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What About Those Other Countries?

May 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
For this blog, most readers are located in the U.S., and Canada. The countries with the fewest readers are in the countries indicated in white. I suspect there is more happening, or not happening, in those nations, and that's what this particular blog article will address.

For this blog, most readers are located in the U.S., and Canada. The countries with the fewest readers are in the countries indicated in white. I suspect there is more happening, or not happening, in those nations, and that’s what this particular blog article will address.

It would be easy for me to dismiss nations with no readers as simply uninterested in the issues, or, in some cases, unable to read the blog in its native English language, but this article about a lot more than this particular blog (though it would be fun to claim readers in every nation on the planet). Before I get into the research, and related thoughts, here’s a list of where this blog is not read. In the case of Africa and Asia, I’m surprised by number of nations where people have read this blog.

In South America, only French Guiana, and in Europe, only Kosovo tallies at zero blog readers to date. No surprise that North Korea is also on that list; the other Asian nations are Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan. In Africa, there are many counties–probably about half the countries on the continent, not yet in the fold: Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique, and Madagascar.

Seeking reliable statistics about some or most of these nations as some sort of a cluster, I discovered a useful United Nations site that listed most of these nations, along with many smaller ones (in Oceania, for example), in category 199, “Least Developed Countries.”

I then reviewed the 2012 report on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. The goals are focused on poverty, human rights and infrastructure, disease prevention, hunger, gender equality and education, and although education is the only item on this list with an undeniable direct connection to Internet use, much of Africa continues to face severe challenges in labor productivity, one link in the chain to open and available Internet access. Furthermore, more than half of the world’s children not in school live in sub-Saharan Africa, another suggestive indicator. What’s more, only about 1 in 4 people are literate in this region, and only about 1 in 3 are literate in southern Asia, so limited Internet use in these regions may be of lesser importance than sheer literacy.

In 2011, there were 7 billion people on earth. Two thirds of them had no Internet access. Once again, sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions posted the lowest rates.

So that’s the official global view. I wondered about the local view, and found a site called Edge Kazakhstan with a story about the local popularity of Facebook, and about the popularity of the Internet, generally, in Kazakhstan.

Statistics say social media sites are among the most accessed in the country… Number one is Russian social networking page VKontakte (http://vkontakte.ru), second is world leader Facebook (www.facebook.com) and in the third place is another Russian site, Odnoklassniki (www.odnoklassniki.ru)…Askar Zhumagaliyev, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Communications and Information, in a June Twitter posting said that 34.4 percent of the nation was using the internet as of early 2011 – compared to 18.2 percent in early 2010. He has also tweeted that he plans for the entire country to be covered by high-speed internet by 2015.

Social Bakers keeps track of social media use in nations throughout the world. I checked in Tanzania because Facebook use in Africa is growing very rapidly, despite a relatively low rate of Internet penetration, which is also growing fast, especially in the centers of population. Five years from now, connectivity in all but the most challenged or remote areas of Africa and Asia will not reach international averages, but they will be far higher than today (reliable statistics are hard to find, but Vodafone, a large international supplier, will likely serve between one-third and one-half of the technically available population).

I suspect that what I write may not be what most people want to read in Kazakhstan or Tanzania, but I would be surprised to find the list of nations who have never experienced the pleasure of reading this blog to be reduced by half within the next year (or so). The majority of my readers will continue to be found in U.S., Canada, the U.K., but I know that future map will show a wider distribution than the one I published today.

By the way, if you are reading this blog in a nation other than the U.S., I wonder if you would just comment and tell us where you are in the world. Thanks!

Filed Under: International, Trends Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dreaming of a Newer Deal

May 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

New_DealI just finished reading a book about the New Deal, that remarkable FDR-era transformation of America for the average American. Certainly, I knew and understood pieces and parts of the story, but there were so many factors, I needed a good writer (the author won a Pulitzer Prize) to put the whole thing into context for me. The author is Michael Hiltzik, and the book is called, simply, “The New Deal: A Modern History.”

What struck me about the story was just how bumpy the ride turned out to be. There was no master plan, only a sense from FDR’s Brain Trust that things were bad, and, rather than wasting a perfectly useful crisis, they ought to do powerful good. FDR was not the mastermind, but instead, the political driver, the leader who maintained the vision and  maneuvered around lots of political messes, and–nothing new here–other people in Washington who offered little assistance and, sometimes, difficult obstacles.

Mostly, though, the book made me wonder about our need, and our ability, to bring something like a New Deal into focus in this century. Roosevelt and his team worked their miracles in the 1930s, so that’s nearly 80 years ago. There was a lot of activity in the 1960s, too, beginning under Kennedy, and then, on a significant scale, under Johnson, and, since then, Obama has accomplished some good things that may last.

Given the vision, the opportunity, the need, the political will, the right circumstances, and, as with Roosevelt, the better part of a decade to get the work done, what might we hope to accomplish? I am, by no means, an expert, but I thought I’d get the conversation going with a list that seems, well, obvious. Here goes:

  1. The elimination of poverty in the U.S. As the theoretical administration begins to work on issues, high on that list ought to be urban poverty (1 in 3 children of color in the Philadelphia area live below the poverty line).
  2. Equal pay and equal opportunity for all Americans. Yes, there are laws. Now, we need programs to make those laws do the intended work.
  3. A rational retirement program so that all Americans can retire without fear of poverty. The New Deal got this ball rolling, but the current reality is terrifying: half of people over 70 unlikely to be able to feed themselves within the next decade.
  4. A modernization of the American approach to education. Too much money spent for uninspiring results, too much control in the hands of the unions, irrelevant curriculum, nearly half of high school students dropping out in the most troubled areas, out-of-control student loans and college costs, only about 1 in 4 Americans graduating college, massive shifts in technology, lack of resources, crumbling infrastructure, more.
  5. A modernization of the American approach to transportation. In the digital age, it’s time to rethink cars, highways, fuel consumption, pollution, driving, lack of public transportation in so many regions, lack of high-speed rail connections now available in so many other nations, lack of innovative new urban and suburban solutions.
  6. Government under the control of lobbyists, big money, and lifetime politicians. This entrenched thinking, these outmoded ways of operating, this political deadlock, those campaign funding rules, this list alone can keep a new Brain Trust busy for the entire decade.
  7. Controlling the  debt. Policies and practices in this financial realm are probably just the beginning of serious rethinking our financial policies. Of course, this ought to begin at home; a few good programs might help Americans shift from a life built on credit cards to a life build on savings and investments.
  8. A modernization of crime and punishment. Like several of the other agenda items, this one will require a lot of interaction with state governments. The number of people in prison, and the reasons leading to their incarceration, provide sufficient ammunition for serious government programs.
  9. Reducing the size and complexity of government. Physician, heal thyself.
  10. And, swinging back to the old New Deal… Reworking Social Security for the next generations. It’s time for some serious work so that everyone, or just about everyone, can live safe and secure, especially as we are living longer, healthier lives.

No, I didn’t touch international relations, and yes, I probably missed a lot of important ideas. Still, I think we ought to get this started.

Filed Under: Books & Print, Trends Tagged With: , , , ,

The Belanger Factor

May 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

You know this photographer’s work very well. Here’s the setup for one of his iconic images:

belanger5

 

The photographer’s name is Peter Belanger. For years, he has been making his models look absolutely stunning. Millions of us have responded to his work, and will likely continue to do. He shoots with a Canon 5D Mark III, often with 24-70mm lens. You can buy this equipment in any professional camera store, or any good online photo store. But it would be difficult to imagine the average person shooting with the kind of precision that Belanger routinely brings to his work.

Intrigued? I was, just by seeing the elaborate setup that he uses to make pictures.

To learn more, visit The Verge.

 

 

Filed Under: Art & Photography, Creative, Trends Tagged With:

Shadow Catcher

May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

angelineThe woman in the photograph was a poor soul, without friends, the subject of ridicule among Seattle schoolchildren. She lived in a hovel. When the growing city of Seattle cleared its native population, she remained where she was, and the city grew up around her. Kick-is-om-lo was her name, but that was difficult to pronounce, so the local folk called her Princess Angeline. In 1896, Kick-is-om-lo was paid one dollar to pose for this picture–the equivalent of what she was able to earn in a whole week–by a struggling young photographer named Edward Curtis. To say this would be the first of many such images would be a substantial understatement.

Within a short time, Mr. Curtis’s photography practice was beginning to thrive, mostly in connection with his nature photographs on nearby mountains (he was, in his way, a predecessor of Ansel Adams, but that’s not why he became famous). Instead, he began to photograph the native people who lived within traveling distance of his home. His fledgling studio became a place to buy these extraordinary portraits, these scenes of natives who were both nearby and exotic, these souls who some perceived as savages and others as victims. They were dying. The number of natives was rapidly declining. Their languages were dying out. Soon, the people who spoke those languages would be gone, too.

Curtis found opportunities to photograph native people in their own habitats. He used a camera and an early sound recorder, and he began to build a collection. Some individuals trusted him, many did not. He was “deeply affected” by a Sun Dance that lasted five days. Neglecting his family, and in time, his Seattle photography business, he followed the path that many creative professionals have since followed. He began an obsessive effort to photograph, many, and then, most of the remaining native communities. His trips began to cover areas far from home. He would stay away for a year or more. In time, he found kindred spirits, including, for a long while, former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt, who, like Curtis, enjoyed a deep appreciation of America’s natural and, to a somewhat lesser extent, native history. They became friends; Curtis made formal portraits of T.R.’s children and hung around the family estate at Sagamore Hill for a good while.

To continue, and to fulfill his creative vision, Curtis required far greater resources than his local photography business would ever provide. He required an investor at a time when the philanthropic community was just beginning to take shape. He planned to:

make a complete publication, showing pictures and including text of every phase of Indian life of all tribes yet in primitive condition, taking up the type, male and female, child and adult, their home structure, their environment, their handicraft, games, ceremonies, etc…

His bodacious plan: an expensive, limited edition twenty volume set containing “fifteen hundred full-page plates”

He managed to get himself into the office of J.P. Morgan, who reviewed the proposal ($15,000 per year for 5 years to cover all expenses), told wealthy banker that he had already spent over $25,000 on the project, that he was completely out of money.

Morgan said no. Actually, what Morgan said was, “I will be unable to help you.”

But Curtis didn’t take no for an answer. Instead, Curtis reached into his portfolio and began to cover Morgan’s desk with stunning photographs of natives, the likes of which Morgan had never seen: the salmon people of Puget Sound, the picture of Chief Joseph that Teddy (sorry… the President) loved so very much… And, bless his soul, Curtis left Morgan’s office with the commitment he needed.

But that’s just the start of an even wilder adventure that eventually finds Curtis producing one of the world’s first documentaries, and, eventually, finishing the whole project, destitute, so long after this intended deadline that, well, nobody cared about the books, Edward Curtis, or natives anymore (the Depression was an important reason why). The books, the original photographs, the obsessive life, all seemed to be for naught–until they were rediscovered decades later.

Now, you can see these pictures simply by clicking here. The link takes you to the Library of Congress collection of Edward Curtis’s work. Mr. Curtis overcame all sorts of stunning setbacks, but he did what he promised to do. And, thanks to him, we can at least begin to understand a culture that our people destroyed not so very long ago.

The one caution: nearly all of these images are very, very serious. Critics point out that Curtis’s vision of the stoic native presents an extremely limited, and so, distorted view, of the real lives of the people who made America.

The book is called Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis. It was written by Timothy Egan. The book was given to me as a gift. You should do the same for yourself, and for every creative soul in your life. It is a remarkable story, beautifully told, and of course, illustrated with the work of a master photographer.

One of the best ways to see the scope of Edward Curtis's work is to simply search his name on Google, and then look at the Images view. That's what I did to capture this sampling of his photographs.

One of the best ways to see the scope of Edward Curtis’s work is to simply search his name on Google, and then look at the Images view. That’s what I did to capture this sampling of his photographs.

Filed Under: Art & Photography, Books & Print, Creative, Trends Tagged With: , , , ,

Chipping in for Mother’s or Father’s Day

May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Some ideas, most of them digital:

A turntable. Yes, this may seem a bit retro, but vinyl is in the midst of a wonderful comeback. New records cost more than their CD equivalents, but it’s easy to build a terrific library of good used records by spending about $5 per disc (so you can surprise mom or dad with a whole box filled with favorites!). Assuming you still own some sort of stereo receiver and a pair of good loudspeakers–most likely as part of your home theater setup–you’ll be set. One good starter choice: Audio-Technica’s AT-LP60, which costs less than $75 including cartridge. Online research will turn up rigs costing up to a thousand times as much, but a few hundred dollars will place you on the quality path. To review good choices for several hundred dollars, visit the online store, Audio Advisor.

Apple TV. Before we bought one of these small plastic boxes for my office TV, I wasn’t completely sure what to think. Connect an Ethernet cable to your network, an HDMI cable to your TV, power up, and you can watch Netflix, Hulu Plus, movies and TV shows from iTunes, YouTube, Major League Baseball, HBO GO, and more (for some, a subscription is required). AND you can wirelessly connect your iPhone, iPad or Mac to the screen. For $99, it makes watching TV a lot more interesting.

airstashAirStash. Simple idea: load some movies on a 8GB or 16GB SD card–the ones you use in a camera that are about the size of a postage stamp–then wirelessly connect the small AirStash device to watch movies (or review documents) on your iPad, iPhone, or Android device. It costs about $125. Use it once and you’ll carry it everywhere, as I do.

A good pair of binoculars. If you’re contemplating an outdoor hobby such a birding, Bushnell’s 10×42 NatureView is a good tool to get you started; it costs about $125. In fact, you can buy binoculars specifically designed for safari, sports stadiums, theater, opera (fancy!), sailboating, marine exploration, the list goes on. For more information about binoculars than I have ever seen, visit Best Binoculars Reviews. There are digital binoculars, but optical binoculars remain far more popular than their initial counterparts.

A monopod. Yes, that’s right, the equivalent of a one-legged tripod. Not as steady as a tripod, but not as heavy either, and far more likely to be taken along. Used properly, a monopod can provide enough additional stability to allow your camera or camcorder to shoot with a bit less light, or to with a bit slower shutter speed. The best ones are made by Manfrotto, and Gitzo, and cost about $150-350, but good monopods are available from Slik, Cullman, Oben, Velbon, and other companies. A large selection of monopods and tripods are available from B&H and other online retailers.

Zoom-VideoA ZOOM Q2H2. With cameras and camcorders now built into phones, why buy a small video recorder for $199? Because the sound and the picture quality is outstanding, but the device is small. What do I mean by “outstanding?” Video: 1920×1080, 30p HD. Audio: 24 bit, 96 kHz PCM. Record the results on an SD card.

A Røde VideoMic Pro. Whether you’re using a DSLR or a camcorder to make your own home movies or independent films, this $230 investment will make at least some of your work sound a whole lot better. It mounts directly on the camera’s hot shoe, and its design won’t make your camera (or, most cameras) unbalanced or difficult to carry.

A digital drum kit.. You know you’ve always wanted one! Nowadays, you can buy a decent setup for a few hundred dollars. Yamaha’s Electronic Drum Kit DTX400K costs $500 and includes a 7.5-inch snare, three similar sized toms, a 10-inch hi-hat and other cymbals, and 169 digital voices. You can spend half as much (PylePro’s PED04M), twice as much (Roland’s TD-11K), more. Once again, B&H is a good source, but musicians may prefer Sweetwater.

DrumKit

Enjoy spring, enjoy the holidays!

Filed Under: Art & Photography, Music, Products Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Quiz – By the Numbers

May 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Hawaii Five 0Duck

I’ve been meaning to write this one for some time. Hopefully, it will be as much for you to play as it was for me to write. Some TV, some from other media. The numbers are fascinating because they provide our collective media diet with a sense of scale. You may want to jot down your answers on a pad and pencil…

1. Which cable network is watched by the most people every day?

  1. Fox News Channel
  2. The Weather Channel
  3. Nickelodeon
  4. ESPN

2. How about the second most-watched?

  1. Disney Channel
  2. Nickelodeon
  3. Food Network
  4. TNT

3. With nearly 10 million viewers for its most popular episode, what was last week’s most popular series on cable?

  1. The Big Bang Theory
  2. NCIS
  3. Sponge Bob Square Pants
  4. Duck Dynasty

4. Among adults 18-34, which was the most watched cable network in prime time last week?

  1. Comedy Central
  2. MTV
  3. History
  4. TNT

5. How many people watched last Thursday night’s airing of Swamp People on History (the most popular episode of a prime time cable series that night)?

  1. 4 million
  2. 8 million
  3. 12 million
  4. 16 million

6. On that same night, how many people watched The Daily Show’s 11PM airing?

  1. Less than 2 million
  2. 3 million
  3. 4 million
  4. 5 million

7. Daily circulation of USA Today?

  1. Half-million
  2. 1.7 million
  3. 5.2 million
  4. 10 millon

8. Last week’s syndicated programs in order of popularity:

  1. Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Family Feud, Family Guy
  2. Family Guy, Jeopardy!, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune
  3. Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Family Guy, Jeopardy!
  4. Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Family Guy

9. Number of people who watched CBS’s Sherlock Holmes drama series, Elementary:

  1. 5 million
  2. 10 million
  3. 15 million
  4. 20 million

10. On the same night, number of people who watched NBC’s The Office:

  1. 1 million
  2. 2 million
  3. 3 million
  4. 7  million

11. Circulation of Sunday New York Times.

  1. 1.2 million
  2. 2.4 million
  3. 4.8 million
  4. 9.6 million

12. You may know that AARP’s magazines top the circulation charts with over 20 million units. What’s next on that chart (with more than 7 million)?

  1. Reader’s Digest
  2. People
  3. Sports Illustrated
  4. Game Informer

13. The Fifty Shades of Grey book series has sold a total of more than ____ ebooks.

  1. 1 million
  2. 5 million
  3. 15 million
  4. 25 million

14. So far, this year, how many copies of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar have been sold in the U.S.?

  1. 1 thousand
  2. 10 thousand
  3. 50 thousand
  4. More than 100,000

15. In a typical week, roughly how many units of each audiobook on the top 10 best seller list are sold?

  1. Less than 200
  2. 250-500
  3. 500-1,000
  4. 2,500 – 5,000

16. Last week’s best selling videogame in the U.S. was Injustice: Gods Among Us. If you were to combine the sales of units for X360 and PS3, how many units were sold?

  1. 35,000
  2. 135,000
  3. 350,000
  4. 1,350,000

17. Last week’s top grossing film was Oblivion. How many people went to see that movie?

  1. 500,000
  2. 1,500,000
  3. 6 million
  4. 16 million

18. Vinyl has enjoyed something of a resurgence. In fact, the re-release of The Beatles’ Abbey Road turned out to be quite popular How many units did the new vinyl version of Abbey Road sell last year?

  1. 300
  2. 3,000
  3. 30,000
  4. 130,000

All of the answers come from well-regarded sources of media research and data.

Let’s see how you did. The answers follow the WBZ-TV Test Pattern below.

 

test pattern

1. Which cable network is watched by the most people every day?

  1. Fox News Channel
  2. The Weather Channel
  3. Nickelodeon
  4. ESPN

(You must consider the sheer number of hours that our children spend in front of TV sets. Far more than just about any sports fan.)

2. How about the second most-watched?

  1. Disney Channel
  2. Nickelodeon
  3. Food Network
  4. TNT

3. With nearly 10 million viewers for its most popular episode, what was last week’s most popular series on cable?

  1. The Big Bang Theory
  2. NCIS
  3. Sponge Bob Square Pants
  4. Duck Dynasty

Duck solidly beats the competition with over 10 million viewers.

4. Among adults 18-34, which was the most watched cable network in prime time last week?

  1. Comedy Central
  2. MTV
  3. History
  4. TNT

5. How many people watched last Thursday night’s airing of Swamp People on History (the most popular episode of a prime time cable series that night)?

  1. 4 million
  2. 8 million
  3. 12 million
  4. 16 million

(Not as many people as I would have thought, but then, television viewership is now very fragmented, so it’s very difficult to garner audiences of any significant size.)

6. On that same night, how many people watched The Daily Show’s 11PM airing?

  1. Less than 2 million
  2. 3 million
  3. 4 million
  4. 5 million

The Daily Show is popular, but night after night, its ratings are fairly modest, especially in comparison with powerhouse series (like Duck Dynasty).

7. Daily circulation of USA Today?

  1. Half-million
  2. 1.7 million
  3. 5.2 million
  4. 10 millon

Actually, the number is above 1.6 million. 

8. Last week’s syndicated programs in order of popularity:

  1. Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Family Feud, Family Guy
  2. Family Guy, Jeopardy!, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune
  3. Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Family Guy, Jeopardy!
  4. Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Family Guy

Wheel continues to kill in the ratings, night after night. The other series are in the top ten, but nobody beats Sajak.

9. Number of people who watched CBS’s Sherlock Holmes drama series, Elementary:

  1. 5 million
  2. 10 million
  3. 15 million
  4. 20 million

A good solid prime time series in 2013 rarely tops 10 or 12 million viewers.

10. On the same night, number of people who watched NBC’s The Office:

  1. 1 million
  2. 2 million
  3. 3 million
  4. 7  million

No surprise. The Office is ready for retirement. So, too, is the similarly rated Parks & Recreation.

11. Circulation of Sunday New York Times

  1. 1.2 million
  2. 2.4 million
  3. 4.8 million
  4. 9.6 million

How many readers?  Easily twice that number because the paper often lingers through the week.

12. You may know that AARP’s magazines top the circulation charts with over 20 million units. What’s next on that chart (with more than 7 million)?

  1. Reader’s Digest
  2. People
  3. Sports Illustrated
  4. Game Informer

The surprising answer has increased circulation int he past year by several hundred thousand. Next on the list is Better Homes and Gardens with roughly comparable numbers. Reader’s Digest comes in at about 5.5 million, followed by Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, and National Geographic in the 4 million range. For more, click on this link.

13. The Fifty Shades of Grey book series has sold a total of more than ____ ebooks.

  1. 1 million
  2. 5 million
  3. 15 million
  4. 25 million

14. So far, this year, how many copies of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar have been sold in the U.S.?

  1. 1 thousand
  2. 10 thousand
  3. 50 thousand
  4. More than 100,000

15. In a typical week, roughly how many units of each audiobook on the top 10 best seller list are sold?

  1. Less than 200
  2. 250-500
  3. 500-1,000
  4. 2,500 – 5,000

16. Last week’s best selling videogame in the U.S. was Injustice: Gods Among Us. If you were to combine the sales of units for X360 and PS3, how many units were sold?

  1. 35,000
  2. 135,000
  3. 350,000
  4. 1,350,000

17. Last week’s top grossing film was Oblivion. How many people went to see that movie?

  1. 500,000
  2. 1,500,000
  3. 6 million
  4. 16 million

18. Vinyl has enjoyed something of a resurgence. In fact, the re-release of The Beatles’ Abbey Road turned out to be quite popular How many units did the new vinyl version of Abbey Road sell last year?

  1. 300
  2. 3,000
  3. 30,000
  4. 130,000

The best selling CD of the year was Adele’s 21; it sold over 4 million units.

Filed Under: Books & Print, Products, Trends, TV & New Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Maintaining Clear Focus, Setting Priorities, Not Forgetting

May 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Every once in a while, a tool becomes an indispensable part of everyday life. We’ve certainly experienced this phenomenon with smart phones, then tablets, email, web browsing, and for some, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking activities. During the past few months, I have retrained myself so that all notes are dated, tagged, written and stored in Evernote. And every task, every to-do, every reminder is logged in a capable, well-designed software application called OmniFocus. I no longer make random lists (well, almost never). When something needs to get done, I enter it into OmniFocus.

What I like about Evernote, I like (or will soon like) about OmniFocus. I’m busy, I jot down a note or reminder on my iPhone, and I can fetch it, adding details or changes as I wish, on my iPad, or office iMac. (The one thing that I like even more about Evernote is that I can also access everything via any web browser, but that has not been much of an issue when I use OmniFocus because I always have a OmniFocus device with me).

OmniFocus-for-iPad-sync-new-iconsSo what’s the big deal about OmniFocus? There are dozens of to-do and reminder apps, with sync, available for far less than OmniFocus. Wunderlist is free, and so is Appigo’s To Do (available in Pro edition for $19.99 per year); Things for iPad costs $19.99, and OmniFocus costs twice as much.

For me, the key to OmniFocus and its value is a view of tasks by date. Sounds like every other task management software, like every GTD (“getting things done”) app, but that assessment is not quite right. Allow me to run through a task, an illustration of how OmniFocus is used to run much of my life.

OmniFocus entry screenAlthough it is possible to make a quick task entry, the more complete entry panel is more useful. After naming the task, I select a context from my own list that includes: Awaiting Response, Call, Create, First Contact, Followup, Just Do It, On Hold, Purchase, Research, Schedule, Visit Web Site, and Write. Then, I select a project, again from my own list that includes: Art, Books, Digital Insider, Home, Music, Software, Travel, Web Site, and various, specific work-related projects. I can stop there, deciding to add a flag to any high-priority tasks, but I prefer to add a due date to every task (start dates are also an option, but I don’t work that way). There’s a nice big note field, and I use hat to capture URLs, reminders of the most recent attempted contact (left phone message on 3.13.2013; sent reminder email on 10.12.2012). I can add a photograph, .jog, .gif, .png, or record an audio message.

That’s how I compose each task. Note that there are no priority levels (three stars for most important, two for moderate importance), and no color coding for each category (Music is red, Books are purple). I used these often when Appigo’s To Do was my management system. It looked pretty, but I seemed to spend more time futzing than actually, you know, getting things done.

So, that’s half of the story. The other half us a very reasonable view called Forecast. On the iPad, along the top, there are a series of boxes, each with a date and a number of due tasks. I click on Saturday, May 4 and I see the four tasks that are due on that day. I click on Monday, May 6 and I see the list of 13 tasks I have assigned to that date. Each task is clearly identified by its context (Digital Insider, Home, Music, etc.) In addition, down at the bottom of the screen, I see a quick view of my day’s calendar (among my few criticisms: I would be happier with even a hint of what meeting was represented by each of the schedule bars). Still, in a single screen view, I can assess my entire day and make way through all that I intend to get done. I’m surprised that so few task programs also offer this calendar feature; in fact, this was the single feature that initially drew me to OmniFocus.

This is a slightly truncated version of the iPad view. I have eliminated part of the (empty) middle section to draw your attention to the task list on the top and the calendar blocks on the bottom. In real life, few of my days go by with just two tasks. (Yours too, I suspect.)

This is a slightly truncated version of the iPad view. I have eliminated part of the (empty) middle section to draw your attention to the task list on the top and the calendar blocks on the bottom. In real life, few of my days go by with just two tasks. (Yours too, I suspect.)

Apple includes a geo-location feature in its Reminders app, and OmniFocus does the same. Of course, I can survey every task by looking at a context-based organization of the tasks on one screen, or a projects-based list on another. This is sometimes useful, but I much prefer the date view (I guess I think in terms of what I want to do today, not what I want to write for Digital Insider over the next few weeks). I find myself sending tasks from Safari, but some bookmark manipulation is required to do so (common among Apple and iOS products, a silly misstep on Apple’s part; I don’t know about the Android equivalent, but someone might comment on that question).

Apple (and other users) are accustomed to seeing tasks organized not only by time but by place. In OmniFocus, this feature is especially well integrated.

Apple (and other users) are accustomed to seeing tasks organized not only by time but by place. In OmniFocus, this feature is especially well integrated.

Another useful feature, which I ought to use more often, is called Review. It allows management of categories by group (for example, I can de-activate Art for a while), or place a group of items on hold. I prefer to work at the individual task level, but I probably could save some time and operate even more efficiently by using Review.

On the iPhone, I get just about everything that’s available on the iPad version. In fact, the day’s schedule does list specific events, a feature not available on iPad (yet?). How about the desktop version? Well, it’s available, but the current iOS versions are so good, OmniGroup is redesigning the desktop version to match the feature set. Apparently, the Beta testing is going quite well; from time to time, the publisher offers an update on the company’s blog. The new release will be tied to a fresh syncing approach called OmniPresence, also described in the blog.

With all of this positivity, I supposed that you should know that OmniGroup is a leading developer of Mac and iOS products, but these products are not available for Windows or Android. That’s too bad, and, I suppose the company’s executives keep wondering whether to continue to excel in the Apple world, or whether to expand so that their good work can be appreciated by users of other systems. In fact, this is the second Omni product I have written about in this blog (OmniGraffle was the first; it’s a diagramming program that I use all of the time), and I’m anxious to write about another one, OmniOutliner, another product being redesigned for desktop because the mobile version has been so warmly received.

Would I change anything about this program? Well, just a few things. First, I think I would offer flags in at least three colors, just to add a bit of additional “hey this is pretty important” highlighting (priority levels would only confuse an elegantly simple approach, so I would leave that alone). And, I wish I could see the names of my appointments on the iPad as I can on the iPhone. A means of web access would be nice, but it’s hardly essential.

Overall, based upon daily use for months, I wholeheartedly recommend OmniFocus to people who (a) tend to be very busy, and tend to manage many of their own tasks; (b) believe that good organization and clear task lists make it possible to get things done more efficiently and effectively (if you’re not a believer, there’s no point in any of this), and (c) require a more professionally-oriented system than most products in App Store provide. If you’re just working out shopping lists, OmniFocus can do the job, but so can a lot of other software. If you’re attempting to manage a business life, or a busy personal life, OmniFocus is probably a wise choice.

Filed Under: Creative, Mobile, Products, Trends Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Three New Quality Cameras for Spring

April 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

‘Tis the season for some new $500+ plus cameras, one from Sony, one from Panasonic, and, at about twice the price, one rumored for upcoming release from Olympus.

Panasonic LF1kPanasonic’s newcomer DMC-FL1 is sleek, black, and conveniently sized. It  comes with a 7x optical zoom and a fast 2.0 lens (at the widest angle setting). The 12 megapixel camera includes a built-in EVF (electronic viewfinder), a far better way to compose images than the LED panel found at the back of every digital camera. It’s the kind of camera that any serious photographer ought to keep in a pocket or shoulder bag, and, for convenience, it’s possible to use WiFi to export images.

For a more detailed rundown, click on the picture of the camera and read the Digital Photography Review preview of the camera.

Once again, Digital Photography Review is the best source of info about new cameras. Click on the photo to read their feature on the Sony HX50V.

Once again, Digital Photography Review is the best source of info about new cameras. Click on the photo to read their feature on the Sony HX50V.

For the same price, Sony’s newest entry in this category, model HX5oV includes a 30x digital zoom–an idea that I’ve never loved because I’d rather the camera do the optical work and that the digital magnification be done on the computer, where greater control is possible.  This camera records JPG images, but not RAW images. Taken together, the digital zoom and the lack of RAW images suggest that this camera is intended for a more of an amateur photographer who simply wants to shoot handsome images without spending much time perfecting them on a computer.

There is no electronic viewfinder, another indication of its super-amateur status. Still, this is a 20 megapixel camera that includes both WiFi image transfer and GPS. And, there’s image stabilization. On the downside, you can’t record RAW images with this camera, only JPG.

Both cameras offer some level of exposure control, and both shoot HD video. On just about any sort of a journey, either camera would be a superior companion.

Olympus_ep5_zps5b4bee21As for my personal choice, I remain a big fan of Olympus interchange lens cameras in the micro-four thirds format, and for the next month or two, the buzz in that world will be about the upcoming EP-5. It’s a retro design reminiscent of the much-loved Olympus PEN film cameras, and an update of the popular EP-3. If the rumors are accurate (and we’ll know that within the next two weeks), this will be a 16MP version with the same sensor found in Olympus’s equally well-regarded EM-5. No electronic viewfinder included as part of this model, but a new add-on viewfinder is, apparently, coming, too. Here, my favorite source of things to come is 43 Rumors (the 43 refers to the micro four thirds format, an image sensor size that’s generally now fairly common for cameras in the $500-$1,000 range). For more, and for updates on these intriguing rumors, click on the Olympus EP-5 camera from the 43 Rumors site.

Filed Under: Art & Photography, Products Tagged With: , , , ,

If You Give a Child a Cookie…

April 25, 2013 by 1 Comment

20130425-101009.jpgMiss Bartell (my fourth grade teacher): Would you rather have one cookie or four cookies?

Me: Four! I want four cookies!

(Miss Bartell shows me one enormous cookie and four tiny cookies.)

Me: (sheepishly) Miss Bartell, may I change my answer? I think I want one cookie.

Miss Bartell: Are you sure you want the one big cookie? You may change your mind, but only this once!

Me: Is this a trick?

(Room filled with the chuckles of fourth grade classmates)

Me: Are they both the same cookies? Does the big cookie taste the same as the small cookie?

Miss Bartell: Good question! Why don’t you taste them both and you tell me?

Me: I can try them both?

Miss Bartell: Yes, I will allow that because you asked the right question!

Me: (tasting) Well, the small cookie is sublime, a dense and chewy combination of what seems to be the finest Valrhona Classic Dark Chocolate, notable for its complex and balanced flavors…

Miss Bartell: And the big one?

Me: Tastes like Suzanne’s smelly armpit!

Suzanne: Hey! Be nice!

Me: Okay, okay, sorry. It smells kinda funny. The cookie tastes like it was made in a factory. It’s stale, the chocolate is flavorless, the dough is gummy…

Miss Bartell: Suzanne, please distribute one of the small cookies to each of your classmates.

Suzanne: (sneering at me) Yes, Miss Bartell.

Me: Miss Bartell?

Miss Bartell: Yes?

Me: Thank you for teaching me never to accept the obvious first answer, to always ask the second question, and to seek context for the information I receive from you and others who routinely attempt to control my mind.

Miss Bartell: Don’t talk with you mouth full.

Filed Under: Learning Tagged With: , , , ,

4K TV – Sooner Than You Think!

April 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

A few days ago, I was on the phone with the FCC and an interesting question came up. Will broadcast stations have enough over-the-air bandwidth to provide 4K service to the public? I was struck by the question because 4K is such a new idea, and because I’d never really thought about it as broadcast idea.

Compare 1080 pixels (dark green0 with 4000 pixels (red) and you get a sense of how much more picture information (resolution, detail) is available on the new 4K TV sets.

Compare 1080 pixels (dark green0 with 4000 pixels (red) and you get a sense of how much more picture information (resolution, detail) is available on the new 4K TV sets.

What’s 4K TV? It’s a much higher-resolution version of HDTV. And the first 4K TV sets are arriving soon (see below0. In order to provide all of that picture information, more data is required, which means larger storage devices, and, in order to provide that data to connected TV sets, more bandwidth is required, too. That’s the basic theory, but it’s important not to think about 4K in terms of the current systems because of that always-astonishing digital magic trick: compression. Yes, 4K requires a lot of data and a lot of bandwidth. But “a lot” is a relative term. And yes, there are new digital broadcast standards on the way. Good news for consumers and for broadcasters, who will be able to pack more and prettier program material into their TV signals, not-so-good news for broadcasters who are attempting to build a coherent strategy related to the upcoming FCC TV spectrum auction, in which many stations will trade their licenses for cash, or for the opportunity to share a channel with another broadcaster in the market.

panel2_imageAnyway… I woke up this morning to an announcement from Sony… with all sorts of enticing promises: improved detail, improved color rendition, better audio, screen mirroring so what’s on your tablet can be viewed on your new TV (albeit it in lesser detail, a service currently available to Apple users).

How much? $5,000 for the 55-inch model, and $7,000 for the 65-inch model.

What are you going to watch? Well, yeah, that’s always the problem at this stage. Here’s a terrific article about “upscaling” the currently available media, which seems to require 24x improvement. More data will require more robust local storage, and so, we move closer to a complete convergence of television, home network, home digital storage devices in sophisticated home library systems, and, perhaps far more likely, streaming solutions in their next phase: advanced versions of Netflix, Hulu, and so forth, tweaked to serve big files for 4K TV sets.

Which brings us back around to the TV station wondering about its 4K future. Sure, it’s technically possible to broadcast 4K, but in the few years remaining for the current broadcast standard, this seems fairly unlikely because (a) it will be expensive for television stations to install in their master control facilities, and (b) relatively few people will leap from their new-ish HDTVs to 4K sets in the next year or two.

Sony-4KTVDo we want or need even more resolution than 1080i HDTV sets provide? Maybe for microscopy or astrophotography or other science work that demands the highest possible resolution. Do I think ESPN is investing in a whole new 4K operation–cameras, video switcher, storage, transmission, etc. so I can watch baseball in even higher resolution. You know they are, or will soon be, doing just that. And when they do, we’ll buy the sets because, you know, people will come…

Filed Under: Products, Trends, TV & New Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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