Jeff Carlson (.Thought)

Spring

It's now been over three months since my daughter was born, and I'm only now starting to feel like things are stabilizing. Not that she knocked anything out of whack, per se, but that everything is just different enough that I haven't done some things - like update this blog. (I've been blogging about Ellie, of course, but that's different.)

So what am I up to? I've been keeping busy, like a good freelancer. A lot of my time lately, it seems, has been spent in the management and work required to get new work: making article proposals and the like. I'm within striking distance of finishing The Adobe Photoshop Express Pocket Guide, doing some work on the TidBITS site design, writing a few articles, and fielding a request to license one of my photos for a display.

With the weather turning, there's that familiar sense of renewal in the air, so perhaps that will inspire me to blog more often.

New Books!

As you can imagine, I've been pretty focused on becoming a dad lately, but that doesn't mean it's occupied all of my attention (just most of it).

Just prior to my daughter's birth, I wrapped up Photoshop Elements 6: Visual QuickStart Guide, my book that covers the latest version of Adobe's consumer image organizing and editing software. (You can read an excerpt here.) In addition to providing step-by-step explanations of how to use the program and its new features (including the incredibly cool Photomerge Groups module that lets you combine the best parts of multiple photos with very little work on your part), the book is now full color. For a book that talks about color-correction and photo retouching, full color is really the only way to go.

Due to the timing, the book is all about the Windows version of Photoshop Elements 6; the Mac version (returning to the platform after a several-year hiatus) hadn't yet been released in time to incorporate its details into this edition. However, great news: The Windows and Mac versions of Elements 6 are almost identical. I'd say about 95 percent of the program is indistinguishable on either operating system. The primary difference is that the Windows version uses a related application, the Organizer, to manage your photo library, assign tags, create albums, and the like. On the Mac, the Organizer is replaced by Bridge CS3, the asset-management program used by Adobe Creative Suite 3.

So, if you own the Mac version of the software, you can buy the print book and learn almost everything you need to know. (I'm talking with Peachpit about options for covering the Mac-specific information. Marketing says it can't justify a separate print title, so perhaps we'll put out an electronic version. We'll see what we can work out!)

In related news, Peachpit approached me a few weeks ago about writing a brand new book about Adobe's just-announced Photoshop Express, which gives you the capability to upload and edit your photos via a Web browser. The new service, which is open now as a public beta, is ideal for those who want to share digital photos online with family and friends, and also be able to apply essential adjustments like color correction and minor touchups.

I was able to use Photoshop Express for a week before it was announced, which gave me enough time to write the first chapter of The Photoshop Express Beta Pocket Guide. I'm working on the book now, but you can download that chapter for free from Peachpit's site now as a PDF. As I finish chapters, they'll be made available for downloading via the Rough Cuts program at Safari Books online. When the book is complete, it will also be available as a print edition.

There's more to come (including one book that is just coming off the presses), but I'll stop for now.

Profile of Stumptown Founder Duane Sorenson

The Tacoma News Tribune published a long feature profile of Duane Sorenson, founder of Stumptown Coffee: Coffee’s benevolent Mr. Bean.

If you've wondered what the big deal is with Northwest coffee (specifically in Seattle and Portland), this article gives you a good flavor. It's not just a matter of how to spice up your daily latté - it's a focus on the coffee beans, where they come from, paying better-than-fair prices for good crops, and making sure that the coffee people taste is as good as your own high standards. Plus, Duane just sounds like a cool guy.

I'm a Father!

Kim and I are exceedingly happy to introduce our brand new daughter, Eliana Wren Carlson! Ellie was born Tuesday morning (Feb 5) at 8:48 am after a much faster-than expected labor. She weighed 7 lbs 3.5 oz and is 21 inches long. We didn't know the gender until Ellie arrived, which I have to say was one excellent surprise.

More information at the Roo blog. I'm taking a paternity leave, so postings here are likely to be even more sporadic than they have been.

Hectic, but Calming

Belly, 37 Weeks
Originally uploaded by Jeff Carlson

Where to begin? My life has been dual-focused lately: either working on getting a book done, or preparing for baby. I want to take a month off from work when the baby arrives, but to do that I need to throw myself into this book project so it's not hanging over my head when I'm dealing with (more) sleep deprivation, diapers, and the Whole Thing.

I've been fortunate in the past that if a project slips behind schedule, it's possible to renegotiate the deadline. (The lesson I've learned over the years: you can work around slippage, but make sure you tell your editor/publisher/boss/whomever early. Communication goes a long way.) With Roo (our temporary name for the baby), the deadline is going to be whenever the baby decides it's time to arrive. Baby's not going to wait just because I need to wrap up a chapter.

We're in the stage where labor could start at any time, so I'm simultaneously freaked-out, waiting on pins and needles, busy as hell, and yet starting to get oddly calm. The notion of being an active father, versus a theoretical father, is seeping through my brain. Am I completely ready? Hell no. But that seems to be the default mode from here on out anyway.

This could be my last blog-surface until I have a chance to report on baby news. Until then, I've got work to do!

I Love Snow

Snow Branches
Originally uploaded by Jeff Carlson

Not to the degree that I want to live in it and deal with a frozen, muddy February, nor even enough to go skiing. I just love it when it appears, as it did today in Seattle.

Projects Project Projects!

The past few months have been some of the busiest of my professional life, mostly due to a confluence of deadlines that I expected would be spread out over a longer period of time. But since I mostly write about Apple and the Mac, I never know when new products are going to hit. In this case, they hit all at once. Here's what has kept me up until 1 or 2 a.m. most nights over the last three months.

iMovie ’08 & iDVD ’08 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide: When Apple announced iLife ’08 with a completely rewritten version of iMovie, I knew I was in for a lot more work than I expected. I just received my first author copy of the book, and it looks great! I've almost completely rewritten the iMovie section to account for the changes in this version, including a new chapter on managing video (one of iMovie's hidden strengths, with keywording and marking features), and of course tips and tricks for using iMovie to its fullest. Amazon has the book now for just $16.49; if you click the link above, I get a small piece of the purchase, in case you want to help your favorite author (and hopefully that's me).

I've also just finished helping another Peachpit Press author update portions of his book, but since I'm not a listed co-author, I'm hesitant to name the title until it's available (which is very soon). In this case, I ended up doing most of the work in an extremely short amount of time due to scheduling issues. Getting 12 hours of sleep over three days while also entertaining visiting family is fun, to a degree, but not something I recommend often.

In addition to book projects, I've recently written several articles, in reverse-chronological order:

• First Look: Final Cut Express 4 (Macworld.com)
• Apple's so hip Part II is a must, some noteworthy features of Mac OS X 10.5 (Seattle Times).
• Apple's latest cool cat, a review of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard for the Seattle Times.

In the midst of this, I've been preparing to become a father, a big project indeed!

You've Got to Be Fucking Kidding

I don't throw that out there as a title lightly:

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.

To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

Again, anyone who says the Bush administration supports the troops is deeply deluded, full of shit, or both. (And I know it's "the Military" doing this, but guess whose desk that falls on?)

Accessing My Home Music Library with Simplify Media

When Apple first added the capability to share an iTunes library with other iTunes users on the network, my friend David Blatner loved the fact that he could sit on his porch at home with his laptop and stream music located on his computer at work. The Internet is just a big network, after all. At the time, I didn't really care because all the music I needed was already on my laptop.

Unfortunately, Apple locked down the Internet sharing aspect in a subsequent release, so now you can only share over a local network. That's what I do at home: my entire music library lives on an external hard drive connected to my old PowerBook G4, and I carry a (still large) subset of it on my MacBook Pro.

Recently I was introduced to Simplify Media, a utility for Mac OS X or Windows that opens a connection between two machines, no matter where they are connected to the Internet, and enables you to stream music within iTunes (or Winamp). You set up a free account with Simplify Media and run their software on each computer you want to make accessible. Specify your music folder, log in, and forget.

When you launch iTunes with Simplify Media running, your machines show up in the Share category of iTunes' left column. Click one and you'll see your library as if it were loaded onto your computer's hard drive.

Now, when I get a hankering to hear a specific song or artist that isn't on my MacBook Pro, I can tap into the big library at home. It is almost time to start listening to holiday music, which I hate to add to my computer and then remove in January to make room for other music.

Chocolate Typographic Goodness

This appeals to me on so many levels that I can barely stand it: http://typolade.de/ .