January 2008 Archives (26 posts)
Sony develops a 25 MP full frame sensor
Yesterday, Sony announced the development of a 25 MP 35mm full frame sensor that will give Canon a run for its money in the full frame DSLR market. It’s rumoured that Nikon is going to release a 24 MP full frame camera later in the year.
All of a sudden my full frame Canon 5D with a 12.8 MP sensor doesn’t seem so impressive but it doesn’t matter. It’s easy to get caught up in the megapixel and megabyte race and wanting the latest gear but it’s meaningless. You can have the greatest camera gear in the world and still be a terrible photographer.
Posted in Photography at 2:07 AM | Comments (0)
Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford
I read about Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford but for some reason never watched it on YouTube until now. Inspiring stuff and yes, I am a Jobs fanboy.
Posted in Apple at 8:35 PM | Comments (0)
Failed Apple products
Wired has a nice piece on Apple’s Most Notorious Flops. I completely forgot about the Apple Pippin — the game machine from 1996 that was a complete disaster. Here is a great example of where Microsoft copied something Apple did and actually succeeded with the Xbox.
I still think that the G4 Cube was a thing of design beauty. I always wanted one and a lot of people still do. This is a hard to find collector’s item.
My favourite failed Apple product is the Apple IIc — my very first Apple computer. I still have mine, including the carrying case that I used to take it to high school with. I think it was around $2,000 and the best birthday present I ever received.
I loved that the computer was featured in the movies 2010 (1984) and A View to a Kill (1985).
Posted in Apple at 7:21 AM | Comments (0)
Lakai Fully Flared Intro
Lakai Fully Flared Intro — very cool opening to a skateboard video shot in slow motion with explosions by Spike Jonze and his production team. I’d love to get my hands on this.
Unfortunately the Lakai Limited Footwear website has nothing at all about the Lakai Fully Flared DVD. If they do have it for sale they’ve hidden it well.
Update: the video is no longer available on YouTube. You’d think that after a million people watch your video, you might put something on your website telling people where they can purchase it? How do these guys stay in business with such a crack marketing team.
Posted in Web at 9:39 PM | Comments (0)
Apple iPhone Doomed To Falurire
Mitchell Ashley, “the independent voice of Microsoft customers” wrote an article titled (with the typo), Apple iPhone Doomed To Falurire — Windows Mobile 7 Plans For 2009 Leaked. Windows Mobile 7 isn’t scheduled for release until 2009 (and who knows if that won’t get pushed back until 2010) but Ashley believes that it will kick the iPhone’s butt. I wonder if Ashley has heard of a brown brick called Zune.
Windows Mobile 7 looks like another copy of the iPhone. By the time it gets released, the iPhone will have been out for two years yet Ashely thinks the iPhone will fade away? The last two major product releases from Microsoft have been failures — Zune and Windows Vista. I wonder why he thinks Windows Mobile 7 will be any different.
To top things off, Mitchell Ashley based his assumptions on a sketchy blog entry authored by InsideMicrosoft blogger Nathan Weinberg. Weinberg claims to have a document detailing plans for Windows Mobile 7. He says he can’t publish the article but includes a lot of screen captures (which may be the work of a hack with too much time on their hands).
I love this quote from Weinberg:
Windows Mobile 7 will dramatically change the way we use mobile devices. It will emphasize the use of touch on the device, as well as motion gestures created by using the device. It is, absolutely, Microsoft’s effort to beat back the iPhone, and the iPhone is referenced several times in the document.
I though that Apple dramatically changed the way we use mobile devices with the iPhone in 2007. As one commenter said on Weinberg’s site, “Apple innovates and Microsoft imitates.”
Posted in Apple at 8:27 PM | Comments (0)
I am a web designer
People ask me what I do for a living. I could say that I’m a creative director or an art director (for my company of one) but after reading Nick Cernis’ funny entry about The Job Title Blacklist For The Self-Employed I’ll settle on being just a web designer.
Yes. I also do web development, photography, video editing, logo design, print design, search engine optimization and sound editing for my clients but what I do the most is design websites. And that makes me a web designer.
Posted in Web Development at 12:32 AM | Comments (2)
Lifford Wine Agency
Lifford is the largest wine importer in Toronto. They supply wine to restaurants and hotels but they also sell wine to consumers. With their new site you can order the wine online and have it shipped to your door if you live in Ontario.
Why would you want to buy wine from Lifford? Because they carry wines that the LCBO does not and they only carry the best. If you’re feeling thirsty or your wine cellar is getting low then visit www.liffordwine.com and view their selection of wines.
Posted in JAK MEDIA and Web Design at 5:41 PM | Comments (0)
Is QuarkXPress dead yet?
John Gruber recently posted some photos from Macworld 2008 on Flickr. The one that caught my eye was Quark Booth, Busy as Usual. It shows an almost empty Quark booth on the expo floor.
The comments on this photo are telling and quite funny:
“I had to open Quark just the other day to open a file from a client. First time I had opened it in two years. It made me feel gross. Oh, and of course, it crashed.”
QuarkXPress used to be the choice for design and publishing professionals when it came to page layout software. Unfortunately for Quark, they are losing market share to Adobe InDesign because they don’t know how to treat their customers.
“Bwah ha ha - you can only overcharge and under-serve your customers for so long. Suck it, Quark.”
I have always hated QuarkXPress. It never felt like a Macintosh program to me from the time I first used it in the early 90s. I preferred Aldus Pagemaker which Adobe purchased, killed and replaced with InDesign.
“our leopard upgrade coincided with the removal of quark from our workflow after 17 years! … they just got too hard to work with … its like they are stuck in 1997 … anyway - see ya later quark”
QuarkXPress’ attempts to compete with InDesign have been abysmal. Any of the OS X versions of the software I’ve used were always buggy, prone to crashing and clumsy to use. It’s amazing to me how a company can become a leader in their industry, ignore their customers and fade away.
Posted in OS X Software at 11:56 PM | Comments (2)
Coming up for air
It feels like I’ve been working 80 hours/week since last June. My JAK MEDIA clients have kept me insanely busy. I’m grateful for all the work but I need a break!
I’m close to finishing a major website redesign that began 5 months ago. I think it’s one of the finest sites I’ve designed and developed and I can’t wait to launch it. Prion Interactive has done a fabulous job of developing the back-end — content management system, ecommerce and more.
Yesterday another site I designed and developed was launched — Safety Smart DVDs for Disney Educational Productions. I’ve done a few projects for The Mickey but this is one of the few that people can actually see.
In the past five months I’ve also:- completed a couple of BrandSaver microsites
- redesigned Save.ca (in development and coming soon)
- redesigned a website for a Toronto ad agency
- designed and developed The Merchant Vintner Ltd.
- developed MissionExpo TO8
- designed and developed The Union of Canadian Transportation Employees
- developed Life’s Next Steps
- designed and developed Commissionaires
- designed and developed HOUSE OF COMPASSION of Toronto
Somewhere in there I managed to have my house torn down, rebuilt and move my office. I still have pictures to hang, boxes to unpack and my desk is covered in inches of paper and unopened mail.
So, if it feels like I’ve been ignoring you, or if my photoblog hasn’t been updated in a while, you know why. My apologies.
I’d love to be spending my evenings doing what normal people do — watch TV, rent a movie, read a book play hockey, sleep 8 hours.
I’ve been dying to get out and take some photos with my Canon 5D since I got it last June. Hasn’t happened. But soon, very soon I’ll have a life again and I’ll be in touch.
Posted in JAK MEDIA and Personal at 10:43 PM | Comments (2)
Buy a Bigger Envelope!
If you’ve been lusting after the new MacBook Air then buy a bigger envelope and save yourself some money!
Nick Cernis has a laid-back productivity blog that is a great read for any freelancers out there. I’ve bookmarked it and made it a part of my daily read.
Posted in Blogs at 1:25 AM | Comments (0)
PhotographyVoter
PhotographyVoter is a collaborative website which allows it’s community to submit and vote on photography related articles, tutorials and resources. The perfect fix for photography info when you’ve checked all of your photo sites for updates.
Posted in Photography at 1:31 AM | Comments (0)
Tom Cruise is cracked
I just watched The Cruise Indoctrination Video Scientology Tried To Suppress on Gawker. I can’t decide if I feel sorry for this little man or jealous that somebody so rich and powerful can seem so crazy.
If you watch the video you’ll wonder what Tom is blathering on about? Nick Denton sums it up best when he says, “if Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch was an 8 on the scale of scary, this is a 10.”
If Scientology is so great and makes such a difference in the world then why is it so secretive? Why would Scientology remove this video from so many websites and prevent people from seeing it (other than the fact that it makes Tom look nuts)?
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Scientology is a cult as many have suggested. Weird stuff.
UPDATE: Derober has an abridged version of the Cruise video called Scientology Defined. Subtitles explain some of the terms and concepts that Cruise refers to.
The Un-Funny TRUTH about Scientology is another video making the rounds that looks at the slimy side of the church.
Posted in Observations at 4:17 PM | Comments (1)
How to store your coffee beans
Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh ground coffee or the taste of a freshly brewed cup? To get great tasting coffee you need good quality, fresh roasted coffee beans that have been stored properly.
I start with coffee beans from a local coffee shop that roasts their own beans on the premises — The Savoury Grounds Coffee Company or Balzac’s Coffee are my favourites.
Purchase whole beans instead of ground coffee
A lot of experts will tell you that “roasted coffee beans are partially stale after 2 weeks.” That bag of ground Starbuck’s coffee at your local grocery store was roasted weeks ago. Who knows how long it has been sitting on the shelf.
I’ve read in a few of different places that ground coffee loses a lot of its flavour shortly after grinding. My coffee always tastes best if I grind the beans right before I make it.
Always store your beans in an airtight container
Don’t leave your beans in a bag or paper container. Put them in an airtight container and store it at room temperature. Never put your coffee in your refrigerator. CoffeeOutpost.com offers this advice on when to refrigerate coffee:
Never, unless you are conducting a science experiment on how long it takes to ruin perfectly good coffee. The fridge is one of the absolute worst places to put coffee.
If you’re not going to use your fresh pound of beans right away, put them in an airtight container and throw it in the freezer. They’ll stay relatively fresh for a month or two but why bother? Just go to your local coffee shop and pick up some fresh roasted beans.
Posted in Food at 11:23 AM | Comments (1)
Declutter your desk
If you love USB gadgets (like my father) then your desk is probably full of power cables, routers, card readers and lots of cable. Van Mardian has a simple and useful site called Declutter your desk. For $33.42 (CDN) he’ll show you how to hide your desktop clutter. Brilliant.
Posted in Observations at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
DreamHost used to be a good web hosting company
DreamHost used to be a good web hosting company. Their server downtime was rare. Service disruptions in the middle of the day were unheard of. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years the company has grown so much that its service is suffering, badly.
I’ve recommended DreamHost to friends and clients without hesitation. Their shared hosting plans are incredibly cheap, but now it seems, you get what you pay for — mediocrity. The dream was too good to be true and now a lot of people are waking up, looking for alternatives.
Unreliable
If your business or blog depends on a rock-solid web host, then I can’t and won’t recommend DreamHost. Whenever one of their servers goes down, my clients phone me as if I was DreamHost tech support. Dreamhost doesn’t have telephone support for their basic hosting plans so the guy that recommended them gets the blame when things don’t work properly.
Today, DreamHost decided to bill all of their customers for the next year and beyond. To drive their customers crazy they send out lame messages like:
Ack. Through a COMPLETE bumbling on our part, we’ve accidentally attempted to charge you for the ENTIRE year of 2008 (and probably 2009!) ALREADY (it was all due to a fat finger)!
A lot of my clients can’t stand these messages and it reflects poorly on DreamHost. It makes them look really unprofessional.
I received a couple of dozen emails from DreamHost today for incorrect charges to various accounts. If that wasn’t bad enough, this pathetic apology was stuffed in by Inbox:
Thank you very very much for your patience with this.. we PROMISE this won’t happen again. There’s no need to reply to this message unless of course you have any other questions at all!Sincerely,
The Foolish DreamHost Billing Team!
Hobby or Business?
Despite the server outages and spotty service of late, Dreamhost is still a great deal for some small businesses and bloggers on a budget. You get an awful lot with your DreamHost account and most of the time it works. So don’t panic just yet.
If you’re hosting needs go beyond a hobby site or small blog then I would start second guessing DreamHost, now. If your business depends on your website then invest in solid hosting and don’t take a chance with DreamHost. The money you’re saving now on cheap hosting may cost you down the road. Why take a chance?
Shared hosting is tired
There have been a lot of rumblings about shared hosting environments of late. Alex Payne recently wrote that shared hosting is a ghetto:
As a web developer, dealing with shared hosts is a nightmare… The constraints, the instability, and the unpredictability of a shared hosting environment are a big part of the reason why the web hosting business is moving towards virtualization everywhere you look.
If you want a clear understanding of what’s wrong with shared hosting and Dreamhost in particular, then head on over to The Dark Side of DreamHost (and Shared Hosting).
Media Temple
I’m seriously looking at (mt) Media Temple as an alternative to DreamHost. If anyone has switched or has some experience with (mt) I would love to hear about it.
Posted in Web Development at 10:15 AM | Comments (3)
Prepara herb-savor keeps herbs fresh for 3 weeks
I was reading I.D. magazine when I stopped on page 46. On the middle of the page was the coolest piece of product design since the Dyson vacuum — a kitchen tool called the herb-savor.
How many times have you purchased fresh thyme, oregano or sage, used a small amount and put it in the fridge to wilt until it becomes compost? Okay, if you don’t cook then the answer is never. I love to cook and I’m always throwing out herbs that have turned black and slimy.
Prepara’s tagline is ‘chef’s performance tools’ but I prefer ‘awesome kitchen gadgets’. They also make a cookbook holder called the chef’s center — another must have item for the chefs out there.
Swissmar is the Canadian distributor for Prepara products which might be available at Williams Sonoma. If you’re looking for a great gift for someone that likes to cook then prepara.com is the site to visit.
UPDATE: A representative from Swissmar contacted me to say that you can purchase Prepara products at these stores in Toronto:
- Academy of Culinary Arts
- The Cook’s Place
- Degrees Kitchen Store
- Internet Kitchen Store
- Neat Storage Essentials
- The Peppermill
- Placewares
I checked with The Cook’s Place on Danforth Avenue and they had a few herb-savor’s in stock. This was the only product they carry from Prepara but they were more than willing to order other products if I wanted — great customer service. This is a store that I will be revisiting again soon.
Posted in Kitchen at 10:12 PM | Comments (2)
Paramount and Universal moving to Blu-ray
The Digital Bits is reporting that Paramount and Unviersal are moving toward Blu-ray soon. Universal may not make an announcement until February (their contract period with HD-DVD expires the end of January).
Home Media Magazine’s top story today is New Line, HBO Turn Blu. There were hopes that Microsoft might release an Xbox with an internal HD-DVD drive at CES. Not surprisingly, that didn’t happen. When asked about the format war some Microsoft at CES had this to say:
The fate of HD-DVD is not critical to the success of the Xbox 360, according to senior Microsoft officials, who have noted that the company would consider supporting rival technology Blu-ray if it were victorious in the high-definition format war.
Posted in Home Theatre at 9:47 PM | Comments (0)
Blu-ray vs HD DVD: Game over
This pie chart from Wikipedia helps to put the Blu-ray vs HD DVD format war into perspective. With Warner putting their support behind Blu-ray, I’d say that HD DVD’s days are numbered if not over.
I wonder if HD DVD manufacturers like Toshiba knew Warner Bros. was bailing on HD DVD? It would explain the recent price cut on HD DVD players — sell off as many players as possible during the busiest shopping season without looking desperate. We’ll probably see further price cuts on HD DVD players before they become boat anchors.
Was it a coincidence that Warner Bros. held off on their announcement to support Blu-ray until after the busy holiday season? Was it a nice gesture to the HD DVD camp before they pull the plug? You bet. I feel sorry for the early adopters that went for the cheaper disc player.
I wonder if Apple will finally announce support for Blu-ray discs at the upcoming Macworld? Maybe one of their new computer models will ship with Blu-ray support.
Posted in Home Theatre at 4:16 PM | Comments (2)
One step closer to a Blu-ray world
By the end of the year, Warner Bros will be releasing all of its high-definition DVD content in the Blu-ray format. They will stop releasing HD DVD discs by May.
Warner Bros. currently released their movies in Blu-ray and HD DVD formats and say they wanted to give consumers a choice. A long drawn out format war continues is only going to confuse consumers and prevent them from investing in either format. President of Warner Bros. home Entertainment Group, Kevin Tsujihara feels that:
Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience.
I think this is a step in the right direction and hope that Hollywood can figure out this ridiculous HD format war in 2008.
Posted in Home Theatre and Movies at 5:29 PM | Comments (0)
InDesign CS2 not supported in Leopard
Oh brother. I guess it is back to the Adobe online store. Again. InDesign CS2 isn’t supported by Adobe under OS X 10.5 according to my frequent crashes and a PDF on the Adobe website that says:
Older versions of our creative software will not be updated to support Mac OS X Leopard.
There was a time when Adobe, Macromedia and other software companies would provide upgrades to older software. It looks like those days are gone. Now that Adobe owns the market for design software they can do whatever they want. Supporting their existing software and keeping loyal customers happy isn’t part of their mandate.
Posted in OS X Software at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)
SpamSieve is super slow under Leopard
SpamSieve does a great job at combatting my email spam but under Mac OS X 10.5 it is unbelievably slow. Regarding Leopard compatibility, the makers of SpamSieve provide this warning:
Leopard has different performance characteristics than previous versions of Mac OS X, with some operations taking approximately ten times longer than before. For some users, this can make SpamSieve slow to launch (many bounces in the Dock) and slow to respond thereafter. Most users will not notice a difference, however.
I’m one of those users that notice the difference. The program takes forever to start (1 minute) and when it filters my mail, everything in Microsoft Entourage grinds to a halt.
Over two months ago, the developers of SpamSieve were working with Apple to develop some improvements but so far there haven’t been any updates. Boy, am I glad I didn’t upgrade to Leopard when it first came out.
Posted in OS X Software at 4:42 PM | Comments (2)
David Lynch iPhone commercial
Okay so maybe David Lynch didn’t make an official iPhone commercial but the YouTube clip David Lynch on iPhone is pretty funny. I think he makes a very good point about the small screen.
Posted in Apple and Movies at 4:26 PM | Comments (0)
Leopard is slow on my Power Mac G5
I finally got a few design projects out of the way and thought it would be safe to upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). I backed everything up installed the new system and have been disappointed ever since.
I’m using a PowerPC Macintosh and I’m finding that Leopard is slow! A dual 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 with 2 GB RAM running Leopard feels underpowered.
A day after upgrading my system, Adobe Photoshop CS2 wouldn’t work. For the first time ever I encountered this dreaded message.
I ponied up $199.00 and downloaded the Photoshop CS3 upgrade. The installer wouldn’t run. The Photoshop CS3 Beta that I installed earlier in the year was conflicting with the final release (even though I uninstalled the application after the beta expired).
I’m guessing that a lot of people ran into the same problems that I did because Adobe has a page on their site for the Adobe CS3Clean Script which removes any trace of a Photoshop CS3 Beta install. This software worked and allowed me to proceed with my Photoshop CS3 installation.
After the installation I clicked on my shiny new Photoshop CS3 icon and waited. I watched the icon bounce and bounce and then in stopped. Photoshop refused to start. Groan.
Instead of putting my fist through my Cinema Display I went for a Cocktail — Mac OS X disk utility software. Before this would work I had to download the Leopard-compatible version. More Leopard updates. Groan.
After a restart, running Cocktail, and another restart, my old G5 was happy again. Photoshop CS3 launched right away and I was back in business. This was a 3 hour ordeal.
Leopard seems to run a little faster now but I think my tired G5 will have to step aside for an Intel-based Mac Pro computer. I’m just not sure I’m ready for a 3.0GHz, 8-core Intel Xeon-based Mac Pro.
Posted in Apple and OS X Software at 2:35 PM | Comments (5)
Vanity Fair on the upcoming Indiana Jones movie
Keys to the Kingdom is a Vanity Fair article on the upcoming Spielberg/Lucas/Ford collaboration — Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
Over 20 years in the making. I can’t wait to see this and really hope that it doesn’t suck.
Posted in Movies at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
The Jack
The family was in the car listening to a local radio station. The song that was playing was The Jack by AC/DC.
I don’t think anybody was listening too closely to the lyrics (which was a good thing). As Bon Scott sang the chorus,
She’s got the Jack
She’s got the Jack…
8-year-old Daniel decided to add his own lyrics,
She’s got the Jack-pot
She’s got the Jack-pot…
This led to all of us singing,
She’s got the Jack-pot
She’s got the Jack Frost
She’s got the Jack and the beanstalk
She’s got the Jack Black…
Sometimes it’s better when you don’t know what a song like The Jack is really about when you start adding your own lyrics with your children. Ignorance is bliss.
Posted in Music at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)
Jeremy Cowart Photography
Jeremy Cowart Photography is what a photography portfolio website should be:
- simple design that doesn’t compete with the photography
- fast (no annoying Flash interfaces that take forever to load and learn)
- large beautiful images without jpeg artifacts
I’m always amazed at photography sites that have small images where you need a loupe to actually view them. Worse is when you click on a thumbnail image to get a photo that is slightly larger. Talk about frustrating. Jeremy Cowart or whoever designed his site has done a fabulous job.
Posted in Photography and Web Design at 3:49 PM | Comments (0)
