Ableton Live 7 LE adds multicore support, more...

Ableton today unveiled Live 7 LE, a major update to its simplified music creation tool that adds many new features and enhancements. Ableton Live 7 LE adds studio-quality recording at up to 32-bits with 192 kHz quality, and supports 64 concurrent audio tracks, as well as unlimited MIDI tracks and powerful sequencers. The update also introduces 20 effects, including delays, filters, and others. Ableton Live 7 LE is available for $150 as a download, while the boxed version costs $200.

QuickTime, iTunes, Front Row updates fix holes...

Apple today released updates to QuickTime 7.4.5, iTunes 7.6.2, and Front Row 2.1.3, offering several performance enhancements, as well as a patch for a security hole found in QuickTime. The patch fixes an issue related to the SHA-1 checksum, which is related to protecting files with 160-bit encryption. iTunes 7.6.2 doesn't list specifically which issues are fixed, but more than likely resolves compatibility with the new QuickTime version. Front Row's update similarly guarantees functionality with iTunes 7.6.2.

Apps: ImageWell, PostgreSQL, Avernum

• ImageWell 3.5 ($20) image editor for everyday simple editing and quickly sending images, screenshots, and other files tother users over the Internet. The tool includes upload support for Flickr, SmugMug and ImageShack, and is free. This latest release is Version 3.5, Build 327 and includes a new sharpness filter, two new shapes, the ability to double-click History items and open them in a browser, and fixes for bugs associated with Leopard. This is a free update to registered users. [Download - 964KB]


• PostgreSQL 8.3.1 Open Source project that leverages the Open Source PostgreSQL server and works to integrate the popular database engine into the Mac platform in as native a fashion as possible. This not only includes the creation of tools that are native to the Mac platform, but also the integration of Mac specific technologies like Automator, and publishing platform native toolkits like the PGSQLKit framework for Cocoa. The project is hosted, administered and developed by Druware Software Designs. [Download - 1.8MB]


• Avernum 5 1.0.4 ($28) enormous, epic fantasy role-playing adventure. "Wander a gigantic world, full of multitudes of characters, hundreds of side quests, and traps, tricks, and treasure in every corner. Take the part of a soldier for the all-powerful Empire, hunting for the foul assassin that struck down your Empress." The new update fixes a few errors that caused rare but irritating problems. [Download - 25.9MB]


• Cyndicate 1.2 ($30) RSS/Atom aggregator and content management application for Mac OS X. Enhancements in this release include: Performance has been greatly improved for some scenarios; Twitter support for sharing articles; Video enclosures can now be set to download separately from other enclosures; Feeds can now be set to never be checked; Fixed parsing feeds with use the Latin1 encoding and contain accented characters; Various bug fixes. [Download - 7.9MB]


• RapidWeaver 3.6.4 ($50) website creation application for Mac OS X. This release sees numerous improvements to the application including a significantly enhanced exporting process, along with a number of other minor fixes designed to improve the handling of QuickTime movies and images. In addition to feature fixes, the new version also offers preliminary support for the new Simplified Chinese localization. [Download - 24.6MB]

Chinese search engine snags Apple China head...

Baidu.com, the leading Chinese search engine, has hired Apple Inc's head of China operations for the role of chief operating officer. Reuters reports that Peng Ye, who oversaw all business operations in China for Apple as the U.S. firm's country general manager, is joining Baidu, right after ex-General Motors executive Jennifer Li accepted the post of chief financial officer. Ye will officially joing the company on April 25. Baidu is bigger than Google in China, the number 2 Internet market in the world behind the United States.

Apple's second campus not coming soon...

Apple has been planning a second business campus in Cupertino for some time now, but completion of the project may take a little longer than originally planned by CEO Steve Jobs. Two years ago, at a Cupertino City Council meeting, Jobs announced that Apple put together several pieces of land about a mile from its current campus and decided to break ground on the new location as a new separate but connected set of buildings. At the time, Jobs said "It'll take us, you know, three or four years to design it, get all the approvals and get it built." However, two years after the announcement, Apple has not applied for any permits to build on the land, according to Fortune.

Creative unveils TravelSound for 3G Nano...

Creative recently unveiled the TravelSound for iPod nano 3G, a new compact speaker system with a built-in rechargeable battery. The system features four independent micro drivers and a digital amplifier, and Creative claims that it puts out more sound than comparably priced larger systems. The TravelSound charges through USB 2.0, and can play for 15 hours. Creative is currently only selling the system in Singapore for $130 (~$100 USD).

iPod sales should exceed estimates in '08...

As part of his "3 Cylinder Engine" report on Apple's three core product lines, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster recently looked at Apple's iPod, discussing the business unit's growth trajectory, upcoming iPods and more. Saying that the iPod will be a slower growing segment than the Mac or iPhone, Munster expects iPod unit growth to be flat in the calendar year 2008, but also thinks that Apple can maintain iPod unit growth and slightly exceed street expectations. Munster believes that the iPhone will replace the iPod as a driver of significant growth for the company.

Orange France: 90,000 iPhones sold...

Orange France, the official wireless carrier for Apple iPhone in France, has broken its silence regarding iPhone sales figures, revealing that it has sold 90,000 iPhones in total since the device went on sale in late November last year through January 31st, 2008 according to Pocket-Lint. 86 percent of those phones were sold with one of Orange's tariff packages, while 14 percent were sold as legally unlocked. O2 UK recently revealed that the iPhone is its fasting selling device for the UK, noting that the device has helped it achieve 9.5-percent revenue growth during the final quarter for 2007. While O2 did not provide specific sales numbers for the device alone, it said that the iPhone led its strongest quarter on record, adding 483,000 customers and 276,000 contracts to its roster.

AmTech: 3G iPhone 'accelerated,' sold next to 2.5G...

A new iPhone equipped with 3G broadband may be arriving much sooner than anticipated, says Shaw Wu of American Technology Research. Although AmTech had predicted a 3G phone for later in the second half of 2008, based on checks with supply chain sources, Wu now believes the new hardware will come in late June or possibly July. This should roughly coincide with the launch of the iPhone 2.0 firmware, which will bring added functionality to the iPhone platform in general.

Adobe debuts Lightroom 2.0 beta...

Adobe has debuted the first beta version of Lightroom 2.0, the next iteration of its professional photo workflow software. The program is mainly meant to process RAW files, and can also be used to print images, create slideshows, or publish to the web. Lightroom 2.0 makes several important changes, among these the ability to create new print layouts with multiple sizes of an image on the same page. Users should also be able to sort through images faster, thanks to interface adjustments, and output video to a second monitor.

Apple premieres two new 'Get a Mac' ads...

Continuing a new marketing push, Apple has two new Get a Mac television ads online. The first, "Yoga," attacks the reliability of Windows Vista, suggesting that it continues to be broken after more than a year on shelves. In turn it claims that many people could have avoided headaches by switching to a Mac early on, escaping the loss of important data, in this case the figures for a yoga business.

TV shows launched on iTunes Germany...

Apple on Wednesday marked the official launch of TV shows on iTunes Germany, expanding the availability of such programming further into Europe. The mix includes a combination of top German-made TV shows such as Stromberg and Tramitz and Friends as well as a select number of American shows, including Lost and South Park. A total of 35 shows mark a "great start" to the launch of TV shows in the country, according to Apple's iTunes VP, Eddy Cue. As with past unveilings, TV shows can be purchased from an Apple TV, Mac, or PC and played back on these devices as well as iPhones and iPods.

FotoMagico 2.2 adds export options, more...

Boinx today unveiled FotoMagico 2.2, an update to its photo presentation software that adds a new Sharing Assistant to export projects to a number of different formats for iPhone, Apple TV, or DVD, among others. The update also introduces compatibility with El Gato's Turbo.264 video conversion stick to encode video projects. FotoMagico 2.2 is now available from Boinx' website, priced at $50 for Express and $130 for Pro.