Dennis Cadorniga

Open Road Podcast

Episode #026, BMW M3, Part 2

With the IS-F covered, the boys move onto the BMW M3, a brilliant technological statement.

Duration: 29:42
Size: 23.66 mb
Format: Enhanced AAC
Direct download: ORP-Episode026.m4a

Duration: 29:42
Size: 27.22 mb
Format: MP3
Direct download: ORP-Episode026.mp3

written by Dennis

CUPERTINO, California—March 28, 2008— Apple® today released Aperture™ 2.1, which introduces an open plug-in architecture that makes it easy for photographers to use specialized third party imaging software right from within Aperture. Available today as a free software update, Aperture 2.1 includes the Apple-developed plug-in, Dodge & Burn, which adds brush-based tools for dodge (lighten), burn (darken), contrast, saturation, sharpen and blur. Over the coming months, third party software developers will deliver image editing plug-ins for localized editing, filters and effects, noise analysis and reduction, fisheye lens correction and more.

“The image quality in Aperture 2 has won over the most demanding photographers,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “Now, thanks to our open plug-in architecture, users can access an entire industry’s worth of imaging expertise without ever leaving Aperture.”

“To date, maybe two percent of my photographs needed to be touched up outside Aperture,” said John Stanmeyer, founding member of the VII Photo Agency and contributing photographer for Time and National Geographic magazines. “Now that I can dodge and burn right within Aperture’s new plug-in, I can’t imagine when I’ll have to open any other application to tone my images.”

By clicking on one or more images within Aperture, users can choose from a menu of installed plug-ins and apply specialized imaging operations to either TIFF or RAW images. Apple is working closely with key developers to bring the most requested plug-ins to Aperture such as:

• Nik Software’s Viveza plug-in, powered by U Point technology, which provides a powerful, precise and easy way for photographers to selectively control and adjust color and light in their digital images;
• PictureCode’s Noise Ninja plug-in that delivers advanced high ISO noise analysis and reduction;
• Digital Film Tools’ Power Stroke plug-in that features a simple, stroke-based interface to quickly mask and intuitively perform targeted adjustments;
• The Tiffen Company’s Dfx plug-in that provides an expansive suite of creative filters and effects;
• dvGarage’s dpMatte plug-in, which is a high performance chroma key tool for creating seamless composites, and the HDRtoner plug-in that enables the selection of multiple photos to create a single high dynamic range (HDR) image; and
• Image Trends’ plug-ins that include Fisheye-Hemi to quickly and effortlessly correct fisheye lens distortion, ShineOff which automatically removes shine from faces and PearlyWhites that automatically whitens and brightens teeth.

Pricing & Availability Aperture 2.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 2.0 users. Full system requirements and more information on Aperture can be found at www.apple.com/aperture. Information and availability for third party imaging plug-ins can be found on www.apple.com/aperture/resources,www.apple.com/downloads and at the Aperture community site www.aperturepluggedin.com.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

written by Dennis

The Television Advertisement Featuring Ashton Kutcher and Nikon COOLPIX Cameras.

View video here

Hollywood’s A-list actor and producer, Ashton Kutcher, is lending his photogenic qualities to Nikon to promote the manufacturer’s new COOLPIX Style series cameras. The campaign will debut nationally on March 25th with a television commercial, which precedes the print advertisements and an interactive online component. Taking place in trendy locales such as boutique hotels and upscale shopping destinations, the campaign highlights the exquisite styling, fashionable colors, simplicity and great performance of Nikon’s Style series compact digital cameras.

To download a high-resolution version of this video, please right-click here and choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”.

written by Dennis

Today, Jason started streaming with his fans and all those that participated helped create a home theater page on Mahalo.  To see the outcome, follow this link:  

http://www.mahalo.com/Home_Theater_PC

written by Dennis

Best Evil Robots on Mahalo… Digg this story!

written by Dennis

After a lengthy hiatus, Mr, Black, Mr. White, and Mr. Blonde are back with Open Road Podcast. The following series of podcasts cover the Lexus IS-F, the BMW M3, and BMW 1-series. Well, then there’s an addendum about the Cooper Clubman and the not so Smart car. We’ll start with IS-F, the first performance car ever from the notoriously conservative Lexus brand. And for its intended purpose, it’s a strong player. 

In this episode, the boys discuss the BMW M3, which is a technological tour de force. 

Next, the 1-series, with special emphasis on the 135, which is probably the best performance bargain out of Germany. According to Mr. Black, it’s also a highly successful evolution of BMW’s current design ethos. 

And finally, what some might call an afterbirth, a bit of commentary on the MINI Clubman. That leads to a short bit on the Smart car which, amazingly, gets fewer miles from a gallon of gas than the much larger Cooper. Hmmmmmm. 

Duration: 21:59 
Size: 17.80 mb 
Format: Enhanced AAC 
Direct download: ORP-Episode025.m4a 

Duration: 21:59 
Size: 20.20 mb 
Format: MP3 
Direct download: ORP-Episode025.mp3

written by Dennis

This update extends RAW file compatibility for Aperture 2 and iPhoto ’08 for the following cameras:

Hasselblad CFV-16

Hasselblad H3D-31

Hasselblad H3D-31II

Leaf Aptus 54S

Leaf Aptus 65S

Nikon D60

Olympus E-3

Pentax *ist DL2

Pentax *ist DS2

Pentax K100D Super

Sony DSLR-A200

Sony DSLR-A350

For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222 

written by Dennis

AppleInsider is reporting that the Apple Mac mini will soon be upgraded to the new Penryn-3M-based Intel chip.  It may receive the Core 2 Duo mobile processor starting at 2.1GHz, 800MHz front-side bus, and stepped-up Intel graphics processor comparable to the one found in the MacBook.

written by Dennis

Its not Tuesday, but Apple released a new wireless base station today.  The AirPort Express is now available in the “n” flavor.  You can share a printer wirelessly via USB, stream audio wirelessly via the audio mini jack (both analog and optical), setup a WiFi network when traveling, or extend the range of your existing wireless network.   All at the faster 802.11n speeds.  For more details, check out AirPort Express at Apple’s site…

written by Dennis

Today Apple announced the availability of their iPhone SDK.  Now anyone can develop applications for the iPhone and iPod touch.  If you watch the iPhone Event, it will amaze you.  The iPhone truely is a Macintosh just in mini form.  The operating system and core libraries are those of OS X.  The v2.0 firmware should be released to the public in late June at no cost to iPhone owners.  For more details about this event, below are links to the Event, SDK download, and Enterprise Beta program:
March 6 Event
iPhone Developer Program (SDK)
iPhone Enterprise Beta Program

written by Dennis