Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

So, you’ve found and purchased the camera that is just perfect for you. (If you haven’t, check out The Gadgetell guide to finding a camera)  You’ve been been playing with it, experimenting with it, and taking a ton of shots. Now what?  Well, there are quite a few options if you want your work seen or even sold.

There are lots of places on the ‘net that allow you to post your photography work.  Of course, there is the well known flickr, which seems to be used by everybody and their brother to post everything from little Johnny’s 4th birthday party to girls showing off their ass-ets, to some photos that really do have photographic merit.  But, if you are looking to have your work seen and critiqued by other photographers, you may want to look into some other sites as well. 

Read about all the options you have to get your work seen and even get paid for your photos after the break. 

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I just unboxed and installed Adobe Photoshop CS4, so I’m ready to offer some first impressions on the PC version.

Speed

Photoshop CS4 seems a lot faster than previous versions.  There are many things that frustrated me in CS3 that no longer are present.  In CS3, it was kind of clunky when you wanted to drag a window outside of the main Photoshop window, but in CS4 it’s quick and fluid like you would expect. 

Another performance boost that I noticed is the menu system.  The menus in Photoshop are huge, due to the insane amount of filters and features they provide, so it’s easy to see why the menu system could be a bit sluggish.  Right away, I noticed that the menus load immediately, and the application launches a lot quicker. 

Keep reading for more on the new CS4.

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If you’re a fan of online video, you’ve probably heard of Revision3.  Plenty of people are calling the company “RevisionG4” in light of the recent changes. 

Primer

If you’re unfamiliar with Revision3 here’s a quick primer: The company started as a vehicle to produce podcasts like thebroken, systm, and Diggnation.  Many new shows followed and lots of familiar faces were added to the mix.  Those of us who missed TechTV were comforted with the arrivial of Revision3 along with TWiT.

The shake up

Recently, there have been big changes over at Revision3. Cancellations of shows, distribution deals dropped and personnel changes.

Has Revision3 turned into RevisionG4?  Keep reading.

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Sections: Video, Content, Originals, Web, Web 2.0, Online Music/Video, Features

On Tuesday, October 14th, Steve Jobs announced a chipset that Apple worked on with Nvidia.  It resulted in a 16-core integrated GPU that’s in both the MacBook and MacBook Pro.  On Monday, Nvidia announced the desktop version of the GPU.  Nvidia is calling the chips the 9300 and 9400 mGPUs as they are half the size of standard integrated graphics, but can accomplish a lot more. 

While the specs aren’t included in the press release, the chips are pretty impressive.  They can transfer the entirety of video decoding from the CPU to the GPU, making it work much faster.  They also support Blu-Ray playback and Direct X10.  Keep reading for what apps can really take advantage of these new cards.

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Gadgetell Quick Review: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

What is it?

Lightroom 2 is a program for Windows and Mac OS X designed to help organize, streamline, and develop your photos.  It costs $99 for the upgrade from Lightroom 1 or $299 for first time buyers.

Pros:

Easy to use thanks to clean and organized interface.
Imports all of your files using your preexisting directory structure.
Works with a wide variety of file formats.

Cons:

Does not allow pixel editing.  Requires another program for that task.
Initial use can be frustrating and can cause loss of work.

Does it hit the mark?

Yes.  Lightroom 2 definitely lived up to all of my expectations.  It’s easy to see that this program would be extremely popular with anyone working in the art or ad industry, or someone who does batch work with photos.  The program allows for very controlled editing and is remarkably easy to use.

For the full review, click “More.“

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Let’s say you are trying to attract potential dates on your social networking site and for some reason, you photograph poorly.  We’ve found software that claims it is the solution for you.  Portrait Professional allows those non-skilled in Photoshop access to some filters that can remove wrinkles, whiten teeth, change eye color, hair color, etc. Save yourself an explanation of why you look nothing like your Facebook photo when you use your photo and this software for about five minutes.

Yeah, but I kinda know Photoshop

As a self-taught Photoshop junkie, I can accomplish just about most of what is offered in Portrait Professional.  The difference then?  It would take me a couple of hours to accomplish what they do in about five minutes.  Don’t get me wrong, my Photoshop work would probably look better, but not by that much.  And since my time is worth over $200 an hour (looking at you, new Editor Iyaz), this software could save you a bundle.

Try before you buy

I tried the free download and while I love try before you buy…

Find out what I didn’t like, hit the jump and read on

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Sections: Imaging, Reviews, Web, Downloads, Websites

Pixlr, a program from Sweden that some compare to Photoshop Express, is a web-based photo editing software that really holds it’s weight.  When you click on the Pixlr.com link, you will immediately be brought to the site and invited to “jump right in” and begin using the software. Flash based, it is actually really rather simple to use for anyone even vaguely familiar with photo editing.

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Sections: Computers, Software / Applications, Imaging, Accessories, Web, Web Apps, Websites

For many people just getting into digital photography, the world of photo editing can seem a tad overwhelming. Hewlett Packard offers some help in the foray through the forest of editing your precious snapshots and helping you turn them into all they can be, even if it didn’t happen exactly the way you wanted right from the camera.

The Adobe Photoshop program, a perennial favorite among many photographers is rather tried and true. It’s used by everyone from magazine layout staff and professionals to the Joe Schmoe who captured his son playing flag football at the weekend game. However, if you are first wading into the waters of photo editing…granted, the program may seem a little daunting, especially for those not familiar with any kind of editing or publishing software.

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Sections: Computers, Software / Applications, Imaging, Accessories, Web, Downloads, Websites

The recently released Photoshop Express, which is a free web-based photo editor has just added support for Flickr. With the newly added support users can now take images from their Flickr account, edit them in Photoshop Express and place the hopefully nicer images back into their Flickr photo stream for everyone to enjoy. If you are new to Photoshop Express, you can check out the recent review from our own Debbie Cook.

Via [Lifehacker]

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Sections: Imaging, Accessories, Web, Web Apps, Websites

While the image could be completely faked, it would lead us to believe that Steve Ballmer is using a MacBook to run his presentations. What’s your call? The MacBook could have simply been Photoshopped in or possibly the MacBook is just running Windows, or maybe Ballmer has finally gone crazy and jumped ship.

Image [Flickr] Via [Gizmodo]

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