10.15.12 |
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I’ve written off most tech opinions on the new iPhone 5 camera because they aren’t written by photography professionals. Granted, it’s clearly better than the 4S, but how does it realistically stack up against a dedicated point and shoot? That’s exactly why DP Review’s recent look at the phone’s camera matters: you get their usual rigorous studio tests and the attention to detail you rarely find elsewhere. (There’s a reason that when it comes to new DSLR releases DP Review is pretty much the review benchmark.)
10.15.12 |
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PTA on shooting with 65mm:
It’s a different film, so it’s a different feeling. It’s really that simple, but ultimately … you know a 35mm camera, they’re small. I mean you can be as small as a little speaker that I’m looking at here, sort of no bigger than a laptop. Some of these cameras are teeny. And with 65mm cameras you are limited, because they’re incredibly large, and they’re loud, and you can’t fling them around or put them on a Steadicam. You can put them on your shoulder if have a really good chiropractor or masseuse.
So they’re limiting in that way, but that was good for us. We were trying to be straightforward and simple and old-fashioned. And loud — they’re very loud. You can hear bzzzzzzz.
Cliché aside, Paul Thomas Anderson embodies the definition of a modern film auteur. He’s not super chatty with the press either so an extended conversation with NPR is a nice find.
10.12.12 |
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Listening to this fun episode only confirmed what I’ve been ranting about for years: why doesn’t Hanks just make another flat out comedy? Post Oscars he strikes me as a funny guy who’s been trapped in serious work for at least the last decade.
10.12.12 |
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Top film lists of a decade are nothing new, but the writing here by the A.V. Club staff on this compilation is great. Good choices too; there’s a lot of Coen Brothers and Tarantino near the top. (One quibble though: where’s Heat?)
10.11.12 |
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A great video over at The Gameological Society that talks about the impact of the 1980s Nintendo sci-fi classic Metroid. I remember growing up with this game and feeling so bad ass after my friends and I defeated Mother Brain. Its influence on modern gaming is undeniable.
10.11.12 |
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It’s The Evening Edition, just with technology instead of world news. Works for me.
10.10.12 |
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We’re going to see a big change in a certain type of iOS app—the one designed for the device….In a sense, this could be a good thing—freeing up iOS from the constraints of specific screen shapes opens up developers to whatever Apple throws at them next and should also make apps simpler to port to competing platforms. But it also impacts heavily on those tightly crafted experiences that were designed just for your iPad or just for your iPhone.
With web having been down this road for a while, it will be interesting to see native apps designed in a more responsive direction.
10.10.12 |
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Developer Thomas Reynolds:
If Facebook disappeared tomorrow, nobody would give a shit. They would move on, like they moved on from Myspace. They would find another instant messaging app. They would find a different calendar. They’d use email. And they’d do it overnight because they’re simply a pile of communication technologies for which we have plenty of replacements already. There’s nothing special about Facebook to miss and for a giant, wealthy company with a billion users… that’s pretty sad.
Hey Thomas, tell us how you really feel, ok?
A bit too heavy handed for my tastes, but his point about Facebook’s walled garden and its obsession for keeping you inside that garden has merit.
10.09.12 |
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PJ Rey, The Society Pages:
Nostalgia for the low-tech/lo-fi/analog is really nostalgia for a time when technology could be mastered–a time when you could fix your own car or bike, a time when you pop open the back of a camera and intuitively understand how it works, a time when you knew where your food came from and how it was prepared, a time when the circuits in electronic were large enough to be visible and an average person could figure out how to repair, replace, hack, and even build them, a time when a device was yours to open and when warranties end-user agreement didn’t micro-manage how used your own property. In short, the appeal of low-tech is it affirms our sense of independence and individuality.
I opened this article expecting a superficial screed against Williamsburg, but this is far deeper territory.
10.09.12 |
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Nathan Ryan, writing for The Industry:
If you’re working from the start date on an open-ended project, it’s much easier for the client to dictate terms which almost always means you end up doing more work than you signed up for when the project started.
Focusing you and your client on an agreed-upon ship date for their project means you can more clearly dictate what can and cannot happen in that timeframe because you’re working against the clock and you can only get so much quality work done in any given amount of time.
I can’t say I fully embrace Nathan’s stance; something about basing things off a hard deadline (which often changes) does feel very “waterfall methodology” to me. Yet he makes some reasonable points, especially the one quoted above.