Andrej Gregov

I've moved my blog

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:29:39 -0800

I have just migrated my blog to Wordpress. Yes I haven't been blogging much in the past months. But I'm going to start up again. If you care, would love to have you continue to follow me. My new blog is located at agregov.wordpress.com.

I will be deleting this blog soon. So, update your RSS feed readers. Thanks!

New Apple laptops

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:49:34 -0800

As a few people have been asking me my opinion of the new Apple laptops, so I'm reposting an email note I sent out to a friend. Sums up my opinion in not too many words.

If I were buying a new laptop these days, I'd probably pick up one of the MacBook Airs. I think that's Apple's nicest machine. Beautiful display, light and portable. And then I'd likely connect it to an external display for home use. The new 24" display is pretty cool.

The big problem with the new MacBook Pro is the screen. As soon as I saw the specs I knew their would be a firestorm over the lack of a matte option. Photographers and designers don't generally like the glossy screens. I predict in the short run, the last rev of MacBook Pros will actually see a slight bump in their used value. And it will delay current Pro users from upgrading for awhile until the community figures out how to deal with it. Also somewhat worrying is the glass screen. If it cracks easier, that will be a disaster for sales. It almost seems to me that you now are required to get Applecare if you buy one of the new machines to protect yourself from a screen failure. Other than that, the track pad looks cool. I like the chicklet style keyboard better than the old one. And the asethics are great (though somewhat conservative in comparison to the Air).

As it's a v1.0, I'd hold off on buying unless you're really in need for a new machine.

Jobs' brain

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:03:57 -0800

Yes I'm still alive. Just haven't been much in a blogging mode. But this YouTube piece on Jobs caught my eye. Over the past year or so, Jobs has gotten a lot of praise for his brilliance as a marketer. I've never liked that description of him. Yes, he is great at marketing. But where I think he really excels as a strategist.

In this YouTube video, you'll see how Job's brain works. The video is really an internal training piece for NeXT. So, it reveals a lot more details about his thinking than one would usually see in a keynote. But if you watch closely, you'll see how he takes a very abstract and complex marketplace, the workstation market, and tries to simplify it and turn into easily identifiable segments. From this simplification, he is able to plot a strategy and communicate it to others in a very understandable way. As you watch the piece, compare his breakdown of the workstation market to how he breaks down the consumer and pro market for Apple products. It's very similar and most importantly, simple. MacBook Pro/MacBook. iPod/iPod Nano. Pro Tower/iMac.

In my opinion, Jobs' brilliance is not in making us lust to buy something. Though he has great aesthetic sense. His real ability is at taking a 10,000 ft level perspective of a market, breaking into a few basic segments and then targeting those segments with simple and straight forward products.

Oh, and hindsight being 20/20, his strategy was wrong in his presentation. He should have focused on bringing workstations to the masses. His real competitor was Microsoft not Sun. This would have meant a big price cut on NeXT boxes. That many have not been feasible at the time. But it was the only way they could have won big. IMO.

Calatrava Satolas TGV

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:15:00 -0800

Can never get enough of Calatrava.

On diversity

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:53:25 -0800

Tom Friedman's latest post on diversity in the United States.

Let’s start with us. Walking through the Olympic Village the other day, here’s what struck me most: the Russian team all looks Russian; the African team all looks African; the Chinese team all looks Chinese; and the American team looks like all of them.

It is amazing that with our Noah’s Ark of an Olympic team doing so well “that at the same time you have this rising call in America to restrict immigration,” said Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. “Some people want to choke off the very thing that makes us strong and unique.”

Amen.

Ken Burns on still photos

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:18:53 -0800

Got this via Presentation Zen, Ken Burns talks about the power of still photographs. He also tells of his meeting with Steve Jobs where they discuss the using of his name for the Ken Burns Effect. Fun excerpt.

Everything you need is already inside

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:48:57 -0800

Latest Nike commercial for the games. No one captures the romance and passion of sports better than them. Makes me want to go workout!

Critical Mass gone amuck

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:24:16 -0800

Via Joe, I found about this ridiculous event of Seattle riders "protesting" their rite to ride on city streets. King 5 has some video here about an altercation with a local driver during the most recent protest ride. I'm totally embarrassed for all my fellow cyclists in the city. I've road Ride of Silence before which I think is a positive event--to honor riders that have been killed by bike/car accidents and bring attention for drivers to pay closer attention to cyclists on the road. But Critical Mass seems like overkill (too much protesting for little likely gain). Politically, I'd be surprised if the City of Seattle pays attention to this sort of a group.

I've been commuting for years and never felt like someone was denying my right to share the road. Yes some drivers get way to close to me and sometimes flip me off because I've slowed them down by 2 seconds. But for the most part, every year more and more people start riding and more bike lanes get built.

Major crash-o-la

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:52:27 -0800

No, I didn't crash on my bike. I crashed on my run today of all things. Picture this...and action!

Scene 1
Cut to Andrej doing some trail running in Seward Park. He's in the zone today, running at about 8:30mi pace (good for him). Mind is elsewhere, listing out vacation spots for the year. Having a grand time.

Scene 2
Cut to a still image of a 1 inch piece of rebar sticking up in the middle of the trail.

Scene 3
Cut back to Andrej coming down the trail. Quick cut to his right foot getting caught on the rebar in full stride.

Scene 4
Slow-mo! With Andrej's foot firmly locked against a piece of rebar, left comes forward at full pace. But with no right following, entire body flails forward head first down the trail with arms out by now to protect core and head. With enough momentum still in force, Andrej slides down the trail on his stomach, arms out in-front of body at this point as if he were sliding head first into home plate for the game winning run.

Scene 5
Cut to mild mannered park walker up the trail who sees retardo runner's events unfolding ahead of him. "Whoa, what the F**k. That guy tripped over thin air. Wonder if he's OK?"

Scene 6
Cutting back to Andrej, face down on the trail. "Mother 'explicative!' What the 'explicative' did I hit!?! Another explicative', 'another', and 'yet another.' Andrej get's up to investigate. Finds the rebar and then proceeds to to blame Seattle Park & Rec for his predicament. Marks the rebar for other runners and takes off back down the trail.

Final scene
Cut back to mild mannered walker. "Guess he's OK."

Omer Fast: 2008 Whitney Biennial

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:14:38 -0800

Very cool video piece at the Whitney by artist Omer Fast.

Clay Shirky talk

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:10:06 -0800

Excellent Ted Talk by Clay Shirky on on-line communities. While it's a bit dated, much is still very relevant today.

A review of "Vagabonding"

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:07:35 -0800

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, by Rolf Potts

When I travel, I’m usually a pretty organized planner. Though, I been finding myself planning less and less on trips over the past several years. I usually don’t read travel essay type books. But doing some research for a trip at my local Barnes and Noble, I caught a book that took a more anti-planning approach. So, I picked up a copy.

I’d say the heart of the book is to just slow down when traveling and enjoy your surroundings. It’s really targeted to folks who want to do long term travel (3+ months at a time). I found it helpful for thinking about even shorter trips. The 10 day turbo trip across Europe? Ridiculous. How about 10 days in a single city? The other thing I liked about the book is the emphasis on traveling on the cheap. I remember the $10 dollar a night hotels I’ve stayed in. Not the $250. Finally, the author spends a lot of time making the point that there’s no need to wait to travel. Along those lines, this passage stood out the most for me:

…we end up spending (as Thoreau put it) “the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it.”

A review of "Into the Wild"

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:50:11 -0800

Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer

Last January after I saw Into the Wild, the movie left me wanting to learn more about the main character, Chris McCanless, and motives for his adventure. His death in the Alaskan wilderness seemed completely unnecessary and stupid. I’m not sure I learned much more about his motives other than to experience life in a more raw way than many of us do. Here’s one of my favorite passages in the book, written by McCandless:

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirt within a man than a secure future.

A Bugatti versus a fighter jet

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:01:11 -0800

Even though this makes no sense at all, it beats the pants off of any car commercial I've ever seen. Watch it.

Going old school

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:23:28 -0800

I've be troubled lately around my photography. Frustrated really. Since I've moved over to digital, I've felt little creative energy to shoot outside of action photography, where digital really shines. All the auto settings and ISO flexibility offer few constraints. I find I just point and shoot with little to no thought involved. And I take too many photos that have to be culled through. Boring.

I caught this blurb on the Aperture blog recently:

I still love the instant gratification a digital camera gives me, but the images for some reason are just not that interesting to me at the moment. ...So one night, I woke up and had the thought, “why don’t I just shoot some film and have some fun?” This was of course immediately followed by the thought, “How the hell would I do that?” ...So, I sat there and wondered about it for a while. What camera would I use? What type of film? Do they even make the film I used to use anymore?

I can totally relate. After my photo workshop last year where we were shooting 4 x 5 negatives, my interest in film was rekindled. But having never shot medium/large format before, I was at a loss as to where to start. So, I sat on my butt. Recently, several friends have been fueling my inspiration to getting back out there and shooting film. I just dusted off the old 35mm Nikon. The view finder is glorious (bright and large) compared to my digital. I also ordered a cheap 50mm prime and will start shooting some black & white.

I've also started exploring range finder cameras like the Leica M series. Not only are they beutiful from an industrial design perspective, they're simple as hell from a UI perspective. Tried as I might, I couldn't find a digital camera as beautifully designed and simple as a Leica (aside from a Leica M8 which still needs some improving). Why is that? Do photographers really need the hundreds of features in a typical digital SLR? Interacting with all those menus drives me crazy. In any event, I've never shot with range finders and I'd like to start. So, I might see about picking up some sort of 35mm range finder at some point.

Then there's medium format which I've never shot. A friend is going to introduce me to some of the Mamiya cameras. I'd like to experiment with them a bit. Finally, in the fall I'm going to start taking some classes at Photographic Center Northwest. Todd said it's the best way to get out there shooting regularly. Anyone care to join me for Black & White 1?