Hawking: customizable USB WiFi for Macs...

Hawking Technologies today unveiled the HWUN1A Hi-Gain USB Wireless-300N Adapter for Mac, featuring two removable antennas, which can be changed for the company's Hi-Gain antenna. The adapter communicates over USB 2.0, and when combined with the Hi-Gain antennas, can boost wireless range by over 600-percent. Hawking is shipping the HWUN1A through several online and commercial retailers for $100.

First Look: Photoshop Elements 6 for the Mac...

If you enjoy touching up and editing digital photographs, you can use the free iPhoto program that comes with every Mac. However, if you want to go beyond simple editing and create more sophisticated visual effects, your only other choice might be shelling out $649 for Photoshop CS3. Fortunately, there’s now an alternative in between. After years of neglect, Adobe has finally released a Macintosh version of Photoshop Elements 6 for $89.95.

BVS unveils remote monitoring software...

Berkeley Varitronics Systems today unveiled remote management software for the Yellowjacket 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi Analyzer receiver. BVS calls the software Remote Manager, which creates comprehensive Excel- and PDF-formatted data reports for various time periods to provide a temporal overview of any 802.11x wireless network, as well as suspicious 2.4 or 5Ghz sources of interference. BVS is selling Remote Manager for $1150, and is available directly from the company.

Torque X 2.0 supports XNA 2.0 framework, more...

GarageGames recently unveiled Torque X 2.0, a major update to its 2D/3D capable game engine system, adding support for the Microsoft XNA 2.0 Framework, as well as several performance increases in 3D environments. The new engine supports LOD terrain with clip map texturing, and also adds DTS Mesh, and XNA Model support. A free version of Torque X is available, while the Pro version starts at $150 for independent developers.

Apple releases iPhone SDK beta 2...

Apple has released the second beta of its iPhone SDK for registered developers. The new release includes an Interface Builder, which allows the drag-and-drop integration of graphical components which can be linked to underlying Objective-C code created in Xcode. The new SDK build is a 1.3GB download, available from Apple's Developer Connection site. You must be a registered developer to download the SDK, but no fee or program acceptance is required. Apple's development kit uses the same programming language and interface used by Apple itself and now includes Cocoa Touch, an API designed to add touchscreen input.

Apple probing Brazil for iPhone intro?...

Representatives from Apple recently visited Brazil in attempts to gauge the feasibility of an iPhone introduction in the country, reports indicate. A number of hurdles to introduction exist, including a high smuggling rate (90% of iPods sold in the country are imported illegally), steep taxes and more. Portal Exame reports that in December, Apple sent its senior-manager of governmental affairs for Latin America, Susan Cronin, directly to Brasilia. According to sources, Apple plans to introduce the iPhone in Brazil and, given high-enough demand, start manufacturing devices there at a later date.

MacBook Air hacked within two minutes at expo...

The defenses of MacBook Air were hacked within moments in a recent security expo contest, reports say. During the CanSecWest conference's "PWN 2 OWN" competition, participants were expected to hack into one of three notebooks, and read the contents of a file using only an original zero-day attack. An award of $10,000 plus an Air is said to have gone to Charlie Miller, who broke into the computer within two minutes. This was accomplished by redirecting a web browser to a site with exploit code by Miller.

Apple begins testing Mac OS X 10.5.3...

Apple has already begun testing the v10.5.3 update to Mac OS X Leopard, according to reports. The developer community is said to be experimenting with a "9D10" build, which introduces changes to over two dozen of Leopard's components. AppleInsider sources mention alterations to components such as: Address Book, AppleScript, Back to My Mac, Dashboard, the Dock, DVD Player, Finder, iCal, Mail, Portable Home Directories, Rosetta, Spaces, Spotlight, Time Machine and VoiceOver.

Apple updates to Aperture 2.1...

Apple has released a new update for Aperture, its professional photo-editing program. The v2.1 patch incorporates two major changes, among these the inclusion of a Dodge & Burn plug-in, which adds brushes not only for dodging and burning, but also contrast, saturation, sharpening and blur. These elements are often one of the primary reasons for turning to more complex editing programs, such as Photoshop.

Mexican iPhone set for June?...

The iPhone could be headed to Mexico as soon as June, a Mexican newspaper reports. The paper cites a source within Apple, who says that the company is in talks with Telcel, Mexico's largest cellular carrier. Reporters are also said to have made a number of calls to Apple US customer support, and been told multiple times that while iPhones cannot currently be shipped to Mexico, the phone should become available domestically in June. This is the same month as Apple's planned iPhone 2.0 firmware update.

Apple seeks handwriting engineer for iPhone...

Apple has posted the availability of a Handwriting Recognition Engineer position, citing the need for a dedicated employee for its Mac OS X handwriting recognition technology. According to MacRumors.com, the individual would be responsible for enhancing the existing product, as well as extending the technology's influence to "other Applications and the iPhone," suggesting Apple is trying to recapture the feel of its Newton handheld platform.