Early this year, Global Delight released Boom, their software-based MacBook speaker booster. In his review, Appletell’s Bill Stiteler wrote, “At five bucks, Boom falls into that dead useful category of utilities. The ones you expect Apple to implement itself. Not everyone will need Boom, but everyone can think of a use for it.” But there were some issues, and Global Delight has addressed many of them with their v1.2 update.

Boom makes your speakers louder. Now, this is a pretty remarkable achievement for laptops which often sacrifice sound for size. Showing off YouTube videos in noisy rooms? Want to watch (and hear) a movie on your Macbook without having to sit it on your lap? Maybe you’ve got an audio file that’s simply too soft? Boom can help you. It works simply enough; it adds another switch to your menu bar that “goes to 11,” with a longer volume control.

This is part five of a five part series leading up to Macworld. Third Party and Keynote Predictions: Microsoft Office 2008: Microsoft Office 2008 packs a punch as the first Intel Native version of Microsoft Office. it also for the first time supports a Mac native interface that looks quite a bit like iWork (make more »