Security firm Intego said this week that it has discovered a second version of the Trojan hiding within a pirated version of iLife ‘09. The new variant is being distributed via BitTorrentwithin Adobe Photoshop CS4 for the Mac. 

According to Intego, the new Trojan is named OSX.Trojan.iServices.B. The PhotoShop installer being distributed is clean, Intego said; however, the accompanying serial-number generator contains the Trojan.

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The update should show when running Software Update and is available as a stand alone installer from Apple Support Downloads. The stand alone installer is 88MBs while the combo installer is 561MB.

The 10.5.4 update also includes recent security updates as well general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac. The 10.5.4 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard. Additional info about the update is here.

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.

The sponsorship was also mentioned during a Google presentation at Linux.conf.au in Melbourne last month, focusing its Summer of Code student training program. “We have paid for a whole bunch of improvements to a whole bunch of stuff,” program manager Leslie Hawthorn said. “We haven’t actually talked about it, but we recently paid CodeWeavers to do some work on Wine so you can run Photoshop CS2 and 3″

As such, it’s not a big stretch to imagine that prospects for the 2008 program might want to propose further enhancements to the Adobe product line. Coming up with an update process that’s not a global embarrassment would be a good start. Patching Acrobat Reader is painful enough on a standard Windows machine; doing so under pseudo-emulation quite possibly violates international anti-torture laws.
Adobe certainly seems to be in Google’s sights. “Perhaps not coincidentally, apps like Flash 8 are now starting to work in Wine, too,” Kegel wrote. “We look forward to further improvements in this area.”

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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.

“Many of the most respected photographers on assignment all over the world trust Aperture to organize, edit and deliver their images,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “With its simpler interface and lower price, anyone can take full advantage of Aperture’s power.”

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the quality of the image,” said Sports Illustrated contributing photographer David Bergman. “Even before I begin making adjustments, Aperture’s new RAW processing gives me better images with more visible detail and better color rendering than any other program I’ve tested.”

“I used to have so much stress about post-production on a shoot, having to juggle multiple applications to make sure they all worked,” said Bob Davis, PDN Top Knots Wedding Photographer 2007. “With Aperture that’s no longer a factor. I can do everything all in one application.”

Featuring a new, easier user interface designed to be more intuitive and accessible, Aperture 2 now lets users navigate between Viewer and Browser modes with a single key command. Screen real estate is maximized for images with an all-in-one heads up display that allows users to toggle between library, metadata and adjustment controls in a single tabbed inspector. The All Projects view, modeled after iPhoto’s Events view, provides a poster photo for every project and the ability to quickly skim through the photos inside, and the integrated iPhoto® Browser offers direct access to all the events and images in the iPhoto library.

Performance has been enhanced in Aperture 2 so it’s faster to import, browse and search large volumes of images. Embedded previews let photographers caption, keyword and rate images as they are being imported, and with the ability to export images in the background, photographers can continue working while images are processed to JPEG, TIFF, PNG and PSD file formats. Quick Preview allows users to browse RAW images in rapid succession without having to wait for files to load, and the Aperture library database has been re-architected to provide fast project switching and near instantaneous search results, even when working with extremely large libraries of 500,000 images or more.

Aperture 2 delivers powerful new imaging tools for getting the most out of each photograph. Apple’s next-generation RAW image processing is at the core of Aperture 2 offering uncompromising image quality and precision controls that let users fine-tune the image profile for each of their cameras. New tools for improving and enhancing images include Recovery for pulling back “blown” highlights, Vibrancy for selectively boosting saturation without adversely affecting skin tones, Definition, which offers local contrast for adding clarity to images, Vignette & Devignette filters for providing professional visual effects and a true soft-edged Repair and Retouch brush for quickly and easily removing blemishes, cleaning up sensor dust and cloning away problem areas.

Aperture 2 works seamlessly with Mac OS® X, iLife®, iWork™, .Mac and Apple print products, so any image in the Aperture library can be accessed directly from within other applications, such as iMovie®, Keynote® and Pages®, and even from within Leopard™ Mail. Now with .Mac Web Gallery support, Aperture users can publish their photos once to view them on the web, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. Books in Aperture 2 feature new theme designs, layout tools, customized dust jackets (including full-bleed) and foil stamped covers.

Pricing & Availability
Aperture 2 is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Owners of previous versions of Aperture can upgrade to Aperture 2 for just $99 (US). Full system requirements and more information on Aperture 2 can be found at www.apple.com/aperture.

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)

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.

The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers was recently honored with a Hot One Award from Professional Photographer magazine, and was the #4 pick among Amazon customers for 2007 computer and Internet books. The iPhone Book was also honored by Amazon editors as their best computer book of the year.

Kelby published a total of six titles in 2007.

“I would challenge anyone to find an author in any discipline, not just computer books, who is more loyal and committed to their readers’ satisfaction than Scott Kelby,” said Nancy Aldrich-Ruenzel, vice president of Pearson Technology Group. “He delivers what readers need and want time and time again: fresh techniques, fresh imagery, and a down-to-earth, conversational teaching style. He is incredibly deserving of this top spot in computer book publishing for the fourth year in a row—an amazing feat, and we are immensely proud to be Scott’s publishing partner.”

To view more of Kelby’s best-selling work, go to www.peachpit.com/ScottKelby.

About Scott Kelby
Scott Kelby is president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, a trade organization for Adobe Photoshop users with more than 70,000 members in over 100 countries worldwide. Additionally, Scott is Editor-in-Chief of both Photoshop User and Layers magazines. Scott serves as training director for the Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour and is the technical chair of the Photoshop World Conference & Expo. In addition to the Down & Dirty Tricks and the Killer Tips book series, Scott is also the author of Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 and The Digital Photography Book. For more information, visit scottkelby.com and kelbytraining.com.

About Peachpit
Berkeley-based Peachpit has been publishing the industry’s best-selling books on the latest in graphic design, desktop publishing, multimedia, Web design and development, digital video and general Macintosh computing since 1986. Its award-winning books feature step-by-step explanations, time-saving techniques, savvy insider tips, and expert advice for computer users of all sorts. It is the home of the internationally recognized Visual QuickStart Guide series, the design imprint New Riders and its highly popular Voices That Matter series, and is the publishing partner for Adobe Press, lynda.com, NAPP, Apple Certified, AIGA Design Press and others. Peachpit is part of Pearson, the international media company. Pearson’s primary operations also include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group. Learn more at www.peachpit.com and www.pearson.com.

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.

According to industry analyst firm Gartner, Apple shipped just over 1 million Mac OS X-based computers during the fourth quarter of 2007, a gain of 227,000 over the fourth quarter of 2006. The analyst firm reported that Apple’s U.S. market share for 2007 jumped by 28 percent compared to 2006, rising to just over 6 percent.

And with Apple CEO Steve Jobs stating at last week’s Macworld Expo and Conference that the company has already sold 4 million iPhones and 5 million copies of Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), its latest OS, since launching the products last year, the company’s prospects look stronger than ever.

However, malware researchers and industry analysts warn that as the sheer number of Apple end-point devices in use worldwide rise, so will the security concerns tied to the company’s products.

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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.

While we should be careful about drawing market share conclusions from the Net Applications data (because this data only tells us what computers and operating systems are used to access a broad selection of web sites), month on month the Mac OS has seen stronger numbers.  Back in January 2006 Mac stood at 4.21%, by December 2006 this had risen to 5.67%, and then to a robust 7.31% by December 2007.  Either Mac users are surfing the web more, or the market share is growing.  Given how Net Applications collects this data, it’s safe to assume that market share has grown roughly in proportion with these figures.

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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.

Passengers will still be able to carry lithium batteries in checked bags if they are installed in a device like a laptop or digital camera. But loose batteries will need to be put in a plastic bag and carried on the plane as hand luggage, the DOT said.

The rules also limit each passenger to two “extended-life” lithium batteries. These are larger batteries with more than 8 grams of equivalent lithium content, examples of which are pictured in the DOT’s statement.

The rules are also described at the SafeTravel.dot.gov Web site.

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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.

Ben Willmore

I wrote Photoshop CS3: Up to Speed because it was the book that I personally would look for when a new version of Photoshop is released. As a seasoned Photoshop user, when a new version is released, all I really need to know about is the new stuff and that’s all that the Up to Speed book covers. I wish I could find similar titles for all the other programs I use (like Mac OSX Leopard for instance). I don’t have the patience to search through hundreds upon hundreds of pages to find the new stuff in a bible-sized book or deal with the limited coverage in the more cookbook style books, so I decided to write the book that I thought was missing from the shelf. This short, low priced guide is the fastest way to get “up to speed” when a new version is released.

I enjoy writing the book because if forces me to search through every nook and cranny in Photoshop and discover all the small changes that I would have never noticed if I was working on a book that covered both the old and new features. It also gets me to explore features in much more depth than I have in the past.

Readers seem to love the book and the only complaints I’ve heard relate to the binding on the first printing. Peachpit Press (my publisher) really screwed up on the first batch and they were falling apart in readers hands. Peachpit will replace any of the early copies that fell apart.

I started the book with Photoshop CS2 because that was simply the time when I realized the need for such a book. I wish I would have thought of it much earlier.

I don’t think I’ve made it through any other Photoshop books this year, but here is a recommendation for a non-Photoshop book: The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. This is the best book I’ve read in about a decade and has been a deep influence in how I’ve changed the structure of my life over the last year or so.

John Nack

I read quite a bit online, but I don’t read too many printed books—at least not cover to cover. So, I’d suggest the following based on what I’ve nibbled this year:

Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations, by Simon Rich
Bite-sized chunks of mordant hilarity, which of course makes it right up my alley. The book is so slight that you can almost read it all while waiting in line to buy it.

I Am America (And So Can You!), by Stephen Colbert
Nobody else makes being asinine so funny. Colbert manages to poke fun without being shrill, and without condescending.

Music for Chameleons, by Truman Capote
I don’t know Capote very well & thus can’t compare the short stories in this collection to his other work, but I found them consistently engrossing.

My American Century, by Studs Terkel
Terkel brings to life the voices of Americans from every walk of life in the last hundred years, putting real texture on the bones of historical events. The narratives (such as they are) can get a little haphazard and pedantic from time to time, but I welcome the insights into so many real lives.

Andrew Rodney

I have not read as many books as I should. But one book I can highly recommend and quite new to the market is The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists by Christian Bloch (published by Rockynook). I’ve had a passing interest in HDR but didn’t know much about it. Chapter 1 of the book is worth the price of admission as it’s an excellent primer covering the fundamentals of HDR, image encoding and the somewhat controversial concepts of dynamic range versus bit depth. I didn’t fully grasp the potential of really high-bit (32 bit encoding), and HDR until I read this well written chapter. I was equally naïve about the various file formats that support HDRI until reading chapter 2. The two chapters greatly aid in supporting the rest of the book which covers both best practices for capturing images for HDR and the various software products available for processing bracketed data. The discussion of true HDR camera systems we may see in the future was fascinating! Bloch does an excellent job of using various analogies to clearly explain some rather complex concepts and his style is humorous and never dry. An entire chapter is devoted to the important task of tone mapping. I thought the images provided throughout the book showed great care in this important process of tone mapping; the images don’t have that odd, HDR look I’ve seen in the past. The examples actually make you excited about the prospect of shooting and processing HDR images. One chapter covered HDR and Panoramic photography. I really hated that chapter. I got so excited about the prospect of trying this out I ended up spending $1500 for a new Carbon Fiber tripod and the entire Really Right Stuff Pano head! Seriously, I’m really looking forward to trying some of the techniques illustrated in this book. The HDRI Handbook is quite up to date (it was just released) so it covered the HDR features in Photoshop CS3 as well as a number of Mac and Windows software products that handle HDR processing. Print quality, illustrations all the images is top notch. At 341 pages, there’s no fluff to be found and I think this was a great primer on a subject I only knew about in passing. An added bonus is a CD-Rom containing tutorials files, many used within the book that I could test until I was savvy enough to produce my own images to play with. There’s a lot of demo software as well. The companion website, http://www.hdrlabs.com/news/index.php should give you an idea of what to expect both from this excellent book and from the exiting new field of HDR digital imaging. The web site like the book has a ton of content and is beautifully designed. Highly recommend.

Julieanne Kost

Window Seat: The Art of Digital Photography and Creative Thinking is a complete view of a creative project from the artist’s perspective. I took my own experience of shooting images out of airplane windows to create a unique seminar in three parts: a manifesto of ways to stay creatively alive; a portfolio of stunning photographs, with commentaries describing my experiences and thought process; and a technical appendix that includes the details of the images were shot, manipulated, and prepared for printing.

In the midst of an experience as inorganic as business travel, this collection of photographs came into existence by a completely organic process. They came about not because I first had the idea to do a whole portfolio of photographs shot out of airplane windows. Instead, I was moved to shoot one photograph, and then another, and then 3,000 more over the course of five or six years.

Here are some of the books that Julieanne also recommends from her website:

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book – Martin Evening
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers - Scott Kelby
Photoshop Lightroom Adventure - Mikkel Aaland
Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers - Martin Evening
The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers - Scott Kelby
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Studio Techniques - Ben Willmore
Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One - Deke McClelland
Real World Adobe Photoshop CS3 - David Blatner, Conrad Chavez and Bruce Fraser
Photoshop Masking and Compositing - Katrin Eismann
Real World Color Management - Bruce Fraser
Photoshop Studio with Bert Monroy - Bert Monroy
Photoshop Restoration and Retouching, Third Edition – Katrin Eismann

I will also tell you that I just read Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky. I don’t know if people will want to put it on their Christmas list, but here was a quote that I thought was appropriate:
“On the whole, there are extremely few people with new ideas, or who are even the merest bit capable of saying something new – so few that it’s almost strange”.
– Dostoyevsky

Seth Resnick

Without a doubt the two best so far would have to be The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book by Martin Evening and Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3 by Jeff Schewe and Bruce Fraser. That said, there is also Martin’s Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers and Andrew Rodney’s Color Management for Photographers. I also really enjoyed reading Eric Meola’s books: Last Places on EarthBorn to Run: The Unseen Photos on Bruce Springsteen. There was also Stephen Wilkes’s Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom book. and his book called

And then there was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It gave me a very clear, and vivid sense of the life in Afghanistan without feeling like I was being lectured to by a politician. It was sort of a wake up and open your eyes kind of book. I did know what was coming next but still enjoyed the book.

Martin Evening

I had an extremely busy start to the year. I was in the midst of finishing off first of all The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book, which was followed soon after by the publication of Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers. Of the two, I was particularly proud of the Lightroom book since I had spent so much time preparing and revising it over a 15 month period. I was pleased when it was finished, but of course not long after I had to write the Lightroom 1.1 update!

In between working on my books I did find time to read all the way through Peter Krogh’s The DAM book, which proved incredibly useful, offering professional insights into the art of image management. I certainly learned a lot from it and recommend to others as the book on this subject.

I have always been interested in space exploration and NASA photography. One of my favourite photography books is Full Moon by Michael Lightman. So I am hoping Santa will be kind enough to get me Postcards from Mars: The First Photographer on the Red Planet by Jim Bell. If you think email communication is a phenomenon of the late 20th century, well think again. The Victorians had their own Internet, in the form of ‘The Telegraph’. I did first read Tom Standage’s book The Victorian Internet some years ago, but it cropped up in discussion recently and thought it worth highlighting because it is a fascinating book that reveals many interesting parallels with the way we use and regard the Internet today.

For light reading I would recommend Restless by William Boyd as my favorite novel of the year. It is an ideal book to read over the holidays or if you are on a long journey. Set in England in the seventies, it is a story of a young woman who comes to learn the truth about her mother, Sally and her secret wartime identity. I would rate this as one of William Boyd’s best, alongside Stars and Bars, The Blue Afternoon and Armadillo.

Russell Brown

I actually have not looked a very many books this year. I’m not exactly sure why this is, but it just happened. My only recommendations would have to be Ben Wilmore’s book called Photoshop CS3 Up-To-Speed. Mikel Aaland’s book on the Iceland Photoshop Lightroom Adventure. Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers, by Martin Evening. Finally, Jeff Schewe’s new book: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Mac Holbert

As a self-taught digital printmaker I am always looking out for new books that explore the subject. I started my company in 1989 – a time when there was no Internet and there were no books on digital anything! I struggled with the new tools and made many mistakes but I eventually learned what I needed to create a successful printmaking studio. I can only imagine the hours I could have saved in the early days if I had had access to in-depth, real-world information on how to scan, process, print, and curate an image! I see many “How To” books but find most of them too general and most often aimed at the neophyte. Although these books serve a purpose for the casual “hobbyist” I tend to seek out books that delve a little deeper into the “business” of printmaking. I have chosen two books that were published in 2007 that fall into this category.

301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques – Andrew Darlow is an encyclopedia of valuable information gleaned not only from his own vast experience but also from many of his friends and fellow digital printmakers. Darlow doles out task specific tips and techniques as he generally covers the creation of a print. He makes you stop and consider your choices and often presents you with possible solutions that you may not have ever considered. This book is best suited for the intermediate to advanced user as much of the information presented may not be meaningful to the uninitiated.

The real value of the information presented in this book is that it is culled from actual users. When a specific substrate or device is discussed it is usually a first person experience. Because of this it more accurately reflects the real concerns and issues of the larger printmaking community not just one individual’s view of the subject. Like any book that covers such a broad subject not all the information is appropriate for every reader. Regardless, I find this to be an invaluable addition to any digital printmakers library. This is time-tested information. It is a resource that I think you’ll find yourself referring to for years to come.

Fine Art Printing for Photographers by Uwe Steinmueller & Juergen Gulbins is a true manual for fine art printmaking. It is aimed at those users who are ready to take their output to the next step. Creating a fine art digital print requires a level of expertise far above that required to create “snapshot” prints on one’s home computer. This book clearly outlines the process and provides invaluable information for the fledgling fine art printmaker. In addition to an overview of different printing technologies, the book covers what I consider to be the most important aspects of fine art digital making: Color Management; Fine Art Digital Workflow; Substrate choices and handling; Specific fine art printers; Printer drivers and RIPs; Print Presentation.

One thing I particularly liked about this book was its length, 226 pages. It’s not the “typical” digital bible that attempts to cover every possibility in 500-600 pages. Fine Art Printing for Photographers is concise and well organized focusing just on the needs of the fine art printer. It provides a solid but flexible foundation that allows it to be customized for the individual needs of the end user. The hidden value in this book is in how it breaks down the steps necessary to improve printmaking skills. It leaves many of the decisions to the individual. It points out in its introduction that experimentation is crucial and is, in most cases, the only way one can truly determine whether or not a particular product or technique is appropriate for one’s unique set of needs. The authors present their approach but never assume that their way is the only way. This book provides an excellent structure for learning how to improve one’s printmaking skills. I highly recommend this book!

Jeff Schewe

Well, I’m very pleased that Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3 by Bruce Fraser and I is shipping and being well received. But it’s a bittersweet pleasure because I wish Bruce could have seen it. However, I’m very sure that he’s pleased with the results, wherever he’s at. I’m also rather tickled with the cover! It’s my favorite “15 foot mutant penguin” shot. (much better than the unknown soccer shot they were going to use).

As for other books, although not new (it was published last year) I’ve found a new appreciation for Bruce’s Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop book. The reason I’ve spent so much time reading it was that earlier this year, I helped fulfill a consulting contract for Bruce working on the sharpening in Camera Raw 4.1 and Lightroom 1.1. Thomas Knoll had wanted to work with Bruce to substantially improve the capture sharpening and while we didn’t get it done for the launch of Lightroom nor Camera Raw 4.0, we did get it done. I must say that my copy of Bruce’s book is well thumbed over and I know for a fact it had a major impact on both Thomas and Mark Hamburg (Lightroom founding engineer) because I saw Mark reading the book while he was coding the sharpening processes. While it’s got Photoshop CS2 in the title, pretty much everything regarding sharpening is the same in Photoshop CS3 with the exception that now, I use Camera Raw 4.3.1 (current) to do all my capture sharpening.

As for other books, well, everybody else has already posted my favs for the Photoshop genre so I’ll add my favorite recreational reading authors. I’m a long time fan of John D. MacDonald, the author of the Travis McGee mysteries. And yes, I re-read them a lot whenever I need my McGee fix. I’m also a fan of Robert B. Parker (primarily the Spenser series). Fortunately, there’s a new one out as of October (so I’m sure to get the hardcover for X-Mas). Anybody who knows me knows that I’m an odd blend of part McGee and part Spencer in my world view.

Katrin Eismann

Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Real World) by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe
To the point, invaluable information, gets into the essential details and controls every photographer needs to get the most out of ACR.

The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists by Christian Bloch. An excellent book on HDR that has enough technical info for the geek and inspiration for the artist. Excellent illustrations and examples.

Adobe Photoshop CS3: Up to Speed by Ben Willmore. To the point information, excellent overview of all things new in CS3.

Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing by Garrett White. Don’t look for step by steps in this book – look for inspiration and a tremendous overview of excellent art.

Other books:

Rock and Roll by Lynn Goldsmith. Fantastic photography and insights into the music that shaped a generation…or the generation that shaped the music! Makes a great gift for the secret rocker in your life!

Perception and Imaging, Third Edition: Photography–A Way of Seeing by Richard D. Zakia. Photography is about seeing – not moving sliders around. Dr Z’s book is the book on perception – both visual and psychological.

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.

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Issue or symptom

Running Time Machine backup or restore operations while Aperture is running may lead to inconsistencies in the Aperture database.

Products affected

• Aperture
• Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Solution

If you use Time Machine with Leopard, be sure to set Time Machine to exclude the Aperture Library from automatic backups. To do so:

1. Open Time Machine.
2. Click the Options button.
3. Click the “+” button in the Do not back up window.
4. Use the resulting file browser to navigate to the location of your Aperture Library. The default location is ~/Pictures/Aperture Library (where “~” represents your home folder).
5. Click the Exclude button.
6. Click the Done button.

Note that this means that your Aperture Library will not be backed up by Time Machine. Be sure to manually back up your Aperture Library.

Read original TechNote

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?

Federal lawmakers voted two years ago to extend daylight-saving time (DST) one week to help conserve energy. Businesses have worked hard to patch their computers so time critical systems like electronic stock trading, billing, and airline schedules work without missing a beat. But for smaller companies and consumers, the time change may not be snag free.

“It’s the small stuff that people have to worry about,” says Andrea Protas, director of research for eEye Digital Security. “Any small electronics like VCRs, alarm clocks, and wrist watches are susceptible to error.”

It’s just the flip side of the concerns raised seven months ago when daylight-saving time kicked in earlier, by Congressional action.

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[Editor's note: don't forget to change the clock in your digital cameras because while you can alter the EXIF Date/Time captured EXIF metadata after the fact, it's time consuming and not always easy to do–particularly on a lot of captures.]

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…

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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.

There are dozens of important new features in Leopard, perhaps most notably the Time Machine application that could make it easier for users to back up and restore their files. Backing up your files is generally a simple exercise with a external hard drive, but Time Machine is interesting because of the friendly way in which it lets you restore files, flying back in time (and space) to the last instance in which that file was saved.

But all the reviewers, including Apple favorites Walt Mossberg at The Wall Street Journal and David Pogue at The New York Times, felt compelled to point out that Leopard is very much an evolution of previous versions of Mac OS X, and not a dramatic breakthrough like some past releases. It’s certainly nothing like the tectonic shift Microsoft users went through in the switch from Windows XP to Vista, or Windows 98 to XP.

That can come off as a negative assessment. But it’s not.

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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.

The news was no secret: Apple had spelled it out on the Boot Camp download page and in the EULA (end user license agreement) included with the beta and posted on the Apple site. “The term of this License … will terminate automatically without notice from Apple upon the next commercial release of the Apple Software, or December 31, 2007, whichever occurs first,” the EULA states.

According to Apple, Windows partitions already installed on Macs using Boot Camp will continue to work, but the Assistant software, which sets up and manages those partitions, will not once the license expires. “And Apple will not offer driver updates to beta users,” said company spokesman Anuj Nayar. However, Nayar did not respond to questions about whether Apple will make a final version available to Mac OS 10.4 users, and if so, at what price.

A support document posted last week only said: “The license to use Boot Camp Beta expires when Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is available to the public. To continue using Boot Camp at that time, upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.”

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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.)

Microsoft plans to release the final version of SP1 in the first quarter of 2008.

Those who hoped that SP1 would introduce new features or interface improvements, as was done with Windows XP SP2, will be disappointed. David Zipkin, product manager for Vista SP1, said that the company’s goal has been to focus on operating system improvements rather than on interface changes or new features.

He added that Windows XP SP2 was an anomaly in that it made some significant changes to the way that Windows XP looked and worked. Those changes were made in response to emerging Internet threats, he said. Vista SP1, he said, is a return to a more traditional Microsoft approach towards service packs — that they should focus on performance and reliability rather than on new features.

Many corporate customers appear to be waiting for SP1 to ship before they move to Vista, and when the service pack ships, it may boost Vista’s adoption rate, which many observers have called sluggish.

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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.

The court’s decision is expected to have far-reaching implications for consumers, computer makers, Microsoft competitors and, perhaps most pointedly, the Commission’s ability to regulate technology companies on antitrust matters, legal experts and industry observers say.

“The court ruling is…welcome for its confirmation of the Commission’s decision and its underlying policy, but nevertheless, it is bittersweet,” Neelie Kroes, the Commission’s Competition Commissioner, said during a press conference Monday. “Bittersweet because the court has confirmed the Commission’s view that consumers are suffering at the hands of Microsoft.”

Kroes added that should Microsoft comply with the Commission’s order, she expects to see a “significant drop” in Microsoft’s overwhelming market share.

And while she gave no estimate of how steep she expects that drop to be, Kroes noted that it would likely be more than a few percentage points as more competitors enter the market. Microsoft’s Windows operating system runs on about 95 percent of the world’s personal computers.

“A market share less than 95 percent is a way to measure the success (of the order),” she added. A spokesman for Kroes later clarified that a fall in market share would be a logical consequence of fairer competition.

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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.

Industry observers generally agree that piracy rates are high, though some question the assumptions behind the BSA’s and IDC’s methodology.

The study is based on various data, including the number of new PC shipments, the installed base of PCs and software licenses, as well as estimates of the number of software applications installed on PCs. Open source, which is included, is handled as paid software.

“We know, for instance, that new PCs going to consumers in the U.S. generally have eight pieces of software, four of which are free like Adobe Reader and the other four should be paid for,” said John Gatz, chief research officer at IDC. “So if you know how many pieces of hardware have software and how many pieces of software were paid for, the difference is the pirate.”

China’s piracy rate dipped four percentage points for the second consecutive year and a total of 10 percentage points in the last three years — from 92 percent in 2003 to 82 percent 2006. Revenue lost through piracy over the three-year period is estimated at US$864 million.

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