An XHTML editor is a lot like a teacup dog breed or a designer pig. Okay, so they don't tremble incessantly or have the tendency to pee in the corner of your living room. They are really just highly specialized, souped-up versions of something else. Chihuahuas are pack animals, just like wolves. Potbellied pigs know instinctively how to root around for tasty things, as do wild boars. And XHTML editors edit text.
They have many tools to make editing XHTML (and other bits of code geared specifically for web use) faster and easier, but there's nothing says you need to use an XHTML editor for web coding. Text editors can do the job as well. If Kate, gedit, or Cream do the job for you, either on their own or with a few plugins, that's got you ahead of the game.
But there are some XHTML editors that manage to bundle the basic functions and a whole slew of handy extras into a nicely finished package. There are quite a few of them, and we'll be touching on more of them next week.
This week we'll take a peek at Bluefish and Quanta Plus. Why? Because they are the two most often included in Linux as the sort of "came with the distro" web development applications. Even if they aren't installed by default, many people try them first.
Photobucket, a popular image-hosting site, will get basic image-editing features (resizing, cropping, coloring, rotating, etc.) thanks to FotoFlexer, an in-browser, web-based picture editor.
For those who use both services, this is probably unsurprising as FotoFlexer already lets users save their edited pictures to their Photobucket accounts -- as well as any Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo Flickr, and Google Picasa accounts that they know the usernames and passwords to.
Well, at least this saves Photobucket users the hassle of logging into a separate site to do a little basic editing, which comes to a total of 48 seconds saved per photo edited according to our highly (un)scientific calculations.
Photo management software for Windows makes us weep. For most people, photo management consists of loading the software (and drivers) that came from the camera manufacturer. So you've got a Nikon camera, and the photo management software is really different from your significant other's Kodak software.
It looks different. It acts different. It's easier to set up some ways, or more inflexible in others. It might even be installing extraneous applications on your machine you weren't expecting.
Linux, as you've probably guessed, handles cameras a little differently. Camera drivers -- many different camera drivers -- are handled by gphoto2 and its libraries. Your pictures are downloaded and organized through photo management software, which runs on top of the gphoto2 drivers. (As a side note, gphoto2 can also be used to download pictures from the command line.)
Your Nikon, your mom's Kodak, and your brother's Sony will all use the same photo management program on your Linux machine. Now that's a little less complicated.
Today we're taking a look at the F-Spot photo manager.
Sometimes you need to process, crop, clip, or otherwise edit an image file in a hurry--and Photoshop takes longer to launch than most folks are willing to wait when a simple image modification is all that's needed. That's why we were pretty excited to find out about Photo Drop, a Mac Dashboard widget that really seems to speed up quicky image edits.
Since Photo Drop is a widget, you can drag files to it from other widgets or even from your desktop (drag the file to a hotcorner to activate Dashboard and then drop it on the Photo Drop widget). When you're done with your edits, drag it back out to the Finder and off you go.
Photo Drop provides several handy manipulations including cropping, resizing, borders, and some tasty eye candy like "1-bit", which will convert your photo into a strictly black and white image. We're digging it.
Last month we showed you an online demo of a super-cool image resizing algorithm. The demo was a bit rough around the edges, but showed how you could resize an image without making it look all distorted.
Now it looks like Rsizr has come pretty close to perfecting the process with a slick web-based application. All you have to do is upload a photo, push a few buttons, wait, wait, wait, and you can make your images larger or smaller without looking all squashed.
The site isn't as intuitive to use as we'd like. But after playing around a bit, here's what we can tell you. You have a choice of resizing your images the old fashioned way, or of using a seam carving algorithm that looks similar to the one co-developed by Shai Avidon who was recently hired by Adobe.
If you're okay with distorted looking images, just click the rescale tab for instant gratification. The retarget feature is where all the fun is at. First you tell Rsizr how many lines to scan and it will find "seams" of content that can be safely removed without making the image look funny. It will also figure out how to add lines if you want to stretch the image. In the video above you can see the difference between rescaling and retargeting. Very cool.
Being able to access your work wherever you are is key to pretty much anyone involved with the internet. The same goes for creators of movies and slideshows, whether they are for fun, school or for business. Sometimes it might take a little longer than expected to mix a video video or create a slideshow. You might have to finish while on the run, or at different venues, and having these items in an online resource that is universally accessible is key to being able to complete them.
JayCut is such service. This online location gives users the ability to create, edit and publish online movies and slideshows using a set of easy controls. A handful of effect and transitions are also available and music can be uploaded and added to shows. Videos can also be embedded in social networks, blogs and websites. Forget about paying thousands for a pro setup if you're just playing around, JayCut is one online application that could work out just fine.
Ubuntu Studio is designed to prove that Linux is just as good as OS X or Windows for creating and manipulating media files. Of course, if you're not an ubergeek, installing audio, video, and image editing applications can be a bit of a hassle.
That's where Ubuntu Studio comes in. The distribution comes with some of the most popular and powerful free multimedia software available, including:
And a boatload of other packages designed for creating digital media
Sure, you could configure your own Ubuntu or other Linux system to run all the same software. But Ubuntu Studio takes most of the pain out of the process.
One thing to note, the ISO is a bit larger than your typical LiveCD, at 860MB. So you'll have to burn it to a DVD. Oh yeah, and it's not a LiveCD... err LiveDVD. You'll have to install Ubuntu Studio if you want to take it for a test drive. Fortunately the installation process is fairly straightforward, and if you have an empty partition on your hard drive Ubuntu Studio can happily coexist with Windows or other operating systems.
As the web application world heats up, companies that were once offering locally installed software only, are slowly delving into the online world. Recent news says that Adobe will be offering an online version of Photoshop in the next six months. A decision they base on numerous consumer demands.
Adobe's CEO told CNET news that the online service will complement their existing product range, and reach new customers across the online marketplace. The free entry level online hosted application will have fewer image editing tools, but will suffice online photo editing junkies. Adobe has been watching Google and other online application companies closely, and wants to ensure that they hit that market before others take control. Adobe currently has Adobe Remix, an online video remixing tool, which is set to launch soon.
While Mac users have iMovie, Windows folks have a less straightforward choice when it comes to novice video editing software. That's the gap Movavi hopes to fill, with its promise of an all-in-one video post-production suite for capturing, converting, editing, and distributing video over the web or for your iPod. Broken up into six miniature applications for each step of the post-production process, Movavi's list of touted features are pretty simplistic and no-frills, but for users looking for the most basic video editing solution, Movavi might fulfill that need for a price of $59. Intermediate or advanced editors need not bother. Check out the full list of features here, and give the demo a quick spin.
If you ever find yourself working on a computer where you don't have the world's number one professional photo editing software, Photoshop, or just don't feel like spending the pile of cash that it demands, smaller online solutions might be for you. In my quest to locate a great photo editing tool that makes editing photos easy for everyone, I have come across Picnik. Picnik has powerful online photo editing tools that you can use through your browser. Registration is free, and pictures can be uploaded from Flickr, your computer, directly from a website link, Yahoo search, Flickr search, or from a webcam. Picnik's list of editing tools include auto fix, rotate, crop, exposure, colors, sharpen, and red-eye reduction. There are five special creative tools one can use, but only one is currently active. This is the special effect set, where users can easily change photos to black & white, sepia, boost colors, matte picture with soft edges, vignette, and soften. When photo editing is complete, photos can than be uploaded to your Flickr account, email the photo directly to an email address in small, medium, large, or full mode, save it to your computer, or create a Flickr slideshow. Users can also choose to email photos to websites including Photobucket, Costco, Snapfish, Kodak and Photolog where they can be printed and ordered online. There is also another option where you can print photos directly from Picnik onto your home printer if you choose. The interface is easy to navigate, and it's a joy to use. If you prefer to work full screen with no browser borders, simply click on the Picnik logo.
I have been using Paint.net 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!
Big day for photographers today. The news at todays' Apple Photokina event was, as expected, the release of Aperture 1.5. Whether Adobe timed their Lightroom announcement to coincide or Apple set the event to coincide with the Lightroom announcement is anybody's guess. Regardless, the new Aperture will be available to current users as a downloadable upgrade sometime this week, and should hit the shelves almost immediately as well. the major new features are:
Loupe with adjustible controls
Flexible Library locations with support for any disk location, attached RAID, and even indexed removable media
This morning, Adobe announce the latest beta of their Adobe Lightroom RAW workflow software. Top on the list of improvements is feature parity between OS X and Windows versions. Windows users are no doubt saying "it's about time." Other enhancements include improved curves algorithms and controls, a "more streamlined and elegant" GUI, customizable UI, precision white balance, ability to easily convert files to DNG after import, closer mapping between the Lightroom library and the FS, performance enhancements for the Web module, and other user requested enhancements, particularly from the Pixmantec crowd. I can only imagine what they had to say. Granted, most people are nicer than I am, but if I were a RAWShooter user, I would have had trouble not taking a little aggression out on the Lightroom team, whether they deserved it or not.
I haven't had a chance to play around with all the new features yet, but the updated GUI is certainly an improvement, as is the option to hide the toolbar by clicking 't'.
Ulead is a company that specializes in powerful yet easy-to-use software for the masses. Their products come pre-bundled with many digital cameras and scanners, because they are so easy to use. Ulead's latest software release is no exception, making powerful image editing as easy as a flick click of the wrist. PhotoImpact 12 costs $49.99 for the full version, but there is a 30-day trial edition available for download. Beware, it is a 92MB file, so it may take you a while to download. The biggest new feature is "ExpressFix" which helps beginners fix their photos very easily with a bunch of one-click fixes you can apply to your photos. PhotoImpact 12 has tools to create DVD menu buttons, web and video projects. If you don't use photoshop or know someone who doesn't because it is too complicated, Ulead's PhotoImpact 12 is a nice alternative.
Winamp creator
Justin Frankel's new company Cockos has released REAPER, a
"powerful but sensible" audio recorder and editor for Windows. As we've come to expect from Frankel, REAPER
is a bit of a wonder: in a download of less than 1MB, Cockos has packed a ton of features such as unlimited tracks, multi-level undo and redo,
plugin support, several input and output formats, and project template support. Currently at version 0.42 and under
constant development, REAPER is currently freeware but will become "very reasonably priced" shareware once it
hits 1.0.
An XHTML editor is a lot like a teacup dog breed or a designer pig. Okay, so they don't tremble incessantly or have the tendency to pee in the corner of your living room. They are really just highly specialized, souped-up versions of something else. Chihuahuas are pack animals, just like wolves. Potbellied pigs know instinctively how to root around for tasty things, as do wild boars. And XHTML editors edit text. 
Photo management software for Windows makes us weep. For most people, photo management consists of loading the software (and drivers) that came from the camera manufacturer. So you've got a Nikon camera, and the photo management software is really different from your significant other's Kodak software.
While Mac users have iMovie, Windows folks have a less straightforward choice when it comes to novice video editing software. That's the gap Movavi hopes to fill, with its promise of an all-in-one video post-production suite for capturing, converting, editing, and distributing video over the web or for your iPod. Broken up into six miniature applications for each step of the post-production process, Movavi's list of touted features are pretty simplistic and no-frills, but for users looking for the most basic video editing solution, Movavi might fulfill that need for a price of $59. Intermediate or advanced editors need not bother. Check out the full list of features 
This morning, Adobe announce the latest beta of their 
Ulead is a company that specializes in powerful yet easy-to-use software for the masses. Their products come pre-bundled with many digital cameras and scanners, because they are so easy to use. Ulead's latest software release is no exception, making powerful image editing as easy as a 
