Mode Studio

Apple needs to step up for iPhone 3Gs owners. The update to IOS 4.0.1 caused a serious downgrade to service on my iPhone 3Gs - that has nothing to do with how many bars are displayed. The service issue became really apparent yesterday at the South Jersey Shore, where I have always gotten a decent 3G signal to connect to the internet. Yesterday I was simply unable to connect. Forget that there were between 2 and 4 bars displayed on the phone, there was no internet connection. To test I tried my wife’s iPad which received a strong internet signal. Yes, her iPad displayed more bars, but it’s not a phone and it’s not running IOS 4. So with ATT as both our providers, the iPad had a strong internet signal, and the iPhone, running IOS 4.0.1, did not.

I suspect something is in the works over at Apple to update this issue, but all the talk about bars in the display is pointless if there is clearly a degraded signal.

If you are like me, the highest end of the Nikon line is too heavy, bulky, and expensive. Well, if you are under 40, 6′ 3″, have giant hands and deep pockets, the D3s may be just the right camera for you. But like I said, if you are like me that’s not the right animal to strap on your shoulder. The D700, the right size and price point, doesn’t have enough resolution for my stock work and lacks video - an essential in the post-convergence world of image making. To make it worse it’s not a 100% viewfinder view (that missing 5% coverage kills my framing). But it’s been a long time waiting for Nikon to put forth something in that sweet spot that has all the features I need (like Canon did - two years ago - with the 5D Mark II). So Nikon, I’m waiting………

Posted by Steve Weinrebe

Get your Photoshop 12.0.1 point release update now, from the Adobe auto updater, or by going to the Help menu in Photoshop or Bridge and choosing Updates. The update includes plenty of bug and speed fixes. I’m finding some huge speed boosts in 3D draft rendering among other things. Don’t delay, download it before your next Photoshop CS5 editing session!

In case you have Auto Updates turned off in Photoshop, you’ll want to go to the Help menu in Photoshop or Bridge and choose Updates. There are currently updates to both Bridge and Camera Raw, and the Bridge update especially is worth having for a bunch of fixes.

If you have a version of the Creative Suite, such as the Design Suite, there is an update to Dreamweaver CS5 available as well.

Posted by Steve Weinrebe

If you have Adobe Photoshop CS5 and want to be entertained by a hilarious string of text-style messages from the Adobe Photoshop team, do this:

• Choose “About Photoshop”
• Wait and the list of names on the right of the splash screen starts scrolling. You can hold down the Option/Alt key to speed up the scrolling credits.
• When the list scrolls to the very end (about 6 minutes without Option/Alt, and a minute with), look at the text that appears under the version number at the left. The little text slide show lasts quite a while. Kind of like a Mad Magazine parody inside Photoshop CS5. If the humorous text doesn’t appear right away, try clicking under the version number.

Posted by Steve Weinrebe