Welcome to my technology blog!
Adobe Systems Inc.
San Jose, CA
Olympus Pen E-PL1, and the Motorokr S9-hd
Apple 3G iPhone
Continue reading “Tech Profile of Russell Preston Brown”
The more I travel internationally the more I realize that certain areas of the world haven't caught up to the "high tech business traveler" yet. I am painfully reminded of this in various hotels abroad. I know what you're thinking. No I'm not talking about Internet Connectivity. Actually for the most part 99% of the places I visit have in-room high speed internet (not always fast, but it's there). Actually I'm talking about a simpler problem. The problem of not enough outlets in the room! A couple of months ago I stayed at a Hilton in the UK and I was stunned that there was only ONE free outlet in the entire room. It was at the desk. So I had to pick and choose which devices to power/charge throughout the day/night. I kept thinking the whole time, "I really need a power strip." Actually I have a couple of mobile power strips by Kensington and Belkin that I love. However, they are for the US only. They have USB ports and plugging them in to a 240 volt outlet will FRY THEM (ask me how I know? 🙂 ) I could have gone to the local convenience store and probably picked up a power strip, but then the problem would be it would be for the UK styled plugs. What happens when I travel to a different location in Europe or elsewhere in the world and they have different plugs? So I resisted the temptation and just didn't buy anything. Well that was until recently.
On my last trip to India, I had a meeting with an Ad agency there and they had this very cool power strip in their conference room. It actually had multiple prong female adapters/plugs built-in to it. Also since it could handle the high voltage, you could plug it in in pretty much any country provided you had the proper prong adapter for the main cord. I knew right then and there this is what I needed, so I came back home and ordered this one. The only difference is that this one has a US styled plug on the end of the cord, which means I can use it here in the US without an adapter and when I travel abroad I can just put an adapter on it and use it in virtually any country that I may visit. This strip also cuts down on the number of adapters i need to carry. Since all of my gear has US styled plugs on them already, I only need to carry ONE adapter for each country/style to go on the end of the power strip that goes in the wall/outlet.
If you travel abroad frequently, you're going to want one. You can get it here for about $30.
Here's the UK Style Adapter I use and here's the European style Adapter I use. Also here's the Universal Adapter I use when I'm not using the Power Strip. Lastly here is the Apple World Travel Adapter kit for all of your Apple devices/notebooks.
When I got my iPad WiFi+3G back on April 30th, I resisted signing up for the Unlimited 3G Data Plan ($29.99/month). Since there is no contract and you can upgrade or downgrade at any time I wanted to see if I could get by on the 250MB/month Plan ($14.99/month). My thought was "why pay more up front when you're not sure how much you're really going to use?". I was right! In the first month I used my iPad as much as I needed to/wanted to on 3G. The rest of the time I was on WiFi or traveling abroad and using it on WiFi. I only used 171MB in the first month. So technically I saved $14.99 by NOT doing the impulse thing and signing up for the Unlimited Plan right off the bat. Now that's not to say that I wan't have some months where I need more 3G data and if I do, I'll purchase more at that time. However, today I feel like I just saved $14.99 by not giving it to AT&T up front.
Continue reading “I only used 171MBs of 3G data in the first month of iPad use”
That's right! If you have Photoshop CS5, you have a NEW Panel under Window->Extensions Called "Knowledge". This new panel pulls in industry experts to give you help and step-by-step instructions on completing various tasks in Photoshop. Best of all it's FREE and if you've been connected to the internet and have Photoshop CS5 open it's already there! Here are a few screen shots:
Here's my Lightroom 3 to Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro workflow
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rab25UTe6HY
Thanks goes out to Scott Kelby and the Photoshop Guys for some GREAT HDR Pro settings.
Continue reading “Introducing the Photoshop CS5 “Knowledge Panel””
It's time of year again and I'm excited to announce that once again I'll be leading a Detroit area photowalk on Saturday, July 24th, 2010. This year I'll be taking my group on a photowalk of the Detroit Zoo. As usual there are only a limited number of slots, so you should probably sign up NOW. You can do so here. If by the time you read this the walk has already filled up (we were first to fill up last year), go ahead and get on the wait list. Each year people sign up and then something comes up and they have to drop off. So if you're on the wait list you'll automatically be slotted in to the next available slot.
Not only are the photos once again competing for Scott Kelby's eye as his top picks, but I'll also award a prize or two for my personal favorites from this year's walk.
More details to come as we get closer.
Not in the Detroit area? No problem. This is a "worldwide" event. Check the site here to find the one closest to you.
Have a great day! Enjoy your family and friends. Thanks goes out to all of you out there that risk your lives to keep us safe.
Come back tomorrow for some cool Tuesday News Stuff.
Terry
head content creator (wish it was just photographer)
Wildlife Research Photography
Mammoth Lakes, CA
currently AstroTrac (I'm a kid, I always have new toys)
Since CS3, it has now become a tradition that I provide Creative Suite wall paper/desktop picture images for people to download. The artwork for CS5 is STUNNING! So once again I'm happy to provide you with the imagery so that you can get your CS5 on! You can download them here and there are even some Mobile versions included for your mobile device. Enjoy!
Also don't forget, you can download a FREE Trial of CS5 here and use it fully functional for 30 days.
All I'll say is check out this App that I reviewed on Best App Site today.
There is no doubt that DSLR video is taking the world by storm. Canon 5D MkII video cameras were used exclusively to tape an episode of House. As great as the video is on these DSLR cameras and other handheld HD cameras, the built-in mics are often very lacking. My current video DSLR is a Nikon D5000 and while the video is AWESOME, the audio is very weak. Not only from a built-in mic standpoint, but also from an 11khz audio standpoint too. Unfortunately, there's no solution for the D5000 as it lacks an audio-in port. I have my finger on the trigger to upgrade to a Nikon D300s for video, but I'm holding off because Nikon is rumored to be releasing new models "soon". I also have a Canon HF10 HD camera that I use too. Although the mic on this camera is much better than the one on the D5000, very few built-in mics are considered to be "great". Therefore, I'm always looking for better ways to record audio.