Archive for the ‘Tech/Web’ Category

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TwitterKeys allows me to express my inner ☃ ❥♘

tagged in Tech/Web

Sep 18 2008

Twitter redesigned some stuff. Moved tabs to the side and opened up the design. Personally I like it. The best new ‘tweek’ is the ability to reply to a Direct Message just by clicking a small mail icon on the right-hand side of the message you’d like to reply to.

better DM controls-1

Also, you can spice up your tweets or express the complexity of your emotions with TwitterKeys by the guys at The Next Web, i.e. ❉ ❥ ♘. It’s nothing complicated, just a pop up browser bookmarket of a symbol library where you copy and paste little unicode symbols anywhere, like on Twitter, Facebook or right here, on your blog: ☃.

Or just like, double click & copy n paste these puppies below:

What’s your favourite TwitterKeys symbol?

14 Comments »

Do we really need another NEW iPod?

tagged in Tech/Web

Sep 9 2008

So word on the internets is that Steve is planing on releasing a new iPod today. Seriously? When is he gonna slow down a tick? Can’t we just chill with the iStuff we have? I have a 80Gb Classic and it’s ace. Before that I was chilling with a mini for almost 2 years.

And honestly, I haven’t even got used to having an iPhone. I feel powerful knowing I can whip out my iPhone and completely disengage from any conversation, no matter how important it is. I gotta have more cowbell! Tink tink tink. :-D

Apple hype and over consumption is like a thorn in my side these days. I recently watched “Manufactured Landscapes”, a startling documentary following Canadian photographer, Edward Burtynsky, as he documents both the destruction and creation of humanity. The sheer magnitude of e-waste ie., computers, tvs, cables, phones, dvd players, iPods is literally astonishing.

50% of our recycled computer waste ends up in China where workers heat up the circuit boards and hand strip the components of all the precious metals which are mostly toxic. As you might imagine, this isn’t so good for the people living in these e-waste dumps or the earth “in general”.

The point is: I love new gadgets with a firey passion, but I think the world could live without another new iPod. WALL•E FTW!

Since I wrote this post and my blog was down for a while, thanks WPCandy :/, Apple did in fact release some new shiny iPods.

new ipoddds

I have to admit, that ditching the small & stumpy nanos for a rainbow of slim & sexy design is way cool. As for the new Touch… having the iPhone makes it obsolete, so.. yeah. What do you think? Are you gonna buy a new iPod? & most importantly:

Do we really need another new iPod?

38 Comments »

Women of New Media on TWiT & Net@Night

tagged in Geeky Stuff, Life, Tech/Web, Travel

Aug 24 2008

Women of New Media on Twit live Photo by Tony Wang | Molly, Lisa, Justine, Sarah, Amber & Leo.

I had the pleasure of meeting some amazing and talented ladies at last week’s New Media Expo. It was weird how we just all happened to wander on TWiT Live at the same time. I think we were lured there by the heaps of tasty brain toniq, TWiT tees & Leo’s mega-watt smile.

Leo's award winning smile

Molly, Lisa, Justine, Sarah on TWiT live Photo by PHP Princess

Amber MacArthur, Sarah Austin, Molly Lynn & I had a great discussion on women in media, edited vs. unedited content & live streaming, trolls, and something I call the “blogging bikini factor”. Shameless? Yes. Quadruples your daily uniques? Definitely. But I wouldn’t know anything about that. At. All.

Mostly Lisa, iJustine & Sarah (Pop17) on TWiT live Photo by PHP Princess

If you missed the media babe exponanza on TWiT live, you should download #63 net@night podcast with Amber MacArthur. There are also other fantastic interviews with the uber Felicia Day and Scobleizer.

11 Comments »

Mostly MacBreak

tagged in Geeky Stuff, Tech/Web

Jul 7 2008

Mostly Lisa on Macbreak with Justine

While I was down in San Francisco a few weeks ago, I swung by Pixel Corps and casually hosted MacBreak with iJustine.

We talked about the new ultra cool Flip Mino, hung out with Alex Lindsay and the awesome crew at Pixel Corps, including Joe who is not on twitter, and then nearly got kicked out of an Apple Store. Besides that, the “rat” problem, and the epic Kelly Clarkson lip dub-a-thon, it was a totally normal Friday for me.

To check out the MacBreak 159: Flip Video Podcast:
Subscribe via iTunes
View the video directly here.

Here’s my Flip Mino in action (with a wee bit of bokeh and a sweet WP sticker Andy gave me).

My Flip Mino (so bokeh)

PS. Even my MacBook Air got a little taste of limelight. It did so well considering the pressure.

15 Comments »

Film in a Digital Age. Yay Lomo!

tagged in Geeky Stuff, Photography, Tech/Web

Jul 6 2008

On top of Moscone Centre, San Francisco
(On top of Moscone Centre, San Francisco)

This was my first Holga lomo picture to actually come out. I took it the day after the madness that was WWDC 2008. My first roll, I accidentally exposed to light while taking it out of the camera. My second roll, I shot mostly at night in San Francisco (which looked so so cool) but I forgot to set the camera to “bulb” and all the shots were underexposed. Gah!

Film is intense. After having the immediacy of digital shots, waiting for film developing drives me bananas, but you can’t deny the coolness of the medium format. The graininess, the subtle vignetting, the saturation of colour, the sweet 70s feel it gives photos. I’m really excited about exploring the lomo now!

Check out lomography.com or the flickr Lomo group for inspiration. And if you are experimenting with lomography link me up to your flickr photos.

I love my digital SLR, and I don’t see myself ever using film as my main format, but there is something almost too perfect and unnatural about digital images, especially those that have been photoshopped. You lose all the unexpected surprises in the process of using film cameras that can produce seriously beautiful shots. After seeing my lomo shots, I realize that it is still important for photographers to experiment with film and develop a style that is independent of digital automation.

What do you think? Is there still a place for film in today’s digital photography age?

15 Comments »

Friday Night Party Line Podcast

tagged in Geeky Stuff, Tech/Web

Jul 4 2008

I was the special guest on an uber cerebral podcast last night called the Friday Night Party Line. I promise that I most definitely said something to embarrass myself. We talked about Esperanto, kids, video editing, environmental issues, polar bears, GPS, and what we would spend $5000 if we had to spend it.

What I would spend $5000 on if I was in some alternate universe where money grew on trees and responsibilities floated away on hot air balloons and the world wasn’t in peril (so I’m excluding things like rent, food, bills, saving the environment & polar bears et al.):

  1. Shure SCL5 Sound Isolating Earphones ($400)
  2. Canon 100mm Macro lens ($600)
  3. Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS ($1500)
  4. Heaps of Marks & Spencer biscuits ($200)
  5. Plane ticket to Australia ($2000) + Dingo repellant ($19.95)
  6. iPhone ($300 + $??? + 3 year contract + ∞)

Ok I went a bit over. Spending fake money is super easy.

What would buy with $5000?

22 Comments »

What lenses I should rent?

tagged in Photography, Tech/Web

Jun 27 2008

Good lenses are ridiculously expenses, so for most of us, owning a bunch of good glass is just not financially feasible. I own one good lens for my Canon Xti/400D. The 50mm f/1.4. Such a beautiful lens, but limiting. I also have a crappy kit lens 18-55mm f/cr.ap, but i refuse to use it now, because I know the results will be sub-par.

The other option is to rent lenses, which is actually a lot more affordable than you think. Plus, you get to take the lens for a test spin, keep the photos, and not have to sell stolen girl guides cookies out of your garage. Come to think of it, that’s not such a bad idea… No not a good idea… A very bad idea…

You can rent pretty much any lens, even the elite L-series, for approx. $30 a day. And with most camera rental places, if you rent a lens on a Friday, you can keep it for the weekend. If you live in Vancouver check out Beau Photo or Leo’s Cameras.

So I wanted to ask all the photogs out there:

What is your favourite lens?
What awesome lenses do you think I should try?

PS. Thanks to my twitter peeps, I had a nice list going on twitter, but then the tweety bird freaked out again. So I’d like to compile a list on my blog, because I’m fairly certain WP won’t try to lift a giant whale with tiny songbirds.

44 Comments »

SF Apple Store outing wi Mostly Lisa & iJustine

tagged in Geeky Stuff, Tech/Web, Travel

Jun 25 2008

I felt like my blog was getting a leedle to intense and serious, so I thought I’d bust out a sweet silly vid of Justine and I frolicking from or MacBreak taping at Pixel Corps to the SF Apple Store just around the corner.

As you can tell from the video, Justine and I totally don’t get along. She even yelled at me for eating her left-over Starbucks’ chicken pesto salad and wouldn’t lend me any floss when I got green junk stuck in my teeth for most of the day.

Check out some flickr’d snaps of my time at Pixel Corps’ HQ.

Also, head on over to Mr. Adobe Frederick Van’s blog for a sweet interview with me about my photography and some photos he shot of during an impromptu TWiP photo shoot. Scott Bourne also took a neat B&W shot of me.

PS. If you are a TWiP follower or photographer send out a shout and a flickr link so I can check out your awesome photographs.

PPS. Any ideas for my next meet-up with Justine? Accent off? Dingo chase? Flip Stack?

15 Comments »

the iPhone Stack

tagged in Geeky Stuff, Life, Tech/Web

Jun 16 2008

iPhone Stack

Introducing Silicon Valley’s favorite party game: the iPhone stack! I dare you to beat this stack of 13 iPhones!

PS. My ultra portable Canadian iPhone was rejected from the stack. It hurt. A lot. *sadness*
(more…)

18 Comments »

Mostly TWiP

tagged in Geeky Stuff, Life, Photography, Tech/Web

Jun 16 2008

Lisa Bettany & Alex Lindsay

I had a blast recording TWiP (This Week in Photography) with Pixel Corps’ Alex Lindsay, Podango’s Scott Bourne, Adobe’s Fred Johnson and photojournalist Steve Simon.
(more…)

13 Comments »
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