Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Another reason to come to the SFBACC concert
I've been baking Madeleines for the reception after the Saturday concert in Alameda. I dipped a bunch in chocolate today.
Full concert details are here.
Full concert details are here.
Labels: art, food, fun, music, photography, singing
Friday, March 20, 2009
Cisco Flips for Video
The rumors were true: Cisco has purchased Pure Digital, the company that makes the Flip camcorder.
Cisco, of course, has been a beloved client of mine for years. And I'm a fan of Flip, and have done some mildly crazy things with mine (such as strapping it around my neck while skiing and making a hillbilly VCR out of it).
But what to make of the merger? Cisco historically has been very good at acquiring and integrating other business-focused technology companies into its corporate fold. Its acquisition of Linksys and its move into the home market has been generally well-handled, but that involved a networking company buying another networking company. The Pure/Flip company is a different beast, and I suspect it has a very different customer base. Dumber and cheaper, to be frank. (Remember, I'm a Flip devotee.)
My advice for Cisco (as if it wants my advice) is twofold: keep Pure's programmers, because I generally like the way FlipShare works (though not its appearance); and create a cheap, capacious battery-powered box that can offload videos from the Flip when I'm away from the computer. (For those of you who don't know: the Flip does not have removable memory, so once it's full, you can't record any more until you offload the videos.) If that box can be a network device too, fine; just keep it simple.
Cisco, of course, has been a beloved client of mine for years. And I'm a fan of Flip, and have done some mildly crazy things with mine (such as strapping it around my neck while skiing and making a hillbilly VCR out of it).
But what to make of the merger? Cisco historically has been very good at acquiring and integrating other business-focused technology companies into its corporate fold. Its acquisition of Linksys and its move into the home market has been generally well-handled, but that involved a networking company buying another networking company. The Pure/Flip company is a different beast, and I suspect it has a very different customer base. Dumber and cheaper, to be frank. (Remember, I'm a Flip devotee.)
My advice for Cisco (as if it wants my advice) is twofold: keep Pure's programmers, because I generally like the way FlipShare works (though not its appearance); and create a cheap, capacious battery-powered box that can offload videos from the Flip when I'm away from the computer. (For those of you who don't know: the Flip does not have removable memory, so once it's full, you can't record any more until you offload the videos.) If that box can be a network device too, fine; just keep it simple.
Labels: gadgets, news, photography, technology, video
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Paris Metro Nudes
The story in the Telegraph (UK) about Jam Abelanet's book "Fantaisies Souterraines" -- which has fifty images of naked women in Paris Metro stations and trains -- reminds me of one of my crazier travel stories.
We were in Barcelona, Spain in 1991. It was a sparkling clear summer day, and Jane and I were in line to explore Antoni Gaudi's famed Sagrada Familia Temple. We noticed a strange pair in line with us: a guy with lots of camera equipment around his neck, accompanied by a beautiful woman -- with a very careful coif and makeup -- wearing what appeared to be a lab coat and sneakers. We had a hunch as to what was afoot, and decided to follow them.
They quckly climbed the spiral staircase of one of the highest towers. Eventually the woman walked out onto one of the bridges connecting the towers as the man readied his cameras. (The bridges can be seen clearly in this photo.) We peeked at them from a small window in the tower; the summer sky and the city of Barcelona formed a perfect background as the woman tossed off the lab coat -- as you might expect by now, she had nothing on underneath -- and the guy snapped photos. As fast as it happened, the woman slipped the coat back on and the pair hustled off the bridge and down the stairs. We laughed and laughed -- we think we were the only ones who saw the whole episode.
For months and years afterward we kept our eye out for nude photos on the Sagrada Familia. This was before the Internet and Google Image Search, so the best we could do was look in books of Barcelona photography. We never found out what became of the photos, but we got an hilarious travel memory from the day.
We were in Barcelona, Spain in 1991. It was a sparkling clear summer day, and Jane and I were in line to explore Antoni Gaudi's famed Sagrada Familia Temple. We noticed a strange pair in line with us: a guy with lots of camera equipment around his neck, accompanied by a beautiful woman -- with a very careful coif and makeup -- wearing what appeared to be a lab coat and sneakers. We had a hunch as to what was afoot, and decided to follow them.
They quckly climbed the spiral staircase of one of the highest towers. Eventually the woman walked out onto one of the bridges connecting the towers as the man readied his cameras. (The bridges can be seen clearly in this photo.) We peeked at them from a small window in the tower; the summer sky and the city of Barcelona formed a perfect background as the woman tossed off the lab coat -- as you might expect by now, she had nothing on underneath -- and the guy snapped photos. As fast as it happened, the woman slipped the coat back on and the pair hustled off the bridge and down the stairs. We laughed and laughed -- we think we were the only ones who saw the whole episode.
For months and years afterward we kept our eye out for nude photos on the Sagrada Familia. This was before the Internet and Google Image Search, so the best we could do was look in books of Barcelona photography. We never found out what became of the photos, but we got an hilarious travel memory from the day.
Labels: art, barcelona, photography, Spain, travel
