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Continuing in the Art-Techo style of fusing technology and art, Pressure Drop today announces zStand, the first sleek, stylish monitor stand that ingeniously includes a USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 combination hub hidden in the back. The zStand is designed to perfectly accommodate a Mac mini, providing a place to store the computer safely inside the stand while organizing a user’s desktop.

The zStand is constructed of solid steel for strength and powder-coated white and silver to perfectly match the Mac mini. Delivering beauty through its stylish \”Z\” shape but brawn through its dual, hardened-steel support walls, zStand gracefully elevates monitors weighing up to 50 lbs. to a more ergonomically correct height, easing common neck and shoulder fatigue associated with improper monitor positioning.

As with other Pressure Drop products, the zStand is not only an artistic addition to a user’s space but a demonstration of technology blending with art. Hidden from view is a combination hub employing the lightning-fast Cypress TetraHub to provide four additional USB 2.0 ports, and the industry-standard TI controller chip to provide four additional Firewire 400 ports. zStand offers more expansion ports for the Mac mini than any other hub on the market today. (excluding other Pressure Drop products

zStand is available now from Pressure Drop’s online store at pressuredropinc.com for $99.99 and ships with a choice of 12 inch or 6 foot USB and FireWire cables for connection to either a Mac mini or a standard desktop computer.

The miniStack has been a hit with reviewers and customers since its introduction in July. It¹s an even better value with new, lower pricing effective immediately.

The new pricing is:

0GB (enclosure only) ­ $89.95
80GB w/2MB buffer ­ $139.99
160GB w/8MB buffer ­ $179.99
250GB w/8MB buffer ­ $219.99
320GB w/8MB buffer ­ $259.99
400GB w/8MB buffer ­ $359.99
500GB w/8MB buffer ­ $479.99

All miniStack models feature high-performance 7200RPM hard disk mechanisms and data buffers of 2- or 8MB. The line utilizes the latest Oxford911+ chipset in a custom FireWire/USB2 bridge for unrivaled performance and reliability. The miniStack provides significantly better hard drive performance versus the stock Mac mini hard drive while at the same time providing additional USB2 and FireWire ports via its integrated USB2 and FireWire Hubs.

More information and the full line can be viewed at www.newertech.com/ministack . NewerTech also offers a full line of accessories and professional installation services.

This release adds a significant collection of new built in \’styles\’ (for objects like speech balloons and lettering), templates, as well as a selection of 6 new built-in fonts. Fixes and improvements encompass image handling, text handling, graphics export and iPhoto library integration. Smarter file saving now decreases file storage requirements. Teamed with a bunch of bug fixes and little improvements, it makes this version snappier and even more fun to use.
Comic Life is a highly-acclaimed, fun, easy and powerful application that expands what you can do with your digital photos. With Page and Panel layouts, streamlined image selection, cropping and placement of authentic speech balloons, captions and special effects lettering - each with saveable styles.

Comic Life offers full Integration with .Mac (including RSS feeds), iPhoto image library and exports to TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PNG, HTML, iPhoto and Quicktime. Taking advantage of Tiger\’s CoreImage, it contains image effects that transform your photos into Comic Life images and more. Capture images directly from your iSight or DV Camera within Comic Life - drag and drop elegance.

Comic Life costs $24.95 USD (single user), $19.95 (for education
users) and $39.95 (household - multi user and computer). Volume Licensing options are available. The 1.2 update is free for all existing registered Comic Life users.

The product is available for download and purchase directly from plasq at http://plasq.com with a 30-day unhindered demo.