O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: iPhoto

  • Apple releases iPhoto 9.1.1 update

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    Apple on Tuesday released iPhoto 9.1.1, the latest version of its image organization and editing application. The update, a 62.1 megabyte download, offers the following fixes and changes:

    – Adds a preference allowing photos to be emailed using an external email application.

    – Adds “Classic” and “Journal” themes to email.

    – Photos attached to an email can now be sized to Small, Medium or Large.

    – Improves reliability when upgrading a library from an earlier version of iPhoto.

    – iPhoto now correctly preserves the sort order of Events after upgrading a library.

    – Event titles displayed in headers can now be edited in Photos view.

    – Addresses a problem that could cause duplicate photos to be added to a MobileMe album.

    – Scrolling overlay now correctly displays ratings when photos are sorted by rating.

    – Photos are now sorted correctly when a rating is changed and photos are sorted by rating.

    – Fixes a problem that could cause text formatting controls to become inaccessible when editing a calendar.

    iPhoto 9.1.1 retails for US$49 as part of iLife ’11 and requires Mac OS X 10.6.3 or later to install and run.

    If you’ve tried the update and noticed any changes, please let us know.

  • Apple releases Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.4, adds support for new camera formats

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    Late Wednesday, Apple posted its Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.4, an update designed to extend RAW image compatibility for the Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’09 applications.

    The update, a 6 megabyte download, adds support for the following cameras:

    – Canon EOS 60D

    – Canon PowerShot S95

    – Hasselblad H4D-40

    – Nikon D3100

    – Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

    – Sony DSLR-A290

    – Sony DSLR-A560

    – Sony DSLR-A580

    – Sony SLT-A33

    – Sony SLT-A55

    The update requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later to install and run and is also available via Mac OS X’s built-in Software Update feature.

    If you’ve tried the new Digital Camera update and noticed any changes, please let us know how it went.

  • Apple discussion board headings confirm update iLife, MacBook Air products

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    With only hours to go before the company’s “Back to the Mac” event, updates to Apple’s official online forums reveal at least some of the products due to be unveiled at today’s “Back to the Mac” event, including iLife ’11 and a new MacBook Air.

    Per AppleInsider, new sections on the Apple Discussions page added Wednesday include iMovie ’11, iPhoto ’11, and GarageBand ’11, all part of the iLife software suite. There is also a forum titled “MBA (Need official name)” which will likely be the discussion home for the newly redesigned MacBook Air.

    Finally, a mystery space on the forums points to but does not reveal what product it represents. It simply carries the title “Reserved 10 20.”

    Last week, the following details were located and confirmed regarding an updated MacBook Air notebook:
    – A smaller 11.6″ display.

    – 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (with a 2.33GHz option possible).

    – 2GB of memory in the base configuration.

    – No optical drive.

    – Mini DisplayPort, USB, and SD card reader on the left side; USB and power on the right.

    – The trackpad has been updated to match that of the new MacBook Pros.

    – Although smaller due to the 11.6″ display, it’s still about the same thickness as the current MacBook Air.

    – A black power key now sits immediately to the right of a smaller eject key on the MBA’s keyboard — the round aluminum power button is gone. A design decision that might support the MBA’s rumored instant-on capabilities though our source didn’t see this functionality exhibited (possibly because it was running OS X 10.6.4).

    We’ll know the full details in a few hours, so stay tuned and we’ll bring you everything we can get our mitts on.

  • Rumor: Apple purchased Polar Rose facial recognition company for $29 million

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    It’s the stuff Apple buys out that makes future technology speculation kind of fun.

    Per TechCrunch, Apple is rumored to have bought a Swedish company Polar Rose. The company has created technology for facial recognition, which could allow for software and devices to recognize unique users.

    Though neither party has officially confirmed the purchase, Polar Rose offers a number of products based on its technology, including FaceCloud, which allows facial recognition for Web services, and FaceLib, which brings the functionality to mobile phones.

    One of the company’s products, dubbed Recognizr, could take a photo of a user and recognize that same person when shown on video. In a video demonstration, the application places social networking sites associated with that person around their face when seen via a mobile phone’s video camera.

    Polar Rose is a small company with less than 20 employees. Its technology came from research conducted in two universities located in southern Sweden.

    Earlier this month, on its official blog, Polar Rose announced it would no longer offer free end-user face detection and recognition services. The service allowed users to tag their Facebook friends in Flickr photos.

    “The service got quite a few users interested and this in turn led to interest by larger companies in licensing our technology,” Polar Rose’s Thijs Stalenhoef said. “This meant refocusing and that left our free service out in the cold. Although we did try to keep it up to date, this became harder and harder over time, as our licensing business accelerated.”

    Apple has its own “Faces” technology featured in its iPhoto and Aperture applications. Faces uses face detection and recognition to find and organize photos by the people in them.

    In addition, Apple has shown interest in having its devices identify users using a camera and facial recognition technology. In January, The Wall Street Journal revealed that an early prototype of the device would use a camera to recognize users’ faces, allowing it to be one device easily shared by the entire family.

    Apple reportedly experimented with the ability to customize the device, and have it automatically switch to a user’s personal settings once they picked it up. One early feature included virtual “sticky notes” that one user could leave for another, and would be read the next time they picked up the iPad.

    Cool stuff if it happens and stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

  • Missing Sync for Android 1.4.3 released

    Late last week, software developer Mark/Space released The Missing Sync for Palm OS 6.0.6, a 20.4 megabyte download (via MacUpdate). Like the other Missing Sync apps, Missing Sync for Android allows you to sync your Android devices music, photos, contacts and other data with your Mac.

    The new version adds the following fixes and changes:

    – Corrected application behavior when a sync is initiated from the phone or by Proximity Sync™, The Missing Sync will launch on the Mac in the background (it was not already running) and quit after the sync has completed.

    – Added support for syncing multiple alarms in events.

    – Reduced memory usage when syncing large sets of data.

    – Improved reliability of syncing read-only (subscribed) iCal calendars.

    – Improved handling of special (extended) characters within the body of contacts or events.

    – Enhanced the user interface for the Music and Photos plugin settings.

    – Improved Sync History log messages to better indicate problem records.

    – Resolved an issue where extra lines (line feeds) in event and contact records could cause sync errors.

    – The companion Android phone apps, Fliq Notes, Fliq Calendar and The Missing Sync were also updated to provide necessary support and compatiblity with the 1.4.3 Update.

    The Missing Sync 1.4.3 retails for US$39.95 and requires the following elements to install and run:

    – Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later

    – iTunes 7.4 or later required to sync music

    – iPhoto 5.0 or later required to sync photos

    – iCal 2.0.5 or later

    – QuickTime, version 7 or later required to sync video

    – Android phone and Mac must be on the same Wi-Fi network to sync contacts

    – Internet access required for product registration and device pairing

    – Bluetooth contacts syncing requires phone running Android OS 2.0 or later