Things is still in beta but is already a slick, full featured task management application that is very easy to use. Taking Things on the road is also made easier with the iPhone sync capabilities over a wireless LAN.

The GUI is particularly stunning and really makes Things a breeze to use. Projects are broken down into mini tasks (next actions). You can quickly create a project and populate it with next actions that can then be dragged and dropped into any order. You can also control the number of next actions visible for each project when using the ‘Next’ tab. 

Tasks can be quickly added to Things using the Quick Entry system. These appear in the ‘In box’ to be then dragged to the appropriate project when you have the time.  

I am no GTD expert, in fact I only really have any sort of idea after a talk at CreativeCamp Belfast but anything I describe is basically how I use the use Things to get the most of my time. I have opted to use tags as location indicators. For example, Home, Office, Phone etc. I can then tag a task as Phone and using the top navigation bar clicking phone shows me all the tasks tagged appropriately and thus things I can do when at the phone. It might not be the correct use but it really works for me, it is amazing what you forget and Things has already reminded me of things I need to do I would have forgotten about otherwise.

I have not explored the use of ‘People’ and team management although I can already think of two or three applications where it would be useful. 

Iphone
An iPhone version of Things is already available on the iTunes Apps store (around £6). The software syncs over the air but at this stage only over the Local Area Network. I am hoping to see over the air syncing via Mobile Me and the ability to sync with two computers but it is a beta and early days after all. 

The sync seems to work really well although I have had a few ghost items in the inbox on the iphone after a sync but no doubt this will be ironed out with the final release.

I could rave on about how good Things is for quite a while. Many of my mac friends swear by Omnifocus but although I have tried Omnifocus and really like it I am finding Things really works for me (and is really nice to look at).

To get a copy of the beta application (free) visit Things If you are using Things or another GTD application we would love to hear your comments on getting the most of the software.

David Allen Talks GTD :

While FotoMagico (www.boinx.com/fotomagico) gives digital photographers fine-granular controls for creative storytelling, PhotoPresenter (www.boinx.com/photopresenter) is the perfect tool for making stylish photo presentations available without authoring effort.

“With the acquisition of PhotoPresenter we strengthen our market position in Mac-based photo presentation solutions for professional photographers”, said Oliver Breidenbach, CEO of Boinx Software. “How often do professional photographers need to present results in front of impatient clients, literally directly out of the camera?

With PhotoPresenter they can create ready-to-present animated slideshows with just a few mouse clicks. FotoMagico, in contrast, is the best choice if they want to tell a sophisticated story in photos with every detail of control possible. Professional photographers will have a need for both to match their different presentation workflow requirements.” Boinx Software has big plans for both PhotoPresenter and FotoMagico, with new major releases planned for 2009.

“As we are moving to new fields of interest, we wanted to give PhotoPresenter into new, responsible hands. Boinx Software has an outstanding reputation in developing quality presentation software for professional photographers,” said Jean Bovet, who founded Arizona Software with his brother Simon in 1989. “We¬¥re glad that PhotoPresenter has found a new home. Boinx will also take care of the existing customers.”

PhotoPresenter, winner of the Apple Design Award “Best Mac OS X Student Product Runner-Up” in 2006, helps digital photographers present their photos with style. With the pre-built animated style templates, creating an impressive slideshow requires no authoring know-how. Select the photos or the album of the iPhoto or Aperture library you’d like to show to your client, choose your preferred style template and you’re done. With just a few clicks you can show your customer a bunch of photos from the last shooting, elaborately animated and almost instantly.

PhotoPresenter smoothly integrates with your favorite photo management applications on the Mac: it recognizes both iPhoto and Aperture libraries, and can play any song or playlist from iTunes. Photos can be imported from any source, such as a folder, CD, DVD or digital camera. Mixing images, movies and sound to a stylish slideshow movie is a snap. Share your photo presentation via Email, export it to iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, iWeb or iDVD, or produce a QuickTime movie or screensaver for your client.

PhotoPresenter supports multiple displays and can even treat all monitors as a single video wall for huge, breathtaking presentations. Get more information about Boinx PhotoPresenter at http://boinx.com/photopresenter.

Availability and Pricing
PhotoPresenter 3.4 is available immediately for download for $19.95 (US) in the Boinx Software Kagi Store at boinx.com/kagi. A family license (for up to five computers in a household) for PhotoPresenter is available for $35.95 (US). All prices quoted exclude sales tax or VAT where applicable. Check the Kagi Store for quotes in local currencies. Multi-user license discounts are available upon request. Existing PhotoPresenter customers can update to the new version 3.4 with the new Push 3D style template for free.

The Missing Sync for Symbian is the first Mark/Space product to feature Proximity Sync™ technology. This new approach to synchronization uses Bluetooth to sync data automatically when the devices are close to each other. 

Brian Hall, Mark/Space CEO, said “I know people are going to love the ease of use brought by Proximity Sync. Just having your phone in the same room as your Mac from time to time is all you need to do to keep in sync.”

Syncing without thinking, wireless and cable free
Users won’t ever need to remember to sync again. When the phone is in range of the Mac – within approximately 30 feet – Proximity Sync will connect via Bluetooth and synchronize the correct information. 

The process is entirely automatic; no user intervention is necessary at any point. The synchronization process can happen with your phone still in your pocket. No messy cables, just automatic file transfers through the air.

Contacts, calendars and tasks
The Missing Sync for Symbian makes it simple to travel with contacts, calendar events and tasks. Create to-do items, new contacts or events on either your phone, or your Mac. The information is automatically synchronized. 

Pictures, music, movies and files
If you have software for viewing images and documents, or playing MP3s and video, then Missing Sync for Symbian can manage those files too. Music and video can be synchronized between iTunes and the phone.** If there are pictures or videos created on the phone, they will be transferred to the Mac. 

Other file types can be synchronised to any folder on the phone or on the Mac. This means handheld applications such as Quickoffice or Adobe Reader LE will have access to files created on the Mac. 

SMS text messages and call log
The Missing Sync for Symbian archives your phone’s text messages and call log to your Mac. So, you’ll have a history of all your phone calls whether you are tracking them for billing purposes, or just want to know when you last called your Mom. And, when you have to find a specific piece of information from a thread of text messages, The Missing Sync for Symbian makes it easy to search your SMS archive and find what you’re looking for, fast.

Pricing and availability 
The Missing Sync for Symbian is available as an electronic download from the Mark/Space online store for USD $39.95.

Product requirements: 
The Missing Sync for Symbian requires a Mac running Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later and native Bluetooth support. It is compatible with most mobile phones from Nokia running Symbian S60 (3rd Rev or later) and phones from Sony Ericcson and Motorola running Symbian UIQ 3.0 or later.

To purchase or learn more about The Missing Sync for Symbian, visithttp://www.markspace.com/symbian

“We want to thank thousands of users who take part on our public beta program and gave feedback to make FotoMagico even better”, says Oliver Breidenbach, co‐founder of Boinx Software. “We are dedicated to making FotoMagico the premier slidehows tool on the Mac, two Apple Design Awards are proof that we are on the right track.”

“With FotoMagico 2.5, keeping your audience at the edge of their seats with a great show is now as easy for Adobe Lightroom users as it was for Aperture and iPhoto users before”, says Peter Baumgartner, lead-developer and “father” of FotoMagico. “The teleprompter enables a Steve Jobs-like performance for everybody and sharing shows with a global audience was never easier than with the new YouTube export option.”

Adobe Lightroom Support
FotoMagico 2.5 now supports the iMedia Browser framework. With the integrated iMedia Browser users can now seamlessly access GarageBand songs, iLife sound effects and their media libraries not only from iTunes, iPhoto and Aperture (Pro version) but also from other software including Adobe Lightroom (Pro version).

Teleprompter
With the new teleprompter of FotoMagico 2.5 Pro users can show their photos on one display and read their notes for every slide on another. Nicely animated, they get a preview showing which pictures come next and can even jump back and forth to every slide in the storyboard with just a click of the mouse.

YouTube Export
The Sharing Assistant feature adds a new export option, allowing to upload photo presentation videos directly to YouTube to reach a global audience. Video encoding for YouTube can be accelerated with the powerful Turbo.264 video encoder hardware from Elgato.

Availability and Pricing
FotoMagico 2.5 is available immediately for download from http://www.boinx.com/download/. A built-in assistant will guide users through the process of aquiring the proper license. The update to FotoMagico 2.5 is free of charge to current FotoMagico 2.x license owners at their current license levels. FotoMagico 2.5 Express is available for $49 and FotoMagico 2.5 Pro is available for $129 via Kagi. For all purchase options see http://boinx.com/fotomagico/buy. Commercial multi-user license discounts are available upon request.

I

INTONE | GUITAR features enhanced versatile MIDI interface: instruments, MIDI controllers, software instruments and effects, and ReWire applications can be all connected in one system. One mouse click, one key shortcut, one MIDI controller touch, to switch to another, completely different setup. 

The preset database provides easy access to new sound banks published by other users on the web. Program banks are based on XML – Max OS X and Windows use the same format. Track player provides one-click recording and playing of the recorded performances. Recorded files are automatically added to the playlist. 

INTONE | GUITAR is based on and completely replaces the GT player, adding new features and a completely new graphic user interface. 

INTONE | GUITAR is available in two versions, the Express and the Pro version for both Windows and Mac platforms.  The Express version contains less features and it is bundled with some M-Audio products, in this case it is locked to M- Audio hardware. The similar Express version working with any hardware can be purchased independently.  

Visit audiffex.com for more information.

Catching up on the latest entries in Headline is simple. Headline allows you to read entries in both its featured semi transparent read view or in a web browser.

Headline can easily share articles over iChat and Mail, with no need to manually send article links to friends; Headline can do it for you.

It’s easy to filter out entries by switching between the Today, This Week, This Month, All, Unread or Favorites filters. And with Favorites, you can easily mark articles with the click of a button, and return to them at any time.

Headline 1.0 is available for the low price of $19.95 USD. A Family Pack license is also available for $34.95 USD. You can download a full-featured demo from the Doseido Software website.

Once Headline is installed you can purchase a license at any time by selecting Doseido Licensor from the Headline menu.We would like to let you know that today, Headline begins to revolutionize the feed reading industry for the Macintosh. Headline has a minimalist, yet powerful interface and many advanced features not found in any other reader.

Catching up on the latest entries in Headline is simple. Headline allows you to read entries in both its featured semi transparent read view or in a web browser.

Headline can easily share articles over iChat and Mail, with no need to manually send article links to friends; Headline can do it for you.

It’s easy to filter out entries by switching between the Today, This Week, This Month, All, Unread or Favorites filters. And with Favorites, you can easily mark articles with the click of a button, and return to them at any time.

Headline 1.0 is available for the low price of $19.95 USD. A Family Pack license is also available for $34.95 USD. You can download a full-featured demo from the Doseido Software website.

Once Headline is installed you can purchase a license at any time by selecting Doseido Licensor from the Headline menu.

More information & Download

Featuring a tense storyline, filled with plot twists, the title thrusts players into battle like never before. With amazing special effects, including rim-lighting, depth of field, texture streaming and character self-shadowing, players are enlisted into one of the most photo-realistic gaming experiences imaginable.The community-oriented Call of Duty 4 multiplayer gameplay features a robust leveling system, variety of unlockable perks, hot-join and matchmaking, as well as create a class and party capabilities to ensure that players of all skill levels can join in the fun.

Additionally over 100 challenges and a host of new game environments and modes deliver unlimited possibilities. Infinity Ward has also included Kill-Cam, a fan favorite feature that they created in Call of Duty 2, which allows for spectator instant replays.

• Authentic Advanced Weaponry - Featuring an available arsenal of more than 70 new and authentic weapons and gear from assault rifles with laser sites, claymore mines, .50 caliber sniper rifles, and M-249 SAW machine guns.
   
• Coordinated Assault and Support - Delivering the most visceral action thriller ever, the title covers modern battle from the soldier to the satellite, where the need for air support is crucial to success. The adrenaline rush deployment enlists gamers to fast-rope from tactical helicopters, ride in an armada of attack choppers, utilize jets to remove enemy strongholds and even engage hostiles from thousands of feet above the ground inside a state of the art aerial gunship.
   
• Cinematic Quality Graphics and Sound - Featuring stunning next-generation graphics, players will be drawn into the cinematic intensity of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Combine the lifelike graphics and the realistic battle chatter with the Call of Duty award-winning sound design and players will face battle as they never have before.
   
• Unparalleled Depth to Multiplayer - The highly-anticipated multiplayer builds from the success of Call of Duty 2 deliver a persistent online experience for greater community action

A video or screenshot can be emailed, uploaded on the web, or passed around however you want. Using a multithreaded code and a 64-bit enabled compression system, Sequence can handle capturing DVD, audio, or any other multimedia application. Sequence is powerful enough to simultaneously record from your webcam and your screen. With the voice recording function, you can easily describe what you are doing on your screen. Simply use your Mac’s built-in microphone or any external audio source.

With Sequence, its easy to make training videos, product demos, create tutorials, archive streaming video, the possibilities are endless. For instance, you could easily help your friends and family learn more about their computers. No need for boring and complicated documentation. With Sequence you can give clear and precise explainations, including mouse movements and keyboard entries.

Sequence supports saving screenshots as bmp, pict, gif, jpg, png, tiff. Sequence was built for Mac OS X Leopard, using the best of Mac OS X technologies: Core Animation, QuickLook, QTKit, Core Image, iChat Theater, etc.

Top 10 Features:
* Uses a very simple and elegant user interface designed for beginners and professionals
* Gives you the ability to create screenshots or movies of your Mac’s screen in real time 
* Allows you to choose from three modes: screen, free selection or fixed area (in pixels)
* Allows you to add doodles directly onto screenshots or videos
* Can record a video from your webcam at the same time as your screen
* Option to record your microphone (so you can easily describe what you are doing) 
* Copy screenshots directly onto the clipboard (option to save the file to any folder)
* Use hot keys to take screenshots or videos more easily 
* Share your screenshot or video with friends using iChat Theater technology
* Built for Mac OS X Leopard only

A license is available for $19 USD only. The price includes free updates and upgrades. The final version can be downloaded today from the app4mac website.

app4mac: http://www.app4mac.com

“Audiences are now able to experience the full range of BBC content – some 250 TV programmes currently available each week as well as all the BBC radio networks – in a new and more accessible way, and all for free.

“On-demand radio from the BBC has been a phenomenal success since it was first launched in 2002, with around 600 million hours listened to via streaming or the ‘listen again’ function.

“The full integration with iPlayer is a natural evolution for the audio service and an exciting step for audiences.” 

Audiences can choose to either listen again to BBC Radio from the last seven days with even better sound quality, or listen live – while the option of a pop-out player allows users to continue listening as they browse other web pages. ’Listen again’ users can now also rewind and fast forward in the same way that they can for TV programmes. 

The new-look BBC iPlayer offers a more rewarding user experience, allowing smoother and easier navigation between TV and Radio programmes, while features such as ‘Last Played’ – which allows users to resume watching programmes at the point they have left off – mark the beginning of a shift towards personalisation.

Other key enhancements include combined TV and radio categories such as comedy and drama, a larger playback screen to watch TV programmes and a TV schedule that allows users to plan their viewing over the coming days.

These will sit alongside the existing ‘More Like This’ function, which recommends other programmes users might like.

There have been over 100 million requests to view programmes since BBC iPlayer launched. In May alone, there were 21.8 million requests to view, some 700,000 per day on average.

The new-look BBC iPlayer will be available on other platforms for TV catch-up, including the Apple iPhone & iPod touch, and the Nintendo Wii. Audio on demand and live streaming will become available in due course.

Step 1: Launch iCombiner
Download iCombiner if you haven’t already done so and launch it.

Step 2: Select files to merge
Navigate Finder to the location of the PDF files you’d like to merge and then select those files. 
 
Tip: To save some time, select the PDF files in the order you want to merge them. You can always rearrange the files with drag and drop later in iCombiner, but this is a valuable time-saver. 
Step 3: Drag in files to merge
Drag the PDF documents you’d like to merge into iCombiner 
 
Step 4: Pick a name
Type in a filename for your merged PDF document. 
 
Tip: You don’t need to add the “.pdf” extension to the filename as iCombiner will handle that for you automatically. 
Step 5: Drag out file
Drag out the icon to where you would like to store your PDF file, then sit back and relax as iCombiner merges your PDFs in lightning speed. 
 
That’s it!

Dock icon merge:
To improve productivity, the new version lets users merge documents by dragging them from Finder onto iCombiner’s dock icon. By default iCombiner merges the dragged files into a single document automatically inside the folder of the dragged files. This can be customized so that iCombiner first prompts for the destination file, or that iCombiner opens the files in the main window for further editing.

Finder merge:
For further increased productivity and efficiency, iCombiner now supports merging documents directly from Finder. Designed for power users, this features extends the Mac OS built-in contextual menu with an action item to merge the selected files in a single click.

Improved help system:
The new version also sees the help system overhauled to allow faster and easier access to important information, and to blend closer into the familiar Mac OS help environment. The updated help system contains howtos for the main tasks, guides to the new features, and solutions to common problems.

Key features in a nutshell:
* Merges documents, images, scanned files and photos into a single PDF document
* Handles PDF, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, PostScript, EPS, JPEG-2000 (JP2), GIF, PSD, ICNS, Windows Bitmap (BMP), PICT, SGI and TGA files
* Supports multi-page PDF, TIFF and PostScript documents
* Merges files with drag and drop onto iCombiner’s dock icon
* Merges files directly from Finder through the contextual menu
* Offers 3 different create modes: automatic in-place, prompt for destination file, and open in main window

Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X Version 10.4 or higher
* Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel

Pricing and Availability:
iCombiner is $26 USD, and available as a free download from the iCombiner website. It runs initially in a 10-day trial mode with all features active. This is a free upgrade for existing users.

Prosoft Engineering, Inc., the developers of easy-to-use, award-winning utilities, have announced the immediate availability of Leopard Boot DVDs for both Drive Genius 2 and Data Rescue II.

“We are really excited that Apple has now released the Leopard Boot technology to third-party developers, which allows us to add booting support for all the latest Macs,” said President, Greg Brewer. Prosoft Engineering is the first developer known to ship these new Leopard Boot DVDs

Availability
Data Rescue II and Drive Genius 2 are available for purchase online at www.prosoftengineering.com and at Apple Stores.

Current owners of Data Rescue II and Drive Genius 2 qualify to receive these new Boot DVDs for free. Details on how to receive these DVDs at no cost to current owners may be found here:

Data Rescue II: http://www.prosoftengineering.com/products/data_rescue_leopard_dvd2.php

Drive Genius 2: http://www.prosoftengineering.com/products/drive_genius_leopard_dvd2.php

FotoMagico, already recognized 2006 as “Best Mac OS X User Experience Runner-up”, makes it easy to create impressive slidehows. In its current version 2.2, FotoMagico supports powerful Mac OS X Leopard technologies such as Quick Look and iChat Theater and sports a brand-new Sharing Assistant that makes it easy to produce stunning slideshows optimized for DVD, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV and other media devices.

“Winning the Apple Design Award is the biggest recognition a Mac developer can get,“ says Oliver Breidenbach, co‐founder of Boinx Software. “Getting a second ADA after 2006 is a really big deal for FotoMagico. Congratulations to the whole team and my thanks for their outstanding work.“

“Winning another Design Award is a reward for the hard work in the recent years and a motivation to develop outstanding Mac software for the photography community… and to try again for first place next year. We already have exciting new features in the pipeline for upcoming versions,“ says Peter Baumgartner, lead-developer and “father” of FotoMagico.

About FotoMagico
FotoMagico, winner of the Apple Design Awards - “Best Mac OS X User Experience Runner-up 2006″ and “Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application Runner-up 2008″, is a presentation tool for photographers. It is easy to use and produces impressive slideshows that makes the audience want more. As Derrick Story, host of ‘The Digital Story’ put it: “FotoMagico makes the kind of slideshows that make Ken Burns envious.”

About Boinx Software
Boinx Software Ltd. is located in Puchheim, near Munich, Germany. Boinx Software develops and publishes fun and easy-to-use applications for the creative user. Boinx iStopMotion is the leading solution for stop motion animation and time lapse capture for your digital hub and won the O’Reilly Mac OS X Innovators Award in 2003. Boinx iVeZeen turns your webcam into a digital camcorder.

Boinx Mouseposé is the essential mouse pointer highlighting tool for everyone doing presentations, trainings or demos, and those individuals with huge and high resolution displays.

For additional information visit the Boinx website http://boinx.com/

There are many good reasons that someone would have to transfer music from her iPod back to her computer. There are many good ways to do it, too. Senuti is the only alternative that will give you the power and convenience that you need, wrapped in an interface that is extremely easy to use, at a cost that you can’t complain about.

• Lightning fast – There’s a little file on your iPod called the iTunesDB file. What does that mean to you? Nothing. What does that mean to me? Everything. Every bit of information on every song on your iPod is stored in this little file. Every bit of information on your playlists is stored in this file, too. It’s how iTunes knows what’s on your iPod. It’s how your iPod knows what’s there, too. There isn’t a much faster way to figure out what’s on your iPod.
   
• Finding Songs – Senuti includes all of the built in options that one would expect to find songs. You can search and sort in any combination of ways that you want. That’s not quite enough sometimes, though. Sometimes you might want to know if you’re copying the right song. Know how it goes, but don’t know if that title is quite right? Play it! That’s right, Senuti will play songs directly off of your iPod. It can even double as a jukebox player for your Shuffle or any other iPod.
   
• Playlists – Senuti not only reads the playlists that you made on your iPod, but it allows you to transfer them back to your computer as well. A simple drag and drop action within the application will not only copy songs to your computer and and add them to iTunes, but it will make a new playlist with the same name and add all of the songs to that list.
   
• Seamless Integration – Adding songs to your computer, you’re probably going to add them to iTunes right after that, right? What if you didn’t have to, wouldn’t that be great? Well you don’t have to. Senuti will do all of the work for you. What work you want it to do is up to you. You can have songs added to iTunes if you want. You can have all of your music organized into folders by artist and album, too. The option’s yours.

Snow Leopard is optimised for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime® X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Snow Leopard delivers unrivalled support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named “Grand Central,” making it easy for developers to create programmes that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X’s lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone™, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimises support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari® with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 percent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.*

For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal® and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organisations of any size.

*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. Benchmark based on the SunSpider JavaScript Performance test on an iMac® 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with 2GB of RAM. Click here for more information.

Movie purchases and rentals feature iTunes’ legendary ease of use, which makes discovering and enjoying movies as simple and easy as buying music on iTunes has always been.

The iTunes Store in the UK features over 700 films available for rent or purchase, with titles available for purchase on the same day as their DVD release, including favorites such as “Hitman”, “I Am Legend”, “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets” and “Into the Wild”. iTunes Movie Rentals also features over 100 titles available in stunning high definition, perfect for viewing on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.

“We’re kicking off movies on the iTunes Store in the UK with over 700 films for purchase and rent”, said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We think customers in the UK are going to love being able to enjoy their favorite movies on their iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV”.

The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store. With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting directory, iMix playlist sharing, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.

With iTunes Movie Rentals, once a movie is rented, it starts downloading from the iTunes Store directly to iTunes or Apple TV, and users with a fast Internet connection can start viewing the movie in seconds. Customers have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started customers have 48 hours to finish it — or watch it multiple times.

Pricing & Availability
Movie purchases and rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac or Windows require iTunes 7.6.2, available as a free download from www.apple.com/uk/itunes/. iTunes movie purchases and rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the United Kingdom. iTunes movies are available at £6.99 for library title purchases and £10.99 for new releases. iTunes Movie Rentals are £2.49 for library title rentals and £3.49 for new releases, and high definition versions are priced at just one pound more. Movie rentals can be previewed, purchased and watched on iPod classic, iPod nano with video, iPod touch, iPhone and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. Click here for more information.

Disc Cover by Belight software solves this problem perfectly. Disc Cover is a slick and intuitive Mac OS X software to create labels and covers for CDs, DVDs and more. Variety of professionally made designs are just fine for a quick start. The program imports data and images from iTunes, iPhoto, Finder, iDVD and many other sources. You can easily experiment with styles and graphic tools. Disc Cover will fairly serve to bring you more and more design ideas.

Disc Cover is capable of more than just printing CDs, Disc Cover prints any of the blue elements in the image below.

Templates:
Although I have never been a great fan of templates Disc Cover comes with over 90 professionally designed templates, a collection of 23,000+ images and 30+ photo-collages. You can apply more than 100 unique masks, fill text blocks with colors, easily handle transparency and circle text. Insert your own pictures in various supported formats. The Background and Foreground layers serve to implement the advanced design ideas.

Changing between the different element formats could not be easier, simply click on ‘change type’ on the drop down and the full list of elements will appear. Better still Disc Cover will automatically reformat the current screen and adapt your creation to the new element.

iLife Integration
Disc Cover will import images from iPhoto but possibly the most impressive feature is its ability to import a song list (and album art) from an iTunes playlist making it the ideal companion for iTunes CD creation. Recently I purchased an album from iTunes and I generally always produce a backup to CD. In just a few seconds I had not only imported the album art but also a full track listing of the CD in question :

For a list of compatible direct to CD printing : Click here.

If you own a printer capable of printing direct to CD then I would go as far as to say Disc Cover is an essential application! If your printer can not print directly to the surface of the a disc the application is definitely still worth looking at for producing custom CD and DVD inlays and covers.

Update :
Disc Cover can also create an index of a previously burned cd. I put a data cd I created last week in the drive and Disc Cover printed a full index. I now have a disc with a list of the contents nicely printed on the face ! Excellent !

For more on Disc Cover visit Belight Software.

DigMo! Rating:

RealMac Software have released their latest version of the excellent RapidWeaver

RapidWeaver 4 now uses an open, ʻbundleʼ file format to save projects. The change to this XML-based format ensures that RapidWeaver can easily handle far larger site projects than before, and developers can now work with the RapidWeaver save-file directly, should they wish.

Easy theme management.
To help with the large number of RapidWeaver themes available, a number of theme management options have been added to version 4: 

• Folder support - Users can manage their themes into folders within the RapidWeaver ʻApplication Supportʼ folder. Version 4 reads the sub-folders, and allows the user to filter the themes shown in RapidWeaverʼs all new theme drawer on-the-fly. All the themes that ship with RapidWeaver 4.0 are also categorised into sub-menus depending on which version of the application they initially appeared in. 
• New Hi-Resolution Theme Previews - All themes now use high-resolution previews, and the user can now scale the size of thumbnails to a size of their choosing. 
• Theme Searching - Built-in theme searching allows users to find themes based on colours available, theme name, theme developer and other options thanks to keywords now being supported in themes. All of RapidWeaverʼs built-in themes are fully keyworded to allow for searching. 

WebClip icon support.
Users can now add a WebClip icon to their site file from within RapidWeaver. RapidWeaver publishes the icon to the correct location on the server, allowing easy and stylish iPhone & iPod touch bookmarking for your site. 

Cruftless Links.
If a page link ends in index.php, index.html or index.htm RapidWeaver 4 can build links to that page without including the filename, resulting in tidier navigation URLs. 

One-click Publishing.
True one-click publishing allows users to upload changes to their site faster than ever before. 

Quick Look support.
All RapidWeaver 4 save files are now Quick Look enabled, allowing easy previewing of the site file in the OS X Finder. RapidWeaver saves a full HTML page for use by Quick Look, allowing the user to preview a live page from their site and check they have the right site file. 

Easily add Google Analytics.
RapidWeaver 4.0 allows users to quickly add Google Analytics  code to their entire site through a new site settings option. 

Four new themes.
RapidWeaver 4.0 ships with over 40 professionally designed themes that look great on all modern browsers and operating systems. 

Brand new manual.
A fully updated and significantly re-written manual accompanies the release of RapidWeaver 4.0.

Visit RealMac Software for more details.

Are you one of those people who find that no matter how hard you try to keep your contact info organized, it always winds up scattered all over? Your dad’s IM handle is on your Mac, while that business lead’s fax number is on your iPhone, and lots of email addresses are in your Gmail address book — except your eye doctor’s, which is the one you really need right now…

We’re happy to tell you that starting today, it’s easier to sync up your contact lists. The Address Book application in Mac OS X 10.5.3 now lets iPhone users sync their Address Book with Google Contacts. To try it, go to the Address Book menu, choose Preferences, and then check Synchronize with Google. It’ll ask for your Google account and password, then automatically update your contacts every time you sync your iPhone.

Before you try syncing, it’s a good idea to back up both your Address Book contacts and Gmail contacts. For instructions on how to do that, plus other important information, see theFAQ (http://www.google.com/support/contactsync/) .

Screenflow really couldn’t be easier to use. Double click the icon to load the software and you are greeted with three simple setting options, (record video from, record audio from, and record computer audio). Click the red record button and the 5 second timer counts you down to your very first screen flow.  

You don’t need to pick an area of the screen for capture, ScreenFlow has advanced algorithms that only encode areas of change on your screen. The application is powerful enough to simultaneously record from your iSight or DV camera at the same time as your screen (and your microphone and computer’s audio!)

Once your screen capture is complete, you’re transported to the ScreenFlow editor. Using a familiar timeline interface, ScreenFlow lets you easily add zoom & pan effects, trim clips, add drop shadow & reflection, adjust audio levels etc. You can even combine existing media into your screencast.

When resizing high resolution screen content into a QuickTime movie, ScreenFlow uses custom GPU algorithms to give your finished movie the best possible quality. You’ll find even small text suddenly becomes legible for your viewers.

We have used the software daily since purchase, the exported files are great quality and it offers the opportunity to create learning resources that pupils can see first hand the steps required to complete a process. Better still the single resource can be reviewed by the pupils throughout the year. 

If you want to produce professional video resources for tutorials at a very affordable price this is the application for you.

Related Links:
Vara Software

System Requirements
>EyeTV 3.0.2 is a Universal application. It requires a Macintosh computer with built-in USB 2.0 ports, and Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or later. We recommend Mac OS X 10.5.2 Leopard with all software and security updates installed.

Installation
If this is the first time you have launched any version of EyeTV 3, you will be asked to enter the EyeTV 3 activation key. If you purchased an EyeTV 3 Upgrade product, EyeTV 3 will check whether an EyeTV 2 installation is present on your hard drive. If EyeTV 3 cannot find a previous EyeTV 2 installation, it will ask you to enter an eligible EyeTV 2 activation key as well.

Keep all EyeTV activation keys in a safe place, in case you need to reinstall the EyeTV software. Your activation key is also used to activate and identify your Electronic Program Guide account (see below). 

After you activate EyeTV, the EyeTV Setup Assistant will guide you through the complete setup and configuration of EyeTV 3. You should complete each step of the EyeTV Setup Assistant. When prompted, please select your country and let EyeTV auto-tune for channels — this is necessary to ensure the correct initial setup of the built-in Electronic Programming Guide (EPG).

What’s new in EyeTV 3.0.2?
Full Support for H.264 Broadcasts
EyeTV now fully supports digital television H.264 broadcasts in standard TV and HDTV resolutions. More and more countries are adopting the H.264 video compression standard for digital television. H.264 provides excellent picture quality at lower data rates than MPEG-2, thus reducing the amount of bandwidth required per channel. The end result is that television stations can broadcast more channels, while using the same number of transmitters.

Several countries’ over-the-air DVB-T broadcasts exclusively use the H.264 format:
In Norway, both the free and Pay TV (RiksTV) services use H.264. 
New Zealand’s Freeview|HDTM service also uses H.264.
Many other countries broadcast H.264 HDTV test transmissions in certain areas. H.264 broadcasts are also available in many digital cable systems and via satellite (DVB-S2). All EyeTV 310 digital satellite tuners shipped since November 2007 are capable of receiving DVB-S2.

Closed Captions Support in QuickTime Format Exports (North America only)
EyeTV now supports the exporting of ATSC/NTSC Closed Captions for use on iPhone, iPod, and Apple TV. The Closed Captions are also supported for playback in QuickTime and iTunes.

When an ATSC/NTSC EyeTV recording with Closed Captions is exported from within EyeTV, EyeTV automatically creates a Closed Captions text track. The Closed Captions will be played back on the iPhone, iPod and Apple TV if Closed Captions have been enabled on the device. Turn on “Show Closed Captioning” in QuickTime Player, or the appropriate “Show Closed Captions When Available” preference on the iPod/iPhone/Apple TV or in iTunes.

EyeTV will export the last Closed Caption track used in EyeTV. For example, if CC3 captions are used, they will be converted to CC1 captions upon export. Only one Closed Captions track is supported.

It is recommended to have the latest software and firmware updates for QuickTime, iTunes, iPhone, iPod and Apple TV as older versions did not support Closed Captions.

tvtv Sweden
Sweden has been added to the list of countries available for use with the tvtv electronic programming guide (EPG). When Sweden is selected as a country, the EPG will automatically be set to tvtv - UK.

Separate Deinterlacing Options for Standard TV and HDTV
EyeTV now has separate deinterlacing options for Standard TV and HDTV. For Standard TV on Intel Core Duo Macs, the default is Progressive Scan. For HDTV, the default is Always. To change deinterlacing, open the Display pane in the EyeTV Preferences.

The deinterlacing options can also be changed by using the On Screen Menu. This can be accessed by navigating to More>Settings>Display Options>Deinterlace in the On Screen Menu.

Improved On Screen Menus
The text used in the On Screen Menus has been updated for improved readability. Errors and messaging have also been improved to help users troubleshoot problems.

The On Screen Menu now has an Audio item that can be used to select a specific track on recordings with multiple audio tracks.

Closed Captions (CC), HD, and Stereo Icons are now displayed in the Details screen of the On Screen Menu.

Unplayed Recordings Badge
EyeTV now displays a badge over the thumbnail of recordings that have not yet been viewed. 

Hardware Support
Support has been added for the TerraTec Cinergy T USB XXS.

Support has been added for the Digital Everywhere line of FireWire tuner products (FireDTV C/CI, T/CI, and S2). Please contact Digital Everywhere for a firmware update.

EyeTV 310 firmware has been updated to work with the Netherlands Pay TV provider “Canal Digitaal”.