The latest version of TweetDeck is out, and although it's a minor update it also introduces some useful changes worth noting. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux on Adobe AIR, the biggest change in TweetDeck 0.33 is an alteration to the program's guts that gives it more Twitter API breathing room.

TweetDeck now uses OAuth for calling Twitter's API. The API calls are how TweetDeck gets your tweet information from Twitter's servers, so this means that users can have TweetDeck update all their columns more regularly. In the previous version of TweetDeck, the API limit had been below 200 per hour. Now, it's shot up to 350 calls per hour.

There's also a new column navigator that lives at the bottom of the window. The navigator is made up of several bars, each one analogous to a column in your main window. Clicking a bar will jump you to the top of that particular column. For users with more columns than can fit onscreen, this should make jumping around much easier. Mouse over one of the columns and you'll see the column name, the service icon, the account attached if relevant, how long until the next update, and the current API usage. This can be good to know in case you're worried that one column is consuming too many calls.

TweetDeck 0.33 adds more media previews, including YouTube, Flickr, TwitGoo, MobyPicture, and Posterous, and also allows users to edit search columns without having to delete and then re-create them. The Help window has been revamped completely, as well. The full list of bug fixes and improvements can be read here.

Adobe Systems, evidently stung by recent criticisms of its widely used Flash Player browser plug-in, has promised better performance on Mac systems.

"Given identical hardware, Flash Player on Windows has historically been faster than the Mac, and it is for the most part the same code running in Flash for each operating system," said Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch in a follow-up comment to his own blog post. But Adobe and Apple have been cooperating to make things better, he said. "In Flash Player 10.1 we are moving to Core Animation, which will further reduce CPU usage and, we believe, will get us to the point where Mac will be faster than Windows for graphics rendering."

Things should get better with video, too, one of the primary reasons Flash has thrived on the Web. "Video rendering is an area we are focusing more attention on--for example, today a 480p video on a 1.8Ghz Mac Mini in Safari uses about 34 percent of CPU on Mac versus 16 percent on Windows (running in BootCamp on same hardware). With Flash Player 10.1, we are optimizing video rendering further on the Mac and expect to reduce CPU usage by half, bringing Mac and Windows closer to parity for video."

The words reflect an Adobe effort to explain itself while under competitive threat. HTML is gradually encroaching on the turf Flash has had largely to itself, and some are taking advantage of the opportunity to bash Flash.

Adobe also is taking on the matter of bugs.

In particular, it's answering a security problem Matthew Dempsky reported in September 2008, shortly before Flash Player 10 was issued. Dempsky took Lynch to task for his statement in the comment that "we don't ship Flash with any known crash bugs, and if there was such a widespread problem historically Flash could not have achieved its wide use today."

Flash Player manager Emmy Huang apologized for the issue in a separate blog post.

"We picked up the bug as a crasher when it was filed on September 22, 2008, and were able to reproduce it. Remember that Flash Player 10 shipped in October 2008, so when this bug was reported we were pretty much locked and loaded for launch. The mistake we made was marking this bug for 'next' release, which is the soon to be released Flash Player 10.1, instead of marking it for the next Flash Player 10 security dot release. We should have kept in contact with the submitter and to let him know the progress, sorry we did not do that," Huang said. "It slipped through the cracks, and it is not something we take lightly."

And for those who are interested in helping Adobe track down problems, Adobe's Ted Patrick called on people to try the Flash Player 10.1 beta.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Vitamin D, the start-up founded by three former Palm executives, said on Monday that it is ready with the final Version 1.0 of its software for Windows and Mac, which enables people to use a standard Webcam as a security system.

The company, which caught some interesting things on tape during beta testing, said that the single camera version of its software will continue to be free, as it was during beta testing. A version of Vitamin D Video that works with two cameras will cost $49, while a high-end edition that supports an unlimited number of cameras running off a single computer will cost $199.

The software works on both Macs and PCs and has as its biggest selling point the fact that it can pick out humans as opposed to just motion, allowing users to more easily pore over hours upon hours of surveillance footage.

The company uses artificial intelligence technology licensed from Numenta, a company started by Palm Pilot creator Jeff Hawkins.

"Vitamin D Video is an effective and inexpensive video monitoring tool that is easy to install and use. With this product available, there is no reason for any home, small business or school to be without video surveillance that really works," CEO Celeste Baranski said in a statement. "The enthusiastic response of our beta customers has already proven that Vitamin D Video works well in security applications, and is proving valuable for uses beyond traditional security."

Originally posted at Beyond Binary

The way people consume media has been constantly evolving, especially over the past five years. In 2005, it would be practically unthinkable for any consistent TV viewers to cancel their cable subscriptions and watch only online video. Now, many more people are depending on the Internet for their video content, made abundantly clear by the fact that advertising on sites like Hulu sometimes go for higher rates than that on network television.

In such an atmosphere, it's more important than ever for digital media players and converters to stay in front of the curve. More than two years ago, Real Networks took its media player, which was mostly popular as an embedded app for online audio and video playback, and added a one-step video-downloading feature. Today, the company is updating RealPlayer SP for Mac with the addition of a built-in video converter that also offers one-click transcoding for portable devices. The program lets Mac users download practically any unprotected streaming and then transfer it directly to an iPhone, iPod, BlackBerry, or other device. RealPlayer SP handles the transcoding in the background, which makes the front-end experience very simple.

Compared side by side with RealPlayer SP for Windows, I have to say that the Mac version isn't as seamless. In Windows, when you hover over a supported video, a download "button" pops up over the actual video. On the Mac, you actually have to start playback for the video and then a separate RealPlayer app will start up and present the various options. It may not be quite as quick, but the layout is still very straightforward so that even someone who is not at all savvy in the ways of digital video formatting will be able to use the tool.

I did experience some technical difficulties while trying to transfer a video to my iPod Touch, but hopefully Real will work out the kinks during this beta release. In any case, I give the company credit for providing a free and easy program that addresses the overly convoluted area of video transcoding.

What's better than 27 apps for 99 cents? Why, 27 apps for zero cents, of course.

That's what you get from iCatchall, which, like last week's App Genie, delivers more than two dozen tools under one app roof. Normally it's 99 cents, but in conjunction with previously mentioned Free App a Day, iCatchall is free on Monday (and only this Monday).

As you might expect, there's a bit of overlap between these two kitchen-sink apps--but less than you might think. iCatchall is actually a mix of tools, games, and sound effects.

Instead of cramming everything onto a single screen like App Genie, iCatchall spreads its icons across four pages, which you swipe through just like the iPhone's own app pages. You can't reorganize the icons, but at least they're alphabetical.

The Fun and Games page contains mostly junk--unless you're into dealing cards (seriously, that's all you do), stacking poker chips, and watching two flaming balls of fire, well, flame. Only the two-player Texas Hold 'Em and Kitchen Sink resemble actual games, and they're both weak showings.

As for the sound effects, you get a rim-shot, a clapping studio audience, randomized samples of someone saying "huh?", and the inevitable flatulence.

Thankfully, some of iCatchall's apps have actual merit. ContactClone, for instance, lets you wirelessly share contacts with other iPod and iPhone users on the same Wi-Fi network. Very handy.

File Storage turns your device into a wireless flash drive. Just point your PC's Web browser to the IP address shown in the app, then choose files to upload. Again, very handy.

I also like the Reward For Return app, which generates a custom wallpaper with your contact information, so anyone who finds your iPhone or iPod can easily return it.

iCatchall's other tools include currency and unit converters, a tip calculator, a phases-of-the-moon viewer, a ruler, and a three-axis level. It's all good stuff.

And, hey, you can't argue with the price. iCatchall may be 50 percent junk, but it's also 50 percent useful--and 100 percent free if you grab it before midnight.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Security suite vendor McAfee debuts its 2010 product line today, introducing an overhauled interface and new features in a bid to remain competitive. The change to its interface is as dramatic a shift as the one that Avast introduced in its 2010 suites, although McAfee's look is drastically different from any major security program currently on the market. Most of the features in McAfee AntiVirus Plus, McAfee Internet Security, and McAfee Total Protection are not new, but the presentation is so radical that the improvements are likely to be glossed over. Users of older McAfee should note that VirusScan Plus has been renamed AntiVirus Plus.

The biggest feature update comes to McAfee's real-time defense engine called Artemis. These engines are now a commonplace feature in the better antivirus programs. First introduced in late 2008, Artemis is McAfee's blend of blacklists, whitelists, and cloud analysis. In the 2010 versions, Brian Trombley, McAfee's director of consumer product management, said, Artemis works in conjunction with McAfee SiteAdvisor to scan downloads as they occur. The scans include using real-time URL, IP address, and domain name data to evaluate downloads for threats before they land on your hard drive.

The revamped engine allows McAfee to change its threat ratings on the fly, although the procedure has an escape hatch built in, so if it falsely flags a site as malicious, users can override the rating and push through. There is no user override for malicious files. By using McAfee's labs, malware research, e-mail research, and Web research, Trombley said that "the goal is to tie together actors and sites."

The firewall has changed, too, as McAfee has upgraded its home consumer firewall to match the one the company markets to businesses.

McAfee's new interface refocuses its features in a top-down format, which stands out from the typical left-nav and tabs design. At the top of the vertical window sits a notification bar, as many other security suites have. McAfee's stands out for not only color-coding what your status is, but also adding in what that means. So the "Your computer is secure" message is bolstered by a secondary one, "No action required." This may seem like a redundant statement, but Trombley said that three years of researching, the new interface and testing the improved features concluded that the change was essential for cutting down on user confusion.

Just below the status bar are supplementary status notifications, color-coded as well for ease of use. Real-time scanning, Updates, Firewall, and Subscription status sit on the left of the interface, while the time of your next scheduled scan and a link to change it reside on the right. Click on any of the four categories and the right pane change to reveal links to drill deeper into your security status. The Real-time scanning link, for example, offers additional links to scan, change your scan settings, or adjust real-time settings. This aspect of the interface is most similar to its competitors, although the big font and simplified terminology are appreciated for streamlining tasks.

Below all the status notifications are the guts of the program. Separated into four categories are Virus and Spyware Protection, Web and E-mail Protection, and Parental Controls (on McAfee Internet Security and Total Protection). Each one opens a small group of links that open further information about your scan settings, firewall and anti-spam controls, network protections, and parent control options.

One thing that's notable about McAfee's updates is that none of the lesser products has its security features hamstrung in an effort to get more people to upgrade. What's available in McAfee Total Protection, the high-end version, is nearly identical to what's in the basic consumer McAfee AntiVirus Plus. What McAfee hopes users will find worth upgrading for is its included Mozy Online Backup, with McAfee Internet Security users getting 1GB of free storage and McAfee Total Protection users getting 2GB free; and parental controls.

The Home Network Defense feature is only available in McAfee Total Protection. It lets you see network settings of yours and other computers on your network, and to mark a computer on your home network as an intruder that will prevent it from accessing other computers on the network.

McAfee has discontinued several features from its previous versions. SystemGuards has been fully replaced by Artemis, and local backup has been replaced by Mozy. The Personal Information Protection, in which a user could enter personal data such as social security numbers or credit card information and expect to have its unintended dissemination over the Internet prevented was discontinued for not being effective. The PasswordVault for securing passwords on the Web has been replaced by browser-provided password protection, and the EasyNetwork system for local file sharing has been replaced by Windows 7's file-sharing system. This anticipates data just released, that in the few months that Windows 7 has been available to the public it has taken more than 10 percent of the operating system market share.

You should note that if you are switching to McAfee from another security vendor, it doesn't play nicely with other already-installed security apps and it will demand that you remove them before completing its own installation. Somewhat politely, it provides you with links to information on how to uninstall them.

As with most program overhauls, McAfee promises faster install times, faster scan times, more effective scans and a small memory footprint. CNET Labs hasn't finished testing the performance benchmarks against McAfee's competitors, and there's no third-party efficacy data yet available on McAfee 2010, but in empirical testing, the first fast scan finished in less than 10 minutes. Because of file marking, subsequent fast scans finished in less than one minute. Its first full scan took nearly 85 minutes.

According to McAfee, the first full scan will be 55 minutes faster on the 2010 version compared with the 2009 version. Subsequent full scans should be an astounding 120 minutes faster, from 135 minutes to 15 minutes. Also, according to McAfee, users should see their computers with the 2010 version start-up 300 percent faster than with the 2009 version, and that computer shutdowns with the new version should be 30 percent faster.

The most likely reason for the massive improvement in start-up time is that, like a few other security vendors, McAfee doesn't fully load all of its processes by the time that you can start using programs on your desktop. Trombley said that this doesn't affect the security of the computer, only that the McAfee interface isn't full accessible until about 90 seconds after the system tray icons appear.

Overall, though, McAfee's 2010 products felt light and didn't interfere with heavy computer use over a half-day of testing.

A one-computer license for McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2010 costs $39.99, while a three-computer license for McAfee Internet Security 2010 retails for $69.99, but it is currently available on McAfee's Web site for $20 off. McAfee Total Protection 2010 costs $79.99 for a three-computer license, but is also discounted currently by $20 on its Web site.