Writings by Kirk McElhearn
Philosopher John Lysaker joins us to discuss his recent book about Brian Eno’s Music for Airports. We talk about the idea of ambient music, and how Music for Airports defined a genre.
Listen to The Next Track: Episode #153 – John Lysaker on Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.
Find out more at The Next Track website, or follow The Next Track on Twitter at @NextTrackCast.
There are so many Dropbox integrations available that the service seems essential, or at least difficult to imagine doing without. Over the years I’ve hooked numerous apps and services into my Dropbox account, which is why I started paying for the professional plan seven years ago. And yet each year, at renewal time, I think a bit more deeply about the question of whether Dropbox is in fact so indispensable. This is the very boring story of how I came to realize that it’s not.
Designer Khoi Vinh discusses how he kicked the Dropbox habit.
For a number of reasons, I’d like to stop using Dropbox. I recently moved most of my files to OneDrive, essentially because of the three-device limitation for free Dropbox plans. As I’ve said many times, I’d by happy to pay for Dropbox, for a plan with, say, 50 GB storage, but I don’t need a terabyte. However, I have that space with OneDrive, as part of an Office 365 subscription.
I have lots of space on iCloud, and I’ve been using iCloud Drive more, and as Vinh says in his article, he plans to use it more when the next Apple operating systems bring in iCloud Drive folder sharing. I’ve tried this, and it seems to work will, just like Dropbox.
The problem for me is that I have clients who use Dropbox, and share folders, so I cannot not work with that service. So no matter what, I will have to continue to use Dropbox, but I think much of my storage will be moving to iCloud Drive soon, and I may not every renew my Office 365 subscription when it runs out.
In any case, read the article, and see how complicated it can be to move away from Dropbox. So many apps integrate with Dropbox, but not with other cloud storage services, that it may not be easy to make the change.
Sony Corp marked Monday the start of a two-month long event in Tokyo celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Walkman, with interactive exhibits showcasing various models of the iconic portable music player.
The highlight of the event, dubbed “#009 Walkman in the Park,” is an exhibit called “My Story, My Walkman,” which chronicles each year of the hit music player’s history with nostalgic stories by 40 creators, artists and other public figures of that generation. Visitors can listen to songs chosen by the celebrity on each of the Walkmans on display.
The event starts from ground level, where a 2.5 meter tall Walkman modeled after the yellow waterproof sports model introduced in 1983 stands, and continues across all four basement floors of Ginza Sony Park in Tokyo’s shopping district. Other exhibits include a “Walkman Wall,” which displays all 237 models of the Walkman over the years and a “Custom Walkman” corner featuring Walkman skins designed by artists.
The Walkman ushered in the biggest change in the way we listen to music. Shortly before the first Walkman was released, I had a Sony Pressman, which was much larger than the first Walkman, because it had stereo microphones – it was designed for reporters to use recording in the field – but also a big battery pack; I think it held four AA batteries. It was about as heavy as a brick, but I used to walk around with that and the ability to have my own personal soundtrack – something we now take for granted – was revolutionary.
I must say, it was hard to find a photo of the device I had. Even Sony doesn’t have a photo of this on their website, where they have an archive of their products, but I found a Time Magazine article with a photo.
Source: Sony holds 40th anniversary event for iconic Walkman music player – Japan Today
Ive reportedly wanted to position the watch as a fashion accessory, but some Apple leaders envisioned it as an extension of the iPhone. Eventually a compromise was agreed, and the $349 watch was tethered to the iPhone, with Apple creating a $17,000 gold version and partnering with Hermès.
I don’t have a WSJ subscription, so I’m liking to MacRumors’ article about this. This jibes with what I’ve been saying about the Apple Watch from the beginning. It always seemed that the Apple Watch was a vanity project for Jony Ive, given his interest in watches, and the fact that a disgustingly priced gold model was released. I still remember the look on Tim Cook’s face when he announced the price of the gold model.
The company sold about 10 million units in the first year, a quarter of what Apple forecast, a person familiar with the matter told WSJ. Thousands of the gold version are said to have gone unsold.
I’m surprised that Apple forecast 40 million units, because, if I recall, the rollout to different countries didn’t occur very quickly. However, I’m sure Apple is satisfied at how the Apple Watch turned out.
I find this bit interesting:
According to sources who spoke to WSJ, Ive pushed for the Apple Watch to be made despite disagreements from some executives, who questioned if a device so small could have a killer app that would compel people to buy it.
That is certainly the weakness of the Apple Watch, or at least it was at the beginning. It’s a new product category, but it has been clear over the years – especially the first few models and watchOS versions – that Apple did not have a clear vision for the device, but was just trying to see what worked.
Even now, the Apple Watch is a bit of an odd device. While it is very useful, and I wear one, it doesn’t have any “wow” factor. Sure, I can get notifications, unlock my Macs with it, even make calls without my phone handy (I have the cellular model), but it is still just an extension of the iPhone that, if I didn’t write about this stuff, I probably wouldn’t use.
There’s been a lot of Mac malware appearing lately, and Intego has been discovering many serious new threats. We look at some of these malware, discuss an interesting new OneDrive feature, then talk about installing and using Apple’s public betas for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS.
Check out the latest episode of The Intego Mac Podcast, which I co-host with Josh Long. We talk about Macs and iOS devices, and how to keep them secure.
When I saw this on Twitter last night, I let out a very loud “Wow!” and surprised my partner who was reading in bed next to me. Jony Ive is leaving Apple after 30 years with the company, and after having designed all of Apple’s iconic products from the iMac to the iPhone, from the MacBook Air to the Apple Watch.
As Mark Gurman points out in a Bloomberg article:
Jony Ive has been leaving Apple Inc. for years
This began after the release of the Apple Watch, and was solidified when “Ive was named Apple’s Chief Design Officer, a role that shifted day-to-day responsibility of the hardware and software design teams to a pair of executives, Alan Dye and Richard Howarth.”
Ive was also named Chancellor of the Royal College of Art in London, and his tenure began in July 2017. The Chancellor is an honorary role, but Ive has participated in many activities at the RCA. And this brought him back to his home country, England.
Ive’s crowning glory is certainly Apple Park, the new spaceship campus in Cupertino, and it’s understandable that he has perhaps gotten bored with the quotidian task of designing the most popular computing device ever made.
Ive will be launching a new company, LoveFrom, together with designer Marc Newson, and their first client will be Apple. They probably won’t do much work for Apple, but this is a soft landing that will not hit Apple’s share price too much.
Ive is one of the iconic designers of computing products, even though his overly minimalist approach can be criticized at times. (Such as removing all traces of color from the macOS Finder, making it drab and utilitarian.) But his influence will live on.
All things are impermanent, but this podcast has made it to its second episode. Jundo and Kirk discuss whether a hot dog is a sandwich, explore the question of being a vegetarian, whether one should wear glasses when sitting zazen, and whether one really, truly needs to sit zazen every day.
Listen to the latest episode of The Zen of Everything.
Michael Kenna is one of the most important living black and white landscape photographers. With a career stretching more than 45 years, his work has been exposed in hundreds of exhibitions, and, to his count, he has published 72 books, with more in the works.
I recently had an opportunity to meet Michael Kenna and interview him for the PhotoActive podcast, just before the opening of a 45-Year Retrospective Exhibition at Bosham Gallery, on the southern coast of England. One thing I took away from our discussion – both during the interview and afterwards – was the carefully refined composition of his photos. Thinking about this, and looking over his work in the dozen books I own, I’ve isolated a number of types of composition in Kenna’s photos.
In my first article, I looked at leading lines and how they draw the viewer’s eye into a photo and lead it to a point, often in the distance. In this article, I’m going to look at centering, the way Kenna sometimes places objects dead center in his frame. Since all his photos – at least since the mid-1980s – are square, centering has an important role is his composition.
When Michael Kenna started shooting with Hasselblad cameras, he appreciated the square format because “There’s a predictability about the 35mm format,” Kenna told me. “You had to make choices right from the beginning. Should it be vertical, should it be horizontal? Things seemed to be squashed in somehow. The 2 1/4 – I got it first of all with a waist-level viewfinder so everything was back to front – it was a completely different format for me, and it made me look more abstractedly at the landscape. It just becomes forms, lines, shapes, and densities…”
The square format lends itself to centering subjects, but photos would be boring if all subjects were centered. Kenna uses this technique sparingly, but when he does use it, the effect can be quite arresting.
Take, for example, this photo Chrysler Building, Study 3, New York, New York, USA 2006.
To be honest, my preferred way to listen to music is on CD, as unfashionable as that might be. You push a button, the music plays, and then itâs over â” no ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms!
If you compare the act of playing a CD to that of allowing a streaming service to choose which music you listen to, then what the author says makes sense.
But, with streaming services:
The above was an off-the-cuff comment in an interview, and it was promoted to being the headline, but it’s a bit clueless.
Source: Why Play a Music CD? ‘No Ads, No Privacy Terrors, No Algorithms’ – The New York Times
Maybe you’ve used Apple Photos and are looking for more editing features, or perhaps you’re in the Lightroom ecosystem and weary of subscription pricing. In this episode, Kirk and Jeff chat about other photo editing applications you may not be aware of.
Listen to PhotoActive, Episode 45: Photo Editing Applications.
Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The Next Track on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.