Many organizations use a mix of PCs, servers and operating systems. Deploying software and data to them takes up time and manpower.

At a college or university, for instance, the start of a new academic year means that the IT department has to set up thousands of PCs and user accounts so that new students can log in to the university’s portal for information or e-learning.

Acronis Snap Deploy 4 helps IT departments to deploy computers automatically. The software makes a master copy of data, operating systems, applications and files that users need. The master copy can then be copied into computers all at once, instead of file by file.

The software can be licensed on a per-machine or per-deployment batch basis. Per-deployment licenses include the Acronis Universal Deploy add-on.

Suggested license prices are US$25for a workstation; US$121 for a computer server.

Network security provider Fortinet has launched a software solution for companies whose employees need to access corporate networks from their mobile devices.

The FortiClient EndPoint Security Suite software prevents unauthorised devices from accessing the corporate network remotely. Working with FortiGate security appliances, it encrypts data via a virtual private network or Internet access and uses two-factor authentication to verify the identity of users.

Each appliance allows the user 10 free FortiClient concurrent connections. For more than 10 connections, they will have to pay charges ranging from less than US$100 (S$120) to more than US$10,000.

Apple is back with an update to its popular video editing software, Final Cut Pro X

Chief among them is the Magnetic Timeline, a trackless approach to editing your footage that lets you add and arrange clips wherever you want them, while other clips instantly slide out of the way.

The new Auditions feature allows you to swop between a collection of clips in order to compare alternative takes.

Content Auto-Analysis scans your media when it is imported and tags your content with information to organise your clips into Smart Collections. You can search for clips by close-up, medium and wide shots as well as media type and number of people in the shot.

Two companion apps, Motion 5 for professional motion graphics and Compressor 4 for advance media encoding, are available from the App Store for US$49.99 each.

Get it there: Final Cut Pro X

This Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 software is billed as a PC maintenance and optimisation tool. Think of it as taking your PC for a tune-up. BoostSpeed covers such common tasks as hard disk defragmentation, removal of junk files and registry repair.

It also tweaks your Internet connection for speed. Online gamers will appreciate the reduced lag and faster frame rates.

Security features include file shredding and disk wiping so that you are able not only to delete sensitive files and folders but also to remove any remaining traces.

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Machinarium is a point-and-click adventure game brimming with gorgeous illustrations and mind-boggling puzzles. If you get this game, be prepared to be hooked for hours exploring its intriguing world that resembles Wall-E, the 2008 movie that depicts the story of a robot built to clean up a planet filled with waste from human civilization.

In the world of Machinarium, players take on the role of a robot named Josef who has to assemble himself and traverse slums to free his girlfriend from her captors.

Along the way, he needs to pick up objects ranging from toilet paper to scissors as well as combine objects before moving on to the next stage.

More: machinarium

Delicious Library 2 is a handy app for cataloging items including books, music CDs, toys and clothes. It also makes it convenient to do so – simply scan a product barcode using the Mac’s iSight camera and Delicious Library 2 will create a catalog entry based on product information from Web sources such as Amazon.com. Besides physical items, the app also catalogues digital items you have in your iTunes library.

Once you have catalogued all your stuff, you can print your library using a variety of built-in templates, including a compact pocket-sized format.

More: Delicious Library 2

This highly rated image Pixelmator editor has all the tools you need to touch-up photos or create Web graphics. The user interface is similar to what you see in Adobe Photoshop. There are shortcut keys and a set of tools comprising mask editing, lasso selection, brush controls and more.

Pixelmator is a layers-based image editing suite, that is, it lets you stack layers on top of one another to create an image. Layers can be created from existing photos or with the Mac’s iSight camera. You can blend layers, change their opacity or add layer masks to hide portions of a layer. The app also touts a large collection of filters that you can use to create special effects.

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This Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 of the popular design and development software suite has new features targeted at creating content for audiences on mobile platforms.

These include the new Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 and the Flex 4.5 framework, which are designed to let developers easily develop and deploy mobile applications for platforms such as Android, BlackBerry Playbook and the iOS.

The digital publishing software InDesign CS5.5 also comes with new toolsets for creating more interactive content aimed at tablet users. Among the new features they can now add to documents are panoramic views, 360-degree object rotation and the integration of HTML 5 content.

More: Adobe Creative Suite 5.5

Popular photo sharing software Flipshare has been updated. This software lets you post videos at its website. There, you can also read and write comments on other videos.

The software comes with Cisco’s Flip family of video cameras. If you do not own a Flip device, you can download the free Flipshare mobile app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. There is also a version for the Android platform.

The app lets you post photos and videos at social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, or send them directly to friends and family.

FlipShare TV

Adobe Acrobat X Pro

This latest software release from Adobe allows users to create PDF portfolios and interactive forms.

Users can add audio and video as well as interactive media to their PDF creations.

The interactive forms support the export of collected data to spreadsheets.

Software tools let users permanently delete sensitive information, including specific text or illustrations.

Get your software here: Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Standard [Mac]