August 1 - 1:20pm EDT   Forum roundup: With rumors of upgrades to Apple products such as iPods and MacBooks, MacNN forum goers discuss the timing of a new MacBook purchase, the number one question seems to be "when to buy?" A Fresh-Faced Recruit to our forums is trying to put together a home made gadget to connect a 5.1 surround sound system to their Mac and has started a thread in hopes of finding some advice. Problems with iTunes syncing properly are addressed in this thread. One user is looking to upgrade the hard drive in their MacBook Pro and finds some good tips from other forum members about what brands to consider as well as pricing and performance specs. [full story]

July 14 - 5:15pm EDT  Servoy Inc. has introduced Servoy 4.0 -- one code base for desktop AND Web applications. Servoy 4.0 -- now an Eclipse plug-in -- is a major upgrade from all previous versions of Servoy, enabling Servoy developers to produce enterprise-level applications using a standards-based IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Servoy consists of a GUI designer, is fully event-driven and scriptable through JavaScript. As a plug-in for Eclipse -- an open source, free, extensible development framework -- Servoy 4.0 can inherit a form from another parent form within a solution -- eliminating the need to duplicate forms with similar functionality. [full story]

July 1 - 6:05pm EDT   In brief: We have posted the second part of our review of Steinberg Sequel, the Vue 3D Environment Competition 2008 has been announced, fmDataGuard has announced its "First Anniverary Sale," and there is a newly announced DEVONthink 2.0 upgrade grace period ... We have posted the second part of our review of Steinberg Sequel. The tool allows you to record using a MIDI controller or through an external microphone, which is very similar to GarageBand. We recorded live audio from a microphone and it worked well. The intuitive design worked as we thought it would. Cutting and arranging segments of recorded material is also similar to GarageBand. You can move segments freely ... [full story]

June 23 - 12:50pm EDT   TechRestore on Monday announced a 500GB overnight hard drive upgrade for MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Door-to-door nationwide service is available for the overnight turnaround. The installation includes data transfer (an exact clone) of the old drive's info and the option of having the old drive installed into a USB 2.0 enclosure for $40. The 500GB utilizes a 5,400 RPM drive mechansim. The overnight upgrade is $400 plus shipping. [full story]

June 3 - 7:30pm EDT   TimeCache 7.0.10 ($30) time and expense billing application. It offers tracking of all computer activity, can use Apple Address Book entries for client contact information, can produce charts of billable time and expenses, and can import from and export tiCal calendars. Version 7.0.10 fixes a bug that could cause a crash when printing some report formats. This is a free update to the Universal Binary Macintosh OS X application. [Download - 14.8MB] Web Confidential 3.8 ($20) professional password manager for Mac OS X. Web Confidential uses an intuitive, easy-to-use cardfile metaphor for passwords. The tool gives you access to your passwords from within your browser and from the Mac ... [full story]

May 2 - 9:15pm EDT   Sound Studio 3.5.6 ($80) sound recording and editing tool. This new version provides enhanced marker support, localization updates and bug fixes, and is a free upgrade for existing owners of Sound Studio 3. The new release also includes Unicode marker name support in AIFF, AIFF-C, WAVE, and Sound Designer 2 formats and updated Japanese localization resources. [Download - 34.7MB] iMedia Browser 1.1 (freeware) a stand-alone utility, the Karelia iMedia Browser lets users easily browse and drag content from their entire collection of photos, music, movies, and bookmarks, including their Pictures, Music, and Movies folders as well as applications such as iPhoto, Aperture, iTunes, GarageBand, ... [full story]

April 30 - 2:10pm EDT   In brief: We have a review of PowerPhones Pro headphones, RAM upgrades for the new iMacs are available, a guide to FileMaker-driven Web sits debuts, and an iPod cord wrap for tangle-less headphones has been released... We have posted a review of the PowerPhones Pro headphones, which ship in a simple easily recyclable cardboard box, but inside the earphones are tucked in a stylish silver case. A velvet storage bag and an extra set of flanged silicone ear buds for smaller ears are carefully packed under foam in the case. For the price, I expected a second set of each size in a zip-lock bag, as are found in many other comparably priced earphones. The unique PowerPhones ... [full story]

April 15 - 7:50pm EDT   Speed Download 5.0.2 ($25) download manager designed to be a unified hub for almost all downloading and file transfer activities. This release fixes the following issues: Transparency in the floater retained after SD restarts; SD no longer prompts about a component update after each restart; SD remembers changes to the toolbar visibility after each restart; a bug that could potentially cause SD to crash after completing a download. The new release has also updated SD Enhancer for better performance and compatibility. [Download - 7.7MB] Interarchy 9.0.1 ($60) Download/upload tool for FTP, FTP/SSH, FTP/SSL-TLS, HTTP, HTTPs, WebDAV, WebDAVs, iDisk and Amazon S3. Includes Growl Support ... [full story]

April 15 - 3:15pm EDT   The long-awaited NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT upgrade for Mac Pros has been released. The graphics card features 512MB of dedicated GDDR3 memory, uses the PCI Express interface, and includes two dual-link DVI ports, and is capable of driving up to two 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays. It requires a Mac Pro (bus speed 1.33GHz) with PCI-Express. The card is priced at $280 and can be purchased as a standalone, user-installable item or as a build-to-order option for Early 2008 Mac Pros through the online Apple Store. Controversy ensued when Apple introduced this upgrade card as an option available exclusively to newly purchased Mac Pros in January. At the time, users presented ... [full story]

April 9 - 7:00pm EDT   HighPoint Technologies has announced that the RocketRAID 3522 now supports booting Mac OS X on Apple Mac Pro (2006-2007) models. The RocketRAID 3522 has a dual mini-SAS interface that supports up to eight external direct connect SATA hard drives. Some of the new features available in the RocketRAID 3522 include selectable RAID block sizes for application tuning. Advance RAID level 0,1,5,6 and new RAID 3 support. Upgradable firmware support via the HighPoint web GUI and 32-bit EFI boot capability with Mac Pro 2006-2007 models. Booting support for Mac Pro 2008 models will be coming soon and requires an firmware upgrade through the HighPoint web management GUI. [full story]

March 20 - 3:15pm EDT   Faber Acoustical has released version 3 of its SignalSuite audio test signal software. This upgrade gives SignalSuite new features similar to those found in the recently released SignalScope Pro, including advanced audio device configuration, project files, and Audio Unit plug-in support. The AUAudioFilePlayer plug-in, included with Mac OS X, enables SignalSuite to play back signals stored in audio files. Portions of the audio file may be selected and looped for playback. Plug-in support also allows end users or third parties to develop additional signal types to expand SignalSuite's capabilities. [full story]

March 5 - 8:25pm EST   Creative Manager Pro today announced a forthcoming update to its self-titled ad agency management software. The major foundation upgrade to Creative Manager Pro offers more Flash features, and includes changes for the latest release of Mac OS X Leopard. Previous updates converted some of the most-used features to Flash, while the new update addresses interface improvements based on months of research, client interviews, and user feedback. The update is due in April, according to the company (pricing was unavailable). [full story]

March 3 - 5:30pm EST   Apple today released Aperture 2.0.1, an update to its post production photography software designed for professionals. The latest revision of Aperture addresses issues related to the performance and overall stability of Aperture 2, and includes fixes that impact various areas of the software. Fixes cover upgrading libraries from earlier versions of Aperture, publishing .Mac Web Gallery albums, Preview generation as well as deletion, and creating as well as ordering books. Aperture users can upgrade via Apple's 'Software Update' feature located under the Apple Menu, or can download the update manually from Apple's updates page (43.9MB). [full story]

February 27 - 8:55pm EST   The Omni Group has released OmniGraffle 5.0rc1 and OmniOutliner 3.6.5. OmniGraffle 5.0rc1 is the latest beta release of the company's diagram creation software that refines AppleScript support for user data on models as well as graphics. OmniOutliner 3 is an update to the program for creating, collecting, and organizing information. OmniGraffle is priced at $80 for the standard edition and $150 for the professional version, with upgrades starting at $30. OmniOutliner is available in standard and professional versions for $40 and $70, respectively, while upgrades start from $20. OmniGraffle 5.0rc1 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later, and OmniOutliner 3.6.5 requires Mac OS ... [full story]

February 27 - 2:05pm EST   Other World Computing (OWC) today announced that it is offering 4GB memory kits for Apple's new MacBook and MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo notebooks, which began shipping yesterday. "OWC is providing memory for these new MacBook 13-inch 2.1GHz/2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Models and MacBook Pro 15-inch & 17-inch 2.4GHz/2.5GHz (including 2.6GHz optional configuration) Core 2 Duo models," the company said. "OWC memory is available in modules and kits of up to 4.0GB for these models as well as the previous MacBook Pro models." OWC's 4.0GB Memory Upgrade Kits are available for $100, and include two 2GB modules. [full story]