NSLog();

Today I spent a little time playing with a new site that integrates with flickr. It's called "photophlow, and the owner describes the site as:

photophlow is a way to share flickr photos in real-time with your friends, and is a good way to discover new photos in a social way or receive more immediate feedback on your own photos.

I like what photphlow has to offer. I like that it could be used for impromptu meetings. I like that it can be used to talk with fellows. I like that it integrates with chat, twitter, and other clients.

I have 11 invitations, currently, and if you're interested let me know. Also, I'm "iacas" on flickr if you'd like to add me as a contact.

Update: I forgot to mention this, but it is worth adding. I also purchased and am enjoying Photonic as well. It adds value to the flickr service from a different angle, and is a great way to browse photos of friends, upload photos, etc.

I described my network setup in a previous post, so I won't do it again. My Time Capsule will arrive shortly, and though I was quite eager to begin using it, I am no longer. Why? Because I remembered that my AirPort Expresses ((Only one of which I really need to continue using.)) are 802.11g. My Living Room Express provides AirTunes to my entertainment center and connects to an ethernet hub that is, in turn, connected to my DVR, Xbox 360, and eventually a PS3 ((That the Wii supports wireless out of the box is a great thing, but I would probably buy a LAN converter or switch off the always-on Wifi if it was the only thing holding me back from running an all-N network.)).

If I want to keep using AirTunes, I've got to dumb my entire network down to 802.11g. None of the alternatives work:

1. I could replace the AirPort Express with an AirPort Extreme, but then I lose it as an AirTunes target.
2. I could replace the AirPort Express with an AppleTV, but because it can't bridge over ethernet I lose connectivity for my DVR and Xbox 360.
3. I can keep the AirPort Express, but then my entire network will run in 802.11g mode (i.e. slower).

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 584); »

I skimmed a book in Barnes and Noble and wrote down quite a few tips. The book was How to Photograph Your Life and the concept was that the author used what amounted to a point-and-shoot camera to photograph the images. He'd usually show you an example of a "bad" photo, then an example of a "good" photo, all based around the things that happen to normal people.

In the end I decided not to purchase it because it's not particularly the book for me, but I wouldn't mind if my wife bought it. Instead, I purchased two other books that weren't the "go through them in a few minutes" type.

Here are my notes. Any commentary I have is in italics. Again, I think that for a lot of people, this book would come in handy. The example photos do a great job of conveying the tips provided. My notes are in no way even a partial replacement, so if the book interests you, go check it out or buy it for yourself. Or your wife. 🙂

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 960); »

My wife is spending time packing up boxes and will soon be unpacking them… in her new school (J.S. Wilson Middle School). I got a tour of the place last week and it's pretty impressive. Still, some boneheaded moves were made: the science room has no floor outlets, so the microscopes must now be battery powered). Some of the room layouts are a tad peculiar.

Overall, however, it's quite impressive. She and everyone else is very excited, and they move in towards the end of March.

I adore my Canon 5D, but at the same time, my 70-200 2.8L IS would be a 320 2.8L IS (("effectively")) on the long end with a 1.6x crop camera. If I had an extra $1500 and nothing better to buy, I'd add a 40D in a heartbeat for the extra speed and reach if nothing else.

             Old                New
             --------------     --------------
      Name   PowerBook          MacBook Pro
    Screen   12" Matte          15" Widescreen Matte
 Processor   867 MHz G4         2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo
       RAM   768 MB             4 GB
Hard Drive   60 GB, 4200 RPM    200 GB, 7200 RPM
   Optical   Combo Drive*       Dual-Layer 8x SuperDrive
  Keyboard   Not Backlit        Backlit
  Trackpad   Not Multitouch     Multitouch
  Wireless   802.11g            802.11n
       Age   5 years            5 hours
    Weight   4.6 lbs            5.4 lbs

Also picked up a Time Capsule so that Carey can back up what is mostly "her" laptop. I doubt I'll use it because I don't think I can back up my main drive to one location (another internal hard drive) and back up a second internal drive (my ripped DVDs and other assorted media) to a second Time Machine drive.

* Could have gotten a SuperDrive, but always have a desktop for burning DVDs, so didn't see much point. You know, back in 2003.

Things I wouldn't mind getting for my birthday this year include:

• Think Tank AirPort International rolling case
• Canon BG-E4 Vertical Grip/Battery Holder for Canon 5D ($220)
• Another BP-511A Li-ION Battery (for same, $50!)
• Really Right Stuff BGE4-L L-Plate (for same, $183)
• Some lens bag for the 300/2.8 L IS (more research needed, ~$40)
• World Peace
• Anything else on my Wish List

Things from the above list I'll actually get: 0. 🙂

Update (2008-03-03): Added the Think Tank, though I might just pick one up for myself soon.

If you're well beyond the "beginner" phase in photography, have a little free time to work on a project that could be fairly successful (($$$)), and the interest in combining those two things, get ahold of me ((Preferably via AOL IM - see contact info to the right.)).

I've recently re-thought a lot of the UDSLR project I've had on a back burner for a few years and have come up with some changes that I think are more exciting and simply "better" than the ideas I had a year ago. I can't say much publicly, but if you're interested in helping out, I'll be happy to share more details.

The project has been several years in the making, but I'm fairly happy with the latest shift and I think I'll be moving forward with the project soon.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 162); »

Later this week I expect a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens to arrive at my house. It should come with a 1.4x teleconverter and a drop-in circular polarizing filter ((Canon makes the only one?)).

The 300/2.8 is perhaps one of the finest lenses Canon makes. Its average overall rating is a perfect 10 at FredMiranda, and many say the lens suffers almost no image quality degradation with the teleconverter.

I'm going to be trying the lens out for a few months before deciding whether I'll want to add it to my personal inventory, and I'm sure I'll post my thoughts here after I get it. At this point, though, Thursday or Friday can't arrive quickly enough.

I agree with most of what Matt Ball has to say in this article. The people of whom he speaks seem to develop software because they feel they can make money from it, not because they personally need the software. Building software you yourself would and do use is one of the keys to long-term software success.

At Cynical Peak, we've built all of our software for our use. Not because we think it's going to make a quick buck, but because we'll always have at least two customers who will care about updates.

The Photo Battle Blog keeps a simple table that contains the IP address, the vote choice ("1" or "2"), and the post_id.

I'd like to add a feature to the plugin that drives the entire process that allows me to get some statistics. I've already written up the code to generate the easy statistic: total votes for "1" vs. total votes for "2."

But I'd also like to show the "win" totals, where a single post_id is the "battle." If I win one day 40-7 but Steve wins the next day 33-32, our "win" totals would be 1-1.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 209); »

This is simply an experiment, but one I'd call relatively successful. I took three exposures of the local Outback near my house. The scene has a wide range of light and dark tones, and thus was suitable for an HDR technique. The three images (+/- 2 stops) are included along the top row.

I picked up a copy of Photomatix earlier today, and it was used to create the image. I tweaked it in Photomatix's Tone Mapping but didn't spend any time in Photoshop as recommended by the well-known and well-linked HDR Tutorial at Stuck in Customs.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 292); »

Sometimes Aperture 2.0's hue selector yields some surprising results. Moving around within this bright sun, I can grab just about every color: blues, yellows, greens, reds, oranges, purples…

That makes sense, and should serve as a warning: don't try to select hues in super-bright or super-dark areas, or you'll get similarly surprising results.

You can also be tricked in other ways. In some other sunset images, I tried to grab what I thought were streaks of blue in the sky, but the actual pixels were red. The sky only appeared to be blue in that region because, compared to the rest of the true red/orange sky, that region had a little bit more blue… but not enough to make blue the dominant color and thus what the hue chooser would display and select.

I haven't used a mousepad since… my first laser optical mouse in… 1999? 2000?

John Gruber attributes this quote to Emerson

We postpone our literary work until we have more ripeness and skill to write, and we one day discover that our literary talent was a youthful effervescence which we have now lost.

From his recent interview.