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iPhoto 9.1.2 released
Along with the Snow Leopard Font Upgrade, iPhoto 9.1.2 has just shown up in Software Update. Outside of the usual bug squashing, it brings a few new features and tweaks including new card themes and some enhancements to making photo books. Here's what you'll find in this sizable update: • Addresses an issue that prevented the Zoom slider from being accessible in Magnify (1-Up) view • Fixes an issue where Toolbars were not auto-hiding in Full Screen view • Search field now correctly performs an "includes" search when searching by text string • Fixes minor formatting issues with book, card and calendar themes • Message Size of emails now correctly updates when changes are made using the Photo Size menu • Addresses an issue that prevented some iPhoto 5 libraries from upgrading correctly • Multiple book pages can now be drag-selected when in All Pages view • Design tools in print project panels are now accessible via separate Layout and Options buttons • Photo backgrounds applied to a book are now preserved when book type is changed • Tab key can now be used to navigate through all text fields in a book project The update is recommended for all all users of iPhoto '11, whether you bought it with iLife '11, or got it with a new Mac. It can be downloaded either here or through Software Update.
Taking Your iPhoto '11 to the Max: A power guide to Apple's photo app
iPhoto '11 is an easy Mac app to begin using and play with, but a difficult one to master. In his newest book for Apress, TUAW blogger Michael Grothaus takes his knowledge of iPhoto '11 and presents it in such a way that anyone can learn to use the app, not only for organizing and editing their photo library but also for creating albums and keepsakes or sharing those photos. Part of the Apress Technology In Action series, Taking Your iPhoto '11 to the Max is a 241-page illustrated guide to the app. Available in both paper (US$29.99 SRP) and e-book ($20.99) formats, Michael's expertise as a photographer and writer shines in the book. Michael begins the book at the point where most new Mac users stop -- they figure out how to import their photos into iPhoto and then use the app as the electronic equivalent of a shoe box to store their pictures. Michael begins educating readers at this point in a very understandable way, taking them through the steps of marking and searching their photos using keywords, and describing the detailed information that can be found in EXIF data imported from the digital camera.
Aperture updates to 3.1.2, fixes crash when importing iPhoto libraries
Aperture received an update Tuesday designed to address several issues regarding iPhoto compatibility and other bug fixes. Many of the fixes focus on interaction with iPhoto. For example, the update fixes instances where Aperture crashes while importing large iPhoto libraries, and now imports albums from iPhoto 9 correctly. Also, importing slideshows with text slides and RAW images has been improved. An issue that caused Aperture to stop responding when trying to process damaged images has also been resolved. A full list of fixes can be found on Aperture's support page. Aperture 3.1.2 is a 297.63 MB download and is now available via Software Update, Apple support page or through the Mac App Store.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Do I need to upgrade to Aperture?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I have a ~100 GB iPhoto '11 library. I currently have it on an external FireWire drive because I didn't originally have space on my internal drive. All that has changed, and I am now looking for tips on how best to manage this library and be able to back it up regularly. iPhoto '11 seems to be working fine right now (takes a little bit of time to start the app, but nothing really excessive). However, I really want to start backing it up on a regular schedule -- would splitting it up make sense (only the latest library would need to be backed up, which would take much less time). It sucks that you can only access one library at a time in iPhoto. Would moving to Aperture seem a natural at this point? Any and all help including backup/sync progs would be helpful. Thanks in advance, Your nephew, Matt "iPhoto challenged" C.
iPhoto 101: Use two fingers to crop and rotate photos
Here's an interesting feature of iPhoto that I'd never heard of before, courtesy of Mac OS X Hints. While using Edit mode in the app, you can drag two fingers on your MacBook's touchpad (or your Magic Trackpad) to control the various edits with better precision than just dragging around a mouse. You can zoom the crop feature in or out, or even control it manually by dragging two fingers around. And you can rotate the photo in straighten mode just by rotating two fingers around the trackpad. There are more of these little gesture features hidden in Apple's iApps (like a three-finger swipe in iPhoto to move forward/backward through photos), and I'm sure we'll see a lot more of these pop up as we move closer to Lion and beyond. That touch interface is so intuitive and easy that it's no surprise Apple is already implementing it everywhere that it makes sense to do so.
The MacBook Air: A professional photographer's best friend
It's good to see that it's not only the geeks here at TUAW who are in love with the MacBook Air. Photographer and blogger Derrick Story at Macworld also has a great fondness for the lightweight Mac, although he's using it for more than just blogging. Story today published the second of two posts about using the MacBook Air as a professional photographer's tool. The first post answers the question "Is the MacBook Air powerful enough for a professional photographer to use everyday?," while the second focuses on the workflow that Story uses with the MacBook Air. In the initial post, Story notes that both the 11.6" and 13" models of the diminutive Mac not only fit in a camera backpack easily, but have the power to run iPhoto '11, Aperture 3, Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Lightroom 3. He had earlier written a post about using the iPad as a professional photographer's tool, but now feels after using the MacBook Air that the added power and storage make it the ultimate addition to the camera bag. Today's post features the workflow that Story is using. He basically uses the MacBook Air to offload photos to Aperture or Lightroom while in the field, and then "offloads cargo, namely photographs and video, to the mothership." If you're a professional or skilled amateur photographer, check out the Macworld posts for more information.
Apple releases Digital Camera Raw Update 3.6
Apple has released Digital Camera Raw Update 3.6 via Software Update. The 6.8 MB 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 In addition, the update addresses processing issues for the Nikon D7000, Nikon COOLPIX P7000, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 cameras.
Ask TUAW's triumphant return from abroad
This, my friends, is the triumphant return of Ask TUAW -- everyone's favorite Mac and iOS Q&A and advice column. Unfortunately, a giant beaver ate all of the questions from prior editions of Ask TUAW, and we need more new questions! So, here's what we need you to do: go to the comments of this post, think long and hard about which burning questions have been bothering you about your Mac, iPod, iPad, iPhone or AppleTV, and ask away! You can also email your questions directly to ask [at] tuaw.com. Here are a few perennial favorites asked and answered: Q: Which MacBook Air should I buy? A: Get the 11" if you have another computer, or the 13" if it's your primary machine. Order the BTO memory upgrade, too; you can't upgrade the RAM after the fact. Q: What's the best way to sync my iPhone to multiple computers? A: The only way to win is not to play -- syncing to more than one computer is asking for trouble, honestly. Pick your most accessible machine with the best storage situation for your media and applications library, and sync to that one. If you need to shuffle content around or purchase apps on multiple machines, go with Apple's Home Sharing to keep things synchronized. So, head down to the comments at the end of this post, and do your best. When asking a question, it makes life a lot easier for the Ask TUAW team if you include what type of machine you're using, which version of Mac OS X you're running or, if you're asking an iPhone/iPod/iPad question, let us know which generation device and which version of iOS you have -- though, in general, you should always upgrade to the latest version if you can. We've got a few questions left in the can from last time, so let's get cracking. Dave asks: I am seeing terrible performance from Finder when trying to access a Windows share over a VPN. If I do an 'ls' or 'cd' command to get to the same files, everything is instantaneous. Is there some setting in Finder that will make it act more like the 'ls' done via Terminal? I have looked at a lot of Finder replacements and they all appear to have the same problem. Given this works great on Terminal, I'm a bit stumped at what Finder can be doing that would slow things down so dramatically.
Buy individual iWork, iLife apps from the Mac App Store
Apple's iWork suite is a nice collection, but some users don't need all three apps. Fortunately, the Mac App Store lets you pick and choose between iWork and iLife apps. Starting today, you can buy and install only the apps you want for US$20 each. For iWork customers, that means Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Buy all three and spend $60. That's a savings of $40. Now some of you are probably saying "$40? But iWork '09 only cost $80? So if I can get them for $60, that's a savings of $20." Ah, but you are forgetting that the app you are buying can be used on all of your computers, meaning that you are really getting what used to be called the "Family Pack" which sold for $100. The Mac App Store also recognizes if you already own them, so you won't have to buy them again. Similarly, the iLife apps can be purchased individually. You'll find iPhoto or iMovie or GarageBand on sale for $15 each. That's a significant savings over the $80 for iLife Family Pack. There's one big caveat, however: you will not find iWeb or iDVD in the Mac App Store. Maybe they're coming later, but it seems more likely that Apple signified that they were cutting them lose when they were included in the boxed set of iLife but never mentioned during the announcement. Where is iWork '11? Several of us were surprised to see that iWork '11 is not on the Mac App Store. iWork '09 is, obviously, a few years old now and the Mac community has been anticipating a new release. the Mac App Store just seemed like it would be a good opportunity. Not yet, but hopefully soon. Just a reminder: there has never been Mac upgrade pricing on iWork or iLife, so if you buy Pages from iWork '09 today for $20 and iWork '11 is introduced next week, expect to pay full price for that upgrade. Caveat emptor. UPDATE: If you already own these apps but the Mac App Store doesn't recognize it, make sure they are up to date (iWork just had an update last night). After updating apps, restart App Store app and it should recognize they are installed.
iPhoto 101: How to delete photos
Whether your Mac contains a mechanical hard drive or an SSD, everyone needs more space. We're all used to dumping Finder's trash frequently to reclaim drive space, but what some of you might not know is that when you delete pictures from iPhoto, they remain on your computer since iPhoto has its own trash. If you've never done this, you may have hundreds (or for that matter, thousands) of pictures or videos in iPhoto that are just clogging up your drive. There are two ways to delete the iPhoto trash. One way is to just right click on the word Trash in iPhoto's menu bar, and select Empty Trash. The other, and possibly more telling way, is to single click on the word Trash in the menu bar. You'll be presented with all the unnecessary photos and videos along with the total number held in trash. On the top right is an Empty Trash button that will delete them completely. In both cases, you'll be presented with a warning message asking you if you really want to do this. Click OK, and you'll get back some space. If you've never done this, the amount reclaimed can be dramatic, but if you are in the habit of doing this, you won't get back all that much. I deleted 82 pictures, and my hard drive space increased from 97.23 GB to 97.26 GB. See how much you can get back. [via Lifehacker]
Dear Aunt TUAW: How do I move my iPhoto library to a bigger drive?
Dear Auntie TUAW: Ever since getting an SLR camera as an early Christmas gift (during Thanksgiving actually), I've been taking high-res photos at a rapid clip -- and filling up my hard drive quickly in the process. In the last month, I've halved my disk space. Is there a good way to offload your iPhoto library to an external drive? I'd still want to be able to access it regularly, so perhaps via a wireless drive like the Time Capsule? If that's not a smart way to go, what other alternatives are there? Should I just lower the image resolution on my camera from Large to Medium or Small? Seems like it would be kind of defeating the purpose of having such a good camera, but with photos running around 12 MB each (and videos exponentially larger), I'm worried about running out of HD space in January. Ted
Apple Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.5
Apple today released another Digital Camera RAW Compatibility update. Version 3.5 provides RAW format compatibility for imaging applications like Aperture and iPhoto for these new cameras: Canon PowerShot G12 Leica D-Lux 5 Leica V-Lux 2 Nikon D7000 Nikon COOLPIX P7000 Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 These cameras have been added to the list of digital camera RAW files supported by Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and are in addition to those currently listed on Apple's Support website. You can view the list of supported cameras here, or download the update from MacUpdate.
Sync iPhone photos wirelessly with Cinq
Cinq is an interesting and necessary free app for the iPhone. It wirelessly transfers your pictures from your iOS device to your home Mac or PC, either over 3G or Wi-Fi. There are three versions of the app: a paid version for the iPhone, a free (ad-supported) version and a paid version for the iPad. I tried the free version. Here's how it works. After going to the Cinq website and signing up for a free account, you download a little server app that runs on your home computer. On the Mac, you access it from the menu bar. Take a picture on your iPhone, or select an image from your picture roll, and it uploads in full resolution to your home computer. No cables, no iTunes or iPhoto sync needed. The photos you send to your Mac go in a folder accessed from the Cinq app. When everything is set up there is a further bonus: you can see all your iPhoto libraries from your iOS device. You can save them from your phone, email them to others or send them to TwitPic or Facebook. That's come in handy more than a few times. Cinq has features that should have been built into iOS, or at least been a MobileMe feature. You can send your photos to MobileMe, but they aren't on your home computer, just in the cloud. Unfortunately, uploads of pictures are pretty slow; over 3G, they generally took more than a minute. You also can't send photos in the background without the app being onscreen, which iOS 4 should be capable of doing. The developers say faster uploads and background uploads are forthcoming. Cinq has great promise. I like the idea of my vacation and holiday pictures getting home before I do. I really like the ability to access your iPhoto library remotely and download or forward pictures from it to others. If that's all the app did it would be worth a download. Give Cinq a try and see if it is useful to you. When uploads are sped up, Cinq will be a killer app. Cinq requires Mac OS X 10.5 or greater, Windows XP, or Windows Vista/7. On the iPhone side, it requires iOS 4.2 or later. %Gallery-110362%
FlickrExport for iPhoto and Aperture updated to version 4
FlickrExport, Connected Flow's popular photo management plug-in, has been upgraded to version 4 for both iPhoto and Aperture. Full of new features like video uploading, support for multiple Flickr accounts, the ability to add photos to multiple photosets during uploading and metadata-only uploads in Aperture, FlickrExport is a must for anyone serious about sharing their photos via the popular online photo sharing site. It's an easy way to quickly upload a lot of pictures, something you might want to do if you plan on using Flickr HD as a digital picture frame on your iOS device this holiday season. Sure, you can use the Flickr export tools already built into iPhoto '11, but FlickrExport offers you so many more options that it's definitely worth the price of admission. Available in a feature-limited version that's free for 30 days, licensed versions are available for iPhoto at £12 (about US$19) and Aperture at £14 (about US$22). FlickrExport requires OS X 10.5.8 and either iPhoto '08 or Aperture 1.5.1 and up. Click Read More to check out video demos of FlickrExport in action. [via MacWorld]
TUAW's Holiday Gift Guide: 10 must-have apps for a new Mac
Welcome to the TUAW Holiday Gift Guide! We've sorted the treasure from the junk and are serving up suggestions to make your holiday gift-giving a little easier. Once the gift-giving holidays arrive, the lucky among us will find new Macs among our haul. Part of the fun of owning a Mac is acquiring some goodies to go with it. In this post, we'll focus on software. Specifically, the 10 apps you'll absolutely want on your new machine. WIthout further delay, here's our list (all prices are USD). 1. Quicksilver (free) [The Quicksilver page appears to be down, here's an alternate. - Ed] This is absolutely, positively the first piece of software I install on every new Mac. In fact, I dislike using a Mac without it. Quicksilver is a utility which, at first, appears to be a launcher. That is the most popular way to use it. Assign a hotkey combination to elicit its minimal window (there are several designs to choose from), type the first few letters of your target app, hit return and presto! Your app launches. This also works with URLs, contact names and phone numbers...on and on. Plus, the more you use it, the smarter it becomes. Now I can just hit "Command-Space-T" to open TUAW, even if a browser isn't running. It's a huge time-saver. Of course, that's barely the beginning of what Quicksilver can do. A huge number of other apps offer Quicksilver support. For instance, you can upload files via FTP with Transmit, launch AppleScripts, move files, compose email messages and more, all with a few keystrokes that will get so finely sewn into your muscle memory that conscious thought will be removed from the process. Not a bad start; our first gift suggestion is supremely useful and free! Now, on to number two.
Apple releases update to fix iPhoto '11 bugs
Apple has released iPhoto 9.0.1 via Software Update. The update addresses issues that, in extremely rare cases, could result in data loss when upgrading a library from an earlier version of iPhoto. Indeed, many of our readers have complained of such issues and our own Mel Martin wrote about them in his review of iPhoto '11. The update weighs in at 33.87 MB and requires iLife '11 and Mac OS X 10.6.3 or later. You can also download the update here and read Apple's knowledgebase article here.
Review: iPhoto '11 is a very mixed bag
When iLife '11 was announced, I was quite excited to hear there was an update to iPhoto, and even more surprised to learn my local Apple Store had the software in stock the day after the "Back to the Mac" event. The feature list for the latest version of iPhoto is impressive, and since I do so much photography it seemed a no-brainer to get it. New features include: Full screen mode A direct link to Facebook for posting comments and pictures New slideshow templates New book designs Enhanced templates for emailing photos Letterpress Cards for sending to family and friends For US$49, with GarageBand '11 and iMovie '11 in the mix in addition to iPhoto, I was ready to buy iLife. Let's go over the changes, then deal with some of the ugly truths.
iLife, iWork apps to sell individually in Mac App Store
It seems that Apple will sell its iWork and iLife apps individually through the forthcoming Mac App Store. Some keen-eyed observers noticed hints during this week's demonstration, ElectricPig reports. During the demo, you could clearly see GarageBand, iMovie and iPhoto icons among the available apps. Indeed, the screenshot on the official Lion information page shows the same thing. It's impossible to see what the cost will be (we *think* it says $14.95), but the idea is interesting. Many users buy the bundle for one or two apps only (iMove and iPhoto, but not GarageBand for instance). An a la carte offering would prevent those shoppers from paying for an app(s) that they won't use. The Mac App Store will premiere for Snow Leopard users in about 90 days. We'll know for sure by then. [Via MacNN]
iPhoto '11 brings huge updates to printing, full screen, Facebook sharing
Apple has announced a new version of iPhoto in iLife '11, and it brings a boatload of new features to the table, including: Full screen browsing of all Events, Albums, Maps, and pretty much everything else. "Smart" slideshows that use your location information from Places to create dynamic shows that use maps from places you've been. Floating menus that allow for operation of the entire app from the full screen mode. Deep Facebook and Flickr integration that syncs all of your photos both ways, regardless of whether or not they were added by iPhoto. A new email template feature that creates some stunning HTML email galleries of your photos. All of this is wrapped in a gorgeous iOS-styled interface (look at the bottom navigation bar)! More to come in the near future.
Apple announces iLife '11, $49 upgrade or free with every new Mac, available today
There you have it. Shockingly enough, iMovie, iPhoto, and GarageBand have all been modernized sufficiently to merit having their names appended with '11. iPhoto '11 is taking the early demo lead in the live event, with hot new slideshow themes. Gee, Steve, you're building it up nice and slow, huh? There are added Facebook and email sharing enhancements and new full screen modes that make it look a lot like ... an iPad app. %Gallery-105511% iMovie '11 will freshen up the audio editing options (finally!) and add "one step effects," a People Finder that identifies individuals in movie clips, and an apparently effortless movie trailer maker. Intriguing. The audio tweaks include per-segment sound levels adjustments as well as easy fade sliders, there are also additional new audio effects for people to play around with. 24fps video editing and output is now supported, allowing you to export more film-like trailers using the templates thrown into this new software. Good news on the upload front too, as direct sharing to Facebook and Vimeo has also been added.%Gallery-105516% Apple is adding FlexTime, Groove Matching, more guitar and amp effects, new piano and guitar lessons, and finally a "How Did I Play" feature to GarageBand '11. Groove Matching can be summarized with a quote from the Cupertino crew's Xander Soren: "it's like an automatic spellchecker for bad rhythm." As to "How Did I Play," that's a mixture of post-play analysis and a Rock Band-like live note monitor, which highlights in green the notes you strike correctly or in red the ones you miss. It works with both the guitar and piano.%Gallery-105523% iLife '11 is available today, as a free extra on new Macs or as a $49 upgrade on differently new Apple machines. Full press release is now embedded after the break.