Stuff That Interests AL904

21st Century Library

Manny Francisco, Manila, The Phillippines 

PC vs. Mac: The Straight Scoop

A couple of months ago, I discussed how I had used Windows-based computers for many years, and how I plan to continue to use a PC for my tax-preparation business for the foreseeable future. I also told about how impressed I am with Apple products and now also have a Mac on my desk. (You can read my prior post here.)

It can be difficult to find an unbiased article comparing PC's and Macs. I believe the following article by Harry McCracken does a good job of comparing the two systems fairly. 

PC vs. Mac: The Straight Scoop

By Harry McCracken, 2/23/2010, - FOXNews.com

Beyond the ads, the hype, and the nerdy debate, both Windows and Mac machines have their pros and cons. Here's a level-headed guide to choosing which one is right for you.

Apple's iconic series of ads pits Justin Long (right) as a Macintosh computer against John Hodgman (left), a PC. For consumers, the choice is more complex than in the ads, however.

Want to start a fight between computer geeks? Bring up one simple question: PC or Mac? 

Windows advocates will start accusing Mac users of being members of a fancy-pants cult. Mac fans will maintain that Windows users are the undiscerning owners of hunks of generic junk. It's a pretty undignified squabble, and both Microsoft and Apple egg it on via contentious TV ads.

Me, I'm cheerfully agnostic: I recommend both Windows PCs and Macs all the time, and use them both, too. The last computer I purchased was a thin-and-light Asus laptop running Windows 7; the one before that was a 15-inch MacBook Pro. When it comes time to buy a new machine, I'll consider both options. And if your budget permits, I recommend you do the same.

The PC-or-Mac debate has been raging for more than a quarter-century, but making sense of it requires considering the situation as it stands at one moment in time. Here's my take on things as of early 2010.

Cost. Venture into the computer department of a store like Best Buy, and you'll find scads of computers priced well under $1,000 and a handful for a grand or more. The former are almost all Windows machines, and many are respectable choices. The latter, however, are nearly all from Apple -- hence the common perception that Macs are way overpriced.

Every time I do the math, though, I come to the conclusion that the cost of Macs isn't out of whack with that of similar Windows machines. Apple isn't selling $750 notebooks for $1,500 -- its portables tend to use higher-end processors, mostly have aluminum cases rather than plastic ones, are typically thinner and lighter than garden-variety laptops and run longer on a battery charge than many of their Windows brethren. The Microsoft-powered laptops most directly comparable to Apple's MacBook Pro line, HP's Envy models, actually cost more than roughly equivalent Macs.

Another point to consider: All Macs come with Apple's excellent iLife suite, which provides tools for editing, organizing, and sharing photos, video, music, and more.  Bargain-basement PCs come with much more basic software at best.

Bottom line: You certainly don't need to splurge on a system in the Mac's price range to be a happy computer user. But with computers, as with most things in life, you generally get what you pay for.

Selection. The best thing by far about Windows PCs is the sheer unending variety of choices. They come in every size from teeny-tiny to extra-large. There are boxes with touchscreens, Blu-Ray players for high-definition movies, and TV tuners that let you watch and record cable and satellite TV. You can buy a PC that's pink, or transparent, or designed to be as close to indestructible as possible.

Apple, meanwhile, makes Macs in nine basic variants: the basic MacBook laptop, the MacBook Pro laptop in 13", 15", and 17" models, the MacBook Air ultraportable, the Mac Mini microdesktop, the iMac all-in-one desktop in 21.5" and 27" models, and the Mac Pro power desktop. And the company doesn't do Blu-Ray, TV tuners, touchscreens, and other features that are commonplace in the Windows world. In short, getting a Mac requires that you buy into one company's take on what's important. 

Operating systems. From early 2007 until late 2009, Microsoft's operating system was Windows Vista. It was short on fixes for long-standing Windows annoyances, and often sluggish and crashy even when pre-installed on new PCs. It was a powerful argument in favor of buying a Mac -- especially since OS X, Apple's operating system, was (and is) a slick piece of software that stays out of your face rather than complicating your life.

In October of last year, however, Microsoft shipped Windows 7, the solid upgrade to Windows XP that Vista never was. OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard remains more consistent, and less quirky, and some PC makers muck up Windows 7 by larding it up with demoware, adware, and other irritating extras. But the gap between Apple and Microsoft's offerings is as small as it's ever been. If you're a basically content Windows XP user, you've got less reason than before to contemplate switching to a Mac when you buy a new system.

Security. The vast majority of the world's hackers spend the vast majority of their time making trouble for the vast majority of computer users. That's why almost all known viruses, trojan horses, and other malicious applications attack only Windows PCs. Including really dangerous ones that can steal your credit-card and banking information. Recent releases of Windows security suites such as Norton Internet Security are pleasanter to use than their predecessors, but they're still not exactly entertaining.

Buying a Mac doesn't let you simply opt out of worrying about computer safety, however. For one thing, Mac owners are equally vulnerable to the growing number of threats that target social networks and other online venues, not Windows-based computers. Still, a Mac owner who runs no security software is vastly less likely to be the victim of a successful attack than a Windows user who's protected up to his eyeballs.

Service. The best time to think about whether a computer company builds reliable machines and backs them well is before you plunk down any money, not after something goes wrong. No manufacturer ships defect-free systems or makes every customer happy: At the moment, for instance, Apple is dealing with widespread complaints about faulty iMac screens.

Even so, the company has a more consistent reliability and service record than any of its Windows-centric rivals, as shown by surveys conducted by both PC World and PCMag.com. Check out these studies for invaluable real-world data before you buy from any major company.

The best thing of all about the PC-or-Mac decision? Despite what impassioned partisans may contend, it's not a big, existential question. Whether you buy a Windows system or a Mac, you'll find that the Web is the Web, that good software (much of it free) is plentiful, and that printers, cameras and nearly all other hardware work fine. Hey, they're just computers, folks -- and the only thing that really matters is choosing one that fits your needs, taste and budget.

Harry McCracken blogs at Technologizer, his site about personal technology. He's also the former editor in chief of PC World. Follow him on Twitter as @harrymccracken.

 

Shatner to star in 'S*** My Dad Says' TV pilot

In November, 2009's, "Tweet Smell of Success", I posted an article from the New York Post that had a subtitle of "Slacker turns cranky dad into TV sitcom." The article told about Justin Halpern, a 29-year old man who stilled lived with his parents. Justin tweets things that his 73-year-old dad says around the house. Since then, I have been following Justin Halpern on Twitter and some of the tweets are pretty outrageous and funny. Recently, he posted his dad's saying "Can we talk later? The news is on... Well, if you have tuberculosis it's not gonna get any worse in the next 30 minutes, jesus." Many things dad says (and Justin tweets) are far worse (and funnier!)

Yesterday, Chris Matyszczyk of Cnet News reported the following:

Shatner to star in 'S*** My Dad Says' TV pilot

by Chris Matyszczyk

I
f you haven't yet sniffed out "S*** My Dad Says," you have missed a chronicle of someone who is chronically honest.

Sam Halpern used to work in nuclear medicine at University of California at San Diego. His son, Justin, having been forced to move back in with his parents, one day thought it might be fun to start a Twitter page dedicated to the stuff that emerges from his dad's mind via his pleasant potty mouth.

The result makes Archie Bunker look like the kind old weather man on a regional TV station in Florida. For example, here is Sam's bon mot of February 9: "I don't get it; I sweat, I smell fine. You sweat, you smell like mule s***...Relax, she's on the treadmill next to you, she knows."

There is a rule that once more than a million people follow you on Twitter, you're either already on TV or you soon will be. So who would offer even the slightest "you s******* me?" to discover that the Twitter phenomenon is reportedly being made into a TV pilot. And the network behind it is CBS, CNET's parent company.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Captain Kirk himself, the man some Trekkies refer to as William S***ner, after he began to make fun of them, will be taking up the role of Sam Halpern.

"Please don't let the script be crap." (Credit: CC Zaphod's Other Head/Flickr)

Justin Halpern is co-writing the script, and the Reporter reports that the title of the show just might not be quite the same as that of the Twitter page. Perhaps it will be "Stuff My Dad Says." Or "Papa the Potty Mouth."

Perhaps, though, you might be a little queasy about the casting. While Shatner created a fine, Emmy-winning curmudgeonly presence in "Boston Legal," he was a very patrician and privileged Denny Crane. Sam Halpern is not merely a little rougher around the edges, he is rougher at his very heart than anything the skirt-chasing, perhaps-Alzheimery Denny Crane could ever muster.

Take this from January 23: "Sprain, huh? Did you go to medical school?...Well I did, so spare me your dog-s*** diagnosis and lemme look at your ankle." Or this from January 9: "Been thinking for a while, and I'd say there's 1.5 pounds of s*** in the dog. Tried to get the vet to weigh a sack of it. No dice."

Then there's this utter delight to celebrate the New Year: "Universe is 14 billion years old. Seems silly to celebrate one year. Be like having a f****** parade every time I take a piss."

Where often naughty words are gratuitous, Sam Halpern's invective is such a fundamental part of his being that it is hard to imagine these meaningful four- and seven-letter words not exiting from your flat-screen TV.

Justin Halpern, though, believes that his dad has always been sanguine about the Twitter feed, which has been going only since August 3. He told the Los Angeles Times: "He really doesn't give a crap."

So it can't be called "Crap My Dad Gives," right?

I've always enjoyed Shatner's crazy TV commercials. I still love his character, Denny Crane, and watch the re-runs of "Boston Legal" every chance I get. It should be interesting to see if the pilot becomes a series.

Kim's Photography Advice Useful for All of Us

As a long-time amateur photographer (with tech-geek tendencies,) I tend to spend a lot of time on the technology and fine-tuning details of cameras. I used 35MM cameras for years and loved the control they allowed the photographer. Only recently, I obtained a digital SLR camera. 

Sometimes I just want a quick shot at the optimal settings. Also, most people just want to point and shoot with their camera to capture moments to keep as memories and share with friends. The following article by Kim Komando contains excellent advice for all of us. 

Take perfect photos every time with scene modes

by Kim Komando, USA Today

It would be nice if a digital camera's automatic settings mode took perfect pictures every time. Truth is, it doesn't. You may miss the warm tones of a sunset. Or, skin tones are off.

You don't need to be a camera geek to get excellent photos. Virtually all point-and-shoots and many SLRs feature scene modes. Turn a dial to specify the shooting situation. Or, select it from a camera menu. The camera optimizes the settings.

Available scene modes vary by manufacturer. Modes are more common on point-and-shoots and entry-level SLRs. You won't find them on high-end SLRs. Let's take a look at some common scene modes and when to use them.

Starting with portrait mode, use this when shooting well-lit people or animals. Its icon is typically a person. You'll get soft, natural skin tones. Focus is on the subject's face, drawing viewers' attention.

The background will be blurred to eliminate distractions. However, the closer your subject is to the background, the clearer the background.

The sports mode icon is a person running. Use it for children, pets or any fast-moving subject. Exposure time is minimized, so you take photos quickly. Continuous shooting is enabled for rapid, multiple shots. Focus tracking is also enabled. The subject should always be in focus.

Sports mode may yield noisier photos, particularly in poor lighting. Noise is off-color pixels; it looks somewhat similar to film grain.

The icon with a mountain and star is night (or night landscape) mode. Use it for night scenes without a person or other central subject. It is perfect for photographing skylines. Night mode brings as much of the scene into focus as possible. Settings are optimized for low light. You'll get detailed dark areas, but lights and other bright areas won't lose detail.

Again, noise may be a problem. Also, flash is disabled. Use a tripod to avoid camera shake.

Use night portrait when shooting a central subject at night. Night portrait mode is represented by a person and star. The background may be dark, but, your subject will be well lit, thanks to your camera's flash. Night portrait may add noise to your shots.

Photographing bugs or flowers? Select the flower icon to put your camera in close up (macro) mode. It also works well for shots of small objects or details.

Your camera will focus at its closest distance. The background is softened so that your subject stands out. Additionally, flash settings may be tweaked to prevent bleached out subjects.

The picture of mountains is landscape mode. Use it for capturing detailed landscapes and streetscapes. Landscape mode puts as much of your scene in focus as possible. Foreground objects and distant objects should be equally sharp.

Use sunset mode for sunsets and sunrises. It is represented by a picture of the sun. Sunset mode preserves warm tones. You'll get the rich colors you want. Flash is turned off and your camera focuses farther away.

Child mode is represented by a picture of a child. It yields smooth, natural skin tones, but background details and clothing are vivid. The camera will track the child and focus continually. Settings are changed to avoid blurring.

The scene modes on your camera may differ slightly. Try using them. Experiment. After all, there is no more film to waste.

Kim Komando hosts the nation's largest talk radio show about computers and the Internet. To get the podcast or find the station nearest you, visit www.komando.com/listen. To subscribe to Kim's free e-mail newsletters, sign up at www.komando.com/newsletters. Contact her at gnstech@gannett.com.

Teenager invents low-frequency radio for underground communications

from Engadget, By Vladislav Savov:

You know what's really annoying? Teenagers. Even more annoying? Teenagers inventing legitimately useful things and getting awards for it. Meet Alexander Kendrick, the 16-year old inventor of a new low-frequency radio that allows for cave-texting, which isn't some fresh new euphemism, it just means people can finally text while deep underground. How deep, you ask -- well, Alexander's team of intrepid explorers went far enough (946 feet) to record the deepest known digital communication ever in the United States. What you see the young chap holding above is the collapsible radio antenna, though plans are already afoot to ruggedize and miniaturize the equipment to make it more practical for cave explorers and rescuers. Way to go, kid.

More at Slashdot.

Cool Guy!

Cagle Cartoons 

What the Apple iPad Means for Photographers

As a big fan of Apple products, and recently getting back into amateur photography, I found this article by Michael Reichmann at The Luminous Landscape to be especially interesting.

For All of Us
Apple has always been a trend setter. The Apple II wasn't the first home computer, but it defined what one was. With the Mac Apple didn't invent the GUI interface and the mouse, but it made them practical. Apple didn't develop Unix, but it made it an everyman operating system with OS-X. The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, only the best. And with the iPhone Apple showed the world what a smartphone could and should be like. Of course with the iTunes Store Apple has reinvented music retailing.

Now we have the iPad. Day one isn't the time for conclusions – only speculation. But, I wouldn't be at all surprised if with the iPad Apple once again offers up an industry game-changer, in this case doing for the book, newspaper, and magazine industry what they did to music with the iPod and iTunes.

But there are lots of pundits out there commenting and prognosticating on this, and so I'll leave the broader topic of how the iPad is going to change the course of civilization to others. We'll be inundated with opinions and forecasts in the days and weeks ahead. Instead, I'd like to focus on what the implications of the iPad are for photographers, both amateurs and pros.

As a Photographer's Tool
From the perspective of photographers what we have in the iPad is a 1.5 lb, 1/2 inch thick, 9.7 inch high-resolution screen with 10 hours of battery life and up to 64GB of storage. So the question becomes – what can we do with it? Of course it can be used as an in-the-field or studio image backup and review device. The questions are – how to we get images into it, and when we have, other than storing them, what can we do with them?

We don't have a lot of technical details at this point, but what is clear is that the in and out are wireless (WiFi and Bluetooth) , via the proprietary 30 pin docking connector, USB using a standard iPhone / iPod type connector, and an accessory SD card reader.

A device like the Eye-Fi SD card will allow wireless transfer of files directly in the field from ones camera to the iPad. There will undoubtedly be interface devices from third parties, maybe even camera makers themselves, that will allow direct connection of cameras to the iPad, via USB or the docking connector, as well as various devices using other transfer protocols. I would imagine that even direct tethering is possible given an appropriate interface adaptor, though USB is a bit slow for cameras that produce large files, as we've recently seen with the Leica S2.

The real issue is software. The iPad runs a variation of the iPhone's operating system. And, though it's based on OS-X, it isn't OS-X, and therefore standard image processing applications such as Aperture, Lightroom, Capture One and Photoshop won't run on it. This means that it will be up to companies like Apple, Adobe, Phase One and others to create image processing apps for the iPad. (Maybe Photoshop Mobile for the iPhone and iPod Touch is a harbinger of things to come from Adobe).

We know at this point that the iPad with its 1GHz processor is fast enough for animated games, and to support the programs in the new iPad version of IWorks, and with up to 64GB of storage it isn't hard to imagine the ability to do basic image import and processing with the iPad.

While the 9.7" iPad has a pretty good screen for image review, of course it can also be connected via its docking connector to a video projector for slide shows and presentations using Keynote in iWorks, or whatever other image display software becomes available.

The first impression is that as a tool for photographers the iPad has great potential, but it isn't necessarily a game changer. Where it may well be a transformative device is on the effect that it will have on the publishing industry, in particular newspapers, magazines, and books, and therefore on the photographers that create these images as part of their livelihood.

Actually, it'll also be a pretty cool device for showing ones portfolio to prospective clients and others.

For Professionals
The most interesting aspect of the iPad for professional photographers is what the implications may be for the profession. If the pundits and prognosticators are right (not to mention major newspapers and magazine publishers), in a couple of years millions of us will be using the iPad and similar devices to read much of what today we read on paper.

This being the case, with screen-based magazines, in many cases rather than photographs in an article being stills, they will be stills that at the touch of a finger may become a motion sequence. A shot of the winning touchdown in a Sports Illustrated story on the Superbowl becomes a video clip of the action. A photograph of a child being rescued from the rubble in Haiti becomes a short vignette on efforts to save the rescued child's life, and comments by the medical staff on their travails.

We already see this trend on sites like ours, where traditional product reporting and tutorials are sometimes accompanied by video segments. These enhances the written word and stills, illustrating aspects which words alone sometimes can't capture. We see a variation on this theme on current newspaper web sites that features video segments along with reproductions of text stories that appear in the printed edition. It's called convergence.

Reporters and photographers that shoot for newspapers have for several years now been shooting with small cameras that are video capable so as to be able to feed the online version of the paper. Image quality is on the low side, so one of the most popular cameras among newspapers for this application, the rugged little Canon G series, has been adequate for the task. But when glossy magazines like Sports Illustrated and National Geographic move to the iPad environment, they will want high quality video along with their high quality stills.

This leads to closing the circle when it comes to Combocams. DSLRs that shoot high quality video have till now seemed a bit like an actor searching for his part. Cool, but – who needs it?

Sure, there are lots of Indy film makers who are all over Combocams like a cheap suit, but since shooting and especially editing video properly is a new and none-too-easy craft a lot of pros have ignored the video side of their DSLRs as almost redundant. Well, not anymore.

With the iPad magazines of all ilks will be crying for video segments, and photographers that don't understand this needs, and who can't meet it, will be made redundant. This is already happening in the advertising side of the industry where the more successful photographers have been offering to produce not just the print side but also the TV advertising component on the same shoot. Many that have are thriving. Those that haven't are having a tougher time in an already difficult economy than they otherwise might.

As sometimes happens in the world of technology, 'till now the tail seems to be wagging the dog. That's been the case with Combocams. But with the iPad and how it will likely change the world of magazine publishing, the dog will be taking full control of what gets wagged, and how.

Which brings us to the whole issue of the merging of stills and video in a single device. Thus far what we have seen from Canon and Nikon especially, are still cameras that can shoot video. Image quality is one thing though usability is another. Both companies have failed miserably in terms of providing appropriate user interfaces, and handling, and viewing. Nikon has the excuse that they have never made a video camera. Canon has no such excuse.

But those days are numbered, because if companies don't start thinking and building new cameras creatively, and quickly, others will eat their lunch. I'm thinking of Panasonic, and RED in particular.

Panasonic, with their GH1, has shown that they get it. Maybe not as much as they might, but by providing a dedicated motion button, a high quality electronic viewfinder, and silent autofocus lenses, they at least demonstrate that someone in the company has actually taken their products out for a spin in the real world. (One only needs to look at the cottage industry has has grown up around the Canon 5D MKII to appreciate how much help this camera needs to become usable in a professional shooting environment.)

You can read the rest of this article and much more at The Luminous Landscape.






 

Apache Wingsuit

Most Dangerous Object in the Office: Wingsuit

Wired.com by Steven Leckart, January 25, 2010

Corporate bigwigs get golden parachutes to ease their exits. We’ve got the silicone-coated Apache wingsuit and UC-3 BASE jumping rig. It won’t help pay off the mortgage, but if a meeting gets really awkward, we can suit up, shout, “Later, suckaz!” and leap from the third-story window. Trouble is, we’d be about 960 feet short of the recommended 1,000-foot minimum for a jump. Maybe we can persuade the brass to hold meetings on the roof. 

Watch the Wingsuit in action!

The Father of Television

Jan 29, 1901: DuMont Will Make TV Work

 from Wired.com By Hugh Hart  January 28, 2010:

1901: In Brooklyn, a boy is born who will himself give birth to a revolution in home entertainment. Allen B. DuMont will be called by many the Father of Television.

DuMont contracted polio as a child. Bedridden for a year, he became obsessed with disassembling and reassembling a crystal-radio set. By 13, he’d built his own two-way radio from scratch and soon began spending his summer vacations working as a licensed wireless operator on trans-Atlantic ships.

DuMont then went to work at a radio company, where he failed in his early attempt to capture sound and picture through the use of spinning disks, so-called mechanical television. Realizing that cathode-ray tubes and a fully electronic system offered a more promising solution, he quit his day job in 1931.

Working in his garage, the incessant tinkerer figured out how to extend the life of the cathode ray tube from just a day to 1,000 hours. Armed with the innovation, DuMont showed off the first CRT television receiver to the public at the New York World’s Fair in 1939.

The engineering breakthrough propelled the television medium from an interesting experiment to a practical reality. DuMont introduced his own line of then-revolutionary TV sets that used CRTs as picture tubes.

Like Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison, DuMont was a shrewd businessman. He became one of the TV industry’s first millionaires.

Figuring that entertainment content would accelerate demand for the TV sets manufactured by his company, he launched the DuMont Television Network after World War II. The net was home to early sci-fi series Captain Video and His Video Rangers and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. It also broadcast Jackie Gleason’s first “Honeymooners” sketches on its Cavalcade of Stars variety show.

But DuMont finished a perennial fourth to ABC, CBS and NBC. In 1955, DuMont shut down the network that bore his name.

Even if he fell short as a network exec, DuMont’s tech-head virtuosity ensures him a permanent niche in broadcasting history as a father of television, along with Philo T. Farnsworth, John Logie Baird, Vladimir Zworykin and David Sarnoff.

So this password manager walks into a bar…

During a recent password audit, it was found that a <insert favorite moronic social group> was using the following password for her computer:

MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofy

When the auditor asked why she had such a big password, she said, “Hellllooooooooo! The tech support guy said that it had to be at least eight characters long.”

My thanks to Marc at Ilium Software for this!