Designed to make cropping photos in Paint Shop Pro easier, this tool performs calculations to make sure you get accurate crops for standard photo sized prints. Both North American (4x6, 5x7, 8x10) and European( A4, A5, A6) sizes are supported, in addition to any custom sizes you set in the program's options pane. FotoCrop's selection constraints work with both the PSP selection and cropping tools, although setting the print area only works in conjunction with the selection tool. Tested for both Win2k and Windows XP, FotoCrop should work with most Windows operating systems. [Windows 2k/XP $0.00]
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Reduce pixilation when you magnify images or portions of images. The Bicubic and Bilinear Interpolations built into Photoshop and other similar imaging editors start blurring and pixilating images when they are magnified much beyond 150-200%. This plugin uses a proprietary Interpolation method that allows you to enlarge images by as much as 400% with marginal pixilation. Preview your magnification before you commit, making it easy to optimize your images to their maximum size before committing to the resize. [Windows 9x/2k/XP $49.95]
Given the opportunity, I'd spend all day doing nothing but watching DVDs and writing about them. I couldn't tell you where this year's Survivor is taking place (or if there is a Survivor this year), but the chances that I watched a movie released on DVD in the last week are very high. I'm always watching the new release listings on Web sites and directly from the various studios, hoping to find obscure stuff that tells a good story. digitally OBSESSED covers a wide range of genres, offering reviews and news, not to mentioning offering some downloads that are useful in improving the DVD experience for both Mac and PC movie fanatics.
Have you come up with a perfect configuration for making a particular effect? Share it with the world using FilterMeister, a tool for creating Photoshop compatible filters. Include things like mouseovers, gamma correction, sound effects, and tons of other features that will let you distribute your filters royalty free, without the challenge of programming your own effects completely from scratch. A selection of tips and tutorials is available on the Web to get you up and running quickly, as well as a user discussion list for getting assistance from other FilterMeister users. [W9x/2k/XP $24.95]
Not only will this application find files you accidentally overwrote during a reformat, or the ones you deleted "by accident," you'll also uncover photos you really did intentionally delete sometime in the past. I was amazed to discover some of the photos I took several months back, still completely intact. Another thing I like about this product is availability for both Windows and Mac OS X users - especially since I qualify as both. Essentially, this app allows you to recover files you thought were destroyed, from SmartMedia, CompactFlash, Memory Sticks, and Microdrives. In many cases, you'll also be able to recover files from other types of physical drives as well. A preview window allows you to decide which found images you want to keep, before you actually rescue them from your media. Geared more specifically toward JPEG and TIFF images, PhotoRescue will recover most common image file types. [9x/NT/W2k/XP $29]
Image Doctor, a set of image-retouching filters, removes blemishes and defects, repairs over-compressed JPEGs, and replaces unwanted details and objects. Professional and amateur photographers, photo editors, service bureaus, graphic designers, and Web designers can restore, retouch, repair and reclaim their images more quickly using Image Doctor. The interface is quite easy to navigate, and although this is quite a departure from the usual special effects stuff the Alien Skin crew puts out, the quality is outstanding as always. If you need professional quality retouching, this plugin will do the trick without wiping out your wallet. [Windows 9x/2k/XP Mac OS X 10.2.x $129]
Run Time: 131 minutes
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Robin Williams
DVD Release: May 6, 2003
Rating: PG
Compare Prices on Bicentennial Man
Possibly one of Robin Williams more underrated performances, Bicentennial Man is a story of human understanding, as told through the eyes of an android. Based on the Isaac Asimov story of the same name, Bicentennial Man tracks the 200 years that make up the "life" of Andrew, a robot put into service to assist the Martin family. The Martins discover Andrew is "flawed," in that he exhibits characteristics that border on human. The movie traces Andrew's quest to foster his human qualities and search for other android beings like him. Through Andrew's own search for humanity, we are reminded what it means to be human. If you're a fan of Asimov's stories, or a looking for a more cerebral sci-fi story, compared to most of the genre, this is a definite must view movie.
Continue reading Bicentennial Man.
Three different sets of plugins are available here. Volume I assists in editing the transparency data of images, and could be a little more intuitive. Volume II features a variety of textures for your images, and is probably the best of the three offerings, with a slick looking 3D interface. Volume III has some image editing basics and a 3D creation tool that's worth some consideration. While I found Volume I to be quite confusing, the other two volumes are a worthy addition to any image editing arsenal. All three plugins are compatible with Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and other Photoshop compatible photo editors. [Windows 9x/2k/XP $0.00]
Stereo echo that works the way you do - in beat divisions, not milliseconds. As a drummer, I can subdivide a beat into all kinds of phrases, but I've never think of rhythm in fractions of a second; I think of rhythm in terms of the way it subdivides the beat. This stereo echo lets you apply the same concept. Forget about guessing how many milliseconds will accomplish the phrasing you want and use a measure that makes sense. This plugin also includes high and low pass filtering. The plugin works in any VST compatible app, like Audacity, Adobe Audition, Cakewalk Sonar, etc.
Run Time: 229 minutes
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Joe Pesci, Jennifer Connelly, Elizabeth McGovern
DVD Release: September 23, 2003
Rating: R
Compare Prices on Once Upon A Time In America
You will either love this movie as a masterpiece of cinema, or hate it for the sheer length of the story. Originally released in US theaters at a mere 139 minutes, this epic 229 minute story of Jewish immigration to the United States, as told by an aging Jewish gangster, will test the water retention limits of even the most determined camel. All jokes about length aside, if you enjoy gangster movies, this uncut version of Once Upon a Time in America should be part of your home collection. The story (especially the flashbacks) is compelling, painting a different picture of New York than we've seen in other Hollywood epics. Commentary by Richard Schickel is also quite enlightening, but should definitely not be engaged the same day you watch the DVD for the first time.
Continue reading Once Upon a Time in America.
Shrink and edit JPEG images without the loss associated with decompression and recompression. Pegasus makes this online tool available free to demonstrate the abilities of their desktop optimization software. In addition to optimization, image rotation and mirroring can both be accomplished, without loss of image quality, from this Web interface. After submitting your JPEG image, the Wizard generates a temporary web page with multiple optimized versions of your image, including comparison data with size and download time for each version.
At the risk of alienating all the Charlie Hunter fans out there, I have to ask, what's the big deal? Sure he plays a custom eight-string guitar, noodling both the bass and lead lines simultaneously, which is a superhuman feat for certain. Every time I listen to the Charlie Hunter Quintet, I can't help thinking that those bass lines would be more interesting (and maybe his leads would be too) if there were two players instead of just one. I like Hunter's musical style, as much as I like any other Jazz guitarist, I just don't think anyone would find the music remarkable if a six-piece outfit played it instead. For anyone enamored with Charlie Hunter's mad dexterity, his site offers some free MP3s and an album cover specifically designed for creating your own album of the audio.
Comedy/Drama - 125min
Rating - (PG)
Release Date - 1970
Compare Prices on The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Where has the Hollywood of the 1970's gone? You know, the Hollywood that used dialogue and plot to sell tickets, instead of explosions and alien creatures. Billy Wilder directed many of my favorite movies from cinema past, including Double Indemnity, Sabrina, the Apartment, and Some Like it Hot. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes was done late in Wilder's career, offering a less-than-serious look at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famed sleuth. Robert Stephens as Holmes and Colin Blakely's portrayal of Watson are quite possibly the best cinematic recreation of the detective duo, despite this being an unofficial account. The story has all the beauty of a film noir, with Wilder's touch guiding the story to almost perfection as Holmes assists Madame Valladon in the search for her husband.
Region 1 Encoding (US and Canada only)
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Theatrical trailer
Christopher Lee: Mr. Holmes, Mr. Wilder
Interview with the editor
Deleted sequences
Photo gallery
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwmt/html/WMA9_Multichannel.asp
"Learn about the multichannel and dynamic range control features of the Windows Media Audio 9 Professional codec and how the codec transforms multichannel audio content into stereo audio content when necessary. This article shows how a programmer using the Windows Media Format SDK can create an encoding application that enables a content author to determine how that transformation happens."
http://www.campervanbeethoven.com
I can't remember who introduced me to Camper Van Beethoven back in high school. At the time, I had aspirations of being a metal drummer, but their first album, Telephone Free Landslide Victory grabbed my attention in a way that nothing in the metal world ever has. With the raw ambition of a garage band, coupled with a strange blend of ska and Eastern European folk music, CVB were most definitely in a class by themselves. The defining instrument of their sound being the disturbing violin tones of Jonathan Segel. Despite a strong following on the college radio circuit, the closest CVB ever came to mass acceptance was a remake of the Status Quo song, Pictures of Matchstick Men (although, I firmly believe that Take The Skinheads Bowling should have been a Top 40 smash). As the band evolved, David Lowrey, emerged as the frontman figure, which ultimately killed CVB at first, and Lowrey went on to succeed with Cracker. Around that time, I forgot about the existence of CVB, aside from occasionally playing old albums. Apparently they've been busy since I last checked in on the band; releasing some old material, recording some new material, going on tour, and generally doing all the things a working band does. Check out the old stuff to get a feel for what this band is about and then grow with them through their evolution.
Composer Philip Glass is best know for reviving opera, contributing works to the minimalist movement, and composing some of the more haunting works in this century. Through dedicated research, IBM has developed an engine designed to analyze and play sixty compositions from the huge body of Glass's work, with a unique playback engine that categorizes music through a series of relationships and emotions in groups of sliding bars. By moving the bars on the page, you can find types of selections you'd like to hear. Currently the plugin only works with IE.
Run Time: 146min
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Cruise, Samantha Morton, Max Von Sydow, Collen Farrell
DVD Release Date: August 24, 2004
Rating: PG-13
Compare Prices on Minority Report
Raising some disturbing questions about the future of technology, Minority Report takes us to the not-too-distant future, where crimes may be predicted before they happen. Based on a sci-fi detective novel by Philip K Dick, the author responsible for the story behind Blade Runner, Minority Report is one of the more cerebral science fiction stories to hit DVD markets, possibly since the release of Blade Runner (unless you count the sci-fi Pinocchio that was A.I.). Both thought provoking and socially relevant, Minority Report sucks you in the way any good murder mystery should, with the interesting spin that the detectives know whodunit before it happens. This is probably one of my personal favorite Tom Cruise performances. The DVD extras are about as Hollywood glossy as you can get, with each special segment over-produced, losing the conversational intimacy present in some behind-the-scenes work. Speilberg continues to make his mark on the sci-fi genre and we are privy to his assembly of a "League of Superheros" from the motion picture world in the construction of this film.
You can hear the original story as part of the audio book Minority Report & Other Stories.
Continue reading Minority Report.
When you're looking for intelligent rock radio (is that an oxymoron?) radioio proclaims itself your answer. Intelligent or not, the diverse playlist is sure to keep you from getting bored, blending the music of provocative songwriters from the Sixties through today into an enjoyable listening experience. This is college rock radio for those of who don't need the college to be part of the listening experience - including many of the Indie bands missing from corporate (and most Web radio) playlists. Registration ranges in price from $2.99-9.99 per month depending on your preferred sound quality.
http://mindoverpixels.com/anim_monkeystomo.html
Sick of Apple's "Switch" campaign yet? This is probably the most sensible parody I've seen yet - possibly a commentary on the people appearing in the real commercials? I'll let you decide for yourself. I've always loved claymation stuff, so maybe I'm biased. Produced entirely with Mac gear, this Quicktime short would be an excellent demonstration of what you can do with a G4 and Final Cut Pro, even if it weren't mocking Apple in the process. A brief synopsis of the creative process is also provided.
With an upcoming trip to San Francisco almost upon me, I figured an exploration of the local music climate was distinctly in order. I'm a huge fan of a wide variety of genres and would love the opportunity to experience several local flavors while I'm there. I hate comparing one band to another, but I would tend to agree with a review posted to the sinombre site suggesting they sound similar to My Bloody Valentine, complete with the sensually melancholy vocals hovering above some seriously distorted pop guitar tracks. If you're a fan of the loosely defined genre of "noise rock" you'll probably dig this band (yes, I'm sure there are some who might term all rock to be "noise") If you live in the Bay area, sinombre seem to be regulars on the club scene.
I can't believe it took becoming a Mac user to discover this application. I downloaded the trial version on a Mac, launched the application, and without issue scanned documents natively on a UMAX scanner that hasn't had new Apple drivers since 1998. TWAIN drivers are bypassed entirely, which seems to be more effective in terms of program speed. Scanning via VueScan on OS X, with UMAX, is faster than it was when connected to an old G3 using the UMAX drivers. Most of us can get by with the basic preview, crop, and scan solution at the core of this application. For those of you who are power users, I'd list all the cool features, but the list is simply too long. Lets just say, if you wanted to configure something about your scanner, this app can probably do it. Registration permits you to use the application on up to four machines. The trial version watermarks scanned images. [Win/Mac OS/Linux $49.95]
http://www.justwilliammusic.com
Always on the lookout for good bands, especially ones from Iowa, Just William is a refreshing breath of air in a state dominated by blues, alt-country, and metal (I'm a fan of all three, but variety is refreshing). Based on the bio section that has each member giving their personal take on Christian music, I'm assuming that's what they consider themselves. Musically, they're a sometimes poppy, sometimes crunchy blend of genres, falling somewhere between BNL and Creed. Most of the songs seem to be about love, both lost and found. Regardless, it's refreshing to hear something from Iowa that isn't flirting with the cookie monster metal spawned in the wake of Slipknot's success.
Listen to KPIG
Somehow, we've successful avoided ever featuring KPIG in the Digital Media newsletter, despite it's being the first commercial radio station to broadcast on the Internet. Unfortunately, their free live stream is no more, although they do have a pre-recorded show that's pretty awesome. Broadcasting live from the Santa Cruz area, KPIG serves up radio the way it's meant to be done, with real people choosing cool music, instead of letting trends and statistics dictate what will be aired like so much of corporate radio today. I'm now torn between KPIG and RadioParadise.com for my online listening attention. In an effort to survive, they've joined the RealOne RadioPass network of stations, ( I can only hope a competing service emerges so that Real doesn't control the online radio market) which offers about 50 stations for $5.95/month.
Anyone questioning the validity of turntables as instruments needs to visit this site immediately. DJ Logic has worked with some of the most talented players in the modern jazz scene, including Medeski, Martin, & Wood, John Scofield, and Joshua Redman. Additional work with saxman Karl Denson hasn't hurt the DJ Logic evolution either. His latest project, with Vernon Reid, of Living Color fame, the Yohimbe Brothers, pairs his DJ styling with Reid's unique guitar sound for the first time since 1996. While the flash cartoon related to the Yohimbe Brothers is quite sophomoric (don't watch it at work), the music is quite out of the ordinary. You'll need RealPlayer for some of the content, but there's also some great Flash and MP3 stuff as well.
