Film photography is increasingly an art form—throwback to a time when the man or the woman was more in control of the shooting and developing process. There is something oh-so vinyl about print that appeals […]
Author: Joe Wilcox
There’s Something You Should Know About the ONA Bolton Street Backpack
It’s beautiful but bigger than it looks. I ordered and returned the Bolton Street this week, fulfilled by Amazon from one of its retailer partners. Words cannot express how much I wanted to keep the backpack. The craftsmanship is fine art, attention to detail is finer still, and quality of materials is outstanding. But the thang doesn’t fit my digital lifestyle or my back. Depth is the problem.
My story starts on July 9, 2015, when I walked out of Best Buy with a ridiculously fantastic deal: Fujifilm X-T1 kit body and 18-55mm lens, discounted $250, bundled with the XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS for another $100. The second lens alone retails for $699. My previous digicam, the Fuji X100T, is so compact that I didn’t use backpack or other carryall. But interchangeable lens camera changes everything, so I started looking for an appropriate backpack.
Flickr a Day 206: ‘Road Hat Plank’
Our three-day walk—or is that falling flat face—down fad memory lane concludes with another selection from four summers ago. You remember the craze, right? Or did you forget? (Please do.) Nate Bolt shot self-titled “Road […]
Cali Caturday
I shot the accompanying photos on July 23rd and saved them for today. Cali played with some dangling thing from her perch and in rare form looked cute rather than ferocious. She’s a huntress that […]
Flickr a Day 205: ‘Planking on the Metro’
What better way to have fun underground in Washington, D.C. than, as the self-title describes, “Planking on the Metro”. Today’s selection is the second of three (see Day 204 for the first) of photos recalling […]
I Am Cusper
Sometimes you just want to claim credit where it’s due. While searching for one thing I came across another related to a word coined by me about two decades ago. I hadn’t realized that the term slowly makes its way into the vernacular, with others credited for the origins. How rude!
I turned 56 nearly a fortnight ago, which makes me a 59er—as in born in 1959. Problem: I never really embraced the values or attitudes of Baby Boomers, even though by the time-span fixture established by social scientists, I belong with that generational group. Much more of my behavior and thinking aligns with Generation Xers. I sought for a word to describe myself—being born on the cusp between generations. I called myself a Cusper, starting in the mid-1990s. In January 2001, I registered the cusper and cuspers dot com, net, and org domains.
Flickr a Day 204: ‘Planking’
Some fads are short-lived, while others you wish hadn’t been even that long. There is my reaction to planking four years ago. I was oblivious to the thing until someone commented on a pic of our cat Kuma posted to my social network. For fun, and no other reason, we begin three days of selections searched using the “P” word.
First up, from Patricia van Casteren, is the appropriately self-titled “Planking”, which she shot on June 21, 2011, using the Sony Alpha DSLR-A550. Vitals: f/6.3, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, 210mm. “Even the polar bears are totally hooked on planking these days”, she says, providing reference to a Wikipedia article for folks who don’t know what the hell the thing—also known as the “Lying Down Game”. I am surprised to see the origins go back more than three decades, given the sudden surge in popularity four years ago.
Tim Cook Talks a Lot but Doesn’t Say Much About Apple Watch Sales
Today’s question: Is Apple’s CEO hiding weak smartwatch sales or does he demonstrate transcending leadership by positioning for greater platform success—taking the long view? The answer lies perhaps in his comments made during yesterday’s fiscal Q3 2015 earnings conference call.
In data released today, Strategy Analytics puts Apple Watch shipments at 4 million for the April quarter. Yesterday, Canalys gave estimate that is 200,000 units higher. Apple doesn’t share the real numbers that it surely has, although in chief exec Tim Cook’s remarks that follow, there are hints—but little more. Something he says later in the call is quite provocative; genius and contrary-logistics-thinking. Either he’s hiding or abiding.
Flickr a Day 203: ‘Smartphone Teen’
The best portrait photography is candid. Better still: Something so natural it looks like a still for advertising. Pabak Sarkar evokes both qualities with self-titled “Smartphone Teen”, which takes the Day for clarity, color, contrast, and […]
Apple Fiscal Q3 2015
After the closing bell today, Apple announced results for fiscal third quarter, which largely is congruent with calendar Q2 (End date, April 27). Broadly: $49.6 billion in sales, $10.7 billion net income, and $1.85 earnings per share. Year over year, revenue rose 33 percent and EPS by 45 percent. Apple guidance before the big reveal: Between $46 billion and $48 billion revenue. Wall Street consensus was $49.31 billion sales and $1.81 EPS. The Street’s estimates ranged from $46.9 billion to $53.64 billion.
Gross margin reached 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent annually and 40.8 percent sequentially. Company guidance: 38.5 percent to 39.5 percent. Once again, international sales accounted for most of the quarter’s sales: 64 percent, which is up from 59 percent the previous year but down from 69 percent three months earlier.
Flickr a Day 202: ‘Two Sport Athlete’
Photojounalism evokes some of the best storytelling. Because what are the pics about other than tales to tell? Alongside his professional business, Zach Frailey works part-time for the Kinston Free Press. “Two Sport Athlete” takes […]
Before You Buy an Indoor Cat House…
Neko wants you to know that spending $3.99 for an IKEA laundry mesh is more than enough. He and Cali play raucously inside their meshes. Well—he does. She’s smitten with the $1 moving box we bought for […]