The Brooks Review

Author: Ben Brooks

  • Modahaus Tips

    A great post from Modahaus listing out tips for getting some really great shots from your iPhone using their gear.

  • ‘Now Can We Start Talking About the Real Foxconn?’

    Tim Culpan:
    >The problem with Mike Daisey’s lies is that they’ve painted a picture of the Evil Empire, a place devoid of any happiness or humanity. A dark, Dickensian scene of horror and tears. They also make anyone who tries to tell a fuller, more balanced account look like an Apple or Foxconn apologist because your mind is already full of the “knowledge” of how bad it is there.

    Culpan also talks about how workers want more hours, not less — a story that [jives with a Reuters report](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/30/apple-foxconn-workers-idUSL3E8EU4I820120330).

  • Modahaus Steady Stand

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-2.jpg)

    A while back a rep for [Modahaus](http://www.modahaus.com) contacted me about a new photography stand they had come out with for the iPhone and small cameras. It looked pretty neat, so when they offered to send me one of my choosing to review, I took them up on it. International shipping being what it is, the stand arrived a few days ago.

    The [Steady Stand](http://www.modahaus.com/store/steady-stands/) is meant to take product photos from directly above the item. It’s pretty simple, or so I thought. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I am actually really surprised with the results from this stand.

    Modahaus makes the stand in four different sizes. The different sizes not only fit different devices, but they also hold different sized objects inside the stand (the area where you take the picture of the object). [I opted for the SS200 which is the second largest stand, because I wanted to see if the stand would hold my GX1 (it does)](http://www.modahaus.com/store/steady-stand-200/).

    Here’s what the stand looks like when you get it:

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-1.jpg)

    I was really pumped to open it once I saw the packaging, but when I did — well — this is what I saw:

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-3.jpg)

    There was a lot of little bits of plastic, I feared I was in for an Ikea level assembly operation. Pleasantly, that wasn’t the case. There is actually only one solid piece of plastic that makes up the stand, and the directions amount to:

    1. Re-crease the creased edges.
    2. Put four tabs in two slots.
    3. Done.

    It didn’t take long to figure out at all, and the end result is this:

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-4.jpg)

    That’s not a piece of paper on the bottom, it’s a piece of plastic that came with the stand. There are a few different inserts that rest on the top to adapt to different types of cameras — including the one shown for the iPhone. ((Side note: there is also a smaller piece of solid white plastic that can be rested on top of a coffee mug to provide an even more macro like level of focus, a nice touch.))

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-5.jpg)

    There isn’t much else to say, because to be honest this stand works as advertised.

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-6.jpg)

    Anyone who takes product photos knows that a good photo isn’t as easy as you think it is. So in the above arrangement I placed some playing cards in the stand and used my iPhone to shoot the photo. The only light in the room was the overhead light and my desk lamp pointing away from the stand. It was so dim in the room that to shoot the above photo of the stand I had to do it at ISO 3200 on my GX1. So it was dim, but here’s the photo as it was directly out of my iPhone:

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-9.jpg)

    The color balance could use a tweak, but overall not that bad. I wanted a better shot though, so I spent about 5 seconds redirecting the light from my desk lamp directly into just one side of the Steady Stand and turning the stand a bit, like so:

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-7.jpg)

    That small, but significant change resulted in this:

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-10.jpg)

    Again that’s straight out of the iPhone. The light is a bit uneven in both the color balance and the levels. The color balance issue is the difference between my desk lamp and the overhead lights (both were on). Lastly the lighting balance issue is just from shining the light into one side in such a harsh manner.

    I have absolutely no doubts that you can create fantastic product shots with this stand with a minimal level of setup and time needed.

    Here’s the same exact setup, but using the GX1 as the camera instead:

    [](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/modahaus-8.jpg)

    My guess is that in a brightly lit room, or one with sunlight pouring in, you could get some fantastically even images.

    I quite like this stand, and the best part for me: you can fold it back flat and stow it away. That’s a killer feature.

  • ‘Readability Tweaks Sharing Feature in Response to Copyright Theft Accusations’

    Chris Dary responds to the criticism from today and promises changes. ((For what it’s worth Dary seems to me to be on the up and up and was the only person at Readability to respond to my request to ‘opt-out’.)) Dary:

    >Until we are able to come up with something more graceful for both the user and the publisher, we’re now linking shared articles on devices directly to the publishers site.

    Nice.

  • ’10 Million Hits a Day With WordPress Using a $15 Server’

    Neat trick. He used [blitz.io](http://blitz.io/) to test this. Out of curiosity I ran a similar test using blitz.io on this site, without making a single change, just to see what happened. Here’s the result:

    Not too shabby, but I wanted to push it a little further — so I did. ((250 concurrent users in 30 seconds.)) Here’s what I got:

    That is roughly 19 million hits in a day. I monitored the CPU load during that test and it peaked at 80% and settled around 68%. No too shabby. ((I don’t know how “real” this testing system is, but it is pretty neat.))

  • Pageviews and Reading Later

    David Chartier writing about another issue he has with read later services — the fact that you can send a link to them without ever visiting the original site (as in Twitter apps):
    >Yes, it can be a pain in the ass to visit a page before saving it to read later if you’re on a crappy 3G connection, or you’re simply in a rush and don’t have time. But it still means an article is getting sucked off a publisher’s site without anything of value exchanged in return.

    When Twitter overhauled its infamous Twitter for iOS app they changed it so you *had* to visit a site before sending it to Instapaper. It was the single most annoying thing to me, but perhaps they were just trying to be “noble” about this content scraping stuff.

    I don’t disagree with Chartier, but I also don’t think this is something that is likely to stop — ever.

  • Stealability

    Turns out that when you ‘share’ a link from Readability, the link that is shared links back to the readability optimized site — not to the original source article. This is both shady and completely at odds with the ‘goodwill’ nature of the web. (Read it Later and Instapaper share links that go back to the source article.) Or as A.T. Faust III put it:

    >Still, intentional or not, Readability’s current setup is tantamount to content theft, and that’s a problem for everyone involved.

    [Here’s how you ‘opt-out’ of Readability’s madness](https://brooksreview.net/2012/03/opt-out/).

    [via J.D.]

  • The B&B Podcast #54: Distraction-Free Sweater

    Shawn and I talk about business models of apps like Instagram and services like Twitter. We also discuss our iPad usage and how it fits into our workflows.

    Be sure to check in on 5by5 to listen to us live on Thursdays, and if you are interested in sponsoring the show drop me a line.

  • The End of RIM as We Know It

    Dan Frommer:
    >Not only is RIM in worse financial shape, but all bets are off for its recovery.

  • RootMetrics Carrier Coverage Map

    >How do cellular carriers really perform? Find out by entering your city, zip code or even your address in the search box below, or by selecting a city from the available list. Discover your carrier’s strength over your mobile footprint. Find out your carrier’s RootScore – an aggregate grade – and get an understanding of your carrier’s voice and data strength. Then view all four carriers side-by-side. You may be surprised by the facts.

    Good to know.

  • OopsieFocus Script

    Still use this script from Shawn everyday. I love it so much I thought I would remind everyone of it.

  • Subtle Papers II for the Retina iPad

    *Finally*

  • ‘Yes, the iPad 2 Is Better Than the “New” iPad’ [Warning: Link to Enderle]

    Rob Enderle:
    >Granted, there were folks who believed the iPad 2 didn’t offer enough of an improvement over the original device to justify the purchase. I didn’t agree then, but with the 4G data limitations and the file size, power, and weight issues connected to the new display, well, I simply don’t see the iPad 3 as a better tablet – just different.

    [No, Rob, you didn’t agree then — instead you just thought no one would buy an iPad 2](http://www.tgdaily.com/opinion/54470-rotten-apples-is-the-tablet-ipad-bubble-breaking):

    >Actually, I think they will have lines for the iPad 2, at least initially. If those first customers get excited about the device then Apple will be fine – although I’d still likely question whether anybody else will be; given no other tablet has yet to sell as well.   



    Hmm.

    Lastly, where’s the data to back this claim up:

    >Clearly, if you are an iPad 2 user you already have the better product.

    *Clearly.*

  • “My Dad’s iPhone ‘Smoked’ Windows Phone, Denied Prize”

    Sounds like Ravi Udeshi got screwed by a sore loser.

  • MailTags 3

    Fantastic app, glad to see a new version. [Be sure to check out these Applescripts to if you use OmniFocus to auto add some ticklers from Mail to OmniFocus using MailTags](http://simplicityisbliss.com/post/15179318547/top-5-omnifocus-applescripts).

  • Svbtle for WordPress

    Pretty nice hack if you still want to own your content, but also want a less — erm — cluttered admin and publishing system.

  • DuckDuckGo Traffic Taking Off

    It almost resembles iOS device sales.

  • The Tricorder Project

    Hell yeah.

  • The Making of Frameographer

    A nice behind the scenes look at an app that I love playing with.

  • The Bro Show – Episode 101 – Everybody Needs More Linen

    I was a guest on The Bro Show this week Where Myke, Terry and I discuss iOS 6 wishes. Thanks to them for having me.