Category Archives: Photography

Beware the Cloud

Software

A catastrophe waiting to happen.

Apple duly rolled out its bunch of cloud-centric offerings this past Monday to the usual stomach churning hype. It was one of the worst presentations I have seen from the fruit company, unfocused and confusing. None of this aided by a CEO who is clearly (and tragically) on his last legs. Steve Jobs looked awful, his voice was hoarse and he had difficulty with movement and memory. Far worse than before. Sad. But none of that resulted in moderation of Apple’s ridiculous hype. That trait is truly embedded in the corporate culture at One Infinite Loop.

Amongst the ridiculous claims of ‘new features’ were things like Autosave and Versioning which saves your work as you type. “Brand new”, “Apple only”, etc. Of course, this only works with Apple’s apps – sorry, but I know of no working finance professional who uses Numbers in preference to Excel (which has an Autosave feature in any case) or prefers Pages to Word, awful as the latter may be. It’s called ‘industry default’. These users, myself included, will not be migrating to Apple’s products just because of Autosave. Lightroom has been saving on the fly since Version 1 years ago on Macs and PCs, and allows you to step back through versions. Even the wretched Intuit Corporation has had on-the-fly saving in Quicken for well over a decade. And that’s in a PPC app!

But the hype meter was really cranked up for iCloud, Apple’s desperate attempt to catch up with Google’s Android and related offerings. Before writing more, let me just relate a little personal chronology.

  • iDisk at MobileMe went down and files stored there were inaccessible. Mercifully I had local copies.
  • MobileMe went down and I could not receive or send email.
  • This site went down owing to server problems at BlueHost, the hosting service I use.
  • Snap!, my daily Photoblog, went down – same hosting service, same issue. Twice.
  • There was a power cut and all computers here went down for the 30 minute duration. (I do not have battery back-up).

Time frame? How about all happened during the past seven days? And this is in a big city environment with relatively stable infrastructure, not Tornado Alley, though we do get the occasional earthquake here in California.

Now let me illustrate how AT&T pipes its broadband into the home here. This is typical not unusual in America where doing everything at the lowest cost is the prime dictate. Homes here are separated by easements which act as locations for utility poles – power, telephone, broadband. Here’s the utility pole whence broadband enters the home – even the US Congress could not have made this mess:

Thereafter, the precious length of copper cable conveying broadband goes through a couple of junction boxes, a few more twists and turn, then enters the home through this high tech orifice, also known as a hole in the wall:

And you expect me to trust my data to the cloud? No matter that it will likely be hacked by a fourteen year old from the Ukraine next week, how do I get at it when one of the many variables between the remote file server and my desktop goes down?

Want more hype? Apple will replicate your music catalog at its data center giving you download access on many devices to your catalog wherever you have a broadband connection. Something Amazon has been doing with Kindle for years now. They keep one copy of each book, as does Apple of each tune, and a list of what belongs to whom. It’s hardly magic. You have long been able to access your Kindle catalog from any device. Delete it to make space and you are still the owner should you eventually decide to re-download it later. The biggest advantage of Apple’s approach to music storage is the effective amnesty for thieves. Those who have stolen music on their computers now get an iCloud version for $25 a year – presumably a chunk of that goes to the record companies. But for serious music lovers this approach does little. First, fully 50% of my iTunes music catalog is missing cover art as iTunes cannot recognize the music (no, it’s not Lady Gagger). So this feature adds little and means I will instead have to upload my unrecognized files to iCloud to make them available on multiple devices. Now my files are all in uncompressed form ripped from my original CDs, as my ears cannot stand compressed music, so now I’m looking at the prospect of uploading hundreds of multi-megabyte files to the cloud. Remember how long that took with CrashPlan? I think I’ll pass – it’s faster to move them locally, and much more secure.

But there is one positive to all this iCloud hype. MobileMe will be killed some fifteen months hence, replaced with a free account with up to 5gB storage in iCloud. It will provide email, iCal, Safari bookmarks and so on synchronized across multiple devices, just like MobileMe does. Sometimes. And you will even be able to get a partial refund of what you just paid for MobileMe using this. I have no idea how competent or reliable iCloud will be, but it could not possibly be worse than MobileMe.

I believe the next global financial meltdown will result from over-dependence on cloud storage (unless the villains on Wall Street get there first, again), with some simple human error or hostile act rendering much of the civilized world without internet access. No web purchases, no bank access, no credit card transactions, no national defense, no medical records, you name it. Our enemies no longer need nukes. A pair of cable cutters will do. Alternatively, if it can go wrong it will. There’s no reason for you to lose your photographs in the process. Store them locally and back up, on-site and off-site, often. Who would you rather trust with your data – you or a cloud vendor about whose technology and procedures you know precisely zero?

What happens when you trust the cloud. G1, kit lens.

And now, the cartoon of the year:

The Logitech MX900 mouse

Hardware

The best yet.

It seems quixotic to write about a mouse which was mostly sold in England and which has not been made for many years. But the Logitech MX900 mouse is the best I have used yet in terms of comfort and functionality. It was recommended to me by UK photographer Roy Hammans whose work I have been lucky to feature in these pages. Roy has been using his for years and continues to do so. I can see why.

When he recommended the mouse to me – I was grumbling to him about the ergonomic disaster that is Apple’s MagicMouse – I set about trying to find one on eBay, but without luck. All the ones listed were for sale in the UK. So I settled for the Razer Death Adder corded mouse and reviewed it here. That’s a fine product and I continue to recommend it.

But the MX900, despite some quirks, is better.

Logitech MX900 mouse.

It’s a wireless Bluetooth mouse which I thought would be a major knock against it after many years with Apple mice which would constantly lose the connection. Indeed, their latest mouse, the Magic Mouse, is by far the worst in this regard of any cordless Apple mouse I have used. Yet, after a couple of weeks with the MX900, it has not lost the Bluetooth connection once. So it looks like poor engineering on Apple’s part is the cause.

From an ergonomic perspective, the MX900 is better than the Razer. The latter is designed for ambidextrous operation, meaning the casing is symmetrical. By contrast, the MX900 is unashamedly designed for the right hand, is asymmetrically shaped, and is useless for left handed operators. I am unaware of a left-handed version ever having been made. Because the MX900 contains two AA batteries, its heft is greater than the Razer’s and it will not be right for small hands. It’s solid and large and you will not find it garnering design awards from the Museum of Modern Art.

So what are the quirks of the MX900?

Well, first, it uses rechargeable NiMh batteries, necessitating that it be placed in the charging cradle after use. You can use regular alkaline AA cells but as there is no on/off switch these last no more than 5 days in my experience.

Logitech MX900 in its charging cradle.

My cradle makes no provision for a separate power supply, so I simply connected it to one of the powered USB side ports on one of the Dell displays connected to the HackPro, whence it derives sufficient power to keep the batteries charged. If you like you can use Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable NiMh batteries, which are distinguished by their low discharge rate when stored, compared to regular rechargeable cells. You do not need to buy a new charger for these if your existing charger is fairly recent, as Sanyo points out on its web site.

If the charger is just so much more clutter on your desk, simply keep a supply of charged NiMh cells and replace when necessary. This will mean more wear and tear on the battery door, but the mouse works fine even if the door is missing, and there’s no risk of the batteries falling out.

I use Eneloops and the Logitech charger works well with them. The mouse lights up a bright red diode on top when the batteries are low.

Second, there are no drivers to be found for use of the MX900 with a Mac. The MX900 has five buttons in addition to the left, right and scroll wheel ones, and you cannot use these in its native state. And you want to use those as they are incredibly handy. Accordingly, I downloaded and installed SteerMouse which supports the MX900 and allows everything to be programmed. Free to try for 30 days, $20 to buy. Cursor movement with the SteerMouse driver is exceptionally smooth.

Here are my settings for the buttons:

Here is the button identification:

‘Middle Button’ is a push on the scroll wheel.
Button 4 is the rear side button.
Button 5 is the front side button
Button 6 is the rearmost top button
Button 7 is the foremost top button, ahead of the scroll wheel
Button 8 is the top button just behind the scroll wheel – this opens a Finder window

The ability to program a button – Button 8 – to open the Finder is tremendous. Apple has never allowed this in its System Preferences and the key stroke sequence I have programmed is the one which opens a new Finder window under Spotlight. The Razer’s software did not permit this and, indeed, this is the first mouse software (the credit goes to SteerMouse) I have owned which does. It’s a great value added for my way of working which sees constant trips into the Finder.

Finally, by pressing Button 5 for the Desktop, I can drag and drop images with a single left click into other applications, touching Button 5 again to exit the Deskrop, something the Razer’s software does not permit.

Third, as with the Razer, there is no sideways tilt permitted with the scroll wheel, so if button operated horizontal scrolling is a requirement, this is not the mouse for you. Also, as with the Razer, the scroll wheel click and the screen display jumps in small vertical increments rather than moving smoothly. This is the sole advantage I think an Apple mouse has over anything else, the Apple product being distinguished by stepless, smooth vertical scrolling.

You can download the MX900 manual by clicking below:

Click to download the Logitech MX900 manual

OK, so the MX900 mouse is discontinued. That means you will have to find a used one. The replacement, the MX1000, is also discontinued. It was Bluetooth also, but used a custom flat battery, harder to replace when it eventually fails.

The MX1100 is the current model, selling for some $53 at Amazon US. I cannot find it at Amazon UK, but eBay UK lists the MX900 often. Unlike its predecessors, the MX1100 eschews Bluetooth in favor of 2.4gHz wireless technology. The design requires a small dongle to be inserted in an USB socket on your computer and has the advantage that the mouse is recognized immediately, unlike the waiting involved with Bluetooth devices. That’s the same technology used in the Microsoft 6000 which I also reviewed here. I eventually gave up on that otherwise fine mouse as it suffered from random cursor jerkiness which I simply could not cure, even after trying a variety of drivers. I rather suspect the cause is radio interference as the 2.4gHz band is used by many household appliances – cordless phones, baby monitors, hearing aids, you name it, and a neighbor can disrupt your environment without knowing it.

I liked the MX900 so much I ended up buying two on eBay at a shipped cost of $20 each. Hopefully my long search for the right mouse is now at an end. The Razer went back to the nice people at Amazon for a refund and my two MightyMice were sold, with great relief, on eBay. Remind me never to buy another Apple mouse and ‘Thank you’, Roy, for the great tip.

Update: For details on the later Logitech Revolution mouse, click here.

Kinect

Hardware

An inspired creation.

This column has nothing to do with photography. Rather it addresses a truly impressive creation from a company which is a stranger to innovation and reliability.

Microsoft.

Yes. Microsoft.

I have long ago realized that for my demanding computing needs, whether for business or photography, the optimal combination when performance and reliability are key is PC hardware married with Apple’s OS X operating system and related applications. No surprise that my workhorse is a Hackintosh. No breakdowns, no overheating, no lock-ups, it just runs 7-by-24 and never shows any signs of stress. The design has massive redundancy in case of component failure and all parts are readily available and inexpensive. The displays I use are made by Dell (LG LCDs) because it’s simply impossible to properly profile any Apple display for photography. But after spending 18 of my first 20 years with computers running Microsoft’s OS, I know that nothing will get me there again. Windows 7 is, by all accounts, robust and reliable, but when you have been kicked in the crotch dozens of times by its predecessors your desire for more of the same is zero. So the last ten years have seen this happy user depending on OS X and the recent years finally saw Apple’s pretty but poorly engineered iMacs shown the door, replaced with robust, reliable, well engineered PC hardware.

Thus, when Microsoft released Xbox a few years back I took no notice, and took even less when they debuted the strangely named Kinect add-on accessory in late 2010. “Designed to fail” I recall thinking, after reading the hype. Plus it said ‘Microsoft’ on the box. No thanks.

Then a strange thing happened. Our son, a Nintendo Wii man when it comes to motion games, came home bubbling from a friend’s home, replete with tales of a soccer game he had just played …. in the living room. Turns out the friend has an Xbox360 with Kinect and, as Winston related it, there is no controller. “You just move your body”.

The Microsoft Kinect. Pure genius.

Naturally, I applied the old Socratic process to the boy, grilling him mercilessly on the device and on its performance. He had all the answers. Simple setup, never locked-up, no lag in replicating your movements, doesn’t need special lighting, and so on. “And it’s a lot of fun, dad”.

Well, he’s been doing well at math recently (can’t think where he gets that!) so, holding my nose, I ordered an Xbox360 + Kinect from Amazon.

The word ‘Microsoft’ is nowhere to be found on the box in which the device ships. That’s a good start. We set it up together, Dad suffering from extreme Blue Screen Of Death fear while Winnie merrily looked forward to playing. Not only did nothing go wrong, the device recognized the 802-11n wifi in the home immediately, automatically downloaded a bunch of software updates and maybe 15 minutes later, after a bit of calibration for his 4′ 2″ and my 6′ 0″, we were up and running with the included ‘Adventures’ disc. We mounted the Kinect sensor on the TV using a cheap PS3 mounting clip and some heavy duty Scotch Velcro-like material – the sensor weighs a few ounces.

The Kinect sensor mounted on top of the TV.

The technology is simply jaw-dropping good. The sensor measures you using infra red beams and thereafter replicates your movements on screen. Bright or poor light, it makes no difference. You need an area maybe 6′ x 6′ without obstacles in front of your TV. Then you insert a DVD game of choice in the separate Xbox360 console and follow the instructions. Absent some programming (avatar names and the like) which requires use of the included wireless Xbox controller, all you need is a hand to motion your choices. After many hours of play we have not had a single lock-up, blue screen or related panic.

On completing some of the games on the Adventure disk the Kinect plays back pictures it has snapped of the players, to great amusement of the subjects. Brilliant.

After being roundly thrashed by our nine-year old in the Olympics, using the (extra $) Sports disc, I determined to get my own back and bought the exercise game, one of whose options is a personal trainer. You know, one of those disgustingly fit babes who does 20 miles before breakfast and drinks carrot juice.

So I get into it, mimicking her movements on screen. You get told off if you get out of sync. The whole thing is controller-less. The device scans your body, asks your age and weight, how often you exercise (ahem!) then gets down to it – squats, kicks, you name it. Screen response to your motions is instantaneous.

Well, after a bit of this, following the babe on the screen and trying to keep my concentration up (and my eyes off her tushie), I am breathing heavily, my right knee may just have exploded, and the resident Border Terrier is raising a troubled eyebrow. My scores are falling and my temperature is rising. I tell Bertie to get on with the program as I have to rest, but he says he’s fit and too short anyway, thanks, so we are sit in the garden to recover having burned 20 of my 100 assigned calories ….

Gee, but it’s a real work out. And you don’t have to drive to the gym. Next time I’m telling it I’m 90. Man has to have a chance.

So here’s the $64,000 question. How can a company which is led by a buffoon, which doesn’t ‘get’ computing trends and which has failed at pretty much everything it has tried in the past two decades, a company which is a stranger to innovation, a company which wastes shareholders’ money on foolish acquisitions, do something so brilliant? And when will they close it down? This is simply too good for the likes of Microsoft.

Whatever your age, whatever you think of computer games (not much, in my case), you owe it to yourself to check out Kinect.

How (not to) do security

Software

Don’t adopt the Cupertino plan.

There are probably some sheepherders in remote areas of Uzbekistan who do not know that Apple’s new mega data center resides in the equally culturally arid desert of North Carolina. It will open to the usual hype and exaggeration next Monday. But, for the rest of us, that message has been broadcast loudly from the rooftops of Cupertino and points west for well over a year now.

First, let’s revisit what a robust, secure, distributed back-up plan looks like.

We start with the Pindelski Plan:

The Pindelski Plan. Two back-ups in the office – full and sequential. One in the car.
One somewhere else at an undisclosed location.

Now the Cupertino Plan:

Apple’s idea of multiple back-up sites.

So when Mobile Me(ss) next goes down, you will know why.

Do you feel lucky?

And in case you want confirmation of this easy target, here it is in Google Earth:

Yes, it will store a list of all your replaceable movies and tunes. But it’s probably the worst possible idea for backing up your precious photographs.

Wait a minute, you say. They will simply use the existing MobileMe (on the Hayward fault?) to back-up data. Uh huh. And you last used MobileMe when, exactly?

Plasma displays

Hardware

The sweet point.

Plasma and LCD displays continue to compete, with the latter now making the manufacture of plasma screens much below 42″ an uncompetitive proposition. But though plasma displays are heavier and use more energy than LCDs, and though they use a glass front plate with all the attendant issue of reflections, they remain the standard by which contrast range is judged. Nothing beats the blacks of a plasma screen.

What prompts this piece is my use of an inexpensive LCD display for display of art on the wall. I thought it might be interesting to compare prices of plasma displays at different screen sizes.

For some five years now the 104″ Panasonic plasma display has been the largest readily available plasma display, starting out at some $90,000. You see them now and then on TV where they are used for presentation purposes, though it is ordinarily far cheaper to simply use a blue screen behind a news anchor to project charts and the like.

The Panasonic 104″ display.

That Panny whopper has come down in price a lot, and I compare the most common Panny 1080p plasma displays for size, price and weight in the following table. The ‘Area ratio’ refers to the relative surface area of each screen compared to the 42″ one. So the Panny 104″ has more than six times the area of the 42″:

The chart clearly shows that the pricing sweet spot fades rapidly once the screen size exceeds 65″, and you can bet that there’s not that much left to be gained from economies of scale, as it’s unlikely that displays larger than 65″ will ever sell in the quantities needed to really bring prices down. Homes are simply not large enough, for the most part, and the logistical nightmare of installing a 500 lb. display does the rest.

Not that I would complain if you gave me that 104″ display, having lived with a 100″ projection screen in our previous home. The problem with the projection screen was that you needed a darkened room for the overhead projector to cast a contrasty image, but the price of the installation was a small fraction of the Panny plasma whopper.

Cost of a 100″ projection system.

Power consumption – a few watts, compared to 1,500 for the giant Panasonic.