Alien Skin Software has shipped Exposure 5, the new version of its flagship photography effects software. Exposure 5 enables digital photographers to achieve accurate film simulation, using a wide range of creative effects in a simple interface, according to Terence Tay, designer of the software.

It can be used as a plug-in with host software or as a stand-alone program. The new version brings creative tools of traditional film photography to the world of digital, such as the look of discontinued films, darkroom tricks, and lo-fi camera quirks. Classic films like Kodachrome, Polaroid and even Panatomic-X are also simulated. Hundreds of preset effects can be applied. Exposure 5 includes both Color and black-and-white processing so there’s no need to switch between tools.

The entire user interface has been redesigned. Exposure 5 includes many new textures for a greater variety of vintage and "lo-fi" looks. There are now separate controls for adding borders, dust &...

Kdan Mobile has launched a new file management system, PDF Reader 1.0, for the Mac. It includes a proprietary reading engine, a full-fledged file tagging system and a set of editing tools.

PDF Reader is designed to complemented the pre-installed Preview on Macintosh computers. It provides an interface to help users organize, categorize, edit and transfer files. It can be used as a PDF file manager, annotation marker, and page editor.

PDF Reader requires Mac OS X 10.7 or later. It costs US$19.99 and is available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category (http://tinyurl.com/l3gf9q6).

Intel has announced the Intel Solid-State Drive DC S3500 Series, its latest solid-state drive (SSD) for data centers and cloud computing.

Designed for read-intensive applications such as Web hosting, cloud computing and data center virtualization, the Intel DC S3500 Series is designed as a replacement for traditional hard disk drives (HDD). Intel SSDs, including the Intel SSD DC S3500 Series, enable transformational improvements in cloud infrastructure, fostering new and enriching Web experiences, says Rob Crooke, Intel corporate vice president and general manager for the Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group.

"Intel SSDs have enabled our chip designers to gain up to 27% performance throughput in our massive design distributed computing environment," adds Kim Stevenson, chief information officer at Intel. "In fact, we are increasing our deployment of Intel SSDs in our data centers from 10,000 units to 40,000 by the end of this year to enable our global design team to...

Apple has released AirPort Utility 6.3 for Mac. You can use AirPort Utility to set up and manage your 802.11n and 802.11ac AirPort base stations, including AirPort Express, Extreme, and Time Capsule.

AirPort Utility 6.3 allows you to configure and manage the new AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule with 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and includes enhanced remote management capabilities. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/m69fen7 .

CS Odessa (www.conceptdraw.com) has announced a new Workflow Diagrams Solution for ConceptDraw PRO v9, the new templates and libraries provide a new set of tools and features for ConceptDraw PRO to allow users to accurately diagram workflow scenarios.

The new Workflow Diagrams solution makes it easy to represent the transferring of data, documents, and tasks during performance of a work process, according to the folks at CS Odessa. A workflow diagram is a specialized type of flowchart.

ConceptDraw PRO is compatible with Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. It retails for US$199.

Apple has announced iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and a catalog of music from the iTunes Store.

When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV, you’ll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you. iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download.

The more you use iTunes Radio and iTunes, the more it knows what you like to listen to and the more personalized your experience becomes. iTunes Radio also gives you access to exclusive “first listen” premieres from top selling artists, Siri® integration, plus the ability to tag or buy anything you hear with just one click.

"iTunes Radio is an incredible way to listen to personalized radio stations which have been created just for you," says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and...

Apple has updated the MacBook Air with all day battery life, fourth generation Intel Core processors with faster graphics, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and flash storage that is up to 45% faster than the previous generation.

11-inch models featuring double the storage and 13-inch models start at a new lower price of $1,099. Apple today also introduced completely redesigned AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations featuring 802.11ac Wi-Fi for up to three times faster performance.

"MacBook Air is the industry leader for thin and light notebooks, and now with longer battery life, we’ve set the bar even higher," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "With faster flash, more powerful graphics and up to 12 hours of battery life, the new MacBook Air packs even more performance into the portable and durable design our customers love."

The new MacBook Air features power-efficient fourth generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7...

Apple today showed a sneak peek into the future of the pro desktop with a first look at the next generation Mac Pro. Designed around a unified thermal core, the Mac Pro introduces a completely new pro desktop architecture and design that is optimized for performance inside and out.

With next generation Xeon processors, dual workstation-class GPUs, Thunderbolt 2, PCIe-based flash storage, and ultra-fast ECC memory, the new 9.9-inch tall Mac Pro packs an amazing amount of power into an incredibly small package.

"With the latest Xeon processors, dual FirePro GPUs, ECC memory, PCIe-based flash and Thunderbolt 2, all built around a revolutionary thermal core, the next generation Mac Pro is the most radical Mac yet," says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "All this performance and expandability is packed into a dramatic new design that’s one-eighth the volume, and best of all, it will be assembled here in the USA."

The next...

Adobe has announced the availability of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 for Mac OS X and Windows. The product is available as an individual license or as part of Adobe Creative Cloud.

Designed for both photography enthusiasts and professionals alike, Lightroom 5 adds critical photo editing capabilities and creates groundbreaking workflows, according to Winston Hendrickson, vice president of products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. Lightroom 5 was initially released as a free, public beta in April 2013.
 
Lightroom 5 adds new editing tools to help photographers create better images faster. The Advanced Healing Brush enables customers to fix irregularly shaped imperfections such as dust spots, splotches, and other distractions with the precision and flexibility of a fine brush, according to Hendrickson. The Upright tool analyzes each image to automatically straighten objects such as buildings and level horizons. Radial Gradients offer customers the control to make...

KnowledgeMiner Software (http://www.knowledgeminer.eu) says KnowledgeMiner free for Mac OS X has been renamed Insights and upgraded to version 1.6.

Insights 1.6 takes its new name from the app's ability to bring conventional data mining to a new level of sophistication and applicability, according to Frank Lemke, founder and president of KnowledgeMiner Software. Users in nearly any field can now analyze noisy data sets and build models, which can help predict future behavior, he adds.

Insights 1.6 is free and available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Business category (http://tinyurl.com/l9svyy5). It requires Mac OS X 10.8.3 or later.

Arphix Games says their new game, Star Wings 2, is now available for iOS and OS X devices. And it's free.

Here's how the game is described: "Star Wings 2 is a new interstellar arcade game where the player explores the universe by controlling a spaceship across several missions. In the game, the dark force intend to conquer the entire universe using a starfleet of bugs and players must be ready to confront the enemy power, as well as deal with gravity-based environments."

Star Wings 2 for iOS in the Games category of the Apple App Store (http://tinyurl.com/klh8jnk) and for OS X in the Games Category of the Mac App Store.