Using a splash of color in black and white photos is a great way to create high visual impact, but unless you're comfortable using Photoshop that's an effect that can be hard to create -- unless you're using ColorStrokes. This Mac app strips the color from your photos and then lets you paint where you want more than just black and white. You can choose to reveal the photo's original colors, paint new colors in, and even apply effects like hard or soft light and vignettes. ColorStrokes is normally priced at US$9.99, but you can pick it up through Monday for $2.99.

Apple appears to have opened its iWork for iCloud beta to the general public, allowing anybody with an Apple ID to access its new web-based productivity suite. Originally only available to registered iOS Developers, Apple later sent out invitations to the beta to for early access to the service.…

Hey, brother, can you spare $1,400? US, please. There's this desktop 3D scanner I need to buy. OK, I'll work on my begging pitch, but in the meanwhile, check out what has me drooling, the Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner from MakerBot. As you can see in the video, it's a laser-based 3D scanner small enough to fit on your desk (if you have a medium-sized desk or larger). That means you can use it to scan stuff—don't ask me what, because la la la I can't hear you!—and turn it into a 3D schematic that you can then send to a 3D printer! Cool, eh? For designers and engineers who make physical products, this could be a tipping point for inexpensive 3D scanning and printing. If you're rich, it could be something super awesome to impress your friends. [Via TechCrunch]

Bryan Chaffin has been asking a basic question about Android for quite a while: what the heck are they doing with all those Android devices? Thanks to a couple of recent studies from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), we're starting to get some color on that question.

Apple released Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 4.08 on Thursday. This is software your Mac uses to interpret RAW image files when importing from your digital camera through Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11. This update adds support for eight new cameras from Canon, Fujifilm, Leica, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony.

Apple released Logic Pro X 10.0.2, a maintenance release for the new version of the company's professional recording solution (also known as a DAW for digital audio workstation). This release squashes five specific bugs, each dealing with different areas in the software, though the KnowledgeBase article for the update detail scores of other minor fixes.

Apple is getting ever closer to the public release of OS X 10.9 Mavericks with the sixth beta it has released to developers. These preview versions of Mavericks give developers the chance to hunt for bugs and other problems, as well as test their own apps, before Mavericks is officially released this fall.

The personal cloud storage system Transporter got a major facelift thanks to its Transporter 2.0 software update. The Connected Data team pretty much started over so Transporter is a seamless part of your Mac. You can make folders on Transporter in the Finder, Transporter accounts aren't required any more to receive shared files, you choose which folders sync between your Macs, and an update to the iOS app that lets you do more than see your folders is coming soon, too. Transporter is a file storage, sync, and sharing device that you add to your own network instead of subscribing to, like cloud-based services such as Dropbox or SugarSync. Transporter 2.0 is a beta, but so far it's working great for us.