Posts Tagged ‘mac’

OSX Screen Saver — ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment

mks

I have created a simple screen saver for NASA Earth Viewing Experiment. This is a live stream from space station mixed with Soma FM Mission Control audio stream.

Download NASA OSX Screen Saver

About the mission:

The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment aboard the ISS was activated April 30, 2014. It is mounted on the External Payload Facility of the European Space Agency’s Columbus module. This experiment includes several commercial HD video cameras aimed at the earth which are enclosed in a pressurized and temperature controlled housing. Video from these cameras is transmitted back to earth and also streamed live on this channel. While the experiment is operational, views will typically sequence though the different cameras. Between camera switches, a gray and then black color slate will briefly appear. Since the ISS is in darkness during part of each orbit, the images will be dark at those times. During periods of loss of signal with the ground or when HDEV is not operating, a gray color slate or previously recorded video may be seen.

Analysis of this experiment will be conducted to assess the effects of the space environment on the equipment and video quality which may help decisions about cameras for future missions. High school students helped with the design of some of the HDEV components through the High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) program. Student teams will also help operate the experiment. To learn more about the HDEV experiment, visit here.

For a display of the real time ISS location plus the HDEV imagery, visit here.

Quick notes about hdev video:

Black Image = International Space Station (ISS) is on the night side of the Earth.
Gray Image = Switching between cameras, or communications with the ISS is not available.

Pixelmator 3.0 FX

Pixelmator 3.0 FX

The Pixelmator Team today announced Pixelmator 3.0 FX, the most advanced version of Pixelmator to date, featuring Layer Styles, Liquify Tools, and support for new features in OS X Mavericks, delivering blazing fast performance with its new, state-of-the-art image editing engine. Pixelmator 3.0 FX is available today as a free upgrade from the Mac App Store.

Pixelmator 3.0 FX introduces Layer Styles. Now creating advanced and polished compositions is so much simpler, faster, and more enjoyable. Quickly apply shadows and inner shadows, beautiful gradients, create outlines, or reflections. Or apply a combination of effects with any of the great-looking Layer Styles presets. The best part is that all of this is done non-destructively.

via Pixelmator Blog

Dropbox for Mac Beta – Screenshot Sharing and iPhoto Import.

dropbox-beta

Today, Dropbox has released a new public beta for Mac that contains some noteworthy new functionalities to speed up the process of adding files to your Dropbox account through the Finder, and particularly images.

My favorite one is an automatic screenshot sharing feature!

Download Dropbox Beta

iMac 27″ 2011 vs 2013 direct sunlight test.

iMac 27 2011 vs 2013

Maximum brightness on both screens, same light conditions (angel, amount etc).
Feel the difference!

The New MacBook Pro

The new 15.4″ Retina-ready, 2.3 GHz quad-core i7, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB flash next generation MacBook Pro ships today at $2199. The higher-end version with 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz, 8GB of memory and 512GB of flash storage starts at $2799. Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.7 GHz, up to 16GB of memory and flash storage up to 768GB.

Starting today, customers who purchase a Mac will also get a free copy of Mountain Lion when it ships later this summer.

(more…)

Skype 5.6 For Mac

Skype 5.6 For Mac Released with Automatic Updates, Lion Full-Screen, New Group Video Calling UI.

Skype 5.6 is a recommended update for all Skype for Mac users (it also contains bug fixes), and it can be downloaded here.

Drops App

Drops AppDrops launches with unlimited file storage, cross-platform support and a beautiful web interface.

Drops lets you to upload and manage your files effortlessly. We offer unlimited storage for your files. Also, Drops ships with cross-platform desktop application, so you can upload files from anywhere and manage them from beautiful web interface.

With Drops you don’t need to worry about file storage limits. We provide unlimited file storage for all of our users, irrespective of the plan they use, free or paid. We use Amazon S3 for fast uploading/downloading speed, so you know that your files are safe and secure. Moreover, your files will never expire. There is only a size limit for each file, which can be extended with upgrade to Premium plan.

Sprite Master Web

Sprite Master Web is an sprite sheet generator tool for Mac users. It helps you to generate sprite sheet images and write CSS files automatically. Speeds-up your site with single image request.

It has advanced algorithms to order your sprites and generate smallest sprite sheet. Also, you can trim your sprite images or add padding.

Sprite Master Web is a must-have tool for every web developer. Take a look at the web site for more information. You can go to iTunes page here.

Tip for Youtube Developers

Im just trying to apply better optimization to the original youtube sprite image:

Original (34.98 KB):
youtube sprite image
Optimized (13.64 KB):

Optimized image (right one) – more than twice smaller in size, but pretty identical visually.

Im using free tools for this optimization, ImageAlpha and then ImageOptim.

Thanks for attention!