Apple announces iPhone 4S

Apple® today announced iPhone® 4S, the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. With the launch of iPhone 4S also comes the launch of iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features; and iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.

“iPhone 4S plus iOS 5 plus iCloud is a breakthrough combination that makes the iPhone 4S the best iPhone ever,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “While our competitors try to imitate iPhone with a checklist of features, only iPhone can deliver these breakthrough innovations that work seamlessly together.”

iPhone 4S comes with iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, which includes over 200 new features including Notification Center, an innovative way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption and iMessage™, a new messaging service that lets you easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS 5 users. iOS 5 will also be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS customers allowing them to experience these amazing new features.

iPhone 4S also introduces Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. Siri understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, for example, if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Siri is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell Siri “Remind me to call Mom when I get home” it can find “Mom” in your address book, or ask Siri “What’s the traffic like around here?” and it can figure out where “here” is based on your current location. Siri helps you make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more. You can also get answers, find facts and even perform complex calculations just by asking.

iCloud is a breakthrough set of free cloud services, including iTunes® in the Cloud, Photo Stream and Documents in the Cloud, that work seamlessly with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices. When content changes on one device, all your other devices are updated automatically and wirelessly.

iPhone 4S includes an all new camera with the most advanced optics of any phone. The 8 megapixel sensor has 60 percent more pixels so you can take amazing high quality photos with more detail than ever. iPhone 4S includes a new custom lens, a larger f/2.4 aperture and an advanced hybrid IR filter that produce sharper, brighter and more accurate images. The Apple-designed image signal processor in the A5 dual-core chip is built for performance, and coupled with the features built into iOS 5, makes the camera one of the fastest on any phone. With iPhone 4S, the Camera app launches much faster and the shot to shot capability is twice as fast, so you'll never miss another shot.

New features in the Camera and Photos apps give you instant access to the camera right from the lock screen, and you can also use the volume-up button to quickly snap a photo. Optional grid lines help line up your shot and a simple tap locks focus and exposure on one subject; and the new Photos app lets you crop, rotate, enhance and remove red-eye, and organize your photos into albums right on your device to share them on the go. New iOS 5 features include built-in Twitter integration and iMessage, so you can instantly share your photos via Twitter directly from the Photos app and send photos via iMessage to individuals or groups. And with iCloud's innovative new Photo Stream service, a photo you take on your iPhone is sent to iCloud and automatically pushed to your iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC. You can even view your Photo Stream album on your Apple TV®.

iPhone 4S can also now record video in full 1080p HD resolution and with the new video image stabilization feature, you can take richer, smoother videos. Other iPhone 4S video camera improvements include increased sensitivity, sharpness and an increased ability to capture video in low light conditions. With the new iMessage service in iOS 5, you can now instantly share videos with family and friends.

iPhone 4S has the same beautifully thin glass and stainless steel design that millions of customers around the world love, while being completely redesigned on the inside. Apple's dual-core A5 chip delivers up to twice the processing power and up to seven times faster graphics than iPhone 4, all while maintaining incredible battery life—now up to 8 hours of 3G talk time.

Improving on the innovative stainless steel external, dual-antenna design of iPhone 4, iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive. iPhone 4S now supports twice the download speed with HSDPA of up to 14.4 Mbps and iPhone 4S is a world phone, so both CDMA and GSM customers can now roam internationally on GSM networks.

and introducing the Siri on the iPhone 4S

Apple releases Final Cut Pro X video editing software

Apple today announced Final Cut Pro X, a revolutionary new version of the world’s most popular Pro video editing software which completely reinvents video editing with a Magnetic Timeline that lets you edit on a flexible, trackless canvas; Content Auto-Analysis that categorises your content upon import by shot type, media and people; and background rendering that allows you to work without interruption. Built on a modern 64-bit architecture, Final Cut Pro X is available from the Mac App Store for £179.99.

“Final Cut Pro X is the biggest advance in Pro video editing since the original Final Cut Pro,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We have shown it to many of the world’s best Pro editors, and their jaws have dropped.”

“I’m blown away by what Apple has done with Final Cut Pro,” said Angus Wall, Academy Award-winning film editor. “Final Cut Pro X is incredibly modern and fast, but most importantly it lets you focus on telling your story in the most creative way, while it actively manages all of the technical details.”

At the heart of Final Cut Pro X is the Magnetic Timeline, a trackless approach to editing your footage that lets you add and arrange clips wherever you want them, while other clips instantly slide out of the way. You can use Clip Connections to link primary story clips to other elements like titles and sound effects, so they stay in perfect sync when you move them. You can even combine related story elements into a Compound Clip that can be edited as a single clip. The groundbreaking new Auditions feature lets you swap between a collection of clips to instantly compare alternate takes.

Content Auto-Analysis scans your media on import and tags your content with useful information. Final Cut Pro X then uses that information to dynamically organise your clips into Smart Collections, so you can easily find the clips you want by close up, medium and wide shots as well as media type and the number of people in the shot. You can also tag parts of clips with Range-based keywords to add custom search criteria to your media.

Completely rebuilt from the ground up, Final Cut Pro X is a 64-bit app that takes full advantage of the latest Mac hardware and software so you never have to wait for the next edit, even if you’re working with 4K video. Final Cut Pro X uses multi-threaded processing and the GPU on your graphics card for blazing fast background rendering and superb real-time playback performance. Additionally, a ColorSync-managed color pipeline ensures color consistency from import to output.

Final Cut Pro X also includes powerful tools for audio editing and color correction, and is complemented by two companion apps, Motion 5 for professional motion graphics and Compressor 4 for advanced media encoding, available from the Mac App Store for £29.99 each.

Pricing & Availability

Final Cut Pro X is available today for £179.99 from the Mac App Store. Motion 5 and Compressor 4 are available today for £29.99 each from the Mac App Store. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Pro X can be found at www.apple.com/uk/finalcutpro.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Apple Issues Camera RAW Compatibility Update

Apple has released a digital camera RAW compatibility update for Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11. Update 3.6 extends RAW support to six additional cameras including the Canon Rebel T3/T3i, Olympus E-5 and Pentax K-5. It also addresses processing issues for four already supported cameras. The update is available for immediate download from Apple's website.

The update is available via OS X system updates or via Apple’s Support Site.

Apple Aperture 3.0.3 Update

Apple has updated Aperture 3 to version 3.0.3, which is intended to improve stability and fix a number of issues, including the following areas:

• Applying adjustments such as Retouch or Chromatic Aberration
• Creating and using Raw Fine Tuning presets
• Viewing, adding and removing detected faces
• Switching target printers and paper sizes when printing
• Duplicating Smart Albums
• Repairing and rebuilding Aperture libraries
• Reconnecting referenced files
• Working with GPS track files in Places
• Searching for keywords in the Query HUD or Keyword Controls

Complete release notes on the fixes are available on Apple’s website HERE. Aperture 3.0.3 is available for download from Apple’s website HERE.

Apple releases RAW compatibility update

Apple has released a Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update for Aperture 3 and iPhoto '09. Update 3.2 addresses processing issues of files from the Canon EOS 30D, Pentax K-x and K-7 digital SLRs. The update also extends RAW support to the following cameras:

• Canon EOS Rebel T2i / 550D / Kiss X4
• Leica S2
• Olympus E-450
• Olympus E-600
• Olympus E-620
• Sony Alpha DSLR-A230
• Sony Alpha DSLR-A330
• Sony Alpha DSLR-A380
• Sony Alpha DSLR-A450

You can download the update from Apple’s website HERE.

Apple Security Update Is Biggest Ever

As Apple grows stronger and stronger, there are of course bound to be more and more problems. The company today released a patch to fix 92 vulnerabilities to its Leopard and Snow Leopard operating systems, the most ever in a single update.

Last year, for all of 2009, only 67 vulnerabilities were updated. That shows just how massive today's update was.

"The sheer number, it's almost so daunting that you don't even want to look," said security expert Andrew Storms of nCircle Network Security, in a Reuters story.

18 of the vulnerabilities were specific to Leopard, 29 were specific to Snow Leopard, and the remaining 45 afflicted both platforms.

This is the third major update to Snow Leopard since it debuted less than a year ago, making it the least secure Apple OS ever.

This comes just a few days after the annual Pwn2Own contest, where experts in software security were able to hack all of Apple's platforms including the Macbook, Safari, and iPhone.

Anyone running Leopard or Snow Leopard should be running the update soon.

Details on the update can be found in this Apple release note.

Apple releases Aperture v3.0.1

Two weeks after releasing Aperture 3, Apple has released an update to its raw-conversion and photo management software. Version 3.0.1 improves overall stability and fixes a number of bugs. The update can be accessed via the Software Update feature or is available for immediate download from Apple's website.

Click HERE for more information and to download the latest version

Apple unveils Aperture 3

Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 3, the next major release of its powerful photo editing and management software, with over 200 new features including Faces, Places and Brushes. Building on the innovative Faces and Places features introduced in iPhoto® ’09, Aperture 3 makes it even easier and faster to organize large photo libraries. Aperture 3 introduces new tools to refine your photos including Brushes for painting image adjustments onto parts of your photo, and Adjustment Presets for applying professional photo effects with just one click. Stunning new slideshows let you share your work by weaving together photos, audio, text and HD video.

“Millions of people love using iPhoto to organize, edit and share their digital photos,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Aperture 3 is designed for both professionals who edit and manage massive libraries of photos and iPhoto users who want to take their photos further with easy-to-use tools such as Brushes and Adjustment Presets.”

“Aperture 3 gets it right,” said National Geographic photographer, Jim Richardson. “The image editing tools are exactly what I have been asking for, they’re so easy to use and give me a level of control that I never even thought possible.”

“I chose Aperture because it was the most powerful archiving application around, but it’s now an unbelievable imaging tool as well,” said Bill Frakes, Sports Illustrated staff photographer. “I am beyond impressed with the massive changes made in Aperture 3.”

Aperture 3 allows you to organize large photo libraries with even more flexibility using Projects and the new Faces and Places. Faces uses face detection and recognition to find and organize your photos by the people in them. You can view faces across your entire photo library or view just the faces that appear in selected projects. In a new view that speeds up the organization process, Aperture 3 displays faces that have been detected but haven’t yet been named. Places lets you explore your photos based on where they were taken, and like in iPhoto, Places automatically reverse geocodes GPS data into user-friendly locations. In Aperture 3, you can assign locations by dragging-and-dropping photos onto a map or by using location information from GPS enabled cameras, tracking devices or your iPhone® photos.

The new Brushes feature allows you to add professional touches to your photos by simply painting effects onto the image. Aperture 3 includes 15 Quick Brushes that perform the most popular tasks like Dodge, Burn, Polarize and Blur, without the complexity of layers or masks. Brushes can automatically detect edges in your images to let you apply or remove effects exactly where you want them. Aperture 3 includes dozens of Adjustment Presets that apply a specific style or look to the entire image with just a click. You can create your own custom presets or explore the techniques of other photographers by importing theirs.

Aperture 3 makes it easy to share your work with stunning slideshows that weave together photos, audio, text and HD video. You can select one of six Apple designed themes or choose your own transitions, background, borders and titles, and even add your own soundtrack. You can export your slideshows directly to iTunes® to take with you on your iPhone or iPod touch®. You can also share photographs as beautiful prints, create custom-designed hardcover books and publish to online photo sharing sites like Facebook and Flickr, right from Aperture 3.

Pricing & Availability

Aperture 3 is available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) and existing Aperture users can upgrade for a suggested retail price of $99 (US). A downloadable 30-day trial version is available at www.apple.com/aperture/trial. Aperture 3 runs as a 64-bit application on Mac OS® X Snow Leopard® on Macs with Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Full system requirements, online tutorials and more information on Aperture 3 can be found at www.apple.com/aperture.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Apple releases RAW compatibility update

Apple has released a Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update for Aperture 2, iPhoto '08 and iPhoto '09. Update 2.6 supports RAW files from the Canon Digital Rebel T1i (EOS 500D in Europe and EOS Kiss Digital X3 in Japan), Nikon D5000 and Olympus E-30 digital SLRs. The update is available for immediate download from Apple's website.

Click HERE to download the Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.6

Apple issues Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update

Apple released a new update for the current OS X Leopard operating system with the 10.5.7 Update.

The OS X 10.5.7 Update is recommended for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

The security fixes provided in the 10.5.7 Update affect Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X Server 10.4, Security, Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X Server 10.5, AirPort, Apple TV, iPhone, iPhoto, iPod touch, QuickTime 7, Safari 4 and Safari 3.2.3.

More details about the update on the Apple site.

Apple releases Aperture v2.1.3

Apple has released an updated version of its Aperture image processing software. Version 2.1.3 fixes minor issues related to the image library and improves the overall functioning of the software. The update also rectifies an error in thumbnail display of Nikon camera files when the camera is connected directly to the computer.

Click HERE for more information and to download the latest version.

New Stuffs from Apple

iMac

The new iMacs feature the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics or NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 and start at $1,199.

The available screen sizes are 20 and 24 inches. You can choose between four models differing by configuration.

The top of the line 24 inch iMac features 3.06Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 8x Super Drive, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 with 512MB memory.

The price for the new top iMac is $2,199.

More details on the Apple Store.

Mac mini

The Mac mini feature the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics and start at $599. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M brings up to five times faster graphics performance to the Mac mini.

There are two mac mini to choose from. They differ in the memory configuration. The top of the line new Mac mini features an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU at 2Ghz, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD, 8x SuperDrive and the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. The new Apple Mac mini uses 45% less power than the previous model and less than 13W while it’s idle.

More details on the Apple Store.

Mac Pro

The new Apple Mac Pro 2009 brings the Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" to you. Of course the Mac Pro also gets the NVIDIAgraphics treatment with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB. There are two new Mac Pro computers to choose from. The Quad-Core Mac Pro starts at $2,499 and the 8-Core Mac Pro (2x Nehalem) starts at $3,299.

Apple promises nearly 2x faster performance with the new Mac Pro. he new Mac Pro features the fastest graphics ever on a Mac. Its standard configuration includes the up to 2.9x faster NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory. For even greater performance; up to 2x more upgrade to the ATI Radeon HD 4870.

With a Mini DisplayPort and dual-link DVI port on every graphics card and room for up to four cards, the new Mac Pro provides dozens of display options.

More details on the Apple Store.

New Equipment Arrived!!!

Not a camera equipment, but a new computer... Introducing my 24 inch iMac... Here's some of it's spec:

• 4GB 800MHz DDR SDRAM - 2x2 GB
• 320GB Serial ATA Drive
• NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS w/512MB GDDR3

I put my P990 there just to show you how big it is...

The pictures there is shown at just above 1500x1000 resolution, and it is still clear and sharp, but then again, original size of the pictures is almost three times bigger than the shown resolution... but hey, even in this size, the pictures is still awesome!!!

The only drawback that I find is that the USB port is located at the back of the monitor, wished they could put it somewhere easier to reach... and considering this is my first 24 inch monitor, I kind of find it really bright even when I set the brightness to its lowest setting... hmm... I wonder how the like of Counter Strike or Warcraft 3 or Age of Empire 3 or Football Manager would perform in this computer... eheh...

Apple releases Aperture 2.1.2

Apple has released Aperture 2.1.2, a minor update to its RAW-conversion and photo management software. The update improves the printing quality of books, cards and calendars ordered via the Aperture printing service and is recommended for users of Aperture 2.

Click here to download Aperture 2.1.2 update

New Apple Next-generation MacBook unveiled

Apple announced today two Next-generation MacBooks and Apple reduces the entry price of the currently available MacBooks to $999.

At least there is now an Apple notebook under $1,000 available, but it is not a new one and it is not the rumored $899 or $800 price point, but at least something. An updated 13-inch white MacBook featuring 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a 120GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a slot-load 8X SuperDrive is now available for $999.

The new MacBook line features the powerful new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, a revolutionary new 3D integrated graphics processor that features 16 parallel processing cores and delivers up to five times the 3D graphics performance as previous MacBook and MacBook Air designs. Apple has worked together with NVIDIA on this groundbreaking graphics processor and is the first to bring it to market in the new MacBook family.

The new smooth glass Multi-Touch trackpad on the MacBook gives users almost 40 percent more tracking area than before, making it even easier to use Multi-Touch gestures like pinch, rotate and swipe. New gestures allow users to activate Expose or switch between applications at the touch of a fingertip.

The entire trackpad surface is also a button, allowing users to both track and click virtually anywhere on the trackpad. Users can easily enable multiple virtual buttons in software, such as right-clicking.

Every member of the new MacBook family features an LED-backlit display for brilliant instant-on performance that uses up to 30 percent less energy than its predecessor and eliminates the mercury found in industry standard fluorescent tube backlights.

The ultra-thin displays provide crisp images and vivid colors which are ideal for viewing photos and movies, and the edge-to- edge cover glass creates a smooth, seamless surface. Every display in the new MacBook line uses completely arsenic-free glass.

The new MacBook delivers the top three features that MacBook customers have told us they want in a new MacBook -- an all metal enclosure, high performance 3D graphics and LED-backlit displays -- at an entry price that is $700 less than the $1,999 price of the MacBook Pro. At only 0.95-inches thin and weighing just 4.5 pounds, the new 13-inch full featured aluminum MacBook is an incredibly compact and durable notebook starting at just $1,299.Featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor, MacBook delivers outstanding 3D game play on a consumer notebook, with up to five times faster graphics performance than the previous generation. The new MacBook is available in two models: the 2.0 GHz MacBook with a 160GB 5400 rpm hard drive, and the 2.4 GHz MacBook with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a backlit keyboard.

The new MacBook ship today on the Apple Store.

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:

• 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
• 1066 MHz front-side bus;-- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
• 160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden MotionSensor;
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-RDL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
• built-in AirPort Extreme(R) 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth2.1+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• two USB 2.0 ports;
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting bothoptical digital and analog;
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad; and
• 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,599 (US), includes:

• 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
• 1066 MHz front-side bus;
• 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
• 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden MotionSensor;
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-RDL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth2.1+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• two USB 2.0 ports;
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting bothoptical digital and analog;
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and
• 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.