• Snap!Japan - Japan and Its People are Unique

  At least that is what they tell me! I like Japan and have had some interesting, enjoyable and indeed unique experiences here, otherwise I would not have stayed in this country since 1987. But over the years, I've had an earful of people telling me directly or indirectly how unique Japan and its people are, and I've had to burst more than one person's bubble. Sometimes incorrectly.

  tags: rick cogley, nihonjinron, culture, japan, intestines, snow, pregnancy

• Snap!Japan - "Gyaru-go" Girl Japanese

  Mezamashi TV had a segment on the lastest gyaru language. If you're not familiar, gyaru are the sort of schoolgirls who hang out in Shibuya or Harajuku, dress in the latest fashion and speak in a sort of code. Here's the three I remember: * ムカTK mukaTK - mukatsuku, to be pissed off. The original's just as easy, ladies. * モレる moreru - um, to be dressed up, with your hair in a bun with cute accessories. Comes from "moritsukeru" to decorate. * シカメ shikame - from shikato and meeru, ignore mail. To have blown off answering someone's text message. I hear that a large percentage of schoolkids get really stressed about "shikame", in all seriousness. At any rate, remembering these is one thing, but using them is another, so remember this: if an "oyaji" (middle-aged guy) like me uses gyaru-go, he's ostracized by his daughters and subjected to the "uzai" label for all time. :-)

  tags: gyaru, Rick Cogley, harajuku, shibuya

• blog:Cogley - iPhone 3GS Unfairly Expensive in Japan

  I went to a Softbank shop in Shibuya, Tokyo and asked how much it would cost to upgrade an iPhone 3G to an iPhone 3GS. The clerk told me that for the 16GB model it would be an additional JPY 780 per month for 24 months, totaling JPY 18,720, assuming the continuation of my current contract. That sounded about right to me, given the US prices. I wanted to see if I could just buy one outright, and slipped into another general electronics store that was selling iPhones from Softbank and other phones. Unfortunately, the clerk in the second store told me that the "discount" you get with a new contract is not valid for the upgrade, so you end up paying a total of about JPY 70,000. Additionally, you cannot just buy a phone in the US and have it activated for use here. Yep. That's a whopping USD 700.00 for an iPhone 3GS from Softbank Japan, and the "after discount" pricing is only for new contracts, not for upgraders. Wow, I'm stunned (while at the same time I'm hoping I'm wrong) at being penalized for wanting to upgrade. What a way to engender loyalty, Softbank. I guess the only thing to do is to wait until Softbank change the pricing, which they eventually did for the 3G, after some time had passed. I feel like a lifeless husk that's been trampled on and ground into dust. :-/ Rick Cogley

  tags: iphone, 3GS, gadgets, softbank, expensive, unfair, upgrade, japan

• Snap!Japan - "One Coin" Services All The Rage in Japan

  Japan morning TV reported that "One Coin" (ワンコイン) services are all the rage these days in Japan, due to the down economy. What this phrase means is that you can buy a good or service with a single 500 yen coin, or about USD 5.00. Indeed, you can see them here and there: * "Makudonarudo" McDonald's has a 500 yen value set. * "One Coin" lunches at salary-man lunch joints. * Short foot massages for 500 yen. * "Test Esthe" at Miss Paris Esthetic Salon for "one coin". * Yoshinoya and Matsuya meat bowls for 500 yen. Next time you're out and about in Tokyo, keep an eye out for "one coin" ワンコイン services. Rick Cogley

  tags: trends, Engrish, 500, ワンコイン, economy, inexpensive

I went to a Softbank shop in Shibuya, Tokyo and asked how much it would cost to upgrade an iPhone 3G to an iPhone 3GS. The clerk told me that for the 16GB model it would be an additional JPY 780 per month for 24 months, totaling JPY 18,720, assuming the continuation of my current contract. That sounded about right to me, given the US prices.

I wanted to see if I could just buy one outright, and slipped into another general electronics store that was selling iPhones from Softbank and other phones. Unfortunately, the clerk in the second store told me that the "discount" you get with a new contract is not valid for the upgrade, so you end up paying a total of about JPY 70,000. Additionally, you cannot just buy a phone in the US and have it activated for use here.

Yep. That's a whopping USD 700.00 for upgrading to an iPhone 3GS from Softbank Japan, and the "after discount" pricing is only for new contracts, not for upgraders. Wow, I'm stunned (while at the same time I'm hoping I'm wrong) at being penalized for wanting to upgrade. What a way to engender loyalty, Softbank.

I guess the only thing to do is to wait until Softbank change the pricing, which they eventually did for the 3G, after some time had passed.

I feel like a lifeless husk that's been trampled on and ground into dust. :-/

Update

24 June 2009 - I've heard conflicting reports on this situation, stating that you can upgrade and that you cannot upgrade in Japan, and that you can or cannot buy iPhones from the US or China and bring them here to use. However, from the Japan Times newspaper this AM, it appears that you will be able to buy an iPhone 3GS with no contract. I assume this is from Apple. The question is, can I just pop my existing SIM in there.

As for the cost, the 16 gigabyte model is priced at ¥11,520, and the 32 GB is ¥23,040, on a special campaign offer, while it retails at ¥23,040 (16 GB) and ¥34,560 (32GB) for those wanting the phone out of contract. —Japan Times 24 June 2009

26 June 2009 - I went to Apple, who told me that, no, despite the statement in the Japan Times you must have a contract. They concurred with Softbank's statement that you'd lose the discount on your 3G, and that you'd end up paying the approx JPY 70,000 yen over two years. What I did learn was that you could do a "kishu henkou" (model change) after you've completed paying off the original 3G. Wow, what a blow.

• Snap!Japan - Tokyo Metro Manners Posters

  Artist Bunpei Yorifuji (寄藤文平) is creating a series of manner posters for the Tokyo metro, around the theme of "Do It At Home". Yorifuji was born in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, in 1973, and founded Bunpei Ginza in 2000 to specialize in mainly Art Direction, Illustration and Book Design. Yorifuji's manners posters address the most common complaints heard by the Metro, such as people who apply makeup, party, sit on the floor, take up too much room, jump through the closing doors at the last minute, wear Everest-assault-sized backbacks and so on. I have to chuckle at the rather awkward and sometimes double-entendre Engrish, but that's what gives them charm, I suppose. I even found a spoof poster. See the thumbs below for the spoof poster and the official website.

  tags: Bunpei Yorifuji, Rick Cogley, manners, posters, Tokyo Metro

• ISM Adamo Saddles

  Sounds good, if it will eliminate the numbness. —Rick Cogley || From the site: What is an ISM saddle? - The original ISM saddle was designed to create a seat that would eliminate, or at least reduce, the discomfort most riders experience on a traditional bike saddle. The concept was patented by 1999. In 2008 alone, ISM has seen success with 11 Ironman wins, 2 Olympic silver medals, 1 World Duathlon Championship, 1 Lifetime Fitness Series overall win, and countless age group victories. Pros and amateurs alike are finding riding and competing comfortable again. Why is an ISM saddle so comfortable? Our patented saddles are unisex and remove pressure off the pudendal nerve and arteries in both male and female riders for un-paralleled comfort. Click here for more information: FAQ ISM.doc Click here for set up instructions: adamo_setup.pdf Ready to order a saddle? Email us at : info@t1bicycles.comshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2 Race Saddle JPY 19,000 Peloton Saddle JPY 14,000 Medical Information: On an annual basis, bicycle riding involves several hundred million people worldwide. Studies have linked perineal pressure caused by straddling traditional bicycle seats to numbness, urinary tract and yeast infections, prostate inflammation and impotence. For male riders, in addition to the discomfort and numbness associated with a traditional saddle, there is an increased susceptibility to restricted blood flow, which can lead to arterial occlusion and permanent erectile dysfunction. For women, the restricted blood flow and hardening of the genital arteries can lead to an inability to reach orgasm. It has been found that as little as 11% of a person’s body weight can compress the genital artery! IN 2004, Dr. Frank Sommer at the University of Cologne tested the ISM saddle. Dr. Sommer is a noted expert in the area of arterial occlusion resulting from bicycle saddles.

  tags: ISM, Adamo, Saddles, t1bicycles, roppongi, perineal, pressure

• Snap!Japan - Ray-Out's iPhone "Jacket" Case Review and DIY Fix

  I purchased Ray-Out's reasonably-priced leather "Jacket" case, model RT-P1LC4/B, perhaps three months ago from Yodobashi Camera. I was looking for a case that had a "strap loop" so that I could hang the iPhone around my neck for going to meetings or lunch, as I don't trust myself to put the iPhone in my pocket and have it survive even one day! The Ray-Out leather jacket was one option, and the other was so bling-bling it wasn't even a choice for me. DIY Fix for the RT-P1LC4/B Loop Problem Unfortunately, the D-ring that came attached to the case by a leather loop came off, sending the iPhone plummeting to the ground. At least the case's leather hit the ground instead of the actual phone, so my iPhone still works. Ray-Out should re-design that little loop for the D-Ring, because after even a couple month's of use, it became weak and ripped.

  tags: RT-P1LC4_B, Ray-Out, Leather, Case, iPhone, Rick Cogley, DIY

• Nikon D90 | How To Use D-MOVIE

  A tutorial video from Nikon on the D90's video capability. —Rick Cogley || From the site: A new idea for D-SLRs, the D90 offers a movie function, allowing you to shoot movies in three different motion JPEG formats: 320 x 216 pixels, 640 x 424 pixels and 1,280 x 720 pixels. Now you can capture life’s moving moments with added drama by using many of Nikon’s NIKKOR lenses, including the AF DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED and the Micro-NIKKOR lenses. The shallow depth of field can give your movies a more creative and emotional impact. An additional benefit is the D90 image sensor, which is much larger than a typical camcorder for higher image quality and exceptional high ISO performance during low-light shooting.

  tags: Nikon, Photography, D90, D-Movie, Video

• Snap!Japan - Drop - Toilet Paper Horror

  "Drop" is a horror story novella written by Koji Suzuki, the writer of best-selling horror stories such as "Ring" and "Rasen" (Spiral). Suzuki san was born in 1957 in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and his books have sold more than 8 million copies. —Rick Cogley

  tags: drop, koji suzuki, novella, horror

• So you think you know Apple? Test your mettle.

  Test your mettle against the Network World Quiz-o-Matic. —Rick Cogley || From the site: Whether you love Apple or could live without it, the company holds an iconic place in IT history. Most people think they know that history pretty well. But here are 10 trivia questions with answers that might surprise you. After you take the quiz, head over to Yoni Heisler's iOnApple blog and share your score.

  tags: network, world, quiz, mythology, apple

• blog:Cogley - iPhone OS 3.0 Tips on Parade

  Apple released yesterday an updated iPhone operating system, iPhone OS 3.0, with a number of useful improvements. For me, the update itself was seamless, and took about 15 minutes after clicking the update button in iTunes. I upgraded first thing in the morning, but colleagues who tried later in the day had some delays. I guess it's to be expected when so many people try to download at the same time. Some Tips for iPhone OS 3.0 I took some screenshots of the obvious and not-so-obvious (by pressing the home and power buttons simultaneously in case you aren't aware how), so I'll introduce those to you now.

  tags: iPhone, OS, 3.0, Tips, Rick Cogley

• About artist Miwa YANAGI

  From the site: http://www.yanagimiwa.net/e/profile/index.html Born in Kobe City Education : Kyoto City University of Arts Lives in Kyoto In 1993 , held solo exhibition in Kyoto Since 1996, participated exhibitions in Europe and U.S.A. Create The "My Grandmothers" series which visualize the self-perceived notions of several young women when asked to imagine what type of woman they themselves might become fifty years later. In 2004 , held solo exhibition in Deutsche Guggenheim and Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2005 , show "Fairy tale" series which are tales about girl and elderly woman in Hara Museum and Ohara Museum of Art. In 2007 , held solo exhibition in Chelsea Art Museum (New York). In 2008 , held solo exhibition in The Museum of Fine Arts (Houston).

  tags: yanagi, miwa, profile, bio

• Miwa YANAGI, a provocative artist who uses makeup and props to tell her stories. —Rick Cogley |

  Miwa Yanagi is showing at the Japanese Pavilion, at the The 53rd Venice Biennale 2009. The installation is called "Windswept Women：The Old Girls' Troupe".

  tags: miwa yanagi, venice, biennale, 2009, windswept women

• Chuck Dillon's blog 30 x 30: Which Student are You?

  Chuck Dillon posts some prescient and hysterical drawings of the 16 breeds of art student. —Rick Cogley || From the site: I know 10 years is not a long time, but by this time in my teaching career I think I have had just about every type of student. Earlier this year to relieve my stress I started categorizing and sketching out each student type (Comic artist Daniel Clowes already touched on this categorization in his great comic, Art School Confidential). What I wound up with are these 16 types. Over time, I may discover that there are more types or new names for them (ie: goth is now something called emo). Originally I had excluded the average/good students because average/good is not very funny but with much pleading and begging I added it in.

  tags: chuck dillon, blog30x30, art students

Apple released yesterday an updated iPhone operating system, iPhone OS 3.0, with a number of useful improvements. For me, the update itself was seamless, and took about 15 minutes after clicking the update button in iTunes. I upgraded first thing in the morning, but colleagues who tried later in the day had some delays. I guess it's to be expected when so many people try to download at the same time.

Some Tips for iPhone OS 3.0

I took some screenshots of the obvious and not-so-obvious (by pressing the home and power buttons simultaneously in case you aren't aware how), so I'll introduce those to you now.

If you have MobileMe you can enable Find My iPhone and track where the phone is if it is stolen, via GPS. You can also remote-wipe and send messages and sounds to your iPhone. Maybe you won't get the iPhone back, but you can at least antagonize the thief! The sounds and messages will play even if it's locked, so this will help if the iPhone is in "manner" mode.

I suspect it will be useful for when it's in manner mode but lost somewhere in the nether regions of your sofa.

iPhone OS 3.0 now finally has select, copy and paste, and it works in and across various applications. Even the new TweetDeck for iPhone that was just released supports it already. Press and hold to get the selection "handles" and various commands.

Once something is on the clipboard you can paste. You can see I copied from TweetDeck to Mail. The new clipboard also honors rich text, which means you can copy something like formatted text from a webpage in Safari, to a Mail Message, and it will paste it in just as you saw it on the web. Slick!

You can also select in mail to "quote" part of a message before replying. It works more like Leopard OS X.

iPhone OS 3.0 now has Spotlight. You can swipe the left-most home screen right to get spotlight search, and you'll see that the page icon (the dots at the bottom) is actually a magnifying glass. Spotlight search works across apps, and like big sister OS Leopard OS X, also works to find apps so you can launch them. Check your settings as well - you can link "home button double-press" to Spotlight search if you like.

Lastly, you'll find that many apps with lists, like Address Book and Mail have a search box at the top. This is Spotlight, but as you scroll down through the entries, you can double-tap the very top of the screen (near the clock) to jump back to the top. Try it!

In Address Book you can now send an Address Card as a vCard entry via Email or MMS (which Softbank Japan supports). Scroll down to the bottom of a contact to find the share buttons.

Here's what a shared vCard in .vcf format via Email looks like. Note also another new feature: the Landscape keyboard is available in more apps, negating the need for apps like EasyWriter.

While we're on Mail, you can move messages instead of just deleting them in the Edit screen. Convenient for stuff like spam.

Neat stuff on the podcast front, too. In iPod, you can control podcast playback better, with the "jump back 30 seconds" and the speed changer buttons. There's also a button for emailing the actual link to the podcast so you can share it with friends.

When you click the email icon from the podcast, you get a pre-formatted email with a link to the podcast.

There are plenty of tiny new tweaks, including this almost incomprehensible one, showing you a very small thumbnail of the last photo you snapped. Maybe it's fuzzy because I merely have a 3G and not a shiny new 3GS.

A couple more things:

• MS Exchange integration is much better, but note that the interface in Address books allows you to "view all", so it might look like you have duplicates if you keep your MobileMe and Exchange address books synced.
• iTunes now lets you buy & download whatever's in the iTunes store.
• iPod lets you "shake to shuffle".
• There's a new basic Voice Recorder app that lets you record and share voice memos. Nice.
• They've improved the keyboard "secret" hold-to-see shortcuts. Check it out by going to the numbers and symbols keyboard, then holding down various keys.
• While browsing in Safari, you can press and hold a link to get a popup that lets you open the link in another tab.
• You can shake to undo in the main applications like Mail or Messaging.

If you own an iPhone, you can upgrade for free, and there's a small fee to upgrade if you have an iPod Touch. Try it, I'm sure you'll like it. It really makes the iPhone an even more attractive platform. Enjoy!

• Exclusive: The Future of Facebook Usernames - Anil Dash - Annotated

  It's so funny it speaks for itself. Check out Anil Dash's predictive expose of how the Facebook username debacle might go down. FU! —Rick Cogley || From the site: Exclusive: The Future of Facebook Usernames 10 Jun 2009 The whole world A small number of super-geeky obsessives is abuzz over the upcoming launch of Facebook Usernames, an exciting new feature that will let you put some parts of your name into a web address.

  tags: facebook, usernames, username, anil, prediction, dash

• TOSBack | The Terms-Of-Service Tracker

  TOSBack is an useful service that monitors changes in various web services' Terms of Service. Click "Subscribe to RSS" on the site to monitor it in your RSS reader (such as NetNewsWire or Google Reader). —Rick Cogley From the site: TOSBack keeps an eye on ... website policies. Every time one of them changes, you'll see an update here.

  tags: privacy, TOS, legal, security, tosback, google, terms, changes, rss, terms of service

• Daring Fireball: WWDC 2009 Predictions

  John Gruber's Daring Fireball WWDC 2009 predictions. —Rick Cogley || From the site: WWDC 2009 Predictions - Sunday, 7 June 2009 What I know, don’t know, and know I don’t know about tomorrow’s WWDC announcements. As usual, please, no wagering. iPhone 3GS Everything I wrote about last month in “The Next iPhone” still stands. I expect Apple to announce updated iPhones with significantly faster processors, twice the RAM, and twice the storage. I expected prices to remain the same as the current lineup: $199/299 for 16/32 GB, respectively. The video camera is going to be a major selling point. One additional tidbit I’ve heard is the new hardware’s code name: iPhone 3GS. I’m not certain that’s what it’ll be officially named, but my hunch is yes. I have no idea what the S stands for.1 The other new tidbit is battery life: 15-20 percent longer than the iPhone 3G.

  tags: daringfireball, john gruber, wwdc, 2009, predictions

• Mike Reed's "Flame Warriors" Home

  This is Mike Reed's humorous look at the various personalities you'll encounter on the Internet. Very funny! —Rick Cogley || From the site: Some years ago a minor spat ignited a searing flame ware that threatened to consume a once-placid discussion forum. While the forum burned I amused myself by caricaturiing the chief antagonists. Confounded at seeing themselves thus revealed, the combatants fled the field in disarray. ...

  tags: humor, warriors, flame, humour, blogging, forum, cartoon, culture

• Snap!Japan - Street Jazz Trio with Kano, Saito and Kawamoto

  I've seen this good, energetic "Street Jazz" trio at JR Shinjuku before, but today I waited for a good moment and got some materials from them. The musicians were George Kano on drums, Chikara Saito on Alto Sax, and (probably) Sousuke Kawamoto on upright bass. The flyers I got were pretty clear on who the sax and drum players were, but I'm not so sure about the bass player. Either way, they are all really good musicians. —Rick Cogley

  tags: snapjapan, cogley, chikara saito, george kano, sousuke kawamoto, street, jazz

• Josh George Art Blog: Pat Metheny "Tokyo Day Trip" EP

  Josh George did the paintings for the album art for Pat Metheny's Day Trip and Tokyo Day Trip EP. —Rick Cogley || From the site: Earlier this year I did the CD cover and interior art for Pat Metheny's newest release "Day Trip". It was great fun having almost complete creative freedom. During the bands world tour they did a live recording of their gig in Tokyo and decided to release it as an EP. Again they contacted me to do a variation on the cover but set in Japan. I don't do to many illustration jobs but working with a respected musician like Pat was very rewarding. Didn't have to do a sketch first! So here is the cover for "Tokyo Day Trip". You can find it in your local non-chain music store. I buy all my music at "Music Matters" in Brooklyn.

  tags: josh george, pat metheny, day trip, tokyo day trip, painter, metheny

• Lifehacker - Save time with text substitution - Keyboard Shortcuts

  Text substitution tools. Personally, I use Text Expander which is quite excellent on the Mac, but LifeHacker recommends ActiveText for Windows. —Rick Cogley || From the site: These days, most of us end up having to type at the computer on a daily basis. Some of us are fast and some are slow - but regardless of your typing proficiency, text substitutions can save us all an unbelievable amount of time. The basic idea is to replace a small bit of text with a larger bit of text. So maybe you set 'name' to 'your full name'. Admittedly, this is probably overkill, but it gets the idea across. Apply a small amount of effort and simple text substitution becomes a tool more powerful and dynamic than you might have imagined. Let's see just how much we can streamline your time at the keyboard.

  tags: lifehacker, substitution, text, activetext, textexpander, smileonmymac, productivity

• Snap!Japan - Oshogatsu Reunion (New Year) Sad

  Every year, we have a family reunion during the New Year holiday "oshogatsu". The photo in this post is of the 2009 edition. This is A Big Deal for the family here, and they do it without fail. Missing it is also A Big Deal, so I think we've missed it once in the past 15 years. I gather it's an Asian thing to have these big family gatherings, but I always feel like the odd man out, when the conversation turns to whatever it is that 60-ish-year-old Japanese folks like to talk about. Though I enjoy the company and drink and food, great food, these also make me long for home, to see my Mom and Dad, Sister and Brother and everyone's families and friends. Ah, if only Star Trek teleportation was possible! Oshogatsu omedeto!

  tags: resident, snapjapan, reunion, oshogatsu, cogley

• Squarespace - Simple, On-line, Website Publishing

  Squarespace offers a turnkey way to build and publish a site and blog online from 8 USD / month, with some really good-looking results. Seems like it would be perfect for people who do not want to use software and upload via FTP. —Rick Cogley || From the site - In 2003, after being unable to find a way to elegantly publish his personal website, Anthony Casalena began work on the software that is now the Squarespace Platform. Since its inception, Squarespace has blossomed into a product that powers tens of thousands of sophisticated websites for businesses, bloggers, and professionals worldwide and currently serves hundreds of millions of hits per month. Squarespace has been mentioned in both the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek, as well as on countless other blogs and news sites. Our small team consists of solely bio-worthy names, and due to our entirely organic revenue growth, we operate free from the restrictions and obligations of organizations controlled by outside investors.

  tags: squarespace, anthony casalena, web, publish, blog, online

• Lawrence Lessig: The Solipsist and the Internet (a Review of Helprin's Digital Barbarism)

  Creative Commons founding member Lawrence Lessig's long retort to the ill-informed attack by Mark Helprin on Creative Commons. —Rick Cogley || From the site: This is an insanely long review of Mark Helprin's book, Digital Barbarism (HarperCollins 2009) (Note: if you buy from that link, Creative Commons gets the referral fee). You can download a PDF of the review here. Exactly two years ago today, the New York Times published an op-ed about copyright by a novelist. The piece caused something of a digital riot. As we learn now from his book, Digital Barbarism (HarperCollins 2009), Mark Helprin was at the time completely ignorant about the hornets nest he was about to kick. For him, the op-ed was a professional rapprochement with the New York Times, a chance to make things right once again (though why they were then wrong is a story left mysteriously (and thankfully) out of the book).

  tags: helprin, lessig, solipsist, digital, barbarism, creative commons, cc

• Why "Everything Buckets" make sense: Mark Bernstein (Tinderbox designer)

  Mark Bernstein, creator of TinderBox, writes in defense of "everything buckets" that Alex Payne rails against in a blog post. —Rick Cogley || From the site: What Payne misses — what nearly everyone has missed in thinking about the question — is the process of finding and creating structure. Yes: you want to keep things organized. Yes: you want specialized tools for special tasks. But things don’t arrive with structure (and, when they do, they have the wrong structure!) and the kinds of structure you want are always changing.

  tags: bernstein, tinderbox, payne, everything buckets

• Alex Payne — The Case Against Everything Buckets

  Alex Payne makes a case for using the file system on computers, and against "everything buckets" like Journler, Yojimbo, DEVONthink, Together, Evernote. —Rick Cogley || From the site: Why Everything Buckets Are Not A Good Idea - Computers work best with structured data. Everything Buckets discourage the use of structured data by providing a convenient place to commingle “structureless” data like RTF and PDF documents. Rather than forcing the user to figure out the rhyme and reason of their data (for example, by putting receipts in a financial management application and addresses in an address book), Everything Buckets cry: “throw it all in here! Search it! Maybe I’ll corrupt my proprietary database, but maybe I won’t and you’ll have the joy of sifting through a mire of RTF documents. Doesn’t that sound great?” This proposition should not sound great. If you think you’re going to save time in the long run by throwing your data into a big bucket now, then sifting through it later, you are mistaken. There are better ways.

  tags: payne, buckets, everything buckets, journler, yojimbo, devonthink, together, evernote

• Dating DEVONThink (after being jilted by Journler) - dougist.com

  On the unfortunate loss of focus at Journler, and Doug's consequent "dating" of DEVONthink. —Rick Cogley || From the site: Journler was the answer, but as I’ve just learned, unfunded solo developers are very risky. Who else to turn to? Together concerns me because it gags on data sets over a few thousand items. Evernote’s business model is committed to datalocking you into the application, which is intolerable. Yohimbo is a starter tool not a long haul application for a serous user. Lastly the Lit / Citation managers, like Papers, Zotero, Endnote and Sente are indexers, not writer’s base pads. So yea, DEVONThink. She’s good right now, but I’m lookin’

  tags: dougist.com, dougist, devonthink, journler

• This Land - A Town Fights to Save an Oasis of Baguettes - Series - NYTimes.com

  A wonderful story of a visa denied, and a community's response. Long live the small shops! -- Rick Cogley From the site: A French couple came to town several years ago in search of something. Here, amid the swelling mountains and struggling businesses, the Red Sox hagiography and Yankee taciturnity, they were looking for just the right place to sell madeleines. And croissants. And tarts. And long, thin loaves of French bread that all but dare you to tear at their heel before you’re out the door.

  tags: baguettes, colebrook, ounis, visa, denial, reconsideration

• Snap!Japan - OTC Drugs at your Local 7-11

  The Pharmaceutical Affairs Law "PAL" was revised to allow convenience stores like 7-11, Lawson, Family Mart or others to sell most over-the-counter drugs, so long as they have a clerk who has registered and qualified with the local government. The fact that they no longer need a pharmacist is a big cost-saving difference from before, that also allows a big new income stream for the conbinis. -- Rick Cogley

  tags: resident, snapjapan, snap!japan, rick cogley, otc, pal, mhlw

I bought the Pat Metheny Trio's "Day Trip" album and "Tokyo Day Trip" EP today, and really loved the album art. It's by New York-based artist Josh George, and if you click through to the image in this post that I uploaded to Flickr, you can see my annotations of the Japanese in his art. There's even "Cat Metheny" in there, too. Check out Josh's website or blog, and then go buy some of his art.

So how's the music? The Pat Metheny Trio with Pat on guitar (what else?), Christian McBride on bass, and Antonio Sanchez on drums is stellar. If you're a jazz fan you're sure to love it.

• Rickie Lee Jones: Interview about The Magazine

  Interesting in-depth interview of Rickie Lee Jones in Musician, about her wonderful album The Magazine. -- Rick Cogley || The first reason I called it The Magazine was because the opening line of the song, the first lyric bit that came to me-"Homeboys calling from the corners, station to station, for the magazine..." That line was so important, because in terms of mood it set up everything that was about to happen. Homeboys is a street community drug term; homeboys are lookouts on the corners, and the magazine was the type of dope that they sold. But that's not what it was when I wrote it. It wasn't these guys on the corner, selling drugs. It became the poetry of hope. The words continue: "but her pages are turning out the lights in the windows," so immediately I made the song something else, something less down and out, more forward looking.

  tags: rickie lee jones, the magazine, interview, musician

• Purposeful mispronunciation of Sotomayor - Bitch Ph.D.

  Loved this rant by M. LeBlanc on Bitch Ph.D. about purposefully mispronouncing Sotomayor. -- Rick Cogley || From the site: The idea that your name is somehow the property or the business of others, and that not only should they not be required to pronounce it correctly, they should purposely pronounce it incorrectly is one of the more brow-furrowing and staggering assertions I've heard come out of a conservative in months. It would be one thing if Krikorian was complaining about people getting lambasted for pronouncing it incorrectly, but he's not. What he's saying is that, despite knowing how to pronounce it correctly, people should nevertheless say it in a way that sounds wrong to the bearer of the name because to pronounce it correctly would be displaying too much "adapting to the newcomer."

  tags: bitchphd, sotomayor, rant, mispronounce

• blog:Cogley - Restoring Mail but not via Mobile Me

  So much for MobileMe backing up my Mail account data! I had a another weird crash, which has been plaguing me since I upgraded OS X Leopard to 10.5.7. The crash happens when I wake the computer from sleep, and plug in my firewire then USB hard drives. When the USB hits the socket, sometimes I get the grey screen of death, in which the only way to recover is a hard reset. This happened again today, but this time, the hard reset broke Mail. After booting up, I started Mail and the only account I had was my MobileMe account. My Google accounts were gone. I thought, ah hah!, I'll recover from MobileMe's copies of my Mail Accounts. No dice. It must have quickly pushed to MobileMe, the change that happened when the system crashed, so syncing MobileMe did nothing to recover. Searching the web a little, I found various information about restoring the entire mail folder and so on, but it turned out that my mail data, in ~/Library/Mail, seemed intact. So, I decided to try to restore my Mail plist file first, from Time Machine backup, and see if that would fix the problem. Here's how to restore it...

  tags: cogley, rick cogley, time machine, mail.app, mail, mobileme, account

• Zany Bike Designs at Gizmodo

  More insane, zany bike designs, c/o Tom - Rick Cogley || From the site: Designers with a deathwish are pushing the boundaries of bicycle design far beyond the realm of practicality into preposterous new worlds. The following 10 bikes are some of the most outrageous concepts to spring forth from this movement, and should only be operated in a controlled environment by stuntmen and circus folk.

  tags: gizmodo, juicerhub, bikes, cycling, diy

• Photo Essay: 20 of the Freakiest Custom Bikes on the Road

  My brother Tom sent me this wonderful photo essay of the freakiest bikes on the planet! Awesome! -- Rick Cogley || From the site: Tall bikes, choppers, cargo bikes, freak bikes, art bikes, clown bikes…much more than just two wheels, two pedals, and a chain.

  tags: freakiest, matadorlife.com, photo, essay, bikes, cycling, diy

• Kaki King rocks out to "Pink Noise" | Video on TED.com

  Wow, Kaki King is quite the guitarist! -- Rick Cogley || From the site: Kaki King, the first female on Rolling Stone's "guitar god" list, rocks out to a full live set at TED2008, including her breakout single, "Playing with Pink Noise." Jaw-dropping virtuosity meets a guitar technique that truly stands out.

  tags: ted.com, kaki king, infinity, playing with pink noise

• LibriVox » about LibriVox

  LibriVox is a useful service that makes recordings of public domain books available via PodCast or download. -- Rick Cogley || From the site: What We Do - LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain, and then we release the audio files back onto the net for free. All our audio is in the public domain, so you may use it for whatever purpose you wish. Volunteering for LibriVox is easy and does not require any experience with recording or audio engineering or acting or public speaking. All you need is a computer, some free recording software, and your own voice. We accept all volunteers in all languages, with all kinds of accents. You don’t need to audition or send us samples. We’ll accept you no matter what you sound like. We operate almost exclusively through Internet communications on our forum, where all your questions will be answered by our friendly community. We have a flat structure, designed to let people do just what they want to do. For more detailed information, see our FAQ. We’d like your help. Click to learn about volunteering for LibriVox.

  tags: librivox, public, domain, podcast, books, recordings

• If you want to succeed, don’t tell anyone. | Psychology Today Blogs

  Interesting article about the reverse psychology involved in failing at someone if you tell people you'll do it. I've believed this for years. -- Rick Cogley || From the site: They suggest that when people announce an intention to commit to an identity goal in public, that announcement may actually backfire. Imagine, for example, that Mary wants to become a Psychologist. She tells Herb that she wants to pursue this career and that she is going to study hard in her classes. However, just by telling Herb her intention, she knows that Herb is already starting to think of her as a Psychologist. So, she has achieved part of her identity goal just by telling Herb about it. Oddly enough, that can actually decrease the likelihood that Mary will study hard.

  tags: succeed, psychology, today, reverse

• Photo from WikiPedia Commons - Death Valley Milkyway

  This is the milkyway as seen from death valley.

  tags: deathvalleysky_nps_big, 4000x1290, death, valley, milky, way

• Browseology

  The catch phrase says it: "Real time collaborative shopping with friends".

  tags: browseology

• Hysterical: Roger McNamee and Jon Rubinstein on the Palm Pre | AllThingsD

  A hysterical video describing the benefits of the Palm Pre. Worth your time! :-D -- Rick Cogley || What can the Palm Pre really do? Watch Jon Rubinstein and Roger McNamee figure out the right marketing message for the Pre. Published on 5/28/2009

  tags: allthingsd, Roger McNamee, Jon Rubinstein, Palm Pre, Video

• Moblin v2.0 beta for Netbooks and Nettops - It's here... | moblin.org

  Moblin v2.0 Beta makes me want to buy a netbook! -- Rick Cogley || From the site: * New, visually rich user experience, optimized for Netbook and Nettops, building on the latest open source graphics technology, such as Clutter, DRI2, and KMS. The user experience is provided mainly through the toolbar and panels, available at the top of the screen. * The m_zone, acting as the 'home screen' panel. It provides instant access to your synchronized calendar, tasks, appointments, recently used files, and real-time updates from your friends on social networking sites. * Aggregation of your social networking content. This provides you with the ability to see your social networking activities on one screen, easily interact with your friends, and update your status and site information. Twitter and Last.fm are the currently supported social networking sites, with more to come. * A web browser optimized for the Moblin 2.0 Netbook user interface. Based on the latest Mozilla browser technology revised into a Clutter shell, the browser gives you access to the whole internet, as well as advanced features, such as video embedding and the latest Flash plug-in, while integrating seamlessly into the user interface. * A 'Zoomable' media player. This player brings your media collection to life as you zoom from viewing all media down to focusing on an individual picture, movie, or audio track. The media player can detect and index media on external USB devices, as well as UPnP devices on your network. * A user interface for connection management and an updated connection manager (ConnMan). * And, of course, support for Linux desktop applications. Moblin is built using GNOME Mobile Technologies and supports existing Linux desktop applications. From here on out, we will focus on performance, bug fixing, fine tuning, and polishing. We post beta builds weekly in the download area. Moblin images should work on Intel based Netbooks and Nettops, we've been testing with the following platforms: Acer Aspire*One,

  tags: moblin.org, nettops

• Squared 5 - MPEG Streamclip video converter for Mac and Windows

  If you need to convert AVI files to MOV (i.e. something authorable in Final Cut or iMovie), you can use MPEG Streamclip from Squared5. -- Rick Cogley || From the site: MPEG Streamclip is a powerful free video converter, player, editor for Mac and Windows. It can play many movie files, not only MPEGs; it can convert MPEG files between muxed/demuxed formats for authoring; it can encode movies to many formats, including iPod; it can cut, trim and join movies. MPEG Streamclip can also download videos from YouTube and Google by entering the page URL. You can use MPEG Streamclip to open and play most movie formats including MPEG files or transport streams; edit them with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Trim; set In/Out points and convert them into muxed or demuxed files, or export them to QuickTime, AVI, DV and MPEG-4 files with more than professional quality, so you can easily import them in a DVD authoring tool, and use them with many other applications or devices. Supported input formats: MPEG, VOB, PS, M2P, MOD, VRO, DAT, MOV, DV, AVI, MP4, TS, M2T, MMV, REC, VID, AVR, M2V, M1V, MPV, AIFF, M1A, MP2, MPA, AC3, ...

  tags: converter, software, mpeg, mac, tools, convert, osx, ipod, squared5.com, streamclip

• mophie - Juice Pack air for iPhone 3G

  I need to get this cover-cum-battery-pack for my iPhone. Cool-looking product that seems to be sold out! -- Rick Cogley || From the site: The juice pack air™ is a rechargeable external battery concealed inside of a protective form-fitting case for the iPhone 3G. It offers you the full protection of a hard-shell case while providing virtually twice the battery life of the iPhone alone; all in an ultra-thin, light-weight, low-profile design. • The world’s thinnest Apple certified “Works With iPhone” external battery for iPhone 3G! • Rechargeable 1200mAh lithium polymer battery virtually doubles your time to rock, talk, surf and send. • Pass-through USB charging and sync with iTunes • Extended smart battery and full case protection • On/Off switch offers choice of battery or case • Integrated 4 LED charge status indicator

  tags: mophie, juice pack air, iphone, 3g

• Linpus set to debut first Moblin 2.0 distribution for end users

  This mobile linux "moblin" from Linpus makes me want to buy a netbook! -- Rick Cogley || From the site: While we've been getting a pretty good look at Moblin 2.0 as of late, we haven't been hearing much about the end-user distributions that'll actually be winding up on netbooks and nettops as the Linux-based OS moves out of beta. Linpus now looks set to change that, however, with it announcing that it'll be showing off a Moblin version of its Linpus Linux Lite OS at Computex next week, which is apparently the first such end-user distribution to emerge. What's more, while the initial batch of screenshots don't exactly offer many surprises, Linpus says that it has indeed put its own touch on the interface, and that it's version will boot in just 15 seconds and give users access to a live desktop that'll let them quickly access a range of websites and applications. Not many more details beyond that, unfortunately, but we're sure this is just beginning of Moblin talk that'll emerge out of Computex.

  tags: linpus, moblin, mobile, linux, netbook, engadget

• A Grand Exposition for Yokohama’s 150th Year - Official WebSite

  One hundred and fifty years after the opening of the port of Yokohama, the city is putting on the "Y+150" exposition, a series of events from 18 April to 29 Sept, 2009. -- Rick Cogley From the site: Theme Events Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Opening of the Port of Yokohama A Grand Exposition for Yokohama’s 150th Year Experience 150 years of Yokohama at our grand exposition celebrating the past and the future. A full program of events will be held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 1859 opening of the Port, based on three themes that are the lifeblood of Yokohama − the sea, the city and nature.

  tags: yokohama, 150th, y+150, perry

• It's time for the FTC to investigate Mac security | Security | Macworld

  Ira Winkler's interesting article on why the FTC should investigate apple's security claims in regard to security. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: I have come to the conclusion that either the FTC must investigate Apple’s advertising claims with regard to security, or people must begin releasing proof-of-concept code on a regular basis. European Union and Canadian regulators can certainly step in as well. With Apple selling more Macs, its attitude is putting more people at risk. And just to be clear, it is not that Apple’s software has security vulnerabilities that is the problem; all commercial software does. The problem is that Apple is grossly misleading people to believe otherwise.

  tags: ftc, ira, winkler, Internet, security, apple, investigate

• The Video Shell Oil Desperately Doesn't Want You to See | Take Action | AlterNet

  Thought-provoking article and video about Royal Dutch Shell oil working with the Nigerian military to oppress the Ogoni. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: For over thirteen years, multinational oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has done everything in its power to stop a trial from taking place at which the company must answer to charges that it colluded with the Nigerian military to commit serious human rights abuses to quell peaceful resistance to its operations in the Niger Delta region called Ogoni, including conspiring to bring about the conviction and execution of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues.

  tags: alternet, ogoni, nigeria, niger, delta, ken, saro-wiwa, shell

• TEDxTOKYO site

  The TEDxTokyo site.

  tags: tedxtokyo

• About "TED" | Technology, Entertainment, Design

  TED sounds like quite an interesting organization. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

  tags: technology, ted, design, innovation, ideas, creativity, talks, activism

• Automating Twitter via OS X Automator | Mac OS X | Macworld

  Use OS X's Automator to automatically send Twitter status updates.

  tags: twitter, automator, status, update, automated, automatic

• Consumer Videocam DIY Mic Wind Cover 家庭用ビデオカメラの「風雑音」防止小物の試作 - スキー大好き「TV業界・音声オジさん」のブログ

  A Japanese site that has instructions on how to make a DIY wind cover for a flush-mount mic. -- Rick Cogley

  tags: スキー大好き, 風雑音, tv業界, wind, noise, cover, fur, videocam, camcorder, mic

• TechCorner » Migrating New Blogger to WordPress 2

  Another post on migrating from New Blogger to Wordpress 2. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: Import your posts with comments from New Blogger to WordPress 2. New Blogger Import tool is ease and simple to use; no more manual pains.

  tags: techcorner, blogger, wordpress, migrate

• Case Study: Moving a Business Blog from Blogger to WordPress | Small Business Trends

  Post describing why Small Business Trends made the migration from Blogger to Wordpress. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: Small Business Trends started out using Blogger software. In the summer of 2003 when I was first experimenting with blogging, Blogger was one of the better options. It was simple to set up and use. Both the software and hosting were free. And with Blogger having been acquired by Google earlier that year, my business intuition told me it might be an advantage for getting the site indexed and ranked in Google. Blogger seemed like a deal I could not refuse.

  tags: wordpress, blogger, migration, smallbiztrends

• Moving from Blogger to WordPress: Best Practices - jotsheet

  Another blogger-to-wordpress migration plan. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: I recently moved a friend’s medium-size blog from Blogger to hosted WordPress (on DreamHost, not WordPress.com), and I thought I’d share a few tips for making the transition smooth.

  tags: wordpress, blogger, blogging, blog, jotsheet, web

• The New Ultimate Guide to Migrating from Blogger to WordPress | MamaBlogga

  Good guide to migrating from Google's blogger platform to self-hosted Wordpress. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: I made the move from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress more than a year and a half ago. At the time, I wrote the original ultimate guide to migrating, but a few things have changed in the intervening months. So I present the fully updated, all new, ultimate guide to migrating from Blogger to WordPress!

  tags: mamablogga, wordpress, blogger, migration

So much for MobileMe backing up my Mail account data! I had a another weird crash, which has been plaguing me since I upgraded OS X Leopard to 10.5.7. The crash happens when I wake the computer from sleep, and plug in my firewire then USB hard drives. When the USB hits the socket, sometimes I get the grey screen of death, in which the only way to recover is a hard reset. This happened again today, but this time, the hard reset broke Mail. After booting up, I started Mail and the only account I had was my MobileMe account. My Google accounts were gone.

I thought, ah hah!, I'll recover from MobileMe's copies of my Mail Accounts. No dice. It must have quickly pushed to MobileMe, the change that happened when the system crashed, so syncing MobileMe did nothing to recover. Searching the web a little, I found various information about restoring the entire mail folder and so on, but it turned out that my mail data, in ~/Library/Mail, seemed intact. So, I decided to try to restore my Mail plist file first, from Time Machine backup, and see if that would fix the problem.

How to Restore Mail.app

Here's how I restored it:

• Close Mail.
• Plug in the Time Machine drive.
• Press option while clicking the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, select "Browse Other Time Machine Disks" and choose your Time Machine disk. You can display this icon in Time Machine preferences. Note, if you use Path Finder, a Finder replacement, like I do, start Finder before you do any Time Machine work.
• Enter Time Machine, and find your last Mail plist backup. In Time Machine, just click a folder or two "back", and see what the date on the file is. The file is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist where ~ is your home folder.
• Affirm the overwrite, when the restore process asks if you want to replace the file with an older version.
• Start Mail.

This worked. All my mail was present and accounted for. If my mail had been damaged, I could do the same procedure, but after stopping Mail, just rename the Mail folder ~/Library/Mail to something else like ~/Library/Mail-Backup, and restore both the Mail folder and the plist file from your Time Machine backup. It will take quite a bit longer to achieve, but it should work.

I hope this helps someone. Enjoy, and good luck recovering.

• Informative Site on Bicycle Lighting Systems

  A very informative site on bike lighting systems. With nudity, lol. -- Rick Cogley From the site: Not everyone can afford to buy a commercially manufactured, very bright rechargeable lighting system, which Ken Kifer accurately describes as the best light for commuters. While prices have come down, a good rechargeable lighting system is still over $100 when you add in a good tail light. Adequate dynamo powered lights will cost you over $350 in the U.S. (6 watt dynamo plus front and rear lamp). A lot of people settle for less expensive 3 watt generator light sets which are not suitable for commuting, at least in the U.S.. Others buy el-cheapo handlebar mount lights which are not very bright, and usually not very reliable. This site describes how to build a high performance, rechargeable. lighting system without spending a lot of money. You can spend as little as $40 to construct a system, complete with a sealed beam headlamp, xenon strobe tail light, rechargeable battery, and charger. All components are available from retail or mail-order stores. I don't sell anything (except Flash Flags), this is purely an informational site. This site contains my informed opinions, as well as the views of other groups and individuals. There are many different solutions for bicycle lighting that meet the criteria of "seeing and being seen," and there are many solutions that do not meet these criteria. Choose wisely and use common sense. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars for an adequate lighting system. A lighting system is not rocket science, it's basically connecting a battery to some lamps. The challenge is in sourcing the proper components and mounting them to the bicycle in a secure and reliable manner.

  tags: starlight, nordicgroup, lighting, cycling

• YPK Innovations Cafe 2.0 4-D116

  I got a new YPK bike lock, that allows you to lock front and rear wheels simultaneously. My last YPK's plastic housing degraded and broke, and the steel collar around the hole in the lock that the sliding post goes into started to rotate, making it hard to lock. This new one seems to be upgraded - heavier-duty plastic around the lock itself.

  tags: 4-d116, ypkinnovations, bike-lock, lock, cafe 2.0

• Snap!Japan - Salaryman Haiku Winners

  Dai-ichi Life Insurance has announced their latest Sarariiman Senryuu (Salaried Worker Senryuu, サラリーマン川柳) competition winners. It's the 22nd year for the competition, and people vote on the best humorous haiku that come from the daily life of salaried workers and the news. You may recall that haiku are the poems with a cadence of 5, 7 then 5 syllables. Check some of the sara-sen winners out with my translations. -- Rick Cogley

  tags: sarasen, salaried, worker, dai-ichi, life, insurance

• Avoid Looking Like an American Tourist | ReasonPad

  Careful. This site reasonpad dot com is indicated by Safari and Google as being infected with malware. -- Rick == Interesting list of dos and don'ts for the loud, obnoxious American tourist. Funny, but I think difficult for most Americans to follow. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: As an American traveling in a foreign country, the last thing you want to do is stand out like a sore thumb. Not only do you have a greater chance of getting sucked into tourist traps, but you’re also a more obvious target for getting mugged or even kidnapped. So, are you aware of the things you do, say, and wear that make you look like the stereotypical tourist?

  tags: reasonpad, american, tourist, tips

• 15 Terminal commands to supercharge OS X | News | TechRadar UK

  TechRadar UK's favorite terminal commands for OS X. Long live CLI. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: Although you can replicate the results or functionality offered by most Terminal commands via various bits of freeware and shareware, it's simpler to fire up the command line and paste in a handy command. Below are our favourites, centring on workflow efficiency and system streamlining and improvements. Note that if Terminal becomes a mess at any point, 'clear' removes everything from the current window or tab.

  tags: techradar, terminal, osx

• Wolfram|Alpha

  New Search Engine Wolfram Alpha is interesting but not quite ready for prime time. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: Making the world's knowledge computable - Today's Wolfram|Alpha is the first step in an ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone. You enter your question or calculation, and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and growing collection of data to compute the answer.

  tags: search, semanticweb, knowledge, engine, wolfram, alpha, searchengine, search engine

• Camper.rb, a ruby script to link Campfire to Jabber - SuperJared.com

  Campfire to Jabber proxy script written in ruby. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: At work we use 37signals’ Campfire group chat for our office discussions, as well as customer support. This web-based chat is great for teams to intercommunicate as well as keep the channel open for our customers to speak with us. However, I am not a fan of keeping a couple tabs open to the same pages all day. One reason is that it becomes a RAM hog after a few hours. It also adds another chat program to the list that I have open.

  tags: superjared, ruby, camper.rb

• Do you Poken?

  Cool cellphone-strap gadget that lets you connect by exchanging SNS info via your "poken". -- Rick Cogley | From the site: With your poken you instantly connect with new friends across online social networks when and where you meet them.

  tags: poken, do you poken, social network

• Sheldon Brown-Bicycle Technical Information

  An amazing and encyclopedic body of knowledge about cycling and bicycles. Sheldon Brown's site. -- Rick Cogley

  tags: cycling, bike, bicycle, reference, sheldon, brown

I got a new bike lock from YPK Innovations - a Cafe 2.0. The model I bought has a more flexible and just slightly lighter cable than the last, as well as much harder, more durable-seeming plastic around the lock. I like it better.

There were two problems with the old one, that cropped up after 18 months of daily, outdoor use at the train station:

• The plastic bezel around the lock broke, exposing the metal lock.
• The metal collar inside, around the lock itself started to rotate, covering up the hole that the post was supposed to be inserted into.

Here are photos of the problem:

I think the one I just bought is a generation old, but it still seems better than the first one. These YPK "cafe" locks are nice because you can make two loops for flexible locking.

• Saboten no Hana Lyrics - Kazuo Zaitsu

  Kazuo Zaitsu (kanji: 財津和夫) of the Japanese band Tulip, is the singer of a favorite song of mine, "Saboten no Hana" or The Cactus Flower, which is a song about hope despite love lost. It was the theme song of an enormously popular 1993 drama called "Hitotsu Yane no Shita" or Under One Roof. Zaitsu san has a unique and pleasant voice that I like, and this song always brings a tear to my eye. The song features a simple piano solo in the bass register, which to me is the man's sad voice mixed with hope. I thought I'd translate the lyrics so others could understand it too. You can see Zaitsu san sing it and see some stills from the drama on YouTube. -- Rick Cogley

  tags: kazuo zaitsu, saboten no hana, hitotsu yane no shita, lyrics, drama, japan

• Best Tokyo Subway Map: Vollmer Design

  Vollmer Design's superior map of the Tokyo rail and subway system is a must for any visitor to or resident of Tokyo. The map is printed on A3 paper, but is folded small to the size of "3 x 1 2/3 matches" according to the nicely-designed Informa website where the map is available. Very affordable, even inexpensive, at JPY 270 yen online, it's less than the cost of a Starbucks latte, or maybe a typical iPhone app. The map is thankfully bilingual, so a visitor can show it to a Japanese speaker and get help, while reading the romanized versions of the names. It also has clear icon markers of major tourist sites like the Tsukiji Fish Market near Ginza, and the Tokyo Tower. -- Rick Cogley

  tags: vollmer design, tokyo, map, subway, informa

• http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com

  Just like the URL says: these are awkward family photos. Really, really awkward!

  tags: awkwardfamilyphotos.com, funny, family

• Mobile Opportunity: A quick history of software platforms: How we got here, and where we're going

  An excellent article on software platforms, by Michael Mace. -- Rick Cogley | From the article: Intuit and Stanford recently asked me to give talks on computer platforms and what makes them successful. (By platforms I mean software with APIs that third party developers can write apps on top of; Windows and Macintosh are both platforms, as is Java.) Platforms are a hot topic in Silicon Valley these days. The success of the iPhone app store in mobile, and Facebook on the web, have forcefully reminded people that you can grow a tech business more quickly if you get third party developers to help you. Almost every tech company I work with is trying to expose some sort of API or platform offering in its products.

  tags: michael mace, mobileopportunity, software, platforms

• Disco - Mac Disc Burning

  "Drag, Drop, Disco." Good alternative to Toast for disc burning.

  tags: software, osx, mac, burning, cd, tools, disc

• blog:Cogley - Disc Media Burning with "Disco", a Toast Alternative

  Disco is a polished, inexpensive (USD 29.95, currently 10 dollars off as of 13 May 2009) alternative to Toast Titanium. I've had mixed results with Toast, and did not want to pay the upgrade fee, so I started looking for alternatives. I've done a few burns in Disco so far, and it seems to work quite well. No problems or "coasters" yet, at this time.

  tags: disco, media, burn, discoapp.com, toast, cd, dvd

• blog:Cogley - Collapsing All Folders in Path Finder

  I could not find this information in the help file or on the CocoaTech forum. If you use CocoaTech's Path Finder, the Finder replacement that has a lot of extra functionality that is missing in the normal OS X Finder, you may be browsing around in a folder with many subfolders, and wish to somehow "collapse" the folders you opened, to clean up the view. Clicking the disclosure triangle of 100 open subfolders is rather tedious, so isn't there an easier way? I stumbled on a method. Here it is.

  tags: path finder, cocoatech, collapse, folders

• blog:Cogley - Updating Leopard OS X 10.5.6 to 10.5.7

  I updated my MacBook Pro's OS X from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7 today, and there was a little hiccup. Here's what happened.

  tags: apple, leopard, osx, update, 10.5.7

• Snap!Japan - RIP Kiyoshiro Imawano - translation of "ameagari no yozora ni"

  Kiyoshiro Imawano, the hugely-popular lead singer of RC Succession died of lymphatic disease at the age of 59. He'll be dearly missed. One of their hits, "Ameagari no Yozora ni" is representative of his music, and you can hear it on YouTube. I thought I'd translate the lyrics to it. The original Japanese is followed by romanized Japanese, followed by my English approximation. It's full of double-meanings, of course.

  tags: Kiyoshiro Imawano, ameagari no yozora ni, rock

• blog:Cogley - Migrating User Folders on OS X Leopard Server

  I did an experiment on my test Leopard Server to migrate User Folders from the default /Users to another direct-attached volume based on some questions that came up. The problem is, OS X Leopard Server defaults to using the system disk as the Users partition, and this disk is not often your largest disk. It can fill up quickly if users start storing their photos or music. Long story short, the trick is to use Workgroup manager to auto-create the User directories, but, before that there's some things you need to do for prep.

  tags: osx, leopard, server, user, folder, migrate

• blog:Cogley - Does my Mac's SuperDrive do Dual Layer

  If you are wondering whether the SuperDrive in your Mac is dual-layer capable, or whether it can store 8+ GB of data on a data DVD rather than 4+ GB, have a look at the System Profiler app (you can Spotlight it to easily find it if you use Leopard), and check Hardware, Disc Burning, DVD-Write. If you see the tell-tale DLs in the description, you're good to go. Just buy the appropriate media.

  tags: superdrive, osx, dual-layer, DL, system profiler

• StillTasty: Your Ultimate Shelf Life Guide - Save Money, Eat Better, Help The Environment

  StillTasty.com is a very useful Web site that lets you check the shelf life of common foods and ingredients. Know your "best before" from your "expires on". Searchable database, and various tips. www.stilltasty.com

  tags: food, cooking, health, reference, safety, drink, stilltasty, Cocina

Disco is a polished, inexpensive (USD 29.95, currently 10 dollars off as of 13 May 2009) alternative to Toast Titanium. I've had mixed results with Toast, and did not want to pay the upgrade fee, so I started looking for alternatives. I've done a few burns in Disco so far, and it seems to work quite well. No problems or "coasters" yet, at this time.

Here's some highlights:

• Disco supports spanning of a backup set to multiple discs, and lets you know how many discs you will need to complete the backup. Very convenient, and you just feed it the disc media when prompted, while it works.
• Disco stores a discography for created media or disc images, so you can easily search for files on your media.
• Straightforward workflow, assisted by what the publisher calls "Crossroads" technology. It's unnoticeable, and I had no problems following, so in a way I guess it works!
• Creation of CDs or DVDs with Hybrid, HFS+, UDF, PC Joliet, or ISO 9660 file systems, which means you'll be able to read the media most anywhere.
• Burn to all Apple-supported in- and external drives, and enjoy CD multi-session support, burn and erase for rewritable media, and support for dual-layer DVDs.
• If your audio is supported by Quicktime, you can create an audio CD or easily switch to a MP3 data CD. Also, you can drag-and-drop to change track order.
• You can create disc images from files and discs in the CDR, ISO or DMG formats, as well as create CDs from ISO, DMG, IMG or CUE/BIN.

Oh, I almost forgot that it "smokes" when you burn, provided a new-enough Mac. Pretty cool effect!

Assessment after Some Usage

I used Disco for a few burns (the demo allows you 7, gratis), and I found the program to be a tag buggy here and there. There's times where restarting Disco will help it detect discs, or, where it mis-detects the burner you want to use. I have a San Disk Cruzer USB stick, which for some reason Disco thinks is a burner, and it gets "stuck" on it until I go into Disco Preferences and change it.

I could not find this information in the help file or on the CocoaTech forum. If you use CocoaTech's Path Finder, the Finder replacement that has a lot of extra functionality that is missing in the normal OS X Finder, you may be browsing around in a folder with many subfolders, and wish to somehow "collapse" the folders you opened, to clean up the view.

Clicking the disclosure triangle of 100 open subfolders is rather tedious, so isn't there an easier way? I stumbled on a method. Here it is.

How to Collapse All Subfolders in Path Finder

1. In list view, select all. Command-A.
2. Press Option-Left Arrow.
3. Sit back, amused, but don't do anything boneheaded like pressing Command-Delete.

And voila! Collapsed folders.

I updated my MacBook Pro's OS X from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7 today, and there was a little hiccup. Here's what happened, but see UPDATES below:

• I noticed there was an update available, so I shut down all the user applications and things like ExpanDrive and Plaxo, then tried Software Update from the Apple menu. Software update started to work, then stalled at around 150 MB of 450 MB downloaded, claiming to take another 8 hours to download. It's not my ISP because everything else is fine. Everyone must be hitting the server at once. Stopped the update during the download.
• Intending to use the "combo updater", which is just the full update download, I found the update on Apple's download site. There are two updaters: the Delta Updater, and the Combo Updater. The 450+ MB Delta is just labeled as "Update" and is for updating from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7. The 700+ MB Combo is for any 10.5, to 10.5.7. Decided to try the Delta.
• Apple Installer offers to run the updater when it downloads, so I chose to do that. It seemed to work, then offered to Restart so I did that.
• After the restart, the process froze on a blue screen with a mouse pointer.
• I force restarted, then after the restart, the system auto-rebooted.
• After the second restart, the expected normal grey Apple Logo screen with the progress spinner appeared. It took a long time, but it finally came to the login screen, and login was normal.
• I confirmed that the system did indeed it had been upgraded, by checking Apple menu, About this Mac. It's indeed updated to 10.5.7.

When I started Mail and iCal after the upgrade, there were no "please wait while we update your database" type of messages, as there have been in the past when Apple has made database changes to these applications.

I'm going to do an OnyX run, to clean things up and reset permissions and so on as a matter of maintenance, and I'll report back here if there are any other problems related to the update.

UPDATES

13 May 2009, 23:55 - the system worked snappily all day, but this evening I got the grey kernel crash screen. The "You need to restart" in multiple languages one. Ugh. Apparently, Apple recognizes the problem and will issue a fix. Recommend waiting.

14 May 2009, 11:41

The 10.5.7 update is definitely much snappier. A lot of things are running very fast. This is nice. Now, just don't crash on me again, please!

15 May 2009, 10:30

Crashed after waking from sleep. Had to force reset. System worked well after that.

16 May 2009, 9:30

Flock crashed and could not be force-quit. Activity Monitor would not start. Terminal kill command would not kill.

What's in the 10.5.7 Update

FYI, here's what Apple says is in the update:

Address Book

• Improves reliability of Address Book syncing with iPhone and other devices and applications.

AirPort

• Improves the reliability of AirPort connections, including improvements when roaming in large wireless networks with an Intel-based Mac.

Client management

• Improves reliability of synchronizing files on a portable home directory.

• Fixes an issue in Mac OS X 10.5.4 and 10.5.5 in which managed users may not see printers that use the Generic PPD.

• Client computers that use UUID-based ByHost preferences now respect managed Screen Saver settings.

iChat

• Addresses an issue that could cause an encryption alert to appear in the chat window.

• Setting your iChat status to "invisible" via AppleScript no longer logs you out of iChat.

• Resolves an issue in which pasting text from a Microsoft Office document could insert an image rather than text.

Graphics

• Includes general improvements to gaming performance.

• Includes graphics improvements for iChat, Cover Flow, Aperture, and iTunes.

• Includes fixes for possible graphics distortion issues with certain ATI graphics cards.

Mail

• Includes overall performance and reliability fixes.

• Improves Connection Doctor accuracy.

• Fixes an issue that could cause messages identified as junk to remain in the inbox.

• Fixes an issue that could cause Mail to append a character to the file extension of an attachment.

• Addresses an issue that could prevent Mail from quitting.

• Improves reliability when printing PDF attachments.

MobileMe

• Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on a Mac automatically sync within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the web at me.com.

Networking

• Improves Apple File Service performance, especially when using a home directory hosted on an AFP server. Important: If you are using Mac OS X 10.5.6 (client) to connect to a • • Mac OS X Server 10.4-based server, it is strongly recommended that you update the server to Mac OS X Server version 10.4.11.

• Improves the performance and reliability of TCP connections.

• Improves reliability and performance for AT&T 3G cards.

• Updates the ssh Terminal command for compatibility with more ssh servers.

Printing

• Improves printing for the Adobe CS3 application suite.

• Improves printing for USB-based Brother and Canon printers.

Parental Controls

• Addresses an issue in which a parentally-controlled account could be unable to access the iTunes Store.

• Includes general fixes for time limits.

• Resolves an issue that prevented adding allowed websites from Safari via drag and drop.

Time Machine

• Fixes issues that could cause Time Machine to state the backup volume could not be found.

• Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.

Safari

• Improves compatibility with web proxy servers.

General

• Includes Mac OS X security improvements. See this website for more information.

• Addresses inaccuracies with Calculator when the Mac OS X language is set to German or Swiss German.

• Improves the performance and reliability of Chess.

• Improves DVD Player performance and reliability.

• Performance improvements for iCal are included.

• Fixes an issue when running the New iCal Events Automator action as an applet.

• Adds a Trackpad System Preference pane for portable Macs.

• Improves compatibility with smart cards such as the U.S. Department of Defense Common Access Card.

• Updates time zone data and Daylight Saving Time rules for several countries.

Mac OS X 10.5.7 is available via Software Update and also via standalone installers.

If you are wondering whether the SuperDrive in your Mac is dual-layer capable, or whether it can store 8+ GB of data on a data DVD rather than 4+ GB, have a look at the System Profiler app (you can Spotlight it to easily find it if you use Leopard), and check Hardware, Disc Burning, DVD-Write. If you see the tell-tale DLs in the description, you're good to go. Just buy the appropriate media.

A random and very funny list circulating 'round the Internets. Understand your own body.

The Human Body

It takes your food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.

One human hair can support 3 kg (6.6 lb).

The average man's penis is three times the length of his thumb.

Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.

A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.

There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

Women blink twice as often as men.

The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.

If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

Women reading this will be finished now.

Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

Lol.

• Adjix URL Shortener

  Adjix is an URL shortener that uses HTML redirects instead of 302's. From the site: Short Links. Tiny Ads. Big Payoff.

  tags: adjix, twitter, short, url, tools, tinyurl, webservice, service, advertising

• Building a URL Shortener

  From the site: With all the talk of URL shortening services, I decided to add a quick service into Snook.ca, which is run on CakePHP, to redirect a short URL to a post. Because my static content already has short URLs and all I have are posts, creating a short URL handler for it was very easy.

  tags: url shortener

• Build Your Own Url Shortener For Free! | NetHackz

  From the site: Build Your Own Url Shortener For Free! - URL shorteners are awesome. The less characters, the better! But what happens when that server goes down or some network issue prevents people from getting to your links? Nothing. Blank pages. Better yet, why would you want to brand someone elses domain name? Think about all the traffic and notoriety you’re giving tinyurl and is.gd? Can you use that same traffic to your advantage?

  tags: url shortener

• Snap!Japan - English Bookstores in Tokyo and Yokohama

  My list of some English bookstores in Japan, but mostly in Tokyo or Yokohama where I live, for the visitor or resident.

  tags: bookstores, tokyo, yokohama, kinokuniya, maruzen, yurindo

• Snap!Japan - Social Media Acceptance in Japan

  I agree that Social Networking Service acceptance, or lack thereof, is not a simple matter of Japanese being "shy". Just go to Shibuya, Harajuku, or Kabukicho to prove otherwise! I think SNS acceptance is driven by the marketing of the SNS, by whether it "feels right" and "fits right" for Japanese people, and by whether other people are using it. I think that's what Thierry is saying anyway, but my perspective is that SNS's like Mixi are Japanese to begin with and not a localized version of an application like Facebook or MySpace.

  tags: sns, social media, thierry de baillon, mixi, facebook, rick cogley, snapjapan

• blog:Cogley - Enable Color Managment in Flock or Firefox 3

  Don't suffer with color management off. Turn it on now. If you use anything but IE 7 you are still out of luck, but Safari users have had this functionality for quite a while. I refer to "color management", which is the concept of adjusting the color properties of devices, like displays, monitors, printers or scanners, so that colors mean the same thing across devices, and more importantly look the same. The adjustment can be done in the operating system itself, which is what Mac OS X does (and one reason it is superior to Windows), or via International Color Consortium "ICC" profiles and other software trickery.

  tags: flock, firefox 3, rick cogley, icc, color management

I did an experiment on my test Leopard Server to migrate User Folders from the default /Users to another direct-attached volume based on some questions that came up.

The problem is, OS X Leopard Server defaults to using the system disk as the Users partition, and this disk is not often your largest disk. It can fill up quickly if users start storing their photos or music. Long story short, the trick is to use Workgroup manager to auto-create the User directories, but, before that there's some things you need to do for prep.

How to Migrate OS X Leopard Users Folder from Default to External

In Terminal, you can either sudo bash or use sudo in front of every command. I like to use sudo bash, but remember to exit out of your sudo'ed bash shell later, to avoid risk. Don't use sudo bash if you don't know your way around a Terminal. If you are not sure, don't use it, and just go for sudo in front of each command you want to use.

sudo bash
Password:

Create the containing Users folder on the external drive, which we'll call "EXTHD" here. You can confirm its POSIX permissions using ls -la.

cd /Volumes/EXTHD
mkdir Users
ls -la

Start Server Admin, select the server in the left-hand list, then select the File Sharing section from the toolbar. Copy down all the attributes of your existing Users folder Share Point, for example to auto-mount as "User home folders", protocol options to share via AFP, SMB, FTP or NFS, and base ACL and POSIX Permissions with whether to inherit or not.

Now, you can Unshare the Share Point in Server Admin. Click Unshare and Save. Click another Share Point to make the list refresh.

After you confirm the Users Share Point is gone you can create a new Users Share Point on /Volumes/EXTHD/Users, your external disk. Reset all the settings you wrote down for your original Users, then Propagate Permissions using the Gear dropdown.

Start Workgroup Manager, and specify the new User share for each user. Multi-select users, select your new share, and click "Create Home Now" to create.

Now you can migrate the contents, which is probably the most tedious part because there's unfortunately no automated way to do it. Use the mv command, and you may need to reset permissions after the move. Users can try connecting and accessing their files. Here's one way, which involves using the su command from root's shell to mimic any given user, in this case John Allen Smith or "jas".

bash-3.2# su - jas
mysrv:~ jas$ whoami
jas
mysrv:~ jas$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Library Movies Music Pictures Public Sites
mysrv:~ jas$ pwd
/Network/Servers/mysrv.mydomain.com/Volumes/EXTHD/Users/jas
mysrv:~ jas$ cd Documents/
mysrv:Documents jas$ ls
About Stacks.pdf
mysrv:Documents jas$ mv /Users/jas/Documents/* .
mv: ./myfile.txt: set owner/group (was: 1034/80): Operation not permitted

If you get errors like the "Operation not permitted" above, deal with those permissions separately. Use the exit command to exit to root again, and use it again to get out of the "sudo bash" root shell. I hope this helps get you started migrating user folders to an external hard drive, in OS X Leopard Server. Enjoy!

If you use anything but IE 7 you are still out of luck, but Safari users have had this functionality for quite a while. I refer to "color management", which is the concept of adjusting the color properties of devices, like displays, monitors, printers or scanners, so that colors mean the same thing across devices, and more importantly look the same. The adjustment can be done in the operating system itself, which is what Mac OS X does (and one reason it is superior to Windows), or via International Color Consortium "ICC" profiles and other software trickery.

Let me keep it very simple for this post, though. If you use Flock, which is at the time of this writing based on Firefox 3, or Firefox 3 itself, color management is disabled by default. However, you can easily enable color management, so that photos on photo sharing sites like Flickr or SmugMug will render with the color profile embedded in the photo, which usually means they will look much better than the default, using no profile. In my opinion, these days you will get far better results by turning color management on, in your Flock or Firefox 3 browser.

How to Enable Color Management in Flock or Firefox 3

The easiest way to enable the settings is by using the Color Management Addon for Firefox which will work in Firefox and should work in Flock. Alternatively, you can enter the secret "about:config" code in your address bar (where you type the URL), and enable color management yourself:

about:config

Be very careful about what you change in here, because you can break your browser easily. That said, scroll down until you find:

gfx.color_management.enabled

gfx.color_management.display_profile

You can double click gfx.color_management.enabled to enable Firefox to use whatever profile is embedded in the photo you are viewing, and, you can specify an ICC profile by entering its path in the gfx.color_management.display_profile parameter. If you are not sure what that means, just enable gfx.color_management.enabled.

Restart Flock or Firefox, and you should get much better colors on sites like Flickr or SmugMug. Finally, please check out Deb Richardson's excellent introductory post on this topic, for a clear depiction of the difference of using profiles or not, and how different applications render color. Don't waste time with color management turned off - turn it on now and enjoy much richer color.

Flickr has increased their maximum video size from 150 MB to 500 MB for Pro members. How do these sites handle the continually expanding capacity needs? Flickr charges only 25 dollars per year for pro accounts so they must have scads of users.

• Camcorder Info - How We Test Camcorders - Reviews

  Good site with CamCorder reviews. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: Exacting standards and the scientific method are at the heart of Camcorderinfo.com, and rest of the sites in the Reviewed.com network. We don't believe in the so-called "golden eye" or the "expert review board." Both of these methods allow too many opportunities for subjectivity and personal preference. Our objective, scientific analysis, in conjunction with our strict ethics policy, makes our reviews the fairest and most transparent online.

  tags: camcorderinfo, testing, reviews

• New Canon PowerShot D10 Point-and-Shoot - blog:Cogley

  Yesterday, I purchased the new Canon PowerShot D10 to take over for an old Canon IXY 500. The IXY has served us well and works OK still, but the waterproof and shockproof nature of the D10 were attractive because of the proximity to the beach where we live, and how often we've been nervous about taking electronics to the beach! It's going to be nice to drag the camera right into the surf or even underwater.

  tags: blogcogley, blog:cogley, canon, powershot, D10

Yesterday, I purchased the new Canon PowerShot D10 at Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku, Tokyo, to take over for an old Canon IXY 500. The IXY has served us well and works OK still, but the waterproof and shockproof nature of the D10 were attractive because of the proximity to the Shonan beach area near where we live, and how often we've been nervous about taking electronics to the beach! It's going to be nice to drag the camera right into the surf or even underwater.

I compared this D10 with other waterproof and shockproof models from Olympus (the Tough-8000) and Panasonic (the Lumix TS-1 or FS-1), but ultimately chose the Canon. I liked the way it felt in my hands at the store, and there were too many quirks in reviews about the others. At any rate, I thought I would share some first impressions and photos with everyone.

Specifications of the Canon PowerShot D10

Let me summarize some of the specs.

Megapixels - A solid 12.1, combined with the Digic4 processor. I'm not so interested in huge megapixel figures, because I really don't need to print posters.

Lens - it's got a bright f/2.8 3x optical, 4x digital zoom, with lens-shift Image Stabilization. This is a nice lens, and it's in line with the sensor and not "folded", which contributes to its rather bulbous shape.

Focus - face-detection auto-focus.

Media - "Secure Digital" SDHC format.

File Format - JPEG (Fine only, not Super-Fine) for photos and Motion JPEG for movies up to 1 hour and 4GB.

Toughness - it's an outdoor-use camera, waterproof to 10 m and shockproof to 1.2 m.

ISO - 80 to 1600 but pretty noisy at high ISO.

Viewfinder - none, it's an "LCD only" camera.

Battery - Lithium Ion

Unprocessed Samples from the Canon PowerShot D10

Here are some unprocessed sample photos, and a gratuitous motion JPEG video from the Canon PowerShot D10.

Impressions of the Canon PowerShot D10

I've only used the camera just for a few snaps, but I like it. It turns on very quickly, has a whole slew of "scene modes" like aquarium, beach, underwater, foliage and so forth, as well as a program mode for some manual tinkering as usual in the PowerShot range. It has a programmable print button, so you can for example link "video record" to that for an easy way to start recording without fishing through menus.

I don't care too much about the fashionable, replaceable faceplates that you can swap in (it has blue on there in the box but there's also black, orange and camoflage), but I really love the straps that came with the "Canon D10 Outdoor Kit". There's a wrist strap, a neck strap, a caribiner strap that you hook to your belt, and a shoulder strap that lets you sling the D10 over your shoulder, and whip up when you want to take a photo. The design of the camera itself is pretty funky, but each corner has a connector that looks like something you'd see in a submarine. These connectors make the straps really easy to connect. You just slot it in and turn. Easy! And since there's a connector on each corner, it's nice for left- or right-handed people.

As for negatives, despite the nice fast f/2.8 lens, Canon bastardized the JPEG settings so there's no "super fine". I suppose this is to try to prevent you from having to swap SD cards at the beach, but I'd rather make that decision myself. Also, there's no HD video like Canon's introduced into their newest IXY models. Something I noticed in the manual, it says to turn up the volume on any videos you take with the camera because the mic is "not so sensitive due to the waterproof characteristics of the camera." So say we all. Finally, I've owned other PowerShots but this one's manual settings feel a little limited.

In the end, I think I'm going to probably take this camera everywhere because I don't have to fret about damage from water. I like it quite a bit, especially the fact that I can sling it over my shoulder with the useful straps. I'll update when I get some samples underwater.

I updated my Mac and Cycling FAQs. They are not comprehensive, but are a compilation of answers to questions that I wanted answers for when I started using a Mac and separately when I began cycling. Enjoy!

iMovie, included among other excellent consumer applications in Apple's iLife 09, now provides an easy way to share your videos on Google's YouTube video sharing service. You just prep your video, and then use the Share menu to share it in various ways. However, YouTube has a 10 minute, 1GB limit.

Using iMovie 09 with YouTube

Here's a few tips to work with those YouTube limits:

• Confirm the total video time at the bottom of the project window, and the length of a clip by hovering the mouse over the clip and looking at the time-stamp appearing at its beginning.
• Use Share menu, YouTube. If the movie is over the YouTube limit, the dialog box that appears will tell you so.
• Make a clip smaller by positioning the playhead, ctrl-clicking and selecting "Split Clip." Once clips are split you can delete parts that are not needed.
• If need be, split up your Project into two Projects. Let's say you have a 14 minute, 600 MB AVI file you have imported into your project, that you have split into two 7 minute chunks. Ctrl-click on the Project in Project Library and choose Duplicate. Rename each project to indicate which half it will be in the end. Open each half and delete the unneeded half.

I trust someone will find this useful when working with iMovie and YouTube. Enjoy!

• If You Liked This, Sure to Love That - Winning the Netflix Prize - NYTimes.com

  Loved this article on NetFlix' competition to improve their recommendation algorithm. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: THE “NAPOLEON DYNAMITE” problem is driving Len Bertoni crazy. Bertoni is a 51-year-old “semiretired” computer scientist who lives an hour outside Pittsburgh. In the spring of 2007, his sister-in-law e-mailed him an intriguing bit of news: Netflix, the Web-based DVD-rental company, was holding a contest to try to improve Cinematch, its “recommendation engine.” The prize: $1 million.

  tags: nytimes, nytimes.com, napoleon dynamite, netflix, recommendation

• Bribes end up with sour just desserts? Snap!Japan - a long-term resident's perspective

  Since the Lockheed scandal brought Kakuei Tanaka down in the late 1970's, Japan has seen many and varied incidents, their occurrence only escalating in recent years. Even the Tanaka protege Ichiro Ozawa, who has been stressing a (rather two-faced) populist agenda of late, is now tainted by a bribe scandal via a top aide accused of taking corporate donations. Ozawa san, so much for that "for the people" agenda eh? Who's going to replace Aso?! I like talking to just about anyone, and it's frequently the case that I find myself talking to a random taxi driver about something or other happening in Japan. The other day, during a conversation variously about Ozawa, bribes, the US Sarbanes Oxley legislation and "settai" (client entertainment) in Japan, my "over 60" year old driver told me he worked at Mizkan, the vinegar maker, for 40 years. I assume was his whole career, and he said he was in sales, in charge of large corporate accounts.

  tags: bribe, snapjapan, snap!Japan, ozawa, tanaka, settai

• blog:Cogley - Large Project Inequities

  The thought that "no correctly-spec'ed project gets approved" leads me to lots of questions, and no real answers this morning. I was thinking about the massive projects that the world has seen, like the Pyramids, great Dams, Bridges, Skyscrapers and Railways, or well-designed and -architected cities in general, and wondering: Are these things we marvel at, built on great inequities? Inequities that people of certain demographics cannot even imagine (thinking about myself as a white, male, middle-class American). It's not comfortable to think about, but would such marvels even exist if there were not the exploited and the exploiters? Can this said to have been even necessary for technical progress?

  tags: rick, cogley, rickcogley, project, pm, management, project management, inequities

The thought that "no correctly-spec'ed project gets approved" leads me to lots of questions, and no real answers this morning.

I was thinking about the massive projects that the world has seen, like the Pyramids, great Dams, Bridges, Skyscrapers and Railways, or well-designed and -architected cities in general, and wondering: Are these things we marvel at, built on great inequities? Inequities that people of certain demographics cannot even imagine (thinking about myself as a white, male, middle-class American).

It's not comfortable to think about, but would such marvels even exist if there were not the exploited and the exploiters? Can this said to have been even necessary for technical progress?

Food for thought.

• TeePee - Super Cool Local Area Info iPhone App for Japan - Mobile in Japan

  TeePee - Super Cool Local Area Info iPhone App for Japan.

  tags: teepee, rainbow, iphone, location

• Priya - The Indian Restaurant

  Great restaurant in Hiroo Tokyo that my friend Arup introduced me to. -- Rick Cogley Priya offers a truly royal array of authentic north Indian cuisine. Cooked and served by the vastly experienced staff, the menu has been designed after several years of research and experienced gained. At Priya, we assure you warm, friendly and personalized service with a smile. A place to relax whether just by yourself, or with family, friends or colleagues. At Priya, each delicious meal - prepared with pride and served with care - is of the highest quality and yet very reasonably priced. Give a try and see the difference!!

  tags: priya, indian, cuisine, hiroo, tokyo

• Changing Wiki Server's repository

  How to change the Apple OS X Leopard Server's Wiki Server's repository location. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: I was able to change where the Wiki Server (the thing responsible for the blog you're looking at) keeps its "repository" (all the files and pages you've added). Merely use the serveradmin tool:

  tags: repository, leopard, osx, wiki, change, serveradmin

• Interview with Masato Inoue about Green Design

  My friend Masato Inoue, Nissan designer, is interviewed about his Pivo. -- Rick Cogley | From the site. March 10. 2008 | Hannah Macmurray. Interview with Masato Inoue. Masato Inoue has been the Chief Designer of Nissan's Exploratory Design Department for about 8 years in Japan. On the surface he doesn’t seem like your run of the mill Japanese businessman, his Italian tailored suit and styled shoes, slightly longer hair than ‘regulation’ allows, but don’t let that fool you. He is 100% Japanese and this makes him proud of his culture, something which most Japanese have grown up to reject because of the shame of WWII. Inoue san has an open eye on whats happening around the world, an open ear to listen what people have to say, and an open heart for Japanese design. He knows what Nissan’s customers want before they even know they want it, and likewise he knew what Nissan needed before management did…an electric car!

  tags: masato, inoue, experimental, nissan, pivo

• MapMyRide.com - Map your Cycling and Mountain Biking Routes and join our Community of Cyclists. Cycling Social Network, iPhone, Topo Maps, Elevation Profiles, GPS Support.

  Pretty poorly designed website (so busy, it looks like a Japanese site), but an interesting concept nonetheless. -- Rick Cogley | From the site: Plot your bike rides over mountains (view elevation), through the woods (topo maps), and speeding through the city (street level views) with just a few mouse clicks. Once your cycling map is complete you can quickly view it in 3D, satellite form, or share it with friends.

  tags: maps, cycling, map, bike, routes, fitness, googlemaps, google, mapmyride, mapmyfitness

• AppleInsider | Japanese "hate" for iPhone all a big mistake

  Balanced article refuting a Wired article about how iPhone in Japan is a failure. Prince McLean quotes my blog in this article as well. -- Rick Cogley | Japanese "hate" for iPhone all a big mistake - By Prince McLean A report intending to portray the iPhone as "hated" in the Japanese market turns out to have been built upon fake quotations from industry writers and observers who were misrepresented by remarks attributed to them that they never made. Their actual comments on the iPhone's prospects in Japan are far more interesting.

  tags: appleinsider, prince, mclean, iphone, rick, cogley

• blog:Cogley - Bus tours give insight into Japan PM

  A friend mentioned that she understands better "why Japanese are like they are", after having been on a weekend bus tour to Mt. Fuji. I've been on Japanese bus tours before, but it never really dawned on me that they could be a window on the soul of the Japanese, but I suppose they are, in a way. I've always been against them, but occasionally bow to pressure from the higher authorities at my house, like my wife and daughters, and go on a bus tour.

  tags: bus, tour, bustour, japan, pm, cogley, rickcogley

• blog:Cogley - Guerilla Collaboration

  Aaron Fulkerson, the CEO at Mindtouch - makers of the awesome mashable wiki "Deki" - writes about the state of collaboration in his post Three Decades Later. Revolt Or Die. As Aaron mentions, the current state of affairs with regard to collaboration is very much email centric. However, email is terrible for collaboration. If you have never given this much though, sit a moment and really think through what it means to try to manage a project, with file versioning, in email. If you think on it, you can see how easily email can snowball out of hand, with noone on the team knowing what file or which piece of info is the current, latest version. I know this from painful experience. We have had to manage very large projects via email, because of the strong resistance at the client to any web-based applications. People have been adamant: "we use email for everything." Yikes. There are even project management applications that cater (pander?) to this attitude, like Wrike.

  tags: cogley, rickcogley, deki, mindtouch, collaboration, aaron, fulkerson

• iPhone in Japan - from a satisfied user | Snap!Japan - a long-term resident's perspective

  In general I am satisfied with my iPhone in Japan. This article is a response to an article in Wired, and talks a bit about the iPhone, differences from Japanese cellphones, and what I've felt and heard from Japanese users.

  tags: snapjapan, snap!japan, iphone, japan, wired