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

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for October 8, 2009:

Macintosh

• Martin Wengenmayer has announced Cheetah3D 5.0, a major update to his 3D modeling solution for Mac OS X. Developed from the ground up utilizing the latest Cocoa technologies, Cheetah3D is a lean, fast, and elegant 3D modeling, rendering, and animation package with an easy learning curve. Version 5.0 adds a completely new node based material system, optimized render engine, extended modeling tools, and many small UI enhancements.
• Flying Mac has announced that FarFinder went on sale for two weeks until October 22nd. FarFinder allows users to browse, search, view and download their Mac’s files from anywhere on the internet at any time, using any Mac, PC or iPhone. No special software is required on the client side, and a Mac can be accessed from any platform. All communication between browser/iPhone and Mac is encrypted using secure http, the same technology used for secure web sites like banks and online retailers.
• iFunia Corp. has updated iFunia Video Converter Pro to help users convert MTS/MOD and other HD/SD video to iMovie and Final Cut Pro compatible format for editing.
• Charlie’s Games has announced Bullet Candy Perfect for Mac OS X. Bullet Candy Perfect is a fun shoot-em-up game, with sharp, super smooth 3D graphics, and a cool techno soundtrack. The game is all about honing your skills to perfection as you attempt the perfect run. Along with a host of score and power-up techniques, the game uses a tactical suicide mechanic that allows you to cheat an unpleasant death at the hands of your enemies and keep your bonus weapons and score multipliers intact.
• The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript is the first ever game created about the life and work of Leonardo Da Vinci. Players come to discover and delve inside the mysteries surrounding the hidden enigmas of the works of the great genius. “The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript” is a major investigation and adventure game, a thrilling mystical quest into the heart of the Renaissance. It is now available for Mac OS X.
• Commence Corporation, a leading provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software solutions designed specifically for small- to mid-size businesses, has announced details of the new cloud computing edition of its award-winning CRM software. The new offering, planned for January 2010, will initially be deployed for the Amazon Web Service’s Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) environment.
• Jumsoft has announced updates for Money, its most popular business and finance tool. This week sees the release of improved desktop and iPhone versions of Money. Enhancements to the new desktop version, 3.4.3, feature improved Snow Leopard compatibility, while Money 1.1 for iPhone includes automatic bill payment, comment capability, and several interface improvements.
• Minder Softworks has released MYStuff 1.0, designed to be the first “stuff manager” for OS X. MYStuff solves two common problems: eliminate paperwork clutter associated with the things people own, and take advantage of manufacturer’s warranties. It accomplishes this by storing information about the things you own as images, PDFs, and as manually-entered data. MYStuff allows you to back up your data, print lists for insurance claims, and view your records as lists or as images.
• Since its release in September 2007, Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual has been the bestselling computer book in America. And now, the beast is back. The new Snow Leopard edition offers a wealth of detail on Apple’s newest operating system. Snow Leopard is faster and more reliable than earlier Mac OSX versions, and no one is more reliable at bringing you up to speed than David Pogue.
• Mythic Entertainment, the developer of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), will be descending upon GameX 2009 from October 23rd - 25th to meet fans and showcase the latest and greatest new content and updates to WAR. Located at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, the event will provide the opportunity for local players to meet with members of the development team and check out the latest Halloween Live Event, Daemon Moon Rising, which includes the Daemonball Rally Public Quest and the Daemon Mask Event Quest.
• Power Technology has announced iDFX. iDFX installs as an accessory for iTunes and uses patent-pending technology to re-encode the users MP3 and AAC files for much higher sound quality. It does this by compensating for fidelity and harmonic content loss that occurred during the original encoding process. The result is much better playback quality on your iPod; many users feel the quality is as good as the original CD recordings.
• Long-time Mac users and industry experts Larry Pollock and Kevin Burns have announced the launch of MacSupportCasts, a new online video tutorial web site designed to provide affordable online Mac training to users ranging in expertise from novice to intermediate. Easy-to-use video tutorials begin with the fundamentals of using a Mac computer and then move into more detailed training on each application that is included with a Mac.

iPhone/iPod

• LatteArt (iTunes App Store link) is an entertainment application that allows the user to create art with a pattern or design of milk foam. Spread milk foam with your finger on the screen. Drag the milk foam by etching. Brush up your design with a melted chocolate line that enables ranges of patterns. You can also take a photograph in as a rough sketch, and start a design based on it.
• From the makers of the most popular Sudoku games on iPhone comes a new whirl on word games! How many words can you discover from six letters? Solve the puzzle instantly by finding the six-letter word or step up to the challenge of finding all possible words with the letters given. Whirly Word comes with over 5,000 puzzles, multiple color schemes, score tracking, and background music and sound effects that can be turned off so you can listen to your iPod while you play.
• Game Era Studio has announced Underwater 2, a new sequel to their match3 puzzle game for iPhone and iPod Touch. Designed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique gesturing abilities and peerless interface, Underwater 2 distinguishes itself from alternative Tetris-like games in that it is completely gesture based. Underwater features 3 gaming modes with a total of 29 compelling levels, beautifully rendered graphics, and a soothing, aquatic sound environment.
• Directed Graph Software LLC has announced iLEVELi 2.1, an update to their versatile inclinometer utility for iPhone and iPod Touch. Designed specifically for the iPhone’s delightful user experience, iLEVELi simulates a spirit level allowing the user to focus on the measurement of slopes and angles referenced to gravity. Version 2.1 uses more refined digital signal processing techniques for faster measurements and calibration, and improved sensitivity to perturbations.
• TapFactory has introduced Contact 1.2, their new iPhone app. Contact is the only Home screen speed dial app that supports dialing, SMS and emailing. Contact allows users to generate any number of speed dials on their Home screen, each with their own unique icon that can be a custom photo or selected from the built in icon library. Create any number of custom speed dials that when tapped can either dial a number, open an SMS, open an email, or prompt you with all three.
• MotionObj has announced SimplyTweet 2.4, 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 multiple drafts, a customizable swipe menu, option to disable landscape mode and bug fixes. It supports advanced functionality such as mentions and direct messages push notifications, themes, photo search, and photo and video posting and much more.
• Ian Maskell has announced the launch of iPhone App Freelancer, a website offering the ability to turn great ideas into apps with little or no programming knowledge. iPhone App Freelancer is a service that connects freelancer iPhone application developers with entrepreneurs and businesses that require custom programming, applications, graphics and development projects for the iPhone.
• This coming weekend (that’s October 10th & 11th 2009) Chilli X is going to give all their apps away for free. That’s right—all 16 apps will be free. That’s enough to fill a whole screen on your iPhone. They know it’s crazy but they wanted to say thank you to everybody who has supported them over the last year, and simultaneously boost awareness of their apps.
• SintraWorks has released Metron 1.2, an update to their professional digital metronome for iPhone and iPod Touch. Featuring an intuitive front panel, Metron offers a high-precision playback engine and a bar based sequencer to provide detailed control over tempo settings & time signatures, including mixed meters, accelerandos and ritardandos. Metron incorporates a tuner that can be calibrated to cent level. Version 1.2 includes playback during screen-lock, pitch-pipe adjustment per Hertz, more.
• Silver Lining Ideas has announced the start of their month long contest to name the panda in their soon to be released Lucky Day application. The first place prize will be a stuffed Panda with the newly announced name stitched onto it, a iTunes gift card and the winners name listed in the credits of the game design. The contest starts October 8, 2009 and will be open for entries until October 30, 2009. The winner will be announced on October 31, 2009.
• DVDxDV has released Photo Sweets 1.0, a new photography application for iPhone devices. Photo Sweets features a new photo skin smoothing filter that can soften wrinkles and smooth out skin. Additionally, the app contains three other high quality filters for setting White Point, Color Burst and Noise Reduction. Photo Sweets works on any picture taken with the iPhone Camera or stored in its Photo Library. It processes images at full resolution making them suitable for printing.
• IK Multimedia has announced the release of two new applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch: GrooveMaker Techno and GrooveMaker Trance. Both versions based on the recently released GrooveMaker remixing application, these style-based apps allow everyone to create and share non-stop techno and trance tracks for DJing, remixing, multimedia and movie soundtrack compositions on the go, in real-time, just like a professional DJ or music producer.
• Weight Watchers has announced the Weight Watchers Mobile iPhone app. Now Weight Watchers gives you even more freedom and flexibility. Access your plan info from wherever you are: at a restaurant, the grocery store, on vacation or just out and about. Track the POINTS values of food and activities and find the best options for what to eat. Everything you do on your mobile device will be seamlessly reflected on your account on the website. It’s included with your subscription. And it’s just one more way that Weight Watchers fits with your life.
• Pet Acoustics Inc, a company dedicated to bringing products to market that bring joy and peace to the animals that share their lives with us, releases the Pet Acoustics Application for iPhone and iPod Touch. The first App of its kind, Pet Acoustics provides soothing music that enhances the lives of dogs, cats, horses, and their people to maintain balance and well being in their living environment.