Isotope 244 has released Machines at War 3 for Mac OS X and Windows. It's an US$19.99 sequel to Land Air Sea Warfare. Here's how the game is described: "Machines at War 3 is the rare indie game that offers a full single-player campaign to compliment its multiplayer and random map modes.  It reminds many gamers of Red Alert and Total Annihilation. "Using retro strategy and heart-pounding action, Machines at War 3 lets you battle and outsmart enemy forces as a military commander. You’re joined by a fiery officer named Samantha Vice, who helps you maneuver through 21 intriguing campaign missions. Your objective: Uncover why your country’s secret research team -- the Omicron Initiative -- has disappeared. A demo is available for download. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/c9e63v4 .

Apple has been named by the Chinese publication, "The People's Daily," in an article listing web sites and app stores that have/are being investigated for allegedly providing pornographic content in China, reports "The Wall Street Journal" (http://tinyurl.com/cl6s6qc). Apple's appearance on the list, which mostly includes relatively obscure websites, has spurred concern on the Chinese Internet that this may represent the beginning of another campaign by the government against Apple, says the "WSJ." However, this time around the bad publicity is "markedly different" from the March attacks, which blasted Apple's after-sales policies. "The People’s Daily article is not featured prominently in Wednesday’s paper, nor does it make efforts to emphasize Apple, which is listed next to the names of other app stores singled out in the middle of the second paragraph of the article," the "Journal" points out. "According to Apple’s terms of use, pornographic content is not allowed on its app store...

Enolsoft has announced EPUB Viewer for Mac OS X (10.6 and higher). It's available for US$29 at www.enolsoft.com . A demo is available for download. Featuring zoom-in, zoom-out, bookmarks, scrolling, printing and more, EPUB Viewer helps anyone open and read non-DRM protected EPUB eBooks on a Mac, as well as convert EPUB docs to the Adobe PDF format. You can open and view multiple EPUB files on a Mac in Tab mode. You can play embedded media files, audio and video in EPUB files. EPUB Viewer lets you manage EPUB eBooks on a bookshelf and much more.

The Lodys Group (www.lodsys.com) has posted a response to a response from Apple's legal department regarding a patent lawsuit. Hang on; we'll explain. In 2011 Lodsys sued some iOS developers for using in-app purchasing systems that it claims violates patents it owns. The patent holding firm targeted small iOS developers with notices of patent infringement for providing in-app purchase and/or Apple App Store purchase links within their apps. Apple's legal department has came to the defense of iOS app developers with a letter to Lodsys regarding its patent dispute with app developers. In the letter to Lodsys, Bruce Sewell, Apple senior vice president and general counsel said: "Apple is undisputedly licensed to these patents and the App Makers are protected by that license. Thus the technology that is targeted in your notice letters is technology that Apple is expressly licensed under the Lodsys patents to offer to Apple’s App Makers ... These licensed products and services enable Apple...

Logitech (www.logitech.com) has expanded its universal remote control lines with the Logitech Harmony Ultimate (pictured) and the Logitech Harmony Smart Control. Both products feature Logitech’s Harmony Hub and Harmony Smartphone app to enable closed-cabinet control and one-touch entertainment access to game consoles from your universal remote or smartphone. The Harmony Hub takes personalizing your activities a step farther into home control with the ability to program your Philips Hue lights to the desired brightness and color with a tap of the Logitech Harmony Ultimate, says Joerg Tewes, vice president of Logitech's digital home business group. The Logitech Harmony Ultimate and Logitech Harmony Smart Control are reportedly compatible with more than 225,000 home-entertainment devices and more than 5,000 brands. Both include the Harmony Hub, which uses Bluetooth wireless technology to power on game consoles such as the Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii and Wii U. The Harmony Hub also controls...

Apple has released Xcode 4.6.2, an update to its set of developer tools for Mac OS X. Apple says it's been updated to improve LLDB performance when debugging Objective-C code. It also addresses several bugs that impacted stability including a problem that could cause the crash log database to bloat to a very large size. Xcode 4.6.2 is a 1.65GB download. It's free at the Mac App Store.

Adobe has announced the availability of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 beta for Windows and Mac. Adobe Lightroom is a photography workflow application that allows photography enthusiasts and professionals to enhance, organize and share photos. The Lightroom 5 beta offers a free, public preview of new features and tools that will be offered in the final release, expected later this year. Winston Hendrickson, vice president of digital imaging products, Adobe, says the Lightroom 5 beta offers photographers and enthusiasts many new features including: ° Advanced Healing Brush allows customers to heal imperfections and remove distracting elements; ° Upright tool analyzes an image to automatically level horizons and straighten objects like buildings to correct a keystone effect; ° Radial Gradient tool creates off-center or multiple vignette effects; ° Smart Previews allow customers to edit images without needing the original raw file; ° Video slideshow enables customers to combine still...

Troll Touch, a manufacturer of custom touchscreen solutions for Mac and PC computers and displays, ha sannounced the availability of its latest product offering: a custom designed touchscreen system for the new 21.5 and 27-inch ultra slim (2012) iMacs. The latest iMac systems feature an internally integrated, analog resistive touchscreen overlay coupled with the company's high resolution 12-bit USB controller and custom cabling. Delivery is slated to begin on or before April 19. The price for factory installed, single unit orders is US$999 for the 21.5-inch and $1399 for the 27-inch. Quantity discounts and Troll Touch affiliate pricing is available. Troll Touch factory installed internal touch conversions feature a proprietary, custom designed scratch resistant, contrast enhanced analog resistive touchscreen overlay. All Troll Touch products are warranted for one year, extendable to three years. For more info go to http://www.trolltouch.com/ .

Foxconn Technology Group has resumed hiring at a Chinese factory as it prepares to make a new iPhone, reports "Bloomberg" (http://tinyurl.com/cajs4t9), quoting an unnamed "person familiar with the plans." Workers have been recruited at Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou, eastern China, for the past month, ending a hiring freeze imposed in February, said the person, "who asked not to be named because the plans haven’t been made public." The extra workers will assemble the new device as well as existing models and have been added at Apple’s request to boost capacity, according to "Bloomberg."

Akvis has released Akvis AirBrush 1.0. The Mac OS X compatible software makes photos look as if they're airbrush paintings made with a special airbrush tool. The program is designed to help users create a piece of art out of any picture. Akvis AirBrush is available in versions for Mac OS X (10.4 and higher) and Windows, and can be used as a standalone program and as a plug-in to photo editors. Airbrushing is a painting technique based on the use of a special tool called an air brush or spraying gun. Since it’s a touch free technique, it allows the painter to add light strokes, minor details, and blurry edges. Akvis AirBrush is equipped with 40 presets to help you get started. They can be applied "as is" or can be modified. The software lets you save your favorite photo-to-painting settings as a preset and use them further. It's possible to import and export your presets. You can share your favorite settings with other fans of this technique. What's more, the software offers a batch...

Sinusoid has released VideoSpeak, a new Mac OS X app for adding synthesized speech audio tracks to existing videos and movies. It allows you to create a voice-over without the use of a microphone or other audio equipment. You can use as many voices as you wish within a video -- and even have different voices talking to each other. Novelty voices can be used to add interest to funny videos. VideoSpeak is designed for people producing instructional videos, according to the folks at Sinusoid. Once the user has finished adding the voice tracks, the video is exported to a QuickTime movie file. The original video is never edited; it's only read and a new video produced with the new synthetic spoken voice tracks. VideoSpeak uses Apple's Speech Synthesis system for Mac OS X, which has a wide range of voices available as standard from the operating system. In addition to the standard voices, users can download localized voices from Apple with accents for the local language or dialect....

Powerocks (www.powerocks.com) has announced the US$34.99 Tarot, which it describes as the world’s thinnest portable power bank. It's designed to fit in a wallet, pocket, or small purse to provide an emergency charge for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Available in black, silver, or pink, the Tarot is about the same size as a credit card (but thicker), weighing just 1.79 ounces with measurements of 3.5 x 2.1 x 0.28. Its 1500mAh capacity gives you power to recharge smartphones and tablets with one emergency charge.   To charge your devicet, just connect the included Micro USB cable from Tarot to the phone/device. For the iPhone or other devices that don’t use Micro USB, attach the device’s USB adapter to the Tarot’s USB cable to charge. To recharge the Tarot after use, connect its USB Cable to a USB computer or outlet.  The Tarot’s four blue LED lights will tell you how much power is remaining, so you always know when it’s time to recharge. 

G5 Entertainment and Funzai have teamed up for Art Mogul on the Mac. It's available at the Mac App Store. The price is normally US$4.99, but it's on sale for a limited time for $2.99. Here's how the game is described: "Art Mogul tests you to see if you have an artistic eye required to be a world-renowned mogul of the arts. You will travel around the world, bidding at exciting auctions, exposing fakes and masterpieces as well as acquiring priceless collections. Find over a thousand objects, open your very own art gallery and build your art empire that will stand the test of time. "One of the distinguishing features of Art Mogul is uniqueness of game sessions. It's up to you to buy a famous artwork in the gallery that is a guaranteed original, or look for masterpieces in the cafes, though they often host skilled counterfeits. To lower the price of the painting you need to find various items on it. If you find all the hidden objects, you'll get a large discount. Then you can visit...

Apple is requesting that US$85 million in damages against Samsung be reinstated as the judge erred in dismissing jury-awarded damages for two Samsung devices, reports "CNET" (http://tinyurl.com/cpj4n2q). In a March ruling in the case, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh cut damages on some Samsung products found to infringe Apple's patents, carving $450.5 million off the original $1.05 billion judgment and calling for a new trial on the damages to recalculate them. However, Apple has complained that Koh made a mistake in reducing at least part of the damages by excluding two devices.The company has filed a conditional motion with U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California asking Koh to reconsider her order granting a new trial on the jury-awarded damages she tossed related to the Galaxy S2 sold by AT&T and the Infuse 4G. This is all part of the ongoing, global legal battle. Apple and Samsung have filed more than 30 lawsuits against each other across four...

Vito Technology (http://vitotechnology.com/) has announced an upgrade to Star Walk, the augmented reality iOS app for spotting over 200,000 stars, planets, constellations, satellites and galaxies in the night sky. The new version includes comprehensive stargazing calendar that shows all visible celestial events for your area, explains their nature and sets a reminder in iCal for ones you chose to see. Other additions include comet tracking and iridium flares. Star Walk is a astronomy guide that shows celestial objects (stars, constellations, satellites, etc.) in the exact positions on the sky above you, providing information about them. It's designed to help anyone even remotely interested in astronomy find their way across the sky, determine where to look for any chosen object, rewind or fast-forward time to see how celestial bodies move. It inspires curiosity about the Universe and helps understand amazing cosmic phenomena. The new Calendar of celestial events suggests the best...

MOSO has announced version 1.3 of the Xmplify XML Editor (http://xmplifyapp.com). It's a XML editor built specifically for Mac OS X 10.6 and higher and provides a fully XML-aware editing environment with DTD and XML Schema-based auto-completion. Version 1.3 is the first 64-bit release of Xmplify. It also brings other improvements and fixes. Xmplify is available for US$59; both volume and educational discounts are available. Version 1.3 is a free upgrade for Xmplify 1.x users.

Appsoft Studio has released Splash Colors FX 1.0 for Mac OS X. The tool turns color photos into black and white ones and can help highlight certain objects by revealing their original colors. Users can highlight the most important parts of photos and give them new looks. Users may refresh the details and share photos on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or send them via Mail and Messages. Splash Colors FX uses a dynamic brush to reveal the original colors of photos. It also contains adjustable effects for putting some final touches to your photos. Splash Colors FX requires Mac OS X 10.7 or later. It costs US$0.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Photography category (http://tinyurl.com/ccxlxr7).

Kenburg Technology has announced LightLinez, a pocket-sized (12 cm) Apple Lightning to USB 2.0 charge and sync cable for the iPhone 5, iPad mini, and all Apple Lightning devices. It has the complete charge and sync functionality of a full length cable. The Lightning connector housing is small enough to fit into a protective case, such as the LifeProof or Otterbox, eliminating the need to remove the case to charge and sync.  Designed for use at home or on the move, LightLinez's shorter length allows you to slip the cable into a pocket, purse or small storage space for transport and reduced clutter and tangle. It's 88% shorter than the standard 1-meter cable. The LightLinez is available at www.kenburgtech.com and http://www.radtech.us/products/kenburg-short-lightning-to-usb-cable for US$18.95.

FileMaker Inc. says that, as of Sept. 30, 2013, FileMaker Go 11 for iPad and FileMaker Go 11 for iPhone will no longer be available for purchase on the iTunes App Store. Customers who purchase FileMaker Go 11 before that date will still be able to download it from the iTunes App Store when, for example, replacing an existing iPad with a new iPad. However, after Sept. 30, FileMaker Go 11 will not be available for purchase for new devices. FileMaker Go 12 for iPad and FileMaker Go 12 for iPhone continue to be available free on the iTunes App Store. FileMaker Go 11 for iPad and FileMaker Go 11 for iPhone (formerly named FileMaker Go 1.2) only open databases that use the .fp7 file format. Databases with .fp7 file format are created with FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced 11, 10, 9, 8.5, 8, and 7. FileMaker Go 11 is not compatible with databases created with FileMaker Pro 12. FileMaker Go 12 only opens databases that use the .fmp12 file format. Databases with .fmp12 format are created using...

At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Adobe announced the general availability of Adobe Primetime (formerly Project Primetime), a TV publishing and monetization platform for programmers and pay TV service providers. The company also announced technology collaborations with dozens of industry leaders, including encoders, cloud platform providers, and content delivery networks (CDNs) to pave the way for TV content across every connected screen. Ecosystem partners include Akamai, Amazon Web Services, Cisco Systems, Elemental Technologies, Envivio, Harmonic, iStreamPlanet, RGB Networks, thePlatform and others. Comcast Cable and NBC Sports Group have signed on as first Adobe Primetime launch partners. Adobe Primetime enables programmers and pay TV service providers to capitalize on the rising consumer interest in watching and engaging with digital video while helping protect and maximize the value of their content, David Karnstedt, senior vice president, Media and...

T-Mobile USA says it will supplement its iPhone 5 upfront pricing with a special trade-in offer when the Apple smartphone arrives in T-Mobile stores this Friday, April 12.   "Our message to iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 customers is simple: bring in your device and trade up to iPhone 5 on T-Mobile," says Mike Sievert, chief marketing officer for T-Mobile.   The special trade-in offer, which lasts through Father’s Day on June 16, enables qualified customers who bring in their iPhone 4S or iPhone 4 to get an iPhone 5 for $0 down plus monthly payments, with a no annual service contract. Depending on the trade-in value of their device, customers will also receive a credit of up to US$120, which can be used toward monthly payments, an existing T-Mobile bill, or the purchase of accessories or another device.   Through its Simple Choice Plan, T-Mobile is the only major U.S. wireless company offering iPhone 5 with no annual service contract plus unlimited talk, text and Web on a nationwide 4G...

Apple is preparing to release new Macs that support 802.11ac Gigabit wireless, reports "9to5Mac" (http://tinyurl.com/cpx77lf), basing the prediction on code-findings inside of Mac OS X 10.8.4, which was recently released to developers. The code "was located by a tipster inside of the operating system’s WiFi-frameworks folder," says "9to5Mac." 802.11ac code isn't found in OS X 10.8.3, which is the latest public release of Mac OS X.

Bensoftware has announced SecuritySpy 3.0.3, an update to the multi-camera video surveillance software for the Mac. The new version includes support for more network cameras and sports user interface improvements. SecuritySpy boasts features such as motion detection, real-time compression of multiple video and audio feeds, and network video and audio streaming, SecuritySpy is designed for demanding video surveillance applications. The software supports a variety of network cameras and video servers, including the popular ACTi, Axis, Panasonic, Sony and Vivotek ranges, as well as FireWire, USB, and PCI video input devices. SecuritySpy features motion detection, which can be used to trigger recording as well as email alerts and audio alarms. The built-in web server allows remote viewing of live video and audio, previously captured footage, as well as configuration of the software, from over the internet using a web browser or a mobile device such as the iPhone. SecuritySpy can be...

Splother (http://splother.com), an online destination for branding and sync licensing of independent music for film, TV, advertising and products, has announced an upcoming Splother plug-in for Final Cut Pro X that allows editors to browse and select music, add it to the timeline, and immediately obtain an affordable license for use in video projects. "The integration with Final Cut Pro X is a tremendous opportunity for all existing and future Splother artists," says Splother CEO Dave Durocher. "Their music will now be available to all Final Cut Pro X users around the world through a new plug-in that offers fast, affordable music licensing." The Splother plug-in for Final Cut Pro X will be released in conjunction with a cloud-based redesign of the music licensing platform. The back-end has been completely redesigned to handle the increased traffic from this software integration.