Press releases

U.S. and International Winners of the 2004 Mac OS X Innovators Contest Announced

Press release: October 26, 2004

Santa Clara, CA--October 26, 2004--From around the world they came: entries in the second annual Mac OS X Innovators Contest, submitted by both hobbyists and professional developers hoping their project would get the nod as one of the top applications created for the Mac OS X platform this year. After careful vetting by a committee chaired by Mac DevCenter managing editor Derrick Story, this year's winners were announced today at the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference. And the winners are...

First Place, U.S.:
"Delicious Library" from Delicious Monster Software, submitted by William Jon Shipley and Mike Matas
http://www.delicious-monster.com
Delicious Library lets users create a home or office lending library of books, movies, music, and video games. Scan any barcode using iSight or a USB scanner to import an item's details from the Internet. Users can then browse though digital shelves, check stuff out to friends from via Address Book and mark the due dates in iCal, and get smart recommendations of new items to read, watch, and play based on the items already in the library. Delicious Library will be released on November 8, 2004.

First Place, International:
"FotoMagico" from Boinx Software, submitted by Oliver Breidenbach
http://www.fotomagico.com/
With just a few mouse clicks, FotoMagico allows users to create live presentations and complex slideshows with pictures from an iPhoto Library. It provides better control over the timing and the pace of slideshows-- users can pause the show at any time, control the volume, skip slides, and more. FotoMagico allows users to scale, move, and rotate pictures, and even create animations. And because it has excellent integration with iLife, users can also incorporate music from iTunes.

Second Place, U.S.:
"Curio" from Zengobi, submitted by George Browning
http://www.zengobi.com/
Curio is the ultimate notebook for researching and exploring ideas using flexible, freeform idea spaces that can be filled with a collage of text, images, links to other documents, web site bookmarks, outlines, to-do lists, QuickTime media, and even freehand sketches. Curio's dossiers define and remain focused on the project's goals; and Sleuth, Curio's customizable research assistant, ferrets out needed inspiration or information.

Second Place, International:
"iDive" from Aquafadas Software, submitted by Matthieu Kopp
http://www.aquafadas.com/
iDive, the "digital video shoebox," is a media management application that can turn any assortment of disorganized tapes into an instantly accessible library of digital videos. iDive's powerful and innovative viewing, tagging, and navigation capabilities use intuitive concepts such as people, places, events, and capture dates. Designed to sit alongside DV editing applications and to integrate seamlessly with a digital hub, iDive promises to eliminate the frustration and time-wasting in locating and viewing clips hidden amongst hours of footage, by simplifying visualization, tagging, storage, organization, and retrieval of digital video clips and photos.

Honorable Mention, U.S.:
"Nicecast" from Rogue Amoeba, submitted by Paul Kafasis
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/
Nicecast is a radio downloadable station-in-a-box: it broadcasts music to the world, or to a device like the SLIMP3, from Mac OS X by sending any application's audio out to be received. Nicecast can help users create an internet radio station, listen to songs from an iTunes Music Library from anywhere in the world, and even help send non-iTunes audio to an AirPort Express.

Honorable Mention, International:
"Process" from Jumsoft, submitted by Saulius Dailide
http://www.jumsoft.com/
Process 1.0, Jumsoft's fresh face in the tired throng of outlining applications, is destined to draw a crowd all of its own. Its sublime, user-friendly Aqua interface makes outlining with Mac OS X a treat. But that's only the start of this all-around wonderful experience. The end result is more remarkable still: Process 1.0 doesn't just make it simpler to organize your ideas and projects; it has a favorable effect on the outcome of all your planning that is nothing short of amazing.

First and second place winners in the U.S. category received ADC Premier and Select memberships.

Many of the award winners participated in the Mac OS X Innovators panel discussion at the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference, and were honored at an Apple Developer Connection reception on Tuesday evening. O'Reilly Media will publish interviews and reviews of the winning software on its Mac sites over the coming weeks.

"Innovation on the Mac platform is as much a grassroots phenomenon as it is a product of Apple engineering," noted Story. "On one hand, Apple Computer continues to refine its operating system and the applications for it. But at the same time, I'm seeing independent developers creating software that rivals, and sometimes surpasses, the programs created by the mother ship. This year's Mac OS X Innovators Contest is one example that independent software development is thriving for Mac OS X."

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