Photoshop Express – It’s about time
27
Mar2
Mar2
After graduating from college and losing my cheap student software licensing privileges Photoshop fell out of favor with me. I tried GIMP for a while (GNU Image Manipulation Program) which is essentially a Photoshop clone, but the controls are slightly awkward. I also have found for the most part both Photoshop CS2 and GIMP 2.4 to be very feature rich and far to complicated for basic photo editing and processing.
Photoshop finally announced their online Photo Editing suite called Photoshop Express. The answer to the layman’s photo editing needs. While the online factor is cool – I think the most important thing is you can get your photos back when you are done with them. Photoshop Express could have just as easily been a desktop install, but that is not the way of the software world these days.
Photoshop Express is still in Beta, but it is available to everybody and you should definitely try it out and see if it is right for you.
First thing I noticed was the 2GBs of free storage, not bad – but with 7 megapixel cameras being the norm this will fill up fast if you use the service regularly.
However, the 2GBs free is probably just a way to bait you into purchasing a larger ‘digital locker’ to keep all your photos in. A not half bad idea considering then your photos are safe (or safer anyway) from a hardware catastrophe at a reputable location.
Another interesting features – it allows you to login into other Web 2.0 worlds where you may have pictures stored and edit them directly. Currently you can edit pictures from Facebook, Picasa and Photobucket – so you can essentially grow your storage capacity by using external sites that integrate with Photoshop Express.
All the photo editing options are extremely easy to understand and show you 7 ranges for each effect and allow you preview each interval within that range in real time. Good enough! Some of the coolest editing features are the ‘Pop Color’, which allows you to create a grayscale image except for one color you isolate and the ‘Exposure’ which lets you quickly fine tune the exposure of your photograph.
There are also some standard Social Networking elements that all web 2.0 sites require. In this case you can share and browse Galleries. Essentially albums you have uploaded and selected as public. Hopefully – if you don’t select them to be public they are in fact private. (Facebook I’m looking in your general direction….).
The biggest advantage I see is all the processing is on their end, as long as you have a high-speed Internet connection, the age of your computer shouldn’t really affect performance, unlike installing the full blown Photoshop.
For now, I think it is a pretty good tool and so far it is free. I will continue to use it until I forget about it, which always seems to happen.
So I says to him, I says "Get your own monkey!"
25
Mar0
Mar0
The last week was comprised of four days in Las Vegas at the massively overly excessive Venetian hotel for a work conference. 
My time there consisted of working long days and losing track of whether it was day or night.
After losing all of my $40 dollars – being a high-roller, naturally I was sad to have lost soooooo much money and was ready to leave.
It might have also been excitement to head out to San Francisco to meet up with Jo and visit with E&K and crew. We headed to Lake Tahoe for a leisurely and/or grueling vacation depending how you look at it. Two days in the warm spring snow at Northstar, couldn’t have asked for better conditions for a relaxed snowboarding trip.
In fast forward, it would read something like this:
Snowboarding, Eating, Hot Tub Beers, Jenga, determining the trustworthiness of historic icons, a little sleeping, and Eating some more. Repeat.
If you aren’t much of the wordy type, here is a hyperactive visual tour of the outdoor portion of the trip:
All in all it was a blast and sealed the deal on the decision to make it to Shasta for the houseboat extravaganza which has only existed to us on film and through folk lore. I am already preparing for the undoubted trip to Little Star Pizza for the corn meal crust deep dish we missed out on this time around….
Chalk
17
Mar2
Mar2
![Poster[1]](http://10gallonhat.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/poster1.jpg)
I have had some time to watch a lot of movies lately. Mostly whatever has been on streaming in from Netflix. Everything has been great, but Chalk was especially good. Basically a mocumentary style movie, shot in the style of “The Office” but in a high school setting. The various teacher personalities/stereotypes are absolutely hilarious and for the most part spot-on.
I highly recommend this movie if you like The Office, or any mocumenatry films like Waiting for Guffman or Best in Show.
Check it out. It is fairly short and if you have Netflix you can use the “Watch Instantly” feature to stream it to your computer.
Blu-Ray or HD DVD – doesn’t matter…
15
Mar1
Mar1
With the official end to the format war and Blu-Ray looking like the winner I started thinking about why it doesn’t matter.
The interweb is full of proclamations claiming Sony’s Blu-Ray format is the future of our mind-numbing in home entertainment.
I just don’t see it. See my review of some of the popular download services.
The number of people with High Definition TVs is still not that high and the number of people with Blu-Ray DVD players is even closer to rock bottom. (I know my parents make at least 1 consumer in the world).Not to say it isn’t an enjoyable setup to have, but the fact remains most people just down have the moolah or the interest in this kind of equipment.
While the format war is over, and Blu-Ray marches on, I think by the time the average household catches up Broadband access and bandwidth will have reached acceptable numbers to provide every household with High Definition movies without a player at all, but instead in a file format that can be played from cheap Media Centers, TIVO and Extenders (or Apple TV if you fell for that.)
Xbox live, and others, already provide downloads of HD content to be watched on users TVs. I think the number of these users will grow a lot faster then people looking to use a more physical format like Blu-Ray or the now obsolete HD DVD.
The format war will have moved on to file formats and hopefully we can all agree on an open portable format and by that time the Movie industry will have let go of its grip on obsolete licensing strategies.
Let’s have some crab legs while we wait for this whole thing to sort itself out!
Amazon Unbox – Ruler of the Digital Media Empire
14
Mar4
Mar4
I have found myself frequenting the “Browse Instant” feature on Netflix and purchasing a lot of movie downloads the Amazon Unbox. (sidenote: if you don’t use Amazon mp3, to get DRM free music downloads, you should.)
Both services have a large and constantly growing catalog of titles that include both Movies and TV shows. Both work about the same, but vary in rules and restrictions.
To use Amazon Unbox – you first have to install the “Amazon Unbox Video” player. This application managers your downloads and allows you to view your purchases full screen on you computer.
In addition, you can setup up multiple download ’sites’ and link them to your Amazon account. This lets you download a movie to your computer at home, while sitting at your desk at work. Pretty cool.
Unbox definitely wins the crown for movie/Tv show choices. 
It has a lot more New Releases being added on a regular basis, but they aren’t free or free with a membership like Netflix’s Browse Instant. Even though they aren’t free, you can rent movies from Unbox for rates competitive with video stores or choose to purchase them outright for a cost usually much lower than a DVD.
The biggest quirk with Unbox is the restriction that once you start watching a rental it has to be watched within 24 hours. Why? What if I get interrupted? You can keep them for 30 days as long as you don’t start watching them, but after you start the movie, say good bye to it. This is a strange restriction that I expect will change since it is just confusing and complicated.
By far the biggest advantage that Unbox has over any other service, including Netflix is the intergration with Windows Media Center and Windows Media Center Extenders. If I download a Movie to my PC from Unbox, I can watch my movies through my Xbox 360 Media Center, which is where I watch TV and DVDs, so it makes sense. I am not restricted to just the proprietary player provided by Amazon. While I don’t own a TIVO – Unbox is available as an add on that works with your set top TIVO as well.
Lastly, you can choose to download a Handheld (iPod or Zune) friendly format in addition to the original download so you can take your Unbox purchases with you on the go!
Even though Unbox is very heavy in features and friendliness, I do like Netflix “Browse Instant” for a few reason too. Netflix “Browse Instant” integrates with your Netflix Queue so you can quickly see what is available in your queue to watch instantly and Netflix also makes suggestions for you based on your ratings. The Netflix Instant catalog seems a lot slimmer and slower growing then Unbox, but still has a lot of decent movies to watch.
The “Browse Instant” feature is based on an hourly quota per month, depending on your membership plan – but is good for at least a few movies a month and is available at no extra cost if you have a membership.
Besides the slight complication in how many movies you can watch per month, the only real drawback is portability. You have to use the Netflix player right now. You don’t have the option to use your TIVO or Windows Media Center, which is where most people would like to watch them.
On a positive note, I received a survey from Netflix about this very topic which makes me hopeful that someday in the near-distant future I will be able to browse my Netflix Queue from Windows Media Center and just click “Watch Now”. No more mailers no more browsers, just my movies where I want them when I want them.
Until then – I will continue using both services, but as of today I would vote for Unbox every time to be the best more online rentals.
The dirty tricks of food photographers ||| Photocritic blog
9
Mar0
Mar0
Photocritic.org has a fantastic overview of just how c0mplicated and bizarre the world of Food Photography really is. From the obvious use of a blow torch for caramelizing and creating a seared effect to the more bizarre Motor oil used in place of syrup or this technical definition of the use of cardboard.
Sturdy cardboard squares, used to make little raw (except for the blow-torched edges) ground beef-patty-platforms (with the help of the toothpicks) to keep the fatty patties from mooshing the frilly lettuce.
For the full story check out:
The dirty tricks of food photographers ||| Photocritic blog
In the meantime be sure to keep the motor oil out of the fridge, just in case.
Fresh New Look
9
Mar0
Mar0
To beat the Minnesota Extend-o Winter Funk that is this March… I decided to do a little spring cleaning on the ol’ blog. I have simplified the layout hoping it makes things for you, the reader, a little more enjoyable. If not, I guess that is your problem….
Oh yeah – and most likely I will keep tweaking the layout – since it never seems to be just what I planned.
Sausage Rabbits
8
Mar0
Mar0
Always looking for ways to keep lunch interesting I came across a great blog… The photographs are artistically done and the ideas are great as well. The ideas seem to be mainly aimed at keeping kids interested in lunch – so maybe I’m just a big kid.
The site is called “Lunch in a box : Building a better bento”.
Lunch in a box is full of great ideas and tips for lunching success… but I have to admit what really drove to write this was the Sausage Rabbits.
My own mom was responsible for some of the greatest school lunches.. but I don’t remember ever having sausage in the shape of animals it may be made from… nice!
Photo Series v1
8
Mar0
Mar0
I have been running through some of my photographs from the last couple years and noticed an interesting trend. I have a lot of photos that don’t stand out on their own, but look great incorporated as part of a series of photographs. Not sure how this happened… but I like it.
10 Gallon Gallery
