Hasta La Gadget!

Google unleashed a slew of new features and updates to Google+ today during the company’s Google I/O opening keynote, and some of the new features included Google+ Photos. Google’s aim for photos is to take the time out of editing, organizing, and sharing all of them. It can be a pretty laborious task, but Google wants to make it easier on its users.

To start, Google brought up the recently-announced change to the way the company is handling the cloud storage space that you get. Google is now giving users 15GB to split amongst Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+ Photos. If you use Google+ Photos the most, this will give you more space to store full-resolution images, and it seems Google is all about full-res, as they took the time to knock Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, for not uploading photos in full-res.

Google also introduced a new feature that lets Google+ Photos pick the best photos out of a large stack of photos that you took while on vacation or somewhere. Some people take hundreds of photos and they want to pick out the best ones to share. However, Google says they can do that for you now. Based on different factors, certain photos get prioritized or dropped.

Google can recognized what photos are blurry or have poor exposure. These photos get dropped and aren’t featured. However, photos of important places and smiling faces (yes, that cleverly rhymed) get prioritized. Google calls this feature Highlights, and it’s rolling out to Google+ Photos now.

Another Google+ Photos feature is called Auto Enhance, which is essentially Photoshop for dummies, or at least people who don’t want to mess with such a complicated piece of software. The Auto Enhance feature uses Snapseed technology (remember they bought Snapseed awhile back?), and the feature can recognize different facial features such as skin, hairlines, and eyes. The built-in software will then automatically adjust the exposure in certain areas to enhance the photo. This feature is also rolling out now.

Lastly, Google+ Photos is getting something called Auto Awesome, which consists of five of its own features, which include Collage, HDR, Smile, Motion, and Panorama. The Auto Awesome feature can do things like create animations out of different photos that you’ve uploaded. This feature will also begin rolling out today.

Google+ Photo abilities enhanced starting with 15GB storage boost is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Avid iOS shutterbugs already have Dropbox, Flickr and any number of other internet-based safeguards for their photos, but it won’t hurt to have another, will it? Amazon certainly doesn’t mind, as its new iOS version of Cloud Drive Photos is built expressly for the sake of uploading shots and viewing them online. Like the Android version, there’s no editing or other special tricks — social network sharing is about the only notable extra. Still, it might be worth grabbing the app if your Cloud Drive space isn’t living up to its potential.

Filed under: Cellphones, Storage, Internet, Amazon

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Via: PCMag

Source: App Store

Amazon has launched its Cloud Drive Photos app on iOS today, joining the Android app as a solution for avid mobile photo snappers to automatically have their creations uploaded in the cloud and organized for sharing and viewing. The app looks to take on Apple’s Photo Steam iCloud feature, as well as Google’s and Dropbox’s solutions.

The new app from Amazon can automatically upload photos that you take with your iPhone directly to your Amazon Cloud Drive, and within the app, all your photos will be organized and ready to browse or share. However, just like with Dropbox’s automatic photo upload feature, it only works when the app is open due to limitations within iOS.

The Android version of the app launched back in November, and unlike iOS users, the app is able to upload photos directly to Amazon’s Could Drive whether the app is open or not. However, unlike Apple’s Photo Stream, you can view the photos in a web browser from any computer, just like with Dropbox and even Google Drive, which begs the question: Is Amazon’s cloud offerings good enough to take on Google and Dropbox?

Amazon offers users 5GB for free to start out with, and paid options are available for those who need more storage space (plans start at 20GB for $10 per year). With Google Drive, you also get 5GB free, with paid options starting at just $2.49 per month for 25GB). As for Dropbox, you start off with a measly 2GB for free, but can upgrade for $10 per month, which will land you 100GB. So, all of these options clearly offer different paying schemes, but if you’re already invested in Amazon’s ecosystem, the addition of Cloud Drive Photos will be a welcomed.

VIA: PC Mag

SOURCE: iTunes App Store

Amazon Cloud Drive Photos for iOS takes on Google, Dropbox and Apple is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Clad with the aesthetics of a 50-year-old film camera, the Olympus PEN E-P5 is being launched by the manufacturer for the anniversary of the original, here in 2013 filled instead with digital features throughout. This camera is what Olympus notes is the first Compact System Camera to work with a mechanical shutter capable of a speed of 1/8000th of a second. Clad with a 16-Megapixel TruePic VI Live MOS sensor as well as a 5-Axis Image Stabilization mechanism inside, the introduction of this camera by Olympus appears to be aimed both lovers of retro style and those looking for the company’s furthest pushes forward in imaging technology alike.

Olympus has made an effort to point out the similarities between this new PEN E-P5 and what’s considered their premier Micro Four Thirds camera – the Olympus OM-D E-M5. We had our own review of said camera back when it was unveiled this past summer, experiencing the features carried over to this new model: the sensor (mentioned above), FAST AF, and the 5-Axis Image Stabilization (also mentioned above).

The autofocus system in the E-P5 was developed in part in the OM-D E-M5, powering a new Super Spot AF feature which Olympus says is more precise than phase-difference autofocus systems across the board. This system also works with Focus Peaking, “dramatically” improving the usability of any manual focus action you’ll be working with by taking the point of focus and emphasizing its contours in black or white. We’ll see how that works in our first hands-on tests.

The 5-Axis Image Stabilization system has been updated since its first appearance on the OM-D E-M5, here appearing in a more compact form, small enough to fit inside the E-P5. This system can be used to reduce camera shaking while you’re taking photos or, in combination with this unit’s Multi-motion IS feature, helps to create a stable image while recording video.

The PEN E-P5′s wifi system allows the user to wirelessly connect to their smartphone at will. Bringing up the camera’s built-in automatically generated QR-code on its LCD display, the user will be automatically connected to the camera’s wifi network with a quick scan of said QR-code with their smartphone. From there, users will be able to work with the app Olympus Image Share 2.0 for smartphone control, remote viewfinder, and GPS information embeds.

The E-P5 works with several features the photographer may have otherwise needed off-camera software or hardware to recreate, starting with Photo Story+. This feature allows the user to automatically plant a stamp or hand-written signature into each photo they take, this allowing them to upload images automatically with Olympus Image Share 2.0 worry-free. With a signature on top of the photo right out of the gate, sharing with the world can be done in one less step than without this process.

The back of the E-P5 has a tilt-type LCD panel able to be aimed downward at 50-degrees and upward at 80-degrees, allowing for holds low and high. Users also have the option of working with this device’s high-definition VF-4 viewfinder with 1.48x magnification on an LCD with real-time eye detection.

Lenses for the E-P5 include every unit inside the Micro Four Thirds family and, as per usual, there are several versions of this device coming out – some with a lens, some without. There’s a body-only version appearing this month for an estimated street price of $999.99 in black, silver, or white (each of these shown above). Meanwhile there will be just black or silver bodies available for the $1449.99 version of the device, this package bringing with it the black M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17mm f1.8 lens and VF-4 Electronic Viewfinder lens.

Olympus PEN E-P5 relaunches original PEN F with digital build is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week’s Adobe Max 2013 conference has played host to the announcement of a new system known as Creative Cloud, taking what did exist with Adobe’s Creative Suite and making it a system prepared for the future online. This transition brings in a monthly subscription cost of $50 USD in exchange for Sync services, 20GB of online storage for documents of all kinds, and automatic cross-platform downloads to and from all applications in the suite. This push also includes access to the Behance community hub for creative discussion online.

With this change-over, each service will be clad with a “CC” moniker, so Photoshop CC will be first while the suite is called Adobe CC. The big-shot system known as Photoshop Extended, up until now purchased separate from any regular Photoshop build, is now folded in to the one single Photoshop application: Photoshop CC. Photoshop Extended’s abilities folding in to Photoshop CC include 3D editing as well as higher, more sophisticated image analysis from all directions.

Photoshop CC adds a RAW editing engine as well as some rather odd action with a camera shake reduction engine that, from what the company has shown thus far, really does appear to work miracles for users prone to snapping images without a tripod. Photoshop CC’s camera shake reduction works to push your photo together, so to speak, as your camera tore them apart while your lens moved across an image.

With Photoshop CC’s RAW editing engine, Adobe’s newest version of Lightroom will be taking full effect. Here you’ll be able to make continuous non-destructive RAW edits or work with non-RAW images with extended tools. This release also makes a move with an updated smart sharpen, path selection integration, and a collection of new features adopted cross-service from Illustrator and Lightroom.

At the moment it’s unclear if Photoshop CC will be available to users not wanting to work with the Adobe Creative Cloud and its subscription service fees. It will be interesting to see Adobe attempt to work in the online space where their offline presence has been so full of impact.

Below you’ll find a set of demonstration videos from Adobe detailing some of the features included in this new Photoshop CC setup. First you’ll see Asobe Camera Raw 8 and Layer Support.

Next is Photoshop CC’s demonstration of Camera Shake Reduction. You’ll notice again that this works with the effects of a photo taken with a camera shake, not necessarily one blurred due to an out-of-focus lens.

Finally you’ll see Smart Sharpen, an update to Photoshop’s system that allows you to minimize the noise that would normally appear when you sharpen a photo too much. This system allows for fine-tuning of images for crispness all around.

Adobe Photoshop CC pushes system online with subscription-based Creative Cloud is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.