Flickr + Lightroom = Flickroom
For image-obsessed creatives, Flickr has no parallel. No matter what you're interested in, it's pretty much guaranteed to be on Flickr.

But Flickr's interface doesn't live up to the images it displays. The fact that you can see only two images at a time while browsing a photostream is one example. And sometimes the white background is distracting.

A new free app called Flickroom wants to give you a better experience. It's a rich Internet application; that is, it lives in the spaces between desktop applications and standard Web sites. But the technology behind it isn't important -- what's cool is that it gives you a better way to keep tabs on Flickr. Flickroom's buttons let you upload images, see comments on your photostream, add notes and comments, mark favorites, tweet about images, and more.

Here's Flickroom displaying an image taken by Jeff Carlson:

Flickroom has its share of beta bugs, but since that beta is a free download, you have nothing to lose by adopting it early. Let me know what you think!

Terri Stone - Editor in Chief

Free For All: Twice As Nice
In this serving of Pariah Burke's freebies column, you can feast on free photos, textures, icons, cheatsheets, and Photoshop brushes. Dig in now, and look for another heaping helping later this week!

Can you believe there's a free stock photo site that takes your requests? It's called Photo Rogue:

Design a Unique Twitter Background
Follow my four simple tips to make your Twitter page background image stand out -- in a good way!

From the article, you can download this Photoshop template to see what your Twitter page design will look like on 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, and 2000×1920 monitors.

Scanning Around With Gene: Put That in Your Pipe and Smoke It
Gene Gable shares vintage ads for tobacco pipes and pipe smokers. Bonus points to any reader who knows what do about Prince Albert in a can!

Related Reading: You'd rather see old ads for cigarettes? Can do.

Get Creative with Thought and Speech Bubbles
It doesn't take long to create thought bubbles and speech bubbles that you can use in your print and Web designs. Chad Neuman's fun Adobe Illustrator how-to works in CS2, CS3, and CS4.

This is just one of the bubble types you'll learn to make:

Related Reading: For more customized bubbles, combine the above how-to with another tute from Chad.

Create Better Cast Shadows in InDesign
Follow the lead of a hard-boiled private design investigator (you'll never guess who!) as he solves the mystery of his client's missing cast shadow. The identity of the client is also a mystery, but here's a description: "She had more curves than a Bezier tool, and she flowed in with the supple grace of a placed story moving through threaded text frames. Her eyes were rich black, a full-on CMYK mix of deep, mysterious ink. Her smooth skin was like aqueous varnish on ultra-smooth paper. Most striking of all were her lips. I knew instantly what must be written on the cap of her lipstick tube: PANTONE 1797 C."

Do you know how to create a cast shadow that interacts with its background, like this one?

Related Reading: This is a must-read resource for InDesign users.

New Font Identification Utility

Panasonic Digicam Combines 18x Optical Zoom and HD Video

Photoshop Filters Create Instant Moods

LinkOptimizer 4 for InDesign Now Shipping

New Podcast! The word on font management, Adobe, the new Mac OS, and more

Nonsek is a web site that creates and sells "graphic remixes." It won't make sense until you try it. Happily, demos are free.

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