Why You Should Wait to Buy a Laptop, The Worst Photoshop Ever, and More

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the weekend. Here to great you and guide you into a land of bliss is an escort of Gizmodo post about such topics as 3D-printed gun plans, stunning watch photography, quantum Internet, the new FitBit and so much more. Check it all out after the jump, and try not to lose your mind.

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Dear Microsoft, Don't Bail on Windows 8

The sheer audacity of Windows 8 was enough to set it apart. It was startling, the kind of uncompromising upheaval you almost never see from a frontrunner. Despite obvious missteps—big, idiotic, self-inflicted ones, more often than not—it always gave the sense that it was just wrong-footed, correctable stuff, never cause for a total retreat. Except, if recent reports are to be believed, that’s just what Microsoft seems to be doing. Retreating. And we really hope it doesn’t.

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In just two days, blueprints for the world's first (almost) entirely 3D-printed handgun have made their way onto the hard drives of over 100,000 potential quick-draws around the world. And the idea of this many people gaining non-regulated access to lethal weapons this quickly should be sending us into a mass, hysterical moral panic, right? Slow down there, cowboy.

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So your trusty laptop is starting to show its age. No one can blame you for wanting a new one, but we've got just one piece of advice: WAIT. This is a horrible, horrible time to get a new rig. If you can hold out for just a few months, you're going to do a whole lot better for yourself.

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Gadget nuts have CES kids at heart get Toy Fair, video gamers have E3, but if it's watches that ring your bell, every spring you'll want to head over to Basel, Switzerland for Baselworld. It's where the world's horological masters gather to unveil their latest timekeeping works of art. And these are the most wonderful of this year's whole bunch.

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Fitbit's One is arguably one of the best activity trackers available today and, yet, less than seven months since it hit the street, Fitbit has decided that a stripped down version worn on the wrist was something the market's been clamoring for. Back in '77, Bert Lance first uttered the immortal phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." There's a reason we still say it today.

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No matter where in our great nation you live, there's a good chance you're getting raw deal from your cable operator. Or maybe you've just convinced yourself of as much. Today, we're gonna find out the truth—or we're going to try, anyway.

In an effort to provide abused children with a safe way to reach out for help, a Spanish organization called the Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk Foundation, or ANAR for short, created an ad that displays a different message for adults and children at the same time.

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This is a post I’ve been wanting to write for a while. In fact, it stems from something I noticed way back in August of last year. After digging for answers and even a couple attempts at contacting their customer support, I’ve concluded that LinkedIn is by far the creepiest social network.

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President Obama met with South Korea's President Park Geun-hye at the White House this past Tuesday, and as major world leaders are wont to do in each others' presence, handshakes abounded. This three-handed, two-roomed, Photoshop monstrosity, however, was not one of them.

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Government Lab Admits to Using Quantum Internet for Two Years

Tech Talk: Will outright purchase of photoshop kill its piracy?


Last week Adobe has announced that from now on all its software including Photoshop will be available only through a web-based subscription service called Creative Cloud (CC) and that the ''perpetual licenses' or outright purchases of the software will cease with CS6.

That means the newest version of Photoshop named Adobe Photoshop CC will be available only to Creative Cloud members. (Other Adobe software too have typical name changes: InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Dreamweaver CC and Premiere Pro CC .) The new subscription system will be available from June 17.

Does the new changes mean you should always be connected to the internet if you want to use Photoshop? Let also check what are the pricing options available for users of the software in India.

Adobe Photoshop
For years Adobe has been offering cutting edge technology for its users through individual apps and the Creative Suit. It was costly. And it was one of the most pirated software in the world. Once the new packaged software was made available by Adobe, hackers will make pirated versions available which can be downloaded and used for free.

The company's policy till now has been to unveil a new product with all the latest magic wands in every 18 months or so.

(However, Adobe will offer support for those who have purchased the latest version of the Creative Suit (CS6) ( a collection of all the Adobe products) till the next OS updates by Microsoft and Apple. The next version of Camera Raw will also be made available to them. But they may not get one of the most coveted features: camera shake correction. For that they will have to buy PS CC.)

What the cloud migration means for the customer is that the latest software will be made available to him continually. He will also get storage space in the cloud.

Here are a couple of new features added to Photoshop CC:
The most-awaited and deblurring and sharpening tools make their début in this version. The Camera Shake Reduction tool is one of the most prominent features. The Intelligent upsampling feature will allow users to blow up their images without getting pixelated.

Behance, the world's leading online creative community, is integrated with Creative Cloud, which means users can get feedbacks on their work from the community.

So, what about the pricing?
Anyone can try the apps for 30 days. During that period the user will get 2GB of cloud storage and limited access to other features.

The most affordable plan in which the user can access any one of the apps will start at Rs 1000 per month. This will be the best plan for Photoshop users in India.

In this plan the user will get 20 GB of storage space and limited access.

The complete access of the suit is available for Rs 2700 per month. The catch here is that the user will have to commit for 12 months. This will be the best plan for Individuals who use more two apps.

There are also other plans for existing Adobe customers. Any customer who has bought CS3 or later versions are eligible for special discounts. They can get the complete package for Rs1600 and a single app for Rs 499 a month. (This reduced price will be applicable only for the first 12 months.)

The 'Student & Teacher' plan also allows users to get access to the complete suit for Rs 1600 per month.

(The pricing for the 'Teams and Business' was not available at the time of writing this article.)

So, now on to the big questions:
Do we need an active internet connection to use the Photoshop or other Adobe products from now on? No. Once in a while the subscribers will have to connect to the internet. As long as we pay the subscription fee we will able to use the programme and enjoy the updates. We can store our images locally too. It will be like a live app that will continue to add new features.

Will this move by Adobe end piracy of its products altogether?
Adobe doesn't think so. The pirated version users may not get newer features released by the company immediately.

By the by, India-born Shantanu Narayen is the President and CEO of Adobe Systems.

Quote of the Week:
While service options that connect to our servers are inherently less prone to piracy, once a user downloads software to their computer the piracy threat is the same as for our perpetual products.

Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop


In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in 3 Easy Steps in Photoshop. We will mainly use custom brushsets and utilise brush options to achieve this text effect. This is a beginner level tutorial, have a try :)
Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version. Some brushes are exclusive to Photoshop CS6.
Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)
cloud text flatten1 500x250 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 100+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorials there. 
vip sign up 250 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
OK Let’s get started!
To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1400px * 700px, grab the Gradient Tool and fill the background layer with a light blue gradient:
1 grad 500x159 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Click to enlarge the following screenshot to reveal the colour code:
1 fill 500x249 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Use the cloud brush set you downloaded, paint some white cloud on a new layer and we will use this as our background:
1 paint 500x249 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop

Step 2

We will type some texts onto our canvas, I used the “Lucida Handwriting” font that comes with Photoshop:
2 font 500x205 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Load the smoke brush into Photoshop and use the following set:
2 brush Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Press “F5″ to bring up the brush options window, apply the following setting:
Shape Dynamics
2 shape dyn Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Make sure you tick the “Smoothing” and “Protect Texture” option.
Use the brush, gently paint over the text as shown below, adjust the brush size accordingly:
2 paint 500x424 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
2 paint 2 500x243 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Turn off the original text layer, and you will have the following effect:
2 effect1 500x168 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Then on this newly painted cloud layer, apply the following “Bevel and Emboss” layer blending effect:
2 bevel 500x359 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
and here is the effect so far:
2 effect 2 500x163 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop

Step 3

We will add some retouches to this effect. To make text slightly sharpen, we flatten the image and apply the following “Unsharpen Mask” filter (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharpen Mask):
3 unsharp Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
We can paint some cloud under the text, just to make the text look like floating above the cloud:
3 paint 500x202 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
3 paint 2 500x239 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Load the hot air balloon PSD File into Photoshop and add some hot air balloons into the image:
3 balloon 500x233 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
Finally we can use the same brush in step 2 to add some extra cloud texture around the text:
3 cloud over 500x152 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
and here is my final effect: (click to enlarge)
cloud text flatten1 500x250 Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop
That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

30 Must Have Wicked Text Effect Tutorials


Using Photoshop and Illustrator is one of the best ways to achieve that perfect text effect for your next commercial or personal project.
In this post we have put together some of the latest and most comprehensive list of well written text effect tutorials we found on the web.
These fantastic tutorials will arm you with all the latest tips and tricks and help you stay up to date on current trends and techniques.
Want more articles on Text Effects? Check out some of my previous post:

Design an Awesome Electrified Metal Scrap Text Effect in Photoshop

Design an Awesome Electrified Metal Scrap Text Effect in Photoshop

How to Create Hanging Typography in Photoshop and Illustrator

How to Create Hanging Typography in Photoshop and Illustrator

 How to Create Glowing TRON-Inspired 3D Text in Photoshop Extended

How to Create Glowing TRON-Inspired 3D Text in Photoshop Extended

 Quick Tip: How to Create a Metallic Text Effect Using Layer Styles in Photoshop

Quick Tip: How to Create a Metallic Text Effect Using Layer Styles in Photoshop

 How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop

How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop

 Create a Sparkling Diamond and Gold Text Effect Using Filter Forge and Photoshop

Create a Sparkling Diamond and Gold Text Effect Using Filter Forge and Photoshop

 Create Delicious Cookie Text Using Photoshop

Create Delicious Cookie Text Using Photoshop

 Design a Hot Golden Text with Disintegration Effect in Photoshop

Design a Hot Golden Text with Disintegration Effect in Photoshop

Create a Knitted Argyle Text Effect Using Filter Forge and Photoshop

 Create a Knitted Argyle Text Effect Using Filter Forge and Photoshop

Create an Autumn-Themed 3D Text Effect With Photoshop CS6 Extended

 Create an Autumn-Themed 3D Text Effect With Photoshop CS6 Extended

Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop

Design an Interesting Cloud Text Effect in Photoshop

Photoshop tutorial: Create 3D type art using Photoshop CS5

 Photoshop tutorial: Create 3D type art using Photoshop CS5

Create a Syfy Inspired Logo Animation in Photoshop CS6

Create a Syfy Inspired Logo Animation in Photoshop CS6

Create a realistic wooden 3D text image

Create a realistic wooden 3D text image

Quick Tip: Create a Crisp Metallic Text Effect in Photoshop

Quick Tip: Create a Crisp Metallic Text Effect in Photoshop

Easy Furry Text in Photoshop

Easy Furry Text in Photoshop

Create a Stitched Denim Text Effect in Photoshop

 Create a Stitched Denim Text Effect in Photoshop

Quick Tip: Create a “Scary” Text Effect in Photoshop

 Quick Tip: Create a “Scary” Text Effect in Photoshop

Create a Dissolved Ancient Ink Text Effect in Photoshop

Create a Dissolved Ancient Ink Text Effect in Photoshop

How to Create a Colorful Text Design in Photoshop

How to Create a Colorful Text Design in Photoshop

Create a Frozen Text Effect with Ice Particles in Photoshop

Create a Frozen Text Effect with Ice Particles in Photoshop

Create an Easy Stitched Fabric Type Style in Photoshop

Create an Easy Stitched Fabric Type Style in Photoshop

Create a Quick and Easy 3D Type Effect

Create a Quick and Easy 3D Type Effect

Create a Shiny, Gold, Old World Text Effect in Photoshop

Create a Shiny, Gold, Old World Text Effect in Photoshop

Create a Neon Text Effect in Photoshop

Create a Neon Text Effect in Photoshop

Create a Candy Flavored Text Effect in Photoshop

Create a Candy Flavored Text Effect in Photoshop

Create a Bloody Text Effect in Photoshop Using Layer Styles

Create a Bloody Text Effect in Photoshop Using Layer Styles

Create a Sports-Themed Text Effect in Photoshop Using Layer Styles

Create a Sports-Themed Text Effect in Photoshop Using Layer Styles