Tiffinbox

Fundy Album Builder ... Is Fabulous!

As a wedding and portrait photographer, I spend a good deal of my time custom designing albums for my clients. It's not an easy process and it takes a good deal of my time. Part of me wants it all to be perfect. From the colors in the images to the layout; everything must match my vision and the energy of my clients.

Andrew Funderburg's Fundy Album Builder gives me just that option. As a beta tester and now full time user, I couldn't be happier. This isn't me just schilling some product to make a commission (though I do make a small amount to support this website). I have tried it, tested and been in touch with the developer who is continually making this a product you can use in your business. The cost of the program pales in comparison the returns you will make after you use this program on a regular basis. The video tutorials will help you get all set up and started in no time.

Interested? Now until April 15, 2008 receive 15% off of this product when you mention the following promo code: "seshu."

Happy designing! Leave your comment here after you have had a chance to use Fundy Album Builder.

Feeling Pixish Today?

Pixish is a place for photographers and publishers to meet. It is another Derek Powazek production (remember JPG Magazine?)

Photographers Who Want To Rank Higher In Search Engines

SEO isn't an overnight thing. Want to rank higher in the search engines? Big Folio is behind the site called Rank Higher. Cost for the CD is $79. The ROI could be huge depending on your approach to Search Engine Optimization for your Flash-based site and how much time and patience you have. [Full disclosure – I get zilch for mentioning their sites or product]

What's In An Email? I Am Changing Subscription Providers

Many of you receive a RSS or subscription feed delivered right to your inbox. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for subscribing. Recently, however, I have noticed Feedblitz the current provider pushing unwanted advertisements (like for a service called WebJay Yahoo!) through my subscription list. While I have valued Feedblitz's help in the past in coordinating my subscription list, I am not thrilled about these new advertisements creeping up on my subscribers or me. Frankly, I am pretty annoyed by them and I suspect you are too. So, starting today, I am moving the subscription service to Feedburner (no guarantees they won't push advertising either).

If you would please re-subscribe, I would be grateful and of course honored. You will notice a new subscription box on the website (it has a thin white line around it). I am also going to try and import all my subscribers over to the new service but I am not entirely sure how successful that will. There may be limitations with the new service, technical issues and other bugaboos. I ask for your patience during this transition time. [Update: Does not look like I can import your email addresses, so please re-subscribe ... I am terribly sorry about the inconvenience!]

If any of you knows of a service that works well with blogs such as this one, please let me know. I am all ears.

In 2008, I expect to have some design and layout changes made so that the site loads more quickly, showcases more great photography from around the world and provides some consistency in how external links to your favorite photographers or other resources are displayed. There is room for a lot of improvement. It's about setting priorities and finding the right amount of time to get it all done.

To more illuminating posts in 2008. See you then!

MacSanta Deals On Now

If you are a Macintosh user like me, you will want to check out MacSanta for some year-end deals on software you will put to use right away. You get one day to buy a particular software, at a 20% discount. So, you do have to keep visiting everyday. This is almost as good as the MacHeist deals last year.

I bought Hazel, from Noodlesoft this morning because I swear I have to get better organized about my files. I am eyeing WebbnoteHappy to corral all those links that I have stashed away.

The MacSanta deals go on till December 24. Remember to use the discount code: "MACSANTA07" when you pay for your software at checkout.

Facebooked

Blackle, A Green Google Alternative, Is The New Black

Going "green" is tough. We receive junk mail, use diapers that have a half-life of maybe a 20 years (speculating here), drive our cars half a block to pick up a gallon of milk that is in a plastic container we just toss back into the garbage.

Yuck!

Well, with another kid on the way, I have been thinking of doing a whole lot more recycling. But there is something else that I spend a great deal of time doing - staring at a screen and especially Google.com. According to Justine Ungaro, a fellow photographer, "If Google had a black screen, taking in account the huge number of page views, according to calculations, 750 mega watts/hour per year would be saved."

So, check out Blackle. No jokes here. This is still the same old Google search engine doing its thang in the background. Pretty cool.

Blackle is finally the new black.

UPDATE: Apparently there is also another website called Ninja (all black and "deadly accurate" – get it) that does the same thing as Blackle. [Thanks to Tim Sanders for this tip in his latest blog post]

Consider Securing Your Images

Worried someone is swiping your images from your website? Well, logic dictates that if your images are online and someone wants to "borrow" them, they can and probably will.

To an extent I don't have a problem with that. What? Stop the insanity, you say. I did say "to an extent" didn't I?

So here is the caveat: you can borrow my images and even use them on your site as long as my name or brand is prominently displayed on the image and never cropped or erased. If you want to spread some Seshu Spice, I am all for it.

The flip side of this is of course taking it off my site and calling them your own, promoting any product or defaming or libeling anyone present in the image. Tsk, tsk ... as I read in one other visual artist's site, "It's tacky and illegal." And, yeah, I will come after you like a ruffled bull elephant.

So, if you don't see a credit on the image, please don't take, swipe, steal, use, hijack, usurp any of my or anyone else's images. Just because it is available doesn't make it ethical for you to download them. Ask, if you are interested in the images. A short note to the artist will open doors faster than pissing her or him off.

Photographer David Riecks has this page showing a slew of image security options for people like you and me. Some can be easily implemented and some others require a monthly cash outflow. In the end, you have to decide whether to risk it or protect your investment, or in my case make it a win-win situation as long as the guidelines are adhered to by the user/borrower.

So, what do you do with your images? Do you register them with the copyright office? Or do you just don't care? Comment.

Get Clicky With It

I have been tracking my various websites using Clicky, an online stats program that is easy to set up and easy to use. The user interface, unlike Google Analytics (which I also use, but now more sparingly), is easy on the eyes and my limited capacity to focus on numbers. Check it out here.

Saving Face & Getting Linked

I have a Facebook page. I also use LinkedIn.

Check them both out and let's connect one way or another.

Sleep On The Job

On CNN right now, is Metronaps CEO Arshad Chowdhry who is pitching the idea that it helps a company's productivity when employees take a well-earned nap during the day.

At $800/month, a company can rent a Metronaps pod which allows one to hunker down for a snooze. You even get (not to keep) the Bose QuietComfort2 noise-cancelling headphones. Plug-n-play your iPod and get some zzz's.

Snap On, Snap Off?

For those who visit the site, you are offered a feature to see a preview of the links I provide. This feature is driven by Snap. But lately some of the top bloggers are pulling away from using it on their sites. First Robert Scoble and then Thomas Hawk have decided to say nay to Snap.

What do you say? Should I keep it turned on or should I chuck it? Is it annoying you? Could I do without it?

Speak now or forever hold our tongue (in cheek, of course).

GIMP v. Goliath

I am not even sure this is a fair comparison, but LifeHacker points to a blog that pits GIMP, a free and open-source image editing software against Adobe's Photoshop.

Someone has cajones, I tell ya.

Who is Seetharaman Narayanan?

If you really had to ask, then you obviously haven't ever launched the Adobe Photoshop program on your computer.

Via India Uncut, I learned that another blogger had posted something about desis working at Adobe, but Seetha as he is called has a fan club all his own. For some reason his name, second only to Thomas Knoll [the grand poobah of Photoshop], has garnered all kinds of curious responses. Well, here is Seetha in his own words.

And folks, here is how to pronounce his name: See-tHa-Raa-mun Naa-raa-ya-nun

All You Can Upload

Space is indeed the final frontier. Disk space that is. Now that you have gone digital and may even have a blog like this one where you post your images you are going to be looking for storage space on either your desktop or an external drive.

TechCrunch reports that C-NET has a new service that can't be beat. It's called All You Can Upload. A tad bit wordy, but it gets the job done especially because the storage is free. You pay zilch. Not bad, eh?

The downside as the TechCrunch report suggests is that if you loose track of your images (AYCUL generates links that you use on your blogs, for instance) you are done for. So, either you save those links off in Notepad or some other text recording program or upload your images again.

Allan Herrell, one of the commenters on the TechCrunch post has dissected the "terms and conditions" of this "free" upload and storage opportunity. His is comment number 19. Please read it before using this service.

Are You Trying To Raise Money For A Cause?

If the answer is yes, you should check out Fundable. It's an interesting concept where all you have to do is get a group of people to pledge a minimum amount of money towards your cause/event/gift. When the goal is met, only then are the funds withdrawn from your PayPal-tied accounts. The service charges a modest 5% commission. So, from my calculations, if you budget to receive approximately 10% more than your actual goal, you should be golden.

claimID, I Did

claimID is one of those Web 2.0 applications that may go places or not. It's really hard to say. But I was intrigued by it enough to apply for an invitation and I got it a few minutes ago.

I quickly set up a few links [much more to be done, of course] but I wanted to share my online ID with you all right away.

So here it is

Yeah, I can be geeky that way.

Logogle

Make your own Google logo for your search page. I have a feeling attorneys at Google are beginning to draft their famous cease-n-desist letter to Logogle right about now.

Meanwhile, this is what my search site looks like:

Polaroid-o-nizer

"Shake it, shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture." – OutKast

Here is to upping the ante on instant gratification. Polaroid as a company may have come and gone [or at least is on its way out like all the other big guns in the industry] but some creative soul has created an online tool called the Polaroid-o-nizer to mimic the look and feel of those instant wonders.

This is what I came up with – a picture I recently shot of my son who just turned 2 ... months old!

Show & Tell, 13 of 21

Caption: Boys praying at Al Aqsa Mosque, West Bank (Palestine), © Tahir Amin

Please leave your feedback for Tahir Amin in the [comments] section of this post for this image.

Show & Tell: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Show & Tell, 11 of 21

Yes, I missed publishing an image yesterday. Wickedly busy at work and with a young one at home, simply lacking the time or the energy to do when I got home. So do forgive me.

Caption: Weary feet, Delhi, © Tahir Amin

Please leave your feedback for Tahir Amin in the [comments] section of this post for this image.

Show & Tell: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Blacklisting Spammers, A Friday Ritual

I began last Friday by blacklisting spammers. Well, I actually listed the IP addresses they so liberally use. I have decided to make this a Friday ritual.

“I want you to copy and paste these numbers in your respective ban-lists. This has to be a group effort. Ok? Please help me, help you, help us.”

So here is this Friday's offerings:

68.36.21.58
200.151.121.74
24.42.140.140
80.9.9.44
68.121.87.225
213.113.111.153
24.162.108.100
24.10.7.99
172.198.82.41
193.150.208.145
172.131.63.205
24.57.179.137
68.39.160.197
64.139.81.211
194.129.118.249

Blacklisting Spammers

Starting today, and once a week, I have decided to publish all the offending IP addresses that keep sending me junk via TypePad's comment system – spam, porn, crap, garbage. I am also including those IP addresses that send me trackback pings to buy porn, crap, garbage.

I want you to copy and paste these numbers in your respective ban-lists. This has to be a group effort. Ok? Please help me, help you, help us. I do realize that IP addresses are sometimes created dynamically so this may be just an act of sheer futilty, but I must try and do something about this scourge.

So, here we go:

10.136.156.11
66.246.218.30
219.144.61.105
68.226.184.86
68.115.255.153
66.32.156.53
70.187.249.240
24.6.32.150
172.140.173.177
172.132.242.173
201.241.59.17
68.63.51.245
211.48.47.39
201.140.65.102
200.77.221.148
62.141.231.169

A Tiger's Roar

I am plunging head on and buying into the hype that is TIGER, the new operating system Apple will launch on April 29. But I am doing it at a discount through Amazon.com. Click this link to get your copy of the upgrade at $35 off the sticker price. Apple will charge you $129 (free if you buy a new computer of course), so I think $89.99 is a pretty good deal. Should keep the beancounters at bay. Clicking the link also helps Tiffinbox make a little cash. So, thanks in advance.

Here is what I am looking forward to in TIGER: SAFARI, Apple's web browser with a built in RSS reader, so I can keep up with my email and my news all in one place. I am eagerly waiting to see AUTOMATOR in action; especially churning out images in bulk. DASHBOARD and the accompanying widgets are fun but I am not so sure about that just yet. I never took to Konfabulator, so DASHBOARD appears like technology that's a bit of a johnny-come-lately. Then there is SPOTLIGHT; an internal search engine on steroids. Woohoo!

AdobeMedia [Adobe + Macromedia]

So long competition. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Or, have them join you. Adobe 1, Macromedia Zilch. That's right. The newscasters aren't lying to you. I heard this from Jason Kottke first. Adobe is buying Macromedia for $3.4 billion. Hey, it's just money. But I am curious what this means to image makers and Flash content producers, among many other products Macromedia has up its sleeve. Will they work independently or will Adobe assume all titles and Flash will be called Adobe Flash and Dreamweaver, Adobe Dreamweaver. It will take some getting used to, I bet. But in the end if we win, who cares right? For more info click here, though the last few tries have been futile. I suspect Adobe's site is down thanks to the barrage of hits it is getting just about now.

For a bit of a desi angle on this story – Shantanu Narayen “will remain President and Chief Operating Officer of Adobe.” You go boy!

Gellin' Like Magellan?

Gel2005 is a rather interesting conference that will be held in New York city on April 28 & 29.

Speakers will "explore what it means to create a good, meaningful, or authentic experience."

The theme is "good experience": how it's created, and what it means in art, society, media, community, business, and technology.

Here is the motley two-day schedule. At $1200, it's pricey.

Prowling Tiger, Hidden Software

For Apple Macintosh aficionados any major update to the operating system is received like the second coming of Jesus H. Christ. I know I get down on my knees and give thanks. Ok, hyperbole aside, since iPod, Apple has been on a roll and well, as a bonafide fan I am a few degrees shy of entering a giddy spell knowing that on April 29, "TIGER," the new operating system will be released to the public. The upgrades are usually better, slicker and more efficient than the last version. I could stick with "Panther" or cough up the $129 to move on up to "Tiger" [or Wombat or any other silly animal that creeps into your psyche].

I know the majority world uses Intel-based PCs. Fine by me. I have been using a Apple Macintosh system for almost 20 years and I am not about to give up on the company just because it lacks the majority market share that Microsoft's clunky OS basks in. For designers and photographers worldwide, the Apple Macintosh has come to symbolize style, elegance, simplicity and efficiency. For me, you can add – pleasure.

Tiger's new features are a boon. I look forward to seeing them all in action. Make the switch today [if you are in the majority] .

PixelGenius Launches PhotoshopNews.com

Chicago-based Pixel Genius which is well known for creating Photoshop plug-ins has launched an incredible blog called PhotoshopNews.

Adobe Announces CreativeSuite 2

Jason Kottke reports that Adobe announced a major upgrade to its CreativeSuite software package at the Adobe Ideas Conference.

One word - Woohooo!

NYPLDigitalGallery

Via Sree Sreenivasan

“NYPL Digital Gallery provides access to over 275,000 images digitized from primary source and printed rarities in the collection of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera and more.”

Free for student/non-commercial use. Cough up the moolah if you are planning on using it on a product for sale, on your website or for even a non-profit organization.

“... as the physical rights holder of this material most of which is in the public domain for copyright purposes, the Library charges a usage fee if images are to be used in any nonprofit or commercial publication, broadcast, web site, exhibition, promotional material, etc. The usage fee is not a copyright fee.”

Please read the licensing agreement before downloading anything.

Yahoo! Acquires Flickr

Just read this on Jason Kottke's site – Flickr, the popular online image sharing and social network company, has been acquired by Yahoo!

Take A Leap

Via Robert Scoble

Sending images across to your friends and family have always been a major pain in the you-know-where. I use YouSendIt to send large files, zipped or unzipped to my clients. Even today, as I attempted to use that service, my machine choked and I had to split the delivery into seven separate packages. Not fun.

Well, just as I was lamenting about this to a colleague at work, I saw Robert Scoble's short post about PhotoLeap.

I have yet to try this service – there are options for free, plus and pro – but from a cursory look I think it holds a lot of promise for both PC and Macintosh users.

It just may make my life easier when clients come-a-calling for me to ship them images and neither my ISP nor theirs will cooperate. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Get Shutterbug!

Photographers and other visual artists take great pains to create work but when it comes to presenting them, things seem to rapidly fall apart. I am certainly guilty of it. Given how quickly an editor or a client makes up her or his mind about assigning a photographer, sloppy presentation could mean the end of one's career. I am learning, however slowly, that presentation is an art in itself. And it is important to get it right.

These days most photographers depend on web sites to show off their work. You don't have a web site? It's not brain surgery to put one together. I'll go over the steps that I am taking to organize my work online, but what is making it very easy for me these days to exhibit my work online is a program called Shutterbug.

Shutterbug, made by XtraLean Software also brought us the magnificent and free photo editing tool, ImageWell. I was ga-ga about Imagewell and now I am going bonkers over Shutterbug. Read on to see why.

Both ImageWell and Shutterbug operate only on the Apple Macintosh OS X platform. That alone says something. At under 2 megabytes, the program is lean; so your computer won't get bogged down. The drag-n-drop feature saves you from hunting for your images through an archaic (yeah, you windows users!) mapping system. It is possible to have an online slide show in a matter of minutes. As a test, I created a slide show of my cousin's recent engagement. I chose a built-in template to first format the gallery display, then tweaked the background color, positioned the elements on the page by dragging boxes on the fly, made sure that the thumbnail images were cropped just so and set the timing to give the slideshow the right pace. I then uploaded the slideshow to my .Mac account, but one has the option of also saving it to a desktop folder and uploading the entire package to a different server. It's simple, intuitive and it works extremely well.

While the program itself is a hit in my opinion, as a beta-tester, I have been extremely happy with the kind of service I have received directly from the company. Features that I request miraculously appear in the next build, and I am assured in every email exchange that the small New Hampshire based company is batting for me, the end user. There are online forums to post questions and request new features, too. Check it out. You will be pleasantly surprised.

I am in the process of writing a more detailed review of Shutterbug for the local Macintosh Users Group. I'll share that with you by the end of February. Meanwhile, do yourself a favor and download the demo and give it a whirl. For $29, this feature rich slide show program is a boon. I know I couldn't do without it in my arsenal of imaging tools.

Be An Advertisement

I am not crazy about flaunting brands, but I am a wee bit mad about anything remotely associated with Apple (or Pixar).

iPodMyPhoto will take your picture and recreate it as an iPod advertisement for $20. Do you want it on a t-shirt, a mug, Christmas cards, a bill board off of I-84? Your call.

Digital Prose

Although computers can work unhindered by free will, bourbon or divorce, such advantages are outweighed by a lack of life experience or emotions.

It might seem utterly illogical, but computer scientists have been able to get their machines to compose short bursts of prose. Novelists need not feel threatened for the reasons outlined above.

Online Confessional

Via Jason Kottke

Try and come clean by confessing online. [Warning, this is purely a gimmick.]

The Anti-paparazzi

Via Jason Kottke

Camera toting paparaazi take note: Hewlett-Packard is developing a device that would jam electronic cameras. And Nokia has a GPS in the works which will encourage paparazzi to find people who don't mind having their photograph being taken.

Memories That Fade

Just about every decision we make, I am learning quickly, has a cost-benefit ratio that we must also consider. The ease and instant gratification of digital photography is countered by the simple fact that a few years from now your images on CD's, DVD's or even your hard drives can be nothing more than digital detritus. Poof! Gone.

Sorry to be such a Luddite about this, but check off reason #237 to continue using film. Any rebuttals?

New Media, New Technique

The Elements of Digital Storytelling.

Poochi

"It's a Trignometry based game. A real time cockroach movement has been digitised using action script. For the movement of cockroach, sine, cosine and pythogorus theorem are applied to get the real effect of a cockroach movement. Its typically a maths and physics based game. The concept is to fence the cockroach with three blocks. Download and enjoy."

Prashant B (no idea what his last name is) has much too much time on his hands. Apparently, so did I.

Presence Of Mind

If you are a photographer, writer, designer, illustrator or an artist of any kind you have gotta have a web presence. But not just any old web site. Please pay attention to colors, fonts, layout and of course content.

Bernice Yeung is a freelance writer who gets it. Hers is a clean, simple, pleasant web site that has just about all the things that one would want to see at a writer's website. "I'm mostly using it for when I'm pitching stories for freelance work," she offered in a recent email. Indeed, a web site can be your calling card that could either make or break you in a world where the first impression lasts a lifetime. See how each page has a different background color. That sort of feedback to the web site visitor is golden. I was also impressed in the way the pages loaded quickly. Missing are unnecessary animations and other eye candy that distract rather than attract you to the content on the site.

Yeung's site is designed by Rick Elizaga. And I mention his name because a lot of us feel we have to go at this alone or mistakenly believe we can design our own sites. Here is a bit of unsolicited advice - get a designer to help you out. Going back to the topic of making your first impression, would you want your site to look unprofessional or professional? Do what you do best, leave the rest to those who do those things best. While it may mean saving a few bucks now, the price you pay trying to be a jack of all trades is much too great for your future.

16 Gigabytes

I have 16 Gmail invites to give away. Interested? Check this link first.

Make a donation (it's a worthy cause), send me an email saying that you have done the right thing, once I confirm your donation I'll send you an invite to join the Gmail cult.

If you can't make a donation at this time, then email me a short list of six photographers, writers, designers or editorial illustrators whose web sites aren't already listed on Tiffinbox. The more number of URL's you send me the better your chances are, and if they happen to be desi, even better.

There are no free lunches.

Gmail Invites For Vision

If you are used to Yahoo! or Hotmail's puny email services, using Gmail on a regular basis is like taking a double-shot of espresso on an empty stomach. Having 1 gigabyte of space really rocks. The interface is also easy on the eyes and given that the service is tied to the Google search engine, finding your old emails is a cinch.

I have – "count-em" – 12 Gmail invites to give away for those aspiring and perspiring to upgrade your email storage space. Interested parties may email me Gmail-inspired poetry (a desi twist is welcome) or, send me large bribes.

On a serious note, though, this is how I want this to work – I manage another blog - OMLOG - for a non-profit based in India that does incredible clinical and medical research work in the field of ophthalmology. It's an eye institution run primarily on the good graces of donors and well-wishers. Almost 40% of the patients (some 125,000 people) each year receive totally free care. No nickel and diming people here. No catches. No BS. The hospital is called Sankara Nethralaya and it's mission is vision for ALL irrespective of a person's financial status.

I would be happy to give away these 1 gigabyte email accounts if I can have 12 people step up and make a $100 donation via OMLOG. You'll see the orange donation "DONATE NOW" button on the right hand side. Make the donation. We'll receive a confirmation of your name, email address and donation amount (that's right, you aren't restricted from making more than a $100 donation). Then email me saying that you have made a donation (email me at: tiffinboxATpipalproductionsDOTcom). I'll send you an invitation once I have everything confirmed.

I have been using three Gmail accounts and it's been great fun to receive large attachments (images, movies) without any hassles. Trust me, you want one of these accounts for yourself.

Also know this: Blindness, for the most part can be preventable. For just $50 one less person in India needs to go blind. Think what $100 can do! Your donation is also tax-deductible as the donation is made to a 501(c)3 organization. Trust that your donation will be used responsibly. I guarantee it.

Diwali is right around the corner. Do the right thing. Make your donation count.

Return To Sender

Via NEXT@CNN

PhotoStamps is a new form of postage that allows customers to include their favorite digital photographs, designs or images on valid US Postal Service postage. Customers design state-of-the-art, professional-looking postage from the PhotoStamps web site by simply uploading pictures from existing image files, digital photographs, and original graphics. An intuitive interface allows users of PhotoStamps to flip, rotate, and zoom in and out of their images, as well as add colored borders to create harmonized themes.

Sure it costs extra. It's a business for crying out loud. But does the extra charge mean my mail will actually be delivered on time now?

Video Ga-Ga

Via Steve Outing (on Poynter.org, quick link: A69743)

New-media pundit and author J.D. Lasica and software pioneer Marc Canter have come up with what looks like an interesting and worthwhile endeavor: the Open Source Media Project, which they announced on Monday. The quick explanation: It's an open-source repository of digital media projects -- especially video, but all sorts of multimedia content. The idea is that we're coming out of a media world where a few moneyed players produce nearly all the content content, and we've arrived in a world where new technologies allow anyone to produce digital stories. Open Source will provide a place to store, index, and distribute all that "citizen content." Canter explains what they're doing this way: "Basically we're making sure to make it REAL easy for folks to utilize media in their everyday lives, school, and work." Storage space (and a massive amount likely will be required) and bandwidth is being donated "forever" by Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive.

Left Blank

Relax your restless mind here. Part commentary, part art. At least, that's how I see it. If you would like to take part in this web project, click here.

The Whole Gamut

I have been saving up for an Apple G5 for quite some time now. Yes, they are expensive but given how intuitive they are when it comes to using graphical programs like Adobe's PhotoShop, it's worth the price. Plus, my handy Powerbook (Apple's laptop) is starting to show signs of wear. It's a little over 4 years old now (in Internet terms, it's a grand-daddy).

I have been doing some research. True to form, every six months or so, Apple releases a new version of either a machine or an operating system. There was Jaguar, which is what I use. Then came Panther (Apple wanted $129 for it and I said "let's see ... let's see"). To be released in early part of next year is "Tiger". Well, at this rate, they'll run out of big cats. But back to my G5 purchase. It will happen this year and I am sure of it. Unless of course Apple releases a G5 laptop. Then it will be back to the drawing board to see the pluses and minuses of each configuration. What joy!

As a photographer, I need the RAM and the disk space. But I also need to edit images in 16-bit color. According to Kevin Yank of Sitepoint.com, Adobe's PhotoShop CS works wonders in that regard.

Share And Show

David Pogue's article in today's New York Times promises to make it easy for us to share our images with our friends and family and even have them printed at a photo store of our choice.

Please let me know of your experiences, if any of you actually use the two services mentioned; OurPictures.com and ShareALot.com. From David's article I understand that OurPictures.com is a Window-only based program. ShareALot.com appears to be open to Windows and Macintosh platforms. It's not rocket science to figure out which one I'll be using.

Beyond Eye Candy

Much of what separates MSNBC.com from the online pack is its innovative and aggressive use of graphics - or "art" in the news-business parlance.

The article by Jon Friedman of CBS MarketWatch.com fails to mention Brian Storm (now a vice president at Corbis Images), a key player who made it possible for MSNBC.com to achieve such high standards in the use of images and graphics. Indeed for years, it was Storm's bold initiatives that garnered the website a steady stream of well-earned awards.

Seeing Art On The Radio

Via The New York Times

This is truly excellent news. On April 19, P.S. 1 Center for Contemporary Art in Long Island City, Queens will likely be the first museum space to host an online radio station.

"Two years in the making and billed as the world's first art radio station, WPS1 will present original talk and music shows with contemporary writers, artists and musicians as hosts. The station will also broadcast historical audio material from a variety of sources, like the sound archives of the Museum of Modern Art, with which P.S. 1 merged in 1999."

Going Digi

When you walk around with a 40-pound camera bag and two very large cameras slung around your shoulders enough people will stop you with questions like – "My camera doesn't advance the film roll anymore, what should I do?" A fair question for a guy with a lot of camera power, but my response is always a bit ambiguous. That's because there is no one universal answer to these types of questions.

You can have the camera checked for about $100 an hour. Or, you could go out and replace the batteries and restart the machine. Or, you can chuck it and buy another cheapo camera. It comes down to what your budget is.

Speaking of budget, I am in the mix now to buy a professional level digital camera. My freelance clients are demanding digital files and the conversion from film to digital on a regular basis is wearing me down a bit.

I am a huge fan of David Pogue, a technology writer at the New York Times. This morning's edition carries his article about two professional level cameras in the $1,000 range. I am eyeing the Nikon D-70 as I have been married to that company for quite some time now; lenses, flashes, gizmos galore – all Nikon. So, Canon won't do. If only the D-70 came with a vertical grip [for portraits]. Gripes and laments aside, it appears to be a wonderful camera. Thousand bucks, chump change right? It's still quite a bit of money but it will save me from dealing with film processing labs again.

Flickr

I can't tell you the number of times I have been left utterly frustrated and flustered at MSN Messenger. I'll be in the middle of a conversation about photography and quite eager to share an image I made, when that darn firewall at work will block any such exchange. {Sigh!}

Mike Baker does an amazing job explaining how Flickr, a new online service works, so I won't be redundant here.

But be sure that Flickr is not limited to photography – as Baker suggests, you can form your own group and find like-minded people to chat up. So, there is the potential to be a part of an online community or a social network.

I am very excited about this new feature. If it eases my angst, I'll be happy. If I end up meeting some cool people, that would be great!

Reunited

Via Om Malik

"Well its like ClassMates.com, only for Indians. I like Indians Reunited, especially now that I am in my inching towards what is called middle age in India."

This should be interesting. Anyone out there who went to school in Madras in the 1970's - Padma Seshadri, Krishnamurthi Foundation's The School or Jawahar Vidyalaya?

Man, I just dated myself. Sigh!

This Buc Doesn't Stop

If you are at all curious how sports photographers and other photojournalists get their work to press and into your hands so quickly, read this marketing plug from Apple.

Tom Wagner shoots all the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football games and uses a digital workflow that allows him to deliver 3,000 images per game to his various clients. One thing is for certain if it weren't for digital none of this would be possible. And using a Macintosh sweetens the experience even more. The article mentions a digital asset management tool called iViewMediaPro. I have ordered a copy. I'll post my review very soon.

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Professor Rich Beckman at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill just emailed me to say that the 2004 Multimedia Boot Camp is on. If you are interested in Flash, ActionScripting, Video for the web and of course audio production, this is where you can get your feet wet.

The April workshop has quite a line-up of who's who in multi-media: Andrew Locke, Director of Multimedia at MSNBC.com, Tom Kennedy of WashingtonPost.com, Paige West from the Poynter Institute, audio maven J. Carl Ganter and multimedia guru Joe Weiss of The Herald Sun.

The $1,200 fee doesn't include jumping jacks or push-ups. Those are extra. And like most dinners during the workshop, you are on your own.

Bug Off!

Concerned about your privacy? Not entirely keen on giving up personal information while registering with the likes of The New York Times or The Washington Post? Been the recipient of SPAM and lots of it? You aren't alone and I really do feel your pain.

For a solution, check out BugMeNot. BugMeNot "was created as a mechanism to quickly bypass the login of websites that require compulsory registration and / or the collection of personal / demographic information."

So, if you are feeling particularly squeamish about plugging in your name, adress, telephone number, email id or any other bit of information, this is your way out. Yes, this will tilt their statistics and the cyber-cops may question your ethics, but I suspect not everybody is going to do this. Life will be in balance, again. Phew!