Wasted Continuum

June 17th is the launch date for Firefox 3. Mozilla is trying to set a Guinness World Record for most software downloads in 24 hours. As a web developer, I use Firefox along with a slew of add-ons to debug my sites. I also have a lot of add-ons that make my browser so much more efficient. I’ll be downloading it tomorrow. If you want to join in, the Firefox peoples have set up a Download Day 2008 site. Download Day starts at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Tuesday, June 17th.

Follow Firefox on twitter

My trial version of MarsEdit 2 is about to expire. MarsEdit is a blog publishing application from the people at Red Sweater Software. I’ve been using it to write for Wasted Continuum. After using it almost several times daily, I have decided to purchase it. It has already saved me from losing my work at least twice during this 30 day trial period. MarsEdit has definitely improved my workflow. With it’s tight integration to my Flickr account and simple template creation for my often used tags, it’s almost a no-brainer. MarsEdit is definitely one of those applications where you don’t know what you needed until you use it. There are so many little shortcuts and features that makes writing for a blog simple again. MarsEdit works seamlessly with WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, Movable Type, LiveJournal, Drupal, Vox, and more. If you have been looking for a way to organize and streamline your blogging workflow, you should must give MarsEdit a chance. MarsEdit 2 is available for OS X 10.4 or 10.5 for $29.95. You can try a 30 day demo here.

Red Sweater Software
MarsEdit

Adobe has just released a beta of Lightroom 2.0. I’m a big fan of Lightroom. It completely streamlines my photography workflow when it comes to importing, organizing, processing and distributing. It’s an amazing piece of software. I have on many occassions sifted through a 50 plus shot photoshoot and was able to tag and reject the bad ones in around 20 minutes. It makes everything convenient. As a photographer, Lightroom is just a massive timesaver. It’s difficult to think of reasons why one should not use it.

The new features that Lightroom 2.0 is touting are localized corrections, improved organization tools, multiple monitor support, more printing functionality and 64-bit support. When Adobe was working on version 1.0 of Lightroom, they released the beta to the public too. It was a tremendous success and I’m really glad that they are doing it again for this release. I will definitely check out the 2.0 beta soon.

Download Lightroom 2.0 beta

Adium 1.2 has just been released. Adium is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X. It can connect to a bunch of services such as AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more. It’s what I use at work. I’ll install it on Monday and see if there are any major changes. You can download it here.

Flickr just release Uploadr 3.0. This version has been streamlined. It allows you to easily title, describe and tag your photos before you upload them. It works much better than version 2. This release definitely gives you more control of your upload process, making it even easier than before. I used it to upload a few photos today. I highly recommend you check it out. It is available for PC (XP and Vista) and Mac OSX (10.4 and 10.5). If you don’t have a Flickr account, why are you reading this post? If you take digital photos, you should have a Flickr account. Go sign up now.

My Flickr Account

Flickr.com

Flickr Tools

Flickr has just partnered up with Picnik, an online photo editor. Now you can edit your photos that you’ve already uploaded onto your Flickr account. I just added the feature to my account. It looks like you can auto-fix, rotate, crop, resize, adjust exposure, adjust colors, sharpen and remove red-eye. There’s also a whole batch of pre-built effects that you can apply like sepia, vignetting, posterize, and the Paris Hilton night vision effect. Looks useful. I’d probably only use it in a bind. Maybe if I needed a quick crop and I was at home.