Goofy Stuff

How to Improve the Netflix TV Interface

I've had a Netflix streaming-only plan for a couple months now, and I have to say it's well worth the $8 a month. You should get it. That said, I think they could dramatically improve the browsing experience on a HTPC (or Boxee Box) by making a couple of simple tweaks to their incredibly granular database structure. Here's how:

Rethink the "Instant Queue": to me, my queue should be stuff that's on my short list to see. The problem with the queue in its current form is that for me it has become a collection of stuff I want to be able to access relatively quickly. Netflix needs another grouping, which I will call a "library" for lack of a better term. Your library is stuff that matters to you. It's what important. It's what you want quick access to at all times. Most of the time for me, that is stuff I've already seen or am in the process of watching (long documentaries, etc.). This should be distinct from my queue, which is interesting stuff I want to check out, but may not know a lot about. That way if I am in the mood for Bloodsport one day, I don't have to search through all of Netflix to find it - just my library. "Brick no hit back", baby.
Separate TV from Movies: right now, all user defined sorting on Netflix groups TV and movies together. Maybe it's just because I'm so used to using XBMC, but to me, those two things should be housed in different places. Mixing everything up confuses my simple brain. TV here, movies there.
Fix TV Show Organization: having a different database entry for every season of every show is a major annoyance. Right now I have 7 "No Reservations" entries on my queue - one for each season. This should be easy to clean up and consolidate into one entry (show -> season -> episode)

There you have it. Shouldn't be too difficult, right? Hey, being able to find "steamy, foreign, romantic comedies" on Netflix.com is great and all, but they need to realize that the PC and TV are two distinct environments and what works on the computer doesn't always translate great to the TV interface.

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Getting old...Making Plans

I'm feeling nostalgic tonight, so forgive me.

Once you reach a certain age, getting old isn't easy. I turned 30 this week and it is hitting me hard. Since I was in junior high school, I feel like my life has been a continual procession of goals, tests, accomplishments, and the occasional failure. Each challenge served a purpose - namely to move to the "next level" in life. I've always had a fear of being a failure in life, ever since I was a kid. It's weird, I know. When I was 12, I was worrying about stuff a lot of 40 year olds don't worry about.

So I started working. "B's" in school were unacceptable. A "B" meant failure. A "B" in middle school meant it was less likely I would be ready for AP classes in high school. If I didn't take and do well in AP classes in high school, it was unlikely I'd get in to a top flight college. Can you imagine? I was already thinking about what college I'd go to when I was 13.

I got one "B" in high school in AP Calculus (at that point I had already gotten in to college, so I allowed myself this extravagance). College brought more pressure. I quickly learned that the occasional "B" may need to be tolerated, but I convinced myself that without a Latin phrase following the words "graduated from the University of Notre Dame" on my resume, I was toast in the job market.

Upon graduating, I began to think that a college degree isn't what it used to be, and I needed more ways to differentiate myself. Graduate school was the answer to that. I got a Masters Degree in accountancy with a focus in taxation. Can you believe that? What was I thinking. Do you know how boring taxes are? It was insane. But I had a job locked up, so no matter.

The problem with tax jobs is that they're boring and very arduous. If you do the math, your time works out to be about minimum wage working at Burger King. So I decided to get into the investment business because it was more interesting and paid better. I needed a way to distinguish myself, so I enrolled in the CFA program.

I won't get into the details of what this means. If you're unfamiliar, I'll just say it's extremely difficult and sucks up about 1,000 hours of your life (if you're in the lucky 10% of people who pass all three tests consecutively - otherwise it's more). You don't see your wife. You study 3-4 hours a day on top of normal work for about 6 months a year for 3 years (again, if you're lucky), and you generally hate life.

So where am I now? I eventually passed all these silly tests I forced on myself. I'm a CFA charterholder, a double graduate of one of the finest institutions of higher learning in this country, a holder of a perfect high school GPA, and a prodigious life planner since the age of 12. I'm out of tests. But you know what? None of that crap matters.

Because now I'm 30, and it's hit me harder than ever that life is what happens when you're making other plans. It's not what you accomplish for yourself, but what impact you have on those around you. In general, the impetus all of these goals, work, accomplishments, and failures has been selfish ambition. I've been trying to get ahead. Trying to beat the other guy. It's tiring.

It makes me feel like I've wasted some time.

At the precipice of parenthood, I have great hopes for my daughter. I hope to see her do amazing things in her life, but I don't want her to do them solely for herself. More than anything, I want to see her serve God and those around her.

That would make me quite proud. I just hope she figures it out before she's 30.

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My Photo Management Process (Part III - Gratuitous What's in My Bag Post)

Finally, the long awaited "what's in my bag" post. I've always wanted to do this. You read these things online all the time, and finally I get to do one. Don't know what took me so long.

Rather than try to number every single item, I've grouped my stuff into 7 zones of like things. So let's get started.

Zone 1: The bags themselves

On the right is the primary bag I've been using for the past couple years, a Kata Sensitivity V. It's a great little backpack style bag that has a netbook compartment in the back. Most of the stuff in this picture fits in there at once, and it's very compact. Whenever I'm going on a long trip, this is the bag I take as my carry on with my camera gear inside, many times with the netbook too.

The bag on the left I just got two days ago for my birthday (note tag still on it). It's a Tamrac Rally V. This is a messenger style bag that still has a slot for a netbook or iPad. I tested it out, and I can fit my camera, all three lenses, and flash in this thing along with my netbook. The purpose of this bag will be for short walks when I'm not travelling long distances. I wanted something I could open, remove my camera from, and close without having to take the bag off my body. I think this fits the bill great.

Zone 2: My babies

The camera and lenses. The place all the magic happens.

Furthest to the left, you have the Nikon 16-35 f/4.0. I used this thing a ton in Ecuador as a wide angle on my full frame body. Great performance, solid build quality, and very usable range. You can even get some nice portraits with it stopped down.

Next we have the Nikon 85 f/1.8. I decided to save like $800 by sticking with the 1.8 instead of moving up to the 1.4 "cream machine". I've been very happy with my decision, as this thing takes great portraits.

Attached to the camera is the Nikon 50 f/1.8 that I've had forever. Everyone should have one of things. Versatile, sharp, and cheap. Best bang for your buck out there. Just get one and ask questions later.

The camera itself is a full frame sensor Nikon D700. It's awesome. That's all I have to say about that.

Zone 3: Cleaning stuff

Nothing too exciting here. Lens pen brush is on the far left, followed by some Eclipse cleaning solution (can't take that stuff on a plane though...big no no!). Then I have some Pec Pads I keep in a baggie, a sensor cleaning wand, a couple of microfiber cloths, and a mini Giotto's rocket blower. I also have a big rocket blower, but wanted the litte one to keep in my bag to save some space.

Zone 4: Support

This was my big purchase this summer. At the top is my Acratech Ultimate carbon fiber ball head. Awesome. My tripod is a Feisol CT-3402, which is a great value relative to more expensive Gitzo or Really Right Stuff legs. On the right is the extension column for the tripod. The legs and head together only weigh something like 3.5 pounds, so it's a great system for travel and provides very solid support for my camera.

Zone 5: Non-photo stuff

iPod nano, micro USB cable, AC adapter, Kindle, pen, pencil, and copy of my passport. These things go with me wherever. Also, not pictured is ear plugs. I ALWAYS take ear plugs when I travel. Must have. Can't believe I forgot to include them in the picture.

Zone 6: Lighting

My flash is the now defunct but still much sought after Nikon SB-800. Great flash, but I'm by no means a lighting expert. Check out strobist.com if you really want to blow your hair back on that subject.

To the right of the flash are a set of Cactus triggers. These things fire the flash when it's not attached to the camera (again, see strobist.com). You can pick these up for like $35 on eBay. Nice item.

Next row down are some flash gels and the flash stand that came with the flash. Nothing too exciting.

Finally we have a super clamp with flash umbrella holder attached. You can use the super clamp to attach your flash to anything to get it off camera (door jam, table, countertop, etc.). The umbrella holder comes off and attaches to a light stand I also have (not pictured). Flash stuff.

Zone 7: Camera accessories

At the very top is also a new item - a set of Kenko extension tubes. Effectively these allow you to focus much more closely to an object that otherwise allowable by a lens itself. This is a (relatively) cheap way of getting into macro style photography. I figured I'll try my hand and macro with way instead of buying a dedicated macro lens for $800 (the Nikon 105 Micro). I'll keep you posted.

Just to the right of the tubes is my green hotshoe bubble level. This slides into the hotshoe, and provides a handy little level for tripod work. Well worth $3.

Below the tubes on the left is a Vivitar wireless shutter release. The D700 doesn't work with the awesome ML-L3, unfortunately, so this is my recourse. Fires the camera from afar!

Next a set of allen wrenches for the tripod stuff, some extra batteries for the flash, and an extra camera battery. I can usually get around 500-600 shots on a battery charge with the D700, so on longer trips I need the extra battery.

Below that stuff you'll see extra memory cards (D700 takes compact flash). It's always good to keep 4 or 5 of these things in your bag. Don't keep all your eggs in one basket, if you know what I mean. Finally, the camera battery charger.

So that's it! That's most of my stuff. Like I said, most of this goes with me on a longer trip other than some of the lighting stuff and heavier items. Any questions?

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@carrjar: My Simple Photography Lesson

A buddy of mine just asked me on Twitter if there was one simple thing I learned about photography at some point that made a big impact on how I take pictures. That's too tough a question to respond to in Twitter, so I thought I'd post here.

Here's what I would say: immerse yourself in it. To me, the process of learning to make images has not been unlike learning a foreign language. I've studied Spanish for over 15 years at this point, but learning a foreign language is no easy feat. This is particularly true in the U.S. where few people speak a second language regularly. I found that I was so passionate at getting better, that I tried to put myself in situations where I'd be around it. I'd read Spanish books and news papers. I'd watch Spanish movies. I'd listen to Spanish radio. I studied abroad in Spain and lived with a family who spoke no English. As I walk around, I note how you say the things I see in Spanish. As I have conversations with people, I sometimes translate in my head how I'd say what I just said in Spanish. I even dream in Spanish on occasion.

As I've become more passionate about photography, I've found myself doing similar things. I hang out on Flickr and SmugMug to get inspired by what others are doing with their cameras. As I walk around during the day, I try and notice things that would make great images. I visualize the final product of every image I shoot. I try and think how a "normal" person would shoot a scene, and do something differently. I play around with cool Lightroom filters. I try and take a lot of pictures. I try and think photography as much as possible.

There are all sorts of great technical things to learn about photography (aperture/shutter speed/ISO relationship, spot/centered/matrix metering, bracketing, focusing, exposure compensation, the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, blah, blah blah). I think the most important thing is to just do it as much as you can. Heck, with digital, it doesn't cost you anything. My struggle is that other responsibilities and distractions take away from it. You have to make a commitment.

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SmugMug to Posterous

SmugMug made some changes to their social capability this week, so this post is more of a test than anything else. You can now share SmugMug pictures to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Posterous, and WordPress pretty easily. As I've said in the past, I'm a big fan of SmugMug. Check it out!

This shot was taken at the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, SC. Very cool place to walk around and relax if you're in to that sort of thing.

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A Note on Mozy and Online Backup

For the past two years or so, I've used Mozy to back up my home computer. During that time, I've paid Mozy $5 a month, or a total of around $120 to back up all my data. It was a good deal. You see, Mozy grew their business by promoting "unlimited" back up for very reasonable prices. Unfortunately, this week Mozy announced that they were killing their unlimited plans due to the increasing costs to store all this stuff. Their argument is that the average user is requiring more and more space as digital needs are growing, and it simply costs more than they can afford to offer unlimited plans.

The problem for me is that I found out about this change from Thomas Hawk on Twitter. As of today, I still have received no official correspondence from Mozy regarding the change. That bugs me big time. I've been a paying customer for a good amount of time. They told me via Twitter that emails began rolling out a couple days ago, but I still haven't received one. As Thomas Hawk points out, this feels a bit like a bait and switch. The lack of communication from Mozy is just an added slap in the face.

So what now? Well, I've moved over to Crashplan, which so far I love. Their software is much more intuitive than Mozy's and they offer some additional backup options that Mozy does not. Most importantly, they offer an unlimited back up plan for $50 a year. They were running a "Mozy discount" this week to take an additional 15% off, so I ended up paying $42 for a year. We'll see how it goes, but initial outlook appears favorable.

As always, remember to backup, kids. You never know when a fire, theft, or other disaster might strike. The most important thing to me, my photos, are backed up twice on my home server and once on Crashplan, meaning I have four copies of the data. Hopefully that's safe enough!

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My Photo Management Process (Part II - My Software)

In Part I of this series, I described the sites I use to post photos on the web. Here I'd like to do a brief overview of software and what works best for me. First, a couple important ground rules: I'm not a Mac guy. I've never used Aperture or iPhoto, so all of you Apple fanboys can save your whining about those two programs. I'm sure they're great and work well for a lot of people, but I have zero experience with them and therefore can't comment. Second, when I talk software, I'm talking complete workflow management (import, organization, editing, and publishing). For me and thousands of other photographers, this all encompassing photography software solution begins and ends with one name - Adobe Lightroom.

Instead of giving a long expose on everything Lightroom does, let me give you some quick bullets on what it can do that I find the most important. I'll follow up in a later post with my actual Lightroom workflow and setup.

Simple import and metadata wrangling
Incredibly deep cataloging and organization (labels, ratings, flags, keywords, catalogs, smart catalogs, etc.)
Non-destructive editing
Quick batch processing and templates
Complete RAW compatibility
Seamless publishing plugins for major web photo sharing sites (Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug, Picasa, etc.)
An affordable price of $200

Now, a quick note on the grandaddy of photo editing tools, Photoshop. Photoshop is an incredibly powerful program that in my opinion is more useful to graphic designers and the like than anyone. For 99% of the editing I do, I use Lightroom alone. Photoshop does offer much more flexibilty in terms of layers, etc., but the vast majority of Photoshop goes unused by most photographers that use it. Additionally, I much prefer the organizational capabilities of Lightroom to the Bridge/Photoshop combination. Any time I can use one piece of software instead of two, I go for it.

The point is, Lightroom is designed specifically for photographers, where as Photoshop tries to be all things to all people. I can import, catalog, edit, and publish a batch of 500 photos in Lightroom in a tenth of the time that it would take me in Photoshop. It's a much more efficient and enjoyable procedure. For those occasional photos that require a little more attention, you can easily edit in Photoshop and bring back into Lightroom. But in all honesty, those situations are increasingly rare for many people.

If you're halfway serious about photography, I highly recommend Lightroom. A good free alternative is Google Picassa for good organization and very simple editing. The face recognition for organization is an amazing (and mildly creepy) piece of technology.

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My Photo Management Process (Part I - Web Sharing)

The more I share my photography with people, the more I find they're curious as to exactly how I manage the process. The great thing about photography as a hobby is that you can make it as simple or complicated as you like. Based of what I've read and seen on the internet, I fall somewhere in the middle. That being said, my process is likely more intense than average.

I thought I'd share a bit what and how I do things in the unlikely event that anyone is interested, and I'm going to break it up into a couple different parts (how many, I don't know...I'm winging this, people).

So, friends, let's start at the end -- web publishing. This is, after all, the final product that most people see. That is to say, where and how I post my photos publicly. After some back and forth over the years on how and what to do, I think I've finally settled on a few things. My main goals in sharing my content are as follows:

1) Make sure the people I care about see my stuff

2) Make sure my stuff is displayed as beautifully as possible

3) Make sure my stuff is accessible to other programs/sites via APIs.

So here's how I accomplish that:

Facebook

Facebook accomplishes goal number #1, mainly because for better or worse, everyone is on Facebook. If I want to be sure my friends and family see my photography, I have to post to Facebook. RSS never took off in the mainstream, as evidenced by the readers currently asking themselves what "RSS" is, and it's too much to rely on people to consistently go out to an external site to see your photos.

So I post to Facebook. I don't particularly like Facebook as a photo sharing site, but the fact remains that it's the largest photo sharing site in the world and you have to play by their rules to some extent. Photos don't look great on Facebook, but that's not the point here. The point is to share and be seen. Typically I share more images on Facebook that I consider to be "lower quality" than I do on other, more public sites.

SmugMug (My SmugMug here)

The company tagline is "Your photos look better here", and in my experience, that's true. Photos look awesome on SmugMug. Goal #2 accomplished. SmugMug is geared towards professional photographers who demand high quality imagery, and they succeed in meeting those demands in my opinion. The downside of SmugMug is that what it gains in image quality, it loses in social. SmugMug has open APIs, but it doesn't have the community aspects of either Flickr or Facebook. Also, SmugMug offers no free version of the service. Typically I am much more selective about the photos I post to SmugMug. I consider this a place for people to see who you are as a photographer, so I try not to clutter it with dozens of pictures of my dog.

Flickr (My Flickr here)

Like many other photographers (and snapshooters) around the world, I've used Flickr for many years. I think the service falls somewhere in the middle of Facebook and SmugMug. Photos look much better than they do on Facebook, and the social and community aspects are superior to those on SmugMug. Flickr's APIs are easily accessible by third parties, so it's a great way to view your photos in different ways (e.g., Boxee, XBMC, etc.). Some photographers bemoan Flickr's sometimes draconian user policies, but generally agree that Flickr offers the best photography community on the net.

This may seem like a lot to manage, but with the help of Adobe Lightroom, it's really no that onerous. I'll cover Lightroom in a later post. One technical note that I wanted to mention pertains to restrictions on resolution. Facebook does now offer slightly higher resolution uploading than it previously did, bu it's still not on par with Flickr (20MB limit) or SmugMug (don't believe there is a limit, though I'm not sure). While many photographers balk at uploading at full resolution for fear of theft, I frankly don't consider myself a worthy victim of such a crime and always upload at the highest resolution possible.

Alternatives

So there you have it. Now, you may be saying to yourself, "this is way overkill, bro". That's fine. I agree. For many it is overkill. If you're looking for a simple way to share some family snapshots with friends and family, but don't really trust Mark Zuckerberg, I recommend Google's free Picasa system. It includes a great desktop app for organization and light editing, as well as online sharing via Picasa web albums.

And please do me a favor and spare the world sharing a photo link from SnapFish or Kodak Web galleries. This is almost as bad as using an AOL email address or Mapquest for directions. Every time you do it, a kitten dies.

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Out on the Town

I got a new camera! But, I will talk more about that later. For now, I went to downtown Skippack tonight to walk around and take some pics since the wife was home watching girl movies with a friend. This was much more fun for me. Enjoy!

(download)

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Thoughts on the Kindle

About three weeks ago I purchased an Amazon Kindle. Before I did so, a coworker told me not to "waste my money" and instead "save [my] money and buy an iPad". Here's the thing: I didn't want an iPad. An iPad is a jack-of-all-trades device meant to do several things well for a lot of money. I wanted a device meant to do one thing superbly for a (relatively) small amount of money. I ended up with a device that is a tremendous e-reader for $189 - the Kindle.

Here's what I love:

It's cheap. With the new wireless-only Kindle coming out in a couple weeks, you'll be able to get one for $140. That's less than I paid for a 4GB iPod a couple years ago. Kindle books, on average, are also cheaper than their printed counterparts.
It's small. The thing is the width of a pencil. You can take it anywhere and it won't break your back.
It's crisp. The Kindle is a joy to read on. The e-ink screen is crystal clear, and the new version is supposed to be 50% sharper. You can read it outside in direct sunlight, which is perfect for the beach if you're in to that sort of thing.
It's easy. The content delivery system and device management on the Kindle are a breeze and extremely convenient.
It's smart. Have you ever been reading a book and encountered a word whose meaning is completely lost on you? Assuming you're reading something other than Twilight, Kindle has a built in dictionary. Just move your cursor next to the word, and you get an instant definition.
It's convenient. I read a lot of stuff for work. Historically I've always printed this stuff out on actual paper and dragged it around with me. Now I convert my PDFs to Kindle format (although you can read PDFs natively), and throw them on my kindle. Now I can read letters, papers, articles, etc. on my Kindle instead of having a bunch of papers floating around. I hate paper.

Here's what I don't:

It's clumsy. The user interface isn't entirely easy to use. The joystick navigation just feels old compared to modern touchscreen devices. Upon holding a Kindle, a new user immediately tries to touch the screen. That doesn't get you anywhere. That's the trade off for the e-ink screen though.
It's finicky. Image-laden PDFs don't convert great. A lot of the stuff I read is replete with charts and graphs, and those images don't convert well on the Kindle. I could read the PDFs natively, but I don't particularly want to zoom in and scroll around given the Kindle's poor navigation skills.
It's inconsistent. While Kindle books are usually always cheaper than print, magazine and newspaper subscriptions aren't. I'd love to subscribe to The Economist, but it's just too darn expensive. I can find better deals subscribing in print.

All that being said, I'm sending my Kindle back. Why, you ask? Because I bought it about a week before the new version was announced. So I'm sending it back, getting the Wi-Fi only version, and saving myself another $50. If you enjoy reading, just get one.

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My Photos