Archives for September 2008

September 23, 2008

G1 Impressions

T-Mobile just announced the G1 phone, an Android-powered phone scheduled for release on October 22 for $179 with a two year committment. Android is an open and free mobile platform from Google.

From the hardware perspective, the G1 is slightly bulkier than the iPhone at 5.6 ounces. The G1’s screen is a bit smaller at 3.17 inches compared to the iPhone’s at 3.5 inch. The difference is offset by the G1’s full QWERTY keyboard.

The G1 is capable of synchronizing to online applications automatically. The phone can be configured with instant messaging and pop or imap email. The Google Browser and Google Search works with a Wifi signal.

The other cool application that runs on the G1 is Google Maps. The G1 comes with GPS and is capable of running Google’s Street View. The phone comes with a built-in compass. Pointing the phone in any direction changes the vantage point of Street View. A very cool feature indeed.

In terms of music, the G1 music player is capable of playing MP3, WMA, AAC and Ogg Vorbis files. The OGG format is welcome addition to open-source fans since OGG format is open and patent-free.

Unfortunately, there is no video player for the G1. The other drawback is T-Mobile 3G service is only available in 21 markets, otherwise the G1 has to use an older EDGE network.

September 22, 2008

Batch Resize Images with Gimp

Most digital cameras nowadays, have resolutions that are far bigger than the normal monitor screen size. On average most point-and-shoot digital cameras have resolution anywhere from 3 megapixels to 10 megapixels. Most monitors these days have resolution of either 1024×768 or the slightly larger 1280×1024 pixels.

If you ever need to upload pictures online to a gallery or to a webpage, you will need to resize your images to fit the screen as well as reduce the image size. If you use Gimp, an image manipulation program, you can use David’s Batch Processor, a Gimp plugin to manage the resizing of multiple images in a single command.

To download the Batch Processor, open your Synaptic Package Manager located under System > Administration. Search for “Gimp Batch” and the result will give you “gimp-plugin-registry.” Install the package. You may need to supply the admin password to continue.

Start Gimp. Access the batch file plugin via the ~~Xtns >~~ Filters > Batch > Batch Process menu.

You can select a single file or multiple images for our purposes here in this article. Just click over to the Resize tab and choose resize aspect ratio or set the absolute width and height. Click Start to begin the batch process.

So, the next time you have to resize multiple images. Use the Gimp’s Batch Processor, a batch plugin that is capable of resizing multiple images in just a few clicks.