Today’s Quick Post: Photoshop CS6 Public Beta – Available

Adobe has released a public beta version of the up and coming Adobe Photoshop CS6.  There has been a lot of posts on various blogs about the new features this new version is going to have.  Now we can have a play… head over to Adobe Labs and download yourself a copy, the Windows Version is about 1.7 gigabyte in size and the OS X about 984 megabytes.

Link

Information from the Adobe Labs Site:

Photoshop CS6 Highlights

• Content-Aware Patch — Patch images with greater control using the newest member of the Content-Aware family of technologies. Choose the sample area you want to use to create your patch, and then watch Content-Aware Patch magically blend pixels for a stunning result.
• Blazingly fast performance and a modern UI — Experience unprecedented performance with the Mercury Graphics Engine, which gives you near-instant results when you edit with key tools such as Liquify, Puppet Warp, and Crop.* Plus, a refined, fresh, and elegant Photoshop interface features dark background options that make your images pop.
• New and re-engineered design tools — Create superior designs fast. Get consistent formatting with type styles, create and apply custom strokes and dashed lines to shapes, quickly search layers, and much more.

Have a go and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Life… Love… and Regret…

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  I am not sure who the first person was who said that.  But at the moment, it’s the sentence that best explains my tragic flaw, my inability to change.

I don’t think I am alone in this, the more I get to know other people, the more I realize it’s kind of everyone’s flaw.  Staying exactly the same for as long as possible, standing perfectly still… It feels safer somehow.  If you are suffering, at least the pain is familiar, because if you took the leap of faith, went outside the box, did something unexpected… Who knows what other pain might be out there, waiting for you.  Chances are it could be even worse.  So you maintain the status quo.  Choose the road already traveled and it doesn’t seem that bad.  Not as far as flaws go.  You’re not a drug addict, you’re not killing anyone… expect perhaps yourself a little.

When we finally do change, I don’t think it happens like an earthquake or an explosion, where all of a sudden we’re like this different person.  I think it’s smaller than that.  The kind of thing most people wouldn’t even notice unless they look at us really close.  Which, thank God, they never do.  But you notice it.  Inside you that change feels like a world of difference.  You hope this is it.  This is the person you get to be forever… that you’ll never have to change again.

I have made my mistakes, now I have only my regret to keep me company, voices and books for friends, I walked away from my life’s work and she doesn’t even know it.  I know I should move on, let it end there, with loss accepted, I know I should go, something keeps me still.  There isn’t so much a cure for regret than as a remedy, you can sit and mourn all you did wrong, ride in the empty fantasy of how you would do it better, only if you could go back, or you can do better now.

Today’s Quick Post: When is best to use your Turn Signal?

I saw this diagram from cracked.com and although it is based on American roads, I thought it demonstrates perfectly what it is like driving British roads these days.

People either:

• Don’t use their indicators/turn signals at all.
• Go round, a round-about with no indicator/turn signals showing and then indicate off… What is the point in that?
• Indicate and then don’t turn.

Announcements from Apple Media Event: March 07, 2012

I decided to do a completely new post to house all the updates from the Apple Media Event that was on March 7th, 2012.

What Can We Expect from Apple’s Media Event on March 07th…

As the longingly anticipated media event from Apple draws near.  I thought I would jot down some rumors that have been floating around the Internet for the past few weeks of what Tim Cook and his colleagues could possibly announce at this event, and then later update what they actually do release.

These media events very rarely focus around one single product, but we all know what the star of the show is likely to be… right?

Today’s Cool Concept: Know your Parking Spot in Advance

What is the one thing that annoys us drivers?  Parking! right.  Whenever you visit the shopping mall that has an extremely large parking garage that is very busy, it is difficult to find that one spot to park your car.

Well designers, Shih Chang-Chi, Huang Shao-Heng & Wang Shou-Yu have come up with a great idea that I think should have been implemented a very long time ago.  On entering the parking lot, you receive a ticket that could serve two purposes, it serves as your parking ticket, that could show when you entered the parking lot, and this is the best bit…

…it can also show you where the next available parking spot is by printing location information in the garage, and which spot is free right on the ticket for you.

Now you don’t need to go round in circles to find that one empty spot.  You might end up with that one parking slot that is so far from the exit however, but a great concept none the less.

Here are the concept pictures they posted on Yanko Design website.

Source

Today’s Quick Post: STM Velo Medium Laptop Shoulder Bag

I absolutely love gadgets of all kinds, and own quite a collection to say the least.  The one thing that is always difficult is, how on earth do you carry them all.  I currently have a really good shoulder bag that I purchased on my last trip to New York, NY, it has various pockets for storing a number of items, and the large pocket is big enough for carrying my 15″ MacBook Pro laptop.  I really like this bag and many of my friends have said they would want one just like it.

One drawback of my current shoulder bag, is that if I need to carry the laptop charger as well as the laptop itself, the top cover tends to get scratched.  The last thing I want is any of my gadgets getting scratched!

However, I did recently come across this new bag by STM, an Australian bag manufacturer that would be fantastic for carrying around all my gadgets, and seriously considering purchasing one, because their bags are specifically designed to store all your gadgets, they have a specific home in this bag, protecting them from any scratching or damage.

The bag is the STM Velo Medium Laptop Shoulder Bag – in Black.  The best feature of this bag, that I can see is the separate laptop compartment, it is housed in the rear of the bag and slides in from the side.  As it is at the back of the bag, it is protected against your body when carrying it.

There is various pockets inside specifically designed to house gadgets like an iPad, and places for your water bottles, and that all important laptop charger.

Here is specifications shown on the STM Website:

The perfect solution for the everyday commute. Travel by bike, auto, plane or train, the velo completely organizes even the most complicated day.

• Front fleece lined drop pocket for phone, iPod or sunglasses
• Comfortable top grab handle
• Main flap secured with two quick release buckles
• Two zippered side pockets for water, umbrella, etc.
• Back slip pocket for paperwork and zippered option to slip over a luggage handle
• Comfortable, padded and adjustable shoulder strap
• Unique side-entry laptop protection compartment lined with super plush corduroy and high density foam
• Large main compartment for paperwork with soft nylex lined tablet/e-reader pocket
• Multiple organizer pockets for chargers, cords, memory devices, keys, wallet, travel docs, etc.

Main Fabric: 300D water resistant micro ripstop polyester
Lining: STM plush power corduroy lining
Laptop Space: 14.8 x 9.8 x 1.6 in / 37.5 x 25 x 4 cm
External Bag: 19.7 x 14.6 x 7.5 in / 50 x 37 x 19 cm
Weight: 2.8 lbs / 1.2 kg

Source

The only place I have managed to find that sells them in the UK is AllMacShop at £69.98

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Absolutely Awesome, I want one.

Today’s Quick Post: A Thank You to Egypt Today, by Ahmad Ghoneim

I wanted to thank Ahmad Ghoneim for including my review of my Egypt Vacation posted earlier today, in his Egypt Today online newspaper.  It can be found in his Leisure section.

The mention is much appreciated.  The link to the article published by Ahmad Ghoneim is available here http://paper.li/aaghoneim/1308595197

In case you are unaware of what I am talking about, here is a link to the article in question Trip to Egypt: Review

Trip to Egypt : Review.

It has been a while since my last update, and it is what you have been waiting for, my review of my vacation.  Unfortunately when I posted my article about my departure from the UK to Egypt for my vacation, I had hoped that my hotel would have access to the Internet to allow me to keep you guys updated on what it is like to visit Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The hotel did have the option to use the Internet, but it was extremely expensive to use and felt it was worth holding off until I returned home.  This post is going to be extremely long, apologies for this, but it will give you an idea of what Egypt was like and what activities are available for you to do whilst you are there.

There are some really great photographs for you to enjoy, so please continue to read.