CatDV 8.0 released

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 25 July 2009 07:10:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Square Box Systems has released v8.0 of its CatDV. The application is used to log video files and ma...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=940a4626c3c65e311566e30f696014cd

Digg this

Future Media Concepts Celebrates 15th Anniversary

post from prMac on 25 July 2009 05:42:00 PM. © prMac

Future Media Concepts has announced the 15th anniversary of the company and its state-of-the-art training facilities. Launched in 1994, FMC commemorates a decade and a half of digital media training and education excellence. Today, FMC's array of training courses include Adobe, Apple, Avid, Autodesk, BorisFX, Digidesign, NewTek, and Softimage: with certification options for Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and Avid.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-6679.htm

Digg this

Suspicious Package

post from Daring Fireball on 25 July 2009 04:18:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Speaking of excellent free plugins, Mothers Ruin Software has released Suspicious Package, a Quick Look plugin that lets you examine the contents of Mac OS X installer packages.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://www.mothersruin.com/software/SuspiciousPackage/

Digg this

Developer Color Picker

post from Daring Fireball on 25 July 2009 04:03:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Great free utility by Panic’s Wade Cosgrove: a Mac OS X system-wide color picker panel that lets you copy color values in NSColor, UIColor, CGColorRef, CSS, and HTML styles.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://www.panic.com/~wade/picker/

Digg this

Chinese Case Makers Jump the Gun

post from TheAppleBlog on 25 July 2009 04:00:00 PM. © TheAppleBlog

It just wouldn’t be a normal news week without the rumor-mill churning out more “proof” of unannounced products. For a change, this rumor is not about the fabled tablet device, but instead, it’s the turn of the next-generation iPods touch and Nano. Specifically, their happy-snappy new camera functionality.

new_ipods

According to a report on Cult of Mac, the features and dimensions of the next versions of the iPod touch and iPod Nano, while officially a secret in America, are China’s worst kept secret. Apparently, manufacturers in China have started producing cases for the devices, and CoM offers up dozens of photos of them in all their silicon glory.

If they’re genuine, there are no big surprises, save for the fact that the iPod touch camera is located in the top center of the device, not in one corner, as one would find in its iPhone cousin. Also noted, the Nano’s screen will get wider, making its click wheel smaller.

No word on camera resolution, or whether the Nano will be able to record video, though the assumption is made that the iPod touch will.

The revised iPod models are due in September, when Apple usually refreshes that product line.

Read The Full Article:
http://theappleblog.com/2009/07/25/chinese-case-makers-jump-the-gun/

Digg this

Does Apple Have a “91 Percent” Share
of the High-End

post from TheAppleBlog on 25 July 2009 01:00:00 PM. © TheAppleBlog

A lot of stories like this one are circulating about how NPD is saying Apple has a 91 percent market share of all PCs sold over $1,000. They give that impression by claiming something like “a 91 percent share”, or “91 percent of the market”.

Truth be told, if NPD really stated this as market share, I’d say they were wrong. It’s hard to believe 9.1 out of 10 PCs over $1K are Apple’s. Come on, people, there are many non-Mac users who spend money, too. Whether for quality, style, or higher-end components, not everyone who gets a PC is a Laptop Hunter. I’ve never bought a Windows machine for under $1K in my life, and I’ve had many.

It doesn’t take much to refute the market share angle. I don’t agree with the article using just Best Buy as a point of comparison, but it’s still not hard to believe there’s no such ratio of Macs to PCs at the high-end.

But if not market share, what is NPD talking about? Let’s look at this as reported by Joe Wilcox (with a headline as misleading as the others):

According to NPD, in June, nine out of 10 dollars spent on computers costing $1,000 or more went to Apple.

Nine out of 10 dollars went to Apple? That’s a different beast than market share. It’s revenue share, and a lot more believable.

Consider the example where two people go to a Best Buy. One buys a PC for $1,045, the other a Mac for $1,455. At this point the Mac and PC market share is equal (one each, 50 percent). But now let’s look at the “dollars spent on computers costing $1,000 or more”, which total $500. PC got $45 (9 percent), while Mac got $455 (91 percent).

Is it believable that Macs, with an Average Selling Price of $1,400 in June, could hold that kind of ratio against PCs with an ASP of $515 the same month? I believe so.

Honestly, though, this is one of those statistics that sounds cool, but doesn’t really tell us much. By picking an arbitrary cutoff ($1K) it’s statistical juggling. What if the Mac cost $1,200 to make, and the PC $800? Apple would have that flashy 91 percent number, but only net 10 more bucks than the PC from the deal.

Which brings me to what matters. Ultimately, it’s about profits. Units sold, share of this category or that, supposed web usage figures by tracking browsers, etc., all make for interesting headlines. But where is the money? Microsoft and PC vendors have made plenty in the past despite their lower ASPs. They simply sell a lot more boxes (Apple is still under 4 percent globally). That’s why, to me, the real story this week is Apple’s stellar earnings report from Wednesday compared to Microsoft’s dismal results from Thursday. That?s more revealing than a 91 percent share of anything.

Read The Full Article:
http://theappleblog.com/2009/07/25/does-apple-have-a-91-percent-share-of-the-high
-end/

Digg this

Numbrix (App Store Link)

post from Daring Fireball on 25 July 2009 12:27:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

My thanks to Parade Magazine and Threemagination for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed to promote Numbrix, their new number puzzle game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. New puzzles are added automatically, and I can confirm that it’s both challenging and fun. Currently on sale for $3 on the App Store.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://nmbrx.net/df/

Digg this

Alien Shooter 2 for Mac

Virtual Programming has announced Alien Shooter 2, a sequel to the arcade-style space-age shooter ga...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=21ba315623650cbbde20afe139a51f0c

Digg this

Pro2col Publishes White Paper on FTP in
Enterprises

Pro2col Ltd have today announced the release of a new white paper entitled "Common FTP server problems and how they are addressed when using the StingRay file transfer server". This FTP paper focuses on the limitations of traditional FTP and how these limitations have been addressed by Hermstedt StingRay to meet the requirements of modern day enterprises.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-6673.htm

Digg this

MS Store designs leaked

Layout designs of Microsoft's upcoming retail stores have been leaked in a PowerPoint Presentation. ...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=7a1997282dc642ce8e307b570b9b852c