Entries Tagged 'News & Info' ↓

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.

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.

Continue reading →

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 →

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.
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”.

Continue reading →

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 →

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.

Continue reading →

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.