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5 Reasons Why Call of Duty 4 Online Sucks

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:13:34 EST

Call of Duty 4 is a great game and I love to play it. Problem is, I wonder what the heck the developers were thinking when they put together the multiplayer game lobby. I love the perks, the system for leveling up and the create-a-class system, but the way they managed getting players into games is a disaster. Here's the top 5 reasons Multiplayer in Call of Duty sucks.

You can't choose the map
Most online multiplayers that I can remember provide players with a game lobby that listed at least the available games, the number of players in them, the current score and let you choose which game or map you felt like playing. My number 1 grip with COD4 is that you don't get a choice. Why was this left out?

The game suddenly ends early
This was a tough one. This probably deserves to be number 1 for the most irritating problem with Call of Duty 4. The reason it didn't get number 1 is that it is really a combination of a few shortcomings of multiplayer in this game.
It happens at least 5-6 times per hour of game time. You finally get into a game and then at some point during the match, the game abruptly ends and a message on the screen says "The host ended the game." Or better yet, you've waited the 45 seconds or so for a game to begin after waiting for players to join and before the map begins loading, the lobby shuts down.
Left and right, the games keep shutting down until your so tired of trying to join games that you shut the console off. It is really frustrating and it could have been avoided if the next problem was addressed

The role of Host doesn't change hands
Back in Call of Duty 2, when a host quit the game, the game would automatically transfer hosting to another player. It would even display it on your screen and inform you that you have become the host. The game would not suddenly end and you wouldn't have to start over. It was great! If they could do it then, why can't they do it now?

The game tries to load the same map over and over again
This is probably the most frustrating thing that happens to me frequently. I try to join a game, the map isn't what I want to play and I leave the lobby. I try to find another game and it drops me right back into the same lobby again. Over and over, I try to get into a different lobby of the same game type (domination for instance) and COD4 joins me to the same game! Sometimes this happens 8 or 9 times before I give up and have to try another game type of quit the game.
This goes back to my first complaint that users should be able to pick their games.

You get dropped into games that have finished
I believe that the game should be smart enough to know that if the round ends at 200 points, it shouldn't try to add new players at 195 points. Period. It is frustrating when you're trying to get into a game when you only have a half hour or an hour to play and you wait for a map to load only to have it immediately send you back to the lobby and then you are waiting for the next round to begin. Especially when most times this means the host is about to leave the game and the lobby is shut down.

Adobe Trademark Guidelines

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:18:13 EST

Adding links to PDF's on a website is always a nail biter since you don't always have control over how the client wants them to be implemented. The last thing you want to do is surprise a user with a PDF without warning them. Providing an icon next to the link and also supplemental information somewhere on the page about what software is required to read them is a bonus.

This is a neat page for reading about the proper way to link to Adobe when using PDF's on a website. No, you shouldn't just grab Adobe's icon from somewhere and paste it into your page. Their logo belongs to them and should be displayed according to their guidelines.

2007 in Review

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:42:08 EST

This past year has been a busy one and I sometimes feel that each year I spend less and less time time taking photos for myself. I spent a few minutes this afternoon perusing my Lightroom Catalog from 2007. I probably shot more frames this past year than previous years. The photos are certainly taking up more space on my drive than ever, being that the image files are larger. Most of the photos I shot this year weren't for me, but for work. That needs to change.

I think one of my goals for this year &mdash we won't call it a resolution — is to take more pictures in a more casual way. Maybe at some point I'll even pick up a no-thrills point and shoot just to make it that much easier. Pointing a camera with a 5 inch diameter lens around is anything but low profile.

To kick things off, I put together a collage of some of the photos I took for me from 2007 and printed it out for the wall. In the spirit of simplicity, I didn't edit them, didn't touch them up, didn't even spend more than 10 minutes arranging them on the 16x20" canvas in Photoshop. I just winged it.

Lightoom 1.3 Export Dialog

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:13:53 EST

Finally Lightroom 1.3 is available and hopefully the Leopard compatibility issues have been ironed out. I haven't yet tried printing to see if things are working, however I did export images and was shocked to see the export dialog is a stark white and has been rearranged to match the other CS3 custom Adobe dialogs. Why they feel the need to sway away from system interface guidlelines is beyond me, but to add a white dialog box to an application that is rendered in deep grays and blacks is just silly. There's no consistency between the working application and it's external functions.

The screen cap is a bit small to be readable, but it is still easy to see that this dialog is busy, low contrast, and completely different than the application it belongs to. Perhaps for users of Creative Suite 3, it will make sense because it is consistent with the other Adobe applications, but seeing as how the export dialog is the only dialog that sports the CS3 style interface in Lighroom, the change is a bad move for usability. Neither the import or print dialogs stray from other OSX system dialogs.

Installing Leopard? Grab a flashlight...

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:59:45 EST

After successfully installing Leopard on my PowerMac G5, I thought it would be a breeze on our 17" Powerbook G4. Upon rebooting, I was presented with a black screen and the sound of the spinning installation DVD. I waited, assuming it was slower than my G5 Tower, but it never went away.

I eventually got frustrated and rebooted several times only to be presented with the same problem. After turning the lights on in the room, I noticed a faint outline of a square on the screen. I took out my flashlight and pointed it the laptop's screen and saw that the install was in fact waiting for me with a prompt. It seemed that the screen brightness was at its lowest setting and the brightness adjustment would not work since the computer was not booted into the OS.

So, if you think your shiny Powerbook has been converted into a chunk of metal, take out your flashlight...

Pocket Wizard Plus II - First Impressions

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:49:31 EST

I received my first set of Pocket Wizards last week. For the uninitiated, Pocket Wizards are a wireless transceiver for firing flashes, strobes and even cameras without wires from great distances. I've read enough about them to know they are the most reliable wireless trigger available. The thing is, I like to try before I buy and with these things costing about $185 each and you need at least 2, there's not a lot of information on the build quality of the Pocket Wizard.

What's in the Box?

In the photo above you can see everything that comes in the box besides the manual and warranty card. Included is the Pocket Wizard (of course), a wrist strap, batteries (non-generic brand), 1 foot sync cable, and a small patch of velcro.

I gotta say it right off. I was impressed that it came with batteries. I know they only cost a couple nickels, but it was a nice surprise. It was nice to get a brand name battery to boot. Way to add value to your product.

The small sync cable is needed to connect your strobe, flash unit or camera to the pocket wizard via mini plug to the Pocket Wizard and pc connection to the other unit.

The wrist strap is nice for hanging the Pocket wizard from a stand or for an assistant holding a speedlite in hand.

The velcro was a nice touch for anyone who wants to mount the Pocket Wizard to a strobe or stand.

Build Quality

Ok, we know that the units are reliable, but I never hear anyone mention what they thought of the way they're built. Out of the box I was a little stunned by how light they are. Naturally, the batteries were not in it yet, but I thought it would be heavier. It felt a little cheap at first, but I'm glad they aren't heavier. I've got enough weight to lug around as it is.

The antenna is flexible, and softer than I expected and is covered in a rubbery plastic that seems pretty durable. In my head I pictured it being hard plastic that could break off if dropped. This is not the case.

The buttons and switches on the front are hard plastic. The switches for transmit modes and channels slide into place nicely. The test button is a hard button that clicks and I was a little annoyed by this expecting it to be soft and quiet like a television remote.

The on/off switch on the side is pretty generic but I doubt I could accidentally switch the unit off if it was bumped. Below this is a 3V port for external power. A nice addition, but I don't think it will ever get used on my set.

On top are the two ports for attaching flashes and cameras. These seem to be sturdy enough. No complaints. Also there is an indicator light that blinks when the unit is turned on. Same as the front.

The right side of the unit only has the company logo and model as well as the eye for threading the lanyard through.

The back of the unit is where the 2 AA batteries are inserted and also there is a 1/4 20 mount for attaching to a tripods, stands, mounting arms, brackets etc.

Summary

By far my biggest complaint about the build quality is the hot shoe mount on the bottom of the unit. It fits just fine into the hot shoe of my camera, however the threaded collar for tightening is far too small to tighten adequately since it is about the same size as the camera shoe. Also, the threading is coarse molded plastic that doesn't allow the tightening collar to adjust smoothly. I felt that it never really got to the point of being tight on my camera's hot shoe. It's really a shame and it stands out when compared to the mount on my flash unit.

Overall, the build quality looks good, though some aspects could have been made a little nicer to the touch for the price and that hot shoe mount really needs to be re-thought. It is plain horrible, though it will keep it on your camera.

Javascript Classroom Videos

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:18:30 EST

The internet is a beautiful thing in how while you are reading something, you can easily be sidetracked into leaving what you are reading and end up somewhere else only to repeat the process until you almost forgot the source of what your were reading in the first place.

In this case, I was reading an article about MooTools and ended up at the MooTools website and found this page about learning Javascript which led me to a great set of videos on Yahoo of Douglas Crockford, of Yahoo, in a classroom setting discussing Javascript from A-Z.

My first reaction was, "Man, I'd love to have these on my iPod." Yahoo's video player is horrible, in my opinion, as it doesn't really support scanning of the video to replay or skip ahead. So, if you miss some valuable information, you can't really seamlessly go back and fetch it. Yahoo won't let you download them, however.

It seems I wasn't alone with these feelings. Well, if you follow the link provided at the end of the videos, which you only get one chance of reading before having to start the half hour video over again, you can get them in downloadable format. Just go to the Yahoo Developer Network website.

I'm not through all of them yet, but so far there is a ton of information for people new and old to Javascript. Eat it up. There's a lot to see. Also, all the slides used in the presentations are available for download.

580EX - EX II Comparison Found

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:05:55 EST

I haven't had a chance to check out the new Canon Flash, but I found a pretty good review comparing it to the previous version that includes some side-by-side photos that are large enough to see the details. Naturally, a quick favorite for most people will be the addition of a PC connection - something that is new to Canon flashes.

Go read the review and see the cool pictures

Using Lightroom on 2 Computers

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:22:02 EST

This article on the Inside Lightroom Blog sheds a little bit of light on the ability to share catalogs from Lightroom between computers. This is something that wasn't really feasible with version 1.0.

http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2007/07/lightroom_11_catalogs_1.html

This is a great feature since many people will either be working on 2 machines (laptop and desktop) or you may be sharing the editing responsibility with other people. Now you can transfer the images, the lightroom edits, and changes in metadata between computers.

Now accepting your words of wisdom

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 02:10:18 EST

Yep. I've finally got around to writing up a script that allows people to post comments. The spam prevention feature is a little simplistic, but I've had about all I can take from that whole CAPTCHA method and I'm not about to inflict that irritation on anyone that might want to leave their mark here. I swear that half the time I type in the verification word it is either illegible or fails to process my request and acts like I didn't just submit the form for the 5th try.

So, we'll give this a try. An email address and some simple math is all that's required. Website address is optional.

Lightroom 1.1 Develop Module Features

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:29:05 EST

Lightroom 1.1 was released earlier today and I just wanted to go over a few new features in the Develop Module

Clarity

Previously, only the Vibrance and Saturation sliders were present here. The new clarity slider caught me off guard. At first I thought it was some sort of sharpening slider, but as it turns out it isn't. The Clarity slider is described on adobe's site as follows:

Clarity - Adds depth to an image by increasing local contrast. When using this setting, it is best to zoom in to 100% or greater. To maximize the effect, increase the setting until you see halos near the edge details of the image, and then reduce the setting slightly.

Sounds pretty straight forward, though I haven't had a chance to really play with it yet.

Sharpening

Also new is a more robust Sharpening pane

Straight from Adobe's Live Docs

Amount - Adjusts edge definition. Increase the Amount value to increase sharpening. A value of zero (0) turns off sharpening. In general, set Amount to a lower value for cleaner images. The adjustment locates pixels that differ from surrounding pixels based on the threshold you specify and increases the pixels’ contrast by the amount you specify.
Radius - Adjusts the size of the details that sharpening is applied to. Photos with very fine details may need a lower radius setting. Photos with larger details may be able to use a larger radius. Using too large a radius generally results in unnatural-looking results.
Detail - Adjusts how much high-frequency information is sharpened in the image and how much the sharpening process emphasizes edges. Lower settings primarily sharpen edges to remove blurring. Higher values are useful for making the textures in the image more pronounced.
Masking - Controls an edge mask. With a setting of zero (0), everything in the image receives the same amount of sharpening. With a setting of 100, sharpening is mostly restricted to those areas near the strongest edges.

Note the triangle with exclamation point. This is there to warn you that the image should be zoomed to at least 1:1 to best see the results of any sharpening. This warning is present in some of the other panes as well.

The new sharpening controls are not as intuitive as in Lightroom 1.0, but I think it is great to have greater control. The new sliders are reminiscent of Photoshop's unsharp mask. Geez, I almost forgot Photoshop existed for a minute there. Lightroom is looking more refined in this iteration and these are just a few of the many new changes.

Colored Streaks after Importing to Lightroom 1.0

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:03:21 EST

In the past few weeks I've experienced a problem with some images I've imported into Lightroom 1.0. One or two out of several hundred photos I import from a CF Card will show streaks or banding like in the photo below. Sometimes this problem won't show up until the file is brought into the Develop Module.

I did a little research to find that others had the same problem. Some attribute the problem to bad CF Cards or to the brand specific RAW file formats. The problem I have with these theories is that if I delete the file from Lightroom and re-import it from either the original CF Card or from a backup stored upon import to Lightroom, the problem usually resolves itself and the photo will appear normal.

This leads me to believe that it may not be the file, but it may be Lightroom causing the problem when writing metadata to the XMP sidecar file. It really becomes a hassle when you need to clear off that CF Card before editing in Lightroom or if you discover the problem a few days later and when you re-import the fixed file is no longer grouped with the files from the original import.

Lightroom 1.1 has just been released this morning and I'm eager to see if this problem has been corrected since it seems other people may be experiencing this issue.

Anger on Craigslist

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:46:06 EST

We've all seen the listings on Craigslist that offer little or no compensation for work by artists. OK, I guess when I say, "We" I really mean "me", but I know I'm not alone on this one. I started combing the listings on Craigslist over the winter and since then I've found some good leads that have made me a few contacts and resulted in some good experiences. However, most of the job listings in my field offer little or no monetary compensation and often include the phrase, "Great for building your portfolio."

Well, lately I've seen that someone out there is fed up and has begun posting fake listings voicing their anger with listings that don't offer fair pay for artist's work. Every few days I'll see one or two of these (link probably won't be active for long!).

Another site posted this funny comic that sums up what I've been talking about. You can visit the artist's site or read his blog to see more work.

It is a pain to be looking for work and see the number of people not willing to pay for services, but it doesn't make me angry, especially not on Craigslist. I think most people consider that site a place to get a deal on something and you get what you pay for. People living off their talent won't be able to afford to take those jobs and the people listing the jobs aren't looking for the best.

"R" for Crop?

Sat, 26 May 2007 00:31:14 EST

I don't know about you, but I'm so used to "C" being used for the keyboard shortcut for the Crop tool, that I find myself constantly being kicked into Compare mode in Lightroom. In Adobe Photoshop, the keyboard shortcut for Crop is the letter "C" on the keyboard, but in Lightroom, "C" jumps to the Library module's Compare mode. To get to the Crop tool in Lightroom via keyboard shortcut, you have to hit the "R" key. I think it will take some getting used to.

Finally, a New Photo

Wed, 23 May 2007 04:29:54 EST

May has been a bit of one step forward, two steps back as far as progress is concerned with my own projects. After rebuilding and configuring my websites from backups, and finally getting DNS issues resolved with my host I was able to post a picture on PhotoAperture. I shot well over 700 images this month, most of which were for weddings, so I figured it would be appropriate to put one of those up. I don't think I've posted any of my wedding photography on the site before, so its an exciting way to get back into the swing of things.