Archive for May, 2010

3 great cloud-based apps every designer and Mac user should use

3 great cloud-based apps every designer and Mac user should use

Cloud appsThere is certainly no shortage of applications available that heavily rely on “the cloud” to do their work. It’s the hip thing to do nowadays. Personally, I prefer a more robust, reliable and feature-rich desktop app any day. But there are a few cloud-based apps that I love, and simply couldn’t live without.

The advantage, of course, is that these applications store information on servers accessed via the Internet, so that information is available to you anywhere you go, from any computer you have access to. This is huge for any Mac user who’s lucky enough to have a desktop and a laptop, or splits their time between their office and home computers. The three apps below can, and for many people have, killed the need for transferring files via physical media such as CD or USB thumb drives, and made accessing and sharing information dead simple.

05/05/2010 Read More
Adobe finally fixes Creative Suite installers

Adobe finally fixes Creative Suite installers

When I installed Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection this past week, the very first thing I noticed was that the installer has been greatly improved over the disasterous installers used in previous Creative Suite versions. Now let me qualify that by saying they still aren’t perfect, but I think most users will agree that they’re well on their way to being what they should have been all along. Simple.

First of all, they actually look like they belong on a Mac. In the past, they screamed of being a Windows port at best. Buttons looked out of place, and the overall layout of the installer options seemed convoluted and overly difficult.

Adobe CS5 Master Collection

Adobe's Creative Suite 5 GREATLY improves the installer application

Furthermore, the install process itself took an obnoxious amount of time to install the apps – and you were likely to end up with an incomplete install if you managed to get around the “Quit all your apps before we proceed warning message.”

CS5 InstallThe new version offers a simple list of icons you can choose to install on the left. On the right, you’re shown components included with the installation of each app you have chosen. You can choose to not install those “optional” components if you wish, but you’ll likely have to do it more than once if you’ve purchased the Design, Web, Production or Master collection. For instance, Adobe AIR is part of the install for more than one app, so turning off the install for one app will simply result in it being installed with another one. To be honest, I don’t think you have any choice in the matter, you WILL have AIR installed.

Another app you’ll have no choice in installing is Adobe Bridge. There’s no way to choose to not install it. That being said, the speed increase and integration with other Creative Suite apps is worth installing it anyway.

Finally, the speed with which the individual applications get installed has been greatly improved. Installing the CS4 Design Premium edition took nearly 7 weeks (or so it seemed). Installing the entire CS5 Master Collection took just over 35 minutes. That’s nearly twice as many apps in significantly less time. And you’re no longer forced to quit your web browser while installation is taking place. Nice!

05/04/2010 Read More
The Graphic Mac welcomes: Photocase

The Graphic Mac welcomes: Photocase

If you’re on the lookout for stock photography on the web, you certainly have plenty of options. Over the last few years, microstock sites have been popping up all over. But one thing that sets Photocase apart from most competitors is that while they pride themselves on the simplicity of microstock (low prices, royalty-free licenses, easy to use), they push the creativity and ideas with their photos. You’re not likely to find the typical group of racially mixed business people sitting around a conference room table at Photocase.

I’d like to take the time to welcome Photocase as a banner sponsor to The Graphic Mac. I must admit that until they approached me, I had never heard of them. But after exploring the site for a while, I like what I saw and bookmarked them for future use.

Photocase

First, they make purchasing images easy. Photocase uses a credit-based purchasing system, and offers most features you would expect to find on a stock photography site; such as lightboxes and image searching. You can also upload and sell your own photos if you wish.

But the one thing I really loved about the site is that it loads fast. When I searched for “sky,” I was quickly greeted with a page full of thumbnails, with over 800 more pages to look through if I chose to do so. Fortunately, I quickly found a nice image to use before I finished looking through page three, made easier by the larger preview images you get when you roll over the images with your mouse. Flipping through pages was speedy, a fact I appreciate when I’m busy and in need of a photo quickly.

If you’re searching for new stock photography resources, be sure to give Photocase a try.

05/03/2010 Read More
Jon Stewart on the lost iPhone

Jon Stewart on the lost iPhone

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Appholes
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party
05/03/2010 Read More
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