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Thursday Stuff

By Scott on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 10:37 am | updates.

cintiq2.jpg

Hi everybody! Here’s the Thursday stuff:

  • It’s been a big week for both Canon and Nikon who intro’d lots of very, very cool stuff. On Monday Canon kicked things off by introducing the long rumored 10 Megapixel 40D, and the new 21 Megapixel EOS-1DS Mark III, along with some very sweet lenses.Then today, Nikon announced their new 12 Megapixel D300, and supercharged D3, along with some (you guessed it), very sweet lenses (Fast VR supertele’s and zooms). Right now I’m shooting both Nikon and Canon gear so this has been a really great week for me!!! I’m totally psyched!!!Check out Rob Galbraith’s site or DPreview for all the details on one of the most exciting weeks in DSLR history!
  • Hey, this is cool; my Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers was on CNN. OK, it wasn’t quite as cool as it’s sounds—Mike Mackenzie (one of our in-house editors) was watching a CNN video segment called “Snap Decision,” about Rosanne Penella, who chucked her career as an attorney to follow her dream of being a travel photographer, and in the segment, shot in her studio, she is looking through my book. Now, the only people in the world that would probably notice are Mike and myself, but it still caused us to do an internal “high five.” Here’s the link to the CNN video clip.
  • If you got a sec; Wacom has a very cool video clip/music montage (shown above) on their site about their amazing Cintiq 21UX interactive pen/display for photographers and graphic designers. Take a minute and check it out right here.
  • Here’s a mini-editorial: ya know Apple has taken some bold moves in the past to move the computer industry forward, like being the first company to do away with Floppy Disc drives, and being the first to use a trackpad on laptops, and about a dozen other things? Well now, with record number of PC users switching to Macs, and Apple’s share of the laptop market at a whopping 17%, I’d love to see Apple make a bold move to help these PC users make the switch less painful, and make all of our lives better in the long run (even if it’s a little painful in the short term, just like it was when the floppy went away, which many decried at the time was a huge mistake).Anyway, I’d like to see Apple do away with the Command-key (the Apple key) and finally, once and for all remove the word “Option” from the Alt key (it says “Alt” in small letters right on the Option key already). Then, standardize the shortcuts so whether you’re using an Intel Mac or an Intel PC, the keys work the same–the Ctrl key on a Mac works like the Ctrl-key on a PC, so there would be no “Command-this, and Command-that). I await a flood of angry comments for this suggestion. :)

Well, that’s it for today. Have a great Thursday and remember; just because you’re paranoid, it’s doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you! ;-)

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    1. #1

      Regarding the CMD/OPT key change on the MAC keyboard — Until it happens (if it ever does) perhaps some enterprising dude/dudette will sell CTRL/ALT stickers to place atop the keys. Hey, it could happen, I suppose.

      Mike on August 23rd, 2007 at 10:59 am
    2. #2

      I don’t know…is it really that hard?

      Granted, It’d probably save you guys one or two pages of room in your books :)…….

      but I can’t see it being any more difficult to swap Option for Alt than it is you getting used to having your desktop icons on the right instead of the left.

      Peter James Zielinski on August 23rd, 2007 at 11:01 am
    3. #3

      Well, Apple did remove the Apple logo from the Command key on the newest keyboards, and replaced it with the word command.
      Maybe a step in the right direction.

      Alan Hess on August 23rd, 2007 at 11:01 am
    4. #4

      Scott,
      Just to clarify, the Nikon press release speaks of the D300 and the D3, not the D3X. I think this will probably come later down the road but it’s not here yet.

      Jeff

      Jeff Revell on August 23rd, 2007 at 11:33 am
    5. #5

      I totally agree with the Apple changing the command key. Having both used PC’s and Mac heavily, I think the placement of the control key on PCs also makes it a bit easier to use the command key. I feel like I have to rotate my left hand more to use keyboard shortcuts on a Mac.

      Not a biggie, but I think your argument that it would help conversion is an excellent one. That would really make easier, especially for us teachers! Probably cut your class time in half no repeating shortcuts :)

      Rene on August 23rd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
    6. #6

      Idontknowwhythiswontallowforspaces.I’lluseperiodsinsead.
      Why.should.mac.users.be.forced.to.relearn.their.keyboards.and.reorient.themselves.to.a.windows.standard?
      I.agree.that.adding.”command”.to.the.command.key.on.the.new.keyboards.was.a.nice.change.
      Moving.towards.a.windows.standard.on.the.mac.is.moving.backwards.in.my.mind.
      Now.if.I.could.just.get.your.blog.software.to.move.forward.and.allow.for.the.spacebar,then.I.think.that.would.be.a.move.forward.
      -Ben

      BenWillmore on August 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
    7. #7

      Hey Scott….send that nice lady your updated CS3 book - It Rocks!!! Are you still going to be at the DLWS in Cape Cod?

      Laurel on August 23rd, 2007 at 1:31 pm
    8. #8

      Scott, Couldn’t agree more with the proposed Apple change. It may tempt some of us frustrated PC users even more to convert.

      Stan Burman on August 23rd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
    9. #9

      It nice to hear that Apple is gaining on the market share.
      But I have one concern, that is, as Apple market share increases so will attempts to create viruses and spyware.
      So far we “Apple owners” have been lucky so far, and if Apple market share increases, it could be profitable for these evil creators to attack our OS. Lets hope not.

      Just my $.02 worth.
      Harold

      Harold Blouin on August 23rd, 2007 at 2:04 pm
    10. #10

      But what would you do with all that extra time if you didn’t have to say “Press the Command key on your Mac Control key on your PC”?

      Tim on August 23rd, 2007 at 2:08 pm
    11. #11

      Scott,

      Looks like your desire to have larger “blinkies” in playback on Canon may just have been rectified. See you next week in Chi-town!

      Brian

      Brian Stefl on August 23rd, 2007 at 3:05 pm
    12. #12

      Scott,

      A comment on your post about MAC keys vs Windows keys. I agree completely with you post. It is always funny to hear someone teaching PS or some other multi-platform tool putting in both key bindings.

      Joe

      PS: Just started to read your your latest CS3 book. Great job! I really like your writing style. I’m thinking of getting a copy for a friend as well.

      Joe O'C on August 23rd, 2007 at 3:05 pm
    13. #13

      Can we take up a collection for a new keyboard for Ben Willmore? Or perhaps there’s a “space” filter on his bus’s internet connection.

      Dan Brown on August 23rd, 2007 at 3:40 pm
    14. #14

      Re The Mac command key… how about we get PC’s to change from Control to Command as they seem copy all the other Mac OSX features.

      David Q on August 23rd, 2007 at 4:34 pm
    15. #15

      As someone who is about to start using a Mac for the first time I can only hope that Apple listen to you.
      the other thing that would be great is a shift-click option for multiple selections in Finder etc.. (Either that or someone show me how to do it;-)

      Coinneach on August 23rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
    16. #16

      Hmmm just love that Cintiq.

      Is it me, or does everyone else feel they ‘need’ all these new gadgets. I’m just about to put my order in for the new iMac which is just gorgeous….oh and then there’s November with the iminent release of the D3 and some new Nikon Lenses … best I get some more work in :o)

      All the best to you Scott and thanks for the ‘news’
      Glyn

      Glyn Dewis on August 23rd, 2007 at 4:50 pm
    17. #17

      I use a PC Laptop with a Mac Mini. (60% PC - 40% Mac) I would probably go close to full Mac if Adobe and other software makers would make it so you buy one platform for PC and Mac, not buy PC version and buy Mac version. If software was developed for multi-platforms, then I would be 85% Mac and 15% PC.

      Sheldon Dokken on August 23rd, 2007 at 5:20 pm
    18. #18

      @ coinneach… command-click will allow you to select multiple items not next to each other.

      David Q on August 23rd, 2007 at 6:00 pm

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