PC — Picture Soup | Picture Soup

By Diane Berkenfeld

June has been a hopping good month for Techies (and I don’t mean the availability of the iPhone 4 in stores today). A range of new products—from hard drives to Thumbdrives, batteries, digital frames and monitors have hit the market and if not already on store shelves, almost all should be there by the end of the month. Some of the gear included definitely has the word professional written all over it, while other items may be for the consumer, but what ties them all together is digital imagery—whether by managing files, or displaying images. Read on…

Blu-ray

Buffalo Technology's MediaStation 12x External USB 3.0 Blu-ray Writer.

Buffalo Technology (www.buffalotech.com) just announced its new MediaStation 12x External USB 3.0 Blu-ray Writer. The MediaStation can write/play back Blu-ray discs, DVDs and CDs. The Blu-ray writer comes with CyberLink Blu-ray 3D Ready Media suite. Set up is simple and no drivers are needed. The unit supports the following media formats: BD-R SL 8x Read / 12x Write, DVD –R SL 16x Read / 16x Write and CD-R 40x Read / 40x Write.

Buffalo will be shipping the MediaStation 12x External USB 3.0 Blu-ray Writer by month’s end with an estimated street price of $349.99.

External Hard Drives

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Western Digital My Book Studio LX external hard drive for Mac users.

Earlier this month, Western Digital (www.westerndigital.com) introduced its My Book Studio LX external hard drive, with FireWire 800 interface and a sleek new, cool-to-the-touch aluminum case that would complement any Mac product. The drive also supports USB 2.0. The My Book Studio LX is unique in that it utilizes a customizable e-label that lets users identify such information as contents and remaining capacity without having to boot up a computer and plug in the drive.

It will sync seamlessly with Apple Time Machine software and also comes with WD SmartWare software. And the 256-bit hardware-based encryption, typically only found on much more expensive drive systems, provides a high level of data security along with password protection. The new drives area available in 1TB and 2TB capacities. The drives come with HFS + Journaled formatting and are compatible with Mac OS X Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard.

MSRP are $199.99 to $269.99 for the 1TB and 2TB models respectively.

(l.) Iomega's new charcoal gray USB 3.0 eGo drive; (r.) Iomega's new eGo BlackBelt Mac portable drive.

Earlier this month, Iomega (www.iomega.com) introduced its Iomega eGo portable and desktop hard drive line. New models including the charcoal gray USB 3.0 eGo portable with 500GB capacity, USB 2.0 eGo in fun colors: ruby red, midnight blue, and silver, in 320GB, 500GB and 1TB capacities.

Also new is the Iomega 1TB eGo BlackBelt Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive featuring two FireWire 800 ports and a USB 2.0 port. The drive also comes with a FireWire 800 to 400 cable, and utilizes the Iomega Power Grip band to help protect the drive from accidental drops from up to seven feet.

New Iomega eGo desktop drives include the charcoal gray Iomega USB 3.0 eGo Desktop Hard Drive with USB 3.0 in 1TB and 2TB capacities; and the Iomega Mac Edition eGo Desktop Hard Drive, a 3.5-inch HDD in a silver enclosure, and featuring two FireWire 800 ports, a USB 2.0 port and three cables: USB 2.0, FireWire 800 and FireWire 800 to 400 conversion cable. The new eGo Mac Edition desktop drive is HFS+ formatted and is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities.

More of the Now Ubiquitous USB Flash Drives

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Kingston Technology's DT160 flash drive.

Kingston Technology (www.kingston.com) yesterday announced the DT160 Flash drive, which combines functionality with a capless design. The rubberized thumb grip makes it an easy-to-use retractable USB Flash drive. DT160 is available in capacities from 4GB to 32GB. The drives are Mac, Windows PC and Linux compatible.

And Media Cards

Earlier this month Kingston announced that shipping of its 64GB SDXC media cards should be taking place at the end of the month.

Not Your Average Digital Frame

Frame Wizard 15-inch frame.

The latest product that falls into the “How cool is that!” category is the FrameWizard (www.framewizard.com). Using your photos and the company’s software/digital frames, you can bring movement to your still digital images.

The company currently offers 7-inch, 8-inch and 15-inch digital frames that utilize their proprietary software (Mac and PC compatible) to make your photographs move, add elements such as snowflakes, raindrops, or falling leaves to your images, change the scenery behind your subjects, and make Matte Magic.

The company is working on a solution for professional photographers.

Sleek Computer Monitors

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Samsung 50 Series LED monitor.

Samsung Electronics America Inc., (www.samsung.com) yesterday announced the launch of its line of 50 Series LED-backlit monitors: the 20-inch BX2050, 21.5-inch BX2250, 23-inch BX2350, and 24-inch BX2450 models. Each delivers a >95% sRGB color gamut and 170 degree horizontal viewing angle. The BX2050 monitor has a resolution of 1600×900 and VGA and DVI-D inputs; while the other three models offer a 1920×1080 resolution and VGA, two HDMI inputs and audio output ports. All monitors use Samsung’s Touch of Color (ToC) technology.

According to Samsung, the displays consume up to 40% less energy than same sized CCFL backlit monitors and are fully recyclable, containing no mercury, halogens or VOCs.

The monitors will be available in July, prices range from $229 through $359.

Pico Projectors

The 3M MPro150 pico projector.

3M’s (www.3m.com) MPro150 is the latest in the company’s family of pico projectors. Designed with professionals in mind, the MPro150 includes 1 GB internal memory, a micro SD card slot and a USB input for transferring files from a laptop or netbook, allowing entire presentations to be pre-loaded onto the projector itself. The MPro150 supports Microsoft Office applications, as well as Adobe PDF, photos and video. The Mpro 150 lets you project images up to 50-inches at 15 lumens brightness.

The unit also has an integrated MP3 player, headphone jack, and speakers so you can listen to your tunes in-between presentations. Additional features include an integrated flip stand, tripod and a variety of input cables. Optional accessories include an adapter cable for Apple products, component video cable and car charger.

MSRP for the MPro150 is $295. The company also offers the MPro 120 projector, designed more for casual users than business, with an MSRP of $325.

Battery Charging on the Go

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Duracell's Go Mobile Ni-MH charger.

Duracell (www.duracell.com) has created a Ni-MH AA/AAA battery charger that’s ideal for use by the photographer on the go. The new GoMobile chargers are not only usable plugged into the wall, but they come with a car adapter as well, and the design allows for the GoMobile charger to easily fit in the cup holder of your car. And the charger is fast, fully charging batteries in an hour.

The GoMobile comes with four Duracell pre-charged rechargeable batteries, the wall cord and car adapter. MSRP is $29.99.

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Pandigital's Digital Photo Greeting Cards come in three styles. Shown are the birthday cards.

Greeting Cards Go Digital

Pandigital (www.pandigital.net) came out with Digital Photo Greeting Cards, in three different sets of three cards: holidays, birthday, and thinking of you. The cards each let you upload 50 digital photos via USB. Once the photos are loaded, simply send the card and your recipient not only gets a handwritten note from you but up to 50 digital images that are viewable on the 1.44-inch screen built into the cards.

By Diane Berkenfeld

I’m going to begin the review of Auto FX Software’s Photo/Graphic Edges Platinum Edition v.7 at the beginning—with installation. Photo/Graphic Edges will take about 30 minutes to install, not the five to 10 minutes that the installer says. And it may not look like it is doing anything right away, but be patient because it will install correctly. The software is Mac and Windows-based PC compatible and will work as a plug-in with Photoshop versions 7 through CS4 or as a stand-alone program. on a computer running at least MAC OS X (on an Intel or PPC Mac) or on a Windows-based PC, running Windows 2000, XP or Vista.

This version of Photo/Graphic Edges includes 32 new edge, border and frame effects. With all of the edges, frames, borders and overlays, adornments and embellishments you have thousands of options. For the pro photographer who wants to be able to add edges to a wide variety of images from baby and child photography to teens, seniors, couples and families, Photo/Graphic Edges provides edges, borders and frames appropriate for all. The software also features powerful tools to alter the edges, frames and borders. Many of them can be tweaked in a number of ways, from changing the hue, opacity, and other characteristics.

One of the additions to this version is the ability to add multiple layers to create unique images. You can save these new borders, edges and frames as presets so you can use them again. Photo/Graphic Edges Platinum Edition v.7 includes 300 pre-made layouts and instant effects, as well as the ability to add your own presets. Other new features include new storyboards and the ability to brush on edges. Auto FX Software has also improved the program with the addition of a new rendering engine and interface updates. An example of this is larger content previews. The content collections have also been reorganized so it’s easier to find what you want. And a favorites feature has also been added.

Using Photo/Graphic Edges

The software is simple to use, as a Photoshop plug-in or a stand-alone product, you launch the software, open an image and choose an edge, frame or border. You can add embellishments, adornments and overlays. If you don’t like the edges you’ve chosen, simply delete that layer and choose another. The edges and frames load pretty quickly too, so you won’t find yourself waiting.

: Original portrait of Jason. (photo by Diane Berkenfeld)

: After choosing the photo corners, I decided to alter the color of them. (Photo by Diane Berkenfeld)

: Final portrait of Jason. (photo by Diane Berkenfeld)

: Original photo of Michael Lombardi, singer for the band Apache Stone. (photo by Diane Berkenfeld)

: Working view of the image, before choosing a frame or edge. (photo by Diane Berkenfeld)

: Final image, with a grunge frame. (photo by Diane Berkenfeld)

When you are done with one image, and want to move on to another, you just open the new image and that automatically closes the first. It would be nice in a future version to have a ‘close image’ choice in the File menu, if only because everyone associates the word with the act of closing a working file.

When working with Edges, regardless of the one you choose, they reshape to fit the dimensions of the photo. When you are working with Frames, the Transform tool allows you to scale and position the photo as you want. There are actually two transform tools, transform frame/edges and transform photo so you can tweak the frame or edges and the photo exactly how you want. Auto FX notes that the Transform tools are dynamic and non-destructive.

Images can be saved as Bitmap, JPG, TIFF, and PSD files, however the software saves the PSD files flattened but with full transparency, so you can’t make any changes among the layers when opened in Photoshop. You need to do all photo editing and manipulation in Photoshop before you import the photo into Photo/Graphic Edges. One other thing you need to be aware of is that when you’re working with an image and Quit out of the stand-alone program, it will quit without asking if you want to save what you’re working with, so just don’t be too quick with your keyboard shortcuts. When you’re working with the plug-in, and Quit, it cancels the plug-in and returns you back to the host program, for example Photoshop.

I love the photo realistic darkroom edges like the filed out film holders, Polaroid film and Polaroid transfers. One of the cool things about the software is that you can add backgrounds for a full layout. Backgrounds include colors, gradients, textures, and more. Many of the frames and edges are for a single image, but there are also two-up and quad frames that can each hold a different photo. You can add text to images as well. There are frames that are designed to look like actual frames, as well as scrapbook style frames, embellishments and layouts. There are also geometric, digital, traditional, artistic, and more modern edges and frames as well as vignettes.

For software that incorporates so much content—a thousands items—you’ll have plenty to browse from, to find that exact frame or edge for your images. Photo/Graphic Edges Platinum Edition v.7 offers photographers such a wide range of options, that practically anything is possible. So much so, in fact, that you should definitely take a look at the manual before you begin, it comes as a PDF file. You might also want to view the free video tutorials on the Auto FX Software website.

For more information, go to the website at www.autofx.com.