In honor of Earth Day, yesterday, I would like to share my research on LED lighting, the most efficient way to illuminate space. Right now, LED’s are relatively expensive, though; but hopefully that will change in the near future, when demand and manufacturing increases. Basically, LED lighting can be broken down to these pros & cons:
PROS:

• very efficient use of energy, which means:
  –doesnt give off heat –> no burns, no unwanted heat
  –less wattage –> save money
  –last longer –> rarely need to change lamps
• easily dimmable
• directional light (can also be con, see below)
• can be made to give off any color
• LEDs do not give off nfrared nor UV light, which damage objects such as paintings and textiles

CONS:

• expensive
• hard to find, especially for regular indoor lighting
• not easy to make — need a driver for use with AC power, plus considerations about R, max current, etc
  –expensive to make for retrofitting into standard bulb sockets
  –should really be utilized in a different manner than the current standard
  –> more electrical work to convert to LEDs
  –> this is why LEDs typically only used for outdoor or accent lighting

for more general information on LEDs, check out these pages:

• toolbase.org - great breakdown on LEDs and their current benefits
• gizmology.net - more technical info on LEDs, lots of details

For LED manufacturers:
[Note: for retrofitting into standard incandescent bulb …, look for ‘retrofit’, ’standard’, ‘Edison-type’, or ’screw-in’. Also keep in mind the COLOR of light you wish to have. For indoor lighting, I would suggest ‘warm white’.]

• LEDtronics - excellent supplier, with all types of LEDs. includes an “incandescent to LED” converter
• HollySolar - page with their ‘retrofit bulbs’
• lc-LED - this page has their ‘replacement LEDs’ for halogens, standard incandescents, and more
• theLEDlight - offers various types of LED lights for the home and more

For those wanting to tinker with making their own LED lighting from scratch:

• theLEDlight - great starter page on technical details about LED circuitry
• taskLED - supplier of LED drivers
• allelectronics - link to their ultra-bright Cree LED light
• Cree - manufacturer of ultra-bright LEDs — link to their new high-output XLamp LED
• Arrow - supplier of all types of LEDs, this page searches their catalog

Nikon D70, that is…why?
      My main issue(among others), the one that truly irked me from the beginning, was that I could never seem to focus correctly with my D70. The screen was always dim. I could autofocus, but no matter how I did it, it wouldn’t come out perfect. By perfect, I mean that a person’s eye HAS to be in focus. To me, this is the most important thing in portrait or beauty photography. With my D70, it was a crapshoot - sometimes the front eye, sometimes the back eye, sometimes the ear or the hairline was in focus instead. Why not manually focus? Even with my 20/20 vision, that is nearly impossible with the D70’s dim and fuzzy focusing screen.
      I searched & searched for remedies, and only found a make-shift DIY screen explained here, or a D70 replacement screen here (which I ordered and found out was the exact same thing I already had). I contemplated exchanging my D70 for a film camera with complete manual control. I looked into brighter viewfinders, tested my camera for a backfocus problem here, and I worried that my standard lens(24-70mm kit lens) was too slow.
      Finally, though, I found Katz Eye Optics, a company which focuses (no pun intended ) on custom-manufacturing bright focusing screens for all the major dslr’s. [Haoda is a cheaper alternative] Even though the price is a little steep ($160 for a ‘plus’ split-prism screen with microprism collar, plus optional Optibrite treatment for extra clarity) I finally decided to give it a try, especially since my Nikon VR 18-200mm Christmas-present lens is finally due to arrive shortly.
      Oh how I am eagerly awaiting these items to hookup my Nikon DSLR system…

By now we all know how our movements online can be monitored in order to display targeted advertising on our screens. But did you know that this practice has migrated from our desktops into our bedrooms?
New York Times article, “Ads Made by You, in a Click“, by Louise Story, chronicles the new wave in marketing: customizing advertisements according to location, local events, weather, and demographics, where the companies themselves can set up amorphous ads in minutes. It seems though, that some of the tactics used to gather information about customers has gone too far. One company can already stake people out through their remote control clicks. Got cable or satellite? What you watch, when, and for how long, becomes marketing data, which is so advanced that these companies can send spanish ads to latinos, toys and game commercials to kids, and so on.
So, is this good or bad? On the one hand, we, as customers, may get exposed to more relevant commercials, learning about products we may actually want, but on the other hand, our privacy is being compromised, and we play no part in choosing the ads interrupting our tv shows. If it was up to me, I’d opt for watching only the funny commercials…
UPDATE: (4/15/07)
And now that all U.S. households will have to be equipped with digital TV’s (no more old-school antennas after the digital switchover!), this issue will be even more crucial. I’m surprised Google hasn’t already advanced in that (the television) area…or have they?

A while back Netgear released its revolutionary (in idea, not in practice) wifi phone, in conjunction with Skype. I watched it on Amazon where it was unavailable(sold out?) for some time, saw negative reviews, not only for its high price of $250, but also for its quality, and decided not to bother buying it. It was limited in connecting to wifi networks, so it proved to be more of a sit-on-the-shelf item than a portable voip phone.

Afterwards, Belkin released a similar phone, and now Linksys has followed suit, with its new iPhone (not by Apple, by the way) called the WIP320. It is currently selling on Amazon, right here, but as there are no reviews as of yet, I think I will wait.
In the meantime, you could do what one Amazon commenter said: just get a smartphone that can run Skype on it. This neat skype blog shows various methods of doing mobile skype. Skype mobile can be downloaded for smartphones or pocket pcs here. This seems like the best option, as the device is not limited to skype only - duh!

So the news about a wifi phone is really all just hype? Yes and no. In the future, I believe all mobile phones will be VOIP - I know Sprint/Nextel is already working towards that, and in just a few years (2010?), it will be reality.

A month ago, the New York Times published an article named “Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone,” and in it there are 2 absolutely free services that I find pretty jaw-dropping.

1. Free Directory Assistance, dialing 1-800-FREE-411 (does have an ad you have to listen to though). Or, text message 46645 (G-O-O-G-L) with what you need(in terms of directories, or even weather, stock quotes, definitions, directions, etc) in the body of the message. The third option you have is to call 1-800-555-TELL where an automated voice asked you what you need.
2. Free International Calls - call FuturePhone at their 1-712-858-8883 access number and follow directions. It is totally free, and it includes over 50 countries, not always mobile phones. Note: I did try this twice, and found that all ‘circuits were busy’, so it may not be as easy to use as it looks…

You can officially download the new beta Photoshop CS3 now from Adobe’s website right here. With a CS2 serial number, you can get a working CS3 serial number to activate the product. Without one, you have only a 2-day (yes, you heard me) trial.

Lightbox, on the other hand, is another new beta Adobe product free for download, right here. It offers a new way of handling digital photos, with photo libraries (”shoots”), slideshows, filmstrips, etc.
Both beta products are available for Macs & Windows.

These are the best extensions, IMO, for me. I’m wary of adding more, for fear of slowing down the browser, so I’ve stuck with the ones I need the most.

(if you don’t use Firefox yet, because you’re still stuck on IE or whatever, what are you waiting for! At least try it out, click here: )

• Foxmarks , for synch’ing your bookmarks with other computers (although I often uncheck automatic synchronation while I’m managing or adding bookmarks)
• Adblock Plus, for automatically blocking ads which make page-loads slow
• TabMix Plus, a MUST! for saving your windows & tabs, even after restarting your computer or crashing!
• Faviconize Tab, for making space by reducing the size of tabs(very much needed) to only the width of the icon
• a few others, but I don’t need them or use them every day like the ones above

So, if you are new to extensions, or new to Firefox for that matter, try installing the above add-ons, for a more comfortable browsing experience!