Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – February 22, 2010

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for February 22, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• Kanex has announced the official pre-order availability of its Macworld 2010 Best of Show Award Winner: Kanex XD. This HDMI to Mini DisplayPort converter is specifically designed to give you multiple functionalities with your Apple iMac 27-inch display. Now you can enjoy your iMac 27-inch as both a desktop computer and an HDTV with the Kanex XD. Using the iMac’s beautifully backlit LED display, you can play your PlayStation3, Xbox 360 Elite, and Blu-Ray DVDs experiencing amazing HD visuals. Audio is also transmitted through the Mini DisplayPort into the iMac 27-inch for audio playback.
• Independent software developer Christian Kienle today announced Ebbinghaus 3.2 for Mac OS X. Ebbinghaus is an easy-to-use flash card application with a beautiful iTunes-like user interface. Organize your cards in decks, folders and smart decks. Ebbinghaus 3.2 comes with a lot of new refinements, including the ability to resize the study window. When resizing the study window the current card becomes larger. Scrolling is now enabled in the study view.
• There are only three days to purchase the new MacFriendly Bundle of 12 applications for Mac users. The Bundle represents a savings of over 85% off the list prices. Additionally, two bonus applications will be added to the bundle for all customers when 1,000 bundles have been sold. The bundle includes 12 downloadable software applications, and the latest version of each application is included in the bundle. The latest version of each application is included.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• I’m going to post this announcement exactly as I received it: “Dead Climber is an action game in a level of difficulty of ‘S’!! You guide the climber and climb to the goal. Face a bumpy road ahead but you should be able to do it!! Timing is everything!! You should try enjoying a feeling of accomplishment when you could and a feeling of frustration when you couldn’t.”
• Raizlabs has announced the release of Mother Goose Classics 1.0, its kid-tested, Apple-approved nursery rhyme application for iPhone and iPod touch. Mother Goose Classic features interactive versions of nine beloved rhymes with original animation and music including Humpty Dumpty, Jack Be Nimble, Jack & Jill, Hickory-Dickory-Dock, Little Miss Muffet, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hey-Diddle-Diddle, This Little Piggy and Pat-A-Cake.
• AppKnack, LLC has announced EcoDriverEd 1.2, its newly updated green driving application for iPhone and iPod touch devices. EcoDriverEd helps you learn how to drive green, save gas, save money, and save the planet. Learn techniques of acceleration, deceleration, smoothness, and speed with audible feedback. Are you looking for a way to reduce fuel consumption without buying a new car? EcoDriverEd has the answer with this innovative and clever app.
• Stinger Games has announced Stinger Table Hockey 1.1, a full 3D recreation of table hockey for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Also known as bubble hockey and rod hockey, Stinger Table Hockey features fantastic 3D graphics combined with Bullet Physics to provide a realistic and fun game of table hockey. Push, pull, and spin your players to shuffle, pass, and shoot the puck past the other teams goalie. Use Dual Touch controls to be able to setup the perfect pass and one timer goal.
• Independent software developer Widemouth has announced goColoring 1.11 for iPhone and iPod touch. Featuring a simple and fluid user interface to make coloring easy, creative and fun, goColoring is designed to enable quick and accurate creation of beautiful images. Kids can color in the picture and add to it using a set of beautifully designed stamp images. With shake to undo, pan and zoom and a sliding cross hair, it is easy to place color exactly where it is wanted.
• Byte Squared has announced Office2 Plus 3.0.1, its free try before you buy office app for iPhone and iPod touch. Office2 Plus provides .DOC compatible document editing and .XLS compatible spreadsheet editing and lets the user in-app purchase the ability to save files. Access documents stored in Google Docs, iDisk and any WebDAV server, including open, edit, save, delete and rename. Office2 Plus is compatible with Microsoft Word, NeoOffice and any other .doc compatible word processor.
• Penpower Inc has announced WorldCard Contacts 1.0, their newest contact management tool for iPhone and iPod touch devices. The new WorldCard Contacts application updates the feature limited contacts app that is pre-installed on the iPhone and allows users to tie business card images to individual contacts for faster information management. Worldcard Contacts is designed to work both independently or hand in hand with the WorldCard Mobile business card reader for the iPhone.
• RoboHippo LLC has announced HippoRemote Pro 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. HippoRemote Pro is a Wi-Fi remote control for Macs, Windows and Linux PCs, featuring a multi-touch trackpad, an international language-capable keyboard, and tailored controls for a variety of applications. The 2.0 release bring social networking and the Internet, features never before available in a remote, to the palm of your hand, with an integrated web browser and Twitter client.
• The iconic Richard O’Brien returns with his leopard-print coat, magnetic charisma and hilarious anecdotes to be your guide through the four zones of the cult 1990s game show The Crystal Maze. Developed by BAFTA award-winning studio Dynamo Games, The Crystal Maze captures the show perfectly. With classic mid-zone animations, appearances from Richard O’Brien and Mumsie, and the official soundtrack, this is a fitting tribute to an iconic series. Better yet, the game also features a free 16-sample soundboard chock-full of your favourite series sound-bites, Richard O’ Brien quotables, and even some of his famous harmonica solos.
• The Game Trail, a brand new solution designed to show off the greatest iPhone and iPod Touch games on the App Store, was released today by Swedish mobile developer Fabrication Games. The Game Trail is the first ever app discovery system to allow iPhone and iPod Touch owners to watch video of games in action before they buy rather than having to make decisions on a text description and still images.
• Freeverse has announced Parachute Ninja Free, available now for the iPhone and iPod Touch! Parachute Ninja Free gives users a taste of the popular new Parachute Ninja, which sees players launching their ninja through 30 challenging levels and 4 visually stunning regions to seek revenge on a mysterious enemy. Parachute Ninja Free features 6 of those 30 levels and Plus+ integration for leader boards and awards. Gameplay is in a unique slinging platform-style with tap-activated parachute and spectacular physics. Defeat hovering enemies, avoid danger and collect fireflies on your flinging, flying adventure.
• VolnaTech has released NimbleKit SDK, an update to their software development kit for the iPhone platform. NimbleKit allows to develop iPhone applications much quicker using just HTML and Javascript. You have good ideas for iPhone software but you don’t know Objective-C? No need to spend time learning how to use complicated tools, just start development from a template. NimbleKit is well documented and sample code is available.
• Callpod offers universal multi-device chargers that charge thousands of mobile devices for emergencies and convenience at home and while traveling. The Fueltank Uno can charge one small electronic device without the use of an outlet. It contains a rechargeable lithium ion battery. The Fueltank Duo can simultaneously charge two small electronic devices, no outlets necessary. It contains a rechargeable lithium ion battery which has more than 7 times the capacity of a standard mobile phone. The Chargepod is a versatile 6-in-1 Charger that simultaneously charges popular portable devices including Blackberrys, iPods/iPhones, Palm Treos, in addition to hundreds of other cell phones, PDAs and portable gaming devices.
• ColcaSac has introduced the company’s newest protective sleeve for the Kindle, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPod Classic. Every ColcaSac sleeve offers users heavily padded protection from drops, dents and scratches that commonly occur with portable devices. ColcaSac vertical-loading sleeves are designed to provide fast and easy access for users that are constantly on-the-go. ColcaSac sleeves act as a theft deterrent as no one associates electronics with natural fabrics.
• iMania LLC has released the new GoDVD app. With this app at your fingertips you have instant access to search and browse information about DVD and Blu-Ray movies, provide links directly to friends, relatives and family, and if your mind is made up, purchase the movie directly from your phone! With GoDVD at your disposal you no longer come up short when it comes to remembering or retrieving all the facts about the latest blockbuster release or the black and white classic your grandparents encouraged you to watch.