Digital Innovations

There's More To Labeling Than Sharpies
ArcSoft's (www.arcsoft.com) CD&DVD LabelMaker offers an easy way to design and print customized CD and DVD labels, jewel case inserts, and DVD inserts. Personally, I still write on the discs with a Sharpie (www.sharpie.com) CD/DVD pen but like case inserts with photographs from the session on them because it makes it easy to find a particular disc later on. The program supports paper templates from all the major brands and comes with hundreds of pre-designed backgrounds. It has text tools for adding titles and lists, a music playlist feature, an import photo feature, photo-editing tools, and lets you capture still images from a video file. Price is $29.99, which is more than a handful of Sharpies costs, but if you want to give a disc to someone--a client, perhaps--having a professional-looking cover shows you care about the contents.

ArcSoft's CD&DVD LabelMaker is a Windows-based program that lets you design and print customized CD and DVD labels, jewel case inserts, and DVD case inserts.

Photoshop Action Of The Month
Thanks to Shutterbug reader Cliff Lawson for introducing me to Craig's Actions, the best set of commercially available Photoshop Actions I've ever used. Craig Minielly's (www.craigsactions.com) Actions offer increased productivity and creativity in four separate Volumes with the click of a button. Productivity Essentials contains four sets of Actions, providing control over image sharpening, dust removal, advanced image retouching, facial feature enhancements, custom logo insertion, copyright and proof watermarking, and image effects such as cross-processing and monochrome. ShadowSoft & Grainy can add a softening effect to your images, including grain enhancement.

When running these Actions there are stops (with hints provided) allowing you to interact and customize the effect. The stops can be unchecked for continuous operation. CMYK Ad Producers offers professional applications for CMYK conversions for business card, brochure, or ad production, while StoryTellers 1 contains 31 Actions with artistic effects such as infrared, soft pastels, and selective color control.

(Above, left): This photograph of "your father's Oldsmobile" was made with a Canon EOS 20D with 18-55mm EF-S zoom lens attached. The ISO was 200 and exposure was 1/320 sec in Program mode with a -1/3 stop exposure compensation. (Above, right): After opening the image in Adobe Photoshop the ShadowSoft & Grainy Sepia from Craig's Actions (Volume 2) was applied giving it a "film noir" look that matches the style of the car. This was accomplished with one button click and no pixels were harmed during the process.

Stamp Out Bugs Fast
You just updated to Mac OS X Tiger and want to make sure your virus protection is compatible. My choice for virus protection on the Mac OS has always been Symantec's (www.symantec.com) Norton AntiVirus. Norton AntiVirus 10.0's contextual menu support lets users scan files and directories on the fly by Control/clicking a particular file or directory to scan specific files and directories without launching the application. A custom SafeZones feature lets you specify a drive or specific volumes or files, to be or not to be regularly scanned for threats. Photographers with large numbers of images on an external hard drive can specify a SafeZone, to avoid time-consuming scans of their entire drive. Smart volume scanning allows Norton AntiVirus to remember previously scanned CD or DVD media to eliminate unnecessary scans. The Global Threat Assessment widget (see "If A Cougar Can Have A Dashboard, Why Not A Tiger?") shows the status of computer virus protection and reports on the three most recent and the most critical virus threats. You can also use the widget to check the last time virus definitions were updated.

If you just updated to Mac OS X Tiger and want to make sure your virus protection is compatible, take a look at Symantec's Norton AntiVirus 10.0.

Memories Of Agfa
AgfaPhoto, the company that emerged from the Consumer Imaging division of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is producing memory media in four popular formats, including Secure Digital, CompactFlash, and xD-Picture Card media cards, and USB Pen drives. They're wrapped in a new packaging design and each type of card has its own color. AgfaPhoto's Secure Digital offers 2GB-capacity cards in normal- and turbo-speed versions. The company's CompactFlash card family includes a 4GB-capacity product and xD-Picture Cards are available in 128, 256, and 512MB capacities. The USB Pen drives--Sydney Bristow never goes on a covert mission without one--are available in 128, 256, or 512MB capacities.

AgfaPhoto's family of CompactFlash cards includes a wide range of useful capacities for the digital photographer, up to 4GB!

If A Cougar Can Have A Dashboard, Why Not A Tiger?
Apple's Dashboard is a feature of Mac OS 10.4 a.k.a. Tiger. Dashboard is based on HTML, Cascading Style Sheets, and JavaScript and contains widgets (mini applications) that let you perform common tasks and provide fast access to information. With a single click Dashboard appears, bringing you real-time weather, stock tickers, flight information, and more. Tiger includes a suite of widgets to get you started and you can add more anytime, such as Symantec's Global Threat Assessment. When you click the plus sign, Dashboard launches a Widget Bar displaying every available widget. You can download other widgets from www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard.