![]() ![]() Departing somewhat from their shoegaze and noise-rock roots to delve ambitiously into the more complex syntax of progressive rock music, Kairon IRSE! demonstrates a genuine artistic drive that has become woefully uncommon, even in the underground scene. If not quite as refreshingly radical as “Ujubasajuba,” Kairon IRSE!’s follow-up and industry debut “Ruination” is a formidable work. Additionally, some of the vocals were featured too high in the mix – and were performed in English – mitigating the dreamy atmosphere they created on “Ujubasajuba” and indeed on “Llullaillaco.” Both halves of “Sinister Waters” grew occasionally laborious and their use of dated synthesizers felt both familiar and retrograde in a bad way. The main drawback of their prog-rock execution was its occasional over-reliance on tried-and-true formulae. Perhaps more constructively, however, they could benefit from perfecting the sound of their updated aesthetic. That is to say, the band’s prowess was less reflected in the prog-rock moments than in other sections of “Ruination.” As a result, while the record as a whole constitutes a laudable effort, perhaps the band should refocus its energies elsewhere going forward. It is worth noting, however, that the record’s best cut is also most out of place. And “Llullaillaco,” the record’s most concise track and arguably its foremost highlight, is a skillful study of pre-“Loveless” My Bloody Valentine that capitalizes on the band’s stylish, energetic ferocity. Playing down the prog-rock influence, the title track “Ruination” is a spaced-out funk ballad pumped with high-frequency noise. The ambition is plainly audible on the record, and one senses the band’s commitment to reinvention and innovation. Indeed, if “Ujubasajuba” were compared to the band Moonsorrow, “Ruination” would be more akin to Kebnekajse. Similarly, “Porphyrogennetos” devolves into a solo section reminiscent of King Crimson but entirely devoid of the band’s signature aggression – though it maintains a familiar cathartic vigor. The record’s first two tracks, “Sinister Waters I” and “Sinister Waters II,”are further inspired by prog-rock structures, incorporating angular leads and retro-sounding synth warbles over the course of 25 dynamic minutes. While the track includes more diverse instrumentation – notably including the saxophone – the focus remains on an expertly manipulated array of distinct and vibrant guitars, surely a plus in its own right. Like many tracks on the former record, “Starik” experiments significantly with song structure, delving even more into progressive rock than the band’s earlier music. The track instantly recalls “Ujubasajuba” with its moody, sinister aura. After years of silence and an exciting record deal, the band released the album’s first single, “Starik,” last fall. While the official reissue was called for, it was also executed in promotion of Kairon IRSE!’s follow-up record, “Ruination.”įrom the start, “Ruination” promised grandeur. The album’s success, however, drew the attention of local labels, among them Svart Records, which recently reissued “Ujubasajuba” in both CD and vinyl format with all-new cover art. The band self-released “Ujubasajuba” digitally on the online music retail website Bandcamp, an unassuming format unworthy of the album’s magnitude. It was easily one of the year’s best records. Surely inspired by Scandinavia’s impressive metal output, the album’s colossal tracks feature icy, towering riffs richly evocative of the region’s polar winters and powerful drumming that hits like a blizzard. ![]() ![]() The Finnish shoegaze and noise rock outfit Kairon IRSE! gained significant notoriety in 2014 following the release of their breakthrough album “Ujubasajuba,” amassing fans from around the globe after spending years in the obscurity of the Baltic experimental rock scene. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Situated in a prime location between beautiful gardens and the exciting Playa Bavaro, the Iberostar Bavaro Suites are a family-friendly resort that boasts a children's playground and babysitting services. ![]() The hotel is a 30-minute drive from Punta Cana International Airport. The resort has everything a family needs to keep every member comfortable and entertained. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana is a great choice for families and is located in the vibrant Turístico del Este district of Punta Cana. The hotel is a 23-minute drive from the airport along the Av Barceló. It is a boutique style resort that offers something for everyone, including families, couples and individuals. The Reserve at Paradisus Palma Real is situated in the idyllic tropical surroundings of Playa de Bávaro. The hotel can be reached in just under 30 minutes by taxi from the international airport by travelling along the Carr Aeropuerto. Offering one of the best all-around experiences, the Majestic Elegance Punta Cana boasts a wealth of amenities including spa tubs, swimming pools and various bars and restaurants. ![]() Where should you stay in Punta Cana during your vacation? For any vacation type in Punta Cana: If you are looking to maximize the potential of your budget October, November and December offer some of the cheapest prices and the smallest crowds. Book in March and you will also get to experience the colorful and vibrant Punta Cana carnival, which is full of flamboyant costumes, traditional dancing and live music. The ideal time to visit Punta Cana if you are looking for a balance between price and weather is from March to May. When should you book a vacation package to Punta Cana? ![]() ![]() ![]() Another found we forget 50% to 80% of what we learn after one month and 97% to 98% after one month. In fact, one study found people forget 40% of what they learned in 20 minutes and 70% in six days (University of Waterloo, 2022). And, even if I do understand French, if I don’t take notes, it’s likely I would quickly forget what was said. While I might understand “Ici Radio Brazzaville,” it’s highly unlikely I would understand a newscast in French since I don’t speak or read French. When engaged in mindful listening, it is important not only that we understand the message but that we remember it. When a listener engages in competitive interrupting, he simply wants to take over the conversation. This isn’t a case where the listener wants more information. Also closely related to stage hogism is competitive interrupting where listeners use interruptions to take control of the conversation. Closely related to stage hogism is a rebuttal tendency, debating a speaker’s point and formulating your reply while the speaker is still speaking. Watch this video for an example of a stage hog in action. Stage hogs are only interested in what they want to say. For example, someone hears wine is heart-healthy, but ignores the part about moderate consumption (two glasses, at most, for men, and just one for women), exercise, and adequate sleep. ![]() In a word, we hear what we want to hear and ignore the rest. We also (hopefully) engage in mindful listening to our professors, our bosses, and our parents or partners.Īnother poor listening practice involves selective listening. When we pay attention to important messages, we engage in mindful listening. “ you’ll pay attention because that’s one of the major access points to the PGCC campus. But if you’re in Maryland driving to Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) and you hear the reporter say, “In Maryland, on the Capital Beltway Inner Loop at Maryland 214. If you’re in Maryland, you won’t even hear that, you’ll completely ignore it because it has no impact on you. Driving along, you might hear the traffic reporter tell about an accident in Virginia on I-66. If you live in the Washington, D.C., area, we have an all-news radio station, WTOP, that broadcasts weather and traffic every 10 minutes, beginning at eight minutes after the hour. One of the facts of modern life is that we are susceptible to message overload.Ĭonsider a drive to class. In fact, mindless listening can be a valuable strategy for many of the messages we receive. Mindless listening is not always a bad thing. Test yourself now: Can you list five key points in William Ury’s TED Talk video? If you go to church when you leave church, can you discuss the sermon? If not, you have engaged in mindless listening. All too often, we engage in mindless listening. On the other hand, when I heard “Hier ist der Deutsche Welle” I was listening to the German shortwave station.īut let’s face it. When I heard “Ici Radio France” I was listening to the French equivalent of the Voice of America. When I heard “Ici Radio Brazzaville,” I was listening to a station in French Equatorial Africa (now the Republic of the Congo). I didn’t understand much French, but when I heard “Ici Radio Canada,” I knew I was listening to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. ![]() As a teenager, I used to engage in shortwave listening, using a special radio to hear stations in other countries. We can attend, even when we don’t understand a foreign language. The process of paying attention is called attending. On the other hand, when a person speaks – whether in person, on TV, or on digital media –when his voice vibrates off our eardrum, we receive a message, provided we have been paying attention. But none of those convey a message to us. sound enters our ear canal, vibrates off our eardrum, and we perceive the sound in our brains. A tree falls, a car screeches, a gunshot rings out, thunder booms. It’s different than hearing, which is the process of physically receiving sound. What is listening? It’s the active process of making meaning out of another person’s spoken message. \)īelieve it or not, it appears that one reason elementary school children fail to develop adequate reading comprehension skills is because they haven’t developed good listening comprehension skills. ![]() ![]() The 1973 oil crisis made it possible for Playmobil to be considered a viable product. They never grew tired of playing with them.". "I would put the little figures in their hands without saying anything about what they were," Beck remarked. The toy he conceived would fit in a child's hand and its facial design was based on children's drawings: a large head, a big smile, and no nose. ![]() He felt that too much flexibility would get in the way of children's imaginations, and too much rigidity would cause frustration. Beck conducted research that allowed him to develop a toy that would not be too complex but would nevertheless be flexible. (The company had originally been a producer of casket ornaments and handles.) īeck spent three years from 1971 to 1974 developing what became Playmobil. Horst Brandstätter, the owner of the company, asked Beck to develop toy figures for children instead. Beck received training as a cabinetmaker and was also an avid hobbyist of model airplanes, a product he pitched to the company Geobra Brandstätter. Playmobil was invented by German inventor Hans Beck (1929–2009), considered the "Father of Playmobil". Early Playmobil figure of a woman History Collector activities extend beyond collecting and free-form play and include customization, miniature wargaming, and the creation of photo stories and stop motion films, or simply as decoration. These practices have helped give rise to a sizeable community of collectors. Promotional and one-off products are sometimes produced in very limited quantities. New products and product lines developed by a 50-strong development team are introduced frequently, and older sets are discontinued. ![]() ![]() Playmobil toys are produced in themed series of sets as well as individual special figures and playsets. A wide range of accessories, buildings and vehicles, as well as many sorts of animals, are also part of the Playmobil line. The signature Playmobil toy is a 7.5 cm (3.0 in) tall (1:24 scale) human figure with a smiling face. Playmobil ( / p l eɪ m oʊ ˈ b iː l/) is a German line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group (Geobra Brandstätter GmbH & Co KG), headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany. ![]() ![]() ![]() Not only has the supposed DNS delisting thrown Facebook off the internet, it seems that internal systems across the company are down. It's likely why #DeleteFacebook is also trending on Twitter. While there's no official statement as to why the outage has occurred, but for Facebook, this news comes at the heels of multiple damning reports. The longest still goes to the one that occurred on March 13, 2019, which lasted nearly 12 hours. Today's outage is the second longest in Facebook history. Hodgson argues that a decentralized system is ultimately more reliable as there's no single point of failure. We saw the same last week when Slack went down." When that basket breaks, all the eggs get smashed. "Centralized apps mean that all the eggs are in one basket. Element is a decentralized collaboration and messaging platform and Matrix is an open source API for decentralized communication with end-to-end encryption. "The ongoing outage of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook (including Facebook Messenger and Facebook Workplace) highlights that global outages are one of the major downsides of a centralized system," said Matthew Hodgson, CEO of Element, technical co-founder of the Matrix open standard, in a statement to Tom's Guide. Per this Reddit user, the outage is not because of a malicious attack. In this case, local data center technicians with local physical access to the routers are the only ones able to fix this. Not only that, Facebook itself can't communicate within Facebook.Īccording to ArsTechnica, a user on Reddit who claims to be a Facebook employee, posits that network engineers may have been pushing a configuration change that accidentally locked them out. Without BGP routes, there's no way for data to access Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. When someone wants to access data over the internet, it's BGP that tries to find the fastest route possible. Cloudflare describes BGP as the postal service for the internet. It also seems that the BGP, or Border Gateway Protocol, routes have been pulled from the internet. When the DNS isn't working, web browsers can't find the website being called. It's how the name of a website, such as, is translated into a raw IP address. But according to investigative journalist Brian Krebs, when speaking to Doug Madory of Kentik, a network observability company, Facebook's DNS records were withdrawn from global routing tables.ĭNS stands for Domain Name System. Still, there's official release on when this outage will end or why the outage has occurred.Īs to why the outage has occurred, that has yet to be determined. ![]() Each is a variation of acknowledging the issue and telling users that work is being done to address the issue. While the Twitter accounts for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were slow to update users, all three services have since put out short statements. We're still waiting on an official statement from Facebook regarding the outage. ET, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are back online. According to the New York Times, Facebook employees' badges aren't even working, meaning they can't enter the building.According to Philip Crowther of the Associated Press, it's "mayhem" over at Facebook.According to investigative journalist Brian Krebs, when speaking to Doug Madory of Kentik, a network observability company, Facebook's DNS records were withdrawn from global routing tables.Facebook has not given a reason for the outage, but has tweeted that its working on getting the issue resolved.The outage is now closing in on the seven-hour mark. ![]() ET, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Oculus VR went down. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp outage: latest updates Not only that, but she claims that Facebook consistently chose profit, even if it meant pushing more caustic content.īelow we've left an accounting of our updates from October 4 intact for future reference. Not only that, a Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, is set to t estify in front of Congress today about the way the company has hid its own internal data about its harms. ![]() ![]() For more information on the Dango M1 click the link below. If you do decide this is the wallet for you I can guarantee this is a wallet that will last a lifetime and is a pure feat of engineering in design and style. ![]() Much like the Ridge Wallet the Dango M1 wallet isn’t cheap coming in at $129.00. Although the wallet doesn’t have a dedicated area for physical banknotes the rubber band solves this problem as cash can be folded and tucked under the band for security. Cards are stored in a typical card ‘stacking’ style with a capacity of up to 8 cards. In terms of its features, the wallet is fairly simple. You really can’t fault the build quality of the wallet and These include Carbon Fiber, aerospace-grade 6061 aluminum, a rubber band, and finished with a bolted-on piece of top grain leather with accented stitching. The wallet is built out of four distinct materials that complement each other nicely. The design to resemble a supercar can only be described as a wallet Elon Musk might develop if he ever ended up in the market. Although not solely dedicated to carbon fiber wallets (most of their range are metal wallets) The M1 is a unique wallet in their collection as a hybrid between carbon fiber and metal. The Dango M1 is another highly popular and sort after brand. For more information on the Ridge check out our full review of the wallet by clicking here. It also comes with a free 45-day returns policy and a lifetime guarantee. But I can say if you’re looking for style – and the safety of a popular brand – then I think the Ridge wallet is a great choice and it won’t disappoint. Is this worth such a high price tag? I’ll leave that to you. The Carbon Fiber Ridge Wallets are priced highly coming in at $125.00. It also comes in a range of different designs meaning you can choose one that best meets your individual preferences. In a case style, the Ridge offers great card/cash capacity (1-12 cards) while only coming in at a size of 86 x 54 x 6mm. ![]() The Ridge is a minimalist carbon fiber wallet that integrates great functionality into an attractive durable design. Because of this the wallet firmly takes a position on this list and is perhaps the highest-rated wallet ever. The Ridge is also one of the highest-rated wallets I’ve come across with over 30,000 individual reviews at 4 – 5 stars. I’ve talked about the Ridge Wallet a lot as one of the most successful examples of innovation and design I’ve come across. ![]() Carbon Fiber also isn’t a cheap material which means you’ll usually have to pay a premium to get your hands on a wallet made from the stuff. Usually, you’re limited to hard case-styled wallets with an emphasis on minimalism and a smaller size limiting the capacity and functionality of the wallet. Being a hardy material it does limit innovation in the type of wallets you can buy. That being said, Carbon Fiber does have some disadvantages. The material also has a unique look to it which has often been attributed to high-speed supercars as the material is often used to keep cars light and improve performance. This means carbon fiber can give you peace of mind that your wallet will – and can – last a lifetime with little worry it can become damaged over time. ![]() While being lightweight the wallet is also incredibly durable and is used in many applications (such as cars) for its strength and durability over time. Carbon Fiber is a popular material due to many of the advantageous benefits it provides compared to many traditional materials in the wallet world (mainly leather). ![]() ![]() ![]() Not support Blu-ray, 3D DVD discs and CDs.WonderFox DVD Ripper is an amazing software that ensures smooth sailing when you need to rip video and audio DVDs and convert the output to a format of choice. Cannot generate Video_TS folder as output format.ģ. Support the latest operating system and devices, such as macOS Sierra, iPhone etc.Ģ. High quality of output videos, up to original quality.Ĥ. Update constantly to decode the latest DVD copy protection, especially Disney DRM.ģ. Microsoft Device: Microsoft WP8 Pad (Nokia Lumia 2520, Microsoft Surface Pro 3/2), WP8 Mobile, Xbox, XBox One, Zune, Surface Sony Device: PSP, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xperia XZ/Z5/Z4/C4/M4/X Compact Other Devices: Chromecast, Blackberry, Nokia, PDA, ZEN Audio and Other: MP3, AAC, AC3, PNGĢ. Apple Devices: iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5,iPhone 4S, iPhone 3/3GS, iPad Air/Air 2, iPad Pro, iPad Mini 4/3/Mini with Retina display, iPad Mini, New iPad/iPad 4, iPad 2, iPod Touch, The new Apple TV, Apple TV 3, iTunes, iDVD, iMovie, Final Cut Pro Android Devices: General Mobile Video, HTC (HTC Desire 816), Samsung Galaxy (S7/S6/edge+, Note 5/4/Edge), Google Mobile, Huawei Mobile, Acer Mobile, Lenovo Mobile, Amazon Fire phone, General Android Pad Video, HTC Jetstream, Samsung Galaxy Tab (Note 10.1 2014 Edition), Amazon Kindle Fire (HDX8.9), Google Nexus 7, Huawei Pad, Lenovo Pad, Acer Iconia, Asus Pad etc. General Output Format: DVD ISO image, MPEG-2 (DVD), MKV, MP4, QT, MOV, M4V, FLV, H.264, MPEG4, AVI XviD/DivX, MTS, TS, M2TS, etc. The latest encrypted DVD, Normal DVD, CSS protected DVD, region 1-6, Sony ArccOS, Commercial DVD, ISO image, DVDmedia ![]() Mac OS X Leopard/Snow Leopard/Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks/Yosemite/El Capitan/macOS Sierra/High Sierra It's also equipped with some editing features such as trim, crop, merge, add subtitles/watermark so as to customize your DVD movies.The DVD copy software also allows you to adjust parameters (video codec/bitrate/frame rate/aspect ratio/ resolution, audio codec/channel/sample rate/bitrates) to personalize DVD for various needs.The "Copy" feature lets you 1:1 backup DVD to ISO Image, MKV, MPEG2 with original video/audio quality so as to store it on Mac computer/hard drive, play it with QuickTime, or burn DVD in the later future.The Mac DVD decrypter not only allows you to remove DVD region code, but also rip protected DVD with CSS, RCE, Sony ArccOS, UOPs, Disney X-project protection copy protections.Besides iPhone 6S, all the popular devices the best DVD ripper for Mac can rip DVD to, including iPhone 7/SE/6 Plus/5S, iPad mini 4/Air 2/Pro, Apple TV 4, Sony Xperia XZ, Galaxy Note 5/S7 etc.It supports rip DVD to all mainstream video formats, being not confined to MP4, but also MOV, MKV, AVI, H.264, MPEG, MP3 etc.Namely is the so-called best DVD ripper for Mac a good choice for ripping and decrypting DVDs? This authoritative review solves your puzzles all-round, from features to easy steps, speed to quality etc. ![]() But before you finally purchase it, there is a question always haunted users. This Mac DVD Ripper has a good reputation on ripping DVD to Mac, being the best DVD ripper for Mac to so many. Therefore, the highly rated MacX DVD Ripper Pro are vying for our attention to rip protected DVD to Mac, iPhone iPad Android etc. Of course, the free open-source Handbrake can be the first choice but unfortunately it usually wouldn't get your wish on ripping DVDs. Are you familiar with such situations? I bet you more or less have encountered a case that needs to rip DVD Disc to digital formats.
![]() ![]() They are generally solitary or found in pairs (doe with fawn or buck with doe) although pair-bonding does not occur. After a gestation period of seven months, they give birth to a single fawn and are ready to mate again within a few days.īucks can live up to 16 years and does up to 19 years, but these are exceptional. Bucks may fight for access to does but remain unusually tolerant of subordinate males within their vicinity.ĭoes are capable of breeding at seven months old. Instead, they breed all year round and the does can conceive again within days of giving birth. Muntjac do not have a defined breeding season (rut). Release muntjac into the wild anywhere in England and Wales without a specific license.Since 2019 they have been classed as an invasive alien species and it is now prohibited to: It has been estimated in recent years that in England they could account for 25% of reported DVC. In high densities muntjac may prevent coppice regeneration and contribute to the loss of some plants of conservation importance, such as primulas.Īs their numbers have increased muntjac have become more involved in deer vehicle collisions (DVC). However, they can be of important concern to gardeners, allotment owners and others. Unlike some other species of deer in Britain, muntjac do not usually cause significant damage to agricultural or timber crops. They are also found in scrub and overgrown urban gardens. Muntjac like deciduous or coniferous forests, preferably with a diverse understorey. Movement and release by humans led to their rapid spread across south and central England and Wales, however, north of the Humber distribution is patchy but reaches close to the Scottish border. ![]() They are now widespread and increasing in number and range.ĭeliberate releases and escapes from Woburn, Northamptonshire, and Warwickshire led to the establishment of feral populations. Muntjac were brought from China to Woburn Park in Bedfordshire in the early 20th century. Muntjac make very small hoof prints (slots), about 2.5cm long. Does have no antlers and a dark crown patch on their heads. The face of the male is striped with pronounced downward black lines, light coloured cheeks and very large facial glands below the eyes. These are usually slightly incurved with no branching, but sometimes have short brow tines. They have a wide, flat tail, which is raised erect to display a white underside when disturbed.īucks have small antlers on top of long fur-covered base (pedicle). By comparison, an average adult man in Britain is 1.77m high and weighs 79kg.Ĭharacteristically, they have a ‘hunched’ appearance, as their rumps are higher than their shoulders. Reeves’ Muntjac deer are a small but stocky species of deer and when fully grown males (bucks) weigh between 10 to 18kg as adults and females (does) weigh 9 to 16kg. Male muntjac called bucks, females does and the young fawn. Muntjac are a russet brown colour for most of the year, turning to a dull grey in winter. ![]() ![]() ![]() This Safeway Gift Card could help pay for some essential recovery supplies. Sometimes it makes sense to give a practical gift to someone who’s ill, such as a gift card they can use at their pharmacy. “Hoping this helps you with some of the expenses.” This Netflix Gift Card or this Hulu Gift Card could just do the trick. “Enjoy some entertainment while you recover!”Ī subscription to a streaming service is another eGift you might give someone who’s housebound during their recovery. Help a friend who’s stuck at home with an injury by giving them a gift card they can use to buy something to make the experience more bearable.įor a friend who's a gamer, consider an Xbox Gift Card. “Hopefully this makes being stuck at home a little more fun.” Use this gift card message with a card for an activity you and the person receiving it can enjoy together when they recover, giving them something to look forward to. ![]() Keep these gift card messages in mind if you plan on sending one. Get Well Gift Card Messages IdeasĪ gift card is often a smart get-well gift. We have a post-loss checklist that will help you ensure that your loved one's family, estate, and other affairs are taken care of. Post-planning tip: If you are the executor for a deceased loved one, handling their unfinished business can be overwhelming without a way to organize your process. Offering a gift card to one of their favorite places can help. The first holiday without a loved one is hard, especially for kids. “Show the kids the best holiday season you can under the circumstances.” You could also choose a gift card that helps create fun at home, like this Playstation Gift Card. Lend a hand with a gift card for something fun, like an amusement park trip. “When the kids are ready, we thought they’d enjoy this.”Ī loved one’s death is particularly hard on children. Make it easier to accept your offer with a gift card for an activity you and the recipient can enjoy together. Some are reluctant to accept offers of support after losing someone. “Let’s go out together when you’re ready.” Try this Happy Eats Gift Card, which applies to multiple popular restaurants in the U.S. “It’s small, but I hope this makes the next few weeks just a little easier.”Īlong with the funeral expenses, people often spend money on food and similar items for memorial services after a death. Include this gift card message with a card for a relaxing activity you think the recipient will enjoy when they’re no longer in mourning. This is for you to relax when you’re ready.” If you're sending a sympathy card with a small gift card, consider including one of these messages. Showing support is one of the best things you can do for someone coping with a loss. Refer back to them the next time you’re buying someone a gift card. The following are a few examples of messages to include with your gift card to consider for a variety of events and circumstances. The ideal choice of words will let the person receiving a gift card know you care for them. Baby Shower or New Baby Gift Card Messages Ideas.Regardless of whether this concern is justified, including the right gift card message along with the card itself is often a simple but effective way to make the gift take on a personal quality. However, some people worry that a gift card will come across as somewhat impersonal. Learn more in our affiliate disclosure.Ī gift card or eGift card can be ideal for a wide range of occasions. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We also may earn commission from purchases made through affiliate links. We follow a strict editorial process to provide you with the best content possible. ![]() ![]() ![]() This means that you can use Luminar 4 as a smart filter in Photoshop and it remains fully editable. This includes the smart filter support and action support. Luminar 4 has all of the features of Luminar flex when used as a plug-in. This is probably the best approach, as the separate versions of Luminar and Luminar Flex never really made much sense to me. Now they have backtracked a bit on that and are offering it as both a companion to Lightroom and Photoshop as well as an alternative for those who need it. This is something of a departure from when Luminar 3 was launched and the company was plugging it as a replacement to Lightroom. You can use it as a stand alone editor for editing single images, or you can use it as a plug-in with software such as photoshop and Lightroom. It can be used with the library as a stand alone photo workflow application. You can now use the software in three different ways. Luminar 4 combines the functionality of Luminar 3 and Luminar Flex. Three Ways of Working (Well, 5 actually!) ![]() Having said that, the old version was a pretty unique way of working, and had its advantages too, so it’s a pity to see it go. It is actually easier to use once you get used to it, but there will be that initial learning curve of looking for adjustments and trying to figure out where they went. I’ll be honest, the new interface took a bit of getting used to, but having used the beta for a while, its now hard to go back and use the old versions. Also gone is the ability to use screen modes on individual Tools, but you can still mask tools on an individual basis. ![]() If you want multiple versions of a Tool you’ll need to add it to a new layer. The downside of this new layout is that you can no longer use multiple versions of an adjustment on the same layer. When you use a Tool its name is highlighted in the interface to show you which tools are active and which haven’t been used. The tools themselves are redesigned and usually have a set of basic controls, and then some additional options hidden under an “advanced settings” button. There are also tools for things like cropping and rotation, lens corrections and the erase tool. This is similar to tool tabs in other applications. The new “Tools” are grouped into categories and these are accessed by a series of icons down the side of the interface. However, there are still occasions when it slows down, although I should point out that I have been using a beta version. In reality, this seems to work well, and I have found a definite speed improvement when working with images. The company stated that this allows processing to be speeded up significantly, as it allows rendering to take place in a specific order that is optimised for processing. The result is a unified set of tools that will always be the same and so there is no longer a need for workspaces. Some filters from the previous versions have been combined into a single tool and some have had their names changed and so on. All of the available tools are already there on the interface, broken down into categories. Filters are no longer even called filters and are now referred to as “Tools”. You no longer have a filter list and you no can longer manually add filters. This has all completely changed in Luminar 4. You could also save combinations as a “workspace” allowing you to customise the view and defaults. You could have multiple versions of a filter, and you could add as many as you want. In older versions of Luminar, you started off with an empty slate and then added “filters” from the list of available adjustments to create your own combination of adjustments. This isn’t just cosmetic and goes to the heart of the way the software works. While there has been a lot of discussion about the new AI features of Luminar 4, and we’ll get to those shortly, the biggest feature by far is the re-design of the interface. ![]() So with that in mind, here are my impressions of Luminar 4, its new feature and what it is like to use. Lots of people including myself have already shared details on some of the new features, the new interface and so on, so what’s left to review? Well, I wanted to wait until the software was actually released to put all the disparate threads together and talk about the application as a whole. Luminar 4 was pre-announced a while ago now, and the company has been drip feeding information about it to the public. It’s weird writing a review of something that a lot of people have been talking about for quite some time now. ![]() |
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