Design > Features

September 23 marks the announcement of Adobe's Creative Suite 4. And that means a new version of the company's flagship image editor, Photoshop. Coming just 18 months after its predecessor, is Photoshop CS4 any good? Enter dekePod, Deke McClelland's irreverent and uncensored video series. Day and date with Adobe's announcement, Deke provides a third-party, impartial, and highly opinionated review of the new software. Titled "Photoshop CS4: Buy or Die," this episode promises to show you all facets of the program—complete with commentary—without interrupting your busy day. In just five minutes, you'll know whether you want to upgrade or not. Either you buy or it dies, it's as simple as that.

tags: adobe, photoshop, podcast, quick preview

Audio > Features

In pop music, the beat is the foundation. And one of the fastest, easiest ways to build a beat is with a drum loop. But don't just settle for the loops everyone else is using. Jim Aikin demonstrates a variety of ways to customize beats in GarageBand and other drag-and-drop music programs.

tags: audio production, computer music, digital music, how-to

Photography > Spotlight: Inside Aperture > Features

Mine Kasapoglu photographed her first Olympics in 2002 at Salt Lake City. She's been shooting them ever since, including this year in Beijing where I caught up with her for this interview. Mine was first introduced to Aperture at the 2006 Torino Olympics. Nobody really knew about Aperture then, including Mine. But she was in great photographic pain and gave it a try. Here's her story two years later.

tags: aperture, apple, photo editing, photographers

Photography > Features

Sean Duggan is an art photographer, educator, and Photoshop expert. He's recently teamed up with Katrin Eismann to publish The Creative Digital Darkroom. In this interview Sean talks about his approach to processing images and how to get the most out of digital capture.

tags: interview, photographers, photo editing, photoshop

Web > Features

Your videos got their 15 minutes of fame on YouTube. Now what? Follow this straightforward intro to RSS syndication and you can make your videos downloadable, savable, and playable on the millions of iPods out there.

tags: internet broadcasting, ipod, podcasting, youtube

Design > Features

In this episode, Deke makes the startling claim that Illustrator, a complex piece of software that costs hundreds of dollars, is better than an $8 Spirograph. Using nothing but half an ellipse and a few live, editable effects, Deke shows you how to construct something truly extraordinary. "Trust me on this one. Artist, non-artist, proficient with Illustrator, never even heard of the program -- I don't care if you live in Antarctica, you have no access to electricity, you haven't seen sunlight in 45 days -- oh my God, what are you, a penguin? -- you're gonna wanna watch this!"