Today’s digital technology is so good that sometimes it’s hard to tell whether an image is real or computer-generated (CG).
Of course, we’ve been exposed to CG imagery in movies (and recently TV) for years now, and oftentimes for me, I can instinctively know something is not “right” about an image and know it’s been artificially created.
At the same time, however, sometimes you just want to enjoy the story.
I guess it’s just that once you know the sleight of hand behind a magic trick, then the trick (and future tricks) loses some of the aura of coolness, as you’ll always be wondering.
In any case, the above images make up a challenge from software maker Autocad.
Can you tell which ones are real photos, and which are computer generated?
Today, Wacom introduced their newest line of pen tablets, the Intuos 4.
I currently use the Intuos 3, which I’m very happy with.
The Intuos 4 sounds like some extra tweaks to the user-interface, plus a pen with double the sensitivity.
What I’d like to see is a new Cintiq model that incorporates the Apple’s latest multi-touch functionality.
Imagine using your off-hand to swipe, pinch or squeeze the image you’re working on, while your pen-hand does its thing, all while looking right at the tablet! Wouldn’t that be cool?
Anyway, one can dream.
In the meantime, this would probably be a good time to get a pen tablet if you’ve always wanted one. Either get a new Intuos 4, or find a discounted Intuos 3 as those are (probably) discontinued.
As a professional photographer, a number of my gigs involve using small flashes, “Speedlites”. They use AA batteries and so the green way to do things means using rechargeable ni-cad batteries.
So for the past few years, I’ve been buying my rechargeable batteries from Thomas Distributing, including the Maha MH-C801D charger, a wonderful unit that charges up to 8 AA batteries at a time, and includes a “soft” charging function that is gentler on the batteries, and a “recondition” function that will completely drain and recharge a set of batteries.
The charging unit has an informative LCD display showing charge levels, and feature status (”Soft charging” and/or “Conditioning”). I’ve been using it with many sets of batteries with no problem for 2-3 years now.
Problem
Imagine my surprise recently when I found that my batteries were being fully “recharged” in about 15-20 minutes, instead of the hour or two hours (with the soft charging function selected). Furthermore, the soft and condition buttons were no longer working either.
“Oh, no!” I thought, “Now I have to buy a new charger.”
Solution
I logged on to their website, and noticed that they had a “Support-Help” area. Reading through, I found phrases like “We handle all your warranty problems here. We do not force you to go elsewhere for warranty service. We want you to be 100% satisfied and to make your shopping experience totally hassle FREE.”
In today’s world of automated voicemail mazes and no-one-ever-reads-em EULAs, this was a pleasant revelation.
Well, it couldn’t hurt, I thought, so I dashed off an inquiry explaining my problem.
Imagine my surprise the next business day when I received an email response asking that I send my unit back in, and if it was truly defective, they would replace it. No Return Authorization#, nothing. (I emailed back just to make sure.)
So I sent the unit in.
2-3 weeks later, a new unit arrived via UPS.
Sweet!
When Customer Service Needs to Shine
Lesson: Often times we buy products or services, and everything, including the customer service, is fine. BUT, the true test of great customer service is when something is wrong.
