Open Source. Simple. Cross-platform. Free. Ya gotta love it! This is a great, simple image package, especially for web graphics, if you don’t need the power of The GIMP, and want something light and easy!

Pinta: Painting Made Simple.

“Pinta is a free, open source drawing/editing program modeled after Paint.NET. Its goal is to provide users with a simple yet powerful way to draw and manipulate images on Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Drawing Tools
Use easy drawing tools to draw freehand, lines, rectangles, ellipses, and more.

Full History
Don’t be afraid to experiment, Pinta tracks your full history so you can always undo.

Unlimited Layers
Use layers to help separate and group elements of your image for easy editing.

Adjustments and Effects
Pinta includes over 35 adjustments and effects for tweaking your images.

Bi-Tri-Quad-Lingual
Use Pinta in your language. Pinta is at least partially translated into over 55 languages.

Your Workspace
Like docked windows? No problem. Floating windows? No problem. Pinta will even let you mix and match.”

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The first serious commercial space mission is tomorrow! SpaceX will launch a resupply mission to the International Space Station. Very cool stuff!

Ambitious mission looms for SpaceX

“Set to rocket off early Saturday, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft faces a daunting series of systems tests and complicated maneuvers — something similar to an ultra-serious shakedown cruise for a new-generation nuclear-powered submarine — before it will be given the green light to berth at the International Space Station.

The bar is raised sky-high, and for SpaceX, the idea is to show the U.S. and its 15 international partners that the Dragon poses no threat to the station or the six people living and working aboard it. SpaceX must prove the Dragon won’t crash into the complex, destroying the outpost and killing all aboard.
Then, and only then, will the Dragon be given a ‘go’ to enter the ‘Keep Out Sphere,’ a 220-yard safety zone that surrounds the sprawling, million-pound outpost.

And only then, will SpaceX be allowed to attempt a feat only federal space agencies in the U.S., Russia, Europe and Japan have accomplished: an orbital rendezvous with the station.

‘This is pretty tricky. And also, for the public out there, they may not realize that the space station is zooming around Earth every 90 minutes, and it’s going 17,000 miles per hour,’ said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. ‘This is something that is going 12 times faster than a bullet from an assault rifle. So it’s hard.’”

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They started at $38.00 per share. Then it went to $42.00 a share. Ho-hum. Then Wall Street moved in to try and stop the value from declining due to lack of interest. That seems to say it all. Yawn.

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Netflix rocks! I love my streaming Netflix over my Roku box. Now, they have an improved web based player for your PC, or tablet devices!

Netflix launches sexy new web-based video player

“Netflix just rolled out a completely revamped video player for browser-based viewing, and I gotta say, it’s pretty slick: Not only does it come with lightbox-like text overlays while a video is paused, users can also preview entire seasons of a TV show while they’re watching one episode of the show in full-screen mode. I was told by Netflix that this is currently rolling out across the web.

The only downside of the new player seems to be that there can be some issues with Chrome on Mac OS – a warning screen told me to switch to Safari or Firefox for the best viewing experience. However, a quick test showed that basic playback was working just fine via OS X Chrome. A Netflix spokesperson explained via email: ‘Chrome on Mac support is a limitation of Microsoft Silverlight, not Netflix. It works on some Macs but not on others, so we allow it and give users a warning.’

The player makes way for additional information, lightbox-style, when paused for a few seconds.

Netfix users can also resize the browser window during playback, and the video is resized fairly smoothly. This should make it easier to watch something while you’re doing something else on your computer, or adjust the size of the video window to play it on a connected TV.

Netflix has been emphasizing playback on connected devices, which now make up for the vast majority of the service’s usage, but today’s relaunch clearly show that there is still a notable demand for PC-based playback as well.”

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:56 — 151.8MB) | Embed

Netcast Show Notes:

A major upgrade to The GIMP, Facebook Appstore? Blubrry PowerPress 4.0, Geek Software of the Week: AM-DeadLinks! Major camera confusion, and a surprise ending!

Links that pertain to this Netcast:

TechPodcasts Network

Blubrry Network

AM-Deadlinks

Download M4V

Download WebM

Download MP3

Download Ogg

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:54 — 12.8MB) | Embed

Netcast Show Notes:

A major upgrade to The GIMP, Facebook Appstore? Blubrry PowerPress 4.0, Geek Software of the Week: AM-DeadLinks! Major camera confusion, and a surprise ending!

Links that pertain to this Netcast:

TechPodcasts Network

Blubrry Network

AM-Deadlinks

Download M4V

Download WebM

Download MP3

Download Ogg

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This week’s GSotW is mind-bogglingly useful to clean up your old bookmarks. Stuff disappears on the Interwebs all the time, so it is good to check our your bookmarks occasionally!

AM-Deadlinks

“AM-DeadLink detects dead links and duplicates in browser bookmarks and text files. If a bookmark has become unavailable you can verify and delete it permanently. Additionally you can download Favicons for all your Favorites and Bookmarks. AM-DeadLink is Freeware!

AM-DeadLink can check the following resources:

Internet Explorer Favorites
Firefox 3.x bookmarks
Opera bookmarks
Chrome bookmarks
HTML files
URLs from tab delimited text files
URLs from comma separated text files”

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Powerpress powers the Dr. Bill.TV Netcast here on the Blog! New features listed below will be coming soon!

From the RawVoice Press Release!

“Blubrry PowerPress 4.0 brings the latest essential features for media creation to WordPress, including the hottest updates to the new iTunes specifications.

‘I am proud of this release of PowerPress, in supporting the latest iTunes podcast specs, additionally this update introduces innovative features first to market for the 10’s of thousands of media creators that rely on PowerPress,’ said Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice.

iTunes upgrades include:
An updated iTunes image requirement — RGB 1400×1400 — throughout the plugin for better cover image quality throughout.

‘Feature Episode’ that allow podcasters to designate a primary episode, which can be used to introduce the podcast or lead in to a new series.

An iTunes Order feature that allows a podcaster doing a series of episodes to have each listed in the desired order.

Other PowerPress 4.0 offerings include:
A new video player option: VideoJS HTML5 JavaScript player — a player that has its own plugin. By adding this plugin, the new player will be available as an option in PowerPress video players list.

A Feed Episode Maximizer ‘option’ for shows with episodes in excess of what can currently be included in a feed. This feature allows the podcaster to maintain the latest 10 episodes in iTunes with all of the extensive episode data. The rest of the episodes are listed in a way that maximizes the number of episodes that can be listed on iTunes / Zune etc. Perfect for the serial podcaster with an extensive episode library.

Blubrry.com is a media community and directory that gives content creators the power to make money through advertising, get detailed audience measurements and host their audio and video. Blubrry PowerPress 4.0 brings the essential features for media creation to WordPress, offering full podcasting support, web audio/video media players and more.”

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Facebook now has an Appstore. Does EVERYONE have an Appstore now? Oh well, I have to wonder if you really NEED Facebook apps!

Introducing the App Center

From the Facebook Developer Blog:

“Today, we’re announcing the App Center, a new place for people to find social apps. The App Center gives developers an additional way to grow their apps and creates opportunities for more types of apps to be successful.

In the coming weeks, people will be able to access the App Center on the web and in the iOS and Android Facebook apps. All canvas, mobile and web apps that follow the guidelines can be listed. All developers should start preparing today to make sure their app is included for the launch.

A place to find great apps
For the over 900 million people that use Facebook, the App Center will become the new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something, Pinterest, Spotify, Battle Pirates, Viddy, and Bubble Witch Saga.

Everything has an app detail page, which helps people see what makes an app unique and lets them install it before going to an app.”

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The GIMP 2.8 is out! And, it is causing quite a buzz in Open Source circles! It is time to upgrade! And, if you haven’t tried the GIMP yet, download it and give it a spin! It is my favorite Open Source image editor! I use it all the time!

http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

“GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X.”

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