April 22 - 7:10pm EDT   The US Patent and Trademark Office today published three patents that it approved for Apple, relating to real-time collaboration, time-based user interface object interaction, and element number tables. The first patent, Method and Apparatus for Supporting Real-Time Collaboration, demonstrates synchronicity on a single application between multiple remote users. The patent illustrates users operating a local software application over the internet or a network, with the goal of sharing a common workflow between users. [full story]

April 16 - 2:15pm EDT   Quark has announced Quark Publishing System 7.4, the second maintenance release of its industry leading collaborative workflow system. Based on Java, this release of QPS adds as support for Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, full text search and LDAP support. In addition, the new QPS Web Hub now runs with Apple's Safari browser as well as Firefox. QPS user names and passwords can now be managed through a company's active directory to consolidate user management. Full Text Search allows users to search document content within any assets that are stored in QPS. There is also the added ability for users to check in multiple assets at the same, and Russian and Polish interfaces are now ... [full story]

April 14 - 3:00pm EDT   GridIron Software on Monday announced that GridIron Flow software is now undergoing beta testing with a select group of creative professionals and is being demonstrated this week on both Mac OS X and Windows at the NAB (booth SL6220). According to the company, Flow is billed as "a revolutionary new approach to workflow management for creative pros that dramatically simplifies the design process for print, web, film, and video projects." The software transparently tracks work from idea to end result and manages all assets and applications with any modifications to existing workflows. Expected to ship later this summer starting at $350, Flow automatically tracks projects ... [full story]