(Lijit tee provided by Startup Schwag.)

The mozilla team just smacked one heck of an update with Firefox 3 AKA “The Browser That Has It All” and I haven’t download it. Why? Well, in my own honest opinion, Safari is 2 legit 2 quit!

I love Safari AKA. I’m basically “exclusive” with Safari. It’s been my browser of choice for a long time now, and we’ve developed quite a strong relationship. I like the way Safari looks so apple. It’s clean, efficient and it’s bookmarking skills are quite excellent. Besides the occasional flash plug-in lockout, it’s a lean, mean, sexy browser. And it is, after all, “The World’s Best Browser”. How can you challenge that?

It might be quite a battle convincing me to use Firefox. But I know there are some feisty FF users that won’t let my dare slide! Seriously, are you gonna let me talk trash about your browser? That’s like attacking your motherboard or something.

If you think Firefox is better than Safari tell me why. Oh and let me know what plug-ins you are using and how helpful they are and stuff like that.

Introducing Silicon Valley’s favorite party game: the iPhone stack! I dare you to beat this stack of 13 iPhones!

PS. My ultra portable Canadian iPhone was rejected from the stack. It hurt. A lot. *sadness*
(more…)

I had a blast recording TWiP (This Week in Photography) with Pixel Corps’ Alex Lindsay, Podango’s Scott Bourne, Adobe’s Fred Johnson and photojournalist Steve Simon.
(more…)

(I labeled all this delicious gear in flickr)

How do I get all this gear through US Customs? I mean seriously this stuff is my life. I actually don’t own anything beyond what is on this table (and at that, only in monthly payments of $55.50 for several years), so I want to prevent customs officials dirty mitts from violating my sweet gear or confiscating stuff!

Earlier, I tweeted, “do US customs srsly check laptops and ipods for pirated shizz?” I received mixed answers from “naaaaah. it’s all cool” to “be very scared” to “delete all your ripped DVDs, CDs from your laptop and computer.” Yikes!

I am really curious this proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is currently being put into practice. If anyone has traveled to the US or from the US to Canada, in recent months, with a laptop, iPod, camera, video cam, phone, I’d love to hear what your experience was good or bad.

& thanks for your help. It will seriously decrease my mid-boiling point stress level to know I won’t get strip searched at the airport.

PS. rrrrrrrrrr.

Goodness Gracious Great balls of Fire!

The new iPhone hit with a huge KAPOWWW today. The coolest thing is that they are finalllly releasing it in Canada! (& Australia =0)

Just wanted to know what you think about the new iPhone. Are you gonna buy one? If so what feature sold you on buying the iPhone. 8gB or 16gB? White or Black? Oh and are you leaving a carrier to switch over to a new iPhone carrier (Rogers in Canada)?

Aannd if you already have the first iPhone, what are you gonna do with it? Sell it? Throw it in your junk drawer? Make some awesome modern art?

PS. Snow Leopards are super neat animals, but the name itself is a bit of a mouthful to reference all the time. Wonder what teh internets will do with that… S-L3p. sn0pard…

I’m super excited to be heading to the very heart of Silicon Valley and the twitterverse Wed to go hang with the TWiP and MacBreak crew in San Fransisco and possibly bust out a podcast or two.

If you aren’t already a fan of these podcasts go check out Leo Laporte’s TWiT empire and the sweet sounds of Scott Bourne and Alex Lindsay talking photography with the occasional mentioning of SB’s luxury yauchts on TWiP (This Week in Photography).

I unfortunately won’t be there for Stevie J’s big keynote, but i’m sure one or two people will blog/tweet/lifecast about it and watching it on my MBa will be more awesome than actually being there, cuz I’ll be wearing my Shure SCL4’s in-ears during the keynote, so it will feel like Steve is actually in my head.

Oh what’s that Steve? A new iPhone? 3G? Wow! Still not in Canada? No eh. Guess i’ll just have to snuggle up with my current phone and a huge bottle of maple syrup for a few more months and watch Thundercats :p

PS. Apparently, WWDC and “Steve Jobs Keynote” doesn’t mean much to the less techie sorts of folks. As evident by this conversation I just had with my non-tech savvy friend:

friend: So what are you up to this week?

me: Yeah i’m heading down to San Fran for a big Mac conference thing.

friend: The makeup? Oh wow!

.me: No the computers

friend: Oh you mean like Dell?

me: Yes. Exactly like Dell. *throws disgusted look* iPhone? iPods? Steve Jobs? John Mayer?

friend: Oh yeaaaah. I just got a Zune!

We aren’t all meant to illuminate our minds with knowledge and enlightenment. Some people are just better off being in the dark.

Illustration by Pasquale.

Thanks for all the comment and email l0v3 and movie/tv/book suggestions. My neck feels less like a giant yarn ball of pulsating fire, and more like a golf ball of subtle flames. In my time away from the internet, I was unfortunate enough to catch “Resident Evil: Extinction” and Mila’s clunky, lack-luster wire stunts and sweet Gaussian-blurred face. Why can’t every zombie movie be like “Shaun of the Dead”.

Then, I learned some sweet breakdancing moves from Jonah Takalua and watched my new favourite show, the Australian mockumentary series, “Summer Heights High”. It’s kinda like if Christopher Guest, Ricky Gervais, Mitchell and Webb and “a dingo ate my baby” met, went to a bottlo, and threw so many shrimps on the barbie and wrote this. Either that or Chris Lilley is serious comedic genius.

Other than that I’ve got BSG: Razor on board for tonight, along with the Aliens Quadrilogy for back to back slimy, chest-bursting awesomeness and Ridley — Cameron — Fincher — Jeunet! That’s my kind of quadrilogy. Plus, one of these films has my favourite line of dialogue ever. 10 points and a place in my heart for guessing the correct phrase!

In addition, to watching movies I got some totally swedish IKEA furniture and sorta helped put it together.

And practiced my juggling techniques, one ball at a time.

And put my lomo film in the fridge for safe keeping.

(more…)

I didn’t listen to the doctor when she said, “stop using your computer for 14 hours a day, take breaks every 15 mins, and find a more ergonomic work space. You are going to severely injure yourself!”

I didn’t listen one bit, and now i have a neck spasm the size of the polar caps before humans polluted the earth and made icebergs melt into the ocean… like way before Leonardo died in the icy waters of doom after the Titanic totally snapped in two.

I guess I seriously need to find some other ways of amusing myself for the next couple of days while I heal. What am I gonna do?? I’m already bored.

What can I do without a computer or internet? Any suggestions? Movie/tv show recommendations are most welcome. I would say “books” but let’s face it, unless it says, “Harry Potter” or “XYZ gear manual” on the cover, I won’t read it.

Uhh I shouldn’t even be typing this. cramp. ouch. Stop! Step away from the MB air. Away! Expecto Patronum!

I finally got round to flickring my photos of Chichen Itza, the “large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Yucatán state, present-day Mexico” says Wikipedia. Now, I’ll look it up in my $150 university art history book to make sure that’s right (the very same one that I took for light reading on my first trip to England to seem “cultured”.)

Oh wow. I’m actually reading a book. It feels weird and unnatural. I can’t scroll. Ack! I have to turn these big heavy pages. Ug. So apparently Chichen Itza means “at the mouth of the well of the Itza”, and has nothing to do with the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but rhymes nicely with pizza. Hmm… there are only 3 paragraphs about Chichen Itza in this 1167 page book! What a jerk! I guess we will just have to rely on the web as our guide to this weird and wacky Mayan world.

The massive and awe-inspiring Mesoamerican pyramid in the middle of the site is called el Castillo or the Temple of Kukulkan.

(more…)

Mostly Lisa takes the Canon G9 for a spin from Lisa Bettany on Vimeo.

I just got my gadget geeky hands all over the Canon G9 (12.1 Megapixel, Canon DIGIC III Image Processor, Optical Image Stabilizer) a few days ago, and I must say, I am really impressed.

I really wanted a high quality point and shoot that I could use capturing the behind the scenes action on photo/video shoots and for grabbing quick video for my blog videos.

Although my media company owns 2 Canon HV20s, I almost always use a 2-year-old simple point and shoot, the Canon PowerShot A510, to capture most of my videos. Even though it’s from back in the days when it was cutting edge to sport a 3.2 Megapixel camera, it’s just lower maintenance, smaller, and less fragile than the HV20 and seems to scare and anger less people than the HV20 with the intimidating Rode Video Microphone. Plus, despite it’s age, the PS A510 has a great lens and can capture good 640×480 video. Also, it just quicker to just upload to upload and deal with the footage sans TB HDs.

(aside: I always bring my Gorillapod tripod (pictured above) with me wherever I go. It’s a really handy little tripod. It can bend around things and grip them. Much more flexible and lighter to carry than a standard tripod.)

And now I’m getting all gooey with the Canon G9. I may even have “love feelings” towards G9’s video quality. It shoots really sharp and clear 640 x 480px video at 30fps which is more than adequate for web content. It also shoots HD: 1024 x 768px at 15fps. The auto exposure works very quickly when moving from contrasting light conditions and it’s cool that you can zoom during video recording. It’s not optical and it does look fairly pixelated, but it’s still great that you are able to zoom.

This is getting super technical and nerdy. I promise my next post will be super fun for those who could care less about pixels, though you must admit, pixels are pretty neat. You are looking at some pretty neat ones right now. Respekt.

Does any one else love the Canon G9? What point and shoot camera are you using? And if you use your camera to capture video, give me your impressions or link me to one of your videos. Fanks!

PS. w00t! I just convinced my mum to buy the G9. First the iMac and now the G9… we are moving slowly, but surely in the right direction. Now, i just have to get her to ditch her 15 year old, very round screen TV!