The Creative SoundWorks Radio CD 745 is more than just a radio, it’s an incredible sounding and extremely versatile sound system with an award-winning speaker design. Its two stereo speakers, combined with a powerful, built-in subwoofer produces incredible clarity and excellent bass when listening to broadcasts from the high-quality AM/FM tuners.

As well as 24 radio station presets, this top-of-the-line system includes a slot-loading CD player which can play MP3/WMA tracks and display their details. Dual alarms allow users to wake up to their favourite radio station or a CD, or to specify different wake-up times during the week and weekend.

Convenient front panel controls, plus the included remote, give users easy access to all its features, and the Creative SoundWorks Radio CD 745 includes versatile connectivity which allows people to connect their MP3 players and enjoy music through the amazing speakers.

iPod owners can add the optional Made for iPod approved dock which adds a remote control for playback and charges the player as users listen.

Available in black and white!

Partner site iPodPalace.com published three exclusive videos showing the new iPods best features:

- iPod nano: photos web browsing and much more!,

- iPod Classic Cover Flow music browsing,

- iPod nano playing games.

Apple announces new products, takes the world by surprise and revamps its entire iPod lineup:

- iPod touch, besides the iPhone, one of the most awaited products ever,

- iPod nano, new and greatly improved,

- iPod Classic, hard disk-based - 80GB and 160GB.

The iPod touch is more like an iPhone than a simple iPod:

• 3,5″ wide screen with touch-user-interface
• WiFi connectivity,
• Safari & Widget,
• 8GB and 16 GB capacity,
• wireless connection to iTunes music
• much more…

The iPod nano gets a wider and brighter screen and video support, in 4 GB and 8 GB flavour.

The iPod Classic, the hard disk-based model is still there, for those who can’t stand lacking space for their playlists: 80 GB and a whopping new 160 GB version.

Apple iLife ‘08 and iWork ‘08 available!

Following the recent August announcements from Apple, iLife ‘08 and iWork ‘08 are now avalaible.

The new iLife ‘08 features the same component softwares as before, same name but some are really brand new.

Concerning iWork ‘08, the package includes:

No Mac user should miss these packages.
No Mac business user should miss taking a closer look to iWork ‘08: a great way to get for US$ 75 a complete Business Software Suite.

Better late than never (see Sourcecrowd’s previous report here) Apple Apple’s new OS X iteration is coming: a definite sign that the Leopard will not suffer further delays is that it is now available for pre-order from a few outlets. So if you want to be one of the first to get your hands on the latest and greatest features when the 10.5 version of the operating system ships in October, click on the Apple links in this post to reserve your copy.

To see some of the nifty new feautures of Leopard and for more information, go to Apple’s website. Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5 Leopard has a retail price of $129.

iPhone has just been announced but the hunt for accessories of the highly desirable iPod/phone/internet device hybrid has already begun!

SourceCrowd.com is always striving to bring you the latest and greatest, so here are but a few add-on you should consider worthwhile if you already (lucky one!) own an iPhone!

First of all, an accessory which should really be considered an essential: what’s better for such a cool and sleek device than a Wireless Bluetooth Headset for the Apple iPhone?

Of course, no data is still available about how much power-hungry the iPhone is in day to day use, but you’ll never run out of battery with stuff like the Powered Windshield Car / Auto Mount PDA Phone Holder for the Apple iPhone - Gomadic Brand, doubling as a charger and holder for your car (and proudly showing it!).

When not traveling in your car, whether running or commuting on the underground, such a glossy device deserves some protection and care: get yourself (and your iPhone) a iPhone Silicone Case w/ Screen Protector & Belt Clip - 5 Color Options! Another sleek and colorful option could be the iPhone silicone case i phone cover

The accessory market surrounding Apple’s best selling music player is vast and ever expanding: today Sourcecrowd takes a look at two of the latest gadgets promising to further the enjoyment of your mp3 player and help you take it to new places!

Altec Lansing inMotion iMV712 is a portable mini-theater and speaker system for iPods. It has a built-in 8.5-inch wide-screen LCD, surrounded by a pair of 3-inch speakers and a 4-inch subwoofer. Clean black lines make up for a stylish design, with the iPod dock sitting on top of the display, and a supplied credit card-sized remote to easily control all the functions. Measuring 18.5 inches long, 8.2 inches wide, and 7.7 inches high, the unit weighs just 8.4-pound, offering a video input and S-Video output, as well as an auxiliary jack for non-iPod portable audio devices.

The iHome iH20W Hidro-Fi is a Water-Resistant Shower Speaker System for the iPod, nano, and shuffle. Designed to be hung from a shower hook or rod, this clever gadget lets you enclose your player in its waterproof casing, connect it via iPod Dock or auxiliary input port (for the shuffle or other mp3 players) and listen to your music from two integrated speakers. Easily accessible controls on the front give the user access to track and volume control, while an AC adapter is provided for use away from water and to double as an iPod charger.

Apple has announced an update to its MacBook Pro line of notebooks with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, memory up to 4GB thanks to the new “Santa Rosa” chipset architecture, and high-speed graphics with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. The 15-inch model sports a new mercury-free, power-efficient LED-backlit display, while the 17-inch model has an optional high-resolution 1920-by-1200 display. Rounding up the high end specs, all models include a built-in iSight video camera, MagSafe Power Adapter, and built-in 802.11n wireless networking.

Every MacBook Pro includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB of shared L2 cache, an 800 MHz frontside bus and 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory, with 2.2 GHz and 2.4 GHz processor options for the 15-inch models, and a 2.4 GHz processor powering the 17-inch.

For full specs and availability visit the Apple website. Basic configurations and pricing are as follows:

$1999. 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 120GB HD, 15″ LED. GeForce 8600M GT 128MB
$2499. 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, 15″ LED. GeForce 8600M GT 256MB
$2799. 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, 17″. GeForce 8600M GT 256MB

Apple has announced the release date of its upcoming iPhone mobile device in the US in a series of ads which began airing on Sunday. The three ads have also been posted on Apple’s own website. The iPhone was first unveiled in January by company CEO Steve Jobs, and has since been one of the most talked about, and sought after, gadgets of the year. Drawing both critiques and accolades even before it has been released to the public, the only thing that everybody seems to be agreeing on is that they would like one!

Featuring a 3.5-inch multi-touch display, the device is a widescreen iPod, a quad-band GSM phone with a 2-megapixel camera, and an internet browsing powerhouse thanks to the full-size Safari browser and underlying OS X operating system. Further communication possibilities are opened by the phone’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and EDGE data transfer capabilities. Two models will be available on the launch date of June 29: a 4GB one priced at $499 and a 8GB version priced at $599. According to the ads sales are subject to 2 years plan subscriptions with AT&T.

Square Group Ltd in association with Adobe, Apple and a slew of other partners organized an Adobe Creative Suite CS3 seminar at BFI Southbank in London last Tuesday, May 15, 2007. The seminar featured presentations from both Adobe and Apple about the new features of the many applications that make up Adobe’s new crown jewel, CS3, alongside demonstrations of related products from the likes of Eizo, Wacom, Extensis, HP and G-Tech. SourceCrowd was in attendance and can bring you an exclusive report from the event.
Before the seminar, attendees were able to peruse stands with a few interesting products on show. Eizo wowed the crowd with its stunning professional quality displays like the ColorEdge CE240W sporting hardware colour calibration, 14-bit color processing and easy profiling. Extensis was showcasing two of its software products for asset management: Suitcase Fusion, a font manager to organize, categorize and activate/deactivate fonts on the fly, and Portfolio, a complete multimedia files management tool. HP was showcasing the HP B9180 Photosmart Pro Printer, an eight-tanks pigment ink powerhouse which demonstrated stunning results on some of HP’s custom papers (especially impressive were the results on canvas-textured paper). Wacom had both the A4 Intuos3 graphic tablet and the Cintiq 21UX display available for hands-on demonstrations, making precise editing of pictures a breeze. Last but not least, G-Tech had the whole range of its external high speed hard drives solution on display. The elegant silver enclosures sport the latest in eSata and Firewire connections on the G-Raid2, G-Drive 250GB External FW400/USB2, G-Mini and G-Safe, with high-end fibre-channel RAID solutions also available in the G-Speed models.

Then it was finally time to immerse into the presentation!

The first speaker was Richard West, Apple Business Development Manager for the UK and Ireland. He started by stressing how important it is, in a multimedia communicational landscape, to put to good use the plethora of different ways that businesses have to reach clients, by customizing communications to target and focus on different markets. Adobe Creative Suite CS3, he argued, is the tool of choice to do so, allowing the use of a single creative process for multiple disciplines through its multiplicity of applications. Since output is so important to the designers and developers who use CS3, he then went on to demonstrate how colour calibration devices (in this case, the Pantone Huey Pro MEU113) can work in tandem with OS X ColorSync Utility (found in the Applications>Utilities folder) to prevent disparity between screen output versus print/web output. In particular he showed how it is possible to compare colour spaces graphically, and onscreen proofing of different colour spaces just by dragging and dropping images on the application. Microsoft’s Windows has “borrowed” the same functionality for its latest OS, implemented in Vista under the name Windows Colour System (located in the Control Panel).

Stay tuned for the second part of our report - coming soon!

Apple has today cut the UK prices for the iPod Shuffle mp3 players by 10%, lowering the entry-level diminutive gadget’s price point from GBP55 to GBP49. This move follows a similar trend set in April, when Apple had reduced the prices of its high-end video iPod range (SourceCrowd announcement here).

The iPod Shuffle is available in 5 colours with 1GB capacity and up to 12 hours of playback time, measuring only 1.62 × 1.07 × 0.41 inches.

Apple has updated its consumer line of MacBook laptops adding faster processors (Intel’s Core 2 Duo), bumping up the RAM to 1GB and offering larger hard drives. The popular 13.3″ laptops still come in the familiar three configurations, with two white models and a high end black one, built-in iSight, 802.11n wireless networking and OS X Tiger and iLife suite preloaded. The lineup with the new processors is as follows:

• 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 13.3″ White MacBook, 80GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, Intel Graphics 950, RRP $1099
• 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 13.3″ White MacBook, 120GB hard drive, 1GB RAM. Intel Graphics 950, RRP$1299
• 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 13.3″ Black MacBook, 160GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, Intel Graphics 950, RRP $1499

The new MacBooks are available for purchase now from the Apple Store
and other selected retailers.

Best price for Apple MacBook MA700LL/A 13.3″ Notebook PC (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) - White

TIPA (Technical Image Press Association), a consortium of Europe’s leading photography magazines, has today announced its annual awards, dubbed as the European ‘Oscars’ of the Photo Imaging Industry. The prestigious recognitions are given to products excelling in a number of categories, from consumer point&shoot cameras to DSLRs, plus related software, printers and accessories.

Nikon has once again picked up the Best Entry Level DSLR award, with the Nikon D40x 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera following last year’s winner D50. SourceCrowd had reported about the introduction of the new Nikon here.

A great recognition in the Best Photo Software category goes to Apple Aperture 1.5, especially since a lot of criticism had been leveled at the 1.0 version of the pro application. Aperture is a complete workflow and image management app with Apple’s trademark cool design and ease of use, and has now reached full maturity with the update to 1.5. It follows in the path of past winners like Adobe’s Photoshop.

The George Foreman iGrill (!) is the ultimate barbeque cooking machine for the iPod generation… or something like that. We don’t know what the launch campaign slogans will sound like, but we have just heard about this “gem” and couldn’t pass up the occasion to relay it to our readers. The iGrill is an indoor/outdoor electric barbeque grill with an impressive 200 sq. inches of nonstick coated cooking surface, adjustable temperature control probe and… is iPod ready with an integrated 10 watts speaker. So invite your friends around… no barbeque party will ever be the same again!

The The George Foreman iGrill is available now for a street price of $149.99.

This week’s National Association of Broadcasters conference (NAB) in Las Vegas has seen Apple unveil Apple Final Cut Studio 2, an upgrade to its pro video editing and production suite. During last Sunday’s presentation, Apple showcased the programs that make up the high-end HDV powerhouse editing tool suite: Final Cut Pro 6 for cutting together video sources, Motion 3 to add animated 2D and 3D titles, Soundtrack Pro 2 to manipulate the score, Compressor 3 to handle different output formats (from HD movie to iPod), DVD Studio Pro 4.2 to output to DVD media, and a new application, Color, that gives editors control over the look and feel of the footage through pro color grading capabilities.

The most interesting features that wowed the public were the Open Timeline, affording maximum flexibility to mix video sources (Final Cut handles “DV and SD up to HDV, XDCAM HD, DVCPRO HD, and fully uncompressed HD”) in one final product, and the introduction of a new post production format, ProRes 422. ProRes promises “uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes” with real time drag and drop editing capabilities for HD video.

To this end, Apple has teamed up with AJA Video Systems to develop IoHD, a new hardware-based audio and video IO box that connects to the Mac using a single FireWire 800 connection, and promises real-time 10-bit HD conversion. The impressive IoHD sports a huge number of ports on the back and monitoring LEDs at the front, in an enclosure design reminiscent of Apple’s Mac Pro line.

Final Cut Studio 2 will cost $1,299 or $499 for an upgrade. Upgrading from any version of Final Cut Pro to the Studio will cost $699. Final Cut Studio 2 will be available next month, while AJA’s IoHD will debut in July for $3,495. Of course these are not consumer-priced products, but they are a breakthrough in high end HD video editing, offering solutions at a fraction of the price of the competition, making Hollywood style editing affordable for smaller studios and independent filmmakers.