SmartNews – IT news and product updates for business

Today Apple introduced the new wireless Magic Mouse, the first mouse to use Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch technology. Pioneered on iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads, Multi-Touch allows customers to navigate using intuitive finger gestures. Instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a seamless Multi-Touch surface. Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and will be available as a Mac accessory at just £55 incl. VAT.

Visit the Apple website for full information.

Apple today updated its popular MacBook with a new, durable polycarbonate unibody design featuring a brilliant LED-backlit display, a glass Multi-Touch trackpad and Apple’s innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life. Inheriting technology and design features from the MacBook Pro line, the new MacBook is an ideal consumer notebook for students and new Mac users, and is available immediately for as little as £799 incl. VAT.

Top features include

• White polycarbonate unibody enclosure
• Built-in up to 7-hour battery
• 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
• Glass Multi-Touch trackpad
• 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
• 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory
• 250GB 5400-rpm hard drive
• 8x double-layer SuperDrive
• Built-in iSight camera
• Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and Gigabit Ethernet
• Mini DisplayPort video output
• Only 4.7 pounds
• Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife ’09

Visit the Apple website for full information.

Earlier today Apple released Performance Update 1.0 for both Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard.

This update addresses intermittent hard drive-related stalls reported by a small number of customers and covers the following products:

• MacBook Air (Mid 2009)
• MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009)
• iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009)
• MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009)
• MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009)
• MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009)
• MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)
• iMac (24-inch, Early 2009)
• iMac (20-inch, Early 2009)
• Mac mini (Early 2009)

Visit this support page for full details about this update.

Promise recently posted Firmware Service Release 2.5 for Mac VTrak E-Class customers. The Free update delivers several key enhancements to their Mac RAID solution including:

• A graphical performance monitoring tool (Logical drive, physical drive and Fibre Channel port monitoring with no performance impact while monitoring)
• UPS Support (Serial port & Ethernet support)
• Configuration export
• Enhanced video playback performance
• An average of 20% bandwidth gains in real world production workflows involving ingest & playback
• SSH and NTP Support

Visit the Promise website for full information and to download the new firmware.

New H4D Camera System

Featuring a 60 Mpixel MF sensor and the revolutionary new True Focus technology, the H4D-60 camera system will change the way you think about high-end photography. The H4D series is built upon the successful H3D platform and comes bundled with our new Phocus 2.0 imaging software.

The H4D-60, the first model in this new series, features a 60 Megapixel medium format sensor and True Focus with APL (Absolute Position Lock), making auto-focus substantially easier and more accurate for photography professionals. Like the rest of the H System, the H4D has been specially designed to meet the most exacting demands of high-end commercial photographers who require the ultimate in both image quality and performance. Simply put, the H4D is the natural evolution of our H System and of our photographic strategy in general.

New Phocus 2.o Software

The new user interface in Phocus 2.0 drastically reduces the learning curve for high-end imaging. The average photographer will be up to speed in less than 30 minutes. Functionality has not been lowered, however, with Phocus 2.0 matching or bettering the speed, functions, and usability found in Lightroom, Aperture, and Capture One. Phocus 2.0 is another step in our efforts to make complex functionality simple to use, allowing photographers to focus on their shooting.

Visit the Hasselblad website for full information on the new H4D system and Phocus 2.0 software.