Friday, March 13, 2009

JPEGSnoop Sniffs Out Signs Of Editing

11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | Windows only: JPEGSnoop is a small and portable application that sleuths through images determine if the image has been altered or edited. JPEGSnoop starts by reading a JPEG/JPG file’s EXIF data to give you a wealth of information about the photo: time it was taken, what kind of camera, lens settings, and so forth. Then it compares the compression patterns in the image against the patterns of known image editing applications—the program has a feature where you can report new patterns to the app database, if you find ones it is unfamiliar with. The tool reports an enormous amount of data, but if you’re not interested in the fine details, you can scroll to the bottom of the report for a simple assessment, such as “Class 1 – Image is processed/edited” or “Class 3 – Image has high probability of being original”. I took an original image straight off my camera and ran it through JPEGSnoop, and it returned all the EXIF data and an evaluation that it was highly probable that the image had been unaltered. I then threw the image in Photoshop and made a small alteration, taking a few seconds to add fake “steam” to the latte. JPEGSnoop changed the assessment to indicate the image had been processed and reported the fix was made in Adobe Photoshop. In fairness however, the application doesn’t have the capacity to judge the difference between a photo being cropped and getting a contrast adjustment in Photoshop versus, say, being cropped and having Godzilla added in, but it is a strong indicator of whether any editing has occurred. You may find yourself learning more about your old friend’s headshot than you’d trusted in before. JPEGSnoop is a free and portable tool, Windows only. JPEGSnoop [via gHacks] More »

Periodic Table Of Typefaces Schools You On Fonts

10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Don’t know your Minion from your Lucida? Can’t decide which Sans-serif, Humanist font works best? Take your seats, class, and let’s review the Periodic Table of Typefaces. Design firm Squidspot put together the 3150×2100, 1.6MB JPEG linked to below, and more power to them for doing so. For those without a clue about fonts, or the typeface geeks needing an at-a-glance reference, this chart provides letter samples, family and class distinctions, and the designer and year of creation. Some of that data might seem a little extraneous, but in some cases, it’s reassuring to know that people like Claude Garamond have made a lasting impact on the world, and on your Word documents. For more interactive font-choosing help, check out the previously mentioned, cross-platform Font Picker. Feel like there’s a spot waiting for your unique imprint? Try the web-based Fontstruct, or our prior post on making your own fonts from handwriting. Periodic Table of Typefaces [via Download Squad] More »

Yoics Gadget Connects To Remote Files And Desktops From Gmail

9:00PM Kevin Purdy | Yoics, a remote access app built around VNC tools, offers a Gmail sidebar gadget that makes grabbing files, browsing pictures, or controlling a remote desktop a one-click affair from your inbox. Yoics installs a highly customised version of WinVNC on your Windows, Mac, or Linux system and lets you connect to it over the web with a single login/password. In this case, Yoics’ sidebar gadget simply launches the relevant web link to your documents, pictures, or desktop, if you’ve chosen to share all of them. Installing and setting up Yoics took me about 10 minutes, between the relatively lengthy sign-up forms, system checks, and configuration demands (including a very mandatory changing of your WinVNC default password). Installing the gadget, though, was as simple as any other. Choosing the “My Pictures” link gives you a customised gallery view of your documents: More »

Five Things To Do This Weekend

4:30PM Angus Kidman | Tom Baker likes to spend his weekend mowing lawns and babbling, but there’s plenty of other ways to fill in those precious 48 hours. If you’ve got an inclination to get a bit more techie, check out these ideas from Lifehacker you may have missed during the week: Find yourself a suitable surfing beach on your mobile phone Consider whether naked DSL could save you money Turn your digital camera into a pinhole camera, for nostalgia’s sake Create weird URL shortcuts Benchmark your hard drive (and work out if it’s too blame for all those appalling performance problems) More »

Keep That Cat Litter Tray Completely Hidden

3:00PM Angus Kidman | Our recent hack for hiding a cat litter box in a small bathroom was pretty popular, but if you’ve got space to spare, you can go much further in keeping the kitty cack concealed. IKEA Hacker highlights one neat solution: putting a standard cat litter box inside the Flaren bathroom cabinet with an added pet door, a solution which is easy to wipe down and puts another layer between you and feline calls of nature. Nice. Flaren stealth cat litter box [IKEA Hacker] More »

How Are You Finding The New Look Facebook?

1:30PM Angus Kidman | It doesn’t seem that long ago since Facebook’s major redesign caused so much controversy, but now the social networking giant is at it again, with a slightly refined design which looks like nothing so much as a Twitter clone (right down to the “What’s on your mind?” prompt). Current posts from friends are now emphasised, which I like better than the messy previous tabbed status updates options. On the other hand, the changes aren’t likely to switch me away from Twitter, which I use to update Facebook as it is. What do you think of the new design? A welcome relief? Too little too late? You want the old one back? Share in the comments. More »

Why Your Bargains Get Bounced

10:30AM Angus Kidman | Here at Lifehacker we’re pretty big fans of bargain-scouting site OzBargain, but on occasion a bargain we’ve tagged in Google Reader for future use ends up disappearing (and this isn’t a fault we can put down to Google, unlike some others). OzBargain founder Scotty has written up a useful post explaining why some bargains get pulled: in simple terms, generally because they’re either forgeries, wildly inaccurate or deliberately limited offers that the providers don’t want widely publicised. (For retailers, he also points out that politeness will get a faster response than incoherent email ranting). All pretty obvious stuff, but worth remembering the next time that fantastically good-sounding pizza deal disappears. Take Down Notice [Oz Bargain Blog] More »

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 Available For Download

9:45AM Adam Pash | If you’re eager to stay on the cutting edge of Firefox, head over to Mozilla to grab the newly released Firefox 3.1 Beta 3. As we mentioned last week, the next beta will be upped to Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 to reflect the many changes between Firefox 3 and this next major release. In the meantime, you can expect improved private browsing, JavaScript, and more with the latest release. (See the release notes for more details.) Been living the 3.1 beta life already? Share how it’s been working out for you in the comments. [Firefox 3.1 Beta 3] More »

Telstra Changes Pricing For Long-Distance Calls

9:03AM Angus Kidman | It may still have the lion’s share of the market, but Telstra’s rarely a price leader when it comes to landline calls — and now it looks that situation is going to get worse. Mitchell Bingemann at Australian IT reports that there’s been outcry over Telstra’s plans to switch to charging in 30-second blocks, rather than by the second, for long-distance calls. The change comes in from March 31, so now might be a good time to think about switching providers (or hitting up Telstra for a better deal). If you want to get rid of your landline altogether, check our guide to issues when switching to naked DSL. Picture from Wikimedia Commons Telstra called on long distance More »