poland.jpg

Well it’s Friday (yippie!) and here’s what’s going on to take us into the weekend.

  • First, a big thanks to my buddy RC Concepcion for such a very cool guest blog post Wednesday. One thing I really loved about RC’s post is that it was so “RC.” That’s him—the Swiss Army Knife of digital imaging and design, and he totally took the guest blog in a different direction, and I think that’s really cool. Thanks RC–you rocked it, baby!
  • This weekend, Photoshop User magazine will start arriving in NAPP members mailboxes (well, at least those here in the U.S.), and in this issue is (that’s right), my 3rd Annual Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide!!!! In the past, my Gear Guide has been part of Layers magazine, but Layers Managing Editor Chris Main pointed out that so many of the things on my guide are for photographers, that maybe it was a better fit in Photoshop User magazine, and I totally agreed, so it’s found its new home in print there. However, we’ve posted the online version of my Gonzo Gear Guide over at Layersmagazine.com.
    Also, my buddy Terry White just posted his Holiday Gift Guide over at his tech blog (here’s that link).
  • One of my readers, James Shanks, sent me the shot you see above with this note. “I was in Poland recently visiting my wife’s family and saw [the Polish translation] of your book prominently displayed in the window at this little bookstore. I thought that was cool (it was one of the only interesting books in the store) – I thought you might get a kick out of it.” He was right—I did! Thanks, James. :-)
  • Funny story: I was in the airport a couple of days ago and I stopped into the store that sells movies, CDs, and accessories for travelers, and while I was checking out, I noticed that behind the counter they had Microsoft “Zunes” for sale. I asked the guy, “Do you guys sell any Zunes?” and he replied, “Hey, the new Zunes have some really cool features.” I said, “Yeah, but do you actually sell any?” He paused and said, “No. Everybody wants the iPods.” I cracked up.
  • I left something out of my review of the new Apple MacBook Pro; the process of changing batteries couldn’t be worse (well, I guess it could be, but you’d have to try). Now, I use two spare batteries, because I fly a lot, so if you don’t have at least a 2nd battery, this won’t matter to you one bit, but you used to be able to just turn your MacBook over, pop-up out the battery, and pop in a new one. Now, you have to turn your laptop over and remove a battery door because the battery is now inside your Mac; not outside. Once the door is off, there’s a little tab you pull, and it pops out. You slide the new battery inside, then fit the door back on, and it snaps down with a button (I’ll bet that’s fun to do on a plane). Anyway, not only does it take twice as long— the batteries themselves are twice as long (they’re now too long to fit in the battery pockets of my laptop case), and worse yet, unless I’m totally missing something (which is possible) there’s no way to tell by looking at the battery itself if it has a change or not—you have to put the battery into your Mac to check the battery gauge on the side of your Mac. Arrrrrggggh!!!!
  • Let’s wrap up this week on a high note, by checking out the amazing photography of Douglas Sonders. I just love this guy’s style, composition, and post processing (He’s “The triple threat!”) Very cool stuff—check it out right here.

That’s it for this Friday. I hope you all have a downright phenomenal weekend, and I hope you’ll join me back here on Monday.