A&S

I have been asked by many people for my opinion about the iPad since its announcement in January. There are many people that complain of the devices shortcomings but it is my opinion that this device will revolutionize the way we consume media. This one device will allow for the consumption of movies, TV shows, music, books, and magazines. It is amazing to think that I will be able to leave the house with one 1.5lbs device containing Atlas Shrugged, Golf Digest, The Wall Street Journal, How I Met Your Mother Seasons 1-4, and Ironman.

The iPad has the potential to transform and revitalize periodical publications. When I saw the SI video below in late 2009 I knew that periodicals would be in store for some big changes. This is a truly compelling demonstrations of what is to come.

I think that this is better than any magazine available on paper. The ability to navigate so seamlessly and to embed rich media content is simply amazing. You can potentially carry all of your magazines and newspapers for the entire year on one device.

Ultimately there is infinite possibilities with the iPad. I can’t wait to leave the house with one device with all the media I might want to consume as well as the ability to check my email, browse the web, and use all of the wonderful applications that developers will release.

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We are finally getting started on our photos from our recent trip to Greece. There is actually more video than photos. We have over 2000 photos.Here is one of many to come!

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When apple announced and released the TV several years ago it was thought that this would be the solution to the problem of managing and distributing media throughout the home. And although the TV is an awesome device and fills its niche, the product leaves something left to be desired. Is it the OS? Is it the hardware itself? Does it really matter? I argue no, as the mac mini can be easily configured to operate as the ultimate home media server.

The following is a discussion of the way I have implemented the Mac mini into my home. The specifics of my setup may be overkill for some but after reading other articles on the topic I felt as though the true power of the device has not been adequately described.

Lets start with the basics, how I have everything hooked up. Our home is wired with Cat 5e (ethernet cable). This allows every networkable device in the house to have a static connection to our network. Our cable modem is in the closet can. In the can there is an Airport Extreme Base Station which broadcasts Wifi and routes our LAN traffic. From here Cat 5e is distributed throughout the house with Gigabit Ethernet switches where necessary.

There are three Pioneer displays in our house. One in the bedroom, one in the bonus room/office and the other resides in the family room. This is where the Mac mini home media server lives. The Mac mini is connected directly to a 60″ pioneer display via a minidisplay port to HDMI cable. It is also connected to a Denon AVR-3808 receiver via a TOS Link cable. The receiver distributes audio from the Mac mini to each of two zones that the receiver powers (zone 1 -surround speakers in the family room and zone 2 - the speakers located in each room of the house and in the backyard). With this setup I can watch movies or TV in iTunes in the family room with surround sound. I can push the TV audio in stereo through the rest of the house and backyard if I would like. I can listen to playlists from iTunes throughout the house while watching Magnetosphere on the display or looking at my most resent photos as a screensaver. As you can see the possibilities are limitless. Especially since the Mac mini home media server is just another device on the network. As such, any other computer or device (TV) in the house can share the iTunes library on the Mac mini.

The Mac mini can be controlled using a good old fashioned keyboard and mouse, the Remote application on an iPhone, or even via an RF remote control (I like the Logitech 1100). It can also be controlled using another computer locally or remotely using [Screen Sharing.app][12] (the VNC client built into OS X since Leopard). It is amazing the think that I can control what is playing on my TV at home from work (or any other place on earth for that matter) using Screen Sharing.app.

I think that you are probably beginning to see how powerful this really can be.

Now that we have covered the basics lets discuss the specifics of how I have setup the Mac mini including software, hardware, and controls.

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I was doing some scouting for an upcoming video project and snapped this shot. I thought that I would share.

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We just returned from a little Anniversary celebration at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point. We are three months late on the anniversary but better late than never. We had a nice time although it was quite short. We walked around on Sunday with a Macro Lens and a 50mm f1.4 prime. Here are a few photos from our journey.

Self portrait

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Just another photo from the trip. Still working on getting through them. GT4 Prologue on PS3 has been a bit of a distraction. I have to say it looks a lot better on a 30″ monitor filling the screen.

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Alene and I just returned from a trip to Arizona. We visited the Grand Canyon and the Sedona. We took a lot of photos. This is just one of many. I will likely post a gallery once I have time to get through all of the post processing.

Photo is HDR of 3 exposures taken with a Canon 5D 1/160 sec f/9 +- 2 stops in Aperture Priority. Merged from Lightroom to Photoshop and tone mapped with Photomatix Plugin. Fussed with in Photoshop and then round tripped back to Lightroom for some fine tuning.

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Got some new wheels today. So naturally I turned the garage into a set and took some photos. There are several good ones. This is Alene’s favorite so I posted it. Shot with Canon 5D @ 17mm ISO 250 1/125th at f/2.8 with a 580EXII shot through an umbrella high camera right (you can see the reflection in the driver’s side door) and a 480EX fired behind the front left wheel.

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Alene and I were invited by Joe and Debbie Petrella to attend the Angels game this past Sunday. The weather was beautiful and the action was nonstop. Here is a gallery of some of the shots that I took while enjoying the game!

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Our good friend Danny just celebrated his 30th Birthday. Happy Birthday Danny Danger!

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