Usually people will save an image from the net to their downloads folder or desktop and then open the image from there in photoshop. You can actually skip this step by telling photoshop to open the image directly from the URL.

Using this method you might only save you a minute, but over time those minutes can really start to add up. You also spare yourself from having tons of source images piling up in your downloads folder or desktop.

Note: Turns out this doesn’t work on a Mac do to the way Finder works.

I’ve never been fond of having to carry a wallet as it’s literally a pain in the ass. So when I found out about an iPhone 4 case that also holds a few credit cards, I was excited to say the least. At $35 the Speak CandyShell Card Case isn’t cheap but you’re killing two birds with one stone here. Plus I had a BestBuy gift card as a Christmas gift from my boss (thanks Jenny), so it didn’t cost me anything out of pocket.

There are some trade offs to having your wallet also be your phone. The biggest is that it really can only fit three card shaped items. I opted for my drivers license, my debt card, and a back-up credit card. I haven’t carried cash in almost 10 years so this worked out well for me. Others might have a harder time with such a limitation. The biggest upside is the obvious fact that I no longer need a wallet. I may go days without ever pulling my wallet out to make a purchase but I use my phone several times an hour so I know almost immediately if I don’t have it. Another huge advantage is that in the event I ever do lose my phone, using the iPhone “Find My iPhone” feature I can track down both my phone and wallet.

The only real downside is that case is much thicker then the phone and it really takes away from the sexiness of the iPhone 4, but the fact I don’t have to rock a wallet in my pocket any longer makes it totally worth it.

The highlight of the last two months has really happened over this past week. Monday kicked off the start of E3 (The Electronic Entrainment Expo). It’s the largest video game expo in the world and tends to be the event when almost all new video games and video game consoles are announced. For a few days every year in Los Angeles, industry professionals gather at the LA Convention Center and share with the press at large what will be released over the next year.

Having one of my games shown at E3 has been one of my life long goals, and this past week at the massive Disney booth, the game I’ve been working on for the past few months finally got announced and a preview of the game was available to play! The game is called City of Might and is a military strategy game that is coming out this summer on Facebook. It was incredibly exciting to be at the expo and telling everyone about City of Might and even more exciting watching them play it and enjoy the experience.

As far as the blog goes, the new plan is make a post at least once a week… wish me luck!

If you have a QR Code Reader on your iPhone or Android phone you can scan the QR Code on my home page and quickly have my contact details added to your phone in seconds. If you’re interested in making your own QR code yourself you can do so by visiting http://qrcode.kaywa.com

You can take a snapshot using your webcam, digital camera, or cellphone. They even provide a free iPhone and Android app which makes the whole process even easier since you can do everything right from you phone.

I’m currently up to 8 days and counting. DailyMugshot also offers a little flash widget that you can embed in your blog or website that has a rapid slideshow of your pictures. I’ll share mine with everyone when I’ve gotten a few more photos taken. Right now seeing 8 photos of me looping isn’t very exciting but I can see the potential for awesomeness already.

I don’t remember the first time I used a computer or exactly how old I was when we got our first home computer. Regardless, I’d ballpark that I’ve been using computers somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 years. During those two decades I don’t ever think I took data back up seriously. As hard drives got cheaper I’d buy another and copy “important data” to it, then forgot about it. This lead to a stack of hard drives in a box with no real idea what’s on them.

In College I moved to laptop computing and haven’t really turned back. During those days I would use something like DriveImage XML to clone my entire drive and then move the backup to an external drive. However, I only really did this when I’d upgrade to a new OS or move to a new laptop.

At some point I realized that I wasn’t backing up any useful data. Just old data that I didn’t really need or care about anymore. If it had any useful purpose I’d have a local copy that I accessed regularly or at least knew where it was. What I really wanted to be backing up was my current data, stuff I was using everyday. If that data was lost that’s when I’d really have a problem.

Luckily two days ago was National Backup Day and from the swarm of news covering it, I found and started using a cross platform backup solution called Crashplan. Both free and paid services are offered, however the software is the same if you pay for services or not, the only difference is where you store your backup data. You can workout your own location or pony up a little extra each month to have it stored off-site on Crashplan’s servers. A variety of plans are offered, but  I went with a $10/month option in which I have unlimited data storage for 10 computers. A pretty good deal when you consider that professional data recovery on damaged hard drives can be upwards in the thousands of dollars with no guarantee of getting your data back.

You can also get a discount if you purchase multiple years of data storage at once, plus it includes a no-risk guarantee. If you choose to cancel early and have time remaining they’ll refund you the difference. Free or paid, you can’t go wrong except not making the time to setup a backup solution for yourself.

If you checkout Crashplan let me know your thoughts on it with a comment below.

The iPad finally gave way to the solution. Loading it with my portfolio, the native photo app served well in displaying my work as intended, digital artwork on a digital screen. I thought I had all my needs met with this method but much like Apple’s commercials remind us… there is an app for that.

Only by chance I happened across a remarkably beautiful yet simple portfolio app called Pad Folio. Designed by a Photographer looking for a full featured solution of his own; Pad Folio is more then just an app to browse images. It’s a robust digital portfolio that gives you complete control over how you display your work. Instead of giving a run down of all it’s features, I’d suggest giving it a try yourself and discover it’s wonders on your own. You’ll find both a Lite (as in Free) and Paid version in the App Store.

The free version appears to be as full featured as the paid, with the only difference I could find was the icon for the app. From what I gather the developer hopes that if you like it as much as I do, you’ll spring ($10) for the paid version to support future development. If you’d like to take a look at some screen shots, Pad Folio’s website has a bunch on their website.

Update: It appears the lite version only permits one portfolio to be created.

While there are several scenes in the film that are interesting both visually and thematically, the rest of it creates such an uneasy atmosphere that I found myself checking the time repeatedly hoping it was almost over.

Had Snyder ditched the actual story and just made a bunch of cool music videos, I think I would have enjoyed it more. Let’s hope he does better with the new Superman reboot; Superman: The Man of Steel. *fingers crossed*

Even more then that, Wordpress has a huge community of developers behind it writing tons of plugins that extend WordPress and give it the ability to do all sorts of crazy useful things. I stumbled upon a pretty neat plugin earlier today that I thought I would share.

It’s called Facebook Comments for WordPress and it does exactly what you think it might. It replaces WordPress’s standard commenting system with one that is powered by Facebook. Within 10 minutes I had it all setup and users can now comment on blog posts and other articles on my site using their Facebook account. It really brings the social aspect to my blog and makes it easy for anyone to comment without needing to provide any information other then to already be logged into Facebook.

If you’re using WordPress, I’d highly recommend it! Feel free to give it a try and leave a comment below.

Over the last couple of years I’ve inadvertently been transitioning to the Cult of Mac. It didn’t happen all at once, which I would expect things like this don’t. It started off with getting an iPhone, then a good buddy of mine bought me a Mac Mini. From there I was pretty much on board. About a year later I got a MacBook Pro, and then an iPad. With the addition of the Apple TV to my electronic line up, Apple has pretty much infiltrated my life; Cellphone, Desktop, Laptop, Tablet and now TV.

This wouldn’t have happened if Apple’s products weren’t so damn good. The way these five devices interface with each other is nearly seamless. I’m extremely pleased with the integration between my Computers, iDevices, and the Apple TV. The initial setup is simple and straight forward and using “home sharing” to send content to the TV is both quick and easy.

Apple TV also supports streaming Netflix which many devices do now a days, including my Xbox 360. However, Apple just does it better. Not only do streaming movies start faster, there are fewer playback interruptions, and the interface is cleaner and easier to navigate.

So, hats off to Apple for another awesome product, and a special thanks to my wife for getting it for me =)