This Old Blog

Apple's iPhone 5 This is turning into a Weekend of Decision for me. First I'm wrestling with what kind of 35mm DSLR to move to, now it's a new smartphone and provider. I got on the new smartphone kick because I've just about had enough of the poor customer support and lousy service coming out of T-Mobile. Saturday's latest shenanigans with T-Mobile were the last straw. In September 2011 I purchased a T-Mobile hotspot. I got this for my youngest daughter so that she could have internet connectivity at the house she'd moved into, as well as being able to carry it with her around Tallahassee. In spite of the glowing ads, service has been mediocre at best, but at least it gave her connectivity to check her email and Facebook. In late August she finally found a decent (read: affordable) wired connectivity solution in Tallahassee, so she didn't need the wireless hotspot anymore. I called T-Mobile to turn off the mobile hotspot feature only to discover that i...

Five long days of rain and wind. That's what tropical storm Debbie brought us in Orlando, and the storm wasn't even close to us the way it was around the Big Bend of Florida. All I can say is how fortunate I was to be down here rather than up around the northern sections of Florida. Today started out just like all the other days going back to last Friday: dark and very, very rainy. The rain didn't stop so much as it was either light or heavy, but it kept up until I got to work (figures). It stayed long enough for me to get to my office (figures) then it turned darker and started raining again. It kept up until I left to head back home. Rather than just dive into the Prius and drive off, instead I grabbed the E-PL1 with its 14-42 kit lens, walked over to the retention pond next to the office complex, and stood there watching the ducks swimming around while off in the distance the little squalls of rain poured between the stacked up cloud banks. We've had enough rain ...

I will more than likely annoy the very few Europeans that bother to read this blog with the title of this post, but in this instance I'm not referring to any " pretentious, narcissistic, metrosexual Europeans " but instead to the cultural refuse that floats across from the European side of the Atlantic to the American side of the Atlantic. In this instance, anything having to do with the 2012 Summer Olympics being held in London. These photos were taken at a local Walmart earlier today with my very handy cellphone. I resisted the urge to further "enhance" them with a phone app, simply accepting what the built-in camera and stock software spit out with the press of the camera release. They're already ugly enough. I wouldn't call Walmart the bastion of cultural excellence, but even Walmart's limited integrity is lessened with cheap products trying to leverage what little cachet the Olympics might still have. For $14.97. While no Olympics has ever...

People keep saying that the best photos should tell a story. OK. Here's a collection you can follow from top to bottom, that shows little vignettes as I was heading home from the office. I won't add words. You can imagine what it might all mean. Or not. P.S. Yes, that is Milla Jovovich looking up at you, the way she looked up at me while she was shilling for some beauty product in a bottle. Everything taken with my Android-based smartphone. Five tiny megapixels. Everything post-processed on the smarphone. I found this via TOP , and for some odd reason it fits into my attitude towards overly expensive camera gear. From anybody. And you thought the Nikon 1 was a joke. At least it doesn't cost $8,000. I need to call Ken Rockwell. I think he's on to something...

Do you know what I find fascinating about my cellphone's built-in camera? The ability to push any image, still or video, immediately up to the web for all to consume. In my case it's pushing them up to my Flickr account. There's no other way to easily do that unless I cross over to my laptop and plug the phone into one of the laptop's USB ports with a micro-USB cable. Then I can bring up Windows explorer (or Linux Nautilus) and navigate the phone's filesystem looking for the image, then go through the rigamarole of using Flickr's browser interface to select and upload the photo. It's a whole lot easier pushing it directly from the phone to the 'cloud'. You can accomplish the same task with cameras that use SDHC memory cards by using  Eye-Fi 's online sharing feature. What makes the cellphone easier than even Eye-Fi is the ability to select, with a simple single touch, a given network out of a fairly extensive list to upload to. Yes, as an ...

Here's another datapoint via the Fujifilm Quicksnap and Walmart. For $8.67 in a local Orlando Walmart you can purchase a 35mm film camera with the following features: Pre-loaded with Fuji Superia X-TRA ASA 800 color film, 27 exposures Waterproof down to 35 feet No batteries Rangefinder-style optical viewfinder (framing only, fixed focus) Single use - use, drop off at your local developer, pick up prints No chimping, no instant gratification Outside of ego-stroking and the ability to take photographs in dark areas where even the human eye can't register light, what have we really achieved with our multi-hundred to multi-thousand dollar digital cameras? Really? You say your fancy digital camera provides more? If the camera really doesn't matter, if it's the photographer, then isn't the Quicksnap all the camera any of us need?

In an earlier rant post I vented my spleen documented inconsistencies in how Android 2.2.1 expects end users to modify the input method for text boxes. In that post I wrote What I discovered was that in order to change the keyboard I had to press my finger into an input text box and hold it down long enough for an "Input Method" dialog to appear beneath the input box as shown above. You'd think that you could do that in any text box, such as the text box for inputting URLs in the browser. And you'd be wrong. Well, it turns out I'm partially wrong. As you can see in the handset capture to the left, I'm able to select the input method in the browser's navigation bar. When I went looking for this capability the first time, I couldn't make it work no matter what I did, which is why I had to exit back to the Google search bar on the handset's top-level panel. And from what limited testing I'm able to do you can perform this input method s...

Lucy M. Cat The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, It isn't just one of your holiday games; You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES . First of all, there's the name that the family use daily, Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James, Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey-- All of them sensible everyday names. There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter, Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames: Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter-- But all of them sensible everyday names. But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular, A name that's peculiar, and more dignified, Else how can she keep up her tail perpendicular, Or spread out her whiskers, or cherish her pride? Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum, Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat, Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum- Names that never belong to more than one cat. But above...

Ω Δ Θ Ars Technica has an article stating that the current carbon emissions "dwarf" those the last time the Earth experienced such emissions 56 million years ago. According to the article, while the total quantity matches what was released, the rate of CO 2 emission today is 10 times greater than what it was during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM. The article's conclusion is the most interesting: "we are altering our environment in an unprecedented (and unpredictable) way." I think the results are going to be predictable in the sense that our world is going to change so rapidly and drastically over the next few decades into a world that it will make the world we were living in before the twentieth century look like paradise. We already live in empty sprawling environments where all that's left at our feet is concrete, asphalt, and the litter of our society. In spite of the current economic mess we're in, our numbers and our corrupt...

The 2011 hurricane season started June 1st. The Florida fire season is running full tilt; I can smell the smoke from the burning in the morning as I get ready to head into work. The days are typical Florida summer days, where the humidity matches the temperature, and both are in the low 90's. The fence around Partnership 2 and 3 now extends around the IDE in Research Park. When I walk in these days the gate is still open but there's a security guard standing there now. I can understand having a security fence around the IDE, but the Partnership buildings have the UCF logo emblazoned on their sides. Tends to dampen the feeling of open education around these parts, but then I'm a bit old fashioned anyway. I get to sit in a nice conference room, in air-conditioned comfort, with my rear planted in a Herman Miller Aeron chair (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). I remember a decade ago when having an Aeron chair was a high point of geek chic. Now everybody has them it seem...

Bleak and grim are the overwhelming emotions at the moment. Rather than sit and let them stew, I'd much rather try to channel them into something creative. As I get older I'm beginning to view the world in a more apocalyptic manner. Like in these photographs. The HTC smartphone camera's bleak effect suits me right now. I usually apply it as the second and last effect to another effect, such as saturation. I've discovered that bleak works best with lots of black (dark shadows, dark details, etc). After fighting noise and grain all these years I'm beginning to embrace it, photographing scenes that will bring out the 'flaws' of the sensor.

While waiting to be seated for dinner at a local Olive Garden on International Drive (the home of the former King Henry's Feast), I strolled across the parking lot and onto the site of the old Race Rock, now being rebuilt into a new venue. It's interesting to be seeing this kind of construction going on, and when we finished our meal and drove home, it was interesting to see all the crowded venues and restaurants on that end of International Drive. Business was good this evening, and I suppose it's picking up on the south end of International Drive, especially around the Orange County Convention Center, which is where the construction is occurring. I managed to walk about a bit and take a few snaps before a security guard warned me I couldn't do that. They guy was nice enough, and the reason given was I was on private property and it's still a construction zone. Stumbling around at twilight, I was at risk for hurting myself, and in these highly litigious ti...

Hot Stop Hang around the web long enough and you'll see plenty of photographs taken with the outward-facing camera built into current versions of the iPhone. You'll also see plenty of heated arguments about the 'seriousness' of photographs taken with an iPhone. Whatever. A camera is a camera. While I don't own an iPhone, my myTouch 4G comes with a 5MP camera, which I felt somewhat compelled to see what kinds of photographs I could take with it. I've been using Olympus DSLRs since 2006. I've learned their strengths and quirks, and I've grown comfortable using each one. The myTouch 4G camera is quite different from any Olympus camera, both in operation as well as how to configure the camera to produce acceptable (to me) photographs. After working a bit with the camera, I've managed to find a range of settings that produce a reasonable base photograph with enough exposure and detail to work with. Camera exposure settings There's not that...

Carts and Bricks Light and Shadow at Target I've come back full circle with my Olympus cameras. I'm back to photographing heavily with the Olympus E-3 and the Zuiko Digital 12-60mm. And to make things interesting, I'm learning how to use the built-in 5MP camera on my myTouch 4G. I'm finally getting output I actually like; the top photo was taken with the smart phone, accented on the smart phone, and uploaded to my Flickr account via the smart phone. This is in contrast to the lower photo which required post processing on a notebook with Lightroom before it could be uploaded. Both were taken at the same location. I like the top photo because of the dramatic tone enhancing the greens and the brickwork, as well as helping to pick out the reflected silhouette of the buildings in back of me. I like the lower because of the shadowing and the dramatic saturated reds I was able to obtain in post processing. I'm really beginning to enjoy using the smartphone'...