Death By Selfies – We, Geeks Podcast Ep. 22

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PewPiePie responds to the haters

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PewDiePie, YouTube’s largest gamer, has come under fire from jealous, miserable people. It was reported that Felix earned a whopping $7.5 million last year through his YouTube channel! After receiving a ton of hate, Felix responded via a video on his channel. Check out the article here.

Mom Horrified After Photography Studio Airbrushes Toddler

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Have we gone too far as a culture when we’re retouching children? Lauren Holsten was outraged when a photography studio Photoshopped images of her 18-month-old daughter, Lexi, so that her birthmark wasn’t visible. In defense of the photographer, the birth mark is quite huge, but against the photographer, you should be asking a question about something like that before going and making a major retouch change on someone’s child. This birthmark is roughly the size of a small strawberry. See the story on Yahoo! here.

NYSE and United Airlines GO DOWN

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The New York Stock exchange was shut down on Wednesday from 11:30am until about 3:00pm because of a technical, computer glitch. It’s an interesting coincidence that it’s amid this Greek economic collapse/trouble. United Airlines also suffered from a computer glitch and had to ground flights across the United States by the FAA because of a technical network problem caused by a faulty router.

The NYSE has not closed down like this since 2005 when a glitch in the communications system caused everything to go hay-wire just prior to closing. United Airlines is offering waivers for new flights to those who missed or had to switch flights due to the grounding and additional delays caused by the grounding. Read more on CNET here.

Adobe Finally Updates Creative Cloud Desktop Client to Solve Infuriating Pop-Up Issue

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A new update to the Creative Cloud by Adobe now prevents the annoying auto-update pop-up from appearing to distract you from your work. The update promises “other fixes” as well. Let’s hope it fixes the serious download issue some users experience where they actually cannot download an update altogether. You’re drunk Adobe. People aren’t happy.

Slack’s Emoji ‘Reactions’ (Favorites/Responses)

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Slack is a messaging app that is used to communicate quickly between team members. Slack did something interesting this week and introduced the “Emoji reaction”. The Emoji reaction allows you “favorite” a message or posting with a choice of Emoji. Everyone can jump in with the emoji that represents their feelings on the topic at hand and the accolades will come pouring in. You may post something asking a person to get some job done, they can reply with a simple green check, and you can reply to that green check with a thumbs up and smiling face to show that you approve. All in a matter of seconds. Thus reaction Emoji are born! “Remoji”. You heard it here first. Read the full article here.

Astropad Turns Your iPad Into a Pro Graphics Tablet for Mac OS X

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We’ve talked about the excitement surrounding the possibility of an iPad Pro with a touch force display and a stylus that would allow for tablet-like fine control and the ability to run a proper Mac OS which would allow for a true mobile Photoshop experience very much like a desktop. Well, there’s an app for that now. The folks over at Astropad HQ have developed an app named “Astropad” which costs $20, and essentially transforms your iPad into a full on graphics tablet.

Astropad uses a technology called LIQUID which ensures that the work you see on the iPad is color corrected and retina display ready. Because of it’s apparent “closeness”, LIQUID has significantly shorter delay times of about 12ms compared with about 32ms via AirPlay. Astropad allows you to connect to your Mac and work with virtually any Mac application via WiFi or a USB cord.

Because you’d be using your non-touch force iPad, there doesn’t appear to be any support of varying pressure. Check it out in the app store and pick it up for just $19.99.

Affinity Photo for Mac Officially Launches in the App Store

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After being in public beta for several months, Affinity Photo is finally available in the App Store, with an introductory price of $40. It’s main goal is to compete directly with Photoshop, which it does, but brings very little new to the table, and lacks quite a bit. The biggest advantage is speed. Affinity Photo is blazing fast, even when working with very large files. Check out Affinity here.

Affinity Photo is great for hobbyists, but not recommended for professional photo editors.

Canon 5DS Handed Highest DxOMark Score for a Canon, But Still Trails Nikon and Sony

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DxoMark has returned a verdict on the newest piece of Canon gear, the 5D S and it’s the highest marks a Canon camera has ever received, but it still ranked lower than both Nikon and Sony in important areas of distinction such as Overall sensor score, Portrait Color depth, Dynamic Range, and Low light ISO.
Despite it’s highest ever score for a Canon, the 5D S sits outside of the top 20 and, according to DxOMark, shows just how far behind Canon is in the war of the sensors. The real question here is, do you care and do you think that the tool makes the artist? Sure we want the best tools, but when are we simply pixel-peeping and splitting hairs, rather than focusing on our craft rightly and truly?

Read the full article about this report here.

Russia Unveils ‘Safe Selfies’ Campaign as Death Count Grows

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Oh Mother Russia how you please me with your funny stories and things in the cold, frozen north. It may sound like a joke, but it’s not. Apparently people are taking dangerous selfies in Russia to the point where Russia has launched a “Safe Selfies” campaign. The signs include things like selfies in front of moving trains, selfies while handling firearms, selfies while climbing electric towers, and more. You’ve got to check this out.

Palette Launches!

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What started as a Kickstarter project, has turned into reality! A Canadian based company is finally shipping Palette, a modular product that will change the way you interact with your applications. I’ve been using Palette for a few months, and it’s quite impressive! Several modules are available – buttons, dials, and sliders, and they all snap together via magnets. Palette is able to control many applications, from Photoshop, Lightroom, After Effects, and even some video games! Check out the full spread on their website.

Instagram May Be Getting Ready to Up Photo Sizes to 1080px

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Instagram has released an update which many claim will enable much higher resolution photos, which are currently maxed at 640×640. The Verge found that Instagram is now storing new photos at 1080×1080. Once the update goes live, old photos will likely remain at the previous resolution. Learn more here.

GoPro Hero 4 Session is Here

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It’s a GoPro! Read about all the specs and see more photos and video here.

Apple Music is a Mess?

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Apple Music sort of launched last week. It was initially released with the (unnecessary) iOS 8.4 update, then was brought to iTunes much later in the day. One of the main components to Apple Music is Beats1 radio, which is an “always on” radio station with hosts from around the world. First impressions haven’t been that great. The amount of times that Beats1 reminds listeners that the station is “always on” is quite obnoxious.

Aside from that, I have personally found that the playlists algorithm isn’t that great. After telling Apple Music what type of music I enjoy, it insists on recommending NSYNC and Britney Spears. Apple Music has got 99 Problems.

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