Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up – October 22, 2008

Macintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for October 22, 2008:

• 99Games has made its debut with the games Chess Lite and Chess Pro for the iPhone and the iPod touch. Both editions make use of a professional strength Chess engine with playing strength over 2750 ELO. Intuitive controls make the user-experience a lot more electrifying thus gripping the user to the game totally! Highlighting previous move, next move and legal move hints are user-friendly; while options like save, load and resume allows users to play the game on-the-go or during their spare time.
• seyDesign and Vortex Themes have announced the OS Designer RapidWeaver theme for RapidWeaver 4. OS Designer, from Vortex Themes, captures the Mac OS X experience with a window and several desktop backgrounds that feel like the real thing. The simple grace and beauty of the Mac OS X desktop can now be applied your webpage. With many OS flavors to choose from, there will be one that is just right for you.
• MileBug, the premier iPhone mileage log application, helps those driving their own vehicles for business, charity, medical, or other reasons receive their reimbursement and/or tax deduction. In the U.S., IRS business rates are up to 58.5 cents/mile. MileBug for the iPhone/iPod Touch helps people track their miles and provides emailed reports for easy submission to employers, accountants, and the IRS.
• FurrySoft has announced their College GPA Calculator for iPhone and iPod Touch. This first of its kind, College GPA application makes predicting GPA easy for the student whose future depends on their college success or students on probation. College students predict GPA by entering cumulative GPA, grade points, current term courses and predicted letter grade. College GPA does the rest to calculate predicted cumulative GPA.
• The latest release of The Big Mean Folder Machine adds the ability of making the creation of deeper hierarchy levels dependent on the number of files per level. It is an essential tool for anyone who works with large file collections, including digital photographers, content creation, post-production, system administrators, and other creative professionals. Easily merge files from several folders into a single folder, or split files into several folders according to a wide variety of criteria.
• 24x7digital has introduced PhotoCopy 1.0, their iPhoto to Flickr mirroring utility for Mac OS X Leopard. Designed specifically to help protect media assets, PhotoCopy combines iPhoto’s ease of use with the great sharing features of Flickr. It uploads all of the photos in the selected album(s) to Flickr and arranges them in matching sets. PhotoCopy also copies important image information from iPhoto, such as title, date, time, rating, keywords and description.
• Arriving in time for Halloween, Phelios, an independent Mac and PC game developer, has released their second game for iPhone and iPod Touch, called Whack the Dead, which is also available for Mac OS X. Whack the Dead was created with the PTK game engine.
• Readdle has just announced the release of A.I.Disk, a new and much needed iPhone application that lets MobileMe subscribers access documents on the iDisk online storage service, and save them to their iPhone and iPod Touch. A.I. Disk allows people to view saved files and documents on the go and even email friends and colleagues.
• equinux has released CoverScout 3, the ultimate software to complete album covers in iTunes. With its sleek and intuitive user interface, CoverScout searches the Internet to find missing album art and can automatically apply its findings to your music library. CoverScout’s integrated editor and automatic workflow complete every music library.
• Smule has released their newest complementary product, Sonic Boom, on AppStore. Sonic Boom turns your iPhone into a virtual firecracker that can be ignited using your finger as a virtual match or a second phone running Sonic Lighter. Strike the match, ignite the fuse, wait…boom!
• IGG Software has announced iBank 3.3, the latest upgrade to its flagship application for personal and small business finance management. Among the most important changes in iBank 3.3 is improved migration of Quicken data for new users making the switch to iBank. iBank 3.3 also improves keyboard-based transaction entry to be faster and more efficient, and direct consultation with Apple has restored full functionality to iBank’s iPhone/MobileMe integration.
• After an afternoon shopping at the mall or catching a game at a baseball stadium, it can be a hassle or even a challenge to find the car. For women especially, knowing where the car is parked can turn into a matter of safety in a dark parking lot or on an urban street. With these two considerations in mind, iPhone 3G application developer Su Lee embarked on creating Car Spotter—an easy-to-use vehicle locator that uses the iPhone’s navigational GPS system. It is one of nine iPhone applications that Lee’s company, GP Apps, has released this month.