Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Technology becomes girl’s best friend

Friday, September 19th, 2008

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that I love shopping. I fully admit to having a room just for shoes and my poor boyfriend’s clothes are relegated to a single chest of drawers compared to my three, plus a wardrobe. So when I saw a story this morning about a new 3D shopping experience online, I couldn’t help but get excited (yes, yes, sad I know). Stateside retailers, Sears, are introducing an amazing new search function on their website www.sears.com  , which enables you to browse their shopping delights with the power of 3D. You get to build your very own 3d virtual model, which you can then adorn with any of the clothes that take your fancy. It cuts out the hassle of trying things on in-store and gives you the in-store shopping experience online. The 3D models can be created to represent your height, weight and build, giving you a realistic impression of what the clothes will look like.It’s a wonder it’s taken this long to come about and I reckon this will take off in a big way with online retailers. The function goes live in October and I can’t wait to try it out…in fact I may need to buy another wardrobe while Im at it too ; )my-virtual-model.jpg  

A bunch of losers…

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

I’ve just been reading that 60,000 devices such as mobile phones, laptops and PDA’s have been left in the back of London cabs within the last six months alone! It’s a staggering figure and just goes to show how reliant we are on our gadgets these days. I’d be gutted if I lost my laptop as it’s got all my photos, music and work on there…I think it’s time for me to back-up my stuff! I preach to everyone about backing up but Im not so quick to follow my own advice - guess what Ill be doing this evening! istock_000000648722large.jpg 

Today I Love…

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Julie, the Deputy Editor from Advanced Photoshop has just shown me a blog-site, which is saying some very nice things about us. Just what I needed on this rainy, cold day to lift my spirits! Check it out… http://www.campphotoshop.com/Top-5-Magazines-For-Creative-Inspiration

P.S Jet-lag sucks!

P.P.S Finally figured out how to post images on here - what a doofus!

picture-1.png

Back to reality : (

Monday, September 8th, 2008

Bye bye VegasWell Photoshop World is over for another six months and I must say it’s a little depressing to be home after all those bright lights of Vegas : ( !It was a fantastic event, well worth a visit if you’re ever in the States. It was so well organised that despite the huge amount of seminars, everyone seemed to make it to all their choices. For me, the highlight was meeting the Chief of Operations of the Kelby Media Group, David Moser. The Kelby Media Group are the big Photoshop players out in the US and also run the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. David had plenty of time to chat ’shop and it was great to hear his thoughts on the show.Now, unfortunately it’s back to reality! We landed this morning and Im desperately trying to stay awake a couple more hours so I can get a good night’s sleep ready for work tomorrow. I’ve been awake 26 hours and counting….and Im starting to feel a little delirious to say the least.Looking forward to Photoshop World Boston in March already! Night night : )

Photoshop World - Day 2

Friday, September 5th, 2008

p1040013.JPGI don’t know if it’s jet lag or brain ache but this is tiring! I’m not complaining though as the show has been excellent so far, with some amazing seminars.You can literally learn anything you can imagine with regards to Photoshop. I’m loving the photography-based seminars the most as that’s where my heart lies, but if you had the time you could get something out of every single lesson.This afternoon we’re hitting the expo again to meet with some of the exhibitors. We’ve met the guys from iStock who have flown over from Canada and are having a great time meeting with all the lovely Photoshoppers. We’ve also just met with the PhotoshopCafe.com team who were showing us five new training DVD’s they’ve released. I’ve picked up a couple, which I plan to review when I get back - including one on HDR which Im sure you guys will find interesting.Right… better get back to it, Have a great weekend : )

Photoshop World - day 1

Friday, September 5th, 2008

Photoshop World, Las VegasWow - this place is immense! For those of you who don’t know, I’m in sunny Las Vegas for Photoshop World. The keynote speech kicked off the day with an excitable preview of what’s to come over the next few days, followed by a wealth of seminars to choose from. Photography, web, digital painting - you name it there’s something for everyone here and each class is packed to the rafters with eager Photoshoppers waiting to learn some new tips.We’ve managed to catch a quick photography seminar today, but for the most part we’ve been checking out the amazing tech expo they have here. There are some great new products being announced today too, including a new sharpening plug-in from Nik Software and a fab new frame plug-in from the guys at onOne.It’s so weird being in a place totally dedicated to Photoshop! Everyone has such a passion for what they do and it’s been great to meet some readers too. The US is absolutely Photoshop mad which is great to see!We’re back tomorrow for some more Photoshop fun, so check back to see what we get up to. Annoyingly I have loads of pics from the show but I’ll have to upload those when I get back on Tuesday. Byeeee!

Viva Las Vegas - Photoshop World here I come!

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

This time tomorrow I’ll be well on my way to Photoshop World in Vegas. The show starts on Thursday and I can’t wait! I’ll be trying to cram in as many seminars as possible, as well as meeting as many of exhibitors as I can too. It’s going to be a pretty hectic few days - but who cares, I’ll be in Vegas! Check back soon to see my show reports!

Let it all out….

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

I’ve just been told about a website called www.dearadobe.com which is meant to be a portal for people to give their views on all Adobe products. However, it seems there are a few angry people who are not quite feeling the Adobe love! Check it out and scroll through a few of the comments - if you’re easily offended by swearing then stay away!

Photoshop fakers

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted the fact that many people are using their Photoshop skills to help erase bad memories from their past. It reports that many people choose to clone out ex-lovers and ex-friends from their photos so they can enjoy the view without being haunted by the bad memories certain individuals bring up.It’s also being widely used to almost fake happy memories too, with people comping images together to forge a lasting memory of happy times spent together. In one way it makes me think ‘why not?’ Photoshop is a fantastic tool and if it makes you feel happy to erase parts of your past then go for it. On the other hand, however, there’s something that is slightly unnerving about changing the course of events, which doesn’t sit well with me.Why fake the past when you know inside who was present at the time? Sure, Photoshop can take people away or add them in in an instant, but deep inside the memory will always live on.Check out the article for yourself http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/fashion/17photo.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 

Can you survive without technology?

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

I’ve just got back from a three day camping-trip in Swanage, Dorset with a group of five friends. In fact camping is a pretty strong word, posh camping may be more appropriate when you see the kind of place we stayed in! www.yurtvillage.co.ukAnyhoo, despite the luxury abode we thought we were hardcore campers for the weekend, until that is we took a look around us and realised how reliant on technology we really were. Four ipods, one set of speakers, one laptop, three satnavs, two Blackberry’s and six mobile phones later, it dawned on us we couldn’t be any further from proper campers in the slightest. Yuppie me? Never!