A communitybuilt site of hints and tips on using Apples new Mac OS X operating system. RIP, Microsoft Paint. MS Paint, the first app you used for editing images, will probably be killed off in future updates of Windows 1. Paint 3. D. Microsoft lists the 3. As you can see, the results vary dramatically. Note, however, that pages with the most text produced the greatest increase in size when printing to the. XPS file. Windows 1. X marking the end of an era. The app is certainly a relic, from a time when the casual computer user couldnt crack open Photoshop or Skitch or Pixelmator or thousands of web apps. MS Paint cant save image components as layers or vectors its for making flat static images only. It doesnt smooth lines or guess at your best intentions. It does what you tell it and nothing more, faithfully representing the herky jerky motion of drawing freehand with a computer mouse. Its from a time before touch, a time before trackpads. As more sophisticated options appeared, Paints janky aesthetic became a conscious choice. Paint became the metonym for that aesthetic, even if an image was actually created in another app. TV Tropes lists major limitations that came to define a certain look the wobbly freehand lines, awkward color handling, and inappropriate export settings that give Paint its distinctive look. In 2. 01. 4, Gawkers Sam Biddle noted Paints influence on conspiracy theory images, calling the form Chart Brut. In amateur detectives attempts at identifying the Boston Marathon bombers, the simplicity and jaggedness of Paint evokes the crazy wall aesthetic of red string and scribbled notes, apparently without irony. The same year, internet historian Patrick Davison explored Paints influence on the last decade of meme culture, particularly Rage Comics. The podcast craze of the past several years shows no signs of slowing down, and while every armchair broadcaster with a voice recorder app is eager to get in the game. Drag-and-Drop-Combine-PDF-Pages-640x404.jpg' alt='Use Automator To Combine Text Files Into One On Mac' title='Use Automator To Combine Text Files Into One On Mac' />MS Paint, the first app you used for editing images, will probably be killed off in future updates of Windows 10, replaced by the new app Paint 3D. Microsoft lists. Pixelmator Powerful, fullfeatured image editor for Mac. Pixelmator for Mac is a powerful, fast, and easytouse image editor. It lets you enhance and touch up photos. The outsider art aesthetic feels appropriate to the relatable everyday content, and makes the art form unthreatening. Of course, Paint offered a few features to smooth things out, like the circle and line tools and the fill tool, all used in the stoner comics of the early 1. Crucially, those circles still had jagged curves. The bright colors of stoner comics are flat, as MS Paint didnt support gradients without an elaborate hack. Contrast those pixellated lines with the slick, stylish face from this art tutorial This slickness is built into Paints successor, Paint 3. D. From the moment you start sketching, Paint 3. D smooths out your art. It also supports automatic selection tools and content aware fill to rival Photoshops. By automatically improving art, Paint 3. D hides the process behind the image. Paints sloppiness is probably why rage comics got so popular. Looking at a rage comic, you can tell exactly how it was drawn, and how you might draw one yourself. By delivering exactly what the artist draws, MS Paint forms an image that the viewer can mentally reverse engineer and imitate. Unless you go absolutely nuts with it. Reddit user Toweringhorizon painstakingly assembled the drawing To a Little Radio using MS Paint tools like the oil brush, stretching the medium while maintaining a pixelated look. Its one of the top submissions to MS Paint subreddit, a beautiful collaborative art gallery. Scrolling through this art feels like flipping through the sketchbook of the most artistic kid in high school. Theres an accepted roughness, a desired minimalism. For example, the exquisite raindrops in the work above are reflected in a flat, featureless tabletop. Like a transistor radio, Paint might be showing its age, but this tenacious little gadget should not be underestimated. To a Little Radio doesnt even come close to testing Paints limits. Use Automator To Combine Text Files Into One On Mac' title='Use Automator To Combine Text Files Into One On Mac' />As we say goodbye to the app that shaped an era, let us watch this bizarrely soundtracked time lapse of drawing Santa Claus in MS Paint on Windows 7 over the course of 5. We can only believe this is real because faking it would be even harder. How to Start Your Own Podcast. The podcast craze of the past several years shows no signs of slowing down, and while every armchair broadcaster with a voice recorder app is eager to get in the game, creating a professional sounding podcast isnt as simple as it might seem. Heres how to create, record, and publish your own basic podcastand get people to listen. This story originally ran in June 2. August 2. 01. 7 with additional reporting from Patrick Austin. You Start, Be Ready to Commit. Before you rush into things, its important to keep in mind that podcasts take a lot of effort to get going. Theyre not just recordings of people talking not the good ones, anyway. Pat Flynn, host of the Smart Passive Income podcast, recommends you treat podcasting the same way you would any other big project Podcasting is extremely fun and exciting, but there is one thing you must do before you start podcasting Commit. Use Automator To Combine Text Files Into One On Mac' title='Use Automator To Combine Text Files Into One On Mac' />You must internally commit to podcasting, as you must do with anything that is potentially beneficial but takes some time and effort to do. Its easy to assume that podcasts are easy to produce because theyre audio only, but dont be fooled. They can take up a lot of time to put together, especially at first. Also, podcasts do best when theyre released consistently. If youre interested in developing any kind of listener base, you have to be ready to release episodes on a regular basis. All in all, podcasting can be fun work, but its still work and should be treated as such. You also shouldnt expect to get rich from podcasting either. Its certainly possible to generate income from podcasting, but that usually requires advertisements and sponsorshipsboth of which youll get after youve built up a listenership big enough to make it worthwhile to advertisers. If youre not interested in starting a podcast for the fun of it or to have your voice heard, you might not get much out of it unless you already have an audience. What Youll Need. You cant start a podcast without equipment, and good equipment will go a long way. Heres what youll need Microphones Any microphone will work for recording your podcast, but listeners can usually tell the difference between low and high quality microphones. If youre not sure what to look for, our list of the five best desktop microphones is a great place to start I use four analog Audio Technica AT2. As you shop around, youll also need to decide whether you want to use a USB or analog XLR microphone. 20 Subway Gift Card Serial Number here. USB mics convert analog sound into digital so you can plug a USB mic directly into any computer and start recording without much hassle, but you could potentially get lower audio quality compared to analog. Considering you dont need any extra tools or devices to record with a USB mic, they can be a little cheaper in the long run. Analog microphones use XLR connectors, which means you need another device to get your audio onto your computer, but you can get higher audio quality and can use them with other sound equipment if you had a PA system or wanted to play live music, for example. Of course, if you have a gaming headset or other basic microphone around, you can easily use that too. Portable XLR Recorder optional If you plan on using analog microphones for your podcast, youll need something that captures your analog audio and converts it to digital. Portable XLR recorders can capture multiple microphone channels and allow you to do basic sound level adjusting and muting on the fly. Audio files automatically get organized and stored on a memory card that you can insert into a card reader or slot in your computer. These are amazing tools, but they can be expensive. You can find them for anywhere between 1. I use a 4. 00 Zoom H6 Handy Recorder with four available analog channels. Audio Interface optional If you want to record directly to your computer with your analog microphones, youll need an audio interface. These devices allow you to plug in one or more analog microphones and will convert the analog audio to digital. Most audio interfaces will connect to your computer via USB or Firewire. Audio interfaces can cost as little as 3. You can see why a USB microphone is a cheaper option. A Computer Any Windows computer or Mac should work fine to record, edit, and upload your podcast. Thankfully, editing audio doesnt take a ton of computing power. Additionally, depending on how you choose to recorddirectly to the computer or onto a dedicated recording deviceyour computer will also need the right ports. USB microphones, for example, will obviously need an open USB port. If youre using analog microphones with a portable XLR recorder or audio interface device, youll need either a 3. USB port, or in some cases, a Firewire port. So before you spend any money on equipment, make sure you have a computer that can support it. Audio Editing Software For the actual recording and editing, youll need a Digital Audio Workstation or DAW, there are a lot of good options out there, but the licenses for some of them can cost a pretty penny, though. Licenses for professional level DAWs like Reason or Pro Tools can cost anywhere between 3. Apps like Hindenburg offer simpler audio editing software for under 1. Reaper is a fully loaded audio production app for 6. Adobes audio editing software Audition CC is available with a 1. Because of that, most people will recommend free open source programs like Audacity when youre just getting started, and thats what well use an example throughout this how to guide. Pop Filters optional The clearer your audio can sound, the better. Pop filters, while not required, are fairly cheap and can keep your plosives from making a nasty sound on your recording. If you dont want to buy any, though, you can make some of your own. You might be thinking that all this equipment is pretty expensive, and youre not wrong. However keep in mind that decent audio equipment will last forever if you take care of it. It may be expensive to get started, but after the initial purchase, youre set. Step One Narrow Your Topic and Find Your Niche. Just like blogs, there are a ton of podcasts out there. That means that you can probably find a podcast about everything under the sun already. Dont get discouragedWhile just about every broad topic is already covered, you just have to find your spin on things to make an old idea something new. Dear Lifehacker, As a side projectexperiment, Ive started my own blog. The problem is, now that I Read more Read. For example, if you wanted to make a podcast about music, ask yourself if theres an audience out there for what you want to talk about. Maybe you narrow your idea down from music in general to bluegrass specifically. Now your coverage is specific the music, people, and culture of bluegrass. Once you have your topic narrowed down, it helps to add a spin to it. Maybe you talk about bluegrass music and culture while sipping moonshine with your co hosts. Its kind of true that everything has been done before, but it hasnt all been done the way you would do it. So find an angle thats personally interesting and youll be better off. Step Two Download, Install, and Set Up Audacity. As mentioned earlier, Audacity is a great DAW for podcasting beginners. Its open source, free to use as long as you like, and is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. Before you can jump into recording, however, there are a few tricks to getting it all set up properly Download Audacity 2.