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Blog Entries from March 2008

Adobe Photoshop Express

By Ethan Poole

Adobe has released the official version of its new online photo-editing application: Adobe Photoshop Express (external link). Overall, this application is basically an online photo-editing tool, which works rather well for that job alone. It really is more comparable to the features of iPhoto than to the features of Photoshop itself. I tested out the application for a bit, and I think it certainly has potential, but it also has a lot of room for improvement.

On the good side, Adobe Photoshop Express is easy to use and the signup process is quick. The application seems pretty speedy (it took me about a minute to get my photo in the application and cropped nicely). The interface is nice as well, certainly nicer than the other online photo-editing websites. It also connects directly to Facebook, Photobucket, and Picasa; certainly missing from this list is Flickr and Myspace. However, it seems like everything Adobe Photoshop Express can do, I could do much more easily in iPhoto, in about half the time. I would like to see more features available from the desktop version of Photoshop and better integration with other social networks and photo websites.

The only use I can see for Adobe Photoshop Express is just basic photo editing if you are too lazy to download GIMP (external link) or iPhoto or some other easy-to-use photo application for your desktop. Or, for example, if you are on a controlled computer (school, work, etc.) and need to edit a photo, but you do not have sufficient permissions to install an application yourself. I think this application is a great improvement on Adobe's side that will lead to bigger and better things in the future. You can try it out yourself for free too.
Cool Mac Setups

By Ethan Poole

I always enjoy looking at expensive and/or organised computer setups that I can only dream about having. Generally, I quite prefer the simple, elegant setups with few peripherals and a nice desk. Macs, in my opinion, tend to lend themselves to a more elegant setup, although I am sure a well-designed PC could do the same.

These three setups are my most favourite Mac setups. They are simple, functional, and elegant - exactly what I like in a computer setup. If anyone else has any cool computer setups they have seen on the Internet, please feel free to post them in the comments section.

Credit: Barry Doyon (external link)

Credit: Glenn Wosley (external link)

Credit: Accolady (external link)

The screen saver seen here in this last setup is Fliqlo (external link), a simple clock screensaver available for OSX and Windows. I quite enjoy using it myself for its functionality and simplicity.
IE8: Web Standards

By Ethan Poole

Finally, Microsoft is getting on the ball and improving Internet Explorer; a browser that lied dormant for so many years is finally receiving regular signs of improvement. Of course, because Internet Explorer did not improve standards-wise for so many years, it remains far behind other browsers, such as Opera (external link) and Firefox. However, Microsoft has recently announced the development of Internet Explorer 8 and they have released a beta version of the browser. IE8 shows a number of CSS improvements, although it still is lagging behind Opera and Firefox.

There was a big hoopla over a browser version targeting system that Microsoft proposed for future IE versions. Basically, developers would have to put a special meta tag into their pages for IE to load their pages using the most up-to-date standards mode. However, this idea was ditched, so that by default all pages viewed in future IE versions will be rendered using the latest standards-compliant rendering engine available for IE.

IE8, though, will be mainly fixing numerous CSS errors (external link):
- Data URI support
- Fixes for floats
- Margin collapsing
- CSS outlines
- Generated content (:before and :after)
- Support for the :focus pseudo-class
- Printing properties
- CSS table layouts
All of these improvements sound fantastic, and they are, but IE still has a really long way to progress before I even consider it a remotely standards-compliant browser. Really, the slow introduction of standards compliance in Internet Explorer is merely introducing another half-arsed IE version that developers are going to have to support for years to come. The best solution (if Microsoft cared about web developers) would be to fix all the issues in one release, at least to bring it on par with Opera and Firefox. Instead, we are going to have probably five separate versions to support with varying levels of standards compliance. Honestly, why can they not just use Gecko for IE's rendering engine? It would save them work and money, and be great for developers too.
Improving Macbooks for Gaming

By Ethan Poole

I always assert that Macs are better than PCs for everything ... except for games. Gaming has been one issue for Macs that has really annoyed me, primarily the lack of games available for the platform. It is not like Macs do not have the specs for gaming, most have perfectly capable processors and graphics cards for gaming, or at least for casual gaming. However, the lower end Macbooks and Mac Minis do severely lack in graphical capabilities, even to play the few games available for OSX.

This article from Macworld (external link) discusses some very basic improvements Apple could make on the Macbook to make it suitable to play the games currently available for OSX and for any future games. It seems like such a small upgrade, which would make the Macbook more desirable for the average person (not for a serious gamer of course).
SitePoint's HTML and CSS References

By Ethan Poole

SitePoint has been working to put together a comprehensive reference for web design (external link), including references for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Already, they have launched the HTML and CSS references, with the JavaScript reference not far off the horizon. Both are excellent resources for web designers, with thorough content and explanation for everything. The one downside I find is that the references are slightly hard to browse, with a number of expanding/collapsing menus.

Another cool thing recently launched on SitePoint is their Guru Lists (external link), which are lists of articles on specific topics to get someone new to the topic started. For example, if you are looking to learn ASP, you start with article one and progress through the list to get a jumpstart into ASP. It is certainly a nice way to sift through SitePoint's numerous articles.
RememberTheMilk.com

By Ethan Poole

My last post was about online services, particularly for communication and organisation. Another useful online service that fits into this category is Remember the Milk (external link), an online to-do list service. About a month ago, I set out to find an adequate online to-do list service because I wanted a centralised location to store my tasks (similar reasons to why I moved my RSS and calendar recently). I tried out a few services, but ultimately I decided upon Remember the Milk.

Remember the Milk is nicely organised and the interface is intuitive. It has similar features to other computerised to-do lists, such as setting reminders, due dates, notes, etc. However, one useful feature it does have (that I have not yet found in other similar services) is the option to set a to-do to repeat over a specific time interval. For example, I setup a to-do that reminds me to take out the recyclables every Wednesday morning. I also have them setup for various bills and other tasks I do weekly/monthly. It can integrate into Google Calendar as well, but really I am not a fan of how it works; it needs improvement still.

Now, I am sure someone will comment about 37signals' Ta-da list (external link). I do like this service as the interface is extremely easy to use and it does not feel bloated in the least bit. However, you cannot assign due dates to an item nor email reminders. It just lacks some of the basic features I need.

If you are looking to get a grip on organising your tasks, then I really do suggest Remember the Milk. And best of all - it is free!
Migrating Email, RSS, and Calendar Online

By Ethan Poole

This week I have been working to migrate much of my data to online services, particularly my email, my RSS feeds, and my calendar. Before, I had been using Apple Mail, iCal, and Vienna (external link) to manage all of these services, which pretty much tied the data to my main iMac. However, whenever I went to use another computer (particularly my iBook), I was left without this crucial data, so I decided I wanted to move the data to a more centralised available location: online. The primary inspiration to move my data online came from a blog post over at Zen Habits (external link).

Already, my email was stored using Gmail (external link), and downloaded to my iMac in Mail. Moving over to the online client was all I had to do here. My mail was nicely stored and ready for me to use. I migrated my calendar over to Google Calendar (external link), which only took a few minutes via its import feature. For RSS, I decided to use Google Reader (external link), which proved to take a bit more time because I had to manually add each feed I read. However, all of my email, RSS, and calendars are stored via the simplistic and reliable Google services.

My choice to use Google was simple: it is easy to use. Since I already used Gmail, it took only a few minutes to get everything setup. However, one complaint I have is that I was not able to link my Google Reader account to my Gmail and Google Calendar accounts. My main Google account is via Google Apps, so I can use an @lowter.us email address and such. However, Google Reader is not available for Google Apps users, so I had to setup a separate account to use this service.

Honestly, it is very nice to have all my data centralised, as tonight I easily read my RSS feeds on my laptop while watching Lost. Then I made a few emails and setup some email reminders for upcoming school events. And I did not have to worry about syncing the data back to my iMac. Oh, how much I love easy centralisation, it is so organised and hassle-free!
Revision3

By Matt Oakes

Online TV programmes are traditionally of very poor quality and have very poor presenters. However, one place on the Internet is attempting to break this mould and to produce TV quality programmes exclusively for the Internet: Revision3.

Revision3 (external link) currently has eleven active shows (external link), as well as a behind-the-scenes programme (external link) which comes out every so often. The shows range from music shows, such as XLR8R TV (external link), to technology shows, such as Tekzilla (external link), to internet culture shows, such as Diggnation (external link). The range of shows offered is fairly good, but is limited to very "techie" related content, which is fair considering the demographic of people that watch Revision3 shows.

I've been watching shows from Revision3 every week for almost a year now and I've started to prefer watching them over shows on TV now. Since the expensive new recording studio (external link) was built, the quality of the shows has increased dramatically and I don't see the shows going bad anytime soon.

Oh, and by the way - it's all free!