Author Archives: danhperr

5th Annual World Wide Photowalk

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Scott Kelby’s 5th Annual World Wide Photowalk is coming on Oct 13. It you are in east Tennessee, join me in Elizabethton at 4:00 PM for my walk. If you live in other areas, go to the World Wide Photowalk website, worldwidephotowalk.com and find a walk near you. All walks are free.

My walk starts at the Covered Bridge park at 4:00 PM. After shooting around the Covered Bridge and Monument, we will head downtown. Lost of old storefronts. The classic car show will start around 5:00 so there should be some nice cars and interesting characters to photograph.

After the walk, anyone that want to get together for dinner is welcome. I will suggest a place when I have a better idea of the number of people interested.

You don’t need a fancy camera. You camera phone is fine. This is a chance to meet new people and have a good time with photography. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

A week with the iPad

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I have had the iPad for a week now and used it as much as possible. Here are my initial reactions. I don’t think anything in this post has not bees said by others but here is my take. BTW, this post is written in the iPad using the word press app.

1. The iPad is a game changer. It’s not a computer, laptop, big phone, tablet PC or PDA. It is the first of a new category of electronic devices.

2. It is easy to use. The kids picked it up immediately. The easy of use of the interface makes the programs intuitive.

3. Apps, for the most part, are solid. I have not used any paid apps yet. This is by design, I want to see how usable the device is without having to purchase anything else. I will be buying iWork and DSLR Camera Remote. So far I have been able to do what I want with free apps.

The only hardware accessory I have is the dock connector. That makes charging easier. I did make some stands out of the packing material (see boingboing.net post). Note: I need to find out how to copy URL’s from Safari.

4. Internet access Via WiFi is good. It is easy to connect to networks, both secure and unsecured. Access is fast, Safari works well, other apps accessing the net work well. Google Reader sends feeds in an easy to read and navigate, optimized, format.

5. As an ebook reader, the form factor and readability is great. I have read several books using the iBook reader. I have also used the Free Books app. I like the iBook reader better. Both support EPUB format. I have been reading some of the 30,000 free books available on Project Gutenberg. There is also a Kindle app for buying books from Amazon. as I expected, Amazon would rather sell books than Kindles.

6. Dragon Dictation is a free voice to text app. It does a better job of translating than the old version of Naturally speaking that I have on my desktop computer. I’m sure the new version would do as well. It must be connected to the Internet to work since the translation is done on the Dragon servers.

7. I tried several free note taking and list apps. I went back to the iPad version of my tried and true desktop note taking program, Evernote. If you have never used Evernote, give it a try, the desktop app stores notes on your desktop and can sync with the cloud storage system. I have used the desktop app since long before they offered online storage. The free storage is more than I need. The iPad app uses the online storage but can be used offline to store notes. It will sync when you are online and start the app.

8. Other apps that I have used and like include Mocha VNC Lite and Remote Desktop Lite for remote connections to other computers. Stars, Pandora, ABC Player, Factzilla, And Today in History for fun. Bible HD, Holy Bible HD, Constitution for iPad, Declaration for iPad, and Dictionary for reference. Tweetdeck is my Twitter app. The slickest and maybe the best looking app is the Weather Channel. Of course the WordPress app since that is how I am writing this post.u

9. The most disappointing app is eTextbooks by CourseSmart. It is no more than a front end to Safari. CourseSmart rents electronic textbooks to students. The books are only accessible online. I had hoped the iPad app would be a better interface than a browser.

10. Audio and video work great. I have changed the way I listen to my podcasts. My “high priority” podcasts go on the iPod. These include TWIT, TWIP, The Economist, Photofocus, Security Now and the Daily Giz Wiz. I have an audiobook loaded as filler. The iPad has other podcasts such as the IT conversations stream, Cyberspeak, Photo Netcast, and the audiobooks I subscribe to. Audio podcasts are played at 2X speed on the iPad. My old iPod will only play at 1.25 speed. Video podcasts also go on the iPad. I can listen while working on other things.

My overall view of the iPad so far is positive. As long as you don’t compare it to a laptop or net book you will be pleased. It is not a laptop or net book. It is a new category. I look forward to seeing what Dell, HP, and others come out with as competition.

Copyright vs Orphaned Works

Copyright vs Orphaned Works

I am a photographer and occasional writer so I am concerned with copyright. I use various copyrights with different works ranging from ?all rights reserved? to a creative commons license.

Congress is working on orphaned works legislation to make it easier for people to use material still under copyright when the owner cannot be found. This is a good idea but they will get it wrong. Of course, what have they gotten right lately?

I believe in copyright. The constitution allows the government to issue copyrights and patents for a limited amount of time. The time is not specified and has changed over the years. Patent times have been decreasing in some areas while copyrights have increased. Mostly to protect the mouse. Yes, copyrights have increased as Mickey Mouse nears the limit of its copyright. I am not saying that this is a bad thing. Many people feel copyright should last forever and allow descendants to benefit. If property can be handed down from generation to generation, why not copyright.

Now for the problem. To use copyrighted material, you need permission and may need to pay royalties or fees. That’s fair. What if you want to use a work and cannot find the copyright owner? You could use the material and hope for the best but if caught, the penalty can be large.

It is often difficult is not impossible to track down copyright holders. Many have died without leaving anyone to inherit the work. Other times, multiple persons hold the rights. This is especially true with movies. The music and soundtracks may be held by persons other than the studios. Everyone needs to be contacted for permission.

What about written work. In the 1930′s and 40′s there were dime novels and anthologies of short stories. Many of the publishers are no longer in business. Who was the author, the listed author may be Jeff Smith. How many Jeff Smiths are around? What if that was a pseudonym? It could have been a staff writer doing work for hire. I hope you see the problem.

Some will say: What’s the problem, just don’t use the work. Fair enough, but by some accounts that I’ve read, over 50% of movies ever produced do not have a complete copy in existence. Over 90% of silent movies have been lost. Why would a someone try to restore and sell the remaining copies if they could be sued and loose large sums of money? Of course, if there is no incentive to the studios to restore those properties, more will be lost. This illustrates some of the difficulty that we are facing.

The best argument against the orphan works act is it takes the teeth out of copyright. Someone uses a copyrighted work, gets caught and argues that they could not find the copyright holder. How do we judge weather a good faith effort was made to find the owner. My electronic copies of my photos have contact info embedded in the EXIF data. I can bee found. Please someone ask to use my work. I will happily license their use. Of course, someone could change that data and say they got the photos from somewhere else and that is how they found the photos.

For this reason, the orphaned works act should deal with the age of a work. The newer the work, the harder to use the act. Be sure to allow for sufficient damages for violations of the act. With the all of the stock photography sights selling images for very low prices, how do we determine that a Scott Bourne of Steve Simmon photo is work hundreds or thousands of dollars (they are) while mine may only be worth $10. I think mine should be worth more of course.

Being fair with the legislation will be difficult if not impossible. I don’t think that Congress can do it right. I don’t think judges and juries understand the value of some of these works.

I would love to see a solution that would save many of the old movies and out of print stories and books. With electronic publishing and print on demand books, we can open a whole new world of material.