Author: Rick Curran

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MacHeist – Want an invite?

If you’re a Mac user, like free or cheap software and don’t mind a little challenge to get it then you might like to check out the invite-only MacHeist.

Picture of Macheist website

MacHeist has been described:

MacHeist is a 5 week long event that will be invitation-only at first and will work towards an über bundle at the end with the last week starting on December 11th.
~PaulStamatiou.com

Anyway, if that’s got you interested then I have some invites for it, I’ve got 7 at the moment so if you want one get in touch! So far the 1st week’s challenge has already been done and I’ve got 3 little applications for free already.

~Rick

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Something’s cooking in Adobe labs…

There’s some really interesting stuff coming out of Adobe recently, they have a section on their website called Adobe Labs which has a lot of new software being developed but is available for testing.

Soundbooth

There’s a new application called ‘Soundbooth’ that has just appeared on their Labs website. The description for Soundbooth says:

Soundbooth is a brand new application built in the spirit of Sound Edit 16 and Cool Edit that provides the tools video editors, designers, and others who do not specialize in audio need to accomplish their everyday work such as:

  • Editing audio quickly.
  • Cleaning up noisy audio.
  • Visually identifying and removing unwanted sounds.
  • Recording and polishing voiceovers.
  • Adding effects and filters.
  • Easily creating customized music?without musical expertise.

My initial thought is that it sounds like something to compete with Apple’s Soundtrack Pro or GarageBand software. I’m going to check it out and see, it’s available for both Windows and Mac, although only Intel Macs will ever be supported interestingly.

» http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/soundbooth/

Lightroom

If you’re into digital photography then you’ll definitely want to check out Lightroom. It’s a piece of software that provides for the whole workflow of digital photographers, not just for doing retouching but actually the whole importing, comparing, selection process as well as colour correction and output. This software is comparable to Apple’s Aperture software which has been out for some time which is also and excellent piece of software. Go and check out Lightroom now if you haven’t already.

» http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/

Digital Editions

This is a new eBook reader / management application providing a way to read eBooks, not just in PDF format but also HTML too. The description for Digital Editions introduces itself:

Adobe Digital Editions is a completely new way to read and manage eBooks and other digital publications. Digital Editions is built from the ground up as a lightweight, rich Internet application (RIA). Digital Editions works online and offline, and supports both PDF and XHTML-based content.

Digital Editions is currently only available as a Windows download, but if that doesn’t put you off then I’m sure it’s worth checking out.

» http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/digitaleditions/

Disclaimer – Beta Software!

Remember, all these packages are beta software, that means they are available for testing purposes. I would always recommend making sure you have all your important data backed up before trying them out!

Adobe appends each one with the following notice:

Note: This is a public beta, not a final release. Neither the quality nor the features are complete yet. We want to show you our direction and get your feedback so that we can incorporate it into future releases.

Go check them out.

~Rick

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New look Suburbia!

Just a quick post to announce that I’ve finally had a chance to do a bit of work on Suburbia’s design. I’ve actually gone for a bit of colour this time! I’ve also used it as an opportunity to include some photographs in the form of a randomly loading image whenever you view a page. The photos are a mixture of some taken by myself, Annie and also other people (well, at least some by Colin anyway!).

One word of warning, as of the time of publishing I haven’t tested this on any browsers apart from Safari, Firefox and Camino on Mac OSX, so if it looks funky on Internet Explorer 6 on PC then you’ll have to wait until I get a chance to test it and fix any problems.

I’ve also been doing a lot of work behind the scenes too with the actual code of the site, basically improving it and optimising how it works. Also you may notice a change in the format of the links for blog entries on the site, I’ve basically made it a bit friendlier than the old “?entry=20061020211436” format that the site used to use. Fortunately the old format still works so any links to pages will still work just as before.

So, any problems, comments etc then feel free to post them in the comments!

~Rick

EDIT: The site has been redesigned again since this post!

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Checking out the surf…

Seeing as me and Colin are trying to surf more, I thought I’d put an easy link for us to see the Surf report. So I’ve added a page called ‘Surf Reports’ to the blog so that we can see what the surf is like in one easy place. Check out the ‘Surf Reports’ link in the left hand menu.

The surf reports are from a site called MagicSeaweed.com, so if you’re interested in surfing and live on this planet then check it out!

~Rick

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Congratulations Alyn and AJ!

Alyn announced in his own amusing way about his and AJ’s impending ‘download’ of a baby in his latest blog post, the mark of a true Mac geek to announce a baby in the same paragraph as mentioning the iTunes 7.0.1 update!!!

So as a fellow Mac geek to another here’s a little graphic congratulations for Alyn and AJ:

iBaby '07 - the must-have upgrade...

The one bonus thing with iBaby is that you get the ‘Family Pack’ by default!!! ;)

Congratulations to Alyn and AJ!!!

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The Science of Sleep / Lost again

I just noticed that there’s a new film coming out by Michel Gondry – the guy who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (a favourite movie in our household!), it’s called ‘The Science of Sleep‘.

Poster image for The Science of Sleep movieThe Synopsis:

“The Science of Sleep,” a playful romantic fantasy set inside the topsy-turvy brain of Stephane Miroux (Gael Garcia Bernal) an eccentric young man whose dreams constantly invade his waking life.

While slumbering, he is the charismatic host of “Stephane TV,” expounding on “The Science of Sleep” in front of cardboard cameras. In “real life,” he has a boring job at a Parisian calendar publisher and pines for Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), the girl in the apartment across the hall. While Stephanie is initially charmed by Stephane, she is confused by his childishness and shaky connection to reality. Stephanes co-worker, Guy (Alain Chabat) a vulgar but practical man, offers advice on the opposite sex, but Stephane is too far in the clouds to listen. Unable to find the secret to Stephanies heart while awake, Stephane searches for the answer in his dreams.

Written and directed by Michel Gondry, the boundlessly inventive creator of award-winning films (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”), music videos and commercials. “The Science of Sleep” is a whimsical trip into a cut-and-paste wonderland fashioned from cardboard tubes, cellophane, and imagination.

Other news:

Thanks to the wonders of having Canadian relatives Annie and I just got Lost Series 2 in the mail, and yes, we have watched, no, we won’t tell you what happened! ;)

~Rick

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Leuchars Airshow 2006

On Saturday we had a day out at the Leuchars Airshow, it’s something I’ve kind of always wanted to go to as it sounded cool.

So with camera in hand (along with my 300mm lense!) I went there with Annie and Natalie along with Colin and Jackie. Oh, and about 44,995 other people who were there too.

It was a pretty awesome day and I shot about 188 pictures which I have simply uploaded as a basic slideshow without any real editing done to them, so they’re available to view warts and all as it were.

Full photos available here: Leuchars Airshow 06 Photo Gallery…

But here’s a few sample thumbnail images to give a little flavour of what could be seen there.

zoom!Zoooom!
Hawk trainerWho needs to buy a programme? ;)
Lots of planesThe Red Arrow's parked up
A B52 monsterRed Arrows cross over
Red Arrows in formationThe Typhoon Eurofighter landing

Leuchars Airshow 06 Photo Gallery…

~Rick