shuffle April 2007 content

[Magnus]

Review: Scrivener
by Magnus

Scrivener is a writer’s tool. It is not a layout program, nor is it a word processor. On Scrivener’s web site it is described as a “project management tool for writers” which I think just about as good a description as any. If you write a lot, whether it is a book, articles for magazines, a blog, academic papers, or whatever else, you need some structure and organization. You need to be able to quickly jot down ideas for various topics, and attach them to articles or subjects. Then you need to synthesize those ideas into finished text. Scrivener will help you with that organizational side of the writing process but also with the actual writing. No it won’t write for you but it helps by getting out of the way of the writing. One example is a full-screen mode which only shows your text, no menu bar, desktop, Dock, and other potentially distracting elements. This is something that seems to be in fashion lately is full-screen modes for applications and Scrivener delivers one of the better ones I’ve seen. I really like Scrivener’s corkboard. On the corkboard you can stick notes (like post-it notes) for the articles you’re working on. There’s also an outliner in which you can organize your work, perhaps write an outline of your book so you know what to work on. Scrivener can import individual files or files in a folder structure, and it can export to various formats, including HTML. One little annoying thing I found was that Scrivener imported .DS_Store files for all folders that I imported. A Mac OS X application should know better than that. But that’s a minor point. Bottom line is, if you’re a writer, regardless of what you write, Scrivener may be a tool for you. Try it out, with it you could end up writing the next great novel.

SIDEBAR
Scrivener sells for $34.99. You can download a fully-functional 30 day trial copy and see if you like it. Keith at Scrivener provided a copy of the software for this review.

[Magnus]

SmorgasDashBord
by Magnus

Chi Pet
The Chi Pet Widget is one of those totally useless widgets that is nonetheless fun and even a bit addictive. Put simply, the only thing you do with this widget is you have to water your Chi Pet at least every three days or it dies. You water it by clicking on the water drop.
Download from: www.novisdesign.net/Widgets/?chipet
Rating: 4 (because it's simple in all it's uselessness)

Sudoku Widget
Personally I'm not that into Sudoku but it's spread across the world just about as fast as the Rubik's Cube did years ago. Wow, did I just show my age by mentioning Rubik's Cube? Anyway, this widget is good for a quick game of sudoku. Since it remembers your game between activating Dashboard, you can always settle your Sudoku-craving with a quick F12 keystroke.
Download from: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashb...okuwidget.html
Rating: 5 (because it's just so Sudoku, if you know what I mean)

AMEInfo Widgets
Whether it's because their CEO having switched to Mac or not, it seems that AME Info is paying more attention to Mac users lately. Two Dashboard Widgets is a testament to that. The Podcast Widget shows you all their latest podcasts and you can select one episode in a drop down menu and it will play. The Latest News Widget is a pretty basic RSS-feed viewer, made with Dashcode.
Download from: www.ameinfo.com/toolbar/
Rating: Podcast: 5 (because it's really cool); Latest News: 3 (because it's just okay)

iStat Pro
IStat Pro must be the swiss army knife of Dashboard Widgets. It displays the status of your Mac with more details that you can ever want. It covers hard drive space, network activity, uptime, battery status, and much more. And it does it all in a very nice interface.
Download from: www.islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=7
Rating: 5 (because it's just so useful and pretty to look at)

[Magnus]

What's new in Adobe Photoshop CS3
by Zaid Al Hilali

I couldn't believe it when Adobe released a public beta of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Bridge CS3 last December. This application was and still is Adobe's crown jewell of all their popular products. Timing of this public release was crucial for Apple Macintosh and Windows Vista users who were having trouble running CS2 applications on new technology. Such move was an excellent public relations coup from Adobe. I have used Photoshop CS3 Beta version for some time now and thought of listing some of the new features in Photoshop CS3 and try to explain each feature.

Download and try it
Surely the easiest way to see what's new in Adobe Photoshop CS3 on your own is to download the beast (labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs3). You need a licensed copy of Photoshop CS2 to be able to try the beta. Once installed you choose Window > Workspace > What's New in CS3 and all new or enhanced features will then be highlighted in light blue colour in top menus. I will choose some of the interesting one to share it with you here.

Photomerge
Photomerge found under File > Automate is really an old Photoshop feature, but it’s been enhanced in CS3. Photomerge is an automated photo stitching process to create a panoramic scene when sequence of camera shots taken side by side to any large area. Zoomify found under File > Export means no more hard thinking of how much to downsize an image for the internet. Designers could keep large images as they are and export them through Zoomify and place them on the net. Result would be a number of slices of exported image, html file and zoomify (swf) engine to view within internet browser quickly without the need to download full image.

Black and White Conversion
Black and White conversion found under Image > Adjustments. I have yet to see anything so clear and easy to use in any other computer application. Open a colour image, select the Black & White function then point with the mouse on any part of the image, hold the mouse button down and drag to the right to lighten that area, or left to darken it. There is no need to select and isolate areas any more prior to applying this feature.

Merge to HDR
Merge to HDR found under File > Automate. Some enhanced controls for the resulted 32 bit per channel picture. Now more filters, adjustment commands can be applied on the amazing final image. High Dynamic Range images are created from two or more snapshots of the same scene, each shot is taken with different "f" stop by changing camera's aperture setting. When Photoshop merge all images of same scene, you will end up with amazing details in shadows and highlight areas that cannot be achieved with other methods.

Quick Selection Tool
What used to be fast, now is faster with this easy–to–use tool. Basically run the pointer over any area of your image that you desire to select, just try to be within area's borders and see how smooth your selection is. As if this tool is not silly easy to use, Adobe has even added Auto Enhance and Refine Edge features to make a novice user select like a pro.

Conclusion
There is much that is new in Photoshop CS3 public beta. Of course we know Adobe will surely add more before the final version is released. And let’s not forget what’s arguably the biggest new feature of all, that Photoshop is now Universal Binary, meaning it runs full speed on Intel Macs.