jpg
Latest
Adobe browser shortcuts make it easier to create PDFs
Adobe's .new browser shortcuts give you quick access to useful PDF tools.
Moment's big Pro Camera update brings its Android app up to speed
Moment has announced its biggest ever update for Pro Camera, which adds a bunch of cool new features to the app, and brings the Android version up to parity. And to celebrate, if you download the app for the first time you'll get 15 percent off in the Moment Shop, which carries more than 20 photography and travel brands.
Low-latency JPEG XS format is optimized for live streaming and VR
You might only know JPEG as the default image compression standard, but the group behind it has now branched out into something new: JPEG XS. JPEG XS is described as a new low-energy format designed to stream live video and VR, even over WiFi and 5G networks. It's not a replacement for JPEG and the file sizes themselves won't be smaller; it's just that this new format is optimized specifically for lower latency and energy efficiency. In other words, JPEG is for downloading, but JPEG XS is more for streaming.
Reuters bans RAW photos in questionable bid for authenticity
News agency Reuters will no longer accept photos shot in the RAW format, saying its freelancers are now required to submit JPEG photos shot in-camera. It told PetaPixel that it made the unusual move partly to speed up workflow, but also because RAW allows photographers to do too much image manipulation, and "our goal is not to artistically interpret the news," according to a spokesman. It said it would only permit images made from the original JPEGs, provided they had just "minimal processing," including cropping and level correction.
Roku's official iOS and Android remote apps add 'Play on Roku' to stream music and pics
Along with price and release date details of its new Streaming Stick plus the launch of Vudu, Roku is announcing upgrades for its mobile remote control apps. Hinted at earlier this year when software updates went out to its newer boxes preparing them for future upgrades, the updates for its official app on Android and iOS bring a new "Play on Roku" feature. While it's not quite as feature-filled as AirPlay or DLNA streaming, it will allow owners to present images (JPG or PNG) and DRM-free music files (MP3 or M4A) right through their home theater with the press of a button. The update also includes international support, the ability to name different Roku boxes, a one touch quick rewind button and a few other tweaks. Currently there's no support for video or anything else more complicated, but we're told this is a first step as it plans to build up the second screen experience going forward. Hit your respective app stores to try out the new feature yourself, or check out the press release and demo video after the break.
Stolen Camera Finder promises to find your camera with EXIF data, probably won't
Stolen Camera Finder is a site that promises to find missing cameras, as long as they've been stolen by cooperative criminals. All you have to do is drag and drop a JPG photo taken with your lost camera, and Stolen Camera Finder will hunt for any matches on the web, using the image's EXIF data. To find matches, the site consults a database of photos posted on Flickr and elsewhere, though, without only one million images to its name, this database is still very much a work-in-progress (the tests we conducted came up dry). It's a nifty idea, but one that would probably pay dividends only under certain circumstances. For instance, the thief would have to take pictures with the camera (rather than selling it) and post the images online without wiping the EXIF data. In other words, he'd have to be someone willing to steal a camera purely for the sake of sharing undoctored self-shots on Flickr. We're not sure those people exist.
WebP is Google's new, leaner image format
Google's unleashed a new image format -- WebP -- and the images? Well, they're about 40 percent smaller than JPEGs. Good news for space savers, to be sure, but if we know anything about 'the world' it's that the best format doesn't always win, and sometimes, just getting there first is enough. WebP has just been released as a developer preview. Like JPEG, WebP's lossy compression gives you the option to choose between file size and quality. The drawback? WebP files take much longer to encode -- apparently about eight times as long. Hit up the source to check out more examples like the one you see above.
Enter to win five Creative WoW headsets for your 5-man group
So we've been doing these Creative contests to give away their shiny new World of Warcraft-branded wireless gaming headsets for a few months now. But if you haven't won one yet, worry not: today, we're giving away five headsets to one lucky instance-running group out there, so you can all talk to each other while you're wiping in Heroic Old Kingdom.To enter, you've got to send us a .JPG-formatted picture (no bigger than 800px please) of your favorite five-man group -- you and four friends -- to contests@wow.com by 5pm October 29, 2009 (that's one week from today!). Make sure you put "Creative 5-man contest" in the email subject so we can recognize what it's for, and while you can take it wherever and however you want to in-game (or even in real-life!), just make sure there are five people in there. Because one lucky random entry will win five Creative World of Warcraft wireless gaming headsets, one for each member of the group, at a value of $150 each, or $750 total. That's a lot of headsets! You must also be 18 or older, and live in the United States or Canada excluding Quebec -- full official rules can be found right here.Please note: in addition to emailing us the .jpg picture, you will also need to copy and paste the form below (filled out) into your email -- it was put together by our legal department and simply says that you understand and will adhere to the rules of the contest. You need to include the names and e-mail addresses of all five players in your group so that we can contact you all about prizes if you win.Good luck to everyone who enters -- we can't wait to see what your five-man groups look like! And stay tuned, because we've got an even more epic contest planned out soon.
Microsoft's HD Photo picked to succeed JPEG
The venerable JPEG image-compression standard is about to get a little bigger -- the international committee that regulates the standard just approved the creation of a format called JPEG XR based on Microsoft's HD Photo spec. The Joint Photographic Experts Committee started looking at standardizing HD Photo last month (formerly known as Windows Media Photo) because it features higher compression efficiency, better image fidelity, and more flexible in-camera editing options, and major camera makers and software vendors like Hasselblad and Adobe supported the format's metamorphosis into JPEG XR. It's not all cake and gumballs just yet, though -- although the committee approval process is over, it'll still take another year of work to clean up the spec and bring it in line with JPEG's standardization requirements. Now if only Microsoft would open up the rest of Windows Media, we'd be grinning from ear to ear.[Via Electronista]
Get your Microsoft HD Photo plug-in for Photoshop
With the speed of evolution in computing, standards and the web, have you ever wondered why we've been stuck with JPG as an image format for so long? Microsoft sure did, and after about 5 years of mulling the question, the company has produced what sounds like a very promising replacement: HD Photo. Offering greater support for new digital imaging trends like HDR (High Dynamic Range), HD Photo boasts the same or better image quality than JPG in half the file size. While Microsoft has patents on some of the technology in HD Photo, they are surprisingly allowing anyone to license it for free for use in apps and devices like photo editing software and digital cameras. To learn more than you might ever want to know about HD Photo, check out its Wikipedia entry or episode #51 of TWiM (This Week in Media), one of my favorite podcasts in which the crew sits down with Bill Crow, Microsoft's Program Manager for HD Photo. Be careful with that one though - TWiM's cast is composed of some incredibly knowledgeable, hard-core media geeks, and they eventually get their geek on with Crow as they delve into the discussion. Long story short: excitement is steadily building for HD Photo, as it is shaping up to be quite the revolutionary image format that could (hopefully) knock JPG off its pedestal some day. Fortunately, the HD Photo team have taken another step in spreading the format by releasing a Photoshop CS2/CS3 plug-in for PowerPC and Intel Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. The plug-in can be downloaded from Microsoft, and it for some odd reason expires on December 31, 2007. If you know your stuff when it comes to image formats and you give this plug-in a spin, let us know what you think in the comments. [via Macworld]
Screenshot quality tip for 2.1
As you've probably noticed, I like to do many of my own screen shots to accompany stories. Up until now, WoW has saved all screen shots taken in the program in a .tga format that has rich deep color and good definition. The only problem with that was that the .tga format was problematic for those who didn't have an image editing program to open their screen shots up with. (I have Photoshop, so not as much an issue here.) With 2.1 came a long-awaited change for those who weren't able to share their screen shots before (Or weren't interested in snagging a graphic program to do so, anyway). As of now, your screen shots will automatically save into .jpg format. Why is this a change I'd want to change back, you say? While I like .jpg for compression, I will be the first to admit it's not the format I normally think of as being the best for graphic quality as someone who works with images a lot. That said, for all of you graphic fiends out there like me -- makers of icons, wallpapers, and various other graphic goodies -- here is an important imaging tip for you from your friends at the EU WoW Forums:
kip - iPhoto for your documents (digital or otherwise)
kip is one of the few applications to take a real stab at helping you organize all your documents, both digital and 'real world'. It combines the look and feel of iPhoto with the real world aggregate paradigm of Delicious Library, then tosses in some really slick tagging and .Mac syncing features for that finishing shine. On the left is a dynamically scaling tag cloud that keeps track of all the tags you've used on all documents. Mouse over it and smaller tags will scale up in size to help you read them better. Mouse over a document (as you see in the screenshot) and a live preview of that section of the document is displayed next to your mouse. Documents can be viewed from within kip or opened externally via Preview.The 'real world' aspect enters the scene when kip's scan function is used, as this app wants to help you organize all your documents, including those receipts and old tax returns that are just decomposing in a box somewhere.One of the drawbacks I've found after poking around with kip is that it seems very focused in the kinds of files it will accept. It takes picture files and PDFs, but not text files or (not surprisingly) Word docs. Overall though, this is a clever app with a nice implementation. It offers a lot of handy methods for storing all sorts of metadata, including author and URL, and seems to be one of the first i-app-like applications to do tagging well (hint hint, Apple!).This initial version of kip is free, but as its product site plainly states: the next version will require the purchase of a license, with the price TBD. Grab a copy while it's hot, and free![via digg]
iWeb Optimizer - easily shrink oversized images
iWeb Optimizer is a simple Automator app that allows you to easily compress PNG images inside your iWeb site into JPG files, but it maintains the same file name so it doesn't break any of your links or images. Simply drag and drop the site folder that iWeb creates (be it in your iDisk or an exported directory you specified) onto iWeb Optimizer and let it work its magic. The handy little utility will also parse all your subdirectories, making sure no PNG is safe from a little JPG compression.iWeb Optimizer is free and available from Automator World.
