My favorite camera. let me qualify that for a moment: My favorite camera right now… is the Hasselbald 500 CM. I like it because in my completely automated world i am able to unwind and use something that is completely manual. When i shoot with it i really feel like i am capturing the image as opposed to being the operator, tripod, “button pusher” for my otherwise fully automated DSLR camera. When i take what i would consider an exceptional photograph i know that it was me, my efforts that made it possible. Not that the DSLR is all bad but it is designed to help me not fail as a photographer.

My father is a pretty much a scratch golfer. He uses golf clubs that are very unforgiving with a small “sweet spot” he calls them “blades.” They have thin metal heads and there is little margin for error. However because they are not calibrated for forgiveness they can be specifically made for success. This is the way i see my Hasselblad. When i use it i am directly responsible for the success of the images it produces, with it i can create a world class image unsurpassed by any currently available digital SLR Camera however unlike my DSLR, if i botch a shot it is botched. Also, the fact that i don’t know if it’s botched until i get back and develop my film. This forces me to improve my craft everyday if i wish to improve.

In todays world where we are trying hard everyday to remove the chance from our endeavors it has become more and more important to me that i really learn about my craft and force myself to not rely on the automation. For an example, when was the last time you added more than 3 numbers together in your head that didn’t end in 0′s? Most people (me included) rely completely on calculators to process numbers for us. There was a time not long ago that people performed math operations in their head but we as a people no longer have to do that due to technology. That is great, however what do we do when the battery is dead on our calculator? (I hope you don’t just give up but that instead you break out a pencil and paper, don’t forget to carry the one!)

I was reading on a friend of mine’s blog the other day and he was talking about how most of us practice our hobbies as often as we can however the people that really excel at their hobbies practice every day. What is the longest run you have done where your have shot every day? I know i have not gone an entire week without shooting, but it has been a long long time since i have shot every day in a week. That is what my goal is for this week. To stop and use my fully manual camera to shoot with every day this week. I hope to go through about 5 or 6 rolls of 120 HP5 before next sunday. How about you? What are you going to do to practice your photography “swing” this week?

Better get out to the driving rang to practice your craft, and if you haven’t yet, you should get an old film camera and see how good your swing is without those fancy “new clubs” that you can shank and still be in the fairway.

-Joe

So i did it.

I got the new iPhone. i told myself that was not going t o, that it was too important for me that the Android operating system was more open and available to more manufactures and therefore better, more diverse, and was going to take over the planet and crush apple to dust as Microsoft did to the apple II in the late 80′s and early 90′s however i did it anyway. this Jewel like shiny piece of glass and metal is just too shiny for me to fight it with any reason or meaningful explanation that i can conjure.

while i still think that the eventuality of apple loosing the battle against the more open platform is coming and Apple will face it someday soon. (I’m guessing around the release of the next iPhone next July the signs will be very hard to dismiss.) i think that for this round i will stick with them. not out of a driving need to fit in but the polish, durability and feel of the iPhone in this generation is really hard to ignore. the device feels like what it should. the competitors offerings feel like toy cars all plastic and clicky… they are on the whole not even close to the quality feel of the iPhone. infect, when holding the new 4G in one hand and a Vertu (Nokia’s premium brand of phones available in materials like solid gold and solid platinum) phone in the other you would probably prefer the iPhone over the Vastly more expensive phone not only because it works better but feels equally if not better constructed.

I’m certainly not a fan boy for apple just for quality design and innovation. i have a Toshiba laptop as opposed to an Apple MacBook, and a Windows Home Server instead of a Apple TimeCapsule.

in essence i think that this is more like a competition, apple keeps winning every year however each year more and more teams are getting to compete. eventually someone else is going to win and i don’t see Apples way back into the contest once that happens.

iPhone user 23,200,276 signing out.

Great Laptop, wish it was more durable., I have a T115 and i love it. I had an ACER aspire One with the Atom N270 processor and the battery only lasted for about 3 hours. (half way from ATL to LAX which was unacceptable.) As i make 6+ hour flights all the time i needed something with the battery power to get it done. The T115 really meets my travel related needs. The battery lasts at least 8.5 hours each time i have used it. The ergonomics of the 11.6″ form factor are almost the same as my full sized laptop. (my ACER was the 8.9″ 1024×600 screen resolution was trying at times…)

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This is a video of me presenting our scanning product at the Vision Expo West conference back in October 2009. don’t Laugh…

Just over one year ago Apple announced the App Store and told developers that their new platform was going to offer developers the ability to make applications that could do almost anything! As we sit here a year later we now know that is not the case as Apple rejects apps based on what can only be described as murky rules that change based on what apps are submitted such as in the case of Google’s VOIP app.

After speculation that AT&T asked that Google’s app not be allowed onto the app store the matter is being further investigated by the FCC. None-the-less this is not sitting well with the one demographic that Apple should care the most about. iPhone owners…

There are countless blogs spewing rants about Apple and how the company rejected an App offering a feature that they were looking forward to. This creates unrest in an otherwise extremely loyal base of customers. Even worse is the moths of development that many of the coders have spent on working on apps that seemingly meet Apple’s rules only to get rejected for what seems to be emotional reasons on the part of Apple and their partners.

Now enter Microsoft, with a new way for angry and confused iPhone developers to recycle their code by porting their software to windows Mobile. This move from Microsoft allows them to play catch up with other mobile platforms and creates good will with App Store developers by allowing them to salvage months of work and effort spent on software previously rejected by Apple. Microsoft has also announced that their app store offering will be available for older versions of Windows Mobile giving cross-over developers access to a new user base of over 30 million windows Mobile devices.

So i guess we will see if this move from Microsoft enables a change of heart in Apple’s hard line dealings with App Store developers…

read more: Microsoft Courting iPhone Developers — Windows Marketplace For Mobile — InformationWeek.

brandflakesforbreakfast

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Ok, i am a bit smitten with the new round of wireless, Bluetooth stereo headsets coming out. especially ones that offer high quality background noise reduction like the pair in the image below from the good folks at Jabra. However so long as the iPhone does not support playing audio through Bluetooth i suppose i will have to watch as the new Jabra HALO headset drifts by into the hands of better equipped consumers running WINDOWS MOBILE! sheesh.

Jabra introduces stereo Bluetooth headset, speakerphone | CTIA show – CNET Reviews.

As my poor little Jawbone 1 ages and begins to fall apart i think that the only acceptable replacement for it will have to be one of the sleek new modles that are coming out from Plantronics (As i think that hte new Jawbone is a bit girly…)

-Joe

For those of you out there that have not been watching the iPhone Bluetooth development team for the past few months they have really made progress and are approaching the completion of their Bluetooth app for the iPhone. This app is planned to add the missing Bluetooth sigs to the iPhone such as AD2P (high quality Audio), OBEX (file transfer) and perhaps even DUN (dial-up networking). Drop by their site and download a copy of SweetTooth their GUI interface for the first phase of the Bluetooth hack. it is available now for those of you with jailbroken iPhones via Cydia Installer.

Cheers!

Visit their site at: http://ibluetoothproject.com/

I sat through a great forum tonight. The speakers were Mike Haines of Facebook.com, Malcolm Faulds of BzzAgent.com and Ainsley TeGrotenhuis of CNN.com. all of them did a great job describing how their companies offer more value to their customers than a traditional marketing effort while at the same time reaching more people and better targeting the specific consumer that a brand is trying to reach. Listen to this video to hear what each of them had to say!

They talked about the use and reasoning for why Social media works in todays marketing landscape. have a look at the video i took via my iPhone and please feel free to comment!

-Joe

Thank God is all i have to say!

I purchased the iPhone 3G to replace a Treo 750 the weekend that it was released. Since then i have experienced a love/hate relationship with the shiny, thin and ultra sheek iPhone. I really miss the ability to invite an attendee to a meeting using exchange e-mail (And dot even get me started with cut and paste…) however those features while convenient, are not essential to my everyday life. The two un-excusable features that are missing from this ultra modern cutting edge piece of hardware to me are:

A decent Bluetooth Stack.

Tethering.

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