@gnb

Feb 09

Brief thoughts on Aperture 3

Apple introduced Aperture 3, a long-overdue update to their professional photo management and editing tool, today. I’ve been using A3 tonight to process some shots and am rapidly becoming extremely frustrated with it. There’s some big steps backwards work-flow wise, at least for how I’m used to using Aperture:

Previous to A3, selecting a photo in grid view and hitting F would take you to full-screen mode for that photo. Now it takes you to a full-screen grid.
You can no longer use the scroll wheel in full-screen mode to navigate between images.
In A2 there was a Keywords pane at the bottom of the metadata panel (this and this). This panel was awesome; you could apply keywords to multiple images at once, it auto-completed and gave you an easy to read list of the keywords currently assigned to an image. It’s inexpicably gone in A3, along with its EXIF & IPTC cousins, leaving the laugable keywords HUD and whatever it is that pops up when you hit shift-D (Window > Show Keyword Controls).
The Facebook export sucks donkey balls. I attempted to upload 27 images to Facebook. A3 randomly picked 20 of those images to upload, and there’s no way to add the rest from within Aperture. Dragging the images to the Facebook gallery in the Library panel does nothing. I’m so thankful that Fraser Speirs’ awesome FlickrExport still works (in 32-bit mode); I can’t imagine how bad the built-in Flickr export is.
The Batch Change dialog no longer lets you choose from Views in the Add Metadata From dropdown; it only lets you pick metadata sets. Additionally, the append mode is retarded; I’m having a hard time articulating it, but essentially because it only lets you see fields from metadata presets instead of views, it pre-populates the fields with information from those presets meaning that you either have to clear out the fields you don’t want to change or uncheck them, lest you end up with mangled metadata. Compare A2 and A3’s batch change dialogs.

A couple of stupid things: I much preferred the smaller fonts, and hate that they used Marker Felt in the Faces interface. The faint flag image that appears when you hover over a thumbnail in grid view is annoying.

It’s not all bad; the speed improvements are noticable on my 24” iMac, and the map view is nice (and thankfully the geolocation info is readable by FlickrExport). The auto-backup on import is great (if not long-overdue) and I’m intrigued by the ability to fire off an AppleScript on import.

I may try blowing away all my prefs and settings and starting with a clean slate when I’ve got some time, but right now I’m torn between the speed improvements and the massive blow to how I’m used to using Aperture.

Mar 07

Sponsor me in the Ride to Conquer Cancer

Take a look at three people around you. Odds are, one of you will die from cancer. It’s a scary thought, right? Not as scary as the thought of what those odds might have been as close as ten years ago, but thanks to the efforts of folks like those at the BC Cancer Agency, the odds are getting better all the time.

The is an epic two day, 300km bike journey from Vancouver to Seattle from June 20-21. Riders collect donations with all funds going to the BC Cancer Foundation. This is where you come in.

I’ve committed to raising at least $2500. It sounds like a big number, and it is. I need your help in two ways.

If you can, please sponsor me. Whether you can give $10 or $1000, every dollar counts. You can donate in one shot, or spread your contribution over 2-10 monthly payments. Donations over $10 are tax-deductible. You don’t have to be a Canadian, either; donations from the US are also welcome (and a good deal right now — $100 CAD is only $77 USD).
Spread the word. Tell your friends and family. Link to this post, to my fundraising page or to my Flickr entry. Tweet about it. Post about it on Facebook, MySpace or whatever the social network du jour is. Heck, get on your bike and ride along. There’s rides in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec as well; visit conquercancer.ca for more info.

Cancer affects us all. I’m doing my part to kill it; won’t you join me?

Thank you.

Jan 19

merlin:

glass:

(via tofuttibreak)

Jan 15

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Jan 04

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Dec 12

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Dec 04

“A company of programmers produces code. A company of managers produces meetings.” — Greg Knauss (via merlin)

Nov 15

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I’m growing a Moustache. That’s right I’m bringing the Mo back because I’m passionate about tackling men’s health issues and being proactive in the fight against prostate cancer.

To donate to my Mo you can either:

Click this link www.movember.com/ca/donate/donate-details.php?action=spon… and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account, or
Write a cheque payable to the ‘Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada’, referencing my Registration Number 1478796 and mailing it to:
Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada
Attn: Movember
145 Front Street East
Suite 306
Toronto Ontario M5A 1E3

Donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

The money raised by Movember is donated directly to the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada who will use the funds to create awareness and fund research across the country into prevention, detection and treatment, with a goal to ending the threat of prostate cancer.

Did you know:

Every year around 24,700 Canadian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 4,300 die of the disease, making it the number one cancer threat to Canadian men.
1 in 7 men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime.
All men over the age of 40 are potentially at risk and should talk to their doctor about the disease and early detection. Prostate cancer is 95% curable if detected and treated early.

Thanks for your support!

Sep 12

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