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Practically Perfect Design: The iMac G5
The Complete Overview of Indie Graphics Software for Mac
The Register Reviews Apple Magic Trackpad
Hands-On Report: Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0--Not Much Joy Here
The Mac Is Back In Engineering
Try A Free, Easy, Personal Mac Database App
InerziaThings 1.0 Free Personal Database For The Mac
Prosoft Engineering's Data Rescue Center Expands With New Location
Adobe Releases Lightroom 3.2 and Camera Raw 6.2 on Adobe.com
Top-to-Bottom DirectX 11 Support, Design Wins and Broader Selection of Partner Offerings for ATI Eyefinity Experience Help Strengthen AMD Discrete Graphics Market Leadership
New Attachments Menu organizes Apple Mail Attachments in the Menubar
The Tech Night Owl: Is the Mac OS Dying?
Practically Perfect Design: The iMac G5
Low End Mac's Dan Knight says:
Sometimes Apple comes up with a product that is so well designed you wonder why it didn't happen sooner.
Such is the case with the iMac G5, which was introduced six years ago.
Where the G3 iMacs had been bulky, built around traditional CRT technology, and the G4 iMacs had been a design statement with their hemisphere base and floating flat panel display, the G5 iMac hid the entire computer behind the display, resulting in a machine just 6.8" deep (or 7.4", in the case of the 20" iMac).
It's a funny thing, but for some reason a lot of computer users think the computer is built into the monitor, not that big beige box on the floor. They refer to that as their hard drive, as though its only function is to hold the hard drive, optical drive, and ports.
If you don't believe this is the case, hold a garage sale, put out some monitors, and see how many people ask about these "computers".....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/musings/10mm/imac-g5-6th-anniversary.html
The Complete Overview of Indie Graphics Software for Mac
AppStorm's Jonas Wisser says:
Everyone knows about the big guns in the graphics field. Adobe is pretty much the unchallenged master of image editing with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fireworks. Adobe s InDesign shares the digital publishing field, albeit grudgingly, with Quark s QuarkXPress. Serious graphic designers find themselves stuck between these two large corporations, due in part to format lock-in and in part to features that other pieces of software just don t have.
For those of us who don t need things like the ability to switch from right-to-left text to left-to-right text with one click of the mouse, or even more obscure features, there are a number of other third-party applications out there that may meet our needs.....One thing is true in all of them: they re less expensive than the Adobe alternative!
[Editor's note; there are more of them than I had imagined.]
Raster (Bitmap) Applications
Acorn
DrawIt
GIMP
Opacity
Photoline
Pixelmator
Seashore
Vector Applications
Inkscape
Intaglio
Lineform
VectorDesigner
ZeusDraw
Others
GraphicConverter
Picturesque
Prizmo
For full profiles, prices (many free), see:
http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/graphics-roundups/mac-graphics-software/
The Register Reviews Apple Magic Trackpad
The Register's Nick Hawkesmoor reports:
You've got to hand it to Apple. While it may not be the innovator it likes to think it is, it does have a knack for re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better. Music players, small form-factor computers, tablet PCs - it's taken existing concepts and given them a major makeover....
And it's now done the same with the trackpad. Small-size tablets for navigation have been around for years, but Apple's Magic Trackpad is one of the first aimed at mainstream users. And while the company has desktop owners in mind for the MT's audience, as a laptop user, I'm keen on it too.
For the full review visit here:
http://bit.ly/9JOYRP
Hands-On Report: Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0--Not Much Joy Here
MacsOnly's Bill Fox says:
When Apple released Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0 for Mac OS X 10.6.4 on August 16... the update was offered by Software Update for my 2008 2.8GHz dual quad Mac Pro and 2010 13" 2.4GHz MacBook Pro... I updated both Macs with the Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0 hoping that I would see some additional improvement.....
Unfortunately, not so much Bill discovered.
You can check it out at:
http://www.macsonly.com/083110.html
The Mac Is Back In Engineering
Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports:
After an 18-year hiatus, AutoCAD returns to the platform and is coming soon to the iPad...
AutoCAD is an industrial-strength 3D modeling program for software and engineering design.....
The new Mac version is scheduled to be released in October. It will cost $3,995, same as Windows. But in addition to the desktop edition, Apple will be getting a free companion iOS version that runs on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.....
For the full report visit here:
http://bit.ly/cwXjSj
Try A Free, Easy, Personal Mac Database App
Mac360's Natalia Nowak says:
The word database probably scares most computer users, Mac or PC. It sounds complicated to set up, complicated to use.
A phonebook is a database. Address Book and iCal are easy-to-use databases. What would I recommend for Mac users who need to store information but are afraid of the complexity of setting up and managing a database? Start simple with a free, personal database app..... InserziaThings is a simple Mac database app to store, well, things......
To read more, click here.
http://bit.ly/aXJA2z
InerziaThings 1.0 Free Personal Database For The Mac
InerziaThings is your personal database for the things you own. It's always important to keep a list of what you bought and when you bought it, but making it with a simple database it's not as easy as using InerziaThings/
Everybody knows that it's useful to keep track of what we bought and when we bought it: this application is born to make this tracking as easy as possible. Forget complicated databases without special features, and meet InerziaThings.
With InerziaThings you'll be able to store a lot of information, such as the Purchase Date, the Brand, the Serial Number (required to get support on most products) and even notes about it. Moreover, InerziaThings lets you to split your products into categories, to make your database more organized.
Forget organizing your database.
InerziaThings keeps your database automatically organized: in addition to Categories, you can order your things for Brand, Title and Purchase Date. And if you have a lot of things in it, and you want the one called "Mac", just insert some text in the search field and immediately you'll see the results.
Use Notes to give your things a brief (or long) description or to remember something happened when you bought or thanks to that thing. And don't forget to format your notes like you do in TextEdit or don't be afraid to use special characters.
InerziaThings uses the latest technologies for storage included in Mac OS X to save your data. You don't have to worry about it, because it's fast, light and smart and it works just like every other application. Its User Interface is written from the ground taking care of the Apple Human Interface Guidelines, so it works just as you expect to.
Moreover you can use InerziaThings in every situation without worrying about compatibility: it just works!
Categories and Search Feature
It's one word: "categories". You can organize your things in categories, so will be easy to find the one you want; and if you can't find it, just start typing and InerziaThings will search in your entire library: you can search for title, brand and even for category.
Warranty is not a thing to worry about
Electronic products have 2 years of warranty. No: this has 1 year. Oh! That has 3 years.... Stop worrying about it: just insert the warranty duration in InerziaThings and the End date will be calculated automatically.
Built in the Mac way
InerziaThings uses the standard technologies built in Mac OS X to ensure the best user experience. So it's organized as every Mac application and uses the same graphic; you'll feel at home with this software.
Automatic Update System
With the built-in Automatic Update System (based on Sparkle, to ensure the maximum level of security and reliability) you won't miss an update anymore.
InerziaThings is donationware: you can use it as you want without limitations; but if you think that it's a good software and you use it almost every day, you could consider to contribute the development with a small donation (using PayPal).
System Requirements
• Any Mac (with Intel or PowerPC processor) running Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard (32 or 64bit).
• This software is compiled at 64bit and it's fully compatible with Snow Leopard
For more information, visit:
http://www.inerziasoft.eu/en/software/inerziathings/
Prosoft Engineering's Data Rescue Center Expands With New Location
Prosoft's Jennifer Bell says the folks at Prosoft are excited about the growth of their new division, The Data Rescue Center, which was launched last summer and offers computer data recovery (full service), data migration and photo archiving services.
With the Center's rapid growth it will be moving to a new larger location (over 7000 square feet) early next year, and on August 1st Prosoft opened a cart in the local mall which provides an additional drop off location for after hours and during the weekend. The Data Rescue Center offers a free diagnosis and Prosoft, developers of maintenance and data recovery utilities like Drive Genius and Data Rescue have built their business on professional, safe results at a lower cost than their competitors.
Prosoft has been in business since 1985 and has been focused on developing data recovery software since 2000. Data Rescue was launched in 2002, and has become one of the top selling utilities used by data recovery professionals worldwide. In a highly customized and technical form it is used within Prosoft's own data recovery service division - The Data Rescue Center.
Ms. Bell says that having this technical knowledge gives Prosoft a significant advantage over other data recovery organizations, key elements setting Prosoft apart from the competition including:
1. Lower Price. Typically about 30 to 40% cheaper than Prosoft's competitors.
2. Free Estimate - Customers can send Prosoft their drives for a free no cost written evaluation of what is wrong with the drive and the cost to recover their data.
3. Customer Service. Prosoft strives to provide their customers with the best service and support possible
Prosoft services range from photo archiving to data migration, selling computer recovery software, digital picture recovery software, USB keychain drives and picture scanning gift cards.
The Data Rescue Center offers professional data recovery service for hard drive recovery, data migration services and photo scanning, and can help recover data from internal/external hard drives, laptops, RAID drives, removable media including; USB, flash, tape, floppy and zip drives. For more information contact a data recovery specialist at: 877-501-4949 or visit:
http://www.thedatarescuecenter.com
Adobe Releases Lightroom 3.2 and Camera Raw 6.2 on Adobe.com
[Press Release]
Adobe has announced the Lightroom 3.2 and Camera Raw 6.2 updates are available for immediate download on Adobe.com. The updates, originally posted as release candidates on Adobe Labs, extend raw file support to 16 new popular camera models including the Canon EOS 60D and Sony Alpha NEX-5, and improve on several of the lens correction profiles provided in the Lightroom 3.0 release. These latest updates also add over 120 new lens profiles to help photographers automatically correct for undesirable distortion and aberration effects. A full list of the newly added raw camera support and the new and improved lens profiles can be found on the Lightroom Journal:
http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal.
With Lightroom 3.2, photographers can now also publish their photos directly to the popular social networking site Facebook and the online photo sharing service SmugMug from directly within the application. Thanks to detailed feedback from the community on the Lightroom 3.0 release, this update also addresses a number of issues reported by customers, bringing improvements to the Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web modules.
Lightroom is the essential digital photography workflow solution, helping serious amateur and professional photographers quickly import, manage, enhance and showcase all their images from one application. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in provides fast and easy access within Photoshop to the raw image formats produced by many leading digital cameras.
The Lightroom 3.2 update is available as a free download for registered Lightroom 3 users, and the Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 Photoshop plug-in is available as a free download for Photoshop CS5 customers, Photoshop Elements 8 (Win/Mac) and Premiere Elements 8 customers. For more information and to download the updates visit:
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/.
(*)You can also connect with the Lightroom team directly on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/lightroom ) and Twitter ( http://www.twitter.com/lightroom ).
Newly Supported Camera Models
Canon EOS 60D, Fuji FinePix HS10, Panasonic DMC-FZ100, Panasonic DMC-FZ40 (FZ45), Panasonic DMC-LX5, Pentax 645D, Samsung NX10, Samsung TL500 (EX1), Sony A290, Sony A390, Sony Alpha NEX-3, Sony Alpha NEX-5, Sony SLT-A33, Sony SLT-A55V
This update also improves the color and noise profiles for Casio EXILIM EX-FH100 (DNG) and Leica S2 (DNG) utilizing the DNG raw format already supported in previous versions of Lightroom and Camera Raw.
Top-to-Bottom DirectX 11 Support, Design Wins and Broader Selection of Partner Offerings for ATI Eyefinity Experience Help Strengthen AMD Discrete Graphics Market Leadership
[Press Release]
AMD have announced that a number of technology partners soon plan to release an inexpensive Single Link DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter. The addition of the adapter to the burgeoning ATI Eyefinity ecosystem comes on the heels of the recently announced increase in AMD-powered discrete graphics options for the Apple iMac and Mac Pro, as well as AMD's return to market share leadership in discrete graphics.
The industry's only complete, top-to-bottom line of graphics products offering Microsoft DirectX 11 support helped drive the company s strong discrete graphics sales in the second quarter. In fact, in just nine months AMD had shipped more than 16 million DirectX 11-capable GPUs.
"AMD executed our DirectX 11 transition incredibly well, rolling out a top-to-bottom DirectX 11 product line before our competitor launched their first DirectX 11 part," says Matt Skynner, corporate vice-president and general manager, GPU division, AMD. In just six months, we delivered to customers an entire DirectX 11-product stack, with industry-leading image quality and technologies such as ATI Eyefinity and ATI Stream. In turn, customers shifted discrete GPU market share to AMD.
The availability of the inexpensive Single Link DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter, with a suggested retail price of $30 US, expands the ATI Eyefinity ecosystem to include the massive number of LCD monitors with DVI connectors and resolutions up to 1920 x 1200. This encompasses the vast majority of monitors sold today, with many models available for well under $200 each. Now, ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor solutions are within reach of virtually everyone, from die-hard gaming enthusiasts to individuals wanting more screen real estate to improve workflow.
The second quarter market share numbers recently released by Mercury Research show that AMD regained the unit volume lead in discrete graphics, with 51.1 percent of the market share, up 10.5 share points from Q2 2009. In the desktop discrete graphics market, AMD gained 10.9 points in the year, standing at 44.5 percent market share. Additionally, quarter over quarter AMD gained 6.6 share points in the mobile discrete graphics market, finishing the quarter at 56.3 percent market share.
With OEM design wins continuing to roll in, including the recently announced refresh of Apple s iMac and Mac Pro lines, an even greater number of consumers can enjoy the benefits of AMD consumer and professional graphics solutions. Multi-monitor set ups are more accessible than ever as monitors become available at a range of price points, and manufacturers release ultra-thin bezel displays.
Supporting Resources
Learn more about the latest graphics cards from AMD:
http://bit.ly/4Je1G
Follow the AMD@Play blog for the latest graphics news
Twitter: Follow AMD graphics news on Twitter at @ATIGraphics
For more information, visit AMD:
http://www.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDHomePage.aspx
New Attachments Menu organizes Apple Mail Attachments in the Menubar
Chicago based Yazsoft today announces the initial release and immediate availability of Attachments menu 1.0 for Mac OS X. Attachments menu is a handy utility that lives in the Mac OS X menu bar. It dutifully indexes all messages that contain attachments and provides quick and easy access to all attachments located in Apple's Mail application. Finding what you're looking for has never been easier.
All attachments are efficiently categorized for your convenience. You can even refer to the actual email that contains a specific attachment at a click of a button. No technical skills required to use Attachments menu. It is also very customizable, and invites tweeking to suit your work preferences. Attachments Menu is included for free with every purchase of ShareTool and/or Playback.
Key Features:
(*) Fast indexing of all Apple Mail Attachments
(*) Easy menu bar accessibility
(*) Fully customizable
(*) And much more
Supported Languages:
(*) US English, with more to come
System Requirements:
(*) Requires Mac OS X 10.6.4 or later
(*) 3 MB Hard Drive Space
(*) Apple Mail
A Single License for Attachments menu is $10 (USD) if purchased individually. Attachments menu is Free with every purchase of ShareTool and/or Playback.
Yazsoft:
http://www.yazsoft.com/
Attachments Menu 1.0:
http://www.yazsoft.com/products/attachments-menu/
Download Attachments Menu:
http://mirror.nscocoa.com/~yazsoftc1/files/am/am.dmg
Purchase:
http://www.yazsoft.com/store/
Screenshot:
http://www.yazsoft.com/_images/05/am-screenshot-1.png
The Tech Night Owl: Is the Mac OS Dying?
You know that Apple is, nowadays, earning far more income from mobile products than from Macs. Right now, more people own products powered by iOS than powered by Mac OS X, so you begin to wonder where this all might be heading.
Here's the URL for today's commentary:
http://www.technightowl.com/2010/08/is-the-mac-os-dying/
Notes: You can also access our new RSS feed, available at:
http://www.technightowl.com/rss
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http://www.technightowl.com/atom
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