Thursday, August 31, 2006 Filed in:
Business
Looking for a helpful
tool to for designers? Then check out the
Art Directors
Toolkit. Although this handy
application can't make you an art director for
40 bucks, it replaces a bunch of tools that
always seem to get misplaced in my office.
It's designed for print pros, but motion
graphics and web designers will appreciate
some of its key features:
- A Scale Calculator
to help you determine percentages for resizing to
a specific target.- A text-preview
window so you can see source copy in a variety of
fonts.- A symbol-conversion
pane to unlock specialty characters in your
fonts.- A Swatch Book for
viewing Pantone colors and finding related
colors.- A Blend window to
find a third color that will work well with two
others.- A Units Converter to
calculate different measurement
conversions.- A very robust RGB
color picker.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Instructor Richard
Harrington explains how to use perspective
cropping in Photoshop to correct distortion that
can occur in an image.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Saturday, August 26, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
Planning
on coming to Photoshop World
in
Vegas? Even if you can't attend the whole
conference, you should check out the trade
show floor. The Photoshop World Expo floor
will be open to the public on on September
7th. The event is held at the
Mandalay Bay Hotel
and
is a great chance to catch up on the latest in
digital photography and digital imaging.
You can come check out many different vendors as
well as attend free educational sessions. You can
get your free pass by signing up in
advance or
you'll have to pay $20.00 at the door.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
The act of cropping
is a destructive edit. Instructor Richard
Harrington shows how to crop nondestructively in
Photoshop, to preserve the cropped pixels so you
can easily make changes later.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
It's very common to
need to size and crop an image to a specific
image size. Instructor Richard Harrington
explains how you can do both with one step
by"power cropping"in Photoshop.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Sunday, August 13, 2006 Filed in:
Education
What
piece of Mac shareware has me most excited... a
cursor enhancer called OmniDazzle.
Yup... giggle if you want. But the
Omni Group
has
released a killer program that has
dramatically changed my teaching style. This
useful application add several visual effects
for the screen and mouse pointer.
Now some of them are downright cheesy, but
educators should really check out the following
effects:
•
Flashlight –
Which points a spotlight on the area of focus and
dims the screen
•
Focal Point – Which
darkens all but the active UI element
•
Scribble – This
gives you four colored markers to draw on the
screen like a NFL commentator
• Zoom – My
favorite, which lets you marquee a selection,
which is then magnified full-screen
So yes... its version 1.0 and Mac-only (and
requires OS 10.4.6 and Core Video)... its still
worth checking out. It's $14.95 and you can
download a demo from the Omni Group
website.
Friday, August 11, 2006 Filed in:
Business
So...
you may have picked up on my love of all
things EVDO.
These great cards let the business traveler or
mobile blogger kill off the expense of logging
in at coffee shops, hotels, and convention
centers (I've had months where access has run
me $225). Unfortunately, the new Macs and
Dells required an ExpressCard (which was not
available until today). But I have mine, and
thanks to the card... I am mobile and plugged
in (in fact that is how this very entry was
posted!)
Hats off to EVDO Info
for
shipping as promised and getting it to me
overnight. Note, their website references a
high demand... so if you need one...
pre-order.
“The demand is huge for the
ExpressCard.
We sold out of our first shipment
(which
is being sent out to customers on 8/11/2006). Our
next shipment is currently scheduled for
8/23/2006.”
Boy... do I love wireless internet.... *GRIN*
Friday, August 11, 2006 Filed in:
Business
As a
person living in target number one (Washington,
D.C.) the news of a recently foiled terrorist
attack greatly bothered me. As the frequent
business traveler, I was stymied by the news
reports that all sorts of items such as laptops,
cell phones, and iPods were being banned. I
thought... how could they? Could you imagine a
flight where no business traveler got any work
done no child could watch a movie, those of us
who like quiet time couldn't ignore the world by
drowning it out with an iPod?
Read
More...
Thursday, August 10, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
Although
you may be able to match your own clothes in the
morning, finding just the precise complementary
colors is sometimes a pretty daunting task, or at
least a time-consuming one. How do you pick out
four colors that work with your client's logo?
ColorTheory
from
Digital Anarchy
provides
a pretty quick answer. The interface is clean
and simple, but generates powerful results in
a variety of color schemes. The Pro version
adds the ability to load a source graphic in
to compare with your colors. It also adds the
ability to run ColorTheory as a plug-in from
Photoshop or After Effects-compliant hosts.
The product is priced at $49 for the Standard
version and $99 for the Pro.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Instructor Richard
Harrington shows you how to put the tedious work
of cropping and straightening multiple scanned
images behind by using Photoshop's automated"Crop
and Straighten Photos"feature. Part 2 of 2.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Monday, August 07, 2006 Filed in:
Windows
Microsoft has
a bad habit of buying technology... then killing
it. It'd not really their fault... they've got
all of that cash just lying around. The recent
victim is Virtual PC. Originally developed by
Connectix, it was sold to Microsoft in 2003. In a
statement today Microsoft said it "has made the
decision not to move forward with a Universal
version of Virtual PC at this time."
At this time is corporate speak for never, in
fact never ever. Recent competition from
Parallels and VMWare have made the Windows on a
Mac space a bit cluttered. Additionally,
Microsoft alluded that rewriting Virtual PC to
run on Intel Processors would mean having to
essentially rewrite the program.
"The (Macintosh business unit) still recognizes
that customers need access to Windows
applications from their Intel-based Macs and
feels confident that alternative solutions
offered by Apple and other vendors, combined with
a fully packaged retail copy of Windows will
satisfy this need," the company said.
Anyone else find it ironic that Microsoft which
started as a company that made Mac software, has
decided that it is too difficult to get their
software to run on Intel chips. Go figure. Guess
they're too busy getting Vista out the
door.
For more details, head over to
CNET.
Sunday, August 06, 2006 Filed in:
Education
If you
happen to be traveling through the Pacific
Northwest any time soon, I recommend a stop at
the Pacific Science
Center.
They have an in-depth exhibit on
video
games. It
focusses on the technology, as well as the art
and cultural issues. Seeing that the video
game industry is as big as the feature film
marketplace, its important to keep an eye on.
This exhibit explores the field through all
aspects and offers a chance to get hands-on
with a wide range of games.
Sunday, August 06, 2006 Filed in:
Business
Welcome
to our new series... Technology Word of the
Month. I encounter a lot of overly
plugged-in folks each month and they often
have their own language. In my efforts to
keep you a member of the techno-elite, I
bring you the word of the month for August.
MACDINKED
–
verb: When a
designer (or client) continues to tweak a project
beyond an appropriate level because they are
technologically capable of doing so.
This word was brought to my attention by my Dad
(and yes... I felt slightly aghast that he was
more plugged in). Feel free to comment or add
your own. Email submissions
welcome
and there will be a prize for the best word
each month.
Sunday, August 06, 2006 Filed in:
Education
I've
been meaning to visit the Experience Music
Project museum
for some time. Started as a shrine to
Jimi Hendrix
by
Microsoft cofounder Paul
Allen,
the museum offers much more. I particularly
enjoyed exhibits on the early years of
Rap music,
as well as an in-depth exploration of
the history of
guitars.
Designers will throughly enjoy two temporary
exhibits, on one concert posters
allows
for great exploration of typography and
print-making, while Double-Take
counters
classic artists like Van Gough to moderns such
as Lichtenstein. The museum also offers some
innovative computer technology that allows
all-ages to get hands on with instruments as
well as receive some digital tutoring in
musicianship.
The building itself is even a piece of art and is
a Frank Gehey
master-piece that
encourages you to explore. Even if you're not
a passionate audiophile, the technology and
design aspects of this museum make it a
must-stop for those passing through Seattle.
Sunday, August 06, 2006 Filed in:
Business
Many
of you voted in our survey last month
about
computer hardware. The
results were very
interesting
with Macintosh taking a strong lead. In fact we
weren't the only ones who were interested in your
future technology plans. Inside Mac Radio
featured the results of the survey on the daily
Macintosh podcast for August 3. You can listen to
it here if
you'd like. Be sure to vote each month as your
input affects the coverage of this site as
well as which training products we release.
Sunday, August 06, 2006 Filed in:
Education
| Resources
We've
added a brand new page
to
our Resources section. Come search for
“free” images at various
government agency sites. Several websites
offer images that are either public domain or
have very generous usage rights. Be sure to
read usage terms at each site.
We call them “free” as they were paid
for with U.S. tax dollars (which means they are
now free to use). Start to explore now
and
find images for your next project (many of
these are high-resolution as well!) Please
share this page with your friends or students.
Saturday, August 05, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
It was only
a matter of (too much) time. First, Apple
launched wireless mice and keyboards (for
those who hate the clutter of cables). Then
Hell froze over and Apple released a
two-button mouse called Mighty Mouse (do
they have to pay royalties to the
cartoon
character?). But it
appeared the two products would never meet.
But like all good mice, they eventually
created off-spring, and the Mighty Mouse
has gone
wireless.
I am glad that this has finally happened for
several reasons.
• When I use pro video and graphics apps
the right-click is a huge time saver as it
unlocks many features
• When running Windows on my Mac (don't
hate the player) I find myself need to
right-click a whole lot
• Trackpads aren't great for precise
control such as illustration or design
So, is it worth buying? The short answer is yes
(if you need a multi-button mouse). Getting the
mouse to pair with a computer is easy (provided
you have Bluetooth). The
tracking is accurate (with an improved sensor
over original models) and the product appears
to have good battery life. The buttons are
programmable and most users will find the
control button on top of the mouse useful for
scrolling and panning. The only annoyance
(which is an easy fix) are the side buttons.
These are a bit too easy to trigger for my
taste as my larger hands tend to trigger them
easily. By default, this launches Exposé which
will re-arrange your windows on screen. A
quick visit to the Keyboard & Mouse System
Preference Pane allows you to deactivate these
buttons. If you need additional control, then
pick this mouse up online or at your local
Apple store.
Saturday, August 05, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
It was
only a matter of (too much) time. First, Apple
launched wireless mice and keyboards (for those
who hate the clutter of cables). Then Hell froze
over and Apple released a two-button mouse called
Mighty Mouse (do they have to pay royalties to
the cartoon
character?).
But it appeared the two products would never
meet. But like all good mice, they eventually
created off-spring, and the Mighty Mouse
has
gone wireless.
Read More...
Thursday, August 03, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
| Business
I came across a
great piece of software called
ProfCast
that lets you
turn a Keynote
presentation
into an enhanced podcast. These podcasts are
very small as it is jut an audio file, but
when viewed on an iPod or within iTunes, the
artwork changes for the slide. It's a pretty
cool way for teachers to share their lessons,
and the whole process is very easy for the
mildly tech-savvy to perform. I covered how to
do this very task using iWork and Garageband
in the new iWork book, but this application
saves several steps and is very pleasant to
use. You can create a podcast directly, sent
it to GarageBand
or
iWeb, or take it
directly online to a user-specified server
(.xml authoring for the feed is included).
At $25 its an
affordable tool all Mac-based educators or
technical trainers should add.
UPDATE – The new version
also works with PowerPoint
Thursday, August 03, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
I came
across a great piece of software called
ProfCast that
lets you turn a Keynote presentation
into an enhanced podcast. These podcasts are
very small as it is jut an audio file, but
when viewed on an iPod or within iTunes, the
artwork changes for the slide. It's a pretty
cool way for teachers to share their lessons,
and the whole process is very easy for the
mildly tech-savvy to perform. I covered how to
do this very task using iWork and Garageband
in the new iWork book, but this application
saves several steps and is very pleasant to
use. You can create a podcast directly, sent
it to GarageBand
or
iWeb, or
take it directly online to a user-specified
server (.xml authoring for the feed is
included). At $25 its
an affordable tool all Mac-based educators or
technical trainers should add.
UPDATE
– The new
version also works with PowerPoint
Tuesday, August 01, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
It’s
time for an experiment. We are going to take some
of our tutorials that are ‘in the
can’ and launch them as a Podcast.
We’ll release a new one each week, and it
will stay live for just the week. When the new
episode goes up, the old one will go down.
If the podcast proves popular (and we get enough
viewer mail) we’ll start to produce an
original tip each week. The podcast launched
today, and you can sign up
here.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Instructor Richard
Harrington shows you how to put the tedious work
of cropping and straightening multiple scanned
images behind by using Photoshop's automated"Crop
and Straighten Photos"feature. Part 1 of 2.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed
