BrainFuel

If you’re a heavy user of photoshop, especially a photographer, you’ll want to read the answers to each of these five questions posed to 8 different “experts”. They discuss the new features of the CS version and why you may want to use it. Built-in RAW support seems to be the biggest deal, but that won’t matter much if you’re not an avid digital photographer. Lynda Weinman mentions a SWF export option, which I didn’te even know about. Wish I would have known about that the last time I had to rec-reate an entire navigation bar in Flash after I perfected it in Photoshop.

I like the simple color scheme on the Cole Haan web site. It’s a winner.

This site is following a good principal – that is, whenever a product is shown, it should link to the actual product page. You’ll find through out the web site that product images, even if used as decorative or as sales banners always link to the product.

I’ve been a user of Picasa since shortly after it came out one to two years ago. I’ve suggested the product to all of my friends and touted its strengths to more people than probably cared.

Now, Google has purchased Picasa and is offering it as a free download.

As a business owner I was trying to understand exactly how Google plans to make money from this. I mean, how exactly does providing free software generate a profit? Well, the only thing I can think of is that they intend to promote the fact that you can order prints through the software and honestly, if that picks up steam, it could be serious bucks for Google.

I can’t stop there. I need to tell Google what needs to be changed in the next upgrade of Picasa. Seriously, it’s been a long time since they came out with an upgrade. In fact, they pretty much haven’t (except for bug fixes).

What needs to be improved in Picasa:

1. Better network support. I have over 20 Gigs of music images and store it all on my file server. The interface inside Picasa where I can choose which folders to “watch” and include in my galleries is riddled with problems. It can’t remember my settings and forces me to pick each folder manually.

2. Better methods for sorting and creating categories of galleries. Right now, each physical folder of photos on my computer is a gallery. Technically, I’d rather sort by date or create photo categories myself. They should also be permanent. I like how iPhoto and iTunes have a master “Library” and then from there you can create sub categories.

3. I’d like to be able to share my images over a local network with friends – automatically. Just copy whatever iTunes has and it’d be swell. Possibly this is a perfect time to merge the Hello application functionality with Picasa.

I’m sure if I put my mind to it I could come up with some other ideas. The above would make Picasa a rock-solid winner. It’s already a winner now and with these changes would completely capture the market. Go get ‘em Google.

If you have any ideas for Google, please post them in the comments in this post. Thanks.

One of the best books I read last year was called Creating Customer Evangelists. (or, Amazon.com link). It’s about how you can create a company experience that is so great and so cool that all of your customers evangelize the experience and tell all of their friends and business associates about you.

The idea is that you’d create a business where all of your business comes from referrals and also this would make sales a breeze.

Well, the author of that book decided he had more to say and created an eBook supplement for free download. That’s why I’m posting today. That’s all. So go and download the eBook PDF.

I really liked the post over at Signal vs. Noise about CD Baby copywriting. Be sure to read the comments. Gotta love a company that doesn’t mind being fun. Reference: CDbaby.com

My friend Gary sent me this site tonight – Sketch Farm. It’s a pretty cool idea. Essentially people submit sketches and initial concepts for cars, web sites, logos, and car wraps and tons of other things.

Here’s a cool site - Karens Recipes. Essentially it’s a big recipe index for cooking up delectable delights.

This German site for Kreative Quartier is pretty cool. I like the bold colors.