Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Zoltan Hellyeah and Bathory vocalist Chad Gray were outcasts before joining the metal scene. Today they're at the center of an ever-growing community of metal bands and fans. This fall they'll tour with Volbeat and Nothing More, september 16 in Salt Lake City starting. What sort of statement are you making on this package tour? Zoltan Bathory: This is the thing about the heavy metal guys, that we're not going to go away. This is here to stay. And if things get difficult, we'll figure out how to do it anyway. This is part of the genre. We do stick together, because we have a long history of being the voice of rebellion; it was sort of the middle finger to the operational system. And that trait is still there. Those types of individuals stick together and form coalitions naturally, and that's what you're witnessing. This is their way of saying, "We are here, and we refuse to go away." No, hip-hop will not rule the global world. We will divide the musical pie, and we shall be here. Chad Gray: I think it just adds to the experience of the concertgoer. You've got heavy bands but all varied in what we do. It's going to start out when it starts; it's going to end when it ends; and whatever happens in between is going to be awesome. And I don't know about anybody that's into heavy metal where heavy metal didn't save their life. I mean, it changed my world a long time ago really, and I've embraced it ever since, whether it's on the upswing, on the mainstream, or on the down. Whatever it is, it's always there. When I look out over the crowd, it's just like I remember being that kid. And, you know, it's therapy. People pay money to go lie down on a talk and couch to psychiatrists. Or a concert can be bought by you ticket and go. The pit is had by you, let out your aggressions; you could sing along. FN15. I think it's just an awesome thing from the concertgoer fan's point of view. I'm not BSing when I say that heavy metal music saved my life. It really did. I think many people turn to heavy metal from being that outcast. I went to small schools and didn't have a lot of money and wasn't in the "in" crowd. So I was into metal, and that's something that I always had. And it was something I built a personal bond with. And I feel that that's how a lot of metal heads look at heavy metal music. It doesn't matter who wins. It's just the idea that the underdog is winning. And that's what's exciting. And you got to be careful of an underdog man. You start backing people like that into a corner, they're going to come out scrappy. So you can't expect something to save your life, and you turn your back on it. I think there's a level of help and hope that we give to persons that maybe feel like they don't belong. Were both bands friendly before the tour? Chad Gray: Yes. We go back with these guys since pretty much the beginning. premiumlinks. We did some touring with them on Family Values, and we've always kept in contact. Yes, we're excited to be a part of the tour. Zoltan Bathory: Any show you ever play, Hellyeah is the glue. These guys are the guys who bring in the barbecue, bring in the ongoing party. optionsturbabit. We were old friends anyway. But when you add Hellyeah to the tour, you know that it's going to be fought in the back; it's going to be crazy. You know they're going to be partying all day. It's a major circle of friends. How do you translate your albums to the stage? Zoltan Bathory: All of us grew up when bands brought huge live shows. And if you look at the story of the genre, the bands that stayed really, they did not neglect the visual component of the live shows. Because why would you go to a concert if you're performing accurately what you're performing on the CD? Then you just stay home and skip the whole thing and just listen to the CD. So we've been always working on that, and this is part of the show. The audience has to win; that's basically the ultimate goal. Each band has new albums out. What was your songwriting process? Zoltan Bathory: Usually the band writes the music together. I shall email Jason, the other guitarist, and he adds a verse to that and emails it back then. And then we all sort of ping pong back-and-forth until we all feel that it is a really good set. It's a continuous revolving sort of thing that we just balance the song to each other; that's how we do it. Once that is done, it goes to Ivan then, and he writes the vocals. So everyone was involved in the song. Chad Gray: We just wanted to get back to who we were individually. I think that was important really. Vinnie Paul needs to be Vinnie Paul, I need to be me, Tom needs to be him. So we sort of came in with the head space of just just, you know, writing better -- writing smarter songs. Zoltan, what was it like working with Rob Halford on the "Lift Me Up" track? Zoltan Bathory: Oh, wow. We were listening, mixing the songs. Somebody made a comment at the studio, "Hey this song is -- remember, like, old-school Judas Priest?" A couple of weeks before that we actually heard that Rob Halford said on TV that one of his favorite bands of the new crop is Five Finger Death Punch. And, you know, that's pretty much good enough that you can hang up your guitar right there. You're justified; you achieved everything. But let's reach out and let's see if he would actually sing on our song. And to our surprise, he actually called and said, "Oh my God, guys, I like this track, and I want to be involved definitely." And we were sitting in the studio, looking through the little window there or the cameras, and Rob Halford is singing the song. It was an incredible experience just. So I can say that if I die at this time actually, it's OK because I played on stage with Rob Halford singing one of the songs that we wrote. So if lightning comes right now, I'm good. mastertags. Five Finger Death Punch had a slew of special guests on the latest albums, and Hellyeah was formed by several different musicians from several different bands. Who haven't you worked with that you might like to? Zoltan Bathory: Maybe this is going to be an odd choice, but I would like to do something with Eminem really. Табрикнома Барои Зодруз. I really like the way he puts together his lyrics. The guy is very, very talented. And I'm not really into the hip-hop scene. But he's special. And I always imagine like how cool it would sound like he's doing his thing and puts some nasty, mean freaking rock-heavy beats, some nasty guitar under that flow that he has, how cool that would sound. juicebittorrent here. Chad Gray: I would have to go with somebody that played. I can't really work with Eminem. We can't be both spitting lyrics. I mean, come on, dude. It's like I come from the world of Metallica, Megadeath, Slayer, and stuff like that. You know, any of those guys. Where do you draw your inspiration from? Zoltan Bathory: It's about being socially, culturally, and relevant emotionally. Meaning we don't sing about Viking warriors. Nothing is wrong with that, and they're pretty much fun and dungeons and dragons and all the crap. A lot of men and women love that, and I'm not criticizing that. But you know, that's just one school of lyrical content. Everything we say or talk about is something that is an experience or happens to us in our lives or struggles or pain or happiness. All of these plain things will hook up to the fans because it is real for them; this is about real life. You go out there and play these shows, and you could tell on the faces of all these persons who are there that you are actually touching them. Chad Gray: Yes, I think that I'm always sort of in the now when I'm putting stuff together. I mean, I might have notes or themes that I want to be sure that I touch on. But this record was pretty emotional. We just wanted to separate ourselves from what we've done in the past. But we also wanted to go back to who we were in the past. internetgallery. But it's a heavy record from a heavy standpoint, and it's a heavy record from an emotional standpoint. Even some of the more midtempo tracks are a little deeper lyrically than what Hellyeah is known for in the past. So it was a nice kind of break, just to further distance ourselves from the drawer that people want to put Hellyeah in. Инструкция По Сигнализации И Связи Украинских Жд. You had a major change to the Hellyeah lineup recently. With guitarist Greg Tribbett leaving, how has that changed the Hellyeah dynamic and sound? Chad Gray: I'm just careful about talking about it. I love Greg. I'll always love Greg. I've done some of my best work with him. graphicstracker there. I've worked with him for however many umpteen years. And it was an emotional process. But people re-evaluate their lives every day. And I think that one day Greg woke up just, and this wasn't at the top of his priority list. And I think that he needed to go do his own thing. I mean, everyone needs a break. So I think that's really what led to it. But as far as the sound goes, I don't think it's different necessarily as a result of Greg. I think Tom really stepped up. And I think we just tightened up that give attention to this record and made it a little more seamless than it's been in the past. I mean, it's a priority to us. We want to allow it to be the best it could be. And in order to do that you have to really hunker down and focus just. And it was really emotional as a result of that change. We leaned on the other person to get through it. And I eventually think, for Greg even, this is probably an improved situation for him. Like I said, I just wish him the best. I really do. I'll always love Greg. What applications are you using on the road? Zoltan Bathory: We have an application called Master Tour that answers all the information that we need to know, and every person has it on their phone. It's an application that organizes our touring life. It's helping me remain a child in a grown-up body and not remember all the dates that I have to remember. I am told by it what to do and when to do it. I definitely use Google Maps all the time, so we can find where to get coffee and all that stuff. Chad Gray: The Weather Channel. Google Maps if you're in a foreign area. I just got on Viber, and it's pretty cool. I'm a huge Saints fan, so I've got my New Orleans Saints iphone app so I can follow the draft and all the talks and stuff like that in football. And iBooks, because I read quite a bit, so I can keep on top of my reading. Do you guys use anything like Skype or social media programs like Facebook or Twitter to keep in touch with persons back home? Cinema Online Watch Rogue One: Una Historia De Star Wars 2016. Zoltan Bathory: I'm addicted to Instagram. I live on that. Sometimes I make the joke, like let me see my life on Instagram. Like what am I doing? Twitter sometimes. Twitter is more like "Hey, we're going to go to Hard Rock Cafe, and we're going to hang out there for an hour." Whoever follows your Twitter would get that. It's more of a quick information delivery. Instagram is like our own little ego game when you expose your life and like, "Look what I'm eating." Facebook is more of the complex information that you have to give, where to buy tickets for a show -- those varieties of things. What would be your dream app? Zoltan Bathory: If somebody can build an app that says, "Hey, guys, run -- the cops are coming" -- that would be awesome. A whole new iPod family on this page.
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After rocking the eardrums of countless listeners on the iOS and Web, fan-favorite music-streaming software Turntable.fm possesses manufactured its way onto the Google android system. Turntable.fm: Hey DJ, Take up it Loud! Thus way, Turntable.fm for Google android shows up very much like its iOS counterpart, with its hypnotic, head-bobbing avatars, smooth control keys, and familiar interface. It is made by it easy to listen to tunes in one room while simultaneously browsing through other rooms. And of course, it also lets you share rooms via Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. Unique from the iOS variant, though, the Android app allows you log in with Tweets. Also, the Worthless/Awesome switches are simply thumbs-up/thumbs-down keys right now. Turntable.fm for Android os (download) is definitely available now for free download on Yahoo Take up. You can sign in and acquire began rotating with a Facebook or Twitter bill. Android Chrome starts to fill out features there. With the holiday season fast approaching, you can expect a good amount of shopping and meals out with family and friends. What's the safest way to pay? Cash is convenient, but if it is lost by you, there's no getting it back. Credit cards are better protected and recoverable even, but they're vulnerable to skimming and scanning scams, and you can't use them to pay friends (unless your friends carry around Square Card Readers). Mobile payments may be a more secure option for you, such as Apple Android or Pay Pay, which let you pay using your phone -- unlike a credit card, if your phone falls into a stranger's hands, they can't utilize it to buy anything or see your account info. A true number of third-party payment applications offer encryption and various protections, though of course there is no such thing as a 100 percent secure app. I do believe these mobile payment applications are fairly secure, along with any underlying technologies they rely upon, such as Near Field Communications protocols," said Trend Micro expert Paul Ferguson. However, if the programs themselves are functionally secure even, there are a complete lot of other related security risks that can be detrimental. That said, if you're in the market for a payment app, Ferguson recommends choosing the one that protects against data leakage, data corruption, and data theft. Here are six mobile payment programs with built-in security features. LevelUp is a highly rated payment iphone app by App Store users that works at 14,000 businesses nationwide. According to the app's security page, LevelUp is 100 percent PCI compliant, which signifies that the environment where your card numbers are kept is secure. All transactions are encrypted, and LevelUp sends your financial information to BrainTree, a trusted PayPal service, for secure storage. For transactions, the application relies on a triple token system, which means that the data stored in the QR codes used to complete transactions changes three times during processing and is never your credit card number. For added protection, you can PIN lock your account under Settings. If your account is compromised or your phone goes missing, you can perform an Instant Code Reset, which de-authenticates your previous code, regenerates a new one, and logs you out of all devices using LevelUp. Whether you're sending money to a friend or paying for a business transaction online, PayPal is a trusted method widely. You can even use PayPal at some brick-and-mortar stores -- discover where PayPal is accepted in your area. According to PayPal's site, the application maintains your security in a number of ways. All sensitive data is encrypted and guarded with multiple layers of software and hardware. An email follows every transaction receipt. The PayPal Security Key adds two-factor authentication with a one-time PIN sent to you via SMS that you must enter with every log-in. Register your mobile phone for this ongoing service at paypal.com. Add your bank account or debit card and Google Wallet will let you send or receive money. Transfer the money to your bank or spend it with the Google Wallet card. According to Google Wallet's FAQ, the company builds certain features into the iphone app to keep it secure, starting with an industry-standard level of data encryption and the ability to set a timeout PIN. Set one by going to the app's navigation menu on the left, tapping Settings, Security, then Auto-lock. Enter your Payments PIN and choose a timeout duration. If your phone is missing, you can stop the app's access to your device at myaccount.google.com. If you lose the Wallet card, just lock it with the app. According to Venmo's security page, the peer-to-peer payment iphone app uses bank-grade security systems and data encryption and storage to protect your personal information and prevent unauthorized transactions. You might set a PIN for added security. On iPhone go to Settings, then Passcode Lock to pick a four-digit PIN. On Android, go to Settings, then Security Settings, and choose PIN Code or Password then. Going forward you'll be prompted for your code each and every time you enter the app. If your phone is missing, you can suspend it from accessing your account by heading to Security in your online account settings, then Sessions, tap Remove next to your missing device then, which will log out any active session. Venmo's two-factor authentication site will ask to send a code to your phone if you've never logged in from this device before. You may use your bank account number as authorization then. Facebook added a payments component to its Messenger iphone app in the summer of 2015, enabling users to send and receive payments to friends via debit card. As an added layer of security, Facebook gives you the option of enabling a special PIN or your Facebook password to send or receive money. Go to Settings, payments then, pIN to turn this feature on then. Your financial facts (card or PayPal info) is encrypted over secure servers with layers of hardware and software protection, and it's never shared with any of your friends, according to Facebook's Help Center. You can always remove your debit card between payments if you're nervous about Facebook storing it. Under Settings, go to Payments, payment Methods then, select the card and tap Remove Card. According to the Square Support Center, Square Cash affords peer-to-peer payers the same high-level security that businesses have long enjoyed on Square Register. This comes in the sort of 128-bit data encryption, fraud detection, and card-processing systems that to the PCI Data Security Standard adhere. Tap your Settings icon on the top left, and under Security, toggle Security Lock on to require your card's security code each time you send cash. For added security, you can want to receive a confirmation text message or email after every successful Cash payment. Fennec's third alpha now ready for Windows Mobile. If you receive a latest Windows 10 Laptop or computer, how carry out you maneuver data from your previous computer system that's jogging Glass windows XP, Home windows Windows vista, or Glass windows 7? Star Apps: Tears for Fears on this page. Microsoft offers one remedy, a software power named Personal computer Mover Exhibit, which Microsoft (in alliance with LapLink) is certainly providing for free until September 31, 2016. Usually Laptop or computer Mover Express costs $30. The energy uses your regional network, wired or wireless, to migrate your data over to a fresh Computer, and you avoid include to shape it out on your private if you receive trapped. The installer offers you a 1-800 quantity that you can phone 24/7 to acquire instructions how to employ Computer Mover Express, also at no cost. You can tell the application to send you an email or a text message when it has completed the transfer. There happen to be some restrictions. The permit for this variation of Personal computer Mover Express is normally for personal make use of only. If your PC is logged in to a constant business domain name, the iphone app will not start. Also, if you wish to move your applications as well as your data, you need to get PC Mover Home instead, which costs $40. Both the Express and Residence editions are limited to transferring only from your C: disk drive. If you need to maneuver multiple individual accounts to your fresh Windows 10 PC, or copy info from additional storage gadgets, then simply you'll will need Laptop or computer Mover Specialist. Or you can replicate info to your C: disk drive and migrate it from there, if you possess enough space. Mud While the Colin McRae off-road speeding series provides been common in Eu, the video game hasn't obtained much traction force here in the U.Beds. In an try out to look up some exhilaration, Codemasters provides chosen to rename the latest game DiRT. Lovers of the previous game titles shouldn't end up being extremely concerned, as Colin McRae is definitely still round in Mud. In fact, you can race against him on the German Avelsbachring course, as just one of the three events provided in the new game demo, which presents one course in online multiplayer method likewise. While the German born training course features the Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec-C on a made area, other demonstration issues involve the Monte di li Conchi in France, which features a Mitsubishi Lancer Advancement IX on a dirt and grime road with a co-pilot. Also included in the three-course demo can be the Bark River training in the U.T., presenting a Ickler Jimco dune buggy on a curled mud trail. The complete edition of Dirt and grime highlights different celebration modes to liven up the gameplay, but none will be obtainable with the trial release. In the single-player happenings, you're mostly race one or extra motorists in two-course laps. Difficulty amounts vary between Rookie or Novice, and the competition on the whole is definitely light. As with prior Colin McRae video games, the driving a car can be pleasant and sensible. In the easier modes, your car can take significant damage yet still keep speeding around the track. I'm sure at one point I hit a rock so hard that I dropped half of my transmission, yet somehow I managed to smoke the other driver easily. New Opera beta for Mac finally drops. The multiplayer action can be top-notch but is merely available for one course, Italy's Monte di li Conchi. After you choose a username and a pass word (no additional details is normally required), you'll join a waiting room where you'll vote on a few basic aspects of the race. After the voting period is certainly over, you're away to race with whomever else is definitely in the main receiving area with you at that period. As with many driving games, the action is a complete lot more fun with a gamepad or even a steering wheel, if you're a true aficionado. The demo's 3D software offers a moderate volume of gee-whiz charm, but it's not right away obvious how to content the settings for an accessory. To set up your gamepad or additional suggestions accessory, choose to "Options," in that case select "Game Controls." Avoid end up being lost by the "Keyboard" construction. Scroll proper to the "Customize Regulators" window and then join the adjustments to your linked gamepad. Annoyingly, you'll still need to apply the keyboard to understand the demo's main software. Today I possessed one of those what-the-heck application occasions that comes about when a software breaks where it's least expected. A best feature in the iPhone program I was tinkering with had vanished after a variant change. Password for iPhone, researched by my colleague Josh Lowensohn first, is certainly better referred to by its Macintosh version, which encrypts log-ons and security passwords on the Mac pc and fills them in on Net internet pages immediately. Windows users can think of it as the rough equivalent to RoboForm. Since a even approach like that necessitates multiple applications to run concurrently--something currently forbidden for iPhone applications--1Pass word for iPhone sports a work-around. Rather than leave the program to sign on to a webpage from Safari, 1Password commences an in-application Internet internet browser from a log-in information web page. Clicking the icon of a keyhole and then simply clicking on the blog name will auto-fill the log-in facts, so obtaining by that pesky shortage of program multitasking still plaguing the iPhone. Those previous two techniques will be superfluous in my thoughts and opinions, but what's worse is certainly that the technique failed. Over and over again. Could the author possess drawn the feature? Not most likely as longer as the Internet web page can be bragging native iPhone support for autofill even now. So what happened? The new log-on reminder option is definitely a need to until 1Password\'s iPhone autofill characteristic can be restored. It spins out that Dave Teare, co-founder of Agile Internet Alternatives, 1Password's writer, possessed some problem with the latest discharge and found out the problem after already sending buggy type 1.3 to the iTunes App Retail outlet for authorization. Right now 1Password for iPhone is definitely removed of the gem in its password-protecting overhead and will continue to be therefore until Apple breasts version 1.3.2 no cost from iTunes purgatory, a method that will consider anywhere from three days and nights to a week. Ahem. That's what happens when you allow someone else rule the release of your software. Apple's small control over the details of the App Shop is definitely ordinarily an understandable check against destructive software program and phony application, but in this complete case, it curbs the publisher's ability to push disaster maintenance tasks. This shift in the ability active will sometimes: demand higher top quality on the marketers' end; materials a few technical scandals when buggy computer software falls by; make some truly naggy and disgruntled developers and advertisers; or all of the above. Get 60 percent off on IObit's Advanced SystemCare Pro. I have to ponder if the iTunes workforce provides thought to be priority stories like Yahoo AdWords or emergency-attention surcharges like UPS and FedEx. Probably. Just as much time as iPhones happen to be scorching and the applications are sexier, future iPhone application flubs by furrowed-brow writers could turn into a profitable chance to promote high grade client provider. At any charge, those of you who include kept up to date your 1Password iPhone application to type 1 previously. Password browser's cookies. Although there are lots of pay-to-play and freeware note-taking programs, there hasn't been a note-killer, a single note-taker that makes you sit up and take notice. While scouring the Web for this elusive-but-essential tool, Notesake shines as a robust tool created for the college or university lecture hall but useful for a myriad of purposes. Notesake is not a note-taking panacea, but for a Web-based note-taking app, it works great and offers useful functions for the boardroom, the classroom, or just plain long-distance collaboration via Sharing. The edit panel can handle most coding options, including Equations. Its functions range from the basic to the advanced. Once you register and login, a big blue button invites you to, ?Take Notes?. From there a panel opens up that should be familiar to those who've used blogware--which is just about every Internet user. A text box takes up most of the screen, with a wealth of standard editing features resting above it. The usual Bold, Strikethrough, and Underline are there, but so are Highlight, a series of Header tags, Indent, Blockquote, and Justify options. Also, equations get support from an tag that makes them stand out from the rest of the note. When you finish typing, a huge button at the bottom lets you Update the note. Notesake.com\'s saved note panel offers several options, including exporting the note to your computer. Pulse leaps from app to Web, at last. Notesake supports course and tags names, as well as mandatory note titles for helping you keep organized. There's a basic Print feature, as well as the nifty Sharing, which lets other, approved members of Notesake see and edit a specific note. There are options for exporting to PDF and DOC formats also, but the one feature that you'll hopefully never notice they have is system-wide backups performed every 12 hours. And since it's Web-based, being able to access your notes from anywhere there's an Internet connection has obvious appeal to those on the go. Although I like the basic idea behind Notesake, I'd want to a Firefox plug-in for it that provides context menu access to your notes, so you can copy a URL or some text easily, paste it into a note, and save it for later. It's not a killer note-taker, but its versatility makes it a strong contender. We look onward to many holiday traditions every time, but the trip publication -- longer, wearying, and filled with humblebrags -- is definitely not really one of them. Post on your family group and good friends with a even more enjoyable missive. These eight storytelling tools can help you create a more dynamic photo or video journal that your loved kinds will love. Snapchat (iOS, Android os) If you're not worried with creating a long term holiday break memorial, a Snapchat story may be your best wager then. Snap as usual, tap the Send button, and then check My Story under Stories to add it to your daily record. Now your interpersonal group can observe what's latest -- but just for 24 hours. Chime (iOS) Rather of posting what your family is certainly up to, why certainly not let them do the speaking? With Chime you record a video recording, add groups of people who can then add their own videos, and all of a sudden you have a video talk with each person demonstrating and showing what they're virtually all fired up about this time. The new goggles include enables you put eyeglasses, scuba equipment, Viking horns, and even more. ListaPost (iOS, Android os) ListaPost, which combines with your Instagram account, allows you develop email lists and conserve images that you want to them. Just tap the plus sign under a picture to add it, and the application shall ask you to name your list. Then tap any list and the share symbol to share to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or email. Or produce a URL to mail your list any way you prefer. Timebox Photo Organizer (iOS) Timebox Photo Organizer quickly converts your photographs, movies, and Live comfortably Photographs taken on a solitary day into a video recording journal, total with post titles and captions, for easy writing with friends and family and close friends via messaging, email, and communal apps. You can conserve these magazines as PDFs also, if you still like mailing hello out over snail ship. Bonjournal (iOS, Chrome) Bonjournal was made for creating travelling diaries, but there's no cause you can't make make use of it to document your family's trip through the yr. Add a bundle of images that quantity up your season, prepare a simple note, and reveal the journal over public media or email. You can also print it as a PDF and send via snail mail. Featured Freeware: FastStone Photo Resizer. Memory Field Tales (iOS, Android os) Recollection Container Reports facilitates you develop a period pill of your calendar year. Choose up to 10 images and back them with up to 5 minutes of recorded audio. Share with family and friends over text, email, or social media. Flipagram (iOS, Google android) Flipagram enables you to capture music videos or establish photographs to music. Narrate your appearance, add text, or add music shows from Flipagram's no cost collection. Apply one of 15 filtration system and share with friends and family in that case. Be Forever Me (iOS, Apple computer, Windows) Be Forever Me helps you preserve important video and audio in the cloud. Photograph a new training video or an existing one upload. Or, if you're camera shy, tap Questions on the bottom rail to see dozens of topics. We utilized Success and clarified "What was your toughest accomplishment?" for our holiday news letter. Become Forever Me catalogues your marketing automatically, examining the music and video factors of your tale. Upload to the Be Forever Me cloud for safekeeping, or share with beloved types via words, email, or social advertising. Paint.NET provides a free way to create high-quality greeting cards. If you think you've got it tough on Valentine's Day, consider your poor, humble Download.com editor. My wife's birthday is on Valentine's Day! Luckily, we've been together long enough that I don't have to impress her with dozens of roses, buckets of chocolates, and the rest of the conventional commercial holiday paraphernalia. However, a homemade card is a great way to demonstrate my love always. Creating your own Valentine's Day cards with commercial design software like Adobe Photoshop or CorelDRAW will provide you with a wide array of options for tweaking your images, text, and other graphical elements. Those programs also offer instructional assistance and templates to help you through the process. But if you're willing to use a little elbow grease and your imagination, you can create a fantastic Valentine's Day card using free design software. For this tutorial, I'm going to use Paint.NET, a top-rated download that offers many of the important features that you'll find in commercial image editors. GIMP is another great free program that actually offers a lttle bit more power when it comes to third-party plug-ins and online tutorials, but that Paint is found by me.NET is an easier program for new users to learn. Also, I'm going to create a basic Valentine's Day card that includes an image with overlaid text and the date on the front, and some graphic factors and romantic sentiments on the inside. If you're the artistic sort and can create your own graphics, more power to you. One good free software for doing so is the vector-illustration software Inkscape. I'm artistically incompetent, so I tend to concentrate on using cool pictures and injecting some wit into my text. First, install and launch the Paint.NET application. A new document should already be waiting for you, but if not, create your own by selecting File -> New or hit Ctrl-N. By default, your workspace shall be 800x600 pixels, set at a resolution of 96 pixels/inch. Feel free to play around with the dimensions and resolution, but the default settings will let you create a reasonably high-quality card without having to worry about the borders of your page. Before selecting an image even, we're going to divide your project in half, for a traditional folded card. Unlike Photoshop, Paint.NET doesn't seem to have "guide" lines that you can use to mark specific measurements in your project. What I do instead is create a one-pixel black line down the middle of the page. Information about your cursor position sits in the lower right corner. Click the Rectangle Select tool in the Tools dialog, and move the cursor to the very middle of the top of the 800x600 project by watching the cursor location in the bottom right corner of the Paint.NET interface. When it reads "400, 0" you're there. Now click and drag your cursor down to the bottom of the page and move it one pixel to the right, or to "401, 600." Select black as your foreground color using the Colors dialog (if it's not visible, hit F8), select Edit -> Fill Selection then. Now you've got a black line down the middle of your page that will represent the fold mark of your card. Next, pick the image that you want to use for the front of your card. For me luckily, my wife is a fantastic photographer who is a charged power Flickr user, so I've got thousands of images with which I can work. Save your selected digital image to your computer if it's not already on your machine, and then open it in Paint.NET. You should have two files open now, your blank card (with a black line down the middle), and the image for the front of your card. After opening your selected image in Paint.NET, you may need to crop and resize it to fit onto one half of a standard 11-by-8.5-inch piece of paper. In my example, I've cropped my image to 330x392 pixels, which allows about 2 inches of white space on the top of the card, and a little more than an inch on the right border. I'll cut off that extra paper when I'm done, leaving me with a lovely card that's about 4x6. At the default resolution settings, you've got about a maximum height of 600 pixels and a maximum width of 430 pixels before your image will become too large to fit on half a sheet of standard paper. Crop to Selection is the first option in the Image menu, and Resize is right underneath it. Thumbnails in the upper right corner of Paint.NET help you navigate between open images. When your image is at an appropriate shape and size for your card, select the whole thing by using Edit -> Select All or hitting Ctrl-A. Copy it to your clipboard with Ctrl-C, switch to your card project then. Paint.NET displays thumbnails of your open documents in the upper-right corner of the interface, which makes it simple to navigate between them. Now create a new "layer" in your card project. A layer is a discrete part of an image that can be moved, edited, or tweaked without affecting the rest of the image. All the layers for an image will be displayed in a Layers dialog. Get 60 percent off on IObit's Advanced SystemCare Pro there. If you don't see it, hit F7 to make it appear. To create a new layer, select Layers -> Add New Layer, or hit Ctrl Shift N. In that new "Layer 2" you've created, paste your copied image onto your blank card. We need to position your image to ensure that it sits directly to the right of the black line running through the middle of the page. Select the Move Selected Pixels tool from the Tools dialog (hit F5 if you don't see it). It's the darkened cursor with a plus sign at the top of the left column. You can also select it with the keyboard shortcut "M." Then use your move to drag and drop that layer directly to the right of your black fold line. The arrow keys also move your selection pixel by pixel for fine tuning its location. Use Ctrl- to zoom in for a closer, more precise view. The image for the front of your card is in the right spot. We need some text now. I usually add the date in the upper right corner (or wherever is appropriate) for historical reference, and then write a huge "Happy Valentine's Day" ("Happy Birthday" in my case) or other clever phrase in big letters on top of the photo. In this example, I've added "February 14, 2007" at the top and the short-but-sweet "I do!" at the bottom. For maximum editability and flexibility, I recommend creating a layer for every single text component you want to add to the front of the card. After creating the new layer, select the text tool from the Tools dialog. It's represented by the letter "A." (You can also just hit "T" if you're into keyboard shortcuts.) Position your cursor where you want to add the text, click, and type. It's that simple. A secondary text menu at the top of the Paint.NET interface lets you select the font, size, effects, and orientation of your words. One nice aspect of Paint.NET is that the font drop-down shows how each font looks, so you don't have to keep applying them to see. Once you've decided on the content and appearance of your text, select the Move Selected Pixels tool (M) again to position the text precisely where you want it on the card. Adding a drop shadow to your text helps it show up on the card. One quick aside: a semifancy trick for making your text pop on the front of the card is to apply a drop shadow, and there are a variety of methods for doing so. In my case, I've created one layer of text with "I do!" in black, and then other layer on top of that with "I do!" in white. I positioned the two text factors exactly to ensure that the black background text disappeared below the white. Then I used the arrow keys with the Move Selected Pixels tool to set off the black text from the white text by 2 pixels to the right and 2 pixels down. Also, if you're looking for some fancy new fonts, I highly recommend the Web site dafont.com. Just download the font you want (if it's free), extract it using a scheduled program like WinRAR, open up your Fonts controls from the Windows Control Panel, select File -> Install New Font, and then navigate to the extracted file on your local drive to add it to Paint.NET and your entire other applicable Windows programs. Who's that handsome guy? Hooray--you're through halfway! No one said love was easy.) Save your current project as a Paint.NET (PDN) document, so that you can edit any part of the document. Saving it as a JPG or other "flattened" format will remove your ability to edit specific layers. What I would do now is print the front of your card to see if you're satisfied with the appearance. If not, go back and fix whatever's bothering you. If it looks good, it's time to move on to the inside. I'm going to assume that you're by using a single-sided printer (color obviously looks better), so we'll need to eventually print the inside of the card on the back of the paper upon which you printed the front. That will give you a nice, foldable card, but it's essential to line up the inside contents of the card with the front. First, save your current front-card Paint.NET document with a new name, such as "cardback.pdn." This will let you create a new document without affecting your existing one. Create a new layer now, and select the complete area represented by the front image of the card, using the Rectangle Select tool (keyboard shortcut "S"). Choose light gray as your foreground color from the Colors menu, and Fill Selection, like we did when we make the black folding line just. Now you've got the precise area for the inside of your card demarcated by that layer of light grey, so you can delete all of the other layers from the front of the card by selecting them in the Layers dialog and hitting the "X" mark. Flipping images and horizontally is a quick way to make corner pieces vertically. Next, create new layers for the additional graphic text and elements that you want to use on the inside. In my example, I've taken a selection of a picture of my wife's wedding bouquet and used Image -> Flip Horizontal and Image -> Flip Vertical to create four cornerpieces. I've kept each of them in their own layer in order to position them independently. If you're looking for some clip art to include in the inside (or front) of your card, Pat's Web Graphics has a lousy site design but a great collection of relevant images. After adding the flowers in the corners, I added text to the middle of the page using the same procedure that we used on the front of the card--create a new layer, select the text tool, type it in, and tweak the location and appearance. In my example, I've spared you the romantic mush and used a generic "Romantic sentiments go here!" placeholder. Once the images and text for the inside of the card are complete, you can delete that layer of light gray that we created to mark the card's area. You'll also want to delete the folding line from your background layer. Select the completely area of the background layer using Ctrl-A, then simply hit "Delete" button to clear its contents. Now it's time to print the final card. Take the piece of paper after which you printed the front of a card, turn it upside down and reinsert it into your printer. Print the inside of your card on the back of that paper and then fold the whole piece of paper along the black guideline on the front. Use scissors (or better, a paper cutter) to cut along the lines of your card, discarding the blank extra space along the top, bottom, and right of the card. Voila! You've got your own homemade Valentine's Day card. It didn't take that long, did it? Did this tutorial work for you? You can thank me after Valentine's Day.) What other tricks or software do you use to create your own custom-made greeting cards? Tell me about it in the comments. I don't know about you, but I love games that let me build and maintain some type of empire. Whether it's a farm, island, city, resort, or even a simple restaurant, I take pleasure in starting an enterprise from scratch, growing it, unlocking items, and completing missions. But as much as I've enjoyed playing these kinds of games over the years, I've always felt there was one aspect missing: zombies. Until now, that is. Meet Zombie Lane for Android (download), a freemium simulator-style game that's part FarmVille (iOS) and part "The Walking Dead." It's got the addictive elements of an empire-building simulator, plus the undead charm of the zombie apocalypse. In other words, it's something of a dream come true for me, minus one major element (I'll get to that later). In Zombie Lane you are one of a handful of survivors, fending for your life as zombies rip your neighborhood to shreds. Armed with only a shovel and a few shotgun shells to start, your goal is to reunite with your family, keep your home safe, and help out a few fellow survivors along the real way. Similar to many other simulator games, Zombie Lane starts you off with a basic mission: rebuild your home. You have to fix the damages, protect it with fences, clear rubble from around it, and even decorate it. But in order to meet your objectives you need two things: energy and currency. Every action you take uses one unit of energy, with your reserves replenishing as time passes automatically. This implies that the game limits how much you can do in a single sitting, which is probably the most frustrating part of Zombie Lane. If you get sick of waiting, you can purchase more energy, but that requires an in-app purchase using real-world money. Zombie Lane currency comes in the type of coins, dollars, bricks, and chickens. Whenever a zombie is killed by you or complete a task you are rewarded with some type of currency, which can then be used to buy new weapons, buildings, decorations, fences, or crops. Also, certain levels of currency are required to complete missions, so picking up money should be high on your priority list. Missions include helping neighbors find lost items, saving them from attacks, or helping them grow crops in their yards. Also, your spouse sometimes barks orders at you through a walkie-talkie (she is missing, and one of your main objectives in the game is to bring her home). The best thing about Zombie Lane is its level of detail. The animation is cartoonish, though still polished; the weapons vary from silly-looking flaming boxing gloves to realistic assault rifles; and you can even change the attire and physical attributes of your characters. Plus, it looks like the developers are working on expanding the neighborhood to include real-world friends, which would add a more robust social factor to the game. Altogether, these details make for a rich gaming experience, with the potential to get even better. The one thing that really drags this game down, though, is its low stakes. When I started playing first, I was surprised to learn that zombie attacks carry almost no consequences because there's no way to die or even get hurt in the game. See, while the action in most zombie games is propelled by an unnerving fear of being torn to shreds by the undead, Zombie Lane eliminates this fear altogether. So, getting attacked by a zombie doesn't mean certain death as one might expect. Instead, it means a slight inconvenience on your way to planting that flowerbed in front of your home or restoring that fence next to your tool shed. And that's a shame. As unique and fun as Zombie Lane is, I can't overlook the fact that there is no risk of character death in it. Quick Tip: Drag, drop, and download with BitComet read more. With such low stakes, the game feels a bit empty at times, with more conflict to be desired. That said, I still recommend giving it a try. Building and protecting your property is addicting, and there's something undeniably pleasurable about smacking a zombie with a shovel (whether that zombie is dangerous or not). Zombie Lane (download) is available now for free on Google Play. But before downloading, be certain you have enough space on your device, as the file is very large. |
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