March 5th, 2010
I’ve been playing with a fun on-line photo editing service, picnik.com, and am impressed with the speed, options, and capabilities. Apparently Google was impressed, too, as they just bought the company.
Picnik is an on-line image editing tool you can use to manipulate images that you’ve put on sites like flickr or facebook. Instead of loading software on your computer, like Photoshop, Picnik is cloud-based, so you don’t load any software. You either upload photos from your computer or grab images from sites where you’ve already posted them – like flickr.
After locating images, you can easily edit, crop, remove red-eye, or add simple effects like combining images or placing a border around the edges. The process works so smoothly and quickly you don’t even notice that you’re working over the Internet. Companies that want to create cloud-based systems should look at picnik as a model for a good user experience.
For simple photo edits, picnik is a great option. They make money from advertising on the site for free accounts, or by selling additional effects and editing features (and an ad-free experience) which can be purchased for a reasonable $25 for the year.
I’m a big Photoshop user – and I’m not dumping it anytime soon, but I’ve found, picnik.com, a great online service that lets me get a photo edited and posted long before Photoshop finishes starting-up. High-end photographers and creative professionals will be sticking with Photoshop for serious image editing, the fun and ease-of-use of picnik makes it appealing to all types of users who are sharing images online.
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February 18th, 2010
Headlines make it appear that the creative market is in a freefall. Layoffs at agencies, newspapers and magazines closing their doors, even online advertising has taken a hit. But digging a bit deeper, there are some reasons to be optimistic.
Publicis Groupe, the parent of many large agencies, reported this week a drop in profits that is close to 10%, and revenue for all businesses dropped from $6.5 Billion to $6.2 Billion – a $300 million drop. But the good news is that their CEO is indicating that their business is recovering, and that they expect to see revenue growth in 2010. The slowing rate of decline is being reported by their peers at Omnicom and Havas, and recent forecasts from Interpublic are pointing towards a recovery in ad spending later this year.
AOL, in the middle of a major rebranding and conversion to a media company, reported a decline in online advertising revenue last quarter that was only in the single digits – but they were profitable and made over $1M in profits after losing $1.96 Billion, with a B, in the same period last year. They’re still predicting declines in ad revenues through the end of the year, and – no surprise here – even larger losses of subscription revenue.
Ad pages placed in magazines are still declining, but it is now in the single digits. The good news is that nearly one-third of publications are seeing an increase in advertising pages, and those that are succeeding and profitable are implementing multi-platform strategies to reach their audiences via mobile, on-line, and in print.
Overall, the signs are looking more positive for the creative economy for 2010. While this may not lead to more hiring or more tech spending, it is showing a return towards normalcy.
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January 22nd, 2010
If you design for the Web, or work in UX or UI design, there’s a chance to help out a great non-profit organization, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and get $50,000 for your effort thanks to a prize underwritten by Microsoft. It doesn’t matter if you are a solo designer or a big design firm. It’s your chance to do well by doing some good. Details of the design contest at PhizzPop.com. Good luck!
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December 3rd, 2009
Earlier this week I wrote about the expanded use of e-readers. This growth is good news for publishers, authors, consumers, and the environment. Publishers will have more control over their digital content. Early digital books were often distributed in Adobe’s ebook format, which had many problems that limited the acceptance of ebooks. The user experience of reading on a desktop or laptop was one issue, but the biggest problem faced by publishers was Adobe’s lack of security and digital rights managements. It’s not that Adobe didn’t try to secure ebooks – but unfortunately their efforts weren’t good enough. Adobe’s e-reader format involves a modified PDF format with a “light” form of security. The security stopped technical neophytes from pirating books, but many publishers found that distributing books in the Adobe ebook format is the equivalent of posting your books on-line for free. This is because Adobe’s ebook security is quickly and easily bypassed or cracked by a user with even modest technical capabilities, and many books distributed in the ebook format end up posted on free streaming sites within days and sometimes only hours of being offered for sale on-line. Some cracked ebooks then get sold by pirates on sites like eBay, so the pirates profit and the publisher and author don’t receive anything for their efforts.
The new ereaders appear to provide more control over who can view a book, and they operate within a more controlled environment providing an additional level of security that Adobe never achieved with their ereader format. While Adobe has made some attempts to create proprietary readers for newspapers to help distribute the AIR player which competes with Microsoft’s Silverlight – but I view this as misguided, as reading is moving to devices and off the desktop and laptop. The winner in the eBook arena appears to be eInk, who is making the displays used by many of the readers.
Some of the new ereaders, like the Nook from Barnes & Noble, will allow users to share books –similar to what occurs with paper versions of books. If someone wants their own copy for extended use, they will purchase it. Increased sales and reduced piracy is good for authors as well, and consumers are able to obtain books instantly. The reduced cost of printing and distributing books likely won’t trickle-down to consumers right away, as companies recover their investment in these new technologies, but eventually this cost savings may find its way to consumers.
Who is at risk from ereaders? Printing companies, paper manufactures, and traditional print layout and production artists. I’ll write more on this in a future post.
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December 1st, 2009
If you’re not familiar with e-readers, they are devices that let you read electronic versions of books, magazines, and newspapers. Smaller than a laptop, they let you download the books you want to read or the newspapers and magazines to which you subscribe. Like a traditional publication, you buy the content from a distributor or reseller – like Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, but the content you receive is electronically sent to your reader.
Barnes & Noble recently announced a new e-reader, the Nook. They started shipping the devices this week, and are having difficulty keeping up with orders from customers. They had intended to be placing them in their stores soon, but they received so many on-line orders that Barnes & Noble is delaying placing them in stores at this time. In this economy, it’s great to hear that a bookstore is having difficulty keeping up with demand. Similar reports of strong demand are coming from Amazon.com with their device, the Kindle, and from Sony who also has a digital reader.
Future versions of AGI’s Digital Classroom Books should be available on these formats, such as the Photoshop Book, Flash Book, InDesign Book, and Dreamweaver Book all written by AGI’s instructors.
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November 18th, 2009
There was a significant change to the *default* way Photoshop handles the loading of multiple images. When you bring more than one image into Photoshop CS4 it loads them into tabs. Usually I love tabs: tabbed web-browsing? Great. But depending on your image-editing workflow, you may find tabs get in your way.
In the following (not uncommon) scenario, loading multiple images into tabs can actually reduce usability. When I load more than one image into Photoshop I usually open *two* images, with the intent of making a composite. With the default tabbed behavior, I have to “tear” the second tab out and then drag the second image into the first (and then close the second image). This gets tiresome after a while because there is a lot of unnecessary clicking and moving of windows.
What Photoshop wants you to do.
The new Photoshop ui has an “Arrange Documents” button. You can click on this button and force your open images into a specific order. It’s a nifty feat of programming, but has not caught on with me personally. You need to click on the Arrange Documents button (1 click) and then choose the arrangement you want (2 clicks). Then you can click and drag one image into another 1 (3 clicks) No matter what, this method always adds an extra click.
Photoshop CS4's arrange documents feature
What you should do
Now that you know this feature exists, you can stick with it. Or, if you prefer to have new images open as separate documents (Which is the pre-CS4 method) you can change a preference so Photoshop. This can be done by choosing Preferences > Interface and then unchecking “Open Documents as Tabs” in the Panels and Documents section. Now when you open two documents, they appear as floated windows and you can simply click and drag image number 2 into window 1. (One click)
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November 3rd, 2009
We just received the finished copies of the Mac OS X Digital Classroom books from the printer as they are being sent to Amazon, B&N, Borders, and other book stores. The Mac OS X Digital Classroom is designed to take you through everything you need to know about maintaining your Mac OS X computer using Snow Leopard – the latest release of the Mac OS X operating system. The book includes more than an hour of training videos on a DVD that is included with the book. AGI instructor and Mac expert Chad Chelius led the efforts in creating this book. We’ll be posting sample videos shortly, and you can preview the table of contents, index and learn more about this Mac OS X book on Amazon.com
Tags: Digital Classroom Books, Mac, OS X, Snow leopard
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March 18th, 2009
Microsoft has made some pretty significant announcement here in Las Vegas today that will impact the way you communicate on-line, develop Web and interactive content – and event how you think about what is on-line and what is a desktop application…
Silverlight 3 was announced here and has some technical features that are useful for developers -things like GPU acceleration and support for additional CODECs such as H.264, MPG 4, and AAC but the real mind-blowing things revolutionize the user experience:
- Live streaming with full DVR-like controls – pause / slow motion / rewind for live streams. This puts Silverlight live streaming miles ahead of anything else. NBC announced they are renewing their use of Silverlight for all streaming of the next Olympics (Vancouver) using Silverlight.
- HD streaming – you’ll see this at the next Olympics as they’ll be streaming all content in HD.
- Out-of-browser experiences on Mac and Windows – not just a browser plug-in
- Off-line support: Silverlight 3.0 applications can run as stand-alone applications. So they can consume services while connected, and then switch to an “off-line” mode when not connected.
- Support for multi-touch – like the “pinch” – think Minority Report or iPhone
I’ll have more updates throughout the event… as I’m at a Microsoft-focused event, most of my posts will focus on their technology this week…
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September 29th, 2008
I normally write about creative technology and items that impact marketing and design areas. But today I’m reflecting on a creative genius who died on Friday – Paul Newman. We can learn a great deal from the way he lived his life – both professionally and personally. I had the chance to spend an evening with him, his wife, along with one of his daughters and several of his grandchildren – and it reinforced why so many hold him in such high regard.
I don’t know many folks that are as equally popular with grandparents and grandchildren alike. While younger viewers may only know him for his role in Cars, those of us who know his earlier work are also reminded that our creative energies can be put to good use. He showed us that we can and should invest in causes greater than ourselves, and that corporations can be successful and do good work. His leadership in supporting a camp for children with serious illnesses reminds us of how fortunate we are and how much good we can do, and his Newman’s Own brand has donated more than $250 million to many charitable organizations.
When I met Paul Newman a few years ago it was unforgettable. We were both backstage at a theater. I was there at the invitation of a good friend that knew the performer well. Mr. Newman was there with his wife, daughter, and grandchildren. We were the only people backstage. I spent a great deal of time talking with his wife, not knowing who she was – what a wonderful woman. Mr. Newman walked over and joined our conversation and we talked about my several month old baby daughter. As I didn’t have any other daughters or
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