NetNewsWire 2.0 for iPhone

post from Daring Fireball on 24 September 2009 03:10:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

I never had a good experience with syncing between my Mac and iPhone with the previous versions of NetNewsWire. The new versions, though, which now sync through Google Reader, are another story.

I’ve been beta testing the new 2.0 iPhone version of NetNewsWire, and the experience has been wonderful. Huge, huge “it just works” rating — which, for anything regarding the word syncing, is high praise. What IMAP is for email, NetNewsWire now is for feeds. I love this app.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://nnwbeta.com/2009/09/23/netnewswire_2_0_for_iphone_now_on_app_st.html

Digg this

Kavapoint introduces iEmergency ICE Family PRO
1.1 for iPhone

post from prMac on 24 September 2009 02:09:00 PM. © prMac

Kavapoint has released iEmergency ICE Family PRO 1.1, the most comprehensive "In Case of Emergency" app for iPhone and iPod touch. iEmergency ICE Family PRO is a full solution for emergency situations and can be used to hold your personal medical records. It will store your emergency contact information and relevant medical information for all users added in one single handy application.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-7690.htm

Digg this

Wacom Updates Bamboo Line With Multi-Touch

post from TheAppleBlog on 24 September 2009 02:00:00 PM. © TheAppleBlog

wacom_bamboo This news isn’t specific to Apple, but it definitely affects Apple users. As a longtime Mac user and amateur digital artist, I’ve also owned many a Wacom tablet over the years. Most recently, I graduated to a Cintiq 12WX, but the Graphire was my primary workhorse for many years. The Bamboo is the successor to that mantle.

Now, the Bamboo line is getting a much-needed update, and part of that update includes multi-touch gesture support. That’s right, the staunchly stylus-oriented Wacom is releasing touch-enabled devices, available today.

Gradually, Wacom has introduced customizable buttons, scrolls, rockers, and touch strips to make them easier to use without the aid of a keyboard and mouse. And they’ve made great strides. My 12WX has 10 customizable keys and two touch-sensitive scroll strips, all of which result in a much less clumsy drawing experience than I ever had using any of my Graphire tablets. Still, it can’t help but feel somewhat awkward and counter-intuitive.

The new multi-touch controls so closely resemble those already in use on Macs with trackpads that experienced Mac laptop users will likely feel right at home with them. Judging by the promo video, in fact, having a Bamboo with touch could actually completely eliminate the need of using a mouse at all, which represents a massive technical leap for the tablet maker.

Pinch to zoom and spread to expand, two-finger swipe left and right to scroll or move backwards and forwards, two-finger swipe up and down to scroll, and two-finger rotation are all included as usable gestures, and more besides.

The new Bamboo line now includes five distinct products, including one that doesn’t support touch at all, so if you’re thinking about getting one, think carefully about what you want out of the device. Since I already have a drawing tablet, I’m thinking about picking up the Bamboo Touch ($69), which doesn’t allow pen input at all and basically just brings multi-touch to your desktop. Could come in handy for browsing through large photo libraries, for example.

For the same price, you can get the Bamboo Pen, which doesn’t allow finger input at all. Maybe good for digital artists who only need the very basics, or for business people who only use it to digitally sign documents, but I don’t see this one being a hot seller.

The Bamboo ($99), Bamboo Fun ($199), and Bamboo Craft ($129) all offer both pen and multi-touch input. Price differences account for size, mostly, since every device includes the same ExpressKeys and pressure levels sensitivity. If you manage to get your hands on one of these, let us know how the multi-touch experience stacks up. Check out the following video for more info.

Read The Full Article:
http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/24/wacom-updates-bamboo-line-with-multi-touch/

Digg this

Zevrix Releases PDF Checkpoint 1.0 - PDF Workflow
Automation Solution

post from prMac on 24 September 2009 01:56:00 PM. © prMac

Zevrix Solutions today announces PDF Checkpoint 1.0, a new powerful PDF workflow automation solution. PDF Checkpoint quickly preflights, exports as images and splits multiple PDF files. The program is equally suitable to process hundreds of files as well as single PDF documents. Users can also route files according to preflight results, create preflight profiles for various job types, and view all PDF fonts, color spaces, images and metadata.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-7687.htm

Digg this

Court denies motion to include Snow Leopard in
Psystar suit

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 24 September 2009 01:55:00 PM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

US District Court Judge William Alsup has denied Apple's motion to include Snow Leopard in its case ...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=2d78bc131449f9c0ad325b2b6d7ac8d9

Digg this

Werck BV Announces Checkout 3

post from prMac on 24 September 2009 01:43:00 PM. © prMac

Werck BV today announced the immediate release of Checkout 3, the powerful, easy and affordable point of sale software for the Mac. Rebuilt from the ground up, Checkout's new product manager offers better search functions and allows for editing and deletion of multiple products at the same time. EnStore is a pay-as-you-go web store that integrates seamlessly with Checkout. Products can be managed in Checkout and then synced with EnStore.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-7686.htm

Digg this

Verizon backing away from Palm Pre

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 24 September 2009 01:25:00 PM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

Although claiming to be on the rise, Palm may have been dealt a serious blow through a rejection by ...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=f214291982df6839bb68ce1472cdc6fb

Digg this

Verizon's 4G rollout to occur "all-at-once"

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 24 September 2009 12:40:00 PM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

The planned launch of 4G data on Verizon's network in 2010 will see the company switch on service in...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=5b8439cbb8094c071fe1e8a3860739d3

Digg this

Razer outs higher-resolution DeathAdder optical
mouse

Gaming peripherals maker Razer has recently unveiled an updated version of its DeathAdder mouse with...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=b2300c2092d000a39b43c1e13072ea29

Digg this

TomTom iPhone GPS Kit Debuts in Apple Store

tomtom-carkit Those of you hoping to augment your TomTom GPS iPhone experience shouldn’t have to wait too much longer. As Engadget reports, the TomTom iPhone Car Kit page on Apple’s online store temporarily went live earlier today in the UK, with an asking price of £99.95 (around USD $162). It also later went live for the rest of mainland Europe. Briefly.

It was set to ship in about two or three weeks, according to Apple’s website. I say “was,” because it isn’t there anymore. At all. The device has been pulled from the product listings for the time being, and Apple isn’t saying why.

Many suspect that the real reason Apple has temporarily stopped taking pre-orders is because TomTom was offering the car mount and GPS signal booster bundled with its actual navigation app, the one that was released a while ago with its own nearly $100 price tag. The one which many people already purchased, not suspecting that TomTom would offer the software free with purchase of this new hardware. This was apparently generating complaints.

So alienating your number one target user base for a product at launch probably isn’t the best possible marketing strategy. How TomTom and Apple decide to get around this is going to be interesting to see. On the one hand, they could offer rebate vouchers towards the hardware to any customers who’ve already purchased the navigation app on its own. But that would probably result in them taking a huge bath on at least this round of mount sales.

On the other hand, they could simply remove the part in the blurb about the Car Kit including software, and not bundle anything with the device. It’s the solution that makes the most fiscal sense, but as I’m sure TomTom is painfully aware, the cat’s already out of the bag, so it’ll look like the company’s just backpedaling, with customers losing out in the end.

My advice to TomTom: Take the hit and offer the hardware with a discount for existing navigation app customers. Sure, it’ll probably result in a fair size loss until the market of people who already have your app are sated, but you’ll retain customer confidence and good will, and it won’t make you look incompetent and dishonest, which is what will happen if you try to say the bit about the app being included was just a typo.

Those interested in the hardware itself, regardless of selling conditions, will be interested to find that while the Car Kit dock is said to be compatible with all iPhone models, the navigation app only works with the 3G and the 3GS. Looks like the brave claims of iPod touch compatibility have yet to be substantiated. We’ll see if TomTom redacts that particular claim, too.