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LaCie Introduces the Worlds Smallest Mobile and Desktop USB 3.0 Hard Drives
The Power of the Wi-Fire With the Simplicity and Feel of Apple's AirPort
Switching to a Mac Superguide Released
Three Mac Photo Apps That Imitate Film
Spaces Grabbing Keyboard Input In Leopard or Snow Leopard
Flaming Work Laptop Toasts Cottage
Apple’s Stab At Social Media Is Little More Than A Sales Tool
Stellar Launches Stellar Drive ToolBox for Mac
OCRKit 1.5 - Fast and Simple Text Recognition for Mac OS X
Sketch 1.0 for Mac OS X - Layered Vector Drawing with Uncluttered GUI
LaCie Introduces the Worlds Smallest Mobile and Desktop USB 3.0 Hard Drives
LaCie has debuted this week a brace of sleek USB 3.0 hard drives for your desktop or pocket – the LaCie Minimus and LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0. Proving size does matter, LaCie delivers what it claims to be the industry's fastest transfer speeds at 5Gb/s(*) in its ultra–small Rikiki form factor – perfect for users who refuse to sacrifice performance for mobility; and the LaCie Minimus – for users who enjoy their terabytes as much as desk space.
Complementing their remarkably small sizes, the Rikiki and Minimus hard drives are encased in sturdy brushed aluminum for an elegant aesthetic appeal. The aluminum offers resilience from blunders, improved heat dissipation, and is fully recyclable.
Designed to be simple from the inside out, the Rikiki and Minimus come with LaCie's Software Suite to ensure seamless setup and backup support for Mac or PC. Additionally, each product comes with 10GB of Wuala online storage so you can securely store and share files online.
"The Minimus and Rikiki USB 3.0 offer our customers easy and affordable options to access the super speeds of USB 3.0," says Philippe Rault, LaCie Consumer Product Manager. "Since these products offer backward compatibility with USB 2.0, they will work on any PC or Mac with no worry."
Features:
• Ultra–compact mobile and desktop designs
• Fastest interface on the market: USB 3.0
• Aluminum casing for sturdy data protection LaCie Software Suite for PC and Mac (USB 2 support only as yet on Macs)
The LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0 is available in a 500GB capacity at $99.99. The LaCie Minimus is available in a 1TB capacity at $129.99. Both products are available through the LaCie Online Store, LaCie Corner, and LaCie Reseller+. For more product information, visit:
http://www.lacie.com
(*) Based on theoretical rate given by the USB–IF. More info on http://www.usb.org
The Power of the Wi-Fire With the Simplicity and Feel of Apple's AirPort
hField Technologies ( http://www.hfield.com ) has just launched a new generation of software for its Wi-Fire device for use with the Macintosh. Now, Mac users who love the Wi-Fire's long range and high performance now also get the comfortable look and feel they're used to with Apple's AirPort.
The Wi-Fire is a compact, range-extending USB device that enables you to access a wireless Internet connection from up to 1,000 feet away – three times the range of your internal wireless adapter. WiFire is palm-sized, easy-to-use and, overall, claimed to be the longest range adapter on the market. Its portability and long range make it a natural for travelers and other WiFi users who want to connect at their convenience, not a network's whims.
The Wi-Fire uses a powerful directional antenna, highly sensitive receiver and proprietary software to find and enhance normal WiFi signals. With it, you can connect wirelessly to the Internet–even at low signal strengths–faster, more reliably and with a more consistently strong connection–than you are able to with an internal wireless adapter.
The Wi-Fire draws very little power from your laptop battery. It comes complete with everything you need to connect wirelessly to the Internet. Just install the Wi-Fire Connection Manager, plug the Wi-Fire into an available USB port and you're ready to start. It can rest on any flat surface, laptop display or flat screen monitor.
See More Connections
The Wi-Fire Connection Manager reveals all available networks in the area–more than you've ever seen without the Wi-Fire. Simply rotate the Wi-Fire to maximize the signal strength for one of your desired networks, select the strongest available network – public access or private and encrypted – and then click connect. You're now connected in places you never were before! Enjoy your new freedom and convenience.
Experience Faster Speeds
The Wi-Fire will provide higher speeds at low signal strengths than your typical internal adapter and competing "high performance" products. It has even beat Draft802.11n products in range and speed at long distances.
Surf Full Speed, Full Size
The Wi-Fire allows you to surf the web, tap remote applications, download large files, stream audio and video–without squinting at a tiny screen and thumb typing on a credit card-size keyboard. And just try performing essential online tasks on a painfully slow cell phone connection. You could wander around, searching for the closest and strongest access point. You could suffer through a spotty, slow connection that drops at the most inopportune time.
With its integrated directional antenna, highly sensitive receiver, and proprietary software working together to enhance normal WiFi signals, Wi-Fire gives Windows, Linux and Macintosh users the freedom to connect to WiFi networks when they want, where they want. Users benefit from the increased mobility and greater range, maintaining faster speeds at longer range in comparison to other standard WiFi adapters.
The Wi-Fire multiplies the effectiveness of wireless networks and eliminates those nasty deadspots that plague users. The Wi-Fire allows users to connect to a WiFi network from up to 1,000 feet – more than three times the range of other 802.11 adapters – often at significantly higher speeds, and even in locations where no wireless signal could be detected previously. Independent testing has shown the Wi-Fire outperforms 802.11n adapters at distance; delivering greater throughput and a more stable connection.
The new Wi-Fire Connection Manager 2.0 for Mac
hField's new version 2.0 for Mac runs from a convenient unobtrusive icon in the Mac's Menu Bar, just like AirPort. ( http://hfield.com/images/WCM-2_0/WCM2_0MenuExtra.jpg ). All of the important details about the connections around you – and you'll see plenty with the Wi-Fire – are revealed in the new GUI interface, which is easily launched from the Menu Extra ( http://hfield.com/images/WCM-2_0/WCM2_0Window.jpg ).
This newest version can be downloaded from
http://www.hfield.com/download/Wi-FireInstaller_Mac_2_0.zip
It works on PPC and Intel Mac's with OS X 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6.
hField's Retail price for Wi-Fire is $59.00 and is available now at http://www.hfield.com/buynow and participating retailers.
"Wi-Fire is the perfect device – light weight and easy to use – for the seriously mobile computer user with high bandwidth needs, and those who have problems connecting to their regular wireless network because of distance, obstacles or other interference," says Tom DiClemente, hField's CEO. "We're dedicated to empowering people to connect better, faster and more economically. And now, Wi-Fire offers a compelling Mac feel!"
For more information, visit:
http://www.hfield.com/
Switching to a Mac Superguide Released
Macworld Staff reports that the latest book in their popular Superguide series, Macworld's Switching to a Mac Superguide, is aimed at new Mac owners who are making their first baby steps into the OS X world. If you or someone in your family is finally making the switch to a Mac from a PC, this indispensable guide can help with the big move. It's also their first Superguide to be sold in Apple's iBookstore.
If you want access to the book from an iPad or iPhone, download it from the iBookstore for $9.99. If you're interested in a PDF (suitable for viewing in Quick Look, Preview, Adobe Reader, and all those PDF viewers for the iPad, including iBooks), you can buy one and download it immediately for just $12.95. Don't want to download the PDF? You can also get it mailed to you on CD-ROM for $12.95.
There's also a downloadable sample that includes the book's complete table of contents as well as some sample pages.
You can check it out at:
http://snurl.com/128g3z
and
http://www.macworld.com/superguide/switch.html
Three Mac Photo Apps That Imitate Film
Macworld's Beau Colburn observes that for all the convenience digital cameras provide, there's still a certain charm to old Kodachrome photos and film in general, and that happily there are a number of easy ways to imitate this film look with your digital photos on your Mac.
High-end photo editing applications like Aperture and Lightroom often use with plug-ins like Alien Skin's Exposure ($250) to. This is a serious solution that comes with a serious price. Casual photographers looking for a fun and inexpensive way to give photos a retro film look can try these
Colburn profiles three simple applications that can help you replicate a film look.
NerveCenter's CameraBag ($19 crippled demoware)
Pentacom's Toycamera AnalogColor ($10 for license, unlimited unlicensed use with watermark)
Paul Ladroid's Poladroid (free)
You can check it out at:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/205020/three_mac_photo_apps_that_imitate_film.html?tk=rss_news
Spaces Grabbing Keyboard Input In Leopard or Snow Leopard
MacFixIt's Topher Kessler says that while convenient, there may be times when OS X's Spaces multiple desktop environment feature will capture keyboard input for use with moving between spaces, but then not release the keyboard input. As a result, the system passes all keyboard input to Spaces so only Spaces-related functions work, such as switching between Desktops, or viewing all spaces on screen, although the system is not frozen.
For the full discussion and suggested workarounds, visit here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20015817-263.html?tag=mncol;title
Flaming Work Laptop Toasts Cottage
The Register's John Oates reports:
A retired schools inspector is suing her former employer because her work laptop allegedly set fire to to her thatched cottage, causing £350,000 of damage....
She claims that when the machine overheated she called the help desk and was told to leave the machine switched on so its fan would help cool it down.
No mention in the article as to the laptop's brand, but I think we can safely assume by context that it was not a Mac.
For the full report visit here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20015817-263.html?tag=mncol;title
Apple’s Stab At Social Media Is Little More Than A Sales Tool
MarketingWeek's Ruth Mortimer says:
Apple’s Ping is apparently the latest, greatest entrant to the social media sphere. It’s not just any old service, says Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, but a “social network all about music”. “It’s Facebook meets Twitter meets iTunes,” enthused Jobs at Ping’s launch last week.
Well, excuse me, Mr Jobs. Apple may be a fantastically clever company with many beautiful products, but Ping is not a social network. It is a standard sales tool dressed up in the most fashionable clothing of our time – social media.
Let me explain......
To read more, click here.
http://snurl.com/128ga2
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