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

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for October 22, 2009:

Macintosh

• BKeeney Software, Inc. has announced Task Timer 4.2, with major changes to its time management software for Mac OS X and Windows. Version 4.2 is a maintenance release for improved performance and increased functionality. There are several bug fixes in version 4.2, including improvements to the events and project/task editors. Task Timer is an easy-to-use project management tool that allows users to track time spent on an unlimited number of projects and tasks.
• Storyist Software is celebrating National Novel Writing Month with some special offers for Mac users who strive to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Storyist Software will give everyone who participates in NaNoWriMo’s Night of Writing Dangerously fundraiser a free copy of Storyist 2. NaNoWriMo participants who are unable to attend the write-a-thon can get Storyist 2 for 25% off. Storyist 2 is a powerful story development tool for novelists and screenwriters.
• Blue Crowbar Software has released Impression 1.1, an update to the watermark plugins for iPhoto and Aperture, Apple’s photo editing and management applications. Impression provides a simple way to add a visual watermark to your photos from within iPhoto or Aperture. With a watermark, you can add your company logo, a signature or a copyright statement to the photos that you’re posting on the internet. Version 1.1 adds three frequently requested features and fixes a few smaller issues.
• Yazsoft has announced Speed Download 5.2.7, an important update to their popular download manager for Mac OS X. Speed Download 5 redefines the Mac OS X download manager by combining four amazing products: a turbo-charged download manager, a fully featured secure FTP client, a file sharing utility with full encryption, and complete .Mac/iDisk/WEBDAV connectivity, into one small and easy to use application. Version 5.2.7 sports tighter integration for downloading YouTube videos and more.
• Vemedio has released Snowtape 1.3, a major improvement update to their internet radio recording solution for Mac OS X. Snowtape the easiest and most intuitive software for recording internet radio. Snowtape enables the user to quickly find and record his or her favorite music, add album artwork and export it right into iTunes. Version 1.3 adds Windows Media streaming technology and export to MP3.
• Mac users looking for up-to-date documentation on nearly anything relating to managing user accounts or sharing files from a Mac can now turn to two new ebooks in the Take Control series. In “Take Control of Users & Accounts in Snow Leopard,” author Kirk McElhearn explains why a Mac has user accounts, as well as how to set them up, manage them, and use them within a single Mac in various real-world scenarios. McElhearn particularly looks at configuring accounts for children or in a small computer lab. In “Take Control of Sharing Files in Snow Leopard,” networking guru Glenn Fleishman helps readers decide if they should set up a local Mac as a file server or use an Internet-hosted option. For those interested in setting up a local file server, Fleishman walks them through picking out hardware, setting up file-sharing services, configuring accounts, using accounts, and much more.
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning’s Daemon Moon Rising Live Event runs in-game from October 22rd through November 2nd. Damon Moon Rising tells the tale of a fiendish sub-cult of Chaos artificers who have bound savage daemons into innocuous carnival masks and smuggled them into the Empire. The Halloween Live Event will feature the Daemon Mask event quest, a new Daemonball Rally Public Quest, a special Realm vs. Realm scenario, and treats both fair and foul!
• FCP World today announces Blu-ray Templates for Final Cut Studio 2009, its first product for video makers. This is new collection adds 60 additional Blu-ray templates to the Final Cut Studio package, greatly enhancing options for Blu-ray disc production. The templates are fully animated, high-quality looping backgrounds, and work with FCP 7 and Motion 4 and are localized for Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
• Third Street Software, Inc. has announced Sente 6.0, the popular academic reference manager for Max OS X. Sente 6.0 introduces a number of important enhancements, including synchronized libraries, hierarchical reference tagging, PDF markup and more. Originally released in 2004, Sente is in use by students, faculty and researchers in most major academic institutions around the world.

iPhone/iPod

• Twisted Technology has announced Travel Games Ultimate Edition 1.0, their new game suite for iPhone and iPod touch. Travel Games Ultimate Edition is five games in one app providing popular titles like Slug Bug, Scavenger Hunt, Rock-Paper-Scissors, License Plates and Hidden Pictures. This unique collection of games has been developed to engage multiple players so everyone can get in on the fun.
• MotionObj has announced SimplyTweet 2.5, an update to their full featured Twitter application for iPhone and iPod touch. SimplyTweet combines a fast, simple user interface with a rich set of features. The update adds support for TextExpander, application-wide landscape support, Mute support, performance improvements and many other tweaks. It supports advanced functionality such as mentions and direct messages push notifications, themes, photo search, and photo and video posting and much more.
• Lucky Me is a series of chance based games/activities that combine luck, intuition, and a wee bit of smartness. Click, shake, tap, pinch, and squish your way into gauging your luck. At the end of the activities, let the karmic software tell you which direction your luck is headed.
• Grantwood Technology, LLC has announced the release of the tuneband for iPod nano, an armband product designed to comfortably secure the iPod nano in place during exercise, including Nike iPod compatibility. The tuneband is compatible with the 5th generation of the iPod nano and is available in six colors. Each tuneband consists of a comfortable and flexible armband strap that can accommodate both large and small arms with a durable silicone skin.
• PRG Consulting has announced My Christmas Gift List 1.0, their new Christmas list organizer for iPhone and iPod Touch devices. My Christmas Gift List was specially designed to help you organize your Christmas shopping. This shopping list manager is the perfect tool to take care of all your shopping for the Holiday season: starting from contacts, budget to ideas and gifts, organize your Christmas shopping in the most efficient and enjoyable way.
• ASD Soft has announced Bikini Lines 1.1, an update to their popular puzzle game for iPhone and iPod Touch. Designed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique abilities and interface, Bikini Lines is an extremely addictive challenging game featuring 20 levels with gorgeous girls. The aim of the Bikini Lines is to drag and arrange similarly colored balls in lines to remove them. As they disappear, fabulous photos of sexy models are revealed.
• Abundant Creature and Finger Food Studios have announced Yoga Teacher 1.0, their premiere Yoga App for iPhone and iPod touch. Yoga Teacher features a unique full real-time 3D interface allows students of Yoga to learn how to perfect and optimize their Yoga postures in an interactive, highly visual environment. Yoga Teacher also maintains a log of user progress over time so that you can track your progress and understanding as your studies continue.
• Skyworks has announced another fun and addictive application: Boardwalk Games. Step right up and try your skill at winning prizes at your favorite boardwalk/midway attractions. Boardwalk Games combines 3 of your favorite carnival games on a scrollable nighttime boardwalk so you feel like you’re right there, in the middle of the fun. What’s more exciting is that you can win prizes at each attraction based on your score! The prizes get stored in your Prize Booth, which is like a Trophy Room of how well you did at the carnival.
• Just in time for Halloween, Paramount Digital Entertainment has released Pet Sematary for the iPhone and iPod touch, a top-down, tap-to-kill arcade game inspired by the classic horror film. In Pet Sematary, a grief-stricken father buries his son in an ancient animal burial ground, where it is said everything laid to rest there will come back to life. But the burial ground is for animals only; when the animals and his son rise from the grave, they have a new hunger for human flesh. Players in Pet Sematary take on the role of a lone hero uninterested in becoming cat food. Perched on the rooftops, players will shoot down undead animals by tapping them one to four times as they race across the screen to feast on innocent townspeople.
• iSkin Inc. today launched two new great ways to protect and compliment the recently released iPod nano 5G: the sleek and sophisticated iSkin Duo and the elegantly fashionable iSkin Vibes.
• iSkin has released the iSkin DuoBand: the ideal solution for people with active lifestyles who want to protect and enjoy their iPod nano while on-the-go or during exercise.  Unlike other armband solutions, the iSkin DuoBand allows users to conveniently slip their iSkin-protected iPod nano into the armband accessory—and back out again—without the hassle of having to remove its silicone protector.
• Vuzix Corporation is shipping the Wrap 310 worldwide. The game-changing Wrap 310 challenges the status quo of traditional video viewing devices by looking and feeling like normal sunglasses. The Wrap 310, featuring twin high-resolution video displays and projecting a 55-inch screen at 10-feet is now available through Vuzix.com and a number of other retailers and distribution partners.