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Byte-Dock MacBook Pro Dock Launches Range Of Colours, Plus Free Cable
Snapseed Photo Editor For OS X
Apple's Lead in Tech Support Quality Continues to Slip in Consumer Survey
Notebook Shipments Expected To Rise Significantly In 2H12
25 Years of AppleShare Networking
Censoring The Web - Will Licenses Be Required To Surf?
Mac OS X 10.7.3 Supports New Crop Of Compact Cameras
Bean 3.0.6 Free Word Processor Update Released
Quicksilver 64 Keyboard-Driven Application Launcher And So Much More
SeaMonkey 2.7 Browser Suite Released
TechTool Pro 6.0.4 Released
Byte-Dock MacBook Pro Dock Launches Range Of Colours, Plus Free Cable
The Byte-Dock docking station for Apple's MacBook Pro is now available in a new range of colours.
The team behind the Byte-dock is hoping to continue the success of the device, which has gone down a storm since its launch last September.
The Byte-dock offers users a seamless solution for leaving computer peripherals connected while on the move with their MacBook Pro.
The developers say demand has far outstripped expectations for the Byte-dock, as they have been snapped up by MacBook Pro users worldwide in just five months.
Now Byte-dock's creators, Southampton, U.K.-based Techne Industries, have made the gadget available in pink, green, yellow, blue and wood laminate, as well as the standard black with more options to follow.
Techne Industries is also expanding the availability of the device by making it available via reselling and distribution channels.
And as an added bonus for buyers, they are also offering a free mini-display to HDMI cable worth Ł19.99 with every Byte-dock sold. It will allow it to be connected via the mini-display port to any HDMI-enabled device.
Mark Petley, who runs Techne Industries with partner Paul Hackett, says: "We have been thrilled with how people have embraced the Byte-dock since we launched it in September last year. We have also been careful to listen to feedback and take on board the comments of users and this is one of the reasons we have launched the range of colours. We are also keen to expand the wholesale options and to increase the overall availability of the Byte-dock."
Paul adds that "Hopefully the free mini-display to HDMI cable worth Ł19.99 will convince MacBook Pro owners that ordering a Byte-dock really is a no-brainer.
The Byte-dock provides extended functionality and ease of use and has been designed so it integrates with most office or home environments. It can turn the MacBook Pro into a desktop system using the mini-display to HDMI connection and cable, and display work on an external monitor. Users can also use an external full-size keyboard connected via Bluetooth or USB.
You can watch a video of how the Byte-dock works here:
http://www.byte-dock.com/byte-dock-video.php
The Byte-dock costs Ł99.99 and can be ordered from:
http://www.byte-dock.com
Snapseed Photo Editor For OS X
Snapseed for Mac OS is a photo app designed to enhance, transform, and share photos with ease using advanced features, such as:
• Easily adjust your photos with the Tune Image filter, now featuring Auto Correct and Selective Adjust for precise editing
• Experiment with fun & innovative filters like Drama, Vintage, Grunge, and Tilt & Shift
• Add Image Borders for a finishing touch
• Share your creations via email, Facebook and Flickr
Features:
• Basic Adjustments
- Tune Image - Easily browse and adjust your photos with a single click using Auto Correct, tweak your photos to perfection with Tune Image or selectively adjust specific areas of them with revolutionary Control Points.
- Use Ambience to create depth and vibrancy that uniquely adapts to colors and textures. Adjust White Balance, Saturation, Contrast, more.
- Crop, Straighten & Rotate - Rotate 90 and/or straighten photos and easily crop images to remove distracting parts of your photo. Now includes standard aspect ratios.
• Creative Enhancement
-Black & White - Get that classic Black and White look with this darkroom-inspired filter.
-Vintage - Make any photo look like a vintage color film photo from the 50s, 60s or 70s.
-Drama - Add style with a custom effect specifically tailored to your photos.
-Grunge - Give your photos a totally unique, hip, and dingy look.
-Tilt & Shift - Create the classic compressed depth of field look of a miniature set or emulate the swings and tilts of a large format camera.
-Details - Enhance details with traditional sharpening or the unique Structure control found in the Nik Software professional products.
-Center Focus - Draw attention to the subject of your photo by blurring the surrounding background.
-Frames - Add stylized borders to photos for the perfect finishing touch.
• Sharing:
-Email - Send images at original resolution.
-Social - Share on Facebook and Flickr.
• Help & Support
- Get started quickly with help overlays, tutorial guide, and videos. If you ever get stuck, our support team can help.
New in Version 1.0.1
- fixes a potential crash during Facebook authentication
- fixes a potential problem with wrong output dimensions that may have occurred after cropping
- fixes a problem that may have occurred when entering the Crop Filter while the image was zoomed in
System requirements:
• Mac OS 10.6.6 and 10.7.2
• Requires 64-bit processor (Intel Core 2 Duo or later
• JPEG, TIFF (in RGB color mode), and RAW file formats
$19.99
Mac App Store:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snapseed/id490118981?mt=12
Apple's Lead in Tech Support Quality Continues to Slip in Consumer Survey
Apple continues to lead Dell and HP in customer service quality for phone-based technical support, but Apple's support satisfaction among surveyed customers dropped significantly over the past 18 months, according to the latest study conducted by Vocal Laboratories Inc. (Vocalabs).
In telephone interviews immediately following a support call, 54% of Apple customers were Very Satisfied with the experience during the last six months of 2011, compared to 44% of Dell customers and 49% of HP customers. Apple's satisfaction score is down 19 points from the first half of 2010, while Dell and HP have generally held steady over the past two years.
Despite its significant decline, Apple continues to lead Vocalabs' survey in overall tech support quality
Looking at common complaints in 2011, fewer than 1% of Apple customers surveyed complained about the language skills of the support technician; much lower than the 8% of Dell customers and 10% of HP customers who reported similar issues. Many customers also complained about the extra cost of out-of-warranty tech support, but Apple saw fewer complaints here, too. About 1% of Apple customers volunteered a cost complaint in this study, as compared to 6% of Dell customers and 6% of HP customers.
"Despite its significant decline, Apple continues to lead our survey in overall tech support quality," said Peter Leppik, CEO of Vocalabs. "But where Apple used to be well ahead in nearly every measure of service quality, there are now areas where Apple is tied with, or even behind, its competitors."
You can download the survey's Executive Summary by visiting:
http://www.Vocalabs.com/published-research
For more information, visit:
http://www.vocalabs.com
Notebook Shipments Expected To Rise Significantly In 2H12
Digitimes' Aaron Lee and Joseph Tsai say that notebook shipments, benefiting from the recovery of hard drive shortages and launch of Windows 8 in the third quarter, are expected to rise significantly in the second half of 2012, with shipments proportionally in the first and second halves to projecrted to reach about 45% and 55% respectively, with the spread possibly as great as 40% vs. 60%.
Lee and Tsai note that hard drive shortages and weak US and Europe economies are the two major negative factors causing weak performance in the first half, especially the first quarter, according to Digitimes senior analyst Joanne Chien, who says that Taiwan ODMs' notebook shipments in the first quarter will drop 9.4% on quarter and 3.2% year-over-year.
A growth driver for the notebook industry in the second half is expected to be Intel's next-generation 22nm Ivy Bridge CPU platform, which will feature Intel's 3D Tri-Gate technology with power consumption anticipatd to be up to 50% lower than with existing 32nm Sandy Bridge processors. Apple is also expected to switch to Ivy Bridge silicon with a complete overhaul of its MacBook Pro and MacBook Air families in 2012.
Lee and Tsai say market watchers are pessimistic about Intel acheiving its goal of having Ultrabooks account for 40% of total notebook shipments in 2012, but expect the devices will still attract consumer interest, with mass shipping expected to start in the second quarter. Another boost is anticipated with the release of Windows 8 in the third quarter, and the reporters observe that if shipments of Android 4.0 and Windows 8 tablet PCs are counted, notebook shipments in 2012 might still be able to achieve double-digit growth.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120201PD214.html
25 Years of AppleShare Networking
In the latest Low End Mac Round Table, LEM Staffers reminisce about Apple's significance as a pioneer of computer networking at the 25th anniversary of AppleShare.
Long before the the Internet and Dropbox, there were personal computers on local area networks (LANs) and dedicated file servers. 25 years ago, Apple introduced AppleShare, the software that could turn a Macintosh into a dedicated file server on an AppleTalk network using the network ports built into every Mac....
The biggest breakthrough in making AppleTalk networking affordable came in 1987 when Farallon released its PhoneNet connectors, which used inexpensive unshielded telephone cables and standard RJ11 telephone jacks, not only making networking more affordable, but also making it easy to create long runs of cable - up to 3,000'! (That's three times the 1,000' maximum distance for LocalTalk.) LocalTalk supports up to 32 devices, which made it great for home and small office use.
Also in 1987, Apple introduced the AppleShare software that allowed users to set up a dedicated Macintosh 512K (or newer) as a file server for a LocalTalk network (With only 128 KB of memory, the original Macintosh didn't have to resources to work as a file server. A Mac Plus with a SCSI hard drive was a much better choice.)
Personal File Sharing became part of the Mac OS when System 7 was introduced in May 1991. Prior to that, there had been a few third-party apps that gave System 6 users limited personal file sharing, perhaps the most used being Public Folder release by Claris, Apple's software division.
For the full discussion, visit:
Short link: http://bit.ly/AAFEK2
Censoring The Web - Will Licenses Be Required To Surf?
PC Mag's John C. Dvorak says the future of the Internet seems bleak, but Americans are too busy playing Angry Birds to notice, noting that Twitter is essentially censoring its services in various countries to abide by local laws, and Google's Blogger.com intends to do the same thing, and will carry over to Google+.
"This is the beginning of the end for the Internet, I can assure you," Dvorak predicts, citing a Fox News report that Google can now make content on its Blogger platform selectively available to users based on local laws, in a move similar to Twitter's new country-specific censoring ability which prompted a backlash from critics.... Under the changes, Google is redirecting users to country-specific domains for its Blogger sites which will allow certain content to be blocked in countries "where censorship is required," a phrase that speaks volumes.
Dvorak suggests that acceptance and tolerance of the notion of national censorship on a country-by-country basis will eventually lead to a completely censored and dumbed-down Internet, only be useful for approved shopping, Twitter, and Facebook, the rationale being that we don't need an out-of-control information exchange in which fake information can be used to stir up the public, so content must be censored to protect the public from getting alarmed by crazy information found on the Web. He further suggests that this dismal scenario will eventually lead to Internet licenses being required for blogging, podcasting, and just about everything else, in fact, and necessity to register with the government just to use the net.
This will happen, Dvorak observes, because evidently some 99.9 percent of the American populace don't give a crap, few ever doing do deep searches or much of anything more than checking Facebook, buying stuff at Amazon, playing Angry Birds, and photo sharing.
Unhappily, I suspect Dvorak has the future nailed. [Ed.]
For the full commentary visit here:
http://bit.ly/zj6fue
Mac OS X 10.7.3 Supports New Crop Of Compact Cameras
CNET's Stephen Shankland says if there's any doubt about the accelerating shift from traditional SLRs to more compact interchangeable-lens cameras, let the newly released Mac OS X 10.7.3 update put them to rest.
Shankland reports that of the eleven cameras whose raw image formats Lion now supports, six of them are compact mirrorless models. - the Nikon 1 J1 and V1, the Olympus Pen E-PL1s, E-PM1, and E-PM1; and the Sony Alpha NEX-5N. All these models forsake SLR's flip-up mirror and optical viewfinder, enabling a more compact design.
He notes that these new cameras come with new proprietary raw formats whose inner workings must be decoded, and Apple, unlike Microsoft, builds that support directly into the operating system so software such as iPhoto and Aperture can handle the images, which must be updated with new introductions.
For the full report visit here:
http://cnet.co/wLmDzp
Bean 3.0.6 Free Word Processor Update Released
Bean 3 is a small, easy-to-use and free rich text editor and lightweight word processor designed to make writing convenient, efficient and comfortable. A fairly extensive bugfix version 3.0.5 release is now available.
Lean, fast and uncluttered, Bean starts up quickly, has a live word count, page layout mode, full-screen mode, regular expression search/replace, multi-column text, inline graphics, detailed statistics, and much more, and its user interface is easy on the eyes. While MS Word, OpenOffice, etc. try to be all things to all people, sometimes you just want the right tool for the job. That's Bean's niche. For example, Bean doesn't do footnotes or use stylesheets and is only partially compatible with Word's file formats. Also, it allows in-line graphics, but not floating graphics.
New in Version 3 are an optional single-window tabbed interface layout, template documents with boilerplate text, a split view, a two-up layout view, freeform headers and footers, plain text editing, and other improvements.
Bean features:
live word count
make template documents with boilerplate text
free-form headers and footers
page layout view (optional 2-up)
alternate colors option (e.g., white text on blue)
split-window editing
full screen editing
date-stamped backups
selection of text by text style, paragraph style, color, etc.
find panel allows regular expressions (pattern matching)
all of Cocoa's good stuff (dictionary, word completion, etc.)
Bean natively reads and writes these file formats:
.rtf format (rich text)
.rtfd format (rich text with graphics)
.bean format (identical to .rtfd)
plain text (Unicode and legacy)
.webarchive format (Apple's web archive format)
Bean transparently imports and exports these formats:
.doc format (MS Word '97, minus images, margins, and page size)...more info here
.docx format (Word 2007, minus images and some formatting)...more info here
.odt format (OpenDocument, minus images, margins, and page size)
Bean can export all of the above formats to these formats:
.html (web page format)
.doc compatible (with images intact)
New in Version Version 3.0.6:
The Inspector now updates more consistently (20120129-1).
Fixed a text field input validation bug that in rare cases could cause a crash (20120130-1).
Switching a document from full screen to a non-grouped window would not restore the document presentation settings. Fixed (20120130-3).
Fixed a regression in 3.0.5 where File > Prevent Editing setting was not maintained when switching documents between windows (20120130-2).
A status bar shown only to support Documents > Buttons now re-hides for other document navigation views (20120131-1).
Reimplemented cycle windows (command-~) since it wasn't working correctly for some unknown reason (20120130-4).
Fixed the bug where a newly created text table had black borders, then added cells had gray borders (20120201-1).
You can now select a plain text document under Preferences > New > New Document Template > Custom > Choose Template (20120131-3).
Updated Slovak translation, courtesy Rudolf Gavlas.
Added Chinese (Simplified) translation
System requirements:
OS X 10.5 Leopard, 10.6 Snow Leopard, or 10.7 Lion
An older version (2.4.5) is still available compatible with OS X Tiger 10.4+
For more information, visit:
http://www.bean-osx.com/Bean.html
Quicksilver 64 Keyboard-Driven Application Launcher And So Much More
Quicksilver is a light, fast and free Mac application that gives you the power to control your Mac with keystrokes alone.
With Quicksilver you can find what you need quickly and easily, then act upon it as you see fit. All with your fingers on the keyboard. For example, if you want to find an application hidden in the depths of your file system, just activate Quicksilver with a keystroke, type a few letters of the application's name, then hit Return or Enter to launch it, or tab and type to find an action such as Quit, Trash, Email To..., Run at Login, Move To..., Get Info, Reveal, the list goes on.
Quicksilver indexes and parses only selected parts of the contents of your hard drive in the Catalog, which means it locates and displays the items matching your search quickly. Quicksilver has a modular structure which means features for interaction with a whole host of of other applications (iTunes, 1Password, Safari, Microsoft Office) can be done after installing the relevant plugin.
Versions compatible with older OSes are available at
http://qsapp.com/download.php
New in version 64:
- FIX: Prevent all plug-ins from being deleted on launch
- FIX: Prevent some interfaces from showing <qscommand 0xffff> as the command
- FIX: The plug-in download progress bar works
- FIX: Accented characters no longer wipe out the search string (Issue #539)
- FIX: Latest Download proxy object works with a symlinked Downloads folder (Issue #596, #616)
- FIX: Correctly display dynamically generated details for objects and actions (Issue #591)
- FIX: Correctly notify the user when there's no internet connection (Issue #640)
- FIX: Prevent a crash when trying to run an AppleScript that was moved or deleted
- FIX: Better handling of Dock icon preferences and crash protection (Issue #587)
- CHANGE: If the name and details are identical, don't show both
- CHANGE: Simplified the wording in the Setup Assistant
- CHANGE: Updated QSDroplet icon to reflect the new style
System requirements:
Intel, Mac OS X 10.6 or later
For more information, visit:
http://qsapp.com/
SeaMonkey 2.7 Browser Suite Released
Mozilla's SeaMonkey 2.7 is an Internet application suite combining a Web browser based on the Firefox Gecko core, email and newsgroup clients, an IRC chat, Web development tools, and a simple HTML editor.
The SeaMonkey version 2.7 release incorporates recent changes to the Mozilla platform, including anti-aliasing for WebGL, support for CSS3 3D-Transforms, support for the new HTML5 bdi element for bi-directional text isolation, and other improvements.
New in SeaMonkey 2.7
SeaMonkey 2.7 contains the following major changes relative to SeaMonkey 2.6:
• SeaMonkey-specific changes
- Add-ons are compatible by default now, provided they are declared compatible with SeaMonkey version 2.1 or better (bug 702792).
Mozilla platform changes
- Anti-Aliasing for WebGL is now implemented (see bug 615976).
CSS3 3D-Transforms are now supported (see bug 505115).
- New <bdi> element for bi-directional text isolation, along with supporting CSS properties (see bug 613149 and bug 662288).
- Added IndexedDB APIs to more closely match the specification.
- Fixed several stability issues.
The changes page lists a more detailed overview of new features and fixes relative to the last stable release, SeaMonkey 2.6:
http://www.seamonkey-project.org/releases/seamonkey2.7/changes#new
Relevant security fixes are listed on Security Advisories for SeaMonkey:
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/seamonkey.html
System Requirements Mac:
Operating Systems
- Mac OS X 10.5
-Mac OS X 10.6
- Mac OS X 10.7 (starting with SeaMonkey 2.3)
Minimum Hardware
- Macintosh computer with an Intel processor
- 200 MB of free hard drive space
SeaMonkey is freeware
For more information, visit:
http://www.seamonkey-project.org/releases/seamonkey2.7/
TechTool Pro 6.0.4 Released
Micromat's TechTool Pro 6 delivers hardware diagnostics,
drive repair and daily maintenance for your Mac. Repair damaged volumes, identify files in bad blocks, recover deleted files. Clone exact duplicates of drives for backup. Create an emergency startup partition without requiring a physical boot DVD, exclusively via eDrive.
Testing, Maintenance and Optimization-to keep your Mac running smoothly.
• SMART test drives (including internal ATA, SATA or SSD's) to identify impending problems before a potential crash, prevent file access conflicts, and monitor LAN activity, services and device availability. Optimize to help speed up your Mac.
Single-click Diagnostics so you can quickly identify impending problems.
• Easy-to-use, one-click diagnostics scans critical CPU, memory, video hardware and more to identify aberrant behavior, providing ongoing protection and to help you mitigate issues and prevent costly repairs.
System Requirements:
- G4, G5 Macs, 867 MHz or faster; All Intel-based Macs.
- Mac OS X 10.4.9 or greater, including Mac OS X 10.7 'Lion'.
- Mac OS X 10.5 or greater for eDrive creation on active startup volume.
- DVD-ROM required to boot from DVD.
- 512 Megabytes RAM or higher.
Note: Some models do not boot from the TechTool Pro DVD.
New in version 6.0.4:
Changes:
- Improvement to Volume Rebuild/Repair routines.
- Enhancements and fixes in the Surface Scan test.
- Fixed an eDrive and Spotlight volume unmounting issue.
- Added ability to Wipe Free Space on an active system volume in Wipe Data.
- Significant improvements and updates to the Local Network tool for Bonjour enabled devices.
- Improved support of Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) FileVault encrypted and RAID volumes in TechTool Protection.
- Updated and fixed localization issues for French, Italian, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified).
- Included additional machine identification models to Check Computer.
- Updated Growl support.
New - $99.99
Upgrade - $39.99
For the full report visit here:
http://bit.ly/ysi3vu
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