TrustedReviews: a sophisticated web site of product reviews

TrustedReviews

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Interesting angle. The kind of thing we used to read PC Magazine for in the old days, when it was a hefty pile of paper. (And a shill for Microsoft before Gates was a bazillionaire.)

Google Answers: An unhyped gem

Google Answers

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You can pay for researchers, but the amazing feature is that answered questions may be freely searched or browsed. Fascinating browsing. A place to start looking when your search doesn't work.

Review (preliminary): Canon s410 vs. s230

Amazon.com: Camera & Photo: Canon PowerShot S410 4MP Digital Elph with 3x Optical Zoom

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I'll eventually post a review on Amazon and my photo web page. Some initial impressions from a very picky customer:

1. s230 was (is) a fabulous camera -- almost a perfect blend of form and function. The s410 is a better camera, but it's drifted a bit from the vision of the original design team. It feels like a "B Team" product rather than an "A Team" product".
2. s410 has more than twice the picture power (50% more zoom, 90% more pixels)
3. s410 has a ridiculous menu that configures startup tones, pictures, etc. Stupid but one can ignore it. I have to see if I can modify the startup screen picture, if I can I'll put our name and address on it!
4. s230 looks and feels better than the s410. It's slightly more slender, feels more solid, is less flashy, looks more elegant. The s410 looks a bit cheap and gaudy by comparison.
5. Both are made in Japan!
6. The s410 has improved on the s230's mode setting (camera/video) and menu structures. It's hard to alternate between the two because of this, but one is much less likely to record video instead of taking a picture. I also like the way to switch between manual and auto mode.
7. The s410 has a spiffier intelligent focus mode -- that doesn't work any better than any of these things do! I turned it off, I prefer to use center focus at the right distance then reframe.
8. The s410 gets HOT if you take pictures quickly. CPU is working more. I wonder about battery life.
9. The s230 used the same data cable as my G2. The s410 uses a USB mini-B cable. Nice to have a standard data cable, but I wonder what happens if one accidentally uses a powered USB cable!
10. s230 and s410 use the same battery and elegant power charger. YAY.
11. s410 has a tactile feedback on the shutter that feels stiff to me -- as though it would increase camera vibration. I don't like it.
12. Both the s410, s230 and G2 use standard CF cards (YAY), but the s430 benefits from a high speed card.

Photo sharing services (NYT)

The New York Times > Business > E-Commerce Report: Businesses Help Organize Photos

The article mentions a few services I've looked at, but it doesn't address key questions like storage limits, upload size restrictions, business models, printing services, print ordering, OS X support, workflow convenience, etc. In other words, it's not that useful an article .. EXCEPT it mentions which are popular now. These are the ones mentioned:

- CNET is buying Webshots, Webshots angle is sharing photos about places (travel, etc)
- Google has bought Picasa (which also distributed "Hello", a peer-to-peer file sharing app. See my prior posting on Picasa.
- Kodak's Ofoto.com, District Photo's Snapfish.com and Shutterfly.com are growing in popularity
- Yahoo is adding new features and may return to frontrunner status (displays ads with photos)
- Sharelot (displays ads with photos)

I've used Picasa/Hello, Flickr (very hot but he missed them), SmugMug, and Shutterfly. Of these only SmugMug let me upload full sized images for sharing and distribution -- they charge a yearly fee and have no ads. Google/Picasa/Hello is the real favorite since they seem to be able to provide tons of storage at low costs.

Swiss Army Knife (Victorinox) with USB and flashlight

News: "Together with the Swiss data storage specialists at Swissbit AG, the renowned manufacturer of the Swiss Army Knife, VICTORINOX, developed SWISSMEMORY for computer users on the move. Modern, traditional and Made in Switzerland."

EDIROL MA-10D Digital Powered Speakers

Amazon.com: Electronics: EDIROL MA-10D Digital Powered Speakers (Pair)

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I'm thinking of these together with an Airport Express ...

Kensington PocketSpeakers

PocketSpeakers

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I want these for my desktop machine! I need something compact for listening to music. These use USB for both power and digital audio. Sounds peruasive!

Two large ships sink every week ...

Freak waves the real monsters of the sea - Environment - www.smh.com.au

Two large ships sink every week, on average, but the cause is never studied in the same detail as an air crash. It simply gets put down to 'bad weather'.

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This article also mentions 3 cruise ships, including the QE2, running into @ 30 meter waves over the past 8 years. With a bit less luck any of them could have gone down.

For years these giant waves were thought to be wild imaginings of drunken sailors. A recent satellite study shows they show up every few months. They can sink most ships.

I wonder how safe sailing ships are? I suspect they're far more dangerous than airplanes ...

Choosing a WEP Password

MacInTouch Home Page, quoting Apple KB: "Choosing and using a WEP password can been a challenge, because WEP is an older security protocol that was developed before members of the Wi-Fi Alliance had agreed on a uniform way to treat passwords. The result is that a WEP password may not work for all computers in a multiplatform environment. However, this is the easy trick you can use to make a WEP password work for everybody on your network:

For a 40 bit WEP network, always choose a 5-character password.

For a 128 bit WEP network, always choose a 13-character password."

Apple's support site (self-service) page as of 7/23/04

Apache Tomcat/4.1.30 - Error report

HTTP Status 404 - /wss/WssAuth

type Status report

message /wss/WssAuth

description The requested resource (/wss/WssAuth) is not available.
Apache Tomcat/4.1.30>

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Meanwhile, entering http://selfservice.apple.com yields this page:

"If you're seeing this page via a web browser, it means you've setup Tomcat successfully. Congratulations!"

Yesterday when I tried their service page I got their internal HR support logon page. (Seibel I think.)

When I phoned last week about my (4th) defective iPod, I was told they were upgrading their support systems to new software. Clearly there have been a few glitches.

Maybe a LOT of glitches!

AirPort Express: toy of the month

MacInTouch Posting by Kevin Klein

[Kevin Klein] First impressions: Wow, Wow, Wow. This new Apple accessory is ridiculously cool and I am really blown away with the new features I am now able to bring to my home network and stereos with the Airport Express.

 It integrates seamlessly with iTunes 4.6 by adding a "speaker output selection pop-up" in the bottom right of the main browser window. It took me a while to find it, but this was by far the hardest part of the installation. Now my output choices are "Computer" and "Home Main Stereo System" (you can choose the name of each Express as it appears in iTunes). When I add more Airport Expresses later, I'll have more choices from this pop-up menu to choose from
 
One other note, the Mac does not control the volume the Airport Express passes the stereo it's connected to.
 
In addition to the usual security options (WEP, WPA, etc), I can also password protect each Express for AirTunes access too (using the included Admin Tool). This will can help limit AirTunes availability in more robust, less private environments other than my home (like businesses, coffee shops, hot spots, etc.). I can envision an Airport Express even working as the source for "on hold" music for business phones systems.
 
Now what about my older, legacy Airport Extreme Base Station?
 
I chose to setup WDS using the Airport Express as the main WAP and relocate my older Extreme BS to my second floor home office and set it up as the remote WAP for my home network. I used same network name for both and now have a perfect, full-coverage WiFi network for my entire home (including my rooftop deck and backyard).
 
Another cool thing is with WDS and multiple Expresses/Base Stations, I can have multiple USB printers available via Rendezvous concurrently. Now I can print to my USB Brother Fax machine or my USB Epson 880 without any other computers sharing these USB printer connections and making them available by bridging over wireless or Ethernet.
 
The Airport Express is small and therefore highly portable and it can save up to five (5) LAN/WAN configurations to help accommodate its portability. If you have one that moves around a lot (it is, after all, the size of an iBook power adapter and can fit in your front pocket), you can save multiple configurations for common destinations like your car, your office, your summer home, your house and your best friends house, etc.).
 
Because it's very portable and I am sure that the one I have permanently connection to my home Cable Modem/Home Stereo will not be enough for me.
 
Although I have not yet tested it with XP, If it works as well with Windows (as advertised) this will be the must-have gadget of the upcoming year.

Ok, I'm sold. I may just buy one. One thing I've heard is you can't listed to both local speakers from the iTunes host and distal speakers from the AirPort Express -- a time delay puts the music out of sync.

Blogger fixing Firefox Mess

Quick Notes Blog: July 2004

Blogger redid their interface. They trashed Safari and Firefox immediately (who do they work for again?).

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As of today Safari is no worse than it was (but no better). Firefox 0.91/Mac is looking reasonably good, though font are a bit off when posting.

Firefox 0.91 feels slooooowww on my iBook. Just teething issues I hope ...

Korea -- land of the future ....

Samsung SPH-2300: 3 Megapixel Cameraphone

The future is now. Unfortunately, the future is now in Korea, a land filled with a fine people and such, don't get me wrong, but a land that is also, clearly, not right here in my apartment. So with Samsung's introduction of a new 3-megapixel cameraphone, the SPH-2300, we Westerners have all been apparently flung backwards into the past, which is cool from a 'countdown to death' perspective, but otherwise, you know, I'd rather just have my 3-megapixel cameraphone -- especially one with optical zoom, miniSD slot, and built-in flash.

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Japan used to be the land of tomorrow, now it's Korea. Given my robust personal connections to Korea, I feel a certain (adoptive) filial pride here.

Google for airport conditions...

Google Web Search Features: "To see delays and weather conditions at a particular airport, type the airport's three letter code followed by the word 'airport.' For example, San Francisco International Airport updates can be found by searching for 'sfo airport.'"

Review: Beyerdynamic DT 880 headphones

DansData: Beyerdynamic DT 880 headphones

Among music lovers blessed with more sense than money, though, it is generally accepted that the DT 880s are serious contenders for World's Best Headphones.

I don't want to spoil the surprise, or anything, but yes, they're worth the money.

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About $260 in the US Dan says. They'd need an amplifier if uses with an iPod, so overkill there.

Dan on Firewire

Dan's Data - PC hardware and gadget reviews!

Dan emailed me with an answer to a Firewire/USB question. These numbers are a bit hard to find, so for reference:

... USB is, as mentioned above, 500mA at 5V; FireWire can theoretically deliver up to 40V at 1.5 amps, though I don't know whether any FireWire adapter that can actually do that has ever been made. PC FireWire adapters run from the regular PSU 12V rail, and so can't deliver more than 12V at (mumble) amps, but even that's beyond the capabilities of USB.

It's easy enough to make an iPod charger that runs from a plugpack, car cigarette lighter or what have you, though; these go to a FireWire plug with only the power and ground terminals connected. You don't have to hack one up yourself, either; many exist in the commercial market:

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=%22ipod+charger%22

Some are more practical than others, though:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/7288631317563720/

I love Dan's site -- I learn more there in a few minutes than any other site I visit.

The Psychology of Persuasion: often the classics are still best

Amazon.com: Books: Influence (rev) : The Psychology of Persuasion

I came to this book via a ciruitious route. I'd been interested in a recently published text on marketing, but reviewer comments favored this 1983 text (revised in the early 1990s). I've not read it all, but my sampling has been rewarding. I recognize much of the material from my cognitive science studies @ 1994, but it's very elegantly presented and placed into a corporate context. The author is a student of con artists and manipulators of every stripe, and he regales us with all the tricks of the trade.

I consider myself a hard case (of course everyone does), but I can see how I've fallen for a few of the tricks here. Of course one might say I was paying for entertainment rather than for nothing, but the line is subtle.

The scary thing is that this represents the state of marketing in the 1990s. Since then we've begun to deploy functional MRI scans in marketing research. What hope do we chumps have?

Blogger's GUI upgrade is a mess! Why?

Blogger: Dashboard

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Blogger redid their interface. They trashed Safari and Firefox immediately (who do they work for again?).

They've fixed the Safari bugs, albeit still with a very minimal and incomplete interface. It's no better than it was, but no worse.

The Firefox Blogger UI, however, is a complete mess -- comical really.

What does this say about Blogger's internal processes and Google's resources? Is Google running out of money?

Korean: Braised Short Ribs (Kalbi Jim)

New York Times Recipes: Kalbi Jim

Time: 2 hours, plus overnight marinating

6 pounds short ribs
10 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons sesame seed oil
2 tablespoons minced ginger
12 scallions, trimmed and chopped
4 tablespoons toasted and ground sesame seeds
 1/2 cup sake
4 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons sugar
1 Asian pear or 2 crisp apples, peeled and chopped
1 or 2 fresh chilies (or to taste), preferably long and red, minced
2 large shallots, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste
4 tablespoons olive or corn oil
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 eggs, optional
Salt
Cooked white rice, for serving.

1. In a large bowl, combine the first 14 ingredients (through black pepper), and refrigerate overnight, covered. About 2 hours before serving, put half the oil in a broad, deep saucepan or casserole, and turn the heat to high. Remove the short ribs from the marinade, add them to the pan and brown them on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes.

Korean: Meat Pancakes (Gogi-Jun)

New York Times Recipe: Meat Pancakes (Gogi-Jun)

Time: 45 minutes

1 pound firm tofu
1 pound ground beef
10 scallions, trimmed and minced
2 long hot red chili peppers, or about 1 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Large pinch salt
2 tablespoons minced chives
2 eggs
Corn oil or other neutral oil as needed
1 cup poo-chim karo (vegetable pancake mix, available at Korean markets) or Wondra or other fine flour.

1. Put the tofu in a fine kitchen towel, and wring as much water as possible out of it. Combine it in a bowl with the next 9 ingredients (through the chives). Squeeze the mixture with your hands for a minute or two, until it is very fine and well combined. Adjust seasoning as necessary; the mixture should be well seasoned but not very hot.

PublicRadioFan.com: Need to add this one to my news page

The Doc Searls Weblog : Sunday, July 11, 2004

PublicRadioFan.com is a cool discovery. It tells you what's playing, right now, on a hundred or more public radio stations, along with what format they're using and other helpful information. Way too few use MP3 (the only popular format that doesn't require its owner's proprietary player), but among them are a still-impressive list: WFUV, KKJZ, WEMU, KRVS, WUNC, KCRW, KPUB, WNYC-AM and FM, KUOW, KUSC (to which I'm listening right now), KXPR, KRWG and NRK. The majority of stations and networks (CBC, BBC and NPR itself) require a Real or a Windows Media player.

Even among the MP3 streamers, the situation is far from perfect. For example, neither of WNYC's MP3 streams is working right now.

And too many sources, such as the BBC and WBGO, use a browser with a RealAudio plugin as the required receiver — a pretty clunky approach.

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I think the BBC also uses windows audio codecs. I'll add this to my news page.

Niacin and Alzheimer's?

BBC NEWS | Health | Vitamin may ward off Alzheimer'sThey found that those with the lowest food intake of niacin - around 12.6mg a day - were 80% more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's than those with the highest intake - around 22.4mg a day.

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An 80% risk reduction is worth something, but this study looked like a fishing expedition. They may well have come across a chance and erroneous correlation. 22.4 mg of Niacin is a lot, I think the average multivitamin only has 15 mg.

MIT Technology Review Article on Flickr

MIT Technology Review Article on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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Ok, so online photo sharing is hot. I was impressed with Picasa/Hello (just acquired by Google), this is another angle on the same story. Flickr is trying to merge photos with social networks. Not sure how they expect to make money. They do have ads.

I get the feeling not all the photos are wholesome and pure. One can mark photos as "likely to shock".

They do have private groups, so I can host the family pictures there. They may be too private however, I don't want to bother Grandma with a password. I'm ok with the feeble security of a privately held URL.

Somewhat like Picasa's Hello they support hosting a photo and simultaneously creating a blog entry with a lower res thumbnail. So you can use their blog, or you can use another blog (I have an unpublished blogger photoblog brewing). Somewhat like Picasa, but it's all web client so no platform issues. On the other hand one can't stage fifty photos for posting, the easiest interface is to mail one photo at a time (suited to phone based photoblogging). Maybe they'll extend their offering.

I'll read this MIT tech review and see what it says.

Hot area, but noone is yet following the grandma-friendly plans I posted on newsgroups and emailed to photo vendors a year ago ...

Update: I read the MIT article. It's really an iChat, text messaging, party animal, social networking kind of schtick. I can't see where they expect to make money (higher featured version costs money?) but I can't judge this market demo -- I'm way too old!

Not quite what I need ... but we'll see where it goes ...

Flicker: Doctorow (boing boing) likes it

Welcome to Flickr!

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I'm still not sure what it is. Some kind of photo sharing/community/blog service. The profile seemed to ask more personal questions than most (I entered "taken") -- makes me think it might be a dating service rather than a means to create a photo blog with limited distribution.

Given Doctorow's nature, it could be either of the above.

Bluetooth, thumb drives, RFID, watches and cyborgs

Air2Net Bluetooth CF/PC Card

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How do we end up traveling from the 20th century into the virtual age? Historians, if there are any, will look back at wrist watches with embedded bluetooth and flash memory, and they'll look at dogs tagged with RFID implants.

Then they'll look at feckless youngsters who implant RFID tags to weird out their parents. Whose younger siblings implant usb stores and bluetooth modules (Perhaps the power supply remains external? A good way to gross out parents would be to inject alcohol into a subdermal fuel cell bladder). And so it goes.

I do like the idea of a watch with USB storage 2-4GB (or, soon, a microdrive with 40GB), a thumprint reader, bluetooth and an embedded RFID tag (I'm too squeamish to put the RFID tag in my forearm). I think with a bit of cleverness the watch could look pretty conventional, and even less bulky than is the current fashion (the real problem is batteries -- we need a fuel cell battery than can be resupplied by an external device).

Anyone remember the Java ring of the 1990s?

One could do a LOT of things with this combo. Data would be stored on the USB store as an encrypted disk image. The RFID tag would respond to inquiries and trigger a biometric authentication request. Upon authentication a nearby computer would exchange keys with the Bluetooth adapter, then mount the disk image via the bluetooth interface. The disk image would contain one's roving profile, private keys, etc. (like the Java ring)

Nothing new here or technically challenging, just interesting to watch the pieces come together.

Pluck RSS Reader: Retrieve news from favorite sites

Pluck RSS ReaderAnother RSS reader, this one an IE plug-in. RSS seem clients now come in four flavors:

1. web service/asp: use browser to work with
2. email plug-in, esp. Outlook
3. browser plug-in, esp. IE/FireFox
4. standalone

I think the standalone are unlikely to go too far. I'd like to use a web service that had companion plug-ins for Outlook and FireFox, so they'd share a single OPML file.

Rocket RSS Reader

Rocket RSS Reader

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I followed this link via a Blooger Google ad. It looks interesting, especially since I've been disappointed with bloglines latest changes.

I do like having Google's ads next to my blog posting and my gmail. They're interesting and useful.

Google and digital image storage

MacSlash | Google Acquires Digital Photo Management Company Picasa

Today Google acquired Picasa, a company that makes digital photo management software. No specifics were given but Jonathan Rosenberg, vice president of Product Management said 'its technologies complement Google's ongoing mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.' Perhaps this means that Google will someday allow you to use some of your GB of storage to host and showcase your digital photo library.

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Very interesting! Google has the power to crush the digital image store/sell industry. I wonder if they'll build Google extensions into Picasa then make it freely available. The Picasa web site has links to a tool that facilitates putting images into Google's Blogger blog. Photoblogging deluxe?

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Update:I downloaded both Picasa and Hello, Picasa's Chat/peer-to-peer image sharing application with the "bot" interface to Blogger.

Phew! Complex and innovative. I can see why Blogger went for Picasa. Very impressive. I may even pay the $30 for the app, though I suspect it will soon be free (I'll wait a few days before I buy, I'm on a 14 day trial.).

Here's a sample photo. I may switch to this mode of distributing photos to friends and families. I'll create a private photo blog just for that purpose.

Here's an old photo for test purposes ... (Molly, then aged about 3 months, now 14.5 years and on her 7th life ...)

Boing Boing: Sterling's Singularity speech audio

Boing Boing: Sterling's Singularity speech audio

Bruce Sterling's speech to the Long Now Foundation on the Singularity is a corker. He really is a *hell* of a speaker.

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I need to download this sucker then get it on my iPod.

Update: Bleah. I downloaded, converted to AAC, made it bookmarkable, and listened. Sterling caricatures Vinge and mocks much of Vinge's writing. I thought Sperling's arguments were simplistic and misdirecting. He never really deals with Vinge's fundamental theses, but he does well with simplistic rhetoric and humorous digressions.

Stupid and a waste of time.

MIT OpenCourseWare | HST.951J Medical Decision Support - Medical Informatics

MIT OpenCourseWare | Health Sciences and Technology | HST.951J Medical Decision Support, Spring 2003 | Home

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I scanned the syllabus. Definitely an MIT perspective on medical informatics! I'll likely use some of this material when I teach at the U MN again this fall.

Full text search in 10.4 and elsewhere

Daring Fireball: Spotlight on Spotlight

... Both metadata collection and full-text indexing depend on cooperating per-file-format Importers, either written by Apple or by third parties. Like Google, no matter how much text an Importer provides, Spotlight only cares about the first 100K of raw text.

Importers are fired on every file the moment it is created, saved, changed, or moved, including when files are made available through a newly mounted drive. Performance is said to be excellent in every case except network-mounted home directories, which are bedeviling on several levels and on which they’re still working.

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Interesting limitation of both Google and OS X Tiger's full text indexing ignores much past 100K. That's bigger than the raw text content of most documents, but it leaves books out of the picture. For my taste it's the right choice. I hope I can choose which folders NOT to index.

I imagine I'll stay with 10.3 on my iBook -- I just don't have a big enough drive on that machine. Tiger I'll get with my next machine.

Apple - Discussions - Replacement iPod is INDEED defective

Apple - Discussions - Replacement iPod is itself defective: "Ok, this is now is the third replacement. I've been through four 30GB G3 iPods now.

It arrived very quickly -- expedited service since it was my 3rd return.

I recharge it. Go to use it. The central button doesn't work. I can navigate the top menus, but I can't do anything else. I can reset it, no change.

If anyone wants to discuss this with me directly my email is jfaughnan@spamcop.net."

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Wow. This is very impressive. I'm pretty convinced by now that Apple really can't service iPods. Their entire service routine must be a clever scam. They know sooner or later I'll get tired of calling AppleCare for a return.

They are rapidly turning into a seriously scummy company. I'm going to use Minnesota's consumer protection process.

Update:

I called AppleCare and was good and patient. When I was asked to reset I said I'd already done it, but offered to repeat. That was good.

The first time I'd reset by myself I forgot to switch the hold toggle on and off. The hold toggle turns power to the buttons on and off. That was a critical step. With it the reset cleared the problem.

It appears some combination of pressure on the central button (perhaps in shipping) and power drainage can cause the button to be locked out.

So this iPod is now working.

I'll put a hold on my letter to the state attorney general until I see how this replacement does!

updateNope, it's really broken. Lock switch is malfunctioning. Now for replacement number 4, and the letter to the state attorney general.

Update 2: The problem is more subtle than just a bad lock switch. At varioous times, particularly when withdrawing a fully recharged iPod from the cradle, the buttons are totally inoperable. Reinserting into the cradle may restore functionality. I think it's likely a somewhat flaky circuit that can be perturbed by small voltage fluctuations.

Fix for SMB share mount problem for OS X 10.3.4

Mac OS X Panther (10.3.4): "SMB Share Mount Solution

Peter Stys
I have a solution to the problem submitted below and posted on your web site [Jun. 10 ]: 'I upgraded Macs machines running 10.3.4 with the latest Security Update 2004-06-07, and ever since I cannot mount SMB shares from our Windows 2000 server, with an error -36'

A colleague of mine suggested using the Keychain Access utility to delete all entries related to the problematic Windows server and this solved the problem: the share now mounts fine. You may want to post this for other readers who may experience this issue."

More notes on the negative scanning project

Google Groups: View Thread "Image management solution for a medium sized persona..."

Rec.photo.digital experts liked these tools for a negative scanning project:

Lupas Rename:
http://www.azheavymetal.com/~lupasrename/lupasrename.php
I've used it for just the purposes you describe, flawlessly.

ACDSee
IMatch at http://www.photools.com
Thumbs+ at http://www.cerious.com

I've also looked at Adobe Photoshop Album which is quite nice, but I fear it's compromised by Adobe's need to lock-in customers. Microsoft is supposed to have a very good image management product, but their lock-in needs are usually nefarious.

Since I'm burning the images to CD (burning twice, so I have redundant storage), I want something that will produce meaningful file names and write metadata to the JPEG EXIF headers. I need the EXIF date to reflect the date of image acquisition, with a staggered delay between each image (so rolls and images sort by date).

I want the file names to follow this sort of convention (probably need to use the renamer): YYYYMMDDDD_1_ROLLID_# where:

YYYYMMDDDD: is approximate date pictures were taken
1: is an roll number for >1 roll/date.
ROLLID: is an identifier for the roll of film if one is assigned by the scanner (may be null)
#: corresponds to negative number within a roll

The person doing the scanning will write a text note on each entry including roll description and comments. A copy of the entire log will be included in each CD.

Each CD will be labeled with a CD identifier of the form: YYYYMMDDDD_# where

YYYYMMDD: date burned
#: CD number burned that day

The text log will contain CD information as well as roll information, will be cumulative, and will be copied to each CD.

I have to do some playing around to get the workflow to be simple but efficient.

Scanning project: scanning negatives

Popular Photography Magazine

1. Store your negatives flat.
A curved negative can result in an out-of-focus scan and a perpetual need to manually refocus your scanner.

2. Clean negatives as well as you would in a darkroom.
It’s much easier to blow air on them before you scan than to clone dust out later. If you’ve got a really dirty or old negative and your scanner driver has Digital ICE (Image Correction & Enhancement), you can run it for cleaning purposes. But beware: it drastically increases your scan time.

3. Quit all other programs.
Ths will free up as much memory as possible for your scanner.

4. Consider what you want from your scan.
Don’t automatically scan at the highest resolution. If you’re only going to view the image on-screen, don’t scan at full resolution; save time and hard-drive space by scanning at 72 dpi.
Save 300 dpi for prints.

5. Check your driver for film presets.
If you can, select your type of film, and get an edge on color accuracy.

6. Make corrections first.
If you can color manage your preview, correct color and brightness/contrast before you scan. And if you’re scanning a batch of images shot under the same conditions, save your correction settings and apply them to all your subsequent scans.

7. Multisample.
Ugly noise occurs randomly, and multisampling beats it by scanning many times and making a composite of the least noisy sections from each sample.

8. Scan it twice.
If you’re having trouble getting the highlights and shadows in one scan, scan for each separately. Then make a composite using layers in an image-editing program.

9. Turn off your scanner when you’re finished!
This will prolong its life and quality.

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I'll have more of these. I'm planning to scan 1500 or so negatives. So I'll be posting a few notes like this.

You can Telnet to a LaserWriter

Macintouch - Mac OS X Panther (10.3.4)

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Who would have guessed? A way to configure a LW without the original utility software. Also, a nasty way to disable a LW.

macosxhints - Install a new CUPS backend for USB printing

macosxhints - Install a new CUPS backend for USB printing

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I may try this, still trying to get XP to print to my USB hosted HP 882C.

Sennheiser PX 100 is best

Dan's Data Review: Sennheiser PX 100, PX 200 and PXC 250 portable headphones: "The PX 100 is not just the clear winner among these three, but a great product in objective terms too. Quite cheap, good sounding, insensitive to ear shape, and it folds up in the same nifty way as the other two. Without a good earpad-to-ear seal, there's just no comparison between the bass response of the PX 200 and that of the PX 100. And even with a good seal, the PX 200 still isn't better."

The PX 100 gets a Highly Recommended from me."

AirPort Extreme Base Station: Power over ethernet disables USB printer sharing

Apple - AirPort Extreme

Some AirPort Extreme Base Stations can receive power over the Ethernet WAN port when connected to 802.3af-compliant Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE). If the base station receives power over Ethernet, the USB port is disabled, and you can't use a USB printer.

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Some kind of voltage load issue?