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Yasu Software

Rob Findlay our Mac consultant  on OS X Maintenance with YASU
Mac OS X features many embedded routines and program’s for self maintenance and the “File System Repair” programs that were so necessary in the old OS 9 days are largely a thing of the past however occasionally cache files get corrupted or permissions are incorrectly set by installers or updates. A simple donation-ware utility like Yasu can be a quick tuneup for a Mac that is misbehaving or running slowly.
Using Yasu
Once selecting which options you want to run and hitting the return key, if you’re logged in as an administrator, you’ll be prompted with an authentication dialog. Enter the password for the current administrator account and click “Okay” (or hit the “Return” key). If you are logged in as a non-admin level account, you’ll only be allowed to perform the standard user options. Additionally, no authentication dialog will appear when you click “Run” (or hit the “Return” key).
Important Note: Yasu can take a long time to run. It may seem as if the application is not doing anything, but rest assured that it is. It should be left alone to complete the tasks you have chosen to perform. It is recommended that you not run other applications while performing maintenance with Yasu. Also, you should be aware that if “Restart” or “Shutdown” when finished is selected, your workstation will do just that once all tasks have completed.
Once you’ve authenticated as an admin (if the tasks you’ve selected call for it), Yasu will present a “run panel” and begin performing each selected task, letting you know what’s going on. Once all tasks are complete, Yasu will perform which ever option you’ve selected in the finish menu.

Here are my preferred settings for a general tune-up. (these will be remembered next time you launch it).

I run YASU once a month generally at the same time I clean my laptop’s screen & case.
Get YASU from http://jimmitchell.org/yasu/
And please if you use it, Donate. It makes the world go around.

Ex Demo iMac 27″ Special

Ex-Demo iMac 27″
Quad Core, 2.66Ghz i5 iMac
Was $2,599 now $2,199 save $400.

Only 6 months old, showroom use.
One only first in, best dressed.

Includes:
2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard and User Guide

Categories: Apple, IT, Specials

New Mac Pro’s at last

Apple unveiled a new Mac® Pro line with up to 12 processing cores and up to 50 percent greater performance than the previous generation (according to a pre-release rendering test performed by Apple). Featuring the latest quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics and the option for up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD), the new Mac Pro continues to deliver amazing performance and expandability for the most demanding consumers and professionals.

(URL for Apple release and testing details) http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/07/27macpro.html

“The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac ever made, with up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.”

At the heart of the new Mac Pro’s performance are next generation quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors running at speeds up to 3.33 GHz. These multi-core processors use a single die design so each core can share up to 12MB L3 cache to improve efficiency while increasing processing speed. These systems feature an integrated memory controller for faster memory bandwidth and reduced memory latency; Turbo Boost to dynamically boost processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz; and Hyper-Threading to create up to 24 virtual cores. The Mac Pro now comes with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB of memory and customers can configure-to-order the even faster ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory.

Pricing & Availability
The new Mac Pro will be available from August through Team Digital.  Pricing and Specifications according to the Apple Australia website (28/7/2010) are as follows:

The new quad-core Mac Pro

Starts from $3,499 (A$ inc GST), and includes:

One 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3530 processor with 8MB of fully-shared L3 cache;
3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 16GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
Two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
18x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
Four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
Five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire® 800 ports;
AirPort Extreme® 802.11n;
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.

The new 8-core Mac Pro

Starts from $4,899 (A$ inc GST), and includes:

Two 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 processors with 12MB of fully-shared L3 cache per processor;

6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;

ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;

Two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);

1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;

18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);

Four PCI Express 2.0 slots;

Five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;

AirPort Extreme 802.11n;

Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and

Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.

Categories: Apple, IT, Team Digital

Landscape 500 Photo Comp

Team Digital very excited to be a sponsor of “The Landscape 500 Photo Competition”. It promises to be more than just photo competition. More details to come soon, but all we can say is get your very best landscape ready. Game on.

Some great prizes on offer

A trip on the True North , experience the ultimate in luxury

The amazing Epson Pro 3880 printer, one of the best Epson printer ever

The Gigapan Epic Pro automated head, the latest tool in the landscape photographers kit bag

And a day with Christian Fletcher himself , not sure if its priceless but it promises to be a great day

There are also offering from Kata Bags and Hoya filters

For more details check out Christians Blog

Gigapan has arrived

Team Digital has received stock of the New Gigapan Epic Pro.

We have had some great fun with it over the week . See the unit in action and have a laugh at

http://www.christianfletcher.com.au/blog/2010/07/gigapan-video/

Just as a bit of a covering comment re video there was three takes all a bit of fun .

Take 1) was because we had set the Gigapan to do bracket exposure . Which it can do up to 20 exposures per frame

Take 2) was because we had someone walking through the shot

Take 3) was because we used the Canon 100mm IS and the IS was on and everyone knows that you shouldn’t have IS on when you are shooting on a tripod, if you want sharp images .

The actual shot took under a minute to do 28 frames.

We also now have our hire unit which you can hire after this weekend at $ 100.00 per day. If you decide to purchase a Gigapan after you have hired it and we know you will want to. We will give you 100% of hire costs off the new unit ( conditions do apply )

We have been testing it now for a week and we love what the unit does. We will have a full review very shortly.

David gets his iPhone App approved

Team Digital are excited to let you know that David Johnson our IT Sales Specialist has had his game App approved by Apple and it’s now available on the iTunes App Store.

After working on this project for over a year it is great to see David’s game get to this stage.

The game Tri-me is a visual puzzle and will appeal to people who enjoy a challenge.

If you want to have a look on iTunes follow this link:

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/tri-me/id380909361?mt=8

July/Aug Promo Elinchrom D-Lite IT

Team Digital and Elinchrom have come up with a great starter studio kit. The Elinchrom D-Lite 4 IT to go kit. Consisting of 2 x 400WS D-Lite It Heads , 2 x Softboxes 53cm /65cm, 2 x Stands, 2 x Carry cases and ECO Skyport trigger . Now with the inbuilt wireless receivers and the ECO Skyport trigger, means sync cords are a thing of the past.

“Come and test them for yourself in our showroom studio”

July Promo Kata Bag

We just finished our successful Kata Trade-In Promotion last month. So there are now a lot happy Kata bag owners out there. But we couldn’t stop there we have been able to negotiate a deal on one of the most popular bag in the Kata range DPS 3N1 20.

Normally $149 now $99

For a limited time while stocks last

End of June Promo’s almost finished reminder

The Great Kata Bag Trade-In Offer

Elinchrom BX kit promotion

Manfrotto Lighting Stand Promo

A couple of new things as well

Canon 5D mkII Body only now down to $ 3050.00

NIKS Silver Efex Pro $ 230.00

NIKS Sharpner Pro $ 225.00

DSLR Video tips by Michael Fletcher Part B

PICTURE STYLE

This is one of the most important settings. There are a number of ideas for the best settings to use so it is a matter of working out what you prefer by testing different settings. One setting for one condition may not suit another.

The idea is to capture as much information from the initial footage from the camera so it can be used for better results in the post production stage of your editing. This will result in a flat looking un-saturated image, which looks unappealing but will have more detail in the shadows and highlights. This image will allow a better end result in post production.

Select Picture Style

Select User Def. 1

Press INFO button on camera

Change Picture Style to Neutral

Scroll down to Sharpness – Use Setting from 0 to 2 (Reduces artefacts)

Scroll down to Contrast – Set to range of  3 to 4 stops to left of 0 point

Scroll down to Saturation – Set to range of  2 to 3 stops to left of 0 point

Color Tone leave as is – 0

So It looks like this

The results were extremely interesting

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