Revo Uninstaller

Here's a great piece of freeware to uninstall software, remove programs and solve uninstalling problems. Revo Uninstaller works better than Windows Add/Remove Software, even scourging the Registry.

Post Notification

Wordpress has a plugin where people can sign up to receive posts via email called Post Notification. With it, you could turn your blog into a free email marketing machine!

Ultra Portable Multimedia Projectors

Need an AV Projector that will fit in your shirt pocket? Check out this article at B&H about Ultra Portable Multimedia Projectors.

Cross browser testing

Adobe releasing a service called Meer Meer for cross-browser testing that could put services like Browsershots.org out of business.

Meanwhile, check out Xenocode.com

HP's new workstation: Z800

Here's a press release to the new workstation from HP: Z800.

Professional Portrait Retouching

It's scary how prevalent and easy retouching has become. It used to take an expert like Greg Apodaca using advanced Photoshop techniques. But now with products such as Professional Portrait, retouching makes its way to the masses.

No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted. Check out Dove's campaign "Evolution" to see what I mean.

Tutorial on FTP set-up using Firefox

Here's a good tutorial on how to use Firefox's FTP client for publishing to your website.

Thievery Corporation on NPR

Rob Garza and Eric Hilton talk to the folks at NPR about the release of their latest CD, Radio Retaliation.

World Cafe - Jan. 8, 2009

Tell Me More - Dec. 4, 2008

Cool music player by Yahoo

Check out this music player by Yahoo: www.rollogrady.com
(lower left, click play).

Make Flash & Ajax indexable by Google

SWFAddress, an open source project, makes Flash & Ajax websites indexable by Google and other search engines. Download the developer kit from www.asual.com/swfaddress.

Sunbird and Google Calendar

Loaded Mozilla Sunbird yesterday... wish that events created off-line would sync w/ Google Calendar when back online. Any ideas?

Chrome :: new browser by Google

Just installed Google's browser, Chrome, and it's sweeeet! Lightning fast! Javascript runs 57x faster than IE 7, 10x faster than Firefox 3. Tabs can be torn off into new windows, and if one tab crashes, the others keep going! The interface is practically invisible, allowing you to focus on web content instead of, ironically, the browser's "chrome."

All the Top Photography News

Photography news aggregated in one RSS portal Alltop.com
Thanks to Scott Bourne for turning me onto this site.

Great Stocking Stuffer

Here's a great stocking stuffer for the photographer in your life
Hands-On Lighting DVD

Flash Detection using SWFObject

Geek time! Geoff Stearns of Choppingblock.com updated his flashobject.js to swfobject.js for embedding Flash into web pages.

Background article

Geoff's site

Code Google

Tutorial video

Lightroom 2

Launched Lightroom 2 last night. What a pleasure to work in this well-designed interface. The tools are amazing. The keywording is straight-forward. I highly recommend this program to photographers.

Video and the Nikon D90

Check out this article about using the Nikon D90 and Canon 5D Mark II for shooting video.

Content Aware Scaling

Video showing how Content Aware Scaling works in Adobe Photoshop CS4. The algorithm allows you to resize and reframe an image without losing important data. Seamcarving.com

Sensor size cheat sheet

Check out this cheat sheet from Stu at Prolost

Strobist & The Grip Guide

Want to conquer your flash? Looking for off-camera lighting ideas on the cheap? Strobist - one of the best sources of lighting info on the web.

Getting your first gig as a grip? Check out The Grip Guide so you'll know exactly what they mean when they say, "Get me a C-Stand."

Memory Cards

Ever wonder which memory card to buy for your camera? Which card has the best write and read speed - Lexar, SanDisk, Hoodman, Transcend? The answer lies in the combination of camera body AND card. Check out the test results at Rob Galbraith's site. Select your camera body from the drop-down and the site shows the various cards read/write times.

Pictures from India

Thanks to Ron Brinkmann for sharing this link. You gotta see them to believe them.

AlienBees RingFlash

Thanks to Frederick V. Johnson (Twitter: frederickvan) for the link to AlienBees RingFlash

Adobe CS4

I'm anticipating the launch of Adobe CS4. I heard there's going to be an announcement on September 23rd. Could be a good time to upgrade from CS2. There's a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 30-day window to upgrade from CS3.3 to CS4. Compare suites.

According to DailyTechTalk, "Adobe Creative Suite product cycles are around 18 months and Adobe CS3 was released on April 16th, 2007 so Adobe Max would mean 19 months since the last release." Adobe Max is November 16th-19th in San Francisco this year.

Lightroom Gallery Templates

Loaded trial version of Lightroom 2.0 last Monday. Here's a link to Lightroom Gallery Templates that's worth checking out.

Rental Houses

Not sure which gear or lens to buy... this article lists plenty of rental places online to check out equipment and glass. Also keep in mind your local pro photo shop, which usually offer rentals as well.

Nikon announces D90

Nikon announces its new 12.3 megapixel D90 camera with 24fps video. Get all the details at the official Nikon site.


Check out these sample movie clips made by the D90... this one is seriously delicious!

Lightroom Journal

Here's a great resource for Lightroom developments from Tom Hogarty and the Adobe team - Lightroom Journal

Photography/Imaging events

Here are two important events in the world of Photography & Imaging: PMA and Photokina. When buying a new camera, I would wait until after these events to hear the latest announcements.

NAS or not to NAS

Currently researching Network-Attached Storage (NAS):

HP MediaSmart - Windows version has features such as remote access plus the ability to create photo sharing website w/ user permissions. Paul Thurrott's review. Negative software update. MediaSmartServer forums.

HP Media Vault - Linux version. Computer Shopper review.
Compare prices.

After all is said and done, Drobo is the way to go!
DroboShare Storage Device VS. HP Media Vault 2120 article

File Comparison

If you're ever faced with the task of syncing folders and files, I've evaluated two programs and switched to Beyond Compare. Originally I bought UltraCompare but was annoyed when it would tag identical files with a (?) question mark.

Lightroom 2.0

Adobe released Lightroom 2.0 - now I've got to buy it and decide which book to go w/ it: the one by Scott Kelby or Mikkel Aaland ...or both.

Instinct or Dare

In addition to the iPhone, I'm checking out the Samsung Instinct vs. Verizon's Dare. Both have their various merits but neither has it all. Plus there's open-source Android brewing on the horizon. DARE I wait? Check out PhoneScoop - for side-by-side comparisons, and Gizmodo and Engadget for reviews.

Dan Alban's photos

After listening to Alex Lindsay's interview of 3D animator, author of 12 books, photographer and trainer, Dan Alban, on TWIP, I had to check out his photography.
Most excellent!

My Twitter profile

http://twitter.com/brendanbowie Follow me

Official End of Support to Netscape browser

On March 1st, 2008, AOL ended its official support of the Netscape browser. Though I haven't used it in years (moved to Firefox), the news still created a pang of nostalgia as I remember creating my first website in Netscape Navigator 3.0 - so long old friend. Here's an archive of Netscape's development over the years.

Imagekind Joins Cafepress

Looks like CafePress acquired Imagekind, the industry's "gold standard" for giclee printing - read more at Imagekind's blog. I'm tracking this news because I have some pictures at Imagekind.

On the topic of putting images on things such as mugs and t-shirts, there's another site that offers those services, it's called Red Bubble. I haven't used them yet, but I know another photographer who recommends them.

Chevy Volt

After watching "Who Killed the Electric Car" about GM's EV1, it looks like Chevy has another electric car in development - the Volt. Check out this article in The Atlantic.

Goldman Psychiatry

On 5/14/2008, launched a new website Goldman Psychiatry that I designed and developed for Thomas C. Goldman, M.D., a forensic and clinical psychiatrist. And based on my experience of Dr. Goldman at his son's wedding, he's a wonderful guy and a quite the dancer!

Nikon D300

Yesterday, while at Ace Photo looking for a flash bracket for an SB800 with a LumiQuest 80-20, I made the decision to get the Nikon D300. I start shooting this afternoon. Can't wait to see the results.

The DV Rebel's Guide

Reading "The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap" by Stu Maschwitz, co-founder of the Orphanage. He used to share an office with Alex Lindsay (TWiM & TWiP) when they both worked at ILM.

The Man, The Image, The World

I highly recommend this book of photography by
Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, The Image, The World - A Retrospective.

An amazing body of work! A true master.

HD/HDV Camcorders

Here are some HD/HDV Camcorders worth watching.

High Dynamic Range (HDR)

Video tutorial on HDR. Photomatix Pro great for combining images and tonal mapping.

The Moment It Clicks

Absolutely useful, instructive, inspiring book on photography by Joe McNally called "The Moment It Clicks" JoeMcNally.com


He has shot for Life and National Geographic to mention just a couple.

TWIP - new photo podcast

Great photo podcast called This Week In Photography (TWIP) hosted by Alex Lindsay and Scott Bourne.

Bye Bye to Analog TV

On midnight, February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch to 100% digital broadcasting. Each household is entitled to two coupons, each worth $40, to go towards the purchase of converters. For more info,
DTV2009.gov

The latest from Scott Kelby

Just got my copy of The Digital Photography Book - Volume 2 in an extremely useful series by Kelby.

Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD

Could the end be in sight? Personally I'm sitting out this round, but check out this article: Blu-ray Poised to Win Home Video War

Just Say NO to WEP

According to the Security Now, Episode #89, April 26 2007, WEP-protected WiFi networks can be cracked in less than 60 seconds. Instead, use WPA encryption.