Get 20 GB free cloud storage
If you would like to get 20 GB free cloud storage you can subscribe with Copy, a new cloud service run by Baracuda.
Copy gives all new users 15 GB free storage but if you register by following this link, you will get the additional 5GB when you activate your account. Enjoy!
Resizing images in OS X
There are two easy ways to resize images/photos in OS X. If you are using iPhoto as your main photo library, then all you need to do is selct a photo and from menu bar select File / Export, or simply press Shift-Command-E on your keyboard.
In the resulting window you can select Kind (e.g. jpeg), JPEG Quality, Size and Filename. When selecting Size, select Custom and you will be able to specify the maximum height, width or any dimension.
Click on Export, select location where to export and click OK. Job done.
Another way of resizing images / photos is to simply open an image in Preview, select Tools / Image size and either select one of the predefined sizes or enter the values manually. Click OK and your image is resized.
Enable colour icons in Finder sidebar
If you miss the beautiful colour icons in the Finder sidebar, it’s time to get them back. Simon Barnett has developed SideEffects, a small application that does exactly that – replaces the boring grey sidebar icons in your Finder sidebar with a beautiful set of colour icons.
SideEffects works on both OSX Lion 10.7 and Mountain Lion 10.8.
The application is free, but there is a link on Simon’s site to PayPal page that helps you in showing your appreciation for his work.
What is new in Mountain Lion
Apple announced 200 new features in Mountain Lion, but here are some of the real changes in things you used to use before and how to go about them in Mountain Lion (ML).
The battery indicator in the menu bar no longer indicates remaining time, only the percentage.
The light indicators that show open applications in Dock can be switched off.
The system will prevent the applications from un-identified developers to be installed (default setting) unless you specifically change it. Even if you leave it as it is and you want to install an application that OSX didn’t like, you can hold Command button and click on Open – it will let you install it.
Save as – this one is a mixed bag. It was there until Lion ate it, but now it’s back, reborn under a new name – Duplicate. I initially hated it, but then I found a way around it.
This is how it should work. You open a file, e.g. picture photo1.jpg in preview. You change it to black and white, click on File / Save As, give it name photo2.jpg and click Save. You have your colour photo named photo1.jpg and your black and white photo named photo2.jpg.
This is how it should work. You open a file, e.g. picture photo1.jpg in preview. You change it to black and white, click on File / Duplicate, give it name photo2.jpg and click Save. Your photo named photo1.jpg and your photo named photo2.jpg are both black and white. This is because ML (and Lion before) save any changes automatically. It sucks. What you need to do is duplicate the file first, then edit. Not my way of doing things.
However, what you can do to prevent photo1.jpg being automatically saved is to tick “Ask to keep changes when closing documents” in General section of System Preferences. This way your photo1.jpg will not be automatically saved, but will politely ask. Not a perfect solution, but surely better than the default.
Software updates are now dome through App Store. Even though there is an option in System Preferences to check for software updates, this launches App Store where all the business is done.
Safari has one thing that I love and another that I hate. Bad news first – Safari tabs are huge and dynamically resized. I’m sure someone will figure out soon enough how to ‘bring tabs back to normal’. THe good news is that the search is now integrated into the address bar, much like in Google Chrome.
Renaming files – if you havean open file and you want to rename it, you no longer need to save and close it, then head to Finder to change its name. You can simply click on the file name in the title bar, select Rename and do it all right then and there.
Apple screwed up the Mountain Lion release
Mountain Lion was released just a few hours ago, but Apple managed to screw it up big time.
The Up-to-date program customers who requested their free download code have been provided with the invalid download code, at least here in Australia.
I called Apple support in the US and they told me that number of codes has been inadvertently emailed to some customers before the ML was released and hence they had to invalidate those codes, but it seems that they also invalidated the new ones.
They were unable to provide me with the code over the phone and said that the new code will be emailed automatically over the next 72 hours.
Nice one, Apple. When Microsoft introduced Office 2000 activation, first here in Australia, they had their problems, but did you really need 12 years to figure out how to do it right, and screw it up anyway?
Color Efex Pro 4 Review
Color Efex Pro 4 by NIK software is a plugin that provides an excellent set of enhancements for color correction, retouching, and creative effects. The plug in works with Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom and Apple Aperture. Color Efex Pro 4 is available in Complete edition with 55 filters, or Select edition with 26 filters.
The interface is pretty simple, yet very intuitive. On the left side is the Filter / Recipe panel and on the right is the adjustment panel, both of which can be toggled with the Tab key. Once the image is “exported” from Photoshop/Lightroom/Aperture the default filter is applied – Professional Contrast.
Applying a filter to your image is fairly simple, select the filter from the list and it’s immediately applied to the image. You can preview the image in three ways; single image view (after), split preview with slider and side by side view (which can be viewed either side by side or above and below).
Once the filter is applied you can make your own adjustments in the adjustment panel on the right. Each filter has different options, ranging from the intensity, tonal range, area, shape, to the filter opacity.