Firmware Updates Bring Lion Internet Recovery to 2010 Macs

Apple has released a range of firmware updates that enable the Lion Internet Recovery OS restore feature across most of its 2010-vintage Macs, enabling easy reinstallation of the operating system in the event of a software or hardware failure.

Lion Internet Recovery, a feature which builds on the NetBoot technology in OS X Server, was introduced along with the 2011 MacBook Air and Mac Mini refreshes, and then extended to the rest of Apple's shipping Macs in the following months. Today's updates, which enable support for the 2010 iMac, the late 2010 MacBook Air, and the 15" and 17" 2010 MacBook Pro, follow updates from late January that enabled support for the 13" 2010 MacBook Pro, the 2010 Mac Mini, and the 2010 MacBook. The only model left out is the Mac Pro, none of which (even the currently shipping model) support the feature. Some (but not all) of the firmware updates also fix other minor issues.

The updates can be downloaded using the links provided above, or via Software Update - all updates require a Mac running OS X 10.7.2 or later. The possibility exists that Apple could choose to enable support for even older Macs - models going all the way back to 2007 are capable of running Lion - but until we actually see updates I would say that such a thing is pretty unlikely.

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Acer Updates Iconia Tablets to Android 4.0

True to their word, Acer is announcing the availability of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for their recently launched A200 tablet. We posted the PR blurb about the A200 in early January, and we were able to get some hands on time with the A200 at CES 2012. The quick summary is that Acer has trimmed a few features from the A500, like the rear-facing camera and HDMI port, but they also changed up the industrial design. While the plastic exterior may not sound as impressive as the aluminum shell of the A500, the reality is that in hand the textured plastic actually feels better (at least in our opinion).

As far as the Ice Cream Sandwich update, while Acer’s press release states that they’re updating all of the Iconia line to Android 4.0 (including the A100, A200, and A500), the reality of the updates isn’t quite so impressive. The update is currently being pushed to Iconia A200 customers (it’s not clear if you can get it faster by checking for a system update or not) and should be completed over the coming week. A100 and A500 users eager to get the ICS update on the other hand will have to wait a while longer—April to be precise.

Besides all the Android 4.0 goodness, there are a few features that are unique to Acer. Chief of these is their Acer Ring, allowing you to navigate directly to apps from the lock screen. While the idea is nice, in practice we haven’t found the Acer Ring to be necessary and at least the one time I looked at it, it felt a bit chunky and sluggish to launch and navigate (though I could say the same for Android 3.x in general on Tegra 2 hardware). The only other extra feature Acer mentions is an improved weather widget.

You can read more about ICS in our Galaxy Nexus review, though obviously there will be some differences when running on a Tegra 2 tablet. It should provide a better UI experience on Tegra 2 tablets, but unfortunately unless you’re one of the users that purchased an A200, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. The A200 8GB is currently selling for $330 while the 16GB model goes for $350. However, at this late stage in the life of Tegra 2, we wouldn’t recommend buying a new tablet running Tegra 2 hardware unless the price is under $200, especially considering Tegra 3 tablets are expected to hit sub-$300 prices in the very near future.

Gallery: Acer Updates Iconia Tablets to Android 4.0

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Apple Updates Final Cut Pro X, Brings Back Features from Final Cut Pro 7

Apple has today issued an update for their professional video editing suite, Final Cut Pro X (FCPX). The update carries version number 10.0.3 and re-introduces some crucial elements, such as multicam editing. Multicam filming is widely used by video professionals as many scenes require multiple video angles, and it's obvious that you also need editing software that supports multicam editing in order to achieve the best outcome. Other new features include advanced chroma keying that allows color, edge and light adjustments; media relink that allows content to be modified with third party software and then be relinked to your project; import Photoshop graphics; and broadcast monitoring that allows video to be output to an external monitor using PCIe or Thunderbolt devices.

FCPX was strongly criticized by professional users when it was launched in June 2011 due to the lack of major features such as import of projects made on earlier versions of FCP, multicam support, and usage of 3rd party I/O devices for capture and output—all which were present in the earlier version of Final Cut Pro. Apple released the 10.0.1 update in September, which brought support for XML format, allowing FCP 7 and many other apps projects to be imported into FCPX. However, it took Apple more than half a year to support multicam editing, which is finally bringing FCPX more or less on-par with FCP 7 in terms of features.

FCP 7 was outdated in various areas, for example it was single-threaded, so it's evident that professionals with high-end Macs were craving for a new version but ended up being disappointed due to the lack of several essential features. This update is free for all users who have already bought Final Cut Pro X. For users who haven't, Apple offers a 30-day trial on Final Cut Pro X and the full version is priced at $299—both are available in the Mac App Store. Apple also offers Motion, an effects editor, and Compressor, a tool for project export, as complement applications and they are both priced at $49.

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Apple Updates AirPort Utility, AirPort Base Station Firmware - Adds iCloud Remote Access

Apple just pushed out a slew of updates to its WiFi related products which we've covered and reviewed already, including the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule. The latest update brings the Base Station firmware version to 7.6.1, and adds performance fixes as well as iCloud remote access for attached disks. From the release notes:

This update is for all 802.11n AirPort Express, 802.11n AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule models. It fixes an issue with wireless performance and provides support for remote access to an AirPort disk or a Time Capsule hard drive with an iCloud account.

I've just updated my own AirPort Extreme and 802.11n AirPort Express, and we'll update if we see anything major. The other part of the update includes AirPort Utility 6.0 which matches the style and theme of the recently released AirPort Utility for iOS. Thus far the update seems to be primarily aesthetic, though a number of old options panes have been consolidated in some places.

One notable change is the repositioning of the wireless client RSSI graph, which now gets reported after clicking on the base station as a pop-up. Interestingly enough, older AirPort devices will be configured using AirPort Utility 5.6 going forwards, and it's in this client that you can access options absent in 6.0, including the logs and wireless client graphs.

Gallery: AirPort Utility 6.0 on OS X, Base Station Firmware 7.6.1

We're playing around with the updates and will update soon with more details. Both updates are currently available over Software Update.

Source: Apple (1), (2)

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Zalman Updates the CNPS Line, Shows Off Cases

Zalman's lineup at this year's CES was more evolutionary than revolutionary, and unfortunately some of the more interesting products (Zalman-branded SSDs and video cards) aren't yet bound for U.S. shores. That latter one is a shame, too, since Zalman produces some excellent aftermarket cooling for GPUs.

What we do have are evolutions of Zalman's existing lineup of CPU coolers. The CNPS series gets a series of small upgrades. The old flower-style Zalman HSF unit now has a more rigid circular design and a pair of heatpipes that circle the bottoms of the copper films; this is the CNPS8900. The tower-style CNPS11X sees a slight shift in design, and the "floating fan" CNPS9900MAX now has a very beefy big brother that holds three fans, one each in both floating sets of fins, and one in the middle.

The line of power supplies Zalman had on display was unfortunately less than exciting. Their budget power supplies had no 80 Plus certification to speak of, while the more upscale line was just 80 Plus standard. Not particularly exciting and certainly not moving things forward.

Thankfully, cases were a little more interesting though again they feel like a small race to the bottom. I remember when the phrase "Zalman case" meant a giant fanless radiator you could put a computer inside. Some of the cases were more glitzy than others, but one model had an integrated LED temperature display, and another featured front-loading hot-swappable drive bays. All featured aggressive blue LED lighting.

Finally, the most bizarre but amusing product available was an anti-viral mouse. It's a USB mouse that has anti-viral software on board, running at all times. Strange to be sure, but curious enough to warrant more investigation at a later date.

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ASUS G74SX: Noteworthy Updates to ASUS' G7 Series

Marking the fourth time we’ve taken ASUS’ G7 gaming series for a spin, the G74SX actually changes up the formula from the last-iteration G73Sw in some meaningful ways. Superficially, the two notebooks look the same, but when you crack open the spec sheet and take a closer look you’ll find some nice updates. It’s pretty easy to list what exactly has changed: the keyboard layout is better—nearly perfect in my opinion—and ASUS has finally decided to ship a high-end notebook with an SSD + HDD storage combination. ASUS also bumps the GPU up to the GTX 560M from the GTX 460M, and memory in our test unit checks in at a hefty 16GB (4x4GB).

There’s one remaining update we expected to see that’s still missing, however: NVIDIA’s Optimus Technology. This tends to be a polarizing technology, and while the best-case solution would be a GPU that can run as fast as the GTX 560M when needed but drop down to HD 3000 power use levels when it’s not, for the time being such a solution doesn’t exist. ASUS has taken the “safe” approach of using only the discrete GTX 560M GPU, which means you sacrifice battery life and Intel’s Quick Sync technology, but you gain some simplicity at the same time. Is the end result worth your hard earned pennies? Read on.

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iPod Nano and iPod Touch Receive Small Updates

Apple today announced a handful of minor updates to its iPod line: the iPod Nano and iPod Touch have received modest upgrades and price cuts. The iPod Classic, however, is MIA. The Nano ($129 for 8GB and $149 for 16GB) will retain the same basic form factor of last year's model, but is given bigger icons to improve navigation, improves Nike+ support, and is given some new clock faces for people who want to use it as a watch. It seems like a firmware update could do all of this for the old Nano, but no such update was introduced. The iPod Touch (8GB for $199, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399) remains the same on the inside, but gets new capabilities courtesy of iOS 5 (reinforcing the software-centric nature of these updates). It now also comes in white. Apple’s decision not to use the A5 in the iPod Touch reflects both the fact that the A4 is still Good Enough for most tasks, and the fact that Apple needs all the A5s it can get for its phones and tablets. I expect the iPod Classic will be discontinued, but cannot confirm or deny this at this time - the product was absent from Apple's slides, for what that's worth. Update: I'm now reading that the iPod Classic is still mentioned in Apple's press release: the 160GB model wil run $249. The iPod shuffle remains the same - last year's 2GB player for $49.

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How to Avoid Being Penalized By Consistent Google Panda Updates

Google Panda is an algorithm that is used by the popular search engine to find websites and pages in poor quality. A site that is of poor quality may end up being “panda slapped” and will be removed from the Google search engine or severely penalized.

This is an algorithm that has recently been updated to easily find pages that are not of good quality. However, you can avoid penalties if you use the right standards with Google Panda.

Make unique content:

You should create more original items on your website. Google Panda will penalize sites that do not have any unique contents on them. You should make sure that everything on your site is original and does not feature any copies of things that you might have placed on other sites.

Do not duplicate your content:

Duplicate content is content that will be the same on multiple pages on your site. It will cause your site to appear repetitive and unoriginal. You should make sure that you are using more unique content if you want to keep your site looking as unique as possible.

Keep your ads working?

You should monitor exactly who is sponsoring your site with regards to what contents they have to offer. Ads that do not relate to what people are searching for when getting on your site can appear in some cases. They can keep your site from being as useful as possible.

Make your site understandable:

You should also see that you are making it obvious as to what every page on your site is about. Google Panda tends to view vague or unclear pages in a negative manner. It will end up creating penalties on sites that are not clear in quality or content. You should make sure that you avoid vague pages when you are getting a site ready.

Focus on keeping it easy:

A website should be very easy to move around. A user should not have any problems with going from one section of a site to another. Google Panda will look through all of these problems and will penalize sites that are not easy to move around. You should make sure that you keep your site clear and easy to handle if you want to avoid being penalized.

Consistent updates are key:

The last thing to do is to keep your site updated when you can. A blog on your site can help you out. Keeping your blog updated with relevant updates and details on your site can help you out with getting your site to be a relevant and well updated one.

These are good tips to use if you want to keep your site from being harmed by Google Panda. It will help to keep from dealing with problems that relate to Google Panda by keeping your site relevant and keeping all of its content under control. Doing the right things can help you to keep your site from being seen as an irrelevant one that may be hit by Google Panda.

Author Bio: Maher is a blogger and avid social media user. He works for smsfi from where you can send free sms.

Sony Updates Vaio Z: Light Peak and An External GPU

Updates in github.com/awilliam code

The code in github.com/awilliam repository has been updated:

Before the update, when only using asus-switcheroo to power off the
discrete graphics card, it wasn't uncommon for the system to
eventually lock up. This seems to be the result of the nouveau driver
getting a -1 interrupt back and killing the system. The jprobes and
kretprobes code re-request it appropriately.

More Bumblebee updates -- automatic switching with acpi_call

Martin Juhl has been relentlessly working on bumblebee and he just started working on automatic switching support for Ubuntu, while work is also being done to support other distributions.

The idea is to have the nvidia card always switched off and automatically switch it on when a program is executed using optirun. Once the program finishes, the card will automatically switch off again. The current implementation uses acpi_call, so only laptop models supported in acpi_call will have this feature working, at least for a while.

For more information:

http://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee

http://twitter.com/#!/martinjuhl

PD: Martin's Bumblebee Project open source efforts are being fuelled by RedBull, find his donations account below if you want to buy him more:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=mj%40casalogic%2edk&lc=US&item_name=The%20Bumblebee%20Project%20by%20Martin%20Juhl&amount=3%2e00¤cy_code=EUR¤cy_code=EUR&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

Google updates new commenting feature for Google Docs

Google Docs is an excellent product from Google company which helps to user to edit the document in online without any use of special software’s. The latest news from Google is they are going to update new commenting feature for Google docs, so it’s like a real time chat between the users which are editing the same document with comment feature. Whenever user comment on the document and that comment will appears on right side of  the document including with their profile pictures and timestamps. Even you can use “@” to interact and reply with particular user comment or discussion on that document.

If user is offline the comments will appear on their e-mail account, so that you can reply for that comment via email without visiting the Google docs web page. Users can also read and view the full discussions simply by clicking the discussion button from the top menu of that document.

Raptr Updates Gaming Client - Sees Major Performance Improvements

Raptr, a popular game tracking and social platform for gamers, has released one of its most significant client updates to date. Specifically redesigned to improve performance, the latest client update slashes the CPU usage and the memory footprint by 66% on average.

“Optimizing the performance of the Raptr client has been one of the top user requests for a while and we’re excited to introduce such a massive improvement,” said Dennis Fong, CEO of Raptr. “Our goal is to constantly iterate on our service with the feedback of our six million users as a guide. These improvements pave the way for significant new features we plan to launch in the next few months.”

Microsoft Announces a Host of Windows Phone 7 Updates

At MWC 2011, Microsoft just announced a number of improvements for WP7 including the timeline for when its first update will be pushed to devices.

The update with app-loading performance improvements and copy paste support we demoed back at CES finally got a more specific release date - it's slated to launch in early March. A number of other updates are slated for 2011, though Microsoft wouldn't assign a specific date. Those updates include multitasking support for 3rd party applications, better cloud synchronization, more web-services built into hubs, and a completely new web browser.

Microsoft recognizes that the browser is probably the single most important mobile application. It needs to be speedy, needs to be usable, and needs to have full feature parity with desktop browsers. Though the WP7 browser feels very fast translating and zooming around, JavaScript was slow and HTML5 support was nonexistent. It was based on the older Trident engine used in pre-IE9 browsers, and never felt like it really belonged in the Web 2.0 or HTML5 era. Coming in 2011, WP7 will get a major update with an IE9 browser complete with the same level of GPU acceleration and HTML5 compatibility of its desktop brother. WP7's mobile IE9 browser will use the same core rendering engine as IE9's. 

Mobile IE9 includes HTML5 support for the video tag as well. That's the same H.264 support as IE9 has on the desktop.

 

Next, WP7 will better leverage Microsoft's cloud assets, including SkyDrive support in the office hub. Other hubs are getting updates that include faster cloud sync. One of the major curiosities when WP7 launched was the absence of twitter support. Also part of 2011 will be an update that brings twitter integration in the people hub. 

Probably the most major update, however will be inclusion of 3rd party multitasking support. Fast application re-hydration and a task manager menu are the key changes. The new multitasking interface allows for task switching using the back button. Pressing and holding the back button brings up a ring-switcher interface with screenshots of running applications.

Finally, Microsoft demonstrated an impressive example of cross WP7 and Xbox connectivity with a demo of users controlling the placement of obstacles in Kinect Adventures. Microsoft needs to move quickly to deliver WP7 updates into the hands of existing users to keep the platform competitive as Android and iOS also roll out updates. 

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