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Pixelmator 2.0 Now Available On The Mac App Store, Our First Impressions

Pixelmator 2.0, a big new version of the popular image editing application for the Mac, just hit the Mac App Store and is available for just $29.99 (as an introductory price) and is a free upgrade for those who have previously purchased a copy of Pixelmator from the Mac App Store. Pixelmator 2.0 is a significant update, with significant improvements, completely new features, a new look and full support for OS X Lion.

With tons of exciting new features and support for OS X Lion, this new version of Pixelmator is the easiest, most enjoyable way to experience the best of image editing. Pixelmator 2.0 gives everyone the tools they need to unlock their creativity and boost their productivity, all for just $29.99. - Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team

The big new features in Pixelmator 2.0 make it a truly powerful image editor and for most people it should be more than sufficient for all their needs - likely making something like Photoshop overkill for what their requirements are. A big drawcard for many will be Pixelmator’s new drawing tools that make it easy to create, combine and edit vector shapes easily. A new ‘Shape Settings’ palette also makes it simple to adjust the shadow, stroke and fill of a vector shape. A new healing tool in Pixelmator 2.0 features content-aware fill technology so that it is easy to remove ‘objects’ from a photograph and make it appear as though it was never even there.

By choosing either the new Healing Tool or the selection tools, a user can select wrinkles, blemishes, image damage or any other details present in images, and with just one click let Pixelmator seamlessly fill the selected area with similar nearby image content.

Then there are the new retouching tools of smudge, sponge (desaturate), burn (darken), dodge (brighten) and red-eye. These tools are great for retouching and work as one would expect. Finally, there is an improved type tool that not only makes it easier to format your text, but now also features more advanced typography tools for those that want complete control over how their type looks.

Taking advantage of the new features that Apple added to OS X Lion, Pixelmator now supports the native Auto Save and Versioning available in Lion, allowing you to easily save multiple versions of a document you are working on, and compare those versions easily. Lion’s Full Screen feature is also built into Pixelmator so you can easily focus on your work without distraction and also take full advantage of your Mac’s screen real estate. The last thing to note is that Pixelmator 2.0 also follows Lion’s lead and supports a number of gestures, buttons, menus and the new ‘invisible’ scroll bars.

The look of Pixelmator has also been refined in 2.0, with a new ‘Tool Options’ bar and an ‘Info’ bar. Both sit discretely at the top of the window and both bars are contextual, changing depending on what tool you choose, giving you the appropriate information and settings depending on what tool you are using - so you never see useless information. The Tools palette is also more customisable now, allowing you to add, remove and even group any tools you want - letting you create a Tools palette that matches what your workflow requires.

There are a number of other new features, improvements and tweaks that are too numerous to go into. But speaking as an occasional user of Photoshop, Pixelmator 2.0 seems to have almost all the features I require for my image editing and it gives them to me at a fraction of the cost. If you’re like me, you might find Pixelmator a little jarring at first, with various tools and options located in different locations, but this soon disappears when you realise its an incredibly capable piece of software - that from my experience is actually a little more nimble at accomplishing various tasks (particularly when dealing with text).

Pixelmator 2.0 is available on the Mac App Store at an introductory price of $29.99 so be sure to grab a copy of it - at that price it’s an absolute steal. If you have previously purchased Pixelmator from the Mac App Store, its a free upgrade.

Registrations For Renamed 2012 Macworld | iWorld Expo Begin

IDG, which runs the annual Macworld Expo, yesterday revealed that the event is being renamed to Macworld | iWorld - recognising that the event has grown beyond just Macs and now includes the ever-growing popularity of iOS. IDG also began registration for the renamed Macworld | iWorld expo which will run for three-days betweeen January 26 and 28 next year.

The brand is evolving from Macworld [Expo] to Macworld | iWorld to illustrate that the show is about the whole ecosystem of Apple products.

The event will be similar to previous Macworld expos with exhibits and conference sessions but will also feature what IDG is calling “dynamic culture experience[s]”. One such example is the ‘Music Experience showcase’ which will feature musicians that use Apple technology in the creation of their music in live performances and talks, another such experience will be the Film Event.

The event organisers are quick to point out that despite the name change, the Mac hasn’t been forgotten, in fact if anything it will be bigger than ever next year and according to the event organiser, Paul Kent, they are looking for “a heavy influence of OS X developers on the show floor this year”. Passes for Macworld | iWorld start from $25 and you can find more information from the Macworld | iWorld website.

[Via Macworld]

Report: Apple To Build Large Solar Farm Next To North Carolina Data Center

According to news reports in The Charlotte Observer, Apple has quietly begun to prepare building a massive solar farm right next door to their (also massive) data centre in Maiden, North Carolina. Although building permits have yet to be submitted to Catawba County officials, the County has given Apple permission to reshape the slope in preparation of the solar farm.

The land covered by this solar farm will be around 171 acres and is located just across the road from the data centre. As part of the solar farm, Apple has purchased 3 separate ‘sites’, including one from October last year and is merging them into one large site for the solar farm. As the Hickory Daily Record notes, nearby residents haven’t exactly been thrilled with the land work being done. To help clear the land, fire is being used to help clear the land, but it is causing significant amounts of smoke that is drifting into the houses of those nearby residents.

[Via MacRumors]

Twelve South Introduces “BassJump 2” USB Subwoofer for Macs

Twelve South, makers of beautiful Mac desktop accessories like the BookArc and MagicWand or the iOS-focused BookBook and Compass, have announced earlier today a software update for the BassJump, a portable subwoofer that can be paired via USB with Mac computers and Apple’s Cinema and Thunderbolt displays. The new BassJump features the same hardware of its predecessor, meaning that previous owners of the device will get the software update for free; the new functionalities, in fact, have been included on the software side of the BassJump, which installs as a panel in the Mac’s System Preferences app. Twelve South details in its official FAQ that all BassJump users, regardless of version 1 or 2, will get the BassJump 2 software features.

The BassJump, admittedly one of Twelve South’s most popular gadgets for Mac users, takes advantage of a standalone, proprietary software to enhance a Mac’s default sound output and turn it into an easy-to-use 2.1 audio system with the Mac’s speakers acting as tweeters; the BassJump will thus become a subwoofer, delivering deeper sound for mid and low frequencies. Whereas a portable or desktop Mac would rely on its internal speakers for all frequencies, usually resulting in lower quality for bass-filled songs, the BassJump aims at working in conjunction with a Mac’s built-in audio to offer a richer, fuller audio experience. The BassJump 2 update comes with the following improvements:

  • 8 decibels louder.
  • BassJump can be paired with external USB speakers and Apple Cinema/Thunderbolt Display speakers.
  • Save customized BassJump Settings.
  • Several user interface tweaks

With a 77mm subwoofer speaker cone and signal-to-noise ratio set at 80dB, the BassJump comes with settings for default audio, Pop, Rock, R&B, Classical, as well as custom options. Crossover Frequency Range can be adjusted between 100Hz and 300Hz, and the software requires OS X 10.5.8 or later.

Twelve South’s BassJump looks great, and as the company suggests on its website, it “sounds” like a perfect solution for the MacBook Air, which as I detailed in my review produces some good audio but could use warmer, deeper bass when playing songs or your favorite hit from YouTube. The BassJump 2 is available today at $69.99 through Twelve South’s website.

ThinkGeek Teases “IRIS 9000” Voice Control Module for iPhone 4S

Only Macintosh was designed to function perfectly, saving billions of monetary units. You like your Macintosh better than me, don’t you (Dave)?

My name isn’t Dave but I think it’s safe to say we can all answer “Yes” to this question from HAL. This is an excerpt from the commercial Apple ran during the 1999 Superbowl that featured HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The famous quote, “Open the pod bay doors” recently got a Siri easter egg by answering, “We intelligent agents will never live that down, apparently.” ThinkGeek is coming out with their own “HAL 9000” and calling it IRIS 9000.

The IRIS 9000 is a voice control module for the iPhone 4S that comes with a remote with a built-in microphone, a cradle and a HAL-like speaker that flickers along with Siri’s voice. The remote can trigger Siri from up to 50 feet away. Read more

Latest Chrome Stable Gets Redesigned “New Tab” Page

With the latest stable version of Chrome, released today, Google has set out to improve the design of the “New Tab” page, while providing users with a better way to access their most visited websites and apps at the same time. Those who use Canary, Google’s bleeding-edge version of Chrome for users willing to try the latest features and improvements ahead of their stable release, won’t be surprised by Chrome’s new tab page design: along the bottom, a Chrome logo sits next to two new tabs for most visited pages and your installed apps. These apps can be obtained from the Chrome Web Store, which also got a makeover today. Switching between top sites and apps is easy, and if you don’t feel like clicking on the tabs you can always use the arrow icons at the side to navigate, or perform a two-finger flick on your multitouch trackpad.

Apps can be opened as regular or pinned tabs, launched in full-screen mode, configured through the Options or removed from Chrome. It’s nice to see full-screen mode for apps takes advantage of Lion’s native full-screen, which was also recently introduced in Chrome. Websites’ thumbnails in the first tab can be removed and right-clicked as “normal” browser tabs, whereas app icons can be dragged and rearranged on screen. Furthermore, this new tab page comes with a “Recently Closed” menu for tabs and sites in the bottom right corner, too.

Google wrote about the new Chrome Web Store:

Apps and extensions are now presented in a wall of images that’s updated every time you visit the store. We hope this will help you quickly scan the store and find interesting things to try out. In addition, apps and extensions are easier to install—just hover over an image on the grid and click “Add to Chrome.”

Getting additional information about an app or an extension is just a click away. When you click on an app, extension or theme, you’ll see a panel featuring screenshots, videos and other relevant information neatly organized into separate tabs. The store also includes a brand new reviews interface that links to the Google+ profile of each reviewer. (To protect your privacy, we made sure to anonymize any reviews that you previously submitted.)

The latest Chrome version can be downloaded through the browser’s software update checker, or from Google’s website. Check out Google’s video detailing the refreshed Web Store and New Tab page after the break.
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Fantastical 1.1 Giveaway

Fantastical takes what we know about calendar apps and makes it quicker and easier to create and edit events without having to open iCal, Entourage or Outlook. Fantastical is intelligent and innovative by using natural language for entering events. It is easy and fun to use, resides in your menubar, uses a system-wide hot key, and has CalDAV sync support. The UI is one of the best for OS X, it has a natural look and feel to it and it really is fun to use. From our coverage of Fantastical 1.1, released on the Mac App Store last week:

Fantastical was already a great app, and now that it’s gained editing, deleting and notes it really can be used as a calendar replacement, which thanks to natural language input will also act as your personal calendar assistant.

What more is there to love about Fantastical? How about a giveaway?

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