News

Portrait Professional, the world-leading portrait enhancement software, has been honoured with the Best Imaging Innovation Award from the Society Representing Professional Imagemakers – the UK’s largest photographic trade body. The decision was made by a vote of the Society’s members. The award was presented to Anthropics Technology CEO Andrew Berend during the Society’s 2010 Convention in London. He commented: “We are delighted that the photographic community has recognised our efforts in this way. We know that Portrait Professional is a radical new way to quickly and easily enhance portrait photographs, and we are always pleased to discover that others feel the same way!” (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Many people who have seen Avatar experience withdrawl symptoms because the experience is so intense and the visuals so breathtaking. Much of the film was produced using Adobe software (see clip describing how Adobe software was used throughout the production of Avatar). Here is an extended featurette for Avatar that gives you a 22-minute plus behind the scenes look at Avatar and Pandora... (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

Filed under: OS, Software, Internet Tools

The iPhone and iPod touch haven't run Flash natively in the years since their respective debuts, and it's pretty clear based on Steve Jobs's presentation yesterday that the iPad won't run Flash, either. When scrolling through the New York Times's main page, for example, where Flash ads or video might have been there were instead broken LEGO icons, big as life on the screen at the keynote.

Predictably, Adobe isn't happy about this, and is accusing Apple of "continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers." They go on to say that without Flash support, "users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web."

Let's work backwards from this. First of all, I'd be very interested to see where Adobe got those percentages. Apparently YouTube now accounts for a mere 25% of video on the internet? As for Hulu and a few of the other specific sites mentioned in Adobe's rant, now that Apple is in the business of selling content, exactly how is it in the company's best interest to provide access to that same content, through another company's platform, for free? And as far as games are concerned, once again Apple has this covered, through the App Store. Far from being limited, content publishers and consumers will merely have to adjust to a new method of publishing and consuming content: one that doesn't involve Adobe in any way.
I know anecdotal data is the worst kind there is, but in nearly a year of using my iPhone to connect to the internet, not only have I not missed Flash, I've been glad it isn't there. Flash's performance on Mac OS X is so abysmal that when YouTube announced an opt-in HTML5 beta to replace Flash, I bounced up and down in my office chair in glee. I can only imagine the bag of hurt that would be introduced if Apple let Flash run on its mobile devices.

If you want to know why Flash doesn't run on the iPhone, the iPod touch, or the iPad, why Flash will never run on those devices, and why that's a really good thing, check out this piece by Daring Fireball's John Gruber. One of the key points of Gruber's argument is that Flash is, by far, the biggest source of application crashes in OS X. Flash crashes so often that Apple's engineers went out of their way to create a new mechanism for running plugins in Snow Leopard; in 10.6, Flash runs as its own process rather than being lumped in with Safari, meaning than when (not if) Flash crashes, it doesn't bring all of Safari down with it. Considering Flash's poor stability and fan-blasting, CPU-hogging performance on the Mac, gee, why wouldn't Apple want it running on their mobile devices?

Want to see something that "imposes restrictions on content publishers and consumers?" Look no farther than Flash itself. According to the company's own (possibly made-up) numbers, 70% of games and 75% of video on the internet is all shuffled through one company's proprietary plugin. I don't know about you, but that sounds awfully restrictive to me. It seems like a really bad idea to let a single company have that much control over the creation and delivery of the internet's content, don't you think?.

With the iPhone and iPod touch we already have tens of millions of mobile devices owned by tens of millions of highly satisfied consumers, and not one of those devices runs Flash. With the advent of the iPad, we can expect millions more mobile devices to hit the market, and none of them will run Flash, either. Thanks to YouTube and vimeo, HTML5's star is on the rise for delivering free video content on the internet, and the App Store has gaming covered. There's no telling what the internet will look like in ten years, but one thing appears certain: if things continue as they have, Adobe will no longer have the stranglehold over video and gaming content that it enjoys today.

[Via Engadget]

TUAWAdobe speaks up about Flash on the iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Hardware, Multimedia, Cult of Mac, Books

In my post yesterday I touched on the likely long faces at Amazon H.Q. in Seattle. The iPad is something I'm sure they wished hadn't happened, but of course it did, and I thought I'd take a closer look at the competition between the Amazon and Apple devices.

First off, if you were thinking of buying a Kindle DX, I'd say forget it. The iPad is a knockout punch to that device. At just ten dollars cheaper than the low end iPad, there just is no contest. The two devices are the same size (both are 9.7"), but the iPad has a color screen and can do a lot of things that Kindle just can't do.

Yes, the DX has free 3G wireless for buying books, but the iPad has 802.11n, and for most common usage, it just isn't that hard to find a place to hook up. Book prices may be a bit higher on the iPad, but they will be in color and multimedia with the promise of moving video, color charts and pictures, and so on. I also consider the on-screen keyboard an advantage for the iPad -- the keyboard on the Kindle is basically a waste of space.

As a travel companion, all you can do on the DX is read, although there is a rudimentary browser, and more functionality coming. Subscriptions are another Kindle selling point, but it's not a stretch to believe that Apple has something like that coming as well. Comparing the iPad to the Kindle DX, I just don't think there is any contest, and Amazon is going to be forced to think about how they are pricing and marketing the Kindle DX.

OK, on to the standard issue Kindle at U.S. $259.00. This decision is a bit trickier. It's about half the cost of the low end iPad, has a smaller screen, but does have built in no-charge 3G. That's mainly for buying books, as web browsing is pretty painful. Once again, books seem a bit cheaper on the Kindle at this stage, but I've noticed prices creeping up. Battery life with wireless off is about 2 weeks, and the iPad can never touch that.

For the immediate future, Amazon has far more books on offer, but that will likely change over time. If you have the smaller Kindle, I would not have anxiety about the iPad if you are mainly a reader. If you have the DX, I'd feel a bit queasy.

It's likely you'll be able to read your Kindle books on the iPad, just as you can on your iPhone or iPod touch, but they'll be black and white, with no rich illustrations. Amazon will stress that the iPad will be a great place to read Kindle books, but I don't think in the long run that's a cogent argument.

Looking out to the future, I think the odds favor the iPad. As an author myself (of a book about a sixties film producer), the idea of converting my dead tree book to something with short film clips and even musical examples makes me giddy. As a consumer, I'll want to get books that have those kinds of features.

In the early days of technology, new inventions tend to mimic the old. The TV was really a small movie screen, with radio quality audio. In fact, a lot of early TV was really old radio shows repackaged with pictures, i.e. Jack Benny and the Lone Ranger.

The Kindle mimics the book reading experience. It does it well, with a crisp display and an easy-to-use interface. Apple seems to want to take the experience beyond just mimicking a book, to create a new experience. Publishers will have to extend themselves to meet those goals, and so will authors.

In the short term, these gradual changes will be invisible, and I'll happily keep using my Kindle. In the long term, devices like the iPad will win us over and evolve our relationship with our media, just as the iPod did.

How about you? Second thoughts about a Kindle? Or a Nook. Or a whatever?

TUAWiPad vs. Kindle: Which way to go? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, SDK

Turns out a camera in the iPad may have been closer than we thought -- Engadget has been diving into the SDK released yesterday (NDAs be darned, I guess?) and discovered that the ability to "Take Photo" is still hidden in the iPad's code. Of course, the device doesn't actually have a camera, but the fact that there's code written for one could mean that prototypes of the device did have a camera, and/or that we'll eventually see one in a future revision.

There's a few other interesting things sneaking out of the SDK as well, including the fact that "popovers" (those windows and menus that were popping up in the video yesterday) are listed in Human Interface Guidelines as iPad-only flair. That would make designing for the two platforms pretty different -- while it's certainly possible, as we learned yesterday, to run iPhone apps on the new platform, it seems like Apple is telling developers that iPad apps will have a very different feel than their smaller predecessor's versions. A year from now, the two platforms may end up being different markets entirely.

Update: The "touch to return to the call" bar made the trip to the iPad, too. Makes it more likely that this is just vestigial code.

TUAWiPad SDK allows you to take photos and other insights originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Tonight at an event called Digital Dumbo, members of New York's digital advertising/communications community will attend the one year anniversary of the monthly get together. There, Carrot Creative's Mike Germano, Brooklyn Foundry's Brian Lemond and Drop.io's Sam Lessin will announce that the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn is officially New York's digital district. And there's nothing you can do about it.

continued...

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Filed under: Hardware, Software, App Store

Unfortunately, we weren't able to attend the event in San Francisco yesterday, but our good friends at Joystiq were, and they've brought back this video of Need for Speed: Shift [iTunes link] and a few other games running on the iPad. Not only can you see how the accelerometer works (exactly the same as the iPhone, basically), but you can see how the regular iPhone apps will upscale to full screen (via what looks like a small "button" in the corner) on the iPad. Of course, this video isn't ideal, but it actually looks better than I thought.

Hopefully, of course, developers will actually put in the effort to recreate their apps for the iPad's bigger screen. That's exactly what the makers of Flight Control have said they plan to do; that game will be "re-imagined" to work on the iPad. They talk about not only making use of the bigger screen space, but actually going to the "next generation" of their games. It'll be very interesting to see, as the App Store evolves with the iPad, what kinds of markets emerge. Will we eventually have a set of games that works best on the iPhone, and a set that works better on the "big" screen?

TUAWVideo of games on the iPad, and what developers plan to do with them originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Earlier today we told you that CBS is drawing fire from a new dating site for homosexual men called Mancrunch.com. The problem: it's taking forever for the network's Standards & Practices division to approve (or not) the ad posted above, says the dating site. CBS says this is how it works. Strap on your rubber helmet, we're going for a ride.

continued...

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Filed under: Software, Apple, Developer, App Store

Ever since the supposedly leaked confirmation on Tuesday about the iPad, rumors have been flying around about McGraw-Hill and its CEO's appearance on CNBC. Not minutes after posting it, people first assumed that Terry McGraw was in trouble with Steve, and then rumors showed up that the leak may have been done on purpose. During yesterday's announcement, McGraw-Hill was notably not among the iBooks vendors listed on the screen behind Steve, and more rumors suggested that they'd been pulled from the announcement in retaliation (though Steve did say that educational literature would be a big deal for iBooks). Rumors and hearsay, all -- so what's the real deal?

Digital Daily has the first official word from McGraw-Hill post announcement, and guess what? It's a denial. They now say that they had never worked with Apple on the launch, and that Terry McGraw didn't announce anything -- he was just repeating "speculative comments" that he'd heard about educational literature on the new device. Of course, they didn't really sound like that on Tuesday, but it's possible, especially considering that the original Wall Street Journal leak never mentioned McGraw-Hill at all.

So maybe we gave McGraw too much credit. Or not enough, depending on how you look at it -- after all, he was right about it being based on the iPhone OS, and right about iBooks, too. But unless you're a fan of conspiracy theories, odds are McGraw-Hill wasn't a victim of Steve's vengeance: they were never in the presentation in the first place.

[via MacRumors]

TUAWWas McGraw-Hill omitted from the iPad announcement? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

-Tim Tebow's Super Bowl ad now has a Facebook support group. link

-Are targeted Facebook ads good or bad for your job prospects? link

-DDB appointed Richard Tan to managing director of DDB Guoan, VP, DDB China Group. link

-Shift alum Doug Haslam joined Voce Communications' to work on social media programs for clients like Sony Playstation. link

-Human parasites plague poor equines in a BBDO Ecuador campaign. link

-Atmosphere Proximity lands the Hertz Rent2Buy account. link

-What the iPad means for online advertising. link

-U.S. auto ad sales for the telly jumped 100% in Q4 of '09. link

-Merkle-owned tech firm LogicLab hired Lauren Lanzi as account management director. link

-Tammy Cota was named executive director of the Internet Alliance. link

More: "Wednesday Odds and Ends"

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Filed under: Hardware, Cult of Mac, Internet

One of my all-time favorite movies is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. At several points during the film, we see ill-fated astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole using a flat, iPad-like device. In one of the posters for the movie, astronauts at a base on the Moon are seen using this device (see image at right).

Those who read Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of the movie will remember that he described this device as the "Newspad," something that was used by people of the future (as envisioned in 1968) to watch TV and read newspapers. You can read the full description of the device after the break -- it's described as a newsreader, with two-digit codes for each article online, and a constant stream of information from the hourly updates on "electronic papers."

Of course, we don't have two-digit references to articles; we simply need to tap on them to bring them up. We do need to know the "codes" for the world's major electronic papers; we refer to them as URLs or specific apps. But like many things Clarke foresaw in his lifetime of writing science fiction, the Newspad has finally become reality in the form of Apple's iPad.

I think Arthur would be proud.

When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers; he knew the codes of the more important ones by heart, and had no need to consult the list on the back of his pad. Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him.

Each had its own two-digit reference; when he punched that, the postage-stamp-sized rectangle would expand until it neatly filled the screen and he could read it with comfort. When he had finished, he would flash back to the complete page and select a new subject for detailed examination.

Floyd sometimes wondered if the Newspad, and the fantastic technology behind it, was the last word in man's quest for perfect communications. Here he was, far out in space, speeding away from Earth at thousands of miles an hour, yet in a few milliseconds he could see the headlines of any newspaper he pleased. (That very word "newspaper," of course, was an anachronistic hangover into the age of electronics.) The text was updated automatically on every hour; even if one read only the English versions, one could spend an entire lifetime doing nothing but absorbing the ever-changing flow of information from the news satellites.

It was hard to imagine how the system could be improved or made more convenient. But sooner or later, Floyd guessed, it would pass away, to be replaced by something as unimaginable as the Newspad itself would have been to Caxton or Gutenberg.

From 2001: A Space Odyssey , by Arthur C. Clarke.
Published by Del Rey in 1968

TUAWArthur C. Clarke's 2001 Newspad finally arrives, nine years late originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Hardware, Apple

A few of our readers have pointed out this interesting little blurb currently found down at the bottom of the iPad's specs page: This device has not yet been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained. Did Apple just announce a "magical and revolutionary product" that they can't yet sell? Yes and no. Yes, given that the 3G iPads will connect to the cell phone network, the FCC will have to approve them. But will that be a problem? Probably not. As our own Mike Rose would say, Apple prefers to announce their products themselves, and they'd rather not have them leaked by a government filing (since any applications filed with the FCC would find their way out to, well, this very Unofficial Apple Weblog).

So it's no surprise Apple has waited until after their announcement to secure FCC approval, and it's very likely that they'll get that approval long before the 90 days until the 3G iPad's release are up. That notice on the page is a formality, and even if the FCC has an issue with the iPad, Apple has plenty of time to fix it.

TUAWiPad still pending FCC approval, not a problem originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

BORIS FX BREAKS OUT THE CARTOON FILTERS

Everywhere you turn, you’ll spot the “look”: video footage transformed to look like a cartoon. In a traditional workflow, the process involves rotoscoping. An artist literally traces animation frame by frame over the original source. The technique was invented by Max Fleischer around 1915, and has been used by animators on classic films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Cinderella, as well as modern movies such as Titan A.E. and Waking Life.

The process is very tedious, however, so many video pros and motion graphics artists have been on a quest for an easier solution. These days you’ll find several products on the market to transform your video footage to look like it’s a cartoon. Early options such as Studio Artist ($379; www.synthetik.com) and market leaders like ToonIt ($399; www.redgiantsoftware.com) have all seen heavy use.

While they’re not new to the plug-in market, Boris FX has released their own take on cartoon filters. The Boris Continuum Unit: Cartoon Look breaks out four filters from the larger plug-in package Continuum Complete. The set is only $199 (significantly less than competitors) and runs in several host applications including Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, as well as Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion. The four filters for stylizing your footage include:

• BCC Cartoon Look: This filter attempts to simulate the look of rotoscoped animation. The original colors are preserved and the edges thickened.
• BCC Pencil Sketch: The filter does a reasonable job of emulating the look of a hand-drawn, pencil-sketched image. Edges are enhanced, but most color is reduced or removed.
• BCC Charcoal Sketch: This filter quickly simulates the thick strokes of a charcoal sketch. The resulting animation is drawn with thick black-and-white lines.
• BCC Watercolor: Watercolor paint-style animation is created with this filter. These are typified by soft edges and intensified color.

For our testing, the effects were run under After Effects CS4. So the question is simple: Is it worth it? The answer is it truly depends.

First off, you’ll either love or hate the cartoon filter look as a whole. The look is very trendy and your clients may be asking for it. On the other hand, none of the filters on the market match the quality of hand-drawn animation.
The filter offers precise controls with numerous options. What’s nice is the ability to blend the stylized image with the original, as well as control the thickness of lines.

While the effects offer presets, they don’t load with the standard Adobe preset picker. The quality of presets also varies.

The filter does render relatively quickly on modern computers. It also does a nice job of preserving edge details so the “drawn” lines don’t jitter or suddenly disappear.

After Effects CS4 already includes a very versatile Cartoon filter. While its controls don’t match the Boris filter, the price to upgrade to CS4 is only a little more and offers many more advantages.

ToonIt from Red Giant Software seems to offer solid results and is worth a head-to-head comparison for the serious buyer. Be sure to download the trials for each package and see which you find more intuitive and eye-pleasing.—Richard Harrington

Company: Boris FX
Price: $199
Web: www.borisfx.com
Rating: 2.5

Hot: Popular look with easy-to-use controls
Not: Results don’t match quality of competing products

Having already beaten out the likes of Cutwater, McKinney and Modernista! in May 2008 to take home AOR duties for L.L. Bean, GSD&M Idea City is now replacing Mediaedge:cia to handle the media buying/planning account for the outdoor apparel brand. L.L. Bean though is keeping schtum on its spending.

More: "We Hear: GSD&M Wins Golfsmith Retail Biz"

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Yesterday we introduced you to an ad for EL AL airline, an Israeli carrier, that we've confirmed is a fake (err &#151 the ad, that is). "EL AL had nothing to do with this ad but thanks for clarifying!" exclaimed a company rep. Though its origins are unknown, its message is fairly giggle-worthy. Who are you, Teffilin joker? Show thyself and let the lols rain-down-upon...thyself.

Note: The Ad Store is EL AL's agency. They're the guys behind Jimmy John's yummy advertising, and the attempt to crowdsource the purchase of the Pabst Brewing Company (aka, best hipster beer in the world). They claim the ad isn't their doing, either. Oy!

More: "Israeli Airline Puts Jewish Prayer Scare to Use in Ad"

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Looks like German car manufacturer Audi forgot some of its own country's history when it approved a new social media campaign that ties into its Super Bowl ad. The automaker introduces us to the Green Police, who are "officers" that appear in a series of mock PSAs that teach us how to make better choices to protect the environment.

Only it should've been Audi that made a better choice with the name. On his blog, Danny Brown notes that the name Green Police refers to a group that was affiliated with Nazi persecution and execution of millions during World War II.

We obviously know which "green" Audi is referring to with this current campaign, but the brand might've been better served delving into a history book or two.

More: "After a Few Vodkas, President Obamadinejad Felt Like a Good Idea"

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The guys behind JerksInYourArea, the site made famous for culling/creating the most audacious Craigslist ads, swear that the one below is totally real. As in, they didn't write it. Take a look, it's ridiculous.

continued...

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Late last week we introduced you to the coolness that is the new Mercedes SLS AMG. You saw it do a nifty loop in a tunnel. Here's the spot that video has been turned into, with pro-driver Michael Schumacher at the wheel.

Via Jalopnik

More: "Razorfish Picks Up Mercedes"

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware

Apple Australia has published iPad content to their site, and some keen-eyed observers have noticed what's missing.

The list of features explained on the site includes much of what we saw yesterday -- Safari, Mail, YouTube, video ... all but iBooks and the iBookstore. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see a footnote stating that iBooks will be U.S.-only at launch.

In the meantime, all iPhone/iPod touch apps will run on the iPad, international uses can grab the Kindle app [Free - iTunes link] (the irony is not lost on us), Classics [Free - iTunes link] or any of the other ereaders in the App Store [iTunes link].

Of course, we're a few months out of launch so things might change. But we're not holding our breath.

[Via Engadget]

TUAWiBooks could be US-only at launch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ahh Dov Charney, you never cease to skeeve/amaze. The American Apparel chief and his crew are searching for The Best Bottom in the World to be the buttface of the brand's 2010 intimates and briefs lines.

The winners will be flown to LA, photographed and featured online. All you have to do, ladies, is send an image of your booty clad in AA panties, bodysuits or briefs. 18+ only need apply and submissions must be sent by 2010. Thus ends your gratuitous post for today (at least we think).

More: "Shocker American Apparel Ad Banned in the UK"

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.