For many Mac users, buying a Mac and working with images in any application other than Adobe Photoshop is blasphemy. I can't count how many purchases for Macs I've seen that have the Mac on the first line and a license for Adobe Creative Suite on the second line. But if you want to do some basic image editing and photo manipulation, Photoshop might be overkill. Acorn on the other hand, is perfect. It's lightweight and affordable, and it incorporates most of the features a lot of people use in more powerful tools like Photoshop. It's no replacement for Photoshop, but it's simple, easy to use, and worth a look.
Tasks like editing and managing screenshots for blogs and technical documentation, basic photo editing, and image editing may not always require all the features and power of Adobe Photoshop or similar high-end image editing applications. Acorn combines a sleek and simple interface with power editing tools that will make most graphic designers happy that they saved some money by not choosing Photoshop.
Acorn has a number of features that Photoshop users will love, but also has a few unique tricks that come in handy. You can take screenshots using Acorn and immediately edit them, manage the opacity or blending of multiple image layers, and do auto image resizing just by changing the size of the image on your screen. You can create text styles and work with gradients all from within Acorn's simple interface. The app also allows you to write additional plug-ins if you're code-savvy and missing a feature that you'd like to see in the app.
Perhaps one of Acorn's greatest features is that it's completely powered by your graphics processor. That means no more relying on the CPU and no more slowing the rest of your system down while you do complicated image editing. Acorn is a universal binary and works on both PowerPC Macs and Intel Macs, but a Mac with a newer video card will really take advantage of Acorn's power. Acorn is only $39.99, and you can download it and give it a try before deciding to buy.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
BurgerTime Delight: Build Behemoth Burgers on Your Mobile Phone
I didn't make it to CES this year, but there are plenty of e-mail blasts on product announcements from the show that it feels as if I'm actually there! One such e-mail came from Namco Networks, publisher and developer of mobile games. Yesterday, the company announced its newest mobile title, BurgerTime Delight, in partnership with Japanese developer G-mode. The game is a 25-year-old arcade classic (released in 1982 as BurgerTime by Data East), enhanced and updated into this mobile version with new level backgrounds, new characters, and mini-games. In BurgerTime Delight, you play Chef Peter Pepper, "whose goal is to build behemoth burgers by knocking each burger ingredient onto plates at the bottom of the screen." I love the idea already! On each level, Peter is challenged by being chased by his food nemeses Mr. Hotdog, Mr. Egg, and Mr. Pickle. Thankfully, you can "squash your enemies with falling ingredients, stun them with pepper from a collected peppershaker, or burn them with hot sauce."Namco Networks also announced that BurgerTime Delight includes two new food baddies, Mr. Garlic, described as a "clove of garlic who drops lingering morsels of his cloves behind him" and Mr. Carrot, who can "drill himself down a level to chase Peter." Other enhancements are a word collection mini-game.
BurgerTime Delight is available now on national carriers including Sprint and Verizon.
BurgerTime Delight is available now on national carriers including Sprint and Verizon.
Xinorbis: Get a Handle on Your Hard Drive
IYou can buy and install a 250GB hard drive on Monday, and by Friday it feels like you're already out of space. There's no shortage of applications to help you manage your drives and show you where all your space is going, but Xinorbis is one of the best that I've seen. Xinorbis can analyze a drive or set of folder and tell you what types of files are inside and how much space you're losing to what kinds of files, all from inside an attractive interface that puts other similar apps to shame.
Xinorbis can analyze entire hard drives, network shares and mapped network drives, and individual directories. If you're curious as to what's taking up all your hard drive space, you can use the app to scan your entire system; but if you're concerned just with exactly how much of your downloads folder is, for example music versus movies, Xinorbis can tell you. The app includes shell support and allows you to launch straight from a directory that you'd like to scan. Once Xinorbis completes a scan, it generates a report that you can save for future reference and comparison later.
Xinorbis has a few features that make it noticeably more effective than other drive analyzers. Not only will the app scan your drive and tell you how much storage is being used by what files and folders, Xinorbis can break down that allocation by file type. For example, Xinorbis can tell you that the bulk of your hard drive is being eaten by music or movies, as opposed to documents and programs. You can also sort by file type if you wish, and see how much of your available space is occupied by MP3s versus AACs.
The interface is intelligently designed and reveals a great deal of information in one view. For example, one display can show you the ratio of file types on the drive, a run-down of file sizes on the drives, and a graph of subdirectories and their contents. Similar applications can show you similar information, but not in the same view.
Fans of faster apps, such as WinDirStat and SequoiaView, will miss the ability to delete files straight from the application and won't be pleased with how long Xinorbis takes to analyze your drive or directories, but they'll be pleased with the multiple views and wealth of reporting capabilities. Xinorbis is free, and supports Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, and Vista.
[ via DownloadSquad ]
Xinorbis can analyze entire hard drives, network shares and mapped network drives, and individual directories. If you're curious as to what's taking up all your hard drive space, you can use the app to scan your entire system; but if you're concerned just with exactly how much of your downloads folder is, for example music versus movies, Xinorbis can tell you. The app includes shell support and allows you to launch straight from a directory that you'd like to scan. Once Xinorbis completes a scan, it generates a report that you can save for future reference and comparison later.
Xinorbis has a few features that make it noticeably more effective than other drive analyzers. Not only will the app scan your drive and tell you how much storage is being used by what files and folders, Xinorbis can break down that allocation by file type. For example, Xinorbis can tell you that the bulk of your hard drive is being eaten by music or movies, as opposed to documents and programs. You can also sort by file type if you wish, and see how much of your available space is occupied by MP3s versus AACs.
The interface is intelligently designed and reveals a great deal of information in one view. For example, one display can show you the ratio of file types on the drive, a run-down of file sizes on the drives, and a graph of subdirectories and their contents. Similar applications can show you similar information, but not in the same view.
Fans of faster apps, such as WinDirStat and SequoiaView, will miss the ability to delete files straight from the application and won't be pleased with how long Xinorbis takes to analyze your drive or directories, but they'll be pleased with the multiple views and wealth of reporting capabilities. Xinorbis is free, and supports Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, and Vista.
[ via DownloadSquad ]
Sony BMG Goes Digital, Misses the Point
The company that brought you the Great Rootkit Fiasco of 2005 has finally come around and decided to not only ditch DRM entirely, but to allow you to download music from artists on the Sony BMG label in MP3 format. Sony BMG recently unveiled its new MusicPass site, which promises fans unprotected MP3 downloads playable on any device. The problem? You have to go to a brick-and-mortar store to buy a card with a code you can redeem for your digital downloads.
It would seem to be good news that Sony BMG has decided to abandon DRM in favor of unprotected MP3s. One would hope that Sony got the message that its customers were tired of being treated like criminals and decided to change its ways. Unfortunately it seems Sony didn't get the entire message, or the company's suffering from a case of selective hearing. Sure, Sony's dropped DRM, but instead of understanding that people are interested in downloading tracks individually and buying music online, it has reproduced the old model of forcing people to go to stores to buy their music.
Now, if you want digital music from your favorite Sony BMG artists, you have to go to a physical store, buy a plastic card with the code for the album you're interested in, take it home, enter the code at MusicPass, and then you get to download the song. It's like buying a CD at your local department store, just with more effort required to actually get the music and less payoff: You get a plastic card and some MP3s for all your effort. At least a CD is a physical copy with liner notes and album art, and you can rip the CD to get the digital version.
Unfortunately, the entire project is proof that Sony still doesn't get it. It's catching on slowly but surely, which is good, but it managed to get the part that says people want electronic copies of their music while missing the part that says people want it to be convenient and worth their time. Sony is willing to concede that people want control over what they do with the music when they own it, but they're determined to have complete control over how people purchase and obtain their music.
There will be 37 albums available from a handful of artists via MusicPass when the program starts. The MusicPass cards will be $12.99 (almost the cost of the artist's CD, which will likely sit on the shelf next to the MusicPass card at the store), and will be available at Best Buy, Target, and a few other stores on January 15th. Look on the bright side--at least with MusicPass, the digital downloads won't come with a rootkit.
[ via USA Today ]
It would seem to be good news that Sony BMG has decided to abandon DRM in favor of unprotected MP3s. One would hope that Sony got the message that its customers were tired of being treated like criminals and decided to change its ways. Unfortunately it seems Sony didn't get the entire message, or the company's suffering from a case of selective hearing. Sure, Sony's dropped DRM, but instead of understanding that people are interested in downloading tracks individually and buying music online, it has reproduced the old model of forcing people to go to stores to buy their music.
Now, if you want digital music from your favorite Sony BMG artists, you have to go to a physical store, buy a plastic card with the code for the album you're interested in, take it home, enter the code at MusicPass, and then you get to download the song. It's like buying a CD at your local department store, just with more effort required to actually get the music and less payoff: You get a plastic card and some MP3s for all your effort. At least a CD is a physical copy with liner notes and album art, and you can rip the CD to get the digital version.
Unfortunately, the entire project is proof that Sony still doesn't get it. It's catching on slowly but surely, which is good, but it managed to get the part that says people want electronic copies of their music while missing the part that says people want it to be convenient and worth their time. Sony is willing to concede that people want control over what they do with the music when they own it, but they're determined to have complete control over how people purchase and obtain their music.
There will be 37 albums available from a handful of artists via MusicPass when the program starts. The MusicPass cards will be $12.99 (almost the cost of the artist's CD, which will likely sit on the shelf next to the MusicPass card at the store), and will be available at Best Buy, Target, and a few other stores on January 15th. Look on the bright side--at least with MusicPass, the digital downloads won't come with a rootkit.
[ via USA Today ]
Martin: FCC To Investigate Comcast Data Discrimination
Kevin Martin is raining on Comcast's CES parade.
On the same day Comcast CEO Brian Roberts gave the first ever CES keynote by a cable chief (with the Flight of the Conchords in tow, no less), the FCC chairman said at a separate CES panel that the commission would be investigating whether Comcast was involved in data discrimination.
"Sure, we're going to investigate and make sure that no consumer is going to be blocked," Martin was quoted as saying.
In October, AP conducted a test that it said proved Comcast was blocking access to peer-to-peer networks; an experiment that was later replicated and confirmed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Comcast accused AP and EFF of using too narrow a focus with its tests. The cable provider admitted to "delaying" certain P2P traffic, but denied that it was blocking access to any content.
Two months ago, the SavetheInternet.com coalition and several academics filed a complaint with the FCC calling on the commission to stop Comcast from violating customer rights.
A source within the FCC confirmed that the quote from Martin was accurate, but said that the FCC did not make any official announcement today about its plans regarding the Comcast complaint.
"We believe our practices are in accordance with the FCC's policy statement on the Internet," David L. Cohen, executive vice presiden for Comcast, said in a statement. "Comcast plans to work with the Commission in its desire to bring more transparency for consumers regarding broadband network management."
The interest groups who filed the complaint were predictably pleased.
"We hope the Chairman's statements, made two months after we filed our complaint, will lead to immediate and accelerated action at the FCC on the critical issue of whether Comcast, AT
On the same day Comcast CEO Brian Roberts gave the first ever CES keynote by a cable chief (with the Flight of the Conchords in tow, no less), the FCC chairman said at a separate CES panel that the commission would be investigating whether Comcast was involved in data discrimination.
"Sure, we're going to investigate and make sure that no consumer is going to be blocked," Martin was quoted as saying.
In October, AP conducted a test that it said proved Comcast was blocking access to peer-to-peer networks; an experiment that was later replicated and confirmed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Comcast accused AP and EFF of using too narrow a focus with its tests. The cable provider admitted to "delaying" certain P2P traffic, but denied that it was blocking access to any content.
Two months ago, the SavetheInternet.com coalition and several academics filed a complaint with the FCC calling on the commission to stop Comcast from violating customer rights.
A source within the FCC confirmed that the quote from Martin was accurate, but said that the FCC did not make any official announcement today about its plans regarding the Comcast complaint.
"We believe our practices are in accordance with the FCC's policy statement on the Internet," David L. Cohen, executive vice presiden for Comcast, said in a statement. "Comcast plans to work with the Commission in its desire to bring more transparency for consumers regarding broadband network management."
The interest groups who filed the complaint were predictably pleased.
"We hope the Chairman's statements, made two months after we filed our complaint, will lead to immediate and accelerated action at the FCC on the critical issue of whether Comcast, AT
Hands-On with Picaboo: Creating Photo Books
If you're a shutterbug, you probably have discs and folders full of photos to sort through. And many of them won't ever see the light of day once you've uploaded them to your computer. But photo services like the ones we profiled in our top 10 list of Apps to Preserve Memories make it easy to organize and preserve your pictures in book form.
I recently had the chance to test out Picaboo's photo service, and I knew right away that a photo book would be the perfect holiday gift for my dad. To call him a photography enthusiast is a serious understatement. In the course of our five-day trip to Paris, he rarely emerged from behind the viewfinder of his sizable HP camera. Needless to say, the photo album was the hit of my family's Christmas. My dad still shows it off to family friends! Though there were a few hiccups building the book with Picaboo's software, I was really happy with the final product. More on the creation process after the jump.
Similar to competitor MyPublisher.com, the actual building process occurs on your local system after you download the free software from Picaboo's website. Here's where I hit the first glitch: I own a MacBook, and Picaboo only works on Windows systems. I regrouped and brought the photos to the office on a flash drive, so that I could use a Windows machine. Unfortunately, the installation process still didn't run smoothly, and I kept getting vague error messages. I tried going to Picaboo's troubleshooting page, but it wasn't particularly helpful or straightforward. Finally, after turning off all other programs and restarting my computer, I was able to fully install the software, which ran smoothly after that.
Once I launched Picaboo and selected the "Create Book!" function, I was immediately prompted to pick a theme. I was pretty impressed with the options. The basic choices are all surprisingly tasteful and allow for a lot of flexibility. The program comes with 19 basic themes and more are available on Picaboo's Web site.
The next step is to choose the photos. The program loads thumbnails, so it's pretty easy to pick the exact pictures you want. In Picaboo, you can do some photo editing (including resizing, adjusting brightness/contrast, and removing red eye), but if you want anything more advanced, you'll need to tweak the photos before you upload. The upload itself doesn't take long (even on my clunker of a computer) and the little dancing Picaboo logo is enough entertainment to pass the time.
I wanted ultimate control of the layout, but I decided to try the Auto Create function just for kicks. I was actually impressed with the result it came up with. The program took Paris photos, along with shots of the beach by our house in San Diego and the ski slopes in central California, and combined them in a visually compelling way that I was actually tempted to use. If you don't want to lay out the book yourself, I'd definitely recommend this option.
It's a good thing Picaboo offers so may page layout options, because you really can't alter them in any way once you've made your selection. Building the page is simple enough. A pane underneath the main window displays thumbnails of all the uploaded photos; I just dragged and dropped each in the preset layout I selected from Picaboo's list. If you want to do any photo editing within the program, this is the time to do it. The photos are automatically placed with a drop shadow (which can be turned off) and white border, but you can select from any number of border or corner options, or no border at all. There are quite a few choices for captions, including a broad selection of fonts and styles and the opportunity to create custom colors if you don't like the program's basic palette. Unfortunately, Picaboo doesn't warn you accurately if your captions are running a little long or going off the printable page: There are dotted lines that show you where your caption is supposed to end. I wanted mine as low on the page as possible, so I hit return until it was resting just above the line. But in printing, it cut off all the tails on my letters (like the bottoms of p's, g's, and j's). So the dotted line wasn't quite accurate.
I opted to design my own cover, instead of the default linen and leather cutout covers the program offers. I was very happy with the results; my book had a lovely glossy, laminated cover. Ordering was simple too. One of Picaboo's greatest strengths is the breadth of book selections it offers, starting at $9.99 for the basics and going up to $49.99. Regardless of the price (which is largely determined by the cover option you select) each book can hold up to 20 pages for the base fee and 140 additional pages for a little more per page. Even if you don't opt to buy a printed version, the photo book exists on your account and can be shared with other Picaboo members.
Though I didn't test it, Picaboo also offers a soundtrack option, where you can upload songs from your computer or download tunes from eMusic.
Despite my complaints with the process, with a little time and tinkering I was able to get the result I wanted. I wish that Picaboo was compatible with Macs and that the installation had run smoothly, but once it was up and running I had few complaints. My dad's book looks fantastic on the coffee table, and that's what really counts.by Nicole Price Fasig
I recently had the chance to test out Picaboo's photo service, and I knew right away that a photo book would be the perfect holiday gift for my dad. To call him a photography enthusiast is a serious understatement. In the course of our five-day trip to Paris, he rarely emerged from behind the viewfinder of his sizable HP camera. Needless to say, the photo album was the hit of my family's Christmas. My dad still shows it off to family friends! Though there were a few hiccups building the book with Picaboo's software, I was really happy with the final product. More on the creation process after the jump.
Similar to competitor MyPublisher.com, the actual building process occurs on your local system after you download the free software from Picaboo's website. Here's where I hit the first glitch: I own a MacBook, and Picaboo only works on Windows systems. I regrouped and brought the photos to the office on a flash drive, so that I could use a Windows machine. Unfortunately, the installation process still didn't run smoothly, and I kept getting vague error messages. I tried going to Picaboo's troubleshooting page, but it wasn't particularly helpful or straightforward. Finally, after turning off all other programs and restarting my computer, I was able to fully install the software, which ran smoothly after that.
Once I launched Picaboo and selected the "Create Book!" function, I was immediately prompted to pick a theme. I was pretty impressed with the options. The basic choices are all surprisingly tasteful and allow for a lot of flexibility. The program comes with 19 basic themes and more are available on Picaboo's Web site.
The next step is to choose the photos. The program loads thumbnails, so it's pretty easy to pick the exact pictures you want. In Picaboo, you can do some photo editing (including resizing, adjusting brightness/contrast, and removing red eye), but if you want anything more advanced, you'll need to tweak the photos before you upload. The upload itself doesn't take long (even on my clunker of a computer) and the little dancing Picaboo logo is enough entertainment to pass the time.
I wanted ultimate control of the layout, but I decided to try the Auto Create function just for kicks. I was actually impressed with the result it came up with. The program took Paris photos, along with shots of the beach by our house in San Diego and the ski slopes in central California, and combined them in a visually compelling way that I was actually tempted to use. If you don't want to lay out the book yourself, I'd definitely recommend this option.
It's a good thing Picaboo offers so may page layout options, because you really can't alter them in any way once you've made your selection. Building the page is simple enough. A pane underneath the main window displays thumbnails of all the uploaded photos; I just dragged and dropped each in the preset layout I selected from Picaboo's list. If you want to do any photo editing within the program, this is the time to do it. The photos are automatically placed with a drop shadow (which can be turned off) and white border, but you can select from any number of border or corner options, or no border at all. There are quite a few choices for captions, including a broad selection of fonts and styles and the opportunity to create custom colors if you don't like the program's basic palette. Unfortunately, Picaboo doesn't warn you accurately if your captions are running a little long or going off the printable page: There are dotted lines that show you where your caption is supposed to end. I wanted mine as low on the page as possible, so I hit return until it was resting just above the line. But in printing, it cut off all the tails on my letters (like the bottoms of p's, g's, and j's). So the dotted line wasn't quite accurate.
I opted to design my own cover, instead of the default linen and leather cutout covers the program offers. I was very happy with the results; my book had a lovely glossy, laminated cover. Ordering was simple too. One of Picaboo's greatest strengths is the breadth of book selections it offers, starting at $9.99 for the basics and going up to $49.99. Regardless of the price (which is largely determined by the cover option you select) each book can hold up to 20 pages for the base fee and 140 additional pages for a little more per page. Even if you don't opt to buy a printed version, the photo book exists on your account and can be shared with other Picaboo members.
Though I didn't test it, Picaboo also offers a soundtrack option, where you can upload songs from your computer or download tunes from eMusic.
Despite my complaints with the process, with a little time and tinkering I was able to get the result I wanted. I wish that Picaboo was compatible with Macs and that the installation had run smoothly, but once it was up and running I had few complaints. My dad's book looks fantastic on the coffee table, and that's what really counts.by Nicole Price Fasig
PointUI Spices Up Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile isn't exactly the prettiest operating system on the block. Sure it gets the job done, but is it too much to ask for a little form with my function? PointUI, a free skinning application for Windows Mobile, wants to help me out. PointUI brings an attractive and elegant interface to Windows Mobile's clunky program list and home screen, and makes your Windows Mobile device a bit more of a pleasure to use.
I simply can't stand the look of Windows Mobile's default UI. I carry a Motorola Q around for work, and while the interface is simple and functional, it's just not pretty. The home screen tries to squash together my upcoming calendar appointments, number of unread e-mail messages, and other information on the same screen--and unfortunately makes all of it unreadable. PointUI replaces all of that with a few simple icons and a sparse home screen that shows me where to go to get the information I want instead of trying to put it all in the same view.
PointUI isn't for everyone. It doesn't work with some smartphones and PDAs. And because the app was designed for touch-screen devices, it didn't take too well to my Motorola Q, which has a directional pad instead of a touch-screen. You should definitely check the forums before downloading it to your Windows Mobile device and expecting it to work smoothly. The app is in beta, so there are still kinks to work out, but if your threshold for bleeding-edge apps is high and you dislike the Windows Mobile interface as much as I do, PointUI is worth a try.
PointUI skins just about every aspect of Windows Mobile. You'll have to see the traditional Windows Mobile interface some of the time, but the most often-used screens, such as the home screen and the settings screens, have been redesigned to be much more attractive and to scroll smoothly between views. Additionally, if you do have a touch-screen device, PointUI turns up the touch sensitivity so you don't have to use a stylus to click on items. Instead, finger-swipes (a la the iPhone) will work just fine.
The designers behind PointUI claim that their focus is simplicity, elegance, and ease of use. I saw those characteristics show through when I tried PointUI, and I'll wait patiently for it to support my Q; my friend with an AT
I simply can't stand the look of Windows Mobile's default UI. I carry a Motorola Q around for work, and while the interface is simple and functional, it's just not pretty. The home screen tries to squash together my upcoming calendar appointments, number of unread e-mail messages, and other information on the same screen--and unfortunately makes all of it unreadable. PointUI replaces all of that with a few simple icons and a sparse home screen that shows me where to go to get the information I want instead of trying to put it all in the same view.
PointUI isn't for everyone. It doesn't work with some smartphones and PDAs. And because the app was designed for touch-screen devices, it didn't take too well to my Motorola Q, which has a directional pad instead of a touch-screen. You should definitely check the forums before downloading it to your Windows Mobile device and expecting it to work smoothly. The app is in beta, so there are still kinks to work out, but if your threshold for bleeding-edge apps is high and you dislike the Windows Mobile interface as much as I do, PointUI is worth a try.
PointUI skins just about every aspect of Windows Mobile. You'll have to see the traditional Windows Mobile interface some of the time, but the most often-used screens, such as the home screen and the settings screens, have been redesigned to be much more attractive and to scroll smoothly between views. Additionally, if you do have a touch-screen device, PointUI turns up the touch sensitivity so you don't have to use a stylus to click on items. Instead, finger-swipes (a la the iPhone) will work just fine.
The designers behind PointUI claim that their focus is simplicity, elegance, and ease of use. I saw those characteristics show through when I tried PointUI, and I'll wait patiently for it to support my Q; my friend with an AT
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