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Posts Tagged ‘Adobe Photoshop’

Adobe Offers Android Developers Free Photoshop.com Mobile Editor, “Unlike iPhone”

Adobe this morning announced that third-party developers now have access to the Photoshop.com Mobile for Android 1.1 editor, allowing them to make it a part of their applications.

The news comes four months after the company released Photoshop.com Mobile for Android, enabling users to easily edit and share their photos. That app got an upgrade, too.

Amusingly, Adobe also takes a bit of a swing at Apple for not being able to provide such tools to iPhone app developers.

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Add some color to somebody’s holiday with a coloring book

Filed under: Software, Holidays

What better way to add some color to someone’s holiday than with a coloring book? With Kalle Svenson’s Colorize your photos, converting your existing photos into ones with a coloring book effect is a simple drag and drop away. After dragging in your photos, you can make granular adjustments to the levels (fewer or more) of detail, as well as black and gray levels. In the above photo, my man Tobias Funke, originally covered up in Blue Man Group blue, has been colorized so that I can color him into whatever hue of blue my heart desires.

One thing missing in the app that I’d like added is the ability to compile a coloring book. But this isn’t that big an issue, as one can compile PDFs using Preview.app. Also, if you already own Adobe Photoshop, you may find that some of its built-in filters achieve a similar effect.

These things aside, Colorize your photos is a straightforward and easy-to-use app suitable for both kids and the kids within us. Colorize your photos is available for purchase for USD $24.95, and as a free download trial.

TUAW has 2 free licenses of Colorize your photos to give away to TUAW readers. To enter, leave a comment about the pictures you’d most want to turn into a coloring book.

The rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter, leave a comment below.
• The comment must be left by Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Two winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One free license of Colorize your photos (retail value USD $24.95).
• Click here for Official Rules

TUAWAdd some color to somebody’s holiday with a coloring book originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s Online Store Gets A Revamp, Now Sells Windows 7 PCs Too

Coinciding with the worldwide debut of Windows 7 and the launch of physical retail stores throughout the world, Microsoft has revamped its online store as well.

The news comes from Trevin Chow, Senior Lead Program Manager for Microsoft Store.

Big surprise: the revamped online storefront features some new categories (including ‘Computers’!), so you can now go there to buy Windows 7 PCs as well as accessories and even third-party software like Adobe Photoshop and Nero 9.

So far, the new look and fresh categories are only reserved for the U.S. online store, though I reckon other countries will follow suit soon.

Another surprise: the Microsoft Store team has a Posterous blog.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

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Censorship or Copyright Infringement? Flickr Takes Down "Obama as Joker" Photo

Los Angeles residents recently began seeing a new sort of Obama poster plastered across their city. Instead of promoting “hope,” these posters feature U.S. President Barack Obama wearing the Joker’s clown makeup from the Batman movie “The Dark Knight.” Even those outside of L.A. have likely seen this image somewhere as it soon took on a viral nature, appearing both online and in other cities across the country. The politically charged (and rather disturbing) photo serves as a counterpoint to the prolific and iconic “hope” posters that became popular during Obama’s campaign. Regardless of which side you favor, one thing can be said about this photo: it definitely grabs your attention.

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But now, according to the photo’s creator, Firas Alkhateeb, a 20-year-old college student from Chicago, the image has been removed from photo-sharing website Flickr due to “copyright infringement concerns.” Really? Is that why? Or is Flickr engaging in political censorship?

About the Photo

The posters that popped up across the country were based on Alkhateeb’s photo, but had the TIME magazine logo and branding removed and had added the word “socialism” at the bottom. Alkhateeb wasn’t responsible for these changes – a yet-to-be-identified person is behind the posters’ creation.

In fact, you may be surprised to discover that the Obama/Joker image wasn’t even meant to be political commentary, according to Alkhateeb. That’s quite ironic given that it has now embroiled him in this intense political debate. Instead, says the college student, he was just messing around after discovering an online tutorial that explained how to “Jokerize” photographs using Adobe Photoshop. It seems that Alkhateeb doesn’t particularly care about politics himself, having chosen to abstain from voting in November since he felt his state (Illinois) was already sewn up and decided before the polls opened. His views on Obama aren’t particularly one-sided either. Alkhateeb favors the democratic viewpoint on foreign relations but tends to side with Republicans on domestic issues.

In a recent L.A. Times profile on Alkhateeb, it’s reported that the photo generated over 20,000 pageviews during the time it was hosted on the photo-sharing website Flickr.com. However, as of last Friday, Flickr removed the photo from their site. Why? Alkhateeb says he received an email from the company stating it had to be taken down due to “copyright infringement concerns.” (Apparently, TIME magazine wasn’t too happy seeing their brand associated with this sort of political commentary.)

What About Free Speech?

But isn’t this sort of political commentary, political parody in fact, protected as a form of free speech? Noted photographer and blogger Thomas Hawk thinks it is, citing a precedent for fair use (Folsom v Marsh) which states “if you produce something that is transformative, and not derivative, then it’s fair use.” Although Hawk isn’t a lawyer, he may be right on this one. Says Corynne McSherry, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit that defends digital rights, Alkhateeb has a strong fair use defense if he was ever sued. “You really want to think twice about going after a political commenter,” she noted.

This wouldn’t be the first time Flickr got involved with political censorship. Hawk also blogged about how the site deleted the account of a user named Shepherd Johnson after he made critical comments about Obama in the Official White House Photostream back in June.

So is this yet another case of Flickr engaging in censorship? Or are they legitimately protecting themselves from these “copyright infringement” claims? (Flickr won’t comment on this since a company policy prohibits them from discussing issues surrounding one particular user.)

What do you think about this issue? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Discuss

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