It’s All Geek to Me!
January 3rd, 2009 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
I have blogged some in the past about our oldest daughter Elizabeth, who is autistic. Elizabeth will be 19 on Tuesday (gulp!), and like many autistic people she has certain routines, patterns and obsessive/compulsive demands that dictate her days. One of Elizabeth’s big things is watching videos. Her subject matter of choice will gradually fluctuate but there are several constants: the “Barney” children’s videos, the “Roseanne” TV show and currently the “Kidsongs”, “BabySongs” and “WeeSing” series of kid’s videos. She will watch these shows repeatedly all day long, often rewinding and watching a certain scene over and over. Back in the days of VHS rule,… READ MORE
September 12th, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
Back in November of last year Wacom released a smaller, more portable version of it’s Cintiq line of monitor/tablet combo devices, the Cintiq 12wx. This was of great interest to me because up until that point there was no really viable solution to doing PhotoShop color work while “on the road” in the manner in which I am accustomed… i.e. using a Cintiq’s “draw on the screen” style of working. This and the Axiotron ModBook, a third party modified, tablet style MacBook were the two most promising solutions for this issue. Before I go on, and before I get a lot of e-mails or comments… READ MORE
August 21st, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
My home theater is my little oasis from the real world, where I can sink into a comfortable leather recliner and become fully immersed in a good (or sometimes not so good) movie via a dedicated, totally dark room and a setup of pretty high end audio visual equipment. Since the last time I wrote about my theater, I have upgraded my projector from a 720p Sim2 to the Marantz VP-15S1 1080p DLP projector, my pre/pro and video scaler from the Sunfire Theater Grand VI and a DVDO iScan VP-50 respectively to the awesome Anthem Statement D2 integrated Pre/Pro and scaler. Coupled with a 103″… READ MORE
July 10th, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
Okay, this is more than a little geeky, but nonetheless pretty cool. Other than the pic above, I did this entire post directly from my iPhone! One of the more annoying things about the iPhone’s web capabilities is it’s absence of flash support. Since my blog software, WordPress, uses flash for much of its dashboard functionality, that means I have never been able to post directly from my iPhone… at least until I installed this nifty plugin called WPhone. I think my pal Cedric told me about it a while ago but for some reason I never went and got it. It works pretty well,… READ MORE
July 10th, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
To upgrade or not to upgrade…actually there is no question at all. The easy answer, IMO anyway, is a big NO. That’s saying a lot coming from me, a guy who is always itching to get the latest and greatest in cool gadgets. I bought the original iPhone on the day it was released. I will not be getting this upgrade, which is being released tomorrow… in case you haven’t heard. Why not? The cost of the new iPhone is half what they were when it debuted last year in June, and they are offering to cancel the previous contract agreement for first gen iPhone… READ MORE
June 14th, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
You drrrrty, drrrrty little tramp. Despite what Apple might want you to believe, Mac’s are not infallible supercomputers that “just work”. They are machines… and as such they break down, have technical problems, glitches, etc. just like any other machines. Hardware-wise they aren’t any better than PCs, and since you are severely restricted in what hardware you can use if your Mac has a design flaw of some kind it becomes a problem that cannot be easily corrected. That is one of the major drawbacks of using Apple computers… you have to take what Apple will give you with few, if any, other options. Take… READ MORE
June 12th, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
I admit it. I am a techno-gadget junkie. I love all that crap. Shiny new technology is cool and sometimes irresistible for me. The Lovely Anna calls it my only vice (okay, my most troublesome vice… however when she starts making fun of me about it I mention shoes and handbags and she shuts right up). I got the original iPhone the day it was released, although quite by accident and with only about a 2 hour wait in line. So, it was with great interest I read about the new iPhone 3G that was announced on Monday at WWDC. I really like my iPhone,… READ MORE
May 5th, 2008 | Posted in It's All Geek to Me!
I try hard to time my workflow around any traveling I have to do so I do not need to do coloring or any computer work on projects while “on the road”. I much prefer the familiar settings and equipment of my studio and my Cintiq 21UX for that kind of thing, and can much more easily draw and ink in hotel rooms or in less accommodating environments than to do the coloring or painting on a job. Still, sometimes it’s unavoidable, and I bring my Macbook Pro and Wacom Intuos tablet along to work on the finishes for a project. On my last road… READ MORE
