase(TM). iPhone 3G / 3GS no longer have to sacrifice performance in one area to achieve it in another. With the new SmartCase(TM), iPhone enthusiasts at every level can enjoy a premium protection with an added 200% of battery life to their iPhone.

SmartCase(TM) Features:
* Integrated Touch-Thru Glass Screen

* Battery brain is included at no charge: The SmartCase(TM) sends a signal to the iPhone to drain smartcase’s power first before using the its battery. This advanced power distribution system, enables the iPhone to receive an additional 200% battery life

* 5 LED-light battery status indicator

* The SmartCase(TM) can be charged without removing the case, it includes a USB cable and a built-in power charger

* Polycarbonate hard shell case with Polysilicon coating provides a protection that is second to none in the market today

Get results:
* Standby Time – Up to 350 hours
* Talk Time – Up to 6 hours on 3G | Up to 12 hours on 2G
* Internet Use – Up to 6 hours on 3G | Up to 7 hours on Wi-Fi
* Audio Playback – Up to 28 hours
* Video Playback – Up to 8 hours

IvySkin
SmartCase
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IvySkin(R), is a leading provider of innovative Touch-Thru(TM) accessories and manufacturer of the famous Xylo(TM), Quattro(TM) as well as the world’s first SmartCase(TM) . We have one clear mission in this saturated market, and that is to be different; different in bringing together cutting edge, fresh designs into the Apple’s world. We are proud to be an American company that designs, manufactures and delivers useful and fun solutions for digital entertainment and personal computing to people in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. IvySkin products can be purchased at their website and through a worldwide range of retailers both online and in-store.

Omaha, NE – Macware, a leading Mac software publisher, announced today version 3.5.1 of DiskTools Pro is now available as a free update to users of its popular Mac utility suite software. The new version supports Mac OS X 10.3.9 and later, including Apple’s new Snow Leopard. Current users can update DiskTools Pro by selecting “Check for Updates Now…” in the Update menu.

DiskTools Pro is a total system utility for the Mac, and the only one that allows you to schedule when to perform important tasks such as file defragmentation, backup and bad sector repair in a single, easy-to-use interface. This intuitive software utility also doesn’t require you to boot from a DVD, CD or separate volume in order to find and repair bad sectors, defragment files and perform many other tasks on the startup volume.

The new DiskTools Pro update features:

* Snow Leopard support
* New animated, multi-view task selection interface
* Ability to schedule important folder backups
* Monitor and alert when available hard disk space becomes low
* New CPU monitoring meter to show you how much of your system resources are being used
* Ability to export repair and maintenance logs and Volume/Device information to RTF compatible text files
* New application preferences which include an emphasis on MacBook battery usage protection
* Significantly reduced memory and CPU usage on many built-in tasks
* An updated Users Guide
* Many other minor improvements throughout

Pricing and Availability:
DiskTools Pro 3.5.1 is now available in Apple retail stores, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Fry’s Electronics, Micro Center and other Mac software retailers, or online for an MSRP of $79.99 (USD). More information is available on the Macware website.

Macware
DiskTools Pro 3.5.1
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Macware develops and publishes award winning intuitive software designed for Mac users. Headquartered in Omaha, the company is committed to the interests of creative Mac users with products available through major retailers in North America, Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and Japan, as well as on the Internet. For additional information please visit Macware online.