<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><channel><title>Download Squad</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com</link><description>Download Squad</description><image><url>http://www.downloadsquad.com/media/feedlogo.gif</url><title>Download Squad</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com</link></image><language>en-us</language><copyright>Copyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.</copyright><generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title>Aviary - launches Dodo, new web based photo aging tool</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/04/01/aviary-launches-dodo-new-web-based-photo-aging-tool/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/04/01/aviary-launches-dodo-new-web-based-photo-aging-tool/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/04/01/aviary-launches-dodo-new-web-based-photo-aging-tool/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/fun/" rel="tag">Fun</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/internet/" rel="tag">Internet</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/news/" rel="tag">News</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><div align="right"><br />
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<div align="left">The folks at <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/02/14/aviary-web-image-editing-suite-test-flight/">Aviary</a> are at it again and today released their latest webbased photo tool called Dodo. Unlike any other photo editing tool, Dodo allows users to age people, places and things. So for instance, if you wanted to see what you might look like in say 25 years, you would upload a picture of yourself and choose different settings, set a year and click to generate. See below screenshot of Dodo in action.<br /></div>
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<br /><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2008/03/avi1.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />What's really cool is you can reverse the process as well - a nice touch especially for your aging grandparents - like a face lift without the surgery. Dodo is a great tool to have in your editing arsenal and since it's web based, you can have it with you anywhere you go.<br /><br />You can sign up for an Aviary account at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://a.viary.com/" class="author" linkindex="19" set="yes">http://a.viary.com</a>. Be sure to log in, then log out and log in again to activate the Dodo tool.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/04/01/aviary-launches-dodo-new-web-based-photo-aging-tool/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/1154236/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/04/01/aviary-launches-dodo-new-web-based-photo-aging-tool/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>afd08</category><category>aviary</category><category>dodo tool</category><category>DodoTool</category><dc:creator>Dolores Parker</dc:creator><dc:date>2008-04-01T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>You Suck at Photoshop - a series of tutorials</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/18/you-suck-at-photoshop-a-series-of-tutorials/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/18/you-suck-at-photoshop-a-series-of-tutorials/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/18/you-suck-at-photoshop-a-series-of-tutorials/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/fun/" rel="tag">Fun</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/video/" rel="tag">Video</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/adobe/" rel="tag">Adobe</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><img width="240" vspace="16" hspace="4" height="199" border="1" align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2008/03/yousuckatphotoshop1.jpg" alt="You Suck at Photoshop" />Okay, just admit it. You know you want to. We can admit it, so we're sure you can. You want us to do it for you? Alright then, here it is:<br /><br />You suck at Photoshop. <br /><br />See, it wasn't so bad, was it? <br /><br />The truth is, most people suck at Photoshop. But most of us also wish that we sucked a little less at it. Luckily, if your ego can handle it, Donnie Holye has created a hilarious and educational series of Photoshop tutorials titled <a href="http://laughingsquid.com/you-suck-at-photoshop-by-donnie-hoyle/">You Suck at Photoshop</a>. <br /><br />These videos aren't for the faint of heart. Donnie has been known to use more than the odd bit of profanity, and some of the subject matter might be off-putting to our more sensitive readers. But if you have the fortitude for it, You Suck at Photoshop is an entertaining way to pick up a new Photoshop technique.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://laughingsquid.com/you-suck-at-photoshop-by-donnie-hoyle/>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/18/you-suck-at-photoshop-a-series-of-tutorials/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/1142665/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/18/you-suck-at-photoshop-a-series-of-tutorials/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>photoshop</category><category>photoshop-tutorial</category><category>tutorial</category><category>video</category><category>you-suck-at-photoshop</category><dc:creator>Jason Clarke</dc:creator><dc:date>2008-03-18T09:30:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Do more with GIMP by adding plugins</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/27/do-more-with-gimp-by-adding-plugins/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/27/do-more-with-gimp-by-adding-plugins/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/27/do-more-with-gimp-by-adding-plugins/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag">Utilities</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><a href="http://www.techzilo.com/gimp-plugins/"><img width="200" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="125" border="0" align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/12/2007_12_27_40gimpplugins.jpg" id="img1" alt="" /></a>We are big fans of free, open-source alternatives to brand-name software, and one of the best examples of this is <a href="http://www.gimp.org/">GIMP</a>, the full-featured Photoshop rival. Like any good forward-thinking software project, GIMP has a plugin architecture which allows for any shortcomings or missing features to be remedied by a helpful developer taking the time to create the necessary add-in. techZilo has compiled a <a href="http://www.techzilo.com/gimp-plugins/">handy list</a> of its top 40+ plugins for GIMP including "Snow" (just in time for winter!), "RedEye," and "Light Filter."<br /><br />Installing the plugins on Linux will require the use of your trusty terminal, and some plugins even require running install scripts (new Linux users will probably want to consult the <a href="http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-scripting.html#gimp-plugins-install">GIMP docs</a> for help). If you're running GIMP on Windows, you'll have to look for a precompiled version of the plugins you want since most GIMP plugins are uncompiled code that your Windows machine will not understand.<br /><br />GIMP is available for Linux and Windows, and also for Mac OS X via Darwinports or Fink (so you would follow the plugin installation instructions for Linux).<br /><br />[Via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/337476/power-up-gimp-with-40%252B-free-plug+ins">Lifehacker</a>]<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.techzilo.com/gimp-plugins/>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/27/do-more-with-gimp-by-adding-plugins/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/1071731/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/27/do-more-with-gimp-by-adding-plugins/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>gimp</category><category>plugin</category><dc:creator>Todd Ritter</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-12-27T14:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Photoshop plugin of the day: Icon Plugin by Sibcode</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/26/photoshop-plugin-of-the-day-icon-plugin-by-sibcode/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/26/photoshop-plugin-of-the-day-icon-plugin-by-sibcode/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/26/photoshop-plugin-of-the-day-icon-plugin-by-sibcode/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/adobe/" rel="tag">Adobe</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/microsoft/" rel="tag">Microsoft</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/freeware/" rel="tag">Freeware</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sibcode.com/icon-plugin/index.htm" target="_blank"><img width="346" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="219" border="0" align="middle" alt="Icon Plugin" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/12/icon-plugin.jpg" /></a><br /></div>
<br />Anyone who uses <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/index.html">Adobe Photoshop</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span> regularly has probably learned to both love and loath Adobe's signature product. Despite being the top-contender in the image editing business, Photoshop is still missing some features.<br /><br />For example, out of the box, Adobe Photoshop has no option to save files as .ICO or icon files. One option is to make a bitmap (.bmp) image first and then rename it to .ico . However that creates a problem with icon backgrounds occasionally. Then there are the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?aq=o&amp;num=30&amp;hl=en&amp;safe=off&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&amp;hs=0l3&amp;q=commercial+icon+plugin+for+photoshop&amp;btnG=Search">more expensive additives</a> or plugins. But now you can make, edit and save icon files with Photoshop without spending a single dime using the <a href="http://www.sibcode.com/icon-plugin/index.htm">Icon Plugin by Sibcode</a>.<p><a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/26/photoshop-plugin-of-the-day-icon-plugin-by-sibcode/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Photoshop plugin of the day: Icon Plugin by Sibcode</em></a></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.sibcode.com/icon-plugin/index.htm>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/26/photoshop-plugin-of-the-day-icon-plugin-by-sibcode/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/1070844/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/26/photoshop-plugin-of-the-day-icon-plugin-by-sibcode/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>photoshop,editing,graphics,adobe,microsoft,windows,vista,xp,phot</category><dc:creator>Naser Hossain</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-12-26T15:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Easily upload iPhoto pics to Picasa Web Albums</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/24/easily-upload-iphoto-pics-to-picasa-web-albums/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/24/easily-upload-iphoto-pics-to-picasa-web-albums/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/24/easily-upload-iphoto-pics-to-picasa-web-albums/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/web-services/" rel="tag">Web services</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><a href="http://picasa.google.com/web/mac_tools.html"><img width="220" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="195" border="0" align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/12/2007_12_23_picasaiphotoplugin2.jpg" alt="" /></a>If you're an iPhoto user and want an easy way to upload your pictures from iPhoto to <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com">Picasa Web Albums</a> (Google Photos), then check out Google's Picasa Web Albums Exporter <a href="http://picasa.google.com/web/mac_tools.html">iPhoto plug-in</a>. The plug-in is available as part of a package from Google's Mac tools site (if you don't use iPhoto, you can use the standalone Web Albums Uploader program to upload your pictures to your Picasa albums). Once installed, open iPhoto and either select an album or specific photos you want to upload. Then click File -&gt; Export and choose the "Picasa Web" tab. The plug-in lets you upload the selected photos to a new album, which it will then create for you with a title and description that you can specify, or to one of your existing albums.<br /><br />The plug-in makes short work of sharing your iPhoto pictures via your Google account. It even allows you to choose how to scale your photos during the upload (better quality, faster upload, actual size) which is helpful if you're on a slow Internet connection. The plug-in will also add any keywords or descriptions you've added in iPhoto to your Picasa Web Album!<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://picasa.google.com/web/mac_tools.html>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/24/easily-upload-iphoto-pics-to-picasa-web-albums/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/1069915/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/24/easily-upload-iphoto-pics-to-picasa-web-albums/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>google</category><category>iphoto</category><category>picasa</category><category>web albums</category><category>WebAlbums</category><dc:creator>Todd Ritter</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-12-24T12:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Exclusive - Photology, new photo cataloging software</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/10/29/exclusive-photology-new-photo-cataloging-software/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/10/29/exclusive-photology-new-photo-cataloging-software/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/10/29/exclusive-photology-new-photo-cataloging-software/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/internet/" rel="tag">Internet</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><div align="center"><a href="http://www.getphotology.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/10/front.jpg" /></a><br /></div>
<a href="http://www.getphotology.com/">Photology</a>, set for public release today, is a new photo cataloging and organizing software that will help you make sense of all those photos named "DSC00012.jpg" or something equally unremarkable on your hard drive. Who really has the time at this point to go back and "tag", or group into folders, or make sense of the traffic choke of photos, years in the making, on their computers? If you've been waiting for that rainy day (that hasn't happened yet) Photology might be the solution you've been looking for.<br /><br />
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 2px;"> <script type="text/javascript"> digg_url = 'http://digg.com/software/Exclusive_Photology_new_photo_cataloging_software_50_free_licenses'; </script> <script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </div>
One of the creators of Photology, Steven Kim, who works at our sister-blog Engadget gave us an inside preview of the software. Our rundown is after the jump. If you like what you see, and are quick, you might be able to snag a free Photology license (50 reserved for Download Squad readers), valued at $39 each! Details after the jump.<p><a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/10/29/exclusive-photology-new-photo-cataloging-software/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Exclusive - Photology, new photo cataloging software</em></a></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/10/29/exclusive-photology-new-photo-cataloging-software/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/1013069/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/10/29/exclusive-photology-new-photo-cataloging-software/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>enotec</category><category>photo-cataloging-software</category><category>photo-image-editor</category><category>photo-search</category><category>photology</category><dc:creator>Dolores Parker</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-10-29T21:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>JPEG image enhancer - Today's Imaging Tip</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/07/01/jpeg-image-enhancer-todays-imaging-tip/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/07/01/jpeg-image-enhancer-todays-imaging-tip/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/07/01/jpeg-image-enhancer-todays-imaging-tip/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag">Utilities</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/freeware/" rel="tag">Freeware</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><img width="250" vspace="16" hspace="4" height="190" border="1" align="right" alt="JPEG Enhancer" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/06/jpegenhancer.jpg" />If you've ever spent much time manipulating JPEG images, you know that although the JPEG image compression algorithm is very effective at spitting out relatively tiny file sizes, that effectiveness comes at a cost. JPEG is what is known as a lossy compression algorithm, which means that in order to achieve the compression rates that it does, it basically throws away image information, and attempts to fill in the blanks by "faking it". Granted, this is an over-simplification, but it gives an idea of what's going on. JPEG files can be saved with varying amounts of compression, so you can have better image quality at the expense of a larger file, or worse image quality with a much smaller file. <br /><br />Once you've saved a file at a high compression rate, you've basically lost the quality from the image. One of the unfortunate things about JPEG compression is that when that quality is missing, it's very obvious. Rather than blurring in a uniform fashion, the JPEG algorithm creates "artifacts", which are blocky areas, typically around parts of an image that have sharp edges or gradual gradients.<br /><br />While it can't bring back the quality to a heavily compressed JPEG image, <a href="http://www.vicman.net/jpegenhancer/index.htm">JPEG Enhancer</a> can smooth out the artifacts and make a much nicer-looking image as a result. It's so easy to use, it's ridiculous; simply open a JPEG image that you would like to fix, set the filter slider at the bottom, and press the Process button to see the results. Once you have it set to your satisfaction, save your new image and you're done. <br /><br />JPEG Enhancer recently became a free download, so what's to lose?<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.vicman.net/jpegenhancer/index.htm>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/07/01/jpeg-image-enhancer-todays-imaging-tip/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/930433/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/07/01/jpeg-image-enhancer-todays-imaging-tip/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>image enhancer</category><category>ImageEnhancer</category><category>JPEG algorithm</category><category>JPEG compression</category><category>JPEG enhancer</category><category>JPEG image enhancer</category><category>JpegAlgorithm</category><category>JpegCompression</category><category>JpegEnhancer</category><category>JpegImageEnhancer</category><dc:creator>Jason Clarke</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-07-01T14:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Design Tip - LightZone commercial quality for free</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/14/design-tip-lightzone-commercial-quality-for-free/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/14/design-tip-lightzone-commercial-quality-for-free/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/14/design-tip-lightzone-commercial-quality-for-free/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/developer/" rel="tag">Developer</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/macintosh/" rel="tag">Macintosh</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/linux/" rel="tag">Linux</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/open-source/" rel="tag">Open Source</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design-tips/" rel="tag">Design Tips</a></p><br />
<div align="center"><img width="425" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="278" border="1" align="top" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/03/lightzone.jpg" /><br /></div>
LightZone, the RAW photo converter, can cost you hundreds of dollars for the Windows or OS X versions, however, the Linux version is free. LightZone is a powerful photo editing software package based on tonal zones with an easy intuitive interface.<br /><br />The Windows and OS X versions are <a href="http://www.lightcrafts.com/store/">available</a> in a Basic edition for $150 and a Full version for $250. The <a href="http://sonic.net/~rat/lightcrafts/index.html">Linux version</a> is functionally equivalent to the Full version, and did we mention, is free? LightZone is copyrighted by Light Crafts of Palo Alto, CA. They do not provide online support for the Linux version however, Anton Kast, Light Crafts' chief architect and Linux devotee maintains a separate page to keep the Linux version updated and to provide technical support.<br /><br />[via <a href="http://applications.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/1930237&amp;tid=39">Linux.com</a>]<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://applications.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/1930237&amp;tid=39>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/14/design-tip-lightzone-commercial-quality-for-free/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/852179/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/14/design-tip-lightzone-commercial-quality-for-free/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>light crafts</category><category>LightCrafts</category><category>lightzone</category><category>linux</category><category>open source</category><category>OpenSource</category><category>photo editing software</category><category>PhotoEditingSoftware</category><dc:creator>Dolores Parker</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-03-14T10:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Create better screenshots with RumShot</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/26/create-better-screenshots-with-rumshot/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/26/create-better-screenshots-with-rumshot/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/26/create-better-screenshots-with-rumshot/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag">Utilities</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/blogging/" rel="tag">Blogging</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/microsoft/" rel="tag">Microsoft</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/freeware/" rel="tag">Freeware</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/02/rumshot.jpg" /><br /></div>
You've got to love a program with a clever name, and who doesn't like a shot of rum? So right off the bat, I was predisposed to like <a href="http://shellscape.org/rumshot/">RumShot</a>. This free little Windows application allows you to apply themes to your screenshots as you take them. The results end up looking pretty remarkable. <br /><br />There's no installer to fuss with; simply unzip RumShot to a folder and go ahead and run it. Of course you'll probably want to read the readme file, cleverly titled "README OR LOSE YOUR HAIR.txt". It provides a basic description of how RumShot works. To be honest, I found the description a bit confusing, but simply playing with the program for 30 seconds made it clear. <br /><br />One thing to note; don't be dismayed by the fact that there is only one default theme when you install RumShot; the first thing you're going to want to do is go and download the free <a href="http://shellscape.org/rumshot/themes.htm">Theme Pack</a>, which gives you no less than 68 themes to choose from.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://shellscape.org/rumshot/>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/26/create-better-screenshots-with-rumshot/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/840371/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/26/create-better-screenshots-with-rumshot/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>framed screenshots</category><category>FramedScreenshots</category><category>RumShot</category><category>screenshot</category><category>themed screenshots</category><category>ThemedScreenshots</category><dc:creator>Jason Clarke</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-02-26T18:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Mapwing: The next best thing to being there</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/15/mapwing-the-next-best-thing-to-being-there/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/15/mapwing-the-next-best-thing-to-being-there/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/15/mapwing-the-next-best-thing-to-being-there/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/business/" rel="tag">Business</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/fun/" rel="tag">Fun</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/internet/" rel="tag">Internet</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/macintosh/" rel="tag">Macintosh</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/linux/" rel="tag">Linux</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/social-software/" rel="tag">Social Software</a></p><div align="left"><a href="http://www.mapwing.com/create.php"><img width="255" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="60" border="1" align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/02/mapwinglogo.jpg" alt="Mapwing Logo jpg" /></a>Mapwing is a neat little application that allows you to create your own virtual tours from digital photos and then share them online. If you're familiar with <a href="http://www.ipix.com/index.html">IPIX </a>for watching video online tours of real estate, etc., then Mapwing is a very similar tool, but done with photos instead of video. Best of all, the basic package is free and you can create the tour yourself using Mapwing's online tutorials.<br /></div>
<br />When you watch a Mapwing tour, not only do you see photos, but you also view a side by side map of the scene. Each photo corresponds to a location on the map (provided by you), so the viewer gets a comprehensive spatial tour. To get started, <a href="http://www.mapwing.com/create.php">Mapwing</a> recommends the following equipment:<br />
<ul class="norm">
    <li> 1+ megapixel camera with enough memory for at least 60 pictures</li>
    <li>Flash unit</li>
    <li>Tripod</li>
    <li>Clipboard, paper, and pencil</li>
    <li>Map or floor plan of the area (if available)</li>
    <li>Compass (optional)</li>
</ul>
Mapwing System Requirements:
<ul class="norm">
    <li>A modern operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux)</li>
    <li>An up-to-date Web browser (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer)</li>
    <li>Adobe Flash Player 7 or higher (Flash Player 9 is required to create virtual tours)</li>
</ul>
The Basic package provides public hosting of your tour so as a general safety precaution, be sure to keep your personal details, such as names, location and other identifiers, from your posting.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.mapwing.com/create.php>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/15/mapwing-the-next-best-thing-to-being-there/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/753309/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/15/mapwing-the-next-best-thing-to-being-there/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>interactive mapping</category><category>online virtual tours</category><category>OnlineVirtualTours</category><category>social software</category><category>web 2.0</category><category>Web2.0</category><dc:creator>Dolores Parker</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-02-15T08:30:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Organize photos with your OS in 5 easy steps- DLS Imaging Tip</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/10/organize-photos-with-your-os-in-5-easy-steps-dls-imaging-tip/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/10/organize-photos-with-your-os-in-5-easy-steps-dls-imaging-tip/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/10/organize-photos-with-your-os-in-5-easy-steps-dls-imaging-tip/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/macintosh/" rel="tag">Macintosh</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/linux/" rel="tag">Linux</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/productivity/" rel="tag">Productivity</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/unix/" rel="tag">Unix</a></p><img width="200" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="158" border="0" align="right" subfolders="" and="" pictures="" my="" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/01/folders.png" />If you've had a digital camera for any length of time, by now you have thousands--maybe even tens of thousands--of digital pictures of anything and everything. And if you're like most people you've cheerfully imported them into photo management software of some sort. Maybe it's something like NikonView that came with your camera or maybe it's the copy of Photoshop Elements that came pre-installed on your hard drive. Perhaps it's Picasa. If you're on a Mac it's almost certainly iPhoto. Or maybe you're a pro, or just really into digital photography, and you hopped on one of the Adobe Lightroom betas or shelled out some cash for something like ACDSee, iView, or Aperture.<br /><br />Whatever you're doing it's probably time to stop. Photo gallery and management software is a wonderful way to arrange and display pictures you want to use for something. Most of of the time, the "something" is printing, displaying on screen as a slideshow or screensaver, or uploading to a photo sharing service like Flickr. For most people, that describes a very small fraction of the pictures they take. The rest just sit around in the photo library collecting dust and causing trouble, mostly in the form of slowdowns. Your library has to load all those thumbnails every time you open it, whether you ever look at the pictures or not. When you add new photos, the software has to scan the pictures, add the appropriate information to its database, create thumbnails, probably copy the images to its own directory, and sometimes even convert the images to its native format. And again, it has to do that even if you never even look at the image.<br /><br />That takes time. Often it takes a lot of time, and for nine tenths of digital photos, it's wasted time.<br /><br />On the other hand, you don't really want to just delete all those other pictures. The sheer quantity is part of the fun of digital photography, right? And you never know when some of those truly horrible shots might come in handy. Maybe that horrible shot of your uncle making that silly face will turn out to be the only picture of him anyone can find for a scrapbook later. Maybe you'll want something in the background of a blurry shot of a friend for reference later. Who knows? But since storage is cheap these days, there's no reason to delete all that stuff, even if you don't want it clogging up your workflow.<p><a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/10/organize-photos-with-your-os-in-5-easy-steps-dls-imaging-tip/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Organize photos with your OS in 5 easy steps- DLS Imaging Tip</em></a></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/10/organize-photos-with-your-os-in-5-easy-steps-dls-imaging-tip/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/733357/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/10/organize-photos-with-your-os-in-5-easy-steps-dls-imaging-tip/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>DLS Imaging Tip</category><category>DlsImagingTip</category><dc:creator>Jay Savage</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-01-10T13:05:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Photoshop CS3 does memory management right - DLS Imaging Tip</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/04/photoshop-cs3-does-memory-management-right-dls-imaging-tip/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/04/photoshop-cs3-does-memory-management-right-dls-imaging-tip/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/04/photoshop-cs3-does-memory-management-right-dls-imaging-tip/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/macintosh/" rel="tag">Macintosh</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/productivity/" rel="tag">Productivity</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/adobe/" rel="tag">Adobe</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="Imaging Tip: Photoshop CS3 does memory management right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/01/ps-cs3memorypref.jpg" /><br /></div>
I've been tinkering around with the Mac version of that new <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/12/15/adobe-releases-photoshop-cs3-beta/">Photoshop CS3 beta</a> Adobe unleashed, and I have to say that so far it feels like a more significant and worthy upgrade than CS2. Adobe has packed a lot of new goodies in CS3 which we'll be covering in our Imaging Tip series, and today's tip praises the return of true memory management to Photoshop.<br /><br /> As you can see, the Performance tab of PS CS3's updated Preferences display brings back complete control over how much RAM Photoshop gets to play with, and the scratch disk UI has received the steroid treatment as well. These are both great improvements for fine-tuning Photoshop's performance, especially for those either on older, slower systems or those blessed with desktop powerhouses.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/04/photoshop-cs3-does-memory-management-right-dls-imaging-tip/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/729255/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/01/04/photoshop-cs3-does-memory-management-right-dls-imaging-tip/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>cs3</category><category>management</category><category>memory</category><category>photoshop</category><category>ps</category><dc:creator>David Chartier</dc:creator><dc:date>2007-01-04T15:30:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>PAINT.NET 3.0 alpha is here</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/10/15/paintnet-30-alpha-is-here/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/10/15/paintnet-30-alpha-is-here/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/10/15/paintnet-30-alpha-is-here/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag">Utilities</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/news/" rel="tag">News</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/open-source/" rel="tag">Open Source</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><p> </p>
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.getpaint.net/index.html"><img width="400" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="315" border="1" align="middle" alt="paint.net" id="vimage_1" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2006/10/pdn2006-10-15_140215.png" /></a></div>
<p> </p>
<p>I have been using <a href="http://www.getpaint.net/index.html">Paint.net</a> for a while now, and it really is a decent editor. Everyone who needs something more powerful than the Microsoft Paint that comes with Windows, but can't figure out Adobe Photoshop needs to take a look at Paint.net. The new alpha release (for testing only of course) has a multiple document interface, which is one of the biggest improvements in the new version. Though it is labeled Alpha, 3.0 is quite stable and usable. It now has common color palette and even a common colors panels too. The formerly slow font-loading problem has been smoothed out, and the fonts show up quickly now. Check it out!   </p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.getpaint.net/index.html>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/10/15/paintnet-30-alpha-is-here/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/685210/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/10/15/paintnet-30-alpha-is-here/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>.net</category><category>dot</category><category>editing</category><category>editor</category><category>gimp</category><category>image</category><category>net</category><category>paint</category><category>paint.net</category><category>photoshop</category><dc:creator>Ryan Carter</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-10-15T16:31:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>curvyCorners: enhance your DIV tag's figure</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/09/02/curvycorners-enhance-your-div-tags-figure/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/09/02/curvycorners-enhance-your-div-tags-figure/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/09/02/curvycorners-enhance-your-div-tags-figure/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/developer/" rel="tag">Developer</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/internet/" rel="tag">Internet</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/text/" rel="tag">Text</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag">Utilities</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/open-source/" rel="tag">Open Source</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><div align="center"><a href="http://www.curvycorners.net/index.php"><img width="400" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="116" border="1" align="middle" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2006/09/cc2006-09-02_120723.png" id="vimage_2" alt="curvyCorners" /></a></div>
I get sick of my web page div tags being all square by default. Sure, I <em>can</em> change them, but that doesn't mean I want to. You got me, I'm lazy, but who isn't to some degree? It is just something that I feel I shouldn't <em>have </em>to do. Using graphics to spice up a div is good enough for most projects, but it still isn't giving me truly <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">rounded</span> curvy divs either and can be time consuming. Well, for those of you who are somewhat lazy like me (come on, you know you are), curvyCorners is for you. This is a javascript setup written to easily round the corners on your divs, and includes such features as:<br />
<ul>
    <li>Free (<span style="font-style: italic;">my favorite feature ever</span>)<br /></li>
    <li>Easy to use JavaScript object</li>
    <li>Requires no images or image editing</li>
    <li>Full Anti-Aliasing support</li>
    <li>Anti-Aliasing over graphical backgrounds</li>
    <li>Background-image support (round corners of images)</li>
    <li>Fluid height/width support</li>
    <li>Solid border support, any colour/width with Anti-Aliasing</li>
    <li>User defined per corner radius</li>
    <li>The latest version (1.2.9) is compatible with scriptaculous.js and prototype.js<br />(excerpted from the <a href="http://www.curvycorners.net/index.php">curvyCorners website</a>)</li>
</ul>
More examples after the jump...<p><a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/09/02/curvycorners-enhance-your-div-tags-figure/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>curvyCorners: enhance your DIV tag's figure</em></a></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.curvycorners.net/index.php>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/09/02/curvycorners-enhance-your-div-tags-figure/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/662991/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/09/02/curvycorners-enhance-your-div-tags-figure/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>curvyCorners</category><category>div</category><category>roundedcorners</category><category>tags</category><dc:creator>Ryan Carter</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-09-02T14:48:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Perfect Skin Photo - Today's Time Waster</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/28/perfect-skin-photo--todays-time-waster/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/28/perfect-skin-photo--todays-time-waster/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/28/perfect-skin-photo--todays-time-waster/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/fun/" rel="tag">Fun</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/shareware/" rel="tag">Shareware</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/time-waster/" rel="tag">Time-Wasters</a></p><div align="center"><a href="http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Digital-Photo-Tools/Perfect-Skin-Photo.shtml"><img width="400" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="200" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2006/07/2006-07-27_222823.png" id="vimage_1" alt="Perfect Skin Photo" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Digital-Photo-Tools/Perfect-Skin-Photo.shtml">Perfect Skin Photo</a> will turn Aunt Agatha into a supermodel (supposedly). This gem will automatically fix any skin imperfections that exist in your photos. Now when I tried to "fix" a photo using this program, it made everybody look like they were wearing Nixon masks. Aside from any real photo-fixing value, this shareware program is great late at night, at parties, and whenever you need a laugh. That is about all it is good for. The idea is a good one, but it seems that whoever wrote this simply had too much free time on their hands. This is a handy app to make you feel better after a long day at the job. Maybe you could make your boss look a little better, um different. It's just a thought.<br /><br />[Via <a href="http://softpedia.com">Softpedia.com]</a><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Digital-Photo-Tools/Perfect-Skin-Photo.shtml>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/28/perfect-skin-photo--todays-time-waster/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/647926/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/28/perfect-skin-photo--todays-time-waster/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>photofix</category><category>timewaster</category><category>tools</category><dc:creator>Ryan Carter</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-07-28T09:30:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>SimpleOCR</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/24/simpleocr/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/24/simpleocr/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/24/simpleocr/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/text/" rel="tag">Text</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag">Utilities</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/office/" rel="tag">Office</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/productivity/" rel="tag">Productivity</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/freeware/" rel="tag">Freeware</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/open-source/" rel="tag">Open Source</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><a href="http://www.simpleocr.com"><img width="200" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="200" border="1" align="right" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2006/07/simpleocr.png" id="vimage_1" alt="SimpleOCR" /></a><a></a>So, simple American boy meets an attractive American flatbed scanner. It is a story we have all heard a hundred times, right? What happens in the story is the boy falls in love with the scanner, pledges it all his paper and digital bliss for as long as the scanners warranty is good. So he takes the scanner home, carries it over the threshold, and plugs it into the wall and into the back of his computer. A match made in NewEgg? The boy cares for the scanner, gets the latest drivers, makes sure he buys the best high speed shielded USB cable, and everything is peachy. Wait, what, no OCR software? Why wasn't that in the prenup? Where's my PaperPort disc? "I don't have Textbridge" he thinks, "maybe I was getting into this a little too fast, I mean I didn't even read the quick-start manual!" <br /><br />Never fear, <a href="http://www.simpleocr.com">SimpleOCR</a> is here. Available for free download, SimpleOCR is a great addition or even replacement for your OCR software. It is especially handy for those who do not have a good OCR software with which to recognize text from scanned documents. It has a fairly solid accuracy ratio, and learns as you go. Give it a shot! I use it at work right now, and it seems to do a bit better than others I have tried.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://simpleocr.com/>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/24/simpleocr/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/645751/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/24/simpleocr/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>flatbed</category><category>imaging</category><category>ocr</category><category>open-source</category><category>opticalcharacterrecognition</category><category>paperport</category><category>scanner</category><category>scanning</category><category>textbridge</category><dc:creator>Ryan Carter</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-07-24T11:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Make lenticular images with Lentikit</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/05/19/make-lenticular-images-with-lentikit/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/05/19/make-lenticular-images-with-lentikit/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/05/19/make-lenticular-images-with-lentikit/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/fun/" rel="tag">Fun</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/macintosh/" rel="tag">Macintosh</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/linux/" rel="tag">Linux</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/open-source/" rel="tag">Open Source</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><img width="200" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="150" border="1" align="right" src="http://www.downloadsquad.com/media/2006/05/lentikit.jpg" alt="lenticular images" />Remember those cool <a href="http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/stereographics/lenticular/">lenticular</a> images, back in the days before holograms and <a href="http://www.magiceye.com/products/nuprod.htm">Magic Eye</a> posters? Well I do. Lenticular images use a special plastic cover (sorta like a bunch of prisms on a page) to show your eye one of two or three images on one page. Usually they simulate a limited 3d effect, or show simple animations. My daughter has a Disney Princess cup with lenticular printing on it. There are only a couple of programs out there that'll ease the generation of lenticular images, and most are pretty pricey. Luckily the open source community has (once again) tried their hand at a tool: <a href="http://lentikit.sourceforge.net/index.html">Lentikit</a>. It's a Java application for creating and adjusting lenticular images. Lenticular screens not included. Unfortunately, Lentikit has a long way to go, but it's open source, so feel free to help the lone developer out if you think it's cool.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://lentikit.sourceforge.net/>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/05/19/make-lenticular-images-with-lentikit/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/619998/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/05/19/make-lenticular-images-with-lentikit/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>cross platform</category><category>CrossPlatform</category><category>lenticular</category><dc:creator>Victor Agreda, Jr.</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-05-19T15:40:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Autostitch - Today's Free File</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/01/20/autostitch-todays-free-file/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/01/20/autostitch-todays-free-file/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/01/20/autostitch-todays-free-file/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/fun/" rel="tag">Fun</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag">Utilities</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/freeware/" rel="tag">Freeware</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt=""src="http://www.downloadsquad.com/media/2006/01/autostitch.jpg" /></div>
<br />If you've ever wanted to put together aseries of shots into a panorama,  you might want to try the free <ahref="http://www.cs.ubc.ca/%7Embrown/autostitch/autostitch.html">Autostitch</a> program. It's the result of research from the Artificial Intelligence lab at the University of British Columbia. Yes,  there are a number of photo stitchingprograms to create panoramas out there,  but Autostitch is unique in that you simply feed in the photos to use, and it does the rest - no human intervention required! They have a free demo version  online that you can download and playwith to your heart's content.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.cs.ubc.ca/%7Embrown/autostitch/autostitch.html>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/01/20/autostitch-todays-free-file/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/583125/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/01/20/autostitch-todays-free-file/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><category>autostitch</category><category>panorama</category><dc:creator>Jason Clarke</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-01-20T08:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Help for JPEG missing from Save As dialog - Today's Imaging Tip</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/07/help-for-jpeg-missing-from-save-as-dialog-todays-imaging-tip/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/07/help-for-jpeg-missing-from-save-as-dialog-todays-imaging-tip/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/07/help-for-jpeg-missing-from-save-as-dialog-todays-imaging-tip/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/windows/" rel="tag">Windows</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/macintosh/" rel="tag">Macintosh</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/productivity/" rel="tag">Productivity</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/adobe/" rel="tag">Adobe</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><img vspace="5" hspace="5" border="1" align="right" src="http://www.downloadsquad.com/images/2005/10/PSJpegMissing.jpg" alt="Photoshop JPEG Missing"/>Is JPEG missing from your Save As dialog in CS2? <a href="http://">PhotoshopNews</a> came across a <a href="http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/325073.html">Photoshop Support Knowledgebase article</a>
detailing a few of Photoshop's boundaries for saving to the JPEG
format. Aside from staying away from a couple color modes such as
indexed or LAB, Photoshop also won't let you use JPEG in the Save As
dialog if the image is: 1) 16 bits/channel, 2) the image is larger than
30,000 x 30,000 pixels or 3) larger than 2 GB.<br/>
<br/>
Hopefully that helps explain the hang-up for anyone who's been hung up on saving JPEG's.<br/><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/325073.html>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/07/help-for-jpeg-missing-from-save-as-dialog-todays-imaging-tip/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/32646/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/07/help-for-jpeg-missing-from-save-as-dialog-todays-imaging-tip/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><dc:creator>David Chartier</dc:creator><dc:date>2005-10-07T19:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Galerie, an OS X web gallery app - Today's Imaging Tip</title><link>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/06/galerie-an-os-x-web-gallery-app-todays-imaging-tip/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/06/galerie-an-os-x-web-gallery-app-todays-imaging-tip/</guid><comments>http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/06/galerie-an-os-x-web-gallery-app-todays-imaging-tip/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/design/" rel="tag">Design</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/internet/" rel="tag">Internet</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/photo/" rel="tag">Photo</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/utilities/" rel="tag">Utilities</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/macintosh/" rel="tag">Macintosh</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/productivity/" rel="tag">Productivity</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/freeware/" rel="tag">Freeware</a>, <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/category/imaging/" rel="tag">Imaging Tips</a></p><div align="center"><img vspace="5" hspace="5" src="http://www.downloadsquad.com/images/2005/10/Galerie.jpg" alt="Galerie"/></div>
Continuing on my web image gallery kick from the other day's server-side <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/04/zenphoto-ajax-powered-photo-gallery-todays-imaging-tip/">Zenphoto Imaging Tip</a>, <a href="http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/galerie.htm">Galerie</a> is probably my new favorite desktop-side media gallery tools for OS X. It can generate a gallery from any of the big OS X image apps like iPhoto, GraphicConverter, and iView MediaPro, or from a good 'ol folder of images or QuickTime files. Yep - it handles more than just purty pi'tures. Visitor counters and comments are available, as well as a plethora of other options and customizations. It uses CSS templates to put everything together, and you can naturally build your own or download any number of them available from Galerie's site. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/galerie.htm">Galerie</a> is a really well-done and powerful app for those who want or need to build their galleries locally, and oh yea: it's free.<br/><br/>[via <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2005/10/06/galerie-my-favorite-iphoto-addition/">TUAW</a>]<br/><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/galerie.htm>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/06/galerie-an-os-x-web-gallery-app-todays-imaging-tip/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/forward/32284/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/10/06/galerie-an-os-x-web-gallery-app-todays-imaging-tip/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br />]]></description><dc:creator>David Chartier</dc:creator><dc:date>2005-10-06T12:00:00+00:00</dc:date></item></channel></rss>