Chris Pirillo » graphics

Smith Micro Software Coupon Codes

Chris — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:00:21 +0000

Smith Micro Software Coupon Codes is a post from Chris Pirillo

Smith Micro Software, Inc. has grown into a leading diversified developer and marketer of wireless communication, eBusiness and utility software products and services. The company sells its products and services to consumers and many of the world’s leading companies. Smith Micro has developed synergistic ways to utilize the diverse talent and skills of each employee to build exceptional software product or provide the best professional service to our customer base.

Smith Micro - Save $10 on VMware Fusion 3.0 - Posted on 11/11/09 and Expires on 3/15/10
Smith Micro - Save 10% on Poser 8 - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 11/30/09
Smith Micro - Save 20% on Poser Pro - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/5/09
Smith Micro - Save 20% on RapidWeaver - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - 15% off ArtRage 2.5 Deluxe - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - Save 40% on EMC Retrospect Express HD - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - Save 30% on EMC Retrospect Express HD - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - 20% off ExecutiveSync - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - Save 30% on Spring Cleaning - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - Get VMware Fusion 2.0 & Rapid Weaver for $99 - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 4/24/10
Smith Micro - Save 33% on Checkit Registry Cleaner - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - $5 off Aquazone Deep Blue - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - Save 10% on Manga Studio Debut 4.0 - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - 10% off Manga Studio Debut 4.0 EX - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - Save 25% on StuffIt Deluxe Win - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - 30% off Internet Cleanup 5 Windows - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - Save 40% on Morpheus Photo - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09
Smith Micro - 11% off Pixelmator, only $53.50 - Posted on 10/7/09 and Expires on 12/1/09

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What Should You Look for When Buying a New PC?

Chris — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:16:06 +0000

What Should You Look for When Buying a New PC? is a post from Chris Pirillo

The other night, I posted a blog post from Dan, with his tips on how to find information. He sent me a second list, and it is definitely something you all should read through. Here are Dan’s tips for how to make sense of Windows computer specs when buying a new computer.

SIZE Decide what general dimensions you want and what personal preferences you have. Examples are: laptop or desktop?, screen size?, keyboard size?, physically large or small? It is important to have SOME idea of what you want because a store employee is going to try to sell you the most expensive computer they can.
RAM The more stuff your computer does at one time (internet+music+documents+email) the more RAM you’re going to need. Vista (which ships with all Windows PCs now) needs significantly more RAM than XP does, but most of the major manufacturers have added RAM to compensate. If you plan on pushing your multi-tasking ability to the limit (or if you’re going to game) you’re going to need 3 to 4 gigabytes. For a normal user- 2 gigabytes should meet your needs just fine.
HARD DRIVE The more pictures, video, and music you want on your computer, the more hard drive space you’ll need. The hard drives are getting really large to compensate for the increase in personal digital media creation. Keep in mind that it’s probably better to keep your valuable data in an external place anyway, so don’t get carried away. (100-200GB is a smaller size, 300-500+ is really large.)
PROCESSOR The processor controls almost all operations of your computer, so again, if you’re going to be pushing your computer a lot, get a faster one (2-3GHz). Vista needs 1GHz to run comfortably, but even most laptops have a faster one out of box.
Shop Around! There are a lot of brands of computers, at a lot of different prices, found in a bunch of different places. I’d recommend sniffing around a couple of big-box stores, then seeing if there’s anything in online stores that may match you better. A computer is a significant investment that should last you for a long time, so do your homework!
Video Cards If you plan of doing any gaming, make SURE you get a dedicated video card (usually ATI or Nvidia). If it doesn’t have a sticker for one of those on the case, then it’s an integrated graphics chipset. In most cases, it’s going to be significantly less powerful.
Getting Ripped Off If you go to a large store like Best Buy or Circuit City, be wary of all the ‘But there’s more!’ packages they try to throw at you. Be wary of the protection plans, but get it if you need it. DO NOT buy the security suite they try to shove down your throat, there are much better free alternatives for Windows security out there.

How to Make Graphics for T-Shirts and Mugs

Chris — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:28:53 +0000

How to Make Graphics for T-Shirts and Mugs is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Have you ever tried to take a color picture and turn it into a black and white one? I don’t mean greyscale… I’m talking just black and white. If you’re not skilled with using an image editor, you’re going to have to rely on a service. I found an excellent website that will take those color photos of yours, and turn them into a very cool work of art.

Magnigraph allows you to easily create your own cool-looking magnigraphs a picture or sketch. Your magnigraph can then be scaled down for printing on T-shirts, mugs, or posters. You can either use a picture that is already on your computer, or enter the URL of a photo on the Web. Low-resolution, high contrast images work the best, and please make sure you don’t use someone’s copyrighted material without their permission.

It takes only a couple of seconds for your image to render. There are a few different options you can play around with. Click on the red or blue links at the top of the picture, and your image will render in those colors, instead. Easily change the size proportionally by clicking one of the preset sizes just above the picture, as well.

Why would you want to turn a color picture into a black and white one? You can use these to print onto tote bags, coffee mugs, or any number of other items to meet your promotional needs. This is extremely simple, and a lot of fun to use. Have fun playing around with your pictures today!

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Where do you Find Photo Fun?

Chris — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:27:54 +0000

Where do you Find Photo Fun? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I love being able to manipulate images on my computer and even within my web cam. There are just so many different things you can do. If you visit Cameroid online and click on the “Scenes” button, you can apply any of their pre-defined themes or templates to your images. Cameroid is free, and simple to use. It lets you take crazy pictures from right within your browser. Cameroid is brought to us by the makers of SlideShow.

There’s nothing to install. You have to have Adobe Flash on your computer. And, of course, you need a web cam. You don’t need a web cam with sound if you don’t have one. There are some really cool templates on Cameroid. There’s a monkey, the Mona Lisa, a ninja, Frankenstein, and even a GNOME! You don’t have to apply one of the scenes. You can also distort the image, blur it, select certain areas, or change the color filters. If you want to take a fun but serious photo, you can add any one of several different frames around yourself.

The images can be easily saved to your hard drive to upload elsewhere or email to friends. Want to see some of what I did?

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Can you Paint Graphics in your Web Browser?

Chris — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:52:20 +0000

Can you Paint Graphics in your Web Browser? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I’m still struggling to find an image editor that I can really fall in love with. I’ve tried pretty much everything out there. I want it to be powerful, but simple at the same time. In some cases, all I need is a quick and easy way of doing one thing, and may not have software installed. I could use… Microsoft Paint. What? Nah, not gonna happen. I’m just not good with it, and need something better when creating an image. What do you use when you need to create or draw something? I’m talking simple… not Photoshop Elements. I’m still looking for something I’ll probably never find.

Until I find one that truly floats my boat, I’ll be usingSumoPaint. My friend David sent this along to me. You know I love web-based apps that are useful, and this one definitely is. SumoPaint gives you simple but powerful tools for creating and/or editing images right in your browser. You don’t even have to sign up for an account. There’s nothing to install, of course. You can then save your images to your computer, or to your SumoPaint account if you chose to register one. There are tons of tools included. You can select, move, smudge or blur. You can add text. You can zoom in and out, flip the canvas and so much more.

Thanks, David, for passing this along. It will definitely stay in my bookmarks. I’d love to see something like this inside an Adobe Air application, for sure.

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Graphics and Video Card Help

Chris — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 08:51:00 +0000

Graphics and Video Card Help is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I asked my chat room: “What kind of Video Card do you have?”. No matter what… I get asked this question constantly. Inevitably, someone wants to talk about Video Cards. “What do you have?” “What should I get?” “What is BEST?”

A video card, also referred to as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, graphics card, and numerous other terms, is an item of personal computer hardware whose function is to generate and output images to a display. It operates on similar principles as a sound card or other peripheral devices.
The term is usually used to refer to a separate, dedicated expansion card that is plugged into a slot on the computer’s motherboard, as opposed to a graphics controller integrated into the motherboard chipset. An integrated graphics controller may be referred to as an “integrated graphics processor” (IGP).
Some video cards offer added functions, such as video capture, TV tuner adapter, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 decoding or even FireWire, mouse, light pen, joystick connectors, or even the ability to connect two monitors.

What’s the best video card? Well, it depends on what you’re going to be doing on your computer. Are you gaming? How graphics-intensive are your games? What’s your Operating System? There is no “best” video card. There is only a best for YOU, based on what you’re doing. I had an email from someone saying that he had asked the chat room what the best PCI card was to buy. Everyone threw out their suggestions, but it didn’t really help him. I can’t help him either in one respect. I can’t tell him what to buy, nor what is best with him. I can give recommendations… but that’s about it.

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Windows Vista Makes Your Life Easier?

Chris — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 03:21:42 +0000

Windows Vista Makes Your Life Easier? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I kid you not. Here’s the official process for saving an image in a different format inside Windows Vista (using only what ships with the OS). Directly from the Windows Vista help center:

To save a picture in a different file type
Click to open Windows Photo Gallery.
Click the picture you want to change.
On the toolbar, click Open, and then click Paint.
Paint will open with your picture displayed.
Click the File menu in Paint, and then click Save As.
Click the Save as type list, and then click the file type you want to use to convert your picture.
Click Save.

I discovered this only after being told that I couldn’t adjust saturation, hue, etc. on a BMP image. Sounds like a niggling point to bring up at this stage in the game, but it only underscores my initial arguments. “Wow?” This kind of workflow would have been acceptable in the days of, say, Windows 95 – but Windows Vista’s Photo Gallery should have been a bit smarter. If I can’t Fix a PNG or JPG in the Gallery viewer, then why is the toolbar button still illuminated? This isn’t just a fontface oversight.

I’ve been living inside Windows Vista (32-bit) for the past week, and I don’t think I could go back to Windows XP. I want Windows to be better – as a consumer, as a technologist. Maybe that’s why I’m disappointed when I find details like these skipped. Microsoft Paint is just… the anti-Vista. Why not just license PhotoFiltre or the fresh-out-of-beta Paint.NET? Let’s just see what gets patched when Vista’s first service pack hits the streets later this year.a

RSS, OPML, Tag, Bookmark Icons

Chris — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 17:53:10 +0000

RSS, OPML, Tag, Bookmark Icons is a post from Chris Pirillo

We have a “standard” RSS icon and a similar working OPML icon, but I’d like to work with the graphics community on creating a “standard” Tag icon and a “standard” Bookmark icon – in a similar square style. These icons would tie into the functionality of my first two WP plugin ideas – where the user would only need to display one icon, and when the visitor hovers over it, would receive a nice callout to selected services. We could eliminate a massive amount of confusion and save page space at the same time. I think it’s time we started thinking about this – but I’m not a graphic designer. Help?

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.