Zune With a View

REDMOND - Microsoft this week unveiled its new lineup of Zune digital media players. The 2nd generation of Zunes will come in 3 varieties: 4GB Flash, 8GB Flash, and 80GB hard-drive. All will feature wifi wireless synching, a revamped interface, the ability to share songs wirelessly, and a touch sensitive "Zune Pad" input device that is also a clickable button.

Of note is that Microsoft will release a firmware update to the current Zune (Gen 1) 30 GB model, that will upgrade the player's feature set and interface to match the newer models.

The new Zune is expected to hit stores November 13, 2007, almost a full year from the original. The 4GB, 8GB, and 80GB models will be priced at $149, $199, and $249, respectively.

Cloudy Picnic

My wife and I decided to take advantage of the cooler weather last week and enjoy a picnic at a local park. We made sandwiches and tea, grabbed a blanket and set off in my truck.

The overcast day lent itself perfectly to natural light photography. I snapped a few shots of my wife using manual settings and the flash turned off. I slightly overexposed each shot to help fill in some shadow since I wasn’t using a reflector.

I love shooting on overcast days. Without the sun to cast hard shadows, faces seem to radiate a natural glow.

While we were there, we watched a man train his hunting dog to retrieve decoys from the lake. The young canine did quite well except for the occasional failed retrieval, which seemed to send the dog into a frenzied search.

When the temperature finally became cool enough to be uncomfortable, we headed home for the evening with some new pictures on my memory card.