Jack Beckman
Sole Proprietor
Jack Beckman Software (ok, not as my day job)
Sterling heights, MI
Your blog/website?
Blog: MacGroup.org/blog
Website: www.beckmanjm.com
Favorite Gadget(s):
We celebrate Photoshop’s 20th Birthday on Thursday!
It's not often that a software application celebrates 20 years of existence. However, tomorrow (Thursday, February 18th, 2010) we will celebrateAdobe Photoshop's 20th Anniversary! I'm very excited to be a part of the festivities and looking forward to seeing some of the folks that have helped Photoshop be the success that it is over the years.
My friends over at NAPP are hosting the Live Event
The Live Event takes place at 7:30 PM PST (19:30 GMT-8, 10:30 PM EST) in San Francisco, California.
I'll be on stage with Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski, Dave Cross, RC Concepcion, Corey Barker, Julieanne Kost, Russell Preston Brown, and Adobe's SVP Johnny L.
There will be a LIVE Webcast and LIVE Blog
If you miss the Live webcast, it will be posted later for viewing.
More details here.
While I'm sure I'll grab some shots from the event and maybe even do a blog post about it, the easiest fastest way to keep up with me at this event is to follow me on Twitter.
Traveling with too many electronic devices?
I just got back from two weeks of international business travel. The trip involved traveling through multiple airports over the course of two weeks. While my new Skooba bag performed extremely well and made it so that I didn't have to take my laptop out (except once on the return to the US), I still ran into the "too many electronic devices – bag check!" scenario.
Lots of little gizmos
I carry lots of little devices and cables when I travel. Unfortunately this is sometimes too much for the TSA agent to try to see through and the easiest thing for them is to yell "bag check" and let someone else have a closer look. I knew this would be a problem so I started putting several items in two mesh bags and taking those bags out of my laptop bag so that they go through separately. This works most of the time, however, the two bags don't hold everything and it started to become an even bigger hassle to take out both bags and still have to take out individual items.
Continue reading “Traveling with too many electronic devices?”
How was Macworld Expo without Apple?
This was the first year in many years that I did NOT attend Macworld Expo. Although I certainly had less interest in attending because the star of the show (Apple) wasn't going to be there, that wasn't my reason for not attending. I didn't attend this year for no other reason than the new February date conflicted with another business trip that I had scheduled and couldn't change.
Was it a success?
Although I wasn't there first hand to see for myself, it appears that the show did indeed go on. For many smaller vendors and developers Macworld Expo is their one shot a year to be in front of the masses. The show typically draws thousands and thousands of Mac users and it gives developers a chance to be in front of them and to get their products noticed. I know I've certainly discovered a few products over the years at the show that I otherwise probably wouldn't have run into. So it seems that the show was successful. Macworld Expo seems to be on for next year (2011) and trust me had it not been a success, chances are this would have been the last one. These shows cost a lot of money and you don't continue them just for the fun of it.
Did you go? How was it?
Which USB microphone sounds best?
A couple of weeks ago I did a review of my NEW Rode Podcaster microphone and while I’ve been enjoying the mic there was one thing that stuck with me from the comments section. It was the fact that a couple of people commented that they actually thought the MKL Studio 1 mic sounded better! What was funny is that was my least favorite choice. I didn’t think it was bad, I just thought the Rode sounded better. This got me thinking that maybe it’s not my ears that matter. After all YOU’RE THE LISTENER! So what sounds best to you is what really matters.
Since that time I came across a deal on the Blue (another favorite brand of mine and many of yours) Yeti THX certified mic and I couldn’t resist and rather than do another simple review talking about what I liked and what I didn’t like (by the way I like it a lot), I thought it would be even more fun to let YOU decide which one sounds best?
Your vote matters
I put together a quick test. I wanted to compare the Rode Podcaster against the MKL Studio 1 (that many of you thought sounded better) and my NEW Blue Yeti mic. I thought it would be fun to have a blind taste sound test where I would record the exact same thing (my voice) using all 3 mics and put the sample recording here for you to judge. Whichever one that you pick as the best sounding one will determine which mic I use from here on out. I’m making this a blind test so that brand loyalty doesn’t enter the equation. Next week I’ll reveal the winner from your votes and which sample belonged to which mic.
Tech Profile of Chita Hunter
Chita Hunter
Software Instructor, Technology Writer
Company
Hunter Designs
Southfield, MI
Your blog/website
Favorite Gadget(s):
iPhone, Tennis racquet
Haven’t upgraded your Adobe Creative Suite in a while?
I took a few minutes to record this short video to remind you about some of things you may be missing out on if you haven't upgraded your Adobe Creative Suite in a while. Even if you're a current user you may have still missed out on some features that were introduced a few versions back. Here's a look back on what was introduced in Design Premium CS2, CS3 and CS4 (Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign):
Check out MORE Adobe Creative Suite CS4 features here. Want more tutorial videos (who doesn't?) Check out my Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast here and Adobe TV here.
Apocket proves that technology doesn’t always have to cost a lot
Every now and then I come across a deal that is simply too good to pass up. I subscribe to the DealMac RSS feed in Mac Mail and 99% of the time I hit delete on each deal. However, there are those times where I click to buy within a heartbeat.
I was already quite happy with my TruePower IV external battery for my iPhone 3GS. It easily doubles the battery life and provides charging to other USB devices. It also gives me an LED light to take photos in low light situations. Great! The only downside to this case s that it's big.
The alternatives like the popular Mophie Juice Pack are smaller, but cost almost as much as my more capable TruePower IV.
Apocket iPhone 3G/3GS Multifunction Case/Charger for only $25???
So when I saw the deal on the Apocket case for only $24.99 I jumped on it. Not only did I jump on it for me, I bought 5 of them for friends and family. I didn't know what to expect. I surely didn't expect it to be great for almost 1/4 the cost of similar products, but when it arrived, I was actually quite pleased. First off it has a 30 pin doc connector on the bottom. So you just charge it using your existing cables and chargers. That's a plus right off the bat and of course reduces costs. No need to include a separate charger. Although 30 pin connector is backwards on the bottom (plug you cable in the opposite way that you would into your iPhone), it works great.
The top of the case is spring loaded for easy insertion and removal of your iPhone.
Continue reading “Apocket proves that technology doesn’t always have to cost a lot”
All of my sites in one App and it’s FREE
I've just released my second App for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It's called….wait for it…."Terry White".
What's in the App?
Well you get one tap access to all of my current and future content (with the exception the exclusive bonus material in my Learn the Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White App) in one spot. The App includes feeds from:
- My Tech Blog
- My BestAppSite – daily App reviews
- My Adobe Creative Suite Podcast – weekly creative suite tutorials
- My Flickr.com feed – see my latest photos
- My Twitter Feed – yes I tweet
- My YouTube Channel – video reviews and interviews
- My MacNews Blog – News, Tips and Tutorials for Mac Users
So if you like what you see here and you're an iPhone, iPad (soon), or iPod touch (2nd or 3rd generation) user, then you'll probably like the App.
Head over to the App Store and grab it here.
If you'd like the back story on how the App was developed, check it out here.
Solmeta N2 GPS for Nikon DSLR’s Review
After writing my most recent review of the NEW di-GPS Pro and Mini GPS' a few readers suggested that I check out the Solmeta N2 GPS. which offered a couple of advantages over the di-GPS models and being the GPS freak that I am, I couldn't resist.
What makes Solmeta different?
Aside from all the things you would expect and that I've covered before with the other units, the Someta offers a couple more bells and whistles. The big one for me and probably the reason I was anxious to try it was that instead of having to buy one model or another for either a Nikon DSLR with a 10 pin terminal (like my D700) or one that has a specific GPS port (like my D5000), this one comes with BOTH cables. This way the user can buy one GPS unit and use it with every Nikon DSLR that supports GPS units. Although that was a big plus for me having two bodies, the average user is probably only going to use one cable or the other as they will likely only have one kind of body. The only other feature that got my attention was that this one has the ability to know your heading. Definitely nice when you want to know what direction you were facing when you took the shot.
How well did it work?
Luckily the unit arrived (after what seemed like forever!), the day before I was headed out on a business trip. So I was able to pack it for some real world testing. I still brought my other GPS as a backup since I hadn't had even a moment to make sure the Solmeta was going to work.
I connected the appropriate cable for my D5000 and stood outside my hotel to grab a GPS signal. I gotta say that it seems to take a lot longer to acquire the satellite than I'm used to. Not too long, just longer. So plan ahead!
Once it locked on, the light went from rapidly flashing green, to a slow flashing green to a steady green meaning that it had acquired multiple satellites. I started shooting and the information was captured as expected.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom brought the GPS metadata in with the shot. You can click the GPS coordinates above to take you to this location on Google maps.