Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Marty's Writing Again

Several years ago while writing for the then MacTimes News Network, I briefly worked with John Martellaro. John was brought in as a highly touted features writer...which he was and is and more. Over the intervening years, John and I have traded occasional emails, but I'd sorta lost track of him after he left Apple Computer.

John is now writing a new column series for the Mac Observer: Hidden Dimensions. His most recent column, Boot Camp May be Just the Beginning, explores where Apple may go with support of Windows and/or Windows applications. While almost everyone in the "Mac writing world" has commented on the possibilities of running Windows on Intel-based Macs via separate boot, virtualization, or some other means, John has a unique perspective, as he understands the culture at Apple from the inside. Actually, you almost need to read John's My Tour of Duty at Apple, Part I, to understand that perspective. Or maybe, as I did last evening, just go back and read the entire archive of columns to date:

• Boot Camp May be Just the Beginning - (April 24, 2006)
• My Tour of Duty at Apple, Part I - (April 7, 2006)
• Apple's focus vs. Vista Vision - (April 3, 2006)
• An Exercise in Disruption - (March 23, 2006)
• Why Apple Has Not Advertised Mac OS X - (March 15, 2006)

I dropped John a quick note last evening and was surprised to get a near immediate response. John is working at posting "everything I've ever written at http://www.martellaro.com" in John's Writing Archive. He noted that "Not all the articles have been converted and posted. It's a slow process. But at least I have place holders showing the article titles."

"Wake-Up Wal-Mart" Again

I was able to resolve my dispute with our local Wal-mart last week with a call to the national customer service for the company...and a little encouragement via dropping all advertising for the stores. While I came out okay, in the process, I found, as reported last week, that the National Education Association is strongly supporting the "Wake-Up Wal-Mart" effort. What I read there was enough to make me decide to permanently drop advertising for the retail chain for now.

I was surprised yesterday to read in our local paper about the same campaign and others. Associated Press political writer Ron Fournier tells of several similar efforts in Wal-Mart Fight Turns More Political. (The link is to Yahoo News, as all reference to the article had been removed from my local paper's web site by the time I got around to look for it! Come on, Max!)

Nikon Coolpix 4300 Blues

We had our annual PRISM Board of Advisors meeting last Friday at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. During the meeting, I reached into my computer bag for my camera and found the lens extended and the LCD displaying the message "System Error." I tried resetting stuff to no avail. When I did a web search, I found the sad news on Steve's DigiCams that this is an unresolved issue with many Nikon digital cameras. It's unrepairable by the user, beyond trying bopping the camera on your hand (which didn't work with mine). Repair of the apparent design flaw costs around $200-250. My favorite film camera service center, Morgantown Camera & Video Repair, won't touch the problem and says the unit needs to go back to Nikon. (BTW: MCVR is very good about saying what they can fix and also telling folks what is not economically sensible to fix. That's one reason, beyond good work, that I like them.)

So, I'm going to send the camera off to Nikon to get an idea of what it will cost, but it appears that in just three years, my $400 camera (and lots more for lenses, filters, adapters, ring lights, etc.) is down the drain. In contrast, my Canon AE-1 35mm camera is over 30 years old and still works flawlessly. Hmm...if I have to buy another digital camera, will it be a Nikon or a Canon!

When the 4300 was working, it was a dandy little camera for some things. It takes great landscapes and sunsets (See Desktop Photos.). It's not a very good choice for family shots. I have a large collections of bad shots due to the delay from the time of pressing the button and the time it takes the autofocus to take the picture. The camera's redeye correction isn't good, either.

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