This week I appeared on the Typical Mac User where Victor and I discussed our recent efforts to troubleshoot his Mac comparing benchmarks from our respective machines. It was a lot of fun and worth a listen.
Continue readingThe rumors involving the long rumored iTablet seem to be snowballing. I weighed in on my dream tablet a few years ago. Between the running battle with the Pre and the possible announcement of a new device, the next few months should be interesting.
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We’ve released a new Mac Power Users Episode, all about LaunchBar. There is a discount code through the end of August for 15% off, DT-37F9-D8EB. Get it while it’s hot.
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I’ve never read many comics but this year I trekked down to San Diego with some friends and saw the Comic-Con event for the first time. It was a good time. Everyone was very nice and all were proud to show off their costumes. I’ve let my Flickr stream die so here are some pics of interest.
“So Say We All!”
Lou Ferigno would not look at me no matter how much I asked.
I was 8 when Star Wars first came out. You don’t let that stuff go easy.
Beware! Corellians shoot first.
Original Tron Costume.
There is nothing shy about the people who dress up at Comic-Con. They are really in their element.
Not sure who they are but they really liked posing.
Even Trekkies must eat.
Is it just me or does Batman look like he is enjoying this?
I found Waldo!
This is just wrong.
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A lot of Mac photographers remember that Adobe took a long time to get Elements on the Intel platform. In that void several independent competitors appeared. I started using Pixelmator shortly after it came out and it has quietly replaced Elements for me.
Pixelmator is a $59 pixel pushing beast. It uses your graphics card and makes quick work of most common graphics tasks. Pixelmator delivers many (but not all) of the core features of Photoshop in a better, and more Mac friendly, interface. The general layout is very similar to Photoshop. It even recognizes most Photoshop keyboard combinations. It uses a dark grey interface similar to Apple’s Pro applications that is easy on the eyes.
Pixelmator ships with tools, masks, layers, and several useful image filters. I primarily use Pixelmator with photographs and there is the usual assortment of levels, color curves, balancing and other photography tools. I really liked the way it renders gradients in real time. I, frankly, don’t need a lot of tools as Aperture has become so robust. When I do need to roundtrip to an external editor, Pixelmator is usually enough.
Having used Pixelmator for some time, I’m also impressed with the slow march of new features the developers are releasing with each new update. They are not throwing in the kitchen sink but instead spending time on UI design and polish with each new feature.
Once your image is done, you can easily export the usual formats including PSD, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PNG, and PDF just to name a few.
While Pixelmator most certainly is not Photoshop, it is feature rich and a respectable competitor with Photoshop Elements. In my testing, I found Pixelmator easy to use but with fewer bells and whistles than Elements. At a fraction of the cost of Photoshop, you really can’t go wrong with either application. Regardless, the Mac polish and excellent interface make Pixelmator the winner for me. For $59, it takes care of all of my imaging needs. You can download a free trial from pixelmator.com.
You can listen to this review on Surfbits MacReviewCast #218.
1. Get the Mac Out of the Water.
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The winner is Karen G. Thank you everyone for participating. Also, a big thank you to Sena Cases for being so generous. If you haven’t already, check out their variety of quality leather cases.
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The Mac Roundtable #66 posted. I participated in this episode in which we discussed the Palm Pre, netbooks, and upgrading to an SSD drive. It is so fun talking with the Mac Roundtable gang that I often forget we are recording.
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The latest iTunes update, released today, had an interesting release note.
“iTunes 8.2.1 … addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices.”
That got me thinking about the Palm Pre and the way it pretends to be an Apple device to sync with iTunes. Turns out, that no longer works.
Steve’s been back 2 weeks and the Pre sync is now dead. Go figure.
