TeKno Ziz

The Postman Always Rings, and Rings, and Rings

2012-01-14T08:33:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year, Crimestoppers! It is my sincere wish that 2012 is a great one for you both personally and professionally (that way you can hire me for your projects, hehe). But seriously, let's pray that 2012 is a better year for all of us.

Remember all those New Years resolutions you make and then break over and over (I know I do). Let's start with an easy one this year that will have a world changing (yes, world changing) impact. Help reduce the amount of useless bandwidth being slung about the internet by refusing to re-post or forward email by anyone for anything. Billions and billions (thanks, Carl Sagan) of bits are being wasted on pleas for help for non-existant or misrepresented causes.

Take, for example, a recent post by my unsuspecting nephew, whose heart is in the right place (his chest). He reposted a link regarding a baby that supposedly had cancer, complete with photo. My first reaction was of course, one of sadness, but also sadly, one of suspicion. So I looked to Snopes.com for a review.

And there you go – hoax.

In addition to the tens of spam messages we receive in our inboxes everyday, somehow evading both mail server's spam blockers as well as our own email clients, I urge you to consider to do one minute of research or less by just Googling or simply checking out these messages on Snopes.com. It'll give us more bandwidth to stream our Netflix selections.

Be compassion-smart.

In Like a (OS X) Lion...

2011-08-12T10:58:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did download and install Lion on my MacBook Pro. It was a reasonably painless experience. I had previously, of course, ran Software Update and MacUpdate Desktop to check for and upgrade all my applications (and so should you). Then spent the next 40 minutes or so downloading Lion and then the next 35 minutes installing it. I only had to click one button! When I rebooted, nothing seemed different. But as I began to look around and check out my apps, I began to notice some things. Before I continue, I would point out another blog post that a friend sent me that you should read regarding installing Lion. Made some very good points, which I'll touch on.

Inside, outside, leave me alone... Natural as defined is something that you feel comfortable doing. Defining natural as the complete opposite of that is not... natural. So go into System Preferences and uncheck the "Move content in the direction of mouse movement when scrolling or navigating." You'll thank me later.
Slow ride... take it easy. After Lion is first installed, your hard drive is reindexed for searching. So either put up with the initial sluggishness for a couple of hours or more (you can view the progress under the Spotlight menu) or go to Starbucks with a friend. Length of torture will depend on the size and speed of your system and hard drive. I recommend the mocha latte.
Whatever happened to the Transylvania Twist? What happened to fill in name of app here? It doesn't work anymore! Did you read my last post or what? Either it was a PowerPC app running under Rosetta and in need of an upgrade or you may need to contact the developer for more info. Office 2004, Quicken 2007? You're kidding, right? Time to upgrade or switch over to a new app. I did. See my comments at the bottom.
She's goooone, oh oooo I... My /user/Library folder is gone! Well, no, it isn't. Apple decided to hide it in order to preserve the integrity of the info stored there. But if you're a hack like me and want to be able to dig into it, there is a way to fix it. Go into the Terminal and type in: chflags nohidden ~/Library/ If you don't know what I'm talking about, ignore this bullet point.
We're on the road to nowhere. If you receive an error that the OS can't find the System Events.app, point it to /System/Library/Core Services/System Events and all will be well. Or maybe you get an error saying the location of the font vault can't be found, you may just ignore it, or check the setting in the System Preferences. When you restart, the error should be gone.
Welcome, my friends to the show that never ends. Icons, icons everywhere! New applications to see! Step right up! Yes, there are now several new apps to see. Read below for a description of the predominant ones.

First off is FaceTime, video chat software that links Apple desktop and mobile devices. Of course, if you have Skype or some other 3rd party chat software, you may not be using it much. Then there is Launchpad which gives your computer an iOS facelift, showing you all your apps on pages you can flip through (kind of overwhelming when you have hundreds of apps). Next, there is Mission Control, which combines the features of Expose and Spaces.

My biggest interest so far has been in the full screen mode. All of Apple's major apps and many newer 3rd party apps offer the ability to go wall-to-wall on your screen, like the iOS, then using gestures you can "flip" through your active apps. I have been trying it and it's growing on me. It works better on the laptop or with a touchpad, for a desktop you can use the keyboard or go to Mission Control (F9) to switch apps. Using the full screen for a single app focuses your attention and maximizes screen real estate. It's odd at first, but especially on smaller screens like laptops and with some kind of touchpad, it can be very useful.

If you are using Quicken of any flavor (other than Quicken Essentials) then you can export your banking data to a QIF file. Do this before you upgrade unless you have a earlier OS running on another drive. This can then be imported into just about any other checkbook or banking app out there. I am currently playing with iBank 4, but there is also MoneyWell and Moneydance. Most banking institutions with online services should be able to also provide you with a web-connect or download function to also transfer account activity into these apps.

Upgrading Office 2004? Well, you could upgrade to Office 2008. Or your could use Pages if you already own iWork or you can easily buy and download it from the App Store. Or you could save some dough and try one of three, yes 3, free office suites out there, NeoOffice, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice. Technically NeoOffice requires a minimum $10 donation for the newest version, but that's a drop in the bucket. I have used all three at one point or another. OpenOffice being the most widely used, LibreOffice is a spin off that is becoming quite popular and NeoOffice lays claim to being the most Mac-specific suite.

The Three Faces of Office

NeoOffice

OpenOffice

LibreOffice

During testing of my apps, I found that Savings Bond Tracker from Spotted Snake Software has a glitch in the registration module that doesn't seem to like Lion, but the author responded quickly to my plea for assistance and will be tracking that down soon. And Cocktail, the system utility from Maintain, has released an open beta of their 5.0 version that runs under Lion.

Now it is time for a confession. All this stuff I just wrote? It all happened on my desktop. Yes, in my last post I said I wouldn't do it, but I confess, I'm an upgrade junky. Net result? I am pretty much humming away, still working and playing on my computer with all but a few small bumps. And if my computer can upgrade with only a few glitches, yours should be fine. But do you have to upgrade? No. But you might find some of the new features useful.

What's New, Pussycat?

2011-07-24T14:08:00.001-04:00

What is Tom Jones crooning about this week? Lion, the new Apple operating system, (10.7 if anyone is keeping track), hit the virtual shelves this week, and though Apple was very up front about it's new features (and lack thereof), people were still caught off guard. I guess they didn't watch the Keynote address at the WWDC or read any of the press releases. But I am here to set the record straight.

The major talking point is that this OS is an amalgam of OS X and iOS, Apple's mobile OS. So there is greater support for multi-touch gestures either by trackpad, MagicMouse, or MagicPad and some of the look and feel in regard to program access and launching.

The biggest down side? Dropped support for Rosetta, Apple's PowerPC emulator. Say goodbye to Microsoft Office 2004 and any of your other venerable PowerPC apps. One user put it "It may cost only $29.99, but will cost you thousands to upgrade." That may be overstating it a bit. I mean c'mon, I think 7 seven years is long enough to wait between upgrades, but there may be some independent developers that haven't leapt on the Intel boat (although most likely they probably switched first). But as Capt. Kirk would say, "I'd like to think that there are always possibilities." Anyone using Office 2004 could move over to the free NeoOffice, OpenOffice or LibreOffice office suites. And there are options for almost any kind of app. True, they may not all be free, but they won't set you back thousands, perhaps not even hundreds.

Another interesting item to note is that Lion is only available through the App Store. This means no waiting to purchase but depending on the speed of your network connection and the traffic on the App Store, it could be a long wait to download the 3GB+ installer. That also means no DVD, so you'll need to download this onto each computer separately, though I heard rumors Apple was providing a way to store it on DVD. On an excellent note, Lion follows the App store guidelines and legally allows you to install copies on each machine you have an authorized user account on.

Reading through some of the user comments on the App Store, many people seem to genuinely like it. There are a few complaining about the loss of Rosetta, or the decreased performance. In general, assume it's YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). If you have a current Intel processor, at least 4GB of RAM and a decent hard drive, Lion should work at the minimum "ok" for you. It depends what kind of apps you have running both in the foreground and behind the scenes. And excellent way to check would be to launch the Activity Monitor found in the Applications --> Utility folder. That will give you a rundown on everything currently running on your computer and what is and is not compatible with Lion.

When you open it, you'll see a display like the one above. Look at the far right column under "Kind." Anything marked Intel or Intel (64 bit) is fine, anything marked PowerPC won't run under Lion. Another way to check is to look at the System Profiler (Either from the Utility folder or from the More button in the About This Mac in the Apple menu), under the left selection Software. This inventories all the applications on your computer, running or not.

Move the columns to the right or open the window wide enough to see the Kind column again. You also might see "Universal" here which means it will run under PowerPC or Intel. Oh oh, got a few PowerPC apps here... No, not my Quicken 7!

I may download Lion onto my laptop and check it out. I am less concerned about compatibility issues here than I am with my desktop, I have way more apps on that system. But for now, on my main system...

If I'm Lion, I'm dyin'.

Delete, Delete, Delete...

2011-07-13T17:23:00.001-04:00

No, that isn't the computerized cry of a Cyberman coming to get you, it's me trying to figure out which apps to hold on to, update or upgrade. A while back (in time and space), I blogged about an app that tracks your installed software for updates, allows you to browse new shareware, freeware and commercial apps, as well as download and install them. This of course, was Bodega.

Since then, in Apple's latest OS release, a new player has come to town, the App Store. It's modeled after the App Store on the iPod and iPad. My purpose for this article is to compare the two as well as TechTracker from CNET and MacUpdate from of course, MacUpdate.

Bodega
Interface - You've heard it from me before, the interface is the thing. Who couldn't love the wonderful roll-up security door on what looks like the corner store? It manages to covey a sense of uniqueness and fun without overwhelming your desktop.

Features - Shades of iTunes, just enough to make it easy to navigate. Vertical panel on the left, products displayed on "shelves" on the right. Reviews and current news feeds on the bottom. Double-click to view a product in detail, get options for download and/or purchase, read reviews.

Pros & Cons - It's free! No user account required. Easily track your installed software regardless of how it was purchased, receive notifications of updates even if the app is closed, allows you to purchase, install and update right within the app. Unfortunately, if the developer hasn't registered with them, their updates may not be available. Major commercial software unavailable. Doesn't track plugins, Preference Panes, or Dashboard widgets. Also, they don't differentiate all the time between updates and new versions. Should be an option to ignore version upgrades for an app after one notification or separate the version upgrades into a separate pane. Might be nice to have an "exclude" option as well to help with the versioning issue. No release notes.

App Store
Interface - Familiar iOS/iTunes interface.

Features - Browse categories, top-free, top-paid, review, purchase, download, auto-install. Programs appear on your Dock.

Pros & Cons - Can install apps on any computer that you use your account on. Tracks your App Store installs only (no other software), notifies you of updates (only when open), easy removal process. No license keys. Requires account. Locks you into App Store. Since this is an Apple product, it would be cool if it used the Software Update feature to track your downloaded software or at least Growl-ed a notifcation to you. Familiar iOS/iTunes interface. Yes, a downside, since it feels like the typical push promoted products in your face, rather than the nice browsing experience of Bodega.

TechTracker
Interface - A Preference Pane which automatically checks for updates at a time you specify.

Features - Accesses the TechTracker website to display the results, though I'm not sure that could be considered a feature.

Pros & Cons - Tracks all software on multiple systems. Uses acombined app/web interface. Doesn't list your current app version. Doesn't distinguish between updates and upgrades. No release notes. Can ignore apps. Tech Tracker Plus is $19.99 for the first year, $29.99 after that. However, the paid desktop app apparently is coy, because I couldn't find a way to access it on their site, I just kept getting the free version.

MacUpdate Desktop
Interface - What a shock, looks like iTunes. Still, though, very clean and functional with commonly used filters as buttons at the top.

Features - Tracks everything. Shows release notes. Maybe overkill. Do I really need my ScreenSavers updated? lol

Pros & Cons - Requires $20/year fee. Requires free MacUpdate account. Apps takes time to "prepare" prior to downloading, but downloads quickly after that. Crashed a couple of times on download of multiple items. Sometimes the upgrades require user intervention, but a result of the installing app rather than MacUpdate.

Conclusion. It's better to have at least one app that tracks your software and let's you know when there is an upgrade or update. Any apps bought in the App Store pretty much take care of themselves and while I like everything about Bodega, it simply doesn't track everything I would like. However, if I want to save some moola, that's the one to go with. Otherwise, I think I will give the nod to MacUpdate Desktop. Even with installation quirks, this keeps track of everything. Have you had any experiences with these apps? Tell me what you think.

Gimme that OTR, Gimme that OTR...

2011-05-19T11:42:00.003-04:00

Now before you start bridling at the mention of Old Time Religion, I am not referring to that (although maybe we could use a little more of that these days). Actually, I am referring to Old Time Radio. And boy, let me tell you, if you haven't had a chance to listen yet, you are in for a treat.

Some married couples have a "song." When I first met my wife, it was at a mutual friend's house where we had gathered to watch Casablanca. So that became our movie. We're in the multimedia age, dude. Not just songs anymore. Anyway, the two greatest things about this movie are 1.) the acting/actors and 2.) the script. Dialog is just not written as well any more. I mean come on, as great a movie as Star Wars was, didn't you groan to hear some of the dialog?

My friend gerry (he prefers lower case), had been listening to OTR for a while, mostly in the Detective genre and he mentioned Box 13, a show starring Alan Ladd (father of Cheryl Ladd). So I gave it a go. Was I surprised! The writing and voice acting was on parr with that of Casablanca, I kid you not. I loved it! There were 52 half hour episodes and I just finished listening to them. They were great! Complete with hard-boiled protagonist, ditzy secretary and more. Although he wasn't credited, Orson Wells was in several episodes as well as other recognized voices I can't put names to. Watchers of the old Twilight Zone might recognize them.

So where can one find these pearls? If you go over to Archive.org, you can find a vast number of radio shows in all sorts of categories for free. But you may have to dig around for them a bit. Here is a head start on two shows I have been listening to:

http://www.archive.org/details/Box_13

http://www.archive.org/details/TheLivesOfHarryLime

http://www.archive.org/details/TheGreenHornet

But if you're lazy, hop over to OTRCat.com and browse through their offerings. They have a beautiful site packed with all sorts of info on shows and you can purchase audio discs crammed with them. It's inexpensive and saves you the time of downloading and organizing them yourself. Plus they have daily freebies, specials and promotions.

Here are a few additional sites to peruse:

http://rusc.com/

http://www.radiomickdanger.com/

http://www.botar.us

Now of course, as with anything else, not every show is a gem. But you'll be surprise how much better written and acted most of these shows are as compared to what we watch today. And they were on radio.

Here's listening to you, kid.

Comic Relief

2011-03-23T21:55:00.000-04:00

With the current popularity of devices like the Kindle, Nook, iPad and a host of others, reading has become popular again. eBooks are even getting lauded on the NY Times bestseller list. Excluding the black and white readers (which are becoming fewer and less popular) these new eReaders are especially great at displaying a particular type of document — the comic book. The size, orientation, color as well as the text bubbles are well suited to the eReader and, with the help of some specialized software, are fun to read.

Some of the major houses like DC, Marvel and now Dark Horse have released their own software for purchasing and/or reading their publications, and there is also ComicsXology, an online bookstore for comics of all kinds, including those already mentioned.

Initially, and still in some use, comics were released in .CBR or .CBZ format. These formats are simply RAR or ZIP files, respectively. Inside, the comic book pages are a set of sequential JPG images. You could then view them in a comic book reader app that could parse the file into its individual pages and then allow the user to flip through them like a book. I did a quick search and found that there are quite a few apps out there that can read these types of files. Here is a quick summary:

Comic Reader Pro (free)

Pros: Linux, Mac and Windows

Cons: Old (2008), perhaps no longer supported or developed. Couldn't get it to start. Java error. Ooops.

Comical (free)
Pros: Linux, Mac and Windows. Contextual menu pops up for control. Basic. Simple. No frills.
Cons: Old (2006), perhaps no longer supported or developed. Won't resize to fit your screen. Full-size is deeper than screen depth. Space bar to advance, no key to go previous. No other command key equivalents.

ComicBookLover ($24.95)
Pros: Mac, iPod, iPad. Nice iTunes-like interface, with Preview-like fullscreen controls. Fit comic to window. iTunes-like tagging of comics. Bookmarks, magnifier. smart guides, the works. Library window to organize your collection. Uses cache for speed. Hardware control for Apple Remote (Not available in demo?).
Cons: Price! With the number of other options, I'm afraid this won't top my list, unless I am looking at one of the mobile versions. Silly spacebar, shift-spacebar (or CMD right and left arrow) for next/previous. Plain ol' arrow keys, anyone?

RadicalCodex ($10)
Pros: Linux, Mac and Windows. Reasonable price. Yay, arrow keys work! Set image as desktop background. Full-featured toolbar, bookmarks. Organizer window.

Cons: No drag and drop supported for app icon. Full-screen advance doesn't appear to work, at least on the comic I tried. Sticks on the second page. No contextual menu. No Preferences available. Won't display as spread on first page. Full-screen should auto-fit to window. Not as slick as CBL.

Simple Comic (donation-ware)
Pros: Simple and it just works. Full-screen, full-size. Thumbnail Exposé page selection (cool), layout and order selection, arrow key control, magnifying glass. For individual full screen reading, it's perfect.
Cons: No way to organize your comics. Simple Comic will resize your window if it can fit the whole image on the screen, so if you want to keep your window a certain size, good luck.

Xee (donation-ware)
Pros: Full-featured image viewer, not specifically designed for comics. Handles large collections of images with aplomb. Good image info on the bottom.
Cons: No support for spreads. (not-so) Automatic-zoom does not appear to work correctly when resizing the window, only when selecting the command. Slideshow toolbar commands don't appear to work.

For slickest implementation, ComicBookLover is for you, for best bargain, Simple Comic is the choice. Also keep in mind that several graphic apps can also read these files, like GraphicConverter, so you might already have an app that might work in a pinch but might not have all the features you want.

With all the "green" talk going on, there are obvious benefits to digital comics. You can carry a bunch of them without taking up much space, you won't tear, smudge or otherwise deface them. So if you like to own or collect them, it's a great way to enjoy them while keeping your investment safe. With lots of non-copyrighted comics as well as sample issues out there, it'll keep you happy without breaking the bank and give you an option to explore the past in comics as well as take a look at the new kids on the block (so to speak).

On the other hand, you may have to pay twice if you're a collector, once for the printed copy, once for the digital copy. And no matter how good it looks on screen, the real thing is usually nicer (which can be said about many things). The colors are bursting off the page and the panels are bigger (unless you are looking on a laptop or desktop, perhaps). And you can see the whole page full-size with no eye-strain.

Where can you find comics? And more importantly, FREE comics? Well, there are several sources, starting with ComicsXology, the source of the mobile app I mentioned earlier. They have a website where you can obtain sample issues sometimes series for free. Make sure to checkout Box 13, based on the old-time radio show starring Alan Ladd.

Here are several links to free comic sites. Your mileage may vary. Some comics may have mature themes.

Flashback Universe

Free-Comics.org

Digital Comic Museum (registration required)

The Collins Compendium of Free Comics

WOWIO

Tee Time

2011-02-05T13:12:00.000-05:00

Editor's note: I was writing my newest review about comic book software when I realized it was taking too long to finish, so I decide to take a "Tee" break and offer this article up while I was reading, uh, researching the comic book post to come. Enjoy.

My daughters are crazy about tee-shirts. That and my recent review about making custom t-shirts for them has led me on a merry chase across the internet, finding companies that make interesting, fun and cool t-shirts. I would like to spend this blog telling you about a few of them, and then picking out some shirts that just screamed, "That's perfect for..."

You have to know up front (some of you do already), that I am a big fan of science fiction (sci-fi to the unwashed masses, SyFy to the illiterate cable channel). So some of these tend to favor that genre, but there are more than enough t-shirt designs to satisfy everyone.

So, you know the score by now. The product needs to be good, but so does the website. Here are some sites that offer great designs, but also feature really cool website designs. I'll point out the particulars below.

Designer Tees
Big, bold and colorful, these sites feature the users as the artists. You can submit your own designs and have them rated by both the site and the audience.

Design by Humans – this one I like almost more for the website. They feature multiple views of each shirt (both men & women when available), as well as a really cool zoom feature that superimposes an enlargement of the model with a semi-transparent background. Nice!

Threadless – Best of both worlds, new shirts, and reprints of past favorites, the users decide which are the ones most likely to reprint. Lots of original designs, check out "Spacebar" and "Bike Chaos." I like the way they tell you how many of each size is left.

Shirt w00t – like the main w00t site, they offer a special on one of their tees each day, but also have a section where you can review and purchase the most popular ones. Make sure to check out "It Came out of Nowhere" ,"Nevermore" and "The Binge."

TeeFury – Grab it while it's hot because tomorrow it's not. One design offered each day, gone tomorrow. Check the archive for past designs. Such a shame, some of the past designs merit a reprinting. Their website says ownership is retained by the designers, so you may be able to find them elsewhere.

Pop Culture Tees
More text-y and less beautiful perhaps then the designer tees, but if you enjoy humor, sarcasm and plays on words, then these sites are the places to go.

Headline Shirts – You have to pick carefully from here, but there are a few gems. Check out "DaVinci Rock Man, "Double Solo" and "Napoleon Beach Cruiser" Buy two or more shirts and they ship free.

redbubble – Lots and lots and lots and lots of shirts. Often with t-shirt color options. And other items as well. Huge selection. Many Star Wars, Firefly and Dr. Who themed, if you like that sorta thing, lol. Did I mention the big selection?

SnorgTees – voted by me as the site most likely to find a tee shirt for someone in a split second. I will elaborate further a little later. A large selection of great designs that I wish I could buy all my friends.

ThinkGeek – If you think Geek is chic, this is definitely the place for you. Not only tees but hundreds of other products. And BTW geek does not just mean sci-fi, but all things geeky, cheeky and nerdy. Like Monty Python, XKCD, Star Trek (remember the pizza cutter?) and Firefly. Check 'em out.

Blade Runner, et al.

Ok, ok, I know I am getting very specific here, but I had to show you these sites, not only because it's related to one of my favorite movies of all time, Blade Runner, but also because the sites are – Just. So. Cool.

Dark Bunny Tees – Lots of "inspired by" t-shirts that run the gamut from "Aliens" to "The Warriors" all very nicely designed and perhaps subtle enough that only the initiated will understand the references. Nice job.

Last Exit to Nowhere – Lots of "inspired by" t-shirts that run the gamut from "A Clockwork Orange" to "Videodrome" all very nicely designed and perhaps subtle enough that only the initiated will understand the references. Nice job. Yes this is almost the same description as the one above, but hey, it fits.

Memetic Tees – Unabashedly science fiction, mainly BladeRunner with some Neuromancer and Alien thrown in for good measure. They print on long and short sleeve tees as well as hoodies and messenger bags.

Wake Up Time to Die – I know, an unusual domain name, but it's a line from Blade Runner. I especially like the ZORG shirt from the 5th Element and Club Obi-Wan from the The Temple of Doom. They also feature some shirts inspired by the "Lost" franchise.

And now the shirts by person

These are shirts I found mostly on the SnorgTees site that screamed certain people in my head. You know who you are:

gerry
http://www.snorgtees.com/mixed-martial-arts-and-crafts

andrew

http://www.snorgtees.com/sugar-skull-trooper
http://www.snorgtees.com/may-the-mass-x-acceleration

http://www.snorgtees.com/aluminum-falcon

paul and/or dave

http://www.snorgtees.com/what-floats-in-water

http://www.snorgtees.com/your-mother-was-a-hamster

scott

http://www.snorgtees.com/you-had-me-at-bacon

http://www.snorgtees.com/keep-calm-and-bacon-on
http://www.snorgtees.com/bacon-makes-everything-better

kevin
http://www.snorgtees.com/one-man-wolfpack
http://www.snorgtees.com/wolf-shirts-are-awesome

tom
http://www.snorgtees.com/if-you-read-this-it-s-too-late
http://www.snorgtees.com/3-ninjas

wayne
http://www.snorgtees.com/pirate-crossword

http://www.snorgtees.com/pirate-encyclopedia

Don't Give Online T-Shirts Short Shrift

2011-01-24T13:47:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't like t-shirts? The ultimate give away at tradeshows, sporting teams and entertainment events, or as recognition for participating in a corporate or non-profit event. They serve to both advertise the event and reward the recipient for their participation. You can even sell them or use them as thanks for donations! Who could ask for more? If you have ever been put in charge of ordering t-shirts for an event, you might find yourself in the awkward position of not knowing where to turn for help. You, my friend, have come to the right place. Here are some basic steps that need to take place:

1. Develop the Design

Pretty much all of the top-notch online print services have design capabilities, images, and fonts built into their sites but it's limited and might not offer the look you desire. However, you can be certain their materials are copyright free (or you won't be held responsible if it isn't). You could even use the service to sketch the design and then fine tune using your own software. Conversely, you can start out with your own software and then just upload the image(s) onto their service.

When I set about designing a couple of t-shirts for my kids for Christmas, I started from scratch with a scanner, and Illustrator CS4. Your best bet is to keep the image as vector art, so you can scale it without loss of definition. The PNG file format works well in this situation. Make sure to convert any fonts in the design to outlines as well, since the vendor probably won't have the same fonts, or use what they have on top of your design.

2. Consider the Colors

Just like in printing on paper, the fewer colors you use lowers the cost per shirt. The same applies with printing front and back. Some printers now let you print on the sleeves as well as on other parts of the shirt, so if it makes sense for the design, go right ahead. And don't forget, the shirt is a color too. Consider that when developing your design.

3. Determine Sizes & Quantities

The logic here is pretty straightforward. The more shirts you print, the cheaper each shirt becomes. Make sure to check with the manufacturer for available colors and sizes. This is important when printing shirts for large events, especially with children's sizes. Contact the vendor, they usually will be happy to send you a product catalog with color samples and size ranges. If you are printing a very small run (less than 6 typically), you will need to have your shirts digitally printed. The downside is that they cost a little more. But the big upside is that they will print full color for no additional cost. So get those pictures of grandma out and go crazy.

4. Place the order and put your feet up!

The services will typically generate a quote based on your specifications and you can see what the cost will be for your project. You can make changes to sizes and quantities there to tweak the best deal. This is also a good opportunity to compare prices with other services. Turnaround time is usually 2 weeks. Some services have free delivery, others are tacked on at checkout. Some offer an actual printed sample for large orders (you should request one if you have the time).

Here are the ones I looked at when creating my own custom tees (in alpha order):

BlueCottonPros: Simple, easy, fast, manage designs with ease, everything happens one one screen
Cons: Expensive
Note: I have to say I like this site, if the cost wasn't so prohibitive I may have used them.

Custom Ink
Pros: Simple, easy, fast
Cons: Can't manage designs, older designer app
Note: I have used these guys for years and they are great at what they do. They aren't the cheapest, but their prices are fair, they have great customer service, 2-week guaranteed turnaround and free shipping. I wish I could manage my designs, however. They also allowed me to print everything, as long as I confirmed the shirts were to be used as gifts.

Spreadshirt
Pros: Good for people wanting to sell their designs/products
Cons: Confusing web site, designer app not as good as others
Note: You need to agree that your designs are not copyrighted (which is fine, but one doesn't always know). Also, the site focuses on the design, so you have to apply the design to a product (like a t-shirt or mug)

UberPrints
Pros: Simple, easy, manageable designs, costs inline with CustomInk
Cons: None, really
Note: If I was allowed to print both of them, I probably would have. They were very nice about the copyright issue and did the necessary research for me. I did get one shirt done by them that they determined had no copyright issue.

If you do want to create and sell your own exclusive line of t-shirts (or designs), do look at Spreadshirt as well as CafePress and others you can find through Google. There are also other companies where you can enter your designs in competitions where the winners get their own print run or you will get paid for your designs, etc. Look at Threadless, SnorgTees and others. So, go out there and start creating!

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa.

2011-01-20T14:45:00.001-05:00

Welcome to another year of the TeKno Ziz blog. I am shamed to admit it, but I have been a baaaaaad boy. Bless me... It has been 3 months since my last posting. Not that there weren't things to say, but time got away from me (translate: lazy). So here we are in 2011 and almost the whole of January has gone by with no articles.

On the brighter side, many of you have been the recipient of the software deals I have given away, pointed out as freebies or offered as great bundle deals. Enjoy! There is surely more to come. And, yes, I know your name isn't Shirley (But my mom's name is, though. Actually, it's Adeline, but she prefers Shirley, her middle name. Mothers. Go figure.).

"So Johnny, what do we have on tap for our studio (read: internet) audience?"

"Well, David, we will be looking at online screen and digital printing services first. Then we'll mosey over to comic book readers. Lastly, we'll take a look at Apple's new App Store and what that augers for the future of software sales. And that's just the first three articles!"

"That's terrific, Johnny. Stay tuned, audience. We'll be back after these messages."

YOU can be a Computer Consultant!

2010-10-07T10:31:00.000-04:00

That's right, YOU have the ability to become a Person of Importance in the computing field. Make your own hours, earn unlimited wealth, be the center of attention! Just purchase my easy-to-understand guide, The Inner Geek for only $9.99 and you'll be on your way. Here is a brief outline of the five important concepts covered more depth in the guide:

1. Find an area of interest. PC or Mac? How about Linux (no, not Linus, the Peanuts character, the operating system, silly!)? What about HTML, javascript, jQuery, PHP? Boxers or briefs? Or approach it from an industry – say graphic design, medicine, accounting or electrolysis. It's better if it's something you're already familiar with. For me, it was marketing and design.

2. Immerse yourself. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Find industry rags (magazines, that is), blogs, whatever news source you prefer, and get to know the industry leaders, the software, hardware, trends, what they like in their coffee, etc. I had been reading MacUser, MacAddict and MacWorld, but now I am only down to one printed mag, and I do some reading online, including Slashdot.org for general tech news, MacInTouch, MacFixIt and MacOSX for support issues as well as the discussion boards for several of the major players like Apple and Adobe. Sadly, VersionTracker.com, my go to site for updates, was bought out (along with MacFixIt) by CNet, which now offers similar information.

3. Follow the Plan. I love it when a plan comes together. And when the A-Team is not available, I rely on this diagram to often get me through a tough tech session. Is it magic? No. It simply uses some rather basic logic to help you diagnose and solve your tech problem. It really works, try it! You can even get it on a t-shirt now!

4. Gotta Laugh. Not so sure about the singing and dancing, but laughter, after all, is the best medicine. So make sure to find humor in the stuff that you do, or it will drive you completely bonkers. For me, the Joy of Tech (JOT) and xkcd are two fun places for techies to find some humor. While you're at it, check out the stuff at ThinkGeek.com, it's geek heaven! Why, you might even like some of the stuff there, too (check out the Enterprise Pizza Cutter, I so want one).

Looking for Step 5? This concept is so simple, there isn't one! Just follow these 4 steps as fully discussed in my book and be guaranteed that your tech troubles are over. Tech nirvana is available for less than $10, can you believe it? And, as an added bonus, on the inside back cover is my personal Find-Me-Anywhere™ phone number, that you can use to reach me anytime, should you throw your hands up in despair. Meanwhile, I'm back to the beach chair and fruity drink with the little umbrella. Mmmm.

WordPress Gets Good Press

2010-09-23T13:30:00.002-04:00

I have been around the HTML block a few times, from straight coding in a text editor to using PageMill, GoLive!, Dreamweaver (always makes me think of the song), and open source software like Joomla! (what's with exclamation marks in product names?) and Drupal. There are also the web-based alternatives too, that allow for the creation of websites. But I have got to tell you, I have been working on a project for a client in WordPress (WP), and I have to admit, I like it a lot.

Blogging software was typically a link from an existing site that provided supplemental information for the end user or used solely as a means of publishing discussions on various topics. Now it is becoming more common to use the software as your primary site. Many, if not most, web hosts offer one-click installation of WP through their hosting control panel. It is also offered as a download from the main WordPress site.

And the software is free. Don't you just love open source software?

At it's heart, WP is powered through the use of PHP scripts and MySQL, but for most users, this is not usually something you need to mess with unless you're doing a manual install or making some significant alterations. It's Admin home page is nicer looking than many web hosting control panels and easier to navigate, grouped on the left hand side in useful categories.

The program has built-in search, menuing, archiving and RSS feed, it practically builds itself. Add static pages and group them into menu and sub-menu items, set their visibility and even the URL naming architecture for optimum SEO adherence.

Where I think the software shines is in its extensibility. Adding features is as easy as pie. Go to Plugins, click Add New, search on what type of feature you are looking for, pick one out of the search results, click Install, then Activate. Don't like it? Deactivate it, Delete it, then pick another option. The Dashboard and Plugins page show you when there has been an update to a plugin and you have the option of installing it or not.

What about design? WP is themes-based, and you can go crazy with all the sites that have WP themes available, or do what I did and pick up a copy of Artisteer and use it to generate one based on a provided design, roll your own, or let the application pick for you. In any case, you end up with a theme folder you upload to your WP theme directory and then choose it from the Appearance menu. That's it.

Support is as wide-ranging as your plugins. Most of the plugins have their own support sites, and if not, WordPress itself is a repository of useful information. Mind you, I didn't crack a single manual or electronic document to get up and running initially, and I had only a single issue I couldn't resolve, which I was able to find help with online. Remember the old slogan from Boston's Museum of Science, "It's fun to find out."? WordPress is just such an application. It's fun to play around with it. Go ahead and try it yourself.

Lost in Transition (Part 2)

2010-09-08T15:42:00.000-04:00

So there it was – a nice, new, shiny, silvery monstrosity on my desk, ready to be activated. I prefetched the Firewire cable I knew I would need to move the contents over from my elderly iMac and groped behind the left bottom corner for the power button. The familiar startup sound greeted me and away it went into the overly self-indulgent introductory animation.

It inquired whether I wanted to move the contents of the previous Mac over and I said yes. Then I waited for it to calculate the amount of storage required. And waited. And waited. Nothing. I started over and tried again. Still nothing. Oddly, I remembered having this same problem on my previous iMac. So I ignored the file transfer and proceeded to the desktop.

For the uninitiated, the transfer of information from one Mac to another is handled by the Migration Assistant found in the /Applications/Utilities folder, and can be used after the setup of a new Mac.

A note for those who choose to use this method: If you think you are smart and setup the new computer with the same user account name, then be prepared, the Migration Assistant won't allow you to overwrite the same named account if it is the currently active account. You will need to create a second (temporary, if you wish) admin account in order to run the application.

So attach your previous system via Firewire, and start it up holding the "T" key down, which starts the system up in what is called Target Disk Mode. If successful, you'll see the Firewire symbol on the screen. It should also then appear on the desktop of the new Mac under the icon of the internal drive. Then you can run the Migration Assistant application.

A second note for smarty-pants consultants (like me): Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. If you are using Time Machine to backup your system and want to continue using the same backup drive for the new Mac, then when the application prompts you to choose what you want to transfer, touch nothing! I thought I didn't need to copy over the Network settings, so when I did this the first time, the new computer didn't recognize the external drive as an existing Time Machine backup, it wanted to create a new backup on it. No, no, no. Make sure to not deselect any item unless you are sure you don't need it, and if you have the space on the new system, go ahead and leave it, you may be able to delete it later.

Ok, now we begin the transfer and go away for an hour or so...

I'm back! See how fast that was? Now my new iMac is like the old iMac except bigger, stronger and faster. Now let's see what applications I have broken. Inevitably, when transferring files from one Mac to another, applications will stop working. The best thing to do is to make sure that you take some preventive actions in advance to curb their number prior to the data transfer.

Adobe Creative Suite: open one of the applications in this suite and run the Help -> Deactivate command.
QuarkXpress: open the application and run the QuarkXpress or Utilities -> Deactivate command.

Some apps are going to just need the license codes re-entered. You are using a license tracker, aren't you? If not, this is a good time to start. Try LicenseKeeper or 1Password, both excellent options. If not, you're going to need to rummage around your shelves or back room to find all those software packages, or your old email messages. With one of these apps, it's as easy as Copy/Paste.

Other apps I had issues with: Savings Bond Tracker (only allows a certain number of activations), SWF 'n Slide Pro, SWF Lock 'n Load, Text-Osterone (who comes up with these names?), Suitcase Fusion (lost track of the Font Vault location), Microsoft AU Daemon (needs Rosetta installed, which you'll be prompted for).

If all else fails, try to remove the application. This can best be accomplished using the application installer itself (if it's an option), an app delete program, or by dragging the app and associated files to the Trash. Make sure to remove the app's preferences in /Library/Preferences and /homeuser/Library/Preferences as well as files in the /Library/Application Support and /homeuser/Library/Application Support folder. There may be stragglers left behind, but they should be fine to leave, since you are re-installing anyway.

Whew! That's all there is to it. Now I can begin using my new machine. You have no idea how cool it is to play Call of Duty on a 27" display... or watch a movie. Even working on it is nice... see ya next time!

Lost in Transition (Part 1)

2010-08-10T20:29:00.002-04:00

Well, it was about that time. More than three years old and outside of the AppleCare warranty, getting full, getting slow, no more RAM slots to fill, my trusty iMac was ready for the bone yard. There were new machines to check out, new Vista™s to explore (over my dead body), new programs to conquer.

So, what to get. Hmm, let's run down the basic questions:

Q. Apple or PC?
A. Apple, duh.

Q. iMac or Mac Pro?
A. I pretty much made that decision buying my current Apple machine. There is really no reason to go to a tower anymore. I have all the power, memory and storage I need in a one piece system that sits on my desk. No more banging my knees or getting under the table to plug/unplug an external device.

Q. Screen Size?
A. Well, I have a 24" already and stepping down to a 21" seems silly. However, 27" seems ridiculous, it's the size of my previous TV for crying out loud. But since they don't make the 24" anymore... 27" it is.

Q. Processor and Speed?
A. My current machine is an Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.33GHz. The new machines sport an Core i3 (dual-core), a Core i5 (quad-core) or a Core i7 (quad-core) running at various speeds. Getting the 27" pushes me into the latter 2 models and I always opt for the second best, being the best balance of cost vs. performance, so it looks like the Core i5 is the choice. 2.8GHz is the standard speed.

Q. Video?
A. My current machine sported a 256MB NVIDIA 7600GT. Good at the time, but I can't run most recent Steam games on it. The iMac I chose has a 1GB ATi Radeon 5750. Sweet. Although I have moved most of my gaming to a PC running Windows 7, it's nice to know I can fire up a game on the iMac with no trouble.

Q. Cost?
A. Seems we get more and more for the same money these days. My previous machine cost me $1,999 over three years ago. This one was $1,999 as well, but look how much more I get with it – 1TB of storage, 4GB RAM and all the other specs mentioned above. Seems like a good deal.

Q. AppleCare?
A. Oh, yes. This is not your father's Apple. Can't just open up the hood and poke around. With a mere $169 investment, you are protected for a 3 full years, top to bottom.

Next time we'll what a moving experience I had porting over my existing data and getting my new iMac set up. Stay tuned.

Boy, Am I Steamed... And You Should Be, Too!

2010-06-30T10:35:00.001-04:00

I bet you think this is going to be a rant about some application... and you'd be right. But what if I was to say that is was going to be favorable rant? It's true. You see, I had recently begun to use the new Mac version of Steam, the online game store, where many games, once only for the PC, are making their debut on the Mac. But before I get into the games, let me talk about Steam.

Steam is a game store, an online community, a chat client and more. You can purchase new and older PC and now Mac games or games converted from PC to Mac, download them and play them right through Steam, like GameTap, which I was also at one time a member of. A Steam account is free and you are not obligated to purchase anything. Their are frequent specials, mid-week deals and outright steals. You can login from as many different machines as you wish, but have only one active session at a time. You can download the games onto as many machines as you have, but again, can only play on one machine at a time.

You can add friends, become part of groups, see and join friends playing online, and find out how much time you are wasting playing each of your games. Also, Valve has introduced the concept of Achievements, where awards are given for certain accomplishments which are kept track of and broadcasted to your friends.

The Steam client is similar to a browser, with it's own look and feel.

Steam is also owed by game producer Valve, so of course, their games are available here. They boast such titles as Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Left4Dead, Left4Dead2, Portal, Team Fortress 2 and Killing Floor. All of these titles with the exception of the L4D franchise are not only available for the Mac but they now support SteamCloud, which saves games online so you can access your saved games from any Steam-enabled computer.

In addition, they also support SteamPlay. That means you can play your game from any PC or Mac. That's right. Buy it on the PC, play it on the Mac, at no extra charge. I know I am using a lot of italics here, but I am really excited. I had never played these games before, and Steam gave away free copies of Portal for Mac and PC users during the release of the Steam client for Mac. So of course I downloaded it.

*insert sound of revelation here*

I am a sucker for a good puzzle game, like Myst. Combine that with physics and you have Portal. It's a FPNS (First Person Non-Shooter) Although it plays like a FPS, there is no killing, just obstacles to overcome. You have to think your way through the various challenges, but it requires action to extricate yourself. Graphics are great and the storyline is good. Toss in some quirky humor and ta-da! Instant hit.

Then I was persuaded to pick up the Orange-Box, which in addition to Portal, comes with Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Team Fortress 2. I had heard about Half-Life but never played it. For the most recent past I have been playing adversarial games online and had not played single player for a while.

Then I tried Half-Life 2. 25 hours later, I was hooked.

The gameplay, depth of story, graphics are all top-notch. They keep you intrigued and entertained throughout. Although I played them backwards, I found that having already played Portal, I better understood how the game was to be played. Maybe that's a cheat, I don't know, but it certainly helped me to enjoy the game more. The Episodes are part of trilogy and I am stuck at the end of Episode 2. Episode 3 is expected... sometime.

For all you retro and OS 9 gamers out there, remember all those games you like, but no longer work under OS X? Well, if they are on Steam, they do now. Games like The Dig, Loom, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, all work under Steam. No need for keeping ancient computers or old CDs (and floppies). Have some blocky, bit-mapped fun! Graphics aren't as good but sometimes that forces the story to be better!

All in all, if you like games, Steam is a must-have.

Bloggermania!

2010-05-14T16:13:00.009-04:00

In this corner, the heavyweight MacJournal faces off against the trendy MarsEdit and the relative new comer Blogo in this knock down, drag out contest to see who will be the the reigning blogging champion. Ok, boys, let’s have a clean fight!

Now I know three’s a crowd, but there are a crowd of applications that are fighting for your attention, I picked these three in a completely subjective manner. After a recent scare when I thought I had lost one of my posts to espionage, I finally realized that if something catastrophic happened, I would loose everything I had ever written for my blog because I had no local backup (don't get me started with the whole notion of cloud computing). So now I need to decide upon an application that will aid me not only in keeping local copies, but maybe even help to facilitate how I write my posts.

MacJournal 5.2.3 $39.95
Setup was confusing, like the software was designed to make the signup process more generic, but ended up making me crazy as to where to put my password in for the blog. I deleted the journal and tried again, this time I just entered a name for the journal (“TeKno Ziz”) and Whammo! Everything materialized without a single input from me. Was that because my user and password were already in the keychain? Did it look at common blog sites for my blog? Frankly, it was kind of scary.

Inspector is a little confusing, maybe it could use a feature that would highlight the section you're in like Document, Journal, Article. The layout seems hierarchical, but is a Journal within a Document? Maybe a tabbed interface like Apple's inspectors would be more appropriate (and smaller).

Gak! I just uploaded and previewed my document and all my images are missing! I panicked for a minuted and realized they were still visible in the document, so that must mean I was not doing something right. Opened the manual and read that MacJournal usually will setup the blog automatically (and correctly) but in some instances, manual adjustments may need to be made. I saw I needed to set my image upload settings using Picassa for my Blogger blog. I didn’t have to do anything for the other two apps. Silly me.

Pros: Articles all maintained locally (this is key for me). Preview mode (whoo-hoo...). Spelling & grammar checker. Can record audio and video for blogging or personal journals. Drag resizing of images. Can create other types of documents other than blogs. Uses Growl notifications. Can post as draft.

Cons: Can’t publish in draft mode. Auto-format can be vexing. Inspector too unwieldy. Expensive. Images can be side-by-side but apparently only locally. Cannot numerically determine size of images. Images don’t link to full-size versions. Can’t see any indication of upload progress until finished. Annoying error message when editing previously uploaded document.

Conclusion: This program was not designed specifically for blogs and therefore does not directly address all the specific needs of a blogger. That and at almost double the price of Blogo, makes me hesitate to recommend this specifically for people wanting just to blog.

MarsEdit 3.0.1 $29.95
Logo reminds me of MarsRising from Ambrosia, fun game... The 2-step setup process is dead-simple. Enter the address of the blog and then the user name and password and poof!, you're all set. In the MarsEdit main window – I would opt to add the "-" button in the bottom left next to the "+" to remove blogs as is typical in addition to putting it into the popup. Standards are beautiful... but otherwise, no complaints. Standard Apple app interface, clean Mail-like appearance. Images appear in your posts with previews, which I like. There is a preview mode, but it looks nothing like the actual layout of your blog. You can customize it some degree, but it ain't nothing like the real thing, baby.

Windows, windows, too many windows. There is the Main window, the Edit window and the Preview window. Makes it hard to keep track ofeverything, especially on smaller screens. Also what is in the Edit window won't be what is in the Main window until you send it to the blog. I thought I had lost a chunk of text until I figured that one out. Again, enter the tabbed interface or maybe just allowing editing in the Main window. Format commands available via popup or keyboard commands. More than what is available in Blogo's main window, but maybe not as convenient.

Images are next. So I started writing this in Blogo and now am in MarsEdit. I go to the Media Manager to see the images associated with this article, and... nothing. There is nothing there. But I had already uploaded a bunch of images and they show up in the Edit and Main window. So... where are they in the Media Manager? I go to the On My Mac tab and find the pictures locally but I can only select one a time. Yes, I can scale it proportionally (though there is nothing in the interface that mentions this, I was just playing), but what about multiple add? Another bonus, I can drag pictures side-by-side, I couldn't seem to do that in Blogo. Paragraphs and text wrap appear automatic, although not always consistent, sometimes there is a pad of space, sometimes not. It would be nice to have a "stick to paragraph" option. Images placed with MarsEdit also don't have an option to view the full-size image. D'oh! Hard to do reviews if you can't show screen shots full-size. Blogo does this auto-magically. Ohhhh, CRASH! Program just crashed on me. But I lost no text! Auto-recover saved the day. Nice. Makes me wonder if they expected this to happen...

Had to turn off the option to close the edit window each time I post in Preferences, because I send my post to the blog many times before I publish. Trust me, you want to do this too.

Pros: A specific blogging app, no unwanted features. More affordable.Uses Growl notifications. Can post as draft.Auto-recover. Can work offline. Has bookmarklet to Blog This! from a web page.Less expensive than MacJournal. Can edit in external apps. Can have side-by-side images.User can edit Preview template to reflect actual blog design.Maintains copies locally.

Cons: No full-sreen mode (not that I care, but someone might). Only app to crash on me. Tough to position graphics even though you can make them side-by-side. Seems not to be able to find previously uploaded images not uploaded through the app. Preview pops up every time I open a post to edit. No resizing of images in edit window. No links to larger images. No view published version in website.

Conclusion: I want to like this app. It definitely hits closer to the mark than MacJournal. It's less expensive and can preview in the design of your blog, if you are willing to tweak the template code. But image handling isn't quite perfect, side-by-side, yes, but no links to larger images, no spaces between images, no resizing in edit window. If you can live with these, then MarsEdit is the one for you.

Blogo 1.3 $25.00

A 2-step process as easy as MarsEdit, with the addition of some helpful tools like a bookmarklet that sends content from specific sites direct to Blogo or the ability to send highlighted text as a quote. Pretty nice.

Adding graphics is a drag and drop affair, drag them into the image list window, size, align and link the thumbnails and throw them into the page. Easy. Click once to preview the image, click twice to edit. Would have liked to see the preview of the image right in the article just to verify the right image was in the right location. I don't think I would use full-screen mode in general, but I like the way Blogo looks over MacJournal's green-on-black display. Completely personal preference.

Also sports a "Mircoblog" interface for Twitter and Ping.FM, for posting to all your social software services. What goes out is posted to all your favorite social sites.

Pros: Modern, sleek interface, love the logo (Lugaru anyone?). Awesome preview feature shows you what the article looks like with the real format of your blog, complete with graphics (best feature of all 3), no coding or tweaking required! Formatting commands on screen or as shortcuts. Full-screen if you want it. Images link to larger versions.

Cons: Only maintains local copies of new articles. Articles don't appear if you are not connected to the internet, even draft ones. Preview refresh sometimes is longer than it should be, especially if it's caching the files.

Slight annoyances: Splash screen appears where main window last was, not in center of the screen. However, you can turn off the splash screen in Preferences. Sometimes it appears that the program isn't keeping up with your typing. There is also a slight drawing error in the bottom right corner of the Preview window.

Conclusion: I really like this app. Clean, fresh, functional. Has more features at a better price than MarsEdit. If the author could take care of the archiving of existing articles, and off-line editing, it would be perfect. But for people just starting out with a blog, or starting a new one, it's just the thing, especially at the price of $25.

Addendum: Having reviewed and re-reviewed this post, I happened upon an issue I needed to fix, so I went into Blogger instead of one of the editing apps I reviewed. Somehow the paragraph spacing got all messed up while editing inside of the web app. So if you plan on using one of these apps, plan on using it solely to write and edit your blogs. Otherwise, you might get cranky... and have to fix the code in BBEdit, like me.

Turning the Tables or The Great DIVide

2010-04-30T12:08:00.000-04:00

With some good-natured needling from a friend and with much sadness, I have turned the tables on using tables in my HTML and have crossed over the great DIVide to using DIVs. Now to be honest, DIVs may be more like what I was used to coding, way back in the day when I was a photo typesetter and used to have to hand code my layouts and preview them on another monitor. What is photo typesetting? Check it out, here. But, as the saying goes, to go forward you must look back.

DIVs are containers. If you have ever used QuarkXPress (note proper spelling), you know exactly what I am referring to. You make a text box or a photo box and then dump stuff in it, and then you can drag it around on the page and do stuff with it. Same idea. If you're using a tool like Dreamweaver, you can place a box on your page and then use CSS to format the box and the content within. Or if you like, you can use a text editor like BBEdit and code it, then preview it in a browser.

While tables did give you the ability to keep things together, it was a pain sometimes to have to work within its confines. For example, while creating a navigation menu, Fireworks would create a table where every menu item was a separate cell in a table and when it went in the layout sometimes adjusting the table would pull the menu out of alignment. Then I would have to spend the time to pull each menu item out of the cell, place them all in the same cell, then combine all the cells into one.

With DIVs you can numerically position items on the page and format each DIV separately. Making changes or tweaking position is a simple matter of changing a line or two in the CSS. Granted, it will be a little harder for some people to wrap their brains around, but in the end the code is cleaner, easier to read and most likely a little faster loading than tables. Discrete boxes also offer the ability to integrate backend code, say, from a database, more simply.

Downsides? Well, duh. Aren't there always? In this case, the downside is browser interpretation. Some browsers may interpret the code a little differently and therefore your page may vary slightly from one to another. However most browsers like Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera are pretty consistent. The bad boy on the block? Of course, Internet Explorer. You can forget version 6 altogether (it was given an internet funeral this past March) and plan on testing using version 7 and 8.

I am in the process of redesigning the TeKno Ziz site, and I am using DIVs. Stay tuned for the upcoming release. What's your experience with tables and DIVs and all things HTML? Let's hear what you have to say.

I want my CMS!

2010-04-02T13:11:00.003-04:00

Content management is all the craze these days. Server-based, web-based, local, remote, templates, themes, databases, plugins, extensions, PHP, MySQL and all those other things you hear – what's it mean for your website? What's the advantage? What's the cost? Maybe most importantly, what are the downsides? Let me try to make some sense of this for you.

Simply put, a Content Management System (CMS) is a way of managing your website without the aid of the programmers who built the site and without having any knowledge of programming. Ideally. In reality, it's a little more complex than that, depending on the method you choose.

Some mid level web design applications like iWeb, SandVox, RapidWeaver allow you to "skin" your website – that is, use new designs simply by selecting one from a menu and applying it to your site. Neat. Now you can change the look anytime you want. You are limited to layouts provided by the developer or third parties and sometimes you may need to pay extra, but for those who don't have any aspirations to design, it may be the perfect solution. This is a real basic form of content management. Well, design management anyway.

Another method harkens back a couple of years to Macromedia's Contribute, now owned by Adobe. In this scenario, the developer builds the site with "editable" regions that the client can access using a special browser application. There, they can make edits to text, insert images, links and even new pages, without compromising the integrity of the site or the design. This is kind of the reverse of the first method, where only the content is managed, not the design.

Adobe has taken Contribute and now has made it available online as InContext Editing. The backend works pretty much the same, but the front end can be accessed via any browser. A free service now, Adobe plans at some point to make it a subscription-based service.

Open Source Software (OSS), free software supported by the developers and users, moves us into another realm of possibility where you have much more power but also more complexity. These CMS apps are often based on PHP and MySQL, a programming language and database respectively, which are administered via your browser. There are three main categories that I will mention, community software, blogging software and discussion boards. They all are variations on a theme, so to speak, and deal with communicating either one-to-many or many-to-many.

Two of the more popular packages for use in community sites are Drupal and Joomla! They offer a boatload of features and third party developers have created many more. However, these are very structured applications and therefore you must work within their strictures. And partly due to their impressive feature sets, they are somewhat more complicated to set up and maintain. Design in particular is difficult and you may need to look to others to provide you with a theme you can purchase and install. You can view my GratefulTread mountain biking site I built using Joomla! You can have articles, images, even slideshows and videos. You can attach documents, and the site can also have many contributors. Polls are another popular feature that is available.

When discussion and many-to-many interaction is required, bulletin board (or forum) software is the way to go. It can be used as a stand alone site or as a bolt on to an existing site. Often times, it is used as a source of support and community discussion about that particular company's site or product. Its focus is mainly textual although you can attach images and documents to your posts. Think of it as big chat room where all your posts are permanently stored. phpBB and SMF are a couple of examples of the many options out there.

Lastly, when the speaker is primarily a single person wanting to communicate to a group, a blog might be just right for you. Easy to manage, you can publish articles, images, slideshows and more. People can link via RSS feeds (many of the other app mentioned here can also), as well as leave comments, and some packages can link to other products by the same company. Two of the most familiar would be WordPress and Blogger (from Google). The web design tools I mentioned at the start of the article also have built-in facilities for generating and maintaining blogs. This category of apps is maturing quickly and provides many of the same features as some of the big boys, but without the complicated overhead.

In response to the inherent complexity of theme design for some of these software packages, a company called Extensoft has provided a solution. Their application Artisteer allows you to design a template and then export it in a format that can be used by several of the apps described in this article. It's available on both the Mac and PC platforms. Download the trial and check it out.

To ease the complexity of installation many web hosting companies have resorted to One-Click installs of many popular open source applications. Some feature both total automation and partial automation for those who wish to work beyond the basic install options. Check your web host's Control Panel for more information. Those of you using my web hosting service can log in here, and go to InstallCentral to check out the offerings.

Oh, and one more thought to mention. When the abilities of these apps are either too much, too complicated or just not right, you can look into a custom-designed CMS by TeKno Ziz. We can build it right into your existing site or integrate it into a new site design, but in either case it will be ready to meet your needs now and in the future. The great part of our solution is that 1.) it is specifically tailored to your needs and your business and 2.) we make it easy for you, through our web based administration page, to post, upload and edit your content. Call or email us for more information. See live working samples of our custom CMS work at HPS Wine, FutureChefs and Agnes Strecker Dance Studio. More jobs currently in production.

Same As It Ever Was... Or not.

2010-03-26T14:05:00.000-04:00

Trying to be a good manager of my finances, I looked at the new FIOS service to replace my existing Comcast service. This is the first time that Comcast has had a significant competitor in their market. So, that should be good for the customer, right? Well... let me tell you. I made the switch, and here are my results. Your mileage may vary. When I can, I will give comparisons to Comcast.

Verizon FIOS First Impressions

1. Sales
As you might imagine, Verizon is very eager to get your business. We had a couple of sales associates going door-to-door, pressing the flesh and talking up the services. I was one of the only people on my street to give them the time of day, and we chatted about the services. Funny thing is, I ended up telling them more about the service than they told me. However, a sucker for the direct sale, I agreed to the install. The two items here to mention are the fact that there is an early termination fee of $360 that is amortized over the first year of service and there is a 3-day option to cancel service. Three days is not nearly long enough to determine whether you like the service. I am still working out the kinks after a couple of weeks... Comcast says they have a 30-day money back guarantee and there is no early termination. So like them or not, I am stuck for a year.

2. Installation
They claim installation is a 6-8 hour process, from bringing the fiber from the pole to hooking up the box and then setting up the service. Yow! I think it took my installer about 4 hours. He didn't have everything that he needed, so he had to run out a couple of times. And the install order was never put through so he had to call it in while he was there to get it turned on. But he was informative and professional and courteous. That goes a long way for me. Of course, I made his job easier because I helped him with the internet and computer setup. Now I hadn't yet cancelled my Comcast service, because I wanted to make sure everything was working, so I had no clue that when the phone was disconnected I would lose my home alarm service connection to the main office. Someone is supposed to be out today to look at it. They had to place a battery backup unit inside the house which is a little invasive, Comcast had a battery backup built into the modem.

3. Service

Phone - No discernible difference in call quality. I guess this is good. Verizon has a separate number to retrieve messages (Comcast uses your own number), but you CAN delete a message in the middle (you have to wait to the end of a message for Comcast). Most of the other services appear similar. What I am having trouble with is the Caller ID on the phone. Sometimes it recognizes a number, sometimes not, CallerID Call Waiting doesn't appear to work, and the option to get this information on the computer is way screwed up.
Television - I was supposed to be bowled over by the improved video quality fiber makes over cable. Well, HD is HD and yeah, it looks good, but better than what I was already seeing? Not certain. I was supposed to see fewer instances of artifacting, which are little glitches in the video signal that look like black boxes in the picture, and I have seen fewer of those so far (in fact only once last night). Their Video On Demand cannot pause, fast-forward, or rewind. You can stop and resume. Comcast is ahead on this one. Having to be forced to watch commercials is criminal. Verizon has Widgets that give you some web functionality like weather, news and Facebook access. Some of this can be useful, but for any serious access, hand me my laptop.
Internet - Speed. Well, I have noticed some impressive speed improvements here. Even with the 25/25 versus 15/5 question, there is no doubt that there is a speed improvement. But let's be real. It almost doesn't matter what your connection speed is these days because the bottleneck is the server sending or receiving the data, not the pipe used to connect the two systems. So if you have a speed of 25/25 and the server's speed is only 1mbps then you're suck at the lower rate. Granted, it is useful for downloading large files, like movies or for streaming, but for everyday stuff you might not see as much improvement.

4. Hardware

Verizon uses a Motorola set top box and DTC (digital converter). Pretty much the same as Comcast. The modem is pretty cool though. Having trouble logging into it at times, but the interface is pretty nice. And it doubles as a wireless router and 4-port switch. Cuts out one box for me. You can also optionally use your own router. Only supports 100mbps speed, which is fine unless you are moving some major traffic on your local network. The DTC is used to connect other TVs or devices that don't require HD (or that you don't want to pay an additional $10/month for).

5. Support
Ordered 25/25 service, but they seemed determined to give me 15/5. Still working out who thinks I have what speed. We'll see what my first bill says. Customer Service appears to have too many layers which makes it seem like they are trying to avoid you, and they also appear not to be from local offices. Once on the phone, they seem very nice and are reasonably helpful. However, one one call, they took my phone numbers, the connection was lost, and they never called back (I did get an email). Comcast had local reps taking support calls which is nice and it doesn't appear as convoluted to get through to someone.

6. Compatibility
Verizon loses big time here. Pretty much all of Comcast software services support the Mac. Their computer CallerID service uses AdobeAir which is cross platform, their SupportAgent also works on the Mac (though I never used it), and their Mobile App works on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Verizon's In-Home Agent and Call Assistant are not available on the Mac and the Mobile Remote is not yet available on the iPhone and iPod. Boo! Good thing we have applications like Boot Camp, Fusion, Parallels and VirtualBox to allow us Mac users the ability to run Windows on our Macs. Comcast and their XFinity service is also connected to Fancast which allows you access to many of its onDemand services online. Haven't seen anything like that from Verizon, unless you are subscribed to additional packages. Verizon does have it's MediaManager software which allows Mac and PC users to share their photos and music, but you have to have the DVR option to be able to use it. *sigh* Everything is extra.

Other Thoughts
Verizon is Verizon, no? No. verizon.com and verizon.net are two separate entities, the first dealing with phone and the other dealing with internet. Imagine the confusion people are having over this. You need two different sets of userIDs and passwords in order to login. And supposedly, you can't use the same userID on both accounts (one would think they were connected somehow...). In order to use Call Assistant and other phone related services, you need to be registered on the verizon.com website. And after speaking to customer service (again), they said it takes between 4-6 weeks in order for the new accounts to be processed. Umm, hello? And again, they make no mention of this during the install or in the literature. You just assume you are hooked up and on your way to internet Nirvana.

Verizon's online design is old. The site is too busy and hard to navigate between .com and .net. You having to login and relogin each time. Should be a universal login or a universal website. Yes, Comcast has a .com and a .net as well, but you can use the same account on both and they are not segmented by service type.

The Verizon sales reps said there was a notification system for moving your previous address from my previous service to Verizon, but I couldn't find the service online or in print for the life of me. Had to find out from a customer service rep. 2 weeks later. It's called TrueSwitch. Unfortunately, it requires you to retain your previous account for it to function. I want to pay Comcast while I am using Verizon? Umm, no. Also not sure if it supports secondary accounts like the ones I have for my wife and 2 kids. And surprise! It doesn't work on the Mac. D'oh!

Lemme Sum Up
Phone - About Equal
Internet - Verizon on speed only, all other things being equal, Comcast is better
Television - Verizon on features and a somewhat better picture
Usability - For Mac users, Comcast is more compatible, and generally easier to get around

It seems like Verizon is the new kids on the block and acting like it. From a strictly speed perspective, it wins, but I think the service has a lot of maturing to do to bring it up to Comcast levels. Make the switch? For cost savings and raw internet speed, yes. Otherwise, you might want to stick with Comcast and see what happens over the next year or so. I am sure Comcast will be pulling out all the stops not to lose its customer base and to recapture some of the switchers... like me. And I want them to! Don't you love competition?

Cats in the Hat

2010-03-18T19:22:00.003-04:00

I feel like I'm writing a Dr. Seuss book, but there is more than meets the eye here with a plethora of Mac software bundles and special deals out there. You only have to know where to look. And I am here to tell you what they are and how to find them. Sort of letting the Cats out of the Hat. Sure you may own some of these apps, but for the price of one upgrade, you can grab a bunch more to try, use if you like or pass on to a friend. Nice!

Thing 1 – Daily Single Deals
MacUpdate Promo – I have been following this one for a while. They typically provide productivity apps during the week and entertainment apps on the weekends. Have seen some apps reappear on occasion, but since the sale lasts only 24 hours per app, that is not a bad thing, per se. Email signup. At times the current sale lingers but at a slightly lower (i.e. more expensive) discount, but often still a good deal.

MacZot – I just signed up for this one so I haven't got too much data. One app a day, generally 40-50% off. Email signup.

Thing 2 – Occasional Bundle Deals
MacBundleBox – I just came across these guys, have no clue what the deal is, but it's coming soon (here is a rumor). Always worth checking out. They seem to have a little competition going with MacHeist, but hey, competition is good... for us!

MacHeist – These guys just finished their latest promotion, sorry, but sign up for the next one and I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Everything is done right, from the promotion design to the bundle receipts to the fact that you can even split your order so you can gift some of the apps you already own to others. Sweet! A bonus to the bonus, 25% of the sales of their last bundle went to humanitarian relief ($440,000). Very cool.

MacUpdate Promo – On occasion, MacUpdate has a bundle sale. And whaddya know, they have one going on now! The two apps I favor in this bundle are WebSnapper for web page captures, Parallels 5 for PC and other operating system virtual machines and Bee Docs Timeline 3D. Like I said, for the price of one upgrade, it's like getting all the other apps free...

Thing 3 – Go to the Bodega
Don't want to wait? Like browsing? Then Bodega is the place to do it. It is a virtual store that has news, reviews, and apps galore from freeware and shareware authors download and purchase right in the app. It also tracks your installed apps and lets you know if there are updates, just like Versiontracker, but free. Lovely interface, fun to use. Better than the mall, with no parking problems!

Epilogue
Always, always review the software. Go to the developers sites and read the descriptions. Download the trials and play with them, see if they would be something worth while having. Just because they might be a good deal does not always make them a good deal for you. Did I miss any? Let me know and I will add it to the list.

The Transporter

2010-01-08T15:51:00.000-05:00

No, I am not talking about the latest Jason Stratham film, neither am I talking about the device aboard the starship Enterprise that whisks your molecules from one place to another. What I mean to say the latest means of file backup/syncing/sharing... I mean Dropbox. Got Mac, PC, Linux? An internet connection? Here is a software solution that allows syncing on all these platforms as well as access via the internet and even sharing via embedded HTML links. Oh, and did I mention it's free?

Yup. Free. Nice way to begin the new year. In less than a couple of minutes you can setup a Dropbox account, download and install the client for your respective machines and you're done. The software integrates right into the OS so on the Mac and Linux it displays in the menubar and on the PC it's a system tray icon. It also appears in the Mac directory under Places and even adds a command in the toolbar of the Finder windows. Unobtrusive but always available. Pop the folder open, move a file into it and voila, it appears shortly thereafter on all your machines.

Ok, a little qualification here. It's free up to 2GB (a smallish thumb drive), then if you want additional storage it's $9.99 for 50GB and $19.99 for 100GB of storage. I would like to have the ability to upgrade in increments of 5GB or 10GB since 2GB might be a little small for some people but 50GB may be too much for most and certainly not for $120 a year. Barring that maybe raise the free amount to 10GB which may be more in keeping with the thumb drive concept.

There are a couple of other features that are pretty neat as well. Create a folder and drop a bunch of pictures in there, then add them to the Photos directory... poof! Instant slide show. See a sample on my Dropbox here. You can share files with anyone using the Public folder. Just drop some files in there and right click to copy the link and share it on IM, email, etc. There is even a collaboration feature that allows Dropbox users to share files amongst each other as well, just by inviting them via email. Nice! You can even manage to earn a free additional 1GB in storage by doing just a few easy things like taking the tour, installing the software and adding a few files.

A big surprise here is every time you save a file in Dropbox, Dropbox syncs it to their secure servers. Dropbox keeps a history of every change made so that you can undo any mistakes and even undelete files. By default, they keep the last 30 days of undo history for all your files. They also have an unlimited undo option called "Pack-rat" (available in only the paid versions). Think of iDisk and Time Machine online with multi-platform capability.

So what's not to like? Get it. Now!

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I did!

2009-11-03T13:53:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I thought I would be comparing two competing image framing products. But after looking a little closer, found that they approached the subject in two very distinct ways, and in fact could both be weapons sitting side-by-side in the designer's arsenal. Today, we're going to look at the second of these two apps, EasyFrame from Yellow Mug software. The name and even the icon for the app are somewhat disingenuous. We aren't really dealing with frames here, but with edge effects. You accomplish this by applying a greyscale mask to an existing image, basically applying the look of the mask to the edge of your image. And EasyFrame is a as easy to use as its name implies.

The bare-bones interface minimizes the intrusion of the software on your creativity. The drawer on the left holds the thumbnail list of frames and a popup list of categories (both built-in and user-specified), which you can drag open and shut. The addition of a drawer button that toggles that function would be nice. The buttons along the top lack a certain design coherence, but they get the job done.

Everything is drag and drop. Drop an image into the main window, drop new frames into the frame drawer, even right from a web page! That's pretty dang convenient right there. Select a frame category, click a frame and presto, you've framed your image. Export controls are right below the image, readily at hand, simply drag the image icon on the bottom right to your desktop or into your application and you're done.

EasyFrame has its own Photo Browser (sadly only displays iPhoto images) and it also works with the iMedia Browser from Karelia. The app comes with many built-in frames, but a link on their website provides you with more than 125 free greyscale masks that you can drop right into the program. Here is the link:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/freedownloads/l/blframesmain.htm

There are but a few items on the downside to mention that mar the otherwise well thought out program. When switching from one set of frames to the next, you lose the current frame applied, which I find a little annoying, especially when trying to compare frame selections. And while being able to see thumbnails of the selections, you really can't tell how the frame will look until applied, so some way of comparing frames would be nice. A thought would be to implement a back button feature, which maintains a history of frames you have used in the current session, just like a web browser. Or the method I suggested in last weeks article.

When flipping the border horizontally, I seem to lose the image. When I flip back, all is well. If I try export the flipped image, I just get the frame. This happens with both built-in and custom frames. And you can't rotate a border, which you can sort of do using the auto-rotate feature, but that just orients the border based on the dimensions of the image, not on the subject of the image and sometimes doesn't work the way you wish. Another border feature wish would be to be able to grow and shrink the border. Sometimes the border overlaps too much of the subject and there is no way to adjust it.

Drag and drop doesn't always work with web page thumbnails, unless they are just scaled versions of the full size. But the full-sized ones work fine. Alas, there is no batch feature, so unless you are comfortable with Automator or QuicKeys, then you have to process your images one-by-one. Quitting the program doesn't ask you if you want to save your image first, you decide if that's a good thing or not. Since it's fairly easy to recreate an image, I could go either way.

The price is a scant $14.95, which easily puts it into the hands of home hobbyists and professionals alike. It can also work in concert with two of Yellow Mug's other software products, EasyCrop and FileChute for use with image cropping and uploading to your favorite internet site. In fact, you can get the whole kit and caboodle of Yellow Mug's nine products for only $39.95, the cost of ImageFramer alone. The demo is fully functional, only applying a watermark to your image. Try it out.

Conclusion? As I stated earlier, it was never a competition. These programs do different things and it might behoove you to be aware that both are available. I am still hoping for a drop in the cost of ImageFramer, even though it does more and is more polished than EasyFrame, but on the other hand, EasyFrame is simple and just plain works. Maybe it comes down to whether you want real frames or edge effects. Either way, both of these apps should fill the bill.

Afterall, I'm not a bad reviewer, I'm just written that way...

Honestly, officer, I'm being framed!

2009-10-28T11:06:00.021-04:00

It was a dark and stormy night... wait, wrong story. I thought this was going to be a program draw down, a fight to the finish. Little did I know that the two image enhancing apps were going to shake and be friends.

I was looking to make some party favors for our upcoming SDF X (Screecher Double Feature X, for the rest of you – Halloween party). I had these great JPGs of 50s SciFi B movie posters. I wanted to throw some kind of border or frame on them, print them and then place them on popcorn bags for our event. So I went to the ever-useful Versiontracker.com and did a search. I came up with several options and as I looked them over, came up with a couple of guidelines: 1.) it must be a separate app and 2.) it must not be very expensive. There were a couple of Photoshop plugins that looked good but they were very expensive and I was just doing this for fun. I will list them for you at the end of the article.

But when I got down to looking at what I thought were competing programs, I was surprised to discover that they approached the issue of framing from two very different perspectives. The first product is ImageFramer by apparent software. They treat the image like a real photo or painting that you want to enclose with a realistic 3D frame with shadows, mats, directional lighting, the works.

First off, I want to say that the built-in frames are beautiful. It looks like you could reach out and touch them. If you're an artist and want to show off your work, look no farther. Or a photographer putting together a portfolio. They offer mostly traditional, ornate, carved, wood-based borders, but there are a smattering of alternatives and more from others online. Horizontal or vertical, the border resizes automatically to fit.

High marks for the GUI. The interface is simple, well-designed and easy-to-use. I was able to pretty much figure out the whole program without the aid of a manual. The toolbar has all the most used items, a sliding drawer provides the Variations pane and a Controls window which provides the frame browser where you can look at frames (organized into Sets and Collections) and tweak the image, frame and mat settings. I would split the frame browser into a separate window or a tab since it's a little tight for space. Which begs the question, why can't you drag out the corner?

An additional feature to consider would be an iPhoto browser or a general media browser to be able to see folders of images. A great option would be to use Karelia's free iMedia Browser, or have the app link to it. Gak! I can't drag from the iMedia Browser to the open ImageFramer window. Not sure if that's an apparent or a Karelia issue (after some research, it may be a Karelia problem. They are releasing an update next month, will let you know).

Come up with a great frame? Save it for use with other images or send to a friend to try out. Use yours or someone else's framing file by simply dropping it on the image in the open window. Or use the boring button in the toolbar (lol). Slick.

Another feature that's very nice is the ability to drag the image right off the window into another app or to the Desktop, saving it with the export settings and name of the image, although I had to play around with the keyboard to determine it was the CMD key. Of course, the manual explains this.
Batch processing? Yep. Select a bunch of images and drop into the open window. Watch out though, it changes the originals, so make sure to save a copy of them before proceeding, or change the saved file name in Preferences. Would be nice to be able to drop a folder of images on the window as well. The app takes a little while to process them but keeps you informed of the progress by a nice little window with a list of the images.

To give the programmers credit, they have a PDF that explains step-by-step how to import your custom frames or those of other designers. And there are many to be had online. But to be honest, I spent wayyy too much time mucking around with that and almost gave up, until I saw a screen shot of the folder structure. But it would be nice to have an import feature where you can give the app a zip file and let it parse out the files, or some other container-type import.

Build a style and them add it to the Variations pop out panel. Build more styles and then click between them to compare. If only it didn't crash every time I tried to modify the name of the variation or clicked back & forth, it would be cool (it seems that using the cursor to move between them is ok, though). What would be even cooler is a multiple up feature, where the image is divided into quadrants and you can pick up to four variations to compare simultaneously!

You can drop a framing file into the Variations window as well. Sweet! However, adding a file to the Variations window should use the name of the file. It currently uses the default name. Maybe the default name could somehow show some of the settings so the user can easily switch between them without renaming. Oops, just caught a problem. Adding a frame with a mat to Variations causes the mat to expand and it stays that way, losing the original setting.

And then of course, there is the price. For $39.95 we're talking more than a one-trick pony. GraphicConverter is only $45.00 after all (but it doesn't do borders). $49 for a family license and $69 for a commercial license seem more reasonable, considering the potential number of users. I would suggest a price of $20-25 for this.

There are a lot of nice things about this program. You can try a free version that just places a watermark on your image, but otherwise gives you the whole enchilada. However, I would wait for a couple of bug fixes and maybe a price reduction before buying. Remember, this was for a party and I didn't want to spend a lot.

This is getting a bit long for my typical post, so I will pick up with EasyFramer in the next one. Go ahead and try the free download of ImageFramer and let me know what you think.

Here are the links for the Photoshop plugins that do similar things:

ClassicFrames from Human Software
MagicFrame from Human Software
PhotoFrame 4.5 from onOne Software