TidBITS#833/12-Jun-06
=====================
It's become the holy grail of modern software: a good Web
design program that anyone can use. Is Apple's iWeb the answer?
Steve Sande, author of "Take Control of iWeb" looks at iWeb,
RapidWeaver, and Sandvox. Also in this issue, Jeff Carlson
revisits his experience on safari (the adventure, not the browser)
with the Canon PowerShot S2 IS digital camera, and we note the
open voting in the MacTech 25 most influential list, the release
of Yojimbo 1.2, and a working-spouse edition of MacNotables.
Topics:
MailBITS/12-Jun-06
iWeb Takes On the Competition
South Africa in 11.3 Billion Pixels
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/12-Jun-06
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-833.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/2006/TidBITS#833_12-Jun-06.etx>
Copyright 2006 TidBITS: Reuse governed by Creative Commons license
<http://www.tidbits.com/terms/> Contact: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------
This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* READERS LIKE YOU! Support TidBITS with a contribution today! <----- NEW!
<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
Special thanks this week to Ramona Winkelbauer, Harvey Barnett,
Michael Luskin, and Robert Knudson for their generous support!
* Make friends and influence people by sponsoring TidBITS! <--------- NEW!
Put your company and products in front of tens of thousands of
savvy, committed Macintosh users who actually buy stuff.
For more information and rates, email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
* SMALL DOG ELECTRONICS: Refurbished 15"
PowerBooks - a better value than ever before! 1.67 GHz,
1.5 GB RAM, 80 GB, AppleCare, free case - $1949.
Visit: <http://www.smalldog.com/tb> or call 800-511-MACS.
* FETCH SOFTWORKS: Fetch 5 is now available, with SFTP, Bonjour, <--- NEW!
StuffIt, Unicode, Dock progress, AppleScript, and a simplified
interface optimized for Mac OS X (including Tiger)!
Download your free trial version! <http://fetchsoftworks.com/>
* Web Crossing, Inc: Web Crossing offers integrated collaboration
tools with a broad spectrum of functionality, but did you know
adding discussions, blogs, podcasts, chat, polls, and calendars
is point-click easy? Try a demo! <http://www.webcrossing.com/>
* Circus Ponies NoteBook: Never lose anything again. NoteBook <------ NEW!
keeps your digital life organized. Take notes, clip content,
share information. Find anything instantly with automatic
index pages. Free 30-day demo! <http://www.circusponies.com/>
---------------------------------------------------------------
MailBITS/12-Jun-06
------------------
**MacTech 25 Most Influential Survey** -- MacTech Magazine has
opened the voting for the MacTech 25, a community-chosen list
of the 25 most influential people in the Macintosh technical
universe. MacTech has designed it to "recognize the technical
contributions of developers, writers, bloggers, problem-solvers,
and personalities to the Macintosh community," excluding only
Apple employees and MacTech staff and columnists (some of whom
would likely do well otherwise). Voting in the MacTech 25 is open
to anyone, through 15-Jun-06. We would of course appreciate votes
for our publisher, Adam Engst (who has ranked in the top five of
the MDJ Power 25 every year, behind only Apple employees), along
with other TidBITS staff members, and if we do well, we promise
to use the vast power that will undoubtedly accrue to the winners
only for good. But we really hope there isn't a second-round
swimsuit competition.
<http://www.mactech.com/mostinfluential/>
Speaking of MacTech, which a couple of years ago morphed from
a programmer's journal to a more general technical Mac magazine,
we notice that if you're interested in subscribing, Microsoft's
Mac Business Unit (which has been working with MacTech on articles
about integrating Macs into Windows-centered networks and similar
kinds of topics) is sponsoring a limited number of six-month
"free" subscriptions to MacTech to those that qualify ("free"
because there's still a $10 postage and handling fee to make sure
people really want the magazine, which would normally cost over
$50 on the newsstand). The deal requires filling out a short
survey and is available only to those in the United States and
Canada (though there are other deals for more far-flung readers).
[JLC]
<http://www.mactech.com/ms-survey/tidbits.php>
**Yojimbo 1.2 Improves Import, Export, and Linking** -- Bare Bones
Software has released a significant update to Yojimbo, the
company's personal information manager (for details, see our
review, "Let Yojimbo Guard Your Information Castle"). Yojimbo 1.2
enables users to link directly to Yojimbo items using the new Copy
Item Link command in the Edit menu; it puts an x-yojimbo-item URL
pointing to the selected item in the clipboard, suitable for use
on the local machine (it's not providing Internet sharing of any
sort). Also new are a pair of bookmarklets (JavaScript scripts
that can be embedded in a Web browser bookmark) for one-click
creation of Yojimbo bookmarks and Web archives (in Safari, Camino,
Firefox, and OmniWeb), an enhanced "import" verb in AppleScript,
export of bookmarks as clipping files rather than text files,
search term highlighting when the search includes item contents,
an integrated crash reporter, and the capability to remember the
Check Spelling As You Type setting across application launches
(something that should be true of every application). For those
new to Yojimbo or anyone who has had trouble understanding it,
Bare Bones now provides a Quick Start Movie (check the Help menu
if you're already using Yojimbo) and a Getting Started document
that provides an overview of Yojimbo's features. Yojimbo 1.2
requires Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later and is a free update for
registered users; it's a 7 MB download. [ACE]
<http://www.barebones.com/products/yojimbo/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08407>
<http://www.barebones.com/support/updates.shtml>
**Adam & Tonya Discuss Working Together on MacNotables** -- In the
most recent episode of our group MacNotables podcast, we did
something a little different. Since only Tonya and I were on the
line to talk with Chuck Joiner, we ended up discussing what it's
like to work with one's spouse in the Mac industry and how we
divvy up the various tasks involved with running TidBITS and Take
Control. For instance, Tonya takes care of the financial end of
things, whereas I'm the network administrator. Since we hadn't
prepared for the topic, it ended up being an extremely unusual
and far-ranging conversation. We frequently receive comments
from people who are surprised we can work together, or who can't
imagine what it would be like to work with a spouse, but for us,
it's just how our lives work. Give it a listen! [ACE]
<http://macnotables.com/archives/2006/652.html>
**DealBITS Drawing: TextExpander Winners** -- Congratulations to
Raymond Cheydleur of mac.com, Mac Carter of iinet.com, Ken Marcus
of mac.com, Hugh Lester of mac.com, and David Steffens of
speakeasy.net, whose entries were chosen randomly in last week's
DealBITS drawing and who each received a copy of SmileOnMyMac's
TextExpander, worth $29.95. Everyone who entered the drawing
also received a $10 discount off the purchase of TextExpander.
Thanks to the 765 people who entered, and keep an eye out for
future DealBITS drawings! [ACE]
<http://smileonmymac.com/textexpander/>
iWeb Takes On the Competition
-----------------------------
by Steve Sande <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The field of Web page editors continues to be an odd collection
of top-heavy applications. Dreamweaver and GoLive are the
professional giants on the Mac, though BBEdit and other text
editors are still used extensively to hand-code HTML. But the
middle ground has always been sparse: what tool is best for an
average person who doesn't want the complication posed by most
Web design applications?
Apple, which prides itself on making products for the rest of us,
is attempting to cover that ground with iWeb, part of the iLife
'06 suite. When it was introduced at the 2006 Macworld Expo, I hit
the show floor and gave this new Web design program a cursory test
drive. Even with just a few minutes of use, I quickly realized
that it was going to make Web site development simple.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/iweb/>
That exposure spurred me to dive into the program, which led to
me writing the just-released "Take Control of iWeb: iLife '06
Edition," during which I found a lot of power in iWeb - as well
as a few shortcomings for which I figured out workarounds.
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/iweb.html?14@@!pt=TB833>
The May release of iWeb 1.1 addressed some of these deficiencies,
particularly in the area of adding comments and searches to blogs
and podcasts that are published on .Mac. A second update in May
fixed the bugs introduced in iWeb 1.1 and the new 1.1.1 version
seems to have resolved some publishing issues.
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/iweb111.html>
Of course, Apple isn't the only player here, so in this
article I'll also provide an overview of the basic features,
functionality, and audiences of Realmac Software's RapidWeaver
and Karelia Software's recently released Sandvox. All three
applications are universal binaries, so owners of Intel-based
Macs can enjoy the benefit of speed. Regardless of which tool
you use, you'll be able to publish a Web site quickly and with
relatively little pain.
**iWeb 1.1.1** -- iWeb's primary audience is .Mac users who have
never published a Web site before. As such, it builds upon 18
professionally designed templates; each template includes seven
page types to provide a variety of customizable pages. Some of
the templates leave much to be desired (Doodle, for example),
while others such as Gazette are beautiful and functional. Once
you've picked a template, you can add Welcome, About Me, Blog,
Podcast (both audio and video), Photo, Movies, or Blank pages
that use the design elements of the template. Several third-party
companies are now creating and selling templates for iWeb, so
expect this to become a new cottage industry.
When you're putting together a Web page in iWeb, you're working
with page elements in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
environment. You'll see little difference between the appearance
of your page when creating it in iWeb and when it has been
published to .Mac or other Web server. One complaint from
professional Web designers is that iWeb produces fairly dirty
and non-standard HTML and CSS code, but I haven't found too many
cases where pages designed in iWeb aren't portrayed accurately
in multiple browsers on different platforms.
In terms of flexibility of placing page elements such as text,
photos, and shapes onto Web pages, iWeb has no peer. Adding and
moving elements is a breeze, and you can layer them to achieve
unique effects that are impossible in the other programs discussed
in this article.
Capitalizing on the seamless integration with the rest of iLife
'06, iWeb makes it simple to build a page. Want to add a photo?
Just drag one from your iPhoto library and drop it onto an iWeb
placeholder. Perhaps you want your friends to see your favorite
iTunes playlist on the site: drag the playlist icon from the iWeb
Media Browser to the location where you want to have the list,
and iWeb creates a list of the song titles along with links to
the appropriate song snippets in the iTunes Music Store.
When the time comes to share the page with the rest of the world,
members of Apple's .Mac service can publish their newly created
Web sites with a single click and get some server-side features
(page hit counter, Java-based slideshows, blog comments) that
aren't available to those who publish their sites to other Web
servers. iWeb users who wish to publish to their own Web servers
must first publish to a local folder, then copy the site files
to the Web server manually; there's no way to publish directly
to a non-.Mac server.
For businesses considering easy-to-use Web site design tools,
iWeb may not be the best choice. The program doesn't allow embedded
HTML, which means that adding things like affiliate advertising or
Web stores requires a workaround. Fortunately, Mac programmer Chad
Brantly's iWeb Enhancer is a small and inexpensive ($13) tool for
adding HTML or JavaScript to iWeb sites.
<http://web.mac.com/cbrantly/iWeb/Software/iWeb Enhancer.html>
Commercial enterprises should also note that the .Mac terms and
conditions forbid e-commerce, so they'll need to find a hosting
alternative.
These caveats aside, iWeb is an easy tool for Mac users who wish
to create an attractive and functional Web site. As part of the
$80 iLife '06 suite, it's a bargain, and iWeb doesn't have the
steep learning curve and high cost of professional Web design
tools like Dreamweaver or GoLive.
**RapidWeaver 3.5** -- Realmac Software's RapidWeaver is aimed at
the same audience as iWeb: people who want to design and publish
full-featured Web sites quickly and easily. Prior to the release
of iWeb, I used RapidWeaver 3.2.1 for a personal Web site and
found it extremely easy to use. Version 3.5 is currently in beta -
you can download a trial version of the software or the latest
production version (3.2.1) from Realmac's site.
<http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/>
<http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/mirrors.php>
Like iWeb, RapidWeaver uses pre-designed templates as a starting
point, with a number of page types to choose from (Blog, Contact
Form, File Sharing, HTML Code, iFrame, Movie Album, Offsite Page,
Photo Album, QuickTime, and Styled Text). If I have one complaint
about the way RapidWeaver works, it's that you enter your content
in one page view, then click a Preview button to see what the
page will actually look like. On the other hand, RapidWeaver
gives you the flexibility to see (but not edit, alas) the HTML
tags generated by the package, which is a powerful troubleshooting
tool for more advanced users.
The templates also show less imaginative design than you find
in iWeb or Sandvox. With few exceptions, I found that the
RapidWeaver sites are similar in layout and navigation, with
the main differences being the color, width, and typeface used.
RapidWeaver 3.5 adds a feature called Theme Variations that
enables designers to mix and match theme styles, eliminating
the sameness of RapidWeaver sites. Third-party templates are
also available.
Although many design elements can be dragged and dropped
from iLife applications, RapidWeaver does not have the tight
integration with the suite that iWeb provides. If you plan to
use a lot of content from iPhoto or iMovie HD, iWeb may work
better for you.
RapidWeaver works equally well when publishing sites on .Mac or to
other Web servers. The built-in FTP client quickly moves content
to your server and retains your login information for future
updates. The 3.5 beta supports SFTP (Secure FTP), so if you're
concerned about security you'll feel comfortable with RapidWeaver.
Unlike iWeb, RapidWeaver provides both a way to enter raw HTML
code into a page and iframes, a technology used to embed a Web
page into a frame on another page. An iframe can be useful if,
for instance, you want to embed a Zen Cart or similar e-commerce
site into your Web site.
<http://www.zencart.com/>
In my experience, Realmac Software is good about updating
RapidWeaver with both new features and bug fixes, and an active
community of RapidWeaver users participate on the Realmac forums.
<http://realmacsoftware.com/support/>
RapidWeaver is for Mac users who want a relatively easy Web design
tool and aren't as fussy about good-looking templates. It costs
$40 for a single user license.
**Sandvox 1.0.1** -- The newcomer to the world of easy Web design
tools for the Mac is Karelia Software's Sandvox. I've had the
pleasure of using the different beta releases of Sandvox for
the last few months, and it's great to see the finished product.
<http://www.karelia.com/>
Like iWeb and RapidWeaver, Sandvox is a template-based
application. Sandvox 1.0.1 ships with 27 well-designed and
interesting templates; if you sign up for email updates from
Karelia, you receive an additional five templates for free.
Page types include Text, Photo, Contact Form, External Link,
File Download, Movie Page, Site Map, and (for Pro users only)
Raw HTML.
Sandvox is unique in its inclusion of pagelets, small plug-ins
that add functionality to the site. Want to drop a picture
into a sidebar or an article? Use a photo pagelet. Think that
a del.icio.us list would enhance your site? Add a pagelet to
do that. The Inspector tool is then used to change settings for
both the pages and pagelets. Although pagelets add a lot of cool
features, Sandvox limits where they can be placed on a page.
<http://del.icio.us/>
Sandvox provides the most flexibility of the three applications
in terms of site publishing, with .Mac, FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV
options. It also does the best job of creating standards-compliant
pages, with most being generated as XHTML 1.0 Strict. Pro users
can even have their HTML validated using the World Wide Web
Consortium's validators before publishing.
<http://www.w3.org/>
Unfortunately, while I was testing Sandvox for this review,
I encountered numerous errors. None of them actually crashed the
program, but I was asked to fill out a bug report form each time
and submit it to Karelia.
Karelia has made a Developer's Kit available to programmers
who wish to create new data sources, page or pagelet types,
or elements. In addition, they've published a Designer's Guide
for those who wish to create their own page designs. By being open
with this information, Karelia is opening the door to new features
and designs.
<http://wiki.karelia.com/Sandvox_Developers_Guide>
<http://wiki.karelia.com/Sandvox_Designers_Guide>
Sandvox is for users who want high-quality HTML and standards
compliance, as well as easy access to common blog features such
as del.icio.us lists or Flickr galleries. It's available at the
introductory price of $40 for the regular version or $70 for the
Pro version (prices will increase after 16-Jun-06).
<http://www.flickr.com/>
**Conclusion** While all three of these programs are excellent
for beginning Web site designers or lazy webmasters like me,
I encourage you to download and test-drive the free trial versions
of RapidWeaver and Sandvox to see if their extra features outweigh
the ease of use and flexibility of Apple's iWeb, and if you do
choose iWeb, I hope you'll give my ebook a look as well.
South Africa in 11.3 Billion Pixels
-----------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
After downloading the last batch of digital photos from my trip
to South Africa, I discovered that my wife and I shot 2,272
pictures, or roughly 11.3 billion pixels' worth of landscapes,
rhinos, elephants, lions, and of course, family. As I mentioned
in the article I wrote before leaving (see "Buying My Canon
PowerShot S2 IS"), most of those shots were captured with a
camera that I purchased expressly for this trip. I still have
a lot of sorting and evaluating of pictures ahead of me, even
several months later, but I want to follow up my first article
by sharing some of my experiences with the camera, as well
as a few lessons learned about shooting digital photography
in the wild.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08348>
Since my trip in November of 2005, Canon released an updated
version of the S2 IS, the PowerShot S3 IS, which offers 6-
megapixel (MP) resolution versus the S2's 5 MP; an ISO 800 setting
for shooting low-light or fast-action situations (the S2 maxes out
at ISO 400); higher video recording quality; a larger 2-inch LCD
screen; a black camera body instead of silver; and a few other
small changes. The changes aren't significant enough for me
to consider upgrading my current model, but if I were starting
a camera search from scratch, I'd probably buy the S3.
<http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&;
fcategoryid=144&modelid=13077>
The controls and design appear to be the same with both cameras,
so I'm going to assume that my impressions of the S2 generally
apply to the S3 as well.
**Usability** -- While preparing for the trip last year, I edited
the second edition of Laurence Chen's ebook "Take Control of
Buying a Digital Camera, version 2.0," which launched me on
the quest to buy a new camera in the first place. In it, Larry
emphasizes the importance of usability, of how well the camera
operates in day-to-day use. With the S2, I found the control
layout functional and handy.
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/buying-digicam.html?14@@!pt=TB833>
For example, one important feature for me was the capability to
switch to manual focus mode. The S2 IS doesn't include a focus
ring around the lens barrel as you'd find on a digital SLR
(single-lens reflex) model; instead, you press and hold the
MF button with your left hand, and use a four-way rocker switch
with your right thumb to adjust the focus. A large area of the
LCD zooms to give you a close-up of what you're shooting to help
you discern the focus level (a feature I wish was present on my
older digital camcorder). With a little practice, I was able to
manipulate the manual focus controls without looking at them,
allowing me to pay attention to what was in the viewfinder.
I also frequently employed a focus feature that I wasn't aware
of at first: with automatic focus enabled, press the Set button
and use the rocker switch to move a small green rectangle on the
screen to indicate which area has focus priority. Shooting close-
up photos of a lizard, for example, was made easier with this
feature, and didn't require that I set the focus manually. And
because the Set button is placed just below the rocker switch,
I could locate it by touch.
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcarlson/74590875/in/set-1388514/>
Another example of good usability is another button on the back,
easily accessible with my right thumb, to which I could map
a number of the camera's features. I set it to control ISO
(shutter speed), which was useful when trying to shoot in
low-light conditions or objects at high speed. Instead of
navigating menus (which is always a pain), one button shuttled
through the ISO settings.
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcarlson/144623245/in/set-1388514/>
**Features in the Wild** -- The S2 IS features a fast shot-to-shot
mode that can capture approximately 2.4 images per second.
When we tracked down a pride of lions in the Sabi Sands reserve,
I used this feature extensively - these were the first lions
we'd encountered close-up. The downside was that I nearly filled
my 512 MB card, and I had forgotten to bring the backup card.
I could have switched the shooting options to capture smaller-
resolution pictures, or pictures with more compression, but...
these were lions in the wild!
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcarlson/73907398/in/set-1388514/>
<http://sabi.krugerpark.co.za/>
After a short while, I realized that although we were in the
middle of their territory, the lions didn't actually pay much
attention to the Land Rover we were in. And, because it was still
early evening, they were particularly languorous. While they lazed
about, I deleted some shots in the camera to make room, and ended
up with enough space on the card to last the rest of the night's
excursion.
Another feature I appreciated was the camera's relatively silent
operation. Unlike a film camera, there's no audible click when you
take a picture. (There is a simulated click sound, but I turned
off the silly sound effects when the camera first arrived.) I can
hear the zoom motor engage when I'm in a quiet environment and I'm
looking through the viewfinder, but otherwise the camera is quiet.
Normally, sound isn't important, but one of the safari trips we
took was a walking tour at Imfolozi. Unlike the other trips, where
we rode around in Land Rovers, at Imfolozi we stayed at a central
camp and then took hiking excursions into the bush. We were
very much in the wild, led by two guides packing large rifles.
Important guidelines are stressed at the beginning for how to act
when you encounter an animal: never run, because running turns
you into prey; hold your ground and stare down a lion, even if
it attempts to intimidate you with a "mock charge;" if you come
across a leopard, however, keep walking slowly and don't make eye
contact, which can be interpreted as a challenge. This rule was
put to the test when we stumbled upon a black rhino, which is
more aggressive than the more common white rhino. Rhinos have
poor eyesight but excellent hearing, so we were told to find
cover behind some nearby scrub trees and remain still. As the
rhino investigated, I was able to shoot some photos without
worrying that the sound would alert it to our location. After
a few tense minutes, our guides finally chased it away by making
a ruckus and throwing rocks.
<http://www.ecoafrica.com/african/safaris/KZNWildlife/
4dayImfoloziWildernessTrails.html>
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcarlson/165503694/in/set-1388514/>
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcarlson/71839706/in/set-1388514/>
Finally, I'm almost embarrassed to say that the camera's digital
zoom feature genuinely surprised me. Digital zoom is something
I disable right away, because it generally results in muddled
photos: the camera's image processor interpolates the pixels
to simulate a more powerful zoom.
However, Kim and I went in search of hippos near the town of
St. Lucia, where we were told they like to hang out. At first
looking like a small clump of wet rocks, we found a trio of
hippos lying partially exposed in an inlet. With the camera's
normal 12x zoom, you could certainly tell that they were hippos,
but they weren't very large in the frame. With nothing to lose
(and bytes to burn on my memory card), I switched on the digital
zoom feature. The images are slightly fuzzy, as I would expect,
but they look more as if I hadn't focused properly than blocky
pixelation. I still can't recommend digital zoom wholeheartedly,
but it could mean the difference between getting a half-
decent shot or nothing. I'm glad to see that the technology
is progressing.
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcarlson/165538775/in/set-1388514/>
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcarlson/73318248/in/set-1388514/>
**Wild Pixel Storage** -- Unlike shooting on film, digital
photography presents the problem of storage; you can't just roll
film canisters into your socks in the suitcase. Again heeding
Larry's advice, I brought two 512 MB SD memory cards, which worked
out wonderfully. When one filled up, I could switch to the other
and keep shooting. My 15-inch PowerBook G4 came along so that
I could off-load the memory cards and store the photos on the hard
drive using iPhoto. The only change I'd make for future trips is
to ensure that I have plenty of free hard drive space available;
toward the end of the trip, I found myself burning other data such
as music files and old photos to DVD discs to make room for the
new photos.
I also brought along my iPod and an Apple iPod Camera Connector,
which was handy during excursions where it was impractical to
bring the laptop. The iPod Camera Connector is a simple little
USB adapter that enables you to connect a camera to the iPod
and download photos to the iPod's hard drive. It drains the
iPod's battery pretty aggressively, but it enabled me to do
the three-day walking tour without dragging the PowerBook along.
<http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html>
**Parting Shot** -- My only truly negative opinion of the
PowerShot S2 IS is the poor design of the lens cap: it just
doesn't stay on well. A small amount of felt provides a little
friction around the lens barrel, but it was constantly popping
off and exposing the lens to the elements. I've heard that one
workaround is to apply a couple layers of electrical tape to
augment the felt; now that I'm back from the trip, I keep the
camera in a small neoprene case that prevents the lens cap
from detaching while the camera is in my computer bag.
I don't have a background in photography, so for me the S2 was
incredibly easy to use and produced, if I may say so, outstanding
images (one of which even won an award after Larry browbeat me
into entering it in a photo contest!). Although my trip to South
Africa has made me wonder if I should explore the notion of moving
up to a digital SLR, for now I'm wedded to the S2's smaller size
and great usability.
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcarlson/87261440/>
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/12-Jun-06
------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The first link for each thread description points to the
traditional TidBITS Talk interface; the second link points
to the same discussion on our Web Crossing server, which
provides a different look and which may be faster.
**GraphicConverter and RAW files** -- A user's photo files appear
to be shrinking when converting from RAW to TIFF, which doesn't
seem right. (4 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=3022>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/854/>
**Utilities for Multiple Monitor Users** -- Are three monitors too
many? A reader finds himself dragging dragging dragging the mouse,
but solutions exist that can help cut the repetition while still
taking advantage of all that screen real estate. (9 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=3023>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/855/>
**FileMaker Mobile 8 and the Future of PDAs** -- Joe Kissell's
article from last week coaxes responses from readers who have used
FileMaker Mobile 8. It also spurs discussion of whether a better
solution might be Web-enabled portable databases, and how easily
such a thing could be built. (8 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=3025>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/856/>
**Color problem with OSX 10.4, especially with iPhoto** -- Some
strange color artifacts make one reader question the health of
his system, and others chime in with suggestions for solving
the problem. (2 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=3027>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/860/>
**Firefox Upgrades and Other Problems** -- Firefox's auto-update
feature leads one reader to suspect that his Internet connection
might be compromised. (6 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=3028>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/861/>
$$
Non-profit, non-commercial publications may reprint articles if
full credit is given. Others please contact us. We don't guarantee
accuracy of articles. Caveat lector. Publication, product, and
company names may be registered trademarks of their companies.
For information: how to subscribe, where to find back issues,
and more, see <http://www.tidbits.com/>. TidBITS ISSN 1090-7017.
Send comments and editorial submissions to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Back issues available at: <http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/>
And: <ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/>
Full text searching available at: <http://www.tidbits.com/search/>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
--
If you want to unsubscribe or change your address, use this link
http://emperor.tidbits.com/webx?unsub@@.3c557dc4!u=306a67f9
