"Twitter’s new Lists feature is all the rage right now. There are probably already millions of lists, and that number is growing by the minute (or second). So what are people using all these lists for? Are people creating lists just for the sake of creating lists? Savvy individuals are looking for ways to use lists to further their personal/professional agendas, and while we are all still learning how to harness the power of this new feature, here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing."
- Kol Tregaskes
from Bookmarklet
Woohoo! We're way past Techcrunch Europe on monthly uniques now...Making us the most popular tech blog in Europe! So chuffed. A long way to go though...(updated: this is old. They've caught up this month, but not to worry, we'll surge ahead again soon! :) )
Congrats Zee. I've enjoyed being able to contribute a piece every now and again. Great progress!
- Ken Camp
Well done! I must say I didn't really know about TNW until I subscribed to you on FriendFeed, and now I'm really impressed by your content. So congratulations :)
- Jalada
Photoshop is really really not all that difficult - I promise. I was assigned to teach it one semester in grad school, and I taught myself from a book - and I'm not at all that clever or patient with these things. I now use the stripped down and much much cheaper Photoshop Elements, and I don't miss all the features of the other one - which you never use anyway.
- Amy℠
i'd like to believe you, amy. i really would... ;)
- edythe
I believe Photoshop is a bit overkill (depending on what you are trying to do of coarse). Since I've acquired Lightroom, I never use Photoshop anymore. If you are just looking to process your pictures and not add any fancy textures or what-not, I strongly recommend looking into Lightroom over Photoshop.
- Justin Korn
Yeah, Amy is right. Photoshop isn't that hard and pretty straightforward. I'm not an expert at it, but just with tips from Adrian and messing around, I can do a lot of stuff and am always surprised by new stuff. I just sat down one afternoon and started clicking.
- Admiral Anika
Masking to do 90% of the shot is PS, but unless there was another shot in the series with just the helicopter tailfin, treeline etc. That is some tedious, time consuming and clever work the person has done there. The more I look at the two shots the more I think there were more shots in the series used - Either way the result is great, it really pops.
- Mat Hudson
That's some nice work. The basics of PS are easy, and the basics will take you a long ways. I try to stick to the baiscs as much as I can as the more advanced stuff you see is pretty insanely convoluted. I think people also like to make things look REALLY difficult to make them selves look smarter and more VALUABLE. Just dive in.
- Adrian
BTW, if you don't already have PS, just download "the Gimp" as others have suggested. It has a lot of the same features, but they are arranged differently and it's FREE! I can't really use it because I've been using Photoshop for so long that I feel constantly *lost* in the interface and it drives me crazy. If you don't have that kind of legacy baggage, it's great.
- Adrian
1UP Justin. Lightroom is a heaven-send for photographers. Photoshop is a very powerful program that is something that graphic designers use a lot more I'd say at this point.
- Derrick
I keep meaning to try Lightroom, read lots of great things about it!
- Adrian
There was only one shot in the series..I cloned out the extra people.
- Edward McGowan
They would need another shot from the series to reconstruct the tail but other than that the people removal would be tedious but not horrible, that background is very forgiving, the most dramatic work is the color retouching which can likely now be done in lightroom like people are saying. Photoshop is not hard to learn. Like everyone is saying, it's not hard to learn. 70% of what I know I taught myself. The rest you can get by asking and google searching and such. You can totally do it!
- Rachel Lea Fox
from iPhone
The trick to PS is that 70% of the functionality is wound up in using paths, and I will probably croak before I finally sit down and get fully comfortable working with those damned handles.
- Roger Benningfield
from BuddyFeed
It was not tedious..took me about 15 minutes....and there was no other shot..was all done with the clone tool. Paths...I don't even know what paths are lol :)
- Edward McGowan
well, that gives me some hope. thanks, edward! :)
- edythe
I think the people-removal was done entirely by hand. If you go to the large image on Flickr and look closely at where the background people were cloned out, you can see the artifacts...
- Andrew C
Oh my. People like this inspire something akin to murderous rage within me. When I eventually pass them on the inside, I feel like sharing some universal sign language with them. Who taught these people how to drive, anyways?
- Jenny R.
My former boss was like that. She's get over and do the speed limit. Her reasoning: People need to slow down and everyone who passed her got a disapproving look. I hated when it was her turn to drive to meetings.
- Admiral Anika
GTFO is my soothing chant when following one of these 'cockasses'. Get The Fuck Over!!!! It's called the 'PASSING LANE' for a reason!!!! You are causing more harm to the world by dragging ass in that lane. You demonstrate shitty driving technique, which lowers the quality of mankind overall. And no, I'm not going to roadrage your car on the freeway to teach you a lesson. But I might follow you home one day and fuck your dog! GTFO!!!
- Morgan Haley
You need one of those Swedish squeeze dolls.
- Geoff Schultz
it's like a rock in a stream, all the eddy's around it is where accidents happen.
- Victor Ryden
The best universal sign language for these drivers, especially if they're men? Hold up your thumb and forefinger, about an inch apart. Men will get it. I have also heard that Down Under, wiggling one's pinky finger indicates roughly the same thing. [And, alas, Virginia drivers are TERRIBLE when it comes to this!]
- Ladybug Heather
Wait, you can speed? Isn't that against the law though?
- Sparky
belligerent cockass is my new favorite expletive
- mike fabio
I should also mention that I like to snap at drivers in real time. I curse their families and swear like a sailor when they do stupid things. But then I let it all go. I have zero build up on the frustration and anger things. I find it's best this way. the downside is that sometimes my kid is in the car and hears me drop a few choice words. I would never fuck someone's dog due to roadrage. Sorry to get all the dogs out there excited. To them I say 'bark, bark, barkity bark bark. Woof. Arooooo.'
- Morgan Haley
There's a reason I drive an F250 with strobes in the headlights....
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
@Sparky: I don't condone speeding either. I think it's awfully self-righteous of those who choose to drive much faster than the flow of traffic to tailgate and grief the other drivers...that being said though, there IS a road law called "going with the flow of traffic" and if the entire freeway is moving at a speed of approx. 70-75 even though the posted limit is 55 or 65, sitting there doing 55 is legally considered dangerous driving and is a cockassed thing to do.
- tinypants - Hagitha of FF
That would be my dad. I'll give him a call and tell him to stay off Sacramento roads.
- Louis Gray
amen to what Victor said. People who drive slow in the passing lane -- even if it IS the speed limit -- are just accidents waiting to happen.
- Nathan Rein
I really think cockass may become my new favorite swear word. :D And it so fits...
- Bette Cooper
High beams as if it were the autobahn then I down shift change gears and pass the dumbass if they don't get out of my way. I don't stay in the passing lane as it is just that.
- Mathew A. Koeneker
Listen! I do respond on Twitter, but it's usually via DM. I get sick and tired of seeing stump tweets like "@soandso Ha!" - what the hell is the point of tweeting that?!
- l0ckergn0me
Chris has his own IRC channel just for these moments, before the chemicals kick in.
- Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)
lockergnome appears to be having an insane fight with himself. Which could only mean... I blocked Pirillo ages ago? Can't remember. Oh wait, I take that back, it's a joke. Gah. it's late. can't think
- Kamilah Gill
Yea, who is that coupon spammer dude anyway?! :P
- Susan Beebe
I can't buy entertainment like this. Junior Mint, anyone?
- Bill Sodeman
I'm using the Mighty Mouse but I really want Apple to release a new mouse..
- Peter
Okay, I really don't have a problem with the MM in general. As long as it's working, it works for me. I say "As long as it's working" because, if it gets too cold (and by that, I mean, not THAT cold), it slows down to a crawl, which can be very frustrating.
- Fleagle
It took them how many years to build a mouse with more than one button?
- xero
I finally gave up on my battery eating, too easily clogging Mighty Mouse. I now have a Logitech MX6 I love it.
- Gunny doesn't side-hug™
The MM is the best mouse I have ever owned! I love it!
- TheHenry
I love the mighty mouse. Though I wish apple would release just a USB Track pad because I prefer using a trackpad over a mouse.
- Corey Harris
I hate the MM, I much prefer a good solid logitech with no less than 16 buttons :)
- Danny Cohen
I tried to like it but I ran out of patience about 15 minutes into it. I replaced it with a Kensington Slimblade.
- Akiva Moskovitz
My scroll wheel had gone out on my wired MM, which was two months past warranty. I took it to an Apple Store last night, they cleaned it to no avail and handed me a new one, no fuss, no muss, no paperwork.
- LogEx
Again, much like Apple's products, it is not meant to satiate everyone's needs and wants. Especially when it comes to mice, there are so many products out there that a little bit of research would help you decide if the MM is for you/not!
- Guru Panguji
The concept is good. (The scroll-ball is a great idea) The implementation sucks. I found the scroll-ball would eventually get clogged with dirt, but unlike a traditional ball mouse, you can't open the mouse up in order to clean the scroll-ball. The left-clicks work fine, the right-clicks are often hit-and-miss. I do love how it connects via bluetooth and works with hardly any configuration.
- Paul Grav
Beauty over use. It's been ages since Apple released a good mouse.
- Pedro Rodrigues
MM drives me crazy, anyone find a good replacement for it that replicates its functionality?
- Gordon Corte
I've gone through 2 MM's that became unusable due to broken scroll wheels. No more.
- Internet's Tad
While I don't think much of TechCrunch; I have to agree with this post wholeheartedly. I like all (read: ALL) things Apple. Minus the Mighty Mouse.
- Diego Barros
"The histogram is one of the best ways to check for accurate exposure in the camera, and yet it's underused by many photographers. Use this tutorial to learn to use histograms in-camera and as part of further Photoshop processing."
- Kol Tregaskes
from Bookmarklet
I constantly check my histogram. My mentor sez "get the data", then post process.
- Russellreno
I started using mine on all my cameras last summer and it's cut down on how much work I have to do in PS.
- Admiral Anika
Dave was very obviously talking about Bristol. When someone says "Palin's Daughter" and "knocked up" in the same sentence they are not talking about Willow.
- Jeff Jones
That's what I got, Jeff. I guess Sarah hasn't gotten enough love from the press lately, or she wouldn't be tossing her tail feathers like a tizzied-up opera star. I hope David doesn't cater to them again with yet another apology. It's not his fault some people neither don't get it, nor would they conveniently want to.
- Helen Sventitsky
Watching also..with lap on my lap floating around FF and flickr-sound like fun?
- Myrna
why should there be a "girls division"? doesn't that kinda play up to some rotten stereotypes like "girls versions of a console is inevitably pink"? great way to make a distinction between gamers that will serve to only ghettoise girls in gaming even more
- alphaxion
my GF is sat next to me saying "this is making me sick to be a girl that plays games".. bearing in mind she's getting into the industry to make the damn things. I guess she isn't the target market, but I see it as a very bad sign of "these games are for girls and these are for boys, never the twain shall meet". It's lazy games design to slather a title in pink and glitter and get them to do "girlie" things such as messing about with hair.
- alphaxion
oh wow, this beats Microsofts entire conference.../wrist
- Nick
aye, which I hold similar notions of disgust to.. I was in a toystore when a father and his kids go past (one girl, one boy). The girl goes "cool, cars!" and he says "those are boys toys" and drags her off to the mashmellow pink section filled with dolls... is that a female engineer lost?
- alphaxion
but they were claiming to be cleaning up their act and getting away from the habit of iterative games where the only thing that changes is pretty much the box art and intro screen. so much for that then!
- alphaxion
Sorry Bwana - I am watching the stream on IGN - I think there is big delay between those of you watching live as compared to me.
- Darrell Bell
from twhirl
considering there's loads of sith - which goes against the doctine by the time of vader as there were too many power struggles, they kept it to just 2 sith.
- alphaxion
you might see periodic moments of speed increase - we have hundreds of people still hitting the site and signing up, so the speed is fluctuating quite a bit - we've been doing nothing but working to get things zipping along again since the Lifehacker post went up.
- Nathan Chase
Congrats on the Lifehacker post, must have increased your user rate insanely! Good lick with the scaling issues, you gotta be having a fun day! :)
- Glenn Slaven
Glenn, we have almost 2500 new users since 3PM yesterday.
- Nathan Chase
damn! kudos for just keeping the site up! Remember to ignore the whiners who complain about the site being a bit slow. You're doing a top job
- Glenn Slaven
This still doesn't work on my 360 (technically Hulu works on the PS3; but it's so unpleasant that it's not worth it). So I still can't easily watch it on my TV. So no, Netflix is still ahead.
- James (@willia4)
Netflix has done great with third-party devices, but I bet a majority of Instant Watch viewings are done through Internet Explorer on a Windows PC, which is not a very pleasant experience.
- Daniel Sims
Yikes, those are pretty hefty hardware requirements. I think I'll stick to Netflix, thanks
- LANjackal
That's not bad at all, requirement wise, for the past few years.
- Josh Haley
@Josh: When I can watch 1080p VC-1 video smoothly on my 1.73GHz Core Duo laptop with 1.5GB of RAM, I find it ridiculous that a streaming app, of all things, should require 2GHz + 2GB. Either their coding is horribly inefficient, or they didn't test a wide enough spectrum of machines
- LANjackal
That doesn't make sense. They're obviously compressing the hell out of the video to stream it at high quality. They're trading "streamability' for memory and CPU.
- James (@willia4)
Well I tried it anyway and it's not a total disaster. CPU is around 60 - 80%, RAM = 183MB. Download bandwidth use maxed @ 1.4MB/s (bytes, not bits) down. Few frames dropped here and there but I guess that's what you get for rendering in Flash *buries face in hands*. Since it's an official streaming app from content providers I'll keep it around.
- LANjackal
Hm... seems like the servers must be getting slammed... it just says "Starting..." for me now. It was working earlier.
- Ken Sheppardson
yeah, the news is all over the place now, so it's getting slammed.
- Josh Haley
Now I know why they have been giving Boxee a hard time. I still think they should open their platform to Boxee and MyMediaplayer and anyone else who would like to write an app that could used to watch Hulu on a TV. As long as Hulu keeps the content copy protected and the ads are allowed to play why would they not allow this to work on other apps ? They are really hurting themselves.
- Isaac Zahavi
I installed it yesterday on my windows 7 machine. I like it much better than the website. I also installed it on my iMac. I have yet to try it on there yet though.
- Beau Liening
I was tri-booting Win7, OSX, and Linux Mint on my Lenovo s10. OSX, while it ran fine, is not that great UI-wise on a little screen.
- Christopher A Carr
I need a back button... I twitch and click a rating and I haven't seen one of the films or it was the wrong one. gah! didn't there used to be a way I corrected such twitches?
- Michael W. May
@MWM - we used to have an Undo button which we do plan to reintroduce at some point - we'll be adding a way to mark movies as unseen too, as others have mistakenly ranked movies they hadn't seen
- Nathan Chase
Bah... I'm addicted again... this is why I've stayed away from there ;)
- Michael W. May
@MWM - just wait until we add our planned FriendFeed intergration ;)
- Nathan Chase
Just wondering, since I didn't see any of my favorite movies, although I was forced to choose between two equally odious films, how do you decide what gets included for evaluation?
- Rick Powell
@Rick - first off, I applaud your use of the word "odious" :) When you first sign up, you're presented with films that are more popular (already highly ranked), and the more you rank, the algorithm adjusts to widen the pool of films. You'll see the level of obscurity deepen with every pair you rank. As an aside, you can also go into the Filters to rank by Genre, Year, or Decade - which should present you with a much narrower, but targeted set of films to choose from.
- Nathan Chase
How is this different then Netflix's rating system and algorithim?
- CW™
@CW, Netflix uses a 1-to-5 stars scale to rate films - If you said Titanic was a 5-star movie, and Pulp Fiction was a 5-star movie - which of those two movies is the *better* movie?
- Nathan Chase
To me it depends on the category that they are asking about. They both are really not in the same categories other then movies.
- CW™
@CW - the way we look at it is you can always find something about each film that makes it the better choice for you - better acting, better cinematography, better story, or perhaps you make the proposal, "If I had to watch only one of these for the rest of my life, which would I pick?" - half of the fun is getting completely disparate films - Bambi vs. Rambo, Die Hard vs. Pride & Prejudice, etc.
- Nathan Chase
The phrase "You'll see the level of obscurity deepen" fills me with giddy joy. ;-) And I love the idea of Bambi vs Rambo! But, that's been done, right?
- Rick Powell
@CW - The same issue with stars applies within a category, too, even if you reject cross-genre ranking: Die Hard, Aliens, The Matrix, Iron Man, Pulp Fiction, and 300 might all be 5 stars within Action -- along with 20 others. But from there it's tough to discern a ranked order. Besides mattering to purists (and list enthusiasts), it matters for things like accurate recommendations and accuracy in large crowd-sourced lists, where the coarseness of star ratings is compounded. Plus it's fun. :)
- Jeremy Thompson
I guess it takes a while to even out - I've ranked about 120 and Napoleon Dynamite is my number one? Even though I would put it at at least 20. Haha. I'll keep going though - I can't stop.
- SarahMarieee
@Sarah - Haha, your addiction makes us happy. :) As for the evening out, I've tried to strike a balance between gradual progress and continued fun. I think I agree with you (and I also think it wouldn't be hard to find other sympathizers) that maybe it's erring too much on the slow side right now, so this weekend I'm hoping to finish algorithm tweaks that should improve that organically. For the inorganic approach, we're adding a Top 20/50/etc. filter that'll let you fine-tune your list.
- Jeremy Thompson
Rochelle, every time someone writes one of those posts, I sit there and cross my fingers that no one will comment on it. I would be willing to contribute to a fund to pay everyone off NOT to comment on threads like that so they'd disappear down the page and the person would be forced to bump them.
- Trish R
I refuse to comment on those. Not going to contribute to the problem. :(
- Haggis (Sean Loyless)
I have the thought of that statement every once in a while, but pretty much immediately think "se la vie" and move on. I never saw much of a point in posting on the matter.
- Tony, Paradox of FF
so ridic. even people who normally get a lot of engagement here get "ignored" sometimes. it's a crap shoot, a box of chocolates, a russian roulette table. geesh. get ovah it.
- Laura Norvig
I'll comment and go through their feed and stuff if it's someone new to FF or someone who clearly hasn't ever seen how cool FF can be once they get noticed by a few popular people, but if it's someone who should know better? Yeah, suck it up. I don't think I saw the post in question, though.
- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
Oh sure! I make one measly post about it & you call me out! I've had it with FF! HAD IT!
- Mark Wilson
it's not an invalid question. i certainly don't mind replying to and liking it--the first time, anyway. And as long as the person isn't a flamer, obnoxious, bigoted, etc.
- edythe
edythe, not an invalid question but he asks a variation of it about once a week.
- Rochelle
Mark Wilson, this is my LAST RESPONSE TO YOU!!!
- Rochelle
I just click hide. You can't expect after a few days on a site for the world to bow down to you. Talk to folks and have fun. If it doesn't work out, it is just a website and it just is not that serious.
- Amber, Random Time Lord
I agree, sometimes people are new and you can tell when they're just curious and trying to figure things out. But most of these posts are just Whiney McWhiney-ass whiners. Sometimes I'm tempted to keep track of them and follow them all over FF and leave senseless and stupid comments on every one of their posts.
- Trish R
ohhhh, now I know who you're talking about.
- Laura Norvig
ohh, i didn't know that part, rochelle. ah, well.
- edythe
Bout time those freeloadin' teenagers earned some coin XD
- Mo Kargas
I'd want 300 bucks too! It took them 6 hours! Can you imagine their O faces when a 3 trailer road train pulled in ...... O_O ..... :O ...... lol
- Penny
that looks like a fun truck to drive. wow, 3 trailers.
- rob friedman