Disk Usage Utility for Mac OS X – Disk Inventory X

A good (and trusted) friend turned me on to this free app.  I’m always a fan of any utility program that can actually HELP versus just make a lot of claims.  I downloaded this app to my painfully old laptop, which only had about 2.2 GIGS left.  Now, I’ve got 11 GIGS and I’m still finding files that I can backup and/or delete.

I really like the graphic interface so I can quickly spot where large chunks of memory are being eaten up.  It’s worth a look.

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Disk Inventory X is a disk usage utility for Mac OS X 10.3 (and later). It shows the sizes of files and folders in a special graphical way called “treemaps“.

If you’ve ever wondered where all your disk space has gone, Disk Inventory X will help you to answer this question.

For a quick start please read the readme file on the disk image. Or see a 1 minute video about Disk Inventory X from macbreak.com.

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Another app that I have found really useful – AppZapper

Sony A850 Full Frame DSLR – Review

Sony today have announced their newest DSLR camera – the Sony A850 DSLR – a full frame DSLR that is set to put the pressure on Sony’s competitors when it comes to price.

The Sony A850 has a recommended retail price of around $2000 USD – around $500 cheaper than Nikon’s D700, Canon’s 5D Mark II and Sony’s own A900.

The A850’s features include a 24.6 megapixel sensor, 3.0 inch LCD, 9 point Auto focusing (with 10 supplemental assist auto focus points), shutter speed of up to 1/8000 second, 3 frames per second shooting in continuous shooting mode and ISO up to 6400.

To go with the Sony A850 Sony today also released a new lens – the 28-75mm f/2.8 at around $800 (model number SAL2875).

The Sony A850 will be available in September and the new 28-75mm lens will be available from November 2009. Preorder from Amazon: Sony Alpha DSLRA850 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Read more: http://digital-photography-school.com/sony-a850-full-frame-dslr#ixzz0Pm6YKHF3

Who gets to decide what you want?

When George Washington was a teenager, did he really, really, really want a car?

Unlikely.

In order to want something, you probably need to know it exists. But my guess is that it surely helps if you’ve been marketed to.

One definition of happiness is wanting the things you’re likely to get (or, conversely, not wanting the unattainable). One definition of marketing is persuading the world it wants what you have, regardless of whether they can afford it or not.

We don’t hesitate to motivate employees by marketing them the benefits of being promoted, even if they all can’t possibly get this. We don’t hesitate to tease kids by marketing every conceivable unattainable Christmas gift at them, relentlessly.

Teenage girls are taught what to want by magazines and by peers. [read]

Misspelled Signs

Another 12 Misspelled Signs

15 Misspelled Signs

Equipment Planning and Purchasing

For years I’ve been attempting to share with ‘controllers’ that the least expensive is not always (actually seldom) the best deal.  Maybe this article will explain that better than I’ve been able to.

Church Production Magazine -

Any technical ministry leadership role includes planning for equipment purchases. For the typical church tech, this can be a daunting task—there are so many options, and the desire to make wise decisions can be overwhelming. Here’s what some of the experts have to say about different aspects of planning your acquisitions.

While it may appear that you’ll save money doing it yourself, if it’s done wrong, it won’t save you money

Long-Term Planning

It’s important to consider the long-range goals of your ministry when adding equipment.

Donnie Haulk, President of Audio Ethics in Charlotte, N.C., promotes the Technology Master Plan approach. “We look not only at what the church wants to do for the first service after the technology installation, but what the long term goals are,” Haulk says. “This allows us to choose technology that not only works for the pressing need but can be a part of the bigger picture. When looking at the whole instead of merely individual components, we can enable a technical ministry to grow through multiple phases, with each phase become easier to manage as the long-term goal starts coming together.”

So, consider the long-term, and let that drive your short-term decisions. If your plan is to add moving lights to your sanctuary in the next year or two, and your current lighting consoles dies, don’t replace it with a new console that can’t handle moving lights. Doing so would force you into buying another console in the near future, wasting what you spend to solve the short-term problem.

Volunteer Skill Level

“The skill level of the operators is always a concern,” adds John Fuqua, vice president/COO of All Pro Sound in Pensacola, Florida. “We make sure that our training sessions are oriented to the abilities of the operators. However, with the ever-growing desire for more complex systems, the operators are typically working with more advanced equipment , requiring dedicated efforts.”

“The skill level of volunteers definitely enters in to the equation,” states Eric Myers, AVL Manager of Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, N.C. “When it came time to put in a new lighting console in our 600- seat student chapel, I went with the exact same piece of equipment that was already installed in our gymnatorium. Our lighting volunteers already knew it well, so there was no learning curve, and we’re training folks for one console.”

Track Record

Both the track record of a specific product as well as the track record of the company should be considered. Should a church install the latest and greatest, or the tried and true?

Fuqua comments, “This is tough territory. Even though we must stay on the cutting edge of technology, sometimes what is considered to be the latest and greatest ends up with some problems that are only realized after it is installed and put in service. As an integrator, we rely on our relationship with manufacturers to stand behind their products and to be there if something does occur. There is a lot to be said for using proven equipment as much as possible. The track record of the manufacturer plays a big role in this process.” [read]

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If you are looking for professional help with your audio/visual system, contact Jeff Dykhouse at WorshipMix.com.

LIFI Solid State Plasma Lamps: Future of Lighting

Lighting Focus: New Lighting Technologies

LIFI plasma lamps and LEDs are changing the landscape of theatrical and broadcast

by Michael S. Eddy [ Church Production Magazine ]

I initially saw the LIFI Solid-State Plasma lamp from Luxim Corp at Lightfair in 2008 when Luxim was showing it for projector applications. The product is now crossing over to the entertainment market through some alliances with entertainment lighting manufacturers.

Many people encountered the LIFI when SeaChanger launched its Nemo color-changing ellipsoidal with the LIFI plasma lamp at last year’s LDI tradeshow. Recently, the automated lighting manufacturer Robe introduced the Robin 300 Plasma Spot, a moving head spot luminaire that uses the LIFI technology. These are just the tip of the iceberg and I think that you will be seeing a lot more products using this pretty remarkable light engine. You will definitely be hearing a lot more about this lamp in the weeks and months to come if you haven’t already.

LIFI is a solid-state light source that is not a light emitting diode (LED) and has no electrodes like a metal halide or discharge lamp. It is a high-intensity light source that brings energy efficiency, long useful life, full spectrum light and is dimmable from 20 to 100%.
This tiny light source—the lamp itself is about the size of a Tic Tac—has a nominal power draw of 266W, yet outputs up to 17,800 lumens with a color-rendering index (CRI) of 94 (out of 100) and a rated average life of 10,000 hours. The lumen output will be reduced once the lamp is inside the lighting fixture; typically the final lumen output is at 10,000 lumens.

“The LIFI-ENT-31-02 allows fixture manufacturers to replace short- and medium-arc-length HID lamps in 400 to 575W categories,” explains Apurba Pradhan, senior technical marketing engineer with Luxim. “In this wattage category, we are engaged with several manufacturers that typically use HTI or MSD lamps.” Since heat is directly related to the wattage, the LIFI plasma lamp produces about the same heat per watt as standard discharge lamps, however since it is using less wattage per lumen it does run cooler to achieve the same lumen output. There are fins on the emitter housing to help shed the heat away from the electronics.” [read]

Luxim Corp

Rising to the Top: 5 ways indie developers succeed on the App Store

It’s no secret: there’s some Benjamins to be made on the App Store. In fact, the App Store is now a $2.4 billion dollar per year business, according to AdMob’s monthly mobile metrics report. Here’s another fun fact you probably already know: most app developers fade into the App Store abyss long before they ever find fame and fortune. Even if you ignore the junk apps and the million e-books each published as a separate app, you’ve still got a solid 5-10,000 apps clamoring to grab a piece of the App Store pie. Many developers feel like the App Store is akin to high school: an anarchic and ruthless popularity contest to see who’s got the biggest, well, um, you know what I mean.

That brings us to the $2.4 billion question: how do you succeed on the App Store? We’ve spent the last few weeks trying to answer that question and have come up with a list of tips and tricks that’ll help you edge your way into App Store glory. Now, none of these will replace making a good product or compensate for a million-dollar advertising and PR budget, but they’ll likely help you get noticed or keep your current momentum. [read]

iPhone Owner Sues AT&T, Apple for Tricky MMS Marketing

A peeved iPhone customer has filed a lawsuit against Apple and AT&T, and surprisingly it’s unrelated to dropped calls or spotty network performance. It has to do with the multimedia messaging, which still isn’t available for iPhone customers in the United States.

Filed in Ohio by customer Deborah Carr, the lawsuit alleges that Apple and AT&T used tricky marketing to deceive consumers into believing multimedia messaging would become available for iPhones by June.

“Millions of customers, as a result of the false and deceptive representations and concealments of Apple and AT&T purchased the 3G and 3GS, waiting for the wonderful day in June 2009 when the new application would be available which would allow MMS,” the court filing [pdf] states. “Unfortunately, after downloading the new 3.0 Software Update application, MMS still did not work on both the 3G and 3GS.”

The complaint acknowledges that Apple and AT&T provide a disclaimer stating “MMS support from AT&T coming in late summer,” but the lawsuit says the font is so small it’s barely readable. [read]

10 Awesome Design Magazines | Resource Blogs

The Internet has been one of the most used medium. People now go online for information with the primary objective of learning and getting inspiration. During the days when most people were not as active on the Internet, magazines and books were the main sources.

The benefit of subscribing to design magazines and design resource blogs are tremendous. You not only open your world to fantastic tutorials, freebies, inspiring portfolios, but you also get a glimpse on the insights of designers. What works for them, the tried and tested.  What is also great is that they have special sections that tackles the news, design trends, artist tools.

They are also laid out in a manner that is easy to read and ease of navigating  through the articles is what makes them a very ideal source of information.

We have handpicked 10 web design magazine| resource blogs with awesome style for your reference and inspiration.  We recommend you visit and check them all out.  We guarantee that you will have an astonishing range of learning tools that will keep you up to date and in the loop of what is happening in the design community. [read]

10 Awesome Design Magazines | Resource Blogs

The Internet has been one of the most used medium. People now go online for information with the primary objective of learning and getting inspiration. During the days when most people were not as active on the Internet, magazines and books were the main sources.

The benefit of subscribing to design magazines and design resource blogs are tremendous. You not only open your world to fantastic tutorials, freebies, inspiring portfolios, but you also get a glimpse on the insights of designers. What works for them, the tried and tested.  What is also great is that they have special sections that tackles the news, design trends, artist tools.

They are also laid out in a manner that is easy to read and ease of navigating  through the articles is what makes them a very ideal source of information.

We have handpicked 10 web design magazine| resource blogs with awesome style for your reference and inspiration.  We recommend you visit and check them all out.  We guarantee that you will have an astonishing range of learning tools that will keep you up to date and in the loop of what is happening in the design community. [read]