Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up – September 24, 2008

Macintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for September 23, 2008:

• Griffin Technology, Inc., today announced the availability of an updated iTrip Auto, one of the best-selling members of Griffin’s iTrip familiy of FM transmitters. iTrip Auto combines all the innovations of its iTrip lineage, including world-class industrial design and Griffin’s trademark station-scanning feature, SmartScan. SmartScan seeks out the best FM frequencies available for iPod use, then selects the best of the best for use in transmitting your iPod’s music to your car’s FM stereo.
• Ambrosia Software, Inc., has announced the release of WireTap Anywhere 1.0.2, the professional audio routing and mixing tool for Mac OS X. This updated version, which is free to all registered users of WireTap Anywhere 1.0.x, provides various fixes and enhancements.
• iPod compatible sex toys? Yes, OhMiBod has released a range of sex toys in Europe that work in tandem with your iPod. Simply plug OhMiBod into your iPod or iPhone and it automatically vibrates to the rhythm and intensity of the music.
• Howling Moon Software has released ScribBall, their arcade game for iPhone and iPod Touch. ScribBall is an arcade/puzzle game with all of the addictive fun of the Mac version. The simple touch controls and realistic physics make for an easy-to-learn and intuitive game. Furthermore, ScribBall makes full use of the tilt feature, so as you move your iPhone or iPod from side to side, the balls will tumble and roll just like you’d expect.
• Macvide has announced FlashVideo Converter 2.0, their Flash to video conversion utility for Mac OS X. With a focus on ease-of-use, FlashVideo Converter allows conversion of Adobe (Macromedia) Flash SWF and FLV files to video. It fully integrates the process into the Mac experience by allowing human interaction on the content during conversion.
• Open Door Networks, Inc. and Project A, Inc. announced today that they have enhanced their line of “Envi” iPhone and iPod touch applications by shipping three new apps—Art Envi Deluxe, London Envi and Paris Envi— plus a major upgrade to the highly-acclaimed iEnvision Web-image browser on which the line is based.
• Marware has announced three new cases in their iPod/iPhone case line-up: Sport Grip Deluxe for the Apple iPod nano 4G, Flexi-Shell for the Apple iPhone 3G, and Sport Grip Extreme for the Apple iPod touch 2G.
• ZappTek has announced its version 4.2 release of iPDA. iPDA is the perfect companion to the iPod by serving as a replacement PDA. Word, PDF, Apple Pages, RTF or text documents may be easily transferred to iPod so data is available for quick access, any time. Download RSS feeds, weather forecasts, driving directions and news headlines directly to the iPod. iPDA supports transferring information from Entourage, Stickies, Gmail, Mail, Address Book and iCal, making it simple to put the information users need on their iPods.
• Award-winning provider of software training videos lynda.com is celebrating the largest launch in its history of online training for the just-released Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) product family. With over 100 hours of instructional videos on Creative Suite 4 training, comprising 34 different product training tutorials, with dozens of additional courses planned for the coming months; this collection of training is being called “CS4U.” lynda.com has also produced training videos that are bundled with the software, as the exclusive in-the-box video training provider for Adobe Creative Suite 4.
• Workamajig (formerly Creative Manager Pro), ad agency software and project management groupware for creative and design firms, announced drag and drop Flash calendar and support for Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.
• If you’re a developer or system administrator lured to Mac OS X because of its Unix roots, you’ll quickly discover that performing Unix tasks on a Mac is different from what you’re accustomed to. “Mac OS X for Unix Geeks” (O’Reilly, $34.99 USD) serves as a bridge between Apple’s Darwin OS and the more traditional Unix systems. This clear, concise guide gives you a tour of Mac OS X’s Unix shell in both Leopard and Tiger, and helps you find the facilities that replace or correspond to standard Unix utilities.
• Quark has announced the simultaneous fall release of Quark Publishing System 8, QuarkCopyDesk 8, and QuarkXPress Server 8, marking the complete compatibility of Quark’s enterprise solutions with QuarkXPress 8. With the release of these offerings, customers can leverage the superior design capabilities of QuarkXPress 8 with the flexible, automated workflow of QPS in their publishing environments. Together these offerings connect key publishing tasks and technologies to help customers lay the groundwork for Quark Dynamic Publishing Solution.