Monday, April 06, 2009

Radical Image Optimization Tool Provides Side by Side Image Comparison [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/udEf29gapto/radical-image-optimization-tool-provides-side-by-side-image-comparison

Windows only: Radical Image Optimization Tool makes it easy to see how compression affects the image quality of the pictures you're optimizing with a handy side-by-side interface.

Sample photo by XirannisX back On.

Radical Image Optimization Tool isn't the best choice if you're looking to bulk re-sample images, but when it comes to squeezing quality out of every byte, it does let you exercise a high degree of control over the compression of an individual image.

Your images are laid out in a side-by-side format with immediate updates for any alterations you make to the level of compression or other settings. The file size of both the source image and the optimized image are also displayed above the images, so you can see immediately if the quality-to-size ratio is acceptable for your purposes. If your need isn't so much tight control but bulk converting, check out how to batch resize with Infranview and JPEGCrops, a speedy batch cropper that lets you specify crops on a per picture basis. Radical Image Optimization Tool is freeware, Windows only.



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Roll Your Own Streaming Media Server with Subsonic [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/NKsFdSxv-cA/roll-your-own-streaming-media-server-with-subsonic

Windows/Mac/Linux: Is having your entire media collection on tap, ready to stream wherever you may be, too much to ask? Not if you're using Subsonic.

Subsonic can be installed on everything from a Windows-based computer to a home server running FreeNAS. Once installed, you can tune into your media collection from anywhere you access the web or use your mobile phone. Subsonic is a complete web-based front end for your collection. You can search tracks, listen to saved podcasts, assign ratings, add comments, and create playlists. Subsonic supports on-the-fly resampling to keep the quality high, even when you're using a lower bandwidth connection—you can turn the feature on permanently if you've got a bandwidth cap you're trying to stay under. If you're a fan of Last.fm, Subsonic has support for the service and will scrobble and update your now-playing status. There's a demo account available if you'd like to take the interface for a spin before installing it. Subsonic is free, open-source, and available for Windows, Mac, *nix systems.



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Five Best Image Editing Tools [Hive Five]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/5qD-GmTGT5Q/five-best-image-editing-tools

Long gone are the days where snapshots came back from the photo lab and disappeared into albums and shoe boxes. Now, digital photos are tweaked, adjusted, and remixed in ways their analog counterparts couldn't imagine.

Photo by NoiceCollusion.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite image editing tool. The votes have been tallied and now we're back with the top five contenders for the crown of Best Image Editor.


Picasa (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free)

Picasa is the kind of application that geeks love because it's so simple and effective and non-geeks love because they usually don't have the time or inclination to get bogged down in the more technical aspects of digital photography. If your tech un-savvy mom or dad emailed you tomorrow and said she or he needed an easy-to-use program for organizing and editing photos, you'd likely send them to download Picasa. The built in editor is more than robust enough for most casual users and includes basic color correction, cropping, and a variety of special effects—the majority of which manage to avoid being cheesy. Picasa isn't a tool for deep and detailed editing, but it's extremely easy to use for the kind of quick crop and correct editing most digital camera owners need.


GIMP (Windows/Mac/*nix, Free)

GIMP has long been toted as the open-source competitor to Adobe Photoshop. Many people are quick to point out GIMP's shortcomings, claiming it isn't a true Photoshop replacement, but in the process they overlook what GIMP has accomplished. Without the extremely polished and commercially driven Photoshop to stand against, GIMP is almost entirely unrivaled in sophistication. Color correction, channel mixing, advanced cloning, paths, and layered compositions are all part of the GIMP package. There is very little the average Photoshop user does that can't be done in GIMP, and if you're not working for a company footing the bill for Photoshop, the free-as-in-beer price tag looks mighty fine.


Adobe Photoshop (Windows/Mac, $699)

Photoshop has achieved such status in the design community and such widespread recognition by the general public that even non-designers recognize what someone is saying when they exclaim, "That's photoshopped!" Many of the techniques and methods that are standard across photo editing software were pioneered in Photoshop, like layers, slices, and image correcting macros and filters. On its own Photoshop is a titan of photo editing power, but thanks to a nearly complete dominance in the graphic editing industry, there are entire companies devoted to creating plugins for it. When it comes to manipulating images, if you can't do it in Photoshop, there's a strong chance you won't be able to do it at all. Photo by HVarga.


Paint.net (Windows, Free)

Paint.net was originally the senior project of some computer science students at Washington State University, taken on under the mentorship of Microsoft. The project exceeded expectations and has been in development now for 6 years. Over the years it has grown to include layer-based composition, blending, and support for plugins—the majority of which are designed by an active support community. The interface of Paint.net is easy to pick up, and an unlimited undo function makes correcting your learning-curve mishaps a snap—making Paint.net a favorite among Windows users looking for a no-nonsense (yet powerful) image editor.



Adobe Lightroom (Windows/Mac, $299)

Lightroom is on the same branch of the editing family tree as Picasa: a hybrid of an organizational tool and a photo editor. Unlike its big brother Photoshop, Lightroom wasn't designed to be a detailed pixel-by-pixel editing tool. Lightroom focuses on being a digital darkroom for modern photographers, allowing them to quickly make the corrections necessary to their workflows. Lightroom excels at batch work and advanced color balance corrections; photographers can even tether their cameras to their computers with Lightroom integrating directly into their editing workflow. Photoshop might be the appropriate tool for giving a single image a deep and intense workover, but Lightroom is the tool you call on when you have a huge batch of images from a photoshoot that need to be cropped, corrected, and made print ready as soon as possible. Photo by M. Keefe.


Now that you've seen the top five contenders for best image editing application, it's time to log your vote to determine who goes home with the crown.

Which Image Editor is Best?
( online surveys)

Can't believe your favorite editor didn't make it to the top five? Wishing a copy of Adobe Photoshop would fall off the back of a truck for you? Sound off in the comments below with your photo editing opinions.



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Radio Sure Streams and Records 12,000 Radio Stations [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/TiTKym-3ONM/radio-sure-streams-and-records-12000-radio-stations

Windows only: Pared-down portable application Radio Sure streams and records more than 12,000 channels of music and other radio feeds. If you can't find something to listen to, you're probably not looking hard enough.

The interface of Radio Sure is straightforward, if a bit cluttered. It starts with a master list of radio stations and a search box to narrow down the stations by genre, country, language, and other name. At the bottom of the window are some basic controls for playing and recording the streams, as well as information about the song if it's embedded in the source. If you're looking for even more online music, check out our feature on downloading and listening to free music on the web. If you have your own favorite means of streaming radio wherever you are, share in the comments below.



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NanoCrowd Suggests Your Next Movie Based on Keyword Groups [Recommendations]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/1_LYTLpgrns/nanocrowd-suggests-your-next-movie-based-on-keyword-groups

It happens to the best of us. Confronted with the vastness of modern media, the hundreds of thousands of possible choices, you throw your hands in the air and say "What to watch?"

Nanocrowd is a crowd-sourced movie selection tool. Similar to previously reviewed TasteKid, you give Nanocrowd the title of a movie you've already watched and enjoyed. Nanocrowd then suggests six NanoGenres, groupings of three key words related to the movie. I searched for Big Fish as seen in the screenshot above and selected the grouping of "Fantasy, Wondrous, Surreal" as my NanoGenre. Did NanoCrowd succeed at suggesting movies I'd enjoy?

Its number one pick was The City of Lost Children a relatively obscure French movie released in 1995 that happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. The rest of the 30 or so suggested movies were split evenly between movies I'd already seen—NanoCrowd has no way of knowing that of course—and movies I hadn't. Almost every movie listed I'd already seen, I'd watch again. If you give NanoCrowd a whirl, sound off in the comments below and tell us how accurate or inaccurate you find it.



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