The night is still young, but it’s looking like halloween in Southern California is mildly different than it was back in Toronto. For starters, it’s hot here. I have memories of putting on long underwear first and my costume second. My favorite costume as a kid was Spider Man in a winter coat. But that’s no happening here. Oh no - you’d die out there. I think a mask alone would be overkill.

Also, this may seem trivial, but I remember going door to door asking for candy. That doesn’t seem to happen here either. I wasn’t the strongest math student, but I think this equation is pretty simple:

Gated Community = No Trick-or-Treaters.

There is a huge sign by the grocery store that reads “Bring Your Kids Here To Trick-or-Treat!”. I didn’t think much of it at first, but now it’s completely clear why you’d take the kids to Ralphs for some candy - It’s 7:00 here, and we haven’t had a single kid to the door. Not one. Apparently the gate is actually working… and of all days for it to keep people out. Jess went to the trouble of, umm, drawing a pumpkin, and we’ve got a few bags of candy ready in case some kid manages to infiltrate the defenses. I don’t get it - that gate is completely for show. People come and go as they please… It’s not stopping anyone from getting in. Wait a few minutes, someone will open it and you can just drive in. And if you’re on foot, you can just reach over and unlock the pedestrian gate. I’ll save you the trouble - the code is 1144. It’s nothing more than a pain in the ass.

Update:

Nope, not a single kid. Not one. I even went outside first thing this morning to see if the pumpkin was still intact… it was. I mean, seriously - what kind of Halloween is it if you don’t find your pumpkin smashed on the road or with its face kicked-in the morning after? A sad one indeed.

We just got back from brunch with Rowan, his girlfriend Amanda and their new puppy Lola.
Originally, Jeremy was under the impression that Lola was a rescue dog from the Katrina disaster but it turns out she was saved from the closer-to-home disaster that is known as Compton.
None the less, she is adorable and very sweet.
She is incredibly well behaved for a puppy and if anyone wants to know the secret projects that Fuse is working on, talk to her as she comes to work daily with Rowan.
I like her a lot.
I asked Jeremy if we could get a puppy too, but he said no.
Good thing, because I’m pretty much already over the idea.

It’s Apple-computer-geek time again. Brace yourself accordingly.

Apple’s been on a tear this month, with 3 “special event” announcements within weeks of each other. Their latest event was held yesterday at the PhotoPlus Expo in NYC, where they announced new hardware and software.

On the hardware side, Apple announced an upgrade to their “pro” line of computers, the most impressive of which was the introduction of the Power Mac G5 Quad - a dual, dual core system or, umm, Quad. Irrespective of my description, she’s going to be fast. Really fast. The Powerbooks got an update as well. We’re looking at better screens and mild speed increases, but nothing too major. With these updates out of the way, there will be no further updates to their pro lineup until Apple transitions them over to Intel processors in 2007.

Beyond the hardware upgrades, Apple introduced a new “pro” photography application called Aperture. The most basic description of Aperture would be iPhoto on the juice - but in reality, it’s so much more than that. There are a number of rather impressive features that any pro, or aspiring photographer (aka me) would be interested in. At $499, it’s not particularly cheap, but I think it’ll sell by the boatload. Now, I’m not going to bore you with the finer details of the application, but if you’re interested in photography, check out the website for all the non-desctrucive-RAW-handling goodness. That said, there was one feature that I did want to mention, and ironically it has nothing to do with photography. With the release of Aperture, Apple introduced a feature that I’m hoping will find it’s way into every application on the platform.

The removal of the Save Button.

That’s correct, in Aperture, you no longer save your changes. And it’s a beautiful thing. Every change you make is stored in a SQL database, and at any point, you can undo every one of those changes. Open a document that’s 6 months old, and you can revert back to it’s original state. This sort of feature won’t really matter to the general public, but in my world, it would be a blessing. In advertising, you’re forever creating documents (v1), sending them to the client, revising them (v2), sending them again, and so on (v3). It’s not uncommon to go back to an older version to leverage something you’ve previously created, and it’s also not uncommon to make changes… and somehow send off an older version by accident. Try as you will, but it happens. On the programming side, you often have to roll back to an earlier version as you’ll inevitably end up writing something new that breaks something old. And let’s not talk about the ever popular Application Crash. Over the years, I’ve easily lost 1000 of hours when an Photoshop or Flash crashed before I had saved my document. Sure, you learn to hit save every 10 minutes, but still. You shouldn’t have to.

I hate to use a description as clichéd as this, but automatic saving is something of a paradigm shift. And I welcome it with open arms.

I have to give props to my hardcore father-in-law.
He drove to the States this weekend to go see Elvis Costello in concert (something he does at least a half dozen times a year), unfortunately this time, his car broke down en route. Faced with the prospect of missing the concert, the man had the car towed to the nearest garage at which point he ditched the car and got himself a rental to take him to the venue. Because yesterday was Sunday and the garage was closed, he had to leave his car, take a bus back across the border and will have to drive back later this week to pick up his repaired vehicle.
Now that’s dedication.
Rock on Dad!

Sometimes I just love a grey, rainy day - and today is just that day. It’s cold and dreary outside, and has been raining all day… well, at least I think it has. Jess and I haven’t left the couch since we woke up (and Jess is actually asleep again on the couch next to me), but I have the window open, so it sounds like it’s been raining all day. This is actually the first day that it’s rained for any considerable amount of time since we got here, and I think it’s a sign that winter is on it’s way.

I’ve been completely consumed with work since we got back from Singapore, so I was looking forward to the day off. We had originally planned to go the beach and maybe into Laguna so I could try out my new camera lens, but it started raining and, well… VH1 is running the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders and I haven’t been able to turn the channel in about an hour. Sad, I know.

Since our Singapore trip, I’ve become completely infatuated with photography. I’ve been interested in it for a while - Jess even bought me a digital SLR camera for my birthday last year - but I really didn’t know how to use it beyond the point and shoot mode. I decided to experiment with it, and finally figured out how to use it while we were in Asia. The camera I have is an Olympus Evolt E-300. It’s an excellent camera, and the only thing I don’t like about it is the lens it came with. The standard lens is basically a wide angle lens and doesn’t allow me to get the style of shots that I’d like - which are usually a much closer and tightly framed shot. So I decided to bid for a new lens on ebay. I ended up getting the Zuiko Digital 40-150mm, which I’m itching to try out.

In retrospect, I think I could have taken some nice shots out in the rain, but seeing as it’s 7:15 now, I think it’s a bit too dark. I guess I’ll have to give it a try tomorrow.

This post really doesn’t have much to do with California*, which is what this blog was intended to talk about I suppose, but I’m going to chat about it nonetheless.

As I’m sure most of you already know, I’m a pretty big fan of Apple Computer… so it shouldn’t come as surprise that I was waiting patiently in front of my computer at 10:00 this morning to see what new products they were releasing their One More Thing… event. After spending some time to digest what was released, I have to admit I have mixed feelings.

First, they announced new iMacs. These are sweet - built in iSight cameras, thinner profiles, faster and cheaper. Beyond the hardware upgrades, they’ve also included a new piece of software called Front Row. Front Row looks pretty solid, but I’m at a loss to understand why it only comes bundled with these new iMacs, and not as a self-standing product sold separately.

Front Row is Apple’s first step into the “Media PC” market… well, maybe more of a baby step really. There are a number of other Media PC’s available on the market, the majority of which have vastly more options than Front Row. Sure, the iMac comes with a slick little remote control for you to navigate Front Row from afar, but my initial reaction was “where’s the TV-in option?” - I mean, anyone who’s going to consume anything from the couch is going to want broadcast content, and not just their movies made in iMovie… But then I got to thinking, and this may very well be the first sign of a significant change that I’ve been hoping would happen sometime soon. My guess is that the traditional TV model (pay cable company, channel surf thereafter) is on it’s way out, and a new “on-demand” model is on it’s way in. It’s still far off, but I think it’s only a matter of time before I can plug a Mac Mini into my TV, select the any episode of Lost in the guide and have it stream over the internet.

Anyway, I regress… the iMac release today is definitely a solid revision… not that I’d ever buy one personally.

Next up, the iPod. Announced today is an all new iPod capable of playing video. Sure, it’s thinner, and has a wider screen and comes in black, and no longer supports Firewire, and has the same software upgrades as the iPod Nano - but the main selling feature is it’s ability to play video. But one has to stop and ask themselves why? There has been a lot of hype about an iPod that plays video, but I personally don’t understand why the average person would want one. With a 2.5-inch screen, it simply can’t be the best viewing experience. And beyond the physical size of the viewing area, what about content? What exactly are you watching? Sure, there will be a group of techie geeks such as myself who will find a way to DVDs and TV shows on their iPods**, but most people won’t. They’ll need to be supplied that content in some easy to consume manner. Which leads us to the last announcement today.

After the iMac and the iPod was iTunes 6. 6? Wasn’t version 5 release, oh, 1 month ago? What’s so new that iTunes deserved a full point release? You guessed it - video. But it’s not exactly what you’re thinking… it’s music videos, and video Podcasts, and movie trailers, and short films (6 from Pixar to be precise). Now, there are TV shows available for purchase - a total of 5 shows in total, each for a $1.99 download. But with 5 shows (about 25 episodes in total), why even bother? Especially since they videos are downloaded in a laughable 320 × 240 resolution. And why are TV shows available for sale in the iTunes MUSIC Store? It just doesn’t make much sense. Either Apple needed a reason to justify the video playback abilities, or this is the a tiny baby step towards the new model I spoke about above. In any event, you’ve got yourself an iPod that can play video, but nothing that you really want to watch.

At least not yet.

*Well, technically it is… I mean, Apple is based in California.
**Umm, I guess this is where I make the political statement: “Downloading movies and TV off of BitTorrent is illegal”.

Jess will have to fill the rest of you in with the meaning of this inside joke… ‘cause honestly, I have no idea what it means exactly. I was asked to post this photo, and post this photo I shall.