Apple

Canon's Rebel T1i

(Credit: CNET)

Apple released a software update Thursday to let its Aperture 2, iPhoto '08, and iPhoto '09 photo-editing software handle raw images from three newer SLRs, Canon's Rebel T1i, Nikon's D5000, and Olympus' E-30.

Higher-end cameras offer raw image formats that provide more flexibility and quality than JPEG, but the raw file formats are proprietary, vary from one camera model to another, and require companies such as Apple and Adobe Systems to release a constant stream of updates. Microsoft relies on camera manufacturers to supply software for Windows that can interpret the raw data, which is taken directly from camera image sensors without in-camera processing.

Camera makers typically supply their own software for handling raw images, but many people prefer their own photo software.

Further detail on Apple's support is available on Apple's raw camera support page.

Update: June 1, 2009: UMPCFever has removed the blog post from its Web site.

A Chinese-language blog UMPCFever posted pictures recently that its claims are the first ever photos from a functioning next-generation iPhone. The Web site, translated through Google, displays images of iPhone OS 3.0 running some of the rumored new iPhone features we covered here, here, here, and here.

According to the report, the new iPhone contains an auto-focusing camera that uses an onscreen square that can be moved around with a combination of taps and dragging to choose the object to focus on. The rumored digital compass and its software are shown as well. Other features in iPhone OS 3.0 are demoed on the site like MMS--supporting video and photos, copy and paste, the Voice Recorder app, and so on.

Auto-Focus (Credit: UMPCFever)

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Digital Compass (Credit: UMPCFever)

Old iPhone - No Auto-Focus (Credit: UMPCFever)

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New iPhone - Auto-Focus (Credit: UMPCFever)

MMS - Video or Still Photo (Credit: UMPCFever)

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CPU Activity Logging - Prototype device? (Credit: UMPCFever)

The credibility of this group is unknown, but the features shown on the site have already been demoed by Apple or consistent with rumors circulating around the Internet about the next generation iPhone and iPhone OS 3.0.

So what do you think? Is this the next iPhone and its new software? Let us know in the comments.

Apple Aperture in action.

(Credit: Apple)

LAS VEGAS--Apple on Monday added support in its software for raw image files from Nikon's top-end SLR, the $8,000, 24.5-megapixel D3X.

Apple's Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.5 also adds support for Epson's Epson R-D1x digital rangefinder camera, according to the Apple support page.

The software enables Aperture 2, iPhoto '08, and iPhoto '09 to interpret the cameras' raw files, proprietary formats that include more information than JPEGs. The update requires Mac OS X 10.4.11, Mac OS X 10.5.3, or later.

A full list of Apple's raw image support is available on Apple's support site.

Aperture's competitor, Adobe Systems' Photoshop Lightroom, also got D3X support Monday, which is eve of the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show here.

(Via Rob Galbraith.)

Face recognition technology isn't perfect yet.

That's certainly clear when using the "Faces" feature that is built into the recently released iPhoto '09.

Memo to iPhoto: Former colleague Joris Evers may be a great guy, but he's not the Great One.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News)

Sure, the product does reasonably well at finding your friends and family in your photo collection. Tag a few photos by name and iPhoto comes up with other suggestions, often recognizing photos that are taken years apart and with vastly different looks. Heck, iPhoto even spotted me when I was a different gender.

The science behind face recognition is complex and still evolving. In general, face recognition software looks for predictable patterns--characteristics and proportions that stay constant from one photograph to another, things like the distance between the eyes or from the eyes to the mouth.

Even with things where the science is today, having help--any help--with the tedious task of tagging photos is welcome. And iPhoto can certainly find plenty of matches in your library, even if it won't spot them all.

But the real genius part is how Apple has made the process fun, even when the results aren't perfect.

Early speech recognition was also hit or miss, but it was painful to have to scream at a computer while it constantly misunderstood what you were trying to say. With face recognition, at least as built into iPhoto, the goofs are what make it fun.

The software frequently suggested that my contemporary friends and family were actually my 80-something cousin, my 90-something great aunt, or both. iPhoto also confused Bill Gates with our friend's 3-year-old. And among the suggestions for former CNET colleague Joris Evers was a shot of Wayne Gretzky that I had taken at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

With its launch of iPhoto 09, Apple has begun showing some reasons why it's worth enduring the hassle of geotagging your photos.

It's generally not easy right now to label your photos with information about where you took the pictures--the process usually is done with special software to marry the photos with location data taken from a separate GPS receiver.

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, demonstrated geotagging in iPhoto 09 at Macworld 2009.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, demonstrated what you can do with iPhoto at the Macworld 2009 keynote Tuesday.

iPhoto 09 works best with photos that already have been tagged. That's getting more common, as GPS hardware support becomes less of a rarity. For example, Nikon's Coolpix P6000 has a built-in GPS receiver, and Nikon has begun selling its GP-1 GPS receiver, which can plug into its SLR's flash mount so location data is embedded in the photo. Apple's iPhone can geotag its own photos, and camera manufacturers say GPS support in cameras has become a matter of when, not if.

But the software also can help you tag your own images. Clicking a photo flips it over, letting you type in a location, then showing the spot using a map. (Google supplies back-end mapping services). Helpfully, iPhoto then can spread that location data to other photos with similar time stamps, and they can be bundled together into a group called an event.

OK, but what can you do?
Once you have geotagged photos, what can you do with them?

For one thing, sift through them geographically using iPhotos' new Places interface. Viewing an iPhoto event can show an associated collection of pushpins on a map, and clicking each pin shows the photo.

For another, you can search for photos based on where you took them, not on whatever filing system you might use. iPhoto can handle geographic hierarchies, so if you labeled a photo with "Eiffel Tower," it'll find it with a search for "France" or "Paris."

Canon's 5D Mark II full-frame SLR

(Credit: Canon)

Apple has added support for raw photo files from Canon's vaunted if imperfect 5D Mark II to its Aperture 2 and iPhoto 08 software less than a week after rival Adobe did so with Lightroom.

The Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.4 also supports Canon's high-end compact, the PowerShot G10, and the Pentax K2000/K-m (presumably the white version, too), according to Apple. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or Mac OS X 10.5.3 or later.

Also supported is Leaf's higher-end digital photography hardware, the AFi-II 6, AFi-II 7, Aptus-II 6, and Aptus-II 7, and Leica's M8.2 camera.

In addition, the update "also addresses issues related to specific cameras and overall stability," Apple said.

(Via The Mac Observer.)

Engadget posted this image of what it suggests might be Apple's rumored new MacBook Pro.

(Credit: Engadget)

As we wait for Steve Jobs to take the wraps off what many expect to be a new Apple MacBook Pro, Engadget has posted a blurry photo of what appears to be that rumored laptop.

While the site does not go so far as to pronounce it the real deal, it does note that the photo shares similarities with other photos of laptop cases that leaked on to the Web over the weekend. Engadget also reports that the MacBook Pro will sport two Nvidia GPUs in possible a "hybrid SLI setup" it called "pretty wild."

Meanwhile, Boy Genius reports the existence of an $899 price point in the Apple Store system. However, MacRumors reports that price is likely for an LED Apple Cinema Display and not a low-end MacBook.

To find out if this is the real deal, tune in here Tuesday at 10 a.m. PDT for a live blog from Apple's special notebooks event at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. Plus, later in the day, we'll have some analysis on what Apple does announce, and CNET's laptop experts, Dan Ackerman and Michelle Thatcher, will have a First Look and hands-on video.