As part of my other life as a personal technology journalist, I have been carrying around the new Blackberry 8830 phone from Verizon, and I think I may be geting ready to give the boot to my old standby, the Treo 650.
The 8830 is the first RIM device I have used in quite a while and it is much slimmer and stylish than my current Treo, the carrier coverage easily beats Sprint (Though an equivalent voice and data plan from Verizon is more expensive) and it is easier to use than my Treo for day to day activities. For example, start typing on the main screen and the device figures out if the keystrokes map to a number or the name of one of your contacts and displays the choices. Contextual menus are never far away and there are no delays in moving from application to application. I thought I would miss the touchscreen, but the trackball proves to be a much better navigation experience than having to move your fingers up to the touchscreen.
The device runs on Verizon’s CDMA network in the US and roams to GSM networks in Europe. Now if only they offered the Pearl in a similar configuration, I think that I would be 100% sold…Check out a full video review I found on youtube:
High def video conferencing arrives
Videoconferencing has never taken off in our industry, mostly because of the quality. A creative only has to see his beautiful roughcut butchered over a stuttering video link to walk away from the technology forever. Yesterday I had the opportunity to finally take a live look at the LifeSize high definition videoconferencing system. In short, the system delivers a 16:9 widescreen 1280×720 pixel image (720p in broadcast parlance) at 30 frames per second with very little artifacts. By comparison, traditional video conferencing uses CIF resolution which is 352×240. Thanks to Videré, a specialist on video conferencing systems based in Quincy, MA, I was able to see it side by side with a traditional videoconferencing rig, and there is no comparison…
Quark vs InDesign, the raging battle
MacWorld UK has published the results of a poll where of 776 readers 63% said they would stick with InDesign. My first surprise is that there were so many of the readership, which I assume is mostly UK, that has switched to InDesign, unless that 63% reflects those that are using both as has been my experience here in the US with my clients. The other surprising tidbit is that many users are warming up to Quark as a company and feel that they now provide better support than Adobe. I don’t know about you, but my experiences with Quark as a company have always been rather painful.
I also got a notification today that Quark has released a beta version of a universal binary of Quark 7, so it is obvious that they will ship way before Adobe’s vague “in 2007″ promised ship date for universal binaries of CS3.
For all your Quark vs Indesign news, check out this site, there is a blog for everything.
Props for the image to bronzefinger.com
Mac OSX malware threats on the rise
I often come across people that feel they are not at risk for viruses and malware because they are on a Mac. Many small mac centric firms even run workstations with real Internet IP adresses and no firewall, OUCH! I blame Apple and their marketing for creating this dangerously superior attitude, but things are changing. Over the past couple of months Apple has been quietly patching systems over its automated system update process, twenty different vulnerabilities in March and an additional fifteen recently.
Now adding fuel to the flame, in a not entirely altruistic fashion, virus protection provider McAfee has released a study that points out that over the last two years “the annual rate of vulnerability discovery on Apple’s Mac OS platform has increased by 228 percent” Now, when you start from a base of near zero where nobody is interested in writing a virus to attack you, to now where we are seeing people begin to probe OSX as the platform increases it’s popularity, 228% may be a meaningless statistic.
The bottom line is not to be complacent about security and follow best practices including a firewall, network address translation, patching operating systems consistently, securing wireless access and running virus/spyware/malware detection software.
Xinet publishes ROI for DAM study
Xinet sent me word of a report they commissioned about return on investment on digital asset management systems. I am a big fan of Xinet’s product combo Fullpress/Webnative and feel that they have a unique take on the category having grown up in the print/advertising/publishing industry. The system is best for mid size to large agencies because of the cost of the software as well as the hardware required to run it on, typically Sun or SGI servers, and the need for specialized integrators or senior internal technical resources.
The document does a good job of providing a top level introduction to the sorts of things that you should consider when evaluating DAM systems and trying to come up with a financial justification for the expense. As with many ROI papers, this one is long on generalities and short on specifics. ROI usually boils down to soft costs that are difficult to pin down such as time savings or potential increased revenue. Included as apendices are also several case studies that highlight how Xinet clients are using their products, a great source of ideas as to how you can leverage DAM internally in the agency and externally towards your clients.
If you are considering a DAM system, or even if you already have one, you will find this document an interesting read.
Extensis Fusion review
Studio folk tend to be passionate about whether they are a Suitcase wielder or a Font Reservist, so there was some trepidation from both camps when Font Reserve was acquired by Extensis. Fear not though, CreativePro is carrying a detailed review today of the new Extensis Fusion font manager product that combines the old rivals Suitcase and Font Reserve. The product had already been given Best of Show of Macworld 2006 so it is not a surprise that Creative Pro likes it very much indeed, so you can all breate a collective side on both sides of the trenches.
Quark ahead of the curve for Intel shift
Macworld Online reports today that in a recent poll it conducted users cited Desktop Publishing/Photography apps as those most critical before they will switch to Intel based Macs. Though this may be obvious for all of us in the graphics industrial complex, the article goes on to compare Adobe’s versus Quark’s approaches this time around. Quark, as I reported earlier, is promising that they will be releasing a universal binary version of their current public beta, but they are already late. You may also want to check out an early review of the beta by Macworld
Quark Xpress 7 public beta review
CreativePro has a lengthy and detailed review of the seventh incarnation of Quark Xpress which is currently in wide public beta test. They find much to like about the new version but question whether the change of emphasis from layouts to projects will cause a lot of disruption. The product looks different enough that you may be tempted to trade its learning curve for Adobe InDesign’s.
The product has only been released in PowerPC form (as well as Windows) but a universal binary is promised for the end of January. The target release date is March 31st. I recommend that you participate in the beta though they will have to come up with something pretty spectacular to stay the exodus to InDesign.
First Intel Macs unveiled
His Steveness wowed the faithful yet again, but this time even the most jaded PC loyalist may have reason to switch, if not to the OS, at least to the hardware. The new Macbook Pro is relatively unchanged from the latest gen titanium PowerBook except for the processor inside and the clever MagSafe power connector. Performance though is hugely increased by the Intel dual core processor inside: the benchmarks claim as much as a 4x advantage to the MacBook Pro. What it manages in real world terms is yet to be seen as I never trust performance specs and rather prefer a real world application test. It is also unclear as of this writing as to whether the machines will boot Windows XP though Apple has gone as far as to admit that they did not do anything to prevent booting other OSs. This is very significant as the machines will theoretically boot OSX, Windows and Linux, making them the most versatile machines on the market. It also remains to be seen whether somebody will come up with a way to seamlessly run windows apps inside OSX without a reboot, just like you OS9 classic apps.
I did a quick comparo with a similarly spec’ed Dell box (a D810); the pricing is quite competitive and the Apple box is lighter by almost two pounds. Throw in the styling of the mac and unique touches like the built in isight camera and backlit keyboard and the MacBook Pro is a clear winner in my eyes.
For my IT readers, I would strongly recommend that you order at least one of the MacBooks for evaluation. It would be wtrth the differential between a standard $1,500 wintel laptop and the new MacBook Pro to have a truly standard and universal laptop across platforms. Order today though or expect months of wait, this is sure to be a hot seller.
New Digital Asset Management forum
My friend Sam Bogoch who has long been in the business of digital asset management systems for ad agencies and other creative companies, lately as principal of Seefile, purveyors of the awesome entry level DAM system of the same name, has just started an online forum called SeeJungle for all things DAM.
Take a swing by and register
