Star Trek: Mini-Review

So much e-ink has been spilled on this, it’s almost beyond the point to add to it. So here are my impressions, in brief: it was admittedly entertaining; I had really low expectations, so it didn’t disappoint me; the “alternate-timeline” maneouver was a let-down, but it was admittedly necessary, to give the new crew some wiggle room; once they got the plot-wiggle-room they didn’t do much creative stuff with it. I enjoyed watching it, and forgot it as soon as I left the theater. If you want to read a really long, serious, and somewhat stuffy review of it, the New Republic’s Christopher Orr has one.

Ari Hest: 12 Mondays - Can sound be SPECTACULAR?

Click on the image to sample TWELVE MONDAYS on iTunes

I have always liked Ari Hest’s albums - moderately - they were OK. This one is different - VERY different. Can sound be spectacular? Audicular? Whatever the word - 12 Mondays is it.

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Shakespeare Re-Told (Review)

Streaming movies on Netflix do not always offer a great selection, but sometimes there are little gems hiding among many run-of-the-mill choices. One of those gems is a 5-episode BBC series titled Shakespeare Re-Told, originally aired by BBC in 2005 (Wikipedia). By now I have watched only two of the four relatively short films: The Taming of the Shrew (a few weeks ago), and Much Ado About Nothing, tonight. I always admire creative ways in which writers and directors manage to bring to life, and renewed relevance some of the great works of the past, an these two TV films are both spectacular examples of how satysfying and rewarding watching a modern adaptation can be.

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Review of Little Snapper (from realmacsoftware.com)

There is no shortage of screen-capture utilities, especially on the Mac side of the Great Divide, but finding a perfect app that does it all is tougher than it seems: Need to grab a web page that extends beyond the screen? Paparazzi will do it (for free), but it cannot do anything else. The website you are visiting happens to be mostly Flash? You’re out of luck. SnapzProX, the “gold standard” of Mac screen-capture utilities will do most things, but it’s awkward to use (I mean really wakward); SnapNDrag offers a basic, free version, but it only captures on-screen windows, with web pages out of reach. xScope is perfect at capturing the same area over-and-over again (it’s perfect for many other things too), but is otherwise, for screen capture, it’s quite limited. It would be really great to have just one app that could do it all. And perhaps now there is one!

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Musical mini-blog-post & interlude

The Ceysson + De Maistre recordings are addictively beautiful. Especially the Carl Reinecke Concerto in E-minor for Harp and Orchestra, on De Maistre’s solo album. I have never heard anything by Reinecke before, and this lovely, romantic piece definitely deserves more playtime than it gets. More than anything, I have to admit I have never heard anyone play the harp like Xavier de Maistre does - it’s quite incredible, actually.

iPhone Apps: amazon Mobile

Applications available on iTunes for the iPhone are great, but let's not forget that many companies have created not apps, but websites optimized for mobile experience even before the release of 3G iPhone. In some cases, surprisingly, browsing the website on the iPhone is actually better than accessing it on the web on your Mac (or PC)!

Amazon.com is one such example. The mobile version of Amazon.com cuts ALL the extraneous clutter that has recently made the site slower and by far more difficult to navigate - even the web usability guru, Jakob Nielsen has pointed out that for inexperienced, new users, navigating the amazon to accomplish a specific task, might be a daunting experience: there are ads on the margin, fan lists, related offers, etc. The page seems transparent to anyone who has been shopping on amazon for years, but may be complex to figure out for the first time.

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My First iPhone app review: Google

I am packing - the movers come on Wed. this week - and planning a quick overseas trip shortly thereafter - so understandably there's been a bit of lag in my blog posts. But I needed a shoortm 10 min. break, so I thought I'd just post a quick mini-review of one of my favorite iPhone apps - the free Google Mobile App. Amazingly, this beautiful little gem gets low ratings and reviews on iTunes: mostly because people do not take the time to get to know it... Oh, well... so, here is a very short review - the same as a copy I posted / submitted on iTunes (BTW: i really like the ease of making iPhone screen captures!). Later, after the move and the trip, I plan to regularly review iPhone apps as part of this blog. So, here comes the first mini review:

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Response to MacWorld's: First Look Acrobat 9

I haven't actually had a chance to get my hands on the new Acrobat 9 yet - still, there is a lot of pre-release info on Adobe's website, and lots of online pre-views: this is a response to Macworld's  First Look: Adobe Acrobat 9.

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Book Review: Aperture 2 Pro-Training

This is a review of the book: Aperture 2, by by Ben Long, Richard Harrington, and Orlando Luna, published as a part of Apple Pro-Training Series. This review is the same as the one I posted on amazon.

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Photo Cards: Responding to Ellen Anon

This post is a response to Ellen Anon's great tip on card printing posted originally on Inside Aperture (O'Reilly) blog.

Making postcards from photos seems like something that should not be a big deal. And, if you want to print just a few (for family or friends, or for personal use), it isn't. But finding a solution that would make it possible to make reasonably priced, good quality cards for resale turned out to be more difficult than I thought...

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