Click above for Large Image (900 x 600 px)

“Ook ook ack! Eeeeeek! OOOK!” [Trans: "My God, it's full of apps... " ]

I usually don’t repeat subjects, and I JUST reviewed the iPad2. But sometimes a marketing campaign can trod over the same raw nerve so many times before one has to spout off on it.

I don’t want to get off on a rant here but…

Apple’s overuse of the word “magical” when promoting the iPad just gets under my skin. Actually it annoys the poop out of me. Probably because it’s patently horseshit. It’s a piece of TECHNOLOGY, people, not the gorram Philosopher’s stone. We’re not a bunch of knuckle dragging homo habilis hominids howling and flinging rocks, sticks and poop at the frakkin’ monolith. Sometimes I wonder what Apple’s marketing people think of their audience. I do realize what they’re getting at, the idea of an information appliance so immediate and intuitive to use, that the actual interface disappears and you become immersed in just using the thing.

Yes, iPads are damn clever little machines. Actually, they’re right proper little slabs of electric crack, they’re so fun. Despite the absence of Flash, (and in all fairness, Flash ain’t working too well on competing Android tablets yet) I am still quite impressed with Apple’s technical (and marketing) achievement with the device. It is the user interface advances of iOS that does it, and beats down the scrambling competition. You just pick the thing up, you get it, and it just bloody works. Which if you’ve ever had to deal with computers for any length of time, Mac or PC, that feat alone is almost Nobel prize worthy. And seriously folks, this comparatively ancient Power Mac G5, with Gigabytes of RAM, an LCD display, Intuos tablet, internal RAID and Terabyte external drive is pretty frakkin’ Star Trek tech compared to the 48K Atari 800 I first mucked about with in the 80s…

And Yes, it’s been rightly proclaimed that Apple did not make iPads for Power users, guys like me, tho’ I still like the things. Nor did they build them for Tech Geeks, who heap piles of abuse on Apple for all the geeky thinks that the iPad is not, and trumpet the raw specs and “open” platform of the Android powered Competition. Geeky types actually seem to prefer their technology to be complex and challenging and glory in getting in there and tinkering and customizing their tech to their liking. But the general consensus out there is that the three significant players, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Motorola Xoom, and the still-in-the-pipe RIM Playbook, all have their issues. The majority of the rest are still so much vaporware or decidedly crappy knock offs..

But for the most part, everyday folk, and a surprising number of professional people (outside the computer tech fields), couldn’t care less about the deep specs or getting under the hood to tinker with the OS, or manually install pirate apps (or Pr0n). Like owning a fast Italian sports car, unless you’re, as the Top Gear lot might say, a “complete motorhead”, you don’t want to spend all day “mucking about under the bonnet.” You just want to get in and DRIVE. Drive FAST. And I might add, without the motor dropping out or needing to re-build the gearbox every random 2 to 200 miles.

My son quite rightfully points out that most people haven’t the faintest idea how a semiconducting transistor works. A lot of folks don’t even know what they are, nor need to. True enough. I’m something of a technologist, as necessary being a design professional in this digital age, and my knowledge of the physics and details semiconductor technology is sketchy. But I DO have an appropriate general knowledge of how my computer works, and I am well aware that’s it’s a piece of technology. I might not be able to build one from scratch, but I probably could assemble one. I certainly maintain the one I am writing this rant on.

The iPad is a piece of technology, advanced, arguably cutting edge, but still technology. All due respect to Arthur C Clarke’s famous axiom, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” it’s not a magical black box. We’ve been out of the trees and caves for a while now, and can even use fire and tools. I’ll thank the people at Apple to consider that we’re grown-up’s and live in a technological society and stop insulting my intelligence. No one should expect to open up an iPad and find leprechauns and unicorns drawing on the back of the screen with rainbow crayons.

That’s just my opinion, and frak ‘em if they think I’m wrong.

OK, got that out of my system. I expect to have more constructive things to say next time. B4nz41.

Oh. Apologies to Stanley Kubrik and Apple, but hey…

Apple iPad2 - in Black and White. Thinner. Lighter. Faster. FaceTime. Smart Covers. 10 Hour Battery. Original Image: Apple

Been A little while, I’ve been working, and that’s a good thing if you’re a self-employed designer. I also broke my ankle back in August while camping, so been recovering. So blogging a slightly lower priority lately, but here I am again.

I had occasion to be out and about and took the opportunity to visit my local Apple store and take a look at the just released iPad2 for my local Apple User Group. Just like it’s predecessor, it’s a very appealing little slab of electric crack. It’s also a more appealing experience than the original iPad. Apparently, a lot of people think so too, since Apple seems to have sold close to a million of the things in the first weekend of availability, selling out at most locations.

When Apple released the original iPad, they were diving out into uncharted territory. As of last year, no one had gotten a tablet computer out there that captured the public imagination till they completely redesigned the interface. Their success with the iPhone, turning the smartphone market in it’s side, suggested they were on to something. But it wasn’t till the first year of iPad, that the realized that they had something quite amazing on their hands. People are doing things with the iPad that Apple never expected.

View Apple’s iPad: Year One Video

Let’s get to some specific impressions.

It’s definitely sleeker and lighter. The reduced weight make holding the tablet one-handed more comfortable while I manipulated the interface with the other. And the removal of the side wall into the rounded back makes the interface surface seem less like an object and even more like a window into the interface. It also, with a new dual-core processor, feels faster and more responsive. I recall playing with the Google Maps application, the original iPad had problem with pulling down the map data while changing views, locations, zooming in and out and scrolling maps. The iPad2 performed  all of the above seamlessly. Videos in both the YouTube and in Mobile Safari played smoothly and cleanly. For those of you who want to know, the iPad2 comes with 512mb of RAM compared to the original’s 256mb.

“My friends, I’m telling you: just that much improvement in thinness, weight and speed transforms the experience. We’re not talking about a laptop or a TV, where you don’t notice its thickness while in use. This is a tablet. You are almost always holding it. Thin and light are unbelievably important for comfort and the overall delight. So are rounded edges, which the first iPad didn’t have.”
- David Pogue, NY Times Personal Tech.

Graphics Performance is greatly improved. I did tick at a game or two, and they run quite snappily. However a “special demo version” of Disney’s TRON Legacy game failed to load beyond the intro screens. Perhaps a glitch, bit still disappointing. On the other hand, Zen Sketch was a smooth delight to this amateur calligrapher.

I also looked at the new cameras, front and back, introduced with the iPad2. As many other reviews noted, they’re the same cameras that are on the iPod Touch, and not as good as the ones on the iPhone. What up? In fact, the rear cam produces quite decent 720p video, which looks better than the still taken with the same sensor. I will admit that mucking around in Photo Booth IS fun. When I dropped in to the photos application – I am resisting the urge to use the lingo “app” – the sample photo albums in the demo unit could not POSSIBLY have been made with the iPads cameras. And I think that is largely the point. The cameras are not intended as serious photography tools, and I think that most iPad owners will likely already have a mid-level to high-end Digital Camera, DSLR,  or an iPhone or smartphone with a quite good camera to provide a photo source to hook up to the Camera Connection Kit. The cams are there to provide casual snapshots, to give the iPad “eyes” for interactive apps, create decent video for the well received mobile version of iMovie, and to enable FaceTime video chat and calls. However, I think it’s likely that they’ll improve the cameras on the next version of the iPad.

As a web designer, I did notice that there were a lot of places where Flash Video didn’t work in Mobile Safari, but it was not too objectionable. The larger media sites were streaming some form of h.263/HTML5 video, but smaller sites often had holes. Including places in some of my sites, where clients insisted on Flash content. A couple of my sites degraded to the non-flash versions gracefully, others had holes. I know I’ll be hitting Google and the books to see about this. For the moment, it just means more work for the likes of me if my clients want rich online media, and want it to work on the rapidly growing Mobile Web. Most notable, just about EVERY inline audio solution generally available, whether it’s javascript, JQuery, or plain HTML & CSS3, uses a Flash player.

However, the amazing Apps ecosystem in iOS (40,000 plus for the iPad alone) sets the iPad and iPhone (over 300,000 apps ) apart from their Android counterparts, and makes the Flash Question a bit less of a shortcoming.

The Smart Cover is very spiffy, and very clever. “…an iPad 2 wearing a Smart Cover is considerably thinner than a naked original iPad.” - John Gruber, Daring Fireball. The covers clings to the iPad2 magnetically, and almost automatically, folds back to make either a typing stand or stand up the screen to view media. When closed, it sleeps the pad, and the iPad wakes instantly when peeled back. Until the third party case makers catch up, the Smart Cover is also largely the only game in town. The Apple Store had no other cases for the iPad2 in the shop. But I am sure there will be a flood of cases, and other accessories swiftly flooding the market before very long.

The iPad2 comes in the same wi-fi and 3G configurations and price points as the original, with the addition of white models. I prefer the black – the white seems to diminish the screen, while the black feels somehow… deeper. Just an impression. The original iPad is still available from Apple at mild discounts, in addition to refurbished models. After selling out, shipments have been easing back out to the Apple Stores and other outlets. But the shipping times for the online store have stretched to 4-5 weeks as of March 20. One other thought, due to the disaster in Japan, Apple may have some problems with availability of the more high tech parts of the iPad that are manufactured in Japan. But that will largely depend on how Apple has organized their supply chain.

Should you buy one? If you’ve been waiting for this version for your first pad, dive in. It’s a very worthy device. If you have an original iPad, the upgrade may be too incremental to drop $500 to $830 for, unless there is some specific feature you’re jonesing for, or shortcoming the upgrade address that’s making you insane. But I am with many reviewers out there that feel that a device of this caliber ought to be useful for more than a year. So next year’s iPad3 will likely offer a more impressive upgrade. Depends on your needs and gadget lust. However, if your in a household that’s fighting over the thing. It’s a nice excuse to get a new one, and pass your old model along and get the kids to leave you alone. My wife often gives me the sad eye whenever I take the Macbook Pro out on a client call or presentation.

Other tablets? If Flash is a deal-breaker for you, then there are a few other choices. The New York Times has a decent outline of the contenders you might actually be able to buy. The rest of the hundred or so announced at CES are still vaporware. The current leading contender, the Motorola Xoom, is on the expensive side. But the emerging competition should serve to keep Apple to continue to improve the iPad.

Changes at The Apple Store

Since I was in an Apple Store, I noticed a couple of things. The front counter is gone. And in most of the store you can purchase Apple gear right on the sales floor from an Apple Associate. IOS and mobile computing are absolutely the stars on Apple’s stage now. Over half the store was iOS devices, iPads, iPhones, iPod Touch. Then most of the rest was MacBooks. Other than Apple hardware, all the third party gear, peripherals,  books and software is now consigned to one section of shelving in the very back. On the other side of the quite busy Genius Bar, was another rear section with an elite selection of iPod, iPhone and iPad accessories.

There were a few iMacs along the side towards the back, and just ONE lonely Mac Pro, neglected in a corner, and it was an entry-level Xeon machine, not a more powerful Westmere Mac Pro. So it kind of shows where Apple’s attention is focused with the mall-walking audience. Note the qualifier. But if I want to look at pro gear, I’d have to haul downtown to TekServe. Just saying. But there are reasons that Pro users are feeling neglected by Apple.

But with the opening and growth of the online Mac App Store, on the same lines as the App Store, Apple is definitely leaning towards an all-digital software experience. And I do admit, that less and less of my software is coming shrink-wrapped in boxes. But for peripherals, printers, hard drives and other gear, especially pro gear, it’s still nice to be able actually look things over before slapping down the credit card. But we won’t be doing much of it at Apple stores, except for Apple kit.

Further Reading

iPad at Apple
iPad2 Features

Tablets, Compared. NY Times Interactive Feature

For a more geeky and in-depth review:
John Gruber on the iPad @ Daring Fireball

A more “regular-person” audience impression:
Appeal of iPad 2 Is a Matter of Emotions
David Pogue, NY Times Personal Tech

My Typical HALO:REACH experience. Photocomposite and Illustration: Kurt Griffirh. Source renderings: Bungie

This time around I am going to drift off my usual design focused view of the world of technology and creativity. Today I am going to talk about video games. Say what? Yes, this irascible and opinionated almost-an-old-timer is going to venture into a whole ‘nother geekdom. Not just the classic  stand-up and 8-bit arcade games that I grew up with, but the overheated world of console games. It may surprise some of you who read this blog to know, I don’t spend every waking moment behind this workstation. Well, I do spend rather a lot of my time here, both professionally and recreationally. Any design professional in the electronic age has also become by default a technologist. Computers are not only our working tools, but also our sources of information, research and resources. So I am here not only working, but studying, catching up with my mob on Facebook, reading webcomics, news–both tech and the rest of the world, and surfing for pleasure. Oh yeah, I also write a blog in my huge free time.There was also a recent thread on one of my Linkedin groups that heavily suggested that Design Pros cannot survive on print alone. We certainly can’t, other than Illustrators, work in traditional media and survive. Of course, if you draw or paint in physical media, your work will eventually be scanned and digitized for publication. I no longer even own a drafting table, (kind of miss it) and my T-square hangs in the closet.  But I am still working. The computer and the digital world is obviously here to stay, and evolving at breakneck speed.

But sometimes I actually DO get off the computer. I do a number of things out there in real life. And from time to time, I will even fire up my sons’ XBox and dive into some immersive amusement. The xBox wandered into the house due to some clever subterfuge of my two then teenage sons. My wife and I proclaimed that we would NOT subsidize a game console in our house. There were both financial and social considerations for our stand. So the two little monsters pooled their resources, and money doing odd jobs and chores and brought each other half an xBox 360 a few Christmas’s ago. I will not underestimate your gaming greed again, my young padawans. Still, they pay for their own games out of their own money. So I hold my piece and only bitch, and stash the controllers, when chores don’t get done. It’s still the family’s TV the thing is plugged into and MY fiber optic Internet service.

Along with the box, they went in with two of the larger hits of the period, Mass Effect, and HALO 3. The HALO series, developed by Bungie, is one of the most popular and considered one of the best FPS Game series of all time. FPS stands for First Person Shooter, a genre of game that came to people’s awareness probably with the venerable DOOM, and other classics such as Unreal Tournament and Duke Nukem.

I have to say that I rather like HALO very much. The “Halo” in question is a Ring-shaped space environment,  familiar to anyone who’s read any of Larry Niven’s Ringworld books. The scenario is a military science-fiction genre over-the-top space opera played out on an epic backdrop of an interstellar war with a multi-race alien axis called The Covenant, and a mutant plague of nazi bacteria cockroaches called The Flood. It’s frakking crazy, but done straight enough that you buy into the scenario. The world has been rich enough to spawn six games, a host of books, graphic novels, original anime releases, persistent rumors of a feature film, and a frankly awesome fan base that even produces their own videos, using the game’s own film recording features – a process known as Machinima. Say it “machine-ima” to get the basic idea. I kid you not. Check out machinima.com and Red vs Blue. More seriously crazy stuff, but fun and the fan love is obvious.

But the HALO world does not take itself so seriously to not stick it’s tongue in it’s cheek to give some nods to the fans over whole geekyness and space opera roots of it all. There is enough comic relief and geek appeal to take the edge off the violence and gravitas and keep the back of your brain aware, “yes, this is a game.” This is in marked contrast to the almost overstated gritty realism in the war-based titles like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor. I think the phrase I was groping for might just be, the games have just enough goofiness.

The Campaign part of the game is an achievement in and of itself. However the feature that has inspired the imagination and obsession of millions of gamers worldwide are the interactive online multiplayer modes. Multiplayer games operate on the XBoxLive service on Bungie’s servers, and there are literally hundred of thousands of players in thousands of games twenty four hours a day in ecstatic orgies of over-the-top cartoon carnage. Microsoft only recently forced the closing of the HALO 2 Multiplayer servers. But the HALO 3, HALO: ODST and HALO: REACH playlists are flourishing. There are both cooperative and competitive modes, but most of the obsession and bragging rights center around the team competition Slayer in it’s various flavors.

Concept Art for the HALO:REACH release. Art: Bungie

HALO:REACH, released in September of 2010, is the most recent iteration of the games, and expected to be Bungie’s final foray into the HALO world. The game scenario follows the Covenant Invasion and heroic defense and fall of the human colony planet Reach. This installment in the HALO saga takes the game to a high level of tuned gameplay and polish and brings the story line established in HALO: Combat Evolved, HALO 2, HALO 3 and HALO:ODST full circle. The Game scenario makes it pretty clear. The Campaign opens with cracked and ruined helmet left abandoned on a glassed-over landscape. The implication is clear, you’re going to die. The question remains, just how heroically? Turns out it’s a heck of a trip, through big damn hero time.

If you’re curious, two takes on the gaming world’s response to HALO:REACH turn up on the Escapist Magazine website. First are their more serious game reviews with video supplements, and the fast-talking and heavily opinionated — but seriously hilarious “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s Zero Punctuation cartoon editorials for a more, um, alternative viewpoint.

Now before any of you for a moment think any of this is trivial, the amount of money changing hands out there is formidable. Producing a hit game, on any console can cost as much or much more than a blockbuster film. Many of them are produced to cinema level standards of art direction and development. The credits on the HALO titles dwarf many films. New games usually drop at something like Sixty Dollars, so at four to five times the cost of a movie, it justifies some investment. A blockbuster game in the current age, can blow a major film’s revenue out of the water if it grabs players attention.

As a designer, I am a terrible graphics geek. I recall that I obsessed about the computer generated imagery in films like Tron and The Last Starfighter. On the computer side, gaming pushed desktop computers capability far harder than productivity applications. Remember that when computer geeks obsess over graphics cards, it’s not to run Photoshop or Roxio Media Creator, it’s to run games – and run them better and faster than the other frea– ah… gaming enthusiasts they are playing against.

When I fist set foot in Halo’s game world, I got killed a LOT. I was busy sightseeing. Seriously. The graphics love lavished on this game is jaw dropping. You suspend disbelief far beyond what the majority of crappy mainstream SF films could hope to achieve. Short of an immersive 3D virtual world, you are really there in the game environment. So I had a real bad tendency to get blown away by a Brute with a fuel rod cannon while I was geeking out over the scenery. But it’s still a lot of fun. The games sport difficulty levels ranging from easy, through normal, heroic and the brutally difficult legendary. The games are quite content to relentlessly kick your a55 till you figure out ways to muscle or finesse your way through.

Crazy-Ass action previewed in wallpaper art for HALO:REACH. Art: Bungie.

Now pardon me while I descend into a little l33t. That’s “leet” to you, like the back end of “elite”. A kind of patios developed by computer geeks and picked up by gamers and other digerati.

When it comes to the multiplayer experience on HALO, I am without apology, pretty much a n003.

That’s pronounced “nube” or “noob”, and it means “newbie” and often in a pejorative sense meaning “unskilled player.” I do know how to play the game, and I do have fun. But when it comes to playing with, and especially competing with, the vast mass of players, typically young males, it’s usually no contest. In multiplayer scenarios, I’ll have the least kills and least points in most games. My sons actually refuse to play with me anymore. Dud sucks. Dad’s a n00b.

But since I do actually work for a living, I’m not going to rack up the game hours. Remember spending the majority of my waking hours at this workstation actually producing things? Unlike my sons, I just don’t  spend enough time playing to really get sharp. And good luck at nearly fifty-one trying to match reflexes with the twitched out hyperactivity of a pack of thirteen year olds zonked out on Mountain Dew, Doritos and their own testosterone. No matter how much French Roast or Kenya AA I suck down, ain’t gonna happen. So consequently I get shot up, shot down, blown up, pummeled, headshot, plasmaed, grenaded, and generally massively pwned by kids young enough to be… well, my kids… quite a lot.

I do kind of wish there was a playlist for “Thirty-Five and Over Casual Gamers who work for a living”. It would be fun to round up a possie… um… Party and actually inflict major pwnage on a mob of my equally slow-moving and more thoughtful peers. But wishful thinking aside. The games are frakkin’ beautiful, and for SF adventure escapism, a LOT of fun.

The current Mac Pro update disappoints actual pro users. Image: Apple Computer

Apple recently released, after over a year in waiting, an update to their Mac Pro line of tower configuration computers. They introduced the Westmere line of the Xeon workstation processors and now a version with 12 computing cores is available. But for many Apple watchers, the update was a bit of a disappointment.

For openers, while Apple has been determinedly cutting edge on their new flagship mobile products, iPhones, iPads… were notably conservative on this update. New tech such as USB 3, Firewire 1600, Litghtbridge, or even established desirable standards as eSATA were skipped. Few expected Blu-Ray support, since Steve doesn’t like Blu-Ray. The video cards options offered by Apple are decent, but somewhat mediocre by contemporary standards. But all in all, commentary in the tech blogs has negative commentary edging out positive reviews. The general consensus seemed “meh,” with a lot of dissatisfaction centering on performance versus price issues compared to alternatives on the Windows and Linux side.

The machines are pricey.

“The upgraded desktop is available in three standard options: a quad-core 2.8GHz Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processor with 3GB of RAM for $2,499; an 8-core machine with two 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors and 6GB of RAM for $3,499; or a 12-core system with two 2.66GHz 6-core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors and 6GB of RAM for $4,999.” – Apple Insider

The pricing here is without display, so add anywhere from $799 to $1800 for Apple display. The upcoming 27” LCD display will be priced at $900 and replace both the existing 24” and 30” displays and will be glossy-only.

Much of the following is taken from my  grumpy comment at Engadget. I’ve taken the liberty of cleaning up some of the unpolished language and clarifying some remarks in this version.

First off, the disclaimers, I am a Design Pro, not an IT person, gamer or semi-pro geek tinkerer. So most if this is OPINION, not hyper scrutinized lists of facts. Bear with it. I am also not going to dis down anybody’s personal choice of hardware or OS preferences. Or debate fanboyism at any level. It’s been done already. To death. Seriously.

That said, as a Graphic and Web Designer, I’ve been a Mac user for many years. I’ll say that in the day, the Mac OS offered clear advantages over window and all non-graphical OSs. And also in the day Apple hardware also offered some unique qualities unavailable in the WinTel world. But that day is PASSED. The only reason anyone should chose Mac hardware or the Mac OS is personal preference.

When Apple was releasing G4 and G5 Towers, they were cutting edge machines at the absolute top end, and provided performance that was just not available at the desktop level elsewhere. But that is clearly no longer the case. Now that Macs and PCs are essentially the same guts under the hood, there are far less differentiating qualities. For the Mac Pro, while they may be shiny, spiffy, and fairly stout machines, they are NOT the ultimate computing machines Apple would have us believe. There are comparable workstation class machines available from HP, Levono, Acer, and even *gasp* … Dell at better price points. Yes, I looked. The current lineup just manages essential parity with Windows workstation-class machines out there, and offers downright mediocre graphics cards, which have become much more important components in modern computing.

It’s been pointed out by my geekier colleagues that more powerful configurations can of course be assembled from off the shelf components for leaner budgets if that’s your thing. Some of us do like to tinker in the garage. Some of us just want to say, “give me the keys, I’d rather drive.” It should go without saying, your mileage may vary.

Are the Mac Pros overpriced for the tech level offered? I may be a bit of an Apple loyalist and I still have to say, OH HELL YES. I will offer that the overall reliability, build quality and case design is superior, even if the internal components are decent but fairly standard. And yes, while Apple has evolved the case internals to a very refined level, it’s still a seven year old overall case design. It could absolutely use a refresh.

The galling point for us Design Pros, and I am talking about Publishing, Photography, Graphics and Web Design, is that Apple has tossed us to the curb YEARS ago to the tender mercies of Adobe. Go into an Apple store and good luck finding any serious pro gear, such as an tabloid size (11″ x 17″) printer or press quality scanner. Not for the likes of us. And we’ve been crying for a mid-range Mac for frakkin’ ages. The majority of us would probably be quite comfortable with the performance range of the 27″ i7 iMac in an expandable tower configuration. The price gap between the i7 iMac nicely appointed and the Base Mac Pro and Display is enough to buy a decent laptop and the Adobe CS5 upgrade. Which I might mention is a non-trivial sum. Adobe enjoys a near monopoly in the must-have graphics applications that design pros use such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash and Actobat, and charge us accordingly. The further fact that Apple has done away with all non-glossy screens except for the BTO MacBookPro, shows their disdain for Design pros over “oooohhh shiny,” which does look spiffier in the Apple Store lighting.

The present scene now is all about Apple’s current relentless pursuit of the “consuming” computer user… hence the iPods, iPhones, iPads and the like. I feel that Apple keeps the Mac Pro remains in the lineup merely to say that they have a high end machine for the very needful (climate modeling and 3D rendering anyone?) and quite affluent users. But the Mac Pro line is no longer the champion of the Apple universe, or does it seem to have much of Steve’s attention.

Since the current Adobe CS5 Applications requires an Intel multicore processor minimum, this will retire a LOT of still working G5 machines. As design has becomes a much more marginal profession in the current economy, I expect we’ll see a lot of “downgrade upgrades” to iMac, laptops and Windows machines as design pros look at their bottom lines and budgets.

I don’t think Steve will miss us much. We complain.

Links:
Mac Pro @ Apple
Engadget
Mac Rumors
Apple Insider
Adobe Creative Suite 5

This time, takin' on the wee beasties...

Sorry I haven’t posted in some time. The Studio has been very busy with work and my personal life collided with the business. My wife suffered a dislocated and fractured shoulder at the beginning of October. So I have been taking care of her and doing a lot of housework along with trying to well… work. So not a lot of time for writing blog items. But do have a little something for you.

In early-December I posted this in my personal blog…. And to complete the Tech Fail Trifecta [ joining the failed washing machine and water heater]… My faithful Canon printer started to funk out last night. It began to print thin pale streaks in nice neat precise 3mm stripes. UH oh. After the many cycles of cleaning and test prints, and then a 40 min ride with Canon’s tech support, pretty much convinced me the print head was probably hosed. And a replacement head costs near the cost of replacing the same class printer. So will take a shot at trying to fix it N1NJ4 style before I stick a crowbar in the wallet.

Anyway, for you Geek Squad trainees…

Here’s the test print… those stripey bits are supposed to be SOLID.

This is a bit of a Color Test Document from InDesign.
Shows the CMYK color formulas… yeech. BAD printer.

And from a PDF of the  same document, what it’s pretty
much supposed to look something like.

So… that’s My grumble for today. But if we don’t get hosed on the home repairs… maybe a opportunity to upgrade to a better printer…

I posted this item in our holiday note… “And now the office [Studio] printer is getting cranky and disobedient. Kurt has been hunting the web and ebay for parts, to make the technology fail trifecta…”

I ended up replacing the Printer Head in our aging Canon Pixma iP4000, the attempt to clean it proving to no avail. So for about $50 I replaced the print head in the beastie, delivering me from temptation to buy a new printer… like a 13 x 19″ PixmaPro 9000… And of course shortly thereafter, started getting the “Waste Ink Tank is Nearly Full” error… while printing Holiday Cards. So another dive into eBay for discontinued partz. Did score replacement ink absorber pads. Woot. Mind you the “waste ink tank” is actually a nest of SPONGES that comprise most of the base of the printer. When they’re saturated, they’re pretty much done.

About two weekends ago, took the beastie apart and had at it.

EWWWWWWWUUUCCCHHHHH… NASTY.

The amount of ink the nearly dozens of pads of various sizes absorbed was just plain INSANE. Thank the gods I had latex exam gloves on hand. But a couple of very geeky hours, MANY q-tips, and a pile of Newspaper, tissues and paper towels later, I essentially had a refurbished printer. Was worth the attempt, considering how past warranty this thing is. Interesting that the major wear points of the machine wore out practically all at once. They pretty much expect you to buy a new printer by then.  HP is probably the worst in this regard, followed by Epson. Those two are the worst for this sort of thing, but Canon is certainly not immune. I imagine Brother and Lexmark are similar.

So what the heck am I about with all this tech drama?

Over the past  decade the latest things for the home office/small business computer user are photo-realistic inkjet printers, largely supplanting laser printers in the home and small office. These wondrous devices print at resolutions and print quality that was at one time reserved for very large companies. As recently as ten years ago a high resolution color laser printer cost in excess of $5000, and often required separate computers or Raster Image Processors to run efficiently. The first inkjet printer I purchased for the studio, a mid-range Epson Stylus cost under $300. It’s replacement,  the above mentioned Canon Pixma iP4000 next to my working computer cost under $200, and it produces prints as good or better as the corporate behemoths.  It’s also obsolete; I can now get a similar class device for under $100. If I buy a new computer from the right vendor, Mac or PC, I can probably get one for free or nearly free.

Why are these manufacturers nearly giving these devices away? This becomes clearer when you have printed out a few hundred pages. These printers require regular feeding of Ink Cartridges. These tiny tanks of ink, two, four, seven or even eight or more at a time, can become very costly, especially if you print many pages. If you print at maximum resolution on ( also pricey) photo or glossy paper, you will run through even more ink. Lower-end printers are absolutely sold at a loss, knowing that you will be back for ink, again and again and again, at very comfortable margins. Furthermore, the specialized papers that give you the best looking prints are not inexpensive. These media costs can drive the cost per page surprisingly high. Before you snap up that bargain in Staples or Office Depot, carefully consider your current and future printing needs.

If you are spending a great deal of money running off short runs of color documents at FedEX/Kinko’s, you can certainly use an in-house printer. But if you are printing dozens of pages or more at a time, look at the current crop of business class Color Laser Printers, basic models can be had for hundreds, and their ink/toner consumption is much more cost effective. This can also be a good solution for short runs of multipage documents such as sales presentations. Low-cost inkjet printers are also tuned for attractive color for digital photos, but are not always appropriate for color proofing.

Bear in mind that inexpensive inkjets also seem to have iffy drivers. And for the lowest cost models, two or three changes of ink, will cost the value of the printer itself.  I particularly don’t like the single Tri-color cartridges. These will give you an out of ink error if only ONE of the three colors is low or out… even if you are trying to print in BLACK. I much prefer individual ink cartridges. And it further annoys me that when I have spec’ed 100 percent yellow in a CMYK document, and the printer uses CMYK ink, why are there flecks of cyan and magenta in the yellow? And that 50% gray, has dots of all four colors? Shiny pretty? Sure. Color proof? Get REAL. But I could seriously spin a whole ‘nother rant off that topic.

Anyway…

When you get into hundreds or thousands of copies, that is the time to consider commercial printing, with the additional benefit of the printer’s expertise, broad options and professional quality. With the penetration of Digital printing into copy and small print shops, short run color printing has become much more accessible and cost effective that ever before. The ability to send documents directly to print vendors online, and the capability of many applications to output PDF files directly makes this a much easier and straightforward process than ever. And the Mac,  since the introduction of Mac OS X, has the ability to create PDF files from any application that supports the Print function. Sweet.

I could go on, and bore the everlovin’ FRAK out of you, so I’ll save it and leave you with these. Which cover many of the points rattling about in my fevered brain a lot more entertainingly.

Enjoy. Actually, I was thinking more on the lines of – *Fist pump* “YEAH!”

The Oatmeal / Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell To Make Us Miserable
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers

YouTube: CollegeHumor Originals / Your Printer is a Brat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQGtucrJ8hM

Image size, Standard NTSC vs Broadcast 1080i High Definition Image source: RDP Video Productions

I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I’ve been busy. Being booked solid is a good thing for a freelancer. Being booked solid while having a number of real life issues… not as comfortable, but comes with the territory of home and family. Being booked solid and being paid somewhat indifferently. That is certainly… less good, but seems a function of the current uncertain economy. But that’s neither here nor there. I also promised a piece on data protection and backups and the like, but this is still fresh in the Studio. So hitting it while I can rant with good store of fierce.

A couple of months ago, one of my best and favorite clients approached me about a PowerPoint project that they were having some problems with. So I agreed to take a look at it. Some of the problems hinged on the destination of the presentation— a giant 40-inch plasma screen going into their freshly redesigned lobby. I did the specs on the actual LCD, and discovered that it’s native resolution was 1080i… yes, 1900 x 1080 pixels. Not huge by 300 dpi print standards. But HUMONGOUS at screen sizes. So I agreed to build the big graphics for the slides.

So far this is still straightforward. But was not destined to stay that way. The president of the company wanted some fairly upscale animation effects. And an animated title. So the project slipped into the Flash animation level. Recent versions of PowerPoint have the capability to display video on the slides, so I could export the Flash work to Quicktime or Flash Video files and embed them in the Flash Slides.

As things progressed. The client passed on another request. They want a scrolling type effect to run continuously at the bottom of the presentation, and have a picture-in-picture effect of CNN or something running in the bottom left corner of the screen.

This just became a Video Project.

Since it is going to an 1080i device, it has become a HIGH-DEFINITION Video Project.

To get this done, I have to get additional software. First off, the HD Version of iMovie. Then it was on to eBay to get a compatible–and discontinued (Power Mac G5) version of Final Cut Express that had the desired feature set. But that done I went back to work and built the project. A few rounds of drafts, corrections and tweaks I had a final version.

Whoops. No, I didn’t.

They were so happy with the overall look, they wanted not just their projects, but also their services and client testimonials, with differentiating graphics and more animation added.

Fine. Back to work and got the enhancements done. Of course this meant essentially a rewrite, rebuild and re-rendering of the video. The resulting product is not Pixar stuff by any means, but got the job done. Huzzah. The finished piece was just under 12 minutes long. Perfectly fine to keep a visitor in the lobby reasonably entertained and informed about my client’s company.

The Quicktime h.264 file was also nearly 8 GIGABYTES. Uh-Oh.

Logistics issues loom. The night before I was to leave for a family trip, (yes freelancers do try to get away once in a while) I attempted to upload the file to their servers. After a nearly five hour upload, the server hangs the connection at  87%. This is worse than just dropping. Most FTP server can resume a dropped or interrupted upload. But a hang is … “opps, I lost my mind there. So very sorry.”  You have to cancel or force quit the file transfer and START OVER. There were tears, but in my defense it WAS late at night and I was very tired.  In the end, I stuffed it onto a Dual layer DVD Disc and express mailed the file to the client from on the road. Families of freelancers are long suffering and tolerant. In other words, awesome.

But still no joy. For some reason,  support for Qucktime Hi-Def on Windows, is at best grudgingly enabled by Microsoft. Sometimes works. Sometimes… THIS time, doesn’t. Could not play the file. Some of you have no doubt seen Windows Media, and Flash Video. Neither is ready for HD prime time either.

They want a “regular” DVD.

Okay. So we’ll make a DVD. Supposed to be easy, right? “Burn your own DVD Video’s!” all the software and computer flacks scream in an orgy of self-congratulatory marketing. There is a very healthy market for software that enables users to create and produce and add soundtracks and otherwise slice, dice and cuisinart their home (and amateur work ) camcorder and DVR video. And another busy market to rip, archive, burn and spit out CDs and DVDs. But the marriage is not all THAT happy.  With so many variables in the process, there are plenty of places in the chain for things to go wrong.

When I dived back into iMovie HD, I discovered that there was NO HD Disc-Burning option, and iDVD did not support HD. The Disc created there was “kind of” Higher-definition standard Def., or about 720 Pixels tall. Looked like CRAP on the 40’ display. And they even looked crappy on our perfectly ordinary 24” television. Obviously NOT the answer.

In the process, burned a LOT of coasters. More on this later.

So it was back to the software store to get the most current update to Roxio’s Toast software package with an Blu-ray HD Option. [Roxio Toast 10 Pro]  Since a blu-ray BURNER would be an expensive upgrade to my gear, I was also attracted by the option to burn HD-DVDs. This was Blu-Ray formatted HD content that would fit on a standard size DVD-R, up to about 30 min. of content in the smaller data space. So far so good.

After a few more coasters, had a disc. Which refused to play on the client’s player. Different discs – tried both +R and -R discs, both unsuccessful. I got a hold of the Sharp Aquos tech specs and discovered that almost NO recordables were compatible with the player. And further research revealed that recordables have VERY poor playback success on Blu-Ray players. The format is just too intricate and finicky and the tech is just too new. I heard from a friend that when her brother purchased a wide screen at Best Buy, the sales person advised him AGAINST the Blu-ray player option, as they were getting lots of complaints about Blu-ray DVD not playing consistently. He said to wait a year or so till the standard settled down.

Steve Jobs in 2008 called the Blu-ray format a “Bag of Hurt” when questioned about Bru-ray support in Mac OS X. and on that year’s versions of Apple Laptops. Apple’s approach has been to embrace streaming video delivered via the internet, specifically content via iTunes and have de-emphasized HD video DVD playback and burn support on the Mac. But times, and consumer tastes will eventually prevail.

And according to the Wikipedia summary of the format, that is part of the problem:

“the idea of using inexpensive DVD media became popular among individual users. A lower-capacity version of this format that uses single-layer 4.5GB DVD discs has been unofficially called BD5. Both formats (BD9 and BD5) are being used by individual users for recording high definition content onto recordable DVD media.[112][113]

Despite that BD9 format has been adopted as part of the BD-ROM basic format, none of existing Blu-Ray player models supports it explicitly. As such, the discs recorded in BD9 and BD5 formats are not guaranteed to be played on standard Blu-Ray Disc players” — Wikipedia-Blu-Ray Disc

As it stands, typically NOT.

Furthermore, I’ve discovered that not all recordable media are created equal. A lot of users have had real problems with Memorex DVD Media. I have a stack of coasters to attest to that. The cost or brand of recordable media seem to have little to do with quality of the discs.

So at this point I am throwing up the hands, and like a professional that I am, sought the help of other pros. I started looking into Video Production Houses in my region to see about having my finished content authored into something playable on my client’s gear.

The trip was not over. One company’s web site looked promising, but after browsing I could find NO PHONE NUMBER, NO ADDRESS, NO E-MAIL ADDRESS or even a contact page. Well, what the FRAK is up with that? I was able to look them up with Google… but if they don’t want to be contacted. Fine with Me. And this could be a whole separate (less polite) rant.

Two other outfits that were quite sympathetic to my situation actually had to turn down my project. Blu-ray was too new, too finicky, and they just didn’t have the gear and the capability. One Helpful Local Outfit looked at my material was able to refer me to the Big Important Video Producer that could assist me.

Which was how I got an inkling of how difficult a format Blu-ray was. To create – encode and author a single disc would cost in the hundreds of dollars. Additional discs need to be individually encoded, over a hundred dollars EACH. Which may be one reason why the Studios chose Blu-Ray over HD-DVD – very difficult to duplicate.

After all this, the client and I agreed that the way to do it would be to connect a PC to the big lobby screen and run the Digital version of the video to the screen.

So while this digital drama plays out, and I wait to get paid, some observations. Amazing things have happened in the world of Digital Video, but we’re obviously not there yet. Eventually, the big tech players, The studios, gear manufacturers, computer makers and software developers will stop trying to STAB each other and get around the big table and decide what’s going to be what with Blu-ray. Equipment and software will become more capable and grow more affordable. Media compatibility hopefully will improve. As HD  content, and consumer acceptance, gains traction, the demand for the ability to create and deliver HD content on the Personal Computer will only grow. And the tech companies will surely respond. At the end of the day, they can usually be relied on to try and follow the money.

Sometimes that works out for both content creators and consumers.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Blu-Ray Disc Format
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/steve-jobs-calls-blu-ray-a-bag-of-hurt/
http://theappleblog.com/2009/08/04/will-apple-ever-support-blu-ray/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray
http://apcmag.com/analysis_no_bluray_on_macs_and_nobody_cares.htm

Video Production Houses
Ascent Media
RDP Video Producti0ons

Roxio Toast

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/default.html

Apple Video Applications
www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/
www.apple.com/ilife/idvd/
www.apple.com/finalcutexpress

Sharp AQUOS
www.sharpusa.com/ForHome/HomeEntertainment/LCDTVs.aspx
www.sharpusa.com/ForHome/HomeEntertainment/BluRayDisc.aspx

Ancient graphic design tool. An X-Acto knife. Grab THIS end.

I had alluded to this subject in my earlier post about Adobe Creative Suite.  I did get a bit rantish about it. So I decided that I might clarify where I was coming from this time around. Now for a little background, I entered the field in 1980, yes that would be B.C. — Before Computers.  Moving right along, If someone had told me in 1989 that in a few years I would be replacing 90% of my professional tools every three to five years, I would have looked at them like they were out of their minds. Seriously, I made it a point to buy good quality pro gear and took good care of it. I had a steel t-square that I would be able to leave to my grandchildren, nearly indestructible. I had a lovely oak drafting table. A sweet little Badger airbrush and compressor. Red Sable brushes. A set of very slick and pampered technical pens. And seriously, a drafting instrument set I actually inherited from my grandfather.

Then “Desktop Publishing” happened.

The advent of the Apple Macintosh Computer, PostScript, PageMaker software, and the LaserWriter II printer changed everything. Forever. That was a weird time, when many companies tried to jettison their Agencies, Design Studios and Art Directors for low paid operators with Mac SEs. But after a few years, they decided that they needed people who actually knew some Design Principles operating the computers. So a lot of us went back to school, helloooo Continuing Ed., to learn more about this “Computer Stuff. ” A lot of good and talented people gave up and left the field, and some of us made the transition and picked up the mice, wondering, “what the f**k is this?”…

That’s the short version, this is a blog after all. So fast forward to the contemporary age, virtually ALL design, graphics and publishing, is now carried out digitally.  I have not used that T-square for anything except mat cutting in something like seven years, and I no longer even own a drafting table.  (Kinda miss it.. ) But unless you are using a computer, not only aren’t you competitive, you’re not even working. And furthermore, if you use traditional media, you’ll have to bring your work to someone with a computer to have it digitized.  The last holdouts being illustration on traditional media, and this artwork is now certainly scanned and digitized before going on press anywhere.

By 1996, advances in the technology, notably Photoshop 2.5 with CMYK capabilities, and ZIP drives storing 50 Megabytes in an easily mailable format, allowed me to create an 100% digital poster project with a digital illustration and electronic  layout, the only traditional component being the original pencil sketch. Not only that, it was done with an impossible turnaround flatly impossible with traditional media. The digital world had arrived and I was convinced.

Not to mention the online world, what they once called “New Media”. The Internet wasn’t even a gleam on the general public’s horizon in 1990, but in 1993, the Mosaic web browser was released, followed by Netscape Navigator in 1996, then summarily hammered by Internet Exploder Explorer by 1998. By that time, the World Wide Web dominated our consciousness, and this realm  of course, is 100% electric, pure digital data. Just like every word you are reading.

So you purchase a computer.

You’ll need a decent one, Mac or Window’s PC with lots of RAM and storage. Not the $295 entry level special at Staples. You’ll need a press quality scanner, and a not a bottom-end printer. You’ll  probably need an external hard drive or two.  If you like your wrists, and don’t care to draw with a bar of soap, add a graphics tablet. Maybe add a digital camera. And you’ll need stacks of DVDs to back up and archive the piles of data you’ll be generating. So you’re in to the tune of about $5000 or more.

We’re not done yet.

Next you have to have professional-class design and graphics software.  That usually means, surprise–the Adobe Creative Suite. The heavies. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat. Possibly Quark Xpress, if you be kickin’ it “old-school”. If you do web design work, you also might be using Dreamweaver, and you are going to be asked to do Flash.  You will also need Microsoft Office, to interact with teh biznezz pepulz. You may prefer to work with the open source Open Office, or iWork.. but you need to DEAL with MS Office. Period. The end. You’ll need FONTS, lots of ‘em unless you really like Papyrus and Comic Sans. And you’ll need some System Maintenance stuff. And if you’re on the PC side, you need a RAFT of security stuff to keep the ick and nasty off your hard drive. So let’s say getting up towards another $5000. Oh, don’t forget the cost of the high speed internet connection.

After you buy that mid-range to high-end computer and load of pro-class software.  In about six months, you’ll have to upgrade something. Over time you’ll have to upgrade just about all of it. Then the next upgrade won’t run on your now-three to five year old once-spiffy, but now ancient, machine, and then it’s time for the next computer. And so the cycle starts again—new computer, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, new computer, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, new computer…  And just a for instance, the very word processor I am using to type this, Appleworks, is an obsolete, dead product, no longer offered by Apple.  It will not even run on my next computer. But when the time comes, Adobe Creative Suite 4, a must-have, with all my core apps, will.

I set up my original studio in the 80’s for about $2000, and from time to time picked up additional pro gear as needed. Most of my expenses were for media.  Paper, ink, board, paint, subway fare, that sort of thing. But now, it’s around $5000-$10,000 just to get set up. And that’s  still sitting the thing on the box it shipped in, and putting your own ass on a milk crate. IKEA is your friend. The fun part? You can get used to the idea that you’ll drop that 5 to 10K every three to five years, through your career, if you’re a working Designer and want to have your own gear. So instead of making a capital investment once, you will be buying virtually all your gear over and over, again and again. Welcome to the Information Age.

I have an old T-square hanging in my hall closet. It’s getting dusty.  And while I don’t need them as much in the digital age, I still want me some nice flat files. And you know what? Those damn things will still cost you through your butt!

That much hasn’t changed.