1758
Google fans are the new Mac Elite, The Users Who "Get It"
Picnik Powerful Online Graphics Editing Application
Chromium Gets Graphics Overhaul
R.I.P. ATI - AMD To Dump ATI Brand
Analyst expects Apple to move further away from NVIDIA
myPhotoEdit 2.0 Image Editor Major Update Released
MyPopBarrier 2.8.1 Email
DockView 1.03 for Mac - Window Previews in the Dock
Before Dawn Solutions announces Mac Mini Hosting and Colocation
Expand Computer Screen Real Estate With Cirago HydraDisplay Three-Port Display Adapters



Google fans are the new Mac Elite, The Users Who "Get It"

ZNet blogger Sam Diaz says:

Google users are taking a cue from the Mac elite by adopting new technologies and proving that they get it when it comes to being open-minded about the power of something new.

There s a certain amount of arrogance that emits from Mac owners, those of us whose smug attitudes toward Windows users seems to just scream I think I m better than you. But I can honestly say that, as one of those obnoxious Mac guys, I don t think that we re better than Windows users. We just tend to get it a bit more.

OK, that sounds arrogant, too - but I m not trying be that way about it. I ve talked to many folks who ve switched from Windows to the Mac and they all seem to say the same things - that the computing experience is superior and that they finally have come to the realization that many of us have known all along.

I don t write this to spark some sort of Apple-Microsoft debate. Instead, I bring this up as a way of illustrating how the tide seems to be shifting - evolving to the next stage of the debate between those who get it and those who don t. Apple fans still get it - and increasingly Google fans are right there with them.

Specifically, I m talking about e-mail.

To read more, click here.

http://zd.net/awrrnY






Picnik Powerful Online Graphics Editing Application

Picnik is an online photo editor that gives users fast, easy access to powerful editing tools from any computer platform using any Internet browser bringing photo-editing superpowers to real people.

The Picnik folks say their mission is simple - help everyday people break the shackles of retail photo-editing software and enjoy the freedom, ease of use, and simplicity that is Picnik.com.

Picnik endeavours to combine the power of desktop software with the ease and convenience of the Web. With Picnik, anyone can quickly and easily edit, enhance, share and print photos from any Internet browser (IE, Firefox, Safari, Mozilla, etc.) on any computer platform (PC, Mac, Linux). Picnik delivers the one- click auto fixes, basic editing tools and special effects beginners love, as well as sophisticated photo tools more serious photographers can't live without. Picnik also integrates seamlessly with popular photo-sharing sites like Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket and anywhere else a user s photos are stored.

Picnik Particulars

• Headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

• 17 employees.

• Company founded in 2006; launched beta in February 2007.

• Privately funded by company founders.

• Picnik is free, with premium options for monthly ($4.95), 6-month ($19.95) and annual ($24.95) subscriptions.

• Picnik claims to be the leading online photo editor, with just under 40 million visits a month and counting. • Picnikers spend approximately 17 minutes on the site editing and customizing their photos on each visit.

• Picnik supports image sizes up to 4000 x 4000 or an variation that

• Picnik is fully integrated with a wide variety of Web sites including Flickr, Facebook, SmugMug, Photobucket, MySpace, Webshots, Box.net, Picasa Web Albums and Lexmark.

• Picnik plug-ins are available for Firefox, Internet Explorer, WordPress, Movable Type and Yahoo!

Premium also includes:

• Exclusive content including an extensive collection of professional typefaces from FontShop, which ordinarily would retail individually.

• All the latest and greatest Effects, with more being added all the time.

• Curves lets you fine-tune any color balance in your image, with dozens of popular custom presets. Drag a point on the curve and adjust as needed.

• Levels adjusts brightness, contrast and tonal range in your photos.

• Perfect Memory remembers every edit you ve ever made for unlimited undo and redo wherever your photo is stored, for instance Flickr and Picasa.

• Multi-File Upload lets you upload up to 100 photos to Picnik at once.

• Clone allows you to duplicate a portion of your picture and repeat it elsewhere in your photo

• Collage gives you the power to use up to 64 pictures in whatever stunning combination you come up with.

• Layering gives you the powers of free-form collage with unlimited layers of photos.

Effects:

With inside matting and a shadow- casting frame, all is endlessly customizable.

• Polaroid adds all of the kitsch of an instant camera, without all the shaking and blowing.

• A picture might be worth a thousand words but now it can also be valued at 42 with the new Postage Stamp frame - perfect for scrapbooking

• Reflection gives your photos that showroom gleam. Choose a background color to coordinate with your photo. Camera Effects

• Infrared Film mimics the look of black & white infrared film - and works especially well on outdoor photos with lots of vegetation.

• Lomo-ish imitates the popular look of the famous Lomo toy camera.

• Holga-ish gives you plastic cam quality (with black and white film and a red filter!) without the plastic cam!

• HDR-ish emulates the uber-popular HDR look (for High Dynamic Range photography) which allows for a far greater dynamic range of exposures over normal digital photos (in other words, it's really cool).

• Night Vision shows you what your vacation photos would look like if taken by a Navy Seal.

• Cinemascope gives your photos a little classic movie magic - bright, grainy, and extra widescreen. Extended musical numbers not included.

• Ortonish, named for Michael Orton, gives a pretty, nicely-saturated glowy look to your pictures without all the multi-step two-stops overlay multi-focused technical stuff.

• 1960s gives you the Space Race, the Johnson administration and the feeling of digging through your parents old photo albums. Color Effects

• Tint bathes your photos in your choice of thousands of rich colors to set a perfect mood.

• Invert instantly inverts your photos colors and values.

• Duo-Tone allows you to choose any two colors you like and instantly map those colors to your photo from dark to light. You can also adjust brightness and contrast to get the proper mix of light and dark.

• Heat Map makes any photo look like an infrared scan of your subject, just like all the best spy satellites.

• Cross Process simulates the result of deliberately processing film in the wrong chemical solution, which yields a photo with beguiling effects including unnatural colors and high contrast (one user described this as the Michael Jackson effect )

Area Effects

• Focal Black & White allows you to easily select a specific area of a photo to remain in glorious color, while the rest of the image turns black & white. Move the focal circle anywhere on a photo, increase or decrease the circle's size via a slider bar and adjust the blurriness of the circle's edges with the edge hardness slider (use with focal soften to draw attention to any element in a photo).

• Fancy Focus keeps all eyes on your subject by allowing you to click on any area in the picture creating a vibrant focal point - then watch everything outside of it subtly fade. "

Focal Soften gently blurs the area around the subject of your picture, or does the opposite

• Focal Pixelate protects the innocent (and maybe the guilty) by allowing anyone to easily blur out a specific spot in a picture (say, that date that didn't work out?)

• Focal Zoom makes your subject fly through your photo! Artistic Effects

• Pencil Sketch your photos without covering your hands in graphite.

• Neon puts your life on the Vegas Strip.

• Panography-ish harnesses the power of the panography effect, but without all the clicking! This technique creates a patchwork of images carefully stitched together, mimicking the look from through a viewfinder. Miscellaneous Effects

• Dots & Dots allows users to look at their photo in a whole new light - use a variety of dots and sizes to add unique detail within the four walls of your photo.

• Doodle gives you different brush colors and sizes to unleash your inner scribbler.

• Gritty gives your photos a more real, unvarnished personality.

• Gooify pushes and pulls your photo (and anyone in it!) like Silly Putty.

• Vibrance changes the saturation of your photo for the perfect skin tone, mid tones, and shadows.

• Pixelate adds texture, mystery, or the inspiration for a new tile pattern to your photographs.

• Posterize cuts out the colored clutter and makes gradients a thing of the past.

• Film Grain adds some grittiness to your shot and makes your work-free photograph look like something you actually had to work on.

Touch-Up Tools

• Teeth Whiten will make your dentist proud. Or else deeply suspicious.

• Eye Color allows you to try on a whole new look by selecting one of the preset colors - making your eyes beam.

• Blemish Fix removes unsightly marks or imperfections. Adolescence, be gone. "

• Shine-Be-Gone makes you fresh as a daisy. Face those paparazzi flashes with confidence.

• Wrinkle Remover can make you look years younger, without expensive creams or Botox.

• Highlights lets you test-drive a new do before making the permanent decision.

• Sunless Tan is the absolute safest way to get that sun-kissed look.

• Insta-Thin will help you drop those last five stubborn pounds on the spot!

• Airbrush allows you to look ready for your close-up who says you aren t a cover model?

• Mascara, Blush and Lip Color let you get an instant make-up makeover fabulous! Picnik Show

• Grab pictures from your computer or favorite online service

• Create a Picnik Show using your favorite Picniked photos

• Transitions between photos to make a beautiful show • Share the show by sending a URL to the show online or embedding it on your blog or website Seasonal Effects

• Snow, a perennial seasonal favorite, makes the weather outside a little more frightful. Keep layering for a complete white-out

• Zombify is perfect for Halloween - turn your photo into a spooky holiday treat.

• Blood Stains adds a little color to your freshly zombified face - perfect for Halloween spooking. Use around the sides of the mouth and edges of the eyes and instantly look as though you've enjoyed a heaping portion of steami• Print your photos or photo creations on your printer or through our printing partner QOOP, where you can create anything from key chains to photobooks to clothing, stickers, and greeting cards out of your photos.

For more information, visit:

http://www.Picnik.com

or

http://www.picnik.com/app#/home/welcome






Chromium Gets Graphics Overhaul

Google Software Engineer Vangelis Kokkevis says:

For some time now, there s been a lot of work going on to overhaul Chromium s graphics system. New APIs and markup like WebGL and 3D CSS transforms are a major motivation for this work, but it also lets Chromium begin to take advantage of the GPU to speed up its entire drawing model, including many common 2D operations such as compositing and image scaling. As a lot of that work has been landing in tip-of-tree Chromium lately, we figured it was time for a primer.

You can check it out at:

http://blog.chromium.org/2010/08/chromium-graphics-overhaul.html

If you'd like to read more about this work, take a look at this design doc which outlines Chromium s accelerated compositing system. Over time, we re looking into moving even more of the rendering from the CPU to the GPU to achieve impressive speedups:

http://bit.ly/b25TAO





R.I.P. ATI - AMD To Dump ATI Brand

The Register's Rik Myslewski reports:

The ATI brand is about to disappear, AMD announced Monday.

"The timing is right as far as we're concerned," an AMD spokesman told The Reg, explaining that the company's brand strategy is moving to a "customer-centric approach" and away from processer-centric branding.

The company's Radeon and FirePro brands will remain, but they'll be transitioned to the AMD brand when the next-generation Radeon GPUs appear later this year.

The ATI Radeon and ATI FirePro GPUs will soon be AMD Radeon and AMD FirePro GPUs....

For the full report, visit here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/30/amd_to_dump_ati_brand/

Also reported by HardMac:

http://www.hardmac.com/news/2010/08/30/bye-ati






Analyst expects Apple to move further away from NVIDIA

Electronista reports:

Standard & Poor's analyst Clyde Montevirgen cast doubt on NVIDIA's future today in an investment note that suggested it would lose business from Apple. He urged investors to sell as an "anticipated market share loss" was sure to come while Apple changed from NVIDIA to AMD for graphics. The statement reflected new iMacs that use AMD alone for graphics, though it implied more expected moves in the future.

For the full report, visit here:

http://zd.net/awrrnY








SeaShore Open Source Image Editor Reviewed

AppStorm's Joshua Johnson says:

Photoshop is the undisputed king of image editing, but it also has a huge price tag and an even bigger learning curve. If you don t make a living as a designer, the time and money necessary for professional photo editing software is hard to justify. Further, some free options like GIMP are much more than many users will ever need.

So what should a Mac owner use for casual graphics editing? One option is Seashore, a free image editor that s easy and fun to use.... I'll walk you through the basic functionality and tell you what I thought of the application....

For the full review, click here:

http://mac.appstorm.net/reviews/graphics/seashore-an-open-source-image-editor/






myPhotoEdit 2.0 Image Editor Major Update Released

In these times everyone needs to edit an image from time to time. You have to edit it quickly for a blog entry, a presentation or your grand-ma, who learned to send emails.

Nobody needs Photoshop for these kinds of tasks, and definitely not its speed. And nobody should take an evening course to learn how to do it. Definitely nobody has to use underdone or very limited tools, just because they pretend to be easy to use. That's because myPhotoEdit is here.

myPhotoEdit's developer sas:

I've not written myPhotoEdit to have another Photoshop or Pixelmator wannabe clone.

I had the other 99 percent of our daily image editing tasks in mind. Like enhancing, cropping and exporting a picture for a weblog entry, an article or a presentation and how this basic and time consuming tasks could be improved and simplified &

First of all - speed matters. In the time Photoshop starts, you ve already enhanced, cropped and saved one or two images with myPhotoEdit.

Second - those tasks need to be as easy to perform as possible. myPhotoEdit is especially made to be flexible, very speedy and clear while doing common editing.

And third - only because editing becomes a no-brainer with myPhotoEdit, this doesn't mean the results are ordinary. Quiet the opposite is true. With myPhotoEdit everyone can come up with world-class results in a blink.

In these times everyone needs to edit an image from time to time. You have to edit it quickly for a blog entry, a presentation or your grand-ma, who learned to send emails.

Nobody needs Photoshop for these kinds of tasks, and definitely not its speed. And nobody should take an evening course to learn how to do it. Definitely nobody has to use underdone or very limited tools, just because they pretend to be easy to use. That's because myPhotoEdit is here!

myPhotoEdit makes it truly easy and speedy for everyone to edit an image. It s features range from basic and effective pimp-up to high-class filters for sophisticated stuff.

myPhotoEdit makes it truly easy and speedy for everyone to edit an image. It s features range from basic and effective pimp-up to high-class filters for sophisticated stuff.

myPhotoEdit is especially made to be flexible, very speedy and clear while doing common editing.

Just to get that right. Only because editing becomes a no-brainer with myPhotoEdit doesn t mean the results are ordinary. Quiet the opposite is true. With myPhotoEdit everyone can come up with world-class results in a blink.

Key Features

• gorgeous and intuitive interface

• open | edit | export | save almost any image

• RAW image support

• drag-and-drop images

• quickly add annotations

• unlimited undo and history

• sophisticated quick edit tools

• simple image resizing with presets

• fast (very fast) export for web with presets

• marquee | crop | lasso | hand | rotate tools

• one-click switch between original | edited image

• high class filters built right in (HDR, Lomo etc.)

• optimized for speed

• basic | quick | advanced adjustments set

• Photoshop shortcuts

• quick reset

• high class enhancement tools with presets

• integrated database for recent images

• automatically create backups

• 64bit power

• uses Core Image | Open GL | ColorSync

Release Notes 2.0

• major update

• completely rewritten

• new and simplified GUI

• unlimited undo and history

• new enhancement tools

• improved tools and filters

• presets for adjustment tools

• improved speed and performance

• added 'restore image after crash' - just in case

• lots of more new stuff and improvements

System Requirements:

Mac OS 10.6.3+

Price $24.95

For more information, visit:

http://myownapp.com/applications/myphotoedit/myphotoedit.html






MyPopBarrier 2.8.1 Email



For those who find it helpful to be able to check server inbox content via a POP 3 inbox check utility prior to downloading messages to my hard drive or even going to the webmail inbox, This program allows to remove your emails directly on the server. It can raise several accounts at the same time.

New in version 2.8.1:

Added a popup menu to save historic in other encoding.

MyPopBarrier is distributed as donationware for single user, registering (optional) has a suggested retail price of 6 Euros.

For more information, visit:

http://tcfj.pagesperso-orange.fr/site/ind_JS.html?Prg_S.html&Prg_AutresRB.html






DockView 1.03 for Mac - Window Previews in the Dock

UK based Kapeli announces the release of DockView 1.03, a new Mac OS X app that extends the Dock and makes it aware of the windows that applications have open. With DockView, whenever a user points the mouse at an application's icon, thumbnail images of the windows are displayed. DockView helps Mac OS X users visualize the windows they currently have open and easily find the window they are looking for.

DockView is also able to display the previews in the default Mac CMD Tab application switcher. Users can conveniently identify the application they are looking for and reduce the time it takes to switch between applications.

Features:

(*) Live previews. The previews refresh constantly so that users can keep an eye on windows without activating them

(*) Activate windows. Users can click anywhere on a preview to activate the corresponding window

(*) Close windows. DockView provides a very convenient way of closing windows

(*) Control iTunes. The image previews for iTunes show Play, Pause and Skip buttons so that users can keep iTunes minimized and still control it

(*) Customizable. The previews can be any size users want

(*) No hacks. DockView doesn't modify the Dock or any system file

DockView is a 3.8 MB application which has no impact on the system and can be easily uninstalled just by deleting it. The application runs quietly in the background, its icon can be switched off if menubar-real-estate is an issue.

System Requirements:

(*) Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

DockView 1.03 may be purchased for $7.99 (USD). The free version displays an alert every now and then and is otherwise fully unrestricted.

Kapeli:

http://kapeli.com

DockView 1.03:

http://kapeli.com/dockview/

Download DockView:

http://kapeli.com/DockView.dmg

Screenshot:

http://kapeli.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Screen_DockView_1.png






Before Dawn Solutions announces Mac Mini Hosting and Colocation

Colorado based Before Dawn Solutions announces Mac Mini Colocation at theor Top Tier hosting facility located in Denver Colorado. Before Dawn are adding Mac Mini hosting to their other hosting offerings, Shared Hosting, CoLocation, Virtual Private Servers, and Dedicated Servers.

"The Mac Mini is really a great platform for hosting websites and web applications. By adding Mac Mini hosting service at such a low price point, it allows smaller companies to take advantage of enterprise level hosting, and run it on a great platform", says John Martyniak, Before Dawn Solutions, President/CEO.

Features:

(*) 100 GB of Transfer

(*) 1 Power Connection (remote restart/start/stop available)

(*) 1 IP Address (more available)

(*) Multi-Homed Tier 1 Network, with an aggregate 5 GB into the facility

(*) SAS70 - type II audited

(*) PCI compliant

(*) Physical security, secure card, video, bio scan

(*) Temperature and power conditioned

Before Dawn Solutions, practices a "Eat your own dogfood" approach to hosting, our client websites are run on the same networking infrastructure that their websites are run on.

Mac Mini hosting starts at $35.00 (USD) a month, and is available immediately from the Before Dawn Solutions online.

Before Dawn Solutions:

http://www.beforedawnsolutions.com

Mac Mini Hosting:

http://www.beforedawnsolutions.com/MacMini

Hosting Services:

http://www.beforedawnsolutions.com/hosting-services

Purchase Mac Mini Hosting:

http://www.beforedawnsolutions.com/portal/cart.php?gid=7

XServe Hosting:

http://www.beforedawnsolutions.com/hosting-services/denver-colocation-cat

Virtual Private Servers:

http://www.beforedawnsolutions.com/hosting-services/virtual-private-servers






Expand Computer Screen Real Estate With Cirago HydraDisplay Three-Port Display Adapters

Cirago International has announced the launch and immediate availability of its new HydraDisplay X3 DisplayPort Multi-Monitor Adapters that enable both PC and Mac users to add up to three monitors on a single graphics card through one built-in DisplayPort output.

Two models of the HydraDisplay Adapter offer plug-and-play ease with no driver installation required:

The HDX3DV01 expands a single DisplayPort into 3 DVI-D ports on a single graphics card or notebook to expand the screen space and enable users to get longer life out of legacy DVI monitors.

The HDXDP01 lets users connect a single DisplayPort output to three DisplayPort monitors for maximum performance on the existing DisplayPort graphics card.

The HydraDisplay Adapters are the only adapters on the market that are both Windows/PC and Apple/Macintosh compatible, allowing a single adapter to easily be moved from one hardware platform to the other with simple plug-and-play convenience. With no driver installation required, expanding screen real estate is now fast, easy and affordable. Both models feature HDCP 1.3-compliance for data security and copy protection and offer zero latency and full video performance.

"Our new HydraDisplay Adapters are perfectly suited to help both the home and office computer user expand screen space and get more out of their existing hardware," said Patrick Lo, President of Cirago International. "Some major PC and monitor manufacturers have plans to phase out DVI technology. But, with HydraDisplay, users can keep their DVI monitors in use, even after a computer upgrade, to save money and help reduce technology waste in the environment."

Cirago's HydraDisplay Adapters support both desktop cloning (displaying the same content on multiple monitors) and extended desktop mode a feature highly desired by gamers, graphic designers, stockbrokers and market traders who need extra space to display multiple windows and large spreadsheets. Small business owners can also benefit from the ability to display more information on fewer machines to streamline and simplify workflow. Instead of using expensive digital signage equipment, a low-cost PC can now be used with monitors to achieve the same results.

Each HydraDisplay adapter includes a 45" DisplayPort connector cable and comes complete with a mini-DisplayPort adapter, making it easy to expand screen space on a Netbook, MacBook or MacMini.

"These ultra-portable, all-in-one Mac/PC HydraDisplay adapters can easily go cross-platform from work to home, for example," Lo said. "And, they are the most affordable way to expand your desktop to improve computing efficiency and get more out of your existing equipment."

The HDX3DV01 (DisplayPort to 3XDVI) model carries an MSRP of just $179, while the HDXDP01 (DisplayPort to 3XDisplayPort) is priced at $169 MSRP. Both are available at major electronics retailers including NewEgg.com, MicroCenter, Amazon.com and TigerDirect.com.

Cirago is currently holding a Most Cluttered Desktop contest on Facebook to win a HydraDisplay Multimonitor Adapter. Contestants will upload a picture of their current cluttered workspace, and a winner will be chosen on September 20, 2010. Only persons residing in the United States who are at least 18 years of age or older can enter. More details and official rules can be found on Cirago's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/cirago.

For more information about the Cirago HydraDisplay Multi-Monitor Adapters, visit:

http://www.cirago.com

Tags: News ï Tech-Industry ï

Login † or † Register † †