http://www.macnn.com/ MacNN is the leading source for news about Apple and the Mac industry. It offers news, reviews, discussion, tips, troubleshooting, links, and reviews every day. The best place for Mac News. Period. en-us Mon, 12 May 2008 09:09:03 GMT http://images.macnn.com/images/macnn-logo-bw.gif http://www.macnn.com/ http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/12/optek.ships.m.player.mac/ Optek Music Systems on Monday announced M-Player for the Mac, its Fretlight guitar companion software title. Developed to work in conjunction with a Mac and a Fretlight 400 Series guitar, M-Player enables beginner- and advanced-level guitar players to shave weeks off the time it historically takes to learn to play a new song. Described as the world...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/12/optek.ships.m.player.mac/ Mon, 12 May 2008 05:20:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/12/rim.blackberry.fund/ Research in Motion early Monday confirmed rumors with the launch of the BlackBerry Partners Fund, a venture capital pool meant to rival the iFund for the iPhone. The $150 million pool eclipses the $100 million for the Apple device but shares the same goal of spurring growth in app development: promising young companies at any stage of development ...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/12/rim.blackberry.fund/ Mon, 12 May 2008 04:40:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/12/iphone.knockoff.threatened/ Apple is going after the sellers of at least one iPhone knockoff, delivering a cease & desist to a HiPhone reseller in Europe. Apple Europe's legal counsel Bird & Bird has contacted the seller who sold the HiPhone knockoff on eBay and through his online shop, asking him to destroy the HiPhones currently in his inventory as well as provide a wealth ...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/12/iphone.knockoff.threatened/ Mon, 12 May 2008 04:30:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/12/blackberry.bold/ Research in Motion tonight revealed the BlackBerry Bold, the next generation of its full-size smartphones. The black-and-chrome device is RIM's first to support 3G on GSM networks with HSDPA access, and is also the first to build in a higher-resolution display: at 480x320, the screen is as sharp as today's iPhone. The Bold's interface undergoes a...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/12/blackberry.bold/ Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/11/3g.on.off.option.on.iphone/ Apple's latest iPhone 2 beta 5 firmware shows that the company will allow users to turn off access to the faster "3G" network to preserve battery life. The 3G network, while offering faster download speeds, consumes more power and will likely reduce battery life significantly. The screenshot surfaced on an independent blog, along with code referenc...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/11/3g.on.off.option.on.iphone/ Sun, 11 May 2008 18:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/10/google.offers.visigami/ Google's Mac Team has released Visigami, an image search application and screen-saver. The open-source application, available under Apache license, can search from three different image sources, including Google Images, Picasa, and Flickr. From within the application, users can specify any image search query and images matching the search will star...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/10/google.offers.visigami/ Sat, 10 May 2008 23:40:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/10/cover.stream.20.released/ Snarb.tk has released Cover Stream 2.0, an update to its iTunes controller that extends iTunes Cover Flow to the desktop. The upgrade features new graphics, a playlist and search filter, an integrated songs browser, Last FM and Apple Remote support, full screen mode, Apple-flavored bezels, desktop artwork, and much more. Cover Stream, a popular iTu...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/10/cover.stream.20.released/ Sat, 10 May 2008 21:15:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/10/photon.11.workflow.app/ Green Volcano has released Photon 1.1, the first major update to its high-performance digital photo workflow application for Mac OS X. Version 1.1 brings an enhanced caching engine and better filesystem support. Designed for both professional photographers and advanced photography enthusiasts, Photon enables users to review and organize large numbe...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/10/photon.11.workflow.app/ Sat, 10 May 2008 20:40:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/10/iphone.gone.in.us.and.uk/ Apple has quietly updated its online Apple Store in both the US and the UK to stop orders of the iPhone, marking the first time the company has ceased orders altogether since the iPhone's launch last year. Both 8GB and 16GB versions are listed as "currently unavailable" and are not given estimates for when they should return to the ordering system...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/10/iphone.gone.in.us.and.uk/ Sat, 10 May 2008 16:30:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/fusion.2.beta/ Since switching over to Intel processors, the Mac is now capable of running practically any operating system. The simplest option is to use Boot Camp to create a dual-boot system that can run Mac OS X or Windows XP/Vista. A more flexible solution is to run Mac OS X and one or more additional operating systems at the same time. To run another operat...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/fusion.2.beta/ Sat, 10 May 2008 00:15:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/openofficeorg.30.beta/ The OpenOffice.org Community this week released a public beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.0, the open-source productivity suite for Mac OS X as well as Windows and Linux. The beta release will be the first to run on Mac OS X without X11, but is primarily designed to allow a broad user base to test and evaluate the next major version of OpenOffice.o...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/openofficeorg.30.beta/ Fri, 09 May 2008 22:40:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/viveza.plugin.for.aperture/ Nik Software this week released the Viveza plug-in for Aperture 2.1, Apple's photo editing and management software. The Viveza plug-in allows Aperture users to selectively control light and color in photographic images from within Aperture. Integrated seamlessly within Aperture's organizing and editing environment, users can simply place "U Point"-...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/viveza.plugin.for.aperture/ Fri, 09 May 2008 22:20:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/tapedeck.10.for.leopard/ TapeDeck is an new audio recording application written exclusively for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard that is designed with a quick-capture workflow. New recordings called "tapes" can be started with a single mouse click (or keystroke); the software records directly to compressed MP4-AAC audio, making it useful for a variety of applications including simpl...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/tapedeck.10.for.leopard/ Fri, 09 May 2008 22:10:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/1tb.hdd.for.17.mbp/ MCE Technologies on Friday said it will begin shipping a 1TB internal hard drive solution for the Apple's MacBook Pro 17-inch. The solution, which installs two half-terabyte drives and affects battery performance a bit, consists of the new MCE OptiBay SATA 500GB Optical Bay Hard Drive and an MCE MobileStor 500GB Internal SATA Hard Drive. The new M...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/1tb.hdd.for.17.mbp/ Fri, 09 May 2008 21:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/oxygen.xml.92.ships/ Syncro Soft has released the v9.2 update to Oxygen XML Editor, a cross-platform, WYSIWYG XML toolset, which provides a variety of services including XQuery debugging. It is available solo, or as an Eclipse IDE plug-in. The new version of the software improves DITA support, with a new DITA maps manager, and a toolchain for generating DITA output i...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/oxygen.xml.92.ships/ Fri, 09 May 2008 20:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/maximo.and.macdayla/ In Brief: MacNN has posted reviews for the Maximo IP-HS2 iMetal Isolation Headset, and several Artwizz iPod accessories, Flashforward2008 Film Festival nominations have opened, and author Deborah Shadovitz will host MacDayLA at the CBS Studio Center. Mobile music listeners often assume that decent sound quality can only be achieved through high pri...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/maximo.and.macdayla/ Fri, 09 May 2008 20:15:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/appmenuboy.10.released/ Google is hosting a new extension for Mac OS X Leopard, called AppMenuBoy. Like Quay, the program addresses an interface change to Leopard, in which Apple removed hierarchical menus in the Dock. This has been partially restored in Mac OS X 10.5.2, which lets users set the Applications menu to list mode when dragged into the Dock, but this is not ...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/appmenuboy.10.released/ Fri, 09 May 2008 20:10:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/apple.pays.for.replacement/ Apple on Friday announced it would refund between $25 and $80 to as many as 2.3 million iBook and PowerBook owners, after a significant number of adapters went defective, fraying and sparking. The Los Angeles Times reports that US District Court Judge James Ware granted preliminary approval on March 24th on the 2006 class action filing. The agreeme...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/apple.pays.for.replacement/ Fri, 09 May 2008 19:30:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/foxtrot.pro.search/ CTM has released FoxTrot Professional Search, a tool for running deeper searches into Mac file systems. The app extends past filenames to search for content within metadata, as well as the text inside of PDF, HTML, e-mail and word processing files. Search results are categorized and ranked on relevance, and users can maintain multiple indexed col...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/foxtrot.pro.search/ Fri, 09 May 2008 19:20:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/sketchbook.pro.2009/ Autodesk has released the 2009 edition of SketchBook Pro, its painting and illustration program, designed for users of tablets and tablet PCs. The new application is compatible with Mac OS X Leopard, and boasts new support for Adobe Photoshop, allowing users to import PSD files for detailed drawing. Appropriately, SketchBook layers now support ge...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/sketchbook.pro.2009/ Fri, 09 May 2008 18:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/ms.to.appeal.european.fine/ Microsoft today said it would appeal the nearly $1.4 billion fine levied against it by the European Commission earlier this year. The company has not explained its specific motivations behind the objection, but says the move is an effort to "seek clarity" from the Commission's court and that Microsoft's opposition with the appeal is to the fine it...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/ms.to.appeal.european.fine/ Fri, 09 May 2008 17:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/jobs.travels.less/ In the past, Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty asserted that Steve Jobs' plane travel filings with the SEC are indicative of Apple product releases, since Jobs tends to travel more when signing deals with new companies. Silicon Alley Insider notes that while this is usually the case, March quarter filings show that Jobs' travel reimbursement i...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/jobs.travels.less/ Fri, 09 May 2008 17:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/google.pursuing.yahoo.ties/ Google is interested in pursuing closer ties with Yahoo, according to the former company's founders. Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt made the observation before Google's annual general meeting on Thursday, in response to questions on whether they would move beyond a two-week trial of Google advertising on Yahoo's network. "We have been talking to Ya...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/google.pursuing.yahoo.ties/ Fri, 09 May 2008 17:15:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/xvm.virtualbox.16.update/ Sun Microsystems on Friday introduced a new update for xVM VirtualBox, adding support for Mac OS X and Solaris, making it the first open sourcevirtual machine to support both operating systems. According to The Inquirer, Sun is offering both a free open source version which has no usage restrictions, as well as a free licensed version with more fea...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/xvm.virtualbox.16.update/ Fri, 09 May 2008 16:55:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/mailplane.20.beta/ uncomplex has released a public beta of Mailplane 2.0, an upcoming revision of its Gmail client. The app is effectively a site-specfic web browser, and is intended to make Gmail more seamlessly integrated with Mac OS X. Users can for instance quickly browse and attach files from iPhoto and iTunes libraries, and convert or resize images as necessa...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/mailplane.20.beta/ Fri, 09 May 2008 15:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/ms.sells.2m.zunes/ As part of its recent Zune update, Microsoft has revealed that it has sold two million of the music players since their launch in November 2006, revealing relatively flat growth for the device lineup. Although the company originally promised and slightly exceeded a target for its first million sales between the original launch date and June 2007, ...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/ms.sells.2m.zunes/ Fri, 09 May 2008 15:35:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/quay.11.update/ Coder Rainer Brockerhoff has released a fresh update to Quay, a Dock extender for Mac OS X Leopard. The app restores hierarchical menus to the OS -- last found in Tiger -- and also lets users sort Stacks in a variety of ways. Quay can be set to work only with specific Stacks, and can be toggled off completely by holding down the Option key....]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/quay.11.update/ Fri, 09 May 2008 15:10:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/freeway.51.adds.rss/ Softpress has released the first major update to Freeway 5, its WYSIWYG web design tool. The base application distinguishes itself with features such as CSS menus, and Google and script.aculo.us Actions; new in v5.1 is the ability to publish a feed from a page, using the RSS Feed Action. Designers can now also import SVG vector graphics, whether ...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/freeway.51.adds.rss/ Fri, 09 May 2008 14:35:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/pro.ip.passed.by.house/ The House of Representatives on Friday approved the controversial Pro-IP Act, a bill which is designed to protect intellectual property by imposing more rigid punishment in the case of copyright infringement. Ars Technica writes that the bill passed with a vote of 410 to 10, but has yet to be voted on by the Senate. Among the details of the bill, o...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/pro.ip.passed.by.house/ Fri, 09 May 2008 14:15:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/parallels.desktop.update/ Parallels has released a new update to Desktop, its side-by-side OS virtualization app. The software is now at build 5600, and adds "full support" for the latest editions of Microsoft Windows; Vista is now handled up to Service Pack 1, while XP compatibility extends to Service Pack 3. Parallels has also improved compatibility with the MacBook Air...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/parallels.desktop.update/ Fri, 09 May 2008 14:05:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/45.canadian.ipod.credit/ A select number of Canadian iPod owners may soon be eligible for a $45 credit from Apple, says a major regional newspaper. The Montreal Gazette writes that the credit would be applicable only to owners of first-, second- or third-generation iPods, and only those who purchased theirs prior to June 24th, 2004. It is part of Apple's proposed settlem...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/45.canadian.ipod.credit/ Fri, 09 May 2008 13:25:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/apple.last.in.industry/ Apple has been ranked the worst among all major PC vendors and other large electronic firms in the fight against climate change. Climate Counts this week released its second annual Company Scorecard hoping to create a "simple, easy-to-understand ranking of companies would motivate both companies and consumers to step-up their efforts on climate cha...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/09/apple.last.in.industry/ Fri, 09 May 2008 06:30:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/microsoft.withdraws.board/ Microsoft has put the final nail in the coffin in terms of the Yahoo merger, as the proposed proxy board received notice from the software giant Thursday morning, dismissing any responsibilities the board would have had in the event of a hostile takeover. The Wall Street Journal writes that Microsoft's law firm Sullivan & Cromwell sent out the noti...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/microsoft.withdraws.board/ Thu, 08 May 2008 22:25:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/fusion.raid.expander/ Sonnet Technologies on Thursday debuted the Fusion RAID Expander, which provides a simple solution for connecting up to seven Sonnet Fusion SATA RAID desktop or rackmount storage systems to a single computer for faster performance as well as access to up to 56 terabytes (TB) of protected storage. The Fusion RAID Expander extends a computer's PCI Ex...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/fusion.raid.expander/ Thu, 08 May 2008 21:40:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/sonnet.gigabit.adapters/ Sonnet has released three new Gigabit networking products for both older and new Macs: Presto Gigabit Pro PCI network adapter card, the Presto Gigabit PCIe Pro PCI Express network adapter card, and the Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro ExpressCard/34 network adapter card. These Sonnet Gigabit Ethernet cards expand or add Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in ...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/sonnet.gigabit.adapters/ Thu, 08 May 2008 21:25:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/comic.life.magiq.10/ plasq has released Comic Life Magiq 1.0 for Mac OS X, its photo-comic desktop publishing software designed for all ages and skill levels. Built from the ground up to leverage the power of Mac OS X 10.5 core technologies, the software utilizes Image and Core Animation for unique visual effects and elegant layouts. The included Image Editor offers to...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/comic.life.magiq.10/ Thu, 08 May 2008 21:10:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/riaa.on.drm.revival/ Regardless of the movement towards permanent unprotected downloads in online music, digital rights management (DRM) is likely to persist and may also thrive in the near future, the Recording Industry Association of America said today at a Los Angeles media conference. The music organization's technology head David Hughes observes that nearly all s...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/riaa.on.drm.revival/ Thu, 08 May 2008 20:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/push.mac.mail.in.iphone.2/ Users of Apple's .Mac service will be able to get their e-mail pushed to their iPhone or iPod touch, an anonymous source claims. The person writes that in the latest version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware, the Settings page now has a "Fetch New Data" submenu, which lets users toggle the "fetch" or "push" status of various e-mail clients, including sta...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/push.mac.mail.in.iphone.2/ Thu, 08 May 2008 20:30:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/myspace.data.availability/ MySpace today introduced a new initiative that will see its users' data shared outside of the social network. The Data Availability framework will let any member of the MySpace service opt in to share profile info, friend networks, photos and videos to sites that will support the approach on their networks: MySpace users will have the option of po...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/myspace.data.availability/ Thu, 08 May 2008 20:05:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/swisscom.iphone.rumor/ Reports are circulating that Apple would launch the iPhone in Switzerland this summer under the mobile provider Swisscom, presumably with the heavily-rumored 3G iPhone. French-language news site Le Matin Online reports that Swisscom nor Apple have confirmed any details, but the recent alliance with Vodafone ñ which is affiliated with Swisscom ñ cou...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/swisscom.iphone.rumor/ Thu, 08 May 2008 20:05:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/sonoro.cubo.radios/ German audio maker Sonoro says that it has begun exporting its Cubo line of luxury clock radios to the US. Aside from receiving AM/FM radio, the Cubos have a built-in CD player, and an auxiliary input for sources such as iPods and notebooks; output can in turn be redirected through a stereo output. Special features include wooden casing, 20 progr...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/sonoro.cubo.radios/ Thu, 08 May 2008 19:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/evetv.302.update/ Elgato has released the v3.0.2 update to EyeTV, its TV streaming and recording software. The patch makes significant changes, most crucially support for broadcasts with H.264 compression, which are said to be increasingly popular; in Europe, for example, a number of DVB-T channels offer only H.264 streaming. Elgato has also introduced the export ...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/evetv.302.update/ Thu, 08 May 2008 19:10:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/gear4.duo/ British gear maker Gear4 today unveiled the DUO iPod speaker dock. Its design is built uniquely to double both as a portable system and as a higher-quality bookshelf stereo. While normally a full 2.1-channel system with a 20-watt subwoofer, the front satellite panel (18 watts) detaches completely from the bass unit to operate independently as a t...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/gear4.duo/ Thu, 08 May 2008 18:50:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/microsoft.fone.plus/ Microsoft today discussed some of the details of a project it estimates could help address a lack of computing in developing countries. A plan so far known as Fone+ would give users a basic or mid-range smartphone with a dock or similar connection to a TV, giving them a potentially higher-resolution screen and a more comfortable distance to use th...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/microsoft.fone.plus/ Thu, 08 May 2008 18:05:00 GMT http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/film.studios.v.pirate.bay/ Movie studios are the latest group to launch a legal assault on Swedish BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay, filings indicate. The Motion Picture Association, an international extension of the MPAA, has filed a 93kr million ($15.4 million) lawsuit against Pirate Bay, which it accuses of hosting illegal torrent trackers for movies such as The Pink Panth...]]> http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/05/08/film.studios.v.pirate.bay/ Thu, 08 May 2008 17:30:00 GMT