Channel Steve launched

Today I launched my new blog – Channel Steve at the web address www.channelsteve.com

For those not already aware, I leave Australia on May 21 for a year-long working adventure in Vietnam. I’ll be teaching English and IT whilst over there and during that time Rock Portrait Photography will effectively be on hold.

The purpose of Channel Steve is twofold.
Primarily it serves as my personal blog and single-entry point into all of my online activity.  It is also intended to provide me with a photojournalism-style outlet where the Rock Portrait Photography blog would not be appropriate to do so.

I intend to blog as regularly as possible and hope you guys would like to come along for the ride.
Regular posts at www.channelsteve.com will start after I land in Asia.

I’ve been published again – well, sort of.

Anyone ever heard of Schmap online travel and map guides?

Nope, me neither.  Regardless, I’ve allowed them to use one of my more average photos of a wallaby in their latest guide to Melbourne.

Apparently they are best known for their iPhone app and blog widgets, allowing people to quickly call up maps of whichever international tourist destination they happen to be traveling around.  The editor contacted me through Flickr, asking to use this shot to represent the Healesville Sanctuary.

At first I cringed, thinking that’s a terribly lit photo from a not very compelling angle (in other words, a snapshot) and wanted to offer her a bunch of really excellent flora and fauna shots from both Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Zoo to choose from instead.  Then, after thinking about it, I realised that it would be best not to waste too much time on this as the chances of someone seeing the shot on their iPhone and suddenly getting the urge to contact Rock Portrait Photography, or even just take a look at more of my photos, is next to zero.

What this experience illustrates is that even though there are millions of photos and many thousands of subscribers on Flickr, there is still a reasonable possibility of exposure to those looking for something specific.  Makes me re-think my current view on what I post to Flickr.  Currently I post very little of my professional work on there as I don’t like the idea of it being open to re-use without my permission.  Even though I apply an appropriate  Creative Commons licence to all my images I still have to rely on people respecting that, as it’s nearly impossible to track down unauthorised use of online images.

But lets face it, the iPhone is kind of cool so having one of my shots occasionally appear in one is cool by association.

Easily keep up with your favourite blogs

Browsing through the internet as I tend to do quite often, I stumbled upon a solution looking for a problem.  Well, the problem already exists in Australia at least – people don’t understand RSS feeds and don’t remember to regularly view their favourite web pages to check for new content.

I’d like to make it easier for you to know when I post new content, so I have three options for you.

• Subscribe to my newsletter.
  This is by far the easiest option. Every time I write a new blog entry you will receive an email that day telling you about my post.  Simply enter your email address into the eNews & Updates box in the top right of each page, or use the one I’ve included for you here. 

  eNews & Updates

  Sign up to receive breaking news
  as well as receive other site updates!

   

 

• Use an RSS reader.
  RSS means really simple syndication, and it’s a way to automatically see the headlines (and sometimes full posts) of any new content added to an RSS-enabled website. All blogs are RSS-enabled, and many sites these days will be too.  The more geeky of us will have a dedicated RSS reader already downloaded and installed, but I strongly recommend Google Reader.  Once you’re signed up for Google Reader you only need to find “Subscribe” links in the web sites you are viewing to be able to add them to the Reader.  And while you’re at it, sign up for a Gmail account.  It’s far superior to Hotmail or Yahoo, and I’ll go so far as to say it will beat whatever else you are using hands down.  Contact me to have a chat about it if you have questions.
   
• A third option is appealing to those who prefer to use email only, and are not big on browsing to other web sites to see what’s going on. 
  http://lifehacker.com/5080971/tabbloid-turns-your-rss-feed-into-a-newspaper 

  It doesn’t appear to include any photographs, and I got bored of the idea after two deliveries, but perhaps it might suit you.  Simply give them your email address and the addresses of all the feeds you are interested in.  Bingo! New magazine style emails every day for you to browse through without ever leaving your email application.

All my Asian holiday photos will be posted at Picasa

I can’t believe how hard it is to get the rest of my holiday documented here. But what I have been doing is throwing up the unedited photos into Picasa so at least you can see them without the accompanying story if you want to.

So, instead of waiting forever for me to update this blog, check out my Picasa site for galleries of where I’ve been. I’ll be updating Picasa every day or two, so keep checking back.

New Asus Eee PC

OK, three and a bit days to go then I jump on my first plane.

Until today I was bringing my Powerbook along to save photos and update my blog. I’ve just arrived back from the Post Office with a 4Gb Asus Eee PC.

Yes, it’s tiny. And yes there are a few little challenges when updating my blog from it, not the least is getting used to the mini keyboard. Firefox doesn’t like to let me see the entire screen at times, meaning some important buttons are hard to click.  But as you can see by this post, I got there in the end.  Looks like I might bring this with me to Asia, and free up some valuable space in my backpack.

Wacky Gadgets

Australia’s “The Age” recently published an article in their Green Guide about wacky gadgets.
I’ve linked to the electronic version here so that you can check it out even after the dog has chewed up your original paper.

Enjoy.

powered by performancing firefox

Nwes Form The Wlrod Of Sceicne

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Passwords, passwords, passwords – Aaargh!!!!

In todays’ digital, security-conscious world, there is so much information to remember.
Once upon a time it was only your bank ATM PIN. Now every web site you are interested in requires you to register, and your Internet Banking login details are impossible to remember.Then you have everything else that matters like insurance, drivers licence, birthdays, combinations, email accounts, memberships, emergency info. The list just goes on and on!!!So what gadget do I use to solve this problem, you ask?

I use SplashID for the Palm OS on my Treo 650.

Of course, you are unlikely to have a Treo, as Australia hasn’t yet caught on to this best-of-breed convergence device. But don’t despair – SplashID has a version to suit PocketPC, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Symbian (sony Ericsson), Series 60 (Nokia) and the Blackberry, so you should be covered.Now there are plenty of alternatives to SplashID out there. However every one I have trialled has been buggy, awkward or unattractive. I just keep coming back to this.
SplashID comes with a Windows desktop to make it easier for data entry, and you can even just buy the desktop, so that’s pretty cool if you haven’t jumped on the phone/PDA convergence bandwagon yet.

SplashID is probably the most important tool I have on my Treo, and is always be the very first installation I run whenever I upgrade.
Trial before you buy at the SplashData downloads page.
I think you’ll find yourself “splashing” out USD$30 in no time at all.

Technorati Tags: palm, treo, splashID, security, passwords, pocketpc, smartphone

Palm/Pocket PC Wine Guide 2006

I’ve been trying to find a decent Palm-based wine guide for so long. This might be finally be it.
Every time I walk into Vintage Cellars, Liquorland or First Choice, I stare at the shelves for ages. I wonder whether I should simply buy that safe Koonunga Hill or Wolf Blass Yellow Label, or go out on a limb and try something new. I got lucky one day when I chose some Zilzie – boy is that good! But, I’ve also had my share of poor bottles.

My choice of phone is the PalmOne Treo 650, and it doubles as a Palm PDA. So, everywhere I go, the Treo goes with me. Now when I’m looking for wine, I can simply refer to my Treo to help make my decision. I can also keep track of my own wine cellar – excellent for when you drank so much of a good wine that you simply can’t remember what it was!

Also available for Pocket PC (for those of you who haven’t quite cottoned onto the joys of a stable, easy to use, lightweight PDA operating system).

It retails at about $25 after currency conversion, and you can download it directly from Landware’s site.

Now, it’s not perfect for Australians due to the lack of Aussie database content.  And I’ve yet to find any online data that I can import into the database.  I’ll keep looking and place a comment here if I find it.  An option for some of you might be to use a quality Australian Windows-based database to host your own collection, and export to a file that you can then import into your mobile software.

Are You Ready To ROCK?

I was idly passing through JB HiFi yesterday when my attention was caught by Joan Jett’s dulcet tones being acompanied by some fairly shoddy guitar work. I rounded a corner and was confronted by Guitar Hero in action!

I’ve only been vaguely tempted to buy a Playstation 2 previously, but now I have a burning need. I WANT this! WANT WANT WANT!
Ok, so anyone playing this thing will end up looking like a total dork. Especially as the guitar looks like one of those plastic toys with buttons instead of strings that get confiscated from little kids five minutes after Christmas.
The game itself works a little like the Dance Dance Revolution atrocities you may have seen over the last few years. You need to hit the right buttons on the fretboard and strum at the right time to match the display. Sort of a Simon Says for the modern generation.

But hell, in spite of all the dorky crappy plasticness – this game totally rocks!

And with tracks like Ace Of Spades, Bark At The Moon, Higher Ground, I Love Rock n Roll, Iron Man, Killer Queen, Smoke On The Water, Symphony Of Destruction and many many more how could it fail to?

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