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Apr 03

Apple posts first public betas of iOS 11.4 and tvOS 11.4

Apple has released the first public betas of iOS 11.4 and tvO 11.4, both of which add support for AirPlay 2.

AirPlay 2 is Apple’s followup to the original AirPlay Wi-Fi-based music playback standard. While Sonos popularized Wi-Fi-based multi-room audio playback, Bluetooth became ubiquitous, and multi-platform Wi-Fi audio standards spread in popularity, Apple lacked a competing story until AirPlay 2.

Messages in iCloud is also back in the iOS 11.4 beta. It allows you to store your iMessages in iCloud.

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Apr 03

iMobie PhoneRescue can now recover forgotten iTunes backup passwords

iMobie says its data recovery software, PhoneRescue 3.7.0 for both Mac and PC, is now able to recover forgotten iTunes backup passwords.

For those iPhone users who forgot their iTunes backup passwords, the utility can purportedly help them get access to their encrypted backups no matter how complicated the password is, as well as restore photos, messages, contacts and other essentials from the backups successfully.

PhoneRescue costs $49.99 for a personal license, and $69.99 for a family license.You can purchase licenses from iMobie’s online store (https://tinyurl.com/y89jzsxd).

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Apr 03

Obvious Matter releases Fossils 1.1.1 for macOS

Obvious Matter has released Fossils 1.1.1 for macOS. The app is designed to help you clean up old and unused files from your computer.

With it, you can browse through your old stuff and preview a file's contents. Then you can decide if you want to archive or delete a file using keyboard shortcuts. Fossils supports previewing a large number of file types, including images, movies, PDF, Word, Pages, Excel, Numbers, Keynote documents, zip files, and more.

It requires macOS 10.12 or later. Fossils costs $4.99 and is available at the Mac App Store (https://tinyurl.com/yamzzvvy).

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Apr 02

Apple releases first developer betas of iOS 11.4, tvOS 11.4, watchOS 4....

Apple has released the first developer betas of iOS 11.4, tvOS 11.4, and watchOS 4.3.1. Registered developers can download them from Apple's Developer Center — or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

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Apr 02

Output Factory for Adobe InDesign improves variable subfolder naming

Zevrix Solutions has announced Output Factory 2.2.9, a maintenance update to company's output automation solution for Adobe InDesign.

Output Factory automates printing, exporting and preflighting from InDesign and offers batch processing, export as single pages, layer versioning, custom scripts integration and more. Version 2.2.9 fixes an issue which prevented users from including text from InDesign document in the variable subfolder name for output files of each InDesign document in the batch.

Output Factory can be purchased from the Zevrix website (www.zevrix.com) for $169.95 (there’s a “lite” version for $119.95. A demo is available for download. The update is free for the users of Output Factory 2.x, and $84.97 to upgrade from Output Factory 1.x and BatchOutput. Output Factory requires macOS 10.7-10.13 and Adobe InDesign CS3-CC 2018.

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Apr 02

illumineX delivers EyeSpy update for macOS with new drifting balloon

illumineX delivered Squeaky, a new drifting balloon character for EyeSpy 2.1 (and higher) to the Mac App Store today.

EyeSpy is a new spin on the classic toy in which cartoon eyes watch your mouse cursor as you work. It includes free original cartoon characters. The Squeaky balloon is available within EyeSpy as an $0.99 in-app purchase.

EyeSpy requires macOS 10.12 or higher. It’s free and available exclusively through the Mac App Store (https://tinyurl.com/yaasaetu). After you download EyeSpy, double-click the EyeSpy Guy character to open the Character Settings panel, where you can select new characters, download additional free characters, and purchase characters as an in-app purchase.

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Mar 30

iFunia updates Free YouTube Downloader for Mac to version 5.2.0

iFunia Studio (www.ifunia.com) has announced a 5.2.0 update for its Free YouTube Downloader for Mac, which now can convert YouTube to MP3 and download 2K, 4K, and 8K videos. It also sports an optimized user interface.

iFunia Studio is a free download. There’s also a pro version available for $39.99.

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Mar 30

Tembo for macOS revved to version 2.2

Houdah Software has released Tembo 2.2, an update to the file search utility for Mac. It’s a search tool based on the Spotlight engine.

Tembo is designed to make finding documents, mail messages, bookmarks, images and more as easy as possible. Version 2.2 brings refinements and under-the-hood improvements.

Tembo requires macOS 10.10 or higher. It costs $15 for a single-user license and $22 for a family license. A demo is available for download (https://www.houdah.com/tembo/). Upgrades from previous versions are priced $6.95 and $9.95. respectively.

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Mar 30

Agenda announced for 17th Annual Las Vegas SuperMeet

The Creative Pro User Group Network (CPUG Network) has announced the 17th Annual Las Vegas SuperMeet to take place on Tuesday, April 10, in the Brasilia Ballroom at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.

Oscar nominee film editor Dylan Tichenor ACE is scheduled to headline the event. The agenda has now been set. Tickets are on sale online only for $15 each, plus ticket fee. The price is $10 for students and teachers with a valid ID. There will also be presentations from Blackmagic Design, Adobe, frame.io, HP/NVIDIA, Atomos and more. Rounding out the evening will be the "World Famous Raffle," where the total value of prizes has now reached over $101,000.00 including a Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio System worth over $29,995.00

Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. with the SuperMeet Vendor Showcase featuring 23 software and hardware developers including Adobe, Blackmagic Design, Frame.io, HP/NVIDIA, Atomos, Digital Anarchy, Adobe Stock, B&H, Future Media Concepts, Master...

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Mar 29

Apple launches macOS High Sierra 10.13.4

Apple has updated macOS to version 10.13.4. It’s available via the Updates section of the Mac App Store. According to the release notes, the upgrade improves the stability, performance, and security of your Mac, and it is recommended for all users. This update:

° Adds support for Business Chat conversations in Messages in the U.S.

° Adds support for external graphics processors (eGPUs).

° Fixes graphics corruption issues affecting certain apps on iMac Pro.

° Allows jumping to the right-most open tab using Command+9 in Safari.

° Enables sorting Safari bookmarks by name or URL by right clicking and choosing "Sort by..."

° Fixes an issue that may prevent web link previews from appearing in Messages.

° Helps protect privacy by only AutoFilling usernames and passwords after selecting them in a web form field in Safari .

° Displays warnings in the Safari Smart Search Field when interacting with password or credit card forms on non...

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Mar 29

Apple releases Swift 4.1

Apple has released Swift 4.1 (https://swift.org/download/) for developers, an upgrade of its programming language. It contains updates to the core language, including more support for generics, new build options, as well as minor enhancements to Swift Package Manager and Foundation.

There was also significant progress made in stabilizing the ABI, according to Apple. Swift 4.1 is a minor language release. It is source compatible with Swift 4.0.

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Mar 29

Apple debuts tvOS 11.3

Apple has announced tvOS 11.3, which includes frame rate matching features that were previously only available on the Apple TV 4K.

You can obtain the update by going into the Settings app on your Apple TV. Choose System > Software Updates > Update Software. The Apple TV will restart and install the software.

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Mar 29

Apple posts watchOS 4.3

Apple has released watchOS 4.3 for the Apple Watch. You install it via the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. According to Apple the upgrade:

° Let’s you Control volume and playback on HomePod from your Apple Watch;

° Restores the ability to control music on an iPhone;

° Allows you to use any orientation for Nightstand charging mode;

° The Siri watch face now shows progress towards closing Activity rings and when new songs are added to Apple Music mixes;

° Resolves an issue where Activity achievements were incorrectly awarded for some users;

° Fixes an issue where Siri music commands were not working for some audio devices.

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Mar 29

Apple releases iOS 11.3 for iOS devices

Apple has released iOS 11.3 for its iPhone and iPad line *with a Battery Health tool, a Health Records feature, ARKit 1.5, Business Chat, new Animoji, and more. You can download it by going to the Settings App, selecting General, then choosing Software Update.

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Mar 29

IK Multimedia releases Syntronik Deluxe for Mac/PC

IK Multimedia (www.ikmultimedia.com) has announced Syntronik Deluxe, the expanded version of the synth powerhouse for Mac and PC systems. It adds five new synths, available both as a collection or as separate synths.

Syntronik offers a collection of vintage synthesizers. Syntronik Deluxe adds 500 new instrument presets, 18GB of new sounds, and more than 22,000 new samples for a new total of 22 synths, 2,600 instrument presets, 80GB of sound content and more than 120,000 samples.

Current Syntronik users can upgrade to Syntronik Deluxe for $99.99 or purchase any of the new synths individually. For new users the cost is $269.99

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Mar 29

WYSIWYG LaTeX Mac app Compositor receives update, now runs e-TeX

Karl Traunmueller has released Compositor 1.1, an update to the LaTeX Mac app. It brings real-time WYSIWYG capabilities to LaTeX, the document preparation system widely used in academia for preparation of scientific and technical publications.

Version 1.1 now runs e-TeX, an extended version of TeX developed by the NTS project. The next version, 1.2, scheduled for release by end of April, will bring improved support for more commonly used LaTeX packages.

A fully-functional 60-day free trial is available for download from the product's website (http://compositorapp.com). Licenses can be purchased from the product's online store at an early-adopter price of $19. The purchase includes all future updates, including major version updates.

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Mar 29

Creaceed unveils collaborative whiteboard for the iPad and Apple TV

Creaceed has unveiled Inko (https://creaceed.com/inko), a peer-to-peer collaborative whiteboard app for the iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV.

It lets users draw collaboratively in real time on the same canvas from multiple devices, offering network-less connectivity, as well as live TV mirroring and interaction. It also supports the Apple Pencil.

Inko 1.0 is available immediately as a free download on the Apple App Store, and is localized in 12 languages. The free version provides an unlimited number of canvases for personal use without limitation, and lets two or more users try the collaboration feature for a 60-second time-limited session. To remove this limitation, two purchase options are provided. The Apple TV companion app is a free download on the App Store and has no limitation

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Mar 28

Apple releases iOS 11.3 for the new iPad

Apple has released iOS 11.3. However, it’s only for the new 9.7-inch iPad announced this week. Once you get your hands on one, you can download iOS 11.3 over-the-air using the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings --> General --> Software Update.

Hopefully, iOS 11.3 will roll out ASAP for other iPads and iPhones. iOS 11.3 introduces new features, such as Messages on iCloud for storing your iMessages in iCloud, ARKit 1.5, and a "Battery Health" feature designed to provide iOS users with more information about their batteries.

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Mar 28

Apple, Chicago Public Schools and Northwestern University bring coding...

Apple has announced a new collaboration with Chicago Public Schools and Northwestern University to offer free professional learning to teachers across Chicago, designed to give educators the tools they need to bring coding and computer science into the classroom.

They’ll establish a Center for Excellence at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, which will serve as a teaching and learning hub to introduce high school teachers to Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum. This collaboration will help expand opportunities for local teachers, giving them new expertise to share with their students, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Everyone Can Code is a program designed by Apple to help everyone learn how to code using a Swift curriculum. The program includes a range of free resources, from helping students explore basic coding concepts to building fully functional apps.

Teachers will also have the opportunity to be trained on the App Development with Swift...

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Mar 28

Imagine Products, StorageDNA partner for myLTOdna interface

Imagine Products — creator of software utilities for backing up, viewing, sharing, transcoding, and archiving video assets — and StorageDNA — which specializes in intelligent nearline and archiving workflow solutions for media professionals —have collaborated on an integrated solution that enables random access to files on an LTO tape, essentially turning it into a hard drive with dnaLTFS.

The new joint solution is called myLTOdna. It’s an integration between Imagine Products’ myLTO tape-authoring application and StorageDNA’s HyperTape high performance direct access tape solution powered by dnaLTFS. The result is a simple and intuitive user interface with which to administrate HyperTape operating modes manually, or automatically from creative applications such as Imagine Products’ PrimeTranscoder — a process that is highly preferable to command line operations, says Tridib Chakravarty, CEO and president of StorageDNA

myLTOdna is the Mac-based front-end interface for...

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MacTech Blog

Apr 12

Spending on security solutions to reach $91 billion in...

Worldwide spending on security-related hardware, software, and services is forecast to reach $91.4 billion in 2018, an increase of 10.2% over the amount spent in 2017, according to IDC. This pace of growth is expected to continue for the next several years as industries invest heavily in security solutions to meet a wide range of threats and requirements, adds the research group.

IDC says worldwide spending on security solutions will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.0% over the 2016-2021 forecast period and total $120.7 billion in 2021.

"Banks, discrete manufacturers, especially within the high-tech sector, and the federal government are spending the most on security to avoid large scale cyber-attacks and adhere to regulatory compliance," said Eileen Smith, program director, Customer Insights and Analysis. "Looking ahead to 2021, as the need the to protect IoT connected devices and infrastructure becomes paramount, industries like telecom and state...

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Apr 10

Strategy Analytics: third party messaging apps better...

Consumers are becoming less social in person by becoming more social “virtually” through advanced messaging features, according to Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com). Achieved through pre-installed RCS platforms and self-installed third party messaging apps, these platforms are providing a more consistent, expressive and compelling messaging experience for the sender, according to the research group.

Key findings from Strategy Analytics’ report include:

° Unlike SMS - a universal standard available across all phones - social messaging apps are run by third-party companies and need to be downloaded separately. This does mean however, that OTT messaging apps are consistent across all devices, regardless of operating system.

° Features that attract users are critical to the success of social messaging apps. Capabilities such as payment or game options within one app make...

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Apr 10

Consumer robotics revenues to reach $23 billion by 2022

A new study from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that domestic aide robotics will drive consumer robotics hardware revenues from an estimated $6.4 billion in 2018 to nearly $23 billion by 2022. That’s an increase of over 250%.

Juniper says that domestic aide robots, such as robotic vacuum cleaners, will account for 73% of total revenues by 2022. This will be due to increasing popularity of such devices from iRobot, Dyson and Samsung. These have been joined by lower cost devices, which will broaden the segment’s appeal.

The research group found that, despite popularity of domestic aide robots, the biggest growth area of consumer robotics will be in the educational area, representing an average annual growth of 40% in hardware revenues. Companies such as Anki and Wonder Workshop are joining established players like LEGO in providing robotics focused on programming. Juniper...

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Apr 06

IDC forecasts growth for connected devices in key...

IDC (www.idc.com) has published results from its newest Tracker research program covering the fast-growing market of Smart Home Devices. In 2017, 433.1 million smart home devices were shipped worldwide, growing 27.6% from the previous year.

Looking ahead, IDC anticipates a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.5% as the market balloons to 939.7 million devices shipped in 2022. Within the smart home market, the smart speaker category, which includes devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, will remain the fastest growing category throughout the forecast. Meanwhile, shipments for most other categories, with the exception of video entertainment products, will experience a double-digit CAGR during the same period.

"The smart home market is still in its infancy but we're already seeing some significant changes in consumers' and vendors' approach," said Jitesh Ubrani senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device...

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Apr 05

5G Boost won’t save vanishing wireless connectivity...

There will be 9.0 billion user-linked subscriptions to wireless services by 2023, up from 7.7 billion today according to new forecasts from Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com). The research group predicts that 5G adoption will follow a comparable path to that seen by 4G LTE, but warns that there’s limited growth left in connectivity revenue for service providers.

Key findings of the report include:

° Wireless service revenue will peak in 2021 at US$881 billion, just 3% above the level forecast for 2018.

° User-linked mobile 5G connections will grow from 5 million in 2019 to 577 million in 2023 (excluding fixed wireless applications and industrial IOT). These will account for 10% of connectivity revenue in 2023.

Prior to the launch of 5G services, there is considerable time for 4G LTE platforms to evolve though LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro technologies....

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Apr 03

Connected clothing to become a $1 billion industry in...

A new study from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that the wearables market has begun to shift away from wrist-based devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, with other device categories forecast to grow much faster.

The research group ranks the fastest growing wearable sectors, in terms of shipments and compound annual growth rates (CAGRs), over the next two years as: connected clothing (102%), smart glasses (98%), smart jewelry (55%), hearables (31%), and smart watches (31%).

Juniper forecasts that the total smart wearables market will reach nearly 350 million devices shipped by 2020. The market is currently dominated by smartwatches and activity trackers, with 137 million devices expected to be shipped in 2018. However, growth will slow, shipping almost 190 million by 2020 as the lifecycle of devices lengthens as fewer new features and a software focus delay...

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Apr 03

Gartner: I&O skill gaps to cause business...

Two-thirds of organizations are not adequately addressing the infrastructure and operations (I&O) skills gaps that will impede their digital business initiatives, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com). Successful I&O organizations will need to implement vastly different roles and technologies during the next five years, adds the research group.

Gartner forecasts that, by 2019, IT technical specialist hires will fall by more than 5%. Moreover, by 2021, 40%of IT staff will hold multiple roles, most of which will be business-related rather than technology-related.

"What made I&O leaders successful in the past is not what will make them thrive in the future," said Hank Marquis, research director at Gartner. "Instead of focusing on the 'what' of I&O jobs — such as technical knowledge, education and training — I&O leaders need to shift their focus to the 'how' — the behavioral...

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Apr 02

The Northern Spy: history’s most ironic question

By Rick Sutcliffe

The Spy notes and passes on verbatim with little comment (it is its own commentary) the following advertisement:

Is your target audience completely persuaded?

Let Vologda Analytica do it for you. Our extensive data sets and state-of-the-art algorithms can analyze any target population and build your campaign. Whether your product is political, household or industrial goods, or your services, our techniques have proven effective with a wide variety of clients and situations and will work in yours as well.

We begin by comparing your targets with our general population, analyzing their vulnerabilities within their particular social environment, and weaving a fabric of data around them that reinforces their proclivities in directions most favourable to you. This can be as simple as reinforcing the beliefs they evidence by virtue of the context of their very social connections--a few posts here and there from people they...

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Apr 02

More than 25% of companies expect to be breached...

Nearly four in five companies (79%) were hit by a breach in the last year, according to new research from Balabit (www.balabit.com), a provider of privileged access management and log management solutions.

The report also revealed that seven out of ten (68%) businesses expect to be impacted by further breaches this year, with more than a quarter anticipating a breach to occur within the next six months. The Balabit survey was deployed in the UK, France, Germany and the U.S., and reveals the attitudes of 400 IT and security professionals surrounding their IT security concerns, their experience with IT security breaches, their understanding of how and when breaches occur, and the strategies they’re using to combat hackers.

According to Balabit, the majority of businesses know very little about the nature of the security breaches that take place within their organizations. While a high percentage of companies...

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Apr 02

Security-as-a-Service grows 21% in 2017

2017 has seen a steep increase in adoption of Security-as-a-Service (SaaS), thanks to its multiple advantages compared to software licensing, according to Canalys (www.canalys.com). However, this fast change in revenue stream is creating headaches for vendors who have to rework forecasts for 2018 to not disappoint investors, adds the research group.

Security-as-a-service (SaaS) registered strong growth in 2017 at 21% to US$4 billion, following the rise in adoption of cloud solutions for enterprises. This growth was double the pace compared to the rest of the security market with software and hardware growing respectively 5% and 10% year-on-year to reach $27 billion combined. Canalys estimates the total security market was US$31 billion in 2017, up 10% overall.

“In the past year, Vendors like Cisco, McAfee and Trend Micro have strengthened their cloud portfolio, which now includes a wider range of products...

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Reviews and Kool Tools

Kool Tools: Songmaker Kit

ROLI’s Songmaker Kit (www.ROLI.com) is a portable music studio for creating a track anywhere. It combines the Seaboard Block and Lightpad Block M, two cutting-edge controllers. The tactile, touch-responsive surfaces of... Read more »

Kool Tools: Razer Goliathus Chroma gaming mouse

Razer’s (www.razer.com) $39.99 Razer Goliathus Chroma is a multi-color LED version of Razer’s = soft mouse mat that gamers can now customize with up to 16.8 million color options and an array of lighting effects. It... Read more »

Kool Tools: Nomadic Audio Speakase

Morel’s Nomadic Audio Speakase is a portable Bluetooth speaker and travel carry-on hybrid that transforms the suitcase’s interior volume into a large-scale hi-fi speaker. Its design won a 2018 Consumer Electronics Show... Read more »

Kool Tools: TRENDnet’s USB-C HD docking station

TRENDnet’s (www.TRENDnet.com) $99.99 Mini USB-C HD Docking Cube (the TUC-DS1) is a compact docking station that supports high-resolution HD video, and extends or mirrors your notebook’s display. TRENDnet’s Mini USB-C HD... Read more »

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