SyncReload

Free Roland SH-101 Ableton Live Rack (video)

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:36:00 +0000

MUSIC, WINDOWS, MAC, ABLETON LIVE

SH-101 mono synth was released 1983. A small 32-key analogue synthesiser from Roland, that still holds its own today in dance music and for synth solos. SH-101 is especially suitable for techno, ACID, and drum & bass sharing a similar sound as the TB-303 and MC-202 Known for its iconic exciting sound the SH-101 has been used by many famous musical acts including The Cars, the Human League, Aphex Twin, Chromeo, Gorillaz, Daft Punk, The Prodigy etc. An alternative to buying one on Ebay
or just want to try out some 101 sounds, Ski Oakenfull (BBE / Primaudial) shows about recreating a Roland SH-101 LFO Filter Modulation Effect on the Ableton Live ‘Analog’ Instrument.

Just about the instructor in the video - Ski teaches Logic courses on PointBlankOnline and has vast experience in the music industry across a range of projects, releasing solo albums on Sony and BBE under his own name, and his latest ambient electronic project, Ayota.-
If you want to find out more about him and his music, check out his website here.

The SH-101 rack is available for free download via Point Blank Online’s Youtube channel.

At the Mutek Festival ?: Stay Updated with this iPhone App

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:10:00 +0000

MUSIC, MOBILE

For 12 years, the MUTEK festival has drawn increasing numbers of fans at the end of May for five days and nights of some of the most forward-thinking electronic music programming in North America.While Mutek has expanded to festivals around the world, the main event still remains in the organization’s hometown of Montreal, QC. Mutek aims to embrace and celebrate the innovations and artistry of the digital medium, with each year boasting a considerable lineup of well-known and up-and-
coming performers. One thing that sets this festival apart from others is a focus on live performances from electronic acts, often with much thought put into the visual and environmental elements of each performance.

Along with the music acts you’ll find groundbreaking visual performances, installations and art exhibits that coincide with the music experiences of the event. Below is a promo video of this years MUTEK festival.

This year's edition takes place from May 30 until June 3, and it runs the gamut of contemporary electronic and experimental music. Highlights of the more club-oriented programming include Monolake, Jeff Mills, Kode9, Shackleton, Roll the Dice, Sendai, Container, Dave Aju, Public Lover, Blondes, Apparat Band, KiNK, Jacob Korn, Minilogue vs. Mathew Jonson, Nicolas Jaar, Deniz Kurtel, Wolf + Lamb, Benoit & Sergio and Farben, plus more.

For those attending the Mutek Festival you may want to remain informed with this updating iPhone app, something definitely better than a flier. The Mutek app features an online MUTEK Newsfeed, complete guide and description to the all festival events. You also have to ability with the MyMUTEK section to create your own custom Mutek planned schedule and send it to your friends. There is an Artist Summary element with Pictures and Audio. You can also stream the most recent MUTEK compilation and listen to an integrated online MUTEK radio thru a Samuri.fm API. Similar to another Mutek iphone app Audiosphere, there is a festival map to help navigate you along your way.

Mutek App via iTunes App Store

Sound Design of the Audi e-tron (video)

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 04:25:00 +0000

WEB, SOUND, CREATION

Audi’s e-tron models will cover long distances powered by practically silent electric motors. For future use in its electric 'e-tron' models, AUDI has developed e-sound, a realtime technique of generating synthetic motor sounds for the essentially silent vehicle in order to warn pedestrians and cyclists of the car's proximity. With the new AUDI system, the e-tron car does not broadcast prerecorded engine noises but instead generates sound in realtime to the millisecond, calculated based on data including the electric motor's rotational speed, vehicle speed, loads, and other parameters.
The result is played via a loudspeaker affixed to the undercarriage of the car. Each model of e-tron is planned to have a unique sound.

During normal operation, the sound produced ranges between five and eight watts, although the system has been tested to handle as much as 40 watts. a small percentage of the sound also enters the vehicle's interior, but the amount was kept intentionally minimal to maintain the quieter atmosphere that according to the engineers "best conveys the unique experience of electric driving."
In laymen's terms our brains are wired to respond quickly to sound, so when cars suddenly don’t make any noise, alerting us to their presence is a serious issue. Audi’s engineers are working on that problem in the video below.

Some science-fiction films provided inspiration suitable for certain frequency ranges, "considers AUDI acoustics engineer Rudolf Halbmeir".
"but there was nothing in the real world which offered quite the right sound. when you compose music or sounds, you have to be true to your convictions. the moment you cut corners, you essentially end up with elevator music."

via Geeky Gadgets

Six Reasons to Use Linux

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:51:00 +0000

LINUX

Every day, Linux grows in popularity in both desktop and server environments. It has grown it’s user base 64% since June of last year. After that, the first question is - What are the benefits of using Linux instead of Windows? This is in fact a constant debate between the Windows and Linux communities. Given a chance to select your choice of operating system (OS), after reading these benefits, people may prefer to use Linux than anything else. If you’re one of the many who haven’t yet made the switch, or at
least tried Linux, here are six very good reasons to consider this stable, flexible and affordable alternative to Windows or Mac.

1. It's Free
Linux doesn't cost anything, it's true, unless you choose a commercial option with paid support. But it's also free from patents and other restrictions that determine how it can be used. Free and open source is a really good combination, because it means you're in control. The free price is really just icing on the proverbial cake.
Of course the price is great. You simply can’t beat free. Many people think, “you get what you pay for“, but that’s not entirely true. For instance, even most Windows users will say that Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome are the best browsers out there. How much do you pay for those? That right, they’re free. Although these are free, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some really good developers behind the software.

2. It's Diverse
Since Linux is open source, there are a ton of choices and options. This can be daunting to some people who like simple. It can be very simple. It’s even a choice to have choices. You can go to Ubuntu’s website, download the latest release, install it, and enjoy the operating system with its default set of software. However, you can also dig deeper and change nearly everything. Whether it’s the desktop environment, email client, look and feel of everything, or nearly anything else you want, the options are there.
Unlike Windows, you can even change the default file manager. If you don’t like Windows Explorer, you can’t exactly ditch it and use a different file manager. In Linux, you can use the default file manager if you like, which Nautilus is a great file manager in itself, or you can install something else (like Marlin) and set it as default. Simple as that. Detractors like to refer to Linux's diversity as a “fragmentation problem,” but in fact it's one of its greatest strengths.
Users have countless Linux distributions to choose from, whether it's one likeMint or Ubuntu that puts usability at the forefront, or one like Fedora with numerous enterprise-focused features and extra security. There are even flavors focused on specific industries and niches. There's something for everyone in the world of Linux, and it's increasingly cross-platformas well.

3. Customization
It’s nice to be able to customize something when you don’t like the defaults. You can change nearly any aspect of the operating system. This can be done through themes, color schemes, widgets, change of software, or pretty much any other way. Most customizations aren’t that involved, but due to the young nature of the latest versions of Gnome and Nautilus, some options aren’t supported yet. Overall, if something isn’t to your liking, it’s usually easy enough to change it to what you want
Not only can you choose the particular Linux distribution you use, but one of the hallmarks of Linux is that it's also highly customizable. Don't like Ubuntu's new Unity desktop or Mint'sGNOME 3? No problem--there are many others to choose from, and your pick can be easily installed. There's no vendor lock-in here to dictate how you must use your computer.

4. Support
People may think different things when the word “support” is mentioned. Some people will think, “I need help, where do I go?“, while others will think, “Does my 3G modem work with it?“. Both are valid concepts of support, and both are really good in Linux. It’s easy to get help with Linux. If you have a problem, there are many forums and chat rooms you can use to get help. Ubuntu Forums is possibly the best place to get help with anything related to Ubuntu, its derivatives , and its software. If a more general forum would be better suited for you, LinuxQuestions.org or Linux.com Forums is the place to go.
When it comes to hardware support, that can be a tricky subject to tackle from either the user’s aspect, or the developer’s.
Some hardware is supported by Linux, while some hardware manufacturers support Linux. Things that aren’t supported in either direction are usually being handled the best they can in some way or another. The Linux community is big, and I mean really big. That means that if there’s a piece of hardware out there, it’s bound to be in the hands of a Linux user or developer.
If it’s not already supported in some way, it’s probably being worked on by someone in the world. Even if something is already supported, there’s probably someone working on making it easier to work with, no matter how well it already works. The goal is to make everything work, and make it as easy as possible to do. That seems like a very noble goal, especially when it’s such a big task with some hardware. Besides all the many paid support options for Linux users today, there are also countless ways to get help for free through the active community of users and developers that surrounds most distributions.

5. Security
Just like most web exploits are written to target Internet explorer, Windows is the most targeted operating system for viruses and other malware, thanks primarily to the fact that it's still the one that's most widely used. No operating system is perfectly secure, of course, but in the Linux world malware is a rarity for many reasons, and there are extra-secure distributions available as well if that's a priority for you. The Linux world has seen its own share of upheaval over the past year, primarily due to the new desktop environments that have been introduced. What people sometimes forget, however, is how easy it is to bypass those changes and simply install what you want.

6. It's Always Improving
This actually goes in with support, but it’s done well enough to be mentioned separately. There are many ways to file a bug report. Ubuntu has bug reporting built into the operating system. When you find something wrong with the software and you file a bug report, it will be verified and assigned to a developer to be fixed in the next release of the software. If it’s big enough, it could even justify a bug fix release on its own. At the same time, there’s also feature suggestions. Most open source software has a way to make suggestions for improving the software. Nobody knows a user’s needs and desires like a user, so if you find something missing from your software choice, make a suggestion. This is one of the best ways for developers to know what they need to add to their software, and in most cases, they like to get that feedback.
Along similar lines, the communities that tend to surround Linux distributions also tend to keep improving them continuously, both with new features and by zapping any vulnerabilities quickly. No more waiting months for patches to come your way. No operating system is perfect, of course, but when it comes to giving users control of their computing environments, Linux takes the proverbial cake.

Conclusion
There are a lot of things to like about Linux. There are a lot of people that are passionate about open source software, and the developers volunteer their time to make it even better. What are some of your favorite parts of Linux? Let us know what you have to say in the comments.

uTorrent App Studio Overview

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:49:00 +0000

WINDOWS, DOWNLOADS

uTorrent has come a long way since it first saw the light of day in the fall of 2005. What started out as a minimalist and no-nonsense client targeted at an already BitTorrent-savvy crowd, has slowly become an application that does far more than downloading alone. uTorrent first introduced apps this past Spring, but this new release takes the feature to new heights with the launch of the Apps Studio to uTorrent’s 65 million plus users. uTorrent Apps Studio is a kind of App Store or Market specifcally for the uTorrent client.

Currently the uTorrent app market has 9 categories consisting of Music, Video, Utilities, Movies, Game, Social, Catalog, Visualizations and Search.

Once you’ve downloaded the new version of uTorrent, go to Apps Studio page and install you’re favorite uTorrent apps. Here is a view of apps that can be downloaded from the App Studio.

The first is a VLC player app. VLC is a popular media player among BitTorrent users, and not just because it is free. It also includes a huge number of video codecs so it can play virtually every video file available.

With the VLC app, uTorrent users now have a shortcut to play media files which automatically display the torrents you’ve downloaded in a list and allows you to play each through the VLC media player with a single click. Without having to open folders or even extract archives.

Admittedly this app is not a technological breakthrough but it does save on time and annoyances, especially for those who have never used VLC before. According to BitTorrent Inc. “..it’s a perfect match to the varied file types in the BitTorrent ecosystem,” a description we subscribe to.

The second app named uCast, adds a new and interesting feature to uTorrent. With uCast, uTorrent users have the option to create an RSS feed of the (selected) torrents they are downloading, and share this with friends who are also avid BitTorrent users.

This enables users to easily share a selection of torrents without having to lookup the original torrent download links. The RSS feed, which BitTorrent calls a TorrentCast (example), can be easily imported into uTorrent or any other client that supports RSS downloads.
One of the best features is that new torrents can be added to the uCast feed later, by simply selecting a recently downloaded torrent from within the app. This makes sharing torrents with friends easier and a lot more convenient than it is now.
It’s can be compared to a torrent blog, or a living mixtape as BitTorrent Inc. describes it. “Your TorrentCast is like a living mix tape, because you can add files at any time and your friends will instantly get them. You can also open up your TorrentCast to collaboration, so your friends can also add files to it,” BitTorrent Inc. writes.

In addition to maintaining these TorrentCasts alone, users can also invite others to collaborate on the feeds. By entering a password others have access to the feed, and the option to add or remove torrents. This added social layer and broadcast functionality is by far the most innovative app we’ve seen from BitTorrent Inc. thus far.

uMaps app takes location awareness a step further. the application displays all your peers on a Google Map, with the option to zoom into the street level. With uMap you can literally check where your peers live.

The App has several ways to display the data. File-sharers can be viewed by the BitTorrent client they use, the country they come from or the swarm they’re currently participating in..

Other apps on in the App Studio include TEDTalks, films from VODO, and music from ClearBits, social media/sharing features like TorrentTweet and utility apps TuneUp and BitDefender’s VirusGuard and games from Raptr and Outspark.

Of course we’re also interested in the opinion of actual uTorrent users. What do you think? What are your favorite apps? Feel free to discuss below.

uTorrent Apps Studio

Free Korg Monotron VST clones

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:38:00 +0000

MUSIC, VST, WINDOWS

The Monotron is a tiny, handheld analog synth that celebrates the weirder, more unpredictable side of analog. Sure, you can program basic tonal sounds to play melodies. The Korg Monotron is great in making insane, unpredictable, weird FX type sounds. One gripe you can stand the ribbon controller becuase it isn't like a true keyboard where pressing a note outputs a single, steady, predictable tone and can be kind of annoying. So maybe your not really an analogue addict or you don't really feel
like shelling out 70 dollars. Here are three free VST's monotron clones that give the definite feel of the monotron sound.
Minimalfabrik Monoklon

The Monoklon by Minimalfabrik features

1 Sawtooth OSC with Detuner.

1 Sawtooth LFO (can be routed either to Pich or Cutoff) + LFO Destination Switch.

1 LP Filter (the Filter is NO emulation of the Original in this Monoklon Version)

Download The Monoklon: click here
Minimalfabrik Website: click here
VSTRON

Initially inspired by the Korg Monotron the VSTron includes

1 Osc ( Saw , Sine , Triangle , Ramp , Pulse , White Noise and Pink Noise )
1 VCF Osc with 4 modes ( Low Pass , High Pass , Band Pass , Band Reject ) as well as
1 Main Envelope .
To further modulate things you have 2 Envelopes and 2 LFO’s that can be individually assigned to different parameters and some built-in effects such as Drive , Delay and Chorus ."

Download VSTRON: click here
Vetrix Website: click here

Easytoolz Minitron

Minitron is a freeware virtual analog synthesizer instrument for Windows.
"a new toy for the masses, a “Emu” of the Korg Monotron, it is not a real Emulation, more a Adaption of the simple but effective"
Minitron Features

Monophonic synth with structure of the Korg Minisynth.
1 Oscillator (saw).
1 LFO (pulse).
“Moogysh” LP-filter.
Overdrive and Master volume.
Includes 16 patches.

minitron is available as a freeware VST instrument plugin for Windows.

Download minitron: click here

easytoolz Website: click here

ShiftEdit: Cloud Based IDE for Programming Anywhere

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 04:50:00 +0000

WEB

ShiftEdit is an online browser-based IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that packages multiple features for developing web pages. It supports website development in PHP, HTML, CSS and JS (JavaScript). You can create, edit, and publish web pages, access and upload files through build-in (S)FTP client, and revise previously accessed/edited pages. It comes with couple of time-saving features like, code snippets and jump to line closing brackets to bring ease in coding. Like any IDEs,
ShiftEdit offers basic syntax highlighting and the web app interface allows you to edit your work and save it in the cloud, also with this tool is that it has built-in FTP/SFTP support so that you can manage your websites within ShiftEdit great when you need to fix quick problems while you are not in your office.

To begin, head over to ShiftEdit (link provided at the bottom of the post) and login with Google Account credentials. The tabbed interface is divided into two panes, the left pane shows files and folders and from main window, you can perform basic operations like; creating & editing HTML/PHP/CSS pages, uploading files, etc.You need to specify domain name and FTP username and password. From Site menu, click New Site and enter the required account details. Click Save to view the web site directory listings in left sidebar. From main window, you can upload files and folders and create a new file by clicking the respective links.

It offers language syntax debugging in real time to let you comply with the syntax. The tabbed interface will let you work simultaneously on multiple pages to keep tab on different coding modules. Under Edit menu, you have all the useful editing options like; Balance Braces, Go to Line, Apply Source Formatting, and Find & Replace. It also lets you bookmark pages. All the bookmarks can be accessed and managed from Bookmarks menu. Application and editor specific settings can be configured from Edit –> Preferences, you can change Tab size, Font Size, and apply different themes.
Below is a video demonstrating the usage in detail.

Features:
Supports all new-current browsers.
Feature-set resembles what you’ll find in a desktop IDE.
Manage websites within your account.
Share web accounts with your friends.
Lightweight.

ShiftEdit via MakeUseOf

Free Loopmasters DJ Mixtools Sample Pack (video)

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:00:00 +0000

MUSIC, DOWNLOADS, FREE

Well known creator of wide-ranging sample libraries, Loopmasters has decided to make a portion of its new DJ Mix Tools collection available as a free download. The concept behind DJ Mix Tools is pretty simple: you get access to the stems (drums, bass, percussion, leads, etc.) of tunes from a variety of club-friendly genres for use in any way you wish, completely royalty free. The current offering incorporates elements from Loopmasters' "Groove Tech," "Mix FX," "Swedish House," and "Progressive
House" collections, resulting in 500MB of samples. You can watch a short video explaining the concept of DJ Mix Tools below.

If you are curious about each individual DJ Mixtools Packs here are details for the following packs:

DJ Mixtools 14 - Groove Tech Vol. 2
GROOVE TECH Vol 2 features four tracks broken down into progressive stems covering drum grooves, percussion tops, synths, effect builds, breakdowns and drops providing the tools to lift Dj sets and productions in this popular style.

DJ Mixtools 16 - Mix FX Vol. 1
MIX FX V1 is a great collection of DJ FX, Long Evolving Gated Effects, Builds, Rises, Booms, Crashes, Deep Chords, Echo FX and Impacts which Producers and DJs alike will find invaluable in the Mix, or to make tracks with in the studio.

DJ Mixtools 19 - Swedish House Vol. 3
Taking inspiration from the big room sounds of DJs and producers like Axwell, Ingosso and Steve Angelo and others Swedish House Vol 3 features four tracks broken down into progressive stems covering drum grooves, percussion tops, synths, effect builds, breakdowns and drops providing the tools to lift Dj sets and productions in this popular style.

DJ Mixtools 22 - Progressive House & Tech Vol. 2
Progressive House and Tech volume 2 fuses the sounds of the Progressive House movement of late with the Tech sound that has been at the forefront of dance music for the last year - and presents 4 brand new tracks which have been created for DJs and Producers to Mix and Mash in new and exciting ways.

DJ Mixtools 24 - Progressive Tech House
Loopmasters producer DJ Re-Zone who is know internationally for his fantastic sounding and technical productions has created a unique and exclusive collection of Progressive Tech House tracks, broken down into progressive stems allowing you to mix, remix, loop and add that ultra-cool groove element to your set, or studio productions.

Download Free DJ Mixtools Samples: click here
Loopmasters Website: click here

Hotot: A Simple Twitter Client

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:27:00 +0000

MUSIC, WINDOWS, MAC, ABLETON LIVE

Hotot is a lightweight, python-based, desktop twitter client originating on Linux. Hotot includes many features you’d expect in a desktop client and a few you may not. The first time you open Hotot you”ll need to create a new profile and provide your Twitter or Identica credentials. After that when you open Hotot you can just click the sign in button for the appropriate account. At the bottom of the login window you can find links to delete the selected account, view extensions or change the Hotot preferences.

Hotot looks great visually and after finding where all of the controls were at I liked the Hotot interface even more. The interface consists of an update field at the top of the main window, Refresh, Extensions, and Settings buttons in the top right, and several buttons for selecting the Timeline, Mentions, Direct Messages, Retweets, Find People, and Search areas down at the bottom.
When a button is selected the main window above transitions to whatever you’ve selected with a wipe transition. This is a really nice touch and probably my favorite part about using Hotot.

The Timeline area displays a list of recent messages from people you follow. Controls to the right of each tweet where you can reply publically, retweet, send a message, and other popular actions.

The Direct messages area includes private messages sent to your Inbox and Outbox. Toggle the two areas at the top of the window. Selecting the envelope icon to the right of each message will bring up another window where you can compose your private message, shorten links, and even add multiple recepients. Selecting the list icon brings up the Translate option. The Retweets area is sorted by Retweeted By Others, Retweeted By Me, and My Tweets Retweeted. A pretty self explanatory area that gives you several ways to sort retweets.

Clicking on the Gear icon and then on Extensions brings up a list of enabled and disabled extensions. The extensions provide features like geolocation, image previewing, video previewing, URL shortening, translating, saving tweets for later and more. Some pretty useful stuff here.

The same Gear icon also holds the Preferences option. The Preferences window is broken down into Globals, Account, Looks & Feels, and Advanced preferences. Under Globals you can toggle verbose mode, the Ubuntu panel indicator and set a keyboard shortcut. Account holds few option but shows your Twitter and Identica accounts with a check box to remember your password if you haven’t already. Looks & Feels was the most impressive as it gives complete control over font, font size as well as behavioral and notification options. The Advanced tab holds API Settings.
Hotot includes a quick, graphically pleasing interface unlike most of the other desktop Twitter clients. This combined with its young age make this desktop Twitter client an application to watch. You can download the latest version of Hotot and find installation instructions on the Hotot website.

Via BeginLinux

SoundCloud takes a Look into Our Love of Sound (video)

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 01:02:00 +0000

Sound is around us every day. Music is sound. Speech is sound. Noise is sound. SoundCloud's mission is to help capture and share the sounds you create. Whether that’s original music, podcasts or voice memos, they exist to bring your sounds front and center and aim to make sound a bigger part of our lives. After asking Soundcloud users what sounds means to them , SoundCloud then asked 10 sound experts, enthusiasts and friends of SoundCloud (including Moby, Imogen Heap and many more)
to talk to them about sound. Soundcloud was amazed by the positive response they got from the people asked and made a video to present the result;

Sound. By SoundCloud..

Despite the very different ways they think about and work with sound, they all converged on the idea that sound is incredibly important, often neglected and that if you listen better, there’s a whole new way to experience the world waiting to be discovered.
In this video they spoke to include

Imogen Heap, Ben Rubin, Bruce Odland, Jad Abumrad, Moby, Tim Exile, Martyn Ware, Julian Treasure, Dr. John Levack Drever and Salvatore Principato.
SoundCloud says the video demonstrates its commitment to collaboration, participation and passion around sound and provides a thought-provoking piece for everyone to enjoy.
“Sound” from SoundCloud on Vimeo

TheNextWeb Via SoundCloud

Aurex Launchpad Templates For Ableton Live

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:16:00 +0000

The Novation Launchpad was an instant hit when it hit the market as an affordable, grid-based physical interface made to control Ableton Live’s clips. Because the interface is highly customizable (download the Launchpad Programmers Reference,) it has recently become a hit with Do-It-Yourselfers who frequent the N.I. message boards – where users create and share templates for different workflow ideas. Here are the four Ableton sequencer template layouts.

As his site humbly (and minimally) states “Aurex is a minimal techno / elektro artist from Belgium.” But recently his work with the Novation Launchpad may see his future in new avenues of creation. From his website: “The aurex sequencers for the Novation Launchpad are devices and tools to compose, sequence, alter and remix music within Ableton Live.”
Aurex offers four sequencer templates for Ableton Live 8.1.3:

SampleDeck: The SampleDeck is a realtime sampling and remix device for the Novation Launchpad. The SampleDeck also includes a Vinyl simulator (as an effect, not for beatmatching tracks or serious scratching) and an effects section. It uses 2 ’samplers’ to capture a loop while your song is playing and you have the ability to switch the audio to one of the samplers at any time you want. You can remix and transform everything you want: just a loop, full songs when dj-ing or even a realtime input to remix a live band on the fly.

Troxic: Troxic is a live-orientated drummachine for the Novation Launchpad. It comes in two flavours: an 8 step drummachine with 8 parts (each part with 4 sounds) or a 16 step drummachine with 4 parts (each part with 8 sounds). You also have 6 pads for triggering hits on the fly. Troxic gives you control over 38 samples with the push of a button.

It’s very cool to play around with some different ideas, switch between different sounds, add a live feeling to your beats.
Masher: The Masher is an FX Sequencer / FX Device made with Ableton Live 8 for the Novation Launchpad. Send any track you want to the masher and start cutting, mashing, repeating, looping, … This works great for giving a track an extra boost when playing live or even for mixing/mashing two tracks in an original way. You can sequence 4 different effects and the original track and you have a pad on the LP to flip between the sequenced/effected track and the clear and original track. On top of that you also have 6 master effects and 2 beat repeaters.
The 8 Step: The 8-Step is a melodic stepsequencer for the novation Launchpad. You can alter the pitches for 8 different steps and it includes special functions such as “Complex Mode”, “Chord Mode” and “Live Transpose Triggers”. LED feedback for all functions makes sure you always ’see’ your sequence. This is a must for experimenting with sounds an melodies.
What you’ll need:

- Aurex sequencer templates

- Ableton Live 8.1.3 (or higher version)

- Novation Launchpad
Via Dubstop Blog

What Happens in 1 Minute on the Internet [Infographic]

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 07:55:00 +0000

Let's say that it takes you exactly one minute to read through this post. In that time, over 6,600 photos will be uploaded to Flickr, about 70 new domains will be registered, over 1,200 new ads will be created on Craigslist, and more. Impressive as that data might seem, Flickr’s numbers are actually pretty slight compared to other internet powerhouses such as Google, Facebook and Skype. Want to blow your mind? Take a look at this fantastic infographic,
courtesy of the web designers at Go-Globe.com, which summarises all the things
that happen on the internet in just 60 seconds. Keep in mind that the data below and the infographic above come from the Shanghai Web Designers team. These statistics are based on early 2011 numbers and are rising each day.

Here's what's happening each minute:

Search engine Google serves more that 694,445 queries
6,600+ pictures are uploaded to Flickr
600 videos are uploaded to YouTube, amounting to 25+ hours of content
695,000 status updates, 79,364 wall posts and 510,040 comments are published on social networking site Facebook
70 new domains are registered
168,000,000+ emails are sent
320 new accounts and 98,000 tweets are generated on social networking site Twitter
iPhone applications are downloaded more than 13,000 times
20,000 new posts are published on micro-blogging platform Tumblr
Popular web browser FireFox is downloaded more than 1,700 times
Popular blogging platform WordPress is downloaded more than 50 times
WordPress Plugins are downloaded more than 125 times
100 accounts are created on professional networking site LinkedIn
40 new questions are asked on YahooAnswers.com
100+ questions are asked on Answers.com
1 new article is published on Associated Content, the world’s largest source of community-created content
1 new definition is added on UrbanDictionary.com
1,200+ new ads are created on Craigslist
370,000+ minutes of voice calls done by Skype users
13,000+ hours of music streaming is done by personalized Internet radio provider Pandora

1,600+ reads are made on Scribd, the largest social reading publishing company

Absolutely Incredible.
Via GoGlobe

How To Use Checkbox System Testing In Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:50:00 +0000

Ubuntu comes with an in-built comprehensive testing application which will run all kinds of tests on your system to check if it is working properly. From the search box in Unity interface, type system and select System Testing from the options displayed. Or through Applications > System > System Testing.Checkbox System Testing provides tests to confirm you system is working properly. Once you a re finished runnin the tests, you can
view a summary report for your system Items such as disk benchmark can be quite useful for raw speed tests, although in the proper sense of the word, a benchmark includes comparative results.

This will bring up a wizard which will allow you to select various kinds of tests that need to be run, selecting all will take a bit of time for the test to complete.

Follow the on-screen instructions regarding whether to allow a specific test to run, whether it ran correctly or skip it altogether. Here are some of the tests that will be done :

Once all the tests are complete, a HTML-formatted test report will be generated showing what was tested and how the overall results turned out

Conclusion

The one useful thing in Checkbox is the diagnostic for video modes. The test program will run through all the available video modes and try running the glxgears 3-D graphics tests. Having a list of video modes and refresh frequencies can be a useful timesaver when trying to select the best video mode to match your graphics card to the monitor. By the way, troubleshooting specific system areas becomes very easy because of the System Testing tool as you can only test something you need and see how it performs.

Via IHaveAPC

Swipepad for Android Overview

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:53:00 +0000

If you own an Android mobile device, you must always be searching to get your hands on the best apps for your Android mobile phones. Well here is an app more on the utility side.and it's called SwipePad. Currently you must have launching apps by going back to the home screen and then find the apps you want to launch. This is a good way but takes little bit of effort when you use multiple apps at once. SwipePad lets you launch any app from anywhere or even within an app.
This app really has that WOW effect on me from the time I have installed it on my phone. How does it work?

Well, after installation, fill the launch pad with your most used apps and its done. Now whenever you want to launch an app, you don’t need to go to the home screen for finding the app. Just Swipe your finger from the corner (you can select the regions for the Launch Pads) and you get to launch the app.

Swipepad allows you to set up 12 of your favorite apps or tasks and access them from anywhere using a simple swiping gesture. As you can see from the screenshots above and the video below, the menu of apps can be pulled up from within another app, task, or screen before allowing you to jump into something else. A fantastic app. This app is free in the market, there are other add-ons that are $1 that extends and give you more features for this application. Here are the four add-ons below.

MoreSpace add-on extends your SwipePad: more pads; more slots You can assign different invoke regions on your phone screen to different pads: one for favorite apps, one for contacts, one for bookmarks... If you have a big screen and thinking about putting more than 12 slots together, this add-on is also the way to go. * SwipePad 0.8.0+ required

Start your favorite widget from within any app. WidgetPad add-on enables SwipePad to put your widget above any app. WidgetPad is also available as a shortcut, so you can put it in your other launchers.

Manage/switch running task with a swipe from with any app. If you like launching favorite apps with a swipe, you will also love to switch back and forth between your running apps with a swipe. That's exactly what Tasking does. Tasking add-on is a task manager overlay in SwipePad, which helps you manage your currently running applications right on them.

With a swipe (touch, move, release), you could switch between 12 recent tasks.

Hold and release on a slot will give you context options: force close/uninstall what you are running, going to your running app's market page to give rate and so on.

Launch any app from within any app AppLauncher add-on is a SwipePad add-on helping you get your full list of application entries from within any app a swipe away. In addition: Context menu for every entry (invoked by long pressing an entry), you could go to an application's info page or market page from there. Counts your use of each launcher and presents them in the "Mostly used" part.

Download SwipePad

Daft Punk Visualized through a Creative Web App

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 06:51:00 +0000

Cameron Adams, aka “The Man in Blue”, created a live visualization of the audio mashup he created between 23 different songs from Daft Punk. The Definitive Daft Punk Visualized combines a circular waveform of each of the songs concurrently being played with an audio map timeline at the bottom showing each song color-coded. Steming from Cameron Adams belief in the strong connection between sound and vision.He states " Music videos are like little slices of synchronous art, designed to please all of your senses.
The art of the mashup has come to the fore in pop culture of recent years, but beyond Biggie Smalls crooning over Elton's keys I feel that the general public understands little of the nuance that goes into constructing a complex mashup from tiny pieces of songs".

In order to explain the layering and interplay that goes into something like a Girl Talk album or The 139 Mix Tape I decided to take my own mashup of Daft Punk's discography – Definitive Daft Punk – and reveal its entire structure: the cutting, layering, levels and equalisation of 23 different songs. By dividing up the sound data for each song and computing its appearance in realtime, the resulting visualisation gives you an understanding of the unique anatomy of this particular mashup. It is a certainly interesting composition of the two senses interacting and how they can be made to harmonize.

The entire piece is composed from the latest HTML5 and CSS3 technology (canvas, audio, transforms & transitions) so you'll need a newer browser to view it in. Chrome is recommend because it pulls off the best performance with my mangled code. All of the waveform and spectrum visualisation is performed in realtime, so your browser is rendering a music video on the fly. Click here or for other browsers here is a video of the Mashup.

Picasa Uploader for Facebook plugin

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:21:00 +0000

Here’s a useful plug-in that will help those particularly who use both Facebook and Google Picasa. Uploading and sharing photos through Facebook is one of the most popular social networking activities, and if you often rely on Google’s Picasa to keep your photo collection organized, nothing can be more convenient than to show off that last weekend party by uploading the pictures to Facebook directly from Picasa.

Picasa Uploader is a free plugin for Picasa which adds the ability to publish your selected photos directly to Facebook. All you need to do is associate your Facebook account with the uploader, and with one click of a button your photos will be online in no time. Please note that you need at least Picasa 2.5 or later for this to work.

Using the plug-in is simple. Once you click ‘Install Plugin” (link provided at the end of this review), you will be prompted with a dialog box with a new Facebook button. Select it and click Add, and the button will appear in your Picasa tray.

With the button in place, select the photos you want to upload to your Facebook account and click the blue Facebook button. For first time usage, you will be asked to associate your account with the plugin, but subsequent uploads will be a breeze. As soon as you confirm the upload, a progress bar will show how the upload process goes.

You get to choose which Facebook album you want the pictures to be uploaded to, or you can create a new album. If a name is not specified for the new album, Picasa will create one named “Picasa Photos” and put the pictures in them.

Finally you need to approve these photos to be published to your Facebook newsfeed, thus giving you complete control over the upload process. Once Picasa has done uploading the images, you will be taken to a page where you can confirm that you want your photos to show up. Picasa Uploader is a free plugin that does not require any other software except Picasa 2.5 or later.

Install Picasa Uploader
Via Addictivetips

Instadesk App for Mac

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:31:00 +0000

Instadesk is the first Instagram client for Mac OS X. For those not yet familiar with Instagram, launched in October 2010, Instagram takes the effort out of sharing photos on the move by giving you your own account to share them with. Once you’ve snapped something you wish to share simply add a filter (or not, as the case may be) and upload it with an optional caption.Because of Instagram’s huge success and the release of an API that allows third-party developers to plug into
the service to fetch images, user information and much more.

Instadesk, an app available in the Mac App Store, wants to bring Instagram’s full experience to the desktop. The app has a clean and nice design with thumbnail previews and beautiful icons in the top toolbar; it enables you to create local “albums” to save photos for later; it lets you share photos from you or others through a variety of social networks supported by Instagram.

Instadesk is a full-featured Instagram client built specifically for the Mac. Once you’ve authorized the app with your credentials and granted permission to access your account through the API, Instadesk will place a link to your profile in the sidebar, right below links to the feed, most popular photos and tags, and status updates. In the profile tab you can check out all your photos, people you follow and your followers.

As you click on a thumbnail in Instadesk, the photo is automatically brought in the foreground with a slick animation and a new screen that shows the author on the right (with buttons to follow / unfollow) as well as comments and likes, and a box to leave a new comment yourself. You can like a photo or open it in the web browser, download it locally on your computer or hit the Share button to share the instagr.am link with your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and email contacts.

The popular section offers a selection of the most viewed photos and tags, whilst the Feed displays items posted by you and the people you follow. Instadesk also comes with a slideshow functionality and a “find user” option to manually search for a person on Instagram.
Instadesk provides a nice way to browse Instagram from your Mac. At $1.99 in the Mac App Store, it’s not a bad deal if you’re a dedicated Instagram user.

Via MacStories

APNdroid for Android Review

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:42:00 +0000

APNdroid application for the Android mobile phone OS is designed to allow users to save the battery of their Android devices by barring their data access without affecting the incoming and out going calls on the device. It can come in handy for switching of the Bluetooth at a moments notice. The application comes in handy when the users are running low on the battery and want to save it for important calls. This android
application is made by Martin Adamek an Android and iOS developer also has made Readingo for Instapaper and AppPicker for Android.

Most applications only let users switch off the Bluetooth, WiFi and GPRS, but APNdroid goes on step ahead by turning of the data access coming from the telecom service provider.

Normally this would mean that phone will not be able to make or receive calls as well. But thanks to some tricky functionality, users can make and receive calls even if their data access has been turned off. The ability to turn off the data access and still make and receive calls is made possible thanks to the fake Access Point Name which is used by the application to switch off the data access.

This application comes in handy when the user is busy attending a show, watching a movie, sleeping or doing pretty much everything which does not require the use of data access functions like GPRS, EDGE or 3G. Upon downloading and installing the device, users can go to the application and select which function to turn off and which function to leave as it is.

However, whenever, users need to send an important file their data services are off, they can always use the WiFi in order to do so. When the application is installed, a small APNdroid appears on the desktop, that acts as a widget when users access the application from the desktop. After making adjustments from the settings options, when ever the need to turn the data access services off arises, users can simply click on the desktop icon to turn the data access functions off. In order to turn them back on, all the users need to do is again click on the desktop icon and the services will be back on.

There are a few options you’ll want to pay attention to if you plan on using this app on a daily basis. First, open the app to access its preferences and decide whether or not you want to keep MMS enabled. If you uncheck this box, you won’t receive media messages like photos, videos, etc. through texts. If you’re a forgetful person, you might want to enable the notifications option which will place an on/off icon displaying your phone’s current status in the notification bar. Lastly, if you’re having trouble disabling your mobile connection, try the “disable all APNs” option.

Conclusion: An essential app for any Android user wanting to improve battery life or prevent data use overage costs APNdroid is no longer free becuase the developer received email from Google saying that the app was suspended because many users reported it as malicious or malware-like. (Too many whiny people basically.) APNdroid is republished in Market for $2.11 with notification ads removed so go grab it it's a great app.

Free 8-bit Nintendo Ableton Live racks

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:53:00 +0000

Looking for something Dirty, lo-fi, 8-bit or nostalgic to help you with your Ableton Live music projects, look no further. Here are two instrumentalists that have made glitch, chiptune style racks for free download and enjoyment. First up, AfroDJMac has made an Ableton Live Rack with the sound card of a Nintendo Entertainment System. The samples that make up the virtual instrument were made by connecting a MidiNES cartridge to a Nintendo and sampling certain notes. In the video below
he explains how the Nintendo’s sound engine works.

As AfroDJMAC annotates that are five channels in total: 2 pulse wave channels, 1 triangle wave channel, a noise channel, and a sample channel. They are all monophonic, but each can play simultaneously, for a total of five sounds at once. Considering the limitations of the NES, listen back to the music from some games like Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda for example. Definitely check his site. AfroDJMac.com.

Free Nintendo Rack http://www.mediafire.com/?tu7socoyd2oqjb5

Douçe Françe or druxFR on youtube has also made some awesome 8bit Nintendo style Ableton project files available for free download. For the Ableton racks he used effects such as Operator, Arpeggiator, DMX drumkit + Redux, Mastering, Simpler and Drumkit.

Below are videos of them.

8bit Style - Download
7bit Style - Download

HD OS Desktop Wallpapers

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:37:00 +0000

In this post we are publishing HD Operating System Desktop Wallpapers for your desktop aggregated by SyncReload for enjoyment. The wallpapers consist of Windows, Mac OSX, Ubuntu, Debian, Mandriva, FreeBSD, Arch Linux, OpenSuse, OpenSolaris, LinuxMint, Fedora and Elementary OS. If you like any of these wallpapers and you plan to use them then please read the license agreement of the creator as they may change from time to time.

Sharing Media on Android

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 03:31:00 +0000

The Android structure for sharing media is very versatile. Many applications make their content sharable, allowing you to send it to friends, web services and social networking sites easily. Android devices support sharing that is, photo video and contact data to friend or social networking sites. This a How-to for someone how is new to Android OS, a beginners guide to sharing on the Android platform.

When you share content you will be prompted to choose the application from your installed apps to complete the share request. To share something via email, you would choose the GMail or email application to the complete the share request to share a photo or website link via a text message, you might choose the messaging app.
If you have social apps like Facebook or Twitter installed you can use these applications to share media as well. Applications can handle different types of content, and how they complete the share request varies.

Sharing media with the Camera app

Within the Camera application, simply click on the Thumbnail image that appears in the top right hand corner of the camera screen after you take a picture or video. You will now be viewing camera images and video within the gallery application. Press the Menu button or long-press on the image and choose the "Share" option to immediately share the photo or video. You can also scroll through previous captured photo and videos by launching the Gallery application directly.

Sharing Gallery Images

You can share other images stored on your device using the gallery application. To do that launch it, navigate to a specific image you want to share, long-press on that item, and choose the share option. You will be prompted to share to image.

Sharing multiple images simultaneously

While browsing an album within the Gallery, long-press on an image thumbnail and you'll change to multi select mode Select multiple images by tapping on them, or use the buttons at at the top of the screen to select or deselect all.once you have selected all the images you want to share, press 'Share' button at the top of the screen. Note that not all applications that can that can share a single image can share multiple images.

Sharing videos
You can share videos stored on your device using the Gallery application as well. Simply launch the gallery, and navagite to a specific video that you want to share. Long press on the video and choose the 'Share' option. Also certain applications have limitations on the file size and duration of videos.

Sharing Contacts
You can share contacts with the Contacts application. Launch tha app and navagate to the contact you want to share. Click on that contact and choose 'View Contact', then press the Menu button and select the 'Share' option. This allows you to share that contact's information as a virtual bussiness card in vcf format, appropriate for emaling. This is a common format for sending contact information. You can share all the contacts from the contact list screen by pressing the Menu button, then choosing 'Import/Export', and lastly selecting the 'Share visible contacts' option.

How to Sync Ableton Live & Traktor Pro in Windows

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Thu, 12 May 2011 10:19:00 +0000

A common misconception is that in order to do this, you must have two computers, and two audio interfaces. This is not true. You can actually use both programs simultaneously on one computer, using one audio interface. As long as your Beatgrids in Traktor are set correctly, and your tracks are warped correctly in Ableton, you can mix tracks in Traktor, while playing your loops or other instruments in Ableton Live and everything will be perfectly beatmatched. In this quick tip, I am going to show you a neat and simple way of running Ableton
Live and Traktor on the same computer by using external MIDI software.

This scenario would be useful if you wish to add extra loops on top of your Traktor set by triggering Live clips that stay in sync with the Traktor’s master tempo.

Setting Up

First of all we need to download a free software called MIDI YOKE. MIDI YOKE is a MIDI Patch Cable driver. It’s a Windows multimedia driver that allows you to connect the MIDI output from one program to the MIDI input of a different program. Mac users already have this functionality in the form of the IAC driver.

Once downloaded and installed fire up Traktor, then Live. Go to Preferences by hitting the appropriate icon at the top right next to the magnifying glass. From the MIDI Clock tab check the box with the “Send MIDI Clock” text next to it to activate it. Leave MIDI Clock Sending Offset as it is at 0 ms. Hit Close.

Notice at the top right of the Traktor Pro window under the Traktor Pro logo. You should be in FX view. If that’s the case, click the metronome icon to switch view to Master Clock Panel and activate MIDI-Clock for external synchronization by hitting the button with the Play and the Pause icons just underneath the Sync button. Load a track into any of Traktor’s decks.

In Live’s Preferences now, in the MIDI Sync tab under MIDI Ports activate Sync for the Input: Out to MIDI Yoke: 1 port. Make sure Sync Type is set to MIDI Clock. Notice how the Sync In indicator at the top left of Live’s windows starts flashing. It’s receiving the signal from Traktor’s MIDI Clock. If you activate Traktor’s Master Clock Tick, you can hear a metronome clicking in sync with Live’s Sync In indicator.

For Live to receive the sync information, we need to activate the External Sync Switch next to theSync In indicator.

In Action

Start playing the loaded track in Traktor’s deck. Load up an audio or MIDI clip in Live and hit play. Now, almost always, the loop will sound either delayed or ahead of time. In my case it was slightly ahead of time. In this case, Live’s Input Clock Sync Delay needs to be adjusted at the Preferences. I had to set mine at -100 ms.

You might also have to select 1/4 or a smaller value at the quantization menu at the top to get the loop syncing with your set’s beat value. Now, if your audio clip is properly warped, it should play in sync with Traktor’s Master Tempo. You can, then, apply effects and combine various clips to enrich your Traktor set.

Via Onetuts

Create a Proxy Server with Google App Engine

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:58:00 +0000

A simple Google search and you'll find dozens of really good PHP scripts on the Internet to help you create proxy servers in minutes for free. The only limitation with PHP based proxies is that you require a web server to host the proxy scripts and second, you also need a domain name to act as an address for your proxy site. If you don't own a domain or server space, you can still create a personal proxy server for free and that too without requiring any technical knowledge.

Create a Free Proxy Server with Google App Engine

Here's one such proxy site that you can build for your friends in China or even for your personal use (say for accessing blocked sites from office). This is created using Google App Engine and, contrary to what you assume, the process is quite simple.

Step 1: Go to appengine.google.com and sign-in using your Google Account.

Step 2: Click the "Create an Application" button. Since this is your first time, Google will send a verification code via SMS to your mobile phone number. Type the code and you're all set to create apps with Google App Engine.

Step 3: Choose a sub-domain* that will host your proxy server. Make sure the domain is available, agree to the Google Terms and click save. The sub-domain is also your App ID that will uniquely identify your proxy application.

For this example, we'll use labnol-proxy-server as the App ID though you are free to choose any other unique name.

Step 4: OK, now that we have reserved the ID, it's time to create and upload the proxy server application to Google App Engine. Go to python.org, download the 2.6.4 MSI Installer and install Python

Step 5: Once Python is installed, go to code.google.com, download the Google App Engine SDK for Python and install it.

Step 6: Download this zip file and extract it to some folder on your desktop. The zip file, for the curious, contains a couple of text files (written in HTML and Python) that you can read with notepad.

Step 7: Start the Google App Engine Launcher program from the desktop and set the right values under Edit –> Preferences (see screenshot above).

Step 8. Click File –> Add Existing Application under the Google App Launcher program and browse to the directory that you created in Step 6. Click the Edit button and replace "YOUR_APP_ID" with the ID (sub-domain) that you reserved in Step 3.

Step 9: Click Deploy and your online proxy server is now ready for use.

You can edit the main.html file to change the appearance of your proxy server and you can even add Analytics and AdSense code to your proxy server in case it gets popular on the web. The application is currently open to all users but you can add a layer of authentication so that only users who are logged-in into their Google Accounts can use your web proxy server.

If you have made any changes to your HTML files, you can upload the latest version to Google App Engine either by clicking the "Deploy" button again or use the following command - appcfg.py update

Via Labnol.org

How to make a Stereoscopic 3D effect in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:42:00 +0000

Anaglyph images are used to provide a stereoscopic 3D effect, when viewed with 2 color glasses (each lens a chromatically opposite color, usually red and cyan). Images are made up of two color layers, superimposed, but offset with respect to each other to produce a depth effect. Usually the main subject is in the center, while the foreground and background are shifted laterally in opposite directions. The
picture contains two differently filtered colored images,one for each eye. When viewed through the "color coded" "anaglyph glasses", they reveal an integrated stereoscopic image. The visual cortex of the brain fuses this into perception of a three dimensional scene or composition.

So here we have a Spinosaurus photographed on a railway in Poland. I have applied the black and white effect featured in this tutorial, however colour photos will work fine as well.

First duplicate your image so that you have 2 copies of your original layer.
Name one layer ‘red ‘and the other ‘blue/green’.

Now, with the ‘blue/green’ layer selected, go to Image>Adjustments>Levels.
In the Channel list choose ‘Red’.
Then drag the central grey pointer all the way to the right, and click OK.

This will have taken all the red out of the ‘blue/green’ layer.
Next select the Red layer, and again go Image>Adjustments>Levels.
This time you want to take away the blues and greens, so first choose ‘Blue’ and take the slider all the way to the right…

… then, with the box still up, choose ‘Green’ and take the slider all the way to the right, then click OK.

This leaves the layer entirely red.

Next change the blending mode of both layers to Screen.
Now you can either hide or delete your original layer.
Then select the ‘blue/green’ layer.

Use the Move tool to move this layer a little to the left, and you will see your 3D effect begin to appear.

Depending on the composition of your image you can adjust the position of the layer to suit the image.
I used the perspective transform tool to widen the left side of the image where the tail is closer to the viewer.

Remember you can apply this technique to any photo, poster or text.

Via DesignNocturne

Customize your GNOME Desktop with GNOME-Colors

noreply@blogger.com (SyncReload.com) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:12:00 +0000

Most Linux beginners have a hard time getting everything on gnome-look.org to work, while veterans might not have the time to scour the web and build every bit of their desktops to their taste. Luckily, there are many automated options for system-wide theming out there. One of these options is GNOME-Colors which is the project that aims to make the GNOME desktop as elegant, consistent and colorful as possible.

Enter GNOME-Colors

The GNOME-Colors is a project that aims to make the GNOME desktop as elegant, consistent and colorful as possible.

The current goal is to allow full color customization of themes, icons, GDM logins and splash screens. There are already six full color-schemes available; Brave (Blue), Human (Orange), Wine (Red), Noble (Purple), Wise (Green) and Dust (Chocolate).

GNOME-Colors is mostly inspired/based on Tango, GNOME, Elementary, Tango-Generator and many other open-source projects.

Installing GNOME-Colors will provide you three things:

Arc-Colors GDM Themes (login screens) and Wallpapers
Shiki-Colors GNOME Themes. These are colored themes for the whole desktop
GNOME-Colors Icons

Here are two screenshots on my own laptop and GDM login screens (not mine). Of course the bar in the bottom has nothing to do with GNOME-Colors. Its just AWN.

Installing GNOME-Colors

Like most apps, you can either use the GUI or the command line to install GNOME-Colors.The command line, its easier and quicker to implement and describe!

If you are on an a Debian based system like Ubuntu, you will need to add the PPA to apt-get:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gnome-colors.list
Then add the repos (I am doing Jaunty here, change Jaunty to your corresponding Ubuntu version)

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gnome-colors-packagers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/gnome-colors-packagers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Next you will need to add the keys, copy and paste this into your terminal:
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 2d79f61be8d31a30
Update your repositories:
sudo apt-get update
Install:
sudo apt-get install gnome-colors shiki-colors arc-colors

You should now go to:
System --> Preferences --> Appearance

Choose any of the shiki-colors, change your wallpaper under background, and for your GDM login screen go to:

System --> Administration --> Login Window