Digital comics store-reader combo LongBox hands-on
After a much longer run as a private beta than originally intended, the digital comic book store and comics reader called LongBox has finally opened its doors. The public beta is available for Windows and Mac, and although it's still quite rough in some spots, it represents a major breakthrough for the print-centric medium.
The default main window of LongBox is a massive comic book information feed.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)
When you open LongBox v0.5, you'll see a massive information overload. The layout uses boxes to keep the busy display from getting too chaotic, but the varying shades of blue don't keep things as separate as they could be. Just because this is comics doesn't mean you're going to encounter a lot of primary colors or ziptones here, but some of that old-school feel might have helped here.
In the upper left box, you'll see a horizontal scroll of featured titles. Below that is a newsfeed from the comic book news and reviews Web site Comic Book Resources. The Blackbox is a comic creator spotlight, with the debut focus on Steven Niles, perhaps best known as the writer of 30 Days of Night. It is currently not functioning.
The column on the right is devoted to your LongBox stats on top and a scroll list of comic books being published for the current week. The stats counter wasn't working in the version I tested but should display your purchased comics, comics subscriptions, and comics loaded on your current device. That's a hint at what's to come for LongBox, which anticipates an iPad version, an Android tablet version, Xbox support, and support for other handheld devices. Comics downloaded through LongBox are shared to your account in addition to being stored locally, so you'll be able to read them on any LongBox-supported device without having to download them a second time.
Sitting calmly above all the noise is the LongBox navigation bar. Next to the home button is the Library, where comics you've downloaded reside, followed by the Store, the Reader, and the Options button. Nine comics are currently available for free in the store, including both mainstream works like "Witchblade," comics that have been made into movies like "Wanted," and cult favorites like "Punks."
The default view shows the comics as free-floating covers with the title and issue number above the image and a mouse-over link to the publisher info below it. Mouse over a comic and two options appear. The "i" will open an information box that includes a synopsis, a link to a preview, a wishlist option, and a purchase button. The "+" will add the comic to your shopping cart. There's also a list view, which contains a dedicated preview window and a more text-centric approach.
Accessing the store will require registration, a free process. Because the comics are free for the moment, no credit card information needs to be revealed at this time. Through the Options menu, users can choose to log in when LongBox starts, or to enter their information manually. Here you can switch skins and change your start screen from the main window to the reader, store, shopping cart, or last viewed screen when you start LongBox.
The shopping cart lives on the right edge of the top navigation bar, along with your wishlist, featured LongBox specials, and the Help button which opens a PDF. There's a search bar that anchors the two sets of buttons that becomes a recently read list in Reader mode. It appears to work fine from all screens except the default window.
The LongBox library contains comics you've purchased through LongBox.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Seth Rosenblat/CNET)
The Reader mode opens to a blank screen. You can click on the Reader button again to open up the default system file browser, although the Reader does support drag-and-drop for non-LongBox formatted CBR and CBZ comics. In the Library window, however, you'll see an interface that looks like the LongBox Store but with page navigation controls at the bottom. Mouse over a comic and click the icon that appears to open it.
Comics that you haven't read before will open smoothly, but ones in the middle of being read are more sluggish. More often than not I had to mouse over the navigation buttons to get the comic to appear. Several times I had to click on a nav button, or in the black space where the comic should have been, to get it to appear.
In Reader mode, the shopping cart and help buttons are replaced by supplementary navigation buttons. There's a bookmarks button, known to be not working at the time of writing, and a "double" button that opens pages two at a time. This is a well-designed and essential tool for comics, which often use a two-page spread to highlight story moments that call for emphasized action.
There's a Manga button, which can be used for Japanese and Hebrew comics that are published in a right-to-left reading order, and a Zoom button that offers three kinds of viewing. Panel zoom focuses in on the comic at panel width, while page zoom is more of a mid-length zoom, but still bigger than the default viewpoint. Free zoom works like a magnifying glass, large enough so that you can see an entire panel in the frame. The scroll wheel can help you move the page under page zoom, and clicking on the magnifying glass zoom icon will toggle between the most recently selected zoom mode and the default view.
Lastly, there's a currently nonfunctional Audio button. There's a long history of comics and music crossing over, and the CEO of LongBox, Rantz Hoseley, won an Eisner Award for editing an anthology, "Comic Book Tattoo," a collection of comics inspired by Tori Amos' songs. If the button allowed publishers to associate recommended playlists with their comics, this could be a really cool feature, but there's no word as of yet as to what it can do.
The navigation controls at the bottom look smart but still need tweaking. There are controls to move forward or backward by a single page, or flip to the beginning or end of the comic. When you mouse over the controls, a pop-up bar appears previewing the pages of the comic that looks and feels like mini and elongated version of iTunes' Cover View mode. However, the previews are all blank unless you've already viewed a page. This could be a clever way to avoid spoiling the story, or another bug. It's a bit hard to tell at the moment.
This "gray market" CBR-formatted comic book was put together from online previews published by DC Comics. LongBox supports the format, albeit without any metadata.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)
The Reader mode is really the guts of the program, and a comic read on a 19-inch monitor with occasional juicing from the zoom mode was enjoyable. Nobody really cares about the news features or even the store if you can't read the comic, and on that end LongBox succeeds. However, it's likely that users with significantly smaller or older screens will find it unbearable.
Hoseley has stated that the beta will proceed in three stages. The current public beta, version 0.5.2, is nearly identical to the private beta that I began testing toward the end of 2009. The next stage will introduce redemption codes for nonwatermarked comics. The final stage will introduce full e-commerce functionality to the LongBox store, and add about 100 comics to the store.
Besides the ones mentioned above, there are plenty of known bugs in LongBox. Font usage needs to be standardized, the Comic Book Resources feed requires tweaking, the default window doesn't pull titles from LongBox site correctly, and metadata editing needs work.
The LongBox public beta showcases a massive amount of potential, but unlike the latest Web browser beta from whichever browser publisher is your favorite, this is definitely a rough work and is still very much in progress. It faces massive challenges beyond getting the software to work correctly. Unlike music and MP3s, there's currently no single approved file format for comics. CBRs and CBZ are little more than image archive containers.
There's also the issue of adoption. Except for the rise of graphic novels, comics have been dependent on the direct market niche comic book stores. Will readers flock to digital versions of them? And will those readers jump from stores to digital, or will LongBox bring in new readership?
Overall, though, LongBox represents a good-faith effort to shove the medium out of its print-based nest. It's just too soon to tell whether it can fly.
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Food Blog Addiction: Are you in its grip?
Hi, I’m Sasa and I’m a Food Blog Addict. Food Blog Addiction (FBA) is a disease with a rapid onset. FBA has seven stages. Whether it's you or a loved one that needs help, please don't be afraid to reach out. Do you stay awake past your bedtime because you can't tear yourself away from food blogs? Have you ever let family and friends eat cold food so you can get "the perfect shot"? Do people's eyes glaze over when you start discussing speedlights, styling and props and widgets? Yes? Then read on, you're not alone.
Stage One: Complete Oblivion
The first stage of the addiction is barely worth the label “stage.” We include it here just to illustrate that all FBA victims do in fact experience normality before their illness, though if you meet a victim after the onset, this may be difficult to imagine.
FBA is not a genetic predisposition, nor can one be born with FBA. FBA can be avoided by a) not learning to read or b) never using the internet. Some types are not prone to FBA and may therefore be exempt form the above restrictions. This group includes people who think of “food as fuel,” and the visually impaired who cannot see the provocative photographs which are used to lure readers in by the food bloggers (FBs). Conversely, some types are more prone to succumbing to FBA. Generally these people already enjoy discussing food and may have more than the average number of cookbooks or even a subscription to a food magazine.
Stage one is a blissful state, a carefree time when “cooking” is neither a competitive sport nor an event requiring military level planning and execution. “Dinner” means pasta, or maybe a stir-fry. The idea of photographing food seems absurd and not a little mad. Desserts may be bought at the supermarket (!) and cakes are baked only occasionally. The same dish is often cooked repeatedly.
Stage Two: Stumbling Across an A-List Food Blog
This is generally an innocent mistake and at this stage, the perpetrator still has pure intentions. The reasons for this unhappy accident may include searching for recipes for a special occasion such as hosting a family event or dinner party. Some cases of referral to food blogs by a sufferer to a new victim have also been recorded.
The victim may come across sites that stun and immobilise her with photographic splendour (suspects include Tartelette, Canelle et Vanille and La Tartine Gourmand), reel him in with innocuous and chatty yet beguiling prose (Smitten Kitchen, Steamy Kitchen, Simply Recipes) or, worst of all, promote personal identification with the writer (Orangette, The Wednesday Chef, Joy the Baker).
Stage Three: Going Through the Archives in Chronological Order
This stage is also known as “the point of no return.” After perusing the original article, the victim is compelled to scroll down the page to read more. The page ends. Eventually, in unsated desperation, she clicks through to the archives. Generally, upon finding that there are several years worth of posts, the panic subsides and, if there is time to do so, she settles down to read. If this is not possible, the first symptoms of a gnawing anxiety appear. The page is bookmarked for later perusal.
This anxiety is called “FOMO” (fear of missing out) and will be discussed in more detail further on.
Stage Four: Absorption and General Neglect
The victim may now start to show signs of unhealthy behaviour. Often he will stay up very late reading through archive after archive of food blogs. The dangerous “link system” that food blogs have set in place ensure an almost endless supply of material.
Everyday tasks such as washing, eating and communicating with others in the household may be neglected or performed only perfunctorily.
Oddly, at this stage, not much cooking is done.
Addicts may resort to devious means to secure time to read including feigning illness or claim to be otherwise incapacitated.
Stage Five: Thinking About Setting Up a Blog of One’s Own
Sometimes, this stage is confused with remission or a disappearance of symptoms. The victim has generally satisfied her desire to read and read and returns, outwardly to a normal life, though she may make offhand remarks about starting a blog or do research into blogging platforms. Occasional relapses into stage four can still occur if the victim finds new blogs that she feels she cannot live without devouring in their entirety.
FOMO is still a real danger and she will, more often than not, install an RSS reader so that she can keep up to date with any new posts that appear on her favourite blogs.
Stage Six: Actually Setting Up a Blog
This stage is characterised by endless monologues concerning the pros and cons of various blogging platforms, for example regarding their ease of use versus flexibility and attempting to discuss technical details that most non-sufferers have no interest in (whether widgets’ tendency to slow page loading is worth the added functionality and so on).
Once again he will spend an inordinate amount of time hunched over the computer, this time reading through forums regarding blogging, blogging platforms and photography.
Some victims display an urgent desire to buy expensive camera and/or lighting equipment.
Stage Seven: Full Blown Addiction
The victim in the throes of stage seven never cooks the same thing twice. She spends hours scanning ingredient lists and shopping and refuses to eat before photographing the meal to within an inch of its life.
She appears distracted at odd hours and writes things down secretively in a notebook - these are probably notes about an upcoming post.
FOMO continues to grip her and she may be reluctant to be without internet access for any length of time.
The victim leaves comments on other blogs and joins a community of other addicts, none of whom seem to be aware that FBA is a serious disease that can shorten attention spans or prolong them to the point where functionality ceases, cause the victim to spout egregiously concerning said subject and otherwise completely reorder their lives and the lives of those around them.
www.sasasunakku.com
Thai Food Recipes.
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Dommin Discuss Love is Gone With The Gauntlet
Los Angeles quartet Dommin have just released their darkly romantic debut album Love is Gone, and it's been a long time coming. In this interview with The Gauntlet, frontman Kristofer Dommin addresses all of that and more.
Says Dommin, "I find romantic to be a weird word to use considering it isn't a positive spin on love, on this record anyway. In the sense of romantic, as far as super passionate and extremely emotional, I would absolutely agree."
As for the making of the full-length, Kris goes on that, "It's been a long time in the making. The music and the album have been done for over a year now. It's just been a lot of set up time. It was originally supposed to come out in May of 2009 and some things changed with it. It got pushed back for various different reasons. It's actually been a really good thing."
On the album, the band worked with producer Lucas Banker, of which Dommin says, "Lucas is basically the guy who discovered us. He came across a demo that I had. I had been in other bands and I would always pass my demo around in the bands that I was in. Somehow through a weird twist of fate, someone who knew him passed my demo along to him. Ever since we started working together, we started writing songs together."
Continued Kris, "He is probably our biggest fan. In a lot of ways he has seen this whole thing grow and in some ways he has a better idea of what Dommin is more than anybody. When I first met him, I gave him between 70 to 80 demo songs. He already knows the direction we are going and what we are capable of. He has the big picture. A lot of people don't totally understand what Dommin is until they have heard more than just a few songs. The entire first album is not the complete picture. Hopefully, when we put out other records, you are going to see other sides to the band."
Read what else Kris had to say about the making of Love is Gone, and get your copy of the stunning debut RIGHT HERE!
Dommin will be on tour with HIM in the US later this month. Check the tour dates and get your tickets now!
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L’Abel Spring/Summer 2010
L’Abel has set the standard for beautiful spring and summer attire this year. Among the releases this weekend are wearable separates and gorgeous formal wear. Great jeans, sweaters, tops and jumpsuits as well as cocktail and full length gowns – all brilliantly textured and come in lots of colours.
(Above) L’Abel Separates Cinza jacket and Dinah [...]
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