Canon lenses

I bought a Canon XTi for Xmas for the family to move us back into the world of SLRs. Both my wife and I studied (sampled?) photography in college, but haven't shot pictures with a SLR for years. I wanted a cheap way to get into DSLR photography again, and the Xmas deals on cameras were too good to be true. I'm less interested in the camera body than committing to a lens vendor and starting to get the good lens and tools for photography. I'll upgrade to a killer body once I know I'm really enjoying it. Here is an entry on selecting Canon lenses that I thought was interesting. Not on a photo "geek" blog, but a good start as I contemplate additional lenses.

Why does a product work?

I love this post from Evan Williams on what makes a successful product (idea): How to evaluate product ideas

The aliases have met an unforntunate demise

I had a few aliases on Shelfari, but it became unmanageable and action was required. My friends asked which "friend" they were supposed to send book recommendations to, etc. The worst alias offender was sircoolio, an old alias that contained the original book list I added to Shelfari and "accurate" personal information. I left it floating out there with a few other test accounts. No more...

"sircoolio, the long avoided Shelfari alias for Eric Klein, was cooly terminated tonight between 7 and 8 PM PST. A spokesperson for the rival alias eric, speaking exclusively to this blog, said sircoolio had outlived his usefulness and was impeding eric's drive to Shelfari uniqueness. The spokesman went on to say that other aliases were eliminated over the last few days, but with sircoolio's demise, eric's domination as an alias was complete and no further interventions were required. "Other aliases should take our action as a warning that no alias flagged as an Axis of Evil or as a rogue alias is safe from the actions of a lameduck Republican presidential alias".

Police authorities won't explicitly call out the cause of death, but the use of the delete key is suspected. We'll bring you more news on this shocking tragedy as details emerge, including rumors that sircoolio was a member of the secretive "unique Shelfari ID less than 100" organization also known as "La Bookmafiazo"..."

eric now rules my Shelfari alias universe...

Two quotes from the most recent BusinessWeek

Two items from the most recent (Feb 4, 2008) BusinessWeek caught my eye... 1 - Glenn Hutchins, Silver Lake (pg. 020), when Maria Bartiromo asked him "What's the next Google?" "It's wireless content. I have my Bloomberg on my BlackBerry. It's fantastic. And that's what people will want. Capability and content will be very significant. Wireless and mobility have a chance to be bigger than the PC." Glenn, I couldn't agree with you more, though I'll confidently predict that mobile devices will be bigger than the PC. We're seeing fundamental changes in technology, business models, and customer expectation that should finally allow mobile to blossom. The intersection of media content, location awareness, and social graphs is going to yield amazing solutions in the next twenty four months. I'm so confident in this that I'm aligning my career to it as well as my angel investments. More on this in the coming weeks... 2 - An interesting quote on the economy on pg. 026 "As of the third quarter of 2007, the 10-year growth rate for consumption was 3.6%, vs. GDP growth for the same period of 2.9%. ... The extra spending has amounted to a total of about $3 trillion since 2001." Oh yes, a recession is coming. The bell is going to toll on those who didn't follow the simple axiom that you don't spend more than you make. Notice what all the "quiet" financial marker makers are doing. They are sharpening their pencils, looking for the rock bottom deals that are going to appear when the over-extended have to deal. BlackRock? buying. Buffet? buying. I'm with quiet types. You can make good money in a bull market, but you can make exceptional returns during a bear market. Buy low, sell high...

I'm going to take a bath...

No, not on my stocks, which is the subject of an upcoming post... And not me specifically. My keyboard is going to take a bath. I've had the same two Microsoft keyboards at home since, well, since they were first released almost ten years ago. They've seen more computers attached than Paris Hilton has had "friends". (ok, cheap shot, but it was there and maybe she's reformed since her jailhouse experience?). I've had three kids bash the keys and spill food on them, and I'm not the most coordinated eater in the world. I always wondered if you could wash a keyboard, so I'm going to find out next time that I take a trip! If I come back and they don't work, I'll need suggestions on cool keyboards...

Outsourcing your email

Sooner or later I'm going to post my OPML file with all the feeds I read, but until then, I'm going to share a post from "the man." I've read Timothy Ferriss's book, and I'm a partially converted soul (onward to full disciple status!!). Here is a great post from his blog on outsourcing another part of your life so you can focus on working less and doing what you do best with the time that you do work! Outsourcing your email

Inspiration for this Saturday afternoon

It's been said that a great consumer product removes the mystery from the experience, but rewards the savvy user with mysterious features that amaze and delight. Here is a talk from TED that inspires the designer in me to hide yet embrace the mystery in CE products and platforms...

I surrender to the Force!

Ok, I wasn't sure there was a game I had to have this year unless Fallout 3 came out, but I was wrong. So wrong... I have to wear a bib when I watch this video ;-)



Schwing!

The Force Unleashed

I was on Hockey Night in Canada!!!

After the Toronto Maple Leafs game a few weeks back, we noticed people setting up on the ice for an interview... It was Hockey Night on CBC!!! We ran down into the lower bowl, stood next to a guy with an obnoxious sign, and waited for the cameras to roll! I was on Canadian national TV for about 1 second, but it was on freakin Hockey Night in Canada!!! Woo hoo! I love hockey! I love the Sharks!

I

am a husband to a wonderful wife am a father of three awesome kids am part of a big, chaotic family of good people am fiscally conservative am socially moderate have great friends who feel like they are family listen to music fanatically, especially alt rock, electronic, and dance play video games with the enthusiasm of a teenager and the dexterity of a middle aged man love to design amazing products and platforms that solve real customer problems wonder what my children will be like when they are my age wonder what the world will be like when my children are my age am ENTJ, though as a gemini, I can go ENTP half the time have a lot to learn am not who I was twenty years ago hope this is the same thing I'll write here next year!

NetNewsWire desktop app integration

I use NetNewsWire for my RSS reader, but I had no idea I could integrate it so cleanly with other cool apps!

 

Me on inessential.com: “One of my favorite features of NetNewsWire is how it works with a bunch of other desktop apps. The idea is this: news comes in to NetNewsWire, and then you route stuff to wherever it should go.” [From NetNewsWire desktop app integration]

 

Intro videos on the Dash Express

Here are some videos highlighting the capabilities of the Dash Express!

Great entry on mobile phone APIs

Something I've been thinking about recently, well summarized here. Why I have I been thinking about this with an abnormal amount of my ideal time? The answer is out there. Look to the center of the solar system...