Graphic Node has further expanded its assortment of iWork templates with their release of Mix for Pages 1.0. The new collection is designed to help Mac users produce modern and polished content without the help of hired designers.

This pack for Apple's Pages features a set of 50 customizable document templates from business cards and brochures to letters and envelopes. All templates are available in the U. S. and in international paper sizes.

Virtually all objects in Mix for Pages can be recolored, moved, or removed. Users can type or paste in their own text, add or remove text boxes, and change fonts. Stock images can be replaced with users' own photos or pictures.

Mix for Pages 1.0 require Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later and Pages '08 or higher. It costs US$4.99 and is available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category (http://tinyurl.com/bqqz7rc).

Dot Hill Systems, a provider of SAN storage solutions, says its AssuredSAN and AssuredSAN Pro storage solutions are among the first in the industry to ship with 4TB SAS hard disk drives. They support raw capacities of up to 384TB.
 
"High capacity drives are well-suited for the numerous vertical markets that Dot Hill serves, such as media and entertainment, big data/data analytics, oil & gas, and digital image capture," says Jim Jonez, senior director of marketing, Dot Hill. "With the 33% increase in maximum, raw capacity of 4TB drives, Dot Hill AssuredSAN arrays can reduce customer price-per-gigabyte by up to 14%from $.43/GB to $.37/GB on the AssuredSAN 2333 system."
 
Dot Hill has standardized on the SAS interface for all hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs). AssuredSAN solutions feature a number of eco-friendly enhancements such as drive spin-down capability and 595-watt 80 PLUS-rated (greater than 80% energy efficiency) power...

The Pixelmator Team (http://www.pixelmator.com) will release Pixelmator 2.2 -- an update of its GPU-powered image editing tool for creating, editing and enhancing still images -- on Thursday. The upgrade, free to registered users, offers state-of-the-art shapes, a new Smart Move Tool, the new Paint Selection Tool, and more.

Pixelmator is based on Core Image and OpenGL technologies that use Mac's video card for image processing. Core Image and OpenGL utilize the graphics card for image processing operations, freeing the CPU for other tasks. The software Pixelmator supports more than 100 different file formats, including Photoshop images with layers, and it comes with more than 15 color correction tools and 50 Core Image-powered filters, transform tools, fill and stroke, gradients, QuickMask mode, full-screen editing mode, Automator support, ColorSync support, Spotlight support, and more.

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Seagate Technology has announced its new portfolio of flash-memory solutions: its first client solid state drive (SSD) and its next-generation enterprise SSDs.

Featuring the Seagate 600 SSD, Seagate 600 Pro SSD, and the Seagate 1200 SSD, the new line of drives are engineered to deliver "ultra-fast speed and high data integrity," says Gary Gentry, senior vice president and general manager of Seagate’s solid state drive business. Rounding out the portfolio, Seagate also announced the new Seagate X8 Accelerator, a storage class memory PCIe card powered by Virident enabling the company to offer all key interfaces including SATA and SAS solutions.

Designed for laptops, the Seagate 600 SSD delivers faster boot-up speeds, shorter application load times, and improved system responsiveness, Gentry says. Laptop users can boot up nearly four times faster and load applications more than two times faster than with a standard hard drive, he adds.

The Seagate 600 SSD is...

Digital Treasures has integrated a keyboard nto its latest iPad case -- the Props Power and Keyboard Case -- and ups the ante by also adding a built-in 8000mAh battery.  


The keyboard includes 79 keys as well as 13 custom iPad keys. A spring mechanism underneath each key ensures a tactile response for faster and more accurate typing, according to Brian Austin, president of Digital Treasures. An included wrist rest allows the user to comfortably type for longer periods of time, he adds.

When traveling, the wrist rest folds up for protection by providing a barrier between the keyboard and iPad screen. Additionally, the easel adjusts to offer optimal viewing angles as you browse the web, type emails, watch movies and much more.


The Props Power and Keyboard Case boasts a built-in 8000mAh battery to keep your device charged. An LED battery status indicator on the side of the case offers a visual display on how much juice is left in the battery before it needs to...

The US $60 billion share buyback announced by Apple two weeks ago has helped drive strong gains and high trading volumes for the stock, reports "MarketWatch" (http://tinyurl.com/czpdp4u).

Shares are up more than 13% since April 23, the last day of trading before the company announced its fiscal second-quarter earnings and stepped up its “capital return” program. That program included the addition of $50 billion to an existing $10 billion buyback program.

The buyback announcement appears to have driven significant activity in the stock. Trading volumes in four of the last nine sessions have exceeded the stock’s 90-day average, according to FactSet. The stock price has jumped from its $406.10 closing price to its Monday closing price of $460.71 in that time, notes "MarketWatch."

Nektony (http://nektony.com) has updated VSD Viewer for Mac OS X (10.8 and higher) to version 2.0.1. The update offers a set of enhancements that add usability and convenience to viewing Visio drawings on the Mac.

Designed for anyone who use Visio drawings as a reference, VSD Viewer allows Mac users to open vsd files created with Visio 2000 - 2010, a file extension for a vector graphics format developed and owned by MS Visio.

Opening a Visio drawing on Mac with VSD Viewer is as simple as drag and dropping the file to its application window. VSD Viewer allows viewing of common document formatting.

VSD Viewer costs US$9.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Business category (http://tinyurl.com/c2ba83y).

Noise Industries, developer of visual effects tools for the post-production and broadcast markets, has added Shape Pop from Stupid Raisins to its range of plug-ins offered through FxFactory.

Shape Pop, available for Final Cut Pro X, consists of 30 customizable transitions that break up video into shapes to reveal the incoming clip. Users can drag and drop transitions for straightforward projects, or fine-tune transitions with Shape Pop's custom tools to achieve a desired look.

Shape Pop costs US$49 and can be downloaded at http://tinyurl.com/d46bmhm . A demo version is available for download by installing FxFactory, which you can download at http://tinyurl.com/bmaa9gh .

Macware has updated MacTuneUp, its Mac utility software, to version 7.0. The software discovers and fixes problems, restores hard disk space, maximizes Internet performance, securely erases files and folders, removes unwanted apps, guts unnecessary language files, makes Macs boot faster, and more.

Features of version 7.0 include:

° More in-depth and faster scanning of your Mac;
° Removal of unnecessary language files that come preloaded and take up hard drive space;
° A scheduling tool that allows for automatic cleaning of your system.

MacTuneUp 7.0 is available at Macware online (www.macwareinc.com/) for a special price of 50% off the regular price of US$39.99 through May 15. It requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or higher.

Tenba has introduced a new bag to its Roadie collection. The Roadie Executive Backpack was designed to be the ultimate briefcase backpack for the traveling professional, according to the folks at Tenba.

It features an exterior design that matches the rest of the Roadie collection, and is built with three cascading storage sections: first for laptop, iPad and documents; second for tech accessories; and third for core business tools like pens and business cards. The cascading sections nest together when zipped shut, so the bag always maintains a slim profile.

The Roadie Executive sports a dual-pocket computer compartment that will hold both an iPad and a laptop up to 15 inches. The left side of the bag has a stretchy mesh pocket for a beverage or other items for quick access. On the right side there is one of Tenba's signature zippered side pockets that can be accessed even while wearing both sides of the harness, and it fits a wallet and passport for easy retrieval....

Briksoftware (http://briksoftware.com) has announced UnPlugged 3 for Mac OS X. It's an update of the power-supply notification system that allows users to know when the power supply of their MacBook changes.

UnPlugged 3 adds compatibility for the Notification Center and adds the ability to have different frequencies of battery charge notifications when the battery charge is low and when it is high. The update also provides localization support for English, German, Italian, Russian and Simplified Chinese.

UnPlugged requires OS X 10.6.6 or later. It costs US$5.99 and is available exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category (http://tinyurl.com/bpv3lpb).

PCI Geomatics, a developer of remote sensing and photogrammetric software and systems, says it now supports KOMPSAT-3 imagery within its software suite.

KOMPSAT-3, a new satellite built and operated by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) was launched on May 12, 2012, from the Tanegashima Space Center of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan. KOMPSAT-3 is an optical imaging satellite capable of imaging the Earth with a resolution of 0.70 m Panchromatic and 2.8 m Multispectral (Blue, Green, Red, Near-IR). KOMPSAT-3 includes the Advanced Earth Imaging Sensor System (AEISS), which is a high-resolution imager (Pan and MS). This prime instrument of the mission was developed by KARI.

"We have worked closely with KARI to validate our software’s support for KOMPSAT-3 imagery," says Dr. Philip Cheng, senior scientist at PCI Geomatics. "Our software includes support for the new Single Pass Stereo Mode, which will be capable of extracting high-resolution...