Archive for Tutorials

Mac 101: Zoom in and out while in Quick Look

// July 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Mac OS, Photoshop

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Here’s a neat trick if you want to zoom in on an image while using Quick Look. Hold down the Option key while your mouse is hovered over the image, and it will change to a magnifying glass. Once you’ve zoomed in, drag the cursor, use the scroll wheel, or two fingers on a trackpad to move around the image. Press Option-Shift, and then click on the picture to zoom out.

To see this tip in action, check out the brief video above. Nothing too complicated, but definitely a fun and easy way, built directly into the OS, to browse around and inspect a picture file without opening a much heftier app like Photoshop.

[Via Mac OS X Hints]

TUAWMac 101: Zoom in and out while in Quick Look originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pixelmator 1.6 "Nucleus" released

// July 13th, 2010 // No Comments » // Featured, Mac OS, Photoshop

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My Mac photo editor of choice, Pixelmator, has been updated to version 1.6 just recently. It’s mostly a performance update, adding performance and bug fixes, support for 64-bit architecture, and a whole lot of polish for Snow Leopard. Additionally, they’ve redesigned the transforming tools, added an import feature (to bring in images from a camera or another source), and added the ability to send out photos directly from Pixelmator to Facebook, Flickr, or Picasa. That’s pretty slick.

And of course this is a free update for registered users, so you can install it from right within the app. If you haven’t picked up Pixelmator yet, you can get a license for $60 — not exactly cheap (or free, if you’re a Gimp fan), but when you compare it to another full-featured editor like Photoshop, it’s quite a bargain.

TUAWPixelmator 1.6 “Nucleus” released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jobs: Use multitasking "as designed" and be happy

// June 30th, 2010 // No Comments » // Apps, Mac OS, Photoshop

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Old school Mac users like me were trained to quit apps that aren’t in use. Finished with Explorer? Quit it. All done using Photoshop? Command-Q. This habit came from a time when computers shipped with less RAM than the iPhone 4, and is very hard to break.

Of course, your iPhone isn’t running all those apps at once. When you double-click the Home button, you get a list of recently-used apps; they aren’t all “running” in the Mac OS X sense. As MacDailyNews explains, some are in “suspended animation,” much like Han Solo encased in carbonite. He’s not dead, but he’s not doing a whole heck of a lot, either. You’ll find an excellent explanation of what’s going on at TidBITS.

Conversely, Steve Jobs offered a customer a very brief explanation via email. “People shouldn’t have to understand multitasking. Just use is [sic] as designed, and you’ll be happy. No need to ever quit apps.” In other words, the best option is not to think about it at all. iOS 4 knows what’s its doing, so just leave it to its business.

TUAWJobs: Use multitasking “as designed” and be happy originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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