Photoshop Tips & Tricks That You Should Know About

Photoshop is a heck of an amazing software. You can do all kinds of things with images and go as far as your imagination can take you. Once you are past the beginner level and understand what the various options are for and how they work, then you are ready for Photoshop tips and tricks like the ones that are the topic of this 2 part article.

They will help you in getting things done quickly, save you a lot of headache and steps and overall inflate your Photoshop-fu! So here we go:

Change Brush Size On The Fly

If you are even the slightest bit serious about Photoshop or you have used the Brush tool a couple of times, this single tip is worth at least a dozen alone. While you are using the brush tool you do not have to go back to the options palette to change the brush size or softness. Left bracket key ‘[' decreases the brush size and Right bracket key ']‘ increases the brush size. Similarly Shift + [ decrease hardness (makes the brush soft) and Shift + ] increases the hardness of the brush.

Create Guides Easily

Guides can help you align objects in your composition. You can quickly create guides using rulers that appear at the top and the side of the document window. Click on the ruler and drag to create a guide. Release the mouse button where you want to create the guide. Once created you can quickly show/hide guides using Ctrl + ;

Don’t Cancel Just Reset

Photoshop can be pretty tough to get and even harder to master. Moreover, the nature of work dictates that you must experiment and things don’t always go the way you anticipate while experimentation. So if you are inside curves, or hue saturation or perhaps levels and you make a series of adjustments that didn’t turn out the way you wanted, you would want to start over again.

But wait don’t hit cancel just yet. Instead hold down the Alt key and see how the cancel button changes to Reset. Now click reset and the adjustments you made will be undone while sparing you the round trip to open the same dialog again.

Scrub The Input Boxes

There are a lot of controls in Photoshop that let you enter a value using the keyboard. Font size, brush size, opacity and who knows how many others. Well a peculiar thing about these input boxes is that you can increase or decrease the value that’s in them by just scrubbing with the mouse pointer. As you move close to any such control the mouse pointer changes to something like the one shown above. Now just click and drag in the direction you want to change the value. Generally dragging towards the right side increases the value and towards left side decreases the value.

Adjust Opacity Quickly

The opacity controls can be manipulated even faster! Just hit a number from 0-9 and opacity will be adjusted in increments of 10. This means that 1 would set the opacity to 10%, 7 will set it to 70% and 0 will set it to 100%. If you are looking for a definite value say 57% you can quickly type 5 followed by 7 to set the opacity to 57%. The trick works with layer opacity as well as for any tool that has an opacity setting

Change Intensity Of Filters Without Dialog Boxes

Say you just applied the Unsharpen Mask filter to sharpen your photo. If you find you went a bit too far you can take back some of it by using Shift + Ctrl + F. If you would like to intensify the effect further you can use Ctrl + F to do so. Remember these would work just after you have applied the filter. If you performed other operations after applying the filter, these might not work as expected.

Unlock Background Layer

You might have noticed that the background layer has a little lock icon besides it. This indicates that the layer is locked. You can quickly unlock the background layer by double clicking on it, or Alt + clicking on the background layer or simply catch hold of the lock and drag it to the bin at the bottom of the layers palette.

Duplicate A Layer

Duplicating a layer can be very useful when saving selections or when you are unsure about the sequence of adjustments that you will be making. You can drag any layer onto the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to duplicate the layer or you can select the layer and press Ctrl + J.

Duplicate Layer Styles

More often than not, you want to apply the same layer styles to two or more layers. You can remember the settings or trust your eye and go on applying layer styles one by one or you can hold down the Alt key, click and drag the “fx” icon onto the layer you want to duplicate the layer style on and you are done!

Multiple Undo(s)

So what is the universal shortcut for Undo? Ctrl + Z. Yeah right, and you would expect that hitting Ctrl + Z multiple times would take you back interatively. Only it works a little different in Photoshop. Ctrl + Z toggles between undo(ing) and redo(ing) the most recent operation. So if you want multiple undo(es) use Ctrl + Alt + Z. Similarly for multiple redo(s) you can use Shift + Ctrl + Z

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MySQL creator launches campaign to 'save' database

The creator of MySQL has launched a Web-based campaign to "save" the open-source database from the "clutches" of Oracle, which is attempting to purchase its current owner, Sun Microsystems.

Oracle announced plans to buy Sun in April for US$7.4 billion, but the deal has been held up while European authorities conduct an antitrust review. One key concern of regulators, as well as open-source advocates, is the future of MySQL under Oracle, which holds a healthy share of the database market with its own proprietary product.

But if users speak up now, European authorities could stop the merger or force Oracle to provide certain concessions and guarantees around MySQL, Michael "Monty" Widenius said in a blog post.

He claimed that Oracle has contacted "hundreds of their big customers," asking them to lobby the European Union to support the deal. Oracle has told customers it would invest more money in MySQL's development and that even if it abandoned the database, offshoots of the codebase would "take care of things," according to Widenius.

Widenius himself is behind one such project, MariaDB.

Still, such efforts aren't enough, according to Widenius.

"Just putting money into development is not proof that anything useful will ever be delivered or that MySQL will continue to be a competitive force in the market as it's now," he said. And an offshoot "is not enough to keep MySQL alive for all future, if Oracle, as the copyright holder of MySQL, would at any point decide that they should kill MySQL or make parts of MySQL closed source," he added.

Ten years ago MySQL was mostly used for Web applications but has since become "very functional, scalable and credible," and used for a variety of purposes, he added.

"This not only scares but actually hurts Oracle every day," he said. "Of course Oracle has a lot more features, but MySQL can already do a lot of things for which Oracle is often used and helps people save a lot of money. So I just don't buy it that Oracle will be a good home for MySQL."

Widenius is asking like-minded users to publicize their concerns by sending letters to the E.U., blog on the issues and speak to executives at their companies.

Users had mixed initial reactions to Widenius' plea.

"Let's stand up today to face the evil!" said a poster identified as "Ryan Chan" on the MySQL mailing list.

But others took a laissez-faire attitude to the merger.

"You sold MySQL (and that's OK)," said one person who commented in response to Widenius' blog post. "Oracle is free to do whatever they want to do with it, I mean they bought it so they own it, period."

An Oracle spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Widenius' 11th-hour campaign may be in vain, as the E.U. appears set to approve the merger.

On Monday, Oracle issued a statement containing 10 commitments to MySQL's users and developers. The pledges, which would be valid for five years following the close of the merger, are "an important new element to be taken into account in the ongoing proceedings," the E.U. said in a statement. The E.U. also reiterated Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes' recent remark that she is optimistic the matter can have a satisfactory resolution.

SOURCE: NETWORKWORLD

BBC Reporter breaks 'unbreakable' mobile phone at CES

Reporter Dan Simmons from the BBC's technology show Click managed to break a mobile phone marketed as "unbreakable", during a demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

World's First Sex Robot" Debuts at AVN

TrueCompanion helped kick off the Saturday session of the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo with a press conference in which the site debuted "the world's first sex robot." Meet the Roxxxy TrueCompanion. This doll has an artificial intelligence engine programmed to learn your likes and dislikes. She can listen, feel, and speak to her owner.

The doll features five "girlfriend personalities," including, Frigid Farrah, Wild Wendy, Mature Martha, and more. Users can also built custom profiles online and swap them with friends. The doll goes on sale next week for roughly $7,000-9,000 plus a subscription fee, which is "comparable to a cell plan," according to Roxxxy's creator.

When asked what inspiration was for creating the doll, he answered that "after 9/11, I wanted to give back." God bless America.

GEARLOG

First 3D Television Channel to Launch in the U.S. in 2010

It certainly looks like 2010 is shaping up to be the year during which 3D finally moves from the realm of novelty into both mainstream film and TV. Satellite cable provider DirecTV has a new satellite in the air, and according to HD Guru, one of the 200 new HD stations to be broadcast from it includes the first U.S. HDTV channel in 3D.

There are still some technical hurdles to clear before you’re watching zany sitcom antics flying toward you, but the trend is clear. The satellite begins full operation in March, and existing DirecTV set-top boxes will simply need a firmware upgrade to support the 3D programming. Unfortunately, you’ll still need to pick up a 3D-capable HDTV to play it back, and that’s where the market lag will play a role in determining how fast 3D will penetrate.

Although 3D content has a long history stretching all the way back to 1922 — when the first public 3D movie was displayed — a number of optics and display challenges, as well as market realities, relegated 3D to a periodic novelty for decades. With the vast majority of the technical hurdles now solved and 3D displays making steady inroads at seminal trade shows like CES over the past couple of years, 2010 is poised to be 3D’s breakout year. The emergence of a string of blockbusters like Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and more rounds out 3D’s emergence — or re-emergence — on the big screen. Soon, consumers will come to expect the same experience in their home theater as well.

Sony, Samsung, Mitsubishi, LG and other manufacturers will be showing off 3D displays at CES 2010 next week. They’ll be hoping the stars will align properly to make 2010 3D’s breakout year, and DirectTV’s news is a timely piece of that puzzle. Are you excited about 3D’s inroads to the home, or is your pocketbook still weary from the last cycle of high definition upgrades?

VIA

Samsung’s Impossibly Thin 3D TV Tempts Hollywood Producer Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/samsungs-impossibly-thin-3d-tv-tempts-holl

BY CHARLIE SORREL

LAS VEGAS — If you had any doubt that the big thing in televisions this year will be 3D, then Samsung’s CES press conference would have finally convinced you. The company is throwing its rather large manufacturing weight behind 3D in the home, bringing not just TVs but 3D Blu-ray players and home theater systems into stores this year.

The TVs were the focus today, and consist of LEDs, LCDs and even a plasma model. The star, though, and the one that Jeffrey Katzenberg couldn’t keep his hands off (more on that in a second), was the 9000-series. This 3D TV features a proprietary 3D engine that, like Toshiba’s new sets, can convert 2D video to 3D (although Samsung presented this as a temporary solution until more 3D video is available). The 9000-series will come in screen sizes from 19” to 65”, but that wasn’t why Katzenberg was fingering the thing and gawking at it as the presentation wore on. One look at the photo will tell you the answer — the TVs are thin, as in a third of an inch thin. Turn one of these sideways and it all but disappears. Add to that a gorgeous steel body and you get a TV that even an impossibly rich movie mogul will covet.

Better still, the 9000 series will come with a large touch-screen remote. And why waste that second screen when you aren’t actually doing any controlling? Samsung lets you watch live TV on the remote itself while the big screen continues to play your 3D movie.

Samsung is jumping on the App Wagon, too, and in the spring there will be a range of free apps (they’re not called applications any more) in its own store, called “Samsung Apps”. The store will be open, so anyone can write software for your TV, and paid content will follow in the summer, followed by software for other platforms such as phones.

So why was Katzenberg on stage? Because his company Dreamworks has, along with Technicolor, teamed up with Samsung to get some 3D content onto the televisions. After a rather monotonous speech, he announced the company’s first 3D Blu-ray title, Monsters vs. Aliens. These 3D movies will, he optimistically predicted, “reduce piracy”.

VIA

Five Best DVD-Ripping Tools

You pay good money for your DVDs, but they're hardly the only format you need these days. These five ripping tools ensure you can back them up, keep them on your media server, and load them on your favorite portable player.
Photo by jonasj.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite DVD-ripping tool. We tallied up the votes, and now we're back to highlight the five most popular tools used by Lifehacker readers to rip, backup, and encode their DVD collections.

DVD Shrink is a free and capable ripping tool that excels at, as the name would imply, shrinking DVDs. DVDs come in two common formats: DVD-5 (4.7GB) and DVD-9 (8.5GB); the Reauthor mode in DVD Shrink helps you to ditch disc extras and strip most larger DVDs down to fit into a standard (and less expensive) DVD-5 disc. DVD Shrink does a good job handling many protection schemes, but hasn't been updated to remove some of the newest schemes.

DVD Fab is a commercial DVD ripper that supports the removal of all current DVD copy protections. In addition to being current on protection schemes, it boasts a large array of options for stripping and repacking your DVDs once the copy protection is removed. You can rip the entire disc, rip only the main movie, or split it into pieces—among other options. Like DVD Shrink, DVD Fab also supports compressing DVD-9 discs to fit on DVD-5 discs.

Handbrake is a DVD-ripping tool with a strong emphasis on not just ripping media but recoding it for playback on computers, portable devices, and other non-disc based systems. Handbrake can help you convert DVDs and other MPEG-based video into MP4 and MKV files. You can tweak settings like video frame rate and audio codec playback to your heart's content with Handbrake, and even batch encode all your media at one time to make filling up your iPod or other device relatively painless. The one major shortcoming of Handbrake is that it doesn't have any copy protection removal tools built in, which means you may occasionally need to use a 3rd-party stripping tool to prepare your DVD for conversion

AnyDVD is another commercial entry in this week's Hive Five. It's not cheap, with a one year license running $60—although the multi-year discounts quickly stack up—but it can boast that it stays on top of current protection and encryption schemes to make sure you're never locked out of your own discs. In addition to stripping protections from the disc, it also has the ability to control DVD playback speed so that DVDs played on media center computers will play slower and quieter, and it allows you to remove things like forced subtitles, warning screens, and disc material you don't want.

Although DVD Decrypter hasn't been updated since 2005, it still works on a significant number of DVDs and has a strong following resulting from both its original user base and new users who find it cuts through the copy protection on their current DVDs protected with CSS, Macrovision content protection, region codes, and other hindrances.

LIFEHACKER

USB 3.0 Finally Arrives

BY Melissa J. Perenson, PC World

When you're in front of your PC, waiting for something to transfer to removable media, that's when seconds feel like minutes, and minutes feel like hours. And data storage scenarios such as that one is where the new SuperSpeed USB 3.0's greatest impact will be felt first. As of CES, 17 SuperSpeed USB 3.0-certified products were introduced, including host controllers, adapter cards, motherboards, and hard drives (but no other consumer electronics devices). Still more uncertified USB 3.0 products are on the way, and they can't get here fast enough.

Compatibility Guarantee
And this time around, the way the USB spec is written, says Jeff Ravencraft, consumers should have an easier time finding products that are truly USB 3.0. Before, in the transition from USB 1.1 to USB 2.0, the USB 2.0 spec was written in a way where it "encompassed low, full and high-speed USB," explains Ravencraft, president and chairman of the USB Implementers Forum. "Since those are all encapsulated in the USB 2.0 spec, [vendors] could have a certified product that's low-speed, but still call it USB 2.0.
"We don't have that issue with USB 3.0 To claim you're USB 3.0, you have to deliver 5Gbps. There's no other way to get the certification."
Ravencraft adds that the group is prepared to protect the USB 3.0 logo, to make sure that only manufacturers who go through certification use it. "We'll take legal action if anyone infringes on our marks."
By end of year, Ravencraft says the loggerjam of products awaiting certification should be past, and the organization's network of worldwide test labs will be handling USB 3.0 certification.
According to In-Stat Research, by 2013, more than one-quarter of USB 3.0 products will support SuperSpeed USB 3.0.
Ravencraft says this is the fastest ramp up of USB products he's seen in the past ten years, across the previous versions of USB.
I say the change can't come fast enough. The trick, though, will be getting the interface into our notebooks (without requiring a kludgy ExpressCard adapter). So far, though, only HP and Fujitsu have announced limited USB 3.0 support on notebooks. And Taiwanese notebook and desktop maker MSI indicated that it wouldn't have USB 3.0 until, at the earliest, the third-quarter of this year; product managers for both notebooks and desktops cited manufacturing concerns like chipset availability in large quantities, and the need to test USB 3.0 chipsets.
And in the meantime, the only announced peripherals remain storage devices. At next year's CES, it's likely we'll hear more about specific consumer electronics devices such as digital cameras and camcorders and video cameras moving to USB 3.0. Hopefully by then we'll start getting a critical mass of PC hardware with USB 3.0 integrated, too.
PCWORLD

Samsung to showcase its Android-powered device 'Behold II'

LAS VEGAS, USA Samsung showcased its Android-powered device 'Behold II' at CES 2010.

AVING

Motorola to showcase its social skills smartphone 'CLIQ'

LAS VEGAS, USA (AVING Special Report on 'CES 2010') -- Motorola introduced its social skills 'CLIQ' at CES. It has a full HTML browser, 3G/HSDPA and Wi-Fi and features syncs contacts, messages, feeds and updates from today´s most popular social sites.

AVING

BMW Vision EfficientDynamics

The Vision EfficientDynamics is a concept vehicle for future by BMW which is a low carbon hybrid supercar aiming to achieve the premium end of the auto market with its fuel-efficient design. A three-cylinder turbodiesel engine is empowering this vehicle supported by a couple of electric motors. This car can go 0-100 kilometers per hour in just 4.8 seconds with a top speed of 250 kmph and consumes 3.76 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers. It features an electric mode for day to day use that can be charged through plug-in module. The vehicle stores the power it lithium polymer cells, allowing it to drive for roughly 50km on a single charge, which can be extended through its regenerative breaking system.

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The Honda Native concept powered by heavy-duty lithium-ion battery

The Honda Native concept comprises an electric engine which is powered by heavy-duty lithium-ion battery and can house 3 persons including the driver. This ultra compact car with great aerodynamic features has been designed for the massively congested future traffic where speed will be ignored over low space riding efficiency. Its down to the ground design will allow the car to offer smooth riding experience to the riders. The exterior parts of the vehicle are made of photocromic materials that make it possible for the car to change its color according to the light, temperature and other surrounding environmental factors.
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Solar Charger for your iPhone

The iPetals is a solar charger concept that has been specially designed for charging an iPhone through solar power. This innovative design resembles a lot with a sun flower and was inspired by the great Sunny Flower design from Fandi Mang. iPetals has been envisioned as a bunch of petals that can be folded and unfolded with different color lightness which can be used as an iPhone stand too when all the petals are folded. Aside from the petals, the only peripheral it has is a connecting cable with iPhone charging port, allowing maximum convenience for the users. This gadget is ideal when traveling.
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grace e motorbike the worlds first street legal motorbike

A German based company named GRACE has created the world’s first e-motorbike which may however seem a futuristic version of a usual bike, but in fact, this e-motorbike can be run on today’s street. GRACE has handmade this bike using parts from formula one and euro-fighter planes which will be launched for test purpose shortly. The handlebar contains all the controls of the bike such as light, alarm system, battery management and other necessary stuffs which have made it easier to ride than any other conventional bikes. The indestructible frame gives the e-motorbike enough durability to sustain in rough surface and bad weather condition.

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redesign lamborghini countach ev as tribute to marcello gandini

The design of the Lamborghini Countach EV, a 3D concept electric car, has been inspired by the fascinating Countach by Marcello Gandini which is an unforgettable piece for every Lamborghini fans. This redesigned car features more clean curves without changing the standard appearance such as doors, wings, front lights, etc. The sleek and cutting-edge design of the car has been polished with unique headlights and great color combination of the body and the glasses. Aside from the outstanding design aesthetics, another major important point of this concept car is the conscience of electric cars in the future world where fuels will be on of the rarest things to get.

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