Software engineers at Xara continue to improve Photo and Graphic Designer. New features, improvements and tweaks, and updates for a full year should be enough to get your attention. Many of the new features that were added to Xara Website Designer are included here and the photo-centric improvements simply enhance the value.
Although the application is intended for both designers and photographers, I gravitated to the new photographic features first. Based on the images I usually select for demonstration, you might think that I never photograph anything but cats. I could tell you that's not true and that I use cats for photographic illustration because their fur and whiskers allow me to judge how well fine details are rendered. Yes, I could tell you that, but you probably wouldn't believe me. So let's just move on here.
There are 3 files in the directory:
Click any of the smaller images for a full-size view.
Press Esc to dismiss the larger image.
After opening the raw file, I enabled the photo editing tool in Xara Photo and Graphic Designer. From left to right:
With the Enhance function active, you'll have access to numerous tools that affect the entire image. I wanted to create a "golden hour" effect for this image. That's a term photographers use to describe late afternoon sunlight that gives everything a kind of golden glow.
Then it was time to modify the shape of the image.
So after cropping the image to be approximately square, I moved the cat to the right and then rounded the image's corners.
Next, I decided to add a small bit of text with the cat's name. The typeface I selected is called Curlz and it seems to fit her well. For the text color, I sampled her nose.
To complete the process, I exported the image in PNG format so that I could maintain the background transparency.
That's where I should stop with this image, but Photo and Graphic Designer has many more features. So let's find another image to play with.
I found a picture of a camel from the Wilds.
The background is just too green. It's bright, nearly fluorescent, and distracting. There are lots of ways that this could be corrected, but I decided to try doing it the hard way.
Here's the result. The camel isn't as dark and there's a lot more detail in his fur. My main reason for making this change was to tone down the background, though.
Yes, doing it this way takes some time to learn what needs to be adjusted, but that's the great thing about digital photography. You can try all sorts of options and never have to spend a penny on darkroom supplies.
Many people are too timid when learning how to use a program like this, making just tiny tweaks. Instead, I recommend grabbing each of the controls and moving it all the way left or right, up or down. See what the extremes do, then you can work with smaller modifications to get the results you want.
Let's spend a little more time with the photography section of Photo and Graphic Designer before we move on to the graphic parts.
This version includes more than 2 dozen effects in the Content Catalog. These effects can be applied to your photos and, after importing and applying the effect, you can make additional modifications using the standard photo tools.
Photo grids are an interesting addition to this version. Although they don't create anything you couldn't do manually, they automate a process and give you a good starting point. There are two flavors: Smart grids and standard grids. Please do not call the standard grids "dumb grids". They are nothing of the sort. What makes a smart grid smart is its ability to automatically reshape itself to match your photos. If you use a standard grid, you'll have more control, but you'll be responsible for correctly fitting images.
The grid I imported looked like this. It's easy to move the photos around, delete photos, and add photos. But it took a few moments for me to figure out how to change a photo.
As it turns out, the photo grids don't accept raw images. You need a JPG or a PNG.
I had some JPG images available, so I started dropping them into the photo grid without paying a lot of attention to how large they were, whether they were vertical or horizontal, or what their aspect ratio was.
Without any modification by me, Xara Photo and Graphic Designer came up with a very acceptable design. Taking out the couple of minutes it took me to find out that only JPG and PNG images would work and the minutes required for me to find some images, the entire process was about a 5-minute job.
If you've ever struggled with what seems like it should be a simple chart in Excel, Smart Shapes are going to be a welcome feature. The charting function in Excel, while powerful, has never been easy to understand. I've often wished there was a way to just create a bar chart based on the numbers I know.
In fact, I've used other graphics programs to create bars after tediously creating an underlying series of horizontal and vertical axes lines.
Smart Shapes aren't new, but they are greatly improved and there's a library of shapes you can use as starters. The chart Smart Shapes are ready to use for percentage rings, bar charts, and column charts.
You'll also find a more flexible version of the spiral Smart Shape, rectangles that allow you to edit any corner independent of the others, custom lines, and additions to existing shapes such as arrows and speech bubbles.
Let's create a bar chart. I started by importing the starter object (left) and then ...
Here's my bar chart after a bit more work. I changed the text for one element to red and changed the bars from blue to orange, then exported the file as a PNG to maintain a transparent background.
The on-line content catalog is larger in this version and access is provided without additional charge for one year based on the update guarantee that I described in an earlier program on the Website Designer program. Essentially Xara provides regular updates throughout the year. If you don't renew at the end of the year, the program will continue to work; you just will stop receiving updates and, if you have to reinstall the program, it will revert to the original configuration.
The on-line catalog offers 500 thousand royalty-free photos, template updates, and an improved index.
Xara Photo and Graphic Designer - Fast, Easy, ResourcefulOK, Xara. This time you get 5 cats and a WOW! The number of new features and improved capabilities, coupled with a year's worth of no-cost upgrades and a program that continues to work for users that decide not to pay for next year's upgrade makes this version a winner.
Additional details are available on the Xara website.
According to the Washington Redskins, a notebook computer owned by one of their trainers has been stolen. The laptop computer was password protected, but the computer's disk drive was not encrypted. The NFL says that the team confirmed the theft on June first. The laptop computer was stolen in mid April.
The team says that it immediately notified local law enforcement and is working with the NFL and the NFL Players Association to locate any notify any players "who may have been impacted." The NFL released an official statement on its website: "All clubs have been directed to re-confirm that they have reviewed their internal data protection and privacy policies and that medical information is stored and transmitted on password-protected and encrypted devices; and that every person with access to medical information has reviewed and received training on the policies regarding the privacy and security of that information."
The Washington team says "No social security numbers, protected health information (PHI) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), or financial information were stolen or are at risk of exposure."
But still, shouldn't an organization such as an NFL football team know enough to encrypt important data? I know of a company that handles a lot of important financial data. Files are encrypted when they're moved from one location to another. Any computer on which any of the data might ever be located, including desktop and notebooks computers, have encrypted disk drives. When files are moved, they travel over secure FTP connections.
Maybe the NFL doesn't need to be quite that secure, but at the very least any data that could potentially be used by others if the computer is stolen should be in files that are encrypted even if the computer's entire disk is not encrypted.
The CEO of Alertsec, an encryption as a service company, was quick to comment on the issue. "What happened to the Washington Redskins was a total fumble on computer security," according to Ebba Blitz. "While we should be surprised that the laptop was not encrypted, our research shows most companies do not ensure their laptops are encrypted until a breach like this takes place. Ultimately this security fumble proves why everyone needs encryption."
The comment may be self serving, but it's no less true. Nearly 70% of executives believe auto-saved passwords are not secure (and they're right). About half of the executives of small and medium size businesses believe never logging out of user profiles decreases security (and they're right).
So they more or less see the problem, but Blitz says the real problem is the false sense of security that some security precautions create. "Computer manufacturers and software vendors offer a variety of built-in solutions that seem to protect you, but they are no match for the run-of-the-mill cybercriminal." That, she says is why encryption is so important. "Losing data could cause a problem of catastrophic proportions for any individual and any company."
This may not have a lot to do with desktop or notebook computers, but you can bet there's a lot of technology involved. And besides, it shows that the little school down the street from my house can do more than just turn out decent football teams.
The US Department of Energy and General Motors say that Ohio State University won this year's EcoCAR 3 competition. The awards were presented in San Diego as the second stage of an ongoing 4-year competition concluded. The overall competition will end in 2018. Ohio State took first place last year and also in the final year of EcoCAR 2, so this is actually the third consecutive win for the team.
The EcoCAR program is intended to accelerate the development of advanced technologies to reduce vehicle emissions and to increase engine efficiency according to David Friedman of the Energy Department. In typical PR-speak, he also is reported to have said, "American energy holds the promise for job creation and a growing economy, and nothing could be more evident than the efforts made by these creative and talented students in the EcoCAR program. These brilliant minds are the pathway of the nation's automotive industry, and their dedication and results are an indication of the bright future ahead of us." (Who writes this stuff?)
The Buckeyes returned to Columbus with a $10,000 prize (OK, by football standards, that's chump change), but they also bring home the trophy. The team won by earning 880 points out of a possible 1000 overall points. They also had 11 first-place category finishes and were in the top 5 in 30 of the 36 categories. The victory was the result of winning design for "industry grade processes" for embedded controls and software development.
The competition was held at GM's Desert Proving Grounds in Yuma, Arizona, and lasted a week. Virginia Tech and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University took second and third places respectively.
If you want to know more about the EcoCAR 3 program, you'll find it here.
