Pancakes II: Pancakes for your face

WICKED video that's hyping up SHorve Tuesday. This year it's on Feb 5th. Learn about pancake day here:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/shrove.html

Cool visual representation of websites.

Adrian pointed this out, over on his blog.

A very cool java app that visualizes the codes on a website.

Follow the links to try it out and see the break down on the dots


http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/

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UPS is bringing my Drobo, by dogsled via the bardyard

<sigh> I ain't down with the Brown,...

Don't you just love all this tracking stuff? Why was it placed on Agricultural Hold?  And what's so adverse about the conditions today that they can't deliver it? Too cold?

A model I hired recently works for UPS, she explained that since I am across the street, my route is the "training route"! Great, that will explain why I have signed for packages that aren't meant for here. I don't dare call across the street and ask them to just hold it and let me pick it up. I tried that one time and it was waaay more trouble than it was worth.

WINNIPEG,MB, CA 01/31/2008 7:00 A.M. ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS

CONCORD,ON, CA 01/29/2008 9:29 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 01/29/2008 6:03 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

WINDSOR,ON, CA 01/28/2008 12:56 P.M. IMPORT SCAN

FREDERICTON,NB, CA 01/28/2008 2:55 A.M. AGRICULTURAL HOLD

US 01/25/2008 12:29 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

UPS: Tracking Information

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The choices for a new screen

NEW LP133WX1 13.3" 1280X800 GLOSSY LCD SCREEN FOR APPLE

well I ordered a new screen for my Macbook. The way I saw it I had three options

• Order a part and install in myself, the cheapest but also the scariest
• Send it away and get someone lese to install it, but that's time consuming. I use this Macbook on location all the time.
• get it repaired locally. This option was the most frustrating to entertain....

I called Advance and after reciting my situation to 4 different people  only to have them say "oh justa sec.." I get one guy who tells me the cost of replacing the screen is somewhere between $800 and $1000! I remind him that a new machine costs $1200. He agrees with me. I say thank you, hang up and proceed to order the $200 part to install myself.

If the guy said $400-$600 for a new screen, I would have considered it, thinking $200-$250 for the part and the rest for the install, as I have several online guides on how to do it, and it doesn't look THAT hard. But $1000? I am sorry, as much as I want to buy local am not stupid.

While Advance may have enjoyed the luxury of isolation back in the "HI-FI" days, in these days of Ebay and overnight shipping, that kind of gouging isn't gonna fly. I have railed to some of you in the past about Advance's lousy service department, the dumpy counter space, the people with inept social skills, so I will spare you that rant. It just amazes me that in this age of Big Box stores, one of the last sucessful independent electronics retailer wouldn't try harder at the service level. I've bought several machines from the gang in the computer department, and their great, I recommend them to everyone. But when something breaks, or if you have an warranty issue, I'd suggest dealing with someone else.

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Western Digital's Crack the Code Contest

Many of you are like me, you have several Western Digital external hard drives. The review linked here doesn't reveal anything new if you already have one, except for this one tidbit, about those distinct grill patterns.

State of the Art: Hard Sex: Western Digital's My Book desktop drives

If you know Morse Code -- which only recently acquired the signal pattern for the @ symbol so dear to the digital age, the first addition since World War II -- you may not have to spring for your own My Book drive. (They are highly affordable, however: The 1TB My Book I've been using sells for as little as $330; the 320GB, smallest of the lot, for as little as $165.) Somewhere among the dots and dashes of the My Book family's ventilation grill is hidden a message in that long-short-long telegraphic cypher of yore. If you can find and translate the message you'll be entered in a drawing for a drive. Western Digital is giving away one drive a day until the end of the promotion, on February 12. For details go to crackthewdcode.com.

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GridIron Flow

GridIron Flow



One of the few interviews where the subject ISN'T looking up at Kev!

You really need to see this app in action to get your head around how useful this app is. Designers who work on project that use a lot of assets will love this app!!

You can find out more at the GridIron Software homepage.

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State of the Union coverage

A very interesting interview with some of the photogs who covered the State of the Union Address

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MOBIUS

MOBIUS

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Nice Screen! DOH!

Nice Screen! DOH!
Originally uploaded by ianmcc

After a year and a half of ruff and tumble use, a easy little bump finally cracked the screen. The irony is it happened while I thought it would be wise to put it away before it got bumped by Liam! Dad only has himself to blame for this one.

Food shots

Done for a variety of packaging.  It's actually harder than the food you shoot for magazines. These prepared food items are a challenge to prepare in an attractive way. Also without the shots in the layout they don't seem all that exciting. Imagine a starburst with the exclamation: "A GREAT SOURCE OF CALCIUM!!" or "NOW WITH MORE FIBRE!!"

  

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Its come full circle, what's old is new...

Lomo is packaging home film developing kits. Oh thats different! How tnredy in it's retro vibe. It's so,.... so.... 1995!

At this rate maybe I will start seminars on how to load medium format 120 roll film while under duress or how to clean out a Polaroid back when it's gummed up!

Mandi’s Easy-Peasy Film Development Guide.(For Black & White film)

Mandis Easy-Peasy Film Development Guide

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The Macbook paper

This has to be the thinnest notebook! :-) watch the parody then make your own from the PDF!

watch the commercial

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Rockabye Baby! - The Beach Boys

Picked this up at Chapters. I thought if any of the ones they had, Radiohead,Coldplay, Nirvana, etc, The Beach Boys would be an obvious one. Brian Wilson's tunes are pratically lullabies to begin with! I didn't think it would have an effect on Liam at this age, but I was humming along with this while holding him and suddenly he was asleep!

Rockabye Baby! - Transform your favorite rock music into baby music.

The
Beach Boys provided the soundtrack to fun in the sun and endless
summers. Generations of fans have grown up with their enduring hit
singles. Rockabye Baby! has translated The Beach Boys enchanting
harmonies into shimmering lullabies that will help your little pet
drift to a sound sleep after a day’s worth of sun-soaked play. Don’t
worry, baby. These instrumentals are fun, fun, fun...

Drobo a go go!

One of the biggest take home lessons gleaned from my brief time to Macworld was that backups must happen. I won't tell you how I learned that lesson, as I am sure it will be revealed next Tuesday, but with a sigh of relief, I say I'm glad it wasn't me!

So after looking at all sorts of NAS (Network Attached Storage) I have finally settled upon purchasing a Drobo. I won't thrill the geeky handful who read this blog with all the specs, I will say that basically it's a box that formats and keeps track of your data across several hard drives, automatically.

I will post about my experiences with the Drobo when it arrives.

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Give Me a Sign! - Inside Aperture

For the few of you who actually might use Aperture. Anyone? Anyone? Buller?

There is a sign that in about a week we'll get an update:

From Inside Aperture
January 23, 2008 9:33 PM By Steve Simon

Okay, it’s no secret that we’ve all been waiting for a sign, some kind of indication that says an upgrade for Aperture; or at least new raw support for some very popular cameras, like the new Nikon D3, D300 or the Canon G9 and EOS-1Ds Mark III , are on their way.To my surprise, when looking through the Apple Discussion Forums, I came across this post from Joe Schorr.

Posted: Jan 23, 2008 8:19 AM

 “As I'm sure many of you know, it's not Apple's policy to provide a public "ETA" on future releases, so I can't post anything like a timetable for when support for the newest RAW camera formats will become available.But I can tell you this. We at Apple are ACUTELY aware of the pressing need to get support for the newest round of camera into your hands as soon as possible. This is a top priority.

We have members of our own team using these cameras, so you can imagine how interested we are in seeing this support integrated into the Mac OS and our photo applications!We fully intent to give our customers what they need in this regard.

Thanks!
Joe Schorr Sr. Product Line Manager, Photo Applications Apple”

So there you have it. Looks like good things are soon to come.

Give Me a Sign! - Inside Aperture

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Macheads the movie

Macheads - the movie (trailer)
Uploaded by brunogarattoni

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Could having less ports mean you're more succesful?

I'm predicting the Macbook Air will be come a status symbol regardless of the tech limitations. You won't know too people who can afford one and will be more likely to see it in InStyle or People magazine!

A side note: While sitting in the Drivesaver's Hopitaility suite at Macworld, I was surrounded by their display of countless celebrities, musicians, politicians who wrote a personal note thanking Drivesavers for saving their data. I asked the PR people, "So the more famous you are the less likely you are to back up?" They could only politely laugh at my observation. Case in point, the week before the show, they had retrieved the data from a famous movie star's laptop that had DIED HARD.

In the future, could how successful you are be reflected in how few USB ports you need?

From CNet's Review:

There are a lot of small notebooks on the market that sell pretty well. Dell's Latitude D430, for example, is the same weight as the Air, has the same display resolution (on a slightly smaller screen), has all the usual I/O ports and expandability, and it's a good bit cheaper. It's a decent-looking machine, but it makes no sacrifices to style.

By comparison, the MacBook Air looks like it's from a different planet, a more advanced civilization. It's like that because it's missing all of the functionality that forces the Dell machine to look relatively clunky-- all the connectors, buttons, and lights that make it more usable, all the latches and screws that make it expandable.

The Air has almost none of that stuff, but while that makes it irrelevant to most people, the Air's clean, thin lines make it uniquely attractive for others.If I was a Hollywood studio executive, a New York art-gallery owner, or an editor of one of those fashion magazines, there's just no other computer I'd want to use. I'm not any of these things, of course; very few people are. But do understand: there are people who are exceptionally style-conscious for personal and professional reasons, and the MacBook Air was designed for these people

Apple's MacBook Air: A design review | Speeds and feeds - Technology analysis by Peter N. Glaskowsky - CNET Blogs

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Hit Me On My iPhone

Doug passed this one laong, its gonen viral as well. Very catchy song about the iPhone.

You Suck at Photoshop #1

FUNNY but not so safe for work satire of the whole Photoshop tutorial phenom. This one's gone viral so watch it before 3 people send it to you.

AirMail: Manila envelope laptop sleeve for MacBook Air

AirMail: Manila envelope laptop sleeve for MacBook Air

what a laptop sleeve to mimic those interoffice document envelopes used in the Macbook Air commercial?
Well now you can order one!

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Macworld Day three

Sorry this is coming late. The hotel wifi was down and then we travelled home... here's a few hi-lights

Skullcandy had a splashy booth. free wristbands and bling and a live DJ
Drobo didn't need any show specials, the place was crowed all the time. they encouraged you to ytank any of the drives.
 
We set up camp in the H&R blog spot booth. Great seats, imacs and fast connections, and the people were so friendly

After that we set up an interview with Microsoft. The PR firm that handles them basically cleared out half of the MS Blogger lounge for our interview. The women who's in charge of the whole Mac Business Unit came by for the interview. They don't mess around, they are Microsoft.
 

  
The coolest day of the part was being invited to an exclusive gig by Shaw/Blades. That's Tommy Shaw lead singer of Styx and a guy from Night Ranger. So with JBL and AKG as sponsors, there were about 45 people in the room wearing wireless headphones, with the guys doing an amazing acoustic set. Playing a few of their own hits and doing covers of 60's tunes they loved, it sounded like a studio recording but one in someone's living room. Macworld ended on a high note!

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Squeezebox Duet

Kevin interviews Stephen from Logitech at the Macworld Expo 2008.The Squeezebox Duet is a home audio streaming solution. The Squeezebox allows you to stream audio in your music collection, or even allows you to tune into internet radio. Using the handheld Squeezebox Controller you can choose the audio that will stream into the Receiver, from anywhere within your wireless network.

NewMediaManitoba.TV

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My Own Macworld Awards

Well we're home now. It was a great show, lot's of cool apps and hardware. But here are a few other recollections.

The Most Annoying Person Award goes to:
The Italian guy who sat next to me during the keynote. With a consumer DSLR mounted on a small mono pod, he caught the attention of Keynote staff who informed him that he couldn't use that in the seats, because it would be in people's way. He then proceeded to argue quite vigorously to the point where he almost got tossed out. He then proceed to phone back to Italy and loudly provide play by play on a cell the ENTIRE keynote. Steve would say something on my right, then I would hear it in Italian on my left.

The Most Annoying Question award:
I guess the video camera we're using the Canon XH-AI is REALLY popular right now. "How do you like that camera" was asked of me just about once every hour the entire time on the floor. People wouldn't even wait till you're done shooting, they'd wanna know, lke NOW! For the record, it's an ok camera, but we find the roll up to record really long and the focus is slow. There, everyone, now you know!

The Goofiest Thing Said by an Apple PR person:
"Just make this quick, we have customers who want to see this product" as we filmed our little spot at the Macbook Air display. Those Apple PR people pounce on you, the minute you hit record on their booth and then shadow you until you are done.

The Angriest Man Award:
a mere half hour after the keynote, the media lounge full of the world's media trying to fill their stories with the wifi spotty at best, some guy walks into the room and yells. "THERE ARE 10,000 PEOPLE DOWNSTAIRS TRYING TO GET THEIR BADGES, AND THEY COME OUT AT 3MIN A PIECE. WHY DON'T YOU GET OFF YOUR POWERBOOKS AND REPORT ABOUT THAT!!"
He then proceeded to walk down the walk and slam a door in rage.

Most Unnecessary Accessory on the show floor:
My laptop. Seems with web 2.0, you don't need your own machine as much. Exhibitors realized that and now provide more machines for you to jump on and check your webmail or make a blog post. Microsoft, H&R Block, Acura and a few others provided comfy seats, and some iMacs. They were always busy. The Nokia N800 couldn't navigate around the 12 or so wifi networks, with one hacker goof even calling his own wifi Macworld, to confuse devices into logging into him.

Most Puzzling Display:
Acura- Dunno why they were here, and they took up a huge amount of space. Almost get the sense they had the booth left over from Detroit and thought "aw heck, let's throw it up there what could it hurt?"

Most Amazing Trivia:
Drivesavers has a full time counselor on staff. Trained in suicide prevention, she receives the calls into the company called "screamers" where people are so upset that they are impossible to talk to on the phone. She talks them down from the ledge and then passes them off to tech support.

Most Likely to Feel at Home Award:
Belkin
it's like a real house with grass in the backyard and everything, showcasing every spot you could use their products.

Most Enthusiastic Demo:
Animation Master by Hash Software Combine equal parts geek with guy who does those tractor pull commercials. You'll have to come out and see it.

The Best Comment is No Comment Award:
From some kid who works at Apple who worked on the Time Capsule project. When I asked "Will it be hackable?" He said "No Comment" with a sly grin. "I'll take that as a yes" I replied and he could only laugh.

DSLR of the show:
Nikon. Personal bias aside, I've seen more Nikon Dslr's on the show floor than Canon. Having said that, the Canon Booth is mobbed while Nikon booth is just busy. Granted Canon does have video in the same booth. :-)

Thanks for all your encouraging words on this coverage. We found the daily reporting definitely makes for a bit more work, but it's been fun to hear back from people that they are enjoying it. I hope everyone can come out to the event where we show the majority of interviews. Kev secured thousands of dollars of software for the give away.

the iTouch upgrade, keep it in perspective

$20 for the iTouch upgrade to give you an iPhone without the phone. $20?... well yeah. Like this blurb to keep it in perspective.

from O'Reily net

"Twenty Dollars? Apple is going to charge twenty dollars? Apple should just give it to us for free."

Tell me Jobs doesn't want to just say "Shut up. Just shut up." But of course RSJ can't.

I was once backstage after a Wynton Marsalis concert and he asked one of the women I was with what she thought of the show. She looked at him and said, "you could have played longer."

He nodded thoughtfully and said, "yeah, I could have."

That's what it felt like this week in San Francisco. So many people running around saying "Apple could have just given us the upgrade."

Yeah, they probably could have. But listening to people holding a five dollar cup of coffee in one hand complain about spending twenty dollars to upgrade their iPod touch confuses me a bit.

CBC Manitoba- Up to Speed Today!

CBC Manitoba - Programs - Up to Speed - Main

Kev will be on CBC Radio One live today!

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Day two Video

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Kev's wearing a gimmicky product we stumbled upon. The iLidz is made with a cheap hat, 4 document clips, two radio antenna and a plastic lens. You watch movies on your nphone with it. The guy invented it two weeks ago. The minute he put it one while sitting in front of that iMac, people were asking me in an incredulous voice " WHAT is that?, WHAT is he DOING?" A press photog ran up and shot him, some tourist took video of him. To be honest the show floor IS lacking those wacky characters who walk the show with some crazy costume. So yesterday KEV was that guy!

today's major purchase: Lensbaby 3G

I am a sucker for Lensbabies. I bought the first two and now, since their at the show, I bought the 3G.

Lensbaby 3G is the hybrid love child of an old fashioned bellows camera and an up-tight tilt-shift lens. Lensbaby 3G allows precise focus control, longer exposures, and repeatability. With Lensbaby 3G you can lock the lens in place by pressing a button on the focusing collar. Then you can fine focus, using a traditional barrel focusing ring.

Lensbabies >>> Selective Focus SLR camera lenses

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Macworld Day two

Today it was all about getting some video. Not that many snaps but some fun ones.
Sunny and warm on the walk there, we end up going right by the Apple store. People line up, waiting for the doors to open. 


We spent some time with Drivesavers as I mentioned before. They had a gallery of DISCasters. Some cool looking stuff.
 
They even had some cool old gear.


Blurb.com was here again. What a difference a year makes! This year they had some AMAZING example of their product. Artists of all types have really embraced their service.
 
As you'll see in our next upcoming clip, we finally relaxed and kicked back at the H&R Blog spot. The offer of FREE BEER ( for a swipe of your badge) made the booth kinda busy!

 
We walked a fair bit, met some cool people, saw some amazing products. We deserve a time out in a nap bubble.
 

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How I feel

The second day,..update

Just stopped into the H&R Block Blog Spot, where you can jump on an iMac. Wireless within the West hall is very spotty. As predicted we've already met some very cool people and products, in th west hall. The smaller developers and some niche products, within the kiosk area.

The hi light so far has been our time with DriveSavers. We've inadvertently created a great scenario with Kev's laptop HD seizing up days before we left. They've walked us through the whole process and we've been blown away at their hospilalty and professionalism.

Observations:
- PR people hover around us anytime we're shooting on the Apple Booth. They stand about three steps away and watch.
-Hershey Kisses are standard in most booth which are yummy but tuff to unwrap while lugging gear.
-Custom logo'ed M&M's are so much cooler, with Microsoft and Panic doing their logo's on M&M's. Sugar floats this effort!
-Dunno if it's the layout of the two halls but its seems less crowded. Yet it's crowded around the Macbook Air display from 10:01AM!

Off to do some more...

NewMediaManitoba.TV

NewMediaManitoba.TV

The first of our clips is up!

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The flickr set of all images from Macworld

Macworld 2008
Some out takes and the like

.

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Macworld Day One

Up bright and early standing in line 7am, the media line crazy long
 
Woz came by on his Segway,... people cheered

The media holding area, where we stood in line for an hour was significant in the fact that they had refreshments for the meida. People even took pics of that it was so rare!

Once seated, we did a quick stand up and then like all the rest of the world's media, we waited for His Steveness to show up.

Once the heavens parted and Steve showed up, the party started:


Hi lights include the

-Time Capsule, combo N wireless router and NAS for Time Machine. Very cool.
-iTunes movie rentals, hopefully we'll see it in Canada asap he mentioned he really wanted to get it international right away
-Apple Tv re-done as as stand alone machine. Much better interface. Lower price, could be awinner.

then he pulled out the manila doucment envelope and unveiled the MacBook Air.

It's pretty thin we haven't gotten close to one yet the crowds are think
The surprise music guest was Randy Newman who used the opportunity to skewer just about everyone, including himself in about 5 mins. The crowd blogged or wrote while he sang

After all that we hit the show floor, grabbed some interviews and then filed the story. Crowds are healthy, the Apple product has everyone excited.

As I mentioned I picked up a Eye-Fi card and a Gorilla Pod. Spent most of my time in the South Hall which is Apple and all the big boys. I think the west hall is full of smaller guys where we find the real gems.
Back now at the Chancellor and out for something to eat.
 
More thoughts on today, perhaps after a meal and some reflection.

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