VR experiences no longer have to entail expensive, specialized equipment. Now, people can explore VR content from apps on their smartphones. One of those apps is called Within, reviewed in this post.
How Effective are Photoshop's New AI Neural Filters?
Adobe’s Photoshop Neural Filters utilize artificial intelligence to retouch images in seconds. As the name suggests, Adobe has developed an artificial neural network that can identify patterns in the images and then use that information to make the edits. But how well does it work? This review will answer that question, focusing on the Super Zoom effect.
Taking the Museum Experience Online with VOMA: The Virtual Online Museum of Art
Partially because of the pandemic, the world of art and museums is changing with the implementation of new technology and platforms. VOMA, or “Virtual Online Museum of Art,” is the first fully interactive virtual museum. This review discusses its pros and cons in the context of other recently created virtual museums.
Virtual Museum Tours: The Benaki Museum
“Virtual museum tours” was the second most common Google search in 2020. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, virtual museum tours have grown in popularity, and now many museums are wondering what role they will play post-pandemic. As an international example, this review looks at the Benaki Museum’s tour from Athens, Greece.
#SelfCare: A Nontraditional App for Managing Stress
#SelfCare is an application designed with a gamification approach to self-care. It was named one of Apple’s best self-care apps of 2018, when self-care was also named one of Apple’s top trends. Unlike most apps, #SelfCare has no advertisements, does not ask for a subscription when signing up, and sends out few notifications, which can also be turned off easily. It is difficult to obtain the number of downloads from the App Store, but as of 2019, it had more than two million downloads. This review looks at the application in a post-pandemic context wherein being alone is the new norm, at least for the time being.
Using Procreate for Digital Art
Procreate, launched in 2011, is a digital drawing software that can be used on an iPad. It offers hundreds of brushes, filters, supports files with many layers, and has a very simple design interface. This review will go into the details about Procreate to give you better insight on what sets it apart from other digital drawing software.
Smart Art: An App for Casual Art History Education
In the arts sector, many have attempted to make art history accessible to the uninitiated viewer. This is no less prevalent in the realm of apps. Smart Art – Art History Escape is another recent bid to promote interest in art history with educational materials through the lenses of stories and pictures.
Goodreads vs. BookSloth: Reading Tracker App Comparison
What’s On Your Phone, Colin Post? An Interview and Review of First Look: Artists' VR
Colin Post is an Assistant Professor in Library and Information Science at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. With a deep interest in technology, such as virtual reality and creative programming languages, Post has conducted research on historical perspectives on these technologies as well as on relevant preservation issues at the intersection of cultural production, art history, and information science. In this interview, Post makes great suggestions specifically related to digital preservation for developers in addition to sharing about apps that he uses in his daily life. He also introduces an interesting app called First Look: Artists' VR to arts managers. Following the interview, a product review shows how to navigate this application and evaluates its pros and cons for anyone interested in the VR artworks on this platform.
