by Jason Prahl | Nov 5, 2005 | Photo - Nature, Photoblog
Oh my goodness, the 50mm 1.8 rocks. Brandon and I ventured out today for some shots. Check out his duck shot for today, the colors will knock your socks off! Unfortunately Brandon wimped out early and I ventured on alone to find some great trails. At first glance anyways, I think some great shots too. (At least I think so :)
Update: Since a couple of people said something about Black and White I did it up. I still prefer the color because I just love the browns and yellows in it.
by Jason Prahl | Nov 4, 2005 | Photo - Nature, Photoblog
Hopefully you aren’t tired of the fall colors yet, I just keep thinking in a month or so it’s all going to be gone and I’ll regret not shooting more of these awesome colors surrounding me. I finally finished the biography of Ansel Adams and it was definetly interesting reading.
by Jason Prahl | Nov 3, 2005 | Blog, Computer Hardware, Software
For the past couple of years, Microsoft has been pushing its Windows Media Center Edition PCs into stores and households around the world. I was more than a little skeptical when inquiring about Microsoft new product. The name alone Media Center sounds like a good way for Microsoft to sell you a bunch of extra hardware and software youdon’tt need. Actuallythat’ss not the case at all, well for the most part.
Windows Media Center 2005 is the newest version of Windows XPand is one of Microsoft’s slickest products in recent memory. Basically it’s Windows XP with Media Center added in. All the drivers have been optimized to let Windows be displayed on a TV and look good.
For those who haven’t heard about Media Center or had a chance to see a Media Center PC in action, it’s basically an all-in-one home entertainment device. Media Center PCs act as a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) to let you record, pause and rewind live TV (like TiVo), allow you to play video files, music, pictures and more. All this is great, but who has $1,000.00 to spend for another PC to act like TiVo? Well the answer to that question is complicated, but I’ll try to help you with it.
A 40-hour TiVo box is $199.99, plus a monthly service of $12.95, or $155.40 a year. If you already have a PC, and want TiVo functionality, Media Center is the way to go. The TiVo part is great, but you also get so much more. You do not need to go out and buy a “Media Center PC”. Your existing PC can be converted into a Media Center PC fairly easily, and at a reasonable price.
To covert your existing PC into a Media Center PC, you will need two items.
1. Microsoft Windows Media Center 2005 with a remote control, and IR box. (Approximately $150.00)
2. TV Card certified to work with MCE-2005 by Microsoft. See list here. (Average Price $75.00)
For a little more than the price of TiVo Hardware, not including the service, you can have a Media Center PC. Not bad eh? Now you can connect your PC running Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to your TV, and you can enjoy your favorite computer and TV entertainment all from the same spot in your living room. You can enjoy live and recorded TV, DVDs, music, photos, and more on the big screen from the comfort of your couch and you can control it all with a single remote.
Okay, this is great, right? Well what if you want to leave your Media Center PC in the office, and still have all the Media Center features to work on the TV in the living room. This is why you upgraded in the first place, right? Well you don’t need to buy another PC, now you only need to buy a Media Center Extender. For the price it would cost to add another TiVo box (199.99) you can buy a Media Center Extender box. The extender would plug into your entertainment center in the living room, or whatever room you want to use Media Center in. Now you virtually have 2 Media Centers with all the features of TiVo, plus access to all your movies, pictures, and music that’s on your office computer!
The media center interface is extremely easy to use, and will be fun for the entire family. Check back in a few days, and I’ll show you how to add-on to a common house hold component to get the same features as a Media Center Extender for only 30 bucks! If you have any questions, leave me a comment, or email me at brandoncrain @ hotmail dot com.
by Jason Prahl | Nov 3, 2005 | Blog, Photography
The Prahl family has once again increased by 1. No, we haven’t had any more children. But, the arrival of a new lens to the Prahl-Nikon family has been met with joy and happiness. The little guy is just as cute as a button and with a maximum (or is is minimum? I get it confused all the time) aperature setting of 1.8 he is quite impressive. Here is a sample I took this morning just messing around. Notice at the 1.8 setting how it blurs the background. Here’s another of my son doing some sort of trick he said. It works really well especially when taking portrait like shots of people. I bought it used off of Ebay for $79 including shipping. B and H Photo has them new for 95$ to 100$ not including shipping. It’s a little wierd using the lens because it’s a fixed focal length were as my other two lenses are zoom type so you have to move yourself in and out more to get the shot framed the way you want. Overall it looks to be a great addition to my camera equipment.
by Jason Prahl | Nov 3, 2005 | Blog, Computer Hardware
I’m picky. I like my chicken just so. I like my steak just so. I like my keyboards just so as well. I’ve used the ergonomic keyboards for several years, but the last few models I haven’t liked much. They tended to creak and just not feel right. The early ergonomic keyboards were great and solid. The problem is that I can’t seem to use the same equipment more than 6 months before getting something new and improved. It’s a disease and I should probably seek some counseling.
So, I had been using a Logitech keyboard for sometime, but I’ve been wanting to get back to an ergonomic keyboard. I went first to Microsoft’s hardware site. As soon as I saw the Ergonomic 4000 I knew I wanted it. It looked slick and I loved the black color so I ordered one. It took several weeks to get it because they had just came out.
I’ve been using it now for about a week and it’s easily my favorite keyboard yet. The keys feel great. They are super quiet, which some people may not like. It has none of that noisey click click that some of the more sturdy keyboards have. There’s no creaking noise like some of the past ergonomic keyboards have either. The hand rest is super nice. It is soft with a leather like feel to it. It has the multimedia keys along the top and 5 programmable buttons as well. While I programmed each one I rarely use them though. It just takes discipline to use them instead of launching apps the way I normally do. The software for the keyboard installed without problems. It has a zoom slider between the middle keys that basically enlarges the font on web pages and I don’t really use that either. There is a back and forward button below the zoom slider for webpages, but I’m too used to using the buttons on the side of my mouse to go back and forward with. Overall it’s a great keyboard so far. We’ll see how long it lasts!
by Jason Prahl | Nov 3, 2005 | Photo - CityStuff, Photoblog
This is my first image posted from shooting in RAW. I have to say that it’s extremely cool as far as the controls you have over exposure and white balance and a ton of other options. I’ve just been using the CS2 raw plugin and I’m really liking it. On another note I got a new lens and should post something from it in the next couple of days. It’s a Nikon 50mm 1.8 and I haven’t really had time to play just yet.
by Jason Prahl | Nov 2, 2005 | Photo - Chicago, Photo - Monochrome, Photo - People, Photoblog
Continuing shots of people this week. I’m pretty sure this guy was sleeping. He’s on a bench just outside the Navy Pier in Chicago. I titled it Napoleon sleeps because he reminded me of the guy from Napoleon Dynamite, which is a very funny movie. The other great thing about it is it’s not your typical Hollywood big budget junk. Plus it’s a clean movie. I think the worst word in the movie is maybe “Idiot.” And to hear Napoleon say it is quite funny.
by Jason Prahl | Nov 1, 2005 | Photo - Monochrome, Photo - People, Photoblog
Brandon walking along the edge of Lake Michigan near the Alder Planetarium. There was a couple of other people in the shot but I found them distracting so I removed them. I love Photoshop.
by Jason Prahl | Oct 31, 2005 | Photo - People, Photoblog
Reaching back into the archives. I’ve taken some new shots but haven’t even taken them from the camera yet. I’ve started shooting in exclusively Raw finally and haven’t worked on getting me a good workflow, so I’ve been putting off processing for a couple of days. I’ve also been reading a biography of Ansel Adams which seems to be taking me forever. The other thing that’s been taking up my time is watching past seasons of 24. I’m not a TV person so I generally don’t watch TV shows, mostly because I can’t stand commercials. That’s a discussion for another day. But I’ve found that watching TV shows on DVD is so cool. So my wife and I have watched all of Season 1 and 2 of 24. We are 3 or 4 episodes into Season 3 right now.
by Jason Prahl | Oct 30, 2005 | Photo - Chicago, Photo - People, Photoblog
Time for some shots of people. This guy was along the edge of Lake Michigan during my trip to Chicago in September.
