Sprint expands Direct Connect with LG, Moto, Samsung...

Sprint today unveiled the LG LX 400, Motorola V950, and Samsung Z400/Z700 series phones, rounding off a landslide of announcements from the carrier at the CTIA Wireless 2008 Conference [1|2|3|5|6|7]. The LG LX 400 features a 1.77-inch main display, and works on both 1900 and 800MHz frequencies. It also features Sprint's Direct Connect push-to-talk network, as well as several multimedia communications options such as PCS Picture Mail, text, voice messaging, and email. Bluetooth connectivity and a 1.3-megapixel camera are also included.

Griffin offers "Wave" case for iPhone...

Griffin Technology has announced a new case for the iPhone dubbed "Wave." The case features wave-shaped contours on the sides that overlap and interlock. The resulting double-helix design purportedly provides greater surface area to hold the case together. The case allows full access to audio jack, volume controls, connectors and touch screen and is made of polycarbonate at all corners. It is available in six interchangeable coordinated colors. The new case is priced at $25.

Mathematica Player Pro runtime tool debuts...

Wolfram Research has announced the release of Mathematica Player Pro, the new delivery system for Mathematica applications and interactive documents. Player Pro gives access to any Mathematica-6-based notebook files to users who do not have the full version of the software, allowing performance of adaptive visualization, controlling interface elements, connecting to real-time data, and more. Developers can build applications in Mathematica and then use Player Pro to deploy them to anyone.

CrushFTP 4.7 adds hacking protection...

CrushFTP.com has released the latest version of its file transfer utility, CrushFTP 4.7. The update adds additional hacking protection, expanded CrushSQL abilities, a new PostBack plugin for integrating better with existing business needs, specific user based controls, and enhanced custom reporting abilities. The uploading from the WebInterface has been improved to handle multiple batches of files, each with its own custom form information with the batches details.

Munster: low iPhone stock points to 3G upgrade...

In light of Apple's iPhone supply problems in New York, new evidence suggests that the issue is of a larger scale than initially thought. Gene Munster, senior analyst for Piper Jaffray recently called 20 Apple retail stores to confirm stock, and was met with the response that future shipments are uncertain. Munster estimates that the most likely reason for the shortage is the impending, but as of yet unconfirmed, upgrade to a 3G-based iPhone, with a slim chance of a manufacturing issue being a secondary explanation.

Studiometry 5.1 gets iCal syncing...

Studiometry 5.1, a new release of the organizational tool for Mac OS X, has been released. The new version adds over 50 updates, enhancements, features, and bug fixes. New in Studiometry 5.1 is the ability to sync to and from iCal. Previous versions of Studiometry could post calendars to iCal, but would not receive any changes made in iCal or other programs that modified iCal items. Now, editing an item in Studiometry or iCal will immediately sync the data to the other application, and Studiometry can even receive updates to tasks and events made on a PDA or mobile phone synced with iCal. Several other features have also been added to Studiometry 5.1. The developer says that users with Studiometry networks spanning multiple time zones will see greatly improved network syncing behaviors with the addition of relative Time Zone support. Studiometry will automatically calculate the difference between the client and server machines and adjust item times accordingly, giving a more consistent behavior for networks with computers connecting remotely over the internet.

Rock Legend for Mac OS X debuts...

Red Marble Games has announced a new Mac OS X game dubbed "Rock Legend" that is part RPG, part life-sim, part Tycoon game. Players take the role of a struggling rock singer who puts together his own band, and tries to achieve fame and fortune, from humble beginnings as a starving garage-band. They can pick their band-members, choose the band name, write the songs, play the gigs and more. Rock Legend is a turn-based game, in some ways similar to the gameplay of Kudos. Each turn of the game represents a single day, and it's up to users to decide how the band spends their time. Some of the activities users will need to spend time on include songwriting, rehearsals, auditions, publicity events, practicing individual instruments recording the latest album. The game is priced at $23.

Discribe 6.0 disc burning utility goes Universal...

Charismac Engineering has announced Discribe v6.0, a new version of the Mac OS X disc (including Blu-Ray) burning software has been completely rewritten from the ground up in Universal Binary Code. The new release has a new user interface that is more intuitive and easier to navigate. It also includes an extensive list of requested features from previous versions. Meanwhile, Primera Technology, a manufacturer of CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc duplication and printing equipment, announced an agreement with Charismac to include Discribev6.0 software in all Bravo-Series and XR-Series Disc Publishers.

Misu 1.0 offers iPod music libary sharing...

Misu 1.0 is a new application that enables iPod users to share their music libraries. Once installed on a Mac, the program assimilates the music libraries of two or more connected iPods, combining them into one. The program only copies or merges audio files not already found on each device, avoiding the risk of file duplication or unauthorized replacement. Misu is available for download, priced at $20 for a single user license.

Apple's Mac marketshare hits 21% in US...

Profit prospects on Apple stock continue to look bright, despite the collapse of much of the American economy, says the research firm Piper Jaffray. Analyst Gene Munster contends that the company is being driven by several factors, among these a growth in its worldwide computer marketshare, which expanded from 2.4 percent in 2006 to 2.9 percent in 2007; notably, enterprise sales actually represented 70 percent of the latter figure, despite minimal effort on Apple's part.

Radiohead sells 'Nude' deconstruction on iTunes...

British rock act Radiohead has taken a different approach with its latest single, the band has announced. Rather than commission a series of professional remixes for "Nude," any musician can now buy the song's underlying elements on iTunes (link), and remix them into a new track. Available "stems" include the voice, bass, guitar, drum, and string/FX layers; while shoppers have to buy before April 8th to get free GarageBand project files, the layers can be edited using many other programs, such as Logic.

Apple posts three new iPhone TV ads...

Apple has uploaded a new series of its television ads to the iPhone website. The first of these, "Bet," encourages exploiting the phone to settle debates on the spot, in this case by researching the all-time scoring leader in the NBA (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) on Wikipedia. The second ad, "Brilliant," depicts the advantages of the revised Google Maps, which can provide a rough positioning system, and then guide users to a new location with text directions.

MacBook Air shipping in 24 hours

Turnaround times for the MacBook Air at the Apple Store have shortened dramatically, checks show. The default, $1,799 version of the computer, equipped with an 80GB hard drive, is now shipping within 24 hours of ordering; the $3,098 model, which uses a 64GB solid-state drive, is slated to ship in one to three business days. This stands in contrast to the delivery times that persisted for weeks after the introduction of the Air, which sometimes ran as long as seven days. The reduction in wait suggests either an ebb in the notebook's high demand, or an increase in stock.

Onset unveils USB humidity, temperature monitor...

Onset Computer Corporation today introduced the HOBO U14 LCD Data Logger, an environmental monitoring system that tracks temperature and humidity ratings in indoor environtments. The logger notifies users when environmental conditions exceed those specified, and includes both an audible alarm, as well as an auto phone dialer. Onset says the unit functions quickly over USB 2.0, and is selling the unit starting at $200.

Sans Digital unveils dual SATA RAID enclosures...

Sans Digital today unveiled a new line of MobileSTOR Plus storage systems, including the MS2UT+ and MS2UTN+, offering users two 3.5-inch hard drive bays, connectable over USB 2.0 and eSATA. The line supports several different RAID levels, including JBOD, Spanning, 0, and 1, and makes use of the Silicon Image 5744 chipset, which supports both SAFE33 and SAFE55 transfer methods. Pricing for the two models was not readily available.