February 2007 Archives

Well my trusty Samsonite 22" rollaboard has finally broken after 10 years. It had a suit carrier which I never used but the handle really worked well. John's brother in law runs operations for Eagle Creek so I got a nice small backpack carrier which is great for 1-2 day trips, but needed something for a week.

The Tarmac ES 22 seems like a good choice. Highly rated at eBags, but using Mpire, I didn't find any eBay auctions, but Backcountry did have it for $211 down from $249 the previous day and it has free shipping. The list is $300 and eBags has it for $250.

The Giro website doesn't help very much when it comes to sizing. I found tht I fit nicely into a Large Fuse or a Medium/Large Omen.

MBStores has a good size chart and it shows the Fuse at 14.5 oz.

Model Name	S	M	L	XL	XXL
Fuse	53.5-55.5cm	55.5-57cm	57-59cm	59-60.5cm	60.5-62.5cm

In terms of pricing at the end of this season, the list price is $320 at Amazon, but you can find it on eBay for $150 thanks to Mpire just be careful to get the wireless version, they have three versions, no audio, wired audio (called tuneup ii) and wireless (called wireless tuneup).

At REI there is the sizing information for the new top of the line Giro Omen, it is a little simpler as it has three sizes only that Snowshack has

Model	XS/S	M/L	XL/XXL
Omen	52-55.5cm	55.5-59cm	59-62.5cm

powered by performancing firefox

. We got this book from Thompson Family Adventures and I couldn't put it down. It is completely fascinating to go through every country in the world one page at time in alphabetically order. Goes with 1,000 Places to Go Before You Die as a way to see the world.

powered by performancing firefox

AppleInsider | Next-gen MacBook Pro to shine brighter

Confirming an earlier but widely discounted report from Taiwan-based DigiTimes, faithful industry sources say the new pro-oriented systems will mark the start of a gradual transition away from cold cathode fluorescent backlights (CCFLs) and towards LED backlights for the Mac maker.

Thus far, those sources say Apple has agreed to implement the LED technology only within a revision to its 15-inch MacBook Pro due sometime in the second quarter of this year. A broader expansion to the 17-inch model and across the company's 13-inch consumer line, though inevitable, reportedly remains under consideration.</blockquote

Also at the WWDC in August, Apple is going to launch a subnotebook.

AppleInsider | Apple to re-enter the sub-notebook market

This new tiny MacBook, people familiar with the project say, remains in development ahead of its target launch date around the time WWDC rolls around mid-year. It will be both lighter and more compact than any other Mac portable Apple has put forth in recent years, bundling a display of similarly smaller proportions.</blockquote

I've been wondering when the next Macbook would ship. The days of Intel jamming new processors out every month seems to be over. The net is that we won't see a new Macbook until this coming May, so if you need to buy one youare reasonably safe. The improvements are from Intel and will mainly be incremental. The bus speed will stay at about 2.4GHz as this is a new chipset not processor release. Graphics will get a boost for the low-end MacBook and the front side bus will double.

Mac Rumors: Apple Mac Rumors and News You Care About

TG Daily reports that Intel's next generation mobile platform, code-named Santa Rosa, is currently tracking for a May release.

The platform will feature many improvements over today's incarnation found in the iMac, MacBook, and MacBook Pro. While the processor will remain of the Core 2 Duo "Merom" variety and will top out at 2.4 GHz, the front side bus speed will be increased to 800 MHz.

Also, systems that use integrated graphics (MacBook, Mac Mini) will stand to see a big boost from Intel's latest graphics technology. The GMA X3000 will implement several important graphics features in hardware and support pixel and vertex shader models 3.0, whereas GMA 950 only supports pixel shader model 2.0. This improvement will no doubt be a boost for casual gamers and for Apple's desire to include even more impressive visual effects in their systems.

Lastly, Santa Rosa will feature Intel's flash caching technology, code-named Robson. The technology should bring better system performance, especially in the areas of battery life, system startup, and access of frequently used applications.

I've been using a cheap monopod mainly for a small camcorder, but with all the photos I've been taking especially the night shots of Shanghai and other locations, I need a better and fuller tripod. As with most things, the best value is to buy a slightly better one that will last a while.
I'd summarize by saying the Gitzo G1327 seems like a good choice. Main decision is Series 2 which is for smaller lesnes. The Series 3 is good for 24.5lb weight and you should have 50% overcapacity, so it would support 15lb total setups. The 3-section system is pretty good and more stable than the 4-sectioned system. There is also the optoin for a rapid geared center column.

Now that review is pretty old and the latest model is that is equivalent is called the Gitzo GT-2530 which is now a Series 2, but has the same 12Kg or 26.4 lbs load, it is 3 section and weight 1.4 kg or 3.1 lbs and is rapid rise. I couldn't find it on ebay, but Mpire shows that Amazon and everyone else carries it at $520 list, so B&H has been the reliable place to buy it.

In terms of ball heads, he recommends teh Arca-Swiss Monoball B1. The-Digital-Picture
has one of the few complete reviews of tripods and the ballhead you
need to go on top. Bob Atkins also loves it.
Nikonians
love this as well. It does weigh 2 lbs though and costs a whopping $350+ B&H is out of stock, but it is $380.

Another choice which Nikonians like is the
Markins
from Korea. They like the new M10 which is 1lb and can hold 40 KG and the M20 which can support 100lb. The really like head is called the Q3. I think the M10 works fine for me. You can buy this from Photoproshop.com for $340 for M10.

You can also buy Markins direct as well and they for one have a very nice website. The big choice is the $270 Q3 Emille which is strong enough to support a Canon Digital Rebel with a mid-sized zoom like the 70-200 F/2.8 and is good enough for my needs.

powered by performancing firefox

Well Vista may be here, but for those of us not upgrading (until the next machine comes preinstalled), here are some cool utilities that don't get much press, but which are pretty useful. They are called PowerToys and amongst them are:

* RAW Image viewer. If you are using Canon or Nikon high end cameras, they produce their own proprietary format and this lets you preview and use them
* Color Control Applet. This lets you look at color spaces. Way beyond the casual user, but useful to see what's inside an ICM file.
* Alt-Tab replacement. From the Mac, you can actually see what the other application is before selecting it.

powered by performancing firefox

Just spent a week with Dave over at Tamarack, this is a new resort that's opened in Idaho. It is just three years old and they are still building it. We really lucked out on the snow there. Got 11 inches of powder one day and also had the great chance to learn from Carrie Cubbage who is just a top instructor and Dave is right, it is better than learning from a book. While there, we got a chance to sample some of the latest ski gear and trends including:

Photochromatic goggles. These have been available with glass lenses for years, but now they are coming out in plastic for sports. Most feature a 30% change in density which is just great. Zeal has had them for a few years and the Detonator is their medium to large. It lists for $160, but you can find it on ebay for $124. I just read that Bolle also has a similar model called the Nova. I got the Detonator sight unseen, so I hope it fits. It works for larger faces. We use Oakley A-Frames today and they seem quite good.

Powder skis. I had a chance to demo a bunch of powder skis. I really like the K2 Apache Outlaw, it was the slimmest at an 88mm midwaist in the 168cm size. With all the powder we were getting it was terrific. It got a decent rating in Ski Magazine in this years test. Also tried the Salomon Gunn and the Fischer 92. The Fischer was a very soft ski and chatter quite a bit, while the Gunn was just massive and amazingly floaty. Skiing actually like a ski I didn't try which is the Volkl Gotama, it is 105mm at the waist and come in 168 and 176 lengths with the shorter probably being right for me. Although twin tipped, its done really well on hard pack, crud and powder. Epicski by the way has a really active forum on skis from afictionados. They note the 2008 Gotomas are different and probably a little less nice. Carrie by the way loves the Mantras as well which are 95 at the waist and more powder oriented rather than just being an all mountain.

iPod Helmet. Skullcandy did the first version of these. They have a wired helmet that lets you plug in an iPod and a cell phone. It actually fits in the earmuffs of a Giro helmet, either the Fuse or Nine.9. Cnet. They thought it was OK in terms of decent sound quality and the phone connection worked. The latest is the Wireless Tuneup which actually is sold directly by Giro it is actaully a bundle of the Ten Technology bluetooth attachment for an iPod and it also connects with bluetooth enabled headphones. The headphones worked well for the iPod connection, but for the phone it was more touch and go with the Treo 680. This is quite phone dependent and it is expesnive at $200 additional list plus the helmet. On the other hand, the entire Giro line supports it now. The lists are high, but Mpire shows that ebay has them for $190 street price for the Giro Fuse plus wireless link