Author: dsellers

Apple has announced major updates to its music creation apps with new features for music makers of all levels on iPhone, iPad and Mac. GarageBand for iOS 2.2 now features the creative synthesizer Alchemy and a new sound browser designed to make searching through instruments and patches easier. Logic Pro X 10.3 for macOS gets a modern interface, new features for professional audio production as well as support for the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro.

AKVIS has updated the four programs comprising the Photo Correction Bundle: Enhancer 15.5, Noise Buster 10.1, Refocus 6.5, and HDRFactory 5.5. The new versions offer improved compatibility with Photoshop CC 2017, provide a vector-based user interface with support for Ultra HD resolution, fix some bugs, and bring other changes.

Demo versions are available for download. The apps are compatible with macOS 10.7 and higher. All are available as Photoshop compatible plug-ins and as standalone applications.

B-Eng (http://www.b-eng.ch/) has announced SSD Health Check 1.0, the company’s new hard drive utility for macOS. It will alert you when your solid state disk is in a critical state or reaches other critical limits.

SSD Health Check reports data such as operating temperature, unexpected power losses and power cycles, as well as the number of uncorrectable errors and wear level count or parameters such as erase fail count. It requires macOS 10.7 or later.

SSD Health Check 1.0 costs $0.99. It’s available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Utilities category.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) officially adopted Bluetooth 5 (www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth5) as the latest version of the Bluetooth core specification. Consumers can expect to see products supporting the spec in two to six months.

Key updates to Bluetooth 5 include longer range, faster speed, and larger broadcast message capacity, as well as improved interoperability and coexistence with other wireless technologies, according to Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG.

Synology (www.synology.com) has released Surveillance Station 8.0, an update of the smart surveillance system for macOS and Windows. It offers flexible deployment and a smoother live view experience, according to Jonathan Wang, product manager at Synology.

He adds that Surveillance Station 8.0 includes the following new features:

° Surveillance Station Client: in addition to checking live views and managing channels within browsers, users can now install Surveillance Station Client to enjoy improved performance and efficiency, and be free from browser limitations.