Mac notebook and other portable computing is covered in The 'Book Review. iPad, iPod, iPhone, and
Apple TV news is covered in iOS News
Review. All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
Lion News
News & Opinion
Reviews
Apple Updates
Products & Services
Software
Lion News
Adobe Shares Known Issues with Adobe Products on OS
X 10.7 Lion
Adobe makes some key production applications for OS X, many of which
have been through many revisions over the years and have inevitably
collected accretions of legacy code, which is causing compatibility
problems with 64-bit only OS
X 10.7 Lion.
For example, Adobe says that one Lion's marquee features that allows
you to have Lion restore a program's windows just as they were when you
last quit the app, won't work at all in Adobe products, noting, "This
feature requires new code in order to work properly. Adobe will
research adding this functionality for inclusion in future versions of
our products."
In the meantime, Adobe has posted a report on the current state of
Lion compatibility for its products, noting:
All Products: Files Stored in Library
In Mac OS 10.7, Apple has made the user Library folder hidden.
Preferences, presets, and other user customization settings are stored
within this Library folder....
Many Adobe applications are dependent on the Oracle Java Runtime
Environment (JRE) for some features to work. Apple recently changed the
way it includes Java in Mac OS, and with Lion, Java is no longer
preinstalled; it is now an optional install that the user must
select.
Since current Adobe installers and applications were built before
these changes by Apple, our software anticipates that Java is
installed. Adobe and Apple have worked together to ensure that you can
install Java at OS install time, or optionally at a later time before
you install Adobe applications. At runtime when you launch an Adobe
application, you will be prompted to install Java if it is not already
installed. If you do not install Java before running an Adobe
application, there can be missing or improperly behaving features. If
you encounter any issues, installing Java should correct the problems.
Corporate IT organizations should take care to preinstall Java (or make
sure Java can be installed through their firewalls/security) in order
to avoid conflicts with Adobe applications....
In-application scrolling may reach opposite of expected due to "Move
content in direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating"
feature. To alter this behavior, deselect the feature at the top of the
Mouse section within the System Preferences.
Rosetta Support No Longer Included with Lion
CS2 or earlier versions of Adobe products required Rosetta to run on
newer Intel based Mac systems. These older versions will no longer be
supported, as Apple removed Rosetta support with the 10.7 release.
Mac OS X 10.7 New Features
Lion has some exciting new features such as Autosave, Restore,
Versioning, Full Screen Mode, and more multitouch gestures. Since many
of these features require new code in order to work properly, Adobe
will investigate which ones make sense to our customers for inclusion
in future versions of our products. For additional information about
the Restore functionality see the following document.
For more, and links to specific issues and workarounds, follow the
link below.
Link: Known Issues with Adobe
Products on Mac OS 10.7 Lion
Where Did the Save As... Command Go?
Tech Recipes' David Kirk says that one of the consequences of
Apple's move away from the traditional Mac OS file system with OS X
Lion is that the Save As command is evidently being phased out,
with the command having gone missing in the Lion versions of Preview,
TextEdit, and the iWork programs
describe why this is occurring and how to accomplish the tasks
that were traditionally performed with the Save As function.
Instead, Lion incorporates the Versions feature and autosaving of
files. Using Versions, users can see the most recent saved version of a
file, and they can also access multiple previous versions, making the
traditional Save As command redundant. If you want to Save
As to create a different version of a file, you can use Save A
Version, or to change formats, you can Export the document
to any other available format. Applications using pre-Lion APIs will
still have the Save As function, and the Versions features won't
be available.
Link: Where Did 'Save
As' Go?
Where Did My Library Folder Go?
MacFixIt's Topher Kessler notes that in versions of OS X prior to
10.7, the Library folder was readily accessible in the user's Home
directory, but upon upgrading to Lion the Library folder appears to be
missing - but it is actually now hidden from view by default in Lion,
instead of being available to easily browse through.
Editor's note: I don't know about you, but I access my Library
Folder frequently, and this change appears to be another example of the
Lion GUI being dumbed-down to supposedly make it less intimidating for
the tech-illiterate, but less convenient for the seasoned and serious
user. Fortunately, it's reversible. cm
Link: OS X Lion: Where
Did My Library Go?
Apple Will Have to Pry Snow Leopard Out of My Cold,
Outdated Hands
ZDNet's Ricardo Bilton says Apple wants to change the way you use
your Mac. And if you're like him, you sort of resent Apple for it.
Bilton observes that for Apple, Lion is apparently all about
creating a convergence between OS X and iOS, making the former seem
more and more like the latter - ostensibly in aid of making it easier
for the novice user to approach OS X using skills they've
developed using iPad and iPhone. While he doesn't reject that approach,
at least on a basic level, the more he looks at Lion, the more it seems
as if he and Apple have hit a philosophical impasse.
"Why ruin a good thing?" he asks. If one's computer setup is
tailored perfectly to one's workflow, optimized so that the OS does its
job and stays out of the way, what's the point in changing for the sake
of change?
Editor's note: I agree. I'm not reflexively against change, so long
as it actually brings with it improvement, but IMHO dumbing down the
interface conventions I find work so well for me in the traditions of
the Mac OS is a step backward - not forward. cm
Publisher's note: For those still using Classic Mode on our PowerPC
Macs, the same can be said of Mac
OS X 10.4 Tiger, the last version to support Classic Mac
software. dk
Link: Fighting the Lion:
Apple Will Have to Pry Snow Leopard Out of My Cold, Outdated
Hands
How to De-iOS-ify OS X Lion
Lifehacker's Adam Dachlis says:
"Mac OS X Lion was designed to bring the best of iOS to the desktop,
but perhaps you don't believe there is such a thing. If you want to get
rid of all the iOS-inspired stuff found in Lion, here's how to do
it."
- Restore "Unnatural" Scrolling
- Turn On the (Indicator) Lights
- Don't Autocorrect Your Spelling
- Disable Application Restore
- Let's See Some Scroll Bars
- Disable Launchpad (Sort Of)
- Get the Old Apple Mail Back
Link: How to
De-iOS-ify Mac OS X Lion
OWC Offers More Memory Choices for OS X Lion
Users
While Apple's official minimum RAM requirement for OS X Lion is 2
GB, industry experts agree 4 GB of RAM is the minimum that should be
installed for optimum performance of typical daily computer usage. For
more advanced uses such as graphics production, A/V editing, and/or
running a virtual machine, 8 GB to 16 GB of RAM is highly
recommended.
"With the largest lab of Apple computers outside of Apple, we're
pleased to continue our streak of being first to fully test and certify
these new 12 GB and 16 GB options for
Mac mini 2011 (see below) and furthering their
amazing capability," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World
Computing. "Having our own on-site memory test lab ensures the quality,
reliability, and capability not just for standard factory supported
options, but also for development and certification of 'MaxRAM' memory
upgrades to support user needs that require higher maximum amounts of
installed memory otherwise not factory available."
OWC MaxRAM Lab Confirms Performance And Compatibility
By maintaining its own lab with the industry's most extensive
collection of Macintosh computers only second to Apple itself, OWC is
uniquely positioned to develop memory upgrade kits that deliver maximum
capacity, performance, and savings. OWC Memory Upgrade Kits are
engineered with premium quality components and are fully tested and
certified to meet, if not surpass, all Apple memory design and
compatibility specifications and come backed by a Lifetime Advance
Replacement Warranty.
The full line of OWC Memory for Apple Macintosh desktop, towers, and
laptops, as well as a compatibility guide for the correct upgrades for
each specific Apple model, can be found online at https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/
Publisher's note: We're longtime fans of OWC, which does a great job
supporting not only the newest Macs, but also legacy and vintage Macs
as far back as the Macintosh
II (they have the rare 16 MB SIMMs so you can max out memory to 128
MB for $80). OWC is a supporter of Low End Mac. dk
Link: OWC MaxRAM Memory
Certification
Link: OWC
Memory Test Lab
News & Opinion
Apple Recalls Some Seagate 1 TB Hard Drives Shipped
with Recent iMacs
MacFixIt's Topher Kessler reports that apparently a batch of the
1 TB Seagate hard drives that shipped with iMac systems between
May and July of 2011 may fail under certain conditions, and as a
precaution Apple has started up a replacement program for the affected
iMac systems.
Link: Apple Recalls
Some iMac 1 TB Hard Drives
How to Remove or Install 2010 and 2011 Mac mini
Memory
Apple Support has posted an illustrated tutorial on how to remove or
install memory into your Mac mini computer.
Products Affected
Mac mini, Mac mini Server (Mid 2011), Mac mini (Early 2006), Mac
mini (Mid 2011), Mac mini (Early 2009), Mac mini (Mid 2007), Mac mini
(Late 2006), Mac mini Server (Mid 2010), Mac mini (Late 2009), Mac mini
(Mid 2010)
Link: Mac
mini: How to Remove or Install Memory
Reviews
iFixit's Mid 2011 Mac mini
Teardown
PR: Our brand new Mac mini swooned us with promises of "2x
faster everything" and the new Thunderbolt I/O. Naturally, we had to
take a look inside, just like we did with the new MacBook Air.
This year's mini is a great example
of "less is more." Apple has done away with the optical drive and
replaced it with some good old-fashioned emptiness. We found that hole
(as well as the empty extra SATA connection on the logic board) to be
perfect for adding a secondary hard drive - essentially bypassing the
$400 premium over the 'server' model.* The only snag in this master
plan is being able to find another hard drive cable to hook it up to
the logic board, something we'll work on sourcing.
Djuric also extends kudos to the Mini for receiving an excellent 8
out of 10 repairability score. There are no proprietary screws or glue,
and you can easily replace the existing RAM and hard drive (or almost
any other component) if needed.
Teardown Highlights
Apple removed the optical
drive from this mini, but would love to sell you one for an additional
$79. Sweet!- Some of the screws inside the machine were quite interesting.
iFixit found T6 screws that were screwed into the top of T8 screws. A
screw within a screw...
- The big question with this Mac mini: "Can I install a second hard
drive myself?" The centimeter and a half of extra empty space seems to
imply so. There is definitely plenty of room for a second hard drive
underneath the first. The only deterrent is the availability of a
second SATA hard drive-to-logic board cable.
- The new mini has the same fan as the old mini, and even the older
mini. Sticking with the brushless, high blade density blower, this
single fan is quiet and effective.
- The Broadcom BCM20702 Single-Chip Bluetooth 4.0 Processor with
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) support is identical to the chip found in
the 13" MacBook Air iFixit took apart earlier.
- Big players on the logic board include:
- Intel BD82HM65 Platform Controller Hub
- Intel V116A068 2.3 GHz Dual-Core i5
- Intel L116IA35 Thunderbolt port controller IC, similar to that
found on the Early 2011 21.5" iMac
- Broadcom BCM57765 gigabit ethernet and memory card controller
- Texas Instruments XIO2211 FireWire Controller
- Cirrus Logic 4206B Audio Controller
- SMSC 1428-7 System Management Bus temperature sensor
* Publisher's note: The $400 "premium" for the Mac mini Server
includes a 2.0 GHz quad-core i7 CPU (vs. a 2.3 GHz dual-core i5), two
7200 rpm 500 GB hard drives (vs. one 5400 rpm drive in the $599
consumer model), 4 GB of RAM (vs. 2 GB), and OS X 10.7 Lion
Server. Apple charges $100 for the RAM upgrade, a pair of 7200 rpm 500
GB drives will set you back about $175 (third party, as Apple doesn't
offer these drives), and Lion Server costs $20 more than regular Lion.
All of that covers $295 of the $400 difference, and with 60% more raw
computing power (according to Geekbench), the Mac mini Server is worth
the price to those who need that kind of power. dk
Link: Mac
Mini Mid 2011 Teardown
Apple Updates
Mac OS X 10.6.8 Supplemental Update
The Mac OS X 10.6.8 Supplemental Update is recommended for all users
running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and resolves bugs in the initial
OS X 10.6.8 release including:
- Transferring personal data, settings, and compatible applications
from a Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard to a new Mac running Mac OS X
Lion
- Certain network printers that pause print jobs immediately and fail
to complete
- System audio that stops working when using HDMI or optical audio
out
For information on the security content of this update, visit
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.8
Link: About the Mac OS X v10.6.8
Update
Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update v.1.1 for OS X 10.6.7
The 10.6.8 v.1.1 update is recommended for all users running Mac OS
X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance
the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including:
- Enhances the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac
OS X Lion
- Resolves an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit
- Improves support for IPv6
- Improves VPN reliability
- Identifies and removes known variants of Mac Defender virus
For information on the security content of this update, visit
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.7
Link: Mac
OS X 10.6.8 Update v.1.1
Mac OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update v1.1 for All Versions
of OS X 10.6
Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 is recommended for all users
running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system
fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your
Mac, including:
- Enhances the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac
OS X Lion
- Resolves an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit
- Improves support for IPv6
- Improves VPN reliability
- Identifies and removes known variants of Mac Defender virus
For information on the security content of this update, visit
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.6 - Mac OS X 10.6.8
Link: About the Mac OS X v10.6.8
Update
Products & Services
OWC Announces Industry's First 16 GB RAM
Upgrade for Latest Mac mini Models
PR: Other World Computing (OWC) has announced through its
in-house MaxRAM testing lab the first 12 GB and 16 GB Memory (RAM)
upgrade kits available for the new Mid 2011 Mac mini models. These new
OWC MaxRAM Kits, estimated to start shipping in seven days, join two
existing and most popular memory upgrade sizes 4 GB and 8 GB
that are available for immediate ordering starting at $37.99.
OWC MaxRAM Memory Upgrades Up To 16 GB for newly
introduced 2011 models of Apple Mac mini and Mac mini Server with 2.0
GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 2.7 GHz Intel i5 or i7 processors.
Most Popular Memory Size Kits Immediately Available:
- OWC 4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz Memory Kit (2 x 2 GB memory modules) -
$37.99 or as low as $33.99 after OWC offered factory 2 x 1 GB memory
trade-in rebate. Up to $66 less vs. factory 4 GB option for 2.3
GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
- OWC 8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz Memory Kit (2 x 4 GB memory
modules) - $79.99 or as low as $65.99 after OWC offered factory 2 x 2
GB memory trade-in rebate. Up to $234 less vs. factory 8 GB
options for all Mid 2011 Mac mini models.
Power-User Memory Kits for Available For Pre-Ordering:
- OWC 12 GB DDR3 1333 MHz Memory Upgrade Kit (8 GB + 4 GB
memory modules) $749.99 or as low as $735.99 after OWC offered 2 x 2 GB
factory memory trade-in rebate. Replaces both existing factory memory
modules for 12 GB of total memory.
- OWC 16 GB DDR3 1333 MHz Memory Upgrade Kit (2 x 8 GB memory
modules) - $1,399.99 or as low as $1384.99 after OWC offered 2 x 2 GB
factory memory trade-in rebate. Replaces both existing factory memory
modules for 16 GB of total memory.
Full product and ordering information for OWC Memory, internal drive
upgrades up to 1.0 TB, internal OWC Mercury SSD upgrades up to 480 GB,
and other accessories for all Mac minis from 2006 up to and including
the new 2011 models is available at https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/
Link: New Mac mini 2011
Model Upgrades
Software
Nuance Releases Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.5
PR: Nuance Communications, Inc. has unveiled Dragon Dictate
for Mac 2.5, a new release of their speech recognition software for the
Mac. Building on improved accuracy, faster performance, and powerful
new voice commands introduced in Dragon Dictate 2.0, Dragon Dictate for
Mac 2.5 adds new features that make it easier to create documents, send
emails, surf the Web, share social status and interact with many Mac
applications. For the first time, Dragon Dictate users can combine
dictation and voice commands with mouse and keyboard entry (possible
before but not recommended) within Microsoft Word 2011, making it
easier to create and edit documents.
Dragon Dictate 2.5 also takes advantage of the recently-introduced
Dragon Remote Mic App, a free application on the Apple iOS app store
which makes it possible to use an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad as a
wireless microphone for Dragon via a WiFi network connection. Many
customers have requested to use their smartphones and other mobile
devices with Dragon to have more flexibility with how and where they
dictate with Dragon. The new Dragon Remote Mic App takes advantage of
the nearly 200 million iOS devices in use today, and transforms the
device into a wireless microphone that easily captures dictation and
controls applications on your Mac (or PC).
Dragon has quickly grown in popularity as a mobile application for
the Apple iOS, and millions of people around the globe have downloaded
Nuance's Dragon Dictation, which allows users to speak text for SMS
text messages, emails, social media updates and more. With amazing
accuracy and speed, the Dragon Dictation mobile app for iOS have given
millions of people a peek at the power of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
(See Charles W. Moore's recent reviews of Dragon Dictation on MacPrices.net. and
Dragon Dictate 2 on
Applelinks.)
"We listened to feedback from our Mac-based Dragon customers, and
heard a resounding request for more flexibility in how they can use
Dragon," says Peter Mahoney, senior vice president and general manager,
Dragon, Nuance. "People who have never tried Dragon Dictate before will
be genuinely impressed with all the ways it lets you interact with your
digital world. Those who are already familiar with Dragon will see some
exciting improvements like the ability to mix talking and typing in
Word, added flexibility with microphones via the new Dragon Remote Mic
App, and the ability to share social status."
If you're not familiar, the Dragon family of speech recognition
software lets you control your computer with your voice - a handsfree
way to turn speech into text, whether you're dictating office memos,
prose, capturing family stories, surfing the Web, posting an update to
Facebook or Twitter, or helping your children cut homework time in
half. Dragon gives you the option of composing and editing using voice
rather than keyboard input.
Current Dragon Users will appreciate the new upgrades and features
in Dragon Dictate 2.5, including:
- Full Control in More Applications
- Dragon Dictate 2.5 allows users to seamlessly combine dictation
with manual input from the mouse and keyboard while working with
Microsoft Word 2011. This ability to mix talking and typing within
Microsoft Word was the most requested product enhancement from Dragon
Dictate customers. In addition, Dragon Dictate 2.5 offers built-in
voice commands for Microsoft Word 2011 to format text, insert tables
and graphics, and control many menu items by voice. Dragon Dictate 2.5
also works with other popular Mac applications: Apple's Pages, Mail,
TextEdit, iChat, Keynote, iCal, Safari, and more.
New Dragon Remote Mic App for iPhone
- Turn your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad into a wireless microphone
with the new Dragon Remote Mic App. If you want to free yourself from
your corded headset, now you can use a device that you may already
have.
- Enhanced Commands and Social Features - Dragon Dictate includes
built-in commands for many applications, including Apple Mail, Safari,
TextEdit, iCal & iChat, In addition, Dragon Dictate collapses
common multistep tasks on the Mac into direct voice commands to search
for files, post an update to Facebook or Twitter, search the Web for
information, and more. Dragon Dictate 2.5 includes more commands to
consolidate multiple mouse clicks and keystrokes into a direct voice
command, such as:
- Post to Facebook [I love Dragon]
- Post to Twitter [Tweeting is so much easier by voice]
- Search Google for hula dancing lessons
- Search Bing for wedding dress repair
- Search Yahoo for gondola rentals
- Search Mail for RSVP
- Search Mac for history term paper
- Getting Started with Dragon is Now Faster and Easier - Dragon
Dictate 2.0 made it easier than ever to upgrade your software by
automatically detecting existing user data and setting up a new and
improved Profile with each upgrade. Dragon Dictate 2.5 includes more
updates to the Voice Training component of user profile creation, and
introduces new additional training text to help get the best
recognition accuracy possible.
- Improved Formatting Control - With Dragon Dictate 2.5, new
formatting options make it easier to control the appearance of certain
words and numbers. Users have greater control over the way certain data
is formatted. Individual preferences can be set for dates and time,
numbers and units of measure, addresses, abbreviations, and more. In
addition, with a new Numbers Mode, Dragon Dictate can recognize
everything it hears as a number or as a command, helping to boost
recognition accuracy even further.
- Improved User Interface - With the new Auto Sleep Microphone
feature in Dragon Dictate 2.5, if the microphone is on but does not
receive input after one minute, it will automatically go into Sleep
mode. Users can set personal preference for the time allotted for the
Auto Sleep microphone functionality.
- Improved Editing Control Dragon Dictate 2.0 included new editing
commands to make it easy to select and delete text, insert new text,
capitalize text, and more. Proofreading capabilities were added to
Dragon Dictate 2.0 to leverage Text-to-Speech read-back for reviewing
dictations. Dictate 2.0 even added a feature to enable users to put
punctuation around words or groups of words with simple voice
commands.
Dragon Dictate 2.5 for Mac is available immediately starting at
$179.99 through Nuance's Website as well as its global network of
reseller partners, software retailers and professional sales
organizations. Dragon Dictate 2.5 is a free upgrade for current Dragon
Dictate 2.0 users. For additional information on features, editions,
pricing and volume licensing programs.
The new Dragon Remote Mic App is available immediately as a free
download in the Apple App Store here. Simply follow the instructions
included with Dragon to use the new app to turn your iPhone, iPod touch
or iPad into a wireless microphone.
Dragon Speech Recognition
Dragon has long been a leading speech recognition application on the
desktop, used by millions of people around the world. As demand for
speech has grown, Nuance has sought to make speech recognition
accessible to more people, from more places and devices. Nuance also
offers several Dragon Mobile Apps including Dragon Dictation, Dragon
Go!, Dragon for E-mail and FlexT9 for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and
select BlackBerry and Android devices. And automotive manufacturers can
even harness the power of Dragon to allow drivers to access dynamic
real-time information and services by voice right in their cars.
Link: Dragon Dictate for
Mac
Link: Dragon
Remote Microphone (iOS
App Store link, free)
Link: Dragon
Go! (iOS App Store link,
free)
Pixelmator 1.6.7 Nucleus Update Released with
Major Performance Improvements
PR: Pixelmator is a beautifully designed, easy-to-use, fast,
and powerful image editor for Mac OS X has everything you need to
create, edit and enhance your images.
In
addition to full 64-Bit architecture support, enjoy incredible image
editing performance in every part of the app.
Use Layer Groups to arrange your layers quickly and in a logical
order and to reduce clutter in the Layers palette.
Quickly and easily publish your images to Flickr, Picasa, or
Facebook - online photo management and sharing applications. Easily
import images from cameras, scanners, and multifunction devices, and
devices such as the iPhone.
Enjoy Pixelmator's new transforming tools, redesigned to be more
precise and powerful yet also much easier to use. Open and edit WebP
images as well as save or export images or image slices to the WebP
format. Quickly access your Aperture library, projects, albums, smart
albums, or folders via the new Photo Browser palette.
Enjoy the precision of the revamped Magic Wand, Lasso, Polygonal
Lasso, and marquee selection tools. Use the improved Refine Selection
tool to much more efficiently smooth and soften your selections
outlines. Use the revamped Gradient Tool to fill your images, layers,
or selections with smooth high-quality multiple color blends. Sharing
your gradients is as simple as dragging and dropping them from the
gradients palette onto your desktop.
Preview
and export your JPEG images over 2x faster thanks to the new built-in
JPEG Turbo (libjpeg-turbo) compression engine. Blend layers in your
compositions with the new advanced Subtract and Divide blending
modes.
Instruments to Join the Creative World
Pixelmator, the beautifully designed, easy-to-use, fast and powerful
image editor for Mac OS X has everything you need to create, edit and
enhance your images.
Precise Selection Tools
Someone who is editing images must be able to select the right
shapes, portions or objects in images. With Pixelmator's powerful,
pixel-accurate collection of selection tools you can quickly and easily
select any part of your images. That means you can edit and apply
special effects to portions of your pictures, remove unwanted objects
or even cut out objects from one picture to put on another. Thanks to
the masks palette in Pixelmator, you can even save your selections for
later. Now, that's handy.
Full Assortment of Painting Tools
Another bunch of tools in Pixelmator are painting tools. The real
greatness of these tools is the ability to use different brush sizes,
shapes, hardness, even blending modes when painting. You can paint with
Pixelmator as you would traditionally, play with beautiful gradients or
even fill colors with other ones. There has never been a more
satisfying way to paint. What's more, Pixelmator's painting tools can
be used not only for any style of painting, but also for improving your
selections with masks or even retouching.
Retouching Tools
It's a snap to perfect your aging or buggy photos with Pixelmator.
With its advanced retouching tools you can easily blur hard edges or
sharpen fuzzy areas of your image. Or paint with a sample of an image
to remove wrinkles from faces or scratches in your photos. In fact, you
can use any of the adjustment or painting tools to polish or to refine
your images.
Every Tool You Need
Pixelmator comes not only with handy and powerful selection,
painting and retouching tools, but it also has everything you need for
typing text on your pictures, analysing colors, cropping, transforming,
moving anything in your pictures or navigating through your images.
Layers
Of
course, Pixelmator is a layer-based image editor. You can quickly
create layers from your photos, other pictures, from selections or even
your iSight. Yes, Pixelmator can add a layer to your composition
directly from your Mac's little camera. Not only can you link and
arrange added layers, but Pixelmator allows you to blend layers, change
their opacity, create clipping masks or even add layer masks to hide
some portions of layer.
Powerful Color Correction Tools
Pixelmator features a simple and elegant collection of intuitive
color correction tools. Using these tools you can fine-tune hue,
saturation, and luminance; adjust exposure, color levels, brightness
and contrast; use Auto Enhance to dramatically improve
less-than-perfect images with one click; even use Curves, Color
Balance, Channel Mixer and much more.
Filters and Effects
Pixelmator is the real filter-machine. It has over 130 filters and
special effects for your needs. Just choose any of nicely designed
distortion, blur, sharpen, color, stylize, halftone, tile generator,
transition and Quartz Composer filters and boom - you see the result in
real-time.
From Your iSight to Your Composition
Ever thought about what else you could do with that little camera on
your Macs display? Sure, you could use it to videoconference with your
friends or take photos of yourself with funny faces. But now you can
also use iSight with Pixelmator. One click, and Pixelmator takes a
picture of you via iSight and adds it as layer into your composition.
When you've done that you can, for example, cut yourself out, put in
another background and create postcard for your friends.
Photo Browser
The Photo Browser palette in Pixelmator offers quick access to your
iPhoto or Aperture library, events, albums, and smart albums. It also
allows you to easily browse images taken with PhotoBooth and pictures
in your predefined custom folders. Best of all, you can simply drag and
drop any of those images as layers to your Pixelmator composition.
Save for Web
Web tools in Pixelmator allow users to prepare and export images for
the Web with minimal effort, whether it is an individual image or a
complex page layout. Images can be optimized and saved in Web-standard
JPEG, PNG, or GIF file formats with different quality settings.
Powerful Slice tool in Pixelmator can be used to slice an image into
pieces, allowing each piece of an image to be optimized and saved using
its own optimization settings. Saving an optimized part of an image is
as easy as dragging and dropping it onto the desktop.
Hand-drawing Freedom
Thanks to Pixelmator's graphics drawing tablet support, you can now
freely hand-draw or paint with the Pencil, Brush, and Clone Stamp
tools, or erase with the tablets eraser. What's more, you can take
advantage of the tablets pressure sensitivity to play with incredibly
fast Blur and Sharpen tools.
Reign of Mac OS X Technologies
Pixelmator harnesses the full power of Mac OS X. It takes advantage
not only of Core Image, Open GL or Automator, it also supports
ColorSync, Spotlight and many other technologies. Pixelmator was built
exclusively for Mac OS X, and it shows.
Automator: Pixelmator's Best Friend
Your personal automation expert - Automator working hand in hand
with your personal imagery expert - Pixelmator does those boring tasks
for you. Using very powerful Pixelmator actions in Automator you can
quickly enhance, trim, resize, watermark, or transform your images, add
any special effects or even export your images to over 100 different
file formats. You can do that to as many images at one time as you
wish.
Third-party Filters
What if you just love having fun with filters, but think that
Pixelmator doesn't have enough of them? Well, think again - Pixelmator
significantly outshines other applications with its powerful plugin
architecture that takes advantage not only of Core Image units, but
also of Quartz Composer compositions. This means you can simply
download or create your own Core Image unit or even Quartz Composer
composition and play with it right away in Pixelmator.
The World's First GPU-Powered Image Editor
Pixelmator is based on Core Image technology that uses your Macs
video card for image processing. Core Image utilizes the graphics card
for image processing operations, freeing the CPU for other tasks. And
if you have a high-performance card with increased video memory (VRAM),
you'll find real-time responsiveness across a wide variety of
Pixelmator operations. Pixelmator is blistering-fast on the latest
Macs.
Pixelmator Loves Open Source
Just like your beloved Mac OS X, Pixelmator is also built on open
source. It uses a very sophisticated foundation to provide you with the
most powerful image editing tools available. More than 15 years of
development have gone into Pixelmator.
Compatible with Everything
One more thing: Pixelmator supports over 100 different file formats.
You can open and save in PSD, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, EPS and scores of
other image formats. Above all, Pixelmator can open and save Photoshop
files with layers. You are never alone with Pixelmator.
New in version 1.6.7:
- Improves compatibility with the new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
- For more information about new features, improvements, and
corrected bugs, see the complete release notes.
System Requirements
- Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later
- Core Image supported graphics card (recommended)
$29.95, exclusively at the Mac App Store.
Pixelmator 1.x updates are free for registered users.
Link: Pixelmator (Mac
App Store link)
iMissal Catholic App Launched on the Mac App
Store
PR: Cantcha, Inc. has announced that
their Catholic mobile app for iPhone, iPad and Android is now available
for Mac computers at the Mac App Store. iMissal is a suite of Cantcha's
most popular Catholic applications combined into one easy to use
package.
Key features include:
- Missal - A complete Missal including a full liturgical calendar
with all the seasons. Official texts approved by the US Conference of
Catholic Bishops. All Mass Readings for every liturgical cycle, Order
of Mass, and Daily Mass audio and video.
- Mass Readings: All the Mass Readings for every liturgical cycle
(A,B,C,I,II) are included! This includes First Reading, Psalm, Second
Reading, Alleluia, and Gospel for all Sunday and Weekday Masses.
Reading text is always available for every day, no WiFi connection
necessary. Uses translations officially approved for Mass in the US
Great resource for Lectors.
- The liturgical texts provided in iMissal are used with the
permission of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and the
International Committee on English in the Liturgy. They are the
official texts approved for use in the dioceses of the United States by
the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Beware of other applications
which use other translations and cost much more.
- Audio of the Mass Readings. Audio is only available for more recent
dates (sliding window of aprx. 30 days).
- Order of Mass: Ever wish you could follow along in Mass and have
all the prayers, responses, etc. available. Now you can. Great for RCIA
candidates that are new to the faith.
- Mass Videos: Cantcha, Inc. has teamed up with CatholicTV.com and
now provides videos of the Mass for you to watch.
- Our Daily Bread - Provides a unique Bible verse for every day of
the year with beautiful artwork. It allows you to save favorites, use
keyword searches and share your favorites by email or through Facebook.
These verses have been hand selected from some of the most popular.
Also included are some obscure verses you may have not seen
before.
Choose from three different
Bible translations:
- NAB Bible - New American Bible
- NIV Bible - New International Version
- KJV Bible - King James Version
Bible translations can be easily switched to compare differences
between translations.
- Save your favorite verses for later reference.
- Search on any word across all verses to quickly find your
favorites.
- If you miss a day you can easily go back to view previous
verses.
- Mix it up by pushing the random button to get new verse each
time.
- Email any verse (w/o background) to your friends and family with a
push of a button.
- Prayers - Includes over 80 of the most popular Catholic prayers
that can be shared by email or Facebook with family and Friends.
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 or later
$4.99
Link: iMissal
(Mac
App Store link,
iOS Store link for iPad version)
Desktop Mac
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