FTP Client Ultimate is the easiest and fastest way to access a FTP server. It allows you to upload, download, create directories, and delete files with a streamlined and easy-to-use interface.

• Simple, easy-to-use use interface
• Secure connections
• Blazing, concurrent downloads and uploads
• Retina-ready and sandboxed (secure) app

Version 2.0.5:

• Fixed a memory leak

• OS X 10.6 or later

More information

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Not a fan of Apple’s EarPods? Looking for something new to use with your iOS devices? We took the Nue Era in-ear headphones by Polk Audio for a spin this week. The Nue Eras are, as the name implies, a brand-new model that was just recently released. Are they worth checking out? Keep reading for our full review.

Sound
I listen to a lot of bass-heavy music, but I can’t usually hear most of the bass unless I’m in my car. My EarPods just don’t carry it. The Nue Era earphones, on the other hand, sounded great in terms of bass. Unfortunately, as is often the case with this style of headphones, the bass is a bit overpowering, causing the mids and especially the highs, to become buried under the lower frequencies...

Following Apple’s acquisition of mapping service HopStop earlier this month, today the iPhone app receives an update with some notable new features. Much like the functionality Google scooped up with its purchase of Waze, HopStop for iPhone today implemented a real-time incident reporting feature called ‘HopStop Live’.

You can now report real-time Delays, Crowds, Incidents, Service Changes, Station Closures, Broken Elevators, Suggestions,...

Melody Assistant is a music composition and score editor with audio playback capabilities. The included digital-instrument database can be assigned to play back your compositions. Also includes a digital effect processor module (Wah, Overdrive, Flanger, Reverb...).Melody Assistant imports MID, KAR, SGU, AIFF, WAV, MP3, ABC, TAB, MOD, S3M and other sound files, and exports in most of these formats.And also : Tab calculation (fretted instruments or harmonica), multi-voices karaoke, jukebox ...Multi-lingual : English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.The unregistered version limits exporting to eight seconds, has a watermark on printed documents and does not enable key signature changes.

Version 7.6.3e:

Improvements

• When moving an object related to a staff, a visual spot shows the target staff.
• Now possible to grab...

An image posted on Chinese site WeiPhone appears to show plastic retail packaging marked with the name "iPhone 5C". If the packaging is genuine, and it has not yet been confirmed to be, it could be for Apple's long-rumored plastic iPhone. The image was first noticed by French site Nowhereelse.fr [Google Translate].

The "C" designation would presumably refer to the various color options available on the rumored lower-cost device.

The packaging appears to be a white plastic box that would hold the device and associated accessories and documentation. A front cover, unseen in the photo but perhaps clear to show off the various color options for the device itself as seen on Apple's iPod lineups, would appear to rest on a...

GPG Keychain Access is an open-source initiative to bring OpenPGP to Apple OS X in the form of an easy installer package. This allows you to sign, verify, and encrypt/decrypt files and e-mails. Read the introduction here to get a detailed idea of how PGP works.

Version 1.1: Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.

• OS X 10.6 or later
• MacGPG2

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The recent demise of Google Reader brought many third-party substitutes for the once-popular free service to the forefront. SushiReader (Mac App Store link) is a simple alternative to the more complex RSS feed readers available.

Instead of overwhelming the user with tons of features, it focuses almost exclusively on displaying a “river of news”—an aggregated list of all the items available for reading, which you can navigate one at a time. This structure allows SushiReader to offer its services...

ExpressionsinBar is a simple menubar application which provides powerful computer aided algebra computations. A mathematical expression entered in the popup window is immediately computed and the result is displayed in an associated subview window. With the drag-and-drop feature, results are easily copied into text editors such as Pages or Microsoft Word, or presentation programs such as Keynote or Microsoft PowerPoint. The algebra functionalities include:

• Constants (π, e, etc.)
• Integers, fractions, floating numbers
• Sequences, lists, vectors, matrices, strings
• Operators (+, -, *, /, ^)
• Arithmetics on integers, rational, and floating numbers
• Arbitrary precision arithmetic, operating on signed integers, rational numbers, and floating point numbers (no practical limit to the precision except by the available memory)
• ...

DYMO Stamps provides users with a quick and simple way to print postage right from their desks. Skip time-consuming trips to the Post Office, and get back to business.

Convenience

Print complete, professional U.S. Postal Service(R) postage right from your PC or Mac with no monthly fees. Use the application the way you want--download the software or print stamps online.

Efficiency

Save time and eliminate trips to the Post Office to mail your reminders, invoices, or packages. Increase productivity, and let the software manage the latest postage requirements.

Save Money

Avoid long-term contracts and monthly subscription fees with our mailing solutions. DYMO Stamps(R) is the only true pay-as-you-go electronic postage solution. Even better, the software calculates postage for you, so you always...

CM Note Keeper is an app to help you organize all your notes, code snippets, thoughts, recipes, or anything text you want to remember in a single place. You can search through them when you need it. In our modern life, we are bombarded with a lot of information. Some of it we need on the spot, while some we'll use in the future. CM Note Keeper is the tool for you. As we grow older, it is easy to start forgetting things and although CM Note Keeper does not help you grow brain cells, it would not allow you to lose those notes you pen down. We have a Windows version where you can share data with.

Version 1.1.20:

• Code optimization

OS X 10.6.8 or later


More information

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The HTC One Google Play edition is the answer to many users dreams for a device approaching Android perfection. When we originally reviewed the HTC One, we expressed appreciation for some of the software enhancements packaged in HTC's Sense 5 user interface, but felt that the pure Google Android experience found on Nexus devices offered a less cluttered, cleaner and more consistent user experienc ......   ...

Calibre is a complete e-book library manager.

Organize your collection, convert your books to multiple formats, and sync with all of your devices. Let Calibre be your multi-tasking digital librarian.

Manage, convert, sync, and more

• Library management. Calibre keeps things orderly by creating single entries for books that contains multiple formats. Add tags and comments for better searchability.
• Format conversion. Calibre's robust conversion options support a wide variety of file formats.
• File syncing. Calibre's device drivers seamlessly support all the top e-readers and devices.

Version 0.9.41:

New...

SmoothCursor is a status bar application that provides separate controls for customizing the mouse and trackpad accelerations -- It is the perfect tool to use in combination with drawing applications and FPS games!

System Notifications:
SmoothCursor will display a system notification every time a different profile is activated using Growl or OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion's Notification Center. (This feature is optional and can be disabled by the user)

User-definable Hotkey:
One of the most relevant features in version 2.0 is the ability to alternate between 2 profiles using an user-definable HotKey.

Alternating between acceleration profiles can be accomplished in 2 different ways:

• Mode 1: Activates alternative profile after Hotkey is released
• Mode 2...

Cineon/DPX Toolkit gives you the ability to read and write Cineon or DPX digital images in one easy step. You no longer need to convert your source frames into another format using a separate program. Features include:

• Full iIntegration with Final Cut Pro (and many other apps!)
• Full playback with any QuickTime compatible application
• 3D LUT file support, including support Apple's Color DI system
• IR dirt and scratch channel support
• 8- and 10-bit alpha channel support
• Control over white and black points as well as gamma
• Separate controls for import and export settings
• View Cineon or DPX image sequences with QuickTime player
• Many more features

Version 4.0.2837:

• Fixed occasional error when rendering with Compressor 4

• OS X 10.7.5...

As part of Apple's ongoing efforts to improve labor practices in its supply chain, the company recently formed an academic advisory board to oversee its Supplier Responsibility program.

The academic advisory board, which is an all-volunteer group, will be comprised of eight professors from renowned US universities and chaired by Brown University Professor Richard Locke.

The Watson Institute reports that the advisory board will make recommendations about Apple's current practices and commission new research with the intent of improving labor practices and working conditions not just in regards to Apple but across the board.

Locke hopes that the board will shape the practices of Apple and its suppliers so that the millions of employees involved in Apple's supply chain work under safe and fair conditions, in which "they are paid living...

A report by Strategy Analytics is getting lots of attention, but its core implication that Samsung Electronics is now leading Apple, Inc. in profits is simply not accurate.   ...

While Patently Apple does post some reports based on rumors emanating from Taiwan and Chinese supply chain sources, we shy away from the bizarre, the truly unbelievable or the ridiculous. Yet some sites don't mind stepping over the line and this week's rumored iPhone lite photos were clear proof of that. The rumored photos were simply over the top stupid. To some, they were just insulting.

YouTubeHunter means it takes only seconds to find and download videos from YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, VEVO, and others. Any videos (even in HD) will be on your Mac in several moments. A "Get video by URL" feature is available.

YouTubeHunter has built-in search and preview capabilities. You don't need to install any additional players or converters. Downloaded videos will be converted automatically to a format viewable on your Mac. Or you can choose the appropriate option and YouTube videos will be converted to MP3.

YouTubeHunter supports English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Japanese.

Version 5.0.2:

• YouTube support was fixed.

OS X 10.4 or later


More information

...

Duplicate Annihilator takes on the time-consuming task of comparing the images in your iPhoto library using effective algorithms to make sure that no duplicate escapes.

When found, the duplicate will either be marked with a description of your choice to make it searchable or simply moved to iPhotos trashcan.

Duplicate Annihilator detects:

• Duplicates
• Imported thumbnails
• Missing image files
• Corrupt JPEGs

Version 4.11.0:

• Comfort fixes

• OS X 10.4 or later
• iPhoto 5 or later

More information

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Well before we became acquainted with dancing silhouettes and laughed along with the iconic "Get a Mac" ads, Apple's commercials were quintessentially 80s.

Thankfully, the YouTube channel EveryAppleAds lives up to its name and over the past week has released a slew of previously forgotten Apple commercials from the 1980s that you've either forgotten about or, most likely, never even knew existed.

It's funny looking back at these commercials not just because they're extremely funny and cheezy, but because they also take us back to a time when people actually had to be convinced that they needed a computer in the first place.

Here's a sampling:

This 1987 commercial called "Power Lunch" is laughably bad to the extent that the commercial itself has a lot of background noise. So it goes in the world of power lunching. I'm no Don Draper, which is to say I'm not an...

Frustration was the impetus for Tom Katis to co-found Voxer in 2007. While he was serving in the U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan, he experienced the limitations of communication via military walkie-talkie firsthand. Now his push-to-talk app is looking to be the Nextel of the future, with free, Voxer Pro, and Voxer Pro for Business versions available on iOS and Android. He sat down recently to answer some of our questions about what interests and drives him.

What qualities do you like in a person?
The qualities I find appealing are simple: Courage, intellect, enthusiasm.

Name one thing you will regret never having done (if you never do it)
Having kids. I love my life, but I feel like I’m missing out on something if I never have kids.

Name one thing you will never regret having done...

Jeremiah Cornelius writes "After signing a $30 million iPad deal with Apple in June, the Los Angeles School Board of Education has revealed the full extent of the program that will provide tablets to all students in the district. CiteWorld reports that the first phase of the program will see pupils receive 31,000 iPads this school year, rising to 640,000 Apple tablets by the end of 2014. Apple previously announced that the initiative would include 47 campuses and commence in the fall." Certain companies (not just Apple) stand to benefit from this kind of outlay.

...

Apple late on Friday restored key sections of its developer website, including the download center, more than a week after it took the portal offline.

By Friday evening, the iOS, Mac and Safari Dev Centers were again operational, as were areas dedicated to software downloads, digital certificates, and Apple's bug-reporting system.

About half the site remained offline, however, including the developer-to-developer discussion forums.

The restoration of the iOS, Mac, and Safari Dev Centers, along with Software Downloads, gave developers access to programming tools and the prerelease builds of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, the mobile and desktop operating systems Apple will upgrade this fall.

To read this...

Apple's new automotive initiative with iOS in the Car a prime focus for the company. Here's a look at the strategy behind it, and the company's options for bringing the new feature to market next year.   ...

GPGMailis an open source plugin for Apple Mail.app. It brings the functionality to sign, verify, encrypt and decrypt mails using the OpenPGP standard.

Have a look at http://gpgtools.org for more details. Also find old verions for 10.3 to 10.6 on our webpage.

Version 2.0:

• Full support for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
• Added Sparkle update support on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
• Messages modified by Exchange servers are now handled correctly.
• GPGMail will just work with minor updates of OS X.
• Support seamless switching between S/MIME and OpenPGP.
• Outgoing messages are signed by default.
• Quickly toggle encryption and signing status with ⌘⌥Y and ⌘⌥X

OS X 10.7 or later


...

This is the third how-to in our new weekly series: 

One of the most common issues I hear about is forgotten Apple IDs. But this is not as simple as it sounds. Figuring out Apple ID details can involve finding out what the Apple ID username is, which Apple ID they should be using (if they have multiple), resetting security questions and answers, and resetting passwords.

Most people, if they have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, are using their Apple ID on their mobile device. From there, if you go into the Settings App, you will be able to see your Apple ID.

Always double-check to see if you have two different Apple IDs: one for iCloud and one for iTunes and App Stores.  Under Settings, press iCloud. Make note of the email address listed in the account. To go back to the main Settings page, press the Settings arrow in the upper left hand corner. Then scroll down until you see iTunes and App Stores and press it. You now have three...

Orbit Command provides controlled motorized pan and tilt of Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF on OS X with the following settings:

• Auto-exposure mode - manual mode and aperture-priority mode
• Exposure time
• Gain
• Brightness
• Contrast
• Saturation
• Sharpness
• Gamma (not supported on Orbit AF but may support on some Orbit MP model)
• White-balance temperature
• Backlight composition
• Power-line fFrequency (anti-flicker)
• Focus
• Motorized pan and tilt - up, down, left, right and center
• LED - off, on, and auto

To use Orbit Command, your Logitech QuickCam Orbit must be working on your Mac properly (function normally with FaceTime, iChat/Messages, and Skype) first. This means your Logitech QuickCam Orbit must be UVC compatible. Logitech makes many models of QuickCam Orbit cameras:

• Logitech QuickCam Orbit/Sphere AF (should all be UVC...

PDF to JPG is as simple as effective conversion tool for fastest way to batch convert PDF documents into best quality images. PDF to JPG converts each PDF page into JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG, TIFF, GIF, PSD and BMP and other image formats.

Individuals, business or organizations are challenged to perform repetitive task like PDF to Image conversion. PDF to JPG Pro solves it with powerful, time saver watch folder automation feature. Set watch folder options and conversion settings. Where any incoming PDF files into assigned watched folder invokes PDF to image conversion in background and automatically gets converted as images into target folder.

KEY FEATURES

• Batch conversion of hundreds of PDF files at lightning fast speed.
• Conversion options to choose from Destination...

Calibre is a complete e-book library manager.

Organize your collection, convert your books to multiple formats, and sync with all of your devices. Let Calibre be your multi-tasking digital librarian.

Manage, convert, sync, and more

• Library management. Calibre keeps things orderly by creating single entries for books that contains multiple formats. Add tags and comments for better searchability.
• Format conversion. Calibre's robust conversion options support a wide variety of file formats.
• File syncing. Calibre's device drivers seamlessly support all the top e-readers and...

BetterTouchTool adds many new, fully customizable gestures to the Magic Mouse, Multi-Touch MacBook trackpad, and Magic Trackpad.

These gestures are customizable:

Magic Mouse:

• Pinch in / out (zoom)
• single-finger tap left
• single-finger tap right
• single-finger tap middle
• single-finger tap
• single-finger click middle
• two-finger tap
• two-finger click
• two-finger swipe (up/down/left/right)
• two-finger tip tap left/right
• three-finger tap
• three-finger click
• three-finger swipe (up/down/left/right)
• four-finger swipe up/down
• four-finger click
• TipTap left/right

Touchpad:

• single-finger tap top-left
• single-finger tap top-right
• single-finger tap top-middle
• single-...

GPGTools Installer is an open source installer for Apple OS X. It installs all related OpenPGP applications, plugins and dependencies.

Main Features:

• Compatible with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
• All applications are 64-bit compatible.
• Integrated GPGMail (OS X 10.6 to 10.8).
• Integrated GPG Keychain Access (OS X 10.6 to 10.8).
• Integrated GPGServices (OS X 10.6 to 10.8).
• Integrated GPGToolsPreferences (OS X 10.6 to 10.8).
• Integrated MacGPG 2 (OS X 10.6 to 10.8).
• Have a look at https://gpgtools.org for more details.

Version 2013.07.27:

• GPGMail 2.0
• GPG Keychain Access 1.1
• GPGPreferences 1.0
• MacGPG 2.0.19
• GPGServices 1.9

OS X 10.6 or later

...

MacGPG2 is the OS X port of GnuPG. The aims of the project are to make GnuPG easy to install, provide a native OS X pinentry utility and interact with existing GnuPG tools for OS X. Developed by Benjamin Donnachie.

Have a look at http://gpgtools.org for more details.

Version 2.0.20: Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.

OS X 10.5 or later


More information

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TaskInsight provides essential task/todo list management functions for task organization, productivity and business, including timeline and table views, priorities, labels, color coding, searching, filtering, sorting, drag and drop, copy and paste, undo and redo, import and export, customizable views, text-to-speech, several optional fields and many more features.

• Full featured tools for task organization, productivity, and business
• Task/todo items in flexible Timeline, List, and Detail views
• Priority attribute for tasks: color coded, priority sorting
• Sort or auto-sort by priorities, status, labels, dates, or other columns
• Labels, with sorting and filtering by labels
• Search and Recent Searches menu for quick searching and filtering
• Text resizing for small lists or big presentations
• Color-coded priorities can be...

Color Paint Art Studio Pro FX (was iArt Pro) is an affordable app that brings the best of what you're used to, but to your Mac! Whether you're a beginner or professional, you can take advantage of tools like paint, text, crop, select, and much more to create or edit beautiful images! Enjoy the simple user interface to edit images or for quick fixes of your pictures. It's easy to use, which makes it great for kids and adults alike! It supports PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP files.

Features:

FinKit is a financial calculator that solves all sorts of problems involving the time value of money.

Provides 55 financial calculations:

• Assets: capitalized cost - classic and MACRS depreciation
• Bonds: bond book value, price and yield - zero-coupon bond price and yield
• Dates: term date - date series - year fraction - time between dates - periods and days - bank holidays
• Interest: simple, actuarial and compound interest between dates - compound interest factors
• Life: probability - pure endowment - whole life annuity - temporary life annuity - whole life insurance - temporary life insurance - temporary endowment insurance
• Loans and Leases: installment loan - rule of 78 - balloon payment loan - interest only loan - fixed principal loan - sinking fund loan - prepaid interest loan - extra principal payments - credit cards - equipment...

Photo Batcher is an easy-to-use photo batch utility that makes it easy to convert, resize, rotate, color adjust, apply effects, add watermark, and rename tons of photos in a single operation. It supports all popular formats: JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG, TIFF, TGA, GIF, BMP, PICT, PSD, PDF, etc.

Version 0.9.11:

• Added custom positioning for watermark placement.
• Fixed previewing with watermark.

OS X 10.6 or later


More information

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LogDiver is designed to quickly and easily import events from multiple application log files. It gives you a consolidated view of your application log files across systems, servers and time zones. It comes with a number of pre-defined extractors (such as Apache, Mac System Log, DB2, WebSphere, MQ), with the flexibility to define your own custom formats. LogDiver also provides an awesome filtering capability that allows you to focus on the set of events that really matter. LogDiver is an invaluable tool for system administrators, production support and developers.

Version 1.2.3:

• Fixed a bug where you could select sourceName in custom extractor.
• Fixed a couple of window resizing problems.
• Added better support for extended character sets

• OS X 10.7 or later

...

Garmin Express is your one-stop shop for keeping your nüvi, zūmo, or dēzl up-to-date.

• Update maps
• Update software
• Register your Device
• Back up, restore and transfer favorites
• Install free voices and vehicles
• Download product manuals

Version 2.1.2: Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.

• OS X 10.6.8 or later
• High speed Internet access (Not for use with dial-up, mobile or satellite connections)

Download Now

doo is the one app for documents. It lets users access all their documents, wherever they keep them, and automatically generates intelligent tags to help users find any document in seconds.

The cloud-based solution with native apps is currently available for OS X and Windows 8. Apps for Android and iOS are coming soon. Further Windows versions are planned.

Users can connect their local document folders on their devices as well as online services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and their email accounts. doo will automatically generate intelligent tags. The selective sync allows users to define which of their documents to manage locally, and which to back up and sync to other devices via the optional doo Cloud.

The seamless integration with scanners of leading manufacturers, as well as with smartphones and cameras, lets users scan documents and import pictures of documents straight into the app: a quick and effective start into a paperless life....

Cool Master is a company that specializes in PC-cooling devices, but their product line doesn't end there. They also produce a number of laptop stands that serve to help display your screen better and improve your posture while typing. Depending on your particular office needs both the Jas Pro and Notepal Ergostand II deserve your consideration when picking a new Macbook stand.

Jas Pro:

Featuring a sleek, light, aluminum frame Cool Master's Jas Pro perfectly matches the aesthetics of the MacBook pro. The aluminum frame is lined with rubber strips to protect your computer from needless scratches and rubber pads on the bottom to keep it from sliding on your desk.

While this makes a beautiful display stand for laptop based presentations, it also provides adjustable ergonomic support for improved...

Glad to see it back.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Screen Studio allows anyone to easily create professional looking screen savers for the Macintosh. It also comes with a large amount of clip art, including popular characters from After Dark, such as the Flying Toaster, Bad Dog, Boris and fish from the popular Fish module, as well as sound files, so you can quickly try your hand at making your very own personalized screen savers. You can specify a variety of actions for your characters, including what path they follow across the screen, what they do after they leave the screen, as well as what they do when they collide with another character. Screen Studio's preview function makes it easy to check on how your screen saver will look. When everything is ready just save it and place the screen saver in your Screen Saver folder. Then sit back and enjoy the show. Screen savers that you have made can also be reopened and edited, so it is easy...

A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published Friday reveals Apple senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer sold 37,172 shares of AAPL stock earlier this week at a price of $440.31, netting the executive $16.37 million.  ...

Check out this behind-the-scenes look at Apple's development process: Flickr member jimabeles posted a great gallery of photographs of a 13-inch MacBook test unit. He labeled it a prototype, but some folks on reddit identified it as the more proper name of EVT, or engineering validation test unit. EVT units are apparently used to test the hardware components in a way that offers engineers direct access to those components.  What you and I might think of as a "prototype" is designated a DVT, or design validation test unit. You can see the EVT label on many of the pictures in the full gallery. Normally we'd say look quickly before Apple has the gallery pulled down, but most of these photographs have been on Flickr since 2010. This member has a number of other galleries of similar Apple development products.

...

Gefen's consumer brand, GefenTV, announced the GefenTV High Resolution USB to Analog and Digital Audio Decoder on Friday. This device allows you to send high fidelity audio from a USB port on your Mac to a stereo receiver or powered speakers. It supports digital audio up to 24-bits with a 192kHz sampling rate, and it converts that audio to optical-out, analog-out, or a built-in headphone jack. For the audiophiles, it has a built-in digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a digital interpolation filter. It's priced at US$129 and is available now.

According to SemiAccurate, Intel will provide Apple with an ultra-high performance version of its Haswell for Apple's upcoming MacBook Pros. The report claims that the chips will include a special version of Intel's highest-end GT3e (Iris Pro 5200) integrated graphics.

Apple has requested a special top bin cream-of-the-crop GT3e selection from Intel, with "as much GPU power as possible." With the top chips going solely to Apple, that leaves the slightly less desirable remains for Intel's other customers.So what is Intel cooking up for Apple? Basically a GT3e with as much GPU power as possible to make up for the lack of a [Nvidia] GK114. Since that part was going to be a bit faster than GT3e, Intel had to push the limits to get every last bit out of their GPU to satisfy Apple. It looks like they did, but how much did the line move? Good question, we will know soon...

EasyBatchPhoto allows you to batch-compress, resize, and convert photos.

Photographers and webmasters often find themselves spending too much time converting, resizing and watermarking (with copyright, for example) images.

EasyBatchPhoto frees you from these repetitive tasks by processing hundreds, or even thousands, of images with a single drag-and-drop. EasyBatchPhoto performs many other common functions besides scaling and conversion, but what truly sets EasyBatchPhoto apart from the competition is its incredible ease of use and smooth integration into your workflow.

Features:

• Intuitive and easy-to-use
• Fast and responsive
• Recursively process sub-folders
• Reads JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PSD and many other formats.
• Writes JPEG, PNG and TIFF.
• Supports true lossless JPEG operations
...

The Apple Developer Center website is once again available in full to the public. With no comment, Apple restored the site at about 5PM EST, with no difference in user experience. The restoration of the site ends an eight-day period of unavailability, where Apple initially had no information to share, and ultimately the source of the hack was traced to a "white hat" security researcher. In response to the intrusion, Apple posted a new "system status" page for the Developer Center, keeping users appraised of the situation.... ...

Eight days after taking it down in the response to a security breach, Apple has restored the Web site for its Developer Center.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. But the entry page of the site was clearly visible this afternoon. Some sections, like forums, were still offline. Certificate, identifiers and profiles were back online.

An email circulated to Apple developers said “Thank you for bearing with us while we bring these important systems back online. We will continue to update you with our progress.” It has also added a system status page to members can keep track of what’s back and working and what’s not.

Access to the site had been...

Recently, TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers about how Apple's newly announced technologies (specifically Mavericks and iOS 7) will help them and their customers. In the weeks following the event, we'll bring you those videos on TUAW, MacTech and MacNews.

read more

In a new filing lodged with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week, Apple claims Google's Motorola demanded unreasonable rates for tech based on deemed standard essential patents, with fees 12 times higher than what Motorola charged other companies.  ...

A new report from the analysts at IDC on the mobile market in Q2 2013 shows smartphones are continuing to outsell standard feature phones by a wide margin. Smartphones now account for 59 percent of mobile phones shipped. 230 million units were shipped in Q2 2013, up 47 percent from Q2 2012 when 156.5 million units were sold. It's the largest single quarter ever for shipments in the mobile market.

The biggest winner was Samsung, who saw 56 percent growth since Q2 2012 and shipped 76 million smartphones in Q2 2013. Thanks in part to strong demand for the Galaxy S4 model, Samsung (which makes scores of different phone models, compared to Apple's lean lineup of three phones in two colors) ended up with 33 percent of marketshare for...

It appears that Apple is slowly bringing its Developer Center online after more than a week of outage.

According to the site's new status page, several systems are up and running, including Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles, Software Downloads, Safari Dev Center, iOS Dev Center, and Mac Dev Center.

Apple's Developer Center first went offline last Thursday, and on Sunday, Apple revealed that it had been taken down as a precaution after a security breach. It is unclear who was responsible for the hacking, but a security researcher has suggested that he might be to blame for the outage.

Apple has been "working around the clock" on a complete overhaul of its developer systems since the Developer Center was taken down and has noted that developer memberships and apps set to expire during the outage will be given an extension to account for the significant downtime.

Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
•...

After being offline for more than a week, Apple’s Developer Center is back. Access to the portal was removed by Apple after it was discovered that a breach into the system granted individuals access to the names, mailing addresses, and email addresses of registered developers. Apple confirmed that sensitive personal data such as credit card information and developer passwords were encrypted and secure.

The Developer Center looks the same as it was prior to its removal, but we assume Apple has followed through with its promise to overhaul the entire system by updating its server software and rebuilding its databases from scratch so as to prevent another...

Questions answered in this week's Q&A include OS X not prompting for how to handle home folders when an account is removed, and more.

MYStuff Pro is the most flexible way to create detail-rich inventories for your home or small business.

Add items to MYStuff by dragging and dropping existing information, uploading new images, or scanning barcodes. Finally, getting organized is easy.

Do inventory your way

• Shop… and Save: MYStuff's built-in browser saves a web archive of the receipt with a single click, and allows you to quickly add a new Record to your inventory right now while it's convenient. Putting a web browser inside MYStuff allows you to easily shop your favorite sites on the 'net, and easily save both information and time. (You can save how-to and informational pages, too.)
• Fantastic Flexibility: MYStuff organizes things how you do. Don't feel like you have to change how you organize to fit your organization program....

MacObserver this week posted an absolutely awesome tip detailing how to auto-dial phone numbers with extensions into your iPhone address book.

Forget having to remember someone's extension number, or trying to keep it handy and accessible with a note, iOS 6 takes care of all the dirty work for you.

To get started, go to the contact info of someone with an extension or create an entirely new contact. Hit the "Edit" button in order to make changes to the contact's information page.

When you attempt to edit a contact's phone number, you'll be presented with the following screen.

If you tap the lower-left button with all of the special characters, you'll notice that options for "pause" and "wait" will appear where the "4" and "6" used to reside.

MacObserver writes:

A pause adds a two-second delay, which is indicated by a comma.

You can add as many...

Videogame developer and publisher Activision Blizzard announced yesterday that is has reached an agreement where for a total of $8.17 billion, it will buy itself out of its business arrangement with French media conglomerate Vivendi. Activision Blizzard is contributing $5.83 billion at $13.60 per share, with Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-Chairman Brian Kelley will purchase 172 million company shares for $2.34 billion. Following the completion of the transaction, Activision Blizzard will be an independent company with the majority of its shares owned by the public.... ...

Original release date: July 26, 2013
Systems Affected

Any system connected to the internet running the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) may be affected. IPMI is resident on many server platforms, and provides low-level access to a system that can override operating system controls.

Overview

Attackers can easily identify and access systems that run IPMI and are connected to the Internet. It is important to restrict IPMI access to specific management IP addresses within an organization and preferably separated into a separate LAN segment.

Description

What is the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)?

IPMI is a low level interface specification that has been adopted by many hardware vendors.  It allows a system administrator to remotely manage servers at the hardware level.  IPMI runs on the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) and provides access to the BIOS, disks, and other hardware...

Roccat has announced the launch of an optical version of its Kone Pure gaming mouse, as well as a reissue of its Sense mousepad. The Kone Pure Optical retains the design and ergonomic shape of the original Kone Pure, but exchanges the laser sensor for an LED optical sensor that maxes out at 4000 DPI. The Pro-Optic sensor is fully adjustable with a max DPI setting of 4,000. Meanwhile, the reissued Sense mousepad is the same 400 x 280mm pad, but now features a new Meteor Blue design. Both products are available from Roccat's website with the Kone Pure Optical retailing for $70 and the Sense Mete... ...

Apple’s new release of Logic Pro X marks the first time in nearly six years that the company has completely overhauled the app’s UI. It’s been a long time coming for pros like myself that rely on the application, and to make things even sweeter, Apple is promising more than just a fresh coat of paint this time around.

There’s no ignoring the backlash Apple experienced just two years ago with its redesign of Final Cut Pro X and the removal of pro features in return for an elegant, streamlined interface. The question is, does Logic’s slick new interface come with compromises for professionals? Or has Apple learned from its mistakes with FCPX?

The New Look |

Immediately noticeable upon launching the app is the changes to the interface – it...

CSS3Designer is a small tool that lets you quickly, visually build CSS3 styles with a live preview of your value adjustments.

Version 1.31:

• Fixed problem in which systems without the "menlo" font would crash

• OS X 10.7 or later

More information

Download Now

A “small team of notable names in speech technology” has been assembled by Apple to work on Siri, according to a report. The Boston-based team is made up of people who all worked at VoiceSignal Technologies, a speech software company that was purchased by Nuance in 2007. A number of…

Amazon.com Inc shares hit a record on Friday after quarterly results increased optimism about the Internet retailer’s U.S. business.

The company reported a second-quarter net loss and weaker international growth on Thursday. However, its domestic business expanded quickly and profit in the region improved.

What kind of crazy upside down world are we living in when this happens.

∞ Read this on The Loop

The new update to Logic Pro is still a hot topic on the MacNN forums this week with more forum-goers chiming in with user experiences. The Free iTunes App of the week thread continues this week as well with another free title from the App store....   ...

SoundDesk LE SoundDesk is the easiest way to turn your Mac into a professional mixing desk

Features:

• Maximum channels per desk: 8x2
• Maximum Auxiliary paths: 4x2 (pre/pos fader options)
• No AudioUnits inserts
• Each channel is equipped with a DC blocker filter, noise generators and a delay unit
• Channels can be either mono, stereo or aux receivers and can be changed at any time
• All channels can send their audio to any real output
• The user can assign names and colours to individual channels
• The Master section includes a FFT analysis tool and the output can be recorded in real time

View SoundDesk Pro for the fully-featured version of this application.

Version 1.2.1:

• New master output recording with dither...

From Macrumors:

The next-generation iPhone will launch on September 6th…

Nope.

SoundDesk Pro is the easiest way to turn your Mac into a professional mixing desk.

Features:

• Maximum channels per desk: 24x2
• Maximum Auxiliary paths: 6x2 (pre/pos fader options)
• Audio Units inserts available on all channels and Master section (fully compatible with "Waves Version 9")
• The delay generated by the Audio Units is displayed on each channel
• The `Analogue Warmth' option, adds a vintage quality inspired by the finest consoles
• SoundDesk Pro can be controlled by any MIDI device that communicates CC messages or any device with Wi-Fi and TouchOSC (from hexler.net) installed
• Built-in EQ, Dynamic Range Processors (insert with several compressor/gate options) and Reverb
• Post master fader, 2- or 3-Way Linear Phase Crossover
• Each channel is equipped with a DC blocker filter, noise...

freac is a free audio converter and CD ripper with support for various popular formats and encoders. It currently converts between MP3, MP4/M4A, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, WAV and Bonk formats. You can easily rip your audio CDs to MP3 or WMA files for use with your hardware player or convert files that do not play with other audio software. You can even convert whole music libraries retaining the folder and filename structure. The integrated CD ripper supports the CDDB/freedb online CD database. It will automatically query song information and write it to ID3v2 or other title information tags.

Features:

• Converter for MP3, MP4/M4A, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, WAV and Bonk formats
• Integrated CD ripper with CDDB/freedb title database support
• Portable application, install on a USB stick and take it with you
• Multi-core optimized encoders to speed up conversions on modern PCs
• Full Unicode support for tags and file...

Siri’s kind of an asshole if you make her your Dungeon Master.

Last month, the LA Times reported that the city was using US$30 million to provide 35,000 iPads to students in 47 school districts. A new report today from CITEWorld confirms that this initial deployment is only the first phase of a larger program that'll provide iPads to every student in the nation's second largest school district.

As part of the larger plan, the Los Angeles Unified School District will hand out iPads to all 640,000 students by the end of 2014. The first rollout of the tablets is being funded by taxpayer dollars, but Mark Hovatter, chief facilities executive for the LAUSD, expects to find additional funding for the rest of the plan. "We're hoping that will get a lot of private donors," Hovatter told CITEworld.

This is good news for Apple as it brings in...

LoudLAB is an audio application designed to monitor and control loudness levels.

It can be used to measure long-term, short-term and momentary loudness, LRA (Loudness Range) and True-Peaks (EBU R 128, ITU-R BS.1770) of audio files, and real-time audio.

Version 2.0.2:

• It is now possible to run LoudLAB as a 64- or 32-bit application (default is 64-bit).
• The DSP chain is now much more efficient and precise, using considerably less CPU than the previews versions.
• The interface was redesigned to be more efficient, precise and easy to use.
• You have now more dither options.
• You can now control the Buffer Size of your sessions.
• LoudLAB imports FLAC files.
• The new `Set Start/Stop' window, allows user definable Grids for more precise selections, and all tools are displayed within the new interface.
• The...

The rumors never really stop and if there’s video to go with them, even better.

Per MacRumors, a recent posting of the purported “iPhone Lite”/”iPhone Plastic” has surfaced wherein Michael Kukielka shows off what he claims is the actual shell for the low-cost iPhone and places it next to several previous iPhone models, revealing that the budget phone may have roughly the same dimensions as the current iPhone 5.

The shell Kukielka handles in the video is white, although we’ve previously covered another rumor that alleges the phones will come in a variety of colors,...

With mobile devices collecting and storing increasingly personal data on users, a new set of government proposals is aimed at making clearer the amount and type of information mobile apps are able to collect from both users and devices.  ...

Graph Builder (was Vvidget Builder) is a powerful point-and-click graph building tool. With it, you can fine tune data presentations, add graphics and figures, layout entire pages, drag-and-drop charts and a whole lot more. In addition, chart tasks provide quick starts with a table interface. With Graph Builder you are given the freedom and power to layout presentations the way you want them. Graph Builder is both powerful and intricate, so view the movies at http://www.vvidget.org/build for a good introduction.

Version 10.9.2:

• Made numerous user interface adjustments.
• Added additional error checking to script execution.
• Added additional script methods.
• Updated the manual.

OS X 10.6 or later


...

With Intel's Haswell chips now in the MacBook Air, people are wondering when the MacBook Pro will get a similar update. Based on new rumors, that won't happen until October, but that doesn't mean updated Retina MacBook Pros are delayed.

A new photo shows what appears to be the back of a completed low-cost iPhone, sometimes known as the iPhone Lite, reports say. Unlike past leaks, the camera, headphone, and Lightning ports appear to be filled, and the back has various certification markings, including one from the FCC. The device hasn't been spotted in FCC filings, but like some other companies Apple typically requests that approvals be kept quiet until a product has been formally announced....  ...

Ashton Kutcher, the star of the upcoming jOBS biopic, a film about the late Steve Jobs and his life before the launch of the iPod, sat down with The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky to talk about all things tech. In their 20 minute conversation, the two talk about Kutcher’s physical and intellectual investment in technology and tech culture.

Topolsky starts off the interview asking Kutcher about how his interest in tech originated, to which Kutcher admits that he was tasked with programing Fortran in college, but wasn’t even sure how to use his email. Kutcher was then inspired by a comment from his professor who said to Kutcher, “scientists discover problems, engineers solve them.” From there, Kutcher wanted to “grow up to be someone that solved problems.”

Topolsky also asked Kutcher about both his positive and almost infamously negative experiences with Twitter. Topolsky recalls when Kutcher was one of the most popular celebrities on Twitter or, as...

Metadatics is a powerful and advanced audio metadata editor. It supports batch editing of most common audio file types including MP3, M4A, AIFF, WAV, FLAC, APE, OGG, WMA, and more. Lookup metadata from online sources, rename files based on metadata, or manipulate metadata using one of the many built in functions. Metadatics provides all you need to edit metadata with ease and flexibility.

Main Features:

• Batch Editing - Edit multiple files at once quickly and easily.
• Functions - Metadatics has a number of built in function to quickly manipulate data. Replace text, remove characters from the beginning or end of a tag, generate number sequences, copy from tag-to-tag, and much more!
• Online Sources - Search for album artwork and tags from sources including Amazon and MusicBrainz.
• Album Artwork - Metadatics supports reading and writing multiple...

PokerZebra shows you the odds that a Texas Hold'em hand will win against other hands. Use it to calculate your equity in a Texas Hold'em pot.

Version 1.2:

• Added handy window showing odds, ranges, and on-screen help

• OS X 10.6 or later

More information

Download Now

A picture posted on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo appears to show the rear of an assembled low-cost iPhone, complete with the required legal notices from the FCC and other agencies. The image was noticed by Dutch Apple site iPhone5Skopen.com [Google Translate].

The unit shown appears to be almost identical to the rear shell that was leaked a few days ago, though this is one of the first leaks to include legal notices on the back.

As expected, the phone appears to include a rear camera with single flash -- leaks of the new iPhone 5S have...

Beginning tomorrow, T-Mobile USA will be running a "zero dollars down" promotion for its devices, the carrier has announced. That includes smartphones, tablets, hotspots, and basic feature phones, but buyers will still be expected to pay for a device over the course of two years. An iPhone 5 or a Galaxy Note II, for example, will require 24 payments of $27 per month. Previously the iPhone 5 cost $146 plus 24 payments of $21....  ...

There are several apps on the store to help find live events, but few are as easy and fun to use as Tabeso. Tabeso (for iPhone but it works on iPad) scours multiple sources, making it far more likely that you'll find something fun to do on any given evening. If you're lucky enough to live in a larger city, Tabeso allows you to follow friends and artists and keep tabs on those shows as well.

Tabeso allows you to log in via Twitter, Facebook or email. If you're wanting to get social, I suggest Twitter or Facebook, depending on which you use more. If you do, it'll be easier for you to go through contacts and invite them to use the app.

As you "tab" stuff (pressing the friendly little Tabeso face/logo) your friends will see this in the activity stream. Tabeso puts sharing up front, but not in your face, which I appreciate. As time goes on, and provided your friends use Tabeso as well, this becomes a...

Vocabulist is a simplistic iOS/OSX application-localization tool.

Import your Xcode project, translate the strings using the simple and convenient UI, and re-generate localized XIB and strings files in just a few minutes.

Vocabulist is free to use for projects with two localizations. Working with three or more localizations requires the purchase of a license.

• OS X 10.8 or later
• Xcode 4

More information

Download Now

Back in June, the Los Angeles Unified School District awarded Apple a $30 million contract to provide its students with iPads. Under its terms, the company will supply about 31,000 iPads to 47 LAUSD schools, each preloaded with a bunch of educational software. But evidently that’s just the first phase of the program.

According to an LAUSD representative, the nation’s second-largest school district hopes to provide iPads to all 640,000 students by late 2014. Which means it’s going to buy a few hundred thousand more iPads over the next year — though it’s not yet sure how it’s going to do it. “We’re hoping that we will get a lot of private donors,” Mark Hovatter, chief facilities executive for...

An anonymous reader writes "Apple's had a small, very secretive office in Cambridge, MA for a few months now. And we finally know what they're doing: Building a team that works on speech technology for Siri. Sure, it's interesting for Apple to have a remote engineering team. And hiring from MIT is a no-brainer. But here's why this is a bigger deal: Apple has always relied on Nuance, a Boston-area company, for the speech-recognition technology behind Siri. By branching out with its own speech team — stocked with former Nuance scientists, no less — Apple could very well be signaling a move away from relying on Nuance for this core technology. And the speech wars are just heating up: Microsoft and Amazon both have speech engineering offices in the Boston area too."

...

Jim and Dan discuss the recent Apple security exploit, whitehat hacking in general, Apple’s Quarterly Results, and more.

Sponsored by Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME7 for 30% off), HostGator (use code DANSENTME for 30% off), and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME7 for 10% off).

∞ Read this on The Loop

The introduction of WildTools for PowerCADD in the early 1990s created a great deal of excitement in the Macintosh CAD community. Suddenly users had drawing tools that easily matched or exceeded the capabilities of high-end CAD and illustration programs. The high-end programs were left in the dust, and Macintosh users finally had drawing tools to make their PC friends green with envy. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about WildTools is how unassuming and familiar they seem at first glance. You can begin to draw immediately, without a glance at the manual, as in the most basic 'draw' programs, yet it's apparent from the beginning that the tools have enormous power and capabilities. For example, all CAD programs have a fillet tool, which you quickly discover will only work with lines and circles. The WildTools fillet tool will fillet anything to anything, thus you can fillet a rotated elliptical arc to a parallel spline inside a group. All illustration programs have...

How can you not love Zeppelin.

I recently spent some time with the developers of djay 2], the next-generation DJ software for iOS users. I must say, I was very impressed with the software and the commitment these guys putting into making their software great. [...]

Two new titles demonstrate exciting new possibilities for the iPhone and Apple TV as gaming platforms.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

A report from the China Times (cited on the Japanese website Macotakara) predicts an October launch for an updated MacBook Pro model featuring Intel's new Haswell processors, which are already present in the new MacBook Airs, released last month at Apple's annual WWDC event. The report cites sources in Apple's lengthy supply chain and suggests that the new models will remain the same price as the previous ones.

...

Image: iosappsnews.com

App developers may soon be asked to tell us what data they collect and how it is used under a set of government proposals released today (via TNW). 

The US government’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration today issued its first draft of what will be a mobile apps code of conduct intended to better protect consumers and their privacy. If made final, policy states that publishers must provide consumers with “short-form” notices in multiple languages informing them of how their data is being used [...]

Just so that there’s no doubt about what “data” means, the government entity specifically says...

You already know that you can use Siri to ask for directions. You might say, “Give me directions to 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California,” or you might say “Take me home” when you’re out and about.

But there are a few other things you can say to Siri whilst your iOS device is helping you navigate, and you might not know about these options.

Ask Siri, “Are we there yet?”—or similar, less obnoxious incarnations of that query—and you’ll get an update on your estimated time of arrival. You can get more specific, too. Ask, “When is my next turn,” and Siri will give you the number of minutes until you should encounter it.

Tank running low? Ask Siri where the nearest gas station is, and you’ll get suggestions for fill-up spots along your current route. If you tap one, though, you’ll cancel your current navigation in lieu of the new destination instead.

PDFOptim is a simple and intuitive way to compress, reduce, and optimize PDF file size. It provides easy and effective ways to compress large, image-heavy PDF files using an extensive set of options and presets. Supports batch processing and provides real-time original as well as optimized PDF document preview for side-by-side quality comparison.

Compressed PDF documents requires less disk space for storage, and faster uploads and downloads save transmission time and cost. PDFOptim has compression-filter options to help you to reduce PDF file size without compromising the document's integrity, rewriting the entire PDF document as efficiently as possible. Some PDF documents might not get compressed, because they may be already compressed or have little to compress.

Key Features

• Batch compression of PDF documents as you add into list.
• ...

T-Mobile is continuing to shake things up.

The No. 4 U.S. carrier on Friday announced a promotion that will offer its entire lineup of phones for no upfront payment. It isn’t really dropping the price of phones, just spreading the entire cost of the phone over 24 months instead of using a mix of an initial down payment and monthly payments.

Still, the move shows the flexibility T-Mobile has since moving to a model in which it separates the cost of the phone from its monthly service.

“The number of reasons not to switch to T-Mobile this summer is ZERO,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a statement. “This is a fantastic offer and we’re making it easier than ever for customers to get the latest amazing devices.”

Under the new promotion which starts on Saturday, customers can get a 16 gigabyte iPhone 5, for example, for no upfront fee and 24 monthly payments of $27 per...

MacTech Conference 2013 has been announced, and will be taking place from November 6-8 in Los Angeles, California.  Last year’s conference was packed day and night with great content and activities, and this year looks to be even better.

So far, quite a few sessions have been announced, including some from MacTech veterans Greg Neagle, Pam Lefkowitz, and Rich Trouton.  There are newcomers too, covering a wide range of subjects, with Nick McSpadden, Tom Bridge, and of course myself.

The change of venue to the Manhattan Beach Marriott looks to be a very good one. It is a newer hotel, and is many times closer to Los Angeles International Airport than the Sheraton of years past.  This is a very welcome change, as it is now a ten minute taxi ride, rather than a two hour shuttle ride.

AFP548 is a media sponsor of all MacTech...

As part of its new “un-carrier” strategy, T-Mobile USA today announced that it will begin a new deal tomorrow: $0 down for all devices. Now, eligible customers can receive a phone with no money down and pay for the device over 24 months. For the iPhone 5, customers will be able to receive the device for free and now pay an additional $27 on top of their monthly service charges for 24 months. Previously, the iPhone 5 on T-Mobile costed $145.99 with $21 payments per month for 24 months.

“The number of reasons not to switch to T-Mobile this summer is ZERO,” said John Legere, president and chief executive officer, T-Mobile US. “This is a fantastic offer and we’re making it easier than ever for customers to get the latest amazing devices. Adding Zero Down in addition to JUMP!,...