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First Apple WWDC 2012 without Steve Jobs

Monday, June 11th, 2012

A year ago, Steve Jobs made his last appearance at an Apple WWDC. This year, Tim Cook helms his first WWDC as Apple’s CEO.

Apple's WWDC 2012 is from 11-15 June in San Francisco.

The annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year is being held from June 11 – 15 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. Tickets were sold out in a mere two hours when it went on sale in April.

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the revelations from the opening keynote presentation on first of the 5-day conference.

MacBooks / OS X Mountain Lion

Refreshed MacBook Air & Next-generation MacBook Pro ships today.: In comes Ivy Bridge processor and USB 3.0, out goes Ethernet and FireWire 800 ports, MacBook Air becomes thinner and lighter, MacBook Pro gets 60% faster graphics performance.
Retina display in MacBooks: 220ppi with 2880 x 1800 resolution.: Highest-resolution notebook display in the world.
Retina Display support: Final Cut Pro, Aperture and Diablo3 now supports 220ppi display.: AutoCad and Photoshop support in the works.
iPad-style Dictation is introduced to Mountain Lion for Macs.: Speak directly into native Apple software, Microsoft Word and Facebook.
AirPort Express available now.: Pocket WiFi router supports simultaneous dual-band.
New OS X feature: Power Nap.: Mac updates emails, notifications and photos, and backs itself up while charging.
OS X Mountain Lion available on Macs in July.: Free upgrade for new Mac purchases between now and arrival of the new OS.

iOS 6

iOS 6 unveiled Beta today, full release in the fall.: More than 200 improvements: launch apps with enhanced Siri, and it comes to iPads, FaceTime over cellular data.
Supported: iPhone 3GS and up, 2nd gen iPads and up, 4th gen iPod touch.
Enhanced Siri launches apps and comes to new iPads and eventually into cars.: Siri to get into the car with Eyes Free: demo: Toggle Siri on by tapping a button the steering wheel.
iOS 6 to get Do Not Disturb feature from Mountain Lion.: Select which push notifications to mute and which to stay on.
iOS 6 integrates more tightly with Facebook, Twitter and App Store.: Share directly from core apps like Maps, Photos and Safari.
Safari offers unified search across the web, browser history and bookmarks.: Following in Chrome’s footsteps.
iCloud Tabs syncs Safari web-browsing across all devices.: Simultaneously see all the tabs open on any device.“IOS 6 will include Apple’s own mobile mapping software to compete with software from Google. TomTom will supply Apple with map data and related content.” – statement from TomTom.
Enhanced Safari features.: Multitouch to help navigate tabs, upload images directly, Offline Reading List.
Passbook provides one-stop purchase of tickets and boarding passes.: No more paper QR-codes and tickets.
Apple replaces Google Maps with own Maps app.: Maps comes with Yelp integration and turn-by-turn navigation, and 3D.

Tags:Apple, conference, Eyes Free, Google, iOS, iOS 6, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, maps, Mountain Lion, Siri, TomTom, WWDC 2012
Posted in Announce, App, Apple, Browser, Chrome, Events, Gadgets, Google, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Mac OS, Notebooks, Operating Systems, Phones, Photoshop, Safari, Seminars, Software, Tablets, Tech news, Ultrabooks | 1 Comment »

New portable hard drive: WD My Passport Studio 2TB

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Western Digital has introduced My Passport Studio – its first 2TB portable drive dedicated for Mac users. It is available now at S$369.

Western Digital My Passport Studio 2TB portable hard drive, S$369 for Macs.

The new My Passport Studio portable drive maintains its elegant and protective all-metal casing to complement the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.

All-metal casing to match MacBooks.

It is compatible with Apple Time Machine for quick and easy automatic backup of Mac hard drives, allowing Mac users to use one drive for the protection and transport of virtually all their digital content, everywhere they go.

In addition to the USB 2.0 interface, My Passport Studio has two high performance FireWire 800 ports.

The dual FireWire ports provide blazing fast upload and transfer speeds while also allowing users to daisy chain additional drives or other peripherals such as HD camcorders.

My Passport Studio also features hardware-based encryption and password protection software, and an all-metal design constructed for scratch resistance and a sturdy feel in your hand.

WD had just launched its My Passport 2TB portable hard drive last week.

Tags:2TB, Apple, hard drive, Mac, portable, storage, Western Digital
Posted in Accessories, Availability, Gadgets, Mac OS, storage drive, Western Digital | 4 Comments »

Apple updates Final Cut Pro X

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Apple today released Final Cut Pro X v10.0.3, a significant update to its professional video editing application. The free update is available from the Mac App Store.

Apple updates Final Cut Pro X to v10.0.3

Final Cut Pro X v10.0.3 is available from the Mac App Store for SGD$299.99 (incl. GST) to new users, or as a free update for existing Final Cut Pro X customers.

The update introduces the following main features:

Multicam editing that automatically syncs up to 64 angles of video and photos.
Advanced chroma keying for handling complex adjustments right in the app.
Enhanced XML for a richer interchange with third party apps and plug-ins that support the fast growing Final Cut Pro X ecosystem.
Beta of broadcast monitoring that supports Thunderbolt devices as well as PCIe cards.

(more…)

Tags:Apple, Final Cut Pro X, update, video
Posted in Apple, Launch, Mac OS, Prices, Software, Specifications, Video | No Comments »

Apple Mac Apps for the holiday season

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Here’s a selection of Apps from the Mac App Store to check out for your Mac as we transit from Lunar New Year to Valentine’s Day.

Angry Birds Seasons in Apple Mac App Store (SGD$4.99, Rovio)

Angry Birds Seasons (S$4.99, Rovio)
With the dragon year, the new update from Rovio brings an all new mystical dragon, as well as tons of unique levels, and exploding fireworks that light up the night sky.

Tropico 3: Gold Edition from the Apple Mac App Store (SGD$34.99, Feral Interactive)

Tropico 3: Gold Edition (S$34.99, Feral Interactive)
Ever wonder what it’s like to own your own island? Tropico 3 has you covered, dropping you into a tropical paradiso where you call the shots. Rule with an iron fist or velvet glove as you expand your economy, and turn your land into a tourist mecca or military empire!

Cake Mania Main Street from Apple Mac App Store (SGD$4.99, Digital Chocolate)

Cake Mania Main Street (S$4.99, Digital Chocolate)
Try your hand at city management in this all-new take on the Cake Mania franchise. Own multiple storefronts, upgrade your inventory, and grow your village into a shoppers paradise.

Fantastical from the Apple Mac App Store (SGD$19.99, Flexibits)

Fantastical (S$19.99, Flexibits)
Our favorite calendar companion for Mac is now additionally fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, & German languages with its latest update. Type out the details of your appointment or event in normal speak and this app will schedule it for you right away.

PDFpenPro from Apple Mac App Store (SGD$99.99, Smile Software)

PDFpenPro (S$99.99, Smile Software)
This powerful PDF editor comes with a wealth of functions including custom form creation and makes for a great alternative to the more expensive Adobe Acrobat Pro. It’s newest update enhances the app with iCloud to allow for document sharing with its new PDFpen app for iPad.

Tags:Apple, Apps, Mac
Posted in App, Apple, Desktops, Games, Mac OS, Notebooks, Prices, Software | 1 Comment »

Review: Wacom Bamboo Fun graphics tablet

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Looking to improve efficiency in your photo-editing workflow? Or want to inject some fun and realism into your digital sketching? Check out the Wacom Bamboo series of graphics tablets.

Wacom Bamboo Fun graphics tablet

I’ve been trying out the Wacom Bamboo Fun graphics tablet for some time, using it with a whole spectrum of software during daily use, from photo-editing to digital sketching and painting, and as a replacement for the trusty old mouse – for navigating and interacting with Windows 7.

I came away pretty impressed with the S$329 (incl 7% GST) graphics tablet. It offers a good balance of price versus performance – and fun. If you’re into lots of digital sketching and painting, do check out the Bamboo Fun.

Bamboo Fun is compatible with both Windows (7, Vista, XP SP3 or later) and Macs (OS X 10.5.8 or later, Intel processor).

The graphics tablet measures 352 x 209 x 9.8mm with a relatively large active area of 217 x 137 mm.

Digital artwork

Something I wrote using the pen with Bamboo Fun in Painter Essentials.

When it comes to precise cursor-work, such as during digital drawing, sketching, tracing, colouring and painting – where fine precision is needed – the stylus pen is the undisputed tool-of choice.

The Bamboo Fun comes bundled with Corel Essentials 4 drawing/painting software.

The pen allowed detailed strokes impossible with the mouse.

Moreover, the pen is pressure-sensitive up to 1024 levels so you can use pressure to vary parameters such as the darkness of the drawing stroke, the amount of paint to apply, or the thickness of the stroke etc.

The pen comes with a pressure sensitive eraser as well, just like a real pencil!

It's the dragon year, so here's the Chinese character for dragon, with embellishments.

The only hassle I find is having to pick up and put down the pen when I need to use my right hand to type or press a key on the computer keyboard.

With the mouse, you just let go and it stays in place, ready to be moved the next time you need to do something.

With the pen, you need to place down the pen flat on the table and make sure it doesn’t roll off the table if your worktop is not flat.

And when you next need to use it again, you need to pick up the pen, and place the tip to the graphics tablet before you begin. With the mouse, once you touch the mouse, you can start moving the cursor.

This is a niggling hassle characteristic of all stylus pen-based graphics tablets.

I find the performance of the pen much better than those of graphics tablets I’ve used before – in terms of precision, pressure sensitivity and lag between moving the pen and the appearance of the stroke on the computer screen.

Replacement for the mouse

As a replacement for the mouse, it was equally capable and more intuitive, and less strenuous for the wrist.

(more…)

Tags:Bamboo, Fun, graphics tablets, review, Wacom
Posted in Accessories, Gadgets, Graphics tablets, Mac OS, Prices, Review, Software, Specifications, Wacom, Windows 7 | 5 Comments »

Apple’s Mac App Store hits 100 million downloads

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

In less than one year, 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store.

Apple's Mac App Store tops 100 million downloads.

“With Autodesk products in both the App Store and Mac App Store, we can reach hundreds of millions of Apple users around the world,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Platform Solutions and Emerging Business at Autodesk. “With our free AutoCAD WS and the more powerful professional drafting tools of AutoCAD LT, we’re using the Mac App Store to deliver new products and reach a growing base of new Mac customers.”With thousands of free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the App Store experience to the Mac.

Users can buy apps using their iTunes account, and download and install them in just one step.

Apple’s App Store now has more than 500,000 apps.

Overall, customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps and continue to download more than 1 billion apps per month.

The Mac App Store offers thousands of apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories.

“The Mac App Store has unparalleled reach and has completely transformed our distribution and development cycle,” said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. “Offering Pixelmator 2.0 exclusively on the Mac App Store allows us to streamline updates to our image editing software and stay ahead of the competition.”Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, see staff favourites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews.

The Mac App Store is included with Mac OS X Lion and is available as a software update for any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

Mac developers set the prices for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees.

Tags:Apple, Apps, downloads, Mac, Mac OS
Posted in App, Apple, Desktops, Figures, Gadgets, Mac OS, Software, Tech news | No Comments »

New headphones: Bose AE2i

Saturday, November 19th, 2011

Atlas Sound & Vision has launched the Bose AE2i audio headphones (S$269) in Singapore. The New design features inline remote and microphone for Apple products.

Bose AE2i audio headphones at S$269 from Atlas Sound & Vision.

The AE2i features an around-ear design and includes an application of proprietary Bose TriPort acoustic headphone structure.

Price and availability

The Bose AE2i headphones are available at S$269 from selected partners and the Atlas Experience Audio Visual Boutique @ TripleOne Somerset, and Bose @ MilleniaWalk.

Existing Bose AE2 headphone owners can achieve the same control of Apple products with the AE2 remote and microphone accessory, sold separately at S$65.

Accessing voice applications is easy using the new inline microphone – from taking calls on an iPhone, to using FaceTime on a MacBook Pro.

The simple, three-button remote allows users to adjust volume, select tracks, and seamlessly switch between calls and music.

Proprietary ear cushions and an ergonomic design distributes weight evenly, reducing irritating pressure points to allow hours of comfortable listening.

The Bose AE2i works exclusively with Apple iPhone, iPod, iPad, and MacBook Pro.

The Bose AE2i works with Apple iPhone, iPod, iPad, and MacBook Pro.

For lasting quality and durability the AE2i is designed with features such as fold-flat ear cups and a single, detachable cable.

A carrying bag is included for added convenience.

BoseÒ Corporation was founded in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Today, the company is primarily known for its research in acoustics, which has produced inventions that have improved the performance of sound systems.

Tags:Atlas, Bose, headphones
Posted in Accessories, Audio, Gadgets, iOS, Launch, Mac OS | No Comments »

SingTel launches Singapore’s first e-book service

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Skoob is the first service to offer works by Singapore writers as well as study guides and educational books for local primary and secondary school students.

First e-book service to accept payments in SGD. Significant savings versus the cost of traditional paper books.

Launched by Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today, skoob offers more than 39,000 local and international bestsellers for smartphones, tablets and PCs.

“The Singapore market has long been overlooked by e-book services from abroad. With the launch of skoob, Singapore readers finally have a service that offers local books and caters specifically to their tastes and needs,” said Goh Seow Eng, SingTel’s Chief of Digital Home.It is the first e-book service to accept payments in Singapore dollars and offers tremendous savings versus the cost of traditional paper books.

For example, fans of John Grisham can enjoy his novel, The Confession, at S$9.00 instead of S$17.07 at a bookshop.

Neil Humphreys’ acclaimed Complete Notes from Singapore is available at S$13.90 instead of S$29.90.

“It also provides local publishers and writers with a powerful digital platform that allows them to reach a wider audience,” Goh added.Skoob also offers a range of classics for free download, such as Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

Skoob is available on Apple and Android tablets and smartphones via a free app. It can also be enjoyed on PCs and Macs using standard browsers.

For iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and smartphones, and PCs

International best sellers from the top 6 global publishers: Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Simon and Schuster and Macmillan

Customers have the flexibility to download books on up to five devices. Payments can be made via Singapore credit cards. SingTel customers can choose to have purchases conveniently charged to their monthly bills.

“We are continuously working with publishers to expand our catalogue. We believe skoob’s range of local study guides and educational books will be well received by school students, and we are looking to include assessment papers soon,” Goh revealed.Mr Goh said that skoob is an important addition to SingTel’s growing suite of multimedia offerings, which includes the AMPed music service, deF!ND digital concierge, ESC games service, De!ite e-magazine service, exCite web video app and mio TV.

Skoob offers titles from six global publishing houses: Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Simon and Schuster and Macmillan.

The service carries local titles, study guides and educational books from: Popular, Marshall Cavendish, Cengage Learning, Asiapac, Flame of the Forest, McGraw Hill, Sunbear, Monsoon, Singapore Asia Publishers (SAP) and Janus Education.

Chinese language books will be available soon.

Tags:Android, Apple, BlackBerry, desk, eBook, notebooks, smartphone, tablets
Posted in Android, App, iOS, Launch, Mac OS, SingTel, Software, Windows 7 | No Comments »

GarageBand now available for Apple iPhone and iPod

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

GarageBand 1.1 for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch is available on the App Store for USD$4.49 to new users, or as a free update for existing GarageBand for iPad customers.

GarageBand 1.1 for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch is available on the App Store

GarageBand is a universal app that runs on iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod touch (3rd & 4th generation).

The music creation app from Apple was Introduced earlier this year on the iPad. GarageBand uses Apple’s Multi-Touch interface to make it easy for anyone to create and record their own songs, even if they’ve never played an instrument before.

GarageBand features a collection of fun Touch Instruments that sound great and make it easy for beginners or experienced musicians to play and record keyboards, guitars, drums and basses in a wide variety of styles.

“The innovative Multi-Touch interface combined with Smart Instruments makes it easy to create great sounding music, even if you’ve never studied music or played an instrument before,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.Smart Instruments now allow you to choose from an extensive new library of custom chords so you can play and strum along with your favourite songs.

You can plug your electric guitar into iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to play and record through classic amps and stompbox effects, or record your voice or any acoustic sound using the built-in microphone.

GarageBand allows you to record and mix up to eight tracks and then share your finished song with friends or send it to your Mac to keep working on it in GarageBand or Logic Pro.

Tags:Apple, Apps, GarageBand, music
Posted in App, Apple, Gadgets, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Launch, Mac OS, Music, Phones, Prices, Software, Tablets | No Comments »

£5,000,000 for an iPad 2

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

Anybody up for an iPad 2 crusted with T-Rex bone, 24-carat gold and 12.5 carats of diamonds? Better hurry cos’ it’s already 50% sold out and it’s only going for — £5,000,000!

Only two will be made by British designer Stuart Hughes, and one has already been sold to an undisclosed customer, so hurry before you miss the purchase of a life time.

Stuart is well-known for a series of ‘ultra-luxury’ gadgets, which includes the world’s most expensive phone – a £5,000,000 gold and diamond encrusted iPhone; and a £219,000 Macbook Air that’s coated with 24-carat gold 53 diamonds.

Check out the original story by Rob Waugh of Daily Mail.

Tags:Apple, iOS, iPad, iPhone, MacBook, notebooks, smartphone, tablets
Posted in Apple, Gadgets, Humour, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Lifestyle, Mac OS, Notebooks, Phones, Prices, Tablets | No Comments »

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