Source: apc Magazine

Google recently confirmed in a blog posting that it had paid Codeweavers to help develop WINE to make Photoshop usable on the well-regarded but still somewhat unpredictable software package, which aims to replicate Windows libraries to enable popular Windows applications run in a Linux environment.

“Photoshop is one of those applications that Desktop linux users are constantly clamoring for, and we’re happy to say they work pretty well now,” Google engineer and Wine release manager Dan Kegel wrote. “About 200 patches were committed to winehq, and as of wine-0.9.54, Photoshop CS2 is quite usable,” Kegel noted in a separate post.

Major Upgrade Features Improved Interface, Faster Browsing & Enhanced Image Processing

Press Release: CUPERTINO, California—February 12, 2008—Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software with over 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use and more powerful. With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone™, iPod® touch and Apple TV®. At a new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit and publish photos like a pro.

Apple has released the OS X 10.5.2 update (available in Software Update or the Combo Update).

From the web site:

About Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update
Add a new Mac to your Mac. Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard is packed with over 300 new features, installs easily, and works with the software and accessories you already have.

What’s New in this Version
The 10.5.2 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307109

Early indications are that the update addresses certain text field issues with Photoshop CS3 (10.0.1)

Press Release: Berkeley, CA—February 6, 2008—For the fourth consecutive year, Peachpit author Scott Kelby has been recognized as the top-selling computer book author in the U.S. according to Nielsen BookScan data.

Kelby’s Peachpit titles continue to lead the pack with the number one iPod® book, The iPod Book: Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and the iTunes Music Store, Fourth Edition; the number one digital photography book, The Digital Photography Book; and the number one Photoshop Lightroom book, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers.

Mac OS X is safer today — but not necessarily more secure for the long term — than Windows

Source: InfoWorld
Written by Matt Hines

As Apple continues to grow its worldwide market share and the company’s products find their way into more business environments, attackers are certain to follow and create greater volumes of exploits aimed at vulnerabilities in the company’s software, security experts contend.

Source: ZDNet
Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Data released by Net Applications for December 2007 tells us something that most of us already knew - that Mac is on a roll and gaining momentum every month.

Move allegedly designed to reduce risk of fires on aircraft

Source: ComputerWorld
Written by James Niccolai

New rules will go into effect on Jan. 1 that prohibit air passengers in the U.S. from carrying spare lithium batteries in their checked baggage.

The new rules, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, are designed to reduce the risk of fires in aircraft. Lithium batteries have been identified as a possible cause of several aircraft fires.

As we approach the end of 2007 we wanted to ask some of the leading figures in the Photoshop community which books they had found most inspiring and in the case of authors, which books they had written were they most proud of. We got some interesting and quite varied responses. So if you are still stuck for ideas about what to get a Photoshop geek for Christmas, here are some reading tips from the experts.

To keep this article seasonal we didn’t want it to be entirely about Photoshop and digital imaging. We did also ask people to nominate a book for recreational reading. After all, the holiday season is a time for relaxing and leaving work to one side! To help you find out more about the books recommended here we have created links to Amazon.com for all the books featured here.

Source: CNET
Written by Tom Krazit

The first update to Mac OS X Leopard has arrived, with fixes for bugs in Time Machine and Finder, among other things.

Version 10.5.1 is now available through Software Update or on Apple’s Web site. It’s a 110MB update that smooths out some of the more notable bugs reported in the first three weeks of Leopard’s life on the planet, and it arrives just one day after Apple shipped what will probably be the last update for Tiger, Mac OS X 10.4.11.

Read entire article

Apple has posted a TechNote for users of OS X 10.5 Leopard with Time Machine and Aperture. By extension, it also applies to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom users as well.

The delayed start of winter hours may–but may not–confuse digital equipment; here’s where to update just in case.

Source: PCWorld
Written by Tom Spring

Daylight-saving time arrives late this year–we gain an hour on November 4. You already know this, but does your electronic gear?

Source: Macworld
Written by Rick LePage

As Leopard gets out into both the developer and user communities, we’re seeing a few cautionary notes from developers regarding compatibility and performance. Recently, Apple and Adobe issued advisories regarding their respective image management and catalog applications, Aperture and Photoshop Lightroom…

Read entire article

Source: CNET
Written by Tom Krazit
Progress is measured in steps both big and small. The smaller ones may get less attention, but they are much easier to take.

It’s been a year of big steps for Apple. The company dropped the “Computer” from its name in January as a way of showing Apple was no longer just about the Mac, and the clear priority for 2007 in Cupertino was to get the iPhone out the door and selling briskly. Then, perhaps for kicks, it decided to overhaul its entire lineup of iPods.

Later today, Apple will take a smaller step, with the launch of Mac OS X 10.5, code-named Leopard. Leopard’s coming on scene later than expected, almost 30 months after Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) launched in April 2005, in part due to the push to get the iPhone out in time. CNET’S review is in, and my colleagues Elsa Wenzel and Robert Vamosi are positive.

As Apple gears up to release its OS X 10.5, nicknamed ‘Leopard,’ it is reminding Boot Camp users that the utility will expire when Leopard is shipped

Source: InfoWorld
Written by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Apple kicked off the month in which it plans to launch its new Mac OS X 10.5, “Leopard,” OS by reminding users that the beta license for Boot Camp — the utility that runs Windows XP or Vista on an Intel Mac — will expire as soon as the new operating system ships.

Unlike XP’s SP2, this service pack offers mainly under-the-hood changes

Source: ComputerWorld
Written by Preston Gralla

October 01, 2007  (Computerworld) — Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), just delivered to a group of approximately 12,000 beta testers, offers no dramatic interface changes, nor does it add new features to the operating system. Instead SP1 focuses on improving performance, reliability and application compatibility, and it extends support to emerging hardware such as the exFAT file system that will be used by flash memory storage and consumer devices. However, SP1 does change the way Windows search works, allowing third-party programs such as Google Desktop Search to integrate more easily into the operating system. (See Computerworld review.)

Source: ZDNet
Written by Dawn Kawamoto

A European court dealt a severe blow to Microsoft’s competitive ambitions in Europe Monday by siding with regulators in an antitrust case against the company.

In its ruling, the Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance upheld European Commission claims that Microsoft abused its dominant position in the operating system market. Microsoft’s allies and competitors have been closely following the case since the Commission imposed antitrust sanctions against the company in early 2004.

Efforts to curb software piracy in China are bearing fruit although the piracy rate remains high, costing vendors billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Source: PC World
Written by John Blau, IDG News Service

Efforts to curb software piracy in China are bearing fruit although the piracy rate remains high, costing vendors billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to a survey paid for by large vendors, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

That was one of several findings of a report published Tuesday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in collaboration with IDC.

SOFTWARE LAG LIKELY TO SPARK EVOLUTION IN PROGRAMMING
Source: SiliconValley.com
Written By Mark Boslet, Mercury News

Consumer research shows that when given a choice PC buyers opt for computer chips with multiple cores, or computing brains. More cores equal more power is an easy concept for them to understand.

They might want to think twice before snapping up the industry’s latest quad-core computers.

PC World has posted two articles; one titled 10 Things We Love About Apple and the other titled 10 Things We Hate About Apple. They are both written by Narasu Rebbapragada and Alan Stafford, PC World. I guess they are of a split mind (is that the same as a split personality?).

“Today, we–that’s us, Narasu and Alan, veteran Mac users both–are going to get some stuff off our chests. We’ve enumerated ten things we hate about Apple (or its followers, or simply about the experience of using its products). But in the interest of fair play (not to be confused with FairPlay, Apple’s DRM technology) we’re also publishing another list–Ten Things We Love About Apple.”

Source: APC
Written by Angus Kidman

Computer makers have been told they’ll no longer be able to get Windows XP OEM by the end of this year, despite consumer resistance to Vista and its compatibility problems.

By early 2008, Microsoft’s contracts with computer makers will require companies to only sell Vista-loaded machines. “The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January,” said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. “At that point, they’ll have no choice.”

Despite Microsoft’s relentless promotion of Vista, manufacturers are still seeing plenty of demand from customers for systems preloaded with XP, especially in the finicky SOHO market.

Read entire article

Source: MACNN

Apple today confirmed that the much-anticipated iPhone is on-track to ship in “late June,” but said that the development of the consumer device has delayed Mac OS X Leopard until October because the company has devoted more of its resources toward iPhone development.

Read entire article

Source: InformationWeek
Written By Paul McDougall

Users of Adobe Systems’ digital publishing products, including Photoshop, InDesign, and Dreamweaver, will have to shell out for new versions of the software if they want to run them without glitches on Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system, Adobe says.

The release of Adobe CS3 will add momentum to pro Mac sales, an analyst claims

[editor’s note: file this one under well, DUH]

Source: Macwolrd UK

Sales of Apple’s professional Macs will take a significant upturn on the release of Adobe CS3, claimed Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster this week.

Source: Macworld
Written by Rob Griffiths

Last month, in the first part of my three-part report (parts two and three) on the new Mac Pro, I reported on Photoshop’s performance in Rosetta—both subjectively and objectively (on page three) via a test of the Liquify filter.

You need at least 1GB of RAM, and you’ll go even faster with a dual-core processor, PC World’s lab testing shows.

Source: PC World
Written by Eric Dahl

With Microsoft’s Windows Vista finally released to manufacturers and on the verge of making its way to retail, we can at last get down to the business of examining precisely how well the new OS performs. In our first tests, we discovered that while Vista’s hardware requirements may be steep, it should run just fine–even with the Aero bells and whistles active–on machines that meet Microsoft’s Premium Ready specifications (1GB of RAM, and a DirectX 9-capable graphics board with at least 128MB of dedicated memory).