Pixelmator Goes 1.2

Pixelmator icon

Pixelmator 1.2 is released today. The release notes can be found here: http://www.pixelmator.com/support/updates

Pixelmator is a great alternative to Adobe Photoshop at a low-low-price. Pixelmator is priced at a mere $59 and available as trial. Head to Pixelmator.com for more informations.

Pixelmator 1.2 Draftsman (May 12, 2008)
• Rulers, Guides, Grid, and Snap added
• Curves Tool added
• Color Balance Tool added
• Auto Enhance Tool replaced the Auto Levels, Auto Colors, and Auto Contrast tools
• Polygonal Lasso Tool added to Lasso tool (use L shortcut to switch between polygonal and simple lasso)
• Automator actions (except Change Type of Images and Transform Images) have been rewritten from scratch
• Transform tool has been rewritten from scratch for precision and stability
• Free Transform tool now available in Edit menu (or via Command + F keyboard shortcut)
• New Help documentation has been added
• Show Transform Controls option has been added to Move tool in Tool Options palette
• Tool type has been added to Lasso tool in Tool Options palette
• Rulers preferences have been added and include default units for rulers, ability to choose guides color, grid color, grid settings
• Rulers contextual menu (right-click on ruler) includes New Guide…, Show/Hide Guides, Lock/Unlock Guides, Clear Guides, Show/Hide Grid, Snap To, and Ruler Units menu items
• Transform palette now includes width, height, angle, cancel, and OK
• Free Transform menu item added to selection tools contextual menu
• Rectangular Marquee Tool is now precise
• The transparency of palettes has been reduced
• Blur has been added behind palettes
• A bug that sometimes caused a layer to disappear in PXM has been fixed
• A bug that caused layer mask not to sync with layer after file was saved in PXM format has been fixed
• A bug that caused Undo to work incorrectly after duplicating layer has been fixed
• A crash that occurred when launching Photo Browser on some PowerPC-based Macs has been fixed
• A crash that sometimes occurred when deleting selection with Backspace key has been fixed
• A crash that sometimes occurred when inverting selection outside of canvas has been fixed
• A bug that caused application to stay active after Quit command has been fixed
• As a result of Quick Look crash issues, .mat, .yuv and .pdb file extensions were removed from the Quick Look plug-in
• PSD compatibility improved
• It is now possible to click on text near buttons in Welcome screen
• Minor Levels histogram improvements have been added
• Minor user interface improvements have been implemented
• Minor performance improvements have been made

Where’s the “OOPS” button on Flickr?

I admit that I am such a fool for deleting the most popular picture I had on Flickr. I still have the original picture, but all the comments are now gone.

Ah well, there’s no reason to beat myself about it.

Now I am waiting if the photos I took would be used for something exciting.

Yeah, this post is a little bit cryptic, but only time will reveal what it means.

http://flickr.com/37prime/

Being Digital For New Parents: Digital Camera – Part 1

I still remember the day my cousin had his first daughter back in 1997. Everyone gathered to celebrate the birth of their baby. I can always replay the scene in my head, almost like watching a video recording. It has been ten years and counting, as my cousin’s daughter grows up, technology changes much more rapidly. In 1997, digital camera and digital camcorder were still out of reach for many. A sub-megapixel digital camera carried a price tag over one-thousand dollars. Digital camcorder cost even a lot more. We were still using film camera and Hi-8 Video Camcorder back then. These days, we can go to the store and buy a much better digital camera for as low as one-hundred dollars. For three-hundred dollars we can get a great point-and-shoot digital camera. Similarly, we can get a digital video camera for under three-hundred dollars.

Let’s talk about Digital Camera for now, we’ll get to Digital Video Camera later on different posts.

Imagine having a frame filled with pictures of your baby’s first 30 days and another frame filled with weekly picture of your baby’s first year. You can see the growth and changes of the baby in these two frames. That means you have to take a lot of pictures of your baby on daily basis for the first thirty-days, and the first fifty-two-weeks. It is much easier to take tons of pictures using digital camera than the film camera. You can take as many pictures as you want using digital camera without having to worry about wasting the film by taking bad pictures. In addition to that you can instantly take a look at the picture you just took in the digital camera. So, don’t be afraid to take pictures of your baby.

Let’s talk about the digital camera. You might want to get a reasonably compact and fast point-and-shoot digital camera. You want to have the camera handy whenever you want and need to take the picture of your baby. Newborn babies are unpredictable, well, mostly they either sleep or cry. The point is, you need a camera that is easy to carry and use, such as Canon PowerShot SD1100IS, PowerShot SD750, or PowerShot SD850. I have used all three canon cameras and really happy with all of them. My personal favorite is the PowerShot SD850. If yo have not bought any digital camera, please go to the nearest store and test drive these cameras first before you bought one. There are plenty of digital camera brands and models, so take your time to choose one.

If you want to take great picture of your baby, consider getting a second digital camera; a better one if you can spare some change. A Digital SLR Camera can take pictures rapidly, and in general can capture pictures better. Digital SLR Camera is a lot more affordable today. You can get Canon Digital Rebel XT for under $500 at Amazon.com; that includes the body and one lens ($459.95 – April 1st, 2008).

Realistically, you won’t have that much time to think about taking pictures of your new baby, because your attentions will be focused on the baby’s need. It is not going to be easy. We’ll get to that in the second part of Being Digital for New Parents: Digital Camera.

UPDATE:
I changed the selection of camera from PowerShot SD1000 to PowerShot SD1100IS because I have recently tested one. PowerShot SD1100IS comes with Image Stabilization, and I really recommend it over PowerShot SD1000. Of course PowerShot SD1100IS costs more than PowerShot SD1000.

For your reference:

Panasonic HDC-SD9: Video Sample

UPDATE:
Panasonic HDC-SD9: The Trouble with Mac OS X

Another video, with audio intact. Imported using Final Cut Pro 6.0.2.
Panasonic HDC-SD9 Screen Capture

Panasonic HDC-SD9 video sample:

  • Recording Mode: HA1920
  • 24p Digital Cinema mode
  • Imported using Final Cut Pro 6.0.2
  • H.264 @ 1920 x 1080
  • 10.80 mbits/s
  • 27 seconds
  • 35.4 MB
  • Done on 15-inch MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.0GHz, Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.2

Final Cut Pro is having trouble playing/importing when the video is recorded with “24p Digital Cinema” mode turned off.

UPDATE:
For some reasons, Final Cut Pro imported the video and speed it up a little bit. The original video runs about 40 seconds, while the imported video runs about 28 seconds. It is clear that Final Cut Pro does not fully understand the recording mode from this camera.

WARNING! THIS MOVIE FILE MIGHT NOT PLAY IN YOUR BROWSER DUE TO ITS RESOLUTIONS.
Right-click, then save as. Because it is going to take a long time to buffer.

Meatloaf T. Cat in 1080/24p