What is U3 you may ask. Picture this – you once thought 8mb of portable disk space was a premium. Then came 128mb. You paid a lot of money and bought one of those ‘pen drives’ (aka flash/thumb drive). Before the warranty on the drive expired, higher capacities began to hit the market at much lower prices. And today, 16gb flash drives are available.

So what are you gonna use all this disk space for? Storing files obviously. But how about if you can carry some of your software on these drives? Cool eh? That is exactly what a U3 drive is. Of course, U3 being jointly developed by companies like Sandisk will never be free as in free beer, but the nice thing is that you have a good collection of open-source software available for U3 enabled flash drives. This includes Firefox, Thunderbird, Trillian basic etc. You even get Openoffice for U3. So basically you can work out of your flash drive. You can carry important files and don’t have to worry about what software is installed on the host computer.

I bought my second U3 enabled drive yesterday. It was a rather silly move on my part to invest in a IGB drive cos less than six months later I have now upgraded to 2GB. My first U3 flash drive was a Kingston and albeit the poor build quality, it served me well all these days. Of course, it is still going strong but I felt the need to upgrade to 2GB because of Portable Apps. Now what are these Portable Apps? They are U3 like software gone one step further – you don’t need any proprietary hardware to run these software applications. Any flash drive (or even hard drive) will do. Just head over to http://portableapps.com and see for yourself. I have tons of these apps and they take up almost 1GB of space. So obviously I needed a higher capacity drive I won’t be surprised if I find myself upgrading again, soon.

Bottom line is that U3 apps are nice. So are these portable apps, but they lack the ease of operation unlike the U3. The U3 comes with its own launch pad. Interestingly, not everyone seems to like these U3 enabled drives. When I was doing a search on Amazon for the Sandisk U3 drive, I found lot of negative reviews. And all the complains were about the U3 launcher – how it ‘installs programs without askin’ and how the ‘launcher is damn slow’. I thought there was something inherently wrong with the product (Sandisk). But upon reading the positive reviews I realized that most people complaining either didn’t know what a U3 devices was, or were computer novices. It is like buying a Jeep and then complaining that it is a four wheel drive The only possible drawback of U3 enabled devices is that they are not Mac/Linux friendly.

For now, I am happy with my new Sandisk. I like the retractable head (capless design). I like the U3 apps and look forward to making the most of it.

PS: These thumbdrives excite me. I use them a lot, and I remember struggling with compressing files into different parts to carry them home from office during the days of 256mb capacities. I like it when technology advances and comes within the reach of the common man

My cousin sent the skin I had ordered for my Creative Zen Vision W through a friend and it reached me yesterday. Here are some pics of it (click on the thumbnail)

The package in which it came

The ‘dummy’ player and the skin

My player without the skin (yea, I know its dusty)….note the screen protector looking all shiny (it doesn’t hinder the viewing experience though)

After putting on the skin

The nav keys and such are exposed

Its got the zen logo embossed just like how it is in the player itself

The volume keys and the ON/OFF switch

Overall, the skin is ok. It’s soft, but a dust magnet. There is absolutely no protection for the screen and it actually does not protect the player if you drop it. But we don’t go around dropping hard-drives right? (this player has a Hitachi Travelstar hard-drive inside. Someone actually dismantled and saw!). More than dropping the player, I am paranoid about the screen breaking. It has the largest surface area and so obviously it’s more prone to such a thing. But I am not sure if anything can be done to protect the screen, except for some careful handling.

I paid $19.99 but now the skin sells for $15.00 Anyways, hope my player feels warm and cosy inside its new skin

Creative Zen Vision W 30 GB Widescreen Multimedia Player

I chose this over the iPOD video/Zune because:

• Takes in CF cards – I can backup photographs when traveling (although I cannot view RAW files).
• Wide 4.3 inch screen. Videos on this totally rock! Crisp, clear and super!
• Good rating on Amazon.
• Closest I can get to having a backup solution without spending $350 plus.
• Plays a wide variety of video formats.
• I really need music when traveling! My discman is a little bulky to carry around.

Things to crib about (and I am being very picky):

• No accessories available on the market yet. I really need a skin to protect this thing. Spare batteries would be a big plus. None of this is currently available.
• Little big, so doesn’t fit into my pocket

All in all, I am very happy

This looks really promising. I liked it better than Adobe Lightroom. Yes, LR is intended to be more than what DxO is, but that doesn’t make it better in its current beta stage. Lightroom has turned out to be slow and resource hogging. Since I am only comparing two beta versions, I can’t be conclusive in my judgements. But DxO is sweet!

Of course, DxO has something that can be called truly unique. Its geometric corrections are truly effective. Version 3.5 had a lot of quirks, including a very dull UI. Processing speeds have been a great concern, and I usually start the process of batch conversion and take a break when I am processing a lot of images at once. All that has been adddressed in this new version

Check it out here. Below is a frame I shot last evening, and processed using DxO Optics v4 beta:

Her green plastic watering can
For her fake chinese rubber plant
In fake plastic earth.
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plants
Just to get rid of itself.
And it wears her out, it wears her out
It wears her out, it wears her out.

- Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees

This blog post has nothing to do with the band Radiohead. The only reason I mention them here, is because they talk about fake chinese rubber plants. I would like to talk about fake chinese remote controls. And how useful they are.

It all started when I met a guy who showed me how he had built a remote by himself for his Canon digital camera. All it needed was a cellphone handsfree type cable and jack, a couple of touch-sensitive switches and something to hold everything together. It was cool, simple and the engineer in me really woke up (or was it the gadget freak in me?). But I didn’t want a wired remote. I wanted a wireless remote. I searched the net with no luck. I did find a site with detailed instructions on how to build a wireless remote for the Nikon D70s, but then I have a Canon 350D. I searched quite a bit, and in the process, my desire to own a remote overtook my curiosity to build one. The real Canon remote costs $20 and that is a ridiculous amount for something that consists of an IC, L.E.D and a few switches. I knew the Chinese would be upto something, and I did a search on Ebay to find this. It’s called OMG! SR-1 Universal Infrared Remote for Canon and Nikon SLR / D-SLR and costs $0.99. That’s about Forty indian rupees! But the catch – shipping costs $10.95. But it still worked out cheap for me – for $11 I would be getting a remote shipped to India. Cool!

I recieved the remote yesterday, and it works great. It has two modes (only for Canon) – instant shutter release and shutter release after 2 seconds. Any photographer would tell you that having a remote is pretty useful when shooting long exposure and macro. The 2 seconds delay is great when the photographer also wants to be in the photograph. All he has to do is mount the camera on a tripod, stand in front of it and use the remote

But that’s not it. This remote also features a tiny ultrabright L.E.D that can be used as a flashlight. And it comes with a small mirror that can be easily mounted on the lens. IR rays are reflected off shiny surfaces, so this is when you want to use the remote from behind the camera (the IR reciever is in front of the camera…duh!). If you thought that’s all it has, you are wrong. It also comes with a cool strap attaching thingy, which allows you to have it fixed to your camera strap always. Now that is what I called innovation. Innovation + Made in China = UBER GADGET! Will try to post pictures sometime.

Adobe’s much awaited software for photographers is called Lightroom. Currently available as a Mac beta, the Windows version should be here in summer (their summer, not ours ). I was looking at some videos of the software’s functions, and found it interesting. Another reason for me to eagerly look forward to this program is the take-over of Pixmantec by Adobe. Pixmantec’s Rawshooter program is what I currently use to develop my camera RAW files, and I totally love it for it’s easy UI and great conversion tools. Before Rawshooter became popular, CaptureOne was the leading RAW convertor in the market. I never enjoyed using this program. It had a dull interface, and not so intuitive controls. Incidently, Rawshooter was written by CaptureOne’s original founders, and Pixmantec’s accquisition by Adobe is a classic big-company-buys-small-company story.

One thing that I have noticed about Adobe’s roadmap for photographers is the inclusion of Digital Asset Management (DAM) into it’s products. It started with Bridge, and now Lightroom has a roboust database with all functions one can expect from a database driven system. This is good, and many photographers would appreciate it (options being having to invest in DAM software like Iview Media Pro, PhotoMechanic and the like).

Coming back to Lightroom, one area that Adobe has really concentrated on (maybe they saved themselves a lot of RAW conversion coding by accquiring Pixmantec ) is the software’s UI. Currently most RAW convertors suffer poor UI, and this probably stems from the fact that the RAW convertors are nothing but different functions like Curves, Noise Reduction, White balance etc all thrown into one program. Lightroom is going to change all that with sliding and dimming palletes, short-cut keys, one touch full-screen mode (like Photoshop) etc. Also, since this is the big A’s product, photographers are probably going to enjoy a streamlined workflow. Any photographer worth his salt would surely be using Photoshop, so having a RAW convertor, DAM and Image editing software all from the same company is going to mean flexibilty and ease of use like never before. Or at least that’s what my optimism tells me. As of now, my personal roadmap includes going out and clicking lots of photos

Quick Links:

• On DAM
• Comparison of RAW convertors
• Digital Darkroom guides

I finished reading this book by Paulo Coelho today. It was boring. Uninteresting and pointless. Others have applauded the simplicty of the story and the deeper meaning that it carries, but it didn’t do anything for me. At least one person (including the person who lent me the book) told me that the ending is good, and so I read it till the last word to see what’s so good about the ending. I was disappointed. C’mon, life is not as simple as the author potrays. The ‘boy’ doesn’t come across any real challenges, and at every stage he has someone or something telling him what to do. Now that doesn’t happen in the real world. Sure, there are signs, messiahs and omens. But seldom as simple and unadventureous as in this story. Actually, many a times I was wondering what could the author have been smoking to come up with some totally random, silly and disconnected parts. Like the part about the boy talking to the Wind, Sun and finally some BS Hand of God or whatever. I was not inspired one bit. But if it worked for you, good. I think Kurt Cobain can give you better gyaan. As for me, I’d rather stick to Deepak Chopra. 

Actually, the post of this title should read web hosting search blues. I have been considering moving to a different web host, mainly because of the need for more web space. There are a zillion sites offering reviews of web hosting products, and some of these reviews are indeed helpful. Here is what I have gathered after painstakingly going thro many reviews and web hosting offers:

• There are only few consistently good web hosting companies out there. Bluehost, 1&1, Siteground are some of them.
• Almost all these companies have their products similarly priced. If you see something too good to be true, then it means you have not read the fine print. One such very annoying fine print is the pricing structure. At the face of it, you may read that for $5 you are getting an amazing deal of 5GB webspace and the works. But when you read the fine print (some of which is hard to find), you’ll realize that it is $5 only if you pay upfront for 12 months. For monthly payment, the same deal would cost you $8 which is no different from what most other sites offer!
• Some sites have ‘setup fees’, ‘backup fees’, ‘domain name fees’ etc. If you need to back up your site, you might have to shell out upto $24!!
• Not all sites have a standard control panel. Cpanel is on my current web host, and it is really awesome. But very few of the good hosting companies use Cpanel. With Cpanel, you generally get something called Fantastico. This neat little tool automatically installs several software via scripts. So you need not get your hands dirty installing WordPress, Gallery and the like.

I am disappointed not to find anything below $7, and in the >1GB range. C’mon, I am never gonna use 5 GB, so why don’t you offer me something like 1GB and charge me less? If I pay $7, I may not be making the best of the 5Gb until maybe 2 years (by which time I may have a HUGE image gallery), so what’s the point in me paying for so much webspace upfront?

Nevertheless, the search is on, and I hope to stumble upon something good soon. Meanwhile, I totally love my current host and couldn’t recommend them enough for their low price products.

Sandeep and I had a great time covering Vh1′s rock rules concert last night at Palace Grounds, Bangalore. We got media passes because we were shooting for split-magazine. Thanks Arun, for arranging this. The press pit is a nice place to catch the action Sandeep and I both took turns and photographed the bands, and the snaps should be up at the site soon.

I did a hell lot of shopping in May. Some delibrate, some forced by circumstances. I had to change my UPS due to a power surge that blew up my old 500VA APC. After some unsuccessful attempts at having it repaired at Bangalore’s S.P Road, I finally decided to go in for a new 650VA APC for both peace of mind and added reliability. I also learnt a thing or two about dealing with service guys, MNC product support policies and actually getting the job done. For instance, my Motorola phone that was written off by the authorized service center guys, was actually serviced at a local shop for 150 bucks. And it works fine now. All he had to do was blow hot air through the circuit to remove moisture from the insides of the handset. And for this, the Motorola guys told me they would have to replace the RF board and that would cost me around 2k!!!

The highlight of my shopping was the BenQ DW1650 16x DVD Writer that I purchased a few days ago from S.P Road. I never knew BenQ made great DVD Writers until I did some research on the net. Turns out that this is one of the better brands in the market, when it comes to DVD Writers. I burnt 8 DVDs on the very first day of purchase, and I am amazed at the speeds I get. I can burn a DVD in about 4 minutes at 16x!! Thats 4.7 gigs of data, people! Truly astonishing. At the moment I am on a movie download spree. I downloaded 12 since last week, and I am glad to have a DVD writer. I use ConvertXtoDVD to convert Avi files to DVD video, and so far I have been getting good results with this proggy. Takes me anywhere from an hour to 3 hours to encode a DVD on my AMD Athlon XP 3000+, so I guess I have to start leaving my computer on during the nights (like how I used to, when I had unlimited internet ) Of course, I need a couple of weekends to watch these movies, but hey, it’s nice to have a collection of good DVDs at home