Jacob Schulman | The Verge

Adobe Lightroom 4 available now for $149, brings photo book creation and updated tools

2012-03-06T00:01:03-05:00

Adobe Lightroom 4 BETA

The latest version of Adobe’s photo-management and editing tool, Lightroom 4, was released in beta in early January, but today the software loses that status and officially replaces Lightroom 3. Current owners can upgrade for $79 — new licenses will run you $149 — and you’ll also be able to use the app with a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud when the service launches later in the year.

Lightroom 4 has all new highlights and shadow editing controls that replace fill light and recovery options of past software versions. Much like iPhoto, users can now create photo books from directly within the app and purchase them with a single click. There are also built-in hooks for publishing to Facebook and Flickr, along with a new map module for improved geolocation support. For a full rundown of the new features and functionality, check out our earlier hands-on with the beta from January.

Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad screenshots

2012-02-27T00:01:18-05:00

Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad: the future of content creation?

2012-02-27T00:01:10-05:00

Adobe Photoshop Touch

Adobe Photoshop Touch has been available for Android tablets since late last year, but after a brief early appearance in the New Zealand iTunes store, the software is officially out for the iPad today. You can purchase the app for a one-time fee of $9.99, though it will be included with Adobe Creative Cloud when the subscription service launches later this year. While the full suite of Adobe touch apps — Kunler, Collage, Debut, and Proto — are still slated to hit iOS “in the coming months,” Photoshop is the second offering for Apple’s tablet after Adobe Ideas. The app wraps familiar features from the desktop version of Photoshop in a tablet-friendly package that’s surprisingly functional and easy to use.

The app employs a simplistic design with a dark gray and black interface and large finger-friendly buttons. The tools and layer panels dock to the left and right sides respectively, and a row of editing controls runs across the top. All of the panels can be collapsed for a more minimal workspace. In addition to familiar tools like that lasso, clone stamp, and blur / smudge, Adobe’s “Scribble Selection” tool works much like a touch-optimized magic wand. Just as with the Android app, you “scribble” over the areas you’d like to keep and remove (see above), and the app refines the selected region as you add more detail. The tool won’t replace a mouse or even dedicated pen tablet for intricate edges, but it does a pretty good job — especially when combined with the other selection tools.

The slider icon along the top toggles the adjustments panel, which houses controls for things like brightness and contrast, noise reduction, curves, and levels. To overcome the lack of automatic adjustment options, Adobe has included over 25 photo effects that can be added with a single touch from the “fx” panel. You can also add text, gradients, and fades, in addition to performing warp transformations.

Individual projects max out at sixteen unique layers and the largest canvas size is 1600 x 1600 pixels, just like in the Android app. We also couldn’t find any way to adjust the resolution of a project, which seems to be stuck at a paltry 72ppi. Still, Adobe has added a nifty navigation method for viewing layers in 3D, which is invoked by double tapping any layer from the layer panel. Your layers become separated in a 3D plane and you can pan using your finger or the iPad’s built-in gyroscope. It feels like more of a gimmick than a useful way to interface with your work, but could be sort of useful as your projects get more complex.

Adobe says that “people will be amazed” by the app’s functionality, and while there is certainly an extensive feature-set, this won’t replace Photoshop CS5 for most users. Still, there are around fifteen built-in interactive tutorials that showcase the app’s strongsuits and help users get acquainted with its functionality. It demonstrates simple color replacement processes and how to apply photo frames, but also details more in-depth tasks like adding people to images and how to blend images. Professional photographers won’t start editing large batches of photos on PS Touch, but they might find it useful for collages or more creative applications.

The built-in image browser, for example, lets you quickly add photos not only from the camera or camera roll, but also from Google or Facebook to create quick compositions. I imported a few photos from the most recent episode of On The Verge, and was able to create a photo composition quickly (see above). I added a photo of Nilay Patel sitting on the couch as a new layer in a project that already had Joshua Topolsky and Jimmy Fallon, and used the Scribble Selection to remove the couch background. You can see the results aren’t quite perfect, but I didn’t use any other tools to refine the selection. Once you’re done with a project, you can email the file as a PNG or JPEG, or publish directly to Facebook from the main screen.

Given the iPad’s lack of any formal folder structure, PS Touch hooks into Adobe Creative Cloud to offer wireless syncing and storage capabilities. Projects can be uploaded to Creative Cloud with one click from the main screen, and it offers one added feature that you can’t accomplish otherwise: layer preservation. This was one of our largest gripes with the Android app at launch, but now you can begin a project on your iPad and finish it on the desktop without losing your layers. You’ll have to download and install a special plugin from Adobe to pick up projects on your PC since files are saved in a new PSDX format rather than PSD. The plugin is only compatible with Photoshop and Illustrator CS5 and 5.1, and can only be used when you upload to Creative Cloud; only flattened JPEG or PNG images can be sent via email.

Creative Cloud has a companion web interface for uploading and downloading files. Any project uploaded from Photoshop Touch can be accessed from the web, which also allows for toggling layers and sharing files. Any image or PSD file can be uploaded through the browser, but layers are not preserved when the file is downloaded into Photoshop Touch. It’s odd that you can move files from tablet to desktop without flattening, but that you can’t do the same in the opposite direction. We’ve reached out to Adobe to see if this is a technical limitation or some sort of bug, but for now you can’t simply open a PSD file with Photoshop Touch — at least while preserving layers. Despite the current limitations, it’s a pretty sleek implementation that works nicely and doesn’t require much setup. Still, the presence of other sharing services like Dropbox or even FTP would be nice for users that don’t want to take the Creative Cloud route.

Photoshop Touch is a surprisingly functional app that takes the best elements of its desktop counterpart and gives them applications that make sense for a tablet. The primary user for Photoshop Touch will probably spend more time making photo compositions than doing heavy duty retouching, and the app’s design reflects that. I was wary of its ability to actually perform tasks, but it’s surprisingly functional and even fun to use. The new Scribble Selection tool is a handy solution to a task that would normally require a multitude of clicks, and Adobe has made many design choices to make this app as useful as possible. Adobe has already addressed some of our initial concerns from the Android implementation, but now we’d like to see more robust storage and exporting options in the future. With the added plugins it becomes a solid companion to desktop Photoshop, and here’s hoping there’s even more integration when CS6 arrives sometime later this year. For now, though, it’s a pretty solid offering with a whole lot of potential — and it only costs $10.

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 update to roll out Tuesday, February 21st?

2012-02-17T17:28:19-05:00

Gallery Photo: BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 pictures

RIM recently confirmed that its PlayBook tablet would receive its new 2.0 operating system upgrade in “February,” but now there may be a date and time. According to documents obtained by Engadget, PlayBook owners will be able to download the update over-the-air starting at 4:01AM on Tuesday, February 21st — well before RIM’s self-imposed deadline. We detailed the upgrade at CES in January, which will finally bring native email, contacts, and calendar apps to the tablet. Other improvements include upgrades to the keyboard and homescreen layouts, and the ability to use a BlackBerry device as a keyboard and mouse. Oh, and don’t forget Android app support.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will also launch on Tuesday, enabling large organizations to manage fleets of PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry phones wirelessly. It will expand to include iOS and Android devices in March, allowing IT departments to provision employees’ own devices. It had previously been speculated that the company would introduce the upgrade at Mobile World Congress which kicks off on February 27th, but early PlayBook announcements could pave the way for more BlackBerry 10-related news at the show instead.

Sync by 50 wireless headphones review

2012-02-16T17:07:06-05:00

Sync by 50 wireless headphones review

2012-02-16T17:07:03-05:00

SYNC by 50 headphones

The first news of a 50 Cent headphone line came at CES 2011, where the hip-hop mogul announced a partnership with Sleek Audio for the Platinum line of wireless headphones. Just a few months later Sleek confirmed that the parties had terminated their agreement, and it was revealed that 50 started his own company, SMS Audio, to make a full line of audio products. The Sync by 50 is the company’s first headphone offering, featuring an ostentatious design and Kleer wireless technology — just as the Platinum line was supposed to. The $400 headphones are set to go head-to-head with the venerable Studio Beats and Wireless Beats by Dre, but can 50 beat the Doctor at his own game?

Hardware

50 is not an understated man

It feels like the Sync by 50 headphones were designed by someone who still uses the term “bling bling.” Available in both white and black, they have a glossy plastic enclosure with metallic chrome trim and aqua accents throughout. The plastic is definitely cheap-looking — I would’ve liked to see something more high-end given the price. A blue status indicator illuminates a stylized “S” on each ear pad, slanted ever so slightly so that it’s level with the ground when on your head. The headphones themselves don’t rest on your head at a perfect ninety-degree angle, but the angularity of each “S” corrects for the difference and makes them appear parallel to the ground.

Though they are large, the Sync headphones aren’t particularly heavy, and I actually found them quite comfortable. The plush memory foam pads are mushy and soft, and the curvature of the entire unit seems to result in just the right amount of pressure on each ear. Each side can be extended around one inch in length, and friends who tried them on were all satisfied with the fit. The band has the right amount of give to provide enough of a seal to help keep out unwanted sound, without being uncomfortable. I could foresee them stretching out over time, however, which could become a problem for leakage down the road.

They’re quite comfortable, if gigantic

The Studio Beats by Dre headphones fold up for more compact storage, but the Syncs don’t enjoy the same luxury. Not folding makes the Syncs more difficult to store or transport, but it also means they don’t need any hinges, which improves the build quality significantly. The main body is sturdy and can withstand a good bit of flexing, though there is slight creaking if you start to over-extend. The lack of fragile hinges also makes these easy to take off or put on with one hand. I never felt the need to carry around the enormous case for safekeeping, and didn’t have any problems after tossing the headphones into a backpack unprotected. They seemed to survive a few falls in my apartment, but I wouldn’t suggest dropping them repeatedly on cement or pavement.

Functionality

A dongle? In 2012?

The Syncs come with a detachable cord that has an inline microphone, plus a single button for iOS controls: click once for play / pause, twice to skip forward, hold down for Siri, and so on. However, they can also be used wirelessly thanks to built-in Kleer technology, which has been appearing on niche audio devices for years but hasn’t seen widespread adoption. The spec promises lossless sound quality and lower power consumption than Bluetooth, but it also requires a clunky, included dongle. It has a 50 foot range and will transmit audio from any device with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The dongle is about the size of a matchbox and has buttons for power and sync, along with a Micro USB port for charging. That’s right, you need to charge the headphones and dongle for wireless listening. The dongle’s construction leaves much to be desired, especially given its purpose: the 3.5mm plug wobbles along the bottom, giving the impression that it could snap off with even a modest amount of pressure. The positioning of the headphone connector on the left side means that it covers the iPhone 4’s sleep / wake button most of the time, but there’s nothing else attaching it to the handset’s body so it can be pivoted quite easily. It’s large enough to be annoying, but still small enough to lose: I actually misplaced it during my testing and was confined to wired listening — at least until I found the dongle in a jeans pocket a few days later. The wireless option is supposed to be a major advantage for 50’s headphones, but poor execution almost makes it not worth the trouble. Plus, at $50 to replace, it’s not a cheap item to lose.

Up to four different pairs of headphones can be synced to the same receiver, meaning four people can listen to any one audio source in tandem. Unfortunately, I couldn’t test the feature for myself, since I only had one pair of Kleer-capable headphones. Still, the feature should work with offerings from any manufacturer that uses the standard, be it SMS Audio or not.

Each earcup has built-in controls, though they don’t actually work as you would expect. The left ear has a power button and a “Bass boost” mode control, while the right has volume controls and a forward / back button. Since these use Kleer instead of the ubiquitous Bluetooth, profiles like A2DP and AVRCP are not supported. That means you can’t stream wirelessly and control your music at the same time, even if your device has Bluetooth.

The experience is seriously disjointed and can get quite confusing. When you’re listening via the included cable, you can use the in-line microphone button to control play / pause and skip forward / back, but on-ear controls don’t function. When wireless, you can only adjust the volume level on-ear but can’t control playback remotely at all. In fact, the skip forward / back buttons are only functional if you purchase a different Kleer dongle for a USB port or Apple dock connector. SMS Audio sells a Kleer USB adapter for $80, but it’s even larger than the included 3.5mm dongle and works with fewer devices.

Sound quality

Sound quality is good, but not $400 good

The pairing process was quick and easy, and after a few seconds the blue S logos on the earcups began blinking in tandem, signaling that the connection had been made. (Holding down the previous track button for a few seconds puts the headphones into “airplane mode,” which has no other purpose except to turn the lights off but could be useful for tricking pushy flight attendants.) Once paired, streaming audio is as simple as plugging the dongle into anything with a 3.5mm jack and pressing play on your device. So long as both the headphones and dongle are charged and powered on, you can listen wirelessly to almost anything with a headphone jack.

Most celebrity-endorsed headphones have been berated for terrible sound quality despite premium pricing, but I was pleasantly surprised by the Sync’s performance for the most part. Though wired performance slightly bests wireless, sounds were surprisingly good and crisp both ways — though there are caveats. I listen to bass- and synth-heavy electronic music for the most part, and sounds were punchy and full overall. At high volumes, there’s a slight tinny quality to the sound, plus a bit of distortion.

At lower levels, audio tended to sound a bit airy, lacking that same oomph that appeared as the level increased. I use a pair of similarly-priced Westone 4 in-ear monitors regularly, and when the volume levels were properly balanced, I was relatively satisfied with 50’s offering. The opening progression of Skrillex’s “Bangarang” sounded quite good, with the delicate staccato sounds all appearing distinct and punchy. More bass-heavy songs tended to be a little less defined, but almost everything sounded decent. TV shows purchased on iTunes did not sound particularly good, as voices sounded unnatural and flat overall. If you’re a hardcore audio enthusiast, you will not be satisfied with the Syncs. This is not what $400 headphones should sound like, and it’s a serious problem. Kleer is supposed to be better than Bluetooth, but its inclusion here results in nothing but negatives.

Volume control is a major issue for the Syncs, and there seems to be a different level for every different device at which audio starts sounding washed out rather than just feeling louder. Managing volume is also a huge pain: things aren’t terrible when you’re plugged in, but when you’re listening wirelessly you’ll have to control volume separately on both the headphones and your player. If you’re using a desktop app like iTunes or Spotify, there’s a third level thrown into the mix. This is a major pain point for almost all headphones, but swapping the dongle between devices and constantly adjusting levels proved to be quite frustrating. Each time I rotated between devices, I was forced to tweak the volume levels to optimize sound. I didn’t experience any real distortion, but there’s definitely a sweet spot for optimal sound quality and it’s a delicate balance to achieve. I found that it was better to leave the levels somewhere in the middle on the device-side, and fine-tune the volume level on-ear.

Built-in “Thumpp” bass-boost technology claims to enhance the bass in any track for a “body-shaking” experience, but the effect was minimal or barely noticeable during testing. To me it feels more like a marketing ploy than an actual bass-enhancing breakthrough.

50's trying to unseat Dre, but his headphones under-deliver

Sync by 50 is a decent first effort from SMS Audio, but it is a seriously flawed product for many reasons. The ideas are right but the execution leaves much to be desired: their large footprint and garish design is the opposite of understated; wireless listening is supposed to be a major selling point, but requires a clunky, easy-to-lose dongle; and the built-in controls don’t always work. Sound quality was better than I anticipated, but there are definitely better alternatives if you’re looking in the $400 range — both in-ear and on-ear. The Westone 4 is my go-to for a combination of sublime sound quality and comfortable design, while Sennheiser makes on-ear models in a similar price range with far better sound quality. These can’t really even compete with the Wireless Beats, since they don’t require a dongle and cost over $100 less. SMS Audio didn’t knock it out of the park with its first flagship offering, but it looks like a good starting point if the company can refine and improve the product moving forward.

Adobe Creative Cloud to be priced at $49.99 monthly, includes Creative Suite 6 and Lightroom 4

2012-02-06T21:23:06-05:00

Adobe Creative Cloud

Later in the first half of 2012, Adobe will introduce Creative Cloud, an end-to-end service offering that will grant users access to its upcoming Creative Suite 6 apps and provide ancillary services starting at $49.99 a month if you commit to a one year contract. The new software-as-a-service offering seems like a great deal, and when you compare $600 per year to $2,000 up-front, you’ll have to think long and hard about whether it’s worth it in the long term. Still, it’s not hard to connect the changes to the rampant piracy that’s plagued Adobe for years: a $49 entry price might lure in a lot of buyers who’d otherwise head straight to a torrent site.

The service will launch alongside Creative Suite 6 sometime later in the first half of this year, at which point subscribers will be able to download all apps individually on up to two different machines. To sweeten the deal Adobe is bundling 20GB of cloud storage, device- and desktop-syncing, and access to the full gamut of Adobe touch apps introduced late last year. It also brings tools to help in the actual publishing stage, including Business Catalyst for web hosting, Typekit, and Digital Publishing Suite, a solution for turning static content into interactive iPad applications. Adobe promises to deliver new major feature updates to those who sign up, leaving retail purchasers — and pirates — waiting until the next major release to gain added functionality. The company blames subscription accounting principles as the reason for leaving up-front customers in a lurch, but it has the added side effect of making a subscription that much more enticing.

To attract businesses that currently volume license its offerings, Adobe will introduce a team option with added collaboration and security features in the fall for $69.99 per user. After Lightroom 4 loses its beta status, that app will also be included — though it will not be added to Creative Suite 6. Finally, new web-authoring apps Muse and Edge will come to Creative Cloud before the end of the year.

One thing to remember is that not everyone buys software each year, and you could very well end up paying more in the long-run by signing for a subscription than by upgrading every few years. We’ll see if Adobe’s experiment with subscription pricing pays off for the company and its users in the years to come, but it’s nice to see a real attempt to change software pricing in the modern era.

WSJ confirms BlackBerry PlayBook ‘revamp’ in the works

2012-01-22T21:42:37-05:00

playbook 2

In its report detailing the corporate shakeup at RIM, the Wall Street Journal also seems to confirm that the company is hard at work on an update to its PlayBook tablet. The article doesn’t specify whether this is the previously-rumored 10-inch Black Forest tablet or something else altogether, but the wording certainly suggests a hardware update. Along with the first BlackBerry 10 phone, the Journal says the new tablet is one of the company’s “two biggest projects,” so hopefully we’ll be hearing more soon.

GPD’s Glass Multitouch Keyboard hands-on

2012-01-13T18:13:51-05:00

Gallery Photo: Glass Multitouch Keyboard hands-on pictures

The Glass Multitouch Keyboard by Giddings Product Development is a futuristic piece of technology that was recently funded on Kickstater, but it seems too outlandish to be real. It’s essentially a curved piece of Gorilla Glass 2 that uses frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) to register touches across the 19-inch wide surface area, while the circuitry will live in its base. We saw a non-working prototype with a traditional QWERTY and numpad etched on it, but it will come as a completely clear slab.

It works by sending IR beams through the edge-lit glass continuously, and two cameras below the glass capture your finger’s location when the touch disrupts the signals. It will be capable of multitouch gestures, offer custom layouts, pack Bluetooth and USB connectivity, and simulate tactile feedback with its built in speakers. Windows, Mac, and iOS compatibility are all planned — and it’s the software that will either make or break this device. Creator Jason Giddings told us the software will purportedly be intelligent enough to allow resting fingers on the display, which is a common gripe with many current touchscreen keyboards.

While this sort of technology isn’t entirely new, its application into a computer peripheral is novel. The project raised nearly $150,000 on Kickstarter and attracted the attention of Swiss software company SST, who invested in the concept and has committed to help make it work. After the first batch goes out to $250 Kickstarter backers in “early May,” units will start shipping to Europe for medical use. To be honest, we’ll have to hold off judgment until we can try a working model for ourselves, but if it actually ends up working as advertised it could be one of the most interesting keyboards out there.

Glass Multitouch Keyboard hands-on pictures

2012-01-13T17:51:57-05:00