Apple’s Aperture Tour In Manchester October 7

Professional photographers are invited to Manchester on 7 October when Apple hosts an in-depth seminar which will explore Aperture software as part of a series of shows called the “Aperture World Tour”.

The seminars will offer demonstrations by Apple’s pro photo marketing team. Experts will also demonstrate the expanded suite of adjustment tools: Recovery, vibrancy, vignette and Retouch brush among them. They will also be demonstrating how well Aperture 2 integrates with third party editing plug-ins as well as the rest of the Mac platform. Since space is limited for the Aperture World Tour, pre-registration at the Apple website is strongly encouraged (http://www.apple.com/uk/aperture/tour/). There will also be registration at 9:30 a.m. on the 7th, with the sessions running from 10:00 to 12:00 p.m.

Erykah Badu And GarageBand

R&B singer Erykah Badu used to record her song ideas by dialing her own phone number and singing into voicemail. Thanks to her 10-year-old son, she discovered how to use GarageBand, and it has dramatically turned her musical life around. In three months, 72 new songs were recorded, ending what Badu said was a dry spell away from the studio. The result was also the critically-acclaimed new album “New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)”, a project which blends funk, hip-hop, soul and blues. And yes, there is a Part Two due out shortly. That is an astonishing amount of output. In an interview with Reuters during her European tour, she explained that her life is largely built around touring — a full eight months each year will find her on the road. “I’m mainly a performance artist,” she said. “I also enjoy recording too…..When there is something to say, when I have something to write about…” And, of course, as an artist, her ability to act on inspiration when it strikes is crucial. That’s where GarageBand has made a huge difference.

Badu is a self-proclaimed “analog girl”, but told Reuters that now, with this familiarity with GarageBand’s capabilities, she will be using computers more in the future. “I’m now learning to become an engineer, and it’s a freeing thing,” she said. “Since I’m a control freak anyway, it feels good to control the frequency of my music.”

It must also feel good to have the freedom to record in real time, when inspiration strikes. Badu is listening to a lot of blues these days: Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, Lightnin’ Hopkins. She doesn’t read music, or study jazz or blues. “I recently came to this voice,” she said. “Around 1996, I started to feel out music, so I have so much new territory to discover.” And with GarageBand, Badu will be able to follow those influences and musical discoveries as they influence and deepen her own musical offerings.

Review of Adobe Creative Suite 4

Several reviewers have taken a look at the new Adobe Creative Suite 4 in advance of its shipment date, with positive results.

Jeff Gamut of TMO writes, “The new versions of the Creative Suite applications sport redesigned user interfaces that offer more consistency across programs, tighter integration between applications, and enhanced in-application support for Flash across the product lineup.”

Macnn agrees, and writes, “CS4 is less about fancy new features, and more about workflow — that is, making the products work better together. The Suite, officially unveiled Monday night, contains hundreds of refinements designed to “bring down the walls” in the creative process, by making it easier to move content between applications and by adopting a consistent user interface across the entire suite. Adobe has also added more web-accessible content and Connect Pro meeting software for instant communication between artists and developers. There are new features as well, but the real meat in this release is the improved integration, efficiency and collaboration tools.:

Echoed a third time, Michael Burns of MacWorld UK says, “The main tools in Adobe’s dedicated post-production suite show even greater integration than the rest of the Creative Suite. You can now use Dynamic Link when exporting After Effects compositions to Premiere Pro and Soundbooth, so any edits in After Effects are always reflected immediately in your Premiere Pro timeline. Dynamic Link between Adobe Premiere Pro and Encore also saves you time by eliminating the need to render clips before authoring. As well as being able to author standard DVDs and high-definition Blu-Ray Discs, Encore CS4 lets you render the same projects for the web as interactive SWF files.”

Macnn writes, “Perhaps the most welcome improvement in Photoshop and Photoshop Extended is the addition of OpenGL support. The application can now make use of graphics processors to reduce rendering times, provide smoother pan and zoom effects and generally speed things up. Photoshop CS4 sports a new unified application frame with a tab-based interface, and self-adjusting panels designed to simplify access to advanced editing tools. Photoshop CS4 Extended adds a new 3D engine, allowing faster, more realistic image rendering.” Gamut says, “Photoshop CS4 Adobe Photoshop CS4 offers improved non-destructive editing, content-aware image scaling that scales parts of images without distorting or changing the size of people, improved Lightroom compatibility, smart guides, GPU (graphics processor unit) and OpenGL support for enhanced graphics rendering and improved performance, and more.

Photoshop CS4 Extended gained new 3D features including additional editing tools and support for more 3D formats.” The general consensus is that the process is streamlined, simplified and made even more user-friendly.

Burns looks at another of the applications. “OnLocation appears on the Mac for the first time, sporting a revised interface that displays all control functions on a single screen, rather than the scrolling panels found in the CS3 version. OnLocation allows you to plug a FireWire-equipped camera into a Mac and record PAL/NTSC DV, HDV, and DVCPRO content directly to the hard drive. There are professional image-monitoring tools, including a software vectorscope and waveform monitor that can optimise footage while simplifying camera calibration, focus and audio monitoring. Metadata handling has been enhanced, and with the new Shot List panel, each time you re-record a scene to disk, a new take is automatically created that inherits the metadata from the master shot. You can mark your good takes and rate them as you capture, making it easier to find them in post-production. If you’re going down the tapeless camera route, Premiere Pro offers native format support, meaning you can import and edit content without rewrapping or transcoding. Premiere Pro CS4 includes more than 50 of the most requested editing enhancements to streamline your workflow, including the ability to apply video and audio transitions to multiple tracks and change speed and duration of multiple clips in the Project panel.”

Macnn writes, “With the explosion of video content on the web and on mobile devices, CS4 Production Premium is Adobe’s attempt cover all of the bases. The idea is to allow users to work with virtually any video, audio and graphic format, and output the content to any screen — from mobile phones to DVDs to big-screen televisions. To do this, Adobe says its has improved the “Dynamic Link” feature, which makes it easier to move content between After Effects, Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, and Encore. Intermediate rendering has been eliminated, so sequences can be transferred from one application to another without rendering. Adobe has also added enhanced XMP metadata support making it easier for editors to search video. For example, Product Manager Bruce Bowman says spoken-word audio is automatically converted to text, so a user can quickly find a spot in an interview or narration track. The metadata can also provide detailed information on the source and format of content.”

Designers want the ability to use their content across a variety of platforms, moving from print to web to video. So, the idea behind CS4 Design Suite was to reduce the difficulties that can arise with content sharing across platforms. The company is proud of the “time savers” and workflow enhancements that make it easier to switch between mediums without having to leave a project. For instance, Macnn writes, “Dreamweaver and Fireworks, the foundation of Adobe’s CS4 Web Standard and Premium suites, have left their Macromedia roots behind and now sport the same interface used in the other CS4 apps. Senior Product Manager Chad Siegel told MacNN the streamlined interfaces give a more consistent feel and makes it easier for developers and designers to work together. For example, users can design a graphic in Photoshop CS4 Extended and create a Smart Object — a source file that can then be used in Dreamweaver. If the Smart Object source file is changed in Photoshop — Dreamweaver will automatically warn that the object has changed and can be updated with a click. Siegel says users can design content on one application, and easily import it to another without having to redo any work.”

The reviews all agree that CS4 is an overall improvement, offering ease of use and more integrated flow between the platforms and the applications.

CS4 will ship in early October, and pricing will be as follows: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium will be £1249, £1195 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium, £1409 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium, and £1969 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection.

Here is what they will include: 
Design Premium: The Design Premium CS4 suite will include Adobe InDesign CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver CS4, Acrobat 9 Pro, and Adobe Fireworks CS4. Web Premium: The Web Premiums CS4 suite will include Adobe Fireworks CS4,Dreamweaver CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4, Contribute CS4, Device Central CS4, and Acrobat 9 Professional. Production Premium: The Production Premium CS4 suite will include Adobe After Effects CS4 Professional, Premiere Pro CS4, Encore CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Soundbooth CS4, and OnLocation CS4. OnLocation is now also available in a Mac OS X-compatible version.

Apple’s Keynote “Kicks The Ass of PowerPoint”

Getting right to the point, Milind Alvares, writing for Smoking Apples, offers a shining review of Apple’s Keynote, which is part of the iWork Suite of Applications that is Apple’s answer to Microsoft’s Powerpoint. According to Alvares, Keynote doesn’t merely compete with Powerpoint, “but also kicks the ass of Powerpoint out of the pond. And it kicks it so hard, that Powerpoint will never be able to swim in that pond again.” Alvares admits that in college, he failed his computer practicals on the subject of Microsoft office, largely because he never figured out how to make a “good enough Powerpoint presentation.” All the humiliation disappeared, however, when Alvares sat down in front of Keynote. He writes, “…within 10 minutes I had figured out how to work Keynote and made a stunning presentation my dad then used on one of his talks. It has been three years since and he swears by Keynote presentations.” Makes a person wonder why universities so often still focus on Microsoft programs, doesn’t it?

Alvares continues, “Keynote is the most amazing presentation tool out there. Within minutes, you can create smooth presentations that will bring out that real ‘Wow’ (not the pathetic one Microsoft talked about with Vista). Already up at version 4, Keynote has matured, and has some great features like instant alphas, transitions and templates that are guaranteed to make people just stare at your presentations.”

So, perhaps in gratitude for reclamation of his pride, coupled with enthusiasm for a great product, Alvares offers a mini-series that shows “what Keynote is about, how to use it, as well as let you download…each of the presentations that I will make. This will be a standard step by step tutorial so you can learn as you go. There might excessive use of superlatives like awesome and amazing, but that’s just the way it is. By the end of this series, you will be able to create the best presentation you have ever seen. So follow the steps, download the Keynote files, and let’s try and make it fun!”

This whole series is highly recommended, and can be found here:
http://smokingapples.com/software/tutorials/iwork-keynote-tutorial-part-one/

Information about purchase of the iWork Suite can be found on the Apple site.

VMware Fusion 2 Released

During its first year on the market, the very popular VMware Fusion won over a dozen industry awards, including the impressive MacWorld Editor’s Choice Award and membership in PC World’s 100 Products of 2008.

This upgrade, VMware Fusion 2 is free for all VMware Fusion 1.x users. It adds over one hundred new enhancements and features, offering Mac users even more integrated Windows-on-Mac experience, presented in a user-friendly package which can be appreciated by Mac users at any level of technical ability. VMware Fusion 2 also makes running Windows on your Mac even safe, while amplifying more of that raw power of VMware’s virtualization technology for those more tech-savvy users.

Pat Lee, group manager for consumer products, VMware, stated in a press release, “VMware Fusion 2 makes it easy and fun for every Mac user to run the Windows applications they need while enjoying the Mac experience they want. Our goal is to break down the walls between Windows and the Mac by creating a user-friendly, Mac-native experience that lets our customers run any Windows application, seamlessly and safely, on the Mac. We want our customers to see that Windows really is better on the Mac.”

Individual consumers obviously benefit from being able to run Windows on their Macs; organizations are starting to see those benefits, too. Michael Rose, researcher at IDC, in a press release, stated, “With technologies available today, like VMware Fusion, ’switching’ to a Mac by individuals within organizations, whole departments or even across the entire company, is more conceivable because it allows users to adopt Apple hardware and software, while enabling the continued use of Windows applications and their associated management infrastructure.”

The ability to run Windows applications alongside Mac applications gives all kinds of organizations the ability to switch to Apple computers.”VMware Fusion is a perfect fit for us,” said Jason Pelletier, computer labs manager from Bowdoin College. “Our students love it because it gives them access to Windows-only applications they need for classes, including software that comes with textbooks. Our faculty and staff love it because they can use their preferred Mac platform and still access Windows-based apps with just a few mouse clicks. And it’s great for our computer labs, because we get to use one type of hardware which can run any app our users need-Mac, Windows, Linux, and more. VMware Fusion is extremely reliable and delivers outstanding performance - it has been a great win for the school overall.”

VMware Fusion 2 builds on the award-winning VMward Fusion 1.x, applying close to ten years of its desktop virtualization technology, to now offer even more advanced Mac virtualization software. Running smoothly and seamlessly within OS X, Windows applications feel like native applications. Launch any Mac file with any Windows application, share folders and data between the two — there is really no barrier to what you can do.

The new version now makes it safer to run Windows on the Mac with an embedded complimentary 12-month subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus.

Anders Bylund of The Motley Fool writes, “Because Fusion is targeted to a specific host platform — Mac OS X — and its very specific set of Intel hardware, it’s a lean and mean virtual machine with great performance and an ever-slicker user experience. VMware Workstation and Server are built to work on a range of different hardware/software platforms, so it’s harder to make them as efficient or as easy-to-use as Fusion is.”

As Bylund points out, VMware Fusion is not the only virtualization option available for Mac users. There are offerings from both Parallels and Sun Microsystems. But, he says, they “lack much of the spit-shine and performance of Fusion. And the backup-friendly snapshots bring VMware’s product to a whole new level of appeal to the business world. And it’s dragging Apple’s user-friendly computers right along with it. Last year, Microsoft’s business software division made more than $15 billion on enterprise sales last year. Apple and VMware look ready to steal a sliver of that rich, creamy cash pie.”

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