photoshop mobile on iphone

photoshop mobile came out a few days ago at the iphone app store and although there was anticipation for a mobile app from adobe, this one doesn’t really satisfy. the paltry set of effects is actually quite disappointing, considering the amazing breadth of photoshop. my own personal bummer was that there were no layers - imagine something as cool as a single type layer where you can type a name (or phrase) and position it on a photo wherever you want.

the app allows you to open or take a photo via the camera. then gives you the choice of the crop/flip/rotate tool or 3 main sets of effects you can run. the choices are a little more than canned color overlays and a couple of blur effects - the blurs which I actually like a bit. I just wish that I could layer something over the blurry images. and c’mon adobe, do we really need the ’sketch’ effect? it doesn’t even look good. just for that alone i can’t really give it more than 2 out of 5 stars.

for now though, i think i’ll still use some of the other graphics apps - like doodle buddy - that i like (and my kid loves!) and then bring those images into ps mobile. but really, i’m already ready for the update. of course this is probably just adobe signaling the beginning of their cloud apps along with their online service at photoshop.com, but more on that later…

macnrg

this post actually has a dual serving purpose. the first is let you all know about the new look and microsite we developed for nyc based apple consulting firm macnrg and the second is to give them a shameless plug because they’re our friends and we like them and the work they do, anyway.

apple logo over the years

although macnrg is all things mac, they specialize in final cut pro server and video systems. because of that,  while we were thinking about their logo design - we thought we’d have a bit of fun and play off the apple brand. if you like, you can read a quick little history of the apple logo. we decided to turn the apple into a tv monitor. the leaf fells like an aerial antenna in our design (how analog lol). then we gave it a late 20th century glow effect to match the ‘nrg’ name. we think it’s a good blend of old and new.

macnrg has installed and set up our file server and is now in the process of running the voip line for our other friends, cult360. rob (the director at mcnrg) would like us to use the logo in an animation for the site, but we’ll see… it all depends on how good he sets up our fcp server ;P

http://stripgenerator.com/

i think this may be my favorite new time suck. stripgenerator.com lets users create small 3 frame comic strips with little or no artistic talent. it’s a pretty cool flash app that let’s you add, position & scale a library full of little figures, items, beings, text boxes, etc… plus, it has a nifty little drag and drop interface that makes it very fun to play with. you can even add colors and upload your own graphics (still gotta figure that one out).

for us who have kids out there, you’ve most probably played the games on noggin.com and nickjr.com. of course they’re so saccharine and branded for our little ones that they’re no fun for adults, but stripgenerator lets adults play to their hearts delight - and let me tell you there are some pretty cool ones out there. you can even create a strip blog with the provided tools and invite friends to follow your characters.

if you thought that making little comics was kid’s play, you’ll be surprised at how difficult it actually is to put together a short story in 3 frames. it just proves once again the obsession with comic strips and why we love the sunday funnies. where’s my hagar?