O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: Mac

  • HandBrake updated to 0.9.7


    Handbrake, Eric Petit’s incredibly useful open-source DVD ripping/conversion utility, has been updated to version 0.9.7.

    The new version, a 7.1 megabyte download, offers the following fixes and changes:

    Supported Sources:
    – VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (unencrypted — CSS is not supported internally and must be handled externally with third-party software and libraries), BDMV folder (unencrypted), and some .VOB and .TS files.

    – Any multimedia file it can get libavformat to read and libavcodec to decode.

    Outputs:
    – File format: MP4 and MKV.

    – Video: MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264 or Theora (1 or 2 passes or constant quantizer/rate encoding).

    – Audio: AAC, HE-AAC, AC3, MP3, Vorbis, FLAC or AAC, MP3, AC3, DTS and DTS-HD pass-through (supports encoding of several audio tracks).

    Misc features:
    – Chapter selection.

    – Soft subtitle support (DVD/VobSub in DVD/MKV/MP4, SRT files, SRT/UTF-8 in MKV, ASS/SSA in MKV, TX3G/3GPP in MP4 – DVD/VobSub and ASS/SSA subtitles can also be burned-in the picture).

    – Picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling.

    – Grayscale encoding.

    WHAT’S NEW:
    – Fixes several small bugs from the previous version.

    HandBrake 0.9.7 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run.

  • Apple releases iPhoto 9.3.1 update

    eliphoto

    Late Thursday, Apple released its anticipated iPhoto 9.3.1 update. The update, a 600 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

    – Addresses a problem during the migration of albums from MobileMe Gallery that may cause photos to be moved from their original events into a new event called “From MobileMe”.

    – Fixes an issue that in rare cases could cause iPhoto to hang when upgrading libraries.

    iPhoto 9.3.1 retails for US$49 as part of iLife ’11 and requires Mac OS X 10.7.4 or later to install and run.

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

  • Parallels Desktop updated to 7.0.15104

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    On Thursday, Parallels released version 7.0.15104 of its Parallels Desktop virtualization software. The new update, a 306 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

    – Run Windows 8, Ubuntu, and Fedora on the latest models of Mac computers (MacBook Air (mid 2012), MacBook Pro (mid 2012) , MacBook Pro with Retina display).

    – Run Fedora 17 in virtual machines.

    – Install Parallels Desktop on Mac computers running OS X Mountain Lion.

    – Use IMG disc images for the virtual machine CD/DVD-ROM drive.

    – Use USB 3.0 devices in virtual machines.

    – Improved Parallels Mobile connectivity with Mac.

    – Improved Linux distributions detection during Express installation.

    – Enhanced Retina display support.

    Parallels Desktop 7 retails for US$79.99 and requires a 64-bit Intel-based processor, Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later, 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended to run Windows 7), at least 700 MB of space available on the boot volume for Parallels Desktop installation and 15 GB of available disk space for Windows.

    If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, let us know in the comments.

  • Apple posts official list of OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)-compatible Macs

    If you qualify, you’ll try to high-five everyone you meet today and your friends will eventually want you to shut up about it.

    If you don’t, well, you can meet me down at the corner pub for happy hour…

    Per The Verge, Apple has posted a “How to Upgrade” page on its website that contains a list of Mac models with Intel chipsets that qualify for Mountain Lion:

    – iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)

    – MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)

    – MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)

    – MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)

    – Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)

    – Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)

    – Xserve (Early 2009)

    After verifying that a Mac is eligible for the upgrade, users are instructed to check that they have OS X Lion or the latest version of Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) installed. The third step is simply to “download OS X Mountain Lion when it becomes available in July” and follow the onscreen instructions to install it.

    Apple announced OS X Mountain Lion in February, specifically mentioning newer Macs as qualifying for the upgrade. At the time, it was suspected that Macs with Intel’s GMA 950 and GMA X3100 integrated graphics processors would not be capable of running OS X 10.8.

    By distributing new versions of OS X solely on the Mac App Store, Apple has also drawn a line in the sand, since Macs not capable of installing at least OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 won’t be able to access the App Store.

    The Mac maker appears on track to release Mountain Lion this month as promised. Developers received the Golden Master version of the OS on Monday and an invitation from Apple to submit applications for the update to the Mac App Store. The US$19.99 upgrade contains over 200 new features, such as closer integration with iCloud, new security checks and voice dictation.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    And as much as I love my 2006 Mac Pro, maybe it’s time we started seeing other people…

  • Google Chrome updated to 20.0.1132.57

    google-chrome-logo

    Google Chrome, Google’s new web browser, just reached version 20.0.1132.57 for the Mac. The new version, a 40.7 megabyte download, offers the following changes:

    – Along with security fixes, this build contains an update to Flash player, v8 (3.10.8.20) and couple of stability/bug fixes.

    Google Chrome 20.0.1132.57 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

    If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.