News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
Like its predecessor, Adobe’s audio editing application, Soundbooth CS4, is a compromise. Although it includes more advanced features than the original Soundbooth —multitrack editing, speech transcription, non-destructive editing, automatic volume matching between tracks, and MP3 compression—it’s still not willing to take on the role of a full-blown professional audio editor such as BIAS’s Peak. Like its predecessor, Adobe’s audio editing application, Soundbooth CS4, is a compromise. Although it includes more advanced features than the original Soundbooth —multitrack editing, speech tr...
Like its predecessor, Adobe’s audio editing application, Soundbooth CS4, is a compromise. Although it includes more advanced features than the original Soundbooth —multitrack editing, speech transcription, non-destructive editing, automatic volume matching between tracks, and MP3 compression—it’s still not willing to take on the role of a full-blown professional audio editor such as BIAS’s Peak.
Christopher Breen | Nov 21, 2008
Rumours of Fireworks’ demise should finally be put to rest with the release of Fireworks CS4. It is apparent Adobe has been listening to users and has spent considerable resources overhauling Fireworks. With the adoption of the common interface shared by other Creative Suite applications, and the addition of new tools and enhanced features, Fireworks no longer feels like the forgotten child.
Cyndy Cashman | Nov 20, 2008
The pocket camcorder market is heating up. Pure Digital Technologies got the ball rolling with its $US130 Flip Video camcorder and eventually moved to the slimmer and higher-capacity $US150 ($A232) Flip Ultra. Not satisfied that the Ultra was slim enough, along came the $US180 ($A279) Flip Mino a camera smaller than the Ultra. Scant weeks later, Kodak jumped in with its $US180 ($A279) Zi6, a pocket camcorder larger than the Flip models but capable of shooting 720p HD video.
Christopher Breen | Nov 19, 2008
Looking for a mind mapping application that packs a powerful punch, takes it easy on your wallet, and is a dream to use, even for a novice? FreeMind 0.8.1 will get you two-thirds of the way there.
Tim Haddock | Nov 19, 2008
Once I realised Apple's new MacBook Pros were available with a 2.8GHz processor upgrade option, I couldn't resist, so I mortgaged my house and bought one. This, despite vocal reservations about the NVIDIA 9600M GT video processor. By any gamer's measure, the leap from July 2007 MacBook Pro's 8600M GT to the 9600M GT looks like an architectural baby step. The latter's just a slightly up-clocked 8600M GT, after all.
Matt Peckham | Nov 19, 2008
If ever there was a behemoth of a gaming franchise, it’s World of Warcraft, or WoW for short. Over the past four years, Blizzard Software have accumulated more than 11 million users, all willing to pay around US$14.99 per month for the privilege. For WoW obsessives, last week was the equivalent of Christmas with the release of the second expansion pack for WoW, Wrath of the Lich King (WOTLK). For Mac users, WoW is one of the few Massively Multiplayer Online Roll Playing (MMORPG) games with full OS X compatability, hence its loyal Mac following.
David Holloway | Nov 18, 2008
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, a new idea could spring to life. For most of us, jotting down that idea means fumbling for a pen and paper. Desktop software such as ConceptDraw MindMap Pro can help you capture the thought just as easily.
John Brandon | Nov 18, 2008
Getting thoughts out of your head and into your Mac isn’t always easy. All of us have created a new, blank document only to stare at the vast empty space wondering what to do next. Mind mapping aims to prevent those cranial logjams through a process that gets the ideas out quickly, without needless organisational burdens. XMind 2008 Pro (version 2.3) stays true to the mind mapping ideals, though Macintosh standards are the occasional victim.
Aayush Arya | Nov 17, 2008
On the outside, the new MacBook Air 1.86GHz is identical to the first generation of Apple’s lightweight laptops. But inside it’s quite different, offering a new and faster processor, upgraded video circuitry, a faster front-side bus, faster RAM, and a new display connector. As a result, the new generation of MacBook Air is superior to the original. However, the substantial upgrades Apple has made to the rest of the MacBook line threaten to narrow the MacBook Air’s already limited appeal even further.
Jason Snell | Nov 14, 2008
Been looking for an easy and powerful video conversion tool for your Mac? Well, I think you may have found it.
Danny Gorog | Nov 14, 2008
It’s standard practice for Apple to offer customers to chance to upgrade processors, hard drives, and other components of its hardware line. These configure-to-order (CTO) systems are not generally found on the shelves of your local Apple Store; instead, you customise your order directly from Apple’s online store. The new MacBook Pro models released by Apple last month continue this CTO tradition, giving customers the choice of ordering a souped-up laptop.
James Galbraith | Nov 13, 2008
If you’re someone who started out with Adobe Illustrator back when it was called Illustrator 88, then you’ve seen lots of changes over 20 years. Illustrator is one of a handful of powerful vector drawing products aimed at graphic artists and illustrators, and it’s always been elegant and production-ready. Even if Adobe has sometimes been slow to add cool new features, you could always count on Illustrator’s stability and its colour and output engines to perform well in a professional production environment.
Ben Long | Nov 12, 2008
Myvu has announced that its Crystal video goggles now work with the iPhone. The Crystal glasses require a new cable which costs $US24.95.
