Dell Introduces 30-inch High Performance Color Display

21 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment

by John Virata in color monitor, computer display, desktop publishing, graphic design

Dell today introduced a 30-inch display targeted at creative users that sports 2560 x 1600 resolution and incorporates PremierColor technology, a feature the company says will enable the monitor to output consistent and accurate color. The Dell UltraSharp U3011, priced at $1,499 is targeted at those who require visually superior color output and viewing capabilities, including those working in desktop publishing, animation, CAD/CAM, graphic design, and medical technology.

UltraSharp U3011 30-inch Widescreen Display

Dell's UltraSharp U3011 30-inch widescreen display is targeted at high end color applications such as medical imaging, desktop publishing and graphic design.

Features include WQXGA 2560 x 1600 resolution, a high brightness of 370cd/m2 and 7ms gray to gray response time, 12 bit internal processing, high color depth of 1.07 billion colors, 117 percent high color gamut, contrast ratio of 100,000:1, and a range of connectivity options, including DisplayPort, two HDMI, two DVI-D connectors, four USB ports, and a 7-in-1 media card reader. The display is both ENERGY STAR 5.0 and EPEAT Silver certification compliant. It ships with Dell’s PremiumPanel guarantee, which offers a replacement panel during the warranty period in the event even one pixel is not outputting correctly. For more information, visit www.dell.com

G-Technology G-Drive mini 250GB portable hard drive for Macintosh

17 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment

by John Virata in Apple Macintosh, storage Tags: ,

G-Technology G-Drive mini 250GB portable hard drive for Macintosh

The G-Drive mini has been one of G-Technology’s most popular portable hard drives for many years. Now with the introduction of the G-Drive mobile, you have two choices in mobile storage from the Hitachi owned company. Both have totally different looks and both have nearly the same footprint. They both connect to your Mac via FireWire 800 or USB 2.0. The only real difference, other than storage capacity, is the G-Drive mini has an on/off switch as well as an AC adapter port, though no adapter is necessary to power the drive, as it is FireWire/USB powered.

G-Drive mini 250GB

G-Drive mini 250GB

The G-Drive mini features a built in heat sink on the bottom of the drive to dissipate heat and ships with two FireWire 800 cables and a USB 2.0 cable as well as a leatherette pouch for carrying the drive to offsite locations. The G-Drive mobile is available in one 500GB configuration only, while the G-Drive mini offers several options with your choice of 5400RPM and 7200RPM hard drives.

G-Drive mini 250GB

The G-Drive mini, left, features an all aluminum enclosure, dual FireWire 800 connections and USB 2.0

Performance
To move a 2.2GB file from a 13-inch MacBook Pro (7200 RPM 500GB Seagate Momentus hard drive) to the G-Drive mini 250GB (232GB formatted) using the FireWire 800 connection too 45 seconds, a mere two seconds faster than the G-Drive mobile we tested back in July. Moving the data via USB 2.0 took a bit less than twice as long at 84 seconds.

The G-Drive mini stacked on a G-Drive mobile

The G-Drive mini stacked on a G-Drive mobile

The dual interface G-Drive mini sports two FireWire 800 connections (the second for daisy chaining an second FireWire 800 drive), as well as a USB 2.0 connection. It has an on/off switch and although there is a legacy DC connector, it is not needed as the drive is powered by the host Macintosh. It is built around a Hitachi 5400RPM SATA 2.5-inch hard drive and comes with three interface cables; a FireWire 800 to FireWire 800, FireWire 800 to FireWire 400, and a USB 2.0 cable.

G-Technology has been offering Macintosh based external hard drive solutions for years, supporting a variety of applications ranging from video editing to photo storage. The beauty with its offerings is their industrial design, rugged quality, and look and feel. Other hard drive manufacturers haven’t really been able to match the simplicity of design that G-Technology offers, in spite of hiring fancy design houses or designers to build a cool looking yet functional external storage solution. The G-Drive mini is several years old already, yet retains its classic look very well.

The G-Drive mini 250GB is priced at $89.99 for the 5400RPM model and $119.99 for the 7200RPM model. It ships with a three-year warranty. For more information, visit www.g-technology.com

FotoMagico 3.5

03 Sep 2010 3 Comments

by John Virata in Apple Macintosh, photography, slideshow editor, video editing Tags: , ,

FotoMagico is a very simple to use professional slide show creator that lets you build slide shows for importing into your video editing projects as well as for playback on YouTube, DVD, and other playback mediums. While you can also create slide shows with a video editing tool, FotoMagico 3.5 is a pure play slide show creator that enables you to take your high resolution photographs and video and add transitions, titles, movies and audio very easily. The interface is easy to navigate, with start and finish main windows, a timeline where you lay down your media, and a bin on the right side of the screen where you can access your media.

FotoMagico's interface is clean and easy to navigate

FotoMagico's interface is clean and easy to navigate

Getting media to the timeline is a simple drag and drop affair. Once your images are on the timeline, you can make adjustments to each individual image by clicking the image. The image will appear in the Start/Finish window with an adjustment box that you drag to tweak how you want the image to move in the slideshow. You can zoom and rotate the image, set the duration that you wish the slide to appear on screen, add a transition and set its duration, pan and zoom, and under the Window pull down, you can get information on the image (provided it was captured with a digital camera), that will tell you what type it is, when it was shot, with what type of camera, exposure, focal length, and ISO speed. There are also controls for adjusting the flesh tones as well as the lightness and darkness of the image. Once you are done tweaking the individual image, hit the play button and FotoMagico will play the changes that you made to the image.

When you’ve finished creating your slide show, your next step is to Share the show. FotoMagico offers a variety of sharing capabilities, including saving the slideshow as a standalone player, which enables the show to be viewed on any Macintosh computer; save to HD video for importing into your video editing timeline, DVD, Web Movie, YouTube video, iPod Movie, iPhone movie, Apple movie, Apple TV movie, Screen saver, and QuickTime or MPEG 4 movie. When you choose a specific share feature, FotoMagico will detail what the quality of that choice will be. The quality ranges from poor to excellent.

FotoMagico offers a lot of features to create compelling slideshows with images as well as video, and it is very easy to use. The application is available as a standalone tool as well as a plug in for Final Cut Pro and After Effects.

FotoMagico 3.5
$149
http://www.boinx.com

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