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Tag: apple

April 23, 2012

The Art of Inaction, Part 1

Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard have finally been shown the door by Apple. Lion rules. Losers get to stick out their tongues.

Some people just absolutely have to have the newest gadget. And for many of them, they go through great effort to wait on line to be among the first to own it.
(Apple products tend to generate this level of enthusiasm.)

It is a badge of honor for these new tech adopters to be on the bleeding edge of consumer tech. (if only for a few days)

Remember when your friend or colleague came in with that first iPhone a few years back? It didn’t matter that it cost $500 for the entry-level 4-gig model, or how slow it was by today’s standards.
These consumer tech trailblazers flaunted their status as near demigods, and for anyone slightly interested in technology, we marveled at their status. And we all drooled with envy. (Well, at least I did.)

Hedge Your Bets
There is an irony with this approach to buying consumer technology, because common tech wisdom says to never buy the first of anything. And you should also wait a while till new software or updates are proven to operate properly. Who really wants to be a guinea pig?

A lot of the time, new tech has glitches. And if you’re one of those who must own it immediately, you’re really not more than a canary in a cage deep in a mine.

But if there’s new OS or IOS system software available for your Mac or iPhone/iPad, some folks sprint out the door, or press the download button without thinking.
Who cares if it’s still a little buggy?

The hedge says, wait a few weeks. That’s all.

The Tao of Total Caution
But there’s another tech wisdom that lives on the completely opposite side of the spectrum of caution.
It says, don’t upgrade unless you absolutely have to.

I know some techies who live by this rule, and they do make a compelling argument. If you’re happy with your tech, why mess with a good thing?
So don’t do it.

Period.

The web is filled with horror stories from people who failed to get to the finish line with their software upgrade. And if it’s an entire operating system, that means big trouble.

Love and Fear
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m no tech slouch when it comes to computing.
I’ve got my 2-year-old iMac and iPhone 4S. My wife has the new Mac Book Pro and an iPad. I feel we’re reasonably current at home with tech.

In an early post, I confessed my inaction towards the necessary iCloud switch over.
Maybe I didn’t use the proper word, but I’ll admit to it now.

It’s fear.
I’m afraid I’m going to destroy my happy home-digital-homeostasis.
This fear has kept me in the camp of total caution.

See, it’s not only about losing MobileMe and my photo/video sharing functionality. It’s something much more critical.
I feel a very real primal threat to my precious iMac and all its contents.

I love Apple, but I don’t feel the stability of the relationship I really want. Apple has always had a focus on the next big thing, and they are a wildly successful company. Part of that success requires them to cut loose products and functionality that don’t fit into that vision.

My Leap of Faith
When MobileMe goes away in June, the only way to sync your data between devices will be through iCloud . And you’ve got to upgrade to Lion to use iCloud. That’s it. Everyone else on Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard- it was nice knowing you.

I’ve been very happy with Snow Leopard as an operating system on my
2.93 GHz Intel Core i7 iMac (That’s what it calls itself.)

There is always a risk when you upgrade to a newer operating system that not all of your software will be compatible. And there is also the risk your computer won’t reboot after the upgrade.
There are a thousand reasons why.
(Again, the web is filled with stories…)

But Lion has been out since last July, and the reviews are all positive. The vast majority of Lion users are seemingly doing just fine.

I knew I really had no choice.
So yesterday, I decided I had procrastinated quite enough.

Beyond the fear of wondering if my iMac would survive the upgrade, I was particularly concerned about one program making the transition. Final Cut Pro.

FCP X’s New Brain and Lost Heart
A few years back, I made the jump from iMovie to Final Cut Express, and then to Final Cut Pro.

My story is hardly unique, but with the new version of Final Cut Pro X, I know I can’t continue to use my current editing projects from Final Cut Pro 7.
FCP 7 is a dead platform that Apple abandoned when FCP X premiered last summer. You can’t up convert your old project files to the new platform.
(See you later, lover, and please leave your keys on the table on your way out.)

There’s been a lot of chatter on the web about how horrible FCP X is.
For now, I’ve decided not to make a decision on that dilemma.
(And no, there was never a FCP 8 or 9.
Apple skipped over those two numbers.)
The real problem I’m stressing about is whether FCP 7 works with Lion.

I know that FCP 6 and Lion don’t play together at all, but the web didn’t offer a unanimous perspective on FCP 7 and Lion. That said, my research suggested it would probably work.

Probably.

So what’s so important about preserving my ongoing editing projects on FCP 7?  Two family history videos.
I’ve been working on one with my father for the past four years. (It’s amazing stuff. You all should be doing this to bridge family history detail across generations.)
And I’ve been documenting the first years of my wonderful two-year-old son.
Say no more.

How would you feel at the prospect of losing all of that?
I call that fear.

Making the Go/No-Go Decision
But I had everything backed up. As a worse case scenario, I figured I could always throw myself down at the mercy of an Apple Genius and hope my digital world could be restored.

So with the knowledge that I really had no choice, I prepped my iMac in disk utilities by verifying the integrity of my hard drive and disk permissions, did a final Time Machine backup, and then downloaded Lion from the Mac App Store.

$30 and 30 minutes later, it sat there on my desktop.
The Lion icon stared at me. I think it was angry I had waited this long.

I move the cursor with my mouse to hover over the word, ‘Install.’

I hesitated for a moment more.

And then I clicked the bu

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April 9, 2012

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Can nothing save this photo? Don’t be so sure. It’s got core digital integrity!

I have a little secret.
Please don’t judge me.

I’m changing reality.  Every single day.
(No, I’m not crazy.)
Technology has given me this power.

I know of no rulebook on how to practice this freakish act.
So I currently self-regulate the best I can.
Others must be doing it.  But no one’s talking about it.

And what is this dastardly voodoo I perform?

I’m touching up my digital photos.

Altering the Image
Since the dawn of photography in advertising, there’s been some controversy regarding the practice of touching up photos of actors and models.  Making them look better….younger….thinner. You’ve heard it all before…

Recently, I remember a recent story about a cover page photo of Demi Moore for W Magazine. There was some conjecture about the impossibly small size of her left hip, and that digital shrinkage made it that way.

Sure, it seems wrong to tinker too much. But how much is too much? Clearly, it’s regularly done in the advertising industry. It only becomes a problem when some digital artist does a hack job, and the boundaries of visual reality are crossed.
So it’s okay if nobody notices?

On the home front, I feel this issue is cloaked.
Besides, who really cares what you’re doing to your own photos?

You snap a photo and upload it to your computer. It seemed like a good picture when you took it, but now the background is too bright, and the shadows are a little too muddy. The colors are off and could use a little boost as well.
Actually, now that you’re looking closer, the whole thing is a little blurry.
(You really need to hold that camera steady!)

Maybe it’s not such a good picture after all. Time to throw it in the trash.
Oh well…
Wait a minute! You remember all of this can be fixed with the power of one finger.

You can perform instant magic in Apple’s Photos program. You press the auto enhance button, and voila, your photo looks instantly better!

And while you’re at it, you can easily level the shot’s tilted angle away from its titanic slope. Then, you might as well crop it closer, because you forgot to use the camera’s zoom. And that dreaded red-eye? Gone!

Isn’t technology wonderful?
Now this whole operation doesn’t match the mind-bending moment in Harrison Ford’s “zoom in and enhance” photo reconstruction scene from his 1982 movie Blade Runner, but it’s startlingly close.

You’ve taken a pretty bad photo and reorganized a whole bunch of its pixels, making it fit for framing for all to see.
Do you see any problems here?
Not yet.

As you look closer at the other control buttons in your photo management software, you notice there are additional enhancement options. And then you start realize there are little things you can do to the people in your pictures to make them look just a bit better.

The lure is just too strong. And so you begin down your slippery slope…

Boo-Boo’s
Take my two-year old son. He’s an adventurer and loves to climb anything and everything. More than occasionally, there is the inevitable boo-boo on his nose or cheek.

I’m a proud dada, and I’ve taken lots of pictures of my son. (lots)

And yes, I’ve seen some little red boo-boos in the shots and then looked at the retouch button. Two clicks later, the boo-boo is gone. Other times, the boo-boo stays in. Why? Sometimes the boo-boo is absolutely a part of the picture’s story. It needs to be there. Other times, not so much.

Shaving Nicks
Speaking of boo-boos, I’ve taken some great shots of my father, but…

He always shaves with a straight razor, and occasionally I see some of the classic nicks that come from this life-long practice.

So does my camera. But with two more mouse clicks, the nicks are nicked.

You’re welcome, Dad.

Skin Smoothing
This is where the power of altering reality really kicks in. And please call it what it is.

Wrinkle Remover!

I don’t have to review with you the aging process on the human face, but this little trick quickly reduces the prominence of certain unnecessary extra lines.  It also reduces overly exposed reflections on your skin that make you look like you forgot to take a shower.

So here’s the question? Am I vain enough to perform a little virtual surgery on a select number of my photos here and there?
(You’ll notice I’m not denying it.)

And how do I justify all this?

Bad lighting.

Actually, lighting is a significant factor in how good anybody looks in a picture. A picture taken with good natural light is always going to look better than that nasty flash.  And a little side and back lighting at the same time. Nice!

Since most of us don’t travel with our own personal lighting team, I think it’s fair to replicate the effects of good lighting with a few extra clicks of the mouse.

To be honest, I’m still feeling some guilt. Is this really so wrong?
I’m not working in a professional photo management program like Photoshop and making ‘major’ changes like readjusting entire body parts. I’m just using consumer-sanctioned software that’s readily available to the masses. I’m only enhancing or minimizing what’s already there.

Everyone is doing it. Right?

My Digital Moral Code
Plus, I follow Barrett’s Rule of Core Digital Integrity.
(My CDI)

And what is this digital moral code, you ask?
“Don’t mess with the core integrity of someone’s ongoing image.”

Ongoing image? What does the heck does that mean?
It’s how a person generally photographs across an average time span of a month or so. If ‘anomalies’ crop up that change that, I say it’s okay to help that photo look more ‘accurate.’

Let’s review:

-Boo-boo will be gone next week anyway – Remove it.
-Shaving nick will heal soon enough – Zap away.
-Sleep deprived darkness under your eyes is not permanent –
Use the brighten section tool.
-Flash induced glow on your forehead looks terrible –
Smooth it out and reduce.
-Little mole on your face is here to stay – Leave it alone.
-Adjust your eye color – Easy, but why would you want to do that?
-Blur anything in the photo that irritates you – It’s time to reread my CDI.

Am I out of control?

Cosmetics Industry to the Rescue
Wait a minute! Maybe I’m making a big fuss over nothing.

I’ve just realized I’m not really alone. The beauty industry has got my back.
And for those who may disagree, please excuse this possibly controversial thought as merely an academic exploration. Even men use facial products! Aramis’ Lab Series, for one, is in that growing business.

Don’t cosmetics handle the exact same issues I’m describing?
They’re just trying to make people look their best.
A bit of concealing here.  A little highlighting there.
I’m not seeing this multi billion-dollar juggernaut struggle with my ethical dilemma.

We all want to look our best, don’t we?
That’s all I’m talking about!

Everyone’s doing it!
I suddenly feel so much better.

Are you worried? Don’t be.

Feel free to use my CDI, and just don’t get caught!

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March 28, 2012

Your Shoebox VS. The Cloud

Old Shoebox Tech saved this 114-year-old photo of my great-grandfather.

I work with a few colleagues who are fond of conspiracy theories. It seems like a fun hobby for them. (To each his own.) They enjoy pointing out unsubstantiated facts that suggest a bumpy ride ahead. And they’re loving the whole 2012 thing.

While I’m not planning to move to a desert island any time soon, it does remind me about my own little worse case scenarios.

Here is one that occasionally keeps me up at night, especially after my toddler bangs on my computer keyboard a bit, while I’m trying to use it!

What if you woke up the next day to realize you’ve lost your complete digital family photo collection?
Not one picture from the 21st century.

The Shoebox
This nightmare didn’t existed in the old analog days.

Worse case scenario- the shoebox.

My parents had some family pictures from the ‘40s and ‘50s in a shoebox stuffed in the back of the closet.  Sure, the box got lost for years. But it wasn’t going anywhere. This practice borders on archival neglect, but it worked just fine.  Yes, these precious photos are a little faded and could be in better shape, but they’ve weathered the decades intact.  Most importantly, they still exist.

I was a little more organized than the shoebox strategy in my non-digital years. I developed my film, ordered the prints, and put my favorite photos in albums, which sit proudly on a shelf.

Then Y2K hit, and digital photography came to the masses. The computer meltdown we feared never appeared on 1/1/01, but I believe the legacy of that expected digital doomsday is alive and well today.

Back It Up
I think I snapped my last photo on film sometime in 2001.  Without negatives, I knew to back up the photo files and I did so with decent regularity.  (Remember Zip disks and how awesome it was that they could store a whopping 250 megs?!)

Then came CD storage, external hard drive back up, and consumer friendly tools like Time Machine.

Photo Shangri-La
For the next decade, technology offered amazing ways to share your pics. From email and online sharing to your smartphone and digital photo frame, the options were many. Today, your photos have no boundaries. What could be better than that?

So remember, all of your photos sit on your computer and are hopefully safely backed up. Maybe you’re using Apple’s Photo Stream for your most recent 1000 pictures.
And your favorites are also floating around digitally based on how you’ve decided to share them.

Where are most of your pictures not living?

On photo paper.

“Hold on,” you say in protest. You can print a photo any time you want.

Photo printing is available online or at the CVS down the street. You can get your photos in a day or an hour. The archaic practice of bringing in a roll of film for 3-5 day rush-developing is long gone.

But wait, there’s more…

The Double-Edged Sword of the Home Photo Printer
Doesn’t everyone have a printer now that can print a decent photo? Yes, I know ink cartridges are insanely expensive and clog up if you don’t use them every third day, but if you want, you can create a great hard copy of any of the thousands of pictures you’ve taken since the turn of the century…
… in 78 seconds.

Bam!  Isn’t technology wonderful?!

OK… here comes the big question:
How many hard copies of your digital photos do you actually possess?

Could you fit them all in a shoebox?

That’s the problem!
There are no more hard copies.
And here’s the ultimate irony- There is an inverse relationship between how easy it is to create a digital photo print and the number of times you’ve actually made one.

I’m sure there’s a bunch of you out there who would say,
“Good riddance. Who needs useless hard copies?”
They’re redundant and expensive. The digital versions are free and always accessible. You can back them up to the Cloud… to Flickr… they exist everywhere. They are infinitely backed up. Your priceless photos couldn’t be safer.

I hear a knock-knock at the door.
My conspiracy friends have come by for dinner.

Your Photo Library’s’ Last Meal?
Let’s review the menu…

The Obligatory Appetizer – You Eat Too Much.
People take too many pictures.
Once you buy the memory card, you’re set for infinity. Then it’s all free.
Some of these shots are great. Many are good. Plenty are just okay.
Chances are you’re holding onto all of them. Who’s got time to delete the marginal shots?

The Scary Main Course – Got any TUMS?
Your best photos are getting lost in the quagmire of your photo glut.
Unless you can devote some serious time on a regular basis to organizing your photos, many of the ones that really matter will eventually be lost, like that email that disappears behind your next 500 messages. Time is your enemy.

Yes, there’s the instant gratification of posting pictures on your Facebook page or Flickr account.
Yes, they’ll always be there, (maybe).
But no, the problem isn’t solved.
Over time, your virtual photo archive will just gell into a costly, unviewable mess. And with all your thousands of pics, the Cloud doesn’t stay free for long.

Plus, nobody wants to be subjected to all these pictures, and without some organization, neither will you.

The Healthy Dessert – Your Meal is Saved!
I say, “Sign Up Here to Get Organized!”
Print an annual photo book of your life.

Let’s face it. Every photo is not worth existing in corporeal form. But I think it’s critical to print out your favorite photos every year. Sure, you can do it the old-fashioned way by placing hard copies into an album, but I shudder at the time suck. (Anyone out there still doing scrapbooks?)

The simple solution is a photo book constructed via the Web.
It’s the perfect marriage of new tech and old-fashioned wisdom.

There are lots of services that let you build a photo book right from your computer. These gorgeous, coffee table-ready books aren’t cheap, and that’s actually a good thing. It forces you to be selective as to which photos to include. Remember, nobody wants to be overwhelmed with too many pictures.   And don’t be lured into creating lots of full-page images.
You quickly burn through pages that way.

Here are a couple options:

Apple’s Photo Books
It’s super convenient, because it’s integrated into Apple’s iPhoto and Aperture, and you’ve got immediate access to all your pictures without having to upload them.
The cost starts at $29.99 for a 20 page 8.5” x 11” hardcover book and 99 cents for each additional page up to 100.
This is the service I use. And for full disclosure, I’ve pushed up to that 100-page limit for my annual books. (Like you, I take a lot of photos in a year!)

Shutterfly
The 8” x 11” hard cover photo book starts at $34.99. Each additional page is $1 with a 101-page limit.

So there you have it!  Go activate your own micro publishing empire!
Each year, spend a little time and create one of these books.
It’s really a no brainer.

The Unexpected Aperitif – The Goodness Continues
But wait. There’s more! Through this process, you’ve also digitally collected your best-of-the-best pictures for the year. Take those files, burn a few disks, upload them to the Cloud, and maybe even throw them on a thumb drive for safe keeping.

And where are you going to put that thumb drive?
Here’s a thought…  Got a shoebox?

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