If somehow you missed the Apple Retina Display MacBook Pro announcement last week, then you'd be surprised by all the Mac software updates that are starting to pop. Basically software needs to be rewritten to take advantage of all those screen pixels. Apple did so with updates to iPhoto, Aperture, Final Cut Pro X, and a few other programs, and in asking around, it seems like every imaging product is deep on testing their updates, too. I'm currently taking bets on just when, if ever, Nikon will update View NX2 and Capture NX2 for the Retina Display. Bueller? Bueller?
Apple didn't stop at just Retina Display updating, though, they did another little trick that should catch everyone's attention: their new versions of iPhoto 9.3 and Aperture 3.3 share libraries. Make a change in iPhoto and it appears in Aperture, and vice versa. This is a bigger deal that most people might think, as so many Mac software programs have a "media" panel that can grab from an iPhoto library (FotoMagico, Final Cut Pro X, Sandvox, and so on). Apple is moving more and more towards a universal database with sophisticated metadata on their platform. If you postulate forward, photos will be a basic building block on OS X and iOS in the future: they'll be handled from a central place and available everywhere, with a change in one place being reflected everywhere, as well. Adobe just sat up at attention. The software developers at the Japanese camera companies? They're probably still asking "why would anyone want a central metadata repository?"
In other Macintosh software updates: Raw Developer 1.9.5 added D3200, D800, D800E, and D4 support (plus a bunch of other new cameras). Angry Chicken Software (I don't make these things up) released One Stop Crop 1.1. Sprite Labs added HDR effects to Paint FX version 3.1. The low-cost Photoshop imitator Pixelmator hits 2.0.5 with some additional graphic card support plus some new linkages to iPhoto and Aperture (now what was it I wrote in a previous paragraph? ;~).
Both both Mac and Windows AKVIS updated ArtWork to version 7.0, adding the Gouache style of painting. PhotoStitcher is YAPP (yet another pano program), but for less than twenty bucks.
I hadn't noticed this before, but one of my favorite noise reduction programs is available for video: Neat Image 3.2 for Final Cut Pro now supports FCP X and uses the video GPU for improved performance.
In the iOS world we have a few things you'll want to pay note of: onOne updated their DSLR Camera Remote to version 1.4.3, which not only fixes some lingering issues but adds D4 and D800 support. GeoSnitch now hooks up with ShutterSnitch, allowing your iOS device to serve as your GPS for your WiFi connected camera. If you haven't looked at ShutterSnitch, you should, it's one of my recommended iPad apps. Photosmith, another of my recommended apps, has updated to version 2.0.1 and fixes a few issues that some of us had with syncing with Lightroom. OptimumCS-Pro2 (don't they know they should have named it iImageSharp?) is a comprehensive program for depth of field and sharpness, and it can help with tilt lens users, too. But tilt lens users really need to pay attention to Tilt Calculator. This handy little US$4 calculator is the best one I've seen yet.