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Saturday July 24, 2010

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Posted one week after broadcast…

Tech News

What’s up with Apple posting videos of phones losing signal?

Apple has been doing what Leo says is an unseemly practice by posting videos of various smart phones losing bars in the same manner that the iPhone 4 has. What are we, in high school? Leo says what’s interesting about it is he’s tried to duplicate the results of these “test videos” showing the attunation on his Droid X and he can’t. Very telling.

Facebook reaches 500 million regular users

Facebook has reached the half billion milestone of regular members, but according to a recent satisfaction survey, they’re miserable. What was number one in web satisfaction? Wikipedia.

Microsoft’s Earnings Report Stunning

Microsoft’s latest earnings report has showed that with revenue of around $15 Billion for the last 3 months (4.5 Billion - showing a 48% margin). And yet, it’s stock price remains about the same. Is Redmond passe?

Is fact, most tech companies except Amazon had great quarters posting near record profits. Although, to be fair, Amazon announced they had sold nearly $1 Billion in content to mobile phones and more e-books for the Kindle than hard cover books. Surprising.

Guests

Trey Ratcliff, Photographer, @treyratcliff

Trey Ratcliff joins us today to talk about high dynamic range photography. Trey has a great book called A WORLD IN HDR. What is HDR? High Dynamic Range is the process of taking several images of the same subject, changing the speed (stop) of the lens to mimmick what we see with the human eye. The eye can see up to 11 stops of light and color. So do multiple images of multiple stops can produce the high dynamic range to capture the lifelike quality of the image. Sunsets are a great example. Did HDR exist before digital photography? Trey says it was more compositing. But thanks to digital photography, you can layer multiple images to create the HDR effect and it’s spectacular. It’s also great in shadow. There is no black color in shadow and the only real way to get a lifelike shadow image is to use HDR. HDR also allows you to rediscover experiences. Leo says that HDR also gives you a “dreamy quality” to pictures.

One thing about HDR, though is it’s best with landscape style photography. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do shots with people in it, it’s just a bit harder to pull off. Using a single RAW image, you can create an HDR image with people in it (which are very hard to capture exactly over and over again). It also requires a lot of photo processing with Photoshop, Lightroom or another photo editor.

Here’s a few tips …

There are certain cameras that are better for HDR than others. The cheapest way in is the Canon G11. More upper level options include the Nikon D90. Leo says a lot of pros like that for a pocket camera. It’s great because it takes RAW photos. The Panasonic LX3 is also a good choice. Pretty much any camera that shoots RAW. RAW contains about 3 levels of light and with RAW you can make HDR with one shot. But you can do multiple exposures and if you want the best, take 5 photos from +2 to −2. Stopping by 2 is ideal though (+2,0,−2). Auto bracketing is a great way to shoot them.

Load the three images into a program that can process it. Trey uses Photomatix to process his images. Then you use the sliders to play with the image until it feels good.

There are some basic mistakes that people do make though. Often, it’s easy to take what you get from the HDR program and settle for it. But the programs often don’t get sections of the image right. Trey says take some time to clean up the picture in Photoshop or another photoeditor. Remix the sky with an original layer. Make the sky lighter than the ground so it isn’t too foreboding. Make it more “impressionistic.” Fix other areas that don’t work right or if you see artifacts. Clean that up.

Leo wonders if any cellphone camera that takes a good shot? Trey says that there is, but they’re different photos. And the apps is where the look can really get improved. And you can give it a retro Polaroid light leak look that’s awesome. But they are instant to capture the moment and that’s the appeal.

Trey’s website is StuckinCustoms.com. You’ll also want to check out his iPad Wallpapers. They are amazing. Trey also has a great HDR tutorial here. Trey also has an instructional DVD with 6 hours of lessons coming out next week.

Other options inlude searching Flickr for HDR and see some amazing shots.

Dick DeBartolo, The Giz Wiz, @thegizwiz

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Hour 1

Q Nick, Colton, CA - multiple monitor setups

Nick has a home built system with a few gigs or RAM, Dual Core, Great NVideo card. He wants to add a third monitor. Is there a PCI Video card? And How? Leo says you have to have three video ports to do that. Leo says that you can get multiple head video cards from ATI (Ifinity), Matrox and others. You just need a free port. The easiest way is to use one card that has three ports. ATIs iFinity cards go up to 6 ports (Model 5870). Leo recommends going with larger monitors first. Studies show that larger monitors (like around 24″) make you much more productive. So start with a larger monitor first and then add that extra monitor. There is also USB Multiple Monitor solutions, but Leo isn’t sure they are fast enough to handle the video signal.

Q Johannes, Hamburg, GER - Switching to the Android

Johannes is coming home to Nashville soon and has an iPhone 3gs. But he’s ready for a new phone, but he wants to switch to the Android platform. He likes the customizable, open source vibe. What is Leo’s recommendation?

Leo says it’s been disappointing that Apple chose a closed platform and the Android is far more open and customizable. Leo says take a look at the Samsung Captivate (although you may not like their customization). It’s got a stunning AMOLED screen. Leo has noticed a Motorola logo on the AT&T site, could the Droid X be coming?

But the phone Leo would really recommend that gives you the “pure Google Android experience” is the HTC Nexus One. It’s a shame that Google/HTC is discontinuing it but you can still get them while supplies last.

Q Chuck, Fontana, CA - PDA recommendation

Chuck wants a PDA. Do they exist anymore? Leo says that PDAs are a vanishing breed. Compaq iPaq is still around, but a great option for PDAs is the iPod Touch. It does everything the iPhone does except make calls. If you don’t mind carrying two devices, that is. The only downside is, any internet connectivity would be via WiFi only. But it’s a great way to go. Chuck is also worried though that using the Internet on the Touch will open things up to Porn. Leo says that Steve Jobs has decreed that Porn is not a function for an Apple Product. And using OpenDNS to block it is a solid option. They do a great job of filtering out that stuff.

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Hour 2

Q Laurie, Manhattan Beach - HDR Photography

What is a good program to do HDR? Trey says that Photomatix is a great option. What about lenses? Does she need to get a new lens? Trey says no, there’s no need. You have a good kit lens, that works great. But you can use a 50mm prime lens as well. They’re cheap and you get a nice narrow depth of field with them. But an 85mm will buy you some space, especially when you’re taking pictures of people or animals.

Q Rich, Manhattan, NY - photography

Rich is spending a month in Spain and he’s bringing a 50mm and 16-35mm. What other lens should he use? Trey says get the widest lens you can afford. Zoom lenses are heavy to carry. And since HDR is landscape centric, the wide the angle the better.

Q Ken, Long Beach, CA - network security and gaming

Ken’s son plays videogames online using his Nintendo DS. What about security? Leo says that the DS only uses WEP, which is useless. But what you can do is put an old router into “bridge” mode and it’ll set the DS aside in WEP and you can protect your network in WPA as a result. In the chatroom, there’s a good tutorial on this on Lifehacker.

Q Alex, Long Beach - laptop recommendation

Alex is upgrading to a faster computer. He has a $1000 to spend. You can get a really nice laptop for that much. Leo likes Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba and Panasonic. Not so much on HP. What about an extended warranty? Leo says he doesn’t use it. It’s a profit center for stores. And if most computers fail, it’s in the first year anyway. Just remember, the larger the screen, the shorter the battery life.

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Hour 3

Q Robert, California - open network security

Robert is a freelance web designer on a working vacation. What about security in a free wifi environment? Leo says that using hotel WiFi or coffee shops, it does leave you wide open. And there are people “sniffing” around. There are ways to protect yourself. 1) bring a portable router to plug into the hotel ethernet. It’ll give you a firewall to protect your system. 2) Use SSL (https:) whenever you can. It’s important to use it with eMail or anything you log in to. 3) if ftping, use a secure FTP. 4) Get a VPN. Hotspot VPN is a good, affordable option. In the chatroom, they recommend AnchorFree Hotspot Shield (but Leo thinks a FreeVPN is going to slow you down), even Google VPN GBridge. It’s for Windows, it’s free, and uses GoogleTalk’s network to form a fast, virtual private network. Nice!

Also, for people who don’t want to deal with setting up VPN, some routers have it.

Q Barbara, - Setting up WiFi for her iPad

Barbara has an iPad and she’s having trouble connecting via WiFi. Leo says it’s scary being on a public network because it’s radio signals and you’re broadcasting all that information that people can “sniff” out. Can she hardwire it? Leo says that the WiFi doesn’t have that option. Only WiFi or 3G. Which means you need to encrypt via WPA2. That’ll secure you just fine.

Q Toby, Montclair, CA - Camera recommendation

Toby is an interior designer who needs a good point and shoot that can do a fisheye shots. Trey suggests the Panasonic LX3. It’s a 24mm lens, while not a fisheye, will give you most of the room you’re shooting in. And any wider in a point and shoot, you’ll get barrel distortion. And the LX5 is coming in a few months (they skipped the LX4). 10MP. 4x zoom. HD video. LED backlit screen. It’ll be a nice rig.

Q Jerry, Toluca Lake, CA - Syncing two computers

How can he sync two computers without a special wire? Leo says you can connect the hard drive via USB and run the Migration wizard. What about destroying the data on the old drive? Leo says Derrick’s Boot and Nuke is the best, which wipes the drive to military specs. Make sure you image that drive just in case, back up your certificates to boot. Many encryption utilities require certificates to open.

Q Dick, Silverado, CO - Camera recommendation

Dick is leaving film photography for digital. He’s used the Nikon F4 forever but it’s time to move on. What camera should he get for HDR? Can he use the old lenses? The good news is the mount is the same and you’ll be able to use them on manual only. Trey recommends the Nikon D90 and the D700 with it’s full frame censor, which means better low light quality.

Dick is also an antenna technician and he says that due to capacitance, it doesn’t matter what design an antenna has, if you get in contact with it, you’ll attenuate it. Period. And Dick thinks that the iPhone 4 antenna design ranks right up there with square wheels design wise.

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