April 15 - 9:10pm EDT   Xnet Communications today unveiled iSoftPhone 2.2 for Mac, a free update to its telephony application that allows users to place phone calls over the internet, introducing a few new features and bug fixes. The new version uses a new Dock icon that indicates when a call was missed, and also prompts users before quitting. A major crash was resolved for Mac OS X 10.4 users, which occurred when calling from the iSP address book. iSoftPhone 2.2 sells for $35 for new users. [full story]

March 27 - 1:00am EDT   Chronos LC today unveiled SOHO Organizer 7 and SOHO Notes 7, updates to some of the company's business productivity applications, introducing a number of new features. SOHO Organizer 7, Chronos' alternative to iCal and Address Book, now can display recurring tasks, and allows tasks to show up directly in Day, Week, and Month views. Chronos is selling SOHO Organizer 7 starting at $50, with several different licensing options available. [full story]

March 11 - 10:30am EDT   PocketMac has launched two new versions of its GoBetween sync software, for Microsoft's Entourage 2004 and 2008. GoBetween is used to improve on the support of Apple's iSync software, which does not always properly support all software and devices. The newest versions of GoBetween ensure that contact, calendar and task information is properly transferred from Entourage to iCal and Address Book, and from there to iSync and whatever devices may be connected. [full story]

February 22 - 1:45pm EST   Fruux, a cross between social networking and .Mac's sync service, is currently in beta testing and looking for people to help test the service. Fruux synchronizes address book, bookmark, and calendar files with each computer someone owns, and also gives the user the ability to synchronize contact information with others. This allows users to stay in contact with friends, business partners, and family, even if the contact information changes. [full story]

January 8 - 9:45am EST   FileMaker on Tuesday announced the immediate availability of Bento, its easy-to-use personal database application. Designed exclusively for Mac OS X Leopard, Bento leverages a single-window interface and FileMaker database technology to help users organize contacts, calendars, projects, events, and more. Users can easily create databases to manage information with dynamic 'smart' collections as well as expand around Apple's own Address Book and iCal storage engines. Bento is priced at $50, or $100 for a family pack of five licenses. The personal database requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later. [full story]

December 31 - 11:20am EST   Nova media has released a new update for its iSync plug-ins, bringing their version to v5.1. The software adds support for approximately 130 phones to iSync, letting users copy over their iCal and Address Book information to a phone in advance of formal support from Apple. Brands covered by the plug-ins include Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. New to v5.1 is support for several more phones from Nokia, including the E51, 7900 and 3500 Classic, as well as the N82 and 8GB N95, neither of which are as yet formally available in the US. [full story]