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.
Amazon Unbox – Not Super Fantastic.. just barely fantastic.
26
Mar3
Mar3
Last week I wrote up a blathering chronicle of how Amazon Unbox was the digital media king and had made Blu-Ray and DVDs obsolete with its DRM free (sort of) downloads of all the latest movies and TV. While parts of my story were true, but I have to digress a little- I take back a big part of what I said. The downloads are not portable! Not in the least bit, which is extremely deceiving considering they play in Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center and look like good old fashion Windows Media Files. Not even with the Zune, it is partly Microsoft’s fault for creating a walled garden for the Zune.
And definitely Amazon’s fault for creating another proprietary format wrapped in some ugly DRM(!!!) to keep them from being portable, unless of course you have one of the 8 obscure MP3 players that actually will support them. Basically these players have a mini version of Amazon’s player – which is the opposite of portable and not user-friendly. Aaaargghh. While Amazon does specify the players it supports (in fine print) I think they should have definitely made this more clear in the Amazon player, when you are prompted to download a portable version of your recently purchased movies or TV shows.
Plus, 12 of the 20 players supported are old and not even for sale anymore, not even on Amazon. So, unless you own the Archos 404 from 2006, you are pretty much out of luck.
Stupid Amazon, and Stupid Movies. Figure it out already and make it easy for us.
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.
Zune-ariffic
6
Mar0
Mar0
Finally broke down and upgrade my tank of an MP3 player which my current iRiver player is bigger then most people’s microwave. Plus, Tally had the charger for dinner one night and the battery barely lasted for the daily commute on the bus.
Anyway – I download the software for Windows and importing all my music… turns out you get a music card – whatever it’s for (maybe I’m just too old to know or care (sadly)). It is cool though – shows what I have been listening too and I added some of my old photography to the background.
My Zune is decked out with 80’s style boom-boxes and Super Trooper references – now I just have to wait for it to arrive…..
Tapes ‘n Tapes Preview of "Walk It Off"
6
Mar0
Mar0
By 1pm Central time – it will be all over… I have been enjoying the gracious free Preview of the new Tapes ‘n Tapes album – Walk it Off. Which is due out in the US on April 8th.
I really like the artwork for it too. Looks and sounds like it is going to be a huge winner! Can’t wait for the full release.
Update: Every song is great – but I must say the drumming on Conquest stopped me in my tracks and prompted me to write that I love the drum work on this song. Woot!
Update, Update: Simply, wow. I am overly excited for this to be released and can’t wait to stroll down the streets to the beat of this album. Every song has prompted me to want to write an update about my excitement… but I will resist.
If you have a chance in the next 3 hours – go to: http://www.tapesntapes.com/preview and enter your email address to get access to the free preview while it lasts! Otherwise you will have to wait like the rest of ‘em.
XKCD
5
Mar0
Mar0
I was just turned on to the fairly humorous "nerd" cartoons at http://xkcd.com – dubbed "A web comic of romance,sarcasm, math, and language." A quick few clicks through the comics was good for a few laughs. Give a few clicks through when you are bored – or wondering what nerds think are funny.
Or –
Windows Live Writer…
3
Mar0
Mar0
I am testing out Windows Live Writer the newest of the Blog Publishing editor.
So far so good – it even grabs a snapshot view of my blog and stores it offline so I can preview the post in real-time.
It has some cool functionality built in – I can insert a map – with one click.
Tags, tables and a whole lot more. This looks like a promising tool.
So – maybe someday – I will actually have something interesting to write about… seems to be a common problem.
The pluggable architecture looks like it already has quite a few handy plugins for managing images, pasting Code snippets, etc… that can be added when you need them.
My overall feeling is it is much more robust then ScribeFire and whole lot more user friendly.
Interesting….
10 Gallon Changes
6
Dec0
Dec0
I have been working on updating my blog and the best change so far is the new and improved gallery. Now – maybe I will actually manage to upload some pictures…
Don’t be afraid: Unlocking Apple’s superphone is legal, ethical, and just plain fun
5
Oct0
Oct0
Interesting article on the controversial topic of unlocking your iPhone (if for some reason you felt compelled to buy one).
Apple wants you to believe you can’t legally go somewhere other than AT&T. – the government knows you can. Just like GM automobiles can’t require you to buy your gas from Exxon. Think about it – or at least read the article.
http://www.slate.com/id/2175304/pagenum/1/
It feels a little like Apple isn’t getting their way – so they are being playground bullies about it.
Don’t forget the firmware updates that (most likely intentional) broke an estimated 150,000 iPhones. Not people doing illegal things (most of them), just customers of Apple who shelled out 400 – 700 dollars for the stupid thing in the first place. That is first-rate customer service!!
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