Macintosh/iPhone software update roundup – December 9, 2009

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for December 9, 2009:

Macintosh

• Wondershare has released an update to Free YouTube Downloader for Mac with a brand new cocoa-based user interface and enhanced performance. Got a leaked YouTube home video of Taylor Swift in a bikini? Or want to playback the latest viral video “Pink Glove Dance” on YouTube? Downloading and collect them with Free YouTube Downloader.
• CoreMelt has announced the Show Us Your Pixels Competition. Entries will be accepted from 7th December 2009 until February 7th 2010. The grand prize is a Sumatran Adventure Trek with Rainforest Rescue to help support their rainforest salvation projects. With sponsors like AJA, Black Magic Design, Crumpler, Art Beats and many more, this is a competition not to be missed. Competition categories include best existing work, best student work and best rainforest themed work.
• FileMaker has announced new dates and a new headquarters hotel with a lower room rate for its 2010 Developer Conference. The 15th annual FileMaker Developer Conference will be Aug. 15-18, 2010, at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, San Diego, which offers a limited number of rooms for DevCon attendees at $149 per night. DevCon attendees are strongly urged to make reservations at the Sheraton (1-877-734-2726) before low-priced rooms sell out.

iPhone/iPod

• Alawar Entertainment has announced Hotel Mogul 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch, their 13th game by the global developer. Hotel Mogul is a fast paced business and economic simulation game based off of their PC game of the same name. In Hotel Mogul, the player takes the role of the business savvy Lynette, who sets out to reclaim her families hotel empire after her ex-husband underhandedly snatches it out from under her.
• QuinnScape has announced aQ’s Pro Slider Puzzle 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. The aQ’s Pro Slider Puzzle family of apps include six theme-focused apps, plus one all-inclusive 6-in-1 Combo app. This 6-in-1 slider puzzle includes “Full Screen, Full Fun,” “Puzzle Your Pic,” “Shake to Shuffle,” “Numbered or Not,” “Wallpaper This!” and “Save for a Rainy Day.”
• Indie software producer Satosoft has announced MP Expenses 1.0, their third application exclusively for iPhone and iPod Touch. MP Expenses features the information that UK MP’s have tried to cover up for years by giving you the ability to view each MP’s expenses. You can also send them an email to their own email address. Additionally, you can ring their Parliamentary office or Constituency office or even view their website.
• Skewsoft has announced Sums 1.1, an update to their popular ledger and tally sheet utility for iPhone and iPod touch. Designed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique capabilities, Sums provides an intuitive, paper-like interface that lets users enter, edit, rearrange, and delete figures quickly and easily. Write a budget, track expenses, balance the checkbook, tally game points, log mileage, or manage any other list of numbers.
• Bowers Technologies, Inc. has introduced Crime Stats 1.0, their new crime statistics inquiry application for iPhone and iPod Touch. Designed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique abilities, Crime Stats serves to empower people by providing them detailed crime information about more than 8,700 cities within the United States. More importantly, the crime statistics are ranked in relation to the rest of the nation so it allows you to compare cities to the national average.
• Avallon Alliance, Ltd., is offering users the chance to put their spy skills to a test in the first meta-quest at App Store. Developers have just launched the last free promo game from Kellie Stanford: Turn of Fate collection for iPhone/iPod Touch and ensures that special rewards will be given to everyone who collects all 8 free mini games. The quest starts right now.
• Plinkk Photography today are proud to release Second Shootr 1.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch app store. Second Shootr is a revolutionary digital photography assistant for professional wedding photographers. Second Shootr helps photographers with the less exciting planning and administration, enabling them to have their mind on the task of capturing those once-in-a-lifetime moments. Second Shootr is customisable to your wedding photography business.
• Talking Carl has landed in the AppStore. Talking Carl repeats anything you say with an hilarious voice. He can also be poked and pinched, and you can even tickle him to make him laugh out loud.
• From the photography experts at Joby—creators of the award-winning Gorillapod line of flexible tripods and the Gorillamobile iPhone stand—comes the Gorillacam, a free, feature-packed camera application for the iPhone. Designed to extend the iPhone’s native camera functionality, the Gorillacam adds many features that are unavailable in the basic camera application, including a self-timer, time-lapse, and continuous rapid-fire shooting.
• The unofficial force—the Baker Street Irregulars—have arrived on mobile devices. GOSUB 60, an independent innovator and publisher of mobile entertainment, has announced their latest game: Sherlock Holmes: The Game is Afoot. With a sleek combination of hidden object” and spot the difference gameplay, this game is anything but elementary.
• In SEED 1: Rise of Darkness, players adventure within a thriving fantasy-RPG universe developed by CH Games. Players begin their adventure as an unskilled apprentice, who must defeat enemy monsters and complete quests to discover new weapons, skills and spells. Eventually, they will become a powerful hero who can change the fantasy world of Kalikoop forever.
• Dale Webb of The Protocol Centre in Coral Gables today has released Etiquette Avenue 1.3, the newest upgrade to her popular iPhone application. Etiquette Avenue tackles the sticky, greasy, drippy world of dining etiquette. With the “Food for Thought” upgrade, users can access screens of tips and advice on handling messy meals and confusing cuisine in professional situations.