I’ll be speaking this coming Friday night (April 30) and Saturday morning (May 1) at the Bay Area Dive Show, which will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

At Friday night’s film festival (7:45p-9:15p), I’ll be giving a version of the sperm whale and flashlight fish talk I gave at TEDxBerkeley earlier this month, and on Saturday morning (9am), I’ll be giving a seminar on endoscope photography.

Hope to see you there!

• Interesting. Instapaper Pro likes to make some images tiny (thumbs). I think I like ReadItLater's HTML and text cache better. #
• I am about to go snorkeling aboard a cattle boat! Yee-haw! #
• I think Steve Jobs was here. http://twitpic.com/1gxkmm #
• @JerryKolber Hey, Jerry. I'll use Instapaper until Read It Later has an iPad app. This is why one of these is better: http://ech.cc/a0h9Hr in reply to JerryKolber #
• Enjoyed Tomkats Grille in Koloa (thanks, Bill, for the rec) http://twitpic.com/1gzymt #
• Pam is being tormented by a rooster who won't leave her alone. It is quite entertaining. :) #
• Photo of said rooster. http://twitpic.com/1h6ud7 #
• I was just shat upon by a small bird – folks at next table are feeding the birds, attracting them in large numbers. #
• Rookie move: no polarizer on my non-photo vacation. #
• I liked a YouTube video — Nuit Blanche http://youtu.be/JVuUwvUUPro?a #
• Be sure to download Lonely Planet city guides for free until end of today (GMT) http://ech.cc/cCePJG #
• 1Password, now for Windows! (It is fantastic for Mac) http://blog.agile.ws/post/541609741 #
• Elderly Asian woman on electric bass. Only in Hawaii. (She probably drives a big pickup truck, too) http://twitpic.com/1hov0f #
• Want a random conversation? Whip out the iPad. Someone will talk to you within 10 seconds. #
• Latest sperm whale vs giant squid mention. http://xkcd.com/731/ #
• RT @johnolilly: For #DNAday https://www.23andme.com/ is offering their $499 gene sequencing package for only $99 #
• AT&T is so terrible in SF during rush hour (on receiver's end) that I was unable to schedule a ride home. Walking now… #
• Moved Documents folder to DropBox and symlinked to ~/Documents. I hope Mac OS X doesn't break. #
• "I'm really frustrated, because I want another chip!" -Jack #
• En route to San Diego to hang out with @marylynnprice and Howard / Michele Hall (@uwfotog) #
• I uploaded a YouTube video — 3D Test, Canon HF-S20, WD-H58, no convergence – 20100424_037 http://youtu.be/1gC8ioDIfmE?a #
• I uploaded a YouTube video — 3D Test, Canon HF-S20, WD-H58, no convergence – 20100424_037 http://youtu.be/U3qUsngQY9c?a #
• I uploaded a YouTube video — 3D Test, Canon HF-S20, WD-H58, 1.25-deg convergence – 20100424_038 http://youtu.be/GXrxafQ8Vuk?a #
• I uploaded a YouTube video — 3D Test, Canon HF-S20, WD-H58, 0 vs 1.25-deg convergence – 20100424_037/38 http://youtu.be/oV69h5_p85I?a #

I love HDTV, but I sort of agree. ;) (not that I ever really watch any TV…)

• Power outage!! Funny that I can still tweet. Everything is on UPSes. #
• Pg&e power outage in #SOMA San Francisco. They say it affected around 585 people, and expect power back at around 6pm. #
• I liked a YouTube video — Standing Cat IN BOOTS! (Feat. Zorro Cat and Mariachi Cat) http://youtu.be/gZy2I8csVQU?a #
• Preparing for NAB tomorrow. Tools: Point 'n shoot, eye-fi upload to #Smugmug iPad posting, MiFi wireless. Test: http://yfrog.com/89bf1qj #
• @gfmorris I just want to try it out. There is no motivation like constraint. ;) in reply to gfmorris #
• @MaryLynnPrice MLP — will you have time for lunch? Dinner? in reply to MaryLynnPrice #
• @MaryLynnPrice ABSOLUTELY. I'll find you at 12:30 in North HAll! I'd love to see you. in reply to MaryLynnPrice #
• @gfmorris Manned spaceflight? I had 2 VIP passes lined up for the last shuttle launch and was booted for "dignitaries." Grrr… in reply to gfmorris #
• I lose nearly 2 full work days a year to tax season. #
• Good morning! I feel like crap. #
• My bagless travel hopes were shattered by the knowledge that there will be swag at #nabshow I'm now bringing a backpack. #
• In the 6 seats in my row on this plane: 3 Blackberries, 1-3 iPhones, 3 iPads. #
• @atow I can't have something that I have to hold. Does it have a shoulder strap? in reply to atow #
• @atow ahhh. I see it. Nice! in reply to atow #
• Testing Twitter for Blackberry (UberTwitter throwing image post errors since BB OS 5.0) http://twitpic.com/1fcnfn #
• Staring at a Panasonic 152" 3D plasma display. These 3D glasses are impossible to clean. #NABShow #
• Had lunch with @marylynnprice and steve perez. It is 3D mania here at #NABShow #
• "Flash Content Drives Ubiquity Across Devices" – from Adobe talk at #NABShow Waiting for someone to ask about Apple… #
• I had forgotten how annoying it is to have a smoker stand right next to you. #
• @gilesshaxted no, I have 160gb and 80gb of SSD, and 8TB spinning. in reply to gilesshaxted #
• Ran into Justin Wilkenfeld at #NABShow hadn't seen him since high school! He's at GoPro now – awesome HD helmet cam, $200 at the show. #
• "The Last 3 Minutes" – beautiful short shot by Shane Hurlbut using the Canon 5D Mark II. http://ech.cc/cCpcTA #
• Pam is still working on old company stuff, and she no longer works for the old company. Her next company is very lucky. #
• @atow There is no time associated with media, so it should be "after it comes out on May 17." :) in reply to atow #
• The contractor who put in my dual-pane windows left streak marks … ON THE INSIDE BETWEEN THE PANES. Unbelievable. #
• @superpages I've reported you for spam. in reply to superpages #
• My 2010 NAB Show report from Las Vegas: 3D mania! http://bit.ly/aS3Abf #
• @gilesshaxted … and we were so close to going to Iceland today! in reply to gilesshaxted #
• Saving Pam's 2009 tax return involves VNC to home proxy machine -> her iMac -> VMware within her iMac. She owes me big time. #
• I'm going to start looking for common Spanish and Portuguese words in my email messages. If it finds one, you get marked as spam. #
• RT @uwfotog: Watch Mike DeGruy's TED talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_…..topus.html #TED #TEDxB #
• Octopus steals a guy's video camera (while it's filming). http://bit.ly/bgdHgM #
• I liked a YouTube video — octopus steals my video camera and swims off with it (while it's Recording) http://youtu.be/x5DyBkYKqnM?a #
• "Every time you say 'backslash' as part of a web address on air, I die a little." http://xkcd.com/727/ #
• I liked a YouTube video — epic airbag ride and faceplant http://youtu.be/d9fWDtZ3esA?a #
• This is so cool. Perfect for my windowless cave. http://bit.ly/bey3n1 #
• … and 6 freeways later, I am in Santa Monica. #
• Hanging out with kozyndan in Santa Monica, and bumped into Martin of Giant Robot. I like this community! #
• Hanging out with Chris Robinson of Werner Publishing (Outdoor Photographer, Digital Photo Pro, etc) #
• I just saw a guy using a Blackberry at a urinal… tapping away with two thumbs. #
• A bunch of my photos are available as iPhone backgrounds as part of this free iPhone app (costs $ to unlock photos): http://ech.cc/cQ5NHN #
• Gmail finally has drag 'n drop for attachments! http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/…..sages.html #
• Overheard a TSA agent at LAX call the passengers going through screening "retarded." Professional. #
• Congrats! My friends, the Halls (@uwfotog), win 2009's NOGI for The Arts http://bit.ly/c1cnNv #
• @sterlingz Do you have a preferred Instapaper plugin for Firefox? #
• Hotel = TV. Does the Shake Weight commercial excite anyone else out there? #
• "Where do the locals hang out?" asks Pam. Apparently, the Big Save parking lot. #
• Switching to Instapaper from Read It Later. Waited long enough for iPad version… http://www.instapaper.com/ #
• The waiter just came by and said that our iPads (we have them at brunch) gave him "chicken skin." #
• @gfmorris yes, the rural south of a Hawaiian island. :) in reply to gfmorris #
• Anyone have suggestions for a small boat operator for snorkel tours of the Na Pali coast in Kaua'i? (prefer not to go cattle class) #
• Whenever I see "Shave Ice" I think there should be a "[sic]" after it. http://twitpic.com/1gp38v #
• View. Now. http://twitpic.com/1gpqjr #
• @alexkingorg Alex – highly recommend getting an Elgato Turbo H.264. It is the fastest way to process video for upload. in reply to alexkingorg #
• iPads disconnecting a lot from Mifi. Hope they fix it in a future OS update. #

When I met Martin Wong a few days ago and told him I was headed to Kauai, he asked if I was going to check out “that saimin place that everyone goes to.” I replied that I had no idea what he was talking about, but that if there was a famous saimin place in Kauai, I’d find it. Today, Jennifer Penner happened to write to me on Facebook to ask if I had been to Hamura Saimin Stand in Lihue, which apparently won a James Beard award despite its official status as a hole-in-the-wall.

Hamura Saimin Stand in Lihue

Pam and I ventured out to Lihue tonight to find Hamura’s. When we arrived and walked in, we stood around for awhile before we realized that we were supposed to seat ourselves. The old women who run the place were in motion continuously, taking to-go orders, accepting money, and delivering food to hungry patrons. They were EXPERTS at avoiding eye contact — quite impressive, actually. It took us quite some time before we were able to get one of them to come take our order, and when she finally came over, Pam asked, “What’s in the special?”

Wrong move. (read more »)

kozyndan, me, and Martin Wong (of Giant Robot)

About a month ago, I was recognized while waiting in line at the Manado airport by a “Dan and Kozy.” We introduced ourselves to each other, snapped a photo together… and continued on with our lives.

ericndan at baggage claim in Singapore (photo: kozy)

After corresponding with Dan for a bit on Facebook, I realized that it wasn’t “Dan and Kozy” I met, but rather, kozyndan, the well-known artists responsible for (among lots of other things) Uprisings, a print my sister bought for me some time ago (I am a fan of Hokusai and derivatives). (read more »)

3D mania at NAB Show 2010

Last week, I decided that it would be interesting to check out the NAB Show, an annual tradeshow in Las Vegas put on by the National Association of Broadcasters.

As a NAB Show newbie, I wasn’t sure what to expect; I knew that it would be different from the dive shows I typically attend, but I wasn’t prepared for just how different it ended up being. Everything was shiny, slick, and professional, and there were quite a few people wearing suits. I didn’t see any flip flops or swimsuits, and no one was serving rum from beneath fake tiki huts. (read more »)

iPad, LX3, Eye-Fi, and MiFi

I’m going to bring the above in a Scott’s eVest — no computer, no drives, no nothin’. Will I be able to do any reasonable coverage tomorrow at NAB Show 2010 in Las Vegas?

We’ll see.

My favorite part of the meal! :)

• Photos taken by @macaby from #TEDxB are now on Flickr http://ech.cc/bXgREn in reply to macaby #
• @tonywu Tony, it's not worth debating with strangers on Twitter. Ignore / block. in reply to tonywu #
• On the phone with UPS, and had to say "Agent" three times before the computer would transfer me. They sure try hard not to let you in! #
• RT @adam_hanlon: Lightroom 2.7 and Camera Raw 5.7 Release Candidates on Adobe Labs: http://bit.ly/dvGh5B #
• Today is correspondence and follow-up day. #
• My Manfrotto Magic Arm died after I used it in salt water — too much corrosion to function properly afterwards. #
• Recap, with photos, of #TEDxB posted on their website: http://tedxberkeley.org/recap #
• Amber nuzzled me in the crotch and left a wet spot. #
• @macaby Or a personal blessing! ;) in reply to macaby #
• Whoah. Tweetdeck for iPad. Perfect for multiple accounts and search terms. #
• @adamnash you type with one hand on your iPhone? in reply to adamnash #
• @sterlingz Did your 1Password for iPad sync the DB from your Mac OK? Mine just sits there (no network traffic after a few seconds). #
• @sterlingz Ahhh — iPad sync requires 1Password3. #
• @adamnash Interesting. I use the 2-thumb method on iPhone / iPod touch, and it is pretty fast. in reply to adamnash #
• Wikileaks obtains video of civilian slayings in Iraq war. Terrible! http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04…..ghdad.html #
• @kaichang welcome to iPad land. Anyone doesn't think this thing is a game changer hasn't used one. in reply to kaichang #
• @sterlingz Good luck with rebuild! Scary, indeed. in reply to sterlingz #
• Trawling (shrimp) and longlining (tuna and others) = massive bycatch death. http://ech.cc/cdvysv #
• @sterlingz Are you a Things user? If so, how does the Mac app / iPhone / iPad combo work, and is it worth the insane $$ they are asking for? #
• @sterlingz Thanks, Sterling. I'll give @Omnifocus a try. It's time for me to get a proper TODO list going. in reply to sterlingz #
• @sterlingz It's too bad. I really like Things. in reply to sterlingz #
• RT @adamnash: Congrats to Marin Software. First vendor to reach $1B in search advertising spend under management. http://lnkd.in/3Xwp9- #
• Pam is leaving her company for a new job. I sure will miss getting mad at the UI conventions her old job's software violated. #
• RT @Pogue The #iPad has no camera? That's what YOU think… clever app to the rescue! http://bit.ly/cUTXPb #
• Tried to close a petition on Care2 and add letter / deliver to target using iPad, and it failed miserably. #
• Anyone have a recommendation for a tour operator who can book a last-minute Iceland self-drive trip? Companies in Iceland are unresponsive. #
• A PDF release from the US military about the helicopter strike video: http://ech.cc/c8QBq4 #
• So close to winning an iPad from Smugmug! http://baldy.blogs.smugmug.com…..challenge/ #
• @CornforthImages Thanks, John. I wonder if I should just book 1-2 nights of hotel and do the rest once I arrive… in reply to CornforthImages #
• Issue #35 of X-Ray Magazine (free download) features my sperm whale work: http://ech.cc/8ZkVp6 #
• I wrote an article for X-Ray Magazine about the sperm whales I talked about at #TEDxB Download the PDF for free! http://ech.cc/cIIE48 #
• I really want iPhone and iPad Mail clients to have an "auto-bcc another address" feature (it has "auto-bcc myself"). #
• I'm getting 65-90 words per minute in this iPad typing speed test (after a few hours of use). http://ech.cc/9priby #
• I can't figure out how to cut and paste from Gmail's optimized tablet interface. Am I an idiot? #
• @ArneKuilman Thinking of going later on this month. Who knows, though. Hard to plan so late… in reply to ArneKuilman #
• I'm speaking ths Friday nite at #NCUPS http://ncups.org/ & on April 30 / May 1 at the Bay Area Dive Show http://www.divechronicles.com/Bay/ #
• Yargh. TweetDeck's TweetShrink feature shortened "night" to "nite." My apologies to all of you out there… #
• Whenever a website comes up and starts playing audio (or video with audio) automatically, I feel like boycotting the product / service. #
• Submitted my first clips to Footage Search / Ocean Footage. Going through and logging a couple hundred clips — tedious! #
• Anyone need an iPad dock? Have an extra one. $29 including shipping to USA (save on tax). #
• I just put "idiot" into the "reason" field during blocking / blacklisting a commenter on my website. It felt good. #
• I'm told that there were 447,413 total views and 156,717 unique views for the #TEDxB stream at justin.tv. DAMN, that is a lot of views! #
• Apple Anti-flash. :( RT @johnolilly: New iPhone SDK:"only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may .. directly link against the ..APIs". #
• @alflow thank you for the compliment! I had a great time speaking — absolutely awesome, engaged audience. in reply to alflow #
• Reminder: I'm speaking at #NCUPS in Millbrae, CA tomorrow at 8pm! http://www.ncups.org/ #
• Very sad to see Apple banning Adobe's Flash-to-iPhone converter. http://ech.cc/avm0zA #
• RT @tonywu: An accurate description of the whaling issue in Japan http://bit.ly/bfJgK8 #
• GIVE HIM HIS COOKIE! http://ech.cc/b0KkQm #
• Ben Fry, on the recent iPhone/iPad developer tools language issue: http://benfry.com/writing/archives/649 #
• I have sneezed about 200 times today. #
• Is anyone out there going to NAB next week? If so, I'd love to meet up! #
• I liked a YouTube video — WTF Japan Seriously!? http://youtu.be/UmXVAqWhwSE?a #
• Watching Brad Brown give a seminar on metadata and image tagging at #ncups (pre-talk before my talk) #
• Managed to get my Freedom Pro folding Bluetooth keyboard to pair with my iPad. Still faster on iPad keyboard, but this has potential. #
• I liked a YouTube video — The Standing Cat! http://youtu.be/zrdZbJkLzwU?a #
• I liked a YouTube video — Master of Business Card Throwing http://youtu.be/FVq0HdiM-Ok?a #
• Pam is planning a trip this summer with her friends… who are apparently the worst planners on the planet. You know who you are! #
• Another iPad dock for sale for $29 shipped in USA. Opened, but unused. #
• @gfmorris I have two of them. Well, I just shipped yours out, so 1 left. :) in reply to gfmorris #
• Caramel + salt = magic #
• National Geographic Critter Cam: Octopus vs. Sea Lion http://ech.cc/bSQSZh #
• I love that my mother uploads Flickr sets of photos when she comes back from a trip. So advanced! #
• WHOAH. Canon 7D video noise tests. Shoot at a multiple of ISO 160! http://ech.cc/aB72uy #
• Quickbooks 2009 driving me crazy. I want to set the check number when I pay a bill — NOT have it pick one automatically. #

Microsoft’s Manual Deskterity project is based on a Microsoft Surface device, and is an interesting exploration of combining pen + touch inputs.

I’ve been struggling with this for some time. I really like that the iPad and iPhone both will talk to Gmail via Activesync (Exchange). This allows me to have Mail, Contacts, and Calendars pushed / synchronized to my device from Google. But the Mail implementation is flawed because you cannot set a different reply-to email address. Actually, you can set a reply-to address, but it reverts to your gmail address when you launch the Mail app.

I want my incoming mail to come in via Gmail, but I want my outgoing mail to be from a different address (I don’t use my gmail address as an explicit email address).

So here’s what I’ve done:

1. Set up my devices to talk to Google via ActiveSync. Check sync for Contacts and Calendar, but NOT for Mail.

2. Set up a second Gmail account as “Other” IMAP — not using the default Gmail setup (here’s why).

3. Set up the IMAP account to use my normal SMTP server (the one my echeng.com address uses).

I tested this, and it works. I get my email through Gmail, but I can send through another email address.. although with this setup, I’ve lost push email.

You can’t win ‘em all.

I hate having 2 computers because all of my correspondence lives only on one of them. I have way too much mail to use IMAP effectively (multiple gigabytes messages over 17 years of archives), but I’d still like to be able to use Mail.app on both computers.

Has anyone tried symlinking ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist and ~/Library/Mail to DropBox to use Mail.app on more than one computer? Obviously, you wouldn’t want to have two instances of Mail open at the same time, but it could work.

I’m doing the same thing with Photo Mechanic prefs (to synchronize the sequence variable), and with my 1Password database, and it seems to work…

I have a sperm whale feature in the current issue of X-Ray Magazine (#35) (PDF, free download). Check it out if you’re interested in the sperm whales I spoke about at TEDxBerkeley last Saturday!

In 2004, I was forced to retire an email address because I was getting 800-1000 spam messages a day, 200-300 of which were getting through my spam filters. I abruptly turned on an autoresponder on the old address, which directed people to my current contact form. I also vowed not to let my personal email addresses out for public consumption.

Over the years, I have accumulated email addresses. I have a personal email address, a public email address, an email address I use for websites, a Wetpixel email address, an address for lists (which i don’t check when I’m out of the country), and a gmail address. All of it funnels into two main addresses (one personal, one Wetpixel), and the gmail address aggregates and archives everything before delivering it to my mobile devices.

Is it time to consolidate? With collaborative filtering, anti-spam services are getting to be pretty efficient. If I start using an email address publicly again (e.g. posting it on my website), will I be inundated with spam that Gmail’s anti-spam filters don’t catch?

The only spammy messages that get through these days are all in Spanish or Portuguese. I hope to eventually find a way to simply block all non-English emails, but for now, it isn’t that bad to have 10-15 get through each day.

I know that some of you get 1000 spam messages a day. I’d love to know what anti-spam services you use, and how effective they are!

I received an email from United Airlines today about their “Elite Choice” program, saying that I had reached a certain number of Elite Qualifying Miles and was eligible for an award. I clicked through, and was confronted with this page:

The URL is https://www.uaelitechoice.com/, which instantly made me suspicious. Furthermore, all of the other links in the email were shortened URLs hosted at link.p0.com (instead of at the united.com domain). This made me even more suspicious. I was sure that it was some sort of scam, but then I remembered that I actually enrolled in this program, and that the number of miles they said I had reached matched the number I actually had. I looked back at old emails from United, and all of them use the link.p0.com URL shortener. That was enough information for me to continue to login (and indeed, it worked, and I received a confirmation email from United)… but I very nearly did not follow through. If United’s goal was to stop some percentage of people from going through with the reward redemption process (due to healthy paranoia), they are geniuses.

If any company asked me to supply login credentials on a site with a second domain name, I would balk. Can you imagine if Paypal asked you to login at something like paypalrewards.com?

Every company needs an internet-savvy employee or two on staff. In this case, we can’t be sure if it was idiocy or genius.

My Mac Pro is now more than 3.5 years old, and is starting to show signs of age. Still, she is running strong, and her processor and memory combination is still faster than any MacBook or iMac except for the most recent 27″ quad-core iMac. Also, I’ve replaced application and swap drives with SSDs, which pretty much makes any computer scream, and have 8 TB of local storage in addition to boot and swap drives. Looking back, the $5K purchase has been well worth the money.

My Mac Pro, from September of 2006 (3.0 Ghz version) source: primate labs blog

The graph above is a wake up call, though. Should I be sitting around waiting for renders? I’m sure a new Mac Pro would absolutely fly through them. The top entry in the graph is an 8-core Mac Pro from early 2009. I’d certainly like a home machine with a faster memory bus and compatibility with newer, faster video cards, but I am going to wait until there is a big jump in architecture or design; the old machine from 2006 is still going strong.

I love this series.

I use ActiveSync to sync with my iPad and iPod Touch to Google for Mail, Contacts and Calendars. You can sync multiple Google calendars to your iPhone and iPad, but configuring it for iPad is currently broken because Google’s sync configuration page doesn’t recognize the iPad as a mobile browser.

There is a solution, however, and that is to use Safari to fool the Google sync configuration page into thinking that you’re an iPhone. From your computer (not your iPad), do the following:

1. Open Safari and view Preferences (Safari->Preferences…)
2. Go to the Advanced tab and check Show Develop menu in menu bar
3. In the menu bar, you’ll now see a Develop option. Select Develop->UserAgent->Mobile Safari 3.1.3 — iPhone
4. Open http://m.google.com/sync in Safari
5. Login with your Google account
6. In the menu, make sure Develop->Disable Javascript is checked
7. Click on the iPad you want to manage, and check all of the calendars you want to sync.
8. Click Save
9. Enable javascript and set your user agent back to default

Directions, with screenshots, are available on Kevin Tofel’s page.

Budd Riker just published a story about me in the May 2010 issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine.

Constantly traveling and seeking the hidden seascapes that wait beneath the surface of the world’s oceans and seas, Eric Cheng has quietly become one of the top underwater photographers in the world

I haven’t seen the print issue yet (May 2010), but I hope to soon. [read online]