Posts Tagged ‘Tech/Web’

The Rhythm n’ Flow of the 2-Point-Ohs

May 6 2008

Mostly Lisa on Drums! Rockin' Pownce.
Pownce tee provided by Startups Schwag.

As you already know, I’m a big fan of the 2.0 social nets. I was an early adopter of the big three 2.0s: Facebook, Twitter, and Pownce. (We shall not mention myspace. I like to pretend that it doesn’t exist). So far I’ve maintained active accounts in all three, but lately I find my ability to keep up witty repartee a la hotdogladies on all three almost impossible.

After a while, I find my tweets turning more into “What are you putting on your toast this morning?” than intelligent commentary of the technerdy things I’m doing. Plus, with the audience of these three nets differing so dramatically it’s not really appropriate to copy and paste or feed your status from one soc net to the others.

Twitter’s audience is uber geeky, from the tech, design, and blogging elite, to the politically active, to the dot com moguls. Anyone who is anyone on the www is on Twitter. Pownce seems to draw in a mixed bunch of users. For me, Pownce’s audience seems quite diverse, somewhere in between Twitter and Facebook with a huge teenage population who love youtube clips. Wowie! And the behemoth Facebook seems to attract everyone, including grandparents, ex-flings, your 9th grade English teacher, your arch nemisis, your 12 year-old Turkish penpal, and that annoying kid that ate Beefaroni out of old camping thermos everyday for lunch… Seriously, who isn’t on Facebook? I can only think of one person I know who isn’t on Facebook.

So if you are to keep the peace between your geeky Twitter iFriends and your tech-illiterate Facebook friends and your uber trendy Pownce friends you probably shouldn’t feed your daily WP plug-in tweets to your other nets. I find that it confuses people and then I have to explain things to people who think that Google is the internet and then I get annoyed and then bored and then I fall asleep in mid-sentence. And people seem to not like it when you fall asleep during dinner time discussions. Oops. Plus, with so many people on multiple nets, you don’t want to be double, or triple posting stuff to the same people.

What’s the solution then you lazy smart arse? Well, I think if you want to maximize your networking and community building opportunities you really need all three. I feel the same way with IM programs. You really need Adium, iChat, and Skype to communicate to all your iPeeps. But, in order to minimize the amount of time and effort you need pick one 2.0 net as your home base. This is where the majority of your updates and networking happens.

For me it’s Twitter. I have the most contacts on twitter and find it to be the best resource for tech updates, random geekiness, and general good times, including drunk tweets (:p) But, I must say there are a lot of fun times on Pownce. The ability to share photos, vids, and muxtapes is pretty awesome. I do think that Pownce is underrated, and I think in the next year it we will see it really catch on. But for some reason I don’t think that the Twitterati will ever abandon the little bird, no matter how many times they see him upside down or robotized or 404ed.

What’s your 2.0 home base? What do you find good or bad about this trifecta of 2.0? Do you use Twitter, Pownce, and Facebook? Opinions? Thoughts? Or comments on my drumming skills?

PS. Why am I sat in front of an uber kit? Kind of random isn’t it? More sweet photos and a special DIY photo blog from my latest shoot with uber Vancouver drummer, Jesse Godin this week!

iPhone in Canada, eh?

Apr 29 2008

The Very First Canadian iPhone

Is it true? Is Canada finally getting the iPhone?

Canadian wireless carrier Rogers Wireless said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with Apple to begin offering the iPhone later this year, putting an end to months of speculation on the subject.

Well. It’s. Aboot. Time!

Now, I can finally ditch my unlocked Fisher Price Skytalker Walkie Talkie which I’ve been using for the last 12 years as a method to communicate with my friends, family, lost polar bears, ice skating beavers, and the Mounted Police within a reception range of 1 – 25m… assuming they have the other Walkie on them… and they turn it on at exactly the same time as me… and the batteries don’t die in the subarctic temperatures.

It’s a crap shoot, I’ll admit. But, you know how Canadians love to be the underdog in a long and arduous, losing battle.

Another great screenshot I see. Sometimes you just can’t win. Zoink.

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Blogging on vacation? Not. So. Much.

Apr 26 2008

mostly vacation blogging

Like a typical geeky overachiever, I had a very grandiose plans for blogging/vlogging on my Mayan Riviera trip. I was psyched. I packed all my gear and cables and set off into the sun.

But like the cruel fate of reality, the Mayan gods were against me from the get go. They toyed with my emotions, liquored me up, and booted me off the ledge into a giant sink hole of doom. I know. Intense.

Within 30 seconds of arriving at the ultra modern, lo-tech resort hotel, I encountered my first major hurdle.

Me: do you have wifi?
Reception dude: Que?
Me: Internet?
Reception: No.
Me: No??? *eyeballs pop out of my head*
Reception: Si.
Me: Si? *eyeballs return to head* You have internet? Computers?
Recption: Only in one place.
Me: Donde??
Reception: Down in the bottom of stairs derecha uhh… there you will find computers… you need to pay 7 USD for 30 minutes
Me: zoink.
Reception: Que?

This situation was less than ideal as the lobby was a 15 min walk from my room and carrying that amount of gear in the ridiculous, sticky, muggy heat was beyond lame. Plus, I really didn’t want to spend my holiday in the hotel’s business centre.

So after that fail, I just let go of my vacation blogging plans and headed to the beach with Wired and my iPod. Then I watched Sir Digby Chicken Caeser with my new friend.

Sir Digby Chicken Caeser & elephant

Big Box Electronics Stores:

Apr 12 2008

Mostly-Lisa-and-Big-Box-Electronics-Hell

Buying electronics should be a pleasurable experience, but somehow it never is. The stores are built like labrynths with things in the most unlikely, illogical places ever. You’re always searching and waiting and listening to somebody crank annoying music to test out a hot sub or a super crappy iPod speaker set. There’s always someone who spoils the fun of your first moments with your new gear.

Now granted, I’m not your average electronics purchaser. I know my shizz. I go into a store knowing exactly what I want. And I want to get it in less than 30 seconds. I don’t want to discuss the features, or talk about extra warrantees, or hang out in the Mac section opening and closing iLife apps waiting for somebody to notice how cool I am. I just wanna get my gear and get it home and turn it on and realize I’ve bought the wrong batteries.

I get so frustrated in electronic stores that I have to actively fantasize about an alternate reality where annoying people are suddenly taken out by mythical demons and large beasts of the underworld…

Help Department:

Me: Do you know where I can find external HDs?
Dude: Uh… that’s not my department. [turns to guy next to him] uhhh, Dan do you know where the HDs are?
Dan: Uhhh… [looks at me] You should really get blue ray.

Suddenly, a crazy-eyed Spartan with a glistening sword leaps out from behind the USB cables. FOR SPARTA!!!!!!!!

Camera Department:

Me: I’d like to get the Canon G9.
Pale, skinny dude with spiky peroxide hair and slight lisp: Oh yeah. Super great deal. Great choice. Yeah, I’ll just go get one from the back for you.
[16.5 minutes pass. I see skinny dude yakking to his buddies in the Xbox section. Steam literally starts to come out of my ears. Camera dude finally notices me standing in front of me.]
Dude: Can I help you?

Just then a gigantic tarantula burrows out of the earth. ATTACK!!!

Mac Department:
mid-20s over primped girl with Gucci purse & high heels looking at MB Air: Do these Macs come with Facebook?

Just then a snaggle-toothed T-Rex leaps out from behind the Mac Pro… CHOMP!!!

DIY Photography for the Thrifty and Unrich

Apr 2 2008

As I’ve mentioned before, I love Strobist super DIY photo guru, David Hobby. His blog, Strobist.com is a daily inspiration for me. When I got my first digital SLR, about a year and a half ago, I spent most of my time sculking about in the alleyways of my city, photographing “hidden treasures” that I’d find. This “derelict” phase stopped abruptly in July 2007, about 10 days into the 88 day Vancouver city garbage strike.

I then moved my attention to things that smelt nicer like cupcakes, Pez, & trees. And after a few months of photographing happy shiny things, I worked up enough courage to photograph real live people who were not always happy or shiny. My main lighting techniques were:

  • Natural light is your best friend;
  • A big window on a sunny or partially cloudy day is your second best friend;
  • Low light? Open the aperture as wide as that sucker will go. f1.4 is money;
  • Cheap whiteboard makes a really nice bounce.

During this time, I experimented with using my behemoth of a flash, the 580ex. But, it was so heavy, I always regretted bringing it out to live performances, and frankly it scared people, and now I have no friends. That’s an exaggeration. I have a few friends, it’s just they seldom talk to me.

In the last six months, I’ve started to the long journey to master off-camera flash setups in order to exploring light more and create cool fashion, modeling, and artsy shoots. The trouble is that I need to make these setups for cheap as I only found $1.45 in the crooks and crannies of my sofa.

Using Strobist’s awesome DIY projects as inspiration, I am starting a new series on Mostly Lisa entitled: DIY Photography tips for the Thrifty and Unrich.

 

Mostly Lisa for Strobist-2

For the first shoot I wanted to do something a bit moodier than a typical modeling/acting headshot using an off-camera flash, some hard reflective surfaces (both portable and non) and a wee bit of creativity and smarts.

How we did it:
For these two shots, we had two Canon speedlights (430ex and 580ex) with Stofen Omnibounces at the same height as the subject, pointed straight up to give a “bare bulb” effect that would simultaneously blow out the background (a white wall in my living room) and light up the two 2′x3′ pieces of whiteboard in front of the photographer’s face (just out of frame) as fill.

The flashes were triggered with two cheap and untrustworthy Gadget Infinity remotes and were at 1/8 power, with the 580ex maybe less two thirds of a stop because it’s a more powerful unit. We started shooting at f1.4, but the focus was a bit soft in the above photo, so we bumped it up to f2.8 and added the second flash to create edge highlights (as you can tell by the highlights on both sides of my hair).

 

Mostly Lisa for Strobist-1

The Set-up:
One whiteboard was clamped to another lightstand with a couple $4 Home Depot clamps duct taped together to make a two-way clamp and the other (actually two boards taped together) was standing up on a nearby shelf (like a Christmas card). The camera was handheld just behind and in the middle of the two bounces.

Diagram of DIY Shoot #1

Redpilot's Strobist Inspired Set-up

 

Some Levels and Color Balance adjustments were made in Photoshop to enrich the blacks, push the highlights up some more, and warm up the whole image a little bit. No retouching was done on the computer-induced-big-black-bags-under-my-eyes. Not one bit.

If you have any cool off camera flashy photos that you’ve experimented with, link them in the comments!

Or if this is all waaaaay too technical for you you can just answer one question:
What camera do you use?
I’m actually really interested what camera everyone has – even if it’s not a fancy smancy one. So, talk camera nerdy to me!

Journey to the Valley of the Bored

Mar 18 2008

It is not possible to be more bored than I am right now. Bored. I really shouldn’t post this. Ahhh, whatever, your readers are bored too. Bored at work. Staring at work they should be doing, but instead they come to your blog hoping to see bikini pictures. But instead they get this sucky post. Ha!

I could do one of those padding posts that even the best bloggers do when they run out of interesting things to say. Think of it as a look beneath the silky smoothness of the blogosphere. It’s time to ‘fess up your mid-week hump posts, such as:

Shameless product plug!!!
A post about all the mundane things I use like fancy, bubbly soaps, shampoos, and expensive cheeses. I’ll accompany this with the first photo I find on the Google image search to make the post seem longer and more interesting. Oh, and I better mention Starbucks. Yeah, Starbucks is so awesome. I like drink there everyday. I know some cool peeps at Starbucks.

Random Photo of Me Looking Super Hot
Hey you guys! I just came across this photo of me from my trip to Hawaii this summer on the beach in my underwear. OMG. Isn’t it super random that I would search my entire library of a billion photos and just happen upon the best picture of me ever? So random.

Here’s a list of stuff.
Stuff I like. Stuff I hate. Stuff that’s cool. Here it is in a list format.

  • CSS
  • Frogs
  • Turnips
  • French Fries

Maybe I’ll hyperlink something to one of things in the list to make it seem funny. Instead of just a list, it will be a funny list. Hizzah!

Mememememe

  1. Who’s the last person you kissed? Uh.. myself in the mirror. Does that count?
  2. Pizza, french toast, or grilled tomatoes? Can I choose “a turkey sandwich”? It’s not on the list. Oh. Ok. I’ll go with the french toast, but I’d put turkey on it to make it more like a turkey sandwich.
  3. Recycle batteries or Dump them in a duck pond? Ohh, tough one. Are the ducks real? Yes Hmm. I guess I’ll go with the ducks then. That wasn’t the question. Oh.

Now tag three people with this marvelous memememe. Umm… yeah.. I don’t actually know three people. Can I send it to my cat? He knows how to use the internet. His mouse technique could use some work though.

I just saw this movie.
It was good. It was bad. I liked that part with Brad Pitt in it. Yeah, that part was awesome. [I'll say something witty here. And reference pop culture. Everyone likes pop culture]. And then I’ll put a link to the trailer. Yeah. Sweet.

Rant Post.
Erg! I’m angry about something and whether you like it or not, I’m gonna rant about it and then pretend to not apologize in the last sentence. Nope. I won’t say, “Uhh, sorry to rant about this, but I’m so tired and I’ve got mono and my iPod just, like, stopped working.”

Here’s a question.
An easy and direct question like “Do frogs have teeth?” or “What is your favourite smell?” or “What makes you happy?” I’ll tell you what makes me happy. Comments. It’s what makes this cold, dark existence worth living.

Dear Steve,

Mar 7 2008

If the iPhone Software has a roadmap, why can’t it find Canada? We’re like the second biggest country in the world.

Canada is big find it steve

Lo-5,

Mostly Lisa

PS. The Green Arrow is Vancouver, where I am. Feel free to send the first Canadian iPhone there. Much Love.

Why Gadget Infinity Wireless Triggers Suck.

Feb 24 2008

Running shoes shoot
That’s me. Lying on the cold cold ground in the early AM photographing a pair of running shoes. There are no lengths I will go to to take a great photo. Good thing I am wearing my big, fluffy Canadian parka, as it is taking ages to get the flashes to sync because my cheapo Gadget Infinity wireless triggers keep misfiring! Arg!

If you are a recreational photographer or if you are like me and you just started your own home media business that requires a ton of electronic gadgets and creative gear that sees no financial boundaries, you probably don’t have $500 to spend on Pocket Wizard’s wireless triggers. That’s why I bought the Gadget Infinity wireless triggers (Cactus Model) for a bargain basement price of $60 for one transmitter and two receiver to go on my flashes, the Canon EX 430 & 580).

 

Gadget Infinity Wireless Triggers

Before purchasing the cheapo version, I had read loads of reviews that warned of misfiring and unreliability, but the Gadget Infinity triggers seriously take the piss. These are the main things that suck about these triggers:

  • Flash misfires, often. This totally sucks because it uses up all your flash’s battery power and not only do you have to wait even longer for the flash to charge, but when it finally does, your flash is likely to be dunzo.
  • Flash is out of sync with the shutter. This is possibly the most annoying thing ever. More annoying than a late-90s boy band reunion. I know. That’s infinitely annoying.
  • Flash doesn’t fire. Period.

If you have a time sensitive shoot or you are dealing with a live subject that might complain more than these running shoes, I recommend renting Pocket Wizards (approx. $25).

 

Pocket Wizard Plus C-U

Has anyone else had a sucky experience with cheap triggers? Is there a budget solution to make them work better?

This is not my Macbook Air… yet

Feb 21 2008

Wired!

Jan 14 2008

Mostly Lisa is Wired

I’m guess I”m pretty wired. I’m probably the most wired person I know. So I’m probably the most wired person you know cuz I have over 200 friends on facebook (and I know at least 10 of them in real life). Yeah whatever, I guess you could say I’m pretty popular.

Being wired means being connected to a something bigger and better, someone who knows everything the world has to offer like Wikipedia. What? Wikipedia isn’t one person? Whatever.

The point is wired things > wireless things. Wait? That’s not true. Wireless things are way better. In fact, I hate wires and cables and plugs. Just look at them all. I’m practically swimming in the things. I’ve lost my momentum now. I’m not even making sense.

What was the point again?

I’m popular?
No, not that.
I’m good looking?
Well, that’s obvious, but not the point of this post.
Making myself look cooler by bragging about how many gadgets/gear/puters I have?
Closer.
And cuz I spent all my money on gadgets/gear/puters, I can’t afford to go to Macworld and that makes me feel left out and kinda lonely to be honest.

Now it’s all coming out. Buck up! There’s more to life than seeing Stevie J’s keynote live.
There is?
No, I was lying to make you feel better.

Mostly Lisa’s Favourite Top Gear:

  1. My MB. It’s ace. I love it. I’d choose it over a MBP any day.
  2. My Canon Rebel Xti or D400. This SLR has literally changed my life. I got it last November and started shooting for both pleasure and for my multimedia company guided by photo manuals and Strobist. The day I got paid for taking photos was a beautiful day. That’s when I thought, “You can get paid for doing something this cool, seriously??”
  3. My Canon 50mm f1.4 lens. I am passionate about this lens. It truly makes *magic* happen.
  4. My 2 Canon HV20 Digital Camcorders. The bread and butter of my business. It has been an excellent camera. It’s portable, HD picture quality is great, and the 24p mode is l33tne$$.

Wired3

What are your favourite gadgets? I will accept all comments. Even those with PC-based answers. I’m that open in my love of gadgets. I will now lie back on my ibook pillow, put bjork on, and stare blankly into space transcending time. Huh? My point exactly.