DIT Station has introduced the DIT Station Rogue4, the newest version of the company's portable and compact on-set data management and playback workstation. The Rogue4 is purportedly faster than ever before, with Sonnet Technologies' built-in Thunderbolt expansion, media ingest, and storage solutions offering performance up to 900 MB/s. Sonnet and DIT Station will demonstrate the DIT Station Rogue4 in the Sonnet Technologies booth SL10924 at the 2013 NAB Show.  Housed in a military-grade case with custom ventilation, the new DIT Station Rogue4 provides a fast PCIe and Thunderbolt backbone for a range of on-site digital intermediate (DI) tasks. The Rogue4 works exclusively on the 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina platform, integrating multiple Sonnet Echo Express Thunderbolt-to-PCIe Expansion Chassis with video I/O cards for tasks such as transcoding and playout. Multiple Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro 6Gb PCIe adapter cards, each holding two 2.5-inch SSDs, provide high-performance onboard Thunderbolt...

Quark has announced an extension of the upgrade policy that allows QuarkXPress users on any version -- from 3 to 8 -- to upgrade to QuarkXPress 9 for US$349. The $349 upgrade price represents a $500 savings for users who choose to upgrade before June 30, 2013. After June 30, 2013, only users on version 8 can upgrade to QuarkXPress 9 for $349. Any users of versions 3 to 7 will need to purchase a full license for $849. For more information about QuarkXPress 9, go to http://www.quark.com/Products/QuarkXPress/ .

To upgrade from any version of QuarkXPress to version 9 for $349, users must have a valid, registered, and activated serial number for QuarkXPress. Upgrades can be purchased through Quark Authorized Resellers, the Quark Store, and Quark Customer Service. For more information, go to www.quark.com/upgrade .

MPEG2 Works (www.mpeg2works.com) -- a Mac OS X tool for video formats re-conversion, encoding and manipulation -- has been revved to version 5. The upgrade sports faster conversion and encoding, a redesigned interface and a rewriting of all sections. MPEG2 Works 5 is available at the product web site. It costs US$25 and requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher.

Econ Technologies has updated ChronoSync to version 4.3.7 ,which contains several new features and fixes. ChronoSync is the automated synchronization and backup application for Mac OS X that can synchronize, backup, and create bootable backups. Version 4.3.7 adds the capability to specify a login domain when entering a username in network volume Target Options. It adds logic to overcome the situation where the OS would not immediately detect that a mounted SMB volume had become disconnected. ChronoSync 4.3.7 changes the way it collects file and folder information from NAS volumes to prevent overloading and hanging certain NAS devices. All existing ChronoSync users update for free. For new users the cost is US$40. A demo is available for download from the Econ Technologies web site (http://www.econtechnologies.com).

An Shanghai firm is suing Apple, claiming that Siri -- Apple's voice-activated "personal assistant" -- infringes on its patents, reports "Shanghai Daily" (http://tinyurl.com/cws4q98). "Siri is very similar to Xiaoi, a chat robot system we have been developing since 2003," says Mei Li, a spokeswoman of Shanghai Zhi Zhen which filed the lawsuit. She says her company applied for patent rights for Xiaoi in 2004 in China and the patent right went into effect in 2006. The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court will hold a pre-hearing at 2 pm Wednesday to let Apple and Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology exchange evidence, according to "Shanghai Daily."

Korg (http://www.korg.com) has debuted the latest additions to its Kaoss family: the KP3+ Dynamic Effect/Sampler and the Kaossilator Pro+ Dynamic Phase Synthesizer/Loop Recorder. Like all of Korg’s Kaoss products, these new tools offer creative musical possibilities and intuitive control over multiple parameters with a X-Y touchpad interface that responds to the touch or swipe of a finger. The Korg KP3+ and Kaossilator Pro+ will both be available next month for a street price of $US349.99 and $399.99, respectively. The KP3+ features instantaneous touchpad-based control over 150 effects programs that include the original KP3 effects, sounds and features, plus 22 all-new, diverse effect programs for everything from various EDM genres to rock and beyond. The KP3+ offers high resolution sampling from a wide variety of sources via mic and line inputs.

PLX Devices has released Yaba X, a portable speaker and guitar amplifier specifically engineered to turn any surface into a speaker. It utilizes the surface as an extension of the speaker itself.   The pocket-sized Yaba X is made from cast zinc. It measures only a few inches and is still able to deliver room-filling sound equal to the performance of speakers 10 times its size, according to Paul Lowchareonkul, Yaba’s inventor. With a core composed of neodymium magnets, Yaba X is powered by three lithium polymer batteries capable of playing your music for up to eight hours on a single charge Yaba X is exclusively offered through Kickstarter as a special promotion. It's available in blue, red, black, white and a fifth color that will be selected by backers. Yaba X will retail for US$99.99, however, exclusively through Kickstarter, backers can receive the Yaba X for as low as $39. For more info go to www.plxdevices.com .

PrivacyScan 1.2, Seek and Destroy Privacy Threats on the Mac from SecureMac (www.securemac.com) is now available in the Mac App Store with enhanced and updated privacy cleaning features and support. PrivacyScan protects online and offline privacy by shredding files that can be used to track your web browsing habits and computer usage. It's shred functionality is able to overwrite sensitive data up to 35 times, helping you wipe your tracks to ensure privacy. PrivacyScan 1.2 is available for US$14.99 and is available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Utilities category (http://tinyurl.com/d97pm83). It requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher.

Noise Industries has introduced Tokyo Chrominator, designed exclusively for Final Cut Pro X. Now available for FxFactory, the plugin can be found under Tokyo Chrominator in the FCP X effects browser. Especially useful for adding production value to logos and text, Chrominator lets editors instantly give images a glossy, beveled 3D look complete with animated lighting. In addition to the basic version of the effect, which can be customized, there are six presets available including gold, silver, brass and more, making it easy to instantly achieve an interesting look or to use as the basis for one's own unique variation. Tokyo Chrominator is available now in FxFactory for US$49. For more info go to http://www.noiseindustries.com/info/chrominator .

Louder Than Ten, in collaboration with Padraig Kennedy, has launched Pupil, a menu bar utility for Mac OS X. It lets users label and order their favorite display settings, so they can switch resolutions quickly and easily without having to go into System Preferences. Pupil unlocks the native 1:1 pixel resolution for Retina displays, giving Retina screens access to non-Retina modes for testing compatibility on apps, sites and more. The app also lets users name and organize their favorite display settings; they can choose the resolutions they want to see in their menu. Pupil costs US$5. A demo is available at the product web site (http://pupil.io).

PCI Geomatics has released GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL) 2013, the latest version of the company’s scalable image processing solution. The upgrade provides new tools that allow users to generate Digital Surface Models from large data sets of hundreds to thousands of stereo pairs, and apply new 2.5D hybrid editing techniques. Other key development areas include a redesigned true-ortho capability, as well as improved automated cutline generation methods that model the presence of features in overlapping imagery (such as buildings, trees, vehicles, etc.) to avoid them, resulting in cleaner, nicer-looking ortho-mosaics. For more info go to www.pcigeomatis.com/gxi .

ExactCODE has released OCRKit 2.0, an update of the OCR solution for Mac. It's a drag and drop document converter software. According to the folks at ExactCODE, OCRKit 2.0 offers up to eight times higher speed conversion on the latest Macs, improved auto-rotation for high-resolution documents, a new compressed PDF option, enhanced recognition accuracy and stability, improved text positioning accuracy in PDF, and more. It's available for US$49.99 at www.OCRKit.com and in the Mac App Store.

Ludei, a HTML5 platform that brings native performance and features to mobile game developers, says it's adding 3D support to its game development platform, finally making it possible for developers to deliver WebGL 3D games to virtually any mobile device.   "We’ve already made HTML5 cross-platform 2D game development a reality," says Ludei CEO Eneko Knorr. "Now we are unlocking the door for the thousands of Web game developers who want to publish great 3D games on mobile and reach consumers through the most popular app stores. Our 3D rendering allows today’s most popular mobile devices to run a 3D HTML5 game with the same great user experience and performance that native gamers are used to."   Ludei will support 3D game development via the open WebGL standard. WebGL is the browser equivalent of OpenGL, the industry standard for deploying powerful 3D animated games. The addition of 3D rendering on the Ludei platform means for the first time, WebGL runs on every iOS and Android device...

Apple has paid US$20 million to buy WifiSLAM, a company that develops ways for mobile apps to identify a user's whereabouts in a building using Wi-Fi signals, reports "The Wall Street Journal" (http://tinyurl.com/antm4gf). An Apple spokesman confirmed the deal, telling the "WSJ" that the company "buys smaller technology companies from time to time” and generally doesn’t discuss its plans. He declined to comment further. WifiSLAM could not immediately be reached for comment.

This week Apple, Microsoft and Adobe appeared before a federal parliamentary committee hearing into the pricing of their products in Australia and defended the high prices that Australian consumers are paying for their products, reports "ABC" (http://tinyurl.com/b8u72pk). Labor backbencher Ed Husic has accused some information technology companies of "ripping off" Australian consumers. However, Apple Australia Vice President Tony King defended his company's Australian prices . He said part of the reason was higher costs charged by the entertainment industry for content destined for the Australian market. "Price considerations must go well beyond simply looking up a currency exchange rate," King said."For example, Apple must consider differences between countries in product costs, freight charges, local sales taxes, levies, import duties, channel economics, competition and local laws regarding advertised prices."

.com Solutions (www.fmpromigrator.com) has released FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition 6.97 with support for FileMaker Auto-Enter calculation fields and FM query operators when using the PHP conversion feature. This release also adds support for the CakePHP 2.3 framework providing improved functionality and performance. Most FileMaker database solutions make use of Auto-Enter calculation fields. The automated conversion of this functionality by FmPro Migrator speeds the PHP conversion process and enhances the functionality of the generated PHP web application. Auto-Enter calculations are implemented within beforeSave() and afterSave() functions within the model files. Some calculations rely upon having the value of PK column for a newly written record, therefore they are implemented within the afterSave() function. FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition is priced at US$600 per developer and includes a copy of FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition for both Mac OS X (Universal Binary) and Windows...

Troi Automatisering has released Troi Activator Plug-in 3.5 (www.troi.com/software/activatorplugin.html) for FileMaker Pro 12. It's a tool for triggering scripts across the network, even over the Internet. Troi Activator Plug-in 3.5 has the following new features and fixes: ° Added two new functions, which can shutdown and restart the computer. ° The Actr_Sleep function now works on Mac and Windows. Also added a new switch "-sleepnow" to put the computer to sleep directly. ° Extended the Upload Server functionality to be able to handle only text: you no longer need to include an image in your upload. ° The Actr_GetIPAddress function can now return the IPv6 address. ° Completely rewrote the plug-in for 64 bit. The plug-in now runs as a 64-bit plug-in under Custom web publishing under FileMaker Pro 12 on Mac OS X. ° Rewrote the plug-in to prevent a crashing bug, which could occur when Troi Activator Plug-in was installed in two separate places. ° Fixed a problem where the plug-in would...

Apple has rolled out a new two-step verification service for iCloud and Apple ID users, reports "9to5Mac" (www.9to5Mac.com). This functionality greatly enhances the security of Apple accounts because it requires users to use a trusted device and an extra security code. This security code can be sent via SMS or via the Find my iPhone iOS app (if it is installed). Users can now setup two-step authentication on their devices via the Apple ID website. Users need to access the security tab on this website to conduct the setup process. Read more at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5570 .

Overall satisfaction among smartphone customers increases significantly as manufacturers continue to improve styling, feature sets, usability and software, according to new data from J.D. Power and Associates. For the ninth consecutive study, Apple ranks highest among manufacturers of smartphones in customer satisfaction. Apple achieves a score of 855 and performs particularly well in physical design and ease of operation.  The research group's studies measure satisfaction with traditional wireless handsets and smartphones among customers who have used their current mobile device for less than one year. Satisfaction is measured in several key factors. In order of importance, the key factors of overall satisfaction with traditional mobile phones are performance (29%); ease of operation (26%); physical design (24%); and features (21%). For smartphones, the key factors are performance (33%); physical design (23%); features (22%); and ease of operation (22%). The Wireless Smartphone...

Artlandia has released a new plug-in that makes Artlandia's cloud-based pattern design editor, SymmetryMill, available as an interactive texture editor in SketchUp. The plug-in extends SketchUp's built-in texture library. It lets a designer interactively create and refine custom patterns and textures for specific models or products, such as apparel, furnishings, interiors and exteriors of buildings and vehicle. Launched in September 2012, SymmetryMill, which works in web browsers, joined Artlandia's line of SymmetryWorks and SymmetryShop plug-ins for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. The latest plug-in connects SymmetryMill to SketchUp. SymmetryMill's repeating patterns instantly become SketchUp's materials (textures).  Editing a pattern automatically updates the linked SketchUp model. SymmetryMill pattern textures further behave as normal SketchUp materials, which can be applied with SketchUp's Paint Bucket tool, repositioned, distorted, painted on complex SketchUp models, and be...

Reggie Ashworth has announced VidConvert 1.4.2 (http://www.reggieashworth.com/vidconvert), an update to his video converter for Mac OS X. It's designed to make converting your videos simple and easy. VidConvert will convert just about any type of video into one of the many popular formats of today. You can create videos for your iPhone or iPad, for your Mac or TV, or formats such as DivX and MPEG. Version 1.4.2 can now convert to WebM format and has Spanish localization. Also, an issue was fixed where the app icon might not show on PPC machines, and an issue was fixed where creating multiple DVD folders would not work as expected. VidConvert 1.4.2 costs US$7.99 for a single user license. A demo that creates three-minute samples is available.

Macoscope (http://macoscope.net/en/) has announced Bubble Browser 2.0, an update to their Evernote-dedicated notes browser application. The new version offers faster background syncing, advanced searching, perspective switching, type-ahead suggestions and a redesigned interface. Bubble Browser reuses web browser conventions and allows users to explore and visualize the structure of the users entire Evernote data. By providing a friendly, graphic desktop for Evernote notes, tags, notebooks and dates are presented as colorful and differently sized bubbles to expose most important piece of information in every given context. Bubble Browser works with Mac OS X 10.8 and higher. It's free and is available worldwide in the Mac App Store in the Productivity category (http://tinyurl.com/bq4raur).

Russian anti-virus company Doctor Web is reporting that adware for Mac OS X has been increasing in number since the beginning of 2013. Trojan.Yontoo.1 is the most prominent of them. It can download and install an adware browser plugin in an infected system, according to Dr. Web (http://tinyurl.com/c87upvm). According to the company's analysts, the trend towards a growing number of adware for various platforms has persisted from early 2013. Criminals profit from affiliate ad network programs, and their interest in users of Macs "grows day by day."

Intertrust Technologies, an early pioneer in digital copyright protection jointly owned by Sony and Royal Philips Electronics has filed a lawsuit against Apple for alleging infringing 15 patents related to security, reports "The Wall Street Journal" (http://tinyurl.com/bo47tfd). The lawsuit covers most of Apple’s products and services, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac computers, Apple TV,  iTunes, iCloud, and the Apple App Store. Intertrust says it has a successful record of licensing its technology, with licensees including Adobe,  Nokia, Samsung, HTC and LG Electronics.