First Look: Daylite productivity suite...

With the compatibility provided by their new Intel processors, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's secure nature, Macs are slowly making their way into the business sector, replacing their Windows-based counterparts. As businesses adopt the Mac platform, there is a greater need for productivity software, something which Windows computers have no shortage of options. Marketcircle's Daylite Productivity Suite gives users a full-featured business application that allows users to plan and coordinate their work day with others, while integrating Apple Mail's powerful features with projects and contacts.

PlayFirst releases Dress Shop Hop game...

PlayFirst recently unveiled Dress Shop Hop, a new game based on Flo's world from Diner Dash where players help Bobbi, an aspiring designer, gather customers and create new fashions to sell. Players design and sell custom clothes out of their bustling boutique according to a customers wants and needs, with patterns ranging from solid colors to off-the-wall swatch designs. Players can enjoy the demo for 30 minutes, with a full version available for download fro PlayFirst's website for $20.

Netgear updates ReadyNAS drives, offers 1.5 to 4TB...

Netgear today announced new drives in its ReadyNAS line of shared network drives, coming in 1.5TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB Desktop and 4TB Rackmount sizes. The drives feature a Gigabit Ethernet connector to hook the drive up to networking equipment with Jumbo Frames support which provides maximum data throughput speeds. The ReadyNAS drives feature RAID levels 0, 1, and 5, and use Netgear's proprietary X-RAID technology, allowing users to scale their RAID setups from 1 to 4 disks, or more. Netgear is selling the drives starting from $1100, and are available through retailers nationwide.

Tunewear ships PRIE Rawhide for 3G Nano...

Tunewear has begun shipping its PRIE Rawhide for third-generation iPod nanos, a genuine leather case with a rugged flip-style enclosure available in either black or brown leather. The case comes in four different designs, forgoing the usual hooks and clips to offer an extremely thin protective cover for Apple's newest iPod nano. Tunewear's PRIE Rawhide is priced at $25, and comes with a free Tunefilm to cover the iPod's screen, click-wheel, and mirrored back.

Firm bringing Vista SideShow to iPhone...

Ikanos Consulting has revealed a new web app that should bring most of the features of Windows Vista's SideShow auxiliary display technology to Apple's latest handheld devices. Beta 3 of the firm's Go Gadgets utility depends on new web rendering code that simulates a native iPhone or iPod touch program while still offering remote functionality to use content from a Vista computer regardless of its current state: users can receive news feeds, navigate PowerPoint presentations, and steer music playback from the Apple hardware.

PodWare unveils iPod-oriented t-shirt...

PodWare has introduced a new iPod-oriented t-shirt designed as stylish and comfortable apparel with double-needle bottom hem and sleeves. The new shirt has special holes for iPod headphones to prevent tangling, and works with Apple's second-generation iPod nano (1GB, 2GB, and 4GB models) as well as first-generation iPod shuffles. The new shirt is priced at $26, and comes in black as well as white with sizes ranging from small to XL.

Apple to crack 5m iPhone sales by Macworld?...

Apple may be poised to announce that it has sold a full five million iPhones by the time of the company's Macworld San Francisco Expo keynote in mid-January, according to an unverified report. Purported insiders suggest the company is on track to reach the figure due to extremely strong holiday-inspired sales as well as the added sales figures from international releases: roughly 1 million, or 20 percent, of these sales would come from outside the US, according to the claim.

Microsoft files for no-skip video ad patent...

Microsoft is attempting to secure a patent for technology that would prevent users from skipping ads in downloaded videos, according to a new filing with the US Patent Office. The technique would insert a digital rights management (DRM) token inside the file that would prevent users from playing the intended video until relevant ads are viewed. It would also allow a content producer to insert ads into a downloaded video at its own discretion.

Mustek preps photo frame with iPod dock...

Mustek plans to stand out at the Consumer Electronics Show with the introduction of the PF-i700, its latest-generation digital photo frame. The new 7-inch display will be one of the few to find room for an iPod dock; cradling the Apple player in the frame will not only let users display images from the iPod but also play music and movies courtesy of stereo speakers and a minijack for outputting sound to headphones or speakers. The setup reportedly eliminates the excess cabling of a TV setup while also providing the portability of a photo viewer.

AT&T extends store hours for holidays...

AT&T today announced that it is extending store hours at all of its retail locations on Wednesday, December 26th to accommodate the expected flurry of post-holiday shoppers. "Wireless devices and services, and especially the iPhone, are at the top of many holiday wish lists this year, and many will be looking for new accessories for their new handsets the day after Christmas," said Paul Roth, president of sales and marketing for AT&T's wireless business. "We're opening our doors early in as many locations as possible and adding extra staff to accommodate the needs of these customers."

QuickerTek ships Quicky with tougher case...

QuickerTek has announced that its Quicky Mac wireless booster is now shipping with a stronger case, answering customer requests to make the device more rugged. The Quicky expands the wireless reception of any MacBook, iBook, or PowerBook from Apple's built-in 30mW AirPort card to 500mW. The device is priced at $225 and comes with a 1-year warranty on parts and labor.

Ambrosia updates WireTap Studio, iSeek, pop-pop...

Ambrosia Software has released updates to two applications and one game, signaling the arrival of WireTap Studio 1.0.4 along with iSeek 1.1.3 and pop-pop 1.0.6. WireTap Studio 1.0.4 is a free update to the audio recording and management application that offers enhanced Leopard compatibility alongside other fixes and enhancements. WireTap Studio is priced at $70 and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. Upgrades for WireTap Pro users are priced at 30.

Boomwave ships leather Touch, Classic cases...

Boomwave has released two new series of iPod cases, both under the Klique Leather moniker. In all instances the company's Touch and Classic Kliques come in two-tone color combinations, such as beige and grey, brown and orange, and white and pink; they are further divided into cases with flame-styled embossing, or ones with laser-etched patterns. The cases are moreover distinguished by not only coming with screen protectors, but also wallet chains for those worried about theft.

Apple to pick up Intel's UMPC platform?...

Apple will use the chipsets that form the basis of Intel's ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) and mobile Internet device (MID) reference platforms, according to a claim by AppleInsider. Expanding on previous statements from Taiwan suppliers, the rumor site points to Apple using the 45-nanometer Silverthorne mobile chip for "multiple products" during 2008. The small manufacturing process lets it run as quickly as the better Pentium M chips that preceded the Core Duo but consume less than 2 watts of power -- less than a tenth of a typical notebook processor, based on Intel's own figures. Modern Core 2 Duo notebook processors consume an average 25 watts or more at their thermal design limits.

MS Open XML converter updates to 0.2.1...

Microsoft has released a new beta of its Open XML File Format Converter for Mac OS X. The utility converts Open XML documents into a format readable by Office v. X or Office 2004 for Mac, and supports batch operations in addition to single-file use. Five different file types can be altered: these include standard and macro-enabled Word documents (.DOCX and .DOCM), as well as PowerPoint shows, templates and presentations (.PPSX, .POTX and .PPTX files).

Backdating lawsuit increases allegations...

Shareholders suing Apple on the basis of its backdating scandal have refiled their case, expanding it considerably, Reuters says. US District Judge Jeremy Fogel stated, recently, that wrongdoings from before June 2001 could no longer be considered in the plaintiffs' case; the new suit though has grown from 86 pages to 153, and introduces four new allegations of options backdating by Apple management. With these included, the proceeds from the scandal are said to have been over $1 billion, the value of shares given to CEO Steve Jobs in exchange for options rated at just under the $1 billion mark.

LG Viewty outselling iPhone in the UK?...

LG's Viewty touchscreen phone may well be outselling the iPhone in the UK despite the sheer amount of publicity, according to an update from the national phone reseller Dial-a-Phone. Also known as the KU990, the device has sold about 310,000 units since going on sale in Europe in early November, overlapping the same period as the British and German iPhone launches. The number amounts to about 6,300 phones sold per day and has outperformed sales of the already successful and less costly Chocolate and Shine lines during similar periods, according to LG.

First Look: EVE Online, multifaceted spacefaring MMO...

Massively Multiplayer Online games – commonly referred to as MMOs – are quickly becoming one of the most played genres in the world, with millions of users worldwide subscribing to games like Everquest, World of Warcraft, Star Wars: Galaxies. With the Intel Macs saturating the market, Mac gamers have a lot of games to look forward to, with the help of Boot Camp, but some users prefer to stay in the Mac environment for their daily activities. Sadly, very few major MMO games make their way to the Mac, but with the help of Cider and wider Mac awareness, users can expect to see more hot titles gracing the Mac platform.