Greetings!
I hope you have a great Independence Day weekend. We spent much of our time with family and friends, enjoying several BBQ's, swimming, lots of Fireworks, lots of laughs and overall a great long weekend. One of the things that always shocks me is how cold it can be out here on the 4th. Each year we head out for Fireworks and we're packing blankets, sweatshirts and while I'm standing there packing the car during the day, sweating in my shorts and t-shirt - I'm thinking "We'll never need all this stuff, Renee is crazy." But, since my wife pretty much prepares us much better than I ever could - by the time the Fireworks start, we are all wearing our sweatshirts, wrapped up in our blankets, laying back on the grass, enjoying the explosions that take place 500 ft above us. I don't think we'll see any real "heat" until September or October - our Indian Summer.
This weekend we're off to the PiPi River! And that's pronounced pie-pie, thank you very much. ;-) We'll be camping along the water, searching for some prime fishing spots and generally enjoying the outdoors with the kids, Renee's brother and Aunt and their families. It's the first time we've visited this area which is about 25 miles east of Jackson, CA. If you have any experience or secret fishing spots you want to share about this area, let me know as we can use all the help we can get. I did finally get the kids some new fishing poles, now that their fishing skills have improved enough to keep their casts out of the bushes. On the way back from Yosemite last month, we stopped at the ginourmos Bass Pro Shop in Manteca where we scored some really nice rod and reel combos for just $20 each. We spent about an hour in the store, browsing while the kids climbed all over the boats and ATVs - thank you kind Bass Pro staffers for indulging the fact that no trip to your store would be complete without sitting on every single vehicle available.
Hold the future of books, in your hands now.
You've heard me extolling the virtues of the Amazon Kindle eBooks and you've probably seen our Kindle stop-motion take apart video on YouTube. Today I want to share with you the other side of the publishing revolution that is going on: customized books, created on demand, to your specifications. We are quickly coming to the point where that bestseller you want will be created specifically for you, customized to your specifications. Not only will this dramatically change how books are sold, but it will allow you to mix your own experiences within content that would otherwise be locked up - books will become much more "fluid" and self-publishing of your own book will be a common occurrence.
So, where am I going with this? A long time client and friend of TechRestore is Rick Smolan. Do a Google search on Rick and you'll find his credentials include some of the largest photographic projects on the planet. Rick is a former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer and he created the hugely popular Day in the Life book series. Titles like America 24/7, A Day in the Life of Africa, 24 Hours in Cyberspace and dozens more. These are the books you want on your coffee table.
Rick has also pushed the boundaries of publishing, allow you to design custom covers, with your own photos that are printed on the covers of many of these books. Now, Rick and his team have created a new book, documenting our recent Presidential Election. The book, The Obama Time Capsule offers the highest level of customization we've seen so far and regardless of your political views, the photos capture a historical time and cover both sides of the campaign trail. From Rick:
"The 200 page large format book (26 inches wide when open) features the work of more than 140 photographers who spent much of the past 2 years on the campaign trail and many of the images in the book have never been seen before. The book also includes commentary by the likes of Arianna Huffington, Joe Klein, General Colin Powell and even Obama's half sister Auma.
There are many great books about President Obama's journey to the White House (and I believe ours is one of them) but what sets this aside from every other book is that THE OBAMA TIME CAPSULE enables each reader to weave their own names, photographs and stories into the President's inspiring story. Every single copy is personalized for each book buyer and each copy is printed one at time."
The book has been featured on the ABC Evening News and USA Today featured the book on their front page.
We love Rick's work and highly recommend you visit the site to learn more and to create your own version of this book. Checkout the very cool video on the front page that describes the book. Enjoy!
Future Shock
Our latest stop-motion take-apart video is up! The iPhone 3GS Disassembly shows you what's in the box and under the hood, with 1051 high definition frames, in under 2 minutes. You can view it on YouTube or download a copy to keep and watch on your computer, iPhone or iPod here. It's even available in the iTunes Music Store as a free podcast.
There's an unintentional cameo in this video, where Ivan (my CE tech) and I were caught in a reflection. On top of that my camera died during the shoot and, though it could have been fixed, the parts were nearly as much as a new (and better) camera. Luckily, I have the tripod locked in place, so we could continue shooting, seamlessly, with the new digicam.
This weeks' desktop image is made of frames taken from the 3GS video above. Part of the iPhone screen is running Safari and the rest is invisible, showing all it's nifty insides. Since I shoot in 1600x1200, it's a bit smaller in size than our ordinary desktops but, you can use the Fill Screen or Fit To Screen option, to zoom it bigger. If you prefer to enjoy it at actual size, without zooming, select the Center option in your Desktop System Preferences and the remainder of the screen will be in the background color of your choice. Click here for the full size image, then right-click and select Save, to make it your own.
Have fun!
Brian Northway
Weekly Specials
We had a nice response to our MacBook and MacBook Pro specials from last week - only problem was we had the MacBooks configured incorrectly, so our pricing was a bit out of whack with reality - sorry about that! All is well and you can once again buy a MacBook for $699! Check out the deals and I'll see you back for a website pick of the week below. The specials expire on July 17 at Midnight Pacific time - use the links below or call 1-888-572-7372 to speak to an actual Human to place your order or schedule your service.
Labels: specials
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