2007-03-01 09:30
Free Photoshop Online in the making
The other day I wrote about Picnik, an online picture editor.
Yesterday, CNET reported that within half a year, Adobe plans to release a hosted version of Photoshop. They’re expecting Google to come up with something similar, so they’re attempting to beat them to it.
My first thought was something like: “Poor Picnik.” With free online photo editors coming from both Adobe and Google, they’re going to struggle. Then again, here’s their chance to excel in ease of use and integration with Flickr, blogging software and other online services.
Then I thought: “Poor Adobe.” (Well, not that poor …) As David Young wrote in Joyeur, the Joyent weblog a few days ago, as soon as you know Google is working on something similar to what you’re developing, you’re probably better off doing something else. Quote mr. Young:
There’s just no point, my fellow entrepreneurs, in charging up a hill already occupied by Leviathan.
But there are probably also a lot of people who would like to use a hosted version of Adobe’s Photoshop rather than something entirely different from Google.
(Via Swedish MacWorld)
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2007-02-23 15:23
Funny web applications
When you’ve signed up for a new online service and you’re exploring the interface, you’re not first and foremost expecting humor — which is probably why it works.
Today I’ve signed up for two online services, Picnik and FeedBurner, and in both cases they brought a smile to my face. Here’s why:
Picnic’s loading progress bar
Reminiscent of The Sims’ progress bar while loading (“Reticulating splines” etc.), Picnik’s progress bar signals that the application is setting up a perfect day out:
FeedBurner’s info boxes
When you log on to FeedBurner before your feed has gone live, you’re faced with this message, which made me laugh a lot:
Also, if you try and look at stuff that’s only included in their pro package, you get this:
Informal != unprofessional
There’s enough seriousness in the world as it is, and a little lightheartedness is often a good thing. Being informal and funny doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll come off as unprofessional, so go ahead and make me laugh a little! Of course, at some point you might want to start looking around for that thin line and make sure you don’t cross it …
Comment [2]
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2007-01-07 14:10
Online GTD application: iCommit
In the string of online GTD applications approaching beta there’s another contender.
iCommit is an online GTD application. When I found it, I instantly registered, tried it out for about two minutes, and then dismissed it. Any GTD application that requires me to click to open a popup menu, navigate to a submenu and click again to create a new project or next action clearly doesn’t get it.
What is 'GTD'?
GTD stands for "Getting Things Done", and is a "work-life management system" and a book by David Allen.
Get the book here, while also helping me out (affiliate link)
Other GTD resources
43 Folders: Getting started with ‘Getting Things Done’
Tracks is a free GTD web app written in Ruby on Rails.
A couple of days ago I got an email notifying me of a new teaser video of iCommit v3. While I don’t think it reveals very much, it looks a lot more interesting than the current version. So I’ve signed up for beta testing this one too.
The downside to iCommit is, as someone else has experienced, is that there’s no guarantee that it will be available tomorrow. And GTD is all about putting everything into a system you can trust.
It looks like I’m going to have to write a series of articles with reviews of all these applications at some point. But first I have to gain beta access to them … And I guess beta testers might be under some kind of confidentiality agreement until the applications are out of beta too, so it might be a while.
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