Entries from April 2008 ↓

Bluetooth Headsets: It’s what all the kids are talking about (and with) these days. We picked one up for one of the iPhones, the other day. Our initial, tentative impressions?

• Good sound quality.
• Comfortable and Snug.
• Lightweight and unobtrusive. 

I know what you are thinking: We chose not to go with the Apple-branded bluetooth headset primarily because we were scared and bummed by the price tag, weighing in well over $100. Sure, there are plenty of other headsets in that zip code and price range, but that doesn’t mean that we are ready to cave, and cough up that kind of money for a simple friggin’ earpiece. Know what I’m saying?

In the coming days and weeks, we’ll update this post, as warranted, based on the performance of this thing in the real world. We are eager to see whether the hype matches reality, with headsets in general. Stay tuned.

Lucky Oliver, the Silicon Valley-based Microstock photo company, has announced that it’s throwing in the towel, apparently by May 15th, 2008.

On a personal note, I’m saddened by this news, as Lucky Oliver was the a company that spent a lot of time and energy on what I found to be a really effective and compelling layout and user experience. In fact, I found myself actually admiring the way that they did what must be mundane UI work, always with wit and style.

Not only that, but I was fortunate (okay, “lucky”) to have met Bryan, the CEO, and found him to be smart, witty, and engaging. One can’t live in Silicon Valley, though, for very long without seeing and feeling the wreckage and failures. Google gets a ton of press; The Lucky Olivers just sort of fade away. 

Our best to the Oliver team. We wish them–here it comes–Luck.

For discussion: how does this affect the MicroStock space in general? Is this an indication of some degree of saturation? Is this town not big enough for (pick your favorites)? Discuss.

Saladtopia is running an article that describes some of the details behind the reasoning to stop eating (as much) meat. Interesting read.

Microstock: Making Money from selling digital photos

The secret is out, and everybody wants in on the action. The last few years have seen a kind of boomtown vibe erupt in the world of Microstock photography. We’ve written elsewhere about the details; if you are interested in learning more about the mechanics and the specifics, then we’d encourage you to digest that material when you are able.

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Question: what do you get when you cross an Inkjet Printer with a Coffee Machine?

Answer: This thing. It’s an espresso maker. With cartridges.
In the office in which I work, we consume dangerously large quantities of caffeine. It’s not that we are bored or tired or exhausted, it’s just that we like the thrill of making these little espresso shots. Here’s the deal: Some time ago, the boss ponied-up for a Nespresso “Le Cube”, a toaster-sized espresso maker that has ease-of-use written all over it. It’s different than other espresso makers, in that users insert espresso pellets into the machine, pull a lever, and poof! Instant espresso. Continue reading →

Ever since I learned that those body-part enlargement pills really don’t work all that well, I’ve been less inclined to want to read all of those swell email messages that I get each day.

Which is a fabulous reason to pull the lever for filtering spam. It’s common for email client software applications to offer some type of spam filtering, typically configured in the program’s preferences. The problem is this: They don’t always work all that well; some are more effective than others. Continue reading →

I’ve generally had a minor beef with many of the Photoshop volumes that I’ve read. And when I say “read” I’m lying, because I end up not reading them, but sort of stumbling around, looking for interesting, relevant or fun stuff. So, the beef, of course, is not that the content of the book is inadequate–although that’s occasionally the case–but rather that the medium itself doesn’t really lend itself to the mission.
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It’s been a good year for Apple’s Aperture users, so far. Who knew that there would be two major upgraes, only weeks apart, that would change the complexion, functionality and prospects of the young application? Well, plenty of people knew, apparently.

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Omnifocus is freaking me out.
Actually, it’s not Omnifocus, per se, but rather what Omnifocus represents. Let’s back up, for a minute, though. The whole thing started with what the MBA types might refer to as an “emerging paradigm”. In this case, the paradigm is all about an alleged improvement in the centuries-old battle against sloth and procrastination.

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On the economic front, the news is bad, bad, bad. There are a lot of really smart people who’ve begun making noises about an impending recession, and then there are a few buzz-kills who have the audacity to use the “D” word: Depression. Continue reading →

It would appear that there are a huge number of people who, at the moment, have their panties all in a wad over the recent announcement by Adobe, that the next flavor of Photoshop will play nice with 64-bit systems, but only if they are Windows Vista 64-bit systems. Continue reading →

Guess who’s making money, these days? Looks like iStockphoto is yammering a little bit about their books. Look closely, and you’ll get a sense of just how much money is in this whole stock photo thing. Read the forum post here.

Pop Quiz: Okay, so what do all websites, brochures and ads have in common? Answer: they all have images, often photo images. And where do all these photo images come from? Answer: Some dude named “Rudy”. Just kidding. His real name is “Earl”.

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It’s been over a year, and I still get all warm and fuzzy over my Nikon D200. it’s one of those products that exceeds expectations (rare these days). Sure the D300 is out now, but the D200 is still shipping, and available at really, really good prices. Here’s the text that I’d written some time ago:
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You know what makes me mad? I’ll tell you. I spent thousands of hours (that’s an exaggeration) reading “literature” and classics. Voltaire, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Faulker. And not one of those nutbags wrote anything about Zombies. Oh, sure, we got plenty of rambling about the human condition, sacrifice, and even a few fart jokes along the way (courtesy of Chaucer), but not one word about flesh-eating Zombie action. Continue reading →

Regular readers know that I have this semi-unhealthy, love-hate thing going on with Omnifocus. The application in question, which is based on the  buzzword-compliant GTD worldview,  is a really good example of how some programs can look good and be useful at the same time (think Pamela Anderson with HTML coding skills). Continue reading →

Okay, we admit it: we play video games on our Mac, once in a while. And we treated ourselves to a new game, since purchasing a brand new Mac Pro with an nVidia 8800 GT video card. Obviously, we justified that purchase by kidding ourselves that we just wanted to test and benchmark the performance of a game. Continue reading →

Who knew? Turns out, the Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G ED IF AF-S VR is a swell value, even at $800. See, the thing is that this lens captures the really, really teensy stuff better than I’d expected, and does double-duty as a fabulous portrait lens. In fact, I’ve begun using this lens way, way more than I ever thought I would.

Here’s a review from Thom Hogan’s website.

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Who Knew? Goat Cheese and Pistachios. Believe it. It’s the best.

http://www.saladtopia.com/?p=23

Yes, it’s true. A website/blog thingy that’s all about Salads. Good Salads. Big Salads. Little Salads. You get the idea. Have a look.