Firefox 3, Piclens, Foxmarks, and Vertu
By Robert Lachman
Just upgraded to the new Firefox 3 browser. Definitely an improvement, an upgrade in speed, design and memory use. Just added the new PicLens plugin by Cooliris for Firefox 3 which creates a
n amazing sweep of photos across screen allowing you to enlarge individual photos or videos with YouTube. Check it out in the photo above with my photographs. It works with Fickr which is really a sweet way to scan across all the photos. Sometimes I make more work and make a bigger mess when I try to get organized. This time it might be an exception to the rule. I added the Foxmarks plugin to Firefox. I wanted a way to organize and synchronize my bookmarks with Firefox 3 my home and work computers. My bookmarks are an unorganized bookmark mess to begin with. I'm not the best but I'm not the worst, somewhere in the middle. Details to come when I figure it out.
This weekend I had a very nice lunch with my wife at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. After lunch I looked in the window of Tourneau. Little out of my price range. I mean a lot out of my price range. OK, completely out of my price range. I know that because they don't have price tags on the watches and other items in the window. After checking out the super expensive watches in the window display, a silver Vertu phone caught my eye. I've never seen one of these perhaps it's because I don't hang out with many movie stars. No price tag on this baby. I was a little confused though. Where's the iPhone in the window? Heck, I thought the iPhone was the world's most expensive phone. Even the 3G version is out of control price wise when you check out the service plan.
At Tourneau I'm not sure they would take me to seriously wearing shorts, sandals and a hockey t-shirt. And, if you notice, I'm not wearing a USC hat in the photo below, that might have got me a price check. The maroon and gold USC thing goes a long way at this mall. They even have a USC store at the mall.
Does anybody know why everyone's complaining about the price of gas going over 5 dollars a gallon? Soon Apple and AT&T want to charge $70 dollars a month to use your iPhone. Nokia's luxury subsidiary, Vertu, the under-featured, overpriced cellphone which does come in very cool colors sell in the over $5000 range. Now that's expensive and something to complain about. Can people really afford things like this? I did find one on Craig's List for $3,500. Much better. Thought about it and the 3G iPhone seems a better bargain brand new at the Apple store for $199 ($299 for the one you would really want) due out July 11, 2008.
Check out Scott Kelby's website. He has the final results from his, "Top 10 Things You Want Most in the New Version of Photoshop" poll. I still think a reduction in the price of the software should be number one. It didn't make the list.
Make sure you check out Deke McClelland's 101 Photoshop Tips in 5 minutes video below. It's very creative and informative. I can't even imagine how much time went into producing the five minutes of video. Other great stuff at his website at www.deke.com.