“I write until my point is made and then I stop.”
Month: September 2012
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Nokia Faked the Still Photos Too
Pretty damning research and quasi-proof from Youssef Sarhan that Nokia faked the still photos for the Lumia 920 too.
[I take back what I said](https://brooksreview.net/2012/09/gruber-nokia/), Nokia should be taken to task over this level of deceit. [I’d love to see the FTC step in and sanction them over misleading advertising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_advertising#United_States_advertising_regulations).
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The B&B Podcast #75: B&B 2.0
In addition to talking about Kindles and App.net, Shawn and I announce our new show format. I won’t give everything away here except one thing: our new goal is to stay at 30 minutes or less per show. If you haven’t had time to “catch up”, this is one you might move to the top of your podcast queue.
We are also accepting sponsors for each show, $395 a show. Get in touch with me to book that. ((I know, I know, but how do you paywall a podcast?))
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Quote of the Day: Elliot Jay Stocks
“PayPal, you are the scourge of the internet. Fuck you.” -
‘Why and How I Use Fever’
Nice, timely, post from Anthony Drendel detailing how he uses Fever° and why he uses it opposed to other RSS readers. I have to agree with him on the reasons for using Fever — it’s a fantastic RSS tool. One point he left out is that Fever is great if you don’t like to waste time keeping up with news while you are on vacation — just set the Hot List for the last week (or whatever time frame) and you can get a great sense of what happened while you were drinking, I mean vacationing.
Reeder recently added in Fever support (you still need to have Fever installed on a web server), but I think Sunstroke — made by Drendel — is a far better option for interacting with Fever on your iPhone. He also just [updated Sunstroke to version 1.3](http://itunes.apple.com/app/id488564806), which has a lot of visual enhancements (read: better design).
I’m often asked what I use for RSS, this is it: Fever and Sunstroke.
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Blocs
A just launched product (September 5, 2012) that is essentially a stand for your Apple TV and its remote control. It’s made out of one piece of wood and I actually have a prototype (of sorts) that I have been using for quite some time now.
The Bloc seeks to solve one main problem (for me at least): keeping your Apple TV squared up with the edge of the surface that it is on. My Apple TV was always being pulled to one angle or another and while this doesn’t effect the operation, it sure bugged the crap out of me.
I’ve since switched to a new stand for my TV, with glass shelves that hold the Apple TV in position, so I don’t use my Bloc anymore, but it certainly is exactly as described. I think the stand looks nice, but I always wanted it to be a bit thinner. However, I am not sure if that would keep the Apple TV still or not, so I assume this thickness was chosen for a reason.
One last note: I think this could be a nice stand if you use an Apple TV in a conference room setting, because it keeps the remote nicely docked next to the Apple TV.
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Quote of the Day: Jerry Seinfeld
“Why don’t you walk around with a helmet on too?” -
‘TSA Moves on From Your Underwear to Your Starbucks’
Here’s the story: you get through security at the airport after being given cancer, or being groped, to get a nice hot cup of something resembling coffee from Starbucks, only to then be stopped by TSA as you drink it — because that now might be a bomb. I mean, you were cleared through security, but who knows what you have now done to your drink. TSA says this isn’t new, it’s been in place since 2007, which only makes me shake my head more.
Assuming TSA does a top-notch job all the way around((It took forever to get the tears of laughter out of my eyes to finish writing that phrase.)) , where’s the potential for that cup of `joe` to be anything but a milky-coffee-ish drink? I mean TSA screened the purchaser **and** cleared them, screened the Starbucks employees **and** cleared them, and screen everything coming into the Starbucks that made that drink **and** yet again cleared those items.
So, TSA, what changed that all of a sudden gives you reason to doubt your own competency?
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‘Nokia Caught Faking Video Footage From ‘PureView’ Lumia Camera’
I’m actually linking to Gruber, not the [*The Verge* post](http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/5/3294545/nokias-pureview-ads-are-fraudulent) for one specific reason, this quote:
>Bullshit. It’s clear that this was meant to demonstrate footage shot using the Lumia itself.
Keep this quote in mind every time you see a gadget commercial — Apple included — because if you don’t read the “fine print” then you are going to be woefully disappoint the first time you use Siri, or Android.
Off the top of my head, here’s some things I can think of that are not “as they seem” (and yes, most are qualified with fine print):
– Siri’s speed.
– iPhone app switching speed.
– 4G LTE Speed.
– AT&T coverage.
– Aperture not crashing or “beach balling” the system.
– Users knowing what the back button does in Android every time.
– People standing in line for non-Apple gadgets.
– People in line for Apple gadgets wanting anything Samsung makes.
– The Mariners hitting home runs, well that’s technically not related.You get my point. What Nokia did is clearly bullshit, but it’s the same bullshit every other company pulls.
Though, to be fair to Gruber, this is particularly egregious brand of bullshit from Nokia.
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‘The Thanks Email’
Gabe over at Macdrifter:
>It’s called an acknowledgement. It’s not just about having good manners. It’s about establishing a shared perception of reality. I sent you freaking electrons through a five-thousand miles of wire and air and I’d like to assume they made it, but I can’t. The “thanks” email works for me.Personally, unsurprisingly, I hate the “thanks” emails. There is a time and place when you need confirmation that an email was received — I do that by adding a small bit of text at the end of the message: “please confirm receipt of this document/email/whatever”. Otherwise I expect — hope — that I get no response to most emails that don’t otherwise contain that bit of text, or a question.
Likewise I only respond to emails that absolutely require it — the last thing I ever want to do is fill up an already full inbox with an email that says “thanks.” It’s nice, but it’s also pointless most of the time. So please, don’t send me these emails and I won’t send them to you.
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Collapsible Blog
David Bieber’s created some code that folds a paragraph of a blog post and instead of showing all those cumbersome words, you get a short and concise summary of that paragraph. This, he says, is done to make blogging more skimmable.
It’s a neat trick, but do we really need Cliff’s Notes for blog posts? I think not. Besides one can already use the Summarize tool in Mac OS X to do this same thing for the entire post. You know what you get when you do this? An incomplete blog post, which are already — by nature — very short. If there’s a blog post you want to read, but you don’t have time to read it, [I suggest you save it for later reading](http://instapaper.com).
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Little Things: Photo Printing
It has been a while since I made a ‘little things’ post, but here we go. Since I have a 5-month old that I can’t stop taking pictures of, I thought it pertinent to talk about photo printing.
I’d guess that most parents my age either: send photos off to be printed, or have a photo printer. I don’t know much about sending photos out to be printed (other than you get what you pay for) but I do know quite a bit more about printing at home.
Specifically: you get what you pay for. Wait, I just said that.
There are two things that you need to accept about printing photos at home: good equipment is expensive to buy, and good equipment is expensive to own.
An inexpensive photo printer is actually just a printer that can print photos — a true photo printer is one that makes you cringe every time you print anything that’s not a photo on it. Personally, I have the [Canon Pro9500 Mark II](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001R4BTIK/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20), which at the time was $800+. It has a series of ink cartridges that need replacing seemingly every time I go to print, they run about [$120 for all of them](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000P1BEFE/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20).
This Canon printer is exceptionally good at color and black and white. It prints very large images and does so quickly. But it is only half the tale and printers actually aren’t the focus of this post (I don’t know enough about them, I defer to my grandfather of all people on photo printers).
The more I get into photo printing, the more I realize that only half of the quality is from the printer, the other half is from the paper. ((This assumes you know how to properly edit an image for printing, use the drivers correctly, and yada yada. Yes, printing is still a black art.))
Specifically: glossy paper is horrible ((Ok, it has its uses, but yuck.)) — please stop buying it.
Go look at all those photos your parents had developed, there will be a few that have a high gloss finish — they probably look like crap. The rest have a pebbled finish, yes this is a photo luster finish. You can buy that paper right now for your printer.
If all you have is a low-cost photo printer, you needn’t go any further down this rabbit hole, just get a pack of the decent [Epson Photo Luster](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006B7P4/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20) and move along.
However, if you have a serious printer, like mine, there are so many more options — you are about to go broke. Your very best bet is to go on Amazon and buy a bunch of sample packs of papers from different manufacturers — this way you get an idea of which ones you like, without committing to an expensive purchase.
Here are some sample packs I recommend testing:
– [ILFORD Galerie Gold & Smooth Sample Pack](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00822EZV8/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20)
– [Moab Sample Pack](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0011NARBW/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20)
– [Hahnemuhle Sample Pack, Matte](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0013R7YVW/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20)If you don’t care about sample packs and you just want to know which paper *I* use — I can’t tell you, because it changes every time I buy new paper. I can tell you that I keep a stock of two paper types: pearl/luster and some matte paper. Depending on the photo, I oscillate between the two. Generally I like black and whites on matte paper, or metallic paper.
Here are some really good, cost effective, types of paper that I would consider to be standards for the pearl/luster category:
– [ILFORD Galerie Smooth Pearl Professional Inkjet Paper](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008235G06/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20): This is my default paper, it looks good and is very cost effective.
– [Moab Colorado Fiber Gloss](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000UKSB9M/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20): I haven’t made it through a full pack of this paper yet. It’s twice the price as the ILFORD and I like it better, but not sure if I like it better for the price. If you are printing 4x6s then you’re wasting money on this paper.
– [Hahnemuhle Pearl Photo Rag](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005NCEMO0/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20): If I am going to splurge, this is what I splurge on, love this paper.As for matte paper, I am still trying to find one that I really like. Moab certainly has some nice offerings that I have tried. I did get a Moab sampler and [found this metallic paper](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00913HOWY/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20) — I love it for adding some flare to a B&W print.
I personally recommend that you go to the pro-level camera store near you and take a look at all the paper — there are tons of options and they usually have sample prints on the various papers. In Seattle, go to [Glazer’s](http://www.glazerscamera.com). In Tacoma/Lakewood, go to [Robi’s](http://www.robis.com). In Portland, OR, go to [Pro Photo Supply](http://www.prophotosupply.com). In New York, [B&H](http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/HelpCenter/NYSuperStore08.jsp) or [Adorama](http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=adorama_inside#Directions).
Some closing tips:
– Buying a really great photo printer is a good investment. They last a long time. My grandfather has a couple that he still uses from more than 6 years ago. This is a printer, think about how many you have gone through in that time.
– Print photos regularly. They are nice to have, but also this keeps the ink from drying up, and you from wasting your money on that ink. Print a couple a month.
– Keep one extra ink cartridge of each color on hand. There will come a time when you are rushing to print a photo and cannot because you are out of photo cyan, or some other stupid color.
– Don’t buy an expensive printer and cheap out on paper.
– Don’t buy cheap paper just because your printer isn’t expensive. You’d be wasting your money.
– Lightroom gives me the most reliably consistent prints. I always, always, have trouble printing from Aperture.
– Another advantage of a good printer and good paper is that the print will last a lot longer than your standard inkjet photo print. If you have any photos you printed on crappy photo paper from a few years ago, you likely know what I mean.Some of you may be surprised that I would *want* a printer in my home, and truthfully I don’t, but pictures can truly only be enjoyed when you display them and I can’t afford to hang iPads from all my walls.
(I’d also be interested in hearing your recommendations for photo paper.)
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‘When a Kickstarter Campaign Fails, Does Anyone Get the Money Back?’
If you don’t know the answer to the above question, you shouldn’t be backing things on Kickstarter. As Aarti Shahani points out:
>As entrepreneurs come online, Kickstarter and hundreds of similar platforms will have to sort out if each transaction is a donation or a purchase.It’s actually best to think of every Kickstarter “backing” as a donation and not a purchase, if that isn’t what you intended then you might be in for a surprise. As I, and many other backers have found out, the more ambitious the project, the more likely it is to be delayed indefinitely.
The example used in the article is Ouya, which always sounded neat, but equally dubious in the ability of it to be made through a Kickstarter campaign. It’s one thing to make a great one-off product, and another to try and crowdsource funding a device that should rival the Wii.
What I really hated in reading this article was the wishy-washy nature of the response from Kickstarter — they (unsurprisingly) want to stay out of the debate of whether funds should be refunded if a project fails. I think Kickstarter wants to stay out of the debate because typically the money will have been spent by the time a refund should have been given.
I think a happy middle ground would be Kickstarter, in no uncertain terms, stating that you are donating to the cause — not pre-ordering a product. I also think it would massively help by removing many rewards that don’t matter — such as t-shirts and stickers — forcing the project creators to actually focus on the bigger items and not the smaller rewards.
That’s just me though…
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‘Hide Archive Items From Apple Mail’s VIP Inbox’
Thank you Mr. Sparks, thank you so very much for this tip.
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The 1 Million Apple UDIDs Allegedly Leaked Thing
Marco Arment:
>For instance, this is exactly the information that an ad network would want to collect. And in order to get stats from 12 million devices, it would probably need to be from a set of popular, free apps… where you’d probably see ads.
What was that I kept hearing from people that argued *for* free, ad supported, models? Something about “no real cost to them”, “not caring about what the advertisers do with their info”, wonder if those same people don’t care about this as well?
That probably sounded like a thinly veiled “I told you so”. Let me restate: [I told you so](https://brooksreview.net/2011/03/fragility-free/).
It likely won’t matter soon, as Arment points out, this is something that Apple is patching up — so that such data cannot be unknowingly siphoned off.
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‘Force Word and Other Apps to Use Retina Display for Text’
This is interesting, I haven’t tried it yet because I need Word to work on my Mac for work stuff (I get too many Docx files that don’t open right in Pages), but I just may give it a go later today. Fascinating that this is just a plist code addition to enable retina text.
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Quote of the Day: Jean-Louis Gassée
“Then, in January 2010, Chef Jobs walks on stage with the iPad and it all becomes obvious, easy. Three decades of failures are forgotten.” -
Samsung’s Innovation?
Great reporting over at *The Next Web* about Samsung trying to force two bloggers into promoting their products, with the only other option being stuck in Germany (luckily it sounds like Nokia stepped in to be the hero).
So is this what happens when Samsung is left to *innovate* on its own?
I think a lot of people are shocked that I refuse 99.9% of promo codes, the last one I took was for Matt Gemmell’s [Sticky Notifications](http://instinctivecode.com/sticky-notifications/). That will also probably be the last promo code I take, not that Matt asked me to do anything — [here’s the email if you don’t believe me](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/gemmell-email.jpeg) (posted without Matt’s permission).
The thing with accepting any kind of a free handout, is that you never know what strings may all of a sudden appear later on. That’s why I accepted one from Matt: I trust him. I knew there would be no strings and that’s the opposite with other developers: I usually can’t say I trust them because I simply don’t know them well enough.
Here’s a pretty typical email that I see about every other day:
> Mr. Brooks Review,
> We have launched our new X app and we know that you would find much value from it. Here is a promo code for you to download it from the Apple App Store: PROMO CODE.
> After you download it please send me link to your review, we love your site.
> We love you, you are the best.I *may* have made up the last line.
Every email is so impersonal that they don’t even bother to look up my name, which has *always* been at the top of the site near the name of the site. They always have no reasons why I would like the app and always offer a promo code in exchange for a link or review on my site. I always mark the emails as spam.
This does not, however, mean that I don’t want to see any email about your app. Send me a link, tell me why you like it — just don’t expect that I want a promo code or to post about it. Also remember that I am just as likely to hate the app as I am to like it.
The best emails that I get about new apps have a link to a post that I wrote. Usually the app either solves a problem that I posted about, adds to a round up of apps that I did, or is a developer wanting to throw his hat in the ring and get my feedback.
Back to Samsung. It’s pretty shitty Samsung strung these bloggers along until it was too late for them — it’d be exciting and flattering to want to be flown and put up for a major tech event, so I can see why they tried to make the deal work — the real blame lies with Samsung and I am glad the bloggers had the balls to get this story out there.
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A Good Talk Show
Alex Arena ((The blogger with the best name.)) invited me to be on the second episode of his new interview podcast *A Good Talk Show*. I had a fun time and he got me ranting about TSA at the end.