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Instax Mini's latest feature lets you digitally doodle on your photos
Instax has added a new mini link feature that makes it easier to get creative with your photos.
Netflix's first comic book is Mark Millar's 'The Magic Order'
When Netflix acquired Mark Millar's comic book empire in August, many assumed the streaming service would just adapt his various works for the screen. That isn't quite the case: Netflix announced today that it will publish The Magic Order as a comic book, with art handled by Olivier Coipel. Millar is on writing duties for the six-issue dark fantasy series. In a somewhat surprising move, the story will be available in print in addition to digital starting with the premiere issue next spring.
Chrome OS is ready to use printers without the cloud
Despite decades of attempts to straighten out the connections between printers and computers, it's a situation that always (at least for me) seems to have an extra complication. On Chrome OS, ever since launch it has by default relied on Google Cloud Print and compatible printers to get the job done, but now that version 59 has reached the Stable release channel, it's a little easier to use. That's because it has a new ability for "Native Printing," which basically means that it can connect directly to compatible printers on your network, without the need for any cloud connection at all. Some manufacturers and third parties have been getting around the cloud print requirement with extensions like this one, but now support is built in and available to everyone.
Fotr takes you back to photography's bad old days
Before digital, photographers of all calibers had to be careful, since there were several limits imposed on what they could do. For instance, you only had a limited number of exposures per reel and you had to pay to print all of your images, even the duds that were destined for the trash. It all sounds dreadful, but that doesn't mean that companies like Fotr aren't going to try and recreate it for the smartphone age. The app, very simply, forces would-be snappers to be as careful as they used to, since Fotr will print out every image you snap with it.
UK lads mags FHM and Zoo to disappear from shelves
For many young men growing up in the nineties and early noughties, FHM and Zoo were the very definition of "lad culture." Bedroom walls across Britain used to be filled with blu-tacked pages of scantily-clad models, but with sales dwindling, the time of the lads magazine is coming to an end. Bauer Media, owner of both brands, said today that the two men's properties will cease publication at the end of the year.
E-book sales dip, but is print really making a comeback?
We've all heard "print is dead" a few (hundred) times before, but it looks like print is still kickin'. In fact, it could be making a bit of a comeback. The Association of American Publishers, using collected data from around 1,200 publishers, found that e-book sales dropped 10 percent during the first five months of 2015. The reason? Signs point to a lot of folks being "hybrid readers" these days, opting for a mix of print and digital over one or the other. E-reader sales have also been on the downswing for quite a while. For example, Forrester Research says 12 million of the dedicated reading devices were sold last year -- that's down from 20 million in 2011. Of course, Amazon just announced a $50 tablet that'll offer easy access to its library, but it also packs in some core slate features. It also looks like those Netflix-like e-book subscription services, like Oyster, didn't catch on like companies had hoped.
Today is the last day to order iPhoto book's before Christmas
If you wanted to order a book of your photos through iPhoto this holiday season, today is the last day to so before the cut off. Customers who purchase a iPhoto book today, December 17, will need to pay express shipping in order to get their book by the 24. Users can create bound books, calendars, and postcards of their photos from within the iPhoto app by clicking the "share" button at the bottom right of their screen. You're on a deadline for the this year, so if you want that last minute collection of photos for grandma you better get busy. Time is running out.
'Computerworld' ends its print run, becomes a digital-only magazine
After nearly half a century Computerworld is ending its existence as a print magazine. Next Monday the final issue of the stalwart publication will be circulated on processed wood pulp. Computerworld won't be going away completely, however, an online version will continue to exist. It's a story that is becoming increasingly familiar. Countless magazines and newspapers have closed up shop as print has suffered what can only be described as a long and slow death spiral. But plenty have carried on as digital versions, as publications try to breathe new life into their struggling properties. In addition to the website, Computerworld will launch a digital magazine on August 1st that will be optimized for tablets and desktop PCs. Oddly, it seems the initial version will neglect truly mobile formats. Now all that remains to be seen is if one of the oldest computer magazines in the world can survive the continued evolution of the publishing world.
3D printer headed to the International Space Station this August
Astronauts on the International Space Station will need to make room for one more gadget: a NASA-certified 3D printer. The device, designed by Made in Space at NASA's Ames Research Park in Mountain View, will launch on SpaceX CRS-4 in August, a few months ahead of schedule. Initially, astronauts will test the printer in the ISS' microgravity environment, but eventually it could be used to build tools and other hardware needed for on-board repairs or cubesat deployments. Down the road, Made in Space's clients could also have access to the printer for their own experiments. "This is unprecedented access to space," CEO Aaron Kemmer said in a press release. "If you want to 3D print in space, contact us now." [Image credit: NASA]
Forget the standard print dialog: ClarusX2014 is changing orientation one print dialog at a time
Recently, Apple marked a major Mac anniversary. Celebrate the next 30 years of Macintosh by ditching this guy and replace him with a classic Clarus in your print dialog. Roby Sherman's ClarusX2014 offers a full rewrite of ClarusX2005, escorting dogcattle into the age of Mavericks. It provides an AppleScript-based utility that updates your page setup and print dialog icons. You'll need administrator privileges to install any of the supplied custom icon sets shown at the top-right of this post. If you're of an artistic bent and want to make your own 32 x 32-pixel TIFFs, you can use the utility to completely customize your experience. Me? I went with the QuartzClarus set. Now I find a smile whenever I print. Moof! Hat tip Mike Shields
Nothing says 'war is hell' like a $2,500 gold-leaf Battlefield 4 print
With the Battlefield 4 Premium add-on, EA's letting you score a dozen goodie-laden golden battlepacks for about $50 without, you know, earning them. But any plebe can do that, right Sedgwick? What you really need to flaunt your gamer cachet is a limited edition BF4 battlepack print from purveyors Cook & Becker priced at a mere $2,500. It was created from a high-res render by EA DICE studio artists and made with 24-carat gold leaf and gold paint in a tiny run of 10 copies. Outrageous? Sure, but at least you'd be going in with eyes wide open.
Friday Favorite: Yet another reason to love Printopia
I'm a huge fan of Ecamm's Printopia utility. For just 20 bucks, it enables you to print from iOS to any printer connected to your Mac. You don't need to buy a high-priced AirPlay-enabled system. I'm running Printopia with an old piece-of-junk Brother laser printer that is older than some of my kids. Until this week, I didn't really use Printopia's "Send to Dropbox" or "Send to Mac" features. I normally just connect my iPhone and iPad to my Mac using Image Capture to transfer pictures, which has been a terrific way to manage the images I need for TUAW write-ups. Yesterday, however, after installing Mavericks, that workflow broke. For whatever reason, Image Capture just would not connect properly to my iPhone. And that's when I thought of using Printopia rather than emailing individual pictures. The great thing about "printing" pictures is how well integrated the process is with the Photos app. It requires just a few taps to print. With Printopia's "Send to" options, I was able to transfer my pictures with a minimum of fuss and bother. Plus, bonus, I didn't need to connect any cables. It worked brilliantly. The convenience didn't stop there though. It occurred to me that I could "print" Safari articles that I wanted a copy of, directly from my iPhone without having to return to my desk. Sure enough, the Printopia Send to Mac option created a perfect PDF of the active webpage, saved it to my Documents folder and opened it in Preview. Although I haven't used these options much in the past, I can see myself starting to use them a lot more from here on. And, of course, Printopia still makes it simple and convenient to print from my phone.
Travel to the Nebula of NES Games in this handy chart
Who wants to sift through a spreadsheet or massive lists of text? This is the 21st century, and as such we expect information to be presented to us in an entertaining and stylish manner. Enter: Pop Chart Lab's NES Nebula piece, which presents over 700 NES releases spanning 1984 to 1993. Super Mario Bros. is represented in the middle, with every subsequent release spiraling out from the center. Just about every game you'd expect is represented here, including Ice Climber, Donkey Kong, Hogan's Alley, River City Ransom and so many, many more. The Nebula of NES Games is 24" by 36" and comes either as a standalone print for $32, in a framed print package for $142, in a print mounted on panel for $92 or as a print with hanging rails for $62. Orders will begin shipping on September 20.
Liquid metal for 3D printing could lead to bendy electronics, T-1000
3D printing is awesome, yet it still has a lot of untapped potential -- you can use it to create terrifying spiderbots and even tiny drones, but you can't make electronic components out of pools of plastic. Thankfully, a team of North Carolina State University researchers have discovered a mixture of liquid metal that can retain shapes, which could eventually be used for 3D printing. Liquid metals naturally have the tendency to merge, but alloys composed of gallium and indium combined form a skin around the material. This allows researchers to create structures by piling drops on top of each other using a syringe, as well as to create specific shapes by using templates. The team is looking for a way to use the mixture with existing 3D printing technologies, but it might take some before it's widely used as it currently costs 100 times more than plastic. We hope they address both issues in the near future, so we can conjure up futuristic tech like bendy electronics, or maybe even build a body to go with that artificial skin.
Official Cloud Print app hits Google Play, streamlines your wireless printing needs
The official Cloud Print app has finally been released on Google Play, possibly rendering the third-party apps you've relied on over the years superfluous. Using the standalone software will likely be a familiar affair if you've ever printed via mobile devices in the past. Just choose a file saved on your phone, tablet or the cloud, and it'll make its merry way to your Cloud Print-ready device. Note that your photo or document still has to be funneled through your computer if you use a classic, wired printer. Head over to Google Play via the source link below to give Cloud Print a spin.
Kicksend lets you order photo prints instantly from CVS, Walgreens and more
There's probably not many people reading this who don't like sharing photos with family and friends. We do it through email, through Facebook, through Twitter. But many still like receiving photos the old-fashioned way -- in print. If you're one of those people, or if you know people who prefer prints, you might want to check out Kicksend. Kicksend is a service and app that allows you to upload completely uncompressed images from your iPhone's camera roll and send them to almost any Walgreens, Target, or CVS in the country where they can be picked up by your friends or relatives in under an hour. If a one-hour time frame isn't of the utmost importance, you can also skip the middleman and have Kicksend mail the printed photos directly to your selected recipients. The photos are printed on premium archival photo paper and if you send 10 or more, shipping is free. You can choose from photo sizes of 4x4, 4×6, 5×7 or 8×10. Prices range from US$0.49 for a 4x6 to $3.99 for an 8x10. The Kicksend app is a free download.
Google reportedly halts print editions of Frommer's guidebooks
Were we really expecting a different outcome? Several months after Google bought Frommer's to bolster its location efforts, Skift hears that the iconic travel guide maker has completely stopped publication of print editions as its focus swings to the online realm. Authors say that many of their scheduled Frommer's books now won't be published; a few say their contracts were simply delayed, but the usual raft of guides that would show at this time of year just haven't materialized. We've reached out to Google to confirm what's going on, although the writing may have been on the wall when the bookstore disappeared from the Frommer's site in September. If true, many travelers will have to either switch to rival guides or use Google's digital parallels to learn what's interesting in a strange new land. [Image credit: Caitlin Regan, Flickr]
Newsweek ends its print run with a hashtagged cover
December 31st will mark the end of one of the biggest names in the world of printed news. As noted back in October, however, Newsweek isn't saying die, it's just jumping head first into the warm embrace of digital media. And as the publication revealed via its Twitter account, it will be doing so with a wink and a nod, thanks to a giant #lastprintissue hashtag smack dab in the middle of a classy black and white cover. #godspeed, Newsweek, #godspeed.
Nintendo Power's nostalgic final cover
The final issue of Nintendo Power will be hitting newsstands in a few days, and it looks to pay nostalgic tribute to the magazine's very first issue, which was published over two decades ago. The cover image has been making the rounds on the internet, featuring a sculpted clay scene from New Super Mario Bros. U, an homage to the clay Super Mario Bros. 2 cover that debuted in 1988. Old-school Nintendo fans may want to pick one up for old time's sake.The magazine is expected to arrive by December 11. We recently compiled some of the Joystiq staff's fond Nintendo Power memories, which you can read here.See a larger version of the image after the break.
PlayStation: The Official Magazine being shuttered, will say farewell with holiday issue
The publisher of PlayStation: The Official Magazine has confirmed to Game Informer that the Sony-minded periodical will board up its doors by year's end. This isn't the first gaming zine that publisher Future US has called it quits on this year -- news of Nintendo Power's closure broke this August. Just like the Nintendo-centric themed publication, the PlayStation mag's last issue will be its holiday edition. However, unlike Newsweek's leap to a purely digital existence, there's no indication that the magazine could see life online.
