New Fingerprint Security Solution for Apple Mac OS X

Apple products are known for their user friendliness, style and performance. Even with millions of users preferring Microsoft Windows Operating system to Apple Mac OS X Operating system, Mac OS X is becoming more popular each day and the Mac OS X users are also considerably increasing. Apple can’t hold back when their products and even their Operating system have a rapidly increasing demand. So they have to constantly update their devices and software to retain the favor of their consumers.

We can see a lot of apps and accessories coming for Apple devices. If you think that’s all Apple offers, you are wrong. Apple Mac OS X operating system is also known for the great security and protection it offers to the data stored in the system. Updates in security solutions are always welcomed by Mac users. So Apple Mac OS X is supposedly going to be more popular when a new security solution for it, gets released.

AuthenTec security solution for Apple

This time it is AuthenTec which has come to the aid of Apple to improve its security. AuthenTec, popular providers of network and mobile security, provides Apple with a Fingerprint Security Solution. AuthenTec Fingerprint Security for Apple obviously features a Fingerprint sensor from Eikon and an Identity management Software from TrueSuite. The Fingerprint security feature from AuthenTec is designed to be compatible with Apple’s desktop as well as laptop computers, running in either Apple Mac Lion OS X or Snow Leopard OS X operating systems.

Features of the TrueSuite in the AuthenTec Fingerprint Security Solution

·         Easy fingerprint setup

·         Fast User switching

·         Automatic updates

·        Launch and associate your favorite websites with different fingers using the QuickLaunch   feature

·        Just with a swipe of a finger, log on to a website, without the need to type passwords

·         Mac log-on

Windows PC users have a similar Fingerprint security system. But Tom Aebli, Vice President of Software and eCommerce, AuthenTec states that the Mac community is rapidly growing and it already called for a decent feature rich security system which gives a great user experience. Thus the Fingerprint Security system was made available for Mac Operating systems.

Already a number of laptops, tablets and handsets make use of this technology. Besides the Identity Management Suite and Fingerprint scanner, the AuthenTec Fingerprint security system also features security enhancing mobile and PC applications and online backup services from KeepVault as well. The Fingerprint reader and the matching TrueSuite software can be purchased from Apple or Amazon store.

New SSD for MacBook Air

Apple’s history with SSDs

Apple was in big trouble last year, when the demand for their Mac devices was at its peak. The MacBooks sold millions of units last year, but the year wasn’t completely trouble-free for Apple. The unexpected chaos caused by the flood in Thailand last year also had some disastrous consequences in the computer hardware sector. It is the manufacturers in Thailand that provide hard disk drives for Apple which comes in the Apple devices. But with the flooding, Apple found it hard to include hard disk drives in their MacBooks.

Apple had to go for an alternative for hard disk drives and used the Solid state drives (SSD) instead. The solid state drives are more powerful and faster making your computer faster even during boot ups. Eventually Apple got back on its feet and things just became normal. But many people now believe that MacBooks should feature SSD drives with greater capacities. If you use the SSD drive in your MacBooks for storage, you will notice that it is pretty fast in read/write operations.

New SSD for MacBook Airs

MacBook Airs now come with Solid state drives but of low capacities. The present Solid state drives in MacBook Airs also don’t reach top read/write speeds, and would go only till half their top speeds. But there are better Solid state drives. The SSD manufactured by Other World Computing (OWC) sports a SandForce memory controller which enables the drive to function at its maximum speed, reaching to up to 500 MB per second.

OWC now released a bigger model of SSDs with a capacity twice as that of the present SSD capacity. If you are wondering if the SSD drives will lose their speeds proportionately with an increase in their capacities, you are wrong. The 480 GB OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD coming in the new MacBook Airs deliver the peak speed of an SSD even at this large a size. Data block management techniques and advanced free space management “recycling” techniques in the OWC Mercury Aura Pro SSDs mean more optimization isn’t necessary in the OWC SSDs.

The Mercury Aura Pro SSDs will be at full potential through out their lifespan. Data protection in this SSD is 100 times more than that provided by the greatest of the HDDs. Aura Pro OWC 480 GB SSDs are compatible with both MacBook Air sizes, with 3 year warranty. However, this cool hardware does come at a big price…….literally. It costs about $1,100 approximately. If it sounds a bit expensive, you will have a second opinion when you see for yourself, how fast the Mercury Aura Pro 480 GB SSD is in your MacBook Air.

VideoDrive 2.5 for Mac OS X

Apple Mac OS X is as much in demand as Google’s Android operating system. Android operating system is popular for its wide collection of downloadable applications. The Apple Mac OS X isn’t far behind as it has its own fair share of cool applications, for which Mac users are willing to pay as well.



Video Drive



There are many users who don’t use Apple Mac OS X apps available in the Mac store. Yet one of Apple’s applications is pretty famous among them. This application is mostly used by music buffs who want to keep a large collection of sorted music tracks, usually as albums. This application is called iTunes. However it is quite difficult to add videos to iTunes, conventionally. This has become an issue with the iTunes lovers.

Mac OS X seems to be lucky enough to sport a new application which is reported to be the best solution to put videos to the iTunes. Developed by Aroona Software, the release of the application named as VideoDrive 2.5 has been announced. All formats including AVI and FLG are supported by VideoDrive. You will also be able to see that the VideoDrive will also be categorizing the imported videos automatically as TV shows or Movies, while importing by browsing the internet for matching descriptions and artworks.

Even when not running, VideoDrive acknowledges new videos in any folders. Videos that are queued can be imported easily and quickly in the background. Optimal video quality is ensured as there wouldn’t be any video conversion while importing to the app. The video will be as it is. However, users can convert the videos with VideoDrive to make it compatible with Apple TV, iPad, iPhone etc.

Main Features:

• Metadata Editor

• Video Import Queue

• Support for offline artwork and subtitles

• Online browsing for Metadata and artwork

• Reusable Metadata

• 9 import methods

• Conversions with software like QuickTime

• Support for most of the video formats

Minimum Requirements:

• Universal Binary for Power PC and Intel

• Mac OS X Version 10.5

• iTunes 9

• Perian 1.2.3

The VideoDrive 2.5 for Mac OS X is priced at around 9.99 Euros, but you can always use a free trial version before purchase.

CleanGenius Pro Application for Mac

Every update or Applications that Apple Mac operating systems get is quite unique. Although Windows is assumed to be the most user friendly operating system, Apple Mac OS isn’t far behind either. It is because of its uniqueness that Apple Mac systems get more and more users each year. However, most Applications for the Mac aren’t free and needs to be purchased, mostly from Mac App stores. 

Storage management and maintenance are pretty ease if you have CleanGenius Pro in your computer, developed by EaseUS Software. CleanGenius Pro is innovative software on which you can rely on to clean up your system and make everything tuned for good performance. However, EaseUS CleanGenius Pro was not free. Not till now at least. EaseUS comes with good news for Mac users. CleanGenius Pro now comes with a limited period offer. You can get this app for free, but you have to get it as soon as possible, because the offer won’t last much long.

EasuUS CleanGenius can be yours for free from the Mac App store. CleanGenius Pro has won numerous awards till date and is the best solution to clean up all the junk in your PC, offering better performance possibilities. CleanGenius Pro is compatible only with Mac OS X 10.6 or higher version Mac operating systems. 

Features of EaseUS CleanGenius Pro

• Scan and clean up junk files in the Mac

• Uninstall all unwanted applications

• Display available disk spaces

• Customize the space value to display a warning to meet different needs

• Reveal the found items in Finder

• Speeds up the overall performance of your Mac

• Eject mounted drives with an attractive new look

Your Mac can be a mess at times, critically affecting the system’s performance. You will need to spend a lot of time to make everything in order manually. There will still be unwanted applications unnecessarily messing with your computer. So basically, there would be a lot of issues which need to be fixed. EaseUS CleanGenius Pro will fix everything for you in a jiffy and transform your Mac to its old self, giving better performance and necessary warnings of storage issues. 

So this offer of free CleanGenius Pro is something you can’t resist, if your Mac needs some serious make over. The software has a great interface which you can also use to scan and see how much space you can recover from a beefed up drive full of junk. Even the system logs and cache memories are wiped clean. So hurry and go get yourself one CleanGenius Pro now. 

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/cleangenius-pro/id486153141?mt=12

Incipio Unveils Cutting-Edge Laptop Sleeves for MacBook Pro

Apple iPad series tablets and iPhone series Smartphone are considered to be the most desirable mobile devices of the decade. The tablets and Smartphone from Apple still maintain the undisputed best seller titles. But there is one other Apple branded product which achieved so much popularity – Mac systems. Apple’s Mac series computers are also widely used in several parts of the World, with millions of units getting sold in each month at an increasing rate per month.

The most popular of Apple brand computers is the MacBook series, namely MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. MacBook Pro became so immensely famous that many a few firms started developing accessories for the device and most of the accessories were well received and became popular instantly. Among these accessories manufactures, quite a few of them won awards for their work and was widely appreciated.

Incipio accessories for Macbook Pro

One such firm in the business of manufacturing accessories for Mac devices is Incipio. Incipio’s accessories for mobiles, laptops and audio devices are quite famous in the Western countries. Reportedly Incipio is planning to unveil laptop sleeves for MacBook Pro at the CES 2012 in Las Vegas.

There will be three laptop sleeves for MacBook Pro from Incipio and the sleeves will be for 15 inch and 17 inch MacBooks.

The sleeve designs are,

·         JFK

·         Selvage  and

·         HONU

Brief look at three Incipio Macbook Pro Sleeves

JFK Sleeve:

Incipio is famous for their Travel Laptop sleeves. The JFK sleeves come under the Travel series. The sleeve got its name from the famous airport of the same name and is claimed to be the right choice for business professionals with MacBook Pros. Waxed canvas exteriors, waterproof zippers and plush inner lining of the JFK sleeves can protect the MacBook Pros, and for a long time.

Selvage Sleeve:

This is the most stylish among the three sleeves, with a trendy design. The combination of high quality denim and a sleek and smooth vinyl inner layer, the sleeve is waterproof and scratchproof. The Incipio logo and the gold zippers add to the sleeve’s style. MacBook Pro looks the best with selvage sleeves.

HONU Sleeve:

Puffy laptops have always been received well. So Incipio made one of their own and that is the HONU sleeve. It has a hexagon quilted shape and is very durable. HONU sleeve offers great protection as it is built with padded microsuede lined Nylon. The nylon is used is lightweight and very smooth. HONU sleeve is the most unique out of the three sleeves and is available in four colors.

The three Incipio sleeves for MacBook Pros would be out for sale soon in authorized retail stores or can be purchased from www.incipio.com by the end of February.

Snapseed Coming to Mac Application Store

Photo editing software are quite popular in computers running in any operating system, be it Windows or Linux. But most of them are compatible with Windows OS. One of the most popular one is Adobe Photoshop.

However there are many photo editing apps for Mac operating system as well. One such app for Apple iOS operating system is pretty popular, and is known by the name Snapseed. Recently it was announced that Snapseed is going to extend its support to Apple Mac too.

Features of Snapseed in Apple Mac

• Adjust white balance and saturation of photos
• Edit contrast and other qualities of photos
• Adjust color and exposure manually using Sliders
• Enhance quality easily with auto correction
• Users can make adjustments selectively in desired parts of the picture
• Useful editing features like tilt-shift, custom photo effects, filters, frames etc
• Structure Control to improve the detailing of the photo
• Share images in Facebook and Flickr via built-in links in the software  

Snapseed for Apple Mac basically requires a Mac OS versions of 10.6.8, 10.7.2 or higher versions. 

Details about Mac version Snapseed

Snapseed has now been made available in Mac App store. Popular software developer known as Nik Software will be releasing the Snapseed for Apple Mac software in the Mac app store. Nik Software has brilliantly designed Snapseed, as it has been entitled as one of the most powerful photo editing software ever developed.

      

Snapseed for Apple Mac can perform multiple functions like adding new filters, textures etc or even alter the photo completely suing an array of useful tools. Users of Snapseed will also be able to adjust the photos with just one click. There is one other cool technology integrated in the Snapseed Apple Mac version – U Point technology. Using the U point technology, Snapseed users will be able to edit certain areas of the photo selectively. 

Snapseed for iOS already had a few interesting features like Grunge, Tilt & Shift, Vintage, Drama filters etc. Reportedly, Snapseed for Apple Mac packs more than the above mentioned features. A new addition to the Mac version Snapseed is the “Tune Image” that can add more depth, add vibrancy, adjust white balance, contrast etc and correct the photos very fast even in low light conditions. 

Adding styles, vignettes, frames etc and transforming photos to be classy with black and white filers are a walk in the park with Snapseed. It is quite user friendly as well and you wouldn’t feel it is too complex to work with the app once you work with it for a few hours. Built-in social networking links will let you share your edited photos in your social networking accounts.

Snapseed Apple Mac version photo editing software can be yours from Mac App store for a price of $19.99 approximately.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snapseed/id490118981?mt=12

NewerTech Brings in External Hard Drive Solutions For Mac Devices

Apple had a few problems last year namely a few legal issues, patent problems, and significantly the hard disk drive problems. If you can still remember the Thailand flood, last year, you can’t imagine how disastrous it was for Apple. Apple struggled to swim across as it struggled with the hard disk shortages.

It was Thailand which produced hard disks which come in Apple Mac systems. With Thailand getting flooded, Apple had to resort to other measures to survive the crisis. Things were pretty awkward as Apple Mac systems were of great demand at that time. Apple soon resorted to using SSD drives. Apple Mac users would probably be surprised with a cool new accessory for Mac devices. These devices would be a decent external hard drive solution for Mac devices.

NewerTech manufactured the two new hard drive solutions, which are christened as MiniStack and MiniStack Max. The two sleek devices with aluminum body are compatible with not just 2010 and 2011 models of Mac Minis but also with a few other Mac devices.

FEATURES OF THE NEWERTECH EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES:

Features of MiniStack

·         4 TB storage

·         Quad interface to choose the interface to your computer

·         Durable aluminum body

·         Fan which keeps the device very quiet and frictionless

·         Kensington Security for Theft prevention

·         Double shielded high quality connection cables for USB 3.0 and FireWire 800

·         1.4 x 7.7 x 7.7 inches dimension

  

Features of MiniStack Max

·         Durable aluminum body

·         which keeps the device very quiet and frictionless

·         Kensington Security slot integrated for Theft prevention

·         Easily accessible USB 3.0, SD Card reader (SDXC) at the front panel

·         Quad interface to choose the interface to your computer

·         Double shielded high quality connection cables for USB 3.0 and FireWire 800

·         USB hub with three USB 3.0 ports

·         Read/Write Optical drive

·         2.33 x 7.7 x 7.7 inches dimension

Conclusion

With these awesome specifications and brilliantly crafted looks, the NewerTech MiniStack and MiniStack Max will be a great addition to your new model Mini Macs. The 4 TB hard disk space is pretty huge even for an external drive. The two external hard drive solutions are reported to be available for purchase by March. This time Apple’s hard drive issue is for the better.

http://www.newertech.com/products/externalhd.php

A New PDF Editor for Mac OS X

Don’t just think that it is the accessories which can make Apple Mac systems more awesome than they are. Apple Mac systems’ main feature is actually their OS itself – the Mac OS X. Mac OS X is designed to be compatible with the accessories as well as awesome third party applications. The applications for the Mac OS X operating system from various developers is quite appreciated by Apple users because most of them come in quite handy.

If you have heard of PDFClerk Pro, then you might have heard the name SintraWorks. SintraWorks rose to great popularity with the success of their PDFClerk Pro PDF editor application. There was news that SintraWorks were working on an application for the Mac OS X. SintraWorks unveiled their new PDF Editor designed exclusively for Mac OS X Lion operating system.

Named as the PDF Nomad, it is crafted and designed to be a perfect and reliable PDF editor for the Mac OS X, with some useful features.

SintraWorks PDF Nomad features let the users:

·         Add page labels

·         Resize documents to different page sizes

·         Drag and drop for resize

·         Export jpg, png etc as bitmaps

·         Create spoken audio files from the text in documents

·         Explode documents to single page PDF file

·         Merge pages sideways or on top of each other

·         Split pages in half or tile them

·         Annotate pages with rectangles, arrows, ovals etc

·         Markup text

·         Link index table and cross-document references to their corresponding pages

·         Text search and text extraction

·         Create books and magazines

·         Add finishing/proofing marks

PDF Nomad is very simple to use and is quite user friendly meaning that you don’t need to spend too much time trying to figure out the functionalities and uses of the tools available in the app. You will get used to it faster than you think. It’s designed to work perfectly fine with Mac OS X Lion.

Requirements for PDF Nomad:

·         Mac OS X 10.7 Lion or higher version

·         64 – bit Intel Mac

PDF Nomad v1.0 can now be purchased for a single user license, and is available at an attractive introductory price of just $19.99. You can get it from either Apple Mac Store or from the official website of SintraWorks. You may also download a demo version of PDF Nomad to see its quality for yourself. However, the output pages in the demo version would have a watermark stamped to them.

http://sintraworks.com/index.php/sintraworks/pdfnomad_home/

Apple MacBook Air SSD Gets Faster

Last year, the Thailand floods affected Apple’s business due to the global shortage of hard disks. Solid state hard drives replaced ordinary hard drives, but at a slow rate. Using solid state drives would make the host computers so much faster that the system will even boot up in a jiffy.

It was Apple which actually made SSDs famous, by including them in the Mac systems, technically. More people came to know about it and the demand for SSD increased, hence increasing Apple Mac devices with SSDs’ demand proportionately. However SSD’s doesn’t usually come in great sizes. The memory capacity will be comparatively small, but the computer will be very much fast, in accessing and running applications to booting up.

Reportedly, Solid state drives are nothing like it has ever been thanks to the efforts from companies like Samsung and Toshiba.  At the CES 2012, Samsung’s and Toshiba’s booths showcased their respective versions of the SSD storage solutions. It is Samsung and Toshiba that provide SSDs for Apple’s MacBook Airs. The new 470 OEM SSD from Samsung seems to have caught Apple’s attention and reportedly, news came out pretty soon that Apple is planning to buy Samsung’s new SSDs on a large scale.

Apple SSD SM128C

Toshiba’s new SSDs are comparatively slower than Samsung’s new OEM SSDs. That isn’t the surprise here. According to Samsung’s reports, 470 OEM SSDs got completely sold out late last year itself, which made Samsung take a shot in developing a new 830 Series SSD. The Write speed of 830 2.5 inch model SSD was over 400 MB per second while the read speed was over 500 MB per second.

If you search the speed of the current SSD models in Apple MacBook Airs and compare it with the Samsung OEM 830 models, you will be very surprised and absolutely impressed, because the read and write rates of 830 series SSDs are almost twice more than those of the current SSD model in MacBook Airs. In addition to this, even Toshiba’s new SSD will bite the dust if it goes head-to-head against Samsung’s 830 SSDs.

Samsung also confirmed that its biggest customer is still Apple, which buys 830 Series SSDs. So technically, it is safe to assume that enhanced MacBook Airs will soon be out with 830 SSDs in them, making them twice as fast. However, we also have to consider a possibility that Apple won’t always be relying on Samsung SSD drives for too long. It might go for the easily available Toshiba SSDs, which is developing at a slow rate or continue with Samsung for a risky yet effective team up.