Gadgets & Tech
Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 7 Competition
722 weeks ago
I have been given a copy of Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 7 to give away to a Splodz Blogz reader.
This follows me being given a copy to review – head to the previous post to read what I made of it.
The prize is a copy of Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 7 (which the winner can download directly from the site) for one winner.
To enter you need to comment on this post answering the below question AND either like Magix over on Facebook or follow them on Twitter (please tell me in your comment which of these you have done).
The question for you to answer:
Who would you like to have your photo taken with and why?
This competition will run for two weeks, so you have until Monday 14th May to enter. I will choose the winner using my usual random number generator method.
The Rules
- This competition is open to UK residents only.
- You must be aged 18 years old or over at the time of entry.
- The competition closes at 8pm on Monday 14th May 2012.
- Entry is by making a relevant comment on this post and by liking Magix on facebook or following them on twitter.
- Entrants must include a valid email address in the box provided (will not be published). This is so I can contact you if you win.
- You can only enter once. If you post more than one comment only your first will count as entry into the competition.
- Members of my immediate family cannot enter (sorry!).
- The winner will be picked at random from all eligible entries and be announced on Splodz Blogz soon after the closing date.
- The prize is a full copy of Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 7 (the winner will need to download it from the website, I will provide the authorisation code).
- The winner must respond to their email from Splodz Blogz within two days or I reserve the right to re-draw.
- Your details will only be used for the purpose of this competition.
- You don’t get any extra entries for tweeting or posting about this competition anywhere, but I don’t mind if you do (go on… you know you want to!).
- Oh… and my decision is final (I like saying that!).
The best way to find out first who won this competition is to subscribe to Splodz Blogz by email or in a reader. Use the links over on the right to do this. You can also like Splodz Blogz on facebook, google+ and twitter if you fancy it!
Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 7
12 weeks ago
Xara is a photo editing and graphic design software in one.
I received a copy of version 7 of the Photo and Graphic Designer software to try out. As you know I take a lot of photos and I like to use Adobe PhotoShop to edit these where needed. But with a full version of CS5 costing £400 or there abouts it is always wise to look at cheaper options – Magix Photo and Graphic Designer currently costs £69.99 – so is it any good and can it compete?
Photo Editing
What I want from photo editing software is the ability to easily crop and change levels on my images. And Xara was totally intuitive when it came to opening, cropping, resizing and changing the levels on my photos. Simple and very easy – the window is well designed with all the icons easy to find. Actually I should say I found the icons a little big, and couldn’t see an option to reduce them in size. On my wide screen it didn’t matter too much but anyone using a normal 4:3 monitor might find the size of the menus a bit intrusive.
Xara includes auto exposure, white balance and colour which worked well I thought on standard landscape shots I took on my DSLR but beware of splashes of colour you may have like a bright coloured top as it sometimes read those a bit out and changed the colour completely. You can do all three manually though, of course, so don’t feel you have to rely on the auto options, it’s just a useful time saving tool.
I gave the panorama a quick play. Panorama tools are fab… I have had to stitch photos by hand in PhotoShop in the past and it is very laborious. I found this fairly simple – the four sliders blend the images together. Maybe a tad fiddly to get it just right, but certainly not as complicated as doing it totally manually, these sliders give you a great deal of control.
Another useful and quick and easy tool is the red eye removal, which worked very well. Oh and the “level horizon” tool is something that is just totally useful, kind of an auto-crop tool that rotates the image within the frame to give you a perfectly horizontal photo – ideal if you didn’t quite have the camera level when you took your landscape…!
Batch processing is something I use a lot, mainly for resizing a whole load of images for use on my blog without having to do it per photo. Xara allows you to edit a group of photos at once, copying settings from one image to the rest. As with the other features I was impressed with how easy it was although I did have to look up how to do it in the first place.
And you’ll be pleased to know that there is built in support for RAW files for current camera models – including my D3100 (there is a full list of supported RAW formats on their website).
Design
The other part of this software is the ability to design cards, icons, adverts, and other graphic elements. This part of the program looks pretty much the same as the photo editing part, but with slightly different tools, including things like shapes, text, fill etc.
There is a selection of templates to use that you load up by double clicking, after which you can edit them as much or as little as you like. Things like photo albums, certificates, business cards, cards, CD labels, letterheads and posters are included. Adding a photograph to your publication or changing the text is very simple – just select the correct tool and off you go.
You can also create vector graphics – logos for example – using freehand drawing and pre-set shapes. Apparently you can control this application using a tablet too.
Splodz Blogz Verdict
I really have only just touched on some of the main features of this program that I have used over the last 2/3 weeks, there is loads more going on here and I’m sure I will discover lots more useful elements as time goes on. But from what I have seen so far I’m happy to recommend this software for image manipulation and desktop publishing. At £70 it is vastly cheaper than the market leader, and seems to be worth that amount. It is very quick to get started with – finding your way around and using the featured tools is intuitive – and there are lots of online guides and help files to help you make the most of it.
I’d say this is ideal for beginners wanting a decent but cost effective editing package. The large icons and step-by-step instructions make this software accessible. Having said that, there is a lot going on so there plenty get to grips with for the more advanced user if you have time to play and learn the software properly.
Disclaimer: I was given this product for free to review on Splodz Blogz, but I have not been told what to write and I have been no less honest as a result.
iDuck Bathroom Speaker and Radio
23 weeks ago
iDuck is a waterproof wireless speaker for your MP3 player, mobile phone or CD player with a built in bathroom radio. Find Me A Gift sent me one to try out.
Once you’ve added five AAA batteries (not included) the iDuck is very easy to set up and use, I didn’t need the instructions.
The radio has a simple scan system – no digital pre-sets or analogue gauge, just press the scan button until you’ve reached your desired station. This makes the product very clean of buttons, so it has been easy to waterproof. It does the job fine, I found the signal was good enough, but it’s not exactly advanced tech.
Apart from the radio this is also a wireless speaker. Plug your iPhone or other music player to the egg-shaped transmitter via the 3.5mm jack cable (included) and flick the duck over to speaker. Set your music going and you can listen to your music collection in the bath or shower without having your device anywhere near the water. I tested this at home with the duck in the bathroom and the transmitter in every other room – it just about worked from all the bedrooms upstairs (our bathroom is pretty central) but not from downstairs, it stopped once you were half way down the stairs. There was some interference to start with but pressing the scan/reset button a couple of times sorted that out. Once I’d ‘paired’ the transmitter with the speaker it worked first time each time I used it without any problems. As with all transmitters of this type, you have to be careful of where you put both the transmitter and receiver – a bit of trial and error might be needed, but I was able to get a pretty good signal to be able to listen to my music without difficulty.
As you might expect, the downfall in this product is the speaker. It’s a very small, very cheap speaker surrounded in plastic, which leads to a cheap sound. I love my music and appreciate excellent sound quality but this just isn’t that. But then for under £25 and in a speaker designed for use in your bathroom you don’t expect beautiful music so it’s forgivable.
There are just two volume settings, low and high, so you have very little control. Actually the low setting is still quite loud, and the high setting very loud.
Oh and for the record, it does float in the bath… but I shall always leave mine on the side in the interest of safety!
Let’s face it, this is a novelty item (and is marketed as such), but it does have some use. If you can forgive the lack of quality in the speaker then you’ll be fine with this. Certainly makes a great gift.
The iDuck floating bathroom radio and speaker costs £23.99 from Find Me A Gift.
Disclaimer: I was sent this product for free to review on Splodz Blogz, but I have not been told what to write and I have been no less honest as a result.
Winding Roads Please TomTom
23 weeks ago
Do you use TomTom on your iPhone? If you do, then you’ll have recently had to download quite a large update to the app – including updated maps as well as some other updated/new features.
One of the features has been included for people just like me. People who’d rather not take the route everyone else takes. People who are as interested in the journey as they are in the destination. People who ride motorbikes.
Added into the route options alongside fastest, shortest and avoid motorways is a new type… winding roads.
Yes please!
As an example I did a very quick route from the centre of Lincoln to Newark. This is very straightforward trip along the A46, which is dual carriageway all the way once you’re out of the city. TomTom said on Friday lunchtime (using IQ Routes) it would take 26 minutes and I would travel 14.8 miles. Changing the setting to “winding roads” I ended up with a much more scenic route taking 39 minutes and taking me 18.7 miles through some of Lincolnshire’s villages.
Okay so the chances are that if I wanted to go to Newark from Lincoln I would always use the A46, but thinking about holidays and Saturday ride-outs this winding roads option is going to get well used. It will be lovely to take a relaxed biker-friendly route through the countryside taking in the sights and lolloping around the corners. A very nice addition to the application, thanks TomTom.
Actually I haven’t mentioned it on Splodz Blogz before but I really do like the TomTom iPhone app. It’s an excellent navigation system. I don’t use sat nav on my motorbike, I tend to pre-plan routes and memorise them, but I do use the TomTom app to help with the planning before I go. The app works brilliantly on iPad too which makes planning even easier with the bigger screen.
In the car and for planning it beats my Garmin Nuvi (bought because our very old TomTom burnt out and it was the best spec option for the money we had at the time) hands down. And I don’t have to take a separate piece of kit in the car or away with me. It is draining on the battery though so an in-car charger is a must if you don’t have the proper TomTom cradle.
Gadget Show World Tour
03 weeks ago
So what did you think of the new series of Gadget Show? The Gadget Show World Tour is a new take on the Channel Five television show.
It was a couple of months ago that Suzi Perry, Ortis Deley and Jon Bentley tweeted that they’d been sacked. No idea what went on there but some fans went a bit mental. I was certainly disappointed. How dare Channel Five get rid of our favourite presenters and as such ruin the programme!
Thankfully all five presenters were part of Gadget Show Live this year.
The new programme is Jason Bradbury and Pollyanna Woodward travelling the globe trying out tech. The first episode, filmed in Tokyo, Japan, was full of what I love about The Gadget Show – demonstrating new tech and showing how it can be used in a ridiculous challenge. I enjoyed it, the style was as it’s always been, and it was great seeing Jason do what he obviously loves – playing with robots. Although I’m not sure of the interview style pieces to camera when Jason and Pollyanna were reflecting on the tech – the voices seemed a bit put on and over emotive, obviously rehearsed.
The first episode was good but am still disappointed Suzi, Ortis and Jon are missing. I love Jason and Pollyanna and they do a great job joining tech with entertainment, but I wonder if just the two of them will get a bit monotonous as the series goes on when we are used to five people.
Go on then… what did you think?
PS If you missed it, the first episode of The Gadget Show World Tour is repeated on Channel 5 tomorrow (Wednesday 25th April) at 7pm.
Paper for iPad
13 weeks ago
This is a lovely looking, nice to use app that makes the most of the iPad especially if you also have a stylus. Instinctive to use, as all apps should be, this is a sketching and doodling app that you can use to create some quite beautiful drawings.
Well you could create some beautiful drawings if you had the time and the skill…
The idea here is that you have a whole load of sketch books, that you can add to and customise yourself. Each one can be for a different purpose. Maybe you like to sketch when on holiday – create a book for each trip. Each book has from 10 pages which you tap on to use. Navigate your way through each book by swiping, and use the pinch motion to close the book and open a different one.
I really like the way this app allows you to sketch properly. Using the nib pen tool (the default tool) you can draw thin even lines if you use slow even strokes, and more calligraphic lines if you “swoosh” faster across the screen. It’s lovely, feels really close to using an actual pen (even better when you use a stylus).
Once you’ve finished a drawing, or some jotted notes (although I can’t see why you’d use this for writing copious amounts of notes, there are plenty of decent note taking apps that use a keyboard for that), you can email a page to yourself, or share it on facebook or twitter. The email tool is very useful if you want to share an idea with a friend.
This app’s downfall, though, is that to use anything other than a normal nib pen you have to make an in-app purchase. It’s such a shame. I’d rather pay something for an app in the first place and then have the whole thing to use as I want. I really don’t like in-app purchasing, although this isn’t quite as bad as when you download a game only to discover you can’t play it until you pay some money. I guess the argument is that Paper is perfectly fine with just the pen if you are happy with the single stroke type, and so you don’t necessarily need the additional tools, like a pencil, fineliner or brush. These cost £1.49 each or £5.49 for all five. And I guess they never run out like an actual pen. But it does limit what you can actually do. It’s nice that Paper is free to begin with, just a shame that it’s not the full thing.
That aside, I do like Paper, and enjoy doodling on it. If you’ve got an iPad and enjoy drawing then this is a must-have app at least to have a play with.
