New Apple Mac Pro Available Starting Tomorrow

The highly anticipated Mac Pro will be available to order tomorrow from the Apple Online Store, prices start at £3,299 inc VAT (£2,749.17 ex VAT).

Press release:


CUPERTINO, California―December 18, 2013―Apple today announced the all-new Mac Pro will be available to order starting Thursday, December 19. Redesigned from the inside out, the all-new Mac Pro features the latest Intel Xeon processors, dual workstation-class GPUs, PCIe-based flash storage and ultra-fast ECC memory.

Designed around an innovative unified thermal core, the all-new Mac Pro packs unprecedented performance into an aluminium enclosure that is just 9.9-inches tall and one-eighth the volume of the previous generation. Mac Pro features 4-core, 6-core, 8-core or 12-core Intel Xeon processors running at Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz and two workstation-class AMD FirePro GPUs that deliver up to eight times the graphics performance of the previous generation Mac Pro.* PCIe-based flash storage delivers sequential read speeds up to 10 times faster than conventional desktop hard drives, and ECC DDR3 gives the new Mac Pro up to 60GBps of memory bandwidth for seamlessly editing full-resolution 4K video while simultaneously rendering effects in the background. With an incredible six Thunderbolt 2 ports, each with up to 20Gbps of bandwidth per device, the new Mac Pro completely redefines desktop expandability with support for up to 36 high-performance peripherals, including the latest 4K displays.

Pricing & Availability
The Mac Pro is available with a 3.7 GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, dual AMD FirePro D300 GPUs with 2GB of VRAM each, 12GB of memory, and 256GB of PCIe-based flash storage starting at £2,499 inc VAT (£2,082.50 ex VAT); and with a 3.5 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon E5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, dual AMD FirePro D500 GPUs with 3GB of VRAM each, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of PCIe-based flash storage starting at £3,299 inc VAT (£2,749.17 ex VAT). Configure-to-order options include faster 8-core or 12-core Intel Xeon E5 processors, AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB of VRAM, up to 64GB of memory, and up to 1TB of PCIe-based flash storage. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/uk/mac-pro.

The all-new Mac Pro will be available to order starting Thursday, December 19 through the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers.


*Testing conducted by Apple in October 2013 using preproduction Mac Pro 12-core 2.7 GHz units with 1TB flash storage and AMD FirePro D700 graphics, and shipping Mac Pro 12-core 3.06 GHz units with 512GB SSD and ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics.

http://test.skimlinks.com 

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 - Now Available To Download From The Mac App Store

This new release to the Mac App Store represents a substantial release for Adobe. It will join Photoshop Elements 10 Editor and Premier Elements 10 Editor as well as the subscription based app Revel.

Adobe Photoshop LIghtroom 4 retails for $149.99/£99.99 You can download it here.

Android & iOS - FUJIFILM Photo Receiver - New App

If your digital camera is equipped for connection to a wireless network, this new photo receiver app by FUJIFILM will make uploading images to your iOS or Android smartphones and tablets very simple. Once the shots have been uploaded you then have the facility to share them via Facebook or Twitter.

This is a free app and looks like it will prove to be very useful,

iOS - click here to download.

Android - click here to download

Supported Cameras

At present you're limited to the FujiFilm Finepix Z1000EXR and the Z1010EXR cameras.

How To Use This App

 

1    Start FUJIFILM Photo Receiver.
        
2 On the camera, select playback mode and display a picture you want to upload.
        
3 Simultaneously tap  Connect on the smartphone and  on the camera.
        
4 When the camera locates the smartphone, its name will appear in the camera display (you can enter a new name for the smartphone in the “Name” field at any time).
        
5 Confirm that the name of the destination smartphone is correct and tap START SENDING on the camera.
        
6 To upload additional pictures, display them on the camera and tap . Up to 30 pictures can be uploaded in a single session.
        
7 To end the session, tap End on the smartphone or BACK on the camera.

 

Viewing The Images

 

8 To view the pictures, tap Photos (iOS) or Gallery (Android).

9 The app can be also be launched by pressing the SNS (iOS) or share button (Android).

Life 75 - New iPad App To Celebrate 75th Anniversary Of Life Magazine

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, LIFE's editors have drawn on its extraordinarily rich photo collection to produce the LIFE 75 App, a selection of the very best of LIFE. Offering a unique viewing experience, the LIFE 75 App features more than 200 photos and related magazine covers, along with video and audio clips that tell the story of how LIFE was made.

Seventy-five years ago, TIME publisher Henry Luce launched a new weekly magazine that he called "the biggest picture show on earth." The magazine, LIFE, was an instant hit and became the gold standard for photojournalism. LIFE has covered war and celebrity, heroes and villains, nature and society, along the way amassing millions of powerful images. Today, LIFE's tradition carries on as a line of richly illustrated books, the popular website LIFE.com, as well as LIFE apps. 



This app retails for $12.99/£8.99 and you can download it here.

Features Include

 

•A unique interactive layout, presenting LIFE's greatest photos in landscape view and related covers in portrait mode


•Numerous audio clips featuring LIFE’s past and present editors and photographers, providing exclusive insight on their time at LIFE


•Video clips in which LIFE's most brilliant photographers tell how they got their shots


•An interactive game, Editor’s Choice: Can you choose the photo that made the cut?


•Galleries of rarely seen photos, available only in LIFE 75
•Multiple navigation points, including a "decades bar" that sorts the photos from the 1930s to the 2000s.


Topics Include

 

•Up Close with the Stars: Hollywood's brightest lights gave unfettered access to their lives. The result: special pictures of the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor.


•Memorable Moments: LIFE; was always present to capture the crucial instant, from Gen. Douglas MacArthur landing in the Philippines to Martin Luther King Jr. launching his civil-rights crusade.


•In the Wild: LIFE offers a menagerie of the exotic and domestic, the cute and the terrifying.


•At War: LIFE's intrepid photographers brought home the horror and the heroism, including images that helped changed how Americans felt about Vietnam.


•Heroes and Villains: LIFE made unforgettable portraits of some of the most admired and reviled people of our time.


•LIFE Classics: The sailor kissing the nurse. The Marlboro Man. LIFE published images that became nothing short of iconic.


•Magical Places: The Taj Mahal by moonlight, Mt. Everest in sharpest daylight. Witness some of the world’s greatest scenic and architectural wonders.

Daily App Giveaway - PhotoForge2 - On Our Sister Site -TheAppWhisperer.com

Theappwhisperer.com is an awesome site for all your mobile photographic app needs. Each day they have an app giveaway and today they have Snapseed for iPad codes to giveaway. Don't miss this opportunity, head over to our sister site, here and pick up this app today.

PhotoForge2 is a breakthrough for image editing on the go. Edit full resolution photos just like on your desktop. True layers support means you can now composite multiple photos into amazing works of art. Unparalleled powerful tools like curves and levels allow you to manipulate your photos with ease. Amazing filters and effects will allow even a beginner to transform their photos into masterpieces. Once your photo is ready to be seen by the world, easily send to friends and family directly from PhotoForge2. PhotoForge2 is a must have app for any photographer: easy enough for beginners to start getting creative, yet powerful enough for the professional on the go.

 

Apple intros iCloud

As expected Apple has introduced iCloud, a wide-ranging set of free cloud services.

Free Cloud Services Beyond Anything Offered to Date

SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2011—Apple today introduced iCloud, a breakthrough set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your devices. When anything changes on one of your devices, all of your devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly. 

“Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.”

The free iCloud services include:

• The former MobileMe services—Contacts, Calendar and Mail—all completely re-architected and rewritten to work seamlessly with iCloud. Users can share calendars with friends and family, and the ad-free push Mail account is hosted at me.com. Your inbox and mailboxes are kept up-to-date across all your iOS devices and computers.

• The App Store and iBookstore now download purchased iOS apps and books to all your devices, not just the device they were purchased on. In addition, the App Store and iBookstore now let you see your purchase history, and simply tapping the iCloud icon will download any apps and books to any iOS device (up to 10 devices) at no additional cost.

• iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up your iOS devices to iCloud daily over Wi-Fi when you charge your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Backed up content includes purchased music, apps and books, Camera Roll (photos and videos), device settings and app data. If you replace your iOS device, just enter your Apple ID and password during setup and iCloud restores your new device. 

• iCloud Storage seamlessly stores all documents created using iCloud Storage APIs, and automatically pushes them to all your devices. When you change a document on any device, iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all your devices. Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps already take advantage of iCloud Storage. Users get up to 5GB of free storage for their mail, documents and backup—which is more amazing since the storage for music, apps and books purchased from Apple, and the storage required by Photo Stream doesn’t count towards this 5GB total. Users will be able to buy even more storage, with details announced when iCloud ships this fall.

• iCloud’s innovative Photo Stream service automatically uploads the photos you take or import on any of your devices and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices and computers. So you can use your iPhone to take a dozen photos of your friends during the afternoon baseball game, and they will be ready to share with the entire group on your iPad (or even Apple TV) when you return home. Photo Stream is built into the photo apps on all iOS devices, iPhoto on Macs, and saved to the Pictures folder on a PC. To save space, the last 1,000 photos are stored on each device so they can be viewed or moved to an album to save forever. Macs and PCs will store all photos from the Photo Stream, since they have more storage. iCloud will store each photo in the cloud for 30 days, which is plenty of time to connect your devices to iCloud and automatically download the latest photos from Photo Stream via Wi-Fi.

• iTunes in the Cloud lets you download your previously purchased iTunes music to all your iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all your devices. In addition, music not purchased from iTunes can gain the same benefits by using iTunes Match, a service that replaces your music with a 256 kbps AAC DRM-free version if we can match it to the over 18 million songs in the iTunes Store, it makes the matched music available in minutes (instead of weeks to upload your entire music library), and uploads only the small percentage of unmatched music. iTunes Match will be available this fall for a $24.99 annual fee. Apple today is releasing a free beta version of iTunes in the Cloud, without iTunes Match, for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users running iOS 4.3. iTunes in the Cloud will support all iPhones that iOS 5 supports this fall.

Apple is ready to ramp iCloud in its three data centers, including the third recently completed in Maiden, NC. Apple has invested over $500 million in its Maiden data center to support the expected customer demand for the free iCloud services. 

Pricing & Availability 
The iCloud beta and Cloud Storage APIs are available immediately to iOS and Mac Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iCloud will be available this fall concurrent with iOS 5. Users can sign up for iCloud for free on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running Mac OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. iTunes Match will be available for $24.99 per year (US only). 

iTunes in the Cloud is available today in the US and requires iTunes 10.3 and iOS 4.3.3. Automatic download of apps and books is available today. Using iCloud with a PC requires Windows Vista or Windows 7; Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended for accessing contacts and calendars.

Apple reveals OS X Lion

Apple has announced the next major release of OS X (or Lion as its being called) and includes new Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; the Mac App Store built right into the OS and Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app. It will be available from July for just £20.99

Mac OS X Lion With 250 New Features Available in July From Mac App Store

SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2011—Apple today announced that Mac OS X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system with more than 250 new features and 3,000 new developer APIs, will be available to customers in July as a download from the Mac App Store for £20.99. Some of the amazing features in Lion include: new Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; the Mac App Store, the best place to find and explore great software, built right into the OS; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app. 

“The Mac has outpaced the PC industry every quarter for five years running and with OS X Lion we plan to keep extending our lead,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The best version of OS X yet, Lion is packed with innovative features such as new Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, and Mission Control for instantly accessing everything running on your Mac.”

New Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations built into Lion let you interact directly with content on the screen for a more intuitive way to use your Mac. New gestures include momentum scrolling, tapping or pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, and swiping left or right to turn a page or switch between full screen apps. All Mac notebooks ship with Multi-Touch trackpads and desktop Macs can use Apple’s Magic Trackpad.

Full screen apps take advantage of the entire display and are perfect for reading email, surfing the web or browsing photos, especially on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. With a single click your app fills the display and you can swipe from one window to another, between full screen apps, or back to your Desktop, Dashboard or Spaces without ever leaving full screen. iWork and iLife apps, as well as Safari, iTunes, Mail, FaceTime and others, all take advantage of Lion’s system-wide support for full screen apps.

Mission Control combines Exposé, full screen apps, Dashboard and Spaces into one unified experience for a bird’s eye view of every app and window running on your Mac. With a simple swipe, your desktop zooms out to display your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full screen apps and your Dashboard, and allows you to instantly navigate anywhere with a tap.

The Mac App Store is built into Lion and is the best place to discover great new Mac apps, buy them with your iTunes account, download and install them. Apps automatically install directly to Launchpad, and with Lion’s release, the Mac App Store will be able to deliver smaller “delta” app updates and new apps that can take advantage of features like In-App Purchase and Push Notifications.

Launchpad makes it easier than ever to find and launch any app. With a single Multi-Touch gesture, all your Mac apps are displayed in a stunning full screen layout. You can organise apps in any order or into folders and swipe through unlimited pages of apps to find the one you want. 

Lion includes a completely redesigned Mail app with an elegant widescreen layout. The new Conversations feature groups related messages into an easily scrollable timeline, intelligently hiding repeated text so the conversation is easy to follow, and retaining graphics and attachments as they were originally sent. An incredibly powerful new search feature allows you to refine your search and suggests matches by person, subject and label as you type. Mail includes built-in support for Microsoft Exchange 2010.

Additional new features in Lion include:

• Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;
• Auto Save, which automatically and continuously saves your documents as you work;
• Versions, which automatically records the history of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, revert and even copy and paste from previous versions; and
• AirDrop, which finds nearby Macs and automatically sets up a peer-to-peer wireless connection to make transferring files quick and easy.

Pricing & Availability 
Mac OS X Lion will be available in July as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard from the Mac App Store for £20.99. Lion will be the easiest OS X upgrade and at about 4GB, it is the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store. Mac OS X Lion Server requires Lion and will be available in July from the Mac App Store for £34.99. 

Lion requires an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM. The Lion upgrade can be installed on all your authorised personal Macs.

The Mac OS X Lion Up-To-Date upgrade is available at no additional charge via the Mac App Store to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorised Reseller on or after June 6, 2011. Users must request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchase of their Mac computer. Customers who purchase a qualifying Mac between June 6, 2011 and the date when Lion is available in the Mac App Store will have 30 days from Lion’s official release date to make a request. 

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.

Adobe Nav for Photoshop - New iPad App

With Adobe Nav—a Photoshop Touch app for Adobe Photoshop CS5 software (version 12.0.4 or later required)—you can now use your iPad to activate Photoshop tools and browse and select open Photoshop documents. As long as you have a network connection between your iPad and computer, you can customize the Photoshop CS5 toolbar on your iPad to easily access the tools you use most. Browse, reorder, view, and zoom in on up to 200 open Photoshop documents on your iPad. Tap a document on your iPad to immediately make it active in Photoshop CS5. And use your iPad to easily share and review files you are working on in Photoshop CS5 while you are away from your desk or computer.

 

•Use your fingertips to select Photoshop CS5 tools from your iPad screen.
•Customize the way the Photoshop CS5 toolbar appears on your iPad screen to make your most-used tools easily accessible. You can save one Adobe Nav toolbar configuration with up to 16 tools.
•Browse, reorder, view, and zoom in on up to 200 open Photoshop documents on your iPad screen.
•Tap any open document in Photoshop on your iPad to make it the active document in Photoshop CS5.

Extend the Photoshop CS5 experience to your iPad with Adobe Nav for Photoshop.

Requirements:
•You need Photoshop CS5 version 12.0.4 or later to connect this app with the desktop version of Photoshop
•Current Photoshop CS5 users must update their copies of Photoshop CS5 to version 12.0.4 or later to use this app with their copy of Photoshop CS5
•This app will not work with Photoshop CS4 or earlier

To update your copy of Photoshop CS5 to version 12.0.4 or later, do one of the following:
•Download the update from www.adobe.com.
•Select Check for Updates from the Help menu in Photoshop CS5.

This app is available for $1.99 from the Apple App Store and you can download it here.

Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop - New iPad App

With Adobe Color Lava —a Photoshop Touch app for Adobe Photoshop CS5 software (version 12.0.4 or later required)— you can now use your iPad and your fingertips to mix colors and create custom swatches and five-swatch color themes. Immediately access those color creations within Photoshop CS5—all you need is a network connection between your iPad and your computer. Or use Adobe Color Lava on the go whenever inspiration strikes, and then save your colors on your iPad to bring into Photoshop CS5 when you're connected. You can also email your Adobe Color Lava creations to yourself and others.

 

•Dab, smudge, and swirl your way to creating unique individual color swatches and five-swatch color themes.
•Interact with Photoshop CS5 in real time. Simply tap a swatch on your iPad to make it the foreground color in your Photoshop CS5 Color panel—or create a color theme and see your colors instantly in the Color panel.
•Make fine adjustments to your color creations using Hue/Saturation sliders, and view HSB and RGB values.
•Mix colors even when you’re away from your computer. You can save them on your iPad to bring into Photoshop CS5 when you’re connected.
•Easily share your swatches and color themes by emailing them directly from Adobe Color Lava.

Take your creativity mobile with Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop CS5.

Requirements:
•You need Photoshop CS5 version 12.0.4 or later to connect this app with the desktop version of Photoshop
•Current Photoshop CS5 users must update their copies of Photoshop CS5 to version 12.0.4 or later to use this app with their copy of Photoshop CS5
•This app will not work with Photoshop CS4 or earlier

To update your copy of Photoshop CS5 to version 12.0.4 or later, do one of the following:
•Download the update from www.adobe.com.
•Select Check for Updates from the Help menu in Photoshop CS5.

This app is $2.99 in the Apple App Store and you can download it here

Adobe Eazel for Photoshop - New iPad App

With Adobe Eazel —a Photoshop Touch app for Adobe Photoshop CS5 software (version 12.0.4 or later required)— you can now use your iPad and your fingertips to create beautiful paintings. Get amazing color blends thanks to a painting technology that offers a new kind of interaction between “wet” and “dry” paint. Enjoy a unique user interface that lets you paint across the entire expanse of your iPad screen and easily access the tools you want.

As long as you have a network connection between your iPad and computer, you can send your Adobe Eazel artwork directly to Photoshop CS5 from anywhere you are. Then you can enhance a higher-resolution version of your artwork using industry-leading image-editing tools. Or do all your painting in Adobe Eazel. You can always share your work via email or save it to the built-in Photos app on your iPad.

•Paint beautiful works of art using just your fingertips.
•Mix “wet” and “dry” paint to create rich, realistic color blends. Breakthrough technology allows digital paint to “dry” over time.
•Paint more freely using the entire iPad screen. Controls for changing color, opacity, brush size, and other settings appear only when you place all five fingers on the screen.
•Send your paintings directly to Photoshop CS5, where they’ll be re-rendered at a higher resolution and can be saved in any file format you choose. (Photoshop CS5 must be open, and a network connection between your iPad and computer is required.)
•Save paintings to your iPad Photos app, and then email them as JPEG files.

Take your creativity mobile with Adobe Eazel for Photoshop.

Requirements:
•You need Photoshop CS5 version 12.0.4 or later to connect this app with the desktop version of Photoshop
•Current Photoshop CS5 users must update their copies of Photoshop CS5 to version 12.0.4 or later to use this app with their copy of Photoshop CS5
•This app will not work with Photoshop CS4 or earlier

To update your copy of Photoshop CS5 to version 12.0.4 or later, do one of the following:
•Download the update from www.adobe.com.
•Select Check for Updates from the Help menu in Photoshop CS5.

Available in the following languages:
English, French, German, and Japanese

This app is available from the Apple App Store for $4.99, you can download it here

Apple outs iMac with Thunderbolt I/O, new processors, graphics cards

One of the shortcomings of the current iMac is the bottleneck of data caused by the FW800 port, if it had eSATA then great but the update announced today circumvents that with Thunderbolt. While the new processors and whopping 2GB vRAM are to be welcomed the clever Thunderbolt I/O masquerading as a mini Display-port is reason enough to make the upgrade. Apple has even gone one better than the MacBook Pro and provided two Thunderbolt ports, so you can add your external storage (you can daisy-chain up to 6 devices) and keep your second 27-inch monitor.

Press release:

Apple Announces New iMac With Next Generation Quad-Core Processors, Graphics & Thunderbolt I/O Technology 

CUPERTINO, California—May 3, 2011—Apple today updated its signature all-in-one iMac with next generation quad-core processors, powerful new graphics, groundbreaking high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology and a new FaceTime HD camera. Starting at £999.00 inc VAT, the new iMac is up to 70 percent faster and new graphics deliver up to three times the performance of the previous generation.*

“Our customers love the iMac’s aluminum enclosure, gorgeous display and all-in-one design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With next generation quad-core processors, powerful new graphics, Thunderbolt technology and a FaceTime HD camera, we've made the world’s best desktop even better.”

The new iMac features quad-core Intel Core i5 processors with an option for customers to choose Core i7 processors up to 3.4 GHz. These next generation processors feature an integrated memory controller for an amazingly responsive experience and a powerful new media engine for high-performance video encoding and decoding. With new AMD Radeon HD graphics processors, the new iMac has the most powerful graphics ever in an all-in-one desktop.

iMac is the first desktop computer on the market to include groundbreaking Thunderbolt I/O technology. The 21.5-inch iMac has a single Thunderbolt port while the 27-inch model features two ports for even greater expansion. Developed by Intel with collaboration from Apple, Thunderbolt enables expandability never before possible on an all-in-one computer. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices, and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters. Thunderbolt also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Freely available for implementation on systems, cables and devices, Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O.

iMac includes a built-in FaceTime HD camera and Apple’s innovative FaceTime software for crisp, widescreen video calling the whole family can enjoy. The new camera supports high definition video calls between all FaceTime HD-enabled Macs and standard resolution calls with iPad 2, iPhone 4, the current generation iPod touch and other Intel-based Macs. The iMac continues to feature its signature aluminum and glass design, gorgeous IPS LED-backlit high resolution display, SD card slot and comes with Apple’s innovative Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad. 

Continuing Apple’s commitment to the environment, Apple’s desktop line is a leader in green design. The iMac meets stringent Energy Star 5.2 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold rating.** iMac features LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iMac uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants, uses highly recyclable materials and features material-efficient system and packaging designs. 

Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for creating and sharing great photos, movies and music. Snow Leopard builds on more than a decade of innovation and includes the Mac App Store for finding great new apps for your Mac. iLife ’11 features iPhoto with stunning full screen views for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use tools to transform home videos into fun theatrical trailers; and GarageBand with new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs.

Pricing & Availability 
The new iMac is available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/uk), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers. The 21.5-inch iMac is available in two configurations: one with a 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 500GB hard drive for a suggested retail price of £999.00 inc VAT (£832.50 ex VAT); and one with a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6770M and 1TB hard drive for a suggested retail price of £1249.00 inc VAT (£1040.83 ex VAT). The new 27-inch iMac is available in two models: one with a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6770M and 1TB hard drive for a suggested retail price of £1399.00 inc VAT (£1165.83 ex VAT); and one with a 3.1 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6970M and 1TB hard drive for a suggested retail price of £1649.00 inc VAT (£1374.17 ex VAT).

Configure-to-order options include faster Intel Core i7 processors up to 3.4 GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 2TB, a 256GB solid state drive, additional DDR3 memory and AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional technical specifications and configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/uk/imac.

*Testing conducted by Apple in April 2011 using preproduction iMac configurations. For more information visit www.apple.com/uk/imac/features.html. 

**Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA ENERGY STAR 5.2 energy database as of April 2011. EPEAT is an independent organisation that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognised as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT programme was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

Earth Periodical - New Digital iPad Magazine Launched Today - It's Free - For A Limited Time

Written by a team of professional journalists and photographers passionate about both still and video photography, EP is must-download for any photographer needing a fix of beautiful shots to inspire them to get out with their camera.

 

Nature kit reviews

Every issue features a round-up of the types of kit that photographers love: in the first issue we check out handheld GPS units for finding your way in the wilderness. In issue two we’ll be checking out some of the best lenses to use - at budgets from practically nothing to the price of a sports car - to capture the ideal shot.

Get shooting!

Earth Periodical wants to tap the enthusiasm and dedication of the thousands of dedicated amateur wildlife photographers in the British isles, not only by showcasing the best in wildlife photography in its pages, but by encouraging photographers to send in their images - the best of which will be covered in the pages of EP.

Earth Periodical is available now from the Apple App Store, and will be free for a limited period.

Download

Apple updates MacBook Pro

Apple Updates MacBook Pro with Next Generation Processors, Graphics & Thunderbolt I/O Technology

CUPERTINO, California—February 24, 2011—Apple today updated the industry-leading MacBook Pro family with next generation processors and graphics, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology and a new FaceTime HD camera. Featuring the very latest dual-core and quad-core Intel Core processors, the entire MacBook Pro line is up to twice as fast as the previous generation.* 

“The new MacBook Pro brings next generation dual and quad Core processors, high performance graphics, Thunderbolt technology and FaceTime HD to the great design loved by our pro customers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro.”

Starting at £999.00 inc VAT (£832.50 ex VAT) the new 13-inch MacBook Pro offers amazing value and performance in a compact design. The highly portable 13-inch MacBook Pro features Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors up to 2.7 GHz and Intel HD Graphics 3000. The powerful 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature quad-core Core i7 processors up to 2.3 GHz and AMD Radeon HD graphics processors with up to 1GB of video memory for high performance gaming, pro video editing and graphics intensive applications.

MacBook Pro is the first computer on the market to include the groundbreaking Thunderbolt I/O technology. Developed by Intel with collaboration from Apple, Thunderbolt enables expandability never before possible on a notebook computer. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters. Thunderbolt also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Freely available for implementation on systems, cables and devices, Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O.

The MacBook Pro now includes a built-in FaceTime HD camera with triple the resolution of the previous generation for crisp, widescreen video calls. With Apple’s innovative FaceTime video calling software, the new camera allows high definition video calls between all new MacBook Pro models and supports standard resolution calls with other Intel-based Macs, iPhone 4 and the current generation iPod touch. FaceTime is included with all new MacBook Pro models and is available for other Intel-based Macs from the Mac App Store for £0.59. The MacBook Pro lineup continues to feature its gorgeous aluminium unibody enclosure, glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad, LED-backlit widescreen display, illuminated full-size keyboard and 7-hour battery.**

As the industry’s greenest notebook lineup, every Mac notebook achieves EPEAT Gold status and meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements, setting the standard for environmentally friendly notebook design.*** Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminium and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free and are constructed with recyclable materials.

Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for creating and sharing great photos, movies and music. Snow Leopard builds on more than a decade of innovation and includes multiple features for portable computing such as Multi-Touch navigation, advanced wireless networking, easy file sharing, automated data backup and intelligent power management. The new iLife ’11 features iPhoto with stunning full screen views for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use tools to transform home videos into fun theatrical trailers; and GarageBand with new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs.

Pricing & Availability 
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro, 15-inch MacBook Pro and 17-inch MacBook Pro are available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/uk), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is available in two configurations: one with a 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 320GB hard drive starting at £999.00 inc VAT (£832.50 ex VAT); and one with a 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 500GB hard drive starting at £1299.00 inc VAT (£1082.50 ex VAT). The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is available in two models: one with a 2.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6490M and 500GB hard drive starting at £1549.00 inc VAT (£1290.83 ex VAT) and one with a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750GB hard drive starting at £1849.00 inc VAT (£1540.83 ex VAT). The new 17-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750GB hard drive and is priced at £2099.00 inc VAT (£1749.17 ex VAT). 

Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.3 GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 750GB, solid state storage up to 512GB, more memory up to 8GB DDR3, antiglare and high-resolution display options and AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional technical specifications and configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/uk/macbookpro.

I'm told B&H in New York sells more Macs than Apple, you can see the prices here.

Top 10 Price Drops In The iOS Photography App Store - 02/21/11

Price drops are always occuring in the App Store, we're here to help you know what they are so you don't miss out on a bargain, take a look at these photography apps for example...

Xtrafolio Photo Portfolio Professional

This application provides you the possibility to personalise and the control to use your iPad as a professional photo Portfolio. With the Xtrafolio application your iPad will look as if it were designed especially for you.

Only you will be able to enter the hidden edit menu, with an optional passcode. You can change the way it looks, so it will fit your personal style. Change Background colours, change Folder colours even change Folder text colours. Add your Company Logo, use the optional Home Page where you can provide your client with information about you or your projects. Add a Watermark to the emailed images, add info to each image, change the sequence or delete images within Folders, the list is endless.

This is a must have app for any serious creative professional who want to use the iPad as a portfolio to show their work!

Half price $11.99/Download

Mega Camera

➤ All-In-One Multifunction camera app with MEGA Features
➤ On Sale For a Limited time ONLY
➤ Now with Geo-Tagging & Print option

Mega Camera is a full function camera app with over 25 customizable filters and effects that enables you to see the results LIVE before you take a picture. It also has a super fast burst mode and many photo editing features that enable you to create unique and fun pictures quickly and easily.

Whether you want to take sports photos or picture of kids, Mega Camera enables you to take up to 50 burst mode photos at rates of up to 20 shots per second, so you won't miss those special moments. You can also apply any of our filters and effects to all those photos as you take them and keep only the shots that you want.

You can also have fun with the live effects mode of Mega Camera, where you can watch a funny, distorted, or just different, world in full screen on your iPhone or iPod.

30% off $1.99/Download

GPS MapCard 2

GPS MapCard is FREE until 40,000 download for purpose of wide testing.

∙ Save your photo with map.
∙ Excellent quality with attention to detail.
∙ Automatically display the address where a photo was taken.
∙ Share MapCard on Twitter.

Now free/download

Photo.net Gallery

The online community of photo.net maintains extensive galleries of portfolios. These portfolios are from members who range from successful professionals to beginning photography enthusiasts.
In any case, the quality of images provided on photo.net is amazingly high and this application allows to you to view the tens of thousands photos available and browse through them in a leisurely way.

A photo.net account is not needed at all to use this application although an internet connection is required.

$1.99/Download

Time Lapse Photo Journal Pro (Upload & Share Videos)

Time Lapse Photo Journal makes it easy to create Photo Journals of your life by taking and adding photos of yourself, or your loved ones. Then you can play back the photos you take over the weeks, months and years, as Time Lapse video slideshows. And the video can be uploaded to Facebook and YouTube to share with your friends.

Now at $2.99/Download

MonoPhix HD

**-50% for an undetermined amount of time, grab MonoPhix HD while you can**

MonoPhix lets you quickly and easily create beautiful high contrast black and white scenes from your existing pictures. After opening an image you can use two sliders to adjust the intensity of light and shadow tones. Additional features enable you to apply vignetting, color your monochrome photo, set the alpha of the black & white to blend it with the colors of your original picture to get a magnificent effect and much more. MonoPhix HD is optimized for your iPad, is fun to use and produces beautiful results.

$0.99/Download

PhotoRaw

PhotoRaw for iOS is a viewer and developer for image files in raw format. Raw file formats from most camera manufacturers are supported, for example Nikon NEF files, Canon CR2 files, Leica DNG files, etc - see the product web site for a full list of supported cameras. PhotoRaw allows you to view these files at full 1:1 pixel resolution, even 16 mega-pixel plus images such as from a Nikon D3x or a Leica M9.

Most images viewers for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch are only able to display low resolution thumbnails of raw images, making it difficult to use the iPhone or iPad to evaluate and view raw files in the field. PhotoRaw changes all that. PhotoRaw incorporates a state-of-the-art AHD raw image demosaicing algorithm right into an iOS app. So now you can view every single pixel in a raw file, without needing a desktop machine or laptop.

50% Off

$9.99/download

GeoPhoto

Browse photos from around the world: just select an area in the map, select the number of results you want and click the search button.

Free for a limited time.

Download

Rick Sammon's Light It!

Rick Sammon’s Light It! is an iPad app that’s designed to help you make professional-quality digital SLR people pictures – without spending a small fortune on professional lighting accessories.

The app (packed with 1.5 GB of info) includes both video lessons and before/after photographs.

We suggest you download the app first to your computer and then transfer to your iPad.

Rick Sammon took the illustrative photographs with a range of digital SLR cameras – from entry-level to top-of-the-line models. While watching the video lessons, you’ll learn how pros photograph people indoors and outdoors, in bright light and in low light, at home and on location, and even in a studio. In looking at the photographs, you’ll see the effects of Rick’s recommended techniques.

50% Off

$4.99/Download

Photo Pool for iPad

Designed with photography teachers and photography clubs in mind (not casual browsing of flickr), Photo Pool allows you to view photos from your flickr groups and view the EXIF data, giving you some insight into the photographer's methods.

For those with an external display, such as a projector, Photo Pool will also display the photographs on that secondary display.

Free for a limited time/Download

No More MacBook Pros Until Thursday - Apple

So, you're desperate for an Apple MacBook Pro, well who could blame you. Apple are not accepting anymore orders until Thursday this week.

Don't despair it means you could get your hands on a brand new model. If you take a look, as we have on the Apple US Store, you will see that the current models are shipping within 3-5 business days, usually these laptops ship in 24 hours. That's because of course the new models are due out Thursday and Apple have just adjusted the time schedule right now on their site, but not the specs. That's something still to look forward to and if the rumor mill is anything to go by, it's going to be good. With SSD 'hard drives' and Sandy Bridge chipsets amongst others, we can't wait.

Apple Updates Digital Raw Compatiblity For Mac OS X v10.6

Digital camera RAW formats retain more image information than JPEGs and can produce better results when used with imaging applications such as Aperture and iPhoto. Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard provides system-level support for digital camera RAW formats from the following cameras:

This update adds RAW image compatibility for the following cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11:

    •    Canon EOS Rebel T3 / 1100D / Kiss X50
    •    Canon EOS Rebel T3i / 600D / Kiss X5
    •    Olympus E-5
    •    Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100
    •    Pentax K-r
    •    Pentax K-5

It also addresses processing issues for the following cameras:
    •    Nikon D7000
    •    Nikon COOLPIX P7000
    •    Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1
    •    Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2

The Photographer's Ephemeris iOS App Just Updated

One of our favorite apps, The Photographer's Ephemeris, helps you plan outdoor photography shoots, particularly landscape and urban scenes. It is a map-centric sun and moon calculator: see how the light will fall on the land, be it day or night, for any location on earth. This app has now been updated for the iPad UI and has many other fixes. As a photographer this app should definitely be on your radar/device.

TPE's map-based approach means you aren't limited to a predefined list of locations, which often don't include the places many photographers go. Instead, search for any place name on the planet or position the map pin exactly where you want it.

Advanced features including visual sun and moon search, automatic time zone and elevation detection, correction for atmospheric refraction and height above the horizon, ensuring that you have the best possible information for planning your shoot.

You can even determine when the sun or moon will be visible behind nearby hills and mountains.

Key features

- Time and direction of sunrise and sunset
- Time and direction of moonrise and moonset
- Phase of the moon and % illumination
- Times of civil, nautical and astronomical twilight
- Graphical display on a map (Map, Satellite and Hybrid views)
- Movable map pins - drag and drop the pin exactly where you need it
- Save any location you want - no fixed lists
- Does not require network connection for rise/set times and azimuths. (Note: maps and elevation do require a data connection)

Advanced features

- Automatic time zone detection for any location on earth
- Determines elevation above sea level
- View azimuth and altitude of sun/moon for any time of day/night
- Distance, bearing and elevation angle between any two points

Geek features

- Find when the sun/moon will appear from behind a hill
- Visual sun and moon search: find sunrise/set at a specified bearing between two map markers
- Compensation for atmospheric refraction
- Compensation for elevation above the horizon

TPE desktop version has been a favourite of photographers around the world for over a year. Now you can carry it with you.

$8.99/Download

New iPhoneography Competition - Pixels: The Art of iPhone

In December of 2009, Knox Bronson approached Rae Douglass at the Giorgi Gallery in Berkeley, California with the idea of presenting the first ever gallery exhibit of iPhone photography. Rae said yes, and within days, Knox had created a website and had put out a call for submissions through iphontography bloggers and flickr groups.

Pictures flooded in from all over the world. Amazing pictures, all done on iPhones. No editing on a computer was allowed, and suspect images were checked and removed if found to have been edited elsewhere.

Well, now Pixels: The Art of iPhone has just posted a call for entries for an iPhone Photography exhibition at the Orange County Center For Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, CA. The exhibition runs March 31-April 30, 2011.

All photos MUST be shot with and processed using an Apple iPhone.  No computer-based processing allowed.  Any model of the iPhone may be used. Any image found to be taken with another device or processed on a computer or iPad will result in entrant being disqualified and forfeiture of entry fee.

Winning entries will be printed and exhibited in the month-long exhibition. There will be a program printed with all works, which will be available for sale.

The Entry Fee is  $30.00 for five entries. Deadline for entries is February 27, 2011.

The exhibition runs March 31 – April 30, 2011 at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art. The Opening Night Celebration is Saturday, April 2, 2011, 6 PM-10 PM

Click here for much more information and entry submission on the Pixels: The Art of the iPhone website.

Vice President Of Design Leaves Apple

That's the latest news from Razorainfly, apparently, Sarah Brody, Apple’s Vice President of Design (up until this week), has reportedly left the company after being hired by online mirco-payments giant PayPal. Brody had many duties at Apple, actively working on both the iPhone, original iPod nano and even MobileMe.

Perhaps the most iconic job of them all though was that Brody was also responsible for the product packaging design of software packages such as Logic Studio, Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server and Aperture 3.

While we highly doubt this will be the end of iconic product packaging for Apple, you do have to ask yourself why someone like Brody, who has worked on products as the iPhone and iPod, would leave to work for someone like Paypal.

That said, maybe Brody will be assigned the task of making Paypal’s homepage look half decent … and that we definitely cannot argue with.

GeoLogTag Apple iPhone App review

We're great fans of GeoLog Tag here at the Digital Journal of Photography and also at our sister site, The App Whisperer , we have reviewed it in the past and always been impressed. This review concentrates on the latest updated version 3.3 that now includes support for geotagging Samsung RAW (SRW) photos, a fix for Mac geotagging when traveling through different timezones and a fix for Mac geotagging on an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network.
We put this app through its paces as the competition is heating up in the Apple app store of this style of app. Read our extensive review here...