Tips From Tony Blog

I recently experienced a bad case of squanderlust, and spent a bunch of money on something that is bringing me great pleasure… A new camera!

I’ve been happily using my six-megapixel Pentax *ist DS camera for years, taking sharp, clear images that have brought a great deal of pleasure to many people. When the Pentax K10D camera came out with ten megapixels, I resisted the upgrade - I was being practical. However, when the 14.6-megapixel K20D came out, I couldn’t resist any longer. I gave my older camera (and some very nice lenses) to my beloved niece and spent the bucks for the camera and a new, super-duper lens. I’m in amateur-photographer heaven!

I’ve spent years being obsessive about getting the best-possible, sharpest lenses. Some of them are pretty old, but all of them are highly-regarded. Now that I have the K20D, every one of them is automatically stabilized for my shaky grip. The K20D’s image-sensor not only can move up, down, side-to-side and circularly (extremely quickly) to help prevent the images from blurring, it can move back-and-forth in tiny steps to automatically adjust for up to twenty lenses, to provide maximally sharp focus. It took me some time calibrate the camera for all of my lenses, but it was well-worth the effort:

This image is NOT meant to be artistic at all - Just a test of what the camera can do at the full 14.6 megapixels, with all of the best settings and environmental elements… It’s well-worth viewing at full size. If you’re viewing it in the newest version of Safari or Firefox, be sure to click the image once it has fully loaded, in order to see it at a 1:1 ratio. It shows the flowers that live on our dining-room table (we have over fifty orchids growing in and around our house), and it contains more information than 35mm film, using a sensor that is about the same size as a postage-stamp.

Here are some more examples (taken during the recent Orchid Show in Mission Valley). This set was taken at home, using a black-velvet background.

With a sixteen-gigabyte memory card and the spare battery pack that clips onto the bottom, I can shoot 657 images in RAW format (or 1,907 images in best-quality 14.6-megapixel JPEG format) without running out of battery-power. Yes, it’s a big, heavy camera with all of the doo-dads, but it fits my big, hammy hands really nicely.

I’m intrigued with the many, MANY options that I’ve never heard of before, but appear to have great artistic implications. For instance:

I’ve changed the settings so that I can press one button, which sets up the camera to take five photos with one press of the shutter-release, once right after the other, automatically varying the exposure. Some cameras have had this “auto-bracketing” feature for years, but this one can be customized to provide “High-Dynamic Range” images in Photoshop in just a few mouse-clicks. I put the camera on a tripod, press the button, press the shutter-release, and the camera goes snap-snap-snap-snap-snap. The images can then be automatically combined in Photoshop (using the File-Automate-Merge to HDR… command) so that the final image looks like what our eyes actually see (with details in shadows and clouds), rather than being limited to what the sensor can see. Human beings have tolerated crummy photos that simply don’t match the reality around us for over a century. The new sensors are catching up the human eye, finally. I’m still playing with that concept, and if I get some good results, I’ll post ‘em.

Another item that looks cool is that I can set my camera to the “P” (Program) setting, and it will automatically arrange the exposure-settings to provide the maximum sharpness available with each lens, based on the factory bench-testing settings that are stored inside each Pentax-compatible lens made since 1989.

I like the fact that I can set my preferences so that each RAW file can be stored as “DNG” (Digital negative) format. That’s an Adobe-created, open file-format that somebody will still be able to open and edit decades from now, as opposed to zillions of obscure, cryptic, soon-to-be-obsolete file formats. As a man with a lot of old Pagemaker files that I can’t open any more, I’m sensitive to this dilemma.

My other new acquisition is a Tamron 18-250mm lens, which comes very highly rated for such a super-zoom, but it’s still not up to my usual standards of super-sharpness. I’m a shameless snob when it comes to sharpness. I’ve exchanged the lens once already because the first one had such bad focus. I bought it for the trip to New York City that’s coming up in late June - If you have to have one “walk-around” lens for a trip, this is a great one. On a digital camera, it’s equivalent to a 28-388mm lens on a film camera. If you can’t frame a quick snapshot with THIS lens, you simply aren’t trying!

This is for those folks that want to stay in close communication with far-away loved ones.

Nowadays, nearly everybody has a high-speed Internet connection. Most folks now have computers fast enough to handle video-chatting. The price of the hardware has dropped like a rock. 2007 IS the year of buying everybody in your family a cheap webcam and building better links of love across the miles. I can’t think of anything more meaningful that will pay off throughout the year.

Once the hardware is paid for, the video-chatting is FREE, forever. What are you waiting for? The holidays are coming! Wouldn’t you like to open presents at the same time as your family on the East Coast, and show each other what you’ve received? Wouldn’t you like to be able to show up at family reunions and already know who everybody is, rather than guessing because your nieces or nephews got all big and grown-up since the last time you visited? Years go screaming past, and there’s no telling how long it may be before you see each others’ smiling faces.

Mac users used to have only one choice for a webcam - The iSight, which hasn’t been in production for years. If somebody has a recent iMac or Mac laptop with a built-in camera, then their needs are handled.

The following advice is for folks who DON’T have a computer (PC or Mac) with a built-in camera: Ever since Apple came out with OS X Tiger 10.4.3, there has been built-in support for non-Apple-brand USB webcams, but they have had to adhere to the “USB Video Class device” standard.Last time I wrote about this topic, there was only one choice. Now, there are lots and lots of choices as various manufacturers are adapting to the new, driverless plug-and-play standards.

At the moment, I have ONE recommended favorite, because it has a built-in microphone, it’s highly-rated for PC’s AND Macs, and it’s inexpensive. It works on all Macs running OS X 10.4.3 or later, or any Windows computer running Windows XP SP2 or Vista. No software to load (unless you’re on a Windows computer and want to activate some snazzy, extra features that I don’t see much use for).

“So, Tony - I’ve got my camera and microphone: now what?”

On the Mac

If you haven’t already done so, go to your Address Book software, pull down the “Card” menu and choose “Go to my Card”. Click on “Edit” on the bottom of the window and UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION. Be complete, including the “(AIM)” field, which needs your new AIM screen name. Once your loved ones have acquired new AIM screen names, edit THEIR cards in Address Book and add the salient information. You can get by without doing this sort of thing, but I’d be a lot happier if everybody actually used the Address Book! It’s one of the most useful programs on every Mac, and all of that information transfers so nicely into the iPhone that you’re undoubtedly going to get sooooon. Then, fire up iChat, and give it your AIM screen name and password. Then, pull down the “Window” menu and choose “AIM Buddy List”. Click on the “+” sign at the lower left and add the screen name of one of your loved ones.

On a Windows PC

Download the newest version of the AOL Instant Messenger software - Fire it up and give it your screen name and password. I’m a little hazy on HOW to “Add a Buddy” in order to add each of your loved ones, or how to initiate a chat from your end, but it’s what you need to do. I haven’t done it in a few years on Windows, but I remember that it’s awfully simple to do. Make sure that the webcam and microphone are in full working order.

Once you’ve done your one-time setup…

Call your loved ones on the phone (after they’ve done THEIR setup) and warn them that it’s video-chatting time! Or, set a date for a mutually-agreed-upon time when everybody will be available with combed hair and stylish garments. If they’re ready on their end, from now on, you can text-message back and forth, or audio-chat, or video-chat.

In iChat, just click once on the buddy’s name and then click one of the icons at the bottom of the Buddy List to choose your method of connection. If you have multiple Mac buddies that are anxious to give it a try, you can actually video-conference with up to three other people at the same time! To do this, click once on the first buddy, then hold down the Command (Apple) key and choose some more, and then click on the camera icon at the bottom of the Buddy List. It’s a really cool effect.You can have a simultaneous audio-only conversation involving up to NINE people if you use the same command-clicking technique and then click the “phone icon” at the bottom of the Buddy List.

In fact, for Mac users running Leopard, you have so many additional goodies, it would require three more feature-length articles. You really, really want to try pulling down the “Video” menu and choosing “Show Video Effects“.

Yesterday, I was chatting with a buddy and he could see ME perfectly normally, but the background behind me showed video taken from a roller-coaster… I reacted to the video as if I was being whipped around curves and screaming down the slopes. It was good for some giggles, I didn’t have to care HOW I looked, and he didn’t pay attention to a darned thing I was talking about, because it was too distracting!

They’ve finally updated the less-expensive model, and just before the holidays:

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Apple Updates MacBook Line.

Apple has updated the MacBook line of notebook computers. New features include Intel Core 2 Duo processors at 2.0GHz or 2.2GHz,  an 800MHz frontside bus,  Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 graphics,  4MB of shared L2 cache,  support for up to 4GB of main memory, and a larger 250GB CTO hard drive option. MacBook is now lighter (5.0 lbs) with a new keyboard layout, and it supports one high-powered USB port.

—

I find this to be very interesting, because this newest upgrade makes the low-end laptops nearly perfectly equivalent to the more-expensive current MacBook Pro’s.  This is a VERY attractive upgrade, for the same cost as the older laptops.

I’m predicting that the new, high-end MacBook Pro’s will be out shortly, if only to justify their extra cost.  It had better be a major upgrade, in order to cost so much more, frankly - These new MacBooks are looking better and better as I look through the specs. The only, only significant current difference that I can find between the two price-ranges is that the MacBook Pro supports 30-inch external displays, versus “only” up to 24″ monitors on the MacBook.  That’s NOT worth an extra $1,200!

In the meantime, if you’ve been waiting on my advice before buying a new laptop, then your time has come. I’d be plumb grateful if you’d use my personal link when shopping for your new Macs.  It keeps me in Apple’s good graces, and it makes me smile!

Make SURE that you specify the largest internal hard drive that your budget affords when you order your Mac.  There’s no cost penalty for doing so (versus other sources for hard drives), and I’ve seen a lot of people fill up their internal hard drives almost immediately.  This causes drive directory damage that I have to fix, shortly thereafter.

Also, don’t skimp - Since all new Macs are shipping with Leopard, get a large external hard drive, too.  Get the biggest one that you can afford.  Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know that I’m harping waaay too much on backups using Leopard’s new Time Machine function (be sure to watch the video demo), but try to understand my biases:I’VE been the guy on the other end of hundreds and hundreds of panicked support-calls, with folks begging me tearfully to help them get their precious data back.  Now, with Leopard and an external hard drive, you have the possibility of NEVER LOSING ANY MORE DATA FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.  Now, isn’t that worth spending the extra bucks, cheapskate?

I’d make less money from fixing horrifying tragedies, but I’d be a lot less stressed, too.  After nearly 27 years in the biz, my nerves are SHOT, baby!  I want happy, joyful calls, if given a choice.

I’ve been seeing MacBooks and MacBook Pro’s with damaged hard drives lately, and this might explain it…  
I’ve been assuming for a while now that the situation is exacerbated by bad timing.  The computer needs to settle down COMPLETELY (the light needs to be pulsing) before picking it up and slinging it into the car on your way home.  The built-in accelerometers have a habit of waking the laptops up (if you don’t let them go completely to sleep first) and causing the read-heads to bang against the hard drive disk as you go bouncing across train tracks and around corners.  If you’ve ever taken your laptop out of the bag and found it to be hot-hot-hot, you should be very wary of the integrity of your data, since that symptom tells you that your Mac never went to sleep after all.
I have a laptop in my kitchen right now that is painfully, slowly allowing me to backup the client’s data before having the hard drive replaced.  It’ll take several days!
 I’m actually starting to think of INSISTING that everybody with a recent Mac upgrade to Leopard, and buy a really big external hard drive.  Any money spent toward simple and easy backups will pay off BIG when things go haywire.

After reading zillions of online articles, and finally installing Leopard (OS X 10.5) on two of our household’s computers, I’m satisfied that there are no major glitches to watch out for, as long as you install it properly.

Go for it! The new Time Machine automatic back and simplified restore alone makes Leopard worth the money, and Apple surely knows that, because their packaging and background imagery make it plain that Time Machine is Leopard’s biggest selling point.

Downsides? Some of my older programs (such as Thoth, which nobody uses except for me) tend to get overwhelmed by the new Spaces feature, and the newfangled Finder windows keep making me think that I’m looking at iTunes windows. I’m having to do a lot of re-learning my most common Finder keystrokes, because things have been moved around a lot.The changes have all been made in the name of making life simpler, so I’m not complaining. I’m adapting!

The hidden cost of upgrading to leopard is that you MUST BUY AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE! This is not optional. Why? Because the process of backing up and restoring has finally, finally been reduced to the simplest, most elegant steps imaginable, and external hard drives are cheap-cheap-cheap. Choose the biggest one that you can afford, and make sure that it has Firewire if you aren’t sure whether your Mac has the newer, faster USB ports.

I’ve pulled out a lot of my hair trying to help folks do data backups, because of the disastrous alternative. In fact, as I’m writing this, there is an iMac G5 on the floor next to my feet waiting forlornly for its owner to pick it up. He lost EVERYTHING when the hard drive failed. He had no backup whatsoever. He was begging me to help him recover his tens of thousands of crucial e-mail messages, and after three days of trying, I had to give up.

Now, with Time Machine, there are two steps involved in order to achieve perfect backups :

1. Connect the hard drive to the Mac and turn it on.

2. When Leopard asks you if you want to use the hard drive for backups, you say yes. That’s it.

Everything else is completely automatic. No programming, no annoying glitches, nada.

I just got back from a week of classes at the Apple Mothership in Silicon Valley, and we learned an immense amount of stuff that was super-secret hush hush. Now that Leopard is finally shipping, I can reveal the most important detail:

Time Machine is not just some extra program that got thrown together. It’s built into the deepest parts of the operating system. It works so perfectly because everything else has been built around it. Microsoft has had something sorta similar in concept for years, but it’s an add-on program, it’s hard to use, and it backs up onto the same drive as your data! The new backup option in Microsoft’s Vista operating system isn’t any simpler or friendlier.

Leopard is going to add an enormous amount of peace and tranquility to the world’s balance of mental anguish, due to the ease and value of Time Machine.

On Oct 22, 2007, at 6:02 AM, Bob wrote:

You have sent several emails talking about leopard but you have not weighed in yet. Should we all be upgrading now or should we wait to see how the roll-out goes?

You caught me!

I can easily drum up enthusiasm for the CONCEPT of something new and zoomy, but I always wait a bit before I say “It actually works, and won’t blow up in your face!” You won’t hear anything like that until I’ve actually had time to test it out myself, and read a BUNCH of hands-on reviews. I would hate to say something rash and cause a bunch of unhappy folks to lose important work or something.

It might be a good idea to wait a few days before taking the plunge.

I promise - I’ll be very regular and informative in my writings, keeping everyone up to date. This is the biggest, most technologically-advanced operating system upgrade I can ever remember, and it holds great promise, but it also holds the possibility of messing with the ways that we’ve done things for a long time.

For instance:

If you are using a program that runs in “Classic” mode (such as the Clients & Profits ad agency business management software), it absolutely will NOT work with Leopard on your computer (without spending an additional $1600 for the newer version), since Leopard does not support OS 9 at all. However, I found a really cool way for older programs like that to continue onward without any problems - Just run Clients and Profits on an older Mac across the room, running an older operating system, and use a program such as Chicken of the VNC to remotely operate that computer as if you were sitting in front of it. At current network speeds, it’s downright pleasant to use… Just one click of an icon, and you’re staring at another computer’s desktop and programs!

As you might have noticed, Apple finally announced the shipping date for Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): It’ll be available starting at 6PM on October 26th. Expect to see lines forming at the Apple Store!

It’ll be $129, unless you’ve purchased a new Mac or Xserve on or after October 1, 2007, you can get Leopard for $9.95.

If you buy a Mac AFTER October 26th, it’s free and pre-installed!

Be sure to check out the new features… They’ve done a lot of work to make your computing experience easier and more enjoyable. I’ve been up here in Silicon Valley for days now, learning how to support my clients that will be using Leopard, and it’s a BIG update. Much to learn, and all of it good. Microsoft Windows is miles further back than it was before, and it’s disappearing over the horizon. Apple’s stock value is going to go much higher, because the Mac is going to eat up a lot of market-share that was unavailable before.

I’m very excited about the Leopard Server software. They’ve changed it so that most small businesses will be able to own a powerful server computer that will do automatic backups (that are ridiculously easy to restore), handle all calendar and addresses for the whole company, share printers and provide centralized storage. The price-point has dropped to a tenth of what it would have been for the same storage, power and features a couple of years ago, and it’s Macintosh-easy to manage. 2008 is the Year of the Leopard Server, folks.

I was a faithful Apple fan ten years ago, when there was much doubt about Apple’s future. Life is much less stressfu, now that Apple is building one success upon another!

I’m leaving this Saturday (October 13) to fly up to Silicon Valley to take my annual high-end tech classes with Apple at the Mothership. I’m anxious to learn all about Leopard (OS X 10.5), since it really is going to be a big deal… Many jumps ahead of anything else anywhere.

The trip is going to cost me thousands of dollars by the time it’s over with, so I promise to study hard and make you proud of me! For that kind of money, Dennis and I could have gone to Italy again, as I’m always dreaming that we should.

If anybody needs any Apple-logo garments, let me know, since I’ll have access to the REAL Apple Store on the Cupertino Campus. It’s normally open only to Apple employees. I dumped a whole pile o’ cash on some sensational stuff (that’s not available anywhere else) last year. Everything there is ultra-high quality, durable and classy, just as anyone would expect from an Apple Store.

After trying with all of my brainpower to help folks who want to use their Internet all over their house, I’ve become quite an anti-Airport bigot. In my own home, I’ve hand-wired every room in our 1918 Craftsman-style Bungalow with nice, solid Ethernet cabling. We have three laptops, but NONE of them use any wireless network. Even in our old, small house made out of Douglas Fir, the signal doesn’t travel well.

After so many years of hearing complaints, my attitude has hardened. I’ve been disparaging wireless for a long time (except when somebody is traveling, and there is no other alternative), and have seen Ethernet cables as the only other possible alternative.

Well, as of today, I’m open to a third alternative.

For decades, I’ve seen adapters that plug into your home’s electrical system and allow networking through your power outlets, but they never impressed me much. According to recent reviews, those bad old days are over. The technology has matured, and the features and pricing are VERY attractive.

I’m planing to order a pair of the newer, faster adapters ($139.99 for the pair) to test them out on behalf of my clients. I’m going to throw the hardest test at them that I know of - Streaming high-definition video from my computer downstairs, through the house electrical system, to an AppleTV box connected to the big-screen TV upstairs. If that works well, then I plan to recommend them all of the time. The concept saves the expense of hiring an electrician to install a network behind the walls. With these modern adapters, re-routing or adding new units is a simple task.

I’ll let everybody know what I find out. I suspect that we’ll have a speed advantage because our house has all-new wiring. Older aluminum wiring can slow things down.

I have many, many movies and TV shows that I stream from my computer to the big screen already - The AppleTV ($249 at Costco) is absolutely indispensable to our entertainment needs. We depend upon it as much as we do our (still very buggy, but beloved) Tivo HD. I’m living right spang in the middle of futuristic entertainment, and it works dandy!

In fact, it’s SO dandy, I will be hosting another High-Definition Popcorn Night at my place after I get back from Apple Training in Silicon Valley this month. I will be showing off what all entertainment will be like in a few years. It’s really impressive, and as simple as can be. If you want to be on the VERY LIMITED guest list, reply to this e-mail and let me know what nights work best for you after October 19th. I’ll try to accommodate as many folks as possible.

I’ve been browsing around looking at speed benchmark tests, lately. Why? Because I’m getting an awful lot of calls from folks with older Macs trying to find ways to keep Old Bessie the G4 Tower from doing the final death spiral. I do my best to convince the folks who make a living with their computers to look closely at how much bang they would be getting with the newer Intel Macs nowadays.

This chart is updated each time that a new Mac comes out, and it’s awfully technical for most folks, but I’ll make a few observations:

- The higher the number, the faster the computer appears to be.

- There’s a clear dividing-line between the Intel Macs (at the top of the chart) and the non-Intel Macs down in the slow-boat section, with one exception above the line (the water-cooled Power Mac G5 ‘Late 2005′ Dual Dual-Core PowerPC G5 @ 2.5 GHz) and one exception (the Mac mini ‘Early 2006′ Intel Core Solo @ 1.50 GHz) below the line.

- Why does this matter? Because Apple is shipping two or three generations of computers each year, and the cost/performance/value factors keep changing in our favor. Here are some examples:

- If you had bought the final, fastest G5 tower (the one that is now spewing radiator fluid and self-destructing in increasing numbers), it probably cost you somewhere around $3,299 a little less than two years ago.

Nowadays, you can buy a new 24-inch iMac with better speed, a larger hard drive, more RAM and better graphics for $2,299, and that includes an awesome, 24-inch high-definition screen! In fact, a little less than two years ago, a high-definition screen all by itself would have cost you $1,999, without a computer to hook it to! Nowadays, they can be had for as little as $499.

- With the exception of the Mac Mini and G5 models mentioned above, ANY Intel Mac is faster than any G5, which of course is faster than a G4 or a G3. That means that a currently-available $599 Mac Mini is noticeably faster than your three-year-old G5 tower.

- Apple is selling an enormous amount of laptops, and the ratio of laptops versus desktop computers is rising. This is because there are no more trade-offs that make an old-style tower more desirable, unless you really, really need more hard drives inside (versus outside) your computer. Unless your software is specifically written to use many processors simultaneously, you won’t detect a speck of difference between a quad-processor tower and any current dual-processor laptop. Now that laptops can drive a high-definition display (and those displays are getting so inexpensive), then why not get the best of all possible configurations?

I’m currently advising most folks to get a laptop, with a big, external flat-panel monitor, with extra RAM, and a laptop stand to lift it off of the desk to allow better airflow. That’s what I’m using at this very moment, and I also have an external keyboard and mouse, arranged in front of the big screen. It saves my neck from being torqued in the wrong direction as I type. When I headed out of town for Labor Day weekend (my family’s annual get-together is happening in the San Fernando Valley), I just brought the laptop and left the rest of the hardware behind.

If portability just isn’t important, then those new iMacs are sooooo fine….