Thank You, Jason
As y’all know — yes, I’m a Southerner now…;) — I’ve been a Macintosh user for, well, forever. From Mac Plus and early-nineties versions of Photoshop to the current setup, I’ve enjoyed every benefit Apple has had to offer.
Unfortunately, as service goes, it’s been a mixed bag. However, I’m pleased to report that the latest problem was handled in a manner that I have to talk about — in a good way.
The problem. Worse, those dots changed color and pattern as objects moved about the screen — rendering it basically useless. Worse still, it was coming up on midnight Saturday night, I was already in a bad mood, and had deadlines.
Thus, a big tip of the hat to Jason, the assistant manager at the Lenox Square Apple Store, who not only shoved me through service in two hours — but did it on an incredibly busy Sunday. Honestly, I had no idea how busy the Atlanta store was — wow. (Tampa? Nothing in comparison, especially for a Sunday. I thought Sundays were quiet in these parts — wrong. So much for being a Southerner…!)
Better still, without knowing it, he fixed another problem (of the computer not sleeping). Oh, how nice it is.
Jason, hats off. Your patience is to be admired, and service to the cause more than above and beyond. Steve’s getting a letter — of praise.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, July 31, 2007, at 2:04 AM.
Posted to Computers | Personal | Technology | Whatever
Power Tool
There is mucho behind-the-scenes work going on here at Foreword. Much of it is thanks to this:
A little Nikon love, late this Monday evening.…
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, July 17, 2007, at 2:19 AM.
Posted to Flickr | Love | Personal | Photography | Technology | Whatever
Open Library
Imagine a library that collected all the world’s information about all the world’s books and made it available for everyone to view and update. We’re building that library.
Posted by Giles, Monday, July 16, 2007, at 10:00 PM.
Posted to Computers | Freedoms and rights | Libraries | Public domain | Technology
CEOs Must Be Designers
I now believe that CEOs and managers must know Design Thinking to do their jobs. CEOs must be designers and use their methodologies to actually run companies. Let me be even more precise. Design Thinking is the new Management Methodology.
Interesting talk. “Think Steve Jobs and iPhone,” he says.
“Yes,” I say. How ‘bout you?
Posted by Giles, Saturday, July 14, 2007, at 3:47 AM.
Posted to Design | Technology
Remember These?
Found this 1970s-vintage calculator while photostrolling (for lack of a better term):
I remember using stuff like this. Makes me feel old.…
Posted by Giles, Friday, July 13, 2007, at 11:37 PM.
Posted to Flickr | Photography | Technology | Whatever
iPhone: Revolutionary
iGrab
There was an iPhone at a party I attended tonight. The proud owner, who without shame would accept the label “geek,” needed little coaxing to show off his new toy.
What was interesting, though, was what happened next. I got scant time with the device initially, as a crowd formed — made up of not just geeks, but housewives, businesspeople, even senior citizens. The hype, it seems, has penetrated the American psyche. (Remember: I live in the middle of Georgia, 75 miles from Atlanta. Small-city, USA — and deep in The South, at that. That people are excited here.…)
Later, when the crowd had cleared and I had a better chance to look, touch — ahem, MultiTouch — and seriously think about, I have to say: it is revolutionary.
I’ve been an Apple user for a long time; indeed, since the Apple II days. My first exposure to a Mac is clearly etched in my mind, and although it took a while to be able to afford one, I eventually landed a (much-upgraded, for the time) Mac Plus. I’ve had nothing but since, and have to say that I enjoy using my Mac(s) every day.
The reason is because, way back when, the combo of mouse and graphical interface “clicked” immediately with me. (Pardon the pun.) Perhaps it is the visual learner, perhaps the artist, perhaps the geek, some mix of the three, whatever — but from that moment forward, IMHO, no one’s done it better than Apple. For me, there could be nothing but.
While the iterations have meant significant developments — the MultiFinder, iMac, OS X, Aperture — only the original Mac exposure itself has had a greater impact. The iPhone brings together several disparate items into something that’s usable. Something that makes every other phone/PDA/smartphone/ultraportable I’ve ever seen look like a complete piece of junk.
Admittedly, I only had a brief exposure, and I can immediately see some problems. The interface requires extra clicks to get places — you can’t immediately dial a number from the music section, for instance. Or the keyboard, which is just too small for fat fingers (true of other smartphones and PDAs, but still). The portrait/landscape switch is both easily fooled and sometimes flat-out wrong. And, I’m sure, more details Apple will certainly improve in iPhone 2 or 3. Knowing them, it’s already the drawing board.
That said: in the big picture, it’s still a revolution. The truly mobile computer is here.
Am I going to get one? No. Holding strong; the price and improvements needed are still enough of an obstacle to prevent purchase. As I said, though, an iteration or two down the road.…
Steve Jobs and Apple, nicely done. Congratulations — no Reality Distortion Field™ needed. This one’s the real deal.
Update: Forgot to mention in the original post that the iPhone’s owner waited in line with as many as two dozen others at the same North Macon store I mentioned below. Apple may have some left over from iDay — or not — but two dozen, there, is astonishing. Living up to the hype, Apple?
Posted by Giles, Sunday, July 1, 2007, at 1:24 AM.
Posted to Computers | Flickr | Personal | Technology
iWant: Maybe Not. (Yet.)
Well tonight’s the night:
You know what? Despite my earlier feelings, I’ve decided that there are far more important things I could do with $600 — $800+ if you include the change in cellular providers — than buy a phone, even if it is from Apple.
That said, I’m going to be watching how the proud new owners react, especially over time. David Pogue, for instance, said that “it mostly lives up to the hype,” but that there were some shortcomings. Apple’s good about second-generation products being better than the first, so I’m assuming that an iPhone Mk. II would address many of those issues (that can’t be fixed by software updates on iPhone, the original) and things that haven’t even been brought to light just yet.
Plus, I really could care less about the iPod portion of the phone. I don’t see Apple doing a non-music-playing version of the iPhone, but hopefully future generations would either a) be cheaper, meaning it could co-exist with my other electronics or b) have enough memory that, for instance, I can back up all my Compact Flash cards on a job. (A larger screen to show photos on would be nice, too, something probably appreciated by those who will also use it for video.)
Further, I haven’t yet been able to get a straight answer on NEF support (Nikon’s RAW file format). Anyone know?
No matter what, Apple’s made a splash with this device. When I drove by around 3pm, the line at the North Macon AT&T store was six or seven people deep — remarkable for a mostly-empty strip mall in economically-depressed Middle Georgia.
Heheh. “Y’all got a sweet Apple there.” Maybe soon.
Posted by Giles, Friday, June 29, 2007, at 5:18 PM.
Posted to Technology
iWant
…an iPhone. Do iNeed? Hell, no — but Apple has done what it does best: make me want.
June!? Whaddya mean June?? &(*@#%& Apple!
Seriously, there’s one reason I want one of these so badly: integration. Finally, finally, a device that does it all — dare I say it, a Newton for the modern era. (Kidding.) Says Pogue:
[W]hat you can’t get from any printed description is how it’s all sewn together with typical Apple polish and grace, with delicious animations and gorgeous graphics. (The crowd went nuts when Steve Jobs demonstrated how you scroll through your iTunes music list: you flick your finger upward or downward on the screen. The list flashes by, slowly coming to a stop like a roulette wheel.)
Yup. iLove.
So, how’d I do in the big picture? Let’s take a look:
And herein is where Reality catches up with the Distortion Field (RDF for you Steveaholics). iPhone is very cool. It’s also very expensive, works only with Cingular, and, well, is a v1. I’m always a little leery of the first generation Apple anything — stuff this cutting edge is always better when some of the initial kinks are worked out.
I might try an iTV — ahem, excuse, AppleTV — despite its’ first-generation status. (Once I get a television, that is…;) Sure, it’s got problems — lack of DivX playback, too focused on Apple’s iTunes sales dept, etc. — but somehow it seems more palatable than a $600 phone.
Also, the real bread and butter was alarmingly absent from the keynote — any sort of new Macs, displays, or software. And to put an exclamation point on it, Apple Computer, Inc., is now formally just known as “Apple, Inc.”
Okay, so they didn’t introduce what I wanted. They introduced something I wanted more — I just didn’t know it yet.
Hey, as long as their computers continue to kick butt in the way they do now, I’ll go along for the ride!
Some interesting stuff in that stack of email from the holiday — will be back with at least one of those Thurs Friday or Saturday (looooong week).
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, January 9, 2007, at 10:29 PM.
Posted to Computers | Personal | Technology
Rumor Update: Photoshop CS3 Beta Tomorrow!?
Update: Beta Available. You’ll need a CS2 serial number. Get it from Adobe Labs. (More on my impressions in a few days — want time to become a little more familiar before I go blathering off…;)
People familiar with the matter tell AppleInsider that Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen will formally announce plans for the beta release during the company’s fiscal fourth quarter conference call with analysts and members of the media on Thursday.
On the other hand, those same people say that the San Jose, Calif.-based software developer does not plan to release or discuss details of other Creative Suite 3.0 applications, such as Illustrator, Dreamweaver and InDesign.
The Photoshop CS3 beta, which will be posted to the Adobe Labs website on friday, will include Adobe Bridge and Device Central components, and be available simultaneously for both the Mac and Windows operating systems.
People familiar with the Macintosh version of the editor confirm it to be a Universal Binary which “simply screams” on Apple Computer’s new Intel-based hardware. However, they tell AppleInsider that this week’s beta will include only the standard version of Photoshop CS3.
Read more over at AppleInsider. I’ll update this entry if a Photoshop beta does indeed become available.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, December 14, 2006, at 12:18 PM.
Posted to Computers | Photography | Technology
Rumor: Adobe Might Do CS Beta
It’s thin — but promising. AppleInsider has more.
That said, March is only three months away. And that annual love-in known as the MacWorld Expo is even sooner — where we’ll undoubtedly get an update from Adobe or, perhaps, even the Steve.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, December 12, 2006, at 9:34 AM.
Posted to Computers | Photography | Technology
More Details on Photoshop CS3 Emerge
From Think Secret:
For many Mac users, the most notable improvement Adobe will be delivering with Photoshop CS3 is native support for Intel-based Macs. Sources stressed that the new version of Photoshop, which sports an upgraded and more responsive interface, continually exceeded their performance expectations, including on PowerPC hardware.
Photoshop CS3’s interface is said to closely resemble the look and feel of Adobe After Effects 7, with easy palette organization and brightness adjustment for the overall interface itself. Palettes can be moved, minimized, customized or collapsed down to a single icon with ease; even that familiar two-column toolbar can be converted into a narrower single column bar, if desired.
Another new feature substantially improving both workflow and raw performance is Live Filters, which effectively brings the dynamic editing features of Layer Styles to Filters. The pixel radius of a Gaussian Blur, for example, can be adjusted long after it has been applied with just a single mouse click. Sources report substantial performance improvements to the filters themselves, as well, and have speculated that Photoshop may now be tapping the GPU of the video card to help the CPU crunch filters.
With regard to non-destructive editing improvements, sources report that layers can now be saved as smart objects that the new editable filters can now be applied to.
Sweet.
Alas, not all is good news — Infinite Loop is reporting that Photoshop may be expanded to two versions, a standard and a pro — with the pro, naturally, costing more. As if it needs to be more expensive…!
A March-April 2007 introduction seems to be the consensus.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, December 5, 2006, at 11:43 AM.
Posted to Book cover photography | Computers | Photography | Technology
Just Wrong
Commute? Want to pretend you’re learned? Carry your iPod in a book. A Flickr usr came up with a nice DIY to mask your illiteracy.
Ouch. What a tragic ending to those 80 years! (And no “audiobook” jokes, please…;)
Posted by Giles, Thursday, November 23, 2006, at 3:00 PM.
Posted to Books | Technology | Whatever
Three of Potential Interest
Checking my email online tonight, to discover more than thirty open tabs in the browser; stuff to read later, stuff to blog on, stuff to deal with, etc. Here are three:
— Sports Artist Sued for Mix of Crimson and Tide:
In the solemn cathedral of college football devotion and instruction that is the Paul W. Bryant Museum here, a large painting dominates the main chamber. It is called “The Sack,” and it shows an encounter between a Notre Dame quarterback and a human locomotive in crimson and white.
“I’ve never been hit like that before,” the quarterback, Steve Beuerlein, said after his near-lethal sack by Cornelius Bennett in 1986, in the University of Alabama’s first victory ever over his team.
Daniel A. Moore, who painted “The Sack” and scores of other renditions of signal moments in Alabama football history, said he felt something similar last year, when his fax machine began to spit out a lawsuit from the university.
Downward spiral. Here’s a wish for recovery before impact.
— Droolworthy, and, uh, funny as hell:
MacRumors Apple ad contest winner. See more.
— I’d noticed the font used in the Sony Alpha ads recently, and wondered about it. Lo and behold, in my (astonishingly large stack of) email was an ad for it:
Vista Sans, from Emigre. (Natch. Love their stuff.) Read some of the designer’s notes on Vista and others at FontShop.
More ASAP.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, November 14, 2006, at 12:00 AM.
Posted to Advertising | Computers | Design | Ethics | Freedoms and rights | Personal | Public domain | Publishing | Technology | Type and typography | Whatever
Aperture 1.5.1, Plus a Trial Version
Apple has released a small version upgrade to its photo-management software, Aperture. It’s available for download here.
Apple’s also, finally, released a trial version — and better still, it’ll run on a good deal many more machines than earlier versions, so more of us can try the program out. And, of course, get us pining for new machines.…
Via Ars. Who, by the way, also identifies a nice Secret Santa gift…;)
Posted by Giles, Friday, November 3, 2006, at 1:41 PM.
Posted to Book cover photography | Computers | Photography | Technology | Whatever
NYT: Trying Again to Make Books Obsolete
David Pogue on Sony’s latest e-book gadget:
“The market for downloadable books will grow by 400 percent in each of the next two years, to over $25 billion by 2008,” predicted the keynote speaker at the 2001 Women’s National Book Association meeting. “Within a few years after the end of this decade, e-books will be the preponderant delivery format for book content.”
Whoops.
The opening paragraphs. Should say something — which I’d summarize as a big meh. Read why.
As if we expected differently!
Posted by Giles, Monday, October 16, 2006, at 6:16 AM.
Posted to Books | Freedoms and rights | Libraries | Publishing | Technology
For Sale: Sony F828
Update: SOLD. Thank you all for the interest!!
My year-old Sony F828, a 7x (optical) zoom, 28-200mm, 8 megapixel, articulating body camera, is up for sale:
Selling as a kit, with the HVL-F32X external flash (a nice unit with excellent capabilities), 1GB compact flash (it’ll also take Memory Sticks — simultaneously!), all the cables, original packaging, etc., and two bags (of different styles).
I liked my time with it, but simply outgrew it — and found that the only way to get some of the “pro” features I needed was with “pro” gear. The Sony isn’t, frankly, but during the year I had it, I was asked a great many times what kind of camera I had — because the pictures were so good.
It does well-lit and studio scenes beautifully. Use a tripod in the dark, and get great results there, too, or attach the external flash to get outstanding results with fill or bounce. Small enough to carry in a purse, it’s best feature is the articulating body — move the grip and screen on the back some 100 degrees up and down (I think it’s 70 up and 30 down) relative to the plane of the lens — fantastic for taking ground-level or over-the-crowd shots.
Read Sony’s point of view, or a review by The Luminous Landscape’s Michael Reichmann, who covers the good and the bad — and notes that he bought one:
”[T]he Sony F828 has found a permanent place in my camera arsenal— it’s the ideal digital travel camera…”
$550 for the kit, plus $25 insured shipping (in the U.S.). Little more than some — certainly not all — on eBay, but you get the great flash unit, you know who you’re buying it from, and can rest assured that it works and has been well taken care of.
Email blog (at) ospreydesign (dot) com if you’re interested or would like more information. Good examples of photos taken with this camera are available on Flickr. (That link only shows photos taken with the camera pictured above.)
The Sony opened my eyes to what photography can do. It’s not perfect, but what it does, it does exceptionally well. I hope someone enjoys it!
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, September 19, 2006, at 6:32 PM.
Posted to Personal | Photography | Technology
Off Topic: iTV
I want one:
Breaking with Apple’s tradition of not announcing unreleased products [sic], Jobs said that the company will release a wireless, set-top box for the TV called… iTV. Approximately half the size of the Mac mini, the iTV will feature Ethernet, 802.11g, USB ports, component video, optical audio, and HDMI ports. It will work with the Apple Remote and sport an interface much like that of Front Row.
iTV will allow music, TV shows, and movies residing on a computer to play on a television in another part of the house with what Jobs describes as instantaneous access. It is slated to ship during the first quarter of 2007 and will retail for $299.
More on the new iPods, the update to iTunes, etc., at Ars, or, watch the Apple event.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, September 12, 2006, at 3:18 PM.
Posted to Computers | Personal | Technology | Whatever
Photoshop Tech "Sneak Peak"
From Rob Galbraith:
During his upcoming keynote address at Photoshop World, John Loiacono, senior vice president of Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business, will provide “a sneak peek at some of the new Photoshop technology being developed,” says a company press release. Photoshop World runs from September 7-9, 2006 in Las Vegas; Loiacono’s speech is slated for the morning of September 7.
Hope to see more news on that soon.
Posted by Giles, Friday, September 1, 2006, at 12:42 AM.
Posted to Book cover photography | Computers | Photography | Technology
Google Book Search Allowing Downloads of Some Books
From Ars:
When Google Print was first unveiled, it was clear that the site would become an amazing resource. It provided full access to books that were already out of copyright, but only if you viewed them online, one page at a time. What people most wanted, though, was the ability to download full PDF versions of the books, which they could read or print at their leisure and on their own machines. Oh, and they wanted Google to provide this free of charge.
Google went ahead and did it. Books no longer in copyright are now available for download from the Google Book Search site.
Wow. Google strikes again, in a big way.
Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, joining Apple’s board is an interesting thing, too. They certainly have become the company to watch.…
Posted by Giles, Friday, September 1, 2006, at 12:36 AM.
Posted to Book sellers | Books | Computers | Freedoms and rights | Libraries | Public domain | Publishing | Technology | Writing
Amazon: Yuk
As you’ll recall, I blogged on Kite Runner a while ago. As usual, when it came to finding a graphic to use for the post, I started with Amazon — because when they don’t use the “search inside” feature, their pictures are the largest and best quality. (The Kite Runner image wound up coming from elsewhere, FYI.)
Unfortunately, that also means that I get a ton of trash emails from Amazon. Why?
We track items that you may be interested in for price reductions so that you don’t have to. These additional savings on top of our everyday low price may only be available for a limited time, so act now to take advantage of this alert. Prices can go back up at any time and may never be this low again.
Here’s what they “encouraged” me to purchase today:
Yuk isn’t nearly strong enough. I’m glad I haven’t eaten yet.
There’s a dividing line between people who think that Amazon’s tactics are perfectly legit and those who think it’s invasive. I’m among the latter — especially since Amazon’s been rumored to want to include more personal info from third-party sources to create “super-profiles” of their shoppers, “protected” by privacy rules the company sets — rules not dissimilar to those at AOL, for instance.
I’d like to state for the record that I never purchase from Amazon. I use their web system for my own advantages — tracking bestsellers, looking at covers, researching titles sent to me, etc. — and then never buy from them. Heheh. Take that, Amazon!
Now if I could just come up with a similar way to take advantage of Wal-Mart.…
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, August 16, 2006, at 10:32 AM.
Posted to Book design | Book sellers | Business | Ethics | Personal | Technology
WWDC Bingo
Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference keynote is August 7th — much later than usual, probably so that new machinery can be introduced (Intel just announced new chips, so the timing makes sense, at least). Speculation online is rampant. Reminds me of the “old” days, where there was a viable summer MacWorld.…
Anyway, the clever folks at Ars have come up with a brilliant idea: Keynote Bingo.
There are 42 versions of the cards — grab your own and play along. Someone yelling “Bingo!” during the keynote would be side-splittingly funny.
Note especially the “Adobe Universal demo” square. Could care less about M$ Office, but an Intel version of Photoshop and InDesign sooner rather than later would be a Good Thing™!
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, July 26, 2006, at 9:40 AM.
Posted to Computers | Technology | Whatever
'Nuther Entry in the DIY Book Market
…but this time, the design’s included. More from today’s NYTimes:
When Steve Mandel, a management trainer from Santa Cruz, Calif., wants to show his friends why he stays up late to peer through a telescope, he pulls out a copy of his latest book, “Light in the Sky,” filled with pictures he has taken of distant nebulae, star clusters and galaxies.
Mr. Mandel, 56, put his book together himself with free software from Blurb.com. The 119-page edition is printed on coated paper, bound with a linen fabric hard cover, and then wrapped with a dust jacket. Anyone who wants one can buy it for $37.95, and Blurb will make a copy just for that buyer.
The print-on-demand business is gradually moving toward the center of the marketplace. What began as a way for publishers to reduce their inventory and stop wasting paper is becoming a tool for anyone who needs a bound document. Short-run presses can turn out books economically in small quantities or singly, and new software simplifies the process of designing a book.
As the technology becomes simpler, the market is expanding beyond the earliest adopters, the aspiring authors. The first companies like AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse and others pushed themselves as new models of publishing, with an eye on shaking up the dusty book business. They aimed at authors looking for someone to edit a manuscript, lay out the book and bring it to market.
The newer ventures also produce bound books, but they do not offer the same hand-holding or the same drive for the best-seller list. Blurb’s product will appeal to people searching for a publisher, but its business is aimed at anyone who needs a professional-looking book, from architects with plans to present to clients, to travelers looking to immortalize a trip.
Interesting. An amalgamation of iPhoto’s book design templates with Lulu’s printing capabilities — available to anyone, Mac or PC.
On the one hand, it’s nice to see a decentralization of the publishing world. Print-on-demand allows all sorts of projects, including academic and documentary pieces, to be published that wouldn’t have been otherwise. So this is another in a long string of Good Things™.
On the other, more people without taste — or a clue — will be able to publish their stuff, cheaply and easily. Perhaps less of a Good Thing.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, July 20, 2006, at 11:30 AM.
Posted to Book design | Book printers | Printing | Publishing | Technology
Astonishing.
Perhaps love is a better word:
The quality of photography in my work is about to take a quantum leap forward.
More over the weekend.
Posted by Giles, Friday, July 14, 2006, at 4:23 AM.
Posted to Art | Book cover photography | Flickr | Personal | Photography | Technology
Microsoft Buys iView
Now here’s an interesting change to the digital-file/media-management landscape:
iView said on its Web site that Microsoft has many plans for iView’s technologies and product line, but those plans would not be announced right away.
iView made a point of noting that its Macintosh versions will continue to be made available and supported.
“Microsoft will fully support the existing Mac products, will continue to sell Mac versions of the current iView product line and will offer upgrade pricing to all Mac users of future products that may be available based on the iView products,” said notes on the iView Web site.
I worked with iView MediaPro at the juice company, and found it great for nearly everything except EPS files, which is what we used most. I looked at it again just recently, but decided that Aperture was the better route for my digital media workflow. Glad I did.
This comes hot on the heels of Adobe’s announcement yesterday of the purchase of the RawShooter conversion engine for use in the Lightroom product. The big boys are definitely solidifying their positions — seems like the battle for who “controls” the media market is just heating up.
Notice that iView promises an upgrade path, not a Mac one. Peter Krogh, author of a digital management book for O’Reilly, calls it a good move — but cautions M$ to keep Mac support.
Time will tell.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, June 27, 2006, at 6:49 PM.
Posted to Art | Book design | Business | Computers | Photography | Technology
"Better Than Suicide"
ArsTechnica has posted a comprehensive review of Quark 7 — from an InDesign user’s perspective:
With a new face, you would hope that there would come a new heart for Quark, one capable of stopping the flow of customers it once so confidently thought it would never lose. The new text engine is a welcome, but long overdue change, and it’s hard to call things like full Opentype support and decent onscreen rendering “features” in this day and age. The addition of powerful transparency options are a boon but otherwise, the main new features in XPress 7—Collaboration Setup and Job Jackets—are not going to appeal to every user and the latter feature even misses the mark as a substitute for a preflighting tool. This while Quark still avoids basic features like drag-and-drop that people have been waiting on for years. It’s not encouraging and doesn’t say “we’ve clued in to your needs” to me.
[…] In the end, XPress 7 is good for QuarkXPress but not great compared to the competition and while I enjoy using it much more than previous versions, it doesn’t have me excited or itching to leave InDesign.
See the rest, including screen captures, specific features, and a good comparison of Quark 7 and InDesign CS2, here.
Posted by Giles, Sunday, June 25, 2006, at 8:50 PM.
Posted to Advertising | Book design | Computers | Design | Publishing | Technology | Type and typography
FotoExpresso
…has a new issue out, which offers some good tips for color correction, if anyone’s after a refresher. Note that English isn’t the author’s native language, but the info’s still clear and easily understood.
They review and point to a new product I wasn’t familiar with (and might pick up): Pantone’s Huey. Nice. (And cheap!)
Posted by Giles, Friday, June 23, 2006, at 11:54 AM.
Posted to Book cover photography | Book design | Computers | Photography | Printing | Technology
Stairstep Resize Myth Debunked
For years now, ever since a Photoshop World conference back in my juice-label days, whenever I’ve had to resize an image up — make larger file from a small original, I mean — I’ve used the “stairstep” method. I’m pretty sure it was Scott Kelby whose presentation started the trend for me, followed by another Photoshop “guru” afterwards cementing the method; others have been heard to say the same thing.
By “stairstepping,” I’m referring to the practice of sizing up an image in 10% jumps. I’ve even added actions to Photoshop to do this, so it’s just a matter of a few clicks to get an image to a size I might need. By and large, it’s worked pretty well.
Well, no longer — it’s been proven the less effective method:
Stairstep upsampling on the left; bicubic (with smoothing) on the right.
[I]t’s pretty easy to see that this method doesn’t hold a candle to the bicubic smoother method. Look at the differences in test patches 0/4, 0/5, 0/6. They’re no longer clearly resolved, because the aliasing that I feared has messed them up. The same aliasing has the effect of ‘enlarging’ each of the dark areas, so that the Stair Interpolation version seems to ‘bloom’ slightly compared to the bicubic version.
Read the rest, including some nifty mouseover comparisons, here. (And check out some of Paul’s portfolio — nice.)
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, June 21, 2006, at 11:11 AM.
Posted to Book cover photography | Book design | Computers | Design | Photography | Technology
On Photography and the Canon Digital Rebel XT, Part 1
Phew: Survived. The last six weeks have been out-of-control busy, in case you couldn’t tell by the lack of posting (or comment moderation). Why? Well, six book covers (including the two Bush covers I’ve posted about), two magazine ads, a new edition of a 56-page catalog, and 100+ hours into this POD project I yapped about a few days ago now. Speaking of which, I’m starting with this because it’s fresh on my mind, then will work my way backwards through my list of once-intended posts over the next few days.
This post is a little off-topic for a book design blog, but I’m posting it for two reasons: One, uh, well, I can. Great thing about blogs — built-in soapbox…;)
Two, some of our “regular” readers might be interested either in this particular camera and how it worked (and didn’t work) for me in a very demanding test, or might be thinking about professional protography and are interested in the opinion of what amounts to an amateur shooting his first wedding — with a camera he’d used for only a few hours, didn’t have a manual or more than one effective (in my hands) lens for, and who undertook this project more than a little ragged after weeks of eighteen-plus-hour days.
Am I glad I did it? Yes. Absolutely, emphatically yes. I learned more about the hoops necessary to do this effectively than a thousand lectures from the best professionals in the world could have given; got to gift a good friend with more than a thousand photographs of his bachelor party, rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception, and a kickin’ party afterwards; and find out under the most grueling conditions possible whether a certain camera system will work for me before I put down the investment.
Couple of notes before I get the review proper underway: Product reviews are not my forté, so I’m hoping you’ll forgive a bit of a haphazard style. I’m going to give you good and bad, followed by a sample gallery of photos, posted through my Flickr account. Some photos are straight out of the Rebel XT (or my current Sony f828), some are altered in Photoshop. No matter what, it’s my opinion. There are Canon vs. Nikon wars aplenty; we don’t need one here. I’m not qualified to speak with authority on anything other than how I feel about this camera equipment, relative to what I have now, as someone serious about taking the step from “amateur” to “professional” photography. (I’ll explain that better, too.)
Continue reading "On Photography and the Canon Digital Rebel XT, Part 1"
Posted by Giles, Monday, May 22, 2006, at 4:24 AM.
Posted to Book cover photography | Book design | Books, design, art | Business | Computers | Flickr | Personal | Photography | Site news | Technology | Writing
An Approach to RGB-CMYK Conversion
A very interesting article on one approach to CMYK conversion has been posted over at The Luminous Landscape:
I have for many years worked in the CMYK colour space for press and printer image production. In doing to I discovered the most important area for me to consider when using Photoshop for RGB to CMYK conversion for printer or press printing, was the colour space conversion set-up to ensure the correct gamut on printers and printing presses is realised. As photographers are now encompassing Photoshop as their photo manipulation software of choice to process images, there is and will continue to be a service for printer and printing press ready CMYK files to be supplied. An understanding of the printing process and its relationship with Photoshop, will greatly assist in any a users abiltiy to ensure the maintenance of image quality and gamut control throughout the printing process.
It’s aimed at pro photographers getting stuff right for print, but it’s a great tutorial for those who need a refresher and contains some excellent tidbits for all so inclined on how the “color settings” palette in Photoshop can be a very big deal indeed.
Something to chew on if it’s a slow Monday for you…;)
Posted by Giles, Monday, May 8, 2006, at 1:41 PM.
Posted to Advertising | Book design | Book printers | Computers | Design | Photography | Printing | Publishing | Technology
RIP, Richard Eckersley
UnBeige notes:
Eckersley was born into a family of graphic designers in England and worked as a junior at Lund Humphries, which published the now-cult-classic Typographica magazine. He was in the US only one year before he took a job at the University of Nebraska, where he had lived since 1981. He focused on innovative book design, and was most famous for his typographic tricks in The Telephone Book, the first book he designed on a computer.
Stephen Heller wrote a nice piece for the NYTimes that also includes a wonderful cover. Here’s a larger version:
Rest in peace, sir. Your work will continue to be treasured.
Posted by Giles, Friday, April 21, 2006, at 12:00 PM.
Posted to Art | Book design | Book people | Computers | Technology | Type and typography
Preserved for Posterity
Found myself downright barking at a professional photographer tonight who had argued that restricting access to her work online was better than dealing with a few people out to cause trouble. I felt kinda bad afterwards; I was perhaps a little harsh. (Who? Me?)
I’m not a professional photographer, in the sense that I earn a living exclusively selling photographs, but I do sell photos, deal with photographers’ rights, and sell a creative, copyrighted or work-for-hire product/service that, while not as easily “stolen for use elsewhere,” is subject to a good deal of competition. Above-board, honest people and grab-your-ideas-and-undersell-you-later types alike.
Pushing your work farther and farther out into the world instead of walling it off clearly works. Foreword is my evidence.
Click through to Flickr and look at all the little notes by moving your mouse over the boxes on the photo. They’ll run you through all the stuff in the picture, including the icons, menu items, etc. (Warning: geek alert…;)
Sure, there are hassles. (Looking at new web servers [hosts] this week, for instance, so we can rebuild pages in the middle of the day without timeouts. You wondered why so few mid-day posts…?) It’s definitely a challenge to post regularly with the quality we’d all like to see — and that keeps traffic growing. Oh, and have I mentioned there’s still the rest of the web site to finish?
But it’s so worth it. Glad we can be here together, learning about book design. Whether it’s your first visit or your thousandth, thanks for coming by.
Posted by Giles, Monday, April 10, 2006, at 5:51 AM.
Posted to Book and design blogs | Book cover photography | Book design | Books, design, art | Business | Computers | Design | Ethics | Flickr | Freedoms and rights | Jobs | Love | Personal | Photography | Public domain | Publishing | Site news | Technology | Type and typography | Whatever | Writing
Couple of Quickies
• Adobe on why the switch to Universal is taking so long. Nice to see honest communication.
• Wired is putting together a special report surrounding Apple’s 30th birthday (yesterday). Happy birthday, Apple!
Posted by Giles, Sunday, April 2, 2006, at 10:08 PM.
Posted to Computers | Technology
Another New Logo: Volvo
Slightly off topic, but hopefully interesting nonetheless. A “Sunday design diversion,” if you will…:
When the decision was taken to start producing Volvo cars in August 1926, financial backer Svenska Kullagerfabriken – SKF – reactivated a company that had been idle since 1920 for the purpose. The name of that company was VOLVO and it had been formed in 1915 for the manufacture and marketing of bearings for the automotive industry.
Not only was the name ingeniously simple, it was also easy to pronounce in most places around the world and with a minimal risk of spelling errors. And best of it all was its immensely strong symbolic connection to the company’s entire operations.
“Volvere” is the infinitive form of the verb “roll” in Latin. In its first person singular form, the verb “volvere” becomes “volvo”, i.e. “I roll”.
At the same time as VOLVO was reactivated, the ancient chemical symbol for iron, a circle with an arrow pointing diagonally upwards to the right, was adopted as a logotype.
My fave, actually, is this flavor from a 1937 prototype — just lovely:
Meanwhile, fast forward to 2006.
Almost 80 years old, it now makes a grand comeback as an updated logotype – the Volvo iron symbol.
Read the rest of this article and tons of other Volvo news, tuning information, and stuff for Swedish car fans at SwedeSpeed.