Appletell | Apple, Mac, iPhone, iPod | News, Rumors, Reviews, How-Tos

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for November 23, 2009:

Macintosh

• Until November 28th, TheMacBundles is offering the highly rated iArchiver utility for one week at a 55% discount. Due to the large response to the survey and related free bundle offer, the survey will end on November 23rd. However, as originally announced, a free copy of the December bundle will be awarded to two randomly selected individuals who completed the brief survey.
• Maxprog has released MaxBulk Mailer 7, an update to its popular email-merge solution for Macintosh and Windows. MaxBulk Mailer supports plain text, HTML and rich text formats including optional plain text alternative and attachments. Version 7 includes several interesting new features and improvements, and now available in English, German, French, Japanese, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Russian and Portuguese languages.
• .com Solutions Inc. has released FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition 5.31, updated with enhancements to the AccessToFmPro migration feature. FileMaker Pro developers can automate the conversion of Microsoft Access Forms/Reports, Relationships, Value Lists, Queries and Visual Basic code to FileMaker Pro database solutions. The Access to FmPro Migration feature can easily save hundreds of hours of development effort in a typical Access to FileMaker Pro conversion project.
• IntelliScanner Corporation has unveiled the new Wine Collector mini, a smart barcode scanner/software package that automatically organizes wine collections with barcode technology. By scanning the retail barcode found on most bottles of wine, Wine Collector offers easy, comprehensive organization and a Virtual Cellar for visualizing collections. Wine Collector mini features rechargeable battery, lightweight scanning engine, automatic wine identification. Easy wine organization, miniaturized.
• Jumsoft has released Keynote Themes FX 5.0, a collection of 15 high-quality slide themes for Apple’s presentation software. Keynote Themes FX are designed to enhance presentations of diverse types with consistently elegant motion backgrounds, fonts, frames, & bullet styles. The motifs used vary from pastel-shaded glass beads to DNR imagery, allowing users to target and win over multiple, and diverse, audiences, including clients, business colleagues, participants at a conference, or students.
• Hyperbolic Software has announced Tidy Up! 2.1.2, the latest version of the award-winning duplicate finder and disk tidying utility. Tidy Up! has become a must-have utility to reclaim disk space being taken up by duplicate files and packages. Tidy Up! locates duplicate items using a wide range of criteria including owner application, time created or modified, name, label, extension and content. Version 2.1 introduces nearly 50 new features to this already comprehensive tool.
• Twelve South has introduced BassJump, a portable, USB powered subwoofer that turns a MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air into a portable sound system. The BassJump sound and power comes from one single USB connection. Proprietary software blends the sound output of the BassJump subwoofer with the output of built-in MacBook speakers for dramatically enhanced sound performance. BassJump is sold exclusively at the Apple Store and at twelvesouth.com for $79.99 and is available now.
• Freeverse has announced an update to Comic Life, the award-winning digital photography Mac app that lets you design your own comic strips. Developed by plasq, Comic Life expands what you can do with your photos. You can become the hero in your own comics, create beautiful picture albums or how-to files complete with captions, and much more. The easy-to-use interface integrates with your existing photos and works with the built-in iSight camera found on many Macs. A collection of fun, professionally designed templates are included, along with filters and many special effects to help dress up your images.

iPhone/iPod

• Research shows that presentation and communication skills are directly linked to career enhancement and job performance. Rexi Media has recently upgraded Presenter Pro, an iPhone app that enables you to acquire outstanding presentation skills and use them to wow customers, colleagues, bosses, or interviewers. Combining visuals, audio, and video examples with an attractive and educational approach, Presenter Pro will get you ready for your next interview.
• Widgetize has announced FantasyLens 2.3, an update to their fun and unique portrait generation app for iPhone/iPod touch. With innovative features like one-touch automatic color matching, FantasyLens makes it easy for anyone to create composite portraits using photos of friends, family alike. Turn anyone into an astronaut, the Mona Lisa, a gigantic jumbotron ad, a sunflower and more - all without any prior image editing or Photoshop skills.
• SchroederDev LLC has introduced Slango 1.0, their new Urban Dictionary app for iPhone and iPod touch. Developed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique capabilities and interface, Slango is a mobile front end to Urban Dictionary, the popular web-based dictionary of slang words and phrases. Slango features access to over 4,000,000 words and features such as Word of the Day, search, share, and bookmarks with offline-viewing support.
• Funky Visions has announced Jiggle Balls: Spikes! 1.0, the follow-up game to their Top 100 App “Jiggle Balls” for iPhone and iPod touch. In Jiggle Balls: Spikes!, you control Spikey the big purple ball. Smash the Jiggle Balls before time expires. With 25 levels to challenge you, each level has new puzzles and obstacles to overcome. Continue from the last level completed or retry any level. Challenge your friends to start from the first level and see how far they can get.
• Creative Algorithms has announced Serving Sizer Recipe Converter 1.0 for iPhone/iPod Touch. Serving Sizer Recipe Converter easily scales recipes by serving size. Enter the recipe’s serving size & the new number of servings and this cooking calculator will handle all the fraction math. Resize ingredients for family of five, holiday dinner for 14, catering to a crowd of 100, or scale down for two. Translate recipes from metric to imperial; all results are displayed in both units.
• Independent software developer Steve Glinberg has announced KidCalc 1.7, an update to his popular animated math flash cards and learning game for iPhone and iPod touch. Designed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s peerless interface, KidCalc helps teach math to children, ages 3-8 years, using Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa themed graphics, engaging animations and voice-overs by a child. Notably KidCalc becomes the only Kwanzaa application available for iPhone and iPod touch.
• You can’t find String ‘em In among the pages of your dictionary, but if you could it would be the definition of the ultimate word-puzzle game. Based on the worldwide digital television hit of the same name, String ‘em In [iTunes App Store link] is what happens when you mix word games such as Scrabble and Boggle with the block-puzzler genre to create something incredibly addictive. Developed by Manchester-based game studio Connect2Media, the game is available on iTunes from today.
• Blue Lightning Labs has announced a Thanksgiving sale on their popular iPhone application Mathemagics, an application for learning to mentally calculate math problems at phenomenal speeds. For a limited time Mathemagics is on sale at more than 60% off. Mathemagics 1.1 contains 20 different math tricks for multiplying, dividing and squaring numbers faster than many people can use a calculator.
• Nuclear Nova has announced updates to GL Golf, GL Golf Deluxe, and GL Golf Lite, bringing all versions up to 1.09. With the addition of a driving range, 12 new courses, four new clubs, over a 50% performance increase, and 32 additional improvements, Nuclear Nova continues to prove its dedication to the GL Golf franchise. In celebration, Nuclear Nova has dropped the price for the next week. GL Golf offers a realistic physics system and smooth, fluid graphics for compelling game-play.
• Macsoftex has announced the great discount on their blood alcohol content app for iPhone and iPod touch. Intuitively easy to use, iAlcohol determines the level of alcohol in a person’s blood and calculates the required break in driving. The formula calculates the influence of factors on the duration of the phases of alcohol intoxication, providing 90% accuracy. The application will help you choose a suitable drink and the amount you are allowed to consume within this interval of time.
• Pandemica—a multi-player augmented reality game for the iPhone 3GS—It is an intense, arcade-style shooter with three single-player game modes (Mission, Endless, and Time Attack) and two multiplayer modes (maximizing either points or cooperating on defence against the alien virus).
• Anna McDonald Bridal Gallery has produced the world’s first Bridal Shop iPhone application with the help of MDB Consulting. In partnership with MDB, iBridal offers brides-to-be access to valuable information for planning their big day, including a countdown to the event, a bridal gallery, special offers and planning advice.
• mophie has announced the immediate availability of the highly acclaimed Juice Pack Air, currently the world’s thinnest Apple-certified external battery, in AT&T stores nationwide.  The rechargeable 1200 mAH battery, integrated into an ultra-thin case, is now available over 2000 locations for $79.95.
• Mobile entertainment innovators gridMob has released the first true karaoke experience for iPhone and iPod Touch, with help from Interscope hit artist Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga worked with gridMob to develop a customized version of iOKi, gridMob’s new application that delivers true karaoke anywhere including the ability to browse and purchase karaoke tracks from right within the application. Lady Gaga iOKi includes a total of five Lady Gaga karaoke tracks featuring her master recordings, and includes the newly released “Bad Romance” from her album Fame Monster.
• Widget Factory, LLC, the creators of the world’s thinnest iPhone and iPod touch stand, iBend, has announced its newest collection—the iBend Artist Series—featuring 12 new, out-of-the-box designs and cool looking graphics for a more personalized and colorful mobile video viewing experience.