Section: Mac Software , Games I’ve apparently been so busy exploring Monkey Island for the Mac that I didn’t realize Monkey Island is coming to Mac. Telltale Games recently brought us Tales of Monkey Island , and now Aspyr is also sailing back in time to bring us The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. Originally released for Xbox Live Arcade and PC last summer, this special edition can be pre-ordered now through Aspyr’s GameAgent service for only $9.99. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition faithfully re-imagines the internationally-acclaimed classic game (originally released in 1990) for original and new audiences alike. The game is brought into the modern era with an all new re-imagined contemporary art style, a re-mastered musical score, full voiceover, and an in-depth hint system to help players through the game’s side-splitting puzzles. Purists will also delight in the ability to seamlessly switch between the updated hand-drawn re-imagining and the original classic version. The game’s twisty plot leads our naive hero on a hilarious, swash-buckling search for the fabled secret of Monkey Island. Tales of pirate wealth lure him to the port of Mêlée with high hopes, no money, and insatiable curiosity

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Aspyr unveils a Monkey Island secret of their own

Mac gaming fans have one less reason to be envious of their PC-using brothers & sisters, now that Telltale Games has made the official announcement that the episodic Sam & Max is coming with a third season entitled The Devil’s Playhouse — and it will be available on the PC, Playstation 3 and yes, even the Mac. Sam’s a six-foot tall canine shamus with a hunger for justice. Max is a hyperkinetic rabbity-thing with an oversized Luger and a taste for violence. Together they’re Sam & Max, freelance police, ridding the streets of bottom-feeding sludge, one dastardly miscreant at a time.   The popular episodic game comes courtesy of publisher Telltale Games, who made the announcement today at GDC. On the heels of the first two popular seasons of Sam & Max comes the good news that the third season, entitled The Devil’s Playhouse , will also be coming to the Mac at long last, and the game is virtually identical across all three platforms. In The Devil’s Playhouse , Sam and Max face a mysterious otherworldly power for controlling matter and space that calls to the strongest and strangest who might wield it — intergalactic warlords and eldritch gods, under-dwellers and scholars of the arcane. It’s Sam’s and Max’s biggest case yet! For those of you new to episodic gaming, Telltale’s niche is having the games play out over a series of interconnected episodes, each one building on the next.

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Telltale Announces Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse for Mac

A new report from AppleInsider via Forbes has Apple making some last minute tweaking to the App Store and iBookstore prior to the forthcoming April 3 launch of the iPad. The report has Apple having designated 20 categories for books on its iBookstore, and they will be available for download on the iPad.  That number had previously been listed at 35 back in February. The categories of literary goodies include "Fiction & Literature," "Comics & Graphic Novels," "Reference," "Romance," and "Cookbooks."  Top-tier categories include a litany of more than 150 sub-categories, such as "Manga" under the comics category. At the same time, Apple has also allegedly went through and classified some apps as compatible with the iPad as developers continue to retool and refine their existing products on the App Store.  Developers were given the option to take their apps for a test drive for iPad compatibility when they updated their apps, and after that, only about 16,700 of the more than 140,000 seemed to be compatible. Since the Wi-Fi iPad lacks a GPS receiver, Apple also went through and termed certain apps as "iPad Wi-Fi" and "iPad 3G."  About 40 of the 16,700 certified apps were 3G only according to the report. Image courtesy of hothardware.com  

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Apple Touching Up The App Store Prior To iPad Launch

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 8, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh Zevrix Solutions is offering BatchOutput Server —its output workflow automation solution for InDesign—at 50% off on maczot on Tuesday March 9th. BatchOutput Server offloads printing and exporting to PDF and PostScript to a central system by processing InDesign files from hotfolders. Originally developed for a major magazine publisher in the United States, the software saves companies countless hours that are lost each year because operators have to wait for InDesign to output files. Macgamestore.com has announced Murder, She Wrote . The game was developed by leading casual games developer and publisher, Legacy Interactive. Murder, She Wrote is an interactive seek and find who-dun-it mystery adventure with unique minigames in every scene. Play as the lovable murder novelist Jessica Fletcher and solve each of the five cases by carefully and methodically investigating murders using an innovative new style of hidden object and light adventure gameplay. Eternal Storms Software has announced the immediate availability of flickery 1.8 for Mac OS X. flickery is a unique desktop flickr client which combines the flickr photo-community with the ease-of-use and elegance of Mac OS X. Easily upload photos and videos to your Flickr photostream, organize items in photosets and groups, browse Favorites, and more. flickery 1.8 adds Google Maps to the search functionality to bring more powerful searches to flickery users. Badia Software has announced the public beta release of Exportools Professional 3.0 , its flagship software for high-end exporting and printing of multiple Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress documents. Exportools Professional 3.0 has been entirely rewritten in Cocoa, and it’s the first add-on for InDesign and QuarkXPress built with 64-bit code, boosting overall performance and stability.

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 8, 2010

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 4, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh app4mac has released Projector 2.0.8 , an update to their powerful project management application for Mac OS X. Projector provides all the tools you need for professional project management. It is designed to keep track of tasks and calculate a project’s cost. Projector is an easy-to-learn, cost-effective tool that simplifies project scheduling. Projector is also coming soon on iPad and iPhone. Cocoamug Software has released CosmoPod 4.2.1 , an update to their bright application for Mac OS X. CosmoPod is a one-click simple extension to Apple Safari browser that helps you saving and converting internet media content to your Mac, iPhone, AppleTV or iPod. It’s just like an extra Download window for your media. CosmoPod supports most popular web video formats, including FLV, DivX, WMV, MMS, RM, and RTSP. This update mainly improves the application capability to easily import DVD.

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 4, 2010

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 1, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh Divine Fiat has announced The Complete Set , their entire collection of high quality themes for Apple’s Keynote presentation software. All 14 themes are now available for 60% off the individual theme set price. This is a collection representing great variety and value. Every theme comes in both standard and Widescreen formats. Each theme also includes extras such as fully customizable icon objects, custom texture and color palates and video tutorials. SimpleLeap Software has released Cram 1.3.4 , an update to its popular flashcard and multiple-choice testing study app for Mac OS X. Cram is perfect for students, teachers, or anyone else looking to prepare for any subject matter on their Mac with flashcards and practice multiple-choice tests. Cram features multiple study modes, and the ability to share test material with friends. Version 1.3.4 updates with new easy installer and minor bug fixes. Keynote Zone has announced KeynoteZone Collection 7 . All the best of Keynote Zone themes are now available for special price. Keynote Zone Collection 7 includes seven HD version themes.

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 1, 2010

While perusing the internet earlier this morning, we came across this pretty nifty tutorial for constructing your own iPad device in Photoshop. Head over to hvdesigns to follow along the step-by-step Apple iPad tutorial .  If you’ve got the skills, dust off your old copy of CS2 and get crackin’ on those rumor mills! Think about it–you could concoct some pretty amazing fake iPad shots. Take a minute to strategically place a screenshot of the purported Hulu app (with Flash!), or the Android home screen, or maybe even a command control center of some starship somewhere. The possibilities are endless.  Via Good-tutorials

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Make Your Own iPad in Photoshop with this Nifty Tutorial

One of the great excitements about the iPad bringing books to its large screen was the potential for comic books and magazines to really deliver some killer content. The 9.7" color screen could bring seriously enhanced readability as well as create a new genre of interactive graphic media. In response to one overlooked demographic, Oceanhouse Media has launched additional iPhone and iPod touch apps featuring some beloved children’s titles. And they’ve got their eyes set on the iPad. Released a week ago, the three titles The Cat in the Hat , Dr. Seuss’s ABC , and Dr. Seuss Camera – The Cat in the Hat Edition render beautifully on the iPhone.

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One iBook, Two iBook, Red iBook, Blue iBook

The House of Mouse becomes very animated when talking about the possibilities the iPad offers. Disney CEO Bog Iger Tuesday described the new Apple device as a “game-changer,” saying the tablet will enhance the television-watching experience. “The interactivity it will allow on a portable device with such a high quality screen is going to enable us

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Disney Praises iPad as ‘Game-Changer’

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Originals This week has been all about the iPad, and for good reason. It’s an amazing device; if only we could buy one now. Alas, you’ll have to make do with your iPhone or iPod touch for the time being. Remember, the iPad will be able to run all of your current apps when you finally get one, so go crazy downloading! ComicBookLover – While you’re waiting impatiently to get your hands on an iPad, why not download an app that would probably be more fun on one? This app makes it possible for you to read comics on your iPhone without converting them to a different format and emailing them to yourself.  It sync CBZ and CBR format comics straight to the device over WiFi.  All this for free, can you believe it?  Actually, they have a desktop version that isn’t free, but the syncing tool is, and you can find it here . Can’t wait to try this on an iPad! Classics – This may or may not still be free, but it was at the time of this writing. This is one of the App Store’s most popular reading apps.  So popular, that it seems to have influence Apple’s own upcoming iBooks app and store. Download it while it’s free.

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Free Apps roundup for January 29th, 2010