Thursday, July 31, 2008

July Meeting Recap: Casual Meeting at Panera Bread

Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting - we hope you had a nice time and got some good tips from each other. To recap some of the things we discussed (and there was a lot!):
  • CushyCMS - FREE hosted content management system that's actually easy to use, fast to setup and doesn't require programming skills.
  • Adobe Audition 3 - Recording, mixing, editing, and mastering - the all-in-one toolset for professional audio production. VS Soundbooth CS3 - lets you take command of your audio in film, video, and Flash software projects. Use on-clip controls to make fast edits and intuitive, task-based tools to clean up recordings, polish voice-overs, customize music, modify sound effects, apply high-quality filters, and much more. Tight integration with Flash CS3 Professional and Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3 software and an intuitive, visual interface mean you can get the job done quickly without sacrificing creative control.

Our next meeting will be...

Date: August 27, 2008
Time: 6-8PM

East Shore Area Library - Computer Lab, 1st floor (basement)
Details to be posted soon!

How to Use Photoshop Color Profiles for Web Images

Something that came up at our last meeting was color matching for print and web. Here's a nice tutorial on How to Use Photoshop Color Profiles for Web Images from www.usabilitypost.com

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Adobe Releases Photoshop Lightroom 2

From an Adobe Press Release...

Major Software Upgrade Further Simplifies Photography Workflows

SAN JOSE, Calif. — July 29, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software, the photographer's essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. With new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localized image correction, and streamlined search capabilities, Lightroom 2 is a compelling upgrade that simplifies photography from shoot to finish. As Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel® processors and Microsoft® Windows® Vista® 64-bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images.

“A worldwide community of photographers provided valuable insight and feedback, as part of the Lightroom 2 public beta program, ultimately helping us deliver a better product,” said Tom Hogarty, senior product manager for Lightroom and Camera Raw at Adobe. “We’ve considered their requests which helped us develop useful features that make it easier than ever for our customers to quickly refine, enhance and present brilliant photographs.”

Photoshop Lightroom 2: Smarter, Faster and More Accurate

The enhanced Library module in Lightroom 2 helps streamline and accelerate photographers’ workflows. With the ability to visually organize images across multiple hard drives, Lightroom 2 and its powerful Library Filter Bar makes it easy for users to quickly find the images they need. The Suggested Keywords feature helps photographers keyword their images by making intelligent suggestions based on their own previous efforts. New dual-monitor support allows users to expand their workspace, giving them flexibility to edit and organize images in a way that maximizes an additional display.

In the Develop module, the new Local Adjustment Brush lets photographers fine-tune specific areas of an image to precisely adjust color, exposure and tonal range without affecting other areas of the image. The new Graduated Filter expands the toolbox in Lightroom, allowing for edits to larger areas by applying gradually diminishing or increasing adjustment effects such as exposure, clarity, and saturation, alone, or in any combination. Lightroom 2 also helps photographers print more efficiently by quickly arranging photos of multiple sizes on one or many pages with flexible and customizable templates to maximize paper and ink. Intelligent algorithms automatically determine optimal sharpening for screen or print, producing crisper images faster. Developers can further extend the Lightroom workflow with Web, Export and Metadata Software Development Kits available at the Adobe Developer Connection, http://www.adobe.com/devnet/ .

Ground-Breaking Innovation in Raw Technology

New raw technology gives photographers access to flexible camera profiles. Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, but image preferences vary for every photographer. To minimize surprises, Adobe is supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers are used to seeing from their favorite camera, while also providing the ability to create highly customized profiles to suit different tastes. Camera profiles are available for immediate download on Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com ) for use with Lightroom 2 and Camera Raw 4.5, along with the DNG Profile Editor for the community to test and create their own profiles.

The Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in and DNG Converter 4.5 are also now available on Adobe.com and support over 190 camera models including the Olympus E 420 and E 520 models.

“One of the big reasons why Lightroom has become such a phenomenon among serious photographers is that Adobe built it with the input of a very vocal user community,” said Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). “Adobe really listens to the issues and challenges today’s photographers face and they’ve built a complete solution that not only meets the needs of photographers; it really feels like it was made just for us. The enhancements to Lightroom 2, combined with the power of Photoshop, give photographers the ultimate freedom to produce professional images quickly.”

Pricing and Availability

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available now through the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store in English, French and German with the Japanese language version planned to be released at a future date. The estimated street price is USD$299 for new users with an upgrade price of USD$99 for registered users of qualifying Lightroom customers. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4, 10.5 1 GHz PowerPC G4 or G5 or Intel® based processor, or Microsoft Windows® XP SP2 or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise, Intel Pentium 4® processor, 1 GB RAM and a 1024x768 resolution screen. Additional information on product features, upgrade policies, pricing, and language versions is available on www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/ .

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

Casual Meeting: July 30, 2008 at Panera Bread - Meet you new Co-Manager

Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Time: 6-8PM

Panera Bread - Harrisburg
4263 Union Deposit Road
Harrisburg, PA 17111
CPAUG RSS Feed

About the Meeting:

Meet your new CPAUG Co-Manager!
First, a big "Thank You" to everyone who expressed interest in the Co-Manager position! Adobe has now required all user groups to have Co-Manager for a few reasons. They want to help the Manager and also add additional support and strength to the groups. With that, I'm pleased to announce your new CPAUG Co-Manager, David Lambert. You may recognize his name from his SEO presentation in March. Dave has been an active member of CPAUG for years now and I am certain that he will be a great asset to the group. Dave's main role at this time will mostly be to assist with tasks, run meetings in my absence, keep up with Adobe and tech news, and contribute to the blog.

Dave says: " I am very excited to take on the role of co-manager. I look forward to assisting Megan in continually bringing you information on whats new in the world of Adobe. I look forward to seeing everyone next meeting."

Relax and share your tips and tricks!
Enjoy some tasty food as we share tips and tricks that we've learned at this casual meeting. Show a cool website with Panera's free WiFi, talk about work concerns, receive some inspiration from others, and get to know your CPAUG members. Got a laptop? Bring it! CPAUG will provide light refreshments.

Please feel free to post a comment if there are any topics that you'd like to see covered, or if you are interested in presenting a topic.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Get Cash for your Gadgets at Gazelle.com


I haven't tried this yet but it sounds like a great idea. It seems like a good way to get rid of old electronics without resorting to the trash (ugh!) or having to deal with the hassles of Ebay or direct selling. I'm not sure how this stacks up monetarily with taking the time to sell direct. If you know, please post a comment.

According to the Gazelle.com website:


What Is Gazelle?

We provide an easy, fast, and safe way for you to sell electronics and recycle electronics. When you sell cell phones, mp3 players, laptops, or other gadgets to us, you'll earn cash and help save the environment by keeping old, used gadgets out of landfills. You get green while being green! The bottom line is you want to sell electronics and we want to buy electronics. A perfect match!

What Happens When I Sell My Electronics?

As soon as we receive your used electronics and gadgets (such as used cell phones, used laptops etc.), we inspect them to be sure their condition matches your evaluation. We'll notify you via email once your item has been received and inspected, and again when your payment has been sent. The whole process takes about a week once we receive a box from you.

What Does Gazelle Do With My Used Electronics?

Gazelle believes that electronics recycling starts with reuse. After we buy electronics and gadgets, we evaluate their condition. When we receive items that are still in working condition, we extend their lives by removing all personal data from them, and selling the electronics through a variety of retail and wholesale outlets. Items without market value are recycled responsibly.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

When Worlds Collide: Microsoft funding Apache.

Microsoft, one of the biggest rivals to open-source programming, has begun funding the Apache Software Foundation, one of open-source software's biggest supporters.

"Microsoft is becoming a sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation. This sponsorship will enable the ASF to pay administrators and other support staff so that ASF developers can focus on writing great software," said Sam Ramji, a senior director of platform strategy at Microsoft. He announced the move Friday in a speech at the Open Source Convention, and noted Microsoft's support of Apache on the software company's Port 25 blog as well.



Read More
When worlds collide: Microsoft funds Apache

Friday, July 25, 2008

Open Web Foundation Officially Launches


From TechCrunch:

"The Open Web Foundation is an independent non-profit dedicated to the development and protection of open, non-proprietary specifications for web technologies. Following the open source model, the foundation is aimed at building a lightweight framework to help communities deal with the legal requirements necessary to create successful and widely adopted specification."

Horribly Photoshoped Squirrels

I couldn't resist a link to this Design O' Blog post on Horribly Photoshoped Squirrels.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Logo Designers - Sell your unused comps to IncSpring

This new site, IncSpring, let's you sell your unused logo designs online. Sell original brands and unused logo concepts directly to buyers. Might be a nice way to make a few extra bucks on some work you've already done.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Pittsburgh Conference: Flashpitt - multimedia designers, developers, and artists!


Flashpitt is a one-day conference on Friday, October 10, 2008 for multimedia designers, developers, and artists. It's Pittsburgh's first major Flash-centric conference. National and international industry leaders will be present to inspire, educate, and challenge the region's Flash community. Our speaker line up will share inside tips, new technologies and behind the scenes looks to Flashpitt's attendees.

We'll have two tracks of sessions running from 9am until about 6pm and we'll finish it all off with an after party full of fun and networking opportunities.

We have a lot of the speakers scheduled already including:

* Julian Dolce of Fuel Industries and deleteaso
* John Lindquist of Papervision 3D
* Stacey Mulcahy of bitchwhocodes.com
* Jose R. Rodriguez of JRVisuals
* Craig Swann of Crash Media
* Wayne Lincoln of the PittMFUG
* Ben Pritchard (Me) of Pixelfumes
* Golan Levin (Flong)
* Dan Mall of Happy Cog

Also, folks from Adobe and Big Spaceship will be on hand! You can learn more about the Flashpitt conference and speakers by visiting the site: www.flashpitt.com.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Peachpit Safari Discount - Limited Time Only!


Safari Books Online is offering an exclusive 15% discount to registered Peachpit User Group members, on annual Safari Books Online subscriptions purchased before December 31, 2008. Subscriptions must be purchased at safari.peachpit.com. Enter the exclusive coupon code YWKBQWA to receive your discount.

Not valid with any other offer. Coupon is good for a one-time 15% discount on a yearly Safari Library or Safari Bookshelf account. Offer valid for new subscribers only.

If you would like to try it out before you subscribe, the free 10-day trial is still available! Start your free trial today at safari.peachpit.com.

Safari Books Online is a fully searchable online digital library that provides one integrated source for more than 6,500 expert reference and learning materials from leading publishers. The site includes exclusive access to the collections of Peachpit Press, Cisco Press, Addison-Wesley, O'Reilly Media, as well as additional titles from InformIT, John Wiley and Sons, and Microsoft Press.

FLASHFORWARD2008 Peachpit User Group Discount - Save $200!


FLASHFORWARD2008
August 20-22
San Francisco

Peachpit customers get a $200 discount simply by using the code PEACHPITROCKS when you register!

What's happening at Flashforward Conference and Film Festival this year?

  • Peachpit authors Lynda Weinman, Luke Bayes, and Mike Downey will be presenting on stage at the Nob Hill Masonic Center.
  • Eric Natzke, Odd Todd Rosenberg; Robert Hodgin, Grant Skinner, Jared Ficklin, Stacey Mulcahy, Richard Galvan, Seb Lee-Delisle and many more speakers will be presenting topics under the theme Passion, Professionalism, and Partnership.
  • Don’t miss keynote presentations by Pogacnik, Carson, and McCloud—they will inspire and inform the way you think and how you work.
  • Never been to the Oscars? Here’s your chance to attend the Flash version—see all the best new work—and find out who wins a Big Orange Rubber Arrow.
  • And then there are the parties—two San Francisco experiences bound to connect you with your Flash peers, your inner child, and your ultra hip persona—don't miss the Welcome Party at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts or the Film Festival After Party at Ruby Skye!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Gumbo (Flex 4) goes beta

Adobe has just released a beta version of Gumbo, the next version of Flex. Read more here.

Japanese Scientists Develop Long-Life Flash Memory

With flash memory chips being used in so many products such as mini notebooks, flash memory cards, Iphones, Wii and more..it's nice to know there is technology that will last more than the standard decade.


"Flash memory chips with a potential lifetime of hundreds of years have been developed by Japanese scientists. The new chips also work at lower voltages than conventional chips, according to the scientists from the University of Tokyo. They are said to be scalable down to at least 10 nm; current Flash chips wouldn't be usable below 20 nm."

Friday, July 11, 2008

Co-Manager Introduction

Hello All!

My name is David Lambert. As acting co-manager I wanted to re-introduce myself to those who may not know me or remember who I am. I am primarily a web designer. I have been in the field for 3 years now and have been an active member of the users group for 3 1/2 years. Over the past few years I have learned a great deal from the users group and I am extremely excited to take on this new role. I look forward to assisting Megan in her continuing efforts to bring you all the latest information and developments on your topics of interest. I am also looking forward to getting to know everyone better at the next meeting and would love to know what your interests are for upcoming meetings.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Give Peachpit your input on their new design magazine!

Give us your input on our new all-digital, interactive design magazine!

Dear User Group Members,

Due to feedback we've received about the download experience for some users, we have revised the link to reFresh. If you had issues with the PDF file opening directly in your browser, please give the download another chance. For the best multimedia experience, use Adobe Acrobat Professional, version 8.1.2 or higher, or the free Adobe Reader 8.1.2. Thanks for your patience and feedback!

As key members of our community, we want you to be the first to know about reFresh, a brand new interactive magazine featuring Peachpit and New Riders best-selling authors we'll be launching soon for creative professionals. Before we release the magazine to the general public, we'd like to share with you an exclusive sneak peek in exchange for your thoughts on what works, what doesn't, and how we can make the magazine as valuable as possible to you, our most devoted readers.

Our goal with this new magazine is to "refresh" you creatively by helping you think about design and technology in a new way. We aim not only to instruct, but also to inspire. reFresh delivers an experience that goes beyond words and images, it's a digital magazine where you'll find video and audio clips that both show and tell you about the featured tools, techniques, and people.

We're delighted to feature a monthly column by designer Robin Williams, author of The Non-Designer's Design Book and more than 20 other best-selling titles. In each issue, you'll see and hear top creative professionals describe what inspires them and how they work. The renowned digital painter Bert Monroy kicks off our inaugural issue with an exclusive look at his latest Photoshop painting.

We plan to offer 12 issues of reFresh per year for only $99, but before we send out the first issue, we want your feedback. We invite you and your members to download the PDF (162 MB) for free and tell us what you think by completing the survey at www.peachpit.com/refreshsurvey.

As a special thank you for your help, each person who completes the survey by July 31, 2008 will receive a free copy of Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing.

Your input today will help us ensure that reFresh hits the mark with top inspirational and instructional content. We greatly appreciate your constructive and candid feedback.

Warm regards,
The Peachpit Team

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

How To Build A Web App in Four Days For $10,000

Interesting and detailed article from TechCrunch on details of trying to build out a web App in 32 hours (which seems to have turned into four days - still not bad!)

How To Build A Web App in Four Days For $10,000.


Monday, July 7, 2008

How to Talk to Non-Tech-Savvy Clients

Check out this nicely written blog post from Just Creative Design about How to Talk to Non-Tech-Savvy Clients. Some really great points to keep in mind and help with creating better client communication.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

YouTube ordered to reveal users' info

There's a lot of articles out there about this latest (privacy) issue but here's one I trust from American Public Media (NPR).

"A District Court judge ordered Google to turn over records of every clip watched on its video-sharing Web site YouTube -- that would include your username and computer address. It's all part of a lawsuit the media giant Viacom filed against Google last year."

YouTube ordered to reveal users' info

Friday, July 4, 2008

Interview with SlideRocket (Plus 100 Free Beta Accounts!)

This is an interesting interview from the creators of SlideRocket,

SlideRocket is a rich internet application that provides for every part of the presentation lifecycle. It integrates authoring, asset management, delivery and analytics tools into a single hosted environment that allows you to quickly create stunning presentations, intelligently manage your assets, securely share your slides, and measure the results.

http://insidethesites.com/2008/07/03/interview-with-sliderocket-
plus-100-free-beta-accounts/

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Focal Press User Group Program and 20% Discount!

As a partner in the new Focal Press User Group program, CPAUG members will receive a 20% discount on books and free shipping!

Focal Press has been a leading publisher of Media Technology books for 70 years. We provide essential resources for professionals and students in many areas including: film and digital video production, photography, digital imaging, graphics, animation and new media, broadcast and media distribution technologies, music recording and production, mass communications, and theatre technology. We deliver to you the techniques that have proved successful for professionals, and inspire you to go further with your craft. Our books demystify ever-changing technologies and help you gain success. Focal Press - learn, master, create.


Tuesday, July 1, 2008

SWF searchability FAQ from Adobe

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/swf_searchability.html

Google learns to crawl Flash

For those of you who design websites with Flash this is news to toast to.

From the Official Google Blog:

Google learns to crawl Flash

6/30/2008 09:26:00 PM


Google has been developing a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files of all kinds, from Flash menus, buttons and banners, to self-contained Flash websites. Recently, we've improved the performance of this Flash indexing algorithm by integrating Adobe's Flash Player technology.

In the past, web designers faced challenges if they chose to develop a site in Flash because the content they included was not indexable by search engines. They needed to make extra effort to ensure that their content was also presented in another way that search engines could find.

Now that we've launched our Flash indexing algorithm, web designers can expect improved visibility of their published Flash content, and you can expect to see better search results and snippets. There's more info on the Webmaster Central blog about the Searchable SWF integration.