And Another Reason To Use OSX

Microsoft Windows (no matter what version) is the favorite platform for virusses, trojans, malware and other crap. The way to keep the operating system neat and tidy you should use protection. Protection in the form of anti-virus software and other (required) software to guarantee your survival on the World Wide Web.

Well, protection isn't what it used to be :) . It seems that an update of AVG antivirus recognizes user32.dll as a bit of malicious code. Is this bad you ask? Well.... Windows won't work/boot without it. Ironic?

The solution for this problem is to ask someone with proper knowledge and follow this procedure (dutch forum).

Copyrighted Photos

It's very frustrating if people 'steal' your images when you're a photographer. It's annoying if they 'borrow' them (hotlinking, use them in other websited), and it's downright evil if they are using them for generating money [1, 2, 3].

Anyway, on a 'local' forum, some of the members found out that Hyves.net members (you need to be a Hyves member to view this) were using copyrighted photos. Other 'Hivers' can use these images to create collages, or use them to 'pimp' their personal pages (yuk!!).
Some of the original images still showed the copyright info, while other photos were modified to remove the copyright text (deliberate copyright infringement if you ask me).

The 'fun' part is that people who use these images get mad if you ask them to remove the image due to copyright infringement. The general consensus seems that everything you put up on the Internet is up for grabs.

So, if you don't want others to (mis)use your photos don't put them online. If you have to put them online, make sure other people can't remove the copyright info without 'destroying' the photo (e.g. humongous watermark across the photo). Or just put very small versions of the photos online.

Professional Photographer or Not?

When are you a professional photographer? This was a question I ran into on a forum about photography.

Many people think you are a professional photographer when you're able to create magnificent photographs. But according to the average dictionary you're a pro when photography is your job (your profession).

So, shooting awesome photographs over and over again doesn't make you a pro. It just makes you an awesome photographer. Selling them and living of them makes you a pro.

Free CodeWeavers Software

CodeWeavers (the creators of CrossOver) had a special deal on October 28th, 2008. They gave away their software (CrossOver) to anyone who registered on their special webpage (no longer accessible).

I did my part in registering, and today I received the final instructions for registration code for CrossOver.
CrossOver is a piece of software which enables you to run Windows programs on OSX without the use of Windows itself. The list with compatible applications grows every month

Panasonic Lumix LX3

Panasonic Lumix LX3After a long and extensive search for an additional point and shoot camera (P&S) I bought the Panasonic Lumix LX3.

The reason for buying the camera were:

• Image quality
• RAW capabilities
  (RAW format not yet supported by the normal Adobe product)
• Relative large sensor with only 10 MPixels
• Size (not too small)
• Extensive control over the settings in the camera
• Hotshoe (for an external flash or a 200 euro ViewFinder.....)
  The LX3 with a Nikon SB-600 flash... not that well balanced :)
• 24mm (35mm equivalent) wide angle lens.
• Macro setting
• Good quality movies (in 720p HD format)
• And not to forget; the design of the camera.

Panasonic Lumix LX3 test imageWhen you're used to a semi-pro dSLR it takes a while getting used to. Most of the camera functions are hidden in menu's.

One question for Panasonic-crew; Why the absurd prices on the optional accessories? The optional ViewFinder is HALF the price of the camera.
Guess I'll be waiting for the cheap Asian knock-offs.

MTV Music Video's Online

MTV placed a ton of music video's online. There are even several charts available. Guess which one is ranked numero uno @ 'Top Rated'?

Nikon D300 Firmware 1.10 Available

Nikon released firmware version 1.10 for the D300 this week.

Finally a decent way of addig the copyright and photographer info into the EXIF data....

Microsoft Vista Marketing...

According to Apple.

Well, they have a point after the (failed) Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld 'commercials'.

What Happened to FireWire?

The new MacBook lacks the (oh so) familiar FireWire port, so how am I supposed to migrate from my MacBook Pro to a new MacBook? Copy everything over the network? Or are they providing special tooling?

MacBook 2008 PortsThe advantage of the firewire port was that you can access your Apple hardware as a external drive. Quite handy if your laptop/desktop fails to boot. Just hook it up with FireWire to another Apple and you can try to fix the problem (and get to your data).

We might be heading to a Windows Migration Assistant kinda feature....

UPDATE: It seems that migration is available via ethernet, or by mounting a diskimage (which you created on the other machine)

UPDATE 2: Apple to the rescue with the Migration and DVD/CD Sharing Update.

New MacBooks

Apple announced (or released) three 'new' MacBooks;

• MacBook Pro
• MacBook
• MacBook Air

The biggest surprises (apart from the new housing) is that the MacBooks come in two flavours; the 'old' white MacBook (which is also a sub-thousand dollar/euro laptop), and an aluminum version.

Every MacBook (Pro/Air) has the possibility of having solid-state harddrives, and, as usual, there are several upgrades available (CPU, Memory, and tons of accessories). The thing that keeps bothering me is the price that Apple wants for its memory upgrades are most likely ridiculous (as usual). Problem this time is that Apple puts DDR3 DIMMS in the notebooks, and I can't seem to find these in the regular webshops.

Anyway, after getting the Popcorn Hour this week there's no reason for getting an Air or Pro version of the MacBook (if my MBP dies, or gets sold for a decent price). But first.... Wait to see wait the initial problems are with the new MacBooks, because there always is something.......