Mac News Review

BYO $240 Hackintosh, HyperCard Resurrection, USB 3.0 10x as Fast, SlimBlade Trackball, and More

This Week's Apple and Desktop Mac News

Compiled by Charles Moore and edited by Dan Knight - 2009.01.09

PowerBook, iBook, MacBook, and other portable computing is covered in The 'Book Review. iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV news is covered in The iNews Review.

All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

News & Opinion

Products

Software

Desktop Mac Deals

News & Opinion

Macworld Keynote: Brilliant!

Motley Fool's Anders Bylund says:

"Some might say that the 2009 Macworld Expo keynote was boring. Apple didn't present any groundbreaking new products, didn't redesign the old ones a whole lot, and Steve Jobs wasn't even on stage....

"Of course, they're all wrong. This was the most exciting keynote I've ever seen....

"Boring? Disappointing? Fizzled? Open your eyes, guys and gals. It doesn't get any better than this...."

Roll Your Own Mac for $400

The Useless Ninjas say:

"MSI is a company known mostly for its PC components. They recently jumped into the netbook bandwagon with just about every other major PC manufacturer. Their Eee like machine, the MSI Wind, ended up being an extremely popular little laptop. Along with the laptop they made a not too well known desktop with roughly the same dimensions as a ream of printer paper.

"The MSI Wind PC is a great computer; I have three of them. It comes with a 1.6 GHz Intel atom CPU, two SATA connections for 3.5" and 5.25" bays and 6 USB ports. You can pick a barebones one, requiring RAM, a hard drive and possibly DVD drive, for $140 or so...."

Editor's note: With shipping, you can buy a barebones Wind PC for about $155 - at Amazon.com or NewEgg, for instance. Add a SATA hard drive, a 2 GB stick of RAM, and a SATA SuperDrive, and you've got a nice little PC. Add Apple's new Mac Box Set (Leopard + iLife 09 + iWork 09) for $169 from Amazon.com, Apple, Club Mac, MacMall, or whoever, and you've put together your own low-end Hackintosh for just over $400 with the same software bundle that comes with the $599 Combo drive Mac mini. dk

Why Businesses Are Embracing Macs

InfoWorld's Leon Erlanger reports:

"It's not your imagination. Apple Macintoshes are turning up in businesses beyond the creative departments, increasingly becoming a normal part of the IT fabric. One recent IT survey by researcher Information Technology Intelligence shows that 23% of respondents had at least 30 Macs in their businesses, 12% had at least 4,000 Macs - and 68% said they would let users choose Macs as their work PCs in the next year. A Forrester Research survey of larger enterprises showed that Macs now account for 4.5% of deployed systems. (Both IDC and Gartner report that Macs now make up 9.1% of all PCs sold to individuals.)

"IT's acceptance of the Mac appears to be genuine, not a grudging response to unwanted user demand...."

HyperCard to Rise from the Ashes

Vnunet's Danny Bradbury reports:

"A startup called TileStack is hoping to reinvent Apple's long-neglected HyperCard system for the web.

"The company will release a beta this week of an online development system designed to allow non-technical developers to produce applications that can be exported to Apple's iPhone.

"The system uses a visual layout and is supported by an English language-like scripting system called Speak, which is based on HyperTalk, the language originally used by HyperCard...."

USB 3.0 Promises Faster Speeds, Backward Compatibility

PC World's Melissa J. Perenson reports:

"Nearly a decade after USB 2.0 was first introduced, this practically ubiquitous technology is poised for its first major upgrade in years. Symwave, a semiconductor startup, and hard-drive maker Seagate are showing the first working demonstration of SuperSpeed - otherwise known as USB 3.0 - this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2009) in Las Vegas. The company's demo setup includes an adaptation of an external Seagate FreeAgent hard drive equipped with the new interface, and shows the high read/write throughput and streaming video performance potential of USB 3.0.

"Solid operating-system drivers and mature chip sets helped USB 2.0 evolve into a formidable and dominant interconnection technology for attaching devices to your system. However, in our increasingly high-definition world - a world where many households as well as businesses are verging on the use of terabytes of data, not just gigabytes - the case for greater bandwidth is clear.

"Enter USB 3.0, which promises faster speeds and backward compatibility with the 10 billion USB devices shipped to date...."

Editor's note: USB 3.0 is potentially 10x as fast as USB 2.0. dk

Apple's Next-gen Mac mini to Get Dual Display Support

AppleInsider's Kasper Jade reports:

"Bringing its least expensive system up to par with features in the rest of its lineup, Apple is due to revamp the Mac mini with multiple video outputs, AppleInsider has learned.

"Those familiar with the company's plans say the small form factor desktop will have both the Mini DisplayPort connector first introduced on unibody MacBooks but also a Mini DVI connector...."

AMD Inside Apple in 2009?

Cnet's Brooke Crothers says:

"Here's a radical idea: a 2009 Apple computer with an AMD processor.

"Improbable?

"Maybe this isn't in the cards, but it should be. Especially in light of Advanced Micro Devices' upcoming ultraportable platforms.

"I see an upscale Netbook-like Apple computer with, let's say, a slightly smaller form factor than the Apple MacBook Air. Maybe an 11-inch or 12-inch design packing low-power (and relatively inexpensive) AMD Yukon or Congo silicon. This would not be a Netbook clone - and would offer much better graphics silicon than a Netbook - allowing Apple to sufficiently differentiate itself.

"Or what about an Apple laptop with an upcoming AMD 45-nanometer mobile processor plus ATI Radeon HD 3600-level graphics that slots below the MacBook Pro? I'm sure Apple could find a head-turning way to implement this that would set it apart from the Intel-based hordes...."

Products

Kensington SlimBlade Trackball: Now 'The Ball Does It All'

PR: Kensington Computer Products Group has announced its SlimBlade Trackball for the Mac and PC that brings a whole new level of control, comfort and ease to today's digital savvy users. Kensington's breakthrough design combines hardware and software into one integrated interface for smooth operation allowing users, for the first time ever, to navigate and manipulate digital content through the ball itself. With all functionality now integrated into the ball, users can control all the many interface functions that support navigation, media control adjustments, document and photo browsing with the rotation of the ball. And the low profile stationary design with its ruby red ball sitting atop a sleek gunmetal gray base is visually striking, takes up minimal desk space, and enables a relaxed and comfortable user experience, without the need of a wrist pad.

Kensington SlimBlade TrackballThe SlimBlade Trackball is the latest offering in Kensington's award-winning SlimBlade collection of smart and sleek computer accessories. The unique heads up display user interface shows users - right on the computer screen itself - which mode or function is enabled. This first-ever melding of hardware and software means that a user's hand never needs to leave the ball and their eyes never need to leave the computer screen. This revolutionary design allows users to focus on enjoying their digital content - not on the interface - and is especially valuable for providing instant feedback for immersive experiences. Navigation mode controls the cursor and scrolling; Media mode controls volume, play/pause, stop and next, while View mode zooms in/out and pans for accurate and efficient photo editing.

Kensington SlimBlade TrackballRecent CEA research shows that over 70% of the applications used in the home are centered on entertainment, music and media. Trackballs have long been used in the workplace, but as digitally-savvy families are taking advantage of the broad range of Internet-based sharing and entertainment capabilities and increasing the quantity of home computing activities, early Kensington research shows that the trackball is about to become the device of choice for personal use.

"Our Kensington SlimBlade Trackball is a true standout that should become a 'must have' for today's digital lifestyle-savvy consumers," said Juan Rodriguez, Senior Global Product Manager, Kensington. "We have been known for our trackball leadership for 25 years, so it is only natural that we would be the ones to accomplish this breakthrough user interface, where 'now, the ball does it all'. And it fits perfectly into our award-winning smart made simple SlimBlade Collection. This product is going to set a new standard for the computer/user relationship from the moment it comes to market."

The Kensington SlimBlade Trackball

Kensington SlimBlade TrackballSlimBlade Trackball (SKU K72327US) - Your computing experience just got smoother. With the Kensington SlimBlade Trackball, you'll surf web pages faster, flow through your MP3 library more easily, and zoom in and out of your photographs efficiently with complete and seamless control at your fingertips. Suggested Retail Price: $129.99

Key Features Include:

  • Expand your digital media experience - The multifunction ball lets you easily navigate through your music, pictures, and documents with Media or View mode while the heads-up display allows you to keep your eyes on the screen by showing which function is being performed
  • Do it all without taking your hand off the ball- Gain fingertip access to image and media controls as well as control the cursor and scrolling; volume, play/pause, stop, and next; zoom in/out, and pan, all with the ball
  • Comfortable for hours - The low-profile shape and sleek stationary design keeps users comfortable while eliminating the need for a wrist pad and saving desktop space
  • Mac & PC compatible - Including Mac OS 10.5X, Windows Vista and Windows XP

Designed for Use With:

  • Web Browsers - Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari
  • Graphics - Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, Apple iPhoto, Apple Aperture
  • Viewers - Adobe Reader, Apple Preview
  • Productivity - Microsoft Excel, Word, Numbers, Pages

The Kensington SlimBlade Trackball is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com and Kensington.com and will be available at major retailers at the end of the month.

NewerTech NuCube Acrylic Enclosure for Mac mini

PR: Newer Technology, Inc. debuted the new NewerTech NuCube at Macworld Expo, booth S-2322, in San Francisco.

NuCube Acrylic Enclosure for Mac miniThe handcrafted, quality finish of the NewerTech NuCube turns a Mac mini into an elegant, computing work of art. By reorienting a mini into a vertical position within a breathtaking housing, the NuCube frees up desktop workspace with a visual presentation that harkens back to the acclaimed PowerMac G4 Cube. Plus, its unique design provides full access to a mini's CD-ROM drive slot and rear ports while enabling the mini to run cooler than the normal horizontal position.

NewerTech NuCube Features:

  • Thick 3/8" polished clear acrylic
  • Full access to CD-ROM drive slot and rear ports
  • Heat tested . . . mini runs cooler in vertical position
  • Saves desktop space
  • Nonskid rubber feet
  • Weighs 1 lb. 15 ounces
  • One year warranty

The NewerTech NuCube is priced at $49.99 MSRP and is available immediately from NewerTech's exclusive distributor, Other World Computing (OWC), at www.macsales.com, as well as through the retail channel. The NuCube is covered by a one-year warranty.

NewerTech Voyager Q Hard Drive Docking Solution

PR: Newer Technology, Inc. debuted the new NewerTech Voyager Q Hard Drive Docking Solution at Macworld Expo, booth S-2322, in San Francisco . The new Voyager Q turns any 2.5" or 3.5" Serial ATA (SATA) I/II up to 2.0 TB hard drive into a fully bootable and hot-swappable external drive solution and features four interfaces: FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA for maximum data transfer performance and connection flexibility.

New Life for Old Drives

Voyager Q gives new life to older, swapped out drives. With Voyager Q, bare hard drives can offer the same swapability, ease of use and convenience as flash memory cards, but with a much higher storage capacity. In addition, with Voyager's new custom, stylish design, weighted base and drive eject lever, Voyager Q makes inserting, using, and removing SATA I/II hard drives a safe and effortless procedure.

Voyager Q is a Plug & Play easy to use external hard drive solution that works with both Macs and PCs. Simply insert a 2.5" or 3.5" SATA I/II hard drive (up to 2.0 TB) into Voyager's compact docking base and select the fastest interface supported by the connected computer to boot and hot-swap drives at will, with data transfer speeds of up to 300 MB/s. Because there isn't anything to install or configure, Voyager Q saves users the time and inconvenience of installing a hard drive into a computer or using an external hard drive enclosure which may have limited interfaces and slower speeds.

NewerTech Voyager Q Hard Drive Docking SolutionNewerTech Voyager Q Features:

  • Supports all 2.5" and 3.5" SATA I/II hard drives up to 2.0 TB
  • Data transfer rates up to 3.0 Gb/s (300 MB/s)
  • Ports: Two FireWire 800, one FireWire 400, one USB 2.0/1.1 Mini-B, one eSATA
  • Drive eject lever for safe hard drive removal
  • Hot-Swap functionality for fast access of multiple hard drives (except eSATA)
  • Weighted base and non skid rubber feet for stable operation
  • 2-Color Status LED: blue for power on, flashing red for disk activity
  • Compact design: measures 3.94" x 5.93" x 3.17" (W x D x H), weighs 1.32 lb. (without drive)
  • Whisper Quiet operation - no cooling fan needed
  • Plug and Play with Macs and PCs
  • All interface connection cables included
  • FCC, CE, RoHS Compliant
  • One year warranty

The NewerTech Voyager Q is priced at $99.95 MSRP and is available immediately from NewerTech's exclusive distributor, Other World Computing (OWC), at www.macsales.com, as well as through the retail channel. The Voyager Q includes all supported interface connector cables, an auto-switching power supply for worldwide compatibility, and a one year warranty.

OWC USB 2.0 Drive Adapter OWC USB 2.0 Drive Adapter Compatible with Any 2.5", 3.5", 5.25" IDE Device

PR: The USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter implements a bridge between one USB port and one ATA or ATAPI based mass storage device port. The USB 2.0 to IDE Drive Adapter turns any ATA drive into a convenient external drive. Easily transfer files from computer or notebook, back up files, or store large file archives on hard drives. The Hi-Speed USB interface provides for easy installation with its Plug and Play design.

  • USB 2.0 up to 480 Mbps Transfer Speed
  • Backwards Compatible with USB 1.1
  • Plug and Play

The USB 2.0 Drive Adapter has been tested with: 2.5" Laptop Drives - all brands

3.5" Desktop Drives - Works with all brands, including Maxtor, Seagate, IBM, Hitachi, Samsung, Western Digital, etc. 5.25" Drives - The adapter supports all existing IDE/ATAPI devices such as CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM drives. Removable Media drives, such as Iomega Zip.

OWC USB 2.0 Drive AdapterProduct Specifications:

  • USB 2.0 to ATA connection (2 sided, for 2.5" and 3.5" drives)
  • Connect any device with an ATA Interface to a Mac or PC with USB interface
  • Transfer rate Approx. 480 MBps (USB 2.0)
  • Complies with USB 2.0 standards
  • Backwards compatible to USB 1.1 standards
  • Complies with ATA/ATAPI-66 Spe. V1.0
  • Simple to Install
  • Supports IDE and enhanced IDE hard drives
  • Supports ATA/ATAPI CD-ROM/R/RW DVD-ROM and more
  • External AC adapter provides drive power

OWC USB 2.0 Drive AdapterSystem Requirements:

  • Mac OS 9.2 or higher including Mac OS X
  • Linux 2.4.X
  • Microsoft Windows 2000/XP (No driver needed)

$12.99

New Verbatim 8 GB Store 'n' Go Retractable USB Drive

PR: Verbatim Americas, LLC has announced at Macworld a Mac OS X compatible 8 GB Store 'n' Go USB Drive, the latest addition to its award-winning Store 'n' Go line of USB Drives. Customer driven, Verbatim offers the new Store 'n' Go drive with two convenience features with that clearly differentiate it from similar USB drives on the market. With the retractable design, the new Mac drive's USB connectors are fully protected without needing a cap that can be easily misplaced. The 8 GB Store 'n' Go USB Drive also provides "intelligent" security - users can freely access and share data in the general 'public' area without having to log in but have password controlled access to the drive's private zone from any OS X-equipped Mac. A write-protect feature is included to prevent accidental erasure of data in both areas.

Borrowing from the tagline on the new Store 'n' Go for Mac pack, Mark Rogers, Verbatim Product Manager, explained that the "Security that works the way you do" is a key feature of the drive. "Unlike other USB drives, it doesn't force you to log in just to use it. It provides basic security features when you need them, but they are not in your way when you don't."

In addition to giving users the capacity they need to store entire libraries of personal entertainment files, the drive's high-capacity is ideal for videographers and photographers who want to collaborate with others on post-production projects and quickly move work from one system to another. A blue LED light signals when data is being transferred. And since the USB flash drive acts like a portable hard drive, users can add and delete files as many times as they like.

A true Plug and Play device, the Store 'n' Go Drive is easily connected to a Mac OS X host computer through a USB port of a desktop or notebook computer. The system automatically recognizes the drive as a new removable drive as soon as it is connected. Featuring a solid-state design (no moving parts) and nonvolatile flash memory, the drive will retain data for 10 years or more. With this mobility and reliability, road warriors, students and commuters can easily carry their data with them and can connect the drive to any Mac OS X computer through the USB port when they arrive at their destination.

Measuring only about 2" inches long and weighing less than half an ounce, Verbatim's 8 GB Store 'n' Go Retractable USB Drive features a modern, compact design that fits easily in a pocket or purse.

The Verbatim Store 'n' Go Retractable 8 GB USB Drive for Mac OS X users will be available late January through Verbatim retail and distribution channels with an MSRP of US$59.99. The complete package includes the 8 GB Store 'n' Go USB Drive, preloaded password security software, a Quick Start Guide and a Verbatim Limited Lifetime warranty.

LaCie Hard Disk MAX, Designed by Neil Poulton

LaCie Hard Disk MAXPR: Get an enormous amount of storage capacity in a hard disk that's easy for anyone to use. The simple and efficient Hard Disk MAX, Design by Neil Poulton contains two internal disks for maximizing capacity. Setup is nearly effortless; it's plug & play and offers customizable formatting with LaCie Setup Assistant. LaCie Backup Assistant software is also included for PC/Mac users. It comes with two RAID options so you can easily choose the configuration that best matches your needs: RAID 0 (BIG) for high capacity or RAID 1 (SAFE) for high security.

This sleek, subtle hard disk has an all-black mirror-polished finish and a unique feature - a cool, blue LED strip on its underside that creates an ambient glow. Thanks to the USB expansion port, it can even be connected to another USB device such as another external hard drive for backups.

$269.99

Software

Google Releases iPhoto-Friendly Picasa for Mac

PR: The easy way to find, edit, and share your photos

Picasa software is now available for the Mac!

  • Organize: Manage your photos in one place, and find photos you forgot you had
  • Edit: Eliminate scratches & blemishes, fix redeye, crop and more
  • Create: Turn photos into movies, collages, slideshows and more
  • Share: Upload seamlessly to Picasa Web Albums to share with friends, family & the world

Additional support information for Mac users » Picasa Basics: Introduction to Picasa for Mac Print

Picasa helps you:

  • Control large photo collections
  • Edit without worry
  • Keep your online photos up-to-date
  • Share with a click

Whether you're a Windows/Linux transplant or a brand new Picasa user, read on to find Mac-specific release notes, getting-started resources, and Mac support information. You can download the Picasa for Mac beta at picasa.google.com. It's a Google Labs release and is English-only at this time.

Picasa for Mac has been designed to play nicely with iPhoto.

Picasa doesn't store any of your photos. It simply scans your hard drive and displays the photo files it finds. In this way, Picasa folders represent the actual directories containing photos on your computer's hard drive.

Picasa handles the iPhoto Library in the same way, with a small variation made for the way in which the iPhoto Library organizes your photos: If you've made edits in iPhoto, each album or event in your iPhoto Library contains an 'Originals' folder and a 'Modified' folder. Picasa scans the photos and videos in both the 'Originals' and 'Modified' folders, and displays a single collective folder with the most recent version of each file.

The photos in your iPhoto Library will be displayed in Picasa in the 'iPhoto Library' collection as read-only files. The read-only status is necessary to ensure that Picasa and iPhoto work well together. You can do a lot with read-only files in Picasa - upload, create a collage, create a movie, email, print - but you won't be able to make any material changes: this includes editing, moving, deleting, and using Sync to Web.

Of course there's a solution: When you attempt to use Picasa to edit an iPhoto Library picture, Picasa will ask your permission to copy the entire folder containing that photo to a location outside of the iPhoto Library - they're placed in a different folder under 'Pictures' titled 'Imported from iPhoto.' You'll then have access to the full range of tools that Picasa offers.

Missing Ingredients

For those accustomed to Picasa for Windows, there are a few features that didn't make the Mac beta:

  • Geotag
  • Shop/Order prints
  • Integrated webcam capture
  • Automatic screen capture
  • Export as HTML page
  • Screensaver
  • Picasa Photo Viewer

Once you've organized and edited your photos to perfection, Picasa for Mac makes it easy to share them online. Here are the facts:

  • Upload = Sharing: Use the Share button in Picasa for Mac to upload to Picasa Web Albums and send invitations to view in one fell swoop.
  • Free storage: Take advantage of 1 GB free photo storage in Picasa Web Albums, with additional storage available for purchase.
  • Broadcast or keep them quiet: Album privacy levels to suit all of your sharing needs.
  • Organize by face: Picasa Web Albums finds the faces, you add name tags, your photos come alive.

System Requirements:

  • Mac OS X 10.4+
  • Intel CPU
  • 256 MB RAM
  • 100 MB available hard disk space

Freeware

CheckUp 2.0 and FlexTeam 2.0 for Mac OS X

PR: App4mac has released the final version of CheckUp 2.0. Checkup is an innovative tool that allows you to check your memory and disks, monitor the health of a Mac computer. App4mac also released the final version of FlexTeam 2.0. Flexteam is a scheduling application that helps share information, work jointly on schedules, and use all available human resources as efficiently as possible.

About CheckUp 2.0

CheckUp is first designed to check the memory and disks of your Mac, monitor the usage of CPU, Memory, Disk Drives and Network Adapters. You can display detailed information about all running processes and pause or terminate these at any time. By adding rules that will be triggered when certain conditions are met for a specified resource on the computer, you can receive visual notifications.

For example, CheckUp can alert you when a certain resource exceeds a certain value or when a hard drive seems to have hardware failures, even when the application is not opened (thanks to an innovative background process and the use of S.M.A.R.T technology). CheckUp can also help you to determine if your computer is able to run Mac OS X Leopard or determine if your computer have enough memory to run all your Applications at the same time.

The graphical user interface is designed with a top priority on high usability in mind. Unlike other competing products it takes a very short time to setup your environment. CheckUp is lightning-fast on the latest Intel-based Macs. One of the most innovative feature of CheckUp is the ability to monitor a Mac on a network or via internet. It's a powerful feature for IT administrators interested to check a remote computer or a remote server.

CheckUp 2.0 is available for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. It's an Universal Binary application working at full speed on both PowerPC and Intel Processors. A user license costs only 29 Euros. Version 2.0 is a FREE upgrade for customers of a previous version.

About Flexteam 2.0

Flexteam is an incredibly useful tool to manage people in your group, organization, or company. Our goal is to make the user's experience as intuitive and task oriented as possible.

Flexteam is a really powerful schedule management tool that is visually appealing. It helps you share information, work jointly on schedules, and use all of your available human resources as efficiently as possible (you can check daily working schedules, manage days off for each person and track holidays). Flexteam can show your schedule in different formats (view by day, week, month, or year). You can print your views, generate PDF files, or publish a schedule on your website with one click.

We designed Flexteam to be very user-friendly. Instead of wasting your time figuring out how to decipher complex software, you can be more productive and efficient. Our unique user-centric approach sets our product apart from any other, making it a powerful, easy-to-use software created to work with Mac OS X.

Flexteam is available for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard only. It's an Universal Binary application working at full speed on both PowerPC and Intel Processors. A user license costs only 49 Euros for a limited time (introductory price until end of February) and all updates/upgrades are free. Version 2.0 is a FREE upgrade for customers of a previous version.

Roxio Launches Toast 10 Titanium

PR: Roxio, a division of Sonic Solutions, has announced the immediate availability of Toast 10 Titanium, the latest version of the company's market-leading burning and digital media software for the Mac. The latest version helps greatly enhance and extend Mac OS X and iLife applications with a broad range of additional capabilities for creating, sharing, and enjoying personal digital media content.

Toast 10 delivers groundbreaking digital media functionality to Mac users with a range of pioneering features that includes: Mac2TiVo for sending home movies and other video content from a Mac to a TiVo DVR; an audiobook creator for converting audiobook CDs into files compatible with portable devices; AVCHD Archive for quickly backing up original content from high-definition camcorders onto DVD or Blu-ray Disc (BD), and a Web video file capture and conversion tool that allows Web-based video to be enjoyed on DVD or mobile devices. Toast 10 Titanium is available today at www.roxio.com and at Macworld Expo booth #2238.

"Toast is far more than better burning on Mac OS; it's about enabling users to manage, create, enjoy and simply do more with their personal library of digital photos, music, and video," said Vito Salvaggio, vice president of consumer products, Sonic Solutions. "This latest version will have special appeal to consumers that want to easily move digital media between their Mac and digital devices such as the iPhone and TiVo, or enjoy Web-based video content offline." New in Toast 10 Titanium:

AVCHD Archive - Backup original video from AVCHD camcorders direct to DVD or BD media in one easy step. Use the discs in BD players or as source materials in future iMovie or Toast projects. Mac2TiVo - Send standard definition and HD video from your Mac to your TiVo DVR for viewing on your TV. Web Video To Go - Save Web video from your favorite video sharing sites to view offline, burn or convert it for viewing on portable players such as an iPod or iPhone. On-the-go Entertainment - Stream and watch television programs, such as EyeTV recordings and TiVoToGo transfers on your iPhone or iPod touch over WiFi with the new iPhone native application Streamer. Portable Audiobooks - Convert audiobook CDs into single audiobook files for playback on your iPod or other portable player - complete with individual chapters - no more individual audiobook chapter files scattered throughout your iTunes library or iPod. Music Builder - Expand your audio library by capturing streaming audio.. Toast now automatically splits captured songs into tracks, tags them with title and artist information, and then sends them to iTunes. Folder Sync - Synchronize folders bi-directionally between multiple computers, network volumes or external hard disks. Stunning DVDs - Create personalized DVDs with any of the over 20 new DVD and Blu-ray Disc menu styles - available in both full screen and high-definition widescreen versions. Introducing Toast 10 Titanium Pro

Today Roxio also released Toast 10 Titanium Pro aimed at prosumers, creative professionals and designers, as well as photo and video hobbyists. In addition to offering everything available in Toast 10 Titanium, Toast 10 Pro includes the High-Definition/Blu-ray Disc plugin as well as these award-winning, third-party applications for developing advanced photo, video, and audio projects: HD/BD Plugin - Author HD video content on to standard DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. Take high-def (HD) video footage from AVCHD camcorders, TiVo and EyeTV and create Blu-ray Discs or even standard DVDs with HD content that can be played on any standard Blu-ray set top box or PlayStation 3 game console. SmartSound Sonicfire Pro - Orchestrate the perfect sound track to accompany videos and slideshows. Use Sonicfire Pro's unique automatic "Mood Mapping" feature or select from a library of included music tracks and adjust the mix and feel of the score to perfectly match your videos and slideshows. BIAS SoundSoap - Remove unwanted noise like wind, hisses, scratches, and pops from LPs, cassettes, or almost any audio, music or video soundtrack. LightZone - Produce striking photos in a simple and intuitive way. Sophisticated features such as zone mapping and relight give you the control to achieve professional quality results. FotoMagico - Turn pictures into spellbinding slideshows with a few simple clicks, and then present them in high definition. Innovative text, transition and alignment tools ensure astonishing results. Burn your slideshow to DVD or Blu-ray Disc for easy viewing and sharing. Pricing and Availability

Toast 10 Titanium is available direct from Roxio at www.roxio.com for $99.99. Special pricing is available at Macworld tradeshow, running January 6-9. An accompanying High Definition/Blu-ray Disc (HD/BD) plugin, which is needed to author Blu-ray Disc video, is sold separately for $19.99 and is available free for those who purchase Toast 10 Titanium online at roxio.com through February 5, 2009. Toast 10 Titanium Pro is on sale for $149.99.

Paparazzi! Freeware Full Web Page Screenshot Utility

Paparazzi page capturePR: Paparazzi! is a small utility for Mac OS X that makes screenshots of entire webpages - even ones too large for your display.

It's written in Objective-C using the Cocoa API and the WebKit framework.

Paparazzi was inspired by webkit2png which is a commandline tool written by Paul Hammond in pyObjC, so all intellectual credit for the basic functionality goes to him.

To use Paparazzi, open the application and type the URL of the page you want to capture. Press the Capture button, then click the 'Save Image As' button, and you have your full page screen shot.

Paparazzi! requires Mac OS X 10.3 or later. The current version is 0.4.3.

Paparazzi is donationware, so if you find yourself using it a lot a donation is requested.

A beta of Paparazzi! 0.5 is also available for download. This version contains a lot of fixes and additions; so use this version to report bugs on! This version will crash on launch under Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). That will be fixed as soon as possible but the developer doesn't have Leopard at home yet.

System requirements: Mac OS X version 10.3 or higher.

System Support: PPC/Intel

Free

Alkitab Bible Study Software

Alkitab Bible StudyPR: Alkitab Bible Study is an open source and free desktop Bible study software. It supports single/parallel view, commentaries, lexicons, dictionaries, glossaries, daily devotions, etc. It also comes with powerful search capability. It features rich and user friendly Bible software study tools. Alkitab is built using JSword engine and is an alternative front end for Bible Desktop.

Alkitab Bible Study is released under public domain.

The source code is available.

You can download additional Bible translations, books, dictionaries, lexicons, etc.

Alkitab Bible Study 2.1-beta2 (Beta/Unstable version) is available for download.

Features:

  • View Single Book or Bible
  • View Parallel Books or Bibles
  • Cross Reference and Search
  • Commentaries
  • Strong's Concordance and Morphology
  • Lexicons/Dictionaries/Glossaries
  • Daily Devotions
  • Plugins Support

Alkitab Bible StudyNew in version 2.0

  • Fix Session Management with Navigator Panel
  • Add Support for Locked Book
  • Add Filter for Navigator Panel (bible)
  • Add Calvin's Institutes to the installer
  • Optimization reduce memory usage
  • Updated to use Netbeans 6.5

System Requirements

  • Java 1.5 or higher ( http://www.java.com/getjava )
  • 1024 x 768, 16-bit (thousands of colors) color display or higher
  • Mouse or equivalent pointing device

New in version 2.1b2:

  • Fix Session Management with Navigator Panel
  • Add Support for Locked Book
  • Add Filter for Navigator Panel (bible)
  • Add Calvin's Institutes to the installer
  • Optimization reduce memory usage
  • Updated to use Netbeans 6.5

System requirements: Java 1.5 or later.

System Support: PPC

Free

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