The Missing Sync for Pre launches with Mac support

Mark/Space has released a Mac version of The Missing Sync for Palm Pre, along with a Windows Vista and XP version currently in progress. Previously launched as a beta, the synchronization software allows mobile phone users to share information such as contacts, calendars, photos and music between the Mac and Palm Pre. The application enables automatically syncing when near a Mac via Wi-Fi, or can transfer files and documents with a USB cable

Briefly: Lights2 Pro theme, NI promo, Map Kit

In Brief: seyDoggy has released Lights2 Pro RapidWeaver, a revamped successor to its Lights theme, while KeyNote Zone now offers a free version of its Comics theme for Keynote. A new Native Instruments promotion, "Tone Up For Summer," brings discounts of up to 50-percent for the company's Guitar Rig 3 products. The Pragmatic Programmers has launched a video tutorial for developers planning on using the Map Kit framework in iPhone apps. Meanwhile, Morrison SoftDesign has changed its name to FontGear to better reflect the focus of its font utilities.

Sonos CR200 to get capacitive touchscreen, $350 price

Confirming an earlier image leak showing Sonos' upcoming CR200 remote control, the company accidentally slipped the product page ahead of schedule. The device features a smaller profile than its predecessor, but with a considerably larger display. The 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen will now serve as the primary control interface, enabling users to flick through content or search for items by using an onscreen keyboard.

VideoPier 1.3 adds Elgato Turbo.264 support, more

Aquafadas has launched an update to its MPEG-2/AVCHD capture and management utilities, VideoPier and VideoPier HD 1.3. The latest version now supports Elgato's Turbo.264/Turbo.264 HD, enabling faster export and conversion of codecs while reducing CPU load on the host machine. New clip management tools can be used for deleting clips, from both the application and the hard disk, with support for drag-and-drop movement of clips between events. Version 1.3 also improves the line display, for easier selection of multiple items, and fixes a bug involving Sanyo camcorders.

Sharp unveils new AQUOS LCD TVs, several LED variants

Sharp on Tuesday introduced its latest AQUOS LCD TVs, including several models featuring LED backlighting. New models in the E77 series include the The 65-inch LC-65E77UM and 60-inch LC-60E77UN, each featuring 1080p resolution and the company's Advanced Super View technology designed to reduce haze and reflectivity. Both offerings support 120Hz frame-rate conversion and a pixel response time of 4ms.

REALbasic Release 3 adds OpenGL support

REAL has updated its cross-platform tools for application development, REALbasic and REAL Studio. Release 3 boasts more than 100 improvements and 31 new features, including OpenGL support for faster creation of 3D applications compared to traditional C-programming methods. The software is used to create programs for Mac, Windows or Linux operating systems, using both BASIC computing languages and visually-designed interfaces.

iPhone apps: Air Sail, TaxiDrive, Aqueous

Air Sail (free) is a game where players guide a ship by blowing into a microphone. The game includes 15 different levels with obstacles including lily pads, leaves, and rocks. Players can control the wind speed by blowing into the microphone and change the boats direction by tilting the device. If players have an iPod touch with no microphone they can also control the wind speed by tapping on the screen.

Labels, Internet radio agree to royalty deal

Owners of Internet radio stations and music label groups struck a deal on Tuesday that should allow online outlets to continue streaming music. The agreement is now a scaling one and will ask larger stations to pay either 25 percent of their revenue or a per-track rate based on the year, ranging from 0.08 cents per song in 2006 through to 0.14 cents per song in 2015, depending on whichever is greater. Those companies that make less than $1.25 million per year will be asked to pay between 12 and 14 percent of their revenues.

PS3 bundle with Killzone, MGS4 now shipping

The Sony PlayStation 3 bundle spotted just yesterday is now available at Best Buy. While only available for shipping orders and not in-store pick-up, the offering is significant as it includes the both Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 for free despite their high profiles and Killzone 2's $60 price. Many in the industry believe Sony launched the bundle in an attempt to clear out some of its PS3 stock to make room for a less expensive, slim PS3 with a 120GB hard drive.

China's GB outs 12.1-inch, Atom-powered netbook

Chinese PC maker GB has seemingly ignored Intel and Microsoft's restrictions of hardware manufacturers pairing devices with screens larger than 10.2 inches with its Intel Atom CPU with the release of its 12.1-inch X1200 mini PC. Processing power comes from a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU and there is 1GB of RAM along with a 160GB hard drive. The preloaded operating system is not specified, but likely to be Microsoft's Windows XP.

Viliv S7 UMPC ships with 1.33GHz CPU, 2GHz coming

First shown last summer, Viliv's S7 UMPC is now available for purchase in the company's home market of Korea. Viliv is offering three versions, all powered by a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 with 1GB of RAM and running on Windows XP. The lowest-end model includes a 60GB hard drive, the mid-range model includes a 32GB solid state drive (SSD) with the flagship adding a DMB digital TV tuner to the SSD model.

BlackBerry apps double to 2,000; RIM "happy"

Research in Motion's global alliance VP Jeff McDowell today revealed that BlackBerry App World has reached a total of 2,000 apps. The count doubles what the mobile software store had in April and comes just as the company is granting France, Germany, Italy and Spain access to the store. The count pales versus the more than 50,000 apps available through the iPhone's App Store but was downplayed by McDowell as enough to satisfy BlackBerry owners. RIM is "very happy" with the number of apps and doesn't need to match Apple, he told Bloomberg.

Dev Team offers unlock, jailbreak for iPhone 3GS

Owners of the iPhone 3GS should now be able to both unlock and jailbreak their devices, the unofficial iPhone Dev Team has announced. The group has released 3GS-ready versions of ultrasn0w and redsn0w, which respectively handle both halves of hacking an iPhone. The move was forced, the Dev Team says, by the announcement of purplera1n, which can only jailbreak a 3GS.

North Carolina server farm could be worth $2 billion

Apple's North Carolina server farm could ultimately become worth $2 billion, twice the company's minimum investment, claims a member of the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation. In exchange for tax breaks, Apple has agreed to build a $1 billion facility at the Catawba Data Park in Maiden. The building will occupy 500,000 square feet, and provide approximately 750 construction jobs running into late 2010.

Sony intros next-gen DVDirect recorder

Sony on Tuesday announced it will soon replace its DVDirect VDR-MC5 DVD recorder with the next-generation model, the VRD-MC6, which also allows users to transfer their HD and SD videos or digital photos from cameras directly onto DVDs without the need for a connected PC. Compared to the current model, the new one is about 60 percent smaller while its 2.7-inch color LCD screen is larger than the outgoing model's 2.5-inch screen. Users can preview videos or as many as six digital photos at the same time.

Apple to pass Nokia in smartphone share by 2013

Apple's share of the smartphone market is growing quickly enough that it could overtake Nokia's in as little as four years, according to data from Generator Research. The analyst group sees the market almost reversing itself from its situation today and believes Nokia will tumble from about 40 percent share today to just 20 percent in 2013. iPhones, meanwhile, should accelerate and hit 33 percent of the market at the same point. Apple would match Nokia's share sometime in 2011 and ship as many as 77 million phones that year.

Apps: Senuti, VideoPier, VideoFlash Converter

Senuti 1.1 ($18) is a utility that can be used to transfers songs from an iPod to a computer. The software searches the iPod for music and then allows users to select music to transfer. When transferring files users can select to automatically import the songs to iTunes or to just copy them to a folder. Senuti also features support for transferring entire playlists. The update has added support for the iPhone 3.0 firmware. [Download - 11.8MB]

Sony outs HD cams with GPS, low-light boost

Sony today significantly ramped up the quality of its HD Handycams with two new models that promise fundamental changes. The HDR-CX500V and HDR-CX520V both have significantly upgraded visuals with a new backlit CMOS sensor. Moving the illumination away from the front gives either camera about twice as much light sensitivity, improving shooting in darker scenes. Both sensors are also upgraded to 12 megapixels and can shoot still photos at the high resolution in addition to 1080i widescreen video.

ArtText 2.2 adds new templates, layer options

Danholt4mac has announced ArtText 2.2, an update to an app which edits textual graphics, headings and logos. Users are supplied with ready-made templates and shading tools, and can operate in the TIFF, JPEG, PDF, PNG and EPS formats. Version 2.2 delivers over 100 new templates, 19 new layer-blend modes, and improvements to its layering capabilities that include two new layer-merge options, subtract and insert.

Google Apps finally out of beta

Google on Tuesday announced that its widely used applications and services are now out of the Beta phase, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk in both enterprise and consumer guises. The software giant does defend its decision to keep the beta versions of its apps around for so long, saying it differs from the traditional definition of beta as its Google Apps have service level agreements, 24/7 support and standards that meet or exceed non-beta software. Software tagged beta traditionally represents an unfinished product that is still being tested for bugs.

VLC 1.0.0 debuts for Windows, Mac, other platforms

After years of alpha and beta development, VideoLAN has finally released v1.0.0 of VLC, its cross-platform media player software. Aside from platform independence the player is notable for supporting a variety of unusual codecs, such as OGG, FLAC and MKV. Users also gain access to third-party AirTunes streaming, more precise playback control, and functions like live stream recording.

Canon intros two imageCLASS laser office printers

Canon on Tuesday announced the release of a pair of new imageCLASS color laser multifunction printers, the MF8050Cn and MF8350Cdn. They are the most affordable color laser MFPs in the range, and are meant for use by small and home businesses. The MF8350Cdn is capable of 21 pages per minute (ppm) printing and copying speeds either in color or black and white. It can also print on both sides of the paper, can photocopy documents and fax them as well.

Apple marks App Store's one-year anniversary

Apple is marking the first anniversary of the iTunes App Store, which launched shortly before the debut of iPhone 2.0 and the iPhone 3G on July 11th 2008. As a promotion the company is highlighting what it calls some of its "favorite" apps, including general-purpose titles like Ocarina, Starmap, Shazam and BeeJiveIM. Some games mentioned include Rolando, Flight Control and Monopoly.

Sony PSP2 to surpass iPhone 3GS in graphics?

A leak today hints that a true second-generation PSP is in development that could have graphics better than the iPhone 3GS and last-generation consoles. The Spanish branch of Eurogamer claims to have internal Sony information that the next handheld will use a PowerVR SGX543MP4 graphics core closely related to the SGX535 found in the iPhone but which should be even faster. Where the chip used by Apple renders a maximum 28 million polygons per second, the PSP's hardware is a quad-core part and would draw 133 million polygons and allow for much more complicated 3D scenes.

Oppo's BDP-83 Blu-ray player now shipping

Oppo is now shipping its flagship Blu-ray player, the BDP-83, with shoppers anywhere in North America able to purchase it from Amazon. First announced last year, the player has Anchor Bay video processing and supports SACD and DVD Audio discs. Users can also play back content on USB flash drivers thanks to a pair of USB ports, there is an Ethernet jack for accessing BD-Live content and there is a full set of connections for 7.1-channel analog audio support.

Base-level MacBook Pros in high demand

The fastest 13-inch MacBook Pro and an entry-level 15-inch model are proving to be particularly popular with Mac shoppers, argues Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. Shipping delays at the Apple online store are currently between seven to 10 days for the pair, which is said to be unusually significant in that 13-inch MacBooks have not seen similar delays for over two years. At the time, delays were also just five to seven days.

Vodafone sees 4G at 15Mbps, replacing wires

Vodafone's research director Professor Michael Walker today told the Wireless 2.0 conference that 4G cellular data based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard is not only better at keeping speeds in the real world but has the potential to replace wired Internet access. The official explained that the average download bandwidth in a recent field trial was about 15Mbps, or several times faster than good 3G access. While well short of the 100Mbps theoretical peak, he added that it was much improved over 3G behavior, where actual speeds have often been further away from the 3.6Mbps and higher often promised for those networks.

Acer's 11.6-inch Timeline CULV notebook leaked

Backing up an earlier rumor, the existence of Acer's 11.6-inch Timeline 1810T notebook is all but confirmed thanks to some leaked images. The chassis is shared with the Aspire One 751h, including its 11.6-inch, 1366x768 resolution screen. Other components include a 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo SU3500 and an integrated GMA 4500 graphics chipset that gives it enough power to decode HD video. Using a GS45 Express mainboard also provides headroom for up to 4GB of RAM.

Canon intros new photo printers with wireless, more

Canon this morning revealed a trio of photo printers that bring a handful of noteworthy new features. The PIXMA MP560 is Canon's smallest all-in-one inkjet with both Wi-Fi and duplex printing in the same box. It also centers on a second-generation photo correction feature that can adjust for exposure in different areas of a shot as well as brightness and saturation. A new USB port supports printing directly from a flash drive or similar direct storage without having to first sync with a computer.

White iPhone 3GS in low numbers across US

The white 16GB iPhone 3GS is proving to be the most popular by far in the US, Apple stock tracking shows. As of Tuesday morning, the phone model is missing in 30 out of 41 states in which Apple Stores are located, along with the District of Columbia. Elsewhere shortages are so severe that in California, Apple's home state, only one out of 45 retail outlets has white 16GB units.

Creative finally readying first touch device

Creative's first touchscreen media device has been revealed today through an FCC filing. Just called the Zii, the player is only shown in outline but already reveals some of its key selling points. The name suggests it will be based on the dual-core Zii processor, and an "HD camera" logo near an appropriate port suggests the device will have that level of video capture and playback support.

NVIDIA prepping 40nm GPUs for September

NVIDIA's first graphics chipsets based on a new 40 nanometer manufacturing process could be available by the start of the fall, a newspaper claimed on Tuesday. Taiwan's Commercial Times says the GeForce GT 220 and G210 are due to ship in late September. The story supports notions of a delay and says TSMC, which manufactures NVIDIA's chipsets, had initially suffered from poor yields of the 40nm parts but has since recovered and can supply enough for the last quarter of the year.

LG revives Chocolate with tease for new model

Cellphone maker LG today breathed life back into conventional phones with promises that it would launch a new Chocolate phone. Without providing many details at this early stage, the company vows the mystery device will be "minimalist" but won't involve a touchscreen, arguing that it will "maximize usability" with traditional controls. Teaser photos for the device hint at a bar or slider design with relatively upscale controls; historically, all Chocolate models have been sliders and usually emphasized music playback.

Sony enters netbooks in earnest with VAIO W

Sony today surprised the PC business by launch its first voluntarily identified VAIO netbook. Significantly larger than the VAIO P, the VAIO W brings the design of systems like the just-launched NW series to the familiar specs of a 10-inch netbook with a colored, textured outer shell and track pad. It likewise brings Sony's familiar "chiclet" keys and relatively unique support for DLNA media streaming to and from supporting devices, like the PlayStation 3 and other PCs.

Palm Pre coming to Germany, Ireland, Spain, UK

Palm today confirmed early European launch details for the Pre. The webOS smartphone's initial launch will be a Telefonica exclusive and should see O2 have sole rights in Germany, Ireland and the UK; Movistar will have an exclusive in Spain. All four countries will have the phone "in time for the holidays," though it's not clear when the exclusivity period ends.