Microsoft 10K warns of iPhone, Mac threats as iPhone nears 1.1% share

A Microsoft filing with the US government reveals a newfound worry that the Windows developer's traditional stance of selling software alone won't work against an increasingly profitable Apple -- a concern that may magnify as iPhone 3G pushes Apple's...

The new rules for buying a Mac

The world has a lot of unwritten rules: In social etiquette. In baseball. And in buying computers. For years, we have unquestioningly followed numerous unwritten rules when buying a Mac. Like many customs, these rules were once based on a foundation of facts and reason. But in the past few years, many longstanding Mac truths have been upended.

Feral releases demo for Battlestations: Midway

Section: Software + Apps, Games, Mac + Computers, SoftwareFeral Interactive has released a demo that gives further details of the capabilities and features of Battlestations: Midway, which is due out soon for the Mac. Created by Eidos Studios Hungary, Battlestations: Midway invites you to take command of the greatest battles of the war in the Pacific. Players will experience every aspect of combat in a superb blend of action and strategy as they lead a host of US and Allied air, sea and underwater units through intense, action-packed missions in hotspots from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway itself. “Battlestations: Midway offers a compelling experience,” said Feral Interactive’s David Stephen. “It’s an unusual mix of action and strategy with a sophisticated multiplayer mode, and we are confident that the Mac audience will find it an excitingly different take on World War II gaming.” “We are delighted to have Feral bring Battlestations: Midway to the Mac platform,” said Trevor Burrows, Brand Manager, Eidos. “It’s a game that delivers a new type of game play experience, and one that deserves to be seen and played by as wide an audience as possible.” The demo is available now from macgamefiles.com. To see a single player walkthrough, visit the Feral Interactive website. You’ll find the video at the bottom of the page after the other video trailers that were previously released. The game will retail in the U.S. for $49.95, £29.99 (inc VAT) in the UK and 39.95 Euros throughout Europe. It is currently available for pre-orders from Feral’s online store. Minimum system requirements call for a 1.83GHz Intel-based Mac, 512MB RAM, 128MB graphics card and Mac OS X v10.4 or later. Product [Battlestations: Midway] Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up - July 24, 2008

Section: Software + Apps, Miscellaneous, Third-Party, iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone + Communications, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Mac + Computers, SoftwareMacintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for July 24, 2008: net4mac is a social network built exclusively for Mac users. In order to become a part of the community and use all its features, users need to download an innovative application designed for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Today, we are launching version 1.5 with many improvements. Fastforward Software today released Galder 1.2, a free update to the puzzle board game for Mac OS X. Galder is an exciting puzzle game which brings gem stone gaming to a new level with a circular, interactive board to enhance gameplay. The update adds an online lobby for enhanced multiplayer gaming, custom mouse cursors, and several enhancements to improve overall game performance and playability. NSObjects has announced Calories 1.1, an update to their nutrition tracking and analysis utility for Mac OS X. Targeted at casual users, Calories is a perfect compliment to body building, fitness and other sports. Focused on ease-of-use, users may select foods from the applications database and add them to breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacking categories. Calories then calculates and displays the total consumption of calories, carbs, fat and proteins for the whole day, or for one of the categories. The Jumsoft team has just released Money 3, their financial application for personal or small-business accounting for Mac OS X. Money 3 helps people manage their finances effortlessly, providing users with everything they need to create, manage, and develop their budget, accounts, reports, invoices, inventory list, portfolio, and much more. Version 3 features more than just a new interface, useful inventory list, budget plan, upgraded reports, and stylish invoices. DEVONtechnologies, LLC has released free updates for all editions of its information manager DEVONthink as well as for the intelligent note-keeper DEVONnote re-introducing Image-Capture-based scan support and other new features. A new Flash conference, Flash on Tap, launched today which blurs the lines between business and pleasure by combining a Flash design and developer conference with a beer tasting event. The conference creators—Infrared5, Influxis and Red5Server—came together to create this new conference that will raise the bar for code, creativity and frosty beverages. The conference takes place October 7-9, 2008 in Boston at The Castle with hotel accommodations and additional presentations at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers. ThinkMac Software announces iKanji 1.0, a brand new application for learning Japanese kanji characters on the Mac. Featuring over 2000 of the most common kanji and nearly 20,000 example words, iKanji is an invaluable tool for anyone learning Japanese. iKanji has an intuitive, friendly interface and takes advantage of Core Animation to provide an engaging experience. 4D, Inc., maker of an integrated software platform that simplifies the process of developing and deploying business applications, announced today the release of 4D Web 2.0 Pack v11 Release 2. The new version, a combination of two products - 4D Ajax Framework and 4D for Flex - brings a powerful set of tools, plug-ins, and components that allow 4D developers to easily harness the power of Web 2.0 technologies, and deliver live web and rich internet applications to browsers, desktops, and portable devices such as the iPhone. Village Tronic has announced that the beginning of Jeremy Sutton’s tour is a lecture on July 29 at the Regent Street Apple Store in London where he will be giving a free lecture, including a live art demonstration. Then, on to the Oxford Internet Institute on July 31st where he will demonstrate how state-of-the-art digital media can be used by a 21st century fine artist by transforming digital photographs into fine art paintings. One device that will be used at both lectures is Village Tronic’s ViDock Gfx. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up - October 22, 2008

Section: Software + Apps, Miscellaneous, Third-Party, iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone + Communications, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Mac + Computers, SoftwareMacintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for October 22, 2008: 99Games has made its debut with the games Chess Lite and Chess Pro for the iPhone and the iPod touch. Both editions make use of a professional strength Chess engine with playing strength over 2750 ELO. Intuitive controls make the user-experience a lot more electrifying thus gripping the user to the game totally! Highlighting previous move, next move and legal move hints are user-friendly; while options like save, load and resume allows users to play the game on-the-go or during their spare time. seyDesign and Vortex Themes have announced the OS Designer RapidWeaver theme for RapidWeaver 4. OS Designer, from Vortex Themes, captures the Mac OS X experience with a window and several desktop backgrounds that feel like the real thing. The simple grace and beauty of the Mac OS X desktop can now be applied your webpage. With many OS flavors to choose from, there will be one that is just right for you. MileBug, the premier iPhone mileage log application, helps those driving their own vehicles for business, charity, medical, or other reasons receive their reimbursement and/or tax deduction. In the U.S., IRS business rates are up to 58.5 cents/mile. MileBug for the iPhone/iPod Touch helps people track their miles and provides emailed reports for easy submission to employers, accountants, and the IRS. FurrySoft has announced their College GPA Calculator for iPhone and iPod Touch. This first of its kind, College GPA application makes predicting GPA easy for the student whose future depends on their college success or students on probation. College students predict GPA by entering cumulative GPA, grade points, current term courses and predicted letter grade. College GPA does the rest to calculate predicted cumulative GPA. The latest release of The Big Mean Folder Machine adds the ability of making the creation of deeper hierarchy levels dependent on the number of files per level. It is an essential tool for anyone who works with large file collections, including digital photographers, content creation, post-production, system administrators, and other creative professionals. Easily merge files from several folders into a single folder, or split files into several folders according to a wide variety of criteria. 24x7digital has introduced PhotoCopy 1.0, their iPhoto to Flickr mirroring utility for Mac OS X Leopard. Designed specifically to help protect media assets, PhotoCopy combines iPhoto’s ease of use with the great sharing features of Flickr. It uploads all of the photos in the selected album(s) to Flickr and arranges them in matching sets. PhotoCopy also copies important image information from iPhoto, such as title, date, time, rating, keywords and description. Arriving in time for Halloween, Phelios, an independent Mac and PC game developer, has released their second game for iPhone and iPod Touch, called Whack the Dead, which is also available for Mac OS X. Whack the Dead was created with the PTK game engine. Readdle has just announced the release of A.I.Disk, a new and much needed iPhone application that lets MobileMe subscribers access documents on the iDisk online storage service, and save them to their iPhone and iPod Touch. A.I. Disk allows people to view saved files and documents on the go and even email friends and colleagues. equinux has released CoverScout 3, the ultimate software to complete album covers in iTunes. With its sleek and intuitive user interface, CoverScout searches the Internet to find missing album art and can automatically apply its findings to your music library. CoverScout’s integrated editor and automatic workflow complete every music library. Smule has released their newest complementary product, Sonic Boom, on AppStore. Sonic Boom turns your iPhone into a virtual firecracker that can be ignited using your finger as a virtual match or a second phone running Sonic Lighter. Strike the match, ignite the fuse, wait...boom! IGG Software has announced iBank 3.3, the latest upgrade to its flagship application for personal and small business finance management. Among the most important changes in iBank 3.3 is improved migration of Quicken data for new users making the switch to iBank. iBank 3.3 also improves keyboard-based transaction entry to be faster and more efficient, and direct consultation with Apple has restored full functionality to iBank’s iPhone/MobileMe integration. After an afternoon shopping at the mall or catching a game at a baseball stadium, it can be a hassle or even a challenge to find the car. For women especially, knowing where the car is parked can turn into a matter of safety in a dark parking lot or on an urban street. With these two considerations in mind, iPhone 3G application developer Su Lee embarked on creating Car Spotter—an easy-to-use vehicle locator that uses the iPhone’s navigational GPS system. It is one of nine iPhone applications that Lee’s company, GP Apps, has released this month. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Review: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare game

From its visually stunning beginning to its emotionally wrenching ending, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a surprisingly deep, rich, and unique approach to the first-person shooter.