Picasa 2 Now Available!

I've mentioned this neat little utility before, but I want to bring it up again. Picasa is a digital photo management application. It's offered for FREE by Google. It has been referred to as "The software that your digital camera should have come with". This statement is very accurate, as it blows away any package I've seen included with a digital camera. It is a very powerful application, but also very simple to use. New in version 2.0 includes some very cool filters (12 new lighting and color effects), a new collage tool, CD burning (for backups and sharing) and the ability to send pictures via Gmail (email me if you want an invitation to create a free 1GB Gmail account).

Download Picasa 2 here.

 


New Porcupine Tree Album

From www.porcupinetree.com:

The newest Porcupine Tree album Deadwing is scheduled for release on March 21st by Lava Records / Warner Music. Recorded between March-October, the album has been mixed in both stereo and 5.1 versions. Once again the 5.1 mix was done in collaboration with Grammy award winning producer Elliot Scheiner.

There are guest appearances by Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth, and Adrian Belew of King Crimson. The final track listing of the 60 minute album is:

1. Deadwing
2. Shallow
3. Lazarus
4. Halo
5. Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
6. Mellotron Scratch
7. Open Car
8. The Start of Something Beautiful
9. Glass Arm Shattering

I'm really looking forward to this album. I was very impressed with In Absentia, which I only discovered last Spring, after Steven Wilson worked on the O.S.I. album. They also released a 5.1 version of In Absentia, which I've heard is awesome. Someday, I'll have to invest in a decent audio system to appreciate this type of technology.

Here's a really great teaser video clip covering all of the songs on the album. The new songs sound like a fantastic mixture of crunch, melancholy, groove and ambience.

Porcupine Tree - Deadwing Video Teaser [19.8MB .MOV - runtime 2min - NSFW]

Sorry for the video format, and its length. I'm having problems converting this Quicktime clip into a more friendly format. If you want to watch the clip, don't download Quicktime from Adobe. Rather, just download Quicktime Alternative. It's completely ad-free, and requires no registration. It's sister program, Real Alternative is also a fantastic option to the ad-ware ridden Real media player.

If you like creative, intelligent hard rock, you really need to listen to Porcupine Tree. Check out the clip, it's worth the time to download. They are truly one of the great underrated bands of this decade.