Websites
Nikon Web Site
April 20, 2008 09:35 PM
By Robert Lachman
Nikon enthusiasts should check out the new interactive website at www.nikonusa.com and Nikon Picturetown with 2GB of free photo storage. According to their advertising, "Up to 20 GB free until April 30, 2008." Later in the site Tour, the Picturetown's services says you need subscribe to my Picturetown Gold for the extra storage which is available only in the US and Japan. 
It was tough to tell how much extra this was going to cost without signing up. I just signed up for Photoshop Express. Enough is enough with signing up for stuff. Ok after a little further checking you're going to get nailed on your credit card for $2.99 a month for the 20GB's of storage after April 30. Remember you're already getting 2GB of storage free so you're
paying the monthly fee for only 18GB's of storage. Just like those extended warrenties. Probably not a great deal.
The site does interact with their new line of cameras which will transmit via WiFi. This seem cool until you realize most cell phones will email photos instantly already
I certainly do want to give kudos to Nikon for their new D3 camera. The quality of the camera is amazing with high ISO settings like the 1600. They look like ISO 200 compared to a many of the similar cameras. ______________________________________________________________________
Nikon enthusiasts should check out the new interactive website at www.nikonusa.com and Nikon Picturetown with 2GB of free photo storage. According to their advertising, "Up to 20 GB free until April 30, 2008." Later in the site Tour, the Picturetown's services says you need subscribe to my Picturetown Gold for the extra storage which is available only in the US and Japan. It was tough to tell how much extra this was going to cost without signing up. I just signed up for Photoshop Express. Enough is enough with signing up for stuff. Ok after a little further checking you're going to get nailed on your credit card for $2.99 a month for the 20GB's of storage after April 30. Remember you're already getting 2GB of storage free so you're
paying the monthly fee for only 18GB's of storage. Just like those extended warrenties. Probably not a great deal.The site does interact with their new line of cameras which will transmit via WiFi. This seem cool until you realize most cell phones will email photos instantly already
I certainly do want to give kudos to Nikon for their new D3 camera. The quality of the camera is amazing with high ISO settings like the 1600. They look like ISO 200 compared to a many of the similar cameras. ______________________________________________________________________
Happy Birthday
April 19, 2008 01:23 PM
By Robert Lachman
The MacReviewCast celebrates its third birthday this week with a special podcast with interviews of many of the Mac reviewers including me. Check it out at www.surfbits.com. Tim Verpoorten does an amazing job on the podcast with all the latest and greatest in Mac software. Also this week, David Sparks celebrates the one year birthday of his website: www.macsparky.com. David alway has such informative and up-to-date posts on his site. ______________________________________________________________________
The MacReviewCast celebrates its third birthday this week with a special podcast with interviews of many of the Mac reviewers including me. Check it out at www.surfbits.com. Tim Verpoorten does an amazing job on the podcast with all the latest and greatest in Mac software. Also this week, David Sparks celebrates the one year birthday of his website: www.macsparky.com. David alway has such informative and up-to-date posts on his site. ______________________________________________________________________Photoshop Express
April 18, 2008 10:35 AM
By Robert Lachman
More fanfare, confetti, maybe a marching band, Adobe's web 2.0 Photoshop Express has arrived. I'm already getting bored. I decided to give it try and of course you need to join. Guess it's the
wave of the future. You can’t get anything these days without handing out your email address. I'm sure I'm on fifty new mailing lists by now. After a brief try of Photoshop Express, it's just more of the same, just another simple version of a photo editing program. It does work quickly over the net and has the basic controls. For now, I would suggest sticking with iPhoto. I kept trying to undo with command Z, it's just a hard habit to break. Look for a more detailed review in the next few weeks. ______________________________________________________________________
More fanfare, confetti, maybe a marching band, Adobe's web 2.0 Photoshop Express has arrived. I'm already getting bored. I decided to give it try and of course you need to join. Guess it's the
wave of the future. You can’t get anything these days without handing out your email address. I'm sure I'm on fifty new mailing lists by now. After a brief try of Photoshop Express, it's just more of the same, just another simple version of a photo editing program. It does work quickly over the net and has the basic controls. For now, I would suggest sticking with iPhoto. I kept trying to undo with command Z, it's just a hard habit to break. Look for a more detailed review in the next few weeks. ______________________________________________________________________Where are the Layer Masks in Elements 6?
April 14, 2008 04:44 PM
By Robert Lachman
In my review of Photoshop Elements 6 I had noticed the program didn’t feature layer masks. For the beginner, layer masks may seem like a tough concept but as you progress, it’s a much needed feature.
Layer masks allow only certain portions or percentages of your corrections or changes to show in a non-destructive way.They sort of omit or hide this feature in Elements 6, but there is a work-around I found on The Graphic Reporter website at http://www.graphicreporter.com/tutorials/elements_secretlayermasks.html by Lesa Snider King. Check out the other great Tutorials and Tips on her website at www.graphicreporter.com ______________________________________________________________________
In my review of Photoshop Elements 6 I had noticed the program didn’t feature layer masks. For the beginner, layer masks may seem like a tough concept but as you progress, it’s a much needed feature.
Layer masks allow only certain portions or percentages of your corrections or changes to show in a non-destructive way.They sort of omit or hide this feature in Elements 6, but there is a work-around I found on The Graphic Reporter website at http://www.graphicreporter.com/tutorials/elements_secretlayermasks.html by Lesa Snider King. Check out the other great Tutorials and Tips on her website at www.graphicreporter.com ______________________________________________________________________