Articles about Content Creation

That's the question, following big updates available today. How big? So big Apple even issued a press release. I ask the question because of professionals' negative reactions to the software soon after its late-June 2011 release. The uproar was loud enough that "Conan" did a skit about it. In September, responding to customer requests, Apple brought back older version Final Cut Studio 3 on a limited basis. That was then, this is now. Is Final Cut Pro X finally good enough for you?

Many pros complained that Final Cut Pro X was too iMovie-like, while stripping away features they depend on for editing broadcast or film videos. Others complained Apple abandoned core customers to make Final Cut easier for non-pros to use. The software offered more to amateurs and less -- actually took features away -- for professionals. Today's update (v 10.0.3) adds some surprising pro features, and they're not the first. This is the third update since the software's launch.

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CyberLink has today released the latest version of its flagship media player, PowerDVD 12 -- and the build sees major steps forward in the formats it can handle, and the way the program works with mobile devices, social media and more.

PowerDVD 12 now supports playing back all the main video formats, for instance, including MK3D, MKV (H.264), FLV (H.264), WTV, 3GP and 3G2. A new focus on audio means the program can also handle cinematic quality and lossless sound formats: DTS-HD 7.1, Dolby TrueHD 7.1, OGG, FLAC and more. And PowerDVD’s old ability to view your digital photos is now extended by native RAW format support.

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We’ve reached the end of the first month of 2012 and this has been another busy week for software releases. If it seemed a little quiet on the browser updates recently, things changed this week with the release of Opera 11.61 FINAL as well as Opera Portable 11.61. Fans of cutting edge software may be more interested in Opera Next 12.00 build 1256, which is the first update to the beta channel of Opera for quite some time.

When browsing the Internet, speed is often the most important consideration, and Pale Moon is a speed optimized version of Firefox that includes support for extensions. This week saw the release of not only Pale Moon 9.1 and Pale Moon x64 9.1, but also portable versions in the form of Pale Moon x64 9.1 Portable and Pale Moon 9.1 Portable.

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There are a number of tools that computer users will install by default on their Mac or PC -- an email client, web browser, media player and an office suite. Make the move to a mobile platform such as iOS or Android and the range of apps you need changes slightly. Most phones and tablets will comes with a number of apps pre-installed including a calendar, messaging tool, web browser and various other tools. One thing that is generally left out of the mix is a mobile office suite.

There are plenty of suites to choose from, but the vast majority of them cost too much and many users are disappointed to find that the app they choose to try out is too limited for their needs. Kingsoft Office is something of an anomaly -- an extremely powerful and feature-packed Android office suite that is available for free.

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The iPad has been touted as a replacement for the laptop, but if this is to happen a serious office suite is needed to allow everyday tasks such as word processing and number crunching to be carried out. In this area there are a number of mobile office suites to choose from, including Apple’s own iWork apps Pages, Keynote and Numbers as well as the likes of Documents To Go, Quickoffice and a few others.

While all of these are capable of producing and working with Microsoft Office compatible files, there is no getting away from the fact that none of them is Microsoft Office. This is something that CloudOn for iPad aims to address, bringing you fully functional versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint to your tablet.

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You’re after a free image editor. You want a powerful one, something that gets compared favorably to the likes of Photoshop. You find Paint.NET and PixBuilder Studio intriguing, but just that little bit lacking. Ultimately, though, when you ask about a powerful, free image editor, you’re going to be pointed towards GIMP.

And that’s where the trouble begins, because while GIMP is undoubtedly the most powerful free image-editing tool there is, it’s also one that puts newcomers off because of its multi-paned floating user interface. But what if you could marry the interface of Photoshop with the power (and free price tag) of GIMP? The good news is, you can, thanks to an open-source, cross-platform program called GIMPshop.

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Managing any sort of business takes times, effort and dedication. In order to ensure that things run as smoothly as possible, whatever your line of work, it is important that you turn to the right tools to help you to keep on top of things. Revolver Office is a powerful project management suite that includes everything you need to keep track of jobs, employees, clients, and everything else that it is involved in the day to day management of your business. The latest preview version includes a raft of powerful features that place you firmly in control of your empire, but more importantly it enables people to work together.

Revolver Office is such a varied and all-encompassing tool that its list of features is a lengthy one. Available for both Mac and Windows, the software allows for very easy collaboration on a project and ensures that everyone involved has access to the tools and information they need. For some projects the built-in address book can be used to store details of every one working on the project as well as the contact information for contractors and suppliers. A team calendar is available so you can easily check to see when everyone is free for a meeting and you can ensure that no one employee is being given too heavy a workload.

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If you’re looking for an alternative to Adobe Reader then there are plenty of tools available, each promising that they’ve the speed and feature set required to become your preferred PDF viewer.

It’s not easy for an individual package to attract much attention, then. Yet Soda 3D PDF Reader 2012 does manage to include a couple of twists which help it stand out from the crowd.

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Photo editing and manipulation tools are not exactly in short supply but those that get the balance between the number of features and ease of use are few and far between. Despite featuring an interface that is somewhat off-putting to start with, PhotoFiltre 7 is an extremely accomplished tool with the latest update adding support for both layers and transparency – these are options that were previously only available in the more advanced PhotoFiltre Studio.

While the interface is perhaps the most well organized, it is more appealing than the likes of the GIMP. This freeware image editor is probably PhotoFiltre’s closest competitor in this particular software arena and while neither app is going to win any prizes for the most attractive or well-designed interface, PhotoFiltre definitely has the edge over its rival -- and while the interface is a little on the cluttered side, it does mean that many options are easily accessible through the wide range of toolbar buttons on display.

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Open-source, cross-platform desktop publishing package Scribus 1.4.0 has been given a final, stable release, four years after the first developmental version saw the light of day. Over 2,000 feature requests and bugs have been resolved in this new release, which, despite the relatively minor version number jump from 1.3.3.x, is a major new release.

Notable improvements include better object handling, many more advanced options for text and typography, new features for vector objects and better handling of fills.

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With even some budget computers now arriving with 1TB of storage, and perhaps more, drive space isn’t generally much of an issue these days. But we still get annoyed when we see software become unnecessarily bloated, grabbing vast amounts of hard drive real estate for no good reason. It’s lazy, and even if you have plenty of hard drive space left, will still slow down your searches, virus scans, defrags, and any other whole-drive operations.

Fortunately there are still plenty of projects that treat your hard drive with a little more respect, however. And there are few better examples of this than Wavosaur, a surprisingly full-featured audio editor that crams a vast array of functionality into a tiny 560KB executable, while refusing to clutter your system with anything else (no codecs, no DLLs, nothing dumped in your Windows folders at all).

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Blending multiple images of a scene into a single panorama is one of those tasks that might seem easy -- at first, anyway. After all, if you could just align one image over another at a point where they share some common feature then that’s the job almost finished. Right?

If you’ve ever tried to do this manually, though, you’ll know the reality can be far more complex. There are barrel distortion, vignetting, and many other camera and lens issues to consider. And you’ll need to take account of variations in image exposure, alignment, and the list goes on. Although, of course, if this seems too much like hard work, then you could just get the open source Hugin application to handle everything for you.

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Can’t wait for the next major release of VLC Media Player? Desperate to squash an annoying bug? Not afraid of installing untested, pre-release software on your computer? Willing to become a guinea pig ? If the answer to all of these questions is “yes”, then VLC Media Player Nightly might be for you.

As its name suggests, this is the latest, untested version of VideoLAN’s popular cross-platform, opens-source audio and video player to roll off the presses. That means it’s untested, which makes it unstable, and as likely to throw up new bugs as old ones get squashed. If that doesn’t put you off, read on.

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Do you need a new photo for your Twitter or Facebook profile? Finding the right shot can be a challenge. And especially at this time of year, when festive overindulgences could mean you’re not exactly looking your best.

You could retouch any image with a photo editor, of course, but that’s a lot of work for often unspectacular results. So it might be easier to try Perfect365, an interesting tool that can give an in-depth makeover to the faces in almost any image, with a single click.

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Earlier this week I sold my Fujifilm FinePix X100, one of the best digital cameras I've owned, since buying my first in 1997. I gave up the delightful X100 for two reasons: I needed cash to pay for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus and because the Google phone is digicam enough for me. I'm not alone, based on survey data NPD released today.

NPD reports a 10 point increase in photos taken with smartphones and nearly corresponding number taken with digital cameras -- that 17 percent to 27 percent and from 52 percent to 44 percent, respectively, year over year. The data is for the United States. What about the nearly 30 percent remaining? Is film still that popular? I asked NPD. Nope. Camcorders and dumb phones account for the remainder. Well, tell that to Lomography!

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