Technology - Macworld.com

TextExpander from SmileOnMyMac is the ultimate macro tool. It lets you create snippets of frequently used text or images, then instantly paste said snippets into any app simply by typing an abbreviation. It’s like a rubber stamp for working on your Mac, and it just got a lot more...stampier—but in a good way.

Market research firm ComScore is back with the latest numbers on the battle for consumers’ hearts and minds in the U.S. smartphone arena. On the positive side, Apple's share continued to grow, holding steady in second place after BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM).

Birdfeed, the “very nice” iPhone Twitter client developed by Buzz Andersen, has been acquired by Thing Labs and rebranded as Brizzly for iPhone, in order to tie in with the company's Brizzly Web interface for Twitter and Facebook.

The perils of malware and viruses are everywhere, and Mac users shouldn’t be complacent, especially if they’re also running Windows via Boot Camp or other virtualization software. To those ends, Intego has released VirusBarrier X6 Dual Protection, which offers all the features of its X6 product for both Mac and Windows operating systems running on your machine.

Steve Jobs once dismissed the Kindle by declaring that “people don’t read anymore.” That may or may not be true, but either way, people definitely still sell books. As The Guardian reports, e-books are now more plentiful on the App Store than any other kind of app—including games.

On Wednesday morning, MainStage 2 users woke up to an update from Cupertino, repairing a variety of minor issues, among them stability fixes for 32-bit Audio Unit Bridge plug-ins.

What’s better than being king? Being a god. Ngmoco’s new mobile games will let you do both.

TeamViewer already offers a remote control and desktop sharing program for desktops. Now the software maker wants to go mobile, with a similar offering for iPhone and iPod touch users that lets them access and control remote computers from their handheld mobile device.

Students of the hadouken have a new venue to test their fighting mettle: Street Fighter IV launched Wednesday for the iPhone and iPod touch. This seminal arcade fighter brings high-end graphics, complex combos, and a memorable cast of characters to the mobile platform.

Parallels, whose Desktop offering lets you run a variety of operating systems without ever having to leave Mac OS X, has updated Parallels Desktop 5.0 to include support for Google’s Chrome OS.

Microsoft rolled out minor updates to the 2004 and 2008 editions of its Office suite of productivity tools on Tuesday that patch a security vulnerability in the Excel spreadsheet application.

Over the last few years, TV tuners have made it increasingly easy to watch and record television on your computer. Devices like Elgato’s EyeTV Hybrid allow you to plug in a coaxial cable or antenna, and voilà—all your favorite programs are just a click away. Elgato’s most recent revision comes in a smaller package, and PC users can get in on the fun as well.

If you’ve followed the news of App Store rejections over the past couple years, you may have wondered what exactly is engraved upon the stone tablets that govern the terms of Apple's App Store and developing for the iPhone.

Remember iCalShare? The calendar-sharing site—once touted by Steve Jobs during a Macworld Expo keynote—seemed to have vanished for a while, but it’s now back, and even easier to use. iCalShare now provides more than 3,500 free calendars in 40 categories, with its search tool and interface both undergoing improvements in its latest incarnation.

FileMaker took the wraps off the latest version of its flagship database application Tuesday, rolling out a major update to FileMaker Pro highlighted by new charting, reporting, and sharing tools.

Perhaps you’ve seen that recent Microsoft demo where a game could save and load progress from Xbox 360, Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 Series devices. My first thought upon seeing that was “So, why doesn’t Microsoft have something that can do that on Xbox and PC right now?” My second thought was “Boy, wouldn’t it be nice if there was something like that for the iPhone and Mac OS X?” It turns out that I wasn’t alone.

The fervor over March Madness is akin to the excitement over the Olympics: even if you're not a typical sports fan, you can't help but be interested.  Me, I’ll watch maybe one college basketball game during the regular season, but come tournament time I can't help but refresh scores and update my bracket like any other diehard. This year, two versions of CBS Sports Mobile's March Madness iPhone app should make that easier than ever.

Remember what life was like before the iPhone? Back when we had to print out maps for trips, do simple calculations in our heads, drive around to find a good restaurant, and watch YouTube videos on a device no smaller than a laptop? Dark times, indeed.

Well, that was quick. After gamers found “evidence” that Valve may bring some of its wildly successful gaming products to the Mac, and Valve teased as much last week, we now have official confirmation. Valve is coming to the Mac in a big way.

First, inquisitive gamers found “evidence” that Valve might bring Steam, its popular Windows game store, to the Mac, and it was good. Then, Valve seeded some provocative teaser images to Mac press which all but confirmed 2010 to be the year of Mac gaming, and it was great. Now, another piece of the puzzle may be falling into place, showing that one of Valve's new games may be on its way to our favorite platform as well.

After its cameo at the Grammy Awards in January, the iPad made its formal television debut during ABC's broadcast of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards—in the form of its first official commercial.

Everyone’s a critic this week, some with more success than others. One of our favorite pundits—if not the favorite—gets a little over-eager when bashing the iPad. Critics of Apple’s suit against HTC, meanwhile, are not hard to find. And, after some early rave reviews, a big name in design comes out against Windows Phone 7 Series.

When you talk about the Oscars and a Steve Jobs-led company, it's usually the other one that gets the mention. But this year, Apple scored some Oscar cred of its own: Of the ten documentaries nominated for Oscars, in both the "Documentary Feature" and "Documentary Short" categories, a whopping nine were created using Apple's own Final Cut Pro.

A new consumer survey from ChangeWave shows that four in ten people who are thinking about buying an e-book reader are planning to get Apple’s iPad. And more than one in four people who had previously purchased a different device say they would have gotten the iPad if it had been available when they shopped.

In February, Google acquired the iPhone mail search app reMail—and promptly removed it from the App Store. On Friday, reMail developer Gabor Csell announced that the reMail codebase is now open-source.

Here we go again. Not long after apps with inappropriate content were pulled from the App Store, Apple removed all traces of another kind of app on Thursday—this time for less controversial reasons.

The wait for the iPad is, er, well, it’s just beginning I suppose. On Friday, Apple announced that the new device would go on sale on Saturday, April 3 in the U.S. Customers who want to pre-order can put in their claim on March 12—just a week away, so get your clicking fingers ready.

The iPhone can do many things, but now there's an impressive new feature to add to the list: It can help you become a man.