Archive for storage

OSXcellence – JPEGmini Lite

I imagine many of you reading this review take quite a lot of pictures. Some of you will upload your pictures to Flickr or Facebook, but many of you will have your own website. And some of you with some technical nous may prefer to self-host and will be aware of the limitations on storage space web hosts often impose. This means that the number of high quality images you can upload to your website can be severely limited. JPEGmini is a service which is likely to relieve these pains, and now, it comes in a Mac flavour. Or should I say two Mac flavours, Lite and Full; today, I’m looking at the Lite version.

The premise of JPEGmini is pretty simple – to reduce the file size of jpegs. The service has been going a while now, online, and doesn’t seem that revolutionary on paper. Only when you look at the results, however, will you see what the fuss is about. In many cases, JPEGmini can reduce the file size of an image by 4 times, yet there are no visible signs of image degradation. A few examples can be seen on JPEGmini’s home page. Whilst JPEGmini’s website does a fine job, it does require a process of upload, wait for processing, then download – the app version bypasses this hassle, and, as a result, is far more convenient. Today, I’m looking at the Lite version. The difference between Lite and Full is that Lite restricts the number of images you can process to 20 per day. Both versions, however, have the ability to take jpegs up to 17MP in size (a.k.a. MASSIVE). Read More→

Apple Introduces iCloud – Free Cloud Services

June 7, 2011 – PRESS SUMMARY – Apple® introduced iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on your iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your devices. When anything changes on one of your devices, all of your devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.

“Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.”

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Tying The Knot: Raiders Of The Lost CD

1981. I was 9 years old and already developing a thing for leather and whips.

Not like that obviously. I had no idea what puberty was let alone a fetish! No, it was the year that Raiders Of The Lost Ark opened and in doing so created a generation of wannabe whip-cracking, gun-toting, adventure-seeking archaeology professors!

One of the most powerful scenes for me was the final one. You know it – the one where the old man wheels the crated Ark on a trolley through a warehouse the size of Texas to be buried down a non-descript aisle amongst thousands of other similar generic crates, presumably never to be seen again.

Sound familiar? Well it’s pretty much what happens every time I need to store a CD somewhere in my apartment!

But CDs are still popular amongst brides and near the top of a typical want list from a package.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with issuing a disc of images if it’s part of the package or an added extra. I do believe in promoting albums and books as the best way to showcase the best images of the day, but neither will hold the number of decent photos you should be taking. So a CD has become standard issue whether you like it or not.

In addition to being a storage medium, CDs are also wanted for security. It’s nice to know the disc is near you if you need it, right? Unless you live in my place of course!

But times have changed and there’s an education job to be done. Read More→