Check out these fantastic guests on InsidemacRadio this week

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Jeremy Horowitz, Editor in Chief, iLounge joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Brad Wright to discuss the details of his recent article “Total iPhone 2-Year Costs: Charts and Details” recently posted on iLounge.com. Existing ATT Customers will benefit from the lower costs as they will only need to enhance their existing plans vs. sign up for a new one. One of the highest areas of cost is the text messaging via the iChat application. Jeremy warns that each iChat message is actually considered 1 SMS text message which is deducted from the 200 per month plan. Jeremy also talks about the new accessories available for the iPhone, the list available on iLounge.com is over 50 products and growing. The main products offered at this time are cases, but many more electronic add-ons are expected to be released soon. Read more at: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/total-iphone-2-year-costs-charts-details/ or visit http://www.ilounge.comPhilip Hodgetts from the DPBuzz chatted about all the POST news of the week. More information at http://www.digitalproductionbuzz.comAsa Doyle and Antony Livoti, co-founders of GrooveboxMusic.com joins Inside Mac to talk about their new Logic Pro Training classes. Their innovative approach to learning allows their customers to sign up for online access to the classes via a low monthly fee. Their latest course, Logic Tips and Tricks w/ Eli Krantzberg costs only $14.99 per month or $49.99 for a 1 year plan. DVD’s of their training are also available. Check out their core concepts programs, sign up for the free training videos and more at http://www.grooveboxmusic.com

Gordon Bell, General Manager, JoeSoft tells Scott and Brad about their latest product called Jax which recently began shipping. Jax is a software plug-in for iTunes that opens your iTunes, iPod, AppleTV and iPhone to advance feature, information, and customization that enable you to load a broad range of information and utilities onto your devices including converting your home or YouTube videos onto the Video iPod. Search and find music quickly via their built-in music mapping that can help expand your audio collection. Download a demo copy and find out more at: http://www.joesoft.com

Andy Shalat the Mac Design Out Of The Box author chatted about his design tip of the week. For more about Andy and his latest works: http://www.shalat.com

Kristen Campbell, National Director of SAT/ACT Programs, Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions joins Inside Mac to talk about their recent introduction of the Kaplan Test Prep on iTunes Store. Students are now able to download hundreds of SAT questions which allows them to study and prep on a 5th generation video iPod. The application will look similar to the song library and then scroll through questions, create sample quizzes, and review detailed answers for each sample question. Find out more about this exciting new study aides on iTunes or http://www.kaptest.com

Mozilla.org has released Sunbird 0.5, a new version of its standalone calendar application. The new release has a much more polished user interface in the calendar views. It also re-adds working hours and automatic migration of data in Sunbird 0.2, iCal.app, and Evolution. The printing functionality has been improved, and there is support for Google Calendar (via the Google Calendar Provider extension). Finally, there are reliability, performance, and usability improvements. The software requires Mac OS X 10.2.x or later.

Newer Technology has released the miniStack v3 ‘Quad Interface’ powered hub storage solution with up to 1.0TB of storage capacity. It features an integrated powered hub with four interfaces: FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, and eSATA. Specifically, the hub has one eSATA, two FireWire 800, one FireWire 400, and three USB 2.0 ports, The miniStack v3 utilizes the Oxford 924 bridge chipset, purportedly delivering up to 150MB per second. The drive mechanism is available with up to 32MB of data cache. Other features include external AutoSwitching 100~240v 50/60Hz 3 amp UL listed power adapter, auto-Power on/off automatically with computer, thermal monitoring for minimal fan power consumption and Whisper Quiet operation and a Kensington Security Slot. miniStack v3 is available in seven pre-configured 7200RPM solutions, from 160GB to 1.0TB (1,000GB), priced starting at $170.

AutoDesSys has released form·Z 6.5 and RenderZone Plus. RenderZone Plus is designed to offer an uncomplicated approach to powerful results that enrich 3D modeling for presentations, visualization, and animation. Form·Z 6.5 is a new rendering application that utilizes the features of RadioZity — which the company is retiring — while supporting global illumination (GI) via different techniques which include final gather, ambient occlusion, and improved radiosity. The software comes with more than 600 new predefined materials, a new symbol library with 24 new tree symbols, and interactive shading with OpenGL. Form·Z 6.5 requires Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later (pricing was unavailable).

Apple has released MacBook Pro Software Update 1.0 for its recently released professional line of LED-based laptops. The company doesn’t provide too much detail, but said that the “update provides important bug fixes and is recommended for all 2.2/2.4GHz MacBook Pro models.” It requires Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later. The 14.7MB update is available online. Earlier this week the company updated its SuperDrive firmware for older Intel-based laptops as well as posted an update to Final Cut Pro 6 (and other relateed professional applications in Final Cut Studio 2).

Adstream has announced the launch of imagebank 2.0. A digital media management tool developed with the input of brand owners and creative agencies. The new-look imagebank showcases a number of updated features including a brand new interface, increased upload capabilities, and functionality that allows users to collate up to 10 images at a time into a user basket for easy bulk download.

“We are pleased to announce the release of imagebank 2.0. It combines all the original features of imagebank as well as some very useful additions to provide users with a complete and comprehensive component library right at their fingertips,” Adstream Managing Director Peter Miller said.

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SharedBook Inc., the Reverse Publishing Platform provider, launched a Blog2Print widget http://www.blog2print.com in beta form this week. Content owners on Google’s Blogger platform and their readers can now turn blog posts into a printed book with a single click. Additional compatibility will become available later this summer.

The first 100 bloggers to add the Blog2Print widget to their sites will be entitled to a complimentary 20-page hard cover book, valued at $24.95. The offer is good through July 31, 2007.

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VBUZZER today announced that Vbuzzer users anywhere in the world, can now send free faxes to any fax machine in the US and Canada. Just a simple download and quick self install of the VBUZZER Messenger, click the Fax Tab and follow the friendly wizard to complete sending a fax.

Sending faxes remains a useful mode of communicating for both business and consumer users. Many have found this inconvenient and a disconnected activity from their regular use of their computer for almost everything else they do in this digital world. Fax rates have been high while telephone costs are dropping dramatically especially because of VOIP services.

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ScreenSteps allows users to quickly create visual tutorials explaining how to use software applications. Designed for software developers, IT support staff and documentation professionals, ScreenSteps captures each step of the process, with options to add text, annotate images and then export the document to PDF or HTML format.

“Product documentation needs to do more showing and less telling,” said Greg DeVore, company co-founder. “Videos can be good but they are very labor intensive to create. ScreenSteps allows you to show someone how to do something with a minimal amount of effort. We created it because we needed it.”

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Mireth Technology Corp. has released version 4.0 of NetShred X, its easy to use internet track eraser that erases internet tracks such as cache, history and email. NetShred X runs on Mac OS X. Version 4.0 adds several advanced features including support for the latest versions of several browsers, as well as erasing site passwords when using Firefox 2.

NetShred X is easy to use internet track eraser software for Mac OS X that erases files web browsers and email programs leave behind. And like all Mireth Technology products, it was designed to be easy to use. Because internet privacy software can’t be effective if it’s not used, NetShred X was designed to run automatically, without user intervention. And since erasing temporary internet files can take some time, NetShred X was designed to run in the background, so using the software doesn’t interfere with the user’s web browsing. Most importantly, NetShred X is an effective method of permanently deleting internet tracks. This is a cleaner solution than just deleting the files, because it ensures that the data can’t be recovered. This version adds the following features:

•    Support for more Web Browsers - Firefox 2, iCab 3, Shiira 2
•    Support for more Mail Programs - Thunderbird 1.5
•    Added support for erasing site passwords for Firefox 2

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Soffront® Software Inc., (www.soffront.com) announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC) Communications Solutions (www.tmcnet.com/comsol) has named Soffront CRM v. 8.6 as a recipient of a 2006 Product of the Year Award.

“Soffront is the mid-market CRM leader because we’re constantly updating and improving our products to better meets the needs of our customers,” said Manu Das, president of Soffront. “We are pleased to be recognized by TMC for our latest release of Soffront CRM and our steadfast determination to provide innovation, excellence and quality in all of our products.”

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Packt is pleased to announce a new book on designing Joomla! templates. Written by Tessa Blakely Silver, Joomla! Template Design is a complete guide for web designers to all aspects of designing unique website templates for the free Joomla! PHP Content Management System.

The Joomla! template is a series of files within the Joomla! CMS that controls the presentation of content. A template is the basic foundation design for viewing a Joomla! website. To produce the effect of a “complete” website, the template works hand in hand with the content stored in the Joomla! databases.

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Wowza Media Systems today announced that Astream, a London-based streaming service provider and a recipient of the prestigious ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association) Award for “Best Streaming”, has chosen Wowza Media Server Pro as its Flash® streaming media platform. Wowza Media Server Pro, a higher-performance alternative to Adobe® Flash Media Server, is being used by Astream to provide Flash hosting, on-demand and live Flash streaming services to its extensive base of brand-name customers.

“Wowza Media Server Pro adds a whole new dimension to our hosting and streaming services that was not available to us before,” said Alex Wolfe, Managing Director at Astream Website . “Wowza Pro gives us a powerful and stable platform from which we can stream Flash with the high reliability and quality our customers expect from our award-winning streaming services.”

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Instantiations, Inc., a leading provider of software quality and productivity solutions, announced today that SearchSoftwareQuality.com has published CEO Michael Taylor’s article about improving software quality. In the article, Taylor points out that the software industry could learn much from the manufacturing sector in terms of quality improvement.

According to Taylor, creating high-quality software is an interesting mix of art and science that remains mostly unfulfilled by the software business. He calls for companies to move away from software quality as something that the developers pass off to a quality assurance departments at the end of the development process. Instead, he argues that by following the example of Toyota and other manufacturing companies, creators of software can construct higher quality software.

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Hallmark Institute of Photography http://hallmark.edu held its thirty-second commencement ceremony for the Class of 2007 on the grounds of the Institute’s Administrative Office Building located at 241 Millers Falls Rd. in Turners Falls. One hundred and eighty-eight (188) talented professionals (118 females and 70 males) graced the stage and received completion certificates. Graduates represented forty-one (41) of the United States from Massachusetts to Alaska plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. Graduates also represented Russia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the Philippines. The graduates ranged in ages from 18-53 and held educational backgrounds from high school diplomas and GED equivalencies to Masters degrees.

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Results from TippingSprung’s second survey of brand names, produced in collaboration with marketing newsweekly Brandweek, revealed the top brand names in 10 key categories. Major trends in brand naming were also uncovered. The survey focused on names and products released within the prior 18 months.

“Selecting a strong name is one of the first steps marketers take when building a brand,” says Martyn Tipping, president of branding consultancy TippingSprung, LLC. “And it’s also one of the most challenging, given the difficulty of finding a name that is legally available as a trademark.”

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Ascender Corporation, a leading provider of fonts for hardware & software developers, today announced a new licensing program for font software implementations with server-based applications. Currently the standard end user font license restricts usage to personal computers and prevents fonts from being used on servers. Companies that are implementing server-based applications, whether on Intranets or on the Internet, now have an extensive collection of fonts to choose from to enhance their applications.

The Ascender Server Font License program grants organizations the right to install fonts on a server for use with an application that can be accessed by an unlimited number of users. The server license is available for either internal use (i.e an Intranet within an entity), or external use (for Internet-based applications).

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The Canadian IT industry converged between April 30 and May 2, 2007 in Toronto for the inaugural year of the most comprehensive business technology event, IT360 Conference & Expo. In the climate of ever-accelerating change, business and technology professionals congregated at IT360 to ensure they are ahead of the technology curve. Attendees experienced a 360° circle of information through the multi-sectored forum which focused on the Network, Linux/Open Source, Security and Storage.

The trade show was a highly charged hands-on environment that featured high profile experts from leading vendor companies providing timely facts, future developments and live demonstrations.

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Bamboo Solutions Corporation today announced the availability of Bamboo Solutions Application Template Extensions, a set of bundled Web Part solutions designed to extend the capabilities of the Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services. Packaged to supplement templates developed by Microsoft, Bamboo Solutions Application Template Extensions enhance the user experience and assist in the adoption and rapid implementation of team sites in both Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Server.

The Bamboo Solutions Application Template Extensions are tailored to each of the Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, also known as the “Fantastic 40,” and are comprised of either site or server template solutions. Functional areas include Business Management/Finance, Human Resources, Operations/IT, Project Tracking/Product Management, Sales/Marketing and Specialized/Verticals solutions.

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Click with Technology, the UK’s leading provider of travel websites, has launched a revolutionary internationalisation tool, which can translate websites into an unlimited number of languages.

The multi-language capabilities technology went live last week with the translation of the Holiday Taxis website into five languages: French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch, as well as two different currencies.

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