Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Windows vs. Walls

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I love Microsoft’s new Windows campaign. Not the Seinfeld / Gates commercials about nothing, but the NEW new Windows campaign.

The commercial begins with a PC-looking fellow quite similar to the one featured in Mac vs. PC ads who states simply, “I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” Then a montage of people from every walk of life, varied professions, and from around around the world begin stating that they too are PCs. The variety of folks runs the gamut from Eva Longoria to Deepak Chopra, to the guy who says. “I’m a PC—and I’ve got a beard.”

The ad does a great job of going up against the Mac ads without directly confronting them. It conveys that everyday people in everyday life use Windows and manages to make Apple seem even more snobbish than before. My favorite line is from the professional boxer at the end of the “I’m a PC” ad: while holding down his opponent, he looks at the camera and says, “Got a problem with that?”

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Open Source

As mentioned in an earlier post, I recently paid about $200 for the latest version of Microsoft Office. I am a Vista user--one who hasn't experienced it as terribly as everyone else apparently has--and decided I wanted to upgrade my business mail and contacts to Office 2007. After installation I noticed that besides a new interface and a few improved features, there wasn't a whole lot there that I didn't have already with Office 2003. This of course, got me thinking. Should I have spent that money on baby formula instead?

While reading various tech web-sites, I ran across something called OpenOffice.org, which is a complete suite of office applications that is entirely free. Out of curiosity, I downloaded and installed them without a hitch. I fired up Writer, a word processing program strikingly similar to MS Word, and found it to be completely capable and fully featured. The same went for all the programs--all easy to use and similar to their paid counterparts. Writer reads and saves as Word's .doc file format, so not even compatibility is an issue.

All this got me thinking again: why did I pay money for something that does the same thing? Granted, MS Office is significantly better looking, but looks aren't everything...

Friday, September 05, 2008

Dustin & Shyla

A few photos from an engagement shoot.

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Like Father, Like Sons

No, my 4-month-olds aren't really playing Nintendo DS, but it made for some pretty cute photos. It looks like a little, baby-sized MacBook! I can only hope that one day, my sons will share their daddy's love for Nintendo...

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Taking Better iPhone Photos

If there's one thing I have complaints about concerning the iPhone, it's the camera. All in all, I have more complaints than that but let's focus this post on making the most out of a mediocre situation. At a rather meager 2 megapixels and lacking a flash of any kind, it can be tricky to get photos that aren't blurry, let alone acceptable to share with anyone. The addition of more megapixels would most likely create even more problems due to the technical limitations of the iPhone's lens, but if certain requirements are met, the little do-it-all device can be useful in a pinch as is. Most of these techniques apply to photography in general and are extremely useful for any kind of camera phone.

It should go without saying that lighting is one of the most important aspect of taking a great photo regardless of what camera you're using. It becomes even more crucial when using a lower quality lens such as those found on most camera phones. The iPhone's lens is very sensitive to different lighting situations which is more of a good thing than bad.

img_0269Let's examine the photos of the flowers to the right. In the first shot the camera underexposed the subject due to the bright window in the background. In the second shot, I moved so that the wall would become the background, resulting in img_0270a much better exposure. Even light, such as outdoors on an overcast day, results in great looking photos.

In addition to good lighting, another step you can take is get close (but not too close) to your subject. In my experience, the iPhone's camera lens focuses best at about 2-10 feet. Any closer, and the subject is blurry. Any further away and the subject can get lost in the composition.

Another step to getting the most out of your iPhone's lens is to keep a very steady hand while shooting. Since a tripod is not an option with the iPhone, try bracing the device against a wall, tree, lamp-post, or any other steady object you may find handy. This is very useful in low-light situations where camera shake is much more obvious.

Lastly, don't be afraid to get creative with your photography. Get low to ground or stand in a chair. Anything you can do to make the shot more interesting could turn a good photo into a great photo. It won't do much good if the other ideal conditions are met when taking a shot, if the composition is poor. Stand in a location and frame the shot to draw maximum attention to the subject.

Good use of ambient light, getting up close and personal, holding the iPhone steady, and great composition of your subject can all lead to better photography in general, and can make a huge difference when taking pictures with your iPhone.

Trying out Windows Live

There's a sweet little suite of programs from Microsoft that I've been exploring lately, Windows Live. It consists of 5 main downloadable programs, some of which are upgrades or replacements to their counterparts in Windows Vista. These include Windows Live Mail (an upgrade to Windows Mail), Windows Live Photo Gallery (an upgrade to Windows Photo Gallery), Live Messenger (the latest iteration of MSN Messenger), Windows Live Writer (a blogging tool that I am using to create this post), and Live Toolbar (which I didn't install and therefore have no firsthand experience with).

new-1In addition to the programs that exist on your PC, Windows Live also features web-based services such as SkyDrive, a free, 5GB cloud-storage service which I have already found to be very useful and easy to use.

I was able to install the entire suite (sans-toolbar) in under 8 minutes. I appreciate the modular nature of the installation--I was able to easily choose which programs to install and which to ignore. I also like not having to wait for the next version of Windows to get updated versions of Mail and Photo Gallery.

My favorite Live application is Writer, a blogging tool that integrates seamlessly with popular services such a Blogger and WordPress. I am able to insert photos and formatting much easier than before and save drafts on my desktop locally.

Visit http://get.live.com for more information.