Sending files--especially sizable art or photo files--to clients and editors can be problematic. Corporate firewalls simply don't like large e-mail attachments (or, in some cases, any attachments). And, yet, we're not about to spend the time or the expense to ship the files via a physical courier service. Our solution?...

Read the full review at PCWorld.com.

Our friend Steve Rosenbaum creates some amazing infrared images using his iPhone. In terms of artistry, composition and impact, they are as good as many IR pictures we’ve seen. All he does is hold a filter up in front of the camera’s lens. But that simple technical fact doesn’t take into (more…)

Many professional photographers and serious hobbyists have been using Adobe Lightroom 2 as an integral part of their editing workflow. With Adobe Lightroom 3 ($299 for first-time buyers, $99 as an upgrade; prices as of June 25, 2010), even more photographers are likely to adopt it as a one-stop photo-editing resource.

Lightroom's core purpose has always been to provide tools for sorting, organizing, developing, and publishing photos, but version 3 upgrades Lightroom's flexibility with its new noise reduction engine and improved RAW processing, as well as the streamlined workflow.... (more…)

For as long as there have been bookstores and booksellers, the one word that authors, agents and publishers dread hearing most is... remainder.

For those not familiar with publishing argot, remaindering is when bookstore sales falter and books remain unsold and returned, so the publisher tries to cut his losses by offering the work (more…)

Today the postman brought two books that I had ordered from the Book-of-the-Month Club: David Weber’s newest Honor Carrington novel, "Mission of Honor," and Dominic Lieven’s acclaimed "Russia Against Napoleon." As you can correctly infer, I have an avid interest in anything and everything to do with the Napoleonic Era. Among our 5,000-plus library (more…)

A couple days ago, I was feeling rather foolish and suckerly, having plunked down $259 for a Kindle 2 on June 3rd, only to see the price plummet $70 a little over two weeks later.

That brutal reality is fairly typical of how the computer and consumer electronics industries have introduced price cuts over the years. If (more…)

Back on June 3rd, I clicked the Buy button on Amazon.com and purchased a Kindle 2.

For $259.

In an earlier blog, I predicted that prices on eReaders would fall rapidly and precipitously, as pressure from the iPad and next generation tablet competitors start eroding eReader market share. Only, I didn’t quite realize (more…)

We finally bit the bullet last week, went to our friendly Apple store, and ordered an iPad.

Of course, they were completely sold out, so the Apple rep accessed my iTunes account, reserved the model that I wished, and promised (more…)

Last Friday I paid for, downloaded into my Kindle, and read straight through the trio of novels by the late Steig Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. (They happen to be, respectively, #3, #2, and #1 on The New York Times current bestseller list.) Although Larrson (more…)

One of the great simple pleasures is to carve at least a half hour out of the day, draw a hot bath, add some fragrant oils and read a good book. It's a quiet, transporting time, separate and apart from the real world, which I've evolved to a fine art over the years.
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