In LA

I shot a few portraits of Angus against the smoky sunset background. I like this one, but it needs a little bit of photoshop work to really make it sing. There’s somedetail in the shadows I can bring up to further separate him from the background, make him look less like he’s popping out of the horizon, and make it less of a complete silhouette.

Another photo from last night’s sunset. The smoke from Malibu was very heavy.

Some nice views last night from my place. A good night to sit on the patio and gaze Westward. I shot a collection of photos that can be viewed here. The view was less fun for people on the coast, I had friends who complained of eye irritation and trouble breathing.

It would seem that progress has already been made on porting my favorite Chinese input method for OS X to the iPhone (Chinese URL, English URL¹ ).

If 3rd party application development is to proceed at this rapid pace in countries in which the iPhone is not even yet sold (China), and without the distribution of an official SDK, and with not just a lack of support but an antagonistic attitude on the part of Apple towards the use of 3rd-party applications and the users who love them –just imagine how quickly the stable of quality iPhone apps will grow with the existence of an SDK, as iPhones begin to be sold around the globe.

A very good call on Apple’s part to open up the phone to outside developers. As a wise man once said, “developers developers developers developers!” Apple does well to not give a cold shoulder to the people who actually want to develop apps (and thus add value to) the iPhone.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Chinese, Chinese IME, Chinese Language, IME, iPhone, Macintosh, OS X, Pinyin, SMS, software

1. half-assed translation courtesy of babelfish [↩]

People often ask me if I’m going to get an iPhone, and I invariably answer that the iPhone looks great but three things need to happen for it to meet my needs:

1. It needs to be able to run my favorite Chinese dictionary software, Plecodict.
2. It needs a good Chinese pinyin input method
3. It needs to be unlocked so I can use it with China Mobile and other GSM phone systems around the world.

The first two items on this list require the iPhone to be officially open to 3rd party development. Sure, Apple will incorporate their own Chinese input method when they eventually ship iPhones in China, but there are better input methods I’d rather use. And Plecodict for iPhone won’t exist before an official SDK is released by Apple.

Hackers have made it possible for people to write native iPhone applications, and also to unlock the phone so that it can be used with GSM providers other than AT&T. Apple has generated some bad P.R. by blocking these iPhone improvements with a software update. And apparently Apple Store “Genius Bars” have been refusing to help customers who have installed 3rd party applications on their iPhones. I saw signs posted at the Apple Store in Santa Monica warning customers that hacked iPhones may not be eligible for warranty service.

Thankfully, Apple has announced that they’re going to be opening up both the iPhone and the iPod Touch to 3rd party application development, and will be distributing an SDK¹ to developers in February². This is great news, and will hasten the arrival of the kinds of 3rd party software for the iPhone that I find essential on my Treo.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Chinese, Chinese IME, Genius Bar, IME, iPhone, Pinyin, Treo

1. SDK == Software Development Kit [↩]
2. Why February? Besides ironing out the bugs, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple needs time to find a way to make it impossible to run voice-over-IP software on the iPhone. Surely the fact that the iPhone initially did not support 3rd-party software was in part due to the fact that AT&T wants people to use and pay for their voice call time, and doesn’t want customers to be able to call their friends at a steep discount using “Skype for the iPhone”. Their may even be such an agreement in writing between the two companies. I’m of course just guessing at all this, but it seems logical to me. [↩]

The captcha from the Gizmo project’s account creation page. Do you think that says "7743"? So did I. Think again.

Want to use the Gizmo chat and voice-over-IP network? Applicants must defeat a dragon or two and then solve the captcha of doom. Took me 4 tries.

The reason I’m setting up a Gizmo account is to try their Treo client. Supposedly it allows you to chat with your friends on the AIM and MSN networks.

Technorati Tags: accessibility, captcha, Gizmo project, legibility, rebate, SIP

To use iChatAV, you’ll either need a free .mac or free AIM ID. Here’s how to get an AIM ID and how to set it up for use with iChatAV:

1. Go to www.aim.com in your favorite web browser.
2. 
   Find and click the “Get a Screen Name” link on the AIM web page. Right now it’s at the upper right of the page. Don’t bother with the much more prominent links on the page to install AOL’s lame AIM software.
3. Follow the prompts to make an AIM screen name. Your screen name has to be unique, and you won’t be able to register as your first name alone because there are probably thousands of people who got there first. If you don’t want to end up with the kind of unique but random-number-encumbered and difficult-to-remember screen name that the form will suggest to you, such as “James4258″, you might try include your last name. You can of course skip using your name entirely and do whatever you like. Be sure to choose a password you can remember. You’re not likely to conduct financial transactions over iChatAV, so the password really doesn’t have to be very secure in my opinion.
4. 
   iChat icon
   Find the iChatAV icon in your dock and click it to launch iChatAV. If you have removed iChatAV from your dock, you’ll need to open up your /Applications folder and find it.
5. 
   
   iChatAV will pop up a window boasting of its greatness and regaling you with tales of its many heroic deeds. Hit the ‘Continue’ button.
6. 
   click the image to see a larger version
   Now iChatAV will present you with a form. Click the popup menu and select ‘AIM Account’ so that iChatAV knows you’re entering an AIM screen name and not a .mac ID. Enter all your info, then hit the ‘Continue’ button.
   
7. Time to skip through a few more forms without doing any more setup. iChatAV will provide you with a form to “Set up Jabber Instant Messaging”. You can skip this and hit the ‘Continue’ button. Just hit the ‘Continue’ button to skip through the next form as well, the one that asks “Do you want to turn on Bonjour Messaging?”. The next screen will show you an image of yourself if your computer has a camera, hit ‘Continue’ to skip ahead.
8. Hit the ‘Done’ button and iChatAV will launch. You’ll see a ‘Buddy List’ window. Once you add some buddies to your list, this is where you’ll see that their online and available for a chat. There’s a nice document at Apple which explains how to add buddies to your buddy list, among other tips for using iChatAV.

See you on iChat!

• A collective of crazy cats on the net have been translating the bible into LOLCat. I’m not mentioning this because it’s all that amusing in content, but because it’s amusing to me that such a thing even exists at all. The LOLCat meme just goes on and on.
• I decided to buy a copy of the latest Michael Chabon novel, “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: A Novel”, after reading this interview with the author. A noirish detective novel set in a Yiddish-speaking Jewish homeland in Sitka Alaska. What’s not to like?
• Beauty pageant contestant Stacy Hedger better have won the talent competition for her exciting dance and stirring rendition of the Star Wars theme on trumpet. See below for evidence of just how much the 80s rocked.

(hover over any of the Chinese text below to see a pop-up translation. Technique grabbed from the tip here.)

My cell phone just rang, I fumbled to place my bluetooth headset on my ear and answered.

Caller:	Can I speak to Yang Xiao Hong?
Me:	Who?
Caller:	mumble fuzz mumble Yang Xiao Hong
Me:	您找谁
Caller:	杨小红
Me:	我不认识杨小红，我是范杰。杨小红是功夫之王的演员马？
Caller:	不是， 杨小红是什么什么什么什么什么
Me:	Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Is Yang Xiao Hong related to the film 功夫之王? I ask because I might know who you’re looking for. I was just in China working on that film.
Caller:	Oh, sorry, this is a wrong number. 杨小红 just called me on the other line. Your number is very close to hers.
Me:	OK.
Caller:	Sorry, bye.

There were many odd things about this conversation:

1. Someone with a 626 area code called me, looking for someone with a Chinese name.
2. I heard a Chinese accent and reflexively switched into speaking mandarin –This is something I do with some regularity now in China when communication in broken English doesn’t seem to be working out. I did this quickly and without thinking.
3. Conversation continued for a bit in Mandarin.
4. When I realized I was not in China, was missing some relevant vocabulary, and that communication would likely be more fluid in English (the caller’s English was likely way better than my mandarin) I switched back.
5. My mandarin pronunciation sounded significantly worse to my ears than it did when I was in China –gotta get more practice.

Technorati Tags: Chinese Language, context switching, mandarin, wrong number

If you, like me, are intrigued by the existence of a programming language whose syntax is based on the Lolcats babytalk captions, check this out:

I CAN HAS VAR? Sorry class is full! ZOMG!!!!!

All I can say is “UP VAR!!1″