A new version of Mac OS X rolled out on Sunday evening to developers. The new version is 10.7.2 and with it, iCloud has been included. Although iCloud has been available on the beta versions of Mac OS X for a few weeks now, this is the first time that it has been included in to the OS rather than via another install package.
Computer Gadgets
Seagate has announced a new 4TB hard drive. This particular drive stores up to 4TB of data on a single physical disk which makes it the only drive of this capacity available at the moment.
Wacom has announced Inkling. The device allows you to draw with a pen and when done you can transfer the drawing to a computer to edit the image. There are several things that make this device stand out. Lets start with the pen. The pen has a ball point tip that you can draw on any type of paper with. The digital pen also can sense 1024 levels of pressure which makes the captured drawing even more realistic. Each pressure is calculated when transferred to give the drawing the correct line weights. When you have finished drawing, the data is sent to a PC or Mac in Vector format which means you can then easily edit each line on the page as much as you like.
Google has used Voice Search on Android smartphones for quite a while now. The process is that you tap a button, speak your search term and then get the results appear in the browser. This functionality has now come to the desktop.
Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 8 will include robust USB 3.0 support when the OS launches. To get the support as robust as possible, Microsoft has written a new software stack.
“Don’t jump in. Instead, meticulously design a new USB software stack for the new controller while maintaining existing interfaces and behaviors, ensuring every device and driver will work. For older controllers, we retained our existing software stack.”
Apple has released a recovery disk for Max OS X Lion. The assistant gives users the ability to reinstall Lion, repair disks, restore from Time Machine or do a fresh install from a new hard drive that doesn't have OS X installed.
Apple could be launching a new version of the Magic Mouse. The information comes from CultofMac who were told that the current part number was being discontinued. The initial report hinted that Apple was completely doing away with the Magic Mouse, but CofM's source has now pointed out that although the old part number is being stopped, a new part number will be put in its place.
A new version of Skype has been launched on Windows. The latest update is version 5.5 which brings a few new features to the VoIP service. New features of Skype 5.5 include a deeper Facebook integration that allows you to speak with Facebook contacts as well as see wall posts and make comments all from the Skype interface.
Apple launched Mac OS X Lion last week and when it was launched, the way gestures worked was changed quite a bit. Scrolling up and down a page was reversed meaning that you now drag two fingers down to scroll up as though you are grabbing the page on the screen.
One of the gestures that broke was for the Google Chrome browser. Chrome used a 3 finger side swipe to flick between pages but as you'll notice on the image below, Apple has made a default 3 finger side swipe to switch between apps. This caused this function in Chrome to break.
The year of 2011 offers numerous devices that will assist consumers in their day-to-day activities. The best gadgets on the market are often affordable and can offer significant improvements in work productivity. Consumers search online to find the best broadband deals. A couple of the greatest broadband devices are listed below.
MiFi Mobile Broadband Units
The compact gadget enables multiple users to access the 3G mobile broadband signal. A number of clients enjoy the broadband wireless routers that create a localized signal of around 10 metres or more. Clients may use the devices with compatible laptops, smartphones and game consoles. The device is mobile; therefore, users will be able to use this device in any location where the service is offered.
Students enjoy using this device while travelling around and there are numerous service providers that support the MiFi units. T-Mobile and Vodafone are just two of the service providers that deliver the signal to the MiFi broadband unit. With some service providers, customers can expect a connection up to 7.2 MB. [click to continue…]
Over the past few weeks, there's been some speculation about a new 2011 line of iMac's being launched by Apple. That speculation can now come to an end as Apple has indeed launched a new range of iMacs.
Just like the previous generation, there are four different models to choose from with two of them having 21.5 inch screens and two of them having larger 27 inch screens. Each has a faster CPU which is now quad-core for every model. Each has 3x faster graphics power and includes a HD camera to be used with FaceTime. The new Thunderbolt port is also included in the 2011 refresh.
Some reports today are indicating that the latest generation Apple iMac models will soon be experiencing some shortages. What this normally means is that Apple is planning on a refresh. The same happened with the iPad when the iPad 2 launched as well as the MacBook Pro back in February when the next gen model was being prepared for launch. It has also happened a number of times before.
So what can we expect from the new iMac range? What we hear is that Apple will likely keep the same design, same screen sizes and same keyboard etc... but will bump up the power of each model to include faster CPU's, larger storage and we also expect to see the ThunderBolt (first seen in the MacBook Pro refresh this year) port being included in the refresh.
