End of the road for SMTP? | CNET News.com
Good ideas, and probably much more thought out than presented here. I proposed a similar server-oriented approach in 2002, via www.faughnan.com/spam.html and usenet postings. There was no response to my proposal, but happily it appears these ideas have had wide circulation in the past year or two. They may still miss some key ideas of my proposal
1. This is reputation management, but it's less onerous than reputation management on individuals. The sending service can choose to apply reputation management internally to its subscribers, but it can use the standard infrastructure every company uses with its customers.
2. This is incremental. There's an incentive for users to switch to sending services that authenticate (First Class mail), the need to keep customers is an incentive for ISPs to implement sending service authentication -- but there's no mandate.
Sunday, August 03, 2003
Saturday, August 02, 2003
Yahoo! Groups : graphicconverter forum Messages : SmarCrop Proposal
Yahoo! Groups : graphicconverterforum Messages : Message 660 of 660
Posting to GC group:
From: "John Faughnan"
Date: Sat Aug 2, 2003 9:34 pm
Subject: iPhoto integration idea: smart crop
One of the real annoyances of digital photography is the 4:3
width:height aspect ratio of consumer grade digital cameras.
(Prosumer and pro cameras follow the 35mm convention of a 6:4 ratio).
Printing conventional 4" tall by 6" long photos involves a lot of
tedious cropping. In iPhoto one does this:
1. set ratio to 4x6 (either landscape or portrait)
2. typically choose largest possible area in the appopriate
orientation.
3. position crop box
4. crop
This is particularly tedious on a 600MHz G3; iPhoto really needs a
1GHz G4 to work properly.
I'd like a quick way to do this using GC from iPhoto. I'm thinking of
a "smart crop" feature. This might be doable from AppleScript alone.
1. In iPhoto make GC the external editor.
2. Activate external editor to launch image in GC.
3. "SmartCrop":
- GC looks at image orientation and assumes long axis determines
whether to do 4x6 landscape or portrait.
- GC creates 4x6 crop boundary so long axis of crop box is aligned
with long axis of image. Box is as large as possible given axis and
aspect ratios. Box is centered on image.
4. User moves box if desired and resizes if desired (keeps aspect
ratio). Crop.
What do you think? Is there already a very quick way to do this?
The "SmartCrop" option would save some tedious work.
john
jfaughnan@s...
http://www.faughnan.com/digcam.html
Posting to GC group:
From: "John Faughnan"
Date: Sat Aug 2, 2003 9:34 pm
Subject: iPhoto integration idea: smart crop
One of the real annoyances of digital photography is the 4:3
width:height aspect ratio of consumer grade digital cameras.
(Prosumer and pro cameras follow the 35mm convention of a 6:4 ratio).
Printing conventional 4" tall by 6" long photos involves a lot of
tedious cropping. In iPhoto one does this:
1. set ratio to 4x6 (either landscape or portrait)
2. typically choose largest possible area in the appopriate
orientation.
3. position crop box
4. crop
This is particularly tedious on a 600MHz G3; iPhoto really needs a
1GHz G4 to work properly.
I'd like a quick way to do this using GC from iPhoto. I'm thinking of
a "smart crop" feature. This might be doable from AppleScript alone.
1. In iPhoto make GC the external editor.
2. Activate external editor to launch image in GC.
3. "SmartCrop":
- GC looks at image orientation and assumes long axis determines
whether to do 4x6 landscape or portrait.
- GC creates 4x6 crop boundary so long axis of crop box is aligned
with long axis of image. Box is as large as possible given axis and
aspect ratios. Box is centered on image.
4. User moves box if desired and resizes if desired (keeps aspect
ratio). Crop.
What do you think? Is there already a very quick way to do this?
The "SmartCrop" option would save some tedious work.
john
jfaughnan@s...
http://www.faughnan.com/digcam.html
John's Digital Photography Page - things to add
John's Digital Photography Page
- G2 maxes out at F8 and 1/1000. But the CCD is smaller than a 35 mm film. Not sure what correct depth of field is, but F8 may be similar to F11 on a 35mm film.
- Printing is the curse of digital photography. Viewing has its own problems (gamma and color profiles), but printing has all the problems of viewing PLUS aspect ratio problems.
Digital sensors follow the convention of monitors: 640:480 = 4:3. 35 mm film has a ratio of 3:2. Not quite the same. Argh.
So a digital image fills a 1024x768 display (4:3). It is consistent with Apple's photo-book printing. However, it does not fill a 6"x4" print; the most common printed photo format and the format supported by most photo albums.
If one orders conventional 4x6" (ht x width) prints, then the printing service has two options. One is to the print the whole image, but leave enlarged margins (letterbox, as with videos). The other option is to fill the print but crop arbitrarily. The latter is probably more common, but often quite undesirable.
If one crops a digital image for 35 mm printing, it is no longer optimal for display or photo book printing.
What can be done?
1. High end cameras already mimic 35mm film aspect ratios. This is a good solution but longer term.
2. iPhoto should do intelligent cropping. Auto-display a maximal 6x4 crop window oriented by photo orientation. This would speed the cropping process.
3. When shooting, leave lots of margins.
- G2 maxes out at F8 and 1/1000. But the CCD is smaller than a 35 mm film. Not sure what correct depth of field is, but F8 may be similar to F11 on a 35mm film.
- Printing is the curse of digital photography. Viewing has its own problems (gamma and color profiles), but printing has all the problems of viewing PLUS aspect ratio problems.
Digital sensors follow the convention of monitors: 640:480 = 4:3. 35 mm film has a ratio of 3:2. Not quite the same. Argh.
So a digital image fills a 1024x768 display (4:3). It is consistent with Apple's photo-book printing. However, it does not fill a 6"x4" print; the most common printed photo format and the format supported by most photo albums.
If one orders conventional 4x6" (ht x width) prints, then the printing service has two options. One is to the print the whole image, but leave enlarged margins (letterbox, as with videos). The other option is to fill the print but crop arbitrarily. The latter is probably more common, but often quite undesirable.
If one crops a digital image for 35 mm printing, it is no longer optimal for display or photo book printing.
What can be done?
1. High end cameras already mimic 35mm film aspect ratios. This is a good solution but longer term.
2. iPhoto should do intelligent cropping. Auto-display a maximal 6x4 crop window oriented by photo orientation. This would speed the cropping process.
3. When shooting, leave lots of margins.
The Onion | Gigli Focus Groups Demand New Ending In Which Both Affleck And Lopez Die
The Onion | Gigli Focus Groups Demand New Ending In Which Both Affleck And Lopez Die: "OLLYWOOD, CA%u2014Focus groups at advance screenings for Gigli, a romantic comedy starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez set to open nationwide July 30, have demanded a new ending in which both stars die 'in as brutal a manner as possible,' sources at Sony Pictures said Tuesday."
Giglie is a guaranteed cult classic. The reviews have been so bad I feel like I need to see it ...
Giglie is a guaranteed cult classic. The reviews have been so bad I feel like I need to see it ...
Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: PodWorks
PodWorks for iPod access
Derrick Storey likes this one. Might be among the best of the apps for bypassing the iPod's annoying copy protection functions. (Those of us who don't steal music still need something like this. A similar application saved me a LOT of problems after an iTunes snafu.)
Derrick Storey likes this one. Might be among the best of the apps for bypassing the iPod's annoying copy protection functions. (Those of us who don't steal music still need something like this. A similar application saved me a LOT of problems after an iTunes snafu.)
Grabbing the Nettle
Grabbing the Nettle: "The Pentagon held an all-day meeting a couple of weeks ago seeking ways to restrain North Korea. At the end of it, one expert turned to another and summed it up: 'In other words, we're doomed' except he used a pungent phrase I can't.
It was a fair judgment. North Korea was always more terrifying than Iraq, and now the situation is getting worse."
Kristof is more right lately than most, even if he usually lets the Bush administration off too readily on their peculiar mixture of self-deception and pure deceit.
I have not heard anyone make an even plausible case that the Bush administration's bizarre NK policies have had any sort of internal consistency. Of all their myriad failures, this one may have the gravest consequences for our lives.
It was a fair judgment. North Korea was always more terrifying than Iraq, and now the situation is getting worse."
Kristof is more right lately than most, even if he usually lets the Bush administration off too readily on their peculiar mixture of self-deception and pure deceit.
I have not heard anyone make an even plausible case that the Bush administration's bizarre NK policies have had any sort of internal consistency. Of all their myriad failures, this one may have the gravest consequences for our lives.
Friday, August 01, 2003
iPhoto - Feedback/complaint: slow cropping work, speeding up cropping for printing
Apple - iPhoto - Feedback
One of the most time consuming aspects of digital photography is cropping images so they'll print at 4x6 sizes.
iPhoto has many performance problems, but one of the most serious is that on a 600MHz G3 it's quite slow to select a photo area, move the select box around, and crop. I spend seconds waiting for the iBook to respond to a cursor movement.
I think some usability studies and code optimization would really pay dividends in shortening this work. For example: a "quick crop" button that set a crop box to 4x6 or 6x4 in the center of the image.
One of the most time consuming aspects of digital photography is cropping images so they'll print at 4x6 sizes.
iPhoto has many performance problems, but one of the most serious is that on a 600MHz G3 it's quite slow to select a photo area, move the select box around, and crop. I spend seconds waiting for the iBook to respond to a cursor movement.
I think some usability studies and code optimization would really pay dividends in shortening this work. For example: a "quick crop" button that set a crop box to 4x6 or 6x4 in the center of the image.
O'Reilly Network: iPod Battery life
O'Reilly Network: The Care and Feeding of Your iPod [Jul. 29, 2003]: "10. The Replacements
There comes a time in every battery's life when it just won't hold a charge. Don't take it personally--it's just the nature of chemistry. Age, the amount of use, and the number of charge cycles all affect a battery's overall life span, and sometimes, you just get a dud in the first place. If you find your iPod is barely holding a charge and constantly flashing the Low Battery icon at you, take action. If you're still under Apple's one-year warranty, contact them about the problem. There's an online form at https://depot.info.apple.com/ipod/index.html. Even if you're beyond the warranty, you can get a repair estimate from the company and decide it you want to mail your Pod to the doctor for a battery transplant.
If you're a fearless do-it-yourself user or just want to save some money, you have other options. If you have a 2001 or 2002 iPod, you can get a replacement battery to install yourself for $59 at http://www.ipodbattery.com. You can also get a new battery for the same price at PDASmart.com. But if the thought of prying open your Pod gives you the heebies, PDASmart has a mail-order service, wherein you mail your iPod to them and they swap in a new battery and mail it back to you for a mere $68. Details are at http://www.pdasmart.com/ipodpartscenter.htm. "
There comes a time in every battery's life when it just won't hold a charge. Don't take it personally--it's just the nature of chemistry. Age, the amount of use, and the number of charge cycles all affect a battery's overall life span, and sometimes, you just get a dud in the first place. If you find your iPod is barely holding a charge and constantly flashing the Low Battery icon at you, take action. If you're still under Apple's one-year warranty, contact them about the problem. There's an online form at https://depot.info.apple.com/ipod/index.html. Even if you're beyond the warranty, you can get a repair estimate from the company and decide it you want to mail your Pod to the doctor for a battery transplant.
If you're a fearless do-it-yourself user or just want to save some money, you have other options. If you have a 2001 or 2002 iPod, you can get a replacement battery to install yourself for $59 at http://www.ipodbattery.com. You can also get a new battery for the same price at PDASmart.com. But if the thought of prying open your Pod gives you the heebies, PDASmart has a mail-order service, wherein you mail your iPod to them and they swap in a new battery and mail it back to you for a mere $68. Details are at http://www.pdasmart.com/ipodpartscenter.htm. "
Apple - Discussions - slideshow can't locate itunes 3.0
Apple - Discussions - slideshow can't locate itunes 3.0: "I store my iTunes on an SMB share which I access from my AirPort, and I was unable to play music from the library for slideshows. Your suggestion worked! I can now play the music.
A few comments:
1. If you use iPhoto Library Manager there is a com.apple.iApps.plist file in Libary/Preferences, in the ~/Pictures and in each Libary. I believe that deleting the one in /Library/Preferences, as Michael says, will suffice.
2. The preferences file contains keywords, helper app specification, display settings, etc. In my experimenting (I use iPhoto Library Manager) deleting the above file did not affect any of these things, but I suggest you rename or move the .plist file rather than trash it."
Reply to "slideshow can't locate iTunes 3.0":
Solution:
- Quit iPhoto
- trash the file com.apple.iPhoto.plist which is located within Library / Preferences
- If this doesn't help: trash the file com.apple.iApps.plist
Good luck!
Michael
A few comments:
1. If you use iPhoto Library Manager there is a com.apple.iApps.plist file in Libary/Preferences, in the ~/Pictures and in each Libary. I believe that deleting the one in /Library/Preferences, as Michael says, will suffice.
2. The preferences file contains keywords, helper app specification, display settings, etc. In my experimenting (I use iPhoto Library Manager) deleting the above file did not affect any of these things, but I suggest you rename or move the .plist file rather than trash it."
Reply to "slideshow can't locate iTunes 3.0":
Solution:
- Quit iPhoto
- trash the file com.apple.iPhoto.plist which is located within Library / Preferences
- If this doesn't help: trash the file com.apple.iApps.plist
Good luck!
Michael
Apple - Discussions - merging iphoto libraries
Apple - Discussions - merging iphoto libraries-help!!!: "I believe there is no way to merge libraries. I researched this a few months ago [1],[2]. I've thought about how one would write an AppleScript application to merge libraries [1]. I think this is safer than attempting to directly access iPhoto's undocumented data structures. The primary problems with this are:
1. The iPhoto API is incomplete; it supports extraction but not necessarily programmatic album creation [2]. One might be able to use Apple's 'beta' AppleScript extension for manipulating menus and other UI structures to get around this.
2. The number of people who'd pay for this application can be numbered on one hand, and that's counting me twice. If I become unemployed I might write it. Too bad there aren't legions of overseas developers expert in iPhoto and AppleScript (hardware is too costly and market is too small).
Our best bet is too continuously moan to Apple to sell us an enhanced version of iPhoto that would import and export libraries. An application that would be to iPhoto as FinalCut Pro is to iMovie. The current version of iView MediaPro doesn't do the trick for me, though I think the author could move it in that direction. I could threaten not to buy my G5 until Apple does this :-).
If you want to write an application to merge libraries, a few hints:
1. Use AppleScript to export all metadata and images from the two or more libraries that are to be merged. (eg. Create a separate merged library.) BTW, this script might be of interest to a vendor selling an iPhoto alternative, since there's a strong data lock aspect to iPhoto. Once you put your data in, it's hard to switch applications.
a. There are AppleScripts, hosted by Apple, that demonstrate that it may be possible to use the iPhoto API to extract images and related metadata (titles, comments, album info, etc).
b. The data could be stored in a tab delimited file and an image directory with unique image names. More interesting might be to store the data in a FileMaker database and then generate the iPhoto library from the database.
2. Use a second AppleScript to create the new merged library
a. This is the harder exercise. [2]
An alternative approach would be to use an AppleScript and possibly an external utility (GC?) to put comments and titles into the JPEG header. This works only for JPEGs and it loses other metadata, such as album definitions, album titles, album comments and album sort order.
Good luck!
john
jfaughnan@spamcop.net
http://www.faughnan.com/digcam.html#iPhoto
[1] http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&threadm=5c0dbfb4.0302011459.78bd6dc%40posting.google.com&rnum=14
[2] http://groups.google.com/groups?q=iphoto merge libraries&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=5c0dbfb4.0303070933.58872259%40posting.google.com&rnum=2 "
1. The iPhoto API is incomplete; it supports extraction but not necessarily programmatic album creation [2]. One might be able to use Apple's 'beta' AppleScript extension for manipulating menus and other UI structures to get around this.
2. The number of people who'd pay for this application can be numbered on one hand, and that's counting me twice. If I become unemployed I might write it. Too bad there aren't legions of overseas developers expert in iPhoto and AppleScript (hardware is too costly and market is too small).
Our best bet is too continuously moan to Apple to sell us an enhanced version of iPhoto that would import and export libraries. An application that would be to iPhoto as FinalCut Pro is to iMovie. The current version of iView MediaPro doesn't do the trick for me, though I think the author could move it in that direction. I could threaten not to buy my G5 until Apple does this :-).
If you want to write an application to merge libraries, a few hints:
1. Use AppleScript to export all metadata and images from the two or more libraries that are to be merged. (eg. Create a separate merged library.) BTW, this script might be of interest to a vendor selling an iPhoto alternative, since there's a strong data lock aspect to iPhoto. Once you put your data in, it's hard to switch applications.
a. There are AppleScripts, hosted by Apple, that demonstrate that it may be possible to use the iPhoto API to extract images and related metadata (titles, comments, album info, etc).
b. The data could be stored in a tab delimited file and an image directory with unique image names. More interesting might be to store the data in a FileMaker database and then generate the iPhoto library from the database.
2. Use a second AppleScript to create the new merged library
a. This is the harder exercise. [2]
An alternative approach would be to use an AppleScript and possibly an external utility (GC?) to put comments and titles into the JPEG header. This works only for JPEGs and it loses other metadata, such as album definitions, album titles, album comments and album sort order.
Good luck!
john
jfaughnan@spamcop.net
http://www.faughnan.com/digcam.html#iPhoto
[1] http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&threadm=5c0dbfb4.0302011459.78bd6dc%40posting.google.com&rnum=14
[2] http://groups.google.com/groups?q=iphoto merge libraries&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=5c0dbfb4.0303070933.58872259%40posting.google.com&rnum=2 "
iPhoto database browser: ImageInAHurry
sentman.com:Image in a Hurry: "Image in a Hurry is a fast image browser and export utility for iPhoto. Image in a Hurry can open iPhoto libraries with thousands of images in just seconds and give you quick access to browse, select, resize and recompress your images."
Presumably the author is directly accesing the iPhoto database? It's rumored to be a UNIX database.
Presumably the author is directly accesing the iPhoto database? It's rumored to be a UNIX database.
Ecamm Network- Video Conference with iChat AV and a USB Webcam
Ecamm Network: iChatUSBCam - Video Conference with iChat AV using a USB Webcam
- videoconferencing with iSight on slower systems
- use USB webcam with iChat AV
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