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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Save 50% on All Take Control eBooks

This just in! TidBITS is offering User Groups 50% of their ’Take Control’ and ‘MacWorld SuperGuide‘ eBooks through
next Tuesday, April 29th. If you haven’t seen this wonderful electronic reference book series, now is the time to check it out!

eMail from Adam & Tonya Engst follows. (They are the TidBITS & Take Control publishers)

To celebrate of the 18th anniversary of TidBITS, we’re offering a 50%
discount on all Take Control and Macworld Superguide ebooks through
next Tuesday, April 29th. To take advantage of the sale, use the link
below to start shopping in our catalog; the necessary coupon code
will be applied automatically in the first screen of the shopping
cart. Note that you can select multiple books from the different tabs
in the catalog’s tabbed interface before clicking the Buy Selected
Ebooks button to add them to your cart. (Print books are not included
in the sale.)

New and recently updated titles you might especially want to check out include:

* Joe Kissell’s “Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac”
* Steve Sande’s “Take Control of iWeb: iLife ‘08 Edition”
* Ted Landau’s “Take Control of Your iPhone”
* Brian Tanaka’s “Take Control of Permissions in Leopard”
* Joe Kissell’s “Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard”
* Matt Neuburg’s “Take Control of Customizing Leopard”

Also be sure to check out the latest ebooks from Macworld:

* “Macworld Mac OS X Hints Superguide, Leopard Edition”
* “Macworld Total Leopard Superguide”

Although print versions of our books are not included in the sale,
print copies ordered from within an existing ebook are still
discounted at the cover price, not the price you pay during the sale.
So, if you buy a copy of “Take Control of Switching to the Mac” for
$5 during the sale, clicking the Print link at the top of the first
page will still save you $10 off the normal print price. (For older
ebooks that predate the Print link, just click the Check for Updates
button and then click the Order Print Copy tab in the Web page that
appears.)

Monday, April 07, 2008

FlexCamp Cleveland

Today is Flex Camp Cleveland, an educational seminar targeted at someone starting out in Flex. If you’ve had some experience doing software development and are interested in building RIA’s, the entire Flex Camp series are really useful to attend.

The lineup of speakers is pretty impressive, including Ben Forta and Adam Lehman from Adobe, Kris Schultz and Michael Krotscheck from Resource Interactive, Doug Pierce and Curtis Gayheart from WonderLab and Scott Andrews from DimpleDough. Michael Krotscheck was kind enough to publish his presentation and source files on his website, practicalflash.com.

Flex Camp Cleveland is an all-day event for beginning Flex developers, organized by the Cleveland Flex Users Group (CLEFUG). Meet others in the Flex community and hear some solid presentations by Flex developers who will give you a basic approach to learning Flex.

Agenda for FlexCamp Cleveland:
8:15 – 9:00 / Registration & coffee/bagels
9:00 – 9:50 / Keynote Presentation - Ben Forta (Adobe)
10:00 – 10:50 / Building Your First Flex App - Mike Krotscheck
11:00 – 11:50 / Creating Flex Components - Doug Pierce & Curtis Gayheart
11:50 – 12:50 / Lunch (provided)
1:00 – 1:50 / Flash, Flex and the Prepaid Gift Card - Scott Andrews
2:00 – 2:50 / Intro to OOP for Flex Developers - Kris Schultz
3:00 – 3:50 / Intro to AIR - Adam Lehman (Adobe)
4:00 – 5:00 / Open Q&A with presenters

Posted by Brian Duck on 04/07 at 09:25 AM
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

iRizer & MiniRizer: I get it - now that I’ve tried it.

by Brian K. Duck, Product Review Editor

iRizer is a laptop stand, literally. And, now that it’s on my lap, I get it!

Matias Corporation has a number of innovative products, the iRizer and MiniRizer are definitely worth a good look.

Product details, from their website:

iRizer - Portable ergonomic stand for your laptop

The iRizer’s sleek, interlocking design adjusts to 4 different heights – helping to prevent neck and wrist pain by raising your laptop’s keyboard and screen to a more comfortable angle. Perfect for home, office, or travel.

Saves your neck & wrists, at home or on the road.

Ideal for home, office, or travel, the iRizer helps prevent neck & wrist pain by raising your laptop’s keyboard & screen to a more comfortable angle.

Whether you’re tall or petite, whether your desk is too high or too low, the iRizer’s sleek interlocking design lets you adjust your laptop to the height/angle that’s most comfortable for you – 20°, 30°, 40°, or 50°.

Great with (or without) an external keyboard.

For maximum comfort, use the iRizer together with a separate keyboard & mouse, and turn your laptop into a more comfortable desktop computer. The Matias Folding Keyboard is a great addition to the iRizer.

For those times when you’re without an external keyboard (on the road, on a plane) the iRizer puts your laptop’s keyboard at a more comfortable angle for typing, allowing you to lean back in your chair and straighten your wrists, as recommended by leading
ergonomists.

The iRizer allows air to circulate freely under your laptop, so it runs
cooler and quieter. Your battery will last longer and it may even extend
the lifespan of your computer.

Your laptop is portable. Your stand should be too! Stacked together, the iRizer’s two slim acrylic plates are only 0.55" thick (14 mm) and easily fit into your notebook bag.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Adobe Photoshop CS3

By Brian K. Duck, Product Review Editor

Introduction
For years, creative professionals such as designers, photographers, and prepress specialists have relied on Adobe Photoshop software to help turn imagination into powerful imagery. But Photoshop has also become the digital imaging standard for a wide array of other professionalsincluding people working with motion graphics for film and television; 2D and 3D design imagery in manufacturing, architecture, and engineering; and medical and scientific professionals dealing with specialized images. To best meet the diverse needs of all these professionals and more, Adobe now presents a choice of two versions of the software Photoshop CS3, and Photoshop CS3 Extended.

Both new versions help increase your productivity with streamlined workflows for every imaging task, getting you from start to finish faster. New palette management maximizes your workspace, and additional preset capabilities let you store even more of your favorite settings for reuse. The unrivaled editing power of Photoshop is enhanced with new live, re- editable filters; improved color-correction features including better brightness, contrast, and monochrome conversion; cloning and healing preview overlays; and improved perspective-based editing. And breakthrough compositing stems from new features that automatically align and blend multiple image layers, automated selection tools, and more.

Photoshop CS3 Extended builds on top of the digital imaging standard, by starting with all of the new features and enhancements in Photoshop CS3, and adding specialized features and tools designed especially for professionals in film and television, manufacturing, architecture and engineering, and medicine and science. New 3D and motion support includes time-based cloning and healing on new video layers; 3D model visualization and texture editing; and export of 3D models from 2D images. And comprehensive image analysis comes from new 2D and 3D measurement tools, and support for DICOM images and MATLAB processing routines.

What’s New in Photoshop CS3 covers the features and enhancements that are common to both new versions of Photoshop, including:

Increased productivity and streamlined workflows—Photoshop CS3 comes with a wide array of new features and improvements to existing ones, but if there’s one thing you will notice immediately, it is this: Compared to previous versions of the software, Photoshop CS3 is just faster. As of December 1, 2006, beta versions of Photoshop CS3 are performing 40% faster than Photoshop CS2 on Intel-based Macs. The new Photoshop also gets you there faster with streamlined workflows stemming from new preset capabilities, redesigned palette management, and compatibility with the newest systems—including native Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) on PowerPC and Intel processors, and Microsoft® Windows® Vista™.

Unrivaled editing—How do you improve on the kind of editing power and performance that are the professional standard in digital imaging? By going the extra mile in protecting the ultimate quality every step of the way, and by making even more of the features professionals rely upon live and re-editable. With Photoshop CS3, you can now apply, adjust, add, and remove filters at will, without starting over. Enhancements to color correction include easier, more powerful monochrome conversion, an improved Curves adjustment, and cloning and healing tools that now feature preview overlays and multiple source points.

Breakthrough compositing—Whether it’s a peak-to-shore panorama or creating that one perfect shot from a series of images, Photoshop CS3 makes compositing faster, easier, and better. Speed compositing by automatically aligning and blending layers. Make an image selection with one stroke of a brush. Perfect any selection edge in a easy-to-use, intuitive dialog box.

Top new and enhanced features in Adobe Photoshop CS3

Nondestructive Smart Filters.
Smart Filters are simply Photoshop filters that are applied nondestructively, and remain live and re-editable. That gives you the flexibility to experiment with different filters and settings, without having to back up and start over with the original image. You can edit the Smart Filter mask to precisely adjust the filter’s effects on different areas of the image, and because Smart Filters are applied within the context of Smart Object layers, your designs are accelerated by now being able to scale, transform, and filter your images in an efficient, nondestructive workflow.

Quick Selection tool
Photoshop has always been distinguished by its powerful selection tools, which enable you to target editing and enhancements to precise areas of an image. Photoshop CS3 slashes the time necessary to choose image areas with the new Quick Selection tool. Now, instead of painstakingly outlining the image region you need to work on, you can simply paint the general area with the Quick Selection tool. Photoshop CS3 watches as you paint, and analyzes the image to complete the selection automatically. Expanding or contracting the selection is as simple as holding down modifer keys. And the Quick Selection tool can be used in conjunction with all of the other powerful selection tools in Photoshop. Whether it’s simple or complicated image selections, or image area extraction for advanced compositing, the new Quick Selection tool is a real time saver.

Refine Edge
The final touch to any image selection, the new Refine Edge feature is the simple, flexible way to modify the edge of a selection before you begin editing the area. With one-click access from the Options bar, or from the Select menu, Refine Edge lets you precisely smooth, feather, contract, or expand the current selection, with simple slider controls, in a single, intuitive dialog box.

Automatic layer alignment and blending
Automatic alignment and blending of image layers makes it especially easy to create advanced image composites—for example, combining the best parts of multiple images of the same scene into one “best” image. Now you can simply place multiple, related images on separate layers in one document, and then let Photoshop CS3 analyze the contents, moving and rotating the layers so they overlap as precisely as possible. Use the masking tools to reveal the areas you need from different layers to finalize the elements of the composite image. Then use automatic layer blending to seamlessly blend the color and shading into the final image. You could achieve the same highest-quality results in earlier versions of Photoshop, but the new automatic layer alignment and blending features get you there faster, with less work.

Streamlined interface
Photoshop CS3 maximizes your work area and creative time, by minimizing the effort of arranging your workspace. The Tools palette now appears in a spacesaving, single-column arrangement, with other palettes arranged in convenient, self-adjusting docks that can be widened to full size, narrowed to icons, or collapsed completely with the Tab key. When hidden, moving your mouse to the edge of the screen automatically reveals the palette dock. Then Photoshop hides the dock again when you move back to the image. Store your favorite workspaces as presets, and call them up instantly in the new Workspace button menu on the Options bar. You can also choose from a wide range of included presets, designed for a variety of specialized tasks. It all adds up to keeping the tools you need at your fingertips, but never in your way.

Next-generation Adobe Camera Raw
Photoshop CS3 features the latest version of the revolutionary Camera Raw, which processes raw data nondestructively from your compatible digital camera for superior photographic results. Photoshop CS3 also allows you the flexibility of applying the editing power of Camera Raw to JPEG and TIFF files as well as raw formats.

A component of Adobe Creative Suite 3
Adobe Photoshop CS3 is the image-editing component of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard. Photoshop CS3 integrates tightly with other components of Design Standard— Adobe InDesign® CS3, Adobe Illustrator® CS3, and Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional—to deliver a comprehensive solution for design and print production. From a streamlined new interface to dozens of new and enhanced features that help you work faster and smarter, Design Standard speeds your way from design concept to high-end printed output. Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard will be available for the U.S. estimated street price of US$1199. If you’re a licensed owner of Adobe Photoshop 7.0, CS, CS2, or CS3, you’re eligible to upgrade to Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard for the U.S. estimated street price of US$899 (U.S.). For more details on pricing, see “Availability and Pricing” below.

Availability and pricing
In the United States and Canada, Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Mac OS X version 10.4.8 on Intelbased or PowerPC-based systems and for Windows XP and Windows Vista is expected to ship in the second quarter of 2007. Adobe Photoshop CS3 will be available in North America starting in Q2 2007 for an estimated street price of US$649, directly from Adobe or through Adobe Authorized Resellers. To order directly from Adobe, visit the Adobe Store at http://www.adobe.com, or call 1-888-724-4507. Licensed owners of Photoshop CS2, Photoshop CS, or Photoshop 7.x can upgrade to Adobe Photoshop CS3 for US$199. Licensed owners of Photoshop CS2, Photoshop CS, or Photoshop 7.x are also eligible for special upgrade pricing to certain editions of Adobe Creative Suite 3. A complete description of upgrade eligibility and pricing is available in the Pricing Overview document. Estimated street prices do not include taxes, shipping, handling, or other related expenses. Information on pricing and support policies outside of North America and for Education customers will be available separately. Different pricing may apply for Education customers and in other regions.

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Posted by Brian Duck on 02/28 at 09:34 PM
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

O’Reilly News for User Group Members- February 2008

Get 35% off from O’Reilly, No Starch, Paraglyph, PC Publishing, Pragmatic Bookshelf, Rocky Nook, SitePoint, or YoungJin books you purchase directly from O’Reilly.
Just use code “DSUG” when ordering online or by phone 800-998-9938.
Free ground shipping on orders of $29.95 or more.

Also, view these links for upcoming events: