Publicspace.net (http://www.publicspace.net/) has released A Better Finder Rename 8.62, an update of the renaming solution for the Mac. The upgrade allows users to insert the name of the enclosing folder into file names in a variety of new ways. A Better Finder Rename costs US$19.95. Business, family and enterprise licensing is also available. Customers may chose to include a "forever upgrade" with their purchase. A Better Finder Rename requires Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6. It's Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs.

Tension Software has updated Password Repository (http://www.pomola.com/products_passwordrepository/passwordrepository.html), a Mac OS X password storage utility, to version 2.12. The upgrade sports a tweaked user interface, the ability to move the search field via keyboard shortcut and menu, and better handling of record creation. Password Repository lets you save all your passwords in documents protecting them on disk using a single password. Data is encrypted using strong and bullet proof algorithms, and the password protecting a document is not saved in any place. Password Repository costs US$30, though version 2.12 is a free update for registered users of version 2.0. The software is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher.

Publicspace.net has announced Vitamin-R 1.18 (http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/index.htm), an update of its Mac OS X compatible productivity tool for creative professionals. The new version delivers integration with Cultured Code's popular Things to do list manager. Vitamin-R is a collection of tools and techniques for managing attention and maintaining motivation. According to the folks at publicspace.net, it complements the task capturing and organizing features of modern to-do list managers by forcing you to concentrate fully on one task a time and keeping distractions at bay. It breaks down large, vaguely defined tasks into a series of short "time slices" of between 10 and 30 minutes, each with specific and actionable objectives. Vitamin-R provides you with the "Now & Later Board," complete with FastType magic, to give you a place to quickly dump all those things that go through your head and allows to get back to the task at hand. It requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher....

The Pixelmator Team (http://www.pixelmator.com) has updated Pixelmator -- a US$59 GPU-powered image editing tool for creating, editing and enhancing still images -- to version 1.6 (codenamed "Nucleus"). The upgrade, free to registered users, boasts performance improvements, 64-bit support, layer groups, an Import feature, Flickr, Facebook and Picasa support, redesigned transform tools, and more. Pixelmator is based on Core Image and OpenGL technologies that use Mac's video card for image processing. Core Image and OpenGL utilize the graphics card for image processing operations, freeing the CPU for other tasks. If a high-performance card with increased video memory (VRAM) is present, the user will find real-time responsiveness across a wide variety of Pixelmator operations, including editing tools, color correction tools, and filters, according to Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. Pixelmator supports more than 100 different file formats, including Photoshop images with layers,...

Ascender Corp. says that the Canada Type font design studio has come to a font distribution agreement with Ascender.   Rebecca Alaccari and Patrick Griffin founded the Toronto-based Canada Type back in early 2004. Since its establishment, Canada Type has created a variety of typefaces for design professionals and creative enthusiasts. The Canada Type fonts have appeared on everything from large corporate projects to small personal design work.   The Canada Type font collection will add a number of enhanced versions of historical typefaces and expertly-designed original fonts to Ascender’s diverse collection of fonts. This includes a line-up of script fonts and a variety of exclusive psychedelic fonts from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Canada Type fonts are available in both TrueType and OpenType formats and can be found on the Ascender Fonts website. For more information or to view the fonts visit: http://www.ascenderfonts.com/foundry/canada-type/ .

Avenza Systems (http://www.avenza.com), producers of MAPublisher cartographic software for Adobe Illustrator and Geographic Imager spatial tools for Adobe Photoshop, has announced that the upcoming release of Geographic Imager, version 3.2, will include the ability to dynamically apply terrain shading and colorization to digital elevation models within Adobe Photoshop. The Geographic Imager Terrain Shader functionality will be included as a standard feature in the upcoming release. For the first time, users will be able to easily and quickly import a DEM, apply colors and shades based on elevation and even apply a specific light source position and intensity to achieve a specific shading effect, all within Adobe Photoshop, according to Avenza President Ted Florence. Geographic Imager transforms Adobe Photoshop into a spatial imagery editing tool. It works with Mac OS X 10.5 and higher and costs US$699.

DVDxDV Pro (http://www.dvdxdv.com/) has been updated to version 3.0. The new version includes a new video timeline similar to the ones in found in iMovie or Final Cut Pro. It provides instant access to any location in a DVD movie. The new timeline can be expanded by zooming in or contracted by zooming. With the timeline, the exact beginning and ending for movie clips can now be set. DVDxDV Pro rips unencrypted standard definition DVDs into QuickTime video files. It can convert DVDs into High Definition 1080i video for use in Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere and iMovie HD. In addition to editing systems, DVDxDV Pro supports conversion to the MP4 format for use in the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Apple TV. DVDxDV Pro will convert to any QuicktTme compatible codec, as well. DVDxDV Pro requires Mac OS X 10.4 or newer and QuickTime 7.03 or higher. It costs US$80.

SubRosaSoft has updated DasBoot (http://macosg.me/2/is) -- a free tool that can turn devices such as an iPod, a flash drive or portable hard drive into a Mac OS X diagnostic, repair, and maintenance tool -- to version 2.0. The new version is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard"). DasBoot allows you to take any third party boot CD (such as those shipped by SubRosaSoft.com, Prosoft Engineering, Alsoft or Micromat) and create a bootable diagnostic device that contains any of your own utilities you may wish to install. In addition you can re-configure the device at any time to add new utilities, updated versions of software or newer versions of Mac OS X. DasBoot has been tested with the following disk utilities and data recovery tools, but will also run many others, according to the folks at SubRosaSoft: CopyCatX, FileSalvage, MacForensicsLab, VolumeWorks, Drive Genius, Data Rescue II, DiskWarrior and TechTool Pro. It's compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 and higher.

Smaato (http://metrics.smaato.com/), a mobile ad optimizer and mobile advertising company, has revealed its latest data looking at the global mobile advertising market in terms of click-through rates and ad network fill rates for June. The company says the report shows Android making large gains in global click through rates (CTR), as it climbed above rival Apple, to third place. In the US, Symbian still dominates in terms of CTR, but Android has closed the gap with a CTR Index of 192 (118 in May), while Apple iOS drops down to fifth place in its home market with a CTR Index of 73. In stark contrast to the global and US stages, Android has the lowest performance in terms of CTR Index (52) in Europe, with Windows Mobile achieving the best (205), almost quadruple Android’s Index. Smaato serves over eight million ad requests in its network of more than 6,000 registered mobile publishers and over 40 mobile ad networks. The Index consists of the average CTR of all devices and this number...

IDG World Expo has opened up Expo-only registration (http://www.macworldexpo.com/prices) for the 2011 Macworld Conference & Expo. The event will be held Jan. 26-29 in San Francisco. The expo portion of MWSF will start Jan. 27. If you register before July 26, it's free. Macworld 2010 ended up with more than 20,000 attendees, over 250 exhibitors and more than 150 conference sessions, according to IDG World Expo, owner of Macworld 2010.

Apple has responded to the opening brief of clone maker, Psystar, in the ongoing legal battle. Based on Apple’s responses to Psystar’s Opening Brief, it appears that the PC maker is hoping it can convince the court to change how copyright law is interpreted. “It seems that Psystar is pinning all its hopes in the 9th Circuit on getting the court to adopt a radical revision of the Copyright Misuse doctrine that would in effect destroy copyright and force all copyrighted works to be licensed,” an attorney familiar with this type of case told "The Mac Observer" (http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_responds_to_psystar_appeal_...). “Because Psystar has no proof that Apple has inhibited competition or suppressed creativity, Psystar urges this Court to abandon long-standing precedent and create a new doctrine of per se copyright misuse,” Apple’s Answer Briefing stated. “Under this doctrine, any license agreement — such as Apple’s SLA -- that restricts the use of copyrighted software...

App4mac has introduced Delegate 1.0 (http://www.app4mac.com/delegate.html), a new to-do lists manager designed for the Mac, iPhone and iPad. It allows users to share a to-do list on the internet for remote access from any location. Delegate has a built in tagging feature, which allows you to tag additional information to your tasks. This information can be anything you find necessary or helpful, such as due dates, priority levels, and contexts. Delegate is compliant to GTD method Getting Things Done. The Mac version allows users to share a to-do list on the Internet with a free online service powered by app4mac Delegate Server solution. Using this feature requires a user license. As an option, Mac users can use their own Delegate Server. You can access a to-do list shared online from any Mac, iPhone or iPad running the Delegate application. The Mac version requires Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Snow Leopard. It's available in English and French. The Mac version is available for US$35 until...

Following two recent hacks of its iTunes store. iTunes users should now change the password on their iTunes account as well as switching to a prepaid debit card for the service, according to Fortify (http://www.fortify.com), a company that specializes in software security assurance. Barmak Meftah, Fortify's chief products officer, told "Help Net Security" that, while Apple will almost certainly stomp on this iTunes hacking methodology, the modus operandi is similar to that used by trending malware coders, who continually check online search trends and pump out malware via a range of hastily-registered infected web sites. It boils down to raising the profile of an infected piece of code or Web site until a group of online users sees the code or web site and thinks "ooh -- that looks interesting," and then infects their computer with a trojan or malware, he added. Meftah says that using a pre-paid debit card such as the Paypal Visa top-up card makes a lot of sense for use on online...

Apple will open a retail store in Hong Kong sometime in 2011, reports "CrunchGear" (http://macosg.me/2/im). The first Shanghai store opened last week, and Apple plans on opening 25 new retail outlets in the country. "CrunchGear" notes that the The retail expansion is a huge strategy shift for Apple. Up until last week’s opening, there was only one Apple Store in all of China -- Beijing, which opened in 2008.

Sonny Software has released Bookends 11.0.6, a Mac-only full-featured bibliography/reference and information management application for professionals and students. You can now attach multiple files to the same reference with one drag and drop. You can also import multiple text files with one drag and drop. Witih Bookends 11.0.6, you can automatically rename attachments by title. It sports improved author "ignore list" for sorting, drag and drop import of references to a specific group and an attachment indicator displayed in red if a reference has more than one attachment. A free evaluation copy of Bookends 11.0.6 can be downloaded from the Sonny Software web site (http://www.sonnysoftware.com). All features are enabled in the evaluation copy except that databases are limited to a maximum of 50 references. Once purchased, Sonny Software will supply a registration number that will "unlock" the evaluation version and remove this restriction. Bookends 11.0.6 retails for US$99 ($69 for...

RecialMe (http://www.recialme.com) has released ReclaiMe, a data recovery application that lets computer users to restore folders and files that they've accidentally deleted, or that have become lost. It runs on Windows, but it can recover files from your Windows, Mac, or UNIX/Linux drives, as well as USB and eSATA drives, and the memory cards used in digital cameras, mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, and video recorders. ReclaiMe comes in four editions. ReclaiMe Multimedia costs US$29.95 and lets you recover more than 50 types of photo, music, and video files. ReclaiMe Windows costs $79.95. In addition to restoring multimedia files, it also recovers all files from Windows disks (FAT, exFAT, and NTFS). ReclaiMe Universal costs $139.95, processes the multimedia and Windows files described above, and also restores Apple Mac files. Simply attach your Mac storage device to your Windows system, and ReclaiMe can process Standard Mac OS drives (HFS), Mac OS Extended disks (HFS+), and the UFS...

Tension Software has updated NoteList (http://pomola.com/products_notelist/notelist.html), a Mac OS X app that allows to store notes in a free form using text and images with full word processing capabilities, to version 2.8.2. The upgrade allows the search field to be selected at startup and makes some small interface changes. NoteList has a set of tools for formatting and working with text as in a word processor. You can drag and drop images directly inside the document and label categories to help organize all your notes, now with colors. NoteList costs US$25. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. It's Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. Version 2.8.2 is a free update for registered users of version 2.x.

Hey, I want one. Want a what? A free 3G MicroCell from AT&T. According to "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com) the telecom is sending out certificates to some customers for the device, which is designed to offer improved reception at home. AT&T's 3G MicroCell is used to patch dead zones with the carrier's service. Users can plug the device into a broadband Internet connection, and provide local signal for both voice and data. Nationwide rollout of the hardware started in mid-April. Individual or FamilyTalk subscribers can pay an extra l US$19.99 per month to make unlimited calls through the special femtocell hardware device. The hardware costs $149.99, but comes with a $100 mail-in rebate for customers who select a MicroCell calling plan. Also,, customers who purchase a new line of broadband service with AT&T are also eligible for a $50 mail-in rebate.

Zevrix Solutions (http://www.zevrix.com) has updated InPreflight Pro -- its quality control, packaging automation and preflight reporting solution for Adobe InDesign -- to version 2.8.7. The new version improves EPS file handling and addresses some performance and stability issues. InPreflight provides a preflight solution for service providers, printers, ad agencies, designers and publishing houses. It gathers information about document fonts, colors and links and lets users locate potential problems according to preflight presets. The software is also a packaging automation solution that allows users to preflight and package multiple documents. Among other abilities, it can collect all files into one folder, eliminating the need to collect the same links multiple times for each design. In addition, InPreflight lets users print graphic preflight reports and save them as fully searchable interactive PDF files, providing an easy way to analyze, archive and send reports to service...

Apple is now offering free repairs or replacements for Time Capsules bought between February and June 2008. According to an Apple Knowledge Base article (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3351), some Time Capsules sold between approximately February 2008 and June 2008 may not power on or may shut down unexpectedly after starting up. Some Time Capsules with serial numbers in the following range may be affected: XX807XXXXXX - XX814XXXXXX. The serial number is located on a gray strip on the bottom of the device. If your Time Capsule falls within serial number range above and it does not power on or shuts down unexpectedly after starting up, it may be eligible for repair or replacement. If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider confirms that your Time Capsule is affected, Apple will repair or replace it free of charge.

In what may be one of the first known iPhone 4 “video calling” medical consultations since the phone’s release, surgeons at Valley Presbyterian Hospital near Los Angeles and University of Arizona used the advanced technology to successfully collaborate long distance in “real time” on a wound consultation for a patient. Using the FaceTime feature on the new iPhone 4, Dr. David G. Armstrong, professor of surgery at the University of Arizona's Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA), was able to instantly connect with Dr. Lee Rogers, associate director of Valley Presbyterian Hospital’s Amputation Prevention Center (http://www.valleypres.org/apc), near Los Angeles by video calling. What is essentially a simple phone call, turned into a long distance consultation and second opinion for a patient who recently underwent surgery. “Video consultation over the Internet has been available for a few years, but its utility in the clinical setting has been limited by the necessity of having...

iWebTemplate (http://www.iwebtemplate.com) has added four new iWeb templates to be used with Apple's web site building app, iWeb. Included in the new release are the widgetized iWeb templates, iTunezSite and iGameSite. The new release includes four themes for iWeb: Computer Store, WebDesignStudio, iGameSite and iTunezSite, The new release extends iWebTemplate's iWeb themes collection up to 132 iWeb templates. Each iWeb theme incorporates a number of different graphic elements that can be removed, moved and changed in size, opacity or color. All themes incorporates endless background, therefore website can be filled with different amount of information. iWeb themes contains different page layouts to accommodate various information. The templates require Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later and iWeb 2.0/3.0. Each iWeb theme is available for US$12.99.

The Escapers has released Flux 2.48.18 (http://theescapers.com/flux2/), an update of the Mac OS X app that allows drag 'n drop creation of web pages without the need of knowledge of XHTMLICSS (though you can twiddle with the code if you like). It's a maintenance release with bug fixes and performance tweaks. Now users can work directly off FTP and SFTP sites, so there's no need to repeatedly download and publish your site. But if publishing your site from your local computer suits your workflow, Flux can not only publish to FTP, SFTP, and MobileMe, but Flux can also compress all your images on the fly while publishing. This means that your large PNGs get compressed before they get uploaded. You can apply effects to images from within the app. You can also attach JavaScript actions to your page and embed QuickTime movies, Flash and other objects. Some templates are supplied to get you started. Flux is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It requires for Mac...

A lawsuit alleging that Apple and AT&T secretly formed monopoly with their exclusive iPhone agreement has received class action status, meaning the plaintiffs now represent everybody who’s bought an iPhone in the United States, reports "Wired" (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/iphone-class-action/). Judge James Ware of the U.S. District court for the Northern District of California on Thursday granted class certification of plaintiffs’ antitrust claims seeking damages and injunctive relief for the complaint that was originally filed in 2007. The class-action lawsuit alleges that Apple and AT&T had illegally exerted a monopoly by telling customers their iPhone contract was two years long when in actuality the companies’ exclusivity agreement was for an indefinite, undisclosed amount of time. That means even after iPhone customers’ two-year contracts have expired, they still don’t have the option of switching to another carrier because AT&T is still Apple’s only U.S....