Posts tagged Software
CameraBag Desktop
52 years ago
A couple of months ago I wrote about how photos taken with the iPhone 3G can be much improved with camera applications such as CameraBag and ShakeItPhoto. These apps can add much character to an otherwise washed out and often bland offering.
Several weeks ago, the developer behind CameraBag for iPhone announced CameraBag Desktop, for Mac OS X. At the time of the release, there was no trial before buying which was a little disappointing, but because I had enjoyed the speedy way to enhance a photo on the iPhone I decided to jump right on in and plump up the $19 asking price. This was done mostly with the intention of checking it out so I could write an honest review here and let you, my dear readers, know whether it was worth parting with your money.
The application is extremely easy to use. Drag a photo onto the app window and you have all of your filters along the bottom as you can see. There’s plenty to choose from: Helga, Lolo, Mono, 1962, 1974, Instant, Magazine, Cinema and Colorcross – a filter that is not yet in the iPhone app. Aside from applying one filter, you also have a multi-filter option.
Let’s have a look at some before and after photos. First up is a photo I took today of my Nintendo DS…
And here is that same photo, with the Colorcross filter applied, along with a medium border…
In just one click, it has made a boring photo look really quite interesting. Here’s another of a sign post I took last year…
And here with the Colorcross filter, once again…
And finally this photo of the Millennium Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne…
And now with the Instant filter applied…
CameraBag Desktop is a great way to make your photos look interesting in one click without spending time in your usual photo editor. I can’t say I will be using CameraBag Desktop as often as I will Pixelmator for photo editing, but when a photo calls for more than just a little contrast and vignette then it will be very useful.
I’m going to give CameraBag Desktop a rating of 3 stars. It would have received more had the 15-day trial been available when released, to avoid blindly buying.
[rating:3/5]
You can download a 15-day trial of CameraBag Desktop, here. Saving is disabled and images contain a watermark in the trial version.
Your iPhone On Your Mac
02 years ago
Some of you may remember my plea last year for a Mac app that would show a notification on screen when you’d missed a call to your iPhone while docked. Here’s a refresher.
Wouldn’t it be great…if there was a Mac app out there which would show a notification on your computer screen when you’d missed a call to your iPhone while it’s docked?
I was just thinking this today when having to leave my iPhone docked after it completely ran out of juice during the night. I haven’t been at the computer much today but have occasionally popped up to have a look at the iPhone screen to see whether I’d missed any calls. How convenient would it be to come up and see a Growl-style notification message on your Mac (that stays there until you close it) letting you know.
I would pay good money for that.
(comments on the entry)
Now there is an answer – BluePhoneElite 2 which is now iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS compatible. Here’s a table of what is supported…
It’s a shame that SMS Messages aren’t supported, but that’s down to a limitation by Apple and not the software developers. A review of BluePhoneElite 2 can be found at Smoking Apples. You can have a 2 week trial with the software then it’s $24.95 to buy.
So, iPhone users, is this something you’ll be using? I haven’t installed the software yet but wanted to pass on the exciting news for those who have been waiting for an app that does that!
Pixelmator Winner
4Thanks to everyone who entered the Pixelmator Giveaway competition that I’ve been running for the past 7 days. The lucky winner has been chosen at random and that winner is Jon Oakley. Congratulations, Jon! I’ve passed on your details to Pixelmator and you should receive your free license shortly.
Pixelmator Giveaway
2 years ago
I have been using the excellent Pixelmator for over 12 months now and it easily became my image editor of choice.
The Pixelmator Team have kindly given me ONE free license to give away to a lucky Fruit Bytes visitor, worth $59.
All you need to do to enter is leave a message in the comments section and all entrants will be placed into a draw which will take place in 7 days time. The lucky winner will be informed by e-mail and it will also be announced here.
Entries for the Pixelmator Giveaway closes on Saturday 7th March 2009 at 6PM GMT.
Good luck!
Pixelmator System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard or later, Core Image supported graphics card, some features require iLife.
Please only post a comment on this entry if you wish to be entered in the draw.
Desktop Blog Publishing
122 years ago
After growing tired of the often very slow WordPress 2.7 Admin Interface, I went in search of a desktop blog publishing application. I remember hearing recommendations of MarsEdit by Red Sweater Software so I downloaded the 30-day trial of version 2.
Once downloaded you will be asked to input your Weblog Name and URL, then your admin username and password. It will then fetch your last 10 posts. If you don’t already have a weblog but want to create one then you can also do that through MarsEdit by clicking I want to create a free weblog and this will give you the option to start a weblog at WordPress.com or Blogger.com.
Aside from working beautifully with WordPress, MarsEdit is also fully compatible with Blogger, TypePad, Movable Type, LiveJournal, Drupal, Vox and more. It will also integrate cleanly with your favourite editor such as BBEdit, SubEthaEdit, TextMate and TextWrangler.
I was impressed by the interface which is very clean and uncluttered – a bit like an e-mail client. The Markup Macros list makes inserting repetitive snippets a breeze and aswell as a list of macros already there by default, you can also add your own in.
The Media Manager for uploading images is a most welcome feature. I have never been able to successfully upload an image within a blog post when doing so through my Safari browser. I’d get some sort of HTTP error come back, whereas it would upload fine using Camino. But, switching between browsers to simply upload media was becoming quite tiresome. The Media Manager also allows me to browse the catalog of images already uploaded to my blog, aswell as my images on Flickr which I can easily insert into my blog post.
Another nice feature in MarsEdit 2 is the Preview window which I can keep open while writing a blog post and it will constantly and instantly update, showing me how the post layout will look. This is particularly useful for when placing in images. No more having to click ‘Save’ then ‘Preview’ as one does in the WordPress Admin interface. The Preview window can also be hidden.
Once I’ve written my post I can add in my tags and select the categories I want the post to appear under. Once published I can also edit or delete any post directly within the MarsEdit application.
As my evaluation period was drawing to a close, I did a last minute look around to see if there were any other blog publishing applications that I should consider before settling on one and making a purchase. I downloaded Blogo but didn’t get on with that at all. So, with just another day or two on my trial copy I decided to purchase MarsEdit 2 for $29.95. I know some people will ask why pay for a desktop blog client when the WP Admin is free, as I have myself in the past. Well, aside from all the great features I mentioned above, one of the things MarsEdit has done for me is encourage more frequent writing. If proof were needed of that, just look at the amount of posts I’ve written in the past 30 days. Software that changes my daily behaviour is well worth paying for.
Do you use a desktop blog publishing client?
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