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February 28, 2005

Google Maps now on Safari (Paul Ashton)

Google is developing a very strong competitor to all those other mapping sites such as Mapquest. So far it is in Beta on various platforms and today they announced that it is now Safari-friendly. The only country available at the moment is the US Lower 48 but it is worth having a look because this promises to be the most user friendly mapping package out there.

Audio Hijack Pro (Paul Ashton)

I had been using the demo version of this software but I have now upgraded to the "real" thing and it is worth a quick review.

What is audio hijacking? Basically it is the ability to capture audio data that is being processed by your computer and writing it to a file such as an mp3 format.

Why would you want to do that? Well, the most logical use would be to capture an internet broadcast and save it for listening at some future time, just like making a video of a favorite TV show. But it could also be used to hijack sound from a movie DVD, or from a news broadcast. With an iPod available, this makes listening to internet radio possible when far from a connection. The sound file could also be burned to a CD for playing on a regular sound system.

How does it work? Well, the guys that wrote the software know the answer to that question, but the workings are quite simple, just like a VCR! And you can also use a timer to schedule the recording of a show, again, just like a VCR.

Of course, it helps if you hit the record button at the start and the stop button at the end. Actually getting this right is just about impossible, so the best method is to record more than you need and then edit out the beginning and ending surplus within iMovie. This takes a while to accomplish but is worth it if you want to archive the file as an mp3 in iTunes. Pete explains some of the machinations here.

Audo Hijack Pro has some neat bells and whistles which I have yet to understand, never mid try out! But it is definitely another piece in my multimedia puzzle and it fits!

February 27, 2005

KCRW to offer podcasts starting March 1 (Paul Ashton)

Although their music programs are currently off limits due to copyright restrictions, KCRW plan to distribute a significant podcast portfolio starting March 1. If Morning Becomes Eclectic gets copyright clearance this will be added to the scheme of things. Independent radio is the answer - support them!

OS X Software Recommendations (Paul Ashton)

Here is a list of some additional software solutions we have on one or more of our Macs. Several of the items are free shareware, the rest are relatively inexpensive (cost less than $50). All are useful:

Aquascribus - the front end for open source Scribus. Aquascribus sits in your Dock and basically works its way to Scribus without all the UNIX terminal fuss. Free.

Audio Hijack Pro - the more sophisticated product, Audio Hijack will do just fine for $10 less. Great for capturing audio from internet radio sites as well as old LPs and cassettes. If you want to listen to recent broadcasts on your iPod, this seems to be the best solution. $32.

Chicken of the VNC - see OSXvnc. Free.

Deepvacuum will suck an entire web site onto your hard drive. We haven't used it much! Free.

Fink and FinkCommander are essential if you plan to load a lot of UNIX software programs, such as Scribus. Free.

Firefox - the "in" browser. We still use Safari, but it's good to know there's a reliable alternative out there to compete with Microsoft Exploder! Free.

MacGPS Pro - the best GPS software for the Mac. Free upgrades are e-mailed regularly. $39.99

Mac the Ripper - Rip a DVD onto your hard drive and say goodbye to regional codes, etc. Works great with VLC (see below). Free.

NetNewsWire - a great RSS tool. Downloads news items and features every half an hour. A great way to stay up to date with the news and your favorite websites. $39.95

OSXvnc - A vertual network connection server. This is on our desktop G4. The client software is Chicken of the VNC. This allows us to control the G4 from our PowerBooks, giving true portability to all our computing power. Free.

Scribus - the open source version of QuarkXpress or InDesign. Has serious limitations in font selection and printing control, but a good effort to provide DTP for the casual user for $0. Use with Aquascribus, Fink and FinkCommander if you want to retain your sanity! Free.

VLC - an alternative to DVD Player by Apple. Works well with ripped DVDs (see Mac the Ripper). Not all DVDs work with this software, particularly those with lots of "extra features". Free.

Apple bundles a lot of excellent free software with OS X and in addition there are relatively inexpensive bundles like iLife 05 that add a lot of productivity for the dollar. In many ways it is what Apple "gives away" with their computers that provides the hidden advantage over Windoze machines. Spend a weekend with iLife 05 (free with a Mac Mini) and you'll understand.

February 25, 2005

The Cotswold Way - Introduction, Stage 1 and Stage 2 (Paul and April Ashton)

A major addition to the Travelogue pages with three new entries was uploaded late last night. We are now up to date with this ongoing project to walk the Cotswold Way from Chipping Campden to Bath in stages. We've completed 19 miles out of the 100 total and added 41 photos and three sketch maps. There are also links and travel notes. The latter will be expanded as we walk more of the trail. Feedback welcome!

February 24, 2005

Digital Print Bureau - PSW (Paul Ashton)

Good news! I have found a digital print bureau that is Mac friendly, has large HP plotters and offers excellent turnround. PSW is the name of the company and I was introduced to their services by Manager Phil Skinner. A man who understands!

I was most impressed by much of the work on show. Not the least is a technique using flat bed plotters to basically spray designs onto moulded doors - all the rage with teenagers, apparently. Imagine a Spiderman graphic covering a door in color fast and very stable dye inks. Imagine any graphic you want. They can print it! Whatever next, I thought.

February 23, 2005

London - Part 1 - Getting There (Paul Ashton)

With snow falling and more in the forecast it was with a certain level of doubt that I drove to the station this morning. But all my latent fears evaporated as the new Adalente train crept into the station, albeit 10 minutes late. Gone are the Thames Turbos (which were not that bad) and these new 5 car high speed trains are their replacement on the sometimes single track Cotswold Line (London Paddington to Hereford via Oxford, Worcester and Malvern). I rode in Carriage A (the front) which has audio outlets in the seats and special baby changing facilities (which I didn't need). Carriage E is the Quiet Zone with no cell phones. There's a buffet car as well. Cool! Well do I remember 15 years ago on the same line - a cold, no freezing cold, 2 car train that took forever and basically went slower the further is went from London until it seemed to be going in reverse.

The return journey was just as good, but, and this is the interesting part of the observation, both trains were FULL, standing room only between Oxford and London. If you improve the service, people actually want to use it.

London - Part 2 - Apple iPod Shuffle (Paul Ashton)

Fired up by the ability to listen to BBC Radio 4 on the train going in to London, and also needing to visit the new Apple Store on Regent Street to ask their advice about where to get plotting done (plotting in the graphics sense, not terrorist) in London, I ended up buying the 512 MByte iPod Shuffle. It's insanely great! My advice: get one, or two. Or get one of the now less expensive iPod Photos or iPod Minis. I don't care which, just buy one (or two or three). And it's probably not too late to buy Apple stock!

Oh yes, the Apple Store Bullring (Birmingham) is now scheduled to open in May, or so they told me.

February 22, 2005

How politicians speak (Paul Ashton)

Today's Daily Telegraph carries an interesting piece by ex-Prime Minister John Major. This is a strong condemnation of "New Labour" and its tactics. Major blames the man at the top, Tony Blair, for much of the decay in the political process and notes that voter turnout in the UK's next election could be lower than in Iraq's recent election.

Last evening I was listening (on KCRW) to George Bush's speech in Brussels and I could not help but remember an observation made by a learned medical friend a couple of years ago that Bush has a problem speaking long sentences. It's not that he's stupid (he has an excellent education record) it's that he has to pause after so many words. No doubt his speech writers cater to this.

Tony Blair has a somewhat similar oratorial style to Bush - only he likes to omit verbs from sentences. One example of a Blair sentence: "The kids, the future of our nation". Again, short phrases (can't call this a sentence!) seem to be the order of the day.

Why? Well, apart from the possibility that these styles are inherent, it seems to me that the speech writers are on to something. Short phrases, soundbites. World peace, around the corner. Must work together. Basically they're ready made headlines. Which says a lot for journalism, doesn't it!

More on VNC (Paul Ashton)

It's 5 a.m. and I'm wide awake. April has a stinking cold so I'm sleeping in the guest room. I reach for my PowerBook and pay some bills over the Internet. Then I start thinking about focalplane and realize that the files are on the G4 downstairs. No problem! Fire up Chicken of the VNC and I have control over the G4 and can make this entry as well as work on the Cotswold Way pages. Isn't technology wonderful!

February 21, 2005

It snowed! (Paul Ashton)

Just as dusk fell, the snow that had been threatening all day started to fall. Then it stopped and the skies cleared completely. Will it snow more? We'll find out in the morning.

Illustrator can give you a heart attack! (Paul Ashton)

Adobe Illustrator is great software but every so often it can send out a nasty message, particularly while saving a file. I got one today when nearing the end of a big project - over 30 layers and numerous linked files - which said that part of the file had been modified externally. Did that mean I had a virus? I somehow doubted it.

So I unlocked every layer, switched them all on and did a Save As. It worked. I have no idea if this an official work around. But now the file has been copied and backed up.

February 20, 2005

Cotswold Way - Stage 2 (Paul & April Ashton)

Stage 2, Stanway to Belas Knapp via Winchcombe, was only 8 miles but it felt a lot more! We have now completed 20% of the trail and have nothing to show for it on focalplane.com. Yet.

February 17, 2005

iLife '05 iPhoto First Impressions (Paul Ashton)

I bought iLife '05 today and have started to evaluate the potential of iPhoto's new features. Having seen the video of Steve Jobs doing a slick promotional demo at MacWorld in January I was eager to try out this significant upgrade. So far the new tools seem to work extremely well. iPhoto will not replace advanced image management software like Photoshop but it does the basic editing extremely well and very quickly. A good example is the Straighten tool in the Adjust window (which in itself is a portent of what we can expect from Tiger (OS X 10.4) with a translucent dark grey "dashboard" dialog box).

Click on the toolbar and slide the slider to left or right. A square grid switches on, great for aligning horizons, verticals, etc., and the image rotates and zooms so that the exercise automatically includes a crop when the image is judged to be in the right position. The tool is sensitive and can be stepped one small increment at a time. Then, when you move on to the next image iPhoto saves the changes automatically (tho' you can reset your editing and move on without any changes). It has occurred to me that making backup CDs of image downloads would be a good idea before any editing is done.

The photo book options have been greatly enhanced. Personally I had never considered this option before but the variety offered has made me think again. So I chose an album theme, selected images and then put together a book using full layout control (there is also an autoflow option to speed things up and this can be edited in order to fine tune the layout and sequence of the images). The book used a simple "theme" but other themes allow for annotation of individual images as well as an introduction. Very intuitive, very easy and very pleasing! I don't have an account set up for printing so I have not sent the files off but the pricing is reasonable. This appears to be a great way to obtain hard copy of the best shots! In many ways this is the final piece of the digital photography puzzle.

Another interesting option is the calendar. Because digital cameras record the date (and many other parameters) into the file, iPhoto can sort images chronologically and it is easy to open the calendar and scan what was taken on a particular date. Of course this doesn't work with scanned images from slides as the file creation date will reflect the date the slide was scanned.

So, at first look, yes, iPhoto seems to be an excellent application.

February 16, 2005

The Kyoto Protocol (Paul Ashton)

So today the Kyoto Protocol takes effect. Is it just a load of hot air? Unfortunatey I believe so. More global warming will take place as a result of all those politicians talking up a storm on the backs of too many "please fund us" scientists.

A man made global warming catastrophe is on the horizon and it is fast sending us to an early and very warm grave. At least that's what the pundits want us to believe. Here is an explanation taken from the BBC web site in order to explain the greenhouse gas effect:

The greenhouse effect is the natural process by which the atmosphere traps some of the Sun's energy, warming the Earth enough to support life.

Most mainstream scientists believe a human-driven increase in "greenhouse gases" is increasing the effect artificially.

These gases include carbon dioxide, emitted by fossil fuel burning and deforestation, and methane, released from rice paddies and landfill sites.

Not much here, in my opinion. The first paragraph states the obvious - we need greenhouse gases to retain warmth so that we can live. So they are actually essential to life! The second paragraph begins "most mainstream scientists believe" which suggests that scientists are no more than religious zealots, "believing" something to be true rather than attempting to experiment and prove a truth or falsehood. That bothers me. The third paragraph gives some examples and I find all of them rather difficult to accept in the greater sphere of Earth's cycles. For example, we now have methane escaping from landfills and rice paddies. But there is also a much larger underlying natural escape of methane from volcanos and sedimentary rocks - the very mechanisms that create the gases in the first place that provided us with a warm, liveable planet in which to evolve and thrive!

My real problem is in the science - they may be right but they have made little attempt to prove anything at all. For example, many computer models have been woefully wrong (garbage in, garbage out sounds too close to landfills to me!) so the scientists quickly suggest that more funding is needed to rectify the models so that they can prove global warming. Then again, the entire episode of man made activity is so very short that it makes no sense to make statements that "temperatures will rise xº in y years" because of man made activity when we have no appreciation of what the Earth as a whole is going to do during the same time period. It is rather like looking at the chart of a stock price over the past week and making investment decisions for the next year based on only that information. Remember we just (in geological terms) went through four Ice Ages and man had absolutely nothing to do with creating or ending them. Nature is quite capable of bringing us catastrophic weather changes, that we do know!

And that is the problem. As seen following the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the human race has started to believe it is responsible for causing natural disasters even when it doesn't have the collective power or energy at its disposal to do anything like the damage of a single major natural disaster.

Just as people rush to pour money into rebuilding vulnerable fishing villages and beach resorts in the east Indian Ocean, the Kyoto Protocol is going to force nations to subsidize uneconomic activities that have yet to be proven to have any merit. I am absolutely behind the US Government on this one. It's a real pity that so few rational people have the vision and resolution to stand up to the Chicken Littles. But here is one piece of enlightened writing!

February 14, 2005

iTunes and the Indies (Paul Ashton)

The British Phonographic Industry (now there's an anachronistic name) urges iTunes to get with the independents. To some degree, Apple already is. Independent Richard Thompson is well represented and there are five special/exclusive tracks including "Put it There Pal", a 10 minute track for 99¢ - a bargain. Likewise the Brazilian Girls have their stuff on iTunes. The irony is that Apple is unlikely to sign up the Beatles just yet as there is an ongoing lawsuit over use of the trademark "Apple".

Off road in Eastern Venezuela (Paul Ashton)

I took this picture a year ago, somewhere in Eastern Venezuela. The day was Carnival (Mardi Gras) and I decided to work rather than play. Luis Contreras, who owns the Chevy 4 wheel drive in the picture, agreed to accompany me. Well, we really did find ourselves off road, looking for old oil wells. So I got out to take this photo. Then I remembered what someone had said earlier about Venezuelan wildlife and snakes in particular:

"There are fifty species of snake in Venezuela. Forty eight are deadly poisonous. The other two can squeeze you to death!"

I have this rather stupid theory when in snake country: stomp around and the vibrations will scare them all away. Seemed to work in this case!

Cotswold Way Update (Paul Ashton)

A couple of weeks ago we walked the first stage of the Cotswold Way. Since then I have been preparing a travelogue covering an Introduction and Stage 1. A few key photos are, however, missing before these sections can be published. Meantime we have not yet managed to set out on Stage 2, due to not being in the area, being busy working and with family, and the weather has not really cooperated. Be patient, I think the wait will be worth it!

February 13, 2005

Photographers' Rights in the UK (Paul Ashton)

Got this from Pete's Linklog - a 2 page pdf summary that points out "one is free to take photographs except when the law provides otherwise". A useful resource when out and about with big glass.

One very large aligator! (Paul and April Ashton)

About six years ago we visited one of our favorite haunts along the Texas Gulf Coast, Anahuac National Wildlife Reserve, and saw more aligators that day than we have seen since despite returning often. This one was the oldest and largest, about twelve feet from nose to tail. Note how many teeth are missing!

And this is what Anuahac looks like (well, it actually doesn't look like this any more, the area had just been cleaned out and it is now overgrown again). The area is called Shoveler Pond and is a great location for all sorts of wildlife. Levees provide a dirt road from which wildlife can be studied and photographed. Cars are great bird blinds and of course they offer a large measure of safety from fast moving 'gators!

At the time we owned a Jeep Safari and here is April with telephoto lens at the ready for that Aligator photo!

February 12, 2005

Fuji Finepix S7000 Update (Paul Ashton)

Last month I mentioned that I had put new batteries in my Fuji S7000 with good results. This was not the end of the story, for further research showed that my camera was one of the first built and had a serious flaw - the Off switch didn't isolate the batteries! I was told to return the camera for an upgrade. This could have been a problem as I bought the camera in the US and international warranties are just about as good as an expired visa to Russia. But Fuji agreed that, as I have relocated, they would honor their mistake here in the UK. A mailing package duly arrived with an interesting expanding bubble pack that safely cushioned the camera for its journey through the Royal Mail system. I mailed the package last Saturday and 6 days later it was returned, fully repaired, with a nice apology. Fuji has always been my favorite film source and they certainly scored a few points digitally! So I took it out in the murky greyness of a February afternoon and here is the result:

This is of Campden Manor House, mostly destroyed during the 17th Century Civil War (Cromwell's army ransacked the Manor House which belonged to King Charles' chancellor, Sir Baptist Hicks). The red stains on the few remaining walls of the main house are from the conflagration.

February 11, 2005

Internet Banking and the "Serious Windows Flaw(s)" (Paul and April Ashton)

April spent three hours this morning attempting to work with her internet banking account. All sorts of problems that, the customer service manager explained, are to do with internet viruses, hacking into secure sites, blah blah blah. Then came the clincher. We use Macintosh and the programmers are so busy modifying their code that the Mac version has yet to be tested.

Wait a moment. As Mac users we basically don't experience any of these problems but we are placed at the back of the line when the programmers do their re-writes and testing to insure that the "majority" of users can continue to have a trouble-free experience. There's something wrong with that line of reasoning.

To have someone else explain, and thereby add a little credibility to my argument, take a look at this article by Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle. Entitled Why Does Windows Still Suck? Why do PC users put up with so many viruses and worms? Why isn't everyone on a Mac? this makes for interesting reading. As Windows users, your experience may vary, but, as I told the Customer Service Manager, to his utmost astonishment, I have never had a virus on a Mac in nearly fifteen years on a variety of Mac machines and operating systems.

Do read the article. Its level of tragi-comedy puts the blame fairly and squarely on Microsoft's shoulders. Here is a small passage to put you in the mood:

Here is your brand new car, sir. Drive it off the lot. Yay yay new car. Suddenly, new car shuts off. New car barely starts again and then only goes about 6 miles per hour and it belches smoke and every warning light on the dashboard is blinking on and off and the tires are screaming and the heater is blasting your feet and something smells like burned hair. You hobble back to the dealer, who only says, gosh, sorry, we thought you knew -- that's they way they all run. Enjoy!

February 6, 2005

A week in Cornwall (Paul and April Ashton)

A somewhat unexpected week away explains why there's been a gap.

February 5, 2005

Internet Radio Recommendations (Paul Ashton)

I have to admit that I miss American radio! How can this be, you may ask. Well, in the UK there are three basic choices: the BBC (lots of choice but all BBC), Classic FM (good but it gets on one's nerves after a while, too syrupy, too much emphasis on Top 10s) and commercial radio (with a local emphasis and noisy "transatlantic" DJs that quite honestly make them suck).

So, with broadband, why not search the internet. Here are two favorites:

Mostlyclassical.com though this is now a part of sky.fm, so check both links in the future as they may break. This station has no voice overs but does have one strange quirk which we don't mind. The mix is mostly classical but every so often Loreena McKennitt is included - no doubt the mixer has a penchant for this Celtic songstress!

Public Radio in the States is something special - listener supported community radio that is everything you don't expect from America. One favorite is KCRW from Los Angeles. Good mix of music, current affairs, etc. etc. that is cosmopolitan. If you happen to come across a fundraiser, don't despair, pledge! They need the money.

Both these stations are listed on iTunes radio.

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