Tag: beta
Adobe’s second Lightroom beta arrives
by neetika on Mar.24, 2010, under Graphic Design, Trends
As expected, Adobe Systems did indeed release a new Lightroom beta on Monday, but there are a few extra tibits beyond what we suspected.
First and most important, there’s now a Lightroom 3 beta 2 download site so you can actually try it. Second, there’s a helpful video guide to new features, forum discussion on the new beta, and release notes (PDF).
Also worth a look are a blog post by Lightroom product manager Tom Hogarty and a detailed, annotated list of changes from “Lightroom Queen” Victoria Bampton.
The Lightroom 3 beta will look familiar to current users, but there are changes under the hood. In addition, Lightroom catalogs can be synchronized with Flickr.
(Credit: Adobe Systems)
Regarding features, we knew about a few big ones: support for ingestion and management of video, support for “tethered” shooting so a computer controls the camera and automatically ingests photos as they’re taken, a revamped import dialog box, faster image loading, and more noise reduction improvements.
Now we know some more.
First off, we have a list of the initially supported cameras for tethered shooting. They’re only from Canon and Nikon, the two dominant powers of SLR photography, but Adobe “look[s] forward to adding additional Nikon and Canon camera models going forward,” Hogarty said. The cameras are as follows.
Canon: EOS-1Ds Mark II, EOS-1D Mark III, EOS-1Ds Mark III, EOS-1D Mark IV, EOS 5D, EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 40D, EOS 450D (Digital Rebel XSi/EOS Kiss X2), EOS 500D (Digital Rebel T1i/EOS Kiss X3 Digital), EOS 7D, EOS 1000D (Digital Rebel XS/EOS Kiss F). Nikon: D3, D3X, D3s, D300, D300s, D5000, D700, D90.
Also new is the resurrection of Lightroom 2’s vignetting approach as an option, details on video and video metadata handling, better image watermarking, point controls in the tone curve, and user interface changes. Stay tuned for a hands-on look at the new beta.
Lightroom, which can be used to edit, catalog, and print photos, is geared for enthusiasts and professionals. It’s particularly suited to handling raw images taken directly from a camera’s image sensor with no in-camera processing, a technology that offers higher flexibility and quality than JPEG but less convenience. Processing raw photos can bring a computer to its knees, though, especially with high-resolution images, so performance is key in raw-processing software.
Delicious Chrome Extension Early Beta Now Available
by neetika on Mar.10, 2010, under Latest Web Technologies, Trends
Bookmarking service Delicious has just rolled out a Google Chrome browser extension.
Like other Chrome extensions we love to play with, this one is lightweight, fast and useful. There’s no bulky sidebar here. Bookmarks can be created and saved with a miniscule “TAG” button and they can be searched from Chrome’s excellent omnibar. So, do you think this will prompt loyal Delicious users - many of whom had been holding out on Chrome in favor of Firefox - to switch to Google Chrome entirely?
This is what the button and simple form for bookmarking a page look like:
While this extension doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some of Delicious’ other browser add-ons, the team noted that the public demand for a Chrome extension prompted them to release a beta earlier than they would have liked.
“It doesn’t have all the API’s needed and it’s missing a good chunk of the functionality we believe it needs, but we’re getting so many requests for the Chrome extension that we’re going to make this available sooner than we originally planned…
“As soon as Chrome is able to support the functionality needed we’ll ensure the features of this extension matches that of our other browser add-ons. There are still some interactions we’re not quite happy with that we’ll address shortly, but we wanted to give you an official Google Chrome extension as soon as possible.”
What do you think? Does the new Delicious extension make you want to use Chrome more? Or if you’re a Chrome fan, does this move give you a renewed interest in Delicious? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
