Appletell

For those of you who are regulars on Flickr, there is a wonderful new image client for Mac.  Flickery, from Eternal Storms software, does it all.  Well, not everything, but it does most of it.  All within this little app, you can view your Photostream, your contact’s Photostream, upload new photos, delete photos, download photos, comment on photos- you name it.  I only have a few gripes with the program.  Check out the video review.

MORE »

Product: Photoshop Elements 6.0
Link: Photoshop Elements 6.0
Price: $89 USD
Rating: 8/10

In February, I reviewed a beta version of Photoshop Elements 6.0. I focused on interface, speed and features. As a whole, my review hasn’t changed too much.

In February, I wrote that “launching Photoshop Elements is a painful process. Startup took about 17 seconds: six bounces of the icon on the dock, then about 11 seconds on the splash screen. This is about the same as Photoshop Elements 4.0, which was running through emulation.” The final version of Photoshop has most definitely improved in this area, beating CS3 for start time, taking about 10 seconds on a cold start, which is very acceptable. 

MORE »

Many iPhone users dislike typing with its built-in touch screen QWERTY keyboard, and finally, a man named Ruddy Ugarte has come up with a practical and affordable solution. The new product, called My Touch Keys, is a transparent protective screen protector, with cut-outs for for the iPhone’s keyboard. This amazing product lets you feel where each letter is located on the textured surface, reducing typo errors that are common among the iPhone among most other mobile phones.

The best part about it is that this practical screen protector only costs $7.99 USD for a pair and is definitely worth investing in. Even if you don’t find that the product is suitable for your needs, at least you wouldn’t have spent a lot of money on it.

Unfortunately, shipping is free for US residents only, so you’ll have to pay a bit more for third-party and international shipping services.

The picture shown is only an illustration, as the actual product itself is completely transparent, and Ugarte claims that you won’t even notice the cut-outs; plus it won’t affect the iPhone’s multi-touch interface, which may be a problem among thicker third-party iPhone screen protectors.

[Via iPhone Buzz.]

We’ve all got lots of things to do in our life and all of that clutter in our working environment doesn’t help at all. In real life you’ve got a garbage can and sticky notes, it does the job and that’s about it. On my computer I’ve got a simple, yet feature full version of that, ShoveBox. ShoveBox is the “the smart clutter-catcher for you and your Mac.” This neat little Mac app sits in your menu bar, waiting to capture and sort your information. If you’ve used a to-do list app or stickies app you’ve probably realized that text just isn’t good enough to keep track of your life. From the menu bar, you may choose to capture clutter by typing it down, or “QuickJot.” Or import from your clipboard, create a longer text note, or record using your iSight or built in camera.

Read the complete review after the jump.

MORE »

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, due out mid-March, is touted as a large advancement over the previous version, Photoshop Elements 4. There are many new features, and the program as a whole has been further targeted at consumers, but overall, it doesn’t seem like enough has changed to call it an important release. This section of the Photoshop Elements 6 review will focus on speed and new features.

Keep in mind that the review copy of Photoshop Elements is in beta, and therefore may include some glitches or performance issues not found in the final retail copy.

MORE »

I bought an iPod Touch mainly because it brought a decent-sized widescreen display to the iPod - something that my old iPod 5G was missing. But what if you could extend your iPod’s viewing potential to 60 inches in front of your eyes? Well, that’s probably what Vuzix was thinking when they came up with the iWear AV920 glasses.

The AV920 glasses look like something from the future, hardly matching anything any portable media player I know. The metallic black plastic covers both of your eyes from the front, and at the back, your eyes look into two high-resolution displays that both create a virtual 60-inch display 2.5 inches away from you. It took a while for me to adjust the glasses, but fortunately adjustability is very easy on the AV920. The included earbuds that hang off the side of the glasses produce nice quality sound, too - but they didn’t suit my ears. Luckily again, the earbuds easily slide out, so that you can insert your own headphones. The glasses are lightweight and ergonomic, and things like the nosepiece are adjustable for maximum comfort.

MORE »

Product: ScreenFlow
Link: ScreenFlow
Price: $99.99 USD
Rating: 10/10

ScreenFlow is now the best screen capture application out there. The recording process is nothing special, it’s the editing software that makes it a 10 out of 10 program. Video review after the jump.

MORE »

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, due out mid-March, is touted as a large advancement over the previous version, Photoshop Elements 4. There are many new features, and the program as a whole has been further targeted at consumers, but overall, it doesn’t seem like enough has changed to call it an important release. This section of the Photoshop Elements 6 review will focus on the redesigned interface.

Looking at the demo videos on Adobe’s Photoshop Elements site, I was rather dismayed by what I saw. The color scheme seemed to be all grey, and it overall looked very oppressive. At the time, I was looking forward to Photoshop Elements 6 and hoped for the best, based upon rumors that the actual interface was different.

MORE »

More and more HDMI-equipped devices are appearing - and you’ll probably find that your brand new HDTV runs out of free HDMI ports quickly. Devices like Apple TVs, games consoles, satellite receivers and more are all becoming HDMI compliant because it provides the best quality in both audio and video; supporting Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, and 1080p.

XtremeMac, well-known for making iPod and Mac accessories, have introduced an HDMI switcher that is designed to fit with the Apple TV. The device sits nicely underneath or on top of an Apple TV, as it has the same white plastic and aluminium trim that the Apple TV has, as well as exactly the same footprint. It’s also incredibly thin for an HDMI switcher of this type, and looks great wherever it’s placed.

Included in the box is the HDMI switcher itself, and a 5-button remote control - which is used for switching between the four different sources. It’s a shame that you can’t have the box automatically switch between sources when a signal is detected, but systems that have this feature often don’t work too well. The bundled remote control is tiny, and also about the same size as the Apple remote - although this has a different design.

MORE »

Product: CandyBar
Price: $29
Rating: 9/10.0 (Excellent)
Pros: Very easy to use, Pixadex built in, 512x512 icons and docks, new interface.
Cons: Somewhat cluttered interface.
Overall: CandyBar 3 combines Pixadex to store and apply your icons and docks.

Candybar 3 is Panic’s latest release of their icon applying application, new in version 3 is a New Interface, Quick Look, Support for Docks, Smart Collections and much more. They have also built Pixadex, an application for storing icons right into CandyBar, this allows you to store 512x512 pixel high resolution icons and apply them with in the application.  Using CandyBar 3 it is easy to orgainize and change your icons, even those in the hard to find areas such as hard drives, application icons and even badges.

Interface - 10/10 - The interface is a steady upgrade over version 2, it makes use of many of Leopard’s new features, and even has a lookalike Quick Look. All the parts of the main window are very smooth when opening and closing, and allow you to browse a large collection very quickly, easily and fluidly, with short load times.

Features - 8/10 - The feature set in this new release is very good. Now that you can store, organize, change and view all of your icons and docks easily, it makes an icon collectors job very easy.

From the CandyBar Website;

New Features

Brand New Interface
Store and browse icons (and iContainers) with ease

Quick Look
Totally integrated: view iContainers in the Finder itself

512×512 Icons
Mega sized, hyper detailed, good to go

Better iContainers
Save and load icons, and docks, all bundled up

Super Speed
Load and browse icons in a flash, thanks to Leopard

Quick Drop
Easily apply icons to individual folders

Organize Docks, Too
Got an iContainer with a Dock? We’ll hold onto it

Smart Collections
Search and build dynamic icon collections