Bing for a month (bingathon)

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December 5, 2009

A bunch of the guys, and gals, over at Webmasterworld have essentially committed themselves to trying Bing for a month.

And in this post I’ll invite anyone reading to join the month long use of Bing as their primary internet search provider.

When I started using the search engine full-time I promised myself that I would leave the Google default search in my Firefox toolbar — only just today did I change it.

I don’t care for the pretty pictures that display on Bing’s homepage and the only way to prevent my having to look at them was to set Bing as the default search in Firefox.

So far it appears that there are many things to like about Bing.

One of those things is how the search engine arranges it’s sitelinks. Another is how the content on the search pages is laid out. Easy to look at actually. The fine blue text is easier to look at than the bold blue. Bing’s layout is fairly organized, and if you like the way Facebook is laid out, then you’re going to love the simplicity of Bing’s layout.

I also like that Bing delivers, at least so far, non generic search results.
It so far has taken Bing to show me just how mundane and predictable the search results are on Google.

At any rate for a month I’m going to just Bing-It if I need to find something online. And you’re invited to join in.

Extreme Photoshop Makeover

By

Alan

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December 5, 2009

Extreme Photoshop Makeover: A photographer and designer shows the photo retouching process in detail.

Photoshop, developed by Adobe, is a cornerstone software in the realm of digital image editing.

Features:

Layer-Based Editing: Allows users to work on different segments of an image independently.
Advanced Tools: Includes tools for retouching, color correction, graphic design, painting, and more.
Filters and Effects: Offers a variety of filters like blur, sharpen, and distort, along with customizable effects.
Text and Type Tools: For adding and manipulating text within images.
Pen Tool: For precise selections and paths.
3D Capabilities: Though less emphasized recently, Photoshop has had 3D features for creating and editing three-dimensional objects.
Automation: Features like actions and scripts for repetitive tasks.
Integration: Seamless integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and After Effects.

Uses:

Photography: Post-processing, retouching, and enhancement.
Graphic Design: Creating posters, banners, packages, and marketing materials.
Digital Art: Painting, sketching, and creating digital illustrations.
Web Design: Mockups and UI design elements.

Historical Context:

First Release: Photoshop 1.0 was released in 1990 for Macintosh.
Evolution: Over the years, it has evolved to include more features, better performance, and cloud-based services.

Learning Photoshop:

Tutorials: Adobe offers extensive tutorials. Websites like YouTube, Udemy, and Skillshare also have courses.
Community: Photoshop has a large community with forums, blogs, and social media groups where users share tips and resources.

Controversies:

Manipulation: Often criticized for enabling easy manipulation of images, leading to concerns about authenticity in media.
Subscription Model: Adobe’s shift to a subscription-based model (Creative Cloud) has been both praised for regular updates and criticized for ongoing costs.

Photoshop can edit and compose raster images in multiple layers and supports masks, alpha compositing and several color models. Photoshop uses its own PSD and PSB file formats to support these features.

In addition to raster graphics, Photoshop has limited abilities to edit or render text and vector graphics (especially through clipping path for the latter), as well as 3D graphics and video.

Hope you enjoyed the extreme Photoshop makeover in the video above.

Inserting video into your Email

By

Alan

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October 17, 2009

I’ve been sending video via email for years — it’s really nothing new at all.

Whenever I produce a marketing or other kind of instructional video, and want to include it in my monthly newsletter, I simply write it into the source code of our email client like this;

They can watch the video right in their email and can also download it if they wish with a hyperlink provided below the iframe window.

For .flash or .gif?

Using the same iframe structure you can have a flash header load too. You’ll want to write the iframe to the specific size of the flash file itself so everything fits. Your email recipient will be able to actually click on the flash links located in the header to visit the site directly.

You can also place more than one iframe into the email source code, so if by chance you have a flash footer you can include that too — with a bit of select positioning — of course.

You also may want to write out any scrolling and/or borders so that everything blends seamlessly.

Happy Coding

After 19 years, Ulysses solar probe to go dark

By

Alan

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August 6, 2009

NASA and the European Space Agency are about to pull the plug on a robotic solar probe that just wouldn’t quit. The Ulysses probe was launched from the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. It was supposed to last five years. But it’s now nearing 19 years, 5.8 billion miles and still going.

Sixteen months ago, the two space agencies announced that Ulysses was freezing up and about to die in a matter of weeks. Somehow it kept operating, sending important science information about an extraordinarily quiet year for the sunspots and solar wind.

That will end on Tuesday when the space agencies turn off Ulysses’ transmitter. Officials say issues with power, location and antennas make it no longer useful.

The solar probe Ulysses was decommissioned on June 30, 2009, when ground controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued final commands to switch off its transmitter and shift to low-gain antennas, ending all communication.

This “going dark” marked the natural conclusion of the mission due to declining RTG power output (from ~285 W at launch to critically low levels), which could no longer sustain heaters to prevent hydrazine fuel from freezing or power all instruments simultaneously. Earlier predictions had forecasted an end in 2008, but the spacecraft’s resilience allowed an extra year of data collection.

Megabanks to be slimmed down, prepare for own demise

By

Alan

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July 5, 2009

With regard to Megabanks, under the administration’s proposal, companies such as Citi, Goldman Sachs and others in a broad top tier engaged in complex transactions would face stricter scrutiny and have to hold more assets and more cash as cushions against a downturn.

They also would have to anticipate their own demise, drafting detailed descriptions of how they could be dismantled quickly without causing damaging repercussions. Think of it as planning their own funerals — and burials.

Obama’s plan, in short, aims to make it far less appealing to be so big. That was the middle ground the administration sought, a step short of an outright ban on systemically risky companies.

“Without banning them we’re providing some pretty heavy penalties for entering” the top group of institutions that could pose a risk to the entire financial system, said Diana Farrell, deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council.

“The regulator might say to a large institution, ‘Make sure there is very good reason to allow yourself to get that big, or that interconnected, or that complex because the penalties will wipe out any advantages, such as lower cost of capital, you might have.'”

Some companies, such as Citi and Goldman Sachs, might bite the bullet and take on the added burden; in global capital markets some firms need to be large.

Others might choose to reduce their financial footprint.

“It’s a very sophisticated and very effective way to force institutions to deconsolidate,” said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a consulting firm that advises financial institutions.