Jesus and Mary Chain - Never Understand

All that distortion in the last playlist reminded me too much of where it all started, right here. Beach Boys meets the Ramones.
Love these cheap videos!

Friday was New Music Day

My order from Amazon.ca came Friday. A rather noise filled collection, save for the Herbie Hancock, which is pretty smooth. The new Raveonettes is made for Spring time, top down, cruising. The Magnetic Fields pays ode to Jesus and Mary Chain, and the Hot Chip is just loopy.



Taking full advantage of a recent discovery, you can go here for the sampler. Let me know what you think of it all!:

ianmcc.muxtape.com

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Aperture 2.1 arrives — plug-ins now available, much more - Aperture Users Professional Network

Aperture 2.1 arrives — plug-ins now available, much more - Aperture Users Professional Network
With Aperture 2 just barely over a month old, some might be surprised to see that Apple today announced and shipped Aperture 2.1, a free upgrade for all Aperture 2.0 users, available via Software Update.

At the core of the Aperture 2.1 update is functionality that the AUPN was first to report on buried inside Aperture 2, the Editing Plug-In. This addition was part of the 2.0 release, but not activated at the time 2.0 was made available.

Aperture 2.1 brings full support for this plug-in infrastructure. Although the SDK is not officially released yet, Apple’s been working with several companies on developing plug-ins (more on these big announcements below) and have included a sample plug-in with Aperture 2.1.

Additionally there are several other features in the 2.1 update, and several bug fixes. A few of the features are much-requested additions to the Aperture interface. And those bug fixes? Many of the issues were first reported by AUPN members and then passed on to Apple by our staff. (So, thanks AUPN members for this update!)

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Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe Photoshop Express - Made You Look.

Photoshop, but on the web,... crazy!
Sign up now!

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Another cool geeky Web 2.0 app: Muxtape

Muxtape Keeps The Mixtape Concept Alive | Listening Post from Wired.com


The mixtape is gone for most intents and purposes, but the idea of assembling a few tunes for one's friends is very much a thing of the present. Muxtape is the latest service we've seen that lets users assemble mixtape-like playlists online, and it might be our favorite.

It doesn't get any easier than this. Register with your email address (no confirmation required), upload up to twelve MP3s, and that's it.  An online mixtape containing your songs will appear at the URL "username.muxtape.com" (their example). The only setting to deal with, at this point anyway, is the color of the text, which you specify via hexadecimal code.

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The Flip, David Pogue

Camcorder Brings Zen to the Shoot - New York Times

By doing less and less but doing what it does, well, The Flip has taken 13% of the camcorder market. I SO WANTED TO buy the first version, but I am glad I didn't the ultra looks like the way to go. Too bad they only sell in the USA! I'll get one eventually, it looks cool and most importantly, FUN!

From Pogue's article:

Well, this is a little embarrassing. One of the most significant electronics products of the year slipped into the market, became a mega-hit, changed its industry -- and I haven't reviewed it yet.

In the year since its invention, the Flip has taken 13 percent of the camcorder market, according to its maker, Pure Digital. Its size and simplicity mean it can go where most camcorders can't.

Lately, my guilt has deepened every time someone whips this thing out to show off. "Look what my first grader did with it all by herself," one guy told me. "We're using them in schools to teach narrative structure," said a teacher at a conference. "I bought two of 'em: one for my 80-year-old grandmother," said a neighbor, "and one for my 5-year-old."

O.K., wait -- what?

It's the Flip: a tiny, stripped-down video recorder the size of a digital camera (but you hold it vertically). And in the year since its invention, it has taken 13 percent of the camcorder market, according to its maker, Pure Digital. The latest model, called the Flip Ultra, had its debut six months ago with slightly improved video quality, greater capacity, a tripod mount and better looks (available in white, black, orange, pink and green). It's been the best-selling camcorder on Amazon.com since the day of its debut.

Now, understanding the appeal of this machine will require you not just to open your mind, but to practically empty it. Because on paper, the Flip looks like a cheesy toy that no self-respecting geek would fool with, let alone a technology columnist.

The screen is tiny (1.5 inches) and doesn't swing out for self-portraits. You can't snap still photos. There are no tapes or discs, so you must offload the videos to a computer when the memory is full (30 or 60 minutes of footage, depending on whether you buy the $150 or $180 model). There are no menus, no settings, no video light, no optical viewfinder, no special effects, no headphone jack, no high definition, no lens cap, no memory card. And there's no optical zoom -- only a 2X digital zoom that blows up and degrades the picture. Ouch.

Instead, the Flip has been reduced to the purest essence of video capture. You turn it on, and it's ready to start filming in two seconds. You press the red button once to record (press hard -- it's a little balky) and once to stop. You press Play to review the video, and the Trash button to delete a clip.

There it is: the entire user's manual.

But come on -- 13 percent of the camcorder market? This limited little thing? What's going on here? Having finally lived with the Flip, I finally know the answer: it's a blast. It's always ready, always with you, always trustworthy. Instead of crippling this "camcorder," the simplicity elevates it. Comparisons with a real camcorder are nonsensical, because the Flip is something else altogether: it's the video equivalent of a Kodak point-and-shoot camera. It's the very definition of "less is more."

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Apple - .Mac - Back to My Mac

Apple - .Mac - Back to My Mac

Well suddenly .Mac is worth having for this feature alone! With Screen Sharing, I am able to see the screens of any of my Macs, regardless where I am.
I've used it several times from home to do some work on my images within Aperture. I've been able to do some basic edits, selects and set up some processes to run over night. Previously, I'd have to run back to work to set up some more stuff. Through the course of the year I will probably save the cost of .Mac in gas alone!

This is also a great feature if you have someone who need regular tech support on their Mac. It's similar to VNC, but runs much better

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UPDATE: here's how to do it without a .Mac account and how to do it from a PC

More from our trip up north

               

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Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0

Hands On: Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0 - - PopPhotoFebruary 2008

A retro-mini- Rollei. Reviewed by Pop Photo. $399

Despite the primitive technology, the Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0 has a charm factor that cannot be overlooked. As Pop Photo Technology Manager Julia Silber explains concisely: "It's just so cute!" There are already strong cult followings for the Diana+, Holga, Lensbabies, and other funky, niche cameras and lenses, so the Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0 will likely find its own set of fanatics. And we bet an in-flight meal we'll see it featured in the SkyMall catalogue before Father's Day.

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I like THIS ONE!

I like THIS ONE!
Originally uploaded by ianmcc

Now I lay Me Down To Sleep - ~Infant Bereavement Photography~

Now I lay Me Down To Sleep - ~Infant Bereavement Photography~

Upon reading Trevor Brucki's blog post on the loss of his infant daughter it reminded me of reading about this service years ago in PDN. His comments on the value of this kind of service struck home.
I signed up and I urge other pros to donate their time as well.

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Fluid - Free Site Specific Browser for Mac OS X Leopard

Fluid - Free Site Specific Browser for Mac OS X Leopard


Web 2.0 has gone full circle, now you can create stand alone apps for your fave web 2.0 sites!

Are you a Gmail, Facebook, Campfire or Pandora fanatic? Do you have 20 or more browser tabs open at all times? Are you tired of some random site or Flash ad crashing your browser and causing you to lose your (say) Google Docs data in another tab?

If so, Site Specific Browsers (SSBs) provide a great solution for your WebApp woes. Using Fluid, you can create SSBs to run each of your favorite WebApps as a separate desktop application. Fluid gives any WebApp a home on your Mac OS X desktop complete with Dock icon, standard menu bar, logical separation from your other web browsing activity, and many other goodies.

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Pixelmator

Pixelmator
I received a copy of this program with the MacHeist promo (one of the best deals on Mac software i have ever had, BTW!) I haven't played much with it, but plan to get inot it a bit more.
on first glance, while I won't be deleting Photoshop on my mac just yet, I would recommend this program for those of you looking for a cheap but powerful way to edit your images.
Compare this $59 app to Photoshop Elements and it's a steal of a deal.

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it's FINALLY Spring

DSC_7166.JPG
Originally uploaded by ianmcc

New subfloor!

It's a product called SubFLor which are 2ft sq panels that have raised feet on the bottom. Getting off that cold basement floor feels so much warmer.

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Happy Easter!

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Kristy

Kristy

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lensbaby 3G test

lensbaby.jpg

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Another Aperture review

Great read about one photog's use of Aperture for a couple big conferences. The app held up to heavy use. I like this one idea:

Using Aperture 2.0 - James Duncan Davidson

It was at eComm where Aperture 2.0's library and workflow tools, including it's iLife integration, really shone. In fact, I really enjoyed using Aperture's organization tools again. And, the iLife integration let me do something really neat. I set up an AppleTV in the venue to display processed photographs to attendees. Because Aperture integrates with iTunes which then integrates with the AppleTV, I was able to keep a fairly up-to-date photo show running in the conference hallway without a fuss and without impacting my workflow at all. And, based on the feedback I received, the conference attendees really enjoyed seeing the photos on a big 50" plasma display. You can bet I'll be looking into doing this more in the future.

So, after shooting almost 6000 images at ETech and almost 5000 at eComm--totalling a whopping 136GB of data--what's the verdict? The answer is that Aperture stood up to the test. It did the job. And it did it well. Did it do everything perfectly? No. But then again, Lightroom doesn't do everything perfectly either. These tools are still evolving and maturing.

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Selections RIP

The North West Company

So now it's gonna get interesting! Anyone have any work?

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LinkedIn: Facebook for grownups

LinkedIn: Home
Though I joined a little while ago I have noticed an increase in contacts on LinkedIn, a business networking-social networking site. With it's business focus it feels more like Facebook for grown ups.

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