Apple issues software installer update

Apple has released a small update for its Software Update service, which addresses a problem with Snow Leopard systems where the installers for some software updates may not run. This issue does not happen for all software updates, so only a select few people will experience updates not installing; however, without being patched, the issue might surface with future updates that Apple releases.
On systems where this problem happens, the Software Update utility will detect updates as being available, but when you click to install them, nothing will happen. If you are having such problems on your system, then you might try downloading and running this latest patch. The patch should be available via Software Update for systems running OS X 10.6.8, so be sure you have applied the latest OS update in order to install this patch (don't worry, it does not require itself in order to install). In addition to using Software Update, the patch can also be downloaded from the update's Web site.
When installed, your system will have a new version of the PackageKit framework that is used for handling the .pkg installer files that are used to distribute software updates from Apple and third-party developers, and will also replace some launch agent and daemon files in the System folder. You should not need to reboot your system after applying this update; however, doing so will ensure the new launch daemons and framework executables load properly after updating.

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How to control music without switching tabs in Chrome

Whether you're the DJ at your workplace or you just like to browse Web radio at home, there are a zillion options for listening to your favorite tunes. One drawback of Web-based listening is keeping track of the tab that's playing the music when you need to backtrack, skip ahead, or otherwise control the flow. Unity Player is a great, free Chrome extension that lets you use basic controls from any tab. Here's how to use it:

• Install Unity Player here. 
• You should now have an icon in the upper right of Chrome that looks like a musical note. When you've got music playing in some other Chrome tab, just click that icon to bring up a small control panel featuring the album art.
  

  Unity Player in action.

  (Credit: Rob Lightner/CNET)
• Skip ahead, pause, backtrack, thumbs-up, or thumbs-down as you wish. 
• You can also click the album art thumbnail to bring up the tab that is playing the music if you want to make changes or close it entirely. 

That's it! The range of music apps covered is fairly broad and includes Grooveshark, Turntable.fm, Google Music, and Pandora. There's no support for Spotify or Last.fm yet, but I'd expect the developers to add them pretty quickly if they can. (Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET.)

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Name your own price for a four-game Android bundle

The Humble Bundle for Android 2 includes four games--five if you pay at least the average selling price. And you also get desktop versions.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET)

I love a good game bundle. And the Humble Bundle folks are back with another one that's just for Android users. Well, sort of--it's also for Windows, Mac, and Linux users.
The Humble Bundle for Android 2 comes with four indie games: Avadon: The Black Fortress, Canabalt, Cogs, and Zen Bound 2. Purchased separately, they'd cost you around $57 (almost--see below).
When you buy the bundle, however, you set the price. Two bucks. Twenty cents. A 10-spot. A portion of the proceeds (whatever portion you want, in fact) can go to charity, so it's not crazy to open your wallet a bit more than you otherwise might.
But wait, it gets better. If you pay more than the average purchase price (currently $6.36), you get a bonus game: Swords & Soldiers, which is actually debuting for Android and Linux as part of this deal. (It was previously just for Windows and Mac.) Just to clarify, it's that fifth game that brings the bundle's value to $57.
I can't say I'm familiar with most of these titles. I have played Canabalt, and it's a blast. But having checked out the promo video, which has clips from all five games, I think they all look pretty good. A little something for everyone.
And as I mentioned earlier, the bundle includes not only the Android versions of these games, but also the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions. You even get the game soundtracks, a nice little perk.
As with previous Humble Bundles, you can decide how your payment gets divided among the developers, a pair of charities (Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation), and the bundlers. Pretty cool arrangement.
This is a great way to score some terrific games on the cheap. And if you're feeling philanthropic, it's a great way to score some terrific games and help some worthy causes. Win-win.

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Speed up file sorting dramatically in Windows

If you need to move lots of files into different locations, you can start to see double pretty quickly. This makes it easy to make mistakes, and of course it's not the most efficient process even when you're at your best. Pneumatic Tubes File Router is a free app for Windows that lets you set up destinations and then quickly drag and drop files or add them to a "conveyor belt" for easy sorting. Here's how it works:

• Download and install Pneumatic Tubes File Router here. 
• The first time you run it, click the green plus-sign icon in the upper left to create new pipes. Just select a location, a name, and an icon (if you like). You can also add a hotkey for each destination. 
• Once you've got your destinations set up, you can either drag and drop files from Explorer or other file managers straight into your pipes, or toggle the conveyor belt. This opens a folder (the default is the root directory, but you can go anywhere) and lets you flip between files and send them down a pipe easily.

Pneumatic Tubes File Router

(Credit: Rob Lightner/CNET)

That's it! Pneumatic Tubes is quite simple, but makes file sorting so much easier that it's worth a try

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With CS6, Photoshop takes a step toward Videoshop

Photoshop CS6 provides video-editing features, including the ability to apply tone and color changes from Photoshop's photo-editing tools. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Don't beat yourself up if you didn't know that some modest video editing abilities are tucked into the premium version of Photoshop CS5.
But expect a lot more starting today, when Adobe Systems releases an open beta version of Photoshop CS6 code-named Superstition.
The new version brings video from the higher-priced Extended version of Photoshop to the standard version, and it adds editing features such as the ability to apply Photoshop tone and color adjustments. And instead of relying on Apple's QuickTime, the new tool draws from Adobe technology elsewhere in the Creative Suite, such as the Adobe Media Encoder to handle a broad range of video formats for the full-fledged video tool, Premiere Pro.
For a detailed look at how well it works, look at CNET's hands-on look at Photoshop CS6 from my colleague Lori Grunin. And the software--a beta version of Photoshop CS6 Extended, is downloadable from Adobe Labs or Download.com.
The Photoshop video move reflects the spread of video technology to customers who might not have shot video before.

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Point-and-shoot digital cameras have been able to shoot video for years, but it's still a relative novelty among SLRs, the camera of choice for photo enthusiasts and pros. And mobile phones are doing better, with 1080p shooting now a common high-end feature.
Despite the trend, though, many people were just letting their videos languish, Adobe concluded after conducting some research, said Zorana Gee, a Photoshop product manager.
"It's become much more important in the last couple years, especially with new cameras and with all the photographers now starting to shoot video. Many devices now originally focused on taking still images now take videos, and often very good quality video," Gee said. However, she said, "Research showed people aren't doing anything with their videos. They just can't find the time, they might not want to learn a new app, they might not be a Premiere customer, or they don't consider themselves [Premiere] Elements user."
Thus, Adobe decided to put video in front of customers, mirroring what it's done with Lightroom 4.
Lightroom 4 has only basic editing abilities, though: customers can trim videos and apply editing presets. In contrast, Photoshop can be used to composite multiple videos, adding basic transition effects like a gradual crossfade from one clip to another or a fade to black at the end.
And it integrates with other Photoshop features.
"We have all of Photoshop capabilities available. Want black and white? Create a black-and-white adjustment layer. Lens correction? Pop into the lens correction [module]. If I want to add a type layer, I can," Gee said.
The new Photoshop includes a wide range of other new features, many of them previewed on YouTube. Among them:

• More sophisticated tools to fill in patches left when imagery is moved or erased.
• Blur effects to restrict focus only to a spot or spots, or to apply a tilt-shift lens effects.
• Better automatic photo corrections that compares a shot to a database of thousands of images to try to predict the intended outcome.
• A new dark user interface by default.
• Better vector editing abilities such as dashed lines.
• Raw-image editing controls also used in Lightroom 4 to better handle the full range contrasting light and dark tones.
• A big boost from the graphics chip for many tasks using technology called the Mercury Graphics Engine that's closely related to the GPU-based Mercury Playback Engine that debuted in Premiere Pro CS5.
"We're wrapping our whole GPU [graphics processing unit] pipeline over the Mercury Playback Engine," Gee said. For graphics chores, Adobe uses the OpenGL standard as the interface for hardware acceleration.
For some computing tasks that run on the GPU, the CS5 graphics engine uses Nvidia's CUDA technology. That technology choice limited the engine to Nvidia cards--and indeed to high-end cards unless you hacked around a little. But Photoshop CS6 uses OpenCL, a related technology that works with AMD and Intel graphics, too. Windows driver support isn't the best, but Adobe believes GPU acceleration in general is much better.
"We're much more flexible and broad in terms of the cards we support," Gee said. At least 256MB of video RAM is needed, and some features don't work on Windows XP.
Technologies that use GPU acceleration include the blur technology, puppet warp, transformations, and a refurbished cropping tool.
When the final version is released (it's due the first half of this year), it'll cost $699 for the standard version and $999 for extended. Upgrades cost $199 and $399, respectively. Adobe hasn't released subscription pricing yet beyond saying Photoshop Extended is included in the $600-per-year Creative Cloud subscription, which also includes the rest of the Creative Suite, the tablet-oriented Touch apps, some other product like Lightroom and Edge, and various online services.
Here's Adobe's Russell Brown (breathlessly) showing off a half-dozen features in Photoshop CS6:
Here's Adobe's full list of new features; check below for the list of niggling "just-do-it" (JDI) items, many suggested by customers.
General
• Dark UI
• UI Consistency
• Properties Panel (Adjustments/Masks/3D)
• Lighting Effects Gallery
• Presets (Migrate Presets and Import/Export)
• Crop (all new and redesigned)
• Patch Tool w/Content-Aware Option
• Content-Aware Move Tool (formerly the Remix Tool)
• Scripted Patterns (Fill/Pattern)
• Contact Sheet II plug-in back in app
• PDF Presentation back in the app
• File Import Image from Device now includes ImageKit scanning and camera acquisition support
• Minibridge UI tweaks--Filmstrip Mode
• MENA Support (Middle-East and North African text support)
• Rich Cursor information throughout the app (i.e. Crop, Transform, Move, Vectors, etc.)

GPU/Performance
• GPU Warp Transform
• GPU Puppet Warp Preview
• GPU Liquify--Button for last Liquify used and Cmd + F works
• GPU Oil Paint (Pixel Bender) Artistic Filter
• Adaptive Wide Angle
• Lighting Effects and Blur Galleries
• Background Save, Auto-Save and Auto Recover

Photographers
• ACR 7--Local controls for White Balance and Noise Reduction, new black/white and highlight/shadow controls
• Blur Gallery (Tilt-Shift, Iris and Field Blur)
• Video (No longer limited to Extended)--Video Group Layers
• Adaptive Wide Angle--Includes support for panoramas!
• Face-Aware Mask Generation--Change to Color Range
• Intelligent Auto-Correction

Designers
• Type Styles
• Type Menu (Insert Lorem Ipsum JDI)
• New Dictionaries
• Improved Font Rendering--Gamma setting in Color Settings
• Pixel Accuracy/Snap to Pixels
• New Vector Layers
• Styles on Groups
• Stack of top JDI's specifically for designers
• Layer Search

Painting
• Erodible Tips
• Airbrush Tips
• Brush Rotation for Static Tips
• Oil Paint Filter (Pixel Bender)
• New presets • JDI's specifically for painters
• Painting Performance, CPU and GPU
• Default Tablet Pose Parameters for Mouse Film Industry
• 10-bit Monitor Support
• 3D LUTs, color adjustments

Printing
• Completely Redesigned Print Dialog
• Print Selected Area is back and the selection can be adjusted in the Print Dialog
• "Edit" button added for the description field in the Print Dialog
• When using Photoshop Manages Colors, the list of profiles is now filtered to hide profiles that are inappropriate for your currently selected printer
• Users can change the "preview well" background color in the Print Dialog to better suit their needs

Here's a video from Adobe's Julieanne Kost highlighting some top features:
And here's the JDI list. Adobe lets its programmers tackle these if they can bang out the change in a day or three, Gee said.
Brushes
• HUD brush resize and hardness can now change opacity
• Increase brush size to 5000px
• Change color dynamics to per stroke instead of per tip (user option for old behavior)
• Brightness/contrast slider for textures when painting
• Brush projection for static tips
• Brush cursor reflects brush dynamics for round and captured tips
Eyedropper
• Show the sample size popup for the various eyedropper tools (black point, white point, etc.)
• Add ignore adjustment layers options bar item for the eyedropper
• New mode for eyedropper to select layers current and below

File formats
• Read common stereo image pair formats (JPS, PNS) Allow for more bit depths in TIFF files
• Read BIGTIFF format
• Give the user choices regarding how they want transparency treated in OpenEXR on file open
Grammar
• Policed throughout app
• Use consistent grammar style in the title of dialog windows (no commands such as "Choose a color:")
Layers
• Add a contextual menu item that deletes a layer effect not just disables it
• Add dither options to Layer Styles for Gradient Overlay and Gradient Stroke
• Allow 00 or Shift 00 to work when setting layer/fill opacity (previously no way to get 0%)
• Add bicubic sharper & bicubic smoother options when free transforming layers
• Allow changing of blend modes for multiple layers at once
• Allow locking of multiple layers
• CMD+J to duplicate layers and layer group
• Allow changing color labels to multiple layers at once
• Layer tooltips to include layer name (if defined)
• Opt+click on toggle arrows (groups and effects) in layer panel should close all targets
• Show blend if/Blending Effects badge on layer
• Show correct opacity and blend mode values for hidden layers
• Tab goes to next layer on inline layer rename, SHIFT + TAB goes to previous
• New command to raster layer effect into layer, merging the selected layers into themselves
• Reorder effects in the layers palette to match the Z-order style/blend mode (bottom most effects in terms of blending order, drop shadow is below the other effects
Liquify
• Resize Liquify brush with shortcuts
• Increase maximum Liquify brush size Add option to load last mesh
Presets
• Add new document presets for common devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad, etc.)
• Add new Gradient Map presets for toning and split toning
• Sticky reorganization of tool presets (changes persist after re-launch)
• Add Contact Sheet II as an Automation option

SDK
• Add the ability to return an array of guides in a document from the scripting SDK
• Add ability to access tool name associated with the tool preset name via scripting

Selections
• Make the marquee, lasso, and mask panel feather values support decimal places like the feather dialog
• Remember feather radius when showing dialog for selection from a path

Transform
• Improve dragging of vector curves
• Don't hide smart object icon when transforming a layer
• Rotate 90 with even x odd pixel dimension to be smooth (bjango.com)
• Undo or disable auto-rotate on open

UI
• Remove the app bar and reduce the drag/app bar over 30%
• [Windows] New/open document to context click on a document tab (has always been on Mac, now on Windows too)
• Add "Don't show again" checkbox to Purge warnings

Miscellaneous
• Enable Split Channels for documents with layers
• Select Hex field by default and allow clipboard pastes with # in contents (i.e. #fffffff)
• Increased GPU stability by prequalifying GPUs on the fly before use
• Auto-select the best resample method based on the type of resize
• Enable Invert and Threshold adjustments for masks in 32-bit
• Hold SHIFT during startup to disable 3rd party plugins
• Add warning message that 16-bit images cannot display their file size in the Save as JPEG dialog o Add command to insert "lorem ipsum" for type

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The best ways to format an external drive for Windows and Mac

(Credit: Photo by Sharon Vaknin/CNET)

If you need to expand your storage space with an external hard drive and you use both Mac and PC, you'll likely run into a few obstacles. Hard drives advertised as being compatible with Windows and Mac OS may have misled you into thinking you could actually use one hard drive for both computers.
You can, but not out of the box.
Most external hard drives (HD) are sold in a format called NTFS, which is designed to work with Windows. Macs read and write to a different format, called HFS+. Another format, called FAT32 is compatible with both OS platforms. Here's a look at how the different HD format types function:

FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
- Natively read/write FAT32 on Windows and Mac OS X.
- Maximum file size: 4GB
- Maximum volume size: 2TB
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
- Natively read/write NTFS on Windows. - Read-only NTFS on Mac OS X
- Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and above but has proven instable.
- Maximum file size: 16 TB
- Maximum volume size: 256TB
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, aka Mac OS Extended)
- Natively read/write HFS+ on Mac OS X
- Required for Time Machine
- Maximum file size: 8EiB
- Maximum volume size: 8EiB

Isn't FAT32 the obvious solution?

According to the list above, formatting your hard drive to FAT32 so that you can read and write on either OS seems like the obvious solution. The video and directions below will guide you through the process, but before you format your HD to FAT32, beware of these drawbacks:

• FAT32 offers no security, unlike NTFS, which allows you to set permissions. If your HD gets into the wrong hands, that person will be able to access your data.
• The max size for any given file stored on a FAT32-formatted HD is 4GB. So, for example, if you want to store a 9GB movie, it will be impossible.
• In general, FAT32 drives are more susceptible to disk errors.
• It's not a huge issue, but FAT32 is less efficient at storing files. Its large cluster sizes waste disk space, unlike the other HD storage formats.

If you've considered these issues and would still like to use FAT32, this video will guide you through the process of formatting your HD to FAT32 using a Windows or Mac PC:

OK, what are my alternatives to using FAT32?

The good news is, it's not FAT32 or nothing. The alternative solutions do require more tinkering, but if you do not want to risk FAT32's lack of security, choose from one of the following alternatives.
Option 1: Format to NTFS, and use NTFS-3G to read/write on Mac.
If you keep your hard drive's out-of-the-box NTFS format for all the reasons FAT32 displeases, there's a workaround that will allow your Mac to read and write files to the drive. NTFS-3G is an open-source program that, when coupled with MacFuse, will let you use your NTFS drive on your Mac. However, it is an open-source program, so use it at your own risk. Many have vouched for its success, but others complain about bugs.
The commercial solution, which will give you access to support and software updates, is Paragon NTFS. It's $20, offers Lion support, and you get a five-day trial to try before you buy.
Option 2: Format to HFS+, and use HFS Explorer to read/write on PC.
Conversely, you can format the HD to HFS+ and use HFSExplorer for Windows to read and write to the Mac-formatted hard drive. To get started, you'll first have to format the hard drive from NTFS to HFS+. Here's how:

Plug your HD into the Mac and open Disk Utility, which can be accessed by searching for it in Spotlight. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar. Now go to the Erase tab. In the Volume Format list, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then, click Erase at the bottom to format the drive. Please note that this will complete erase the drive. Any data you want to keep on that drive must be backed up elsewhere first.

Now that the hard drive is formatted to HFS+, install HFSExplorer (free) on your Windows machine to get read and write access to the drive. This is an open-source program, so use it at your own risk. Alternatively, you can opt for paid software like MacDrive instead.
Option 3: Create two partitions on your hard drive to use with each OS, separately.
This solution is a little different than the previous two because instead of having one hard drive that works with both machines, you're splitting your HD into two sections, each dedicated to a different OS. For example, if you have a 1TB hard drive, 500GB of storage can be used with your Windows computer, and 500 will be dedicated to your Mac computer.
You won't be able to write to the Mac side from your Windows computer, and vice versa, but it's a good solution for people who want all the advantages each format has to offer for its respective system. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Connect the empty external HD to your Mac and launch Disk Utility. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the Partition tab. Under Partition layout, select "2 Partitions." Now, drag the boxes to adjust the size of each partition. For example, you might want more storage for your Mac than you do for your PC. Now, click on the top partition, name it "Windows," and change its format to MS-DOS. Then click the second partition, name it "Mac," and change its format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Give your settings a final lookover and click Apply. Step 2: Plug the hard drive into your Windows PC. Open the Start menu and search for Disk Management. Select the search result and the Disk Management utility will launch. In the left sidebar, you should see your hard drive and its partitions. Right-click the Windows partition and select Format. In the Format dialog box, under File System, select FAT32. Click OK and complete the format process.

With these three options you'll be able to take advantage of either platform's offerings, be it Time Machine support or security options. In the end, you may end up using FAT32 for its simplicity, but don't say I didn't warn you about the risks.

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Chrome overtakes Internet Explorer worldwide for first time

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Miss the start button in Windows 8? This app will bring it back

Start8 combines the classic Start button with access to the Metro UI.

(Credit: Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

People who just can't work in Windows 8 without the classic start button may want to check out a free app called Start8.
Designed by the folks at Stardock, Start8 tries to merge the convenience of the start button with the functionality of the new Metro environment. As such, it moves beyond the standard start menu with some unique features of its own.
You can download Start8 from its dedicated Web page and install it in the current beta, aka Consumer Preview, edition of Windows 8. Installation is quick and simple. After the app is installed, you'll see the familiar start menu orb appear in the lower left corner of the desktop.
By default, clicking the orb displays not the traditional two-pane start menu but rather the Metro Apps screen and a search pane where you can launch any installed app and search for apps, settings, and files. Moving your mouse to the lower left hot corner displays a thumbnail of the Metro start screen but clicking it opens the same apps screen and search pane. So in essence, you never have to even see the Metro start screen.
But as someone who appreciates certain aspects of the Metro screen, such as Live Tiles, I still want the option to display it. So Stardock gives you the power to customize its app based on your preferences.
Right-clicking the orb reveals a variety of options. You can disable the apps page as the default so that clicking the orb brings up the Metro start screen, either in full view or side by side with your desktop. You can set it so that clicking the orb displays the apps page but pressing the Win key brings up the Metro start screen.
You can also control the size of the Metro start screen and the apps screen when you click the orb, choosing among small, tall, wide, large, and full screen. This option lets you determine how much of the Metro screen and how much of the desktop you want to see together.
You can even change the image of the start button from an orb to the classic XP button, the new Windows 8 logo, or something else. Finally, right-clicking the orb also brings up selections for the run command and the shutdown command, so that both are more easily accessible.

Related stories

• Microsoft removes start button in Windows 8
• Microsoft defends its Windows 8 Metro Start screen
• How to customize your Windows 8 desktop

Start8 is in beta, so Stardock will likely continue to tweak it before Windows 8 officially launches, reportedly in October.
The options to control the size of the Metro screen and still use the Win key to display the Metro desktop were added just yesterday.
We're still several months from the final version of Windows 8, so who knows what further changes Microsoft has in store for the new OS. But in the meantime, Start8 is a helpful tool for Windows 8 beta users who need the old, reliable start button but still want to work and play in the new Metro arena.

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Angry Birds Space review: A fresh new fling

Angry Birds Space looks gorgeous and delivers on its promise of compelling new gameplay.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET)

I'll be honest: I haven't flung a bird at a pig in months.
When Angry Birds first flew on the scene (way back in 2009!), I couldn't get enough. But as with most things, the novelty soon wore off. Even Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio were just variations on the same theme, and I eventually stopped paying attention--even when Rovio pushed out new levels.
So when the developer announced Angry Birds Space last month, I had to wonder: would pigs in space rekindle my love affair with slingshots and ornithology?
Today I found out. Angry Birds Space is now available for Android, iOS, PC, and Mac. Is it any good?
Oh, yes.
Angry Birds Space feels at once familiar and fresh. Unlike the previous sequels, which were pretty much the same game in different settings, ABS puts a new spin on things with gravity-oriented physics.
Thus, a flung bird might curve around a moon in one direction and then curve the other way once it passes into the next moon's orbit. Or it might get caught in a gravity well and whip around the moon several times before hitting anything. Sometimes you'll need to fling a bird below a target instead of above it, or even fling it left instead of right. (Both actions feel really weird at first.) And sometimes the goal is not simply to smash into a pig, but to knock it out of a high orbit so it crashes to the surface.
You learn all this as you play through the game's 60 levels, and it's that discovery that makes ABS such fun. What's more, Rovio throws in a few surprises along the way. [Mild spoiler alert] For example, if you bust a camouflaged "golden eggsteroid" midlevel, you'll be instantly transported (via wormhole, of course) to a separate mini-game. The first of these is an unapologetic and amusing nod to Space Invaders, where instead of shooting at aliens, you're flinging birds at them.
Once that mini-game ends, you're wormholed back to where you left off in the original level.
I don't want to spoil any of the other goodies. Suffice it to say, you'll have a hard time putting ABS down, and I suspect most players will burn through all 60 levels in a day or two. Thankfully, Rovio says it has "more in the pipeline." If history is any indication, we'll see new levels on a regular basis.
By the way, I played the HD version on my new iPad, and it looks spectacular--well worth the $2.99 price of admission. The non-HD version costs 99 cents, also a no-brainer. Same goes for the Android versions (phone or tablet), though you can also get ad-supported editions for free.
Once you've had a chance to try the game yourself, hit the comments and let me know what you think.

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Mint Market is all pre-owned stuff in near-mint condition

Shopping on Craigslist is awesome, but sometimes it can be a pain to find the high-quality goods you're looking for. The hidden gems tend to be buried between listings for worn-down junk, and in many cases, it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. To solve this problem, the new Mint Market app promises a more targeted experience.
Much like Craigslist, Mint Market (download: Android | iPhone) covers everything from clothing and furniture to auto parts and event tickets. The difference, however, is that sellers on Mint Market only list items in new or like-new condition. What's more, they can mark their items with a "Mint Condition" stamp to indicate that they are no more than 60-days-old.
The first thing that struck me about Mint Market was its interface. While it may not be the most easy-to-use thing in the world, it's certainly visually attractive. The Home screen features a long, vertical stream of listings, with each item displaying a large photo, name, and price. This layout makes it easy to scroll through items quickly without straining your eyes. By contrast, the same cannot be said about Craigslist or any of its third-party apps, which are, for the most part, text-based. To make things easier, with Mint Market, you can sort through the list by Price, New, and Nearby, or you can choose to display only items marked "Mint Condition." And of course, you can search based on keyword and other parameters.
The best feature on Mint Market has to be Item Feed, which essentially lets you save searches for easy reference later. For instance, if you search for computer accessories that cost between $20 and $30 in Los Angeles, you can save the parameters using Item Feed, so you don't have to go through the process all over again. And if you like, you can even activate an alarm to notify you whenever new items that fit your search pop up. There's also a Favorite button for saving specific items.
Of course, the other half of Mint Market deals with selling your goods. To post a product, just take a photo with your phone, add a title, description, price, and any other relevant information. It's really simple. The app also lets you keep track of all the items you're selling.
While Mint Market is certainly a welcome addition to the growing number of goods and services marketplace apps, it is obvious that it is still young. It has a few usability issues, and the community still has a lot of growing to do. That said, I can definitely see this blossoming into a useful resource for buyers and sellers sometime in the future.
Mint Market (download: Android | iPhone) is available for free download now from the Google Play Store and Apple's iTunes App Store.

Originally posted at Android Atlas 

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Adobe refines HDR tool with Photoshop CS6

HDR lets people combine multiple shots taken at different exposure levels into a single image that better captures highlight and shadow detail, and Adobe's improved HDR in Photoshop CS6. It's also improved its basic editing, though. From left to right are an original image, the same image edited with CS6's new raw tools, and an HDR image created from three shots merged with Scott Kelby's HDR preset in Photoshop CS6. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Adobe has spruced up Photoshop CS6's tool for creating HDR images--at the same time that it's updated editing tools with features that make high-dynamic range photos less interesting to me.
HDR images combine multiple shots taken over a range of bright to dark exposures. That means that the shadow detail can be taken from the bright images and the highlight detail from the dark images.
Used in a tame way, an HDR image shows more of the full range of tones the human eye can see. But plenty of people prefer the more unusual or even outrageous effects that can be achieved--making images look grungy, otherwordly, cripsy, or spooky. HDR is a very adjective-intensive situation.
So what's new with Photoshop's HDR tool?
"We improved the algorithm to reduce halos and added an Edge Smoothness check box to suppress the sharpness of the edge to allow higher boost of the texture or detail of the image," said Jeffrey Tranberry, chief customer advocate for Adobe's Digital Imaging group, in a forum post yesterday.

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In addition, there are two new presets with particular HDR styles, according to the Adobe Photoshop CS6 just-do-it list. HDR images can be tweaked through tonal adjustments, and the two new presets come from Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, and Raphael "RC" Conception, author of "The HDR Book."
In my experimenting with Photoshop CS6, I found I liked Kelby's preset ("scott5") better than most of the existing presets. Such presets are just a starting point, of course--the process of tone-mapping the underlying HDR data to produce a single image has room for endless fiddling.
But here's the funny thing. At the same time that Adobe gave HDR a bit of a boost, Photoshop CS6 also comes with the new editing controls of Lightroom 4 for raw images. I've been using those tools extensively, and I think there's a lot of truth to Adobe's opinion that they do a much better job pulling out that shadow and highlight detail--especially when you're shooting raw to capture the full range of data from the image sensor.
In other words, I find the new standard editing controls does most of what you'd need HDR for--at least when you're not looking for the more over-the-top HDR style.
There are limits to the standard controls. If you're not shooting HDR, brightening up the shadows can still amplify the noise, and pulling in overexposed highlights can show icky posterization effects. But when I'm shooting raw (which is always), the new Adobe tools let me extract huge amounts more out of a photo.
If you're looking for the more dramatic HDR look, the editing controls combined with the new clarity tool in Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4 can get you a long way toward what you'd previously needed dedicated HDR tools for.
But I suspect plenty of HDR fans will want to go farther, combining multiple shots either with Photoshop or with third-party software such as HDRSoft's Photomatix and Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro.

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Like Phoenix, Marvel gives digital coupons a second chance

A mock-up of the coupon that Marvel will use to drive digital-comics fans to brick-and-mortar stores.

(Credit: Marvel)

A Marvel digital-comics sale in January came with an unusual perk: a $5 coupon for a print comic book. As a lead-in to its Avengers versus X-Men story starting in April, Marvel is giving the coupon a second chance to power up both digital and print comics sales via its iOS (download) and Android (download) comics apps.
"The coupon bumped [digital comic] sales about 25 percent," David Gabriel, senior vice-president of sales for Marvel, said in a phone interview yesterday. Peter Phillips, the general manager and senior vice-president of the Marvel Digital Media Group, added that it was "very well-received," for a one-day coupon offer held on a Saturday in January.
Neither Gabriel nor Phillips would reveal sales numbers when asked, though they did say that 50 percent of the people who bought Marvel Comics digitally that day qualified for the coupon, and 10 percent of those completed the coupon redemption process.
If that sounds low to you, you're not alone. The coupon redemption process could use some refinement.
Here's how it will work for the new coupon sale, which goes from 12:01 a.m. EST on March 25 until 11:59 p.m. EST on March 31. Buy one of about 100 Avengers or X-Men comics in the Marvel Comics app on iOS or Android, including the preview comic Avengers versus X-Men #0, which is available Wednesday, March 28.
Starting on April 1 (really) you'll receive an e-mail with a link to a Web site that requests personal information such as your name, ZIP code, and your preferred comic book store. Download and print the PDF coupon, and redeem it before May 1 for any Marvel comic book.
When you enter in your ZIP code, the coupon Web site will suggest up to five retailers within 25 miles to choose from. January's system suggested only three, so for those in places like cities that have half a dozen or more shops, this will make the coupon easier to use. Judging from January's results, though, it's a multistep process that makes some people wonder if it's an effort worth a $5 coupon.
The coupon itself is an unusual scheme, and perhaps the first time any book publisher has used digital sales to drive customers back into physical stores. If Marvel's claims of success aren't inflated, it's an indication of the societal value of curation. The theory behind curation is this: online retailers, such as Amazon, are great when you know precisely what you want. Talking to a real human, the theory goes, is what helps people the most when browsing generally for entertainment, especially in niche media like comics.

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Angry Birds Space will indeed hit Windows Phone, CEO says

Angry Birds Space won't be coming to Windows Phone 7.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET)

Angry Birds Space is not yet available to Windows Phone 7 users, but will be soon, according to the CEO of game maker Rovio, who contradicted an earlier report quoting a company executive who said the new game would skip the Microsoft platform.
The kerfuffle suggests some interesting backroom maneuvering in the hours between the two reports. Microsoft partner Nokia, for instance, may have expressed some displeasure about the original statement to the Angry Birds maker, a fellow Finnish company.
Absent the new Angry Birds game, Windows Phone 7 could have a much harder time attracting new users. That, in turn, could hurt Nokia, which just brought its first Windows Phone 7 handsets to the U.S. -- and could also potentially damage the outlook for Redmond's next mobile operating system, Windows 8, due out later this year.
It's also possible that Microsoft's clout is simply on the rise in the smartphone arena, given the possibility that Windows 8 might become a third major player in the smartphone market.
Either could be a plausible interpretation of the sudden volte-face Rovio has just executed.
In an interview with Reuters, Rovio CEO Mikael Hed said the company was "working towards getting Angry Birds Space to WP7."
While Hed didn't say when Windows Phone users could expect the game, his comments directly contradicted what Rovio's chief marketing officer told Bloomberg in an interview published earlier today. That official, Peter Vesterbacka, said that "it's a big undertaking" to support Microsoft's mobile operating system, since the game -- currently available for iOS and Android -- would have to be completely rewritten for Microsoft's current mobile OS.
"If you look at activations, Apple's iOS and Android are clearly bigger than any other platform," Vesterbacka told Bloomberg. "We want to be on all screens, but we have to consider the cost of supplying the smaller platforms. With Windows Phone it's a lot of work to technically support it."

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Vesterbacka then told Bloomberg that Rovio had no plans to release Angry Birds Space on Windows Phone 7.
Rovio launched Angry Birds Space yesterday on Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and on Mac and the PC. The game takes the same basic function of launching birds from a slingshot at pigs but adds gravity elements -- or lack thereof -- that one would find in space. The game comes with 60 levels that, Rovio says, present a bundle of surprises to players. Angry Birds Space is already the top game in Apple's App Store.
Angry Birds Space won't be Rovio's first time bringing the Angry Birds franchise to Windows Phone 7. Last June, Rovio launched Angry Birds on Microsoft's operating system, delivering the same experience users would find on other platforms. As Vesterbacka pointed out in his interview with Bloomberg, the game is the most popular app in the Windows Phone app store.
Updated at 9:15 a.m. PT to include details from Hed's interview with Reuters. Story has been changed throughout to note Hed's confirmation of development for Angry Birds Space on the Windows Phone 7 platform.

Originally posted at The Digital Home 

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Detecting and removing the Flashback malware in OS X

Recently a new variant of the Imuler/Revir Trojan malware for OS X was found being distributed disguised as erotic images that, if installed on a Mac system, would attempt to steal personal information then upload them to remote servers. The malware's initial variants included offensive political material, but in its recent iteration has been distributed disguised among a collection of cover girl images in an obvious attempt to trick people into opening the application.
While these attempts are relatively easy to avoid, security company F-Secure has been monitoring a more serious threat from the Flashback malware for OS X. This malware, which has been distributed in fake installer application for the popular Adobe Flash Player plug-in, works by modifying the code in Web browsers to launch the malware when they are run, and then try sending information on visited Web pages to remote servers.
Initially this malware was only an OS X installer file that was disguised as Flash Player, but in February of this year, another variant of this malware was found that attempts to take advantage of Java security holes to install without requiring user interaction or being detected.
OS X does not come with Java installed by default, and the latest versions of Java should be patched properly so anyone with new or properly updated systems should be safe from these threats; however, there are likely many people still running older versions of Java on their systems that are still vulnerable.
If you do not use Java on your system, then you can avoid these threats by disabling it in your Web browser, and also by doing so in the Java Preferences utility in your Applications/Utilities/ folder (uncheck any Java runtime listings in the utility to disable them). By doing this, any threats that attempt to take advantage of Java will not work.
If you do this and find Java is required for some of the applications you use, then be sure you have the latest version (currently available via Software Update if you have Java installed).

By running these commands in the Terminal, if you see "does not exist" as part of the output then your system is not infected.

(Credit: Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)

As with previous variants of the malware, the latest variant of the Flashback malware, called OSX/Flashback.I, works by modifying code within Web browsers that causes it to launch when the browsers are opened and result in modified Web pages being displayed.
Today F-Secure has issued a detailed analysis on the Flashback threat, including how to detect and remove it. The analysis covers the various methods the malware has used to alter Web browser code, and discusses for each how to detect and remove the threat, if your system is infected.
To summarize, the malware has overall adopted two modes of infection. The first is where it requires administrative privileges to alter an embedded information property list within the Firefox and Safari Web browsers to contain a variable called "DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES" that launches the malware when these applications are run. F-Secure claims the variants of this malware are ultimately harder to detect (provided the user unknowingly supplied administrative privileges when installing the fake Flash Player installer) since it only affects these programs.
The second infection route does not target individual applications, but instead alters a more global version of the property list with the same "DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES" variable that will launch the malware whenever any application is opened. Because this modification is done to the user's account and not to files within the Applications folder, the attack does not require admin privileges to complete; however, it does ultimately result in a more obvious infection that will destabilize the system and lead to crashes.
The malware only works as intended if run within Web browsers, so more-recent variants of the malware have included filtering options that only have it run when Safari is loaded, resulting in a more stable system that is less suspect of being affected by malware.
F-Secure's analysis offers a detailed method for detecting and ultimately removing the malware from your system, though you can easily detect the malware in its known variants by running the following three commands sequentially in the Terminal:

defaults read ~/.MacOSX/environment DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
defaults read /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Info DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES

If your system is not infected then the output of these commands will state in part that the domain/default pair "does not exist"; however, if it is infected then Terminal will output a path that points to the malware, and you can follow the instructions provided in F-Secure's analysis to remove the malware from your system.
While F-Secure covers how to change affected programs like Safari and Firefox back to their original state, one easy option for doing this is to just redownload Safari and Firefox and install them on your system, or copy them from another system containing the programs, ensuring you delete the old version of the browser. Do keep in mind that this will only be useful for the malware variants that required Admin privileges to install, which are detected by the second and third of the Terminal commands listed above. If the first command is the only one that shows a problem, then you will need to follow F-Secure's instructions for removing the malware.

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Great sling shot games that aren't named Angry Birds

With the incredible success of the original Angry Birds, few iOS gamers were probably surprised that Angry Birds Space would rocket to the top of the iTunes App Store. I've been playing the game quite a lot over the past 24 hours, and though I've noticed some bugs (kill all pigs with one bird to get one star, anyone?), the new gravity fields, interesting levels, and new bird types definitely add something new to the game.
Angry birds isn't the only game in this genre, however. When Angry Birds took off at the iTunes App Store, several developers came out with their own version of the sling-shot game mechanic and many brought new elements to add to the fun.
This week's collection of iOS apps are all Angry Birds-like destruction games, but each have an interesting twist on the original game mechanic. The first offers a heavy metal theme as you smash monster trucks into structures. The second lets you blast ragdolls through intricate levels towards a target. The third mixes game genres to add liquid physics into the equation making for unique challenges.

You get to fire some fierce looking trucks into structures, each with their own abilities.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

Trucks and Skulls Nitro (Free) is a heavy metal-inspired sling shooter where you'll need to launch trucks into structures in order to destroy each levels allotment of scary skulls. The somewhat cheesey distortion guitar audio provides the perfect backdrop for the action. Big explosions add to the excitement as you try to efficiently destroy everything on screen using the least amount of trucks possible.
The control system is only slightly different that Angry Birds in Trucks and Skulls Nitro. The truck sits on the launcher, and you touch and drag a button backwards to launch the truck through the air. Different trucks have different attributes, and as you go through the challenges you'll need to choose your shots wisely to get the most destruction possible out of the available trucks.
The real charm behind Trucks and Skulls Nitro are the big explosions that occur, well, pretty much all the time. Hitting one of the required skulls gives you a huge mushroom cloud, and hitting barrels of TNT only adds to the onscreen mayhem as you chain together more explosions. It's as though director Michael Bay got ahold of Angry Birds and decided to add his own infamous spin to the game.
Trucks and Skulls Nitro comes with several aptly named worlds like Hell's Highway, The Haunted Wastelands, Industrial Armageddon, and Demon Town, for a total of over 200 levels of action.
If you're a fan of the Angry Birds games and want a little more electric guitar and fire in your gameplay, Trucks and Skulls Nitro will keep you busy for a long time.

This level requires a precise shot to get to all the coins and hit target.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

Ragdoll Blasters 3 (99 cents) is the third installment in the popular physics puzzle series, and this sequel is a solid offering with plenty for puzzle gaming fans. Like the first two Ragdoll Blasters, the game concept is simple: on each level, aim your cannon and fire the rag doll to hit the target. Of course it's never quite that easy; you'll also want to grab buttons for extra points, and maps provide plenty of obstacles to make it hard to get a perfect three-star score.
As the third game in a popular series, you would expect the game to have some polish, and Ragdoll Blasters 3 does not disappoint with sharp graphics, precise controls, and well-thought-out level maps. Along with trying to arc your shots to get as many buttons as possible, you'll need to use machines like pulleys and levers in certain levels to open up access to other parts of the map. Several levels have you tipping boulders off of platforms to activate pulley systems, and other levels require you to find other creative ways to clear your path to the target. The early levels are fairly straightforward, but as you progress you'll need to really look at the level and think to try to get all the buttons and the target in as few shots as possible. You also have the option to watch your replays--extremely handy when you're going for the perfect score and brainstorming new ways to finish a level.
Ragdoll Blasters 3 comes with five unlockable worlds, each with 20 levels, different themes, and unique obstacles. You can use your collected buttons to buy new rag doll types with special abilities like the Ice Ragdoll that glides across icy surfaces, or the Pudge Ragdoll that uses its extra weight (and girth) to knock down obstacles. These different rag doll types are particularly handy as you play through the later levels, with some requiring you use a specific rag doll to pass certain areas.
If you like the popular physics games like Angry Birds or Cut The Rope, Ragdoll Blasters 3 offers similarly simple controls, but a unique gameplay concept and plenty of extras will keep you coming back for more rag doll shooting action.

In this level called Belly Flop, you want to land in the middle of the chocolate milk to cause the biggest splash.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

Coco Loco (99 cents) is another solid title (for both iPhone and iPad) that seems to mix elements from hit iOS games Angry Birds and Where's my Water to make a fun game that's visually stunning while offering unique challenges.
In this game, it's not birds, ragdolls, or monster trucks, but instead you take control of a team of marshmallows (Marshies). The surreal premise in Coco Loco has you freeing marshmallows from the clutches of evil chocolate guardians, often by using hot cocoa to wash captured marshmallows to safety. The liquid physics play a huge role as you'll often knock something loose that sends liquid (cocoa) through the level. There's also gel-like obstacles where you'll need to fire an exploding marshmallow in and then set it off to clear it out in an explosion of bright pink liquid.
That's where Coco Loco really shines is in the visuals. There are four worlds currently, each with its own theme and each with 15 levels to conquer -- all of them extremely colorful with high res graphics. Like the other games in this genre, being efficient pays off, giving you three stars if you can finish in the least amount of shots.
If you want a really unique take on this sling shot puzzle genre with beautiful visuals and precision liquid physics, I can't recommend this game enough. This well-polished and silly game adds something more to the genre and is a great fit for any Angry Birds fan.

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Comixology offers free upgrade to HD comics

Somebody with a chiroptera obsession has a shocking experience in this week's Batman #7. On the left, as viewed through the new iPad's Retina Display. On the right, the iPad 2.

(Credit: Screenshots by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Comixology continues to dominate the mobile comics reading app market with new features for its iOS app, including high-definition comics that take advantage of the new iPad's Retina Display.
Updated earlier this week, Comixology's Comics 3.1 (download) lets you read comics on the new iPad with double the resolution of comics on previous models. It also supports sharing your comments on comics via Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail; and offers a Read Now button which lets you begin reading a comic before a comic has fully downloaded.
Support for the Retina Display almost didn't make it into Comixology 3.1, said Chip Mosher, the company's Director of Marketing. "Our developers turned around HD support in about five days. That's a testament to how dedicated they are."
The difference in resolution is apparent when holding a new iPad next to an iPad 2 and looking at the same comic. If you've downloaded a comic for the iPad 2, Comixology will let you download it again in HD at no extra cost.

Comixology's new sharing options: e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.

(Credit: Comixology)

Readers can identify high-definition comics by the "CMX-HD" badge in Comixology's store, and the company plans to update its entire catalog with high-def comics over the next few months. Currently, only a selection of DC and Marvel comics are available in HD, although expect that to change rapidly. Comixology also has said that there will be no price difference for the HD comics, which are around two to three times larger on disk than the current comics.
And as with other media sharing, tweeting, Facebooking, or e-mailing from the Comixology app will insert related links and cover art to the comic book for you. While the social features are more rudimentary than revolutionary, they do show that digital comics apps -- or at least, Comixology -- are maturing as readership grows. 

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CorelDraw X6 knows how to handle colors

(Credit: Corel)

With a focus on both the occasional graphics user and the professional, CorelDraw Graphics Suite X6 (download) hits the market toting a wealth of tools that make manipulating graphics much simpler than before. Hobbyists can check it out to make newsletters, calendars, or banners, while business users can use it to make simple marketing collateral or sales presentations. And of course, designers can use it design things as well.
The new version of the Suite, X6, comes with native 64-bit and multicore processor support, which bumps up the speed of this program noticeably. This means less waiting when exporting, printing, or copying images between typically processor-hungry apps like CorelDraw and Corel Photo-Paint.
In addition to performance, though, what's really impressive is X6's list of brand-new features, which make some of the more common graphics tasks significantly easier.
For instance, the new Smart Carver tool makes it easy to remove an unwanted area from a photo while still maintaining the photo's aspect ratio. The new shape tools let you work with Smear, Twirl, Attract, and Repel effects when refining your vector objects. What's more, there are new additions like page numbering, alignment guides, advanced OpenType support, and interactive frames for creating mock-ups. For professionals, Corel Connect has also been improved, and can handle work in multiple trays concurrently. It even comes with a nifty search browser, which lets you quickly pull images from selected sources across the Web.

The Color Harmony tool makes it easy to create multiple color schemes for a single object.

(Credit: Corel)

One thing I really love is how X6 deals with colors. With the new Color Styles docker you can easily make color changes on multiple objects throughout a project. Just link your objects to a style, then any changes made to that style will propagate across all of the linked objects. This works really well with the new Color Harmony functionality, which lets you modify a set of colors collectively. This makes it easy to create multiple color schemes of a single object.
Finally, the CorelDraw Graphics Suite now includes the new Corel Website Creator. This brand-new app provides a WYSIWYG design environment that supports CSS, XHTML, PHP, JSP, and more. It also supports drag-and-drop for easy object placement.
CorelDraw Graphics Suite X6 comes with CorelDraw, Photo-Paint, PowerTrace, Connect, Capture, and the new Website Creator. The full version (download) is available for $499 and the upgrade is available for $199.

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Adobe revs Photoshop's engine (hands-on)

The first thing you notice about Photoshop CS6 is the new all-gray interface.

(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)

There's so much big news surrounding Photoshop CS6 that I'm not sure where to start. This is Adobe's first-ever public beta of its most important product (expected to ship sometime in the first half of this year). It's the first Adobe product to incorporate the company's new DRM architecture. It's the first version of Photoshop to take video seriously and to make it into the Standard Edition of the product rather than the extra-pricey Extended version. It's the first version to integrate the company's GPU-accelerating Mercury Graphics Engine (MGE). And for the first time in more than 20 years, Photoshop goes dark.
The beta, which is actually the Extended version of the product, is downloadable from Adobe Labs or Download.com, though at a hefty 1.8GB, it's not for the bandwith-constrained. While you can't run it simultaneously with previous versions, like every Adobe update it installs completely separately so that you can keep predecessors.
Dear Adobe: while that's very convenient, I still want the option to actually update from the previous version. I am tired of the cruft Creative Suite leaves behind every time a new version comes out; on my previous system, I had random directories left over from at least three generations of CS. Given that your new subscription model is designed to drive users to more-frequent updates, you'd better deal with better ways to clean up behind yourself.

The expanded lighting rendering options include the ability to layer multiple effects, just like in the Filter Gallery. (Click for full size)

(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)

That said, Photoshop CS6 finally adds tools to migrate your presets from previous versions. I do have some nitpicks -- the interface needs the capability to see what's in the preset files and selectively choose, and there's still no way to automatically migrate the New Document presets (you can do it manually like this). But it made configuring the beta a much less profanity-filled process than it's ever been, and for that I'm extremely grateful.
However, before you can even get there, you'll have to create an Adobe ID, if you don't already have one. This is a key part of Adobe's new software-management architecture, driven in part by Creative Cloud. In the future, you'll manage all your Adobe software purchases centrally using this ID, allowing for redownloads and deactivations in a very iTunes-like fashion. This makes sense if you use several Adobe products and/or several different systems, but the lone, Photoshop-only single-system user may find it intrusive. There will be an installation grace period so that you can still use the software if the licensing server or your connection is down. But I hate it when companies require that I sign up and provide personal information, no matter how innocuous, in order to use their software -- especially really expensive software. Semi-anonymous activation based on a serial number is one thing, but mandatory membership is another.
Once you've leaped that hurdle, you notice that the interface has been completely redrawn. Like other photo-editing applications, Photoshop has finally given up the ghost-white background and inverted to a white-on-gray UI plus a user-customizable background color that defaults to selectable neutral grays. There are some functional differences as well. For instance, properties panels now fly out instead of expanding down and sticking in the right pane. The crop tool now works more like Lightroom's, where you move the image around to frame the selected crop rather than move the crop rectangle. You can easily revert back to the traditional operation if you want. Overall, I'm indifferent to the changes. I wasn't unhappy with the old design, but the switch was pretty painless.
If you work with complicated multilayer files, you will welcome the new capability to filter layers by kind, name, blend mode, effect, attribute, or color. I have to say, my frustration with filtering in Lightroom and Bridge now extends to Photoshop, though; I wish you could filter stuff out.
You might feel a bit of pain if you rely on Adobe Camera Raw, though, which now uses the same adjustment controls that were introduced in Lightroom 4. If you haven't seen them, gone are standbys like Fill Light and Recovery, replaced by better, finer controls over highlights and shadows. If you're used to processing raw files on autopilot, the changes will initially feel like speed bumps in your workflow; ultimately, though, I think they're more powerful and deliver better results. Also, if you're planning on using the beta I think you'll miss out on the latest set of camera codecs that were rolled out for CS5.

The new, rather odd, oil paint effect. (Click for full size)

(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)

The performance is great, at least on Windows 7 -- that includes the 64-bit version of Bridge -- and the MGE makes all the filters significantly faster. I kept expecting it to slow while working with the Nikon D800's raw files (to get them into PS CS6 I cheated by opening them in Lightroom and exporting to DNG), which grow to more than 200MB when opened as 16-bit, but it handled them without problems. While I encountered a few glitches, the beta seems stable enough for production use, especially with the new background save/recover feature.
And on to the new.
While I wouldn't say I was despondent when Adobe dropped character and paragraph styles from the CS5 launch, I was kinda sad. But they're back! In fact, Adobe has incorporated a lot of the text and design tools from Illustrator, including the full text engine (with support for non-Western characters) and more Illustrator-like operation for shapes, plus rudimentary parametric shape entry (you can enter the size but not the coordinates). The text Styles options are pretty complete, though there's still no Glyph palette or other method for inserting nonstandard characters.

Photoshop's new Blur Tools and Effects allow you to create faux tilt/shift and depth-of-field effects. (Click for full size)

(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)

There are also some new filters, including a Blur Gallery with Iris, Tilt-Shift, and Field blurs. They're easy to use and render well, but they're more suited to producing oddball effects than reproducing the types of blurs generated by real lenses. So while it's hard to simulate real depth-of-field with the tool, you can do nice selective blurs. Another addition is the Lighting Effects Gallery, which significantly updates the interface and capabilities of the older Lighting filter. You can now easily layer the effects. The Adaptive Wide Angle filter lets you fix problems with perspective and wide-angle lens distortion by drawing lines and polygons as references.
Adobe has also worked on its algorithms for automatic fixes, and they do seem better. Auto Tone and Auto Contrast actually do a nice job, provided you start with an image that's not too skewed toward one end of the histogram or the other. They're still not great on grossly over- or underexposed images, as they seem to be a bit too conservative. The painting engine now offers erodible brushes -- brushes whose effect lessens as you use it -- plus enhanced airbrush tips. You also get a much better real-time preview of the bristles, and a great head-up display can show you how the brush tilt and rotation is registering within the application when using a pen and tablet.

The skin-tone aware masking tool needs to use some face-detection tricks in addition to color to work more accurately. There's too much dog in my selection here. (Click for full size)

(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)

Then there's the stuff that seems to demo better than it works in practice, at least when I try to use the tools. Adobe has expanded the capabilities of its Content-Aware fill to include Content-Aware Patch, an update of its Healing Patch, and Content-Aware Move, which is supposed to automagically fill in the hole when you move a selection. These, and the skin-tone aware color masking, seem like they either only work well under a limited set of conditions or are just difficult to get the hang of in real-world images.
Adobe has essentially turned Photoshop Extended edition into a tool specifically for people who need 3D capabilities, moving the video-editing tools down into Standard edition. (Read all about it.) The 3D capabilities and interface sound like they've been substantially improved, with faster and better raytracing and extrusions, interactive shadows, and 3D stereo viewing and printing. I haven't yet gotten a chance to work with the 3D features, though.
And, of course, there's a boatload of user-requested tweaks and bug fixes, including the restoration of the Contact Sheet II and PDF Presentation automation scripts that Adobe had dropped with CS5, to great complaint.
Overall, Photoshop CS6 looks like a solid update with some really useful additions and improvements. But the best thing is, you can try it yourself and blast your feedback to Adobe. Don't be shy.

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