Take a bite outta this Apple

As one of my feline friends dismantled parts of  my laptop computer a few weeks ago, and seeking a reasonable substitute, I took the plunge and went from IBM PC to Apple platform – in a sense. Needing CHEAP – and PORTABLE – I sprang for an iTouch. Basically, an iPhone without the phone. WHY? Apps, pure and simple. Apps are applications that run on the device. Many hundreds of them… free. And most that you buy are only a buck. And with Wifi (wireless router), I can truly be mobile, as this device connects to the internet. wherever you happen to have an open connection e.g. The Coffee Bean, Rusty Parker Memorial Park, home, etc…

The Apps? Just totally, totally awesome. Yeah, the iTouch is a PDA with address book, contact manager, calendar that sync up with my Yahoo account… pretty standard stuff. BUT, here’s some of the apps that I find so useful… yPmobile is the yellow pages on steroids…Flixster is up to the minute movie guide linked to my location for movies in my area, with trailers…New York Times with tech, sports, news , obits, etc…What’s On is a TV guide for my area and cable provider, around the clock…Sportacular with EVERTHING you want to know about games and players, stats, schedules…Wikipanion, the citizen’s encyclopedia about everything…Allrecipes from AllRecipes.com, no leftovers here…King James Version of the Bible, one of MANY versions available…Youtube… Epocrates, a medical reference and guide to prescription medicines, along with contraindications and side-effects…Converter, which converts anything, including real-time currency updates (did you know that one US dollar = 198,712,270.5005  Zimbabwe dollars?)…SitorSquat, which lists available public toilets, when you need to go, you need to go, right?…The Weather Channel… Bloomberg, for detailed stock news and reports for markets, countries, commodities…Yelp!, which is a guide to everything local, and local, like most of the apps, is where you specify……Google, for maps, Google Earth, news, mail…Translator, so I can translate from my native English to one of over 30 other languages, or vice versa…CReports, so I can read the latest Consumer Reports…why, these are just a few of my favorite things!

Like an iPod, I have photos, videos, music loaded… pretty cool, to my way of thinking. For business, I have mSecure, an app that stores confidential data, encrypted of course… what I love is the “Push technology”, that pushes my Yahoo email to the device, available in seconds… no wait for computer boot-up time. It also has the Safari browser for web surfing…

I’ll talk more about some of the apps later. You can review the apps through iTunes, which you may have loaded on your computer. Apps can be loaded directly onto the iTouch or via iTunes. I spent $229 for the iTouch, best money spent in a very long time. I’m sorry that I didn’t buy it through my friend Chris, who is a merchandiser in the LA area, but I was in the mall at Christmas time and got lured into the Apple store.  A powerful magnet for one desperately seeking computing power on a budget.  Now, one of the few times I need a computer is to edit photos or write a long letter, and some business functions like doing taxes with Tax Cut, that sort of thing.  So long, carpel tunnel…

Congrats to my neighbors

Hey you guys, congrats on the new baby! Cool.  And I’m glad I could help you out, Chris… the lens you borrowed from me – the Nikon f/1.8 50mm – really rocks, huh? The idea is that with your new baby, you DONT want to be using flash. With this lens you’ve already gotten some awesome pics from the time in the hospital, waaaay to go! And you won’t be harming sensitive eyes with bright flash… MUCH more important than getting a great picture. This lens is arguably the best value on the planet, as it can be had for a mere $115 at Amazon.com. That is amazing, considering its low light capability and teeny size. A true bargain. Take a look at it here.

Boy Scout Charity Event

Just photographed an event last weekend… seems that one local guy gives cans of tuna to the homeless… hence the cans in one of the pictures. This is sort of a Christmas message of giving, as it’s that time of year and the scouts’ monthly theme. The Troop is Troop 188 of Eagle Rock, California, a few miles from downtown LA. Turn on your speakers, as I have added some nice royalty-free music…

Here’s the link to the video: http://www.herbwest.com/videoclips/MovieNight.html

Pet Award

Randi, an 18 month feline I have photographed, has just been awarded “2008 Pet of the Year” by Animal House Magazine. The magazine is sponsored by the National Veterinary Education Association.

The magazine had this to say:

“We’ve chosen Randi as our “Pet of the Year” for her beautiful pictures.  I’m the head of the Graphics department here, and as such, I have the opportunity to see many hundreds of pet photos each year.  Randi’s photos were truly professional, and the best pictures I’ve seen come across my desk in quite some time.  I hope you will be able to stay with your photography – your work is excellent, and you really should go professional if possible.“

Best regards to you & Randi,

Harry Granger, Sr. V.P. Graphics Division
Animal House Magazine

Randi can be seen here

Green Tech

iPODS
Bring an old one in to an Apple store, get 10% off that day on a new one.
http://www.apple.com/

Cell Phones
The Wireless foundation will make used phones available for victims of domestic abuse www.calltoprotect.org.

Computers
http://www.mygreenelectronics.com to find a list of corporate recycling programs. This site also lists the “Green Properties” for most types of electronics, such as monitors, printers, DVD players, fax machines, etc.

Batteries
Radioshack, Home Depot, Office Depot will take used batteries… but call first.
Good info at http://www.batteryrecycling.com/ also.

Intro notes for Microsoft Office Word 2007

File Types

• Default Word file extension docx for Word 2007.
  doc is default extension for pre-Word 2007.
  
• Template extension dotx for Word 2007.
  dot is default extension for pre-Word 2007.
  
• Web files extensions htm or html.
  
• Adobe Acrobat file extension PDF.
  

Basic Keyboard Shortcuts

Bold CTRL+B

Cancel ESC

Clear DELETE

Close or Exit ALT+F4

Copy CTRL+C

Cut CTRL+X

Find CTRL+F

Go To CTRL+G

Help F1

Italic CTRL+I

New CTRL+N

Open CTRL+O

Insert Page Break CTRL+ENTER

Page Down PAGE DOWN

Page Up PAGE UP

Paste CTRL+V

Print CTRL+P

Print Preview CTRL+F2

Proofing F7

Redo CTRL+Y

Save CTRL+S

Save As F12

Select All CTRL+A

Underline CTRL+U

HTML with Css

After fiddling with my web site the last few days, I noticed that all my links were being misdirected…. oh no! I use a”pretty good” program that I bought at Staples to create web pages, but it can’t seem to get “Dynamic HTML” right, so I have resorted to creating “HTML with CSS”. This is about as basic as it gets. Unfortunately by default all the links end up being underlined. My “work-around” (and there always seems to be a need for one in the world of software) is to go ahead and create the web pages using my editor, and then adding this code in the main body:

<STYLE>
<!–
A {text-decoration:none}
–>
</STYLE>

It produces links without underlines. Yahoo!

Wireless internet access

Just updated one of my laptop computers for WiFi in the LA area. Security is number one. It was important to use the Linksys install disk and if there were problems, to repeat the process using the disk. To access router settings, enter http:\\192.168.1.1 in any web browser’s address bar. Selected WEP 128 bit encryption which isnt the best, but I’m not doing multi-million banking transactions! A good technical web site related to WiFi is at http://lifehacker.com/software/wifi/index.php

Assistance with SB-600 flash unit

I’m in LA for a little bit, and my neighbor Nancy asked if I could help her with the Nikon SB-600 flash unit her husband bought her for Christmas. No problemo… I own several SB-800’s, quite similar to the SB-600’s. Basically it was “just add the AA batteries, slide unit on the camera’s hotshoe, and to start with, use TTL mode setting with camera in A or P mode.” I told her to be conscious of flash-subject distance… in other words, don’t be in the upper deck of a baseball stadium and try to use flash on the players hundreds of feet/yards away. Ten or twelve feet works nicely, thank you very much! Later she can try to dial up/down the strobe’s intensity, and get creative with the Nikon CLS (creative Lighting System) wireless doo-dads. Joe McNally of National Geographic fame is the master with these wireless flash setups.

Herb’s First Post

Hi… I have created this blog as a place to share ideas about photography and technology. Are you interested in image capture, manipulation, storage, and delivery? Do you like to take pictures but want to improve? Are you wondering where some of the best deals are for technology products like image editing software? These are but a few of the questions we can explore. My hope is that this will become a discussion, rather than a monologue. Whether it becomes a daily or a weekly will depend on all of us!