I’ve been working on a website for a non profit fundraiser in central Florida. The monies go to a medical clinic in Wildwood, FL. The site can be found at www.tasteofthevillages.info
I developed the site in Sandvox v 2.
Jobs Biography
I finished Walter Issacson’s biography of Steve Jobs this week. It was a good read. I’ll pass it on to friends.
He had a complex personality with a path of stubbornness. For example, early treatment instead of fad diets could have saved his life.
The behind the scenes details brought back memories of my older Apple products. He definitely had a focus and was a genius at marketing.
Lion Reflections
It has been over 2 months with Lion on my MacBook Pro. The transition has really been pretty smooth. just a few Nikon apps that I installed but never used were lost with the disappearance of Rosetta support.
My biggest issue has been Safari crashes and adjusting to no scroll bar. I am relying on Chrome more and more as my browser of choice.
Lion Roars
I updated to Lion and have encountered just 1 problem. I have an older Epson scanner and can’t find a current driver. It is either buy a new scanner or try Vue Scan.
iphone 4
My GPS recently died.It crashes when it plugs in to charge. The maps were not updated since April ’08. We need current maps where we live in the winter. My ATT contract was expiring, so I bought a new iphone and piggy backed on our family plan. The monthly cost is almost a wash. I’m not sure which data plan I really need.
I looked at and tried some of the free apps including Mapquest. These programs need to constantly redrawing and that uses G3 bandwidth. So after reading the reviews I bought the Navigon app. It isn’t as feature rich as my old GPS, but it is one less device.
I LOVE the iphone. Many of the apps I have on the ipad work on the phone.
I’m still learning all of the features and trying not to overload the number of apps that I don’t need.
First problem with MacBook Pro
I encountered my first hardware problem. This is on a 15 month laptop. My trackpad was sticking so I couldn’t make selections. A trip to the Genius Bar and a replacement part solved the problem. The part was around $170. AppleCare to the rescue.
ipad time
I broke down ad bought one in May. I’m finding it great for checking mail and surfing the web.
My favorite app is Scrabble followed by Pandora. Many apps that worked on the touch work ok on the new device.
I am looking forward to multitasking once we have iOS4 this fall.
Photo shoot
Reply
Today I went with our photography club to take wildlife photos on a farm near McIntosh and the Paynes Prairie Preserve just south of Gainsesville. ,FL. Our guide was Sean Dowie, a photographer from McIntosh. (Yes, Sean uses a Mac.)His website is www.smdphotography.com. So 25 of us met in The villages and drove up I 75 to McIntosh and Sean’s studio. We went to the Richardson farm. There wasn’t much activity as the duck hunters nearby scared off the birds. The palm trees and water was pretty, but not too exciting. We then went by tractor and trailer (like a hayride) to Inviness. There was a general store and post office. The building was weathered and made interesting photos. We then proceeeding to the Styx River on some county road. There I captured some good reflections of trees in the water. We had lunch in Micanopy. We’ll have to go back to visit this town, Then off to the Paynes Prairie Preserve. This is the area that can be seen on both sides of I 75 traveling south of Gainesville. This preserve had numerous birds, turtles, and over 200 gators. Some were 14 feet in length. I thought I would see more varieties of birds.
I brought both the Nikon D40 with a 200 mm lens and the Coolpix L90. I think the D 40 photos came out better. They were much sharper with better color. Even though I can zoom closer with the 24X zoom on the Coolpix, the D40 is the better camera. Of course this was my first test in the field with this camera.
Tomorrow we are going to a bird sanctuary near Zellwood. Hopefully the rain will hold off until later in the day.
Day Chaser
Econ Technologies is releasing a FREE version of Day Chaser. This is a calendar/scheduling program. I’ve used this software for years. The limitation is syncing. But if you don’t sync your appointments this might be for you. http://www.econtechnologies.com/pages/dc/daychaser_overview.html
Nikon P90
I think this might be the last new camera for awhile. I have a Nikon D40 DSLR (now discontinued) which takes great photos. This is a 6.1 megapixel camera. I don’t print posters. The problem was a lack of zoom with the lens. It comes with an 18-55 mm lense. So last year I added a 70 -300 mm lens. From what I can tell that is equal to a 6 or 7X optical zoom. It focuses great. But I wanted to get in closer for nature photography. At the Photography Club in The Villages a meeting pertained to cameras. I learned lots. Since I already had a Nikon I thought not jumping to a Canon would be smart.So I found a good deal on the Nikon P90. It is a CoolPix camera and feels great. It has less features than the P90. For example, the D40 does camera raw while the p90 doesn’t. The lense is equivalent to 624 mm. Wow! I haven’t shot much yet, but hope to make up for that when back in Florida. I know I’ll have to rely more on a tripod. I also need to get better at night shots.One thing I need to get used to is turning it on by accident. So I’ll report back next month.