My KuroBox is up again!

This is the web interface for my Kuro Box. What is it? It's a NAS that runs a Mac friendly OS. the coolest part of it all is I have a little black box in the corner that has a TON of MP3's that any machine in my studio can play through iTunes.

Vera Drake

I knew this was gonna be a good film. Mike Leigh always brings painful truth to his films. From the first scene you just know you're heart will be broken. By the last scene, everyone's is. Inbetween, the story seems simple on the surface, but is really a complex morality tale about the class system in post-WW2 England, family, and of course, a women's right to choose.

The link goes to Ebert's review that sums it up far better than I can.

The Matador

I forgot if I mentioned Kev and I saw this in San Fran. We did, it was a funny little film. It should do great wonders on video. All three leads are great in this, with of course Pierce Bronsan having the most fun with his character! Now that he's free of Bond, maybe this is the new Bronsan, having fun.

Superclamps and saftey straps

Lost of peopleover at Sportshsooter.com talk about hanging lightis and remote cameras for any kind of event. Everyone urges safteey and the use of saftey strapping for anything hung. Well if you saw this clip, you'll know someone's camera came lose and was hanging by a camera strap during Bush's press conference. In the clip I saw on the Daily Show, the camera really threw Bush off his game. Scary!

Brooks Blog V2.0 - A Photographer's Blog

A shooter in California I see post on the PDN forums. He has a great blog layout, includes technical information and talks about each shot.

HOW TO STAY AWAKE IN MEETINGS

This is going round in the emails, but for someone like myself who isn't made to sit in meetings, it's funny.

HOW TO STAY AWAKE IN MEETINGS: OFFERED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE...

Do you keep falling asleep in meetings and seminars? MAYBE Staff Development Meetings?? What about those long and boring conference calls? Here's a way to change all of that.

1. Before (or during) your next meeting, STAFF DEVELOPMENT, seminar, or conference call, prepare yourself by drawing a square. I find that 5" x 5" is a good size.

Divide the card into columns-five across and five down. That will give you 25 one-inch blocks.

2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:

* synergy

* strategic fit

* core competencies

* best practice

* bottom line

* revisit

* expeditious

* to tell you the truth (or "the truth is")

* 24/7

* out of the loop

* benchmark

* value-added

* proactive

* win-win

* think outside the box

* fast track

* result-driven

* empower (or empowerment)

* knowledge base

* at the end of the day

* touch base

* mindset

* client focus(ed)

* paradigm

* game plan

* leverage

3. Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words/phrases.

4. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout "BULLSHIT!"

TESTIMONIALS from satisfied "Bullshit Bingo" players:

"I had been in the meeting for only five minutes when I won." Adam W., Atlanta

"My attention span at meetings has improved dramatically." David T., Florida

"What a gas! Meetings will never be the same for me after my first win."- Dan J., New York City

"The atmosphere was tense in the last process meeting as 14 of us waited for the fifth box." - Ben G., Denver

"The speaker was stunned as eight of us screamed 'BULLSHIT!' for the third time in two hours."

IRIS Biz card reader:best item I bought at Macworld

I cranked through this stack in short order. It really works and adds them into Mac OS X Addressbook easily! One of those thing you don't know how you lived without it when you finally buy one. Only $99USD. The link provided is to the full fledged version, I bought the "mini" version which isn't even out yet!

John Galliano Spring/Summer 2006

I don't follow fashion much but the one designer all seems to provoke is John Galliano. His shows are spectacles. In this show he's playing with concepts of beauty.

What's really cool is Nick Knight is putting the video footage he grabbed at the show, and the promo spots he made for Galliano and invite people to edit their own versions! They even include the soundtracks from the promo spots, by Craig Armstrong. (Rob I mention this for you!)

I tell yah that ShowStudio site is always doing something cool

XXXL Headless Boatman

If you send a XXL sample, I am gonna have fun with it!

Last snap from San Fran

yah know how you get home from a trip and you don't take the last roll out of your camera and awhile later you realize you still have some snaps? Well it can still happen with digital. here's a pensive Kev on one of our last mornings.I t was taken at Sears Fine Foods, a classic old diner

http://www.themenupage.com/sears.html

Peak of the Market soups

Series of food shots used for the new gourmet soups from Peak of the Market. A little tricky to line the shot up for the corner wrap. All in all , it tunrs out very well. Design by Creative Advantage.

Flash Bulbs and Artifact Preservation: Myth Debunked!

A rather wrody and scientific explanation as to why flashes don't hurt artwork.


...In other words, flash may very well be banned for reasons of copyright, or as a disturbance to the act of contemplation (my personal vote) but there is no preservation reason. I think the ban started originally because flash bulbs (and their precursors the open magnesium flash) were a genuine fire hazard, and an explosion hazard (hot fragments) and a garbage problem. Of course, tripods, hot studio lamps, and bulky equipment are still hazards, and a photography policy still necessary, but please don't wave the red flag of conservation over flashcameras."

Summer in the studio

For the NWC, our summer set. Come on down the fishing is great at Camp Wannasnapapic

best quote of the month

"'Some people says that if you play a Windows XP install CD backwards you will hear demon voices commanding you to worship Satan'. But that's nothing. If you play it forward it will install Windows XP."

Dash Blog

a small Widget for Mac OS X dashboard that allows you to post to your blogger blog! Now you don't even have to run an app to post to you blog! What are you waiting for?

The Rise and Sprawl

A local blog about urban sprawl, an issue at play in this town as the real estate boom transfrom our tired little burg into yet another strip-malled drive way. We should really try and learn from the mistakes of other centres as they sprawlled out over the last 20 years and be different. This article deals with development at the Forks. An excerpt:

The Rise and Sprawl: "Using Corydon Avenue as a comparison, the length of the Corydon strip from Nassau to Lilac Street, is just under one kilometre (or a 10 minute walk). This is the same distance from the Forks Market to the corner of Waterfront Drive and Lombard Avenue. The average person finds no objection to walking this length along Corydon, but would never bother traversing that same length at The Forks. This is because of contrasting built environments: one is geared towards human activity, and another is geared only towards easy automobile traffic movement and storage. Creating at the outer parts of The Forks the same welcoming pedestrian environment that streets like Corydon enjoy, would do much to add vibrancy to Waterfront Drive, the Exchange District, and to Downtown south of Portage Avenue. This connectivity will also turn around and contribute to The Forks’ success."

The New World

Rob and I saw this last night. We pieced the story together, comparing notes upon leaving, updating each other on the different parts we nodded off. So I wouldn't recommend the late show!
But I would recommend this movie! This is cinema as high art, take it or leave it. It felt akin to reading a Rudy Wiebe novel. Sometimes bewildering, sometimes plodding but always amazing to look at, this is film as poetry. I'll spare you a re-telling of the plot, you can hit the link to Metacritic and choose one of many reviews raving about it. I'll probably get more from this film from the numerous times it will play on the History Channel. You really get a sense of what it might have been like, the first interactions between European and Aboriginal cultures, with all the glaring differences. In that way, though the movie is set in Virginia, it's a very Canadian story. Not since Black Robe have we seen it set on the screen so well.

Since I am raving about Terrence Malik, I also want to recommend searching out Day of Heaven. It's similar, a love story set within some historical setting, this time the 20's. It's set in Texas but was filmed in Alberta with some stunning cinematography, the province is the uncredited fourth star of this film.

UPDATE: I had to republish this post, the new template didn't like the previous one

Review | Watchmen (Absolute Edition) by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

The Watchmen, one of the first great "graphic novels" is already 20 years old. It's being re-released in an expanded form with "deleted scenes" and other extras.

Winnipeg Foundation Annual Report

In today's Free Press you'll see hi-lights of the the Wpg Fdn Annual Report. A PDF version of the full report will be on their site later this month. Always a fun and inspiring job to do, so many interesting stories and people!

Bose noise canceling headphones

While Kev's attempts to convince me to buy a PSP don't seem to work, he did manage to convince me to spend the cash for these headphones. How did he do it? Simple, on the flight from Minni to San Fran, he offered them to me to try. 1.5 hrs later I was sold. I took advantage of the strong dollar, bought them at the

Honda Civic Choir

I am sure this one will go around the emails. A choir "sings" the sound effects for the Honda Civic. Surely one for the headphones. Very cool. You will want to try and make noises in your car after you see this one!

Daily Canada Show

Anyone else see the Daily show tonight? The whole front end of the show was about the Canadian election, very funny and spot on! If you can find it, search it out! We really do seem pretty wimpy to the 'Mericans, eh?

The Age of Egocasting part 3-4

Rob referenced my mention of a Globe article on egocasting today on his blog. When he dropped by today on the way home we chatted about some more. After he left I hopped in the vehicle and feeling out of touch, I forgo the iPod and turned on CBC Radio One, something I don't do as frequently these days. Something about too much music in the vehicle to choose from, and they really lost me during that last strike, but I digress. I tune in to a call in show about the very same article with the person who wrote it for the globe as the guest! I called in, related my experience in San Fran and how I came home and read the article, and how I urged on this blog to search it out. So as much as we're NOT connected, somethings still are!

Tre Visi

Shot for Ciao Magazine. Links goes to their review

Right back at it

It's like I never left. Shots for Silver Jeans, to be used in the background of their booth at a trade show. We just had them jump around, and yes we wanted that drag with the flash, thank you!

XpostFacto

This is the program you can use to load OS X on unsupported Macs. It's made by a guy in Winnipeg. We were interviewing OWC's CEO when we realized this guy who makes XpostFacto was at the booth! We said hello and interviewed him briefly. Small World.

Print to Web Receipts

I think it was David Pogue Who showed us this tip. You know how you book or buy something online, and they say you should print something for your records, but thats a waste, all you want to do is save a copy somewhere? WHEW! Well now you can. Under the PDF options in the Print Dialog, you get an option ot save to your Web Receipts Folder. One will be created for you, and all your reciept PDF's will be store sthere when you choose this option. SWEET!

I wonder...

I wonder if I get more hits on this blog if I paste these two "people" in a post:

Stephen Harper & Bradgelina, Stephen Harper & Bradgelina, Stephen Harper & Bradgelina, Stephen Harper & Bradgelina, Stephen Harper & Bradgelina, Stephen Harper & Bradgelina

Does that sum it all up?

Crumpler Product Development

This company from Austrailia makes some fairly kick ass photo bags. The founder is some crazy-assed Ausie, you'll have to get to see the video to see how wacky he is. If you hit the link and let the site load, you'll get some weird stuff and it will give you a taste of what he's like, in person. He ranted for several minutes about Ausie Two Up, some coin toss game popular in the outback, for no reason. The booth was a HUGE blow version of one of his bags, beanbag chairs all around it, the booth was popualr as a resting spot.

He had a prototype of a new camera bag he showed me to get some feedback."Make the bag sutiable for location work with a laptop" I said. I made some suggestions, like make something bendable to use the huge flap as a sun shield for my laptop that would sit on the top of the bag. I then suggested an elastic to hold the laptop secure.

"BLOODY HELL!" he exclaimed in his thick Ausie accent "That's F***ing Brilliant, that is! Thats why I bloody well come out! That F***ing right there, is great! Thank YOU, Bloody Hell!"

Well I felt like I did my bit, we'll see in a year or so, if my suggestions make it to a bag. I mentioned he could name the idea after me, but upon looking at my name he didn't seemed to think he could work with it! Oh well.

Nice bags, they need a dealer here in town, I know the Cdn rep and can make the connections.

Dub Wise

Every once in awhile I get back into Dub. (What is Dub?)
I can recall going to Black-O-Rama, which was the free Reggae concerts we used to have here in Winnipeg. They would be once a year and run all day or maybe two, I can't recall. Anyway, I always seemed to enjoy the music they cranked on the PA, while they changed bands It was spacey, kinda weird and was pretty much the groove of the song without all that singing. I loved it. Then when The Clash went Reggae on Sandinista , they featured a couple dub versions of some of the songs, and again I loved it. Finally back when Mary Scorer books used to rent CD's, I rented (and taped) "Towering Dub Inferno: The ROIR Tapes" (Various Artists) which turned out to be one of the best intro's I could have found. I was hooked. Eventually Dub would play a big part in the Ambient movement and specifically The Orb who's music I love.

Canadian slang - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Better brush up eh?

Ecto

Well now I am really looking for a blogging app, the few things about MarsEdit bugging me enough to search out others. Etco is another one worth trying.

It had built in integration with Amazon, for example, so I can add links to people easily like Christopher Walken, and their work like this

"Deer Hunter [Special Edition] [2 Discs]" (Michael Cimino)

.

Walken 2008 - Official Website

Walken 2008 - Official Website:

The wacky actor Christopher Walken, running for president in 2008? Is it a gag or not? Hard to tell

Find Music You'll Love - Pandora

Find Music You'll Love - Pandora:

You enter an artist or song you like and it makes a song list based on that entry. Works very well.

Nikon D200 Reviewed by Bjorn

Nikon D200 Reviewed. Introduction: ""

One of the better reviewers of Nikon gear. His D2x review was a good read too. This D200 sounds like the camera I'd recommend to anyone shooting with Nikon mount. Anyone left doing that? By the way I saw a lot more Nikons than Canons being lugged around the macworld floor, despite the larger crowds around the larger Canon booth.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Impressions of iWeb

Rob Galbraith DPI: Impressions of the MacBook Pro and iWeb: "Web

The new Intel-based Macs are the stars of MacWorld 2006, and will garner the most attention we expect as machines are delivered to photographers in the weeks ahead. The sleeper hit of the show, however, is iWeb, a new application that's part of Apple's iLife '06 suite. Meant to be a web design application for the rest of us, this seemingly humble little app is not to be underestimated. We were fortunate enough to be able to try it out for about 30 minutes, as well as pepper an Apple staffer involved in its development with questions. Our preliminary verdict? This application has the potential to make the melding of words and pictures on a static web page easier and just plain more fun that we've ever experienced before, without sacrificing the need for a sharp-looking and readily-modified layout in the process."

Quark

The Quark Booth:
Hit the next button to see the Adobe booth in contrast. Poor Quark, you really have lost, haven't you.

CNN.com - Survey finds rudeness is getting worse - April 3, 2002

CNN.com - Survey finds rudeness is getting worse - April 3, 2002: ""

Kev's endured my rants about this but I had it happen to me several times over the course of Macworld. I'll be in the middle of a software demo, one on one with the presenter, when someone will walk right up into the middle of us and comandeer the conversation to what they want or need, and do it LOUDLY. Sometimes it isn't even related to the subject at hand, it can be something like "WHAT BOOTH NUMBER ARE YOU?" My polite Canadian self doesn't say much when this happens, though the last time it did I had to walk away, else I would have punched the sun-dried hippy from Hawaii who thought being from Maui was WAY more important that anything else. Another instance, I was in the process of buying something when a guy walked up and yelled for a booth number. After he stormed away I said the woman I was dealing with "I could have swore I was talking you, not him" "I know, you see a lot of that kind of thing here" She replied. I still felt somewhat put off and said "Not to over-generalize, but I am from Canada, and you wouldn't see that up there!" And I still think it's true.

The Age of Egocasting - Christine Rosen

The New Atlantis - The Age of Egocasting - Christine Rosen: ""

An article in Saturday's Globe &Mail mentions this article. Egocasting is the process of redefining your media realted experience to the point where you are not exposed to anything beyond what you like. In a city like San Fran, you see every second person talking on a cell phone, or cranking their iPod. Meanwhile they have all their TV TiVo'ed, and visit only the blogs they like. Suddenly the narrow-cast of ideas is only confirmation of what you already know, nothing to jolt your awareness, make you consider the other point of view. The techno-blinders make sure you only see a world view you agree with, nothing more.

MarsEdit 1.1

Ranchero Software: MarsEdit 1.1 Gonna give the demo a try. There comes a time when you are working on your blog so much that, a stand alone app maybe be in order. As you can see in the last few weeks, I have reached that point!
Update: This is an edit using marsEdit.

Music I bought in San fran

Sander Kleineberg's This is Everybody on Tour.

the Nortec Collective

Richard Vision

On the way home

I am gonna use the long flight home to think about the show and put together my thoughts. It will be nice to get home though!

Lightzone

I broke down and bought some obscure software. One usually doesn't want to stray too far from the big boys in terms of digital image manipulation, but seeing the demo of Lightzone sold me. It's a much more intuitive way of adjusting and tweaking a file, Lightzone is a sign that things are going to change over the next few years. We don't have to use Photoshop's imposed metaphors to handle the process of tweaking an image. Download a demo, Mac is up, windows is to come, and try it out. Based on the Zone System, you could find it easier.


(Buying this software reminds me of the first time I was at the show, back in 1996. I bought Collage, a quick and easy way to throw around big image files and combine them, by proxy. It was ahead of it's time, had a cult following until the horsepower made it redundant and Adobe cribbed it's remaining features. I think Lightzone could be like that, you might see parts of it's UI show up in Photoshop)

UPDATE: Lightzone won a "Best of show" award at Macworld.

New Apple ad a rip off?

mmany shots very similar. Hmmmm, did they just hire the same guy or point to the original and say give me this??

The Cult of Mac Blog: "Apple is at it again -- making TV ads that bear an uncanny resemblance to music videos.

Apple's latest TV advert, touting Intel chips inside its new Macs, is remarkably similar to a music video from The Postal Service for the song 'Such Great Heights.'

Both are set in clean rooms, and feature bunnysuited workers making eyes at each other.

See for yourself. Here's the Apple ad, and here's The Postal Service video (Windows Media download).

Apple is currently being threatened legally by Lugz, which claims an apparently actionable similarity between Apple's iPod ad featuring Eminem and a 2002 spot for Lugz footwear.

Of course, in the latest case, Apple may have an agreement with The Postal Service or its record company, or may have hired the same director, or licensed the work.

Developing... "

The Cult of Mac Blog

kev tried to interview these kids, they were wild untamablle litle iPod freaks. When the mother asked where the video was going and we replied Canada, she scaned up at the sky, swayed abit back in forth and murmmered "Caaaanada,... oh Caaaanada,do you know a Father Kahney in Canada?" Um no and keep up those meds lady!

The Cult of Mac Blog: "Rugrat Marketing at Macworld
Topic: Macworld
Kahney kids at Macworld

Yeah, those 'exploited children' over at Gizmodo are my progeny. My wife took them down to Macworld to promote my Cult of iPod book.

She dressed our three boys in cardboard iPod costumes, and our daughter as a silhouette iPod dancer.

I wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea, but it achieved its objective. They got their pictures in the paper, which absolutely thrilled them (Exploited kid one; exploited kid two), and she handed a flyer to the scores of people who snapped their picture.

Plus, the kids had a blast. Look at all the free crap they got. This is just a portion of it. My daughter separated hers and stashed it elsewhere.

Macworld freebies

They got eight pairs of gloves, a ton of flashing necklaces, half-a-ton of stickers and pins, Postit pads, spring-loaded jumping frogs, badge holders, a gazillion pens, rubber wristbands, iPod covers, some cellphone cleaner thingies, etc., etc.

What was the best stuff they got?

Lyle (the youngest): 'Candy.'

Olin: 'Candy.'

Milo: 'The wristbands, and candy.'

Nadine (the oldest): 'The Yoyo, a mini Sharpie, a fish screensaver, a helicopter spinner and a squeezy stress ball. And candy.'

Here's more of the little angels. "

InfoWorld | From Macworld 06: iMac, iSight, Front Row, MacBook Pro, and so much more | January 13, 2006 12:02 AM | By Tom Yager

Enterprise Mac | InfoWorld | From Macworld 06: iMac, iSight, Front Row, MacBook Pro, and so much more | January 13, 2006 12:02 AM | By Tom Yager: "For rank and file consumers, these first x86 Macs are $1,300 previews of classy home entertainment boxes that will hit in the Summer and Fall, coinciding with Intel's own massive, multi-partner Viiv entertainment hub initiative, and Microsoft's Windows Media 11/Vista/Plays For Sure full-court press into desktops, set tops, DVRs, music/video players, mobile phones and wherever Windows Embedded can fit (everywhere). It'll all be in Apple's face. It's funny; if Apple had chosen AMD, Apple wouldn't have to defend itself from its main ally.

It was embarrassing for Steve to get pushed on stage with no commercial x86 software. Not even sexy shareware or freeware. Developers and exhibitors were blind-sided. They paid $999 for lease systems with very fast CPUs and atrocious graphics. Now that's flipped, and coders, though grateful for a one-to-one trade to an iMac, are faced with taking apps back to the drawing board.

Now that Apple's on Intel's roadmap, just like Dell, Apple's tightly-held product schedule will be much easier to predict. I called new systems at Macworld Expo based on Intel's roadmap, but made the error that I expected home entertainment systems would hit first, followed by high end. I like it better this way, and Apple's software VP summed it up nicely: 'We tell our engineers to work on systems that are exactly like those in customers' hands.'

Apple's failure to do that left Steve Jobs with nothing outside Apple's line to show but an embarrassingly slow copy of Photoshop running under the Rosetta emulator. Apple calls it an instruction translator. I call it an abomination, albeit a necessary one.

Secrets make for fun marketing, but developers don't like surprises. More about that soon. I've got a plane to catch.

Thanks for reading."

One more time

If you haven't asked for me to look for anything on the Macwworld Expo floor, this is it. I will check my email one more time before going back for the final hurrah

Macworld Day Three

Not too many pictures there, too busy doing video interviews. A great sunny day, then of to a bar in Haight Ashbury to see DJ Qbert on release of his new action figure thru Kid Robot, with free Red Stripe beer! FREE Beer, cool DJ action and crazy figurine fan boys

Weirdest App

Pixound Jam Studio creates ambient music based on the colours within the files you work on. You move your mouse over some pictures and the music changes. Sounds neat, might try the demo, but at $99 they won't get many sales. Dunno what they were thinking with $99 priceoint

Phlink

Cool telephony software that interfaces with your mac. Scriptable, and explandable, I don't need this siftware but want it.

Browseback

Kinda cool way to get back to a wweb page you've visited and want to share. You really need to try it and scroll through the pages, very cool to see in action.

Comic Life

I know I raved about this before, but I have to again. Make comics using your own images, easily! It's just so cool to see the husband & wife working the show. So many of these 1-4 person developers, in the smaller booths. You got to hand it to their tenacity.

iPod cases

Are everywhere. How many companies can sustain the selection? You want to cover your iPod in any kind off of fabric in any kind of configuration, it's here.

here is one example

macworld day two

(click the title for the image gallery)
The day started with an Adobe User Group Breakfast meeting. We saw ratherd dry demo's of the flash based meeting program called Breeze, which might actually be cool. Terry White's (check out his books on the link) demo of Lightroom has me very excited to use it on a decent machine. He was doing things with 6mp files on a 1.67 Powerbook, easily. This could be a very nice app as long as we give them the feedback. OH, and if you're one of the few Freehand fans, be worried, no commitmnets either way, but be worried.
Most of the day was spent on the floor doing video interviews, which made for a very log day. You can see Button Boy, one of the too few wacky people. The other ones were some kids dressed as iPod hyping the Cult of iPodbook, could have been the author's kids.
As well last night we went to the Final Cut User Group's presentation of Walter Murch the line up was around the block to see this guy. After sitting through the Apple commercials er, demo's He talked for awhile about his work. The raffle afterwards reflected the level of industry we were running with, obscure software for FCPinthe hundreds, and hardware in the thousands. Long day.

Google Earth for Mac!

Google Earth is FINALLY available for Mac:

http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

Another reason why Apple is the coolest

who else would design a power adapter cable that is held by magnet, so that when you trip on my cableit unplugs before the book falls to the floor.

Macworld Day one

(Click on the title to see images of Day One)

Well we spent the afternoon on the floor just checking things out. Couldn't get near the new MacBook Pro or any of the iLife apps to really see them. I tried several times before finally getting a 1 on 1 demo of Aperture. Man that interface is NICE! Even after reading all the bad reviews and the problems some people have with it, this app is nice looking and very intuitive. I can see what everyone is saying, 2.0 is gonna RAWK! Of course the demo I saw was on a Quad G5 with dual 30 inch monitors. But if the speeds are what they say they are this app is certainly worth watching.

The rest of the day on the floor was so overwhelming, I can't even begin to describe it all. I will go thought the 6 lbsof brochures and mention a few things later.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention my two brushes with "Fame". After enduring somany questions in regards to the "filmLoop" tshirst I was wearing, I practically ran into Guy Kawasaki "NICE SHIRT!" he exclaimed, I thanked him for a great talk and raved about FilmLoop. My second brush was at one of many iPod case vendors when I noticed the young Halle Berry look alike was working extra hard to help the distingusihed older gentleman, who turned out to be Herbbie Handcock!

After the show

Well intel iMac, intel power,..er sorry MacBook Pro. and iWeb and several additions to iLife. We got stuck in the overflow room without WiFi.

hit the link for a keynote breakdown from macworld.

keynote line up

It's 8am We're in a line. Albeit a smaller one than that masses. We're part of a new subcatergory called Supporter. It's not quite a Media pass, no easy way into the Keynote and no schwag, but we are in a smaller line that will be ushered to the mediaroom for the Keynote, we can use the Media online access too. Basically it's a new category to recognize the bloggers, user groups and small traditonal media players.

Meanwhile I went to the front of The Line and asked the guys at the front when they showed up. Couple guys responded 8 or 9 o'clock. Took me a second or two to realize they meant LAST NIGHT! Oh gawd.

PhotoshopNews: Photoshop News and Information � Archive � The Shadowland/Lightroom Development Story

A rather long story of the development of Lightroom. to prove that it was well in the works long before Apple dreamed up Aperture. The lifecycle of a software this complexspans over years I guess.

Film Loop

Guy Kawaskai demo'ed this new app today. A basic viewer you download to free, then you sunscribe to loops that other people make. Live updating is what makes this cool. the obvious scenario is you load shots of the kids on your loop and Grandma(and the rest of the family for that matter) gets to see them automatically! It's available in both platforms and is entirely free to use! Check out the website for various public loops available.(You have to endure small ads in between loops!)

Macworld Day one

Day one
Morning was spent registering and collecting copies of several trade mags that are stacked up in the hall. The afternoon was spent in User Group University. Several notable Mac perosnalities presented. The best for me, was David Pogue and Guy Kawasaki. We managed to snag an on camera interview was Adam Engst of Tidbits fame, really nice guys.
Tomorrow is keynote day and the frenzy really starts!!

Some snaps from yesterday evening:



here I am enjoying a wonderful meal at Shalimar, one of many Indian joints around the hotel. I am posting this one cuzthere was some debate if Kev's photo skils did meany good. This one was not bad.

A view to the top of the big shopping mall right downtown.

The Apple store is to the right of this view, the Moscone convention centre right behind us.

These teething rings RAWK!

From last week, just too funny!

Art of RAW Conversion #024 @Digital Outback Photo

A review of Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom

Iguess adobewas felling the heat from Apple's Aperture, and rushed this free beta to get people to play with it. It's not like Adobe at all to do this! Mac only too, so that's got to tell you they weren't ready for prime time and felt they hadto move.
Downloading the beta as I type this. This could be a fun show!

Retro Office Pictures: IBM 4331 Processor brochure

Shots from an old IBM brochure. Back in the day, even before we were told computrs would save the world.

one day in my life

one day in my life: "took up photography in April 2005 when I got the Fuji F10; quite to my surprise, what started off as a leisure time hobby has evolved very soon into an important part of my life."

The guy started shooting in April! Oh my. This guy's work in Hong Kong convinced me to purchase the Fuji F10, and I see he's already bought the F11. Nice work!

Hess Memorial Macworld Expo SF 2005 Events List

a list of everything to do and who can do it. Yowza I am tried already!

SNL short, Chronicles of Narnia

Imagine two beastie boy wannabe-geek boys planning to see the
Chronicles of Narnia. You have all the culture references in this rap
video including google maps!

If you ever dreamed of kicking in an old school way you will have "coke
coming out of my nose" laughter when you see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=zLElfJ9YCh0

who need to go out?

As longa s you have quicktime, you can see what it's liek to be in Times Square on New years, among 15 other cities. Amazing panoramas

AIn't it cool article

This one's for the movie buffs. A rather well done article covering the rough and tumble cut of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven vs the directors cut which makes sense, and no one has seen, even on DVD, to a review of Terrence Malik's New World, to commentray on running times of movies, editing and studio meddling. All written in a rather clear and concise way for Aint It Cool.

BD4D

Stands for BY Designers For Designers. Some very cool stuff you'll see influencing everywhere in Much Music ID spots, cool denim commercials etc. Though the few I watch tend to pay homage to Aphex Twin in sounds, they are cool little diversions.

Cheap short run printing

No idea on quality but at $38 for 250 4 over 4 biz crads its worth a spin.

Noise Ninja

A side by side test of Noise Ninja. Taken from a snap from my Fuji F10. Then sharpened in Photoshop.

Real books, read them

Reading stuff online doesn’t not count toward my goal of reading more. Something about the act of reading a real book that manages to unplug and relax me. So that means shutting off the TV, maybe play some music at a comfortable level and take 30 mins to enjoy reading. It’s so easy and I feel so much better after

See more progress on: Read more books

Photoshop Bites back

I guess the Spanish Royal Family sent this image out as their Xmas greeting. Some of the kids are obviously photoshopped in place. As word got out and they were ridiculed, then the parodies started. You don't want a bunch of photoshopping geeks on your trail, as this gallery proves.

Close Encounters of the chicken kind

Something about this shot of Liam standing in front of his Grandma's new oven that reminds me of Close Encounters. Don't worry the door wasn't hot at all, it's a really nice flat top oven.

Segundo Juana Molina

Sometimes buying all sorts of music is like buying books. You start into one and you think"Oh lordy this is too deep, maybe later" and you put it down. Then you go back to it after awhile when you figure you better try and get into it, and suddenly it's brilliant! This CD is like that. It's not for everyone, I didnt even think it was for me, but it is very minimal, Latin and textural. Link goes to Amazon.ca with the raves and descriptions by many.

Russell Brown Podcast

If you play with photoshop, you'll wanna hit this. Russell Brown is funny and goofy and incredibly talented. You will learn all sorts of things from this guy.

Tech's Dark Side

Damn it doesn't matter how clean my desk will get, I'll always have this nasty shit. That's a heavy duty powerbar full of powerbricks and the router with its cabling all stuffed behind the desk. Wireless will never be TRULY wireless will it?
Link in title goes to a cent article on how to tame the mess.

VoIP experiment

As some of you may know I have been playing with Skype. I plan on giving it a real workout while in San Fran for Macworld. The conditions are ideal. Wifi everywhere, the need to stay in touch, an enviroment that begs for the bleeding edge. Go to Skype and get a copy of the program and join in the fun. Conference calls live from San Fran!!
If you'd like to use a normal phone, you can pay long distance and call me at (408) 627-7833 country code +1, United States

Investopedia Stock Market Simulator - Free Stock Market Game

In the long line of things I'd like to learn more about if I had more time: investing in the markets
This website allows you to simulate the experience so you can learn about how it works.

PCWorld.com - The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years

The scary thing is I was alive for all of them, used most of them, and own a great number of them or their rip offs. I don't know what it says, either we're in the middle of a vast age of innovation, I am a gadget geek or I am just getting old. I know, I know,... don't say it: Combination of all three!

Amazon.com: Tracking the Jackal : The Search for Carlos, the World's Most Wanted Man: Books: David Yallop

Oddly enuff I am also plodding through this book, one of many I picked up on a whim when I had too many credits at a used book store. For you who don't know, Carlos the Jackal was considered the most wanted terrorist in the world. This book explores the events surrounding Carlos. It does give you some insight on the crazy 70's terrorism, and the convoluted Middle East

One Day in September (1999)

CBC Newsworld replayed this one the other day. Obviously to captialize on the release of Spleiberg's Munich. Academy Award winning doc on the hostage taking at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Too many wild moments for me to list, read the IMDB reviews to get a sense of what went wrong. The one moment I can't shake is the idea of the German police storming the hostage takers with the world media covering every step. In '72 "live TV" was still a rare occurence, the cops had no idea that the hostage takers were watching everything on TV! You denfitely need to see this film.

Strom: The digital home is still far from reality : TomsNetworking :

A good article explaing why the "digital den" isn't fully realized just yet. Soon, very soon, but for the majority of people this stuff is very geeky to implement.

Jackson Is King

I recieved the King Kong production diaries DVD for Christmas. It's a collection of the 3-4 minute movies Peter Jackson released over the making of King Kong. It's an amazing inside look at the making of an epic film. The link in the title goes to a great Wired artcile explaining just why this production diary is groundbreaking in it's access and participation. It's not your avergae behind the scenes BS you get on a DVD, but very much Peter Jackson talking to his fans. At one point he fields questions on the website and then answers them by showing things on set! If you're a film junkie and enjoy learning about how films are made, you will enjoy this set.