British Mac
Saturday 26 Apr 08 | Category: My Photography
I'm delighted that my web site is featured in this week's British Mac podcast. Will Green is the Guinness-drinking creator of the British Mac podcast and I'd recommend listening even if you aren't a Mac owner because of the irreverent way he presents it. Will puts a quirky spin on every item so, for example, when it's time to present the weekly Mac widget, the item is introduced to the sound of a thunder clap, ghoulish laughter and Kenneth Williams screeching "Frying tonight". The Mac Widget becomes "Frankenwidget". It's all quite refreshingly silly.Even if you only listen to one episode, try this week's (No. 66) for the experience of Will's impersonation of Microsoft's Steve Ballmer. If you ever had any doubts about whether English eccentricity was simply a myth, wonder no more, the British Mac podcast is eccentricity personified and we salute it.
Best of all, Will is a long-standing fan of the Square and Compass pub in Worth Matravers. Now officially the "Best Pub in the World", Will used to play piano in the bar in exchange for beer. He must have been good because he once earned so much beer that he fell off the piano stool. Strangely, that really impresses me.
If you're visiting my site for the first time following it's appearance in the British Mac Gallery feature then you are most welcome and I invite you to sign up for my Newsletter. It's about as irregular as British Mac podcasts and I know you'll be comfortable with that kind of publishing schedule!
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Axiotron Modbook
Wednesday 27 Feb 08 | Category: Technology
This is the first and, as far as I know, only tablet Mac currently on the market. It's made by Axiotron and has only recently hit the shops. I've yet to see any reviews of the Mac Tablet but it certainly looks like a flash bit of kit. It's so much more productive working with a Wacom tablet rather than a mouse and so the appeal of being able to draw directly onto the screen is obvious. SuperDuper! Tuesday
Tuesday 05 Feb 08 | Category: Technology
No, it's not the US Presidential Primaries, it's arguably just as important though.SuperDuper is a back-up package for Macs that creates a fully bootable system backup. I have my Mac set to wake up automatically at 5:59am each day and the SuperDuper backup kicks in at 6am. By the time I arrive at my desk there's simply a message to confirm that the back-up has been successfully completed. What could be simpler? In the event of a disaster, I can boot from my SuperDuper archive, which is stored on a dedicated Firewire drive.
And now SuperDuper is fully compatible with the Leopard OS so it really is a SuperDuper Tuesday!
MacBook Air 2
Wednesday 16 Jan 08 | Category: Technology
Concluding my uncustomary spate of blog posts, here is the nifty little MacBook Air and a link to where you can find out more about it. I see that it's due to retail at $1799 in the USA so you'd expect it to be about £900 in the UK. A quick look at the UK Apple store reveals that the Air is £1200. Why we have to pay so much more is a mystery to me but it seems to be an across-the-board situation that Europeans have to cough up more to satisfy their techno-addictions than our transatlantic cousins.I also note that the standard MacBook Air comes with a 80Gb hard drive but that for an extra £900 you can replace that with a 64Gb solid-state drive. I guess the solid-state drive is more desirable because you there will be fewer issues with heat.
I'm amazed at the technology and the fact that it's possible to get so much into such a thin notebook. Having said that, there's not much to choose between a MacBook Air and a normal MacBook in terms of specification so you're really paying the extra cash for the size and weight reduction. I'll stick with my MacBook Pro for the time being although I guess that it won't be too long before Apple announce an "Air" version of the Pro.
MacBook Air
Wednesday 16 Jan 08 | Category: Technology
Well, surprise, surprise, Steve Jobs does indeed announce a new, weeny MacBook. It's called the MacBook Air, is wafer thin but has a full-size keyboard with 13.3" display. It boasts a 80GB drive as standard with Core 2 Duo at 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz.My first impression is that it will be the product that further boosts the reputation of Apple for innovative design. I mean, he announced this shiny new notebook by sliding it out of an A4 manilla envelope for goodness sake. I feel a Magpie-like complex developing...
(read more at macworld.com)
Minority Report?
Wednesday 16 Jan 08 | Category: Technology
Further to my previous post about the possibility of Steve Jobs announcing a new, scaled-down laptop at this week's Expo, one accessory manufacturer keen to keep ahead of the game has already made their own announcement: "Expect a press release late Wednesday night regarding a new laptop case to ship this Friday if Steve Jobs announces a new laptop at MacWorld tomorrow".
Do you think they know something we don't?
(Original article on macworld.com)
Do you think they know something we don't?
(Original article on macworld.com)
Expo Keynote Speech
Tuesday 15 Jan 08 | Category: Technology
In last year's Macworld Expo keynote speech, Steve Jobs announced the arrival of the iPhone. If you want to hear what the "must have" Apple product for 2008 is going to be first then you can find live blogging from the event at macworld.com.
If you wanted to put money on a new, scaled-down MacBook Pro being announced (ideal for travel photographers, for example) then you'd get short odds around here as the rumours of such a device have been rampant in recent weeks. I hear that the mini Mac notebook will retail at between £800 and £1000, won't contain an optical drive and will rely on flash memory. Let's see what Mr. Jobs has to say.
If you wanted to put money on a new, scaled-down MacBook Pro being announced (ideal for travel photographers, for example) then you'd get short odds around here as the rumours of such a device have been rampant in recent weeks. I hear that the mini Mac notebook will retail at between £800 and £1000, won't contain an optical drive and will rely on flash memory. Let's see what Mr. Jobs has to say.
Happy New Year
Wednesday 02 Jan 08 | Category: Technology
Firstly, I'd like to wish you a very Happy New Year. 2008 promises much and I hope that your year is an enchanting and rewarding one.
The start of a new year is always welcome from the point of view of the fresh start that it offers, the opportunity to clear away any cobwebs and to set off with fresh resolve (that's "resolve" as in the state of mind not "Resolve" the hangover remedy). I'm particularly excited about 2008 as it seems to promise much. There are, of course, many trips planned for me personally and I'm very excited about the new places that I hope to be visiting and the new photos that I hope to be taking, more of which later.
I'm kicking off 2008 in a great position professionally, with contracts with my top three stock photo libraries in place and knowing that each is keen to see new material so I'm hugely enthusiastic about the prospects on the stock front.
The Photo Workshops that I'm planning with Jason Friend are filling up fast. The Dorset workshop in April has already sold out and so we're hoping to add a second date on April 20th. There will also be another Dorset workshop in October and I'm joining Jason and Jo Sparks in Cumbria in February and we also have plans to tackle Hadrian's Wall. Watch this space for future plans for overseas workshops in Morocco and locations in South East Asia. The Photo Workshops are something that I've been keen on running for several years so it's nice to feel that they are now coming together.
For the Techies among you, I've spent the period between Christmas and New Year doing a complete uninstall on my Mac, replacing Tiger with Leopard, and re-installing all the software necessary for running a successful Travel Photography business. Apple claim that Leopard brings 300 new features to their OS and although they count some new desktop wallpapers as "features" there is enough in the new system to make the time upgrading well worth it.
If you're interested in the software that I use, you can find a complete list under my profile at iusethis.com. I have nothing against Microsoft but you'll see that we're now a Microsoft-free zone at Gough Towers, which I guess is something of a rarity these days.
Finally, on the techy front, I see that the tablet Mac is well on the way. I'll be interested in seeing how that works from a practical point of view as I suspect that it might be simpler to use than a laptop, especially when much of your work involves processing and cataloguing photographs.
The start of a new year is always welcome from the point of view of the fresh start that it offers, the opportunity to clear away any cobwebs and to set off with fresh resolve (that's "resolve" as in the state of mind not "Resolve" the hangover remedy). I'm particularly excited about 2008 as it seems to promise much. There are, of course, many trips planned for me personally and I'm very excited about the new places that I hope to be visiting and the new photos that I hope to be taking, more of which later.
I'm kicking off 2008 in a great position professionally, with contracts with my top three stock photo libraries in place and knowing that each is keen to see new material so I'm hugely enthusiastic about the prospects on the stock front.
The Photo Workshops that I'm planning with Jason Friend are filling up fast. The Dorset workshop in April has already sold out and so we're hoping to add a second date on April 20th. There will also be another Dorset workshop in October and I'm joining Jason and Jo Sparks in Cumbria in February and we also have plans to tackle Hadrian's Wall. Watch this space for future plans for overseas workshops in Morocco and locations in South East Asia. The Photo Workshops are something that I've been keen on running for several years so it's nice to feel that they are now coming together.
For the Techies among you, I've spent the period between Christmas and New Year doing a complete uninstall on my Mac, replacing Tiger with Leopard, and re-installing all the software necessary for running a successful Travel Photography business. Apple claim that Leopard brings 300 new features to their OS and although they count some new desktop wallpapers as "features" there is enough in the new system to make the time upgrading well worth it.
If you're interested in the software that I use, you can find a complete list under my profile at iusethis.com. I have nothing against Microsoft but you'll see that we're now a Microsoft-free zone at Gough Towers, which I guess is something of a rarity these days.
Finally, on the techy front, I see that the tablet Mac is well on the way. I'll be interested in seeing how that works from a practical point of view as I suspect that it might be simpler to use than a laptop, especially when much of your work involves processing and cataloguing photographs.
OK Commuter
Tuesday 13 Nov 07 | Category: Entertainment
It's been a while. How are you? How have things been?
Me? Oh, I've been pretty busy with one thing and another. Thanks for asking.
Unfortunately, the .Mac web site, from which I'd hoped to see great things, has been experiencing "some speed issues in Europe". I liked being able to update my site from anywhere and the iLife software was easy to navigate but the speed of uploads and downloads was little more than ponderous. I struggled along with it for a while, wondering if it might have been something in my set up but after several e-mails to and from the .Mac support team they finally came clean and admitted to a less than sparkling performance on their European-based web sites.
I'm sure that it will improve but until it does I'm back with a proper ISP and a piece of software called RapidWeaver, which is proving to be first class. I've put all of these new web pages together with it and managed to integrate it with a customised PhotoShelter installation that will go live as soon as I've finished populating the photo galleries. The advantage of the PhotoShelter site is that it will allow me to sell prints and photo licenses online with the minimum of daily management from me. Whilst the Digital Railroad web site was also excellent, it doesn't yet offer the levels of integration.
I'm quite excited about the new site and the way that I'm hoping it will work. You can get a preview of the image galleries by visiting http://archive.gavingough.com.
I'll be posting more to the blog in the next few days so we'll be able to catch up.
In the mean time, you might like to entertain yourself by compiling your own Top Five Commuting Tracks, in the manner of the Guardian's "OK Commuter" column. The one below, from a correspondent you may be familiar with, was published in last Monday's Office Hours supplement.
Guardian's Office Hours
Me? Oh, I've been pretty busy with one thing and another. Thanks for asking.
Unfortunately, the .Mac web site, from which I'd hoped to see great things, has been experiencing "some speed issues in Europe". I liked being able to update my site from anywhere and the iLife software was easy to navigate but the speed of uploads and downloads was little more than ponderous. I struggled along with it for a while, wondering if it might have been something in my set up but after several e-mails to and from the .Mac support team they finally came clean and admitted to a less than sparkling performance on their European-based web sites.
I'm sure that it will improve but until it does I'm back with a proper ISP and a piece of software called RapidWeaver, which is proving to be first class. I've put all of these new web pages together with it and managed to integrate it with a customised PhotoShelter installation that will go live as soon as I've finished populating the photo galleries. The advantage of the PhotoShelter site is that it will allow me to sell prints and photo licenses online with the minimum of daily management from me. Whilst the Digital Railroad web site was also excellent, it doesn't yet offer the levels of integration.
I'm quite excited about the new site and the way that I'm hoping it will work. You can get a preview of the image galleries by visiting http://archive.gavingough.com.
I'll be posting more to the blog in the next few days so we'll be able to catch up.
In the mean time, you might like to entertain yourself by compiling your own Top Five Commuting Tracks, in the manner of the Guardian's "OK Commuter" column. The one below, from a correspondent you may be familiar with, was published in last Monday's Office Hours supplement.
Guardian's Office Hours
MAC OS X Leopard
Friday 19 Oct 07 | Category: Technology
Apple have released a list of 300 new features which will form part of the new OS X (Leopard) Mac operating system. Well, they say there are 300 new features but six of the features listed are the six new screensavers so you have to take that number with a pinch of salt.
Nevertheless, Leopard offers Mac users a few more of those nifty things that make using a Mac so much more satisfying that using a PC. Little things like being able to click on a name in your address book and being shown the appropriate Google map for that person’s address. And, as we all know, it’s the little things...
Of more interest to photographers will be things like 16 bit printing, which will be more important in coming months as more printers and cameras begin to support full 16 bit technology.
The new OS also includes “Time Machine”, which will provide backup versions of your Mac that allow you to return it to a previous state or offer previous versions of files that have changed.
The “Preview” application has been updated and we’ll finally be able to manipulate PDF files easily.
I guess it will be worth waiting a couple of months for Apple to iron out the bugs but it might be something that makes an appearance on my Christmas list. Although I never know why I make a Christmas list, I invariably end up buying most of the things on it weeks before Christmas.
Nevertheless, Leopard offers Mac users a few more of those nifty things that make using a Mac so much more satisfying that using a PC. Little things like being able to click on a name in your address book and being shown the appropriate Google map for that person’s address. And, as we all know, it’s the little things...
Of more interest to photographers will be things like 16 bit printing, which will be more important in coming months as more printers and cameras begin to support full 16 bit technology.
The new OS also includes “Time Machine”, which will provide backup versions of your Mac that allow you to return it to a previous state or offer previous versions of files that have changed.
The “Preview” application has been updated and we’ll finally be able to manipulate PDF files easily.
I guess it will be worth waiting a couple of months for Apple to iron out the bugs but it might be something that makes an appearance on my Christmas list. Although I never know why I make a Christmas list, I invariably end up buying most of the things on it weeks before Christmas.
iPhoto Library Manager
Wednesday 03 Oct 07 | Category: Technology
iPhoto comes as part of Apple’s iLife package for the Mac. It’s pretty good and I’ve been using it to manage those photos that I want to keep out of my Professional workflow: pictures of friends and family gatherings, parties, etc.
The only problem is that the iPhoto library can soon get pretty bloated and it seemed impossible to manage multiple libraries very easily. I wanted to keep the main library on an external disk but a smaller library of the most recent photos on my laptop, so that they’d be available when I’m out and about.
Enter iPhoto Library Manager. Doing pretty much what it says on the tin, this software manages multiple iPhoto libraries, enables sharing of albums, copying, switching, iPod synchronisation and even a bit of iPhoto First Aid should your library throw a wobbly.
There’s a free version although that restricts copying to no more than 20 photos so pretty pointless really but the full version is only just over £10 and well worth the investment.
No, I’m not on commission although if anyone from FatCat Software is reading this...