A Snow Leopard annoyance

In 10.6 Snow Leopard's expose, a new feature shows the minimized windows. I hate that!

I minimised the darn thing cause I don't want to see it!

In the picture I minimized the Time Machine window and was watching iTunes. when I used expose I saw the minimized Time Machine window

Grrrrr!

My Gear

I have been asked to give a list of the gear that I have.

Computers

24" iMac

2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

4GB Memory

500GB Internal Hard Drive

17" MacBook Pro

2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

4GB Memory

200GB Internal Hard Drive

External Hard Drives

WD My Book Studio II 4TB Time Machine

WD My Book Studio II 2TB iTunes Media

WD My Book Studio 1TB Unused for now

WD My Book Studio 500GB General File

OWC Mercury On-the Go 320GB Graphic Design/Photography/Business Files

Other Accessories

Apple Aluminum Keyboard

Apple Mighty Mouse

Waco Intous 4 Large Tablet

Dell Multimedia Keyboard

Moshi Clear protector for the Apple Keyboard

Firewire 400 5 port hub

USB 7 port Hub

Epson CX9600Fax - kinda crappy

8 port Power Suppressor

7 port Power Suppressor

and a whole bunch of cables behind my computer

Photo gear

Nikon D80 10.2 MP DSLR

18-55mm lens

70-300mm lens

OLD unknown brand on camera Flash

2 Nikon Filters - neutral density filters

Software

Adobe Creative Suite 4: Master Collection

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

iWork 09

Quicktime Pro

ClamX AntiVirus

Google Earth

iShowU HD

VNC Media Player

Handbrake

Fairmount

Onyx

VisualHub

and iLife 08

I have a lot of interesting software.

Snow Leopard: My thoughts!

This week Apple shipped the new version of Mac OS X, dubbed Snow Leopard. This new version has not so much new features, but refinements under the hood.

Here are my thoughts about Snow Leopard.

The Finder.

You might notice a tiny difference in the look of the Finder. The fonts listing the files are in a bold front. the Finder is also a 64 bit app.

System Preferences

The Snow Leopard System Preferences have changed a bit. The former International pane has changed to include text correction, much like autoCorrect in Word or Pages.

System Preferences has also been recoded to be a 64bit app. But if third-parth apps are still in 32bit mode, System Preferences will ask to restart in 32bit mode. that is very annoying, because I still have some panes in 32bit mode, like flip4mac, Version Cue CS4, SnnekPeekPro, and Wacom Tablet.

Dock/Stacks

The dock looks the exact same as it did in Leopard, but when you minimize a window it is suppose to minimize to the app's icon. None of my apps do that. I have tried Finder, Photoshop, Safari and others and it doesn't work.

Time Machine

My original Time machine backup took a little less than it did in Leopard.

For the most part my upgrade to Snow Leopard has been pretty good. When the computer restarted after the original installation it took 5 min to start up. that was the longest 5 minutes in my life. Safari has crashed on me once but othern than those two bugs, all is good.

I have not installed Snow Leopard on my laptop yet but plan to do so.

My Trip to PhotoshopWorld - Part 2: Travel Plans

Last year when I went to Vegas I booked through Expedia and it was really easy to keep track of everything: Flight, Car and Hotel. But this year I wanted to book through Expedia, but as I was booking the trip the hotel sold out. so I had to book it separately. Here are my tips on how to book your trip and what to take with you.

The Flight

I love Delta but they are not always cheap so I went to Expedia to see prices on the flight so I could compare them. Expedia wanted $155 round-trip Delta flight from SLC to LAS.

Comparison:

• Southwest: $216 one way WOW! - Expedia - N/A
• American: $200 round trip - Expedia - $189
• Delta: $118 round-trip - Expedia - $155
• JetBlue: $135 round-trip - Expedia - $187

I had always wanted to fly JetBlue, but I am on a budget so I went with Delta.

If you are think of going to PSW book your flights as soon as possible.

Hotel

Ok, I know that you might think that the cost of this hotel is not worth it because it is kinda expensive, but stay at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. Why?

Well because you are in the same hotel that all the instructors and staff stay at. You could see Scott Kelby walking down the hall. AND you have a short walk to the conference: down the elevators, to the Left

The Mandalay Bay is a tropical like hotel with a 11 acre beach/pool area and has a large selection of expensive restaurants and a small selection of relatively less expensive restaurants as well.

Here are some of the less expensive places to eat

The Bayside Buffet

Breakfast - $17, Lunch $21, Dinner $29, Eat all Day $35 (M-Sa), $40(Sun)

The Bayside buffet has a large selection of food and desserts, but it is pricey. It has a great location to the conference. If you want to eat here all day get the All-Day Pass for $35 (M-Sa), $40(Sun).

Raffles Cafe
About $10-$20 per person

Raffles Café offers a 24 hour casual dining with a wide variety of menu choices, including prime cut steaks, seafood and more. It has a good view of the beach area. It located down from the Bayside Buffet.

Burgers and Dogs

About $10 per person

Here you can get - what else - Burgers and Dogs. this place is located in the Food Court in the convention center - 100 feet from the doors to the Tech Expo!

The Luxor Food Court

The Luxor food court is located next door to the Mandalay Bay connected through the Mandalay Place shopping center. It has much more variety that the Mandalay has. The Luxor has a McDonalds, Quiznos and More.

Looking for something a little less expensive? Good! cause that's what I did!

On Tropicana Ave. is an Albertsons and a WalMart. go to either one and buy food for breakfast and lunch. There is no refrigerator and no microwave in the hotel room so also buy 2-3 styrofoam coolers, $2-$3 each. Set all the food in the bottom of the coolers and cover in ice from the hotel ice machines. Then set the coolers in the bathtub, just in case they leaks.

Transportation? - Car or Taxi

Well it just depends on what other things you want to do.

Taxi

Taxi's are convenient but can be expensive. it cost about $20 to get from the airport to a Strip Hotel like the Mandalay or the Luxor. Off Strip hotel? taxi is about $25-$30.

Rent a Car

One of the great services from McCarran airport is an off property Rent Car Center. When you leave the terminal to get a car you board a shuttle bus to the center where all the Rental car place are housed in one spot. You pick up and return you car here.

To rent a car is about $40-$50 per day from Budget. I think it is wort the cost because you can go wherever and whenever you want.

What to Take

Of course you take personal items and clothes but what specific things should you take to PSW?

Well that depends on what classes you want to take.

For PreCons I would take your camera and laptop

Here is what I take:

• 17" Macbook Pro
• Laptop Bag
• Mighty Mouse
• Nikon D80 an kit
• iPod touch - Hotel has available Wi-Fi for a fee, unless you book throught the PSW website then Wi-Fi is Free!
• NAPP attache bag - available with a Pro Pass upgrade
• Water Bottle
• Business Cards

Costs to go to PSW
PSW Alumni Admission + $449

Regular Early Bird admission: $499

After Early Bird Promo Ends: $599 • Ends Aug 28
PreCon - shoot, design, print + $199
5 night Hotel + $134 per night + $750 booked from PSW Website, tax included
Budget Rent a Car + $260
Delta Flights - $260 - 2 people
Total: about $1,924 plus food

Introducing the most advanced OS in the World. Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Today apple released the new version of their flagship OS - 10.6 Snow Leopard.

This new OS has very little new features but has been rebuilt to be more relilable and secure. and includes some breakthrough new technolegy.

New Refinments include:

• A more advanced, more nimble Finder.
• New look, new features for Exposé and Stacks.
• Quicker Time Machine backup.
• Faster to wake up and shut down.
• Faster, more reliable installation.
• Another leap forward for QuickTime.
• Innovative Chinese character input.
• More reliable, higher-resolution iChat.
• The right service at the right time.
• Automatic updates for printer drivers.
• Automatic time zone setup.

New Techlolegies:

64-bit computing used to be the province of scientists and engineers, but now this generational shift in computing gives all users the tools to apply the power of 64-bit to speed up everything from everyday applications to the most demanding scientific computations. Although Mac OS X is already 64-bit capable in many ways, Snow Leopard takes the next big step by rewriting nearly all system applications in 64-bit code¹ and by enabling the Mac to address massive amounts of memory. Now Mac OS X is faster, more secure, and completely ready for the future.

More cores, not faster clock speeds, drive performance increases in today’s processors. Grand Central Dispatch takes full advantage by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. Grand Central Dispatch also makes it much easier for developers to create programs that squeeze every last drop of power from multicore systems.

With graphics processors surpassing speeds of a trillion operations per second, they’re capable of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL in Snow Leopard is a technology that makes it possible for developers to tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently in the graphics processor and use it for any application.

Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, a major leap forward that advances modern media and Internet standards. QuickTime X includes a brand-new player application, offers optimized support for modern codecs, and delivers more efficient media playb ack, making it ideal for any application that needs to play media content.

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard on August 28 at Apple's retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple's online store starting TODAY. The new operating system will be available only for Mac users on Intel-based computers.

PhotoshopWorld Info - Part 2: The Tech Expo

The Tech Expo

Most computer related conferences have a big expo and small break-out classes. Well PSW is the the opposite. PhotoshopWorld has over 100+ classes but is also has a Tech Expo.

Browse the latest hardware, software, cameras, printers, and more from the biggest names in the business for three innovation-filled days. The Expo Exhibit Hall is where you'll get face-to-face with the industry's leading developers to check out all of the latest plug-ins, digital cameras, scanners, printers, peripherals, imaging software, hardware, storage devices, and transport cases.

• Adobe
• Artistic Photo Canvas
• Bogen Imaging
• Clipping Factory
• Corel
• Epson
• Western Digital
• Peachpit Press
• Graphic Authority
• GridIron Software
• Hoodman Corporation
• OnOne Software
• Kelby Training
• LAYERS Magazine
• and MUCH More!

Here is a video featuring the Expo from the PSW website

The NAPP Help Desk LIVE!

Throughout the conference you can get all of your questions answered at the NAPP Help Desk. Help Desk Live is open all three days during Expo hours, and is located close to the classrooms so you can just walk up and have your questions answered in an informal setting.

Bonus Classes

Photoshop World is unique beacause the training doesn't end in the classroom - there are also two theater-style classrooms right on the show floor. These bonus sessions real, in-depth training sessions by top professionals. These "Bonus Sessions" are important because they are held by the companies that professionals use every day.

FREE Expo Pass

If you are coming to PSW with your spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend, etc. than you might sign them up for the FREE Expo Pass. The pass will allow them explore the Expo and see all the exhibits. Note: They will not be allowed to attend any PSW class session outside the Expo Center.

For More Information visit the Official PSW website

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NOTE: The images and the video are from the PhotoshopWorld website

More Rumors for the Apple September Event

Ok now there are reports the Apple could be releasing more new

products at the upcoming September event to be held on the 8th.

There are some reports saying that Apple could be updating the Apple TV to include some DVR capabilities and to be able to have iTunes live streaming much similar to Netflix's Watch Instantly Feature.

Another report is saying that the release on Mac OSX 10.6 could happen as early as August 29 which has been rumored for the last few days. Also, a few images and YouTube videos have been posted showing off the new look of the Snow Leopard Installer (see below).

As I am writing this I saw a post on MacRumors is reporting that the UK Apple online store has put a ship date on the Leopard Up-To-Date program.

Also reports came in the Snow Leopard Mac box set has also briefly appeared in the Online Store. The set bundles Mac OS X with iLife '09 and iWork '09 of only $169. This box set is the only way to upgrade to Snow Leopard for users who currently don't have 10.5 Leopard. (Right Image from Gear Live)

Here is a Video showing the new Installer for 10.6

PhotoshopWorld Info - Part 1: Classes and more

Recently on my blog I announce a new series of blog post that will give some info about what I do to get ready PhotoshopWorld. Well on to my second series.

For this series I want to give new people who are thinking about going to PSW some good information.

The PSW Class Schedule

The PSW class schedule is a complete list of what classes will be offered when. The classes are organized in Track sessions such as, Photoshop, Lightroom, Digital Photogrpahy and more.

Each class that is listed in that track is relating to the theme of the track see an example above

Optional Pre-Conference Workshops

Pre-conference workshops are a great way to kick-start your Photoshop World experience. These special workshops are only open to registered attendees of Photoshop World and require a separate fee at registration.

Some of the PreCon topics include

• The Latest in LAB
• Shooting for Photoshop
• Shoot, Design, Print: Create a Movie Poster From Start to Finish
• Real World Concert Photography
• Photoshop Channels & Masks
• On Location Wedding Photo Shoot
• Canon Live Studio
• NAPP Photo Safari

The WorkBook

When I first went to my first PSW I was suppressed at how much stuff that get when I registered. I got a Badge carrier, a Show brochure and the best item of all was the workbook. This workbook had all the notes from most of the class session that were offered. the notes included screenshots and other graphics so you could get the most out of your experience.

PSW Alumni

If you have attended a PSW before then you are eligible for $50 off your registration. The alumni registration also gets you a sticker on your badge saying that you are a previous PSW Attendee.

For More Information visit the Official PSW website

Apple Set to Update OS on September 8.

Recently in some Apple news blogs the have been reporting that the new release of OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard could possibly happen in a Apple event rumored to happen September 8th.

Sites like AppleInsider, Mac Rumors report that the event could launch the new OS, as well as a refresh of the iPod line, including a rumored camera addition the iPod Touch and iPod Nano.

Apple has be advertising it's annual education sale that when you buy a Mac computer for education, you get a free iPod Touch. In browsing the web today I found that Apple made a little addition their banner at the US Apple Online Store. See Below (Click to enlarge)

The addition of "Hurry, Offer ends 9/8" could mean that a new iPod line is in the works for the upcoming holiday season.

Also rumored (but not expected) is a new tablet the looks like a larger iPod Touch. some videos where posted on Youtube apparently showing off the new tablet.

Youtube Video 1, Video 2,

What Do I think? Well, there will be a refresh to the iPod line, but the Tablet is a no go, at least not for the September Event. In the future, Maybe.

My Trip to PhotoshopWorld - Part 1: General Info

In the next few posts I want to discuss a little about what I do to get ready for Photoshop World in Las Vegas. These Posts could be a good read if you have been thinking of attending.

What is PhotoshopWorld?

Photoshop World Conference and Expo is a semiannual conference for photographers, graphic designers, web developers/designers and other services like these. At the conference they have about 100+ classes on all these topics.

PSW is the Official Conference of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, with membership about 30,000, the conference attracts about 3,000 people.

Here is a good summary from the PSW website

You've never seen a training camp like this! Photoshop World is the ONLY Photoshop and digital photography conference designed to put you at the top of your game with fast and furious classes from the world's leading experts. Photoshop World is where Photoshop users go to learn hard and play even harder!

PSW is held 2 time per year, one on the East coast and one of the West coast. the last few conferences were held in Boston 09 and Orlando 08 (East) and Las Vegas 08, 09(West).

Here is the trailer for PSW 09 in Vegas

For More Information visit the Official PSW website