July 23 - 1:05pm EDT   Apple is preparing to offer a beta-testing program for iPhone applications in its App Store, according to an app developer. The beta program will allow developers to distribute beta versions of their iPhone Apps to registered iPhones for testing, according to TechCrunch. Currently, there is no easy way to put apps on an iPhone other than distribution on Apple's iPhone App Store. Developers have to put any fixes out for all to use. "The big problem here is that the only way to install software on an iPhone or iPod touch is with the App Store. There are also no provisions for beta testing," one developer on the Twitterific team said. "The only way to test a fix is to ... [full story]

July 16 - 4:15pm EDT   Sun Microsystems recently unveiled OpenOffice 3.0b2, a new beta preview release of the next major version of its business productivity suite, adding a number of optimizations, features, and fixes. The new version introduces new regional grammar and numeric standards for Indian customers, as well as refined behaviour of editing filtered rows. Sun also introduced 'y axis' error bars, allowing users to define a range of error for estimated figures. [full story]

June 28 - 2:25pm EDT   Security software developer PC Tools has just released a beta of iAntiVirus, its first security software for the Mac. The company says iAntiVirus uses less memory and system resources than similar security applications because it ignores Windows viruses and only removes malware intended for the Mac. “Let’s face it, malware is (now) a business,” said Michael Greene, PC Tools Vice President of Product Strategy. He says rapid growth in Mac market share has made the platform a profitable target for organized identity theft. [full story]

June 25 - 9:20am EDT   Independent software developer app4mac has announced its latest beta version of Sequence. Touted as 'a simple way to capture and save an image or movie of your screen', the desktop utillity allows users to capture images or movies directly from their Mac's display, and then save them as files, email them, or post them directly onto the web. Making full use of modern multi-threaded code and a 64-bit compression system, it can capture DVD, audio or multimedia material and enables the simultaneous capture of webcam images and screen data. Sequence also offers extensive audio recording options, such as integration with a Mac's built-in mic or external sound device or recording ... [full story]

June 16 - 12:40pm EDT   Mesa Dynamics has posted a beta of Amnesty Hypercube, which is designed to “free” Google Gadgets and other web widgets from the confines of a web browser to the desktop. Not to be confused with Dashboard widgets, web widgets are tiny applications -- often snippets of HTML code -- designed to be inserted in blogs or other web pages. Amnesty Hypercube allows these widgets to be launched from within Dashboard or from the desktop. [full story]

May 19 - 9:50pm EDT   Eternal Storms Software on Monday unveiled a public beta for Flickery, a new Flickr image client for the Mac that allows Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard users to browse, view, upload, manage, and comment on photos. Flickery features a minimalist interface, which can show several photos, or just a one-up approach in either full-window or full-screen. Eternal Storms Software is running a public beta of the software from now until June 30th, and is currently free to try. [full story]

May 6 - 1:00am EDT   VMware today unveiled VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1, a free beta preview of the next major update to its OS virtualization software, which introduces many new features, including true multi-display support for virtual machines. In addition to using multiple displays, the beta also introduces experimental support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2, allowing users to run complex 3D software in a virtualized environment. When it ships, VMware Fusion 2.0 will be a free upgrade for all existing v1.x users, while new users can purchase Fusion for $80. [full story]

April 25 - 4:50pm EDT   Apple's newly released SDK build could potentially support background processes to allow for a richer user experience, and allow intricate applications to run properly. The Unofficial Apple Weblog reveals that the SDK supports the UIApplication delegate class, which includes methods that apply to gaining and resigning "active" status. While not officially confirmed in any documentation, the revelation could indicate support for background tasks. [full story]

April 17 - 9:55pm EDT   ModMyiFone.com forum members have discovered a new utility for jailbroken iPhones which allows for handwriting recognition using a small grey area. The beta software can recognize both Latin and Chinese characters at the moment, transcribing finger motions into editable text on a yellow notepad-style document. User poetic_folly notes that installing HWPen requires the user to add iphonecake.com/src/all as the installer source. [full story]

April 14 - 7:00pm EDT   iPhone developers testing the latest v1.2.0 beta firmware have found that future implementations of the iPhone OS allows users to press and hold their finger over an image in Safari to save it to their Photo Album. According to Gizmodo, the method works with all new versions of the v1.2.0 beta, and is ideal for saving friends photos from Facebook or a similar service, allowing the photo to serve as a background or other interface element. [full story]

April 9 - 2:15pm EDT   Parallels Server Beta 3 has been released, adding an integrated toolset that includes Parallels Tools, Parallels Image Tool and Parallels Transporter (a P2V and V2V migration tool) to the hypervisor solution for server virtualization. Parallels Server includes support for Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT-x) hardware acceleration technologies, 32- and 64-bit platform and guest OS support, and 4-way guest SMP and multi-core CPU support. The new release also adds open APIs and SDK for extensible management, allowing third party tools vendors to add support for Parallels Server. Also new is a command line interface (CLI), and scripting (including Python) allowing ... [full story]

April 8 - 5:05pm EDT   Developers participating in the iPhone SDK beta are discovering that the device is "bricking" itself after the limited-time beta expires. TUAW readers point out that this shouldn't come as a surprise, since a note posted for developers says that the beta would indeed expire if not kept current. Another user notes that the next development firmware version has yet to be seeded to non-enterprise developers, while another still says that a call to the Apple Developer Connection revealed an updated SDK masquerading as an older one. [full story]

April 4 - 8:10pm EDT   Architosh reports that the Windows-based 3D software package, Houdini, is coming to the Mac OS X platform and Houdini for Mac Beta has been announced. The company is looking for beta testers and to get their Mac version in the hands of as many 3D professionals as possible. The developer says "With the recent redesign of the Houdini user-interface (UI), the program has become much more artist-friendly, claims the company, making it a great fit for the Mac. Apple's switch to Intel processors has also been a factor in developing a native Mac version." [full story]

April 3 - 7:30pm EDT   The TeamViewer remote maintenance software, which until now has only been available for Windows PCs, is now available as a beta for Mac OS X. The new version runs from Mac OS X 10.4 and offers cross-platform support. This means that not only other Macs, but also Windows systems can be remotely controlled. Following the establishment of a connection to the remote computer by means of a Partner ID, changes and maintenance work can be carried out or programs can be installed and executed. Unlike the final version, TeamViewer for Mac is not yet equipped with the function for transferring files between computers. The so-called customer module from the Windows version, ... [full story]

March 27 - 12:30am EDT   Adobe on Thursday morning released Photoshop Express public beta, a free internet-based application that easily and quickly edits and applies non-destructive digital effects to photos. As a beta product, Adobe promised it would solicit user feedback on product features and functionality and continue to evolve the product over time. The application leverages Adobe's image editing technology and allows users to store up to 2GB of images online for free, make edits to photos, and share them online with using social networking site such as Facebook. The free service, which offers a variety of photo management tools, is available online as a beta product, but the company ... [full story]