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Slew of updates include Java, Safari, iPhoto and Aperture
Apple decided to push a lot of updates this afternoon, most of them related to a Java update that disables the Java SE 6 applet plug-in. By disabling the plug-in, Apple is allowing consumers to re-enable it on a case-by-case basis. Apple has provided a full guide to the new plug-in options. We have the full rundown of updates below: Java for OS X 2013-002 Java for OS X 2013-002 delivers improved security, reliability and compatibility by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_43. On systems that have not already installed Java for OS X 2012-006, this update disables the Java SE 6 applet plug-in. To use applets on a web page, click on the region labeled "Missing plug-in" to download the latest version of the Java applet plug-in from Oracle. Safari 6.0.4 and 5.1.9 Safari 6.0.4 and 5.1.9 (for those on Snow Leopard) allow you to enable the Java web plug-in on a website-by-website basis. Aperture 3.4.4 The Aperture update largely centers around a bug that could cause the program to quit during image importing and spamming users with warning dialog boxes after their Macs have been asleep. The full list of changes include: Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly during image import. Nikon P7700 RAW images are now displayed correctly in the Import window. Thumbnails with version names longer than 250 characters are now displayed correctly. Fixes an issue that could cause multiple warning dialogs to appear when web albums are synced after waking from sleep. Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly when uploading photos to Photo Stream. Shared Photo Stream invitation lists now scroll correctly. Includes stability and performance improvements. iPhoto 9.4.3 A hefty iPhoto update, clocking in at 730.91 MB, focuses on OS X Mountain Lion compatibility. The full list of changes include: Photos can now be deleted from My Photo Stream by dragging to the Trash. Photos can now be exported from Photo Stream using the Export command in the File menu. RAW images manually imported from My Photo Stream are now editable. Fixes a bug that could cause manually rotated photos to appear unrotated when shared to Photo Stream. Addresses an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly while syncing to Facebook. Resolves an issue that could cause calendar text to appear at the wrong font size, resulting in order cancellation. Fixes an issue that could cause books to have an incorrect number of pages after rearranging two-page spreads. Includes stability improvements. Then, there are the usual plethora of printer software updates, including Canon laser printers, Epson printers and HP printer drivers. All of these updates are available through Software Update or via the Mac support page.
Lightroom 5 beta available to the public
Adobe today announced the release of the Lightroom 5 beta for Mac and Windows. Lightroom is Adobe's photo-management and post-production software that competes directly with Apple's Aperture. The beta is free to download, but users should be aware that its use -- like all betas -- could vary and you should not use it with photo libraries that you do not have backed up. Here's a list of the major new features, as reported on the Adobe Labs blog: Advanced Healing Brush – Easily remove objects and fix defects -- even those with irregular shapes such as threads or lint -- with a single brush stroke. Take precise control over what's being removed as you make unwanted objects just disappear. Upright – Straighten tilted images with a single click. Upright analyzes images and detects skewed horizontal or vertical lines. You choose one of four correction methods, and Upright can even straighten images where the horizon is hidden. Radial Gradient – Lead your viewer's eye through your images with more flexibility and control. The radial gradient tool lets you create off-center vignette effects, or multiple vignette areas within a single image. Offline editing with Smart Previews – Easily work with images without bringing your entire library with you. Just generate smaller stand-in files called Smart Previews. Make adjustments or metadata additions to Smart Previews and your changes will be automatically applied to the full-size originals later. Video slideshow sharing – Easily share your work in elegant video slideshows. Combine still images, video clips and music in creative HD videos that can be viewed on almost any computer or device. Improved photo book creation – Create beautiful photo books from your images. Lightroom includes a variety of easy-to-use book templates, and now you can edit them to create a customized look. Upload your book for printing with just a few clicks.
NIK Software creates bundle of Mac Plugins, drops price 70%
NIK has announced all 6 of its high-end photo editing tools for Mac and Windows are available as a US$150 bundle. The new bundle is a set of plugins that previously cost $750.00, and includes tools to help you create black-and-white photos, selective color adjustment, sharpening, and of course HDR and color enhancements. These plugins are designed for Photoshop, Aperture and Lightroom. NIK is offering a 15-day trial. Even better, current owners of any part of the latest versions of the NIK bundle can upgrade to the entire collection for free. Some registered users are getting emails about the free upgrade. NIK Software fans have been on an uncertain road since Google acquired the company last September. Google turned its Snapseed photo enhancer into a free app and halted development on the Mac and Windows versions. The future of the NIK professional tools, like HDR Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro has been in limbo, although Google had said the pro tools would stay around. It's nice to have gotten some clarity. NIK has been well-regarded for 17 years. I'm not sure if these applications will continue on a rapid development schedule, but I think this offer represents a real bargain. [via The Next Web]
iTunes is more than earning its keep
As writer John Paczkowski notes in an AllThingsD article today, iTunes was originally "conceived as a low-margin 'break-even' operation intended to drive hardware sales" -- in particular sales of iPods. Now that the iTunes Store is used to sell more than just songs and videos, it's turning into a "significant profit center for the company". Paczkowski was commenting on numbers from Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, who notes that now that Apple has folded its in-house software group into iTunes, Apple software is having "significant implications for iTunes margins." The software, including items like iWork, iLife, Final Cut Pro, Aperture and more, has much higher profit margins than traditional iTunes items like music, books, video, and apps. Dediu deduced that Apple sold about US$3.6 billion worth of its software products in 2012, and that profit margins for software is usually about 50 percent. If that's the case for Apple -- and Dediu is usually correct in his assumptions -- then iTunes is generating operating margins of about 15 percent on gross revenue. That's about $2 billion in profit for 2012, or as Paczkowski so eloquently put it, one "hell of a way to break even."
Apple releases Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 4.04
Apple has released the Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update version 4.04. The update adds RAW image compatibility for the following cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11, according to its release notes: Leica D-Lux 6 Leica V-Lux 4 Leica X2 Nikon D5200 Pentax K-5 II Pentax K-5 IIs Pentax K-30 Pentax Q Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 The update weighs in at 5.1 MB and can be downloaded via Software Update or directly from this link.
Metabones Speed Booster promises faster EF lenses when mounted on NEX cameras
There aren't too many lens adapters that catch our eye, but the $600 Metabones Speed Booster has so many tricks up its sleeve that we can see it tempting a lot of serious NEX camera users -- like us. Big words, but what it purports to do is nothing short of mind-boggling. First off, it adapts your Canon EF (full-frame) lenses to E-Mount, which is nice enough since there's still a paucity of high-end glass for NEX users. But it gets better: the Speed Booster also makes your lens wider by a factor of 0.71x, shrinking an 85mm lens to 59mm, for instance -- effectively making your NEX nearly full-frame. Other adapters can do some of that, but its final trick is the piece de resistance: increasing the speed of a lens by a full stop. That may sound impossible, but it apparently works by concentrating the extra light-gathering area of a full-frame lens down to the smaller E-mount sensor area, turning an f4.0 lens into an f2.8 lens, for instance. The adapter allegedly increases sharpness on top of all that, and brings "auto-aperture, image stablization, EXIF and (slow) autofocus support," for late model EF lenses, according to Metabones. Skepticism reigns until we can scope it for ourselves, but the adapter came out shining on Philip Bloom's video and photo tests so far, judging by his samples (below the break). The $600 price tag will likely dissuade casual users, but light-deprived indoor shooters (like us) or those shopping for new glass -- who already have a bagful of EF-lenses -- might take to it like a sugar addict to Trix. Metabones said they'll start shipping the Speed Booster this month, and will come out with MFT and Fuji-X mount options, along with support for lenses from Nikon and Leica, among others. Check the source to see how to grab it, but the line forms behind us.
iPhoto, Aperture, and Safari all get updates
Wow, it's a busy day at Apple. First we had the iOS 6.0.1 release, then developers got the iOS 6.1 beta and a new version of Xcode, and now Apple's dropped iPhoto, Aperture, and Safari updates for the Mac. iPhoto received a bump to version 9.4.2, with a surprising number of new features and fixes. Many of the changes have to do with shared Photo Streams, but the app has also been updated to improve stability, fix an issue when sending photos using Microsoft Outlook from iPhoto, and add more holidays for use on printed calendars. Safari 6.0.2 is a security update. At the time of publication, Apple's security update page had not been revised to show what changes had been made. Finally, Apple's pro photography app Aperture has been updated to version 3.4.2. As with iPhoto, many of the changes are focused on shared Photo Streams. Other fixes dealing with the handling of RAW files and stability have been added. For more information about this update, visit the App Store page for Aperture. All of the updates are available immediately under the software update tab of the Mac App Store.
Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 4.01 supports Canon EOS M, Nikon D600
Apple today released the latest in a series of Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Updates that are designed to add RAW support for new digital cameras to iPhoto and Aperture. It's available now through the Mac App Store Updates tab or downloaded directly here. Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 4.01 is notable in that it is providing RAW file support for a number of the new Mirrorless Interchangeable-Lens Cameras (MILC) that have recently hit the market. In particular, the new Canon EOS M MILC and Nikon D600 DSLR are covered by the new update. A full list of supported digital camera RAW formats can be found in Apple support knowledge base document HT5371: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5371.
Valve looking for hardware testers, rate how well you like Valve first
Valve is seeking people to test out some of its hardware prototypes, along with released and unreleased games. Right now its looking for people around Valve's offices, in the Seattle or Bellevue area, but it may conduct remote testing in the future, so everyone is invited to fill out a playtester survey.The survey asks, among other questions, how many years you've been playing games, for your favorite game, which difficulty you typically play on, your overall impression of Valve games, if you get motion sickness when playing first-person shooters and who the beneficiary on your life insurance policy is. OK, we made that last one up, but coming from the company that created Aperture Science, it's not too outlandish.Looks like Valve is getting the ball rolling on its oft-rumored hardware-distribution arm. Which might in fact be a real arm that distributes hardware. You just never know with Valve.
Google will not kill Snapseed or other Nik software
A lot of photographers and artists were worried about what would happen to some of their favorite products after Nik Software was purchased by Google earlier this month. Snapseed, HDR EFX Pro and Color EFX Pro, along with other Photoshop and Aperture plug-ins are extremely popular in the Mac universe. Google often buys a company for its technology, and then the company (or its product) quietly disappears. Not so with Nik, according to Google's Senior VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra. "Earlier this week I proudly welcomed Nik Software to Google. They've been making pictures more awesome for 17 years, and we're excited to bring Nik's expertise to the entire Google community. I also want to make something clear: we're going to continue offering and improving Nik's high-end tools and plug-ins. Professionals across the globe use Nik to create the perfect moment in their photographs, and we care deeply about their artistry." So if you use Nik products on your Mac or on iOS that's welcome news.
iOS 6: Shared Photo Streams
Apple shuttered MobileMe Galleries in June, which many Mac users were happily using as photo albums for sharing on the web. Apple has made a small step back toward photo sharing with Photo Stream sharing, which is now a part of iOS 6 and iPhoto and Aperture on the Mac. The implementation is flawed in many ways, but here's how it works. On the iPhone or iPad go to Photo Stream in your Photo app and press the + button. That will allow you to name your collection of photos. Type in an email address (it must be someone on iCloud) and decide if you want the stream posted publicly or not. If you make it public you will get a URL so anyone can see it. If you are keeping it to other iCloud users, your album will show up in their Photo Stream collection, and they will get a notification that it is available. You'll get a notice back when they subscribe. It's completely different with iPhoto, for no apparent good reason. With iPhoto, you select your pictures from your iPhoto library then click on share at the bottom-right of the iPhoto window. Select Photo Stream and it will make copies that will show up in a new album on the Photo Stream window, or photos can be added to an existing album. Once those albums are created new photos can be added from any iOS device or a Mac. Photos can also be deleted by clicking on the edit button. However, photos can't be rearranged in the gallery. That's kind of messy, and very un-Apple like. It's also far behind the functionality you got with MobileMe. When your friends or family view the public web page it appears as a collage. Apple has done the layout, so again, you get no control. When a photo is clicked on it expands to full screen. People can move from photo to photo, or trigger an automated slide show. After a shared Photo Stream is created you can add more subscribers, make it public, turn public access off or delete the entire stream. These Photo Stream galleries do not count against your iCloud storage, which is a plus, but the whole shared Photo Stream feature set is non-intuitive and severely limits your ability to determine how things are arranged and displayed. Apple can do better and I hope they do. %Gallery-166152%
Google acquires iOS photo app Snapseed
Snapseed is a popular iOS photography app around here at TUAW -- not only have we spotlighted it a few different times, but the app also won a coveted Apple Design Award back in 2011. And now here's news that Google appreciates the app as well: The ad and search giant has acquired the developer of Snapseed, Nik Software, and reportedly plans to use the company and its technology to update its own photo editing and sharing tools. Nik also provides a number of excellent and popular plugins for other popular photo editing tools like Aperture, and for now, those plugins remain available for sale on the website. Presumably, that won't change, but we'll see what happens in the future. It sounds like Nik is still figuring things out post-acquisition, so any changes to Snapseed or those plugins are still yet to be determined. [via The Verge]
Flare 1.4 adds Retina support, Twitter sharing, more
Yesterday we saw an update to Realmac Software's Analog Mac photo effects app; today the news is from Iconfactory, and the app being updated is Flare (currently discounted to US$9.99). Like Analog, Flare (see TUAW review here) provides a way to add and adjust pre-loaded visual effects. Flare comes with quite a few more effects than Analog -- a total of 31 -- and allows quite a bit more in terms of control and the addition of effects. What's new in Flare 1.4? There's now support for Retina displays, there's new high-resolution editing and the user interface has changed. Like many apps updated for OS X Mountain Lion, Flare 1.4 adds a significant number of sharing services including "upload to Twitter." There's a new "Save to Aperture" feature as well. As we noted with the Analog update yesterday, the app supports the external editor mode in Aperture and iPhoto, and adds Lightroom as well. Several bug fixes have also been incorporated. For existing users, it's available immediately from the Updates tab of the Mac App Store.
Apple releases updates for iPhoto and Aperture, unifies libraries
Apple has pushed out updates to its iPhoto and Aperture apps. The updates add a number of fixes and also bring support for the new Retina display MacBook Pro. However, one significant new feature to each app is unified photo libraries. From the Mac App Store Aperture description: New unified photo library for both iPhoto (v 9.3 or later) and Aperture; no import/export required; Faces, Places, slideshows, albums and web sharing work across both applications. This will be a welcome change to photographers who used both Apple's pro and consumer-level photography apps. Previously, Aperture and iPhoto used different libraries, which meant that users had to import and export photos from one library into the other. Now, after a single import from the camera, all photos are available to both apps. Currently, the updates are only showing up for iPhoto and Aperture in the Mac App Store and not via OS X's Software Update, but expect them to show up there shortly.
New versions of Final Cut Pro and Aperture revealed
During the presentation of the next-generation MacBook Pro, updates to Final Cut Pro and Aperture were revealed. Thus far, the UI has been updated in Aperture and you're able to look at four times the resolution. In Final Cut Pro, 1080p footage was seen in the upper-right corner of the app with room for a full timeline and library. We'll update this post as more details are released.
Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Aperture, AutoCAD and more score Retina Display support
As we learned pretty quickly when the iPhone 4 introduced the Retina display to the world, all those pixels are pretty useless without apps that can truly take advantage. Thankfully, Apple wasn't about to leave the stage today without delivering the goods for its next gen MacBook Pros. In addition to all the stock apps being updated, Final Cut Pro and Aperture have also gotten the appropriate boost in pixel density, allowing them to be all they can be on that 220ppi display. Which, in the case of Final Cut, means full-res 1080p video docked in a corner of the interface with all the tools exposed to your itchy editing finger. If that isn't good enough for you, Adobe is hard at work on Photoshop and Autodesk will be delivering an update to AutoCAD as well. And, in case you're worried that all work and no play makes Tim Cook a dull boy, Diablo 3 has also been updated, instantly making the Mac our favorite platform to farm low level baddies for gold on. For more coverage of the WWDC 2012 keynote, head over to our liveblog!
Apple releases Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.13
Apple has released Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.13, which adds RAW image compatibility support for six new cameras to iPhoto '11 and Aperture 3. The newly supported cameras are: Canon EOS-1D X Nikon D800E Nikon D3200 Olympus OM-D E-M5 Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GF5 Sony Alpha SLT-A57 The update is available via Software Update in OS X 10.7 Lion and weighs in at 8.2 MB. Interested users can also read Apple's knowledge base article here.
Daily Update for April 16, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple pulls iWork, Aperture trials from site
Apple pulled the trial versions of Aperture 3 and productivity suite iWork '09 from its website, according to a report from MacStories. The links that previously contained download instructions now redirect users to the Mac App Store. An Apple support forum post suggests the Aperture trial was pulled a while ago. The iWork suite of apps, which includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, are available in the Mac App Store for US$19.99 each. Aperture is available for $79.99.
Find the best photo manager to fit your needs
After months of deliberation, I finally brought home a new addition to our family -- a digital SLR camera. With the DSLR comes a plethora of options I didn't have before, with the ability to shoot RAW images being at the top of the list. My husband and I passed the camera back and forth to take a few test images, which were uploaded to iPhoto on my MacBook Air. Instant crawl. Anything involving the RAW images was a drag on the machine, though it has far more to do with the MacBook Air (11-inch October 2010) than iPhoto. But, it did remind me to ask the TUAW brain trust: Is it time to upgrade to Aperture? What about Adobe Lightroom? What's the best photo manager overall to use? With the RAW support and the potential increase in picture-taking overall, my needs are poised to outgrow iPhoto's capabilities, and it's the same question that other people will face as digital SLRs grow more powerful and affordable. Here's a quick look at three of the major players out there. What is a photo manager? A photo manager is a digital version of a traditional album, where you store images from your digital camera and can organize them into albums. They range from free (if you purchase a new Mac or plan to be an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber) to US$149. All of them can edit photos, but not manipulate them -- for that, you would need a program such as Adobe Photoshop or Pixelmator. All of them have the ability to create photo books and web galleries, as well as social media integration. iPhoto 11 Who's it for? Those who are just getting comfortable with handling digital photography and those who want a basic photo manager and editing tools. Evidence for: It's the lowest-cost out of the three and it's easy to use, especially for photo novices. The learning curve is very low, especially if you're using the iOS version of iPhoto. Evidence against: Bigger libraries tend to cause the program to hang up. It doesn't handle multiple libraries well, so if they're split up among different machines, you'll want to consider investing in iPhoto Library Manager for $19.95 or the free iPhoto Buddy. You can only access one library at a time. Some users report having issues with photo libraries with more than 10,000 photos. Cost: $14.99, Mac App Store only. There's no trial version. It's free if you purchase a new Mac. Aperture Who's it for? Professional photographers and serious hobbyists. Evidence for: For those used to iPhoto, it's a logical next step, and you can import your files from iPhoto. Handles large and multiple libraries much easier. Has some of the same features of iPhoto including the ability to bring in Photo Stream and Faces and Places tagging. Some users prefer Aperture's RAW conversion to Adobe's. You can batch-edit photos, and the full-screen edit mode has a number of fans. You can edit photos more precisely than iPhoto. Evidence against: It's not the solution to consider if you have a low-powered machine. As Macworld notes, Faces can be a severe deterrent to Aperture's performance. Cost: $79.99, Mac App Store only. Apple used to offer a 30-day trial, but did away with it. Adobe Lightroom Who's it for? Professional photographers and serious hobbyists. Evidence for: If you can navigate Photoshop blindfolded, then the tools in Lightroom will be second nature to you. Like Aperture, you can batch-edit photos and create workflows. Some users prefer Lightroom's interface, which is more workflow-oriented. You can actually try Lightroom before you drop a lot of money on it. It's a bit more powerful than Aperture. Evidence against: The price is nearly double Aperture's, but that'll be a non-issue for those who plan to become Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers. It's not tightly integrated with iOS devices like Aperture and iPhoto are. Some find that switching between modules is a bit frustrating. Cost: $149.99 on its own or $99 when purchased with Adobe Creative Suite. It'll be included in an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. A 30-day trial version is available. There are other alternatives, such as Google's free Picasa. Most cameras will come bundled with some sort of photo-managing software. One of the drawbacks to all of them is that unless you're going from iPhoto to Aperture, any editing of metadata will be lost. From parents taking photos of their kids with marching bands to professionals with studios or out in the field, the type of photo manager you wind up with reflects your interest in photography. If you want an easy place to dump photos and share them with the grandparents, you most likely will not want anything beyond iPhoto. If your interest lies in truly crafting your art, then give Aperture or Adobe Lightroom a try.
