image
Latest
Now you can bookmark Google image searches for later reference
Normally, image searches on Google are ephemeral things and gone the moment you close the browser tab. However, a new feature on the search giant's mobile version makes saving the images you find as easy as bookmarking a webpage. In fact, it's the identical process: simply search for whatever phrase you want, pick the images you like and tap the star icon to save them. You can also organize these saved images into folders, thereby eliminating the need to run the search again later. The new feature is already available to mobile users in the US running both Android and iOS.
Windows 10 upgrade push changes things for IT pros and bootleggers
Microsoft mistakenly pushed Windows 10 upgrades to existing Windows 7/8 users through the Update process earlier this year, but next year it will do it on purpose. That's just one of several changes coming to the update process, as it targets IT professionals doing mass upgrades, and even people running less-than-legit copies of Windows. The office IT guys out there will appreciate a future update to the Media Creation Tool so it can create a single image capable of upgrading older Windows PCs whether they're 32-bit, 64-bit, Home or Pro, and even wipe a system to do clean installs. Also coming soon to users in the US (and later in other countries), will be an easy one-click activation process to "get Genuine" via the Windows Store, even with a code purchased elsewhere. Of course, even if you don't fall into those categories and just want to keep your old version of Windows, you'll need to be more careful starting in 2016.
The Big Picture: NASA unveils best Pluto image yet (updated)
Anxious to see the closest shot of Pluto ever? NASA is set to release high res photos soon, but in the meantime, the space agency has posted a "love note back to Earth" with a low-res Instagram image. That marks the first time the agency has given a social network first dibs on a major image, according to Wired. The image itself was snapped by the New Horizon probe 16 hours before its closest approach, some 476,000 miles away. NASA said it will release higher resolution versions of the image later tonight and discuss them in a briefing at 8AM briefing (EDT) on NASA Television. We'll bring you all the details of that a bit later on, but in the meantime, enjoy the best photo ever taken of our solar system's bastard stepchild planet.
The Nexus Telegraph Extra: WildStar's deafening silence
How many people are currently playing WildStar? I don't know. You don't know, either, beyond vague guesses based on things like Raptr numbers, which say more about what Raptr users like to play than about actual game popularity. But it seems like the sort of answer that could be used to at least deflect a great deal of criticism, doesn't it? If Carbine Studios is sitting on two million players at a reasonable level of activity, that wouldn't shut down all discussion of the game's myriad problems, but it sure as heck would demand some rethinking. That's precisely what I asked when I, at Carbine's behest, sent the team questions about the health of the game over a week ago. The bad news is that Carbine still hasn't answered my questions, nine days later. But the good news is that in the interim, Carbine was willing to tell another site that WildStar does not have a "player interest" problem, which seems like the sort of waffley question you'd answer if you really didn't want to be specific.
Guild Wars 2 starts Season 2 of the Living World on July 1st
It's happening, all right. Season 2 is coming to Guild Wars 2 starting July 1st, meaning that we've got a month of what will no doubt be teasers, hints, and taunts. That image above is a teaser. If you stare deeply enough, you may be able to uncover its mysteries. For within its depths lie... well... who knows? No, seriously, we don't know either. It could be anything. Speculation has already begun, but that first image is all we have to go on for certain right now, and that means... what? Take a gander at a larger version of the image just past the break and start your speculation engines. Or just wait a month if that's your speed.
For sale: One Power Mac pyramid, lightly used
Yeah they're all "old" now, but I'll always have a soft spot for these big, weird aluminum cubes. [Photo credit: JPL]
Nokia bringing RAW photography to the Lumia 1520 and 1020
This latest nugget of news out of Nokia's big event in Abu Dhabi should be of particular interest to mobile photographers. According to @tnkgrl, aka our buddy Myriam Joire, the phone manufacturer will be bringing RAW image support to its flagship Lumia handsets, the 1520 and 1020. This will allow them to take 20MP or 41MP photos (respectively) with zero compression -- allowing far greater control over exposure, color and other settings in your photo editor of choice. The file sizes will no doubt be unwieldy compared to regular JPEGs, especially for 1020 owners who can't expand their storage (the new 1520 fortunately has a microSD slot), but we reckon the extra control ought to be worth it. Update: Now confirmed by Nokia camera developer, Juha Alakarhu.
Scratch Off lets you create hidden, view-once photos that you can share with friends
Scratch Off from Merge Mobile is an interesting app that mixes photography with private messaging in an entertaining way. The app turns your photos into a game by letting you hide certain parts of the image before you send it off to a friend. You can apply an erasable layer that can be scratched off, or you can hide the photo indefinitely using a permanent layer. This layer can be a coat of solid paint or a collection of different stickers that you place on the photo. You can also add text and freehand drawings. When you first launch the app, you have the option of taking a new photo or opening one from your photo library. The first layer you apply is the permanent one and you can choose to draw on part of the photo, apply a sticker or add some text. This layer sits above your photo and below the erasable layer. It can not be removed by your recipient. Don't worry if you make a mistake as you can select each individual element and tweak it. This editing feature is helpful, especially when you notice a typo or a misaligned sticker. The next step is to apply the erasable layer. You can add erasable paint, stickers or text. This is the top layer on the photo and can be scratched off by the recipient. You will also notice a timer icon in the bottom-right corner of the menu bar. Tapping this will let you determine how long the photo will be visible by your friend. The default is 30 seconds, but you can select between five and 60 seconds. You can also select forever, which lets the user view the photo multiple times. Once you have your photo mocked up to your satisfaction, you can send it to a friend or family member via email, messaging, Facebook or Twitter. It takes a few seconds for the service to compile the photo that you want to share. Here is where it gets tricky, though. The service provides you with a link for the recipient to retrieve your photo and they will need to have the Scratch Off app installed on their iOS device if they want to access it. If they don't have the app and open the link on an iOS device, they will be prompted to install the app. If they open the photo link on their desktop, they will be brought to the Scratch Off website. It's not a big deal if you and your friends are sharing Scratch Off photo back and forth, but it could be problematic if you decide to be cute and send a photo to you non-tech-savvy mom. Scratch Off is available for free from the iOS App Store.
Google Maps and NASA invite you to peer into the Black Marble
If you've had your fill of that Black Marble animation from last week, how's about a more interactive jaunt around the globe? Google has now joined hands with NASA and NOAA to use stunning imagery of an illuminated, cloud-free Earth captured by the Suomi NPP satellite and put a map of the sleeping world right under your fingertips. The data was collected over 312 passes by the satellite using a new ultra high-sensitivity sensor dubbed the "day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite", and then mapped over existing "Blue Marble" pictures. If you think a nocturnal orbit around our home planet beats having a gander at faraway nebulas, but you can't quite afford a boarding pass, then a jump to the source link is most definitely in order.
Send full-res iPhone photos and spare your bandwidth via Beamr
The iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and the fourth-gen iPad all carry one key component: a really awesome camera. The 4S has proven to be a workhorse capable of producing some startlingly good images, and the combination of iOS 6's Panorama feature with the improved optics of the iPhone 5 is letting us fall in love with iPhone photography all over again. There's a drawback, though, when it comes to sending those lovely megapixels to friends via email, Facebook or Twitter: they're getting compressed, a lot. Resolution and quality take a hit, and while you can use local sync or Photo Stream to get the full-resolution images, that adds time and complexity. Now a new free app called Beamr is providing a way to get those full-res images off your phone in style -- and without blowing out your network connection. Using Beamr is as simple as launching the app and selecting multiple photos from your library. These go into a "glossy magazine" layout, with an option for you to customize your cover image, headline and credit. Select a sharing mode (email, Facebook or Twitter) and that's all there is to it. The result is a microsite of your images, in the same magazine format, hosted on the Beamr website. Your friends will see the full 8-megapixel resolution of your iPhone photos, in top quality; the images, however, will use only a fraction of the storage space and bandwidth of conventional JPEGs without sacrificing visual quality. Especially on pre-LTE cell networks, the difference in upload time is quite noticeable -- a four-image Beamr magazine makes it off the phone in about the time it would take to send one or two images conventionally. Beamr's Israeli developer, ICVT, first gained notice for its JPEGmini product. Implemented as a web service, a standalone server module and as a Mac app, the proprietary process analyzes a digital image to determine how much it can be compressed without sacrificing perceptible detail. Once that level of compression is fixed, the software automatically puts the photo through a custom JPEG encoder that squeezes the image to the max. The biggest advantage of this approach: the resulting files are plain ol' JPEG format, rather than an esoteric filetype requiring a special browser plugin or preview app. That means you can use them anywhere a normal JPEG would fit -- on your website, for example -- and not worry about compatibility issues. The file size savings can be substantial, ranging from 40 percent up to 80 percent depending on the size and composition of the original. You can try out the JPEGmini tools using the free Lite version of the Mac app, or via the web form. As for the Beamr app, it's fun and dead simple; there are, however, a few minor drawbacks. You can't delete a Beamr magazine right now, so best to be 100 percent sure that you don't include any questionable images. Further layout and customization options may be in the works for in-app purchasing, but right now there's only the one layout choice. You might wish for the ability to simply send your Beamr-compressed image to your regular photo sharing service without the magazine wrapper. In any event, the app is a promising start and a nice showcase for the JPEGmini compression suite. Give it a look.
Friday Favorite: Haiku Deck for iPad concocts instant presentations
If long-suffering Dunkin' Donuts franchise owner Fred the Baker had decided to get an office job, chances are his early morning grumble would have been "Time to make the PowerPoint." Doing decks is part of every organization, from the military to not-for-profits to businesses of all sizes; even if you make the chore easier with Keynote, it's still a chore. Creating something that doesn't look like every other presentation is possible, but if you aren't gifted with design acumen it might not turn out like you hope. PowerPoint's automatic templating helps somewhat, but how about using your iPad to spice up a slide or two? Giant Thinkwell's free iPad app Haiku Deck may prove to be the spice rack for your flavorless decks. The idea is straightforward: use one of Haiku Deck's provided two-line templates for your slides and the app will search Creative Commons-licensed photos to provide a fitting visual complement to your verbiage. You can swap in your own local photos from the iPad or ones from social services; to share, upload your deck to the Haiku Deck site or export it to a PowerPoint file. The app is beautifully designed and easy to use; some of the free supplied templates are lovely, and there's a $14.99 optional pack of additional looks (or $1.99 per template, bought solo) if you're not thrilled with the built-in options. Yes, you can only use two lines of text per slide, so it's not ideal for bullet-heavy fiscal briefings. Yes, the results have a tendency to wander into Demotivators territory. But you can certainly use Haiku Deck to inspire a theme for a longer presentation built in a desktop app, or pull one or two key concept slides into a presentation that's begging for some creative zing. [hat tip AllThingsD]
Purported HTC Accord Windows Phone schema leaked on Twitter
While certain other manufacturers claim a lot of the Windows Phone column inches, there are other players in the game. An image that recently popped up on Twitter reminds us that HTC is also a supporter of Microsoft's mobile OS. The picture above claims to be a possible schema for a forthcoming handset, which the poster believes to be the HTC Accord. The account belongs to a prolific XDA-Developer user with a history of Windows Phone ROMS, so it's entirely possible this was found somewhere along the way. Likewise, though, we'll have to take this with the requisite amount of salt. There's not much in the way of specification to be gleaned here, either, but at the least we can get a sense of what the design style might be like going forward. We just need to wait now for the official product launch event to join the ever-growing list.
Mountain Lion's AirPlay Mirroring + Reflector = infinite regress fun
In case you were wondering what would happen if you took Mountain Lion's new AirPlay Mirroring capability and mixed it with the third-party AirPlay utility Reflector... well, it's pretty much exactly what you would expect. Your screen turns into a live example of the barbershop effect, and the only way to get out of the infinite zoom is to quit the Reflector app. You can see the high-res version of the image on our Flickr page. Might make for an interesting desktop picture. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Google posts Android 4.1 Jelly Bean images for Nexus devices, modders rejoice
If you're the sort to get a little too adventurous with CyanogenMod 10 or other custom ROMs, Google just gave you a crutch. Android 4.1.1 factory images are now available for every Nexus device that can currently get a taste of Jelly Bean: the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and the expected Nexus 7. While it's not a complete safety net, the gesture will let dedicated modders flash their phones and tablets knowing that they can almost always jump back to the pure OS if someone's definition of "alpha build" is a little too rough. CDMA users are unfortunately left out of the loop; let's just hope they're brought up to speed before too long. [Thanks, Vince]
Acorn 3.3 adds Retina Canvas, Smart Export, more
Version 3.3 of the popular Mac image editor Acorn is out, and developer Gus Mueller writes up the biggest changes on his blog. The Retina Canvas is likely the coolest update: If you're using Acorn, you can now see any art you create at a 1:1 ratio on a Retina Display. So if you have a MacBook Pro with Retina Display and Acorn, you can now see your own work perfectly clearly. All of the other elements have been updated for the new display as well. The update also includes the option to trim a certain selection out of a picture, redo a selection if you lose it for any reason, and the Smart Export feature as well (which will automatically save layers in a piece separately for later use in code). Acorn 3.3 is a sandboxed, App Store-only version (which makes sense, given that Apple is cracking the whip on that lately). But Mueller also says that if you'd rather run the version downloadable straight from the website, it'll know whether you've run the App Store version before, so you still have your choice. Sounds like a nice solid update to a great app.
Intel posts x86-friendly Android 4.0 image, lets you feel the need for speed
Android developers are all too familiar with not-so-hot emulator performance, so it's a relief that there's now an system image in a native x86 for testing. While you'll still likely want to test on ARM, the x86 image will both help ferret out bugs specific to Intel's architecture as well as provide a much faster experience debugging apps now that the ARM-to-Intel translation isn't needed on top of running a whole second operating system. It's not perfectly up to date, running on Android 4.0.3, but it's close enough that the environment will mimic much of what users see -- and a big help if you're jumping into writing specifically for Intel devices. If speed is of the essence, or you're not keen on importing a Lava Xolo X900, you just need to update the SDK Manager to start testing with an Intel-flavored green robot.
Nokia nabs 808 PureView space shot of this big, blue 41-megapixel marble
We've seen plenty of shots of the Nokia 808 PureView in action, but they've all been hampered by boring old terrestrial bounds. Thankfully, a team attached the handset to a giant balloon for a little more perspective. The photo is at the end of the six and half minute video after the break, but thankfully there are a lot of lovely shots of Iceland accompanying atmospheric music to keep you busy in the meantime. [Thanks, Chad]
GIMP 2.8 gets a major facelift
Popular Mac, Linux and Windows image editing app GIMP has been updated to version 2.8. This latest version overhauls the UI to offer a new single window mode that lets users edit images, choose tools and set up docks all within one window. Earlier versions of GIMP had multiple windows for tool sets and images, which was confusing for some users accustomed to a single window work environment. If you like the multiple window paradigm, don't worry as GIMP lets you choose between multiple or single window mode. Besides a new UI, GIMP 2.8 lets you setup multiple column dock windows, edit text on the canvas and group layers. It also streamlined the saving and exporting of images. You can read the full list of changes, which includes many smaller tweaks, in the release notes for version 2.8. The GIMP 2.8 source code is available for free from GIMP's website and requires you to compile the code before you can run the app on your machine. Binaries packaged for installing on the Mac will be available soon. While you wait, you can check out an excellent overview of GIMP 2.8 from Ars Technica.
Comics iPad app gets Retina-friendly update, 'POW!' bubbles now much POWier
ComiXology is usually keeping up with the latest-and-greatest, and it's doing so yet again by rapidly updating its Comics app to meet the new iPad's Retina-sized needs. In addition to the CMX-HD comic books coming to the 2048 x 1536 screen, the updated application also includes novel social sharing features via Twitter, Zuck's network and email. Among other bits worth noting are a handful of nondescript bug fixes as well as stability improvements. Best of all, the refresh won't cost you a dime and it's available now in the App Store, linked just below for your convenience.
Apple unveils iPhoto for the iPad
Besides the updates to iWork, iMovie and GarageBand, Apple also announced iPhoto for the iPad! iPhoto will let you browse and edit photos on the iPad, especially those nice ones you can take with the new 5-megapixel camera. iPhoto for the iPad will include tools like crop and auto-enhance. There's alos a variety of effects and multi-touch editing. For all your DSLR owners, it supports up to a 19-megapixel photo. As an added bonus, you can even beam photos directly between devices. It'll be available today from the iOS App Store for US$4.99. It's universal so you can install it on your iPad and your iPhone. It'll also run on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
