We seem to be amongst a kind of season for image editors on the Mac, Pixelmator, Acorn (both of which I reviewed in earlier episodes) and photoshop CS3 have all been released relatively recently so I kept that in mind when reviewing this new kid on the block.
Also I did note that this is in beta so features are subject to change and bugs will be fixed. I will start by saying that this (in my mind anyway) is a competitor for Pixelmator and Acorn, more specifically Pixelmator. It does not have the power and features that seasoned photoshop pros will be needing and craving. However, it does have a fairly complete stable of features for your average user and even semi pro.
Ok I’m going to be honest – this is now my default image editor. Here’s why: in each of my reviews I have found something blatantly lacking that would mean I couldn’t possibly use the program for every task. For example Pixelmator has no ability to create basic shapes, well you can with the marquee tool and a bit of hacking about, but COME ON!! Its shapes! Sorry to start that again. But most of my work with image editors is creating little bits and pieces for apps which means lots of gradient work as well as single pixel editing. So far, I have not found anything I needed that wasnt in Iris.
Its interface is beautifully intuitive, you have your very photoshop-esque tool pallet down the left and more detailed option palletes down the right hand side. A nice big canvas area to work in and a nice area down the bottom that is a ribbon of currently open images, which makes for a great way to organize. You avoid that many window hell of photoshop (I can hear the screaming of the photoshop pros already).
Continue reading about The Mac Image Editing Field Just Got More Crowded
So which is it? Nude or prude? Are you the kind of person who likes to feel the wind wh istling through their click wheel or are you the kind of person who immediately wraps up their iPod in a cocoon of cozyness.
Me, I was a nude kind of guy. But that changed a couple of years ago when I made a mental note to myself.
“To NOT put off buying a cover for my next iPod!”
Well, this year Santa Jobs delivered me an iPod Touch.
So immediately I was in a quandry! Should I play with it? Or wait to get a cover? Play with it, or wait to get a cover? Aaaaarrrggghhh!
I’ve always hesitated to purchase a cover in the past, but always regretted it later as I’ve then managed to scratch it within a matter of days.
Welcome to episode 144 of the MacReviewCast, I want to thank you for downloading and listening to the podcast. We have the best in Mac hardware, software and websites reviews. We have a lot of great folks on today’s episode with their reviews and comments on software, hardware and websites that make using the Mac special. Plus I’ll have the top freeware Mac apps of the week and much more.
You can email me at surfbits at Gmail dot Com. I love to hear from you.
Receive 25% off of all Devon-Technologies software by going to http://www.devon-technologies.com/podcasts
Here is the freeware and shareware I look at during the podcast:
HoudahSpot & HoudahGeo: http://www.houdah.com
Todos: http://www.dbachrach.com/opensoft/index.php?page=Todos
iCompta: http://angeman7.free.fr/iCompta
PodUp: http://www.futility.co.uk/futsoft/podup.html
Movie Tools & Ecamm Software: http://www.ecamm.com/mac/free
PIP: http://www.pleasantsoftware.com/pip
VuVox: http://www.vuvox.com
Allison Sheridan from the NosillaCast Podcast cannot join us this week.
David Sparks from MacSparky cannot join us this week:
Chris Marshall from ChrisMarshall.ws cannot join us, He’s away on business.
Darren Rolfe from MacWingnut.com takes a look at the new case he received for the iPod Touch this week.
The Exspect iPod Case: http://www.exspect.co.uk
Developer, Danny Greg joins us today on the podcast. He reviews:
Iris Image editing software: http://www.nolobe.com/iris
Get 15% off BitClamp by using the Code “SURFBITS” at crimsonskysoftware.com.
Robert Pritchett from the macCompanion Magazine cannot join us this podcast.
Try the new ENHANCED version of the MacReviewCast:
And now we have the Podcast in Bit-Torrent Feeds! 
… 
You can either click on the podcast link on the left and listen to it via QT from the browser, or you can right click on the podcast link and choose to “download linked file”. That will download the mp3 and you can play it from you hard drive with iTunes.
The right link below is the URL for the podcast RSS feed. Just right click it and choose to copy the address and then paste it in your podcast reader, or ipodder, or newsreader that will download enclosures automatically.
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 techpodcasts.com |
Rogue Amoeba produces some of the best software for Mac OS X, particularly audio tools like Audio Hijack Pro and Fission. I’ve been hearing about Airfoil for a while now, and was eager to try out the software that would allow audio to be sent to multiple Airport Express units and have them play audio in sync.
Installing the upgrade is a bit tricky. Well fiddly! I thought I’d installed it, but seemingly I hadn’t. But, then after a second attempt all was well and my iPod Touch’s welcome page was suddenly starting to look very crowded. Apple do you give some basic instructions. But the most important thing you need to remember, and you must do this before you purchase the upgrade, is to update your iTunes and iPod Touch with the latest software updates. They are iTunes 7.6 and iPod Touch 1.3 – make sure you do both!
Then go into the iTunes Store and buy your January Software Update.
Welcome to episode 143 of the MacReviewCast, I want to thank you for downloading and listening to the podcast. We have the best in Mac hardware, software and websites reviews. We have a lot of great folks on today’s episode with their reviews and comments on software, hardware and websites that make using the Mac [...]
Hey Tim, Allison Sheridan of the Nosillacast podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com. I have a hodgepodge today, answering three things you’ve talked about recently on the podcast. First of all, as a female geek, I wanted to make a comment about Pat’s concern about the good ol’ boy sound from some podcasters. I’m not as sensitive [...]
I am a believer in keeping tasks lists. I would like to say this arises from some inherent sense of order and organization. In truth however, it arises from my very early realization that I am scatterbrained and often have the attention span of a goldfish. As a result, I write things down. I’m not just talking grocery lists here. If I can not do something immediately, I write it down. Since I do the legal work several companies and have other commitments with my family, my community, and macsparky, this list gets pretty long. So getting back to that part about being scatterbrained I am constantly throwing tasks into OmniFocus. When do I need to prepare for trial? When do I need to volunteer at my daughters’ school? When do I need to clean the air filter and rotate the tires? For someone like me, dumping these things into a system is liberating. Trying to track even a small percentage of these things without tools like OmniFocus could get really ugly, really fast.
I’ve had several hours to digest the new products and updates that Steve Jobs presented today in the Macworld Keynote. Here’s what I liked and what didn’t thrill me.
Freeverse today announced that they have set up a live-camera feed from the MacWorld Expo show floor, that will be displaying constantly updated images of their booth for the entire week of the show. If you can’t make it to San Francisco or the Macworld Expo, come check out the view from the Freeverse booth [...]
Continue reading about Freeverse Gives You a Look Into Macworld
By Danny Greg: For the past few weeks I have been taking a look at Daylite 3, the business productivity suite from Market Circle, who also make Billings, an app I recently reviewed. I will start by saying I am not really the target audience for the application but I gave it a crack anyway. [...]
Welcome to episode 142 of the MacReviewCast, I want to thank you for downloading and listening to the podcast. We have the best in Mac hardware, software and websites reviews. We have a lot of great folks on today’s episode with their reviews and comments on software, hardware and websites that make using the Mac special. Plus I’ll have the top freeware Mac apps of the week and much more.
Receive 25% off of all Devon-Technologies software by going to http://www.devon-technologies.com/podcasts
Here is the freeware and shareware I look at during the podcast:
Filechute: http://www.yellowmug.com/filechute
Knox: http://www.knoxformac.com
USB OverDrive: http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/News.html
iCab: http://www.icab.de
Windowshade: http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/wsx
Screencast-O-Matic: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com
PDF Hammer: http://www.pdfhammer.com
NetNewsWire: http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire
Allison Sheridan from the NosillaCast Podcast joins us this week with a look at Women and tech and:
Launchy for Windows: http://www.launchy.net/
David Sparks from MacSparky joins us for his review of:
OminFocus: http://www.omnigroup.com
Chris Marshall from ChrisMarshall.ws joins us from Spain and discusses:
Pandora to Shut Down in the UK
UK iPhone Virus?
Jeff Powell joins us today. Here’s what he looks at:
NetNewsWire 3.1 Free!
OmniFocus 1.0 released
Rogue Amoeba’s Airfoil 3
Nolobe’s Interarchy 9.0 Released
Developer, Danny Greg joins us today on the podcast. Here’s what he looks at:
Get 15% off BitClamp by using the Code “SURFBITS” at crimsonskysoftware.com.
Daylite 3: http://www.marketcircle.com/daylite
Robert Pritchett from the macCompanion Magazine cannot join us this podcast.
Try the new ENHANCED version of the MacReviewCast:
And now we have the Podcast in Bit-Torrent Feeds! …
You can either click on the podcast link on the left and listen to it via QT from the browser, or you can right click on the podcast link and choose to “download linked file”. That will download the mp3 and you can play it from you hard drive with iTunes.
The right link below is the URL for the podcast RSS feed. Just right click it and choose to copy the address and then paste it in your podcast reader, or ipodder, or newsreader that will download enclosures automatically.
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techpodcasts.com |
I’ve been thinking for a while, that it’s about time I reviewed something fun for my Mac. Until now I’ve spent the best part of 6 months reviewing ‘serious software’. So when Wingnuts 2 landed in my inbox the timing was perfect.
I’m not a big gamer. I have purchased games for my Mac in the past, but to be honest I could count the titles on one hand. I’m what I’d call a dabbler. When I do occasionally have some spare time, say on my commute, I will play a game.
Brent Simmons just announced today that one of the premier shareware newsreaders for the Mac, NetNewsWire, will now be free. You can check it out for yourself on Brent’s blog, inessential.com. “NetNewsWire 3.1 is free! By free I mean both that we’ve released it from its cage and that it costs no money. Zero dollars. [...]
As much as I like Pages and Scriviner for word processing, sometimes I just want a down and dirty text editor. For this purpose I have been using OS X’s built in text editor. I know there are some very powerful text editor replacements out there that are very helpful to code jockies but I’m not sure how useful those applications would be to someone like me who writes a lot more documents than programs. Furthermore, I often use text files to dump ideas as I explained in one of my Quicksilver screencasts. Not to be dissuaded from my never ending quest for shiny new software I decided to give Flying Meat’s VoodooPad a try as a possible text editor replacement.
