Most Annoying Website of the Week
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is going on this week in Las Vegas. That means a lot of cool new stuff is being announced. Engadget and CNET are covering all of the details and DP REVIEW is keeping an eye on all of the new cameras and camera gear.
That's all great, but what I really want to do is give out the award for Most Annoying Website of the Week.
For the almost instant (and far too loud) techno music assault, the award goes to The Consumer Electronics Show.
Ugh! I thought that website intros like this went away with the nineties. Doesn't everyone know by now that the best way to get someone to close their browser (especially at work) is to surprise them with audio?
Sandvox Public Beta
"Sandvox makes Web site creation elegant, intuitive and fun. It's the Macintosh way ? the way it should be: drag and drop content, watch your site take shape as you create it, and publish."
Just yesterday I was thinking that there should be a program for OS X that's like the iPhoto of web page creation and completely forgot about Sandvox, which was released early this morning as a public beta. The sample pages shown on their site look good and I'm hoping it as easy to use as Comic Life.
One thing to note is that Sandvox is only compatible with OS X 10.4...or is it? So far I can't get the disk image to mount. I just sent an email to their support team and will post a short review of the program once I get it installed and can play with it for a little while.
Update: I was finally able to get a full download. It seems that the Karelia website was pretty busy for awhile today and not dishing out full downloads.
After playing with Sandvox for awhile, I can say that I'm impressed. The included templates look good and it's fairly easy to use. I created a simple site and validated the source code with just one error. That's not too bad and the error was pretty basic. One of the element id's started with a number. I'm sure that will be something that can be easily fixed and rolled out with the next release.
Since digging into Sandvox I've seen rumors that Apple may release a product called iWeb that could be bundled with iLife. We'll have to wait until tomorrow's keynote to see what Steve Jobs has up his sleeve.
NYC
What's better than getting surprised with a free trip to New York? Finding out that the hotel I'm staying in offers free limo service. Seriously, how sweet is that? I'm so excited. Plus, the hotel is in the perfect location. It's just south of Central Park, near the MoMA.
I haven't been to NYC in about 10 years and am really anxious to get back there. My only hope is that the weather isn't too harsh. Even if it is, I'm sure I'll have a great time. I don't have any definite plans yet, but I have a couple of weeks to decide what I'm going to do. I'll have to start reading the Village Voice to see what's going on.
Here's the short list of things I'd like to fit in: a jazz show, a Broadway show, the MoMA, Katz's Deli, the Downtown Music Gallery, B&H Photo, and lots of great food.
Anything obvious that I'm missing? I'm open to suggestions.
Gmail changes
I just noticed that the delete functionality in Gmail has been promoted to its own button. I love this change. It's much easier to delete a message this way than it was to hunt for the command in a select menu and will cut some time off of my daily inbox chores.
After noticing that, I decided to check out the "What's new on Gmail?" page to see if I've missed any other big changes or enhancements. I had. Contact groups were added about a month ago. Sweet!
Wacom Intuos3 Widescreen Tablet
Now that the holidays are officially over, I've started buying myself some gifts. Last week I picked up a Wacom Intuos3 pen tablet. I was going to get the 6"x8", but saw that I could get the widescreen 6"x11" version on Amazon for only a few dollars more than the local big box stores sell the 6"x8".
I don't do much drawing/painting, so using it hasn't revolutionized the way I work in Photoshop, but it's made it easier. Tracing couldn't be more comfortable and doing detailed photo retouching is much easier than using a mouse.
Another fun thing to do is filling out tax forms. A few days ago I was sent W-9 form as a PDF. My immediate reaction was to open it in Photoshop and use the text tool, but then I remembered that I could use the tablet. It was great to fill it out quickly by hand.
So far, it's a great purchase.
Canon S80
I picked up a Canon S80 on Saturday to bring to New York in a couple of weeks. Because it's still cold outside, I am pretty sure that I won't be walking the streets with the sole purpose of taking photos. Plus, one of my college friends is coming in from NJ to hang out and I don't want to be burdened with my 20D, lenses, and large camera bag while we're hanging out and running around the city.
I thought about bringing a film camera or two, but don't want to worry about the film being ruined by airport x-rays. I know that I could get it developed before I leave New York, but that seems like a hassle. I also know that there are lead bags that are supposed to protect film, but don't want the attention and potential hassle I'd get from having lead-lined bags in my backpack.
So far I really love having the S80. The photo quality is good, it has a large screen, its boot time is fast, and it's got a wide-angle 28-100mm lens, which is among the widest of the point and shoots that I researched. I also like all of the manual features and am looking forward to having this thing in my pocket.
Canon EOS 3
I picked up a film SLR on Saturday for a photography class that I'll be taking for next couple of months. I was hoping that I could use my 20D, but found out that a film camera is required, since much of the class will be spent in the dark room.
The teacher recommended some older film cameras, like the Canon AE-1, the Pentax K-1000 and the Olympus OM-1, but I wanted to be able to use my current lenses.
I decided on a Canon EOS 3 that I found used for only $500. It was hard to justify spending that much on a film camera, but it was in perfect condition and should retain its resale value if I decide to sell it after the class is done. However, I might just keep it as a backup, or for when I want to take full advantage of my wide angle lens without the 1.6x crop factor of the 20D. I can't wait to get out to do some shooting with a 16-35mm lens on this camera. Maybe in New York...
Since I'm on the subject of film, are the x-rays used for carry-on luggage still safe for film? I've know for awhile that you aren't supposed to put film in your checked luggage because the x-rays are too powerful, but I haven't found clear information about putting film through the carry-on scanner. If anyone has some current information to pass on, I'd appreciate it.
