Apple, CNN and many other news outlets have announced that Steve Jobs has lost his battle to pancreatic cancer and has passed away.

Known for his innovative spirit, terse responses to e-mails that were sent directly to his well-known e-mail address and for single handedly reviving Apple from the brink of death back to where they have sold 250 million (plus) Apple iPhones, sold over 16 Billion iTunes songs and gained share and have become a force to reckon with in the music and video industries as well; Steve Jobs will be missed.

[ Links: Apple - Remembering Steve Jobs ]

In a move that more than likely should’ve caused a black hole or a rift in time, finally got the (yesterday) released Microsoft Windows 8 Developer’s Build to work on Apple OS X 10.7 via VMWare Fusion. The kicker was that VMWare Fusion 3.1.3 wouldn’t work; luckily enough, VMWare Fusion saw fit to releasing their $49.99 update to VMWare Fusion 4.0.1 today, one day after Windows 8 was made available for download and guess what?

It works!

Even though Microsoft stated that Windows 8 will work on an Intel Atom with only 1gb of RAM, I truly suggest giving it way more RAM than that. And the final install of everything is a shade under 7.5gb in total, with the Windows folder being around 4.93gb of space used. Off the bat, Internet Explorer 10 is included in the install. The new Start Menu is what looks like the Windows Phone 7 interface of oddly shaped squares that are somewhat interlocked together. But the regular, “looks like Windows 7″ desktop is still in there.

I’ll definitely have to give this a more in-depth look in a bit. But so far, this is only adding to my anticipation for Microsoft Windows 8.

[ Links: MSDN Windows 8 Developer Edition Downloads, VMWare Fusion 4.0 ]

I fell in love with Bento 3 for OS X and for my Apple iPad. Filemaker just released the update to Bento 4 which included some of the following:

• Label Printing
• Form Printing Options
• Export Templates with Data
• Easy Date Searching
• Post Templates Directly to the Bento Template Exchange

I won’t bore you with my tales of how productive I had previously become with Bento 3 and with Bento on my Apple iPad; however let’s just say that I’m more organized when I’m late to my appointments.

Available immediately, Bento 4 is affordably priced at a suggested retail of $49 or $99 for a family pack of five licenses, and is now available on the Mac App Store, FileMaker Store and Apple retail stores. Current owners of Bento 1, 2 and 3 for Mac are eligible for a $20 U.S. rebate.

And the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad apps have been updated to 1.1 as of March 16th and are priced at $4.99. Go get ‘em!

[ Links: Filemaker Bento 4 ]

If you don’t recall, I’m a huge fan of Bento 3 for the Apple iPhone and Apple OS X platforms. It’s the one program that got my typical cluttered mess into an organized mess situation. Which… is pretty darn amazing to me. Filemaker has added a new option to make Bento 3 even more useful:

FileMaker, Inc. today announced the Bento 3 Project Manager, a brand new set of templates designed to make it easy for Mac users to track their personal projects and manage their time within one integrated, intuitive place. The Bento 3 Project Manager includes a free 30-day trial of the popular Bento 3 personal database for Mac, plus two professionally designed, ready-to-use templates.

Templates in the Bento 3 Project Manager include:

• Project Dashboard, with forms for project overview, milestones, tasks, communications, related files such as photos and presentations, and time sheets.
• Time Sheets, with pre-defined Smart Collections for hours billed, hours to be billed, and amounts due. All of this detailed information can be located quickly using iTunes-style searching.

The FIleMaker Bento 3 Project Manager also works with Bento for iPad and Bento for iPhone.

Bento 3 syncs up with your Apple iCal Calendar tasks and events, your Apple Address Book contacts and phone numbers and the Bento 3 Project Manager templates are a free download.

[ Links: FileMaker Bento 3, Bento 3 Project Manager Template Download ]

Google finally is showing off what exactly that Gizmo Project purchase can do for you. Earlier this year, Google Voice was made available for all US citizens, finally leaving the closed beta since it’s Grand Central days – yet another Google purchase. Anyway, it works as easy as follows:

Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year and calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates. We worked hard to make these rates really cheap (see comparison table) with calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan and many more countries – for as little as $0.02 per minute.

Dialing a phone number works just like a normal phone. Just click “Call phone” at the top of your chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.

Also, last week, Linux users got the ability to finally use video chat via the browser too. Gmail is getting even better and better.

[ Links: Official Gmail Blog ]

Apple released what looks like an upgraded version of the Wacom Bamboo Touch on the surface, the Apple Magic Trackpad is a combination of the Apple Magic Mouse and their Apple trackpad that allows for multi-touch on their Apple laptops.

It uses the same Multi-Touch technology you love on the MacBook Pro. And it supports a full set of gestures, giving you a whole new way to control and interact with what’s on your screen. Swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine. And inertial scrolling makes moving up and down a page more natural than ever. Magic Trackpad connects to your Mac via Bluetooth wireless technology. Use it in place of a mouse or in conjunction with one.

Priced at $69 dollars, it matches the Apple Bluetooth wireless keyboard in height, looks and angle. Only problem I have with the Apple Magic Trackpad is Apple’s marketing push that they’re the first to market with a multi-touch trackpad. That is not 100% true at all.

Still… looks neat. I’ll have to give it a whirl in a bit since I’m the resident Wacom tablet user/lover. It does require the latest Mac OS X 10.6.4, with no mention of Microsoft Windows yet.

[ Links: Apple Magic Trackpad ]

I’ve been a tablet user since Adobe Photoshop 3.0.4, Painter 2.0 and the days of Wacom and CalComp used to connect to your computer via the serial connector (read: way back before USB, mid-1990′s or so) and I’m always looking for what’s new in regards to the tablet scene. Adesso, a brand I’ve talked about here quite a few times also makes graphic tablets too.

I got my hands on their CyberTablet Z7, a 5.5 inch by 4 inch graphics tablet. Time to see if their offerings are as well put together as their keyboards.

Made out of shiny, silver but quality plastic, the design of the Z7 reminded me a lot of my older Wacom Graphire 2, a 4 inch by 5 inch tablet that I’ve kept for travel since it’s rather small and doesn’t get in the way. As does the Z7… it’s a smaller tablet that I could easily see throwing into my laptop bag and carrying around with me. The base of the plastic Z7 does have metal with some rubber feet, so it’ll stay put on the table without moving around. I’d say that the build quality easily compares to what I’ve come to expect from Adesso.

The best part about the Adesso CyberTablet Z7 is that it was immediately recognized in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The drivers that come with it do install a few other applications to assist you in other applications, namely Microsoft Office for Windows XP users and the ability to add real signatures into e-mails and other documents. The only problem though is that I found the software to be a bit more crude than I’d rather allow to stay on my machine. So almost out of the box, you could actually use the tablet with your existing programs and not include more than just the necessary drivers.

The CyberTablet Z7 does include 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, something I got a chance to fully test out in the newly released Adobe Illustrator CS5. While playing around, I couldn’t tell a difference between my Wacom Graphire and the Adesso CyberTablet Z7 to be honest. The $69 Z7 actually compared well against my way more expensive Wacom Intuos 3 and did even better than my Wacom Bamboo Touch – which, I’m honestly still coming to grips with while using graphic apps.

The Z7 does come with a bigger – almost grip pen size in regards to the Wacom line – pen than the Graphire and Intuos 3 (out of the box) and fits into my larger sized hands rather well. It fits just like an oversized Cross pen that I carry around with me in my briefcase. However, I won’t say that it is a good size for everybody, if you have bigger hands or like the pen to have a bit of heft to it… go for the Z7. Unlike the Wacom pen offerings, there’s one AAA battery that goes into the pen, giving it that aforesaid heft. To the average geek, or the mobile geek, that will sooner than later become just another battery to possibly replace at the worst times. This part, I disagree with how Adesso designed their pen. I love the heft, the replaceable pen tips, the activity light(s) and the even the almost too-flush but not as easily breakable eraser. About the eraser though, I didn’t find it as easy to use as the Wacom offerings – it was too flush to get any idea of how hard I was pressing down and in some cases where I was trying to erase in Corel Painter IX just a small section, I pressed down too hard and removed a much bigger section than intended.

I do have dual screens, but tend to only draw on one at a time. I also have wide screen LCD’s and the almost 4:3 aspect ratio of the Adesso Z7 does mean that on some up to bottom type of strokes, I might have to be careful not stroke too long because there is (in ratio) more room on the tablet than on the screen. It’s slight, but most of my tests in Adobe Illustrator CS5 and in Corel Painter IX went swimmingly.

Pros:

• Cheaper priced
• Works just as well in professional design apps as more expensive tablets
• Manufactured out of quality plastic with a solid metal base
• See-through flap to place smaller drawings under and trace
• Really responsive, up to Wacom Bamboo level

Cons:

• Some flex when pressed down on hard
• Single AAA battery in pen adds more heft than other offerings and would have to be replaced
• Pen base is non-replaceable, unlike the Wacom offerings
• Software (beyond drivers) does not support Windows Vista or Windows 7

All in all, I give the Adesso CyberTablet Z7 3.5 out of 5 (Pretty Darn Good) where it was a great performer inside of professional level apps like the entire Adobe Creative Suite 5 as well as my natural media favorite Corel Painter but the inclusion of the battery, the lack of software that integrated well with systems above Windows XP being the biggest cons. If you’re in the market and cannot afford the Wacom offerings, you might want to keep the Adesso offerings in mind.

[ Links: Adesso, Adesso CyberTablet Z7 ]

I come from the era of Polaroids, 35mm Canon cameras and those real cheap, plastic cameras that were given to kids that had plastic lenses that captured pretty much the world from a child’s perspective of the world (read: a lot of knee-caps and unintentional crotch shots) but were always more warm albeit less precise than our digital, megapixel endowed cameras. I miss those crotch shots days.

Just about anybody can open up Adobe Photoshop and change the color balance, apply a few plug-ins but sometimes you just want to quickly add some “warmth” but it’s not really the same. Well, Pentacom, a Japanese company, has created ToyCamera AnalogColor. An application that does just that via many presets and sliders that allow you to see what your image looks like in real time. It even adds a color border that emulates the Polaroid look if you so wish.

Not bad for a $10 app. There’s also an $1.99 Apple iPhone app too.

[ Links: Pentacom, ToyCamera AnalogColor ]

Just a day or so to go before Apple’s January 27th event, the speculation about the rumored Apple Tablet is reaching a fever pitch. The guys over at Unplggd have posted a couple of realistic photos that might be oft-rumored Apple Tablet.

[ Links: Unplggd ]

Ever since my review of Bento 3 for the Apple iPhone and Mac OS X platform, life has been that much more organized for me. And I’ll admit, I was one of those “structured yet unstructured” dudes. I knew where everything was at, lord forbid anybody that would try to follow my organized chaos.

Announced today, Filemaker has released a free Contact & Customer Manager template via the Bento Template Exchange – a free exchange of templates for Bento 3 that extends the living daylights out of Bento 3 from just an easy way to interface a deceptively simple yet powerful database that arranges notes, recipes, meetings, contacts, even contracts and invoices to an even more powerful application.

FileMaker, Inc. today announced the Bento 3 Contact and Customer Manager, a customized set of three new templates that make it easy for Mac users to organize all their contacts and customer details in one place – the perfect solution to a very popular New Year’s resolution. The Bento 3 Contact and Customer Manager includes a free 30-day trial of the popular Bento 3 personal database for Mac, plus three professionally designed, ready-to-use templates including customer and client contacts, sales receipts, and sales opportunities.

The Bento 3 Contact and Customer Manager also works with Bento for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, so customers can organize their contacts and business activities on an Apple iPhone or iPod touch and then synchronize the information to their Mac.

“Customers and prospects can tell if you are organized – or not. By tracking notes from past meetings and conversations, upcoming to-do items, completed phone calls, and important e-mails you’ll be ready when your customers are.” said Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services, FileMaker, Inc. “With the Bento 3 Contact and Customer Manager, we’re providing an easy and affordable way for customers to get instant access to complete contact and customer details—fully integrated with iCal Tasks and iCal Events—so they have a central hub of information that lets them stay more organized and productive.”

And yes… I’m that excited about a database program. Don’t have Bento for Apple OS X? Download a free trial here. And if you have Bento, the Contact & Customer Manager Template is free.

Thanks Beth and Carleen for the scoop and info!

[ Links: Bento 3 Contact & Customer Manager, Bento 3, RTL Bento 3 Review ]

Psystar is easily the most confused company of 2009. First they sell Hackintoshes and basically dares Apple to say something. Yeah, that’s about as safe as sticking a hornet’s nest down their pants and thinking absolutely nothing will happen. Then when Apple won an injunction against Psystar, their awesomely named lawyer Eugene Action announced that Psystar was not shutting down.

While Psystar took down their cheaper Mac clones (read: Hackintosh) but kept up their Rebel EFI software, it seemed like Apple had won and the very small company that thought they could convince the world that Apple’s injunction did not include Rebel EFI, their software that allows for the install of OS X onto most Intel based computers did not fall under the injunction.

Wrong. But not simply because of Apple. The OSx86 Community and Netkas have publicly called Psystar “liars” and have stated that Rebel EFI is based on their efforts to bring Apple OS X to a multitude of Intel configurations.

So then after not being able to sell Rebel EFI, Psystar vows a spectacular comeback and starts to sell… wait for it, t-shirts. Yes, t-shirts is definitely the savior of a confused company like Psystar.

Of course, this quickly changed to a new solution for the befuddled company… they will resume selling hardware, but with Linux.

Earlier this month, Psystar suspended all sales of its hardware products, honouring the court’s decision which favoured Apple. This week, Psystar has also temporarily halted sales of Rebel EFI while the former clone maker confirms the tool’s legality with the court. Psystar also announced it will continue hardware sales in the coming days – with Linux rather than Mac OS X.

So a company that’s been known to sell potentially community sourced software for a profit, that tried to sell computers to many people cheaper than Apple – and many deliveries did not happen – then went on to sell t-shirts (yes, t-shirts) has decided to sell Linux based systems… yeah. Linux. Systems.

Psystar, you’ve won the most confused company of 2009. Good luck with the Linux systems. I know that you will change your mind within a few days.

[ OSNews, ComputerWorld, The Consumerist ]

I used to use Opera almost exclusively until Mozilla really got their stuff together – yes, Mozilla, not Firefox. I’ve watched Opera continue to grow, add features that people would usually copy but I didn’t really go back to it – it’s on my Nintendo Wii already and I occasionally test sites with it on the laptop. But Google Chrome had essentially what Opera was… the faster, sometimes better, yet quirky browser in my assortment of apps that could view content on the web.

Well, Opera 10.5 might just change all of that. Sporting an even newer look, functionality of the 10.x builds have been sorted out for better usability and there’s a speed increase due to a new JavaScript engine and an optimized rendering engine. Definitely worth checking out, but remember one thing… it’s still considered a pre-alpha software so it might do some wonky things.

[ Links: Opera 10.5 Windows Pre-Alpha Download, Opera 10.5 Mac OS X Pre-Alpha Download ]