May 7 - 1:25pm EDT   Third Street Software has released Sente 5.5 with enhanced PDF management. Sente is an academic reference manager that helps users find, organize, review and cite the academic literature. Version 5.5 offers the ability to create references directly from the PDF files they already have, as well as new PDFs that they receive from colleagues. It also adds the ability to create complete references by entering only an ISBN, DOI or other common identifier using Google Scholar, the Library of Congress and PubMed to create complete references when importing a new PDF. [full story]

May 5 - 1:40pm EDT   American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu has reversed a prior downgrade on share's of Apple Inc, changing his rating on the stock to from Neutral to Buy. Wu's downgrade came right before Apple's blowout March quarter, in which the company announced record revenues on surging Mac sales. Barrons quotes Wu: "We overestimated the potential negative reaction on the quarter and in hindsight should have moderated our near-term posture rather than downgrading. While AAPL shares will likely remain volatile and may offer a better entry point, we need to align our rating with our longer term view on fundamentals." Wu has set a $210 price target on Apple's stock. Barrons also ... [full story]

April 18 - 5:40pm EDT   Mactracker 5.0.2 (donationware) database of Mac models. The latest Apple hardware has been added along with numerous improvements to the "My Models" category in the main window. New specification entries include "Brightness" and "DPI" information (where available) for the built-in display on MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models. The maximum supported resolution for an external display is now detailed for Mac mini, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and PowerBook G3/G4 models. This release also fixes an issue with creating new Smart Categories. [Download - 20.8MB] Graph Paper Maker 1.9 ($20) lets you create your own custom sheets of graph paper. It is ideal for students, ... [full story]

April 18 - 3:10pm EDT  Shares of Apple Computer Inc. are up $6.51 to $161 near the end of trading on friday, representing a gain of 4.21 percent. The uptick could be due, at least in part, to strong market share gains posted by the company in recent surveys from various research firms. Apple saw the biggest gain among the top 5 vendors in the U.S. market according to Gartner, enjoying strong retail sales coupled with "decent growth" in the professional market. According to IDC, Apple is expected to come in at fourth place and ship 950,000 Macs to Americans during the first quarter of 2008, earning itself an increase from 5.7 percent in the prior quarter to 6 percent. The increase is a 25.1 percent jump over sales in ... [full story]

April 14 - 7:35pm EDT   Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research has published an article addressing the suitability of Apple products -- the Mac and iPhone in particular -- for business purposes. Noting that Most IT departments are not deploying Macintosh systems in large numbers and those that are are deploying are usually in niche spaces such as graphic arts, Gartenberg says that the Mac OS has changed significantly in the last few years and says that Apple's systems now offer a reasonable alternative for Windows systems used in businesses. [full story]

April 1 - 7:30pm EDT   Wolfram Research has announced the release of Mathematica Player Pro, the new delivery system for Mathematica applications and interactive documents. Player Pro gives access to any Mathematica-6-based notebook files to users who do not have the full version of the software, allowing performance of adaptive visualization, controlling interface elements, connecting to real-time data, and more. Developers can build applications in Mathematica and then use Player Pro to deploy them to anyone. [full story]

March 26 - 2:25pm EDT   Although the U.S. economic slowdown has led to a pullback in PC spending by both consumers and corporations, planned purchases of Apple computers remain relatively strong, even in the slower buying environment according to a new study by ChangeWave research. Apple is the leader among consumers who plan to buy a laptop (31 percent) over the next 90 day. Similarly, Apple planned desktop computer purchases (28 percent; down 1 point) are close to record levels. The study also finds that Apple continues to set the standard for customer satisfaction among corporate respondents who use the Leopard operating system – with 53 percent saying they are Very Satisfied with the software. ... [full story]

March 20 - 10:30am EDT   Apple ownership is up among students at the University of Virginia, with 25-percent of freshmen owning a Mac, up from 20-percent in the year prior, according to a computer ownership study performed last fall. These figures show a steep acceptance curve, as ownership was around 4-percent only five years ago, according to The Chronicle. The research indicates that, out of all students polled, 99-percent said they own a laptop, and 0.1-percent admit to not owning a computer at all. [full story]

February 25 - 7:30pm EST   Analysis of the first month of March quarter iPod NPD data points to iPod sales of between 9.5-10.3 million, according to research firm Piper Jaffray, which would signal a 6 percent year-over-year decline. "While it is way too early to make a definitive call on March quarter iPod units, we have analyzed the first month of NPD data (Jan.) for the quarter and found that it suggests iPod units of 9.5m-10.3m," said Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster. Wall Street consensus on iPod sales for Apple's March quarter currently stand at 10.8 million units, representing a 2 percent year-over-year increase. [full story]

February 7 - 1:45pm EST   Apple's iPhone is the top pick among consumers who said they plan to purchase a new cellular phone in the next six months, according to ChangeWave Research. Of 4,182 consumers surveyed, 17 percent said Apple's iPhone remains their top choice. Research in Motion's BlackBerry came in a close second with 15 percent of respondents expressing interest, while Motorola declined to 11 percent as part of a continuing slide after Apple unveiled the iPhone in June of 2007. [full story]

January 14 - 12:45pm EST   Apple is due to report its December quarter results after the market closes on January 22nd, and research firm Piper Jaffray expects an upside to Wall Street expectations based primarily on Mac sales. Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster says Mac sales could reach 2.3 million -- beating out average estimates of 2.2 million -- with iPod sales of 24-26 million over Wall Street predictions of 24.7 million. Munster also says Apple may well report 2.2 million iPhone sales, just shy of average investor expectations of 2.26 million. [full story]

January 11 - 9:55am EST   Onset has unveiled the HOBO Remote Monitoring System, its research-grade weather station that provides growers, researchers and others with instant access to measured data anywhere, anytime via the internet. According to the company, the new system is priced at a fraction of the cost of competitive solutions. The system combines research-grade weather station hardware with built-in GSM cellular communications and HOBOlink, its new Web-enabled software platform. HOBOlink allows users to access current and historical data on their Macs, set alarm notifications and relay activations, and manage and control HOBO Remote Monitoring systems without having to go into the field. [full story]

December 17 - 4:20pm EST   Apple may have sold as many as 24-25 million iPods during the first two months of its December quarter, according to one research analyst. "While it is too early to make a definitive call on December quarter iPod results, we have analyzed the first two months of NPD data (October and November) for the quarter and found that it suggests iPod units of 24m-25m," said Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster, whose current iPod unit estimate for December of 2007 is 23.5 million, above Wall Street consensus of around 23 million. [full story]

November 29 - 12:45pm EST   CLC bio today released CLC Bioinformatics Database, a new data storage application designed to increase the productivity of large and small reserach organizations. For organizations already having an existing relational database in use for sharing DNA, RNA, and protein sequence data, the CLC Bioinformatics Database interface is customizable to store and retrieve data directly from that database. CLC Bioinformatics is made up of a relational database -- one of Oracle, PostgreSQL, or MySQL -- as well as Commercial workbench client for interacting with the database and a Web-based administrative interface (pricing and system requirements were unavailable). [full story]