new dad, loving husband, enjoys photography, technology, movies, etc.
{ Monthly Archives }
Award winning photographer, Chase Jarvis, offers up some words of wisdom (not his first time). This time the lesson is, to paraphrase, every shoot counts. Even if you’re doing test shots, they could end up being some of your best work. You just never know. So don’t be lazy, take advantage of each opportunity.
I really enjoy my iPhone, but it’s not without issues. For example, today something wonky happened with the audio in that I could hear my phone ring, but couldn’t hear people (and they couldn’t hear me), and I couldn’t listen to music. I didn’t have my iPhone earbuds with me, so I couldn’t immediately experiment with them. I powered my iPhone down, and back up. I even tried the 2-button reset (ignorantly) hoping that would do something different. No luck.
Shortly after, I tried my earbuds and they worked perfectly. I unplugged the headphones and everything was back to normal. I’m guessing that the last time I unplugged my earbuds, some hardware piece didn’t do it’s job and send the signal to the phone to start using my iPhone’s speakers. (Disclaimer: I’m a software guy, we love to blame hardware. Hey, they do it to us. =P ) Once I plugged the earbuds in and pulled them out again, that mechanism worked. The lesson learned today was to always keep my earbuds with me.
Slashdot reader mr_mischief (sort of) asks, “Microsoft Should Abandon Vista?” after reading a CNet News.com article titled, “Why Microsoft must abandon Vista to save itself“. Sound harsh? Maybe, unless you’ve actually used Vista. (I haven’t yet, fortunately for me.) The article restates what I’ve been hearing from friends who have used Vista and from tech podcasters I listen to: Vista is pretty, but really, really buggy, and really poorly designed from a usability standpoint (ex., “Can someone please explain to me why I need to be asked if I wanted to do something entirely innocuous like open a third-party app from a well-known software company?” -CNet).
Much of Vista’s prettiness comes from design aspects modeled after Mac OS X and Linux. The bugginess, well that’s all Microsoft. Most of the people I’ve talked to who have used Vista have either switched back to Windows XP, or bought a Mac. CNet wrote about users switching back to XP. Surely, that isn’t something Microsoft wants people to hear about or do. I haven’t heard of any Mac users switching back to a previous version of OS X, never mind doing it in droves.
So, if you’re thinking about getting a new Windows computer, do your homework. It will probably come with Vista. Find out if you can switch back to XP for free if Vista doesn’t work out. Check to make sure all of your hardware devices, printers, scanner, and the like are Vista compatible. If you run programs that don’t require Windows, or have good alternatives in Linux or Mac OS X, consider switching operating systems. Sure there will be a learning curve, but from the sounds of it, Vista learning curve isn’t any easier.
[Updated to add this paragraph.] Does any of this mean the end of Microsoft & Windows is near? Some may hope so, but the answer is still no. After doing some further reading, it appears the CNet author, Don Reisinger, is a bit of a doomsday lover. Some of his more recent articles are titled, “Is Apple in danger of losing its following?”, “Why ‘Halo 3′ will decide the Xbox 360’s fate”, “Linux and its identity crisis”, and “Will free office suites supplant Microsoft as the industry leader?” Apple, Microsoft, and Linux aren’t going away. They aren’t going to self destruct anytime soon. However they can make poor decisions that affect millions of people in bad ways. [End update.]
Jenny and I recently watched the documentary, War Photographer (IMDb), directed by Christian Frei. The movie, a recommendation on Strobist, is about famed, award winning, war photographer James Nachtwey (Wikipedia). It was a powerful, sometimes moving movie. I highly recommend it.
Nachtwey is generally regarded as the best war photographer to date. His dedication and devotion to what he does is simply amazing. Instead of shooting events from a safe distance with a 500mm lens, even dangerous events, he earns the respect and trust of those around him enough to get in close. This makes all the difference in the world, although I don’t recommend you try it. Watch the movie and you’ll discover just how difficult this job is (not too many people are cut out for this type of self sacrifice). It made me want to go read about some of the events he covered.
In case you missed this yesterday, Amazon launched a new music store, Amazon MP3, to better compete with the 800 lbs gorilla, Apple (iTunes). I won’t go into a ton of detail here, partly because other people have already done so, notably John Gruber (here and here), but mainly because of time constraints (this is the “Life at f/2.8 blog after all). A few quick facts about Amazon MP3:
One thing to note is the difference between the format Amazon is using (MP3) and the format Apple is using (AAC), AAC offers higher quality compression. So, a 256kbps MP3 is not quite as good as a 256kbps AAC. Will you notice the difference? Maybe not. It depends on a multitude of things, your hearing, what you’re playing the music on, the room your listening to it in (or the headphones you’re using), and the source material (loudness war) for starters.
Is this the be all, end all of music stores? Will it put Apple’s iTunes out of business? No and no. What it will do is provide the type of competition people have been looking for, namely decent quality DRM-free music at an affordable price.
I recently purchased the new KT Tunstall album, Drastic Fantastic. It’s available on Amazon MP3 for $8.99. iTunes has it for (I think and I’ll double check tonight) $9.99. Were that “all she wrote” I would have purchased the album on Amazon MP3. However, iTunes also has a “Deluxe Edition” of the album that includes two books and five music videos (worth $1.99 each) all for $14.99. Since getting an AppleTV as a wedding gift, I’ve actually been more inclined to watch or at least play music videos. (They’re great for parties.)
Amazon MP3 won’t keep me from making iTunes purchases, but I will certainly check it before making any future music purchases.
[ updated 28-Sept-2007 to add a link to Schneier's blog ]
In the completely-useless-policies department, Thom Hogan and Scott Kelby have recently and independently pointed out that TSA screeners are making people take their DSLRs (actually anything larger than your first) out of their camera bags and send them through the x-ray machines in their own gray bins, just like laptops and video cameras.
When will the habit of adding even more inane rules to the TSA policy stop? Would writing Congress help? Maybe we should try and find out. If enough people complain, maybe it will get them to change policy.
What’s sad is that there are people out there who believe they’re safer by following these rules. Do yourself a favor, educate yourself and read a few posts on Bruce Schneier’s blog.
These instructions weren’t written very well. They’re not sequential, and are therefore confusing. And if I found them to be a little confusing, you can bet peoples’ parents and grand parents will find them confusing. Does Apple need new technical writers?
Here are the instructions for the recent update that only affects mid-2007 MacBooks and MacBook Pros:
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer then restart the computer while holding the “C” key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (You must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your internal hard disk drive volume. This is usually Macintosh HD but your internal hard disk drive may have a different name.
6. Click Repair.
The problems start in number 2. Disk Utility isn’t under the Installer menu, it’s under the Utilities menu (sorry, no screen shots). And, unless my Mac is different than the other Macs affected by this, which were all purchased in a 2 or 3 month period of time, then the instructions need to be updated for accuracy.
Number 2 also has the not-to-be-missed step in parentheses, “(You must select your language first.)” How about making that the step before number 2, since it’s the first screen you see when you start your Mac from the install disk.
Step 3 should start with “In Disk Utility, click …”. It should be obvious, but think about your grandparents here. Make it as clear as possible. Additionally, to access the First Aid tab you have to click on the First Aid button.
Step 4, what disclosure triangle? Unless your disk utility works (or is set up) differently than mine, all partitions are automatically displayed.
Step 6, there is no “Repair” button. However, there is a “Repair Disk Permissions” button as well as a “Repair Disk” button. It’s a good thing they show a screen shot, but not everyone has 20/20 vision. Call out the button name as the user will see it. Assume they don’t know the difference between these two operations.
Here’s what the instructions should have read like (note: I forgot the name of the button in step 2 below, but I believe there’s only one):
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer then restart the computer while holding the “C” key.
2. Select your language and click the button.
3. Choose Disk Utility from the Utilities menu in the menu bar at the top of your screen. (See screen shot below.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
4. In Disk Utility, click the “First Aid” button to access the First Aid screen of Disk Utility.
5. Select your internal hard disk drive volume. This is usually “Macintosh HD” but your internal hard disk drive may have a different name.
6. Click the “Repair Disk” button.
That’s my three minute fix. I’m sure it could be even better / clearer, but the point is that this should be written for the lowest common denominator.
AppleInsider has an interesting rumor piece about an upcoming Apple PDA. They state the unit will be like the iPhone and iPod touch in appearance, but about 1.5 times larger than the iPhone. It will allegedly sport a 720×480 resolution screen and be available in 2008.
My opinion, I wouldn’t be surprised if they came out with one. But, I sure as hell would be excited.
Arizona followers of Dave Hobby’s Strobist website are holding an “Arizona Shoot Day” in Jerome on Saturday, October 20th. More details can be found both on Don Giannatti’s Strobist page and the Flickr Strobist forum page. I’ll update this page with more details as they show up.