mediabryan.com

Finally looking into buying a new vehicle. It’s time to close the chapter on the 10 year love-affair with my 318ti for something more family friendly. I felt a crossover was the appropriate choice, since a full-blown SUV won’t achieve the mileage we’d like, and a mini-van is just out of the freaking question. I still reserve the right to look into a sporty wagon, as the Jetta TDI still rates highly on my list.

For this series, I’ll start to review the ones that missed the cut:

Ford Edge
So, the Edge is actually deceptively large, but very nicely styled. You don’t recognize how huge it is until you drive or walk up to it.  The attractive height to width ratio and huge optioned-out wheels gives it an aggressive stance.

The engine is probably one of the more respectable in this segment (265HP), as many other mfr’s are starting to stick an inline-4 as a cost and fuel saving measure. I respect what Ford did here, but the vehicle itself may need to be a little lighter (4,312 lbs) and more fuel efficient (EPA 17/24). (I neglected to mention that I vowed that the next car I bought would achieve over 30mpg highway.) Edmunds reports unimpressive stopping distance and handling as well (something most BMW owners have come to take for granted).

I was already at 34,000 when I stopped myself short adding options. Sidenote to automakers; $2400 for a GPS? Really, you guys?

Edge, you’re off the list. (See Edmunds for an in-depth review)

By now, any self respecting Strobist (or lighting enthusiast) should be well aware of Rosco Gels for white balance correction or neat lighting effects. There have been a variety of approaches for mounting them on your speedlights, none of which have really stuck (yuk yuk). As part of a work contest, I mocked-up and prototyped a cheap & simple filter mounting idea I haven’t seen floated yet. (SketchUp is much more awesome than I can do it justice, btw). I’m positive someone else has done this, but just in case, enjoy:

Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk. I assume no responsibility for what you do to your flashes in the privacy of your home.

Materials:

* Magnetic catch set (often used in medicine cabinets), includes Magnetic and strikeplate x2
(Make sure you get the ones with the plastic housing – you’re going to break it open to get the magnet)

* All purpose Adhesive

Instructions:

* Break open the magnetic catches to get the magnets. You can throw away the plastic housing.
* Glue the metal strikeplates on each side of the flash head
Don’t forget to dry fit strikeplate placement so that your magnets will secure the gels
You may need to bend the strikeplate with pliers to sit flush against your flash.
* Fit gels over flash and secure with magnets. You’re done!

Not everybody is going to love the thought of gluing metal strikeplates onto their flash, but if you’re a Strobist, you’ve certainly done riskier mods. I’m unaware of the effects of any super strong magnet’s effect on your flashes zoom function, so do so at your own risk.

Impressions:
- Works just fine!
- My glue technique was pretty messy. Would look into some petroleum jelly barrier + masking tape approach next time.
- You may want to keep the plastic magnet housing in tact so you can easily tether the magnets for ‘findability.’ Then again, the magnets themselves have a big hole that you can use for tethering as well.
- I offset the strikeplate so that my knock off Gary Fong diffuser could still fit the flash.
- This can basically be done with any magnets and piece of metal.
- I really enjoy the ability to store my gels flat alongside my gear. Doing so with 20 velcro equipped gels was not feasible.

The folks at Google Operating System blog don’t seem to miss much. They were the first to notice the new price listing feature on Google.com. True bargain hunters may recall a site called Dulance.com about 4-5 years ago. It was a pretty effective search engine for finding all references to pricing for a given item. You could then sort ascending, and use those leads to find the lowest price for your item. So, it was with initial glee I learned of Google acquiring them, but then glee turned to horror as the service was discontinued, while less helpful services like Froogle (remember them!), and other incrementally inferior search comparison engines jockeyed for my attention.

Well, I’m happy to report that Google has released a new feature that seems to do its best job yet at price aggregation.

To activate the feature, simply search on a term and expand the “Show Options” panel. All the way at the bottom is the “Prices from the page” link. Click it to get the good stuff.

While this does a great deal to make up for Dulance’s demise, I could still use some price sorting….

So when Seth Godin’s entry on Amazon acquiring Zappos appeared in my Google Desktop RSS reader, I gritted my teeth, trying to prepare my gag reflex as I clicked through to the article- awaiting the inevitable love fest underwriting the rationale. Unsurprisingly,  he does a usual good job at rationally outlining all the good things Zappos has going for itself.

If you work in customer service or support, that’s all you hear about Zappo’s; how they sell customer service and not products necessarily. There’s also that urban legend how early on, someone dialed them up and ordered a Pizza and the Zappos CSR accommodated the request.

Zappos has done a phenomenal job at being a service companies’ service company. But is that just one big service industry back patting exercise – or “musicians loving musicians” phenomenon? When do users care more about lower prices and less about service culture? In this realm of supply chain management and serving users at scale, is it even possible to scale supreme customer service at an Amazonian level, where machine augmented suggestions, User Generated Content and low prices drive the majority of sales?

This will be my first semi-anonymous foray into blogging. I’ve spent enough time spewing opinion on other networks to come to terms of me needing my own soapbox. I use Digg a lot via Google Desktop gadget. What do you use?

After a bunch of half attempts at getting a blog up and running, I think I’ve settled on WordPress and this domain. Currently watching the BET Music awards, which is heavily Michael Jackson oriented. Can’t believe that guy is gone. I think I may enter a post for that later. Just wanted to get this first post out of the way.