Four mice for Aperture 2
“Easy and fun to use,” Aperture 2 is “an incredibly powerful tool for the professional or serious amateur photographer,” writes Russ Juskalian (macworld.com). Praising its “across the board speed improvements,” its “streamlined interface,” and such new tools as “ Vignette, Definition, Vibrancy, and others,” Juskalian calls Aperture 2 “the program photographers wanted all along.”
iPhone SDK Downloads top 100,000
In the first four days since its launch on March 6, more than 100,000 iPhone developers have downloaded the iPhone SDK, Apple today announced. Leading developers such as AOL, Electronic Arts, Epocrates, salesforce.com and Sega have already demonstrated amazing applications using the SDK, and developer response continues to be phenomenal with more developers embracing the platform.
MacBook Air “a pleasure to use”
Phil Baker (sandiegotranscript.com) calls MacBook Air “the sleekest, thinnest and most beautiful notebook ever.” He admires its construction: “Fit, finish, and workmanship are superb,” he says. “Whether sitting back in a lounge chair outdoors or at a desk indoors, the brilliant, sharp and high contrast screen has no equal in brightness or readability. Its comfortable full-size backlit keyboard is a pleasure to use, and the housing never gets hot as other Mac notebooks sometimes do.
“As close to a must-have as any computer can be”
“If you travel frequently or if you have any care for your shoulders and back, the MacBook Air is as close to must-have as any computer can be,” posits Mark Kellner (washtingtontimes.com). “This was most plainly evident when I wandered the halls of a convention in Nashville, Tenn., toting the MacBook Air in a briefcase. The computer itself was almost negligible in terms of its presence: I didn’t really feel it in the bag. Yet, when I needed to check e-mail or do some writing, the power of the MacBook Air was there, ready to respond in an instant.”
MacBook Air “will turn heads”
A major step forward in portable computing,” MacBook Air, writes Eric M. Strauss (abcnews.go.com) “is a mega-desirable computer that blends aerodynamic styling with serious innovations in an itsy, bitsy three-pound package that is a blast to use.” Strauss suggests that “if you are a student or worker-bee who is often on the go and wants your email, Internet, and access to your music, photos and movies, you’ll love MacBook Air.”
Apple’s “speediest laptops ever”
“If you’ve been waiting to buy a new Apple laptop, or you’ve been hesitating about upgrading from your G4 PowerBook, wait no longer,” writes Jackie Dove (macworld.com). That’s because the new MacBook Pro computers “are Apple’s speediest laptops ever. The higher-end models are loaded with both system and video RAM and better L2 cache capacities, which directly affect performance,” making them “outstanding top-of-the-line models for any professional, artistic, scientific, or scholastic application.”
Hear the song you write performed on American Idol
All you need is GarageBand — and a bit of inspiration — to write a really great song to enter in the American Idol Songwriter Competition. The contest has just begun, and we have the perfect way for you to hone your GarageBand skills. Just sign up for the Idol on iTunes Songwriter Workshop. It’s coming to an Apple Retail Store near you starting this weekend. Find out all about the Competition and the free Workshop.
Lovin’ that mobile web on “Internet-centric” iPhone
Technology writer Brad Stone (nytimes.com) reports some dramatic M:Metrics’ survey findings: of the 10,000 adults surveyed, “84.8 percent of iPhone users” access news and information on their iPhone, compared to only “13.1 percent of the overall mobile phone market and 58.2 percent of total smartphone owners.” Other results were just as interesting, prompting M:Metrics analyst Mark Donovan to conclude that iPhone “really fits the kind of digital lifestyle that a lot of people who are jacked into the Internet all the time are used to.”
Assessing the value of making a switch
For most companies, saving $60,000 in one year alone and setting the stage for similar savings in the future might serve as ample proof of a wise business decision. But for Quist Valuation, that decision has also allowed the company and its employees to reap professional (and personal) benefits, expand into multiple branch offices, even to develop its own web-based valuation software that promises to revolutionize the way it conducts its business. All the direct result of switching to the Mac.
Bento offers a tasty meal
“Just as Bento, the traditional Japanese dish, serves up different foods in a single compartmentalised tray, Bento, the new Mac application, serves all your different types of personal data in a single window,” writes John O’Brien (news.com). In his review. O’Brien calls FileMaker’s new personal database application for Mac OS X Leopard “a cohesive, powerful tool for keeping personal information at your fingertips.”