iTunes 10
Posted on September 3, 2010 at 08:58 by caw
Filed under: Apple, OS X | Leave a Comment
Apple has released the new version of iTunes, iTunes 10. This one has new features (obviously) including the ability to rent HD TV episodes for 99¢, a new thing called Ping that lets you keep up with your favorite stars and their most rabid fans, new iPods for those who like to collect hardware, play music wirelessly via AirPlay on AirPlay-enabled speakers (I wonder how long it will take to get the first version of those out), plus some other
goodies.
Image © Apple, 2010
I know wireless is a popular item these days but is it becoming too much of a good thing? Chances are, if your house was built for you and you thought you might want to put in a security system, you probably had it hard-wired in. Why? Because you get contact points everywhere rather than the limited number a wireless system can support. Same with your surround sound. Chances are you won’t be moving those speakers around too often, so again, you likely have them wired in. Phone lines? I bet you didn’t put them in every room, just the ones that would either support your wireless base-station or that would need them for PPV TV access. Computer networks? Have you secured them? Have you changed you passwords for them recently?
If you have a wireless setup for your keyboard or mouse, say hello to Bluetooth. Got a hands-free for you cell phone that came with the car? that’s Bluetooth too, and very easy to listen in on your conversations by the way.
All I’m saying is all that wireless may not be so great after all. The boxes outght to come with stickers that say "Use with Caution!"
For those who might not have been watching, Parallels’ has released a new version of their Parallels for Mac, version 5.0.9376. This looks like another patch release but I’ll post something if I see anything interesting.
DSLR Video
Posted on June 6, 2010 at 01:48 by caw
Filed under: Photography | Leave a Comment
Yesterday I did two things I said I would not do: get into “video” via my DSLR camera and buy another DX-format camera.
I must admit I have thought of video-via-DSLR somewhere between a fad and a joke. It seemed reasonable that if you wanted stills you would use a DSLR and if you wanted video you would use one of the digital video cameras. How difficult can that be? Not very until I read a post on Sallee Photography’s blog. In it, there is a great quote: If you aren’t learning something new every day, you competion is! While I am not a wedding photographer (and not sure I would want to be one – the pressure of a once-in-a-lifetime shoot), there are other aspects of photography I am interested in such as portrait, pets and nature photography. Video-via-DSLR seems to be one of those things.
Which brings me to my second point: I’m not buying another DX-format camera. I’m not! I did, a Nikon D5000. Now let’s clarify a couple of things. First and foremost, I got spoiled in a hurry by my FX-format D700, especially when I went to fast lenses. No more 1.5x conversion factors, no more “if I want a 75mm I have to use a 50mm lenses”, no more “I wish I had better color” or “I wish I had a higher ISO”, none of that. The full frame of the FX means lenses are what I expect them to be (i.e., an 85mm protrait lenses is really 85mm).
Second, why the DX-format D5000? Well that is a bit of perverted thinking on my part. Call it an experimental camera. I’m not interested in spending $6K to get an FX-format camera (read “D3s) until I know what video from a DSLR can do. (I know, several big name photographers have done amazing video with their cameras but I’m talking about me here.) Either way, I expect to “ebay” the D5000 within a year and, assuming I like what I see, buy a used D3s, which is what I really wanted in the first place. Better to lose a few hundred dollars than a few thousand, neh?
And about the October 14, 2009, post… ignore that one.
Even Microsoft Doesn’t Know Which Keys Are Valid!
Posted on April 4, 2010 at 10:32 by caw
Filed under: Microsoft, Windows 7 | Leave a Comment
Microsoft, in a bid to stem the rate of piracy of their software, has come up with the "Genuine Advantage" program. It allows you to check you 25 character key to determine if it is valid or not. They spend significant time and resources trying to keep up with Apple and the company wants paid for its efforts. Fine, I have not itch with that. But when they can’t even figure out if the key for the software they sold me is valid or not, that is a totally different story.
I bought Vista at the time they were running the "buy Vista now and get a free upgrade to Windows 7" promotion. (Before you castigate me, consider the number of web sites that still only run in Microsoft Exploder.) I elected to download both and burn my own CDs if needed (read "instant gratification"). Microsoft dutifully sent me a key for Vista which works just fine.
(Sorry for the delay. Figured I had better go and check that Vista was still ok. It is.)
Yesterday I wanted to load a program on my Windows 7 instance (remember Windows in Parallels on a Mac) and was shocked to find out that the key I had been using successfully for quite some time was no longer valid. In other words, Microsoft thought I was a pirate! I tried checking the key with the tools they supply (like Genuine Advantage) and they told me I had a bogus key. So I called the Microsoft Store, who connected me to Tech Support, who connected me to Tech Support Escalation, who sent me back to Microsoft Store, who sent me to Tech Support, who finally sent me to the one person who said "I’ll look into this and get back to you."
And she did. She got me an answer that fixed my problem. While I wasn’t happy at getting the run around I did and I certainly wasn’t happy that Microsoft couldn’t decide if the key they sold me was valid, at least I did get my problem resolved.
"Is the iPad Green?"
Posted on April 4, 2010 at 10:02 by caw
Filed under: Apple | Leave a Comment
I read an article on whether or not the iPad was a green device. (Did I mention that I was reading the article about the iPad on my iPad? But I digress.) The article quotes several reasons why the iPad is a green device: reusable aluminum shell, LED-backlit screen, PVC-free, saves trees (as do Kindle and nook and the others), etc. In short, yes the device is green – or at least greenish enough to qualify as green.
Now comes the stupidity…
The "no" part comes from cloud computing and the massive data centers cloud computing requires. They aren’t so green it seems, specifically because they get most of the energy from non-renewable (read "dirty") energy sources – mostly coal and nuclear. People the point is the iPad is greener, not the data centers! And I have news for you: most web sites, not just the social networks like Facebook and twitter, are also hosted out of massive data centers as well!
There are a couple of old proverbs that fit this: Every journey begins with a single step. The other is "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." And don’t bother yelling at me about eating elephants, that isn’t the point. The point is, you are more likely to see long-term success if you start with the "disposable" electronics like cell phones and data pads and computers than you are trying to attack the elephant data centers. Most people toss phones every couple of years, computers every three to five. When was the last time you tossed your data center in the trash, eh?
Happy New Year!
Posted on December 31, 2009 at 17:22 by caw
Filed under: Social Commentary | Leave a Comment
Here’s to a safe and happy new year! And remember, if you drink, don’t drive – the child you kill might just be your own!
The Concrete Jungle
Posted on December 13, 2009 at 06:58 by caw
Filed under: Social Commentary | Leave a Comment
Call me silly but I hate highways. Sure, they sometimes get you where you want to go a bit faster (that is debatable; c.f., rush-hour in you favorite dictionary) and I guess they make it easier to locate things (again, debatable) but they totally lack character. They all look the same. Just miles and miles of concrete, frequently with concrete walls embracing them to cut down the noise that would otherwise flood nearby developments but that’s it!
Recently, a friend showed me a "back route" out of Anthem that gets me to the Loop 101 (yes a freeway!). The nice thing though is that it takes you through developments and by businesses. You get to see trees and cactus and other flora. What you don’t see are miles and miles of concrete or smell the diesel fumes of the truck front of you or get cut off by the idiot who wants to get somewhere 0.2 seconds faster!
There’s beauty in side streets, you just have to find it!
Something New
Posted on December 9, 2009 at 08:45 by caw
Filed under: Technology, iPhone | Leave a Comment
Thanks to a post on Terry White’s Tech Blog, we have something new here at the Edge: a better view on your handheld device. The WordPress plugin, called WPtouch by the folks at BraveNewCode.com, does all the heavy lifting. Configure the options (and there are lots to play with) and get just the look you want!
Just point your mobile web browser at blog.cawilliams.us and you should see something like this (at least until I fix the colors):
Book mark it on your home page and you’ll see my stylish logo!
Push the down arrow and get access to the home screen and an RSS also get access to the list of categories posts are filed under. Push the search button and find every post with your keyword or phrase. Pretty cool if you ask me and kudos (again) to Mr. White for finding it!
ClarisWorks to Pages – With Office in Between
Posted on December 6, 2009 at 16:54 by caw
Filed under: Microsoft | Leave a Comment
A little history… When I purchased my first Mac laptop in late 2005 I also bought Office for Mac:2004. All I knew from work was Office and iWork seemed…slim…shall we say. It only had Key Note and Pages- both version 1 I think. When I updated to Leopard on my Intel-based Mac, I also switched to iWork – Apple had added Numbers after all and I was tired of Microsoft quirks messing with my Mac. And there was no way I was going to go to Office for Mac:2008 – no VB and macros, just AppleScript?
Times change and things usually come back to byte you.
A little more history… I was recently asked to get some files off a PowerMac 520. For those of you without the score card, a 520 and an MBP have no common interfaces. The 520 lacks FireWire, the Ethernet is an older style interface, the MBP doesn’t have a modem or floppy disk, etc. Oh one other thing: all the files the client wanted were done in ClarisWorks!
My solution was to buy a USB floppy drive, and then - file by file – convert them to Word 4/5 format. Then copy ‘em to the floppy and load them into the MBP. One hitch: the Client wanted them in Pages ’09 and Key Note ’09 format. Pages doesn’t speak Word 4/5 format and neither does Key Note.
I loaded Office for Mac:2008 onto my pristine Mac – so sad. I could read the files in Word:2004 but I couldn’t get to output an RTF Pages could read. I figured Word:2008 would. Yeah, I went and bought Office for Mac:2008!
And the process works: read ‘em in ClarisWorks on the 520, save them as Word 4/5, write to a floppy, load to the MBP from the floppy, read them into Word:2008, write them as RTF, read them in Pages ’09 and save. Of course all of it has to be done manually – you can’t automate much.
And yes, as soon as I’m done, Office for Mac is toast – I hope…
Did I Miss Something?
Posted on October 15, 2009 at 12:14 by caw
Filed under: Photography | 2 Comments
Did I miss something? I looked at some other web sites / blogs and nobody is saying squat about Nikon’s newest wonder, the D3s. Now either they aren’t reading their email or they are more taken with Adobe’s Photoshop app for the iPhone (which has gotten a lot of airtime). This new camera has HD and everything!
I guess I just don’t get it.
Nikon D3s
Posted on October 14, 2009 at 09:21 by caw
Filed under: Photography, Technology | 1 Comment
The guys at Nikon are at it again and have released the D3s. My uneducated guess is the D3Xs will come out in the spring and the D4 will come out November of 2010.
(Image © 2009 Nikon, All Rights Reserved.)
This is definitely a everything including the kitchen sink. Major new features:
- ISO 102,400 equivalent. I remember falling out of my seat for ISO 800 without push processing!
- 9 FPS for up to 82 JPEG (fine) or 36 14-bit NEF (RAW) images.
- 24 FPS HD video, leveraging low-noise D3S image quality along with high fidelity stereo sound.
- 4200 images per battery charge!
Why is everybody putting HD video into a still camera. Ever since Canon came out with the 5D Mark II and Vincent Laforet’s Reverie video, the industry has just gone nuts! Nikon now has four (4) DSLR cameras (D3s, D300s, D90, and the D5000) with video. Put one in a box of Frosted Flakes and maybe I’ll get excited!
Call me a dinosaur but I think there is always going to be a place, no a need, for high-quality still photography made with cameras that aren’t video-cams with a shutter release on the side. If nothing else, a still photograph gives the viewer time to interact with the image – to think about it and decided what it means to him. It’s damn tough to do that with video.
If this is the direction of the future, I may just save my pennies for a D3 and call it done.
keep looking »