Resampling can be crudely explained by taking one pixel and increasing the space it takes (example: 1 pixel will become 4).

A real world example is taking a picture from a cameraphone, which, when printed, will print an area covering an inch or two, at most. By using upsampling, you can take that image and add enough pixels so it becomes large enough to cover a 4×6.

While resampling images does have its perks, it won’t be able to retain your original quality of the pictures – for example, if you take your basic camera phone and try to upsample those, you’ll have a great time explaining why the edge of a table is so blurry. Most, if not all, upsampling software doesn’t have the intelligence to know what parts are sharp and what parts are soft.

There are lots of resources for learning how to upsample. I’ve included a few here for your benefit:

• Resizing and Resampling in Photoshop
• Photo.net – Discussion on upsampling
• Intepid – Excellent illustration of upsampling
• PCmag – Upsampling tutorial

I’ve been assembling my 2007 Linisus Annual (a personal yearbook), and while planning it out with Blurb’s Bookmaker, I’ve come to a rather depressing realization:

I can’t print the bigger photobook that I wanted to this year.

Now, its not impossible, in any sense, to make the 13×11 photo book (fyi reference: a sheet of paper is 8×10). You can easily make a 13×11 photobook with two-or-more photos per page.

But I need those full-bleed shots (pictures that go from left-to-right and top-to-bottom) of my favorite, enlarge-worthy shots. And with my old six megapixel D70, I’m barely meeting the dimension requirements to do a crisp 8×12, let alone crisp 13×11. If I wanted to sacrifice image quality for the a full-bleed shot on the book, I can technically do it… But I won’t if I’m putting my name to the picture.

For reference, a six-megapixel image (Nikon D70) dimensions are 3008 x 2000, while a twelve-megapixel image (Nikon D300) is 4288 x 2848. I guess to be rational, Bookmaker will never be satisfied with the camera of your choice until you hit fourteen or sixteen megapixels…

In short: if you are making a photo book and wanted to do full-page bleeds, make sure you are aware of your 1) picture’s quality and 2) picture’s dimensions. Blurb (and MyPublisher) prints at 300 dpi, so its always good to compare your camera limits vs. the book’s specification – Blurb has more information on their Help & FAQ.

(Note the key word is crisp – I’ve done 11×14 blown up before, but there is a lot of compromise in terms of clarity – If you’re putting a photo up on a wall that you stand back and admire, a six-megapixel shot more than adequate.

But when it comes to coffee table books that are viewed at less than a foot away, crispness is critical.)

I hate to tell all the former students who took 471 before, with and after me – VBA may soon disappear.

At a high level, VBA support is already waning on the Office side – the next version of Office already endorses Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) and the .NET framework, which offers much greater integration with tools and better security over its applications.

Should you need to panic? No – The use of VBA will vary from organization to organization, and the likelyhood that yours will immediately adopt the replacement is low, and the transition will most likely slow as well.

If you have the chance to learn VBA, should you still do it? Yes – VBA is a very easy language to learn, and with some effort, you can port your pre-made VBA programs into the VSTO/.NET environment.

If you are really emotionally attached to your VBA, now is probably a good time to start learning and getting familiar with the .NET and VSTO framework, and start thinking how your VBA code and skills can carry over; it won’t be a complete shock when the transition occurs.

If you’re looking to establish yourself as a power user, learn how to program in VSTO now – you will be the cutting edge power user when it comes into full swing, since you’ll be the one replacing the older VBA power users with the newest Office versions.

Read about Migrating add-ins from VBA to VSTO, and more about applying your VBA knowledge to VSTO and Office 2007.

Disclaimer: Strictly opinion, use at your own risk! Think I’m stupid? You’re probably right, but you can sound off at me so I really know for sure.

There was an article posted on Monday July 17 on Computerworld that, in summary, stated that “The IT worker of 2010 won’t be a technology guru but rather a ‘versatilist.’” – more involvement with the finer points of presentation and people skills.

Talk about huge applause and backlash! Once this article was slashdotted and dugg, it was amazing how polarized the internet became – through comments alone, people revealed their programming backgrounds and business perspectives on the issue. Membox on Wednesday of the same week posted a counter article, detailing a perspective that boils down the importance of the nuts-and-bolts programmer role:

In almost every successful IT project I’ve ever been involved with it’s been a nuts-and-bolts techie that’s had the most important impact. More often than not, the “business skills” types were more hindrance than help. Many times their superiority and arrogance led to project failure.

This reminds me of Does IT Matter? by Nicholas Carr – remember that huge uproar? It is strongly related to what we are hearing today: how important is the work that the business-oriented people do? Is it becoming more important than the hours of blood and sweat the hardcore programmers are doing?

The main difference lies in the fact most people lie on one of those two extremes. CEOs (I am stereotyping CEOs here, for simplicity sake!) are entirely business oriented, yet most would not consider their company’s CEO useless. On the other side, cutting edge programmers materialize the direction of the company, and are considered just as valuable of a player as well.

CEOs provide the direction and strategy that only a few can envision. Programmers lay the concrete to get there.

However, CEOs would not be able to lay the concrete themselves – most are not skilled enough to, and they are the first to admit it. And without direction, programmers lay a concrete path that travels in the path of whoever is pouring it.

CEOs can’t communicate their direction to programmers. Programmers can’t tell CEOs what are possible and impossible. They speak different languages entirely! What do you do?

You hire someone who understands both languages! Similar to the ‘versatilist’ Computerworld was speaking of, this is who understands both sides of the coin. Someone who understands the significance of the project he/she is involved in, and understands the potentials and limits of the languages that the programmers work with.

In an ideal world, the nuts-and-bolts techie would have these business skills and perspective – that is an unstoppable combination. But in reality, most programmers love to program and craft something out blueprints and raw materials, and they wouldn’t have it any other way. Programmers can’t program for the sake of programming – their efforts need to be channelled into something strategic, something the company can use to leverage money and competitive advantage… something that a business person sees.

The emerging position is someone who is ambidexerous with the art of business and the language of coders. I don’t agree with Computerworld entirely, nor do I agree with Membox.

They know why they want to build the bridge, and you know how to build the bridge. We’ll tell you where to put it and what to use to make it: you need us as much as we need you.

(And if you know exactly where and exactly how, you’ve got it made!)

[Digg it]

My iPhoto book arrived by FedEx, inside some classic Apple packaging! In short, it is a high quality printed book. The book pretty expensive at $46 (Cdn) for 22 pages, but it is good looking and unique keepsake. Keep reading if you want to see the insides, and especially if you are considering purchasing an iPhoto book.

[Photo] Hardcover black book

First off, the hardcover picture is nice – However, at 22 pages (the base cost includes 20 pages), the book feels awfully tiny, and I would recommend stepping up the number of pages to really take advantage of the quality of the book.

[Photo] Full page quality, 8.5 x 11 goodness

The photos come out great though. I’m shooting on my 6 MP Nikon D70, and the pictures come out just fine, even when blown up to the whole page. Some of my pictures came out dark though (seemingly underexposed), and most of that would be attributed to the poor colour calibration on my iBook. If there is any suggestions I can throw out to Apple, please include some sort of colour calibration guide – I think that the proper levels should be 1.8 Standard Gamma and a D50 white point, with brightness at 2. Anyways, most of my photos turned out well (the July 1st fireworks pictures? Near perfect. ).

[Photo] “Made on a Mac” indeed

An interesting surprise hit the rear inside cover – “Made on a Mac”, in true Apple fashion.

All in all, the iPhoto photo book is a great investment, but make sure you calibrate your screen correctly and fill up those pages for a really great project.

Located way across the North Edmonton Cineplex (13671 St. Albert Trail), it is wedged between the Subway & Vo’s Nails… Inconspicuously, unless you count the incredibly large logo signage.

Once you step inside, you will realize that it is incredibly open (the ceiling a good two stories upwards), with lots of good seating. There is also a raised area to the right, sporting more seating, couches and a fireplace. Michael Buble’s Home graced the speakers and our ears, to give you an idea of the atmosphere. A paper sign near the front does its job: “We Have Wireless Internet”:

Walking up to the counter, unless you know what exact tea you want, you will probably be daunted and confused. Luckily, the very cheerful staff offered some good recommendations, and pulled tea leaf jars from the carousel for us to smell and sample. The menu is decent: coffee, tea, and bubble tea for drinks, and desserts, muffins and paninis for food. Siao & I decided on a Lychee bubble tea, a japanese tea and a Turkey panini. We grab a seat at our table…

… And after a few minutes, all that we ordered is graciously served to our table. I ordered a large japanese-type tea ($4.00), which yields about four cups… This would last someone a long time if they wanted to study here.

Siao’s lychee bubble tea with lychee pieces ($3.50) was a mix of blended ice and juice, and was quite small, when compared to the serving sizes of other bubble tea places in Edmonton.

Finally, the part I was waiting for: the Turkey Panini. Now, as a former employee of another euro-style cafe, I have come to love (and perhaps obsess) over paninis. I’m particular about the bread, the ingredients, and the grill, but I must get the perfect panini at any (reasonable) price.

The Tea Place offers a great deal on a quick lunch, at $6 for both a panini and a cup of soup. The soup was straight-forward and good; quality potato and bacon flavoured. The panini, however, was okay. It was decent sized (each sandwich was the size of a hand), but the meat was cold, and the mozzarella was not melted much at all. It could have used a few more minutes inside the grill. The bread was pretty oily (the picture dulls the oil), and was nothing compared to the wonderful bread at the Italian bakery. But considering how much I paid for it, I could not complain too much; I’d buy it again.

The Tea Place is a great place to bring your books to study, or bring a friend to sit and chat. The long operating hours last until open early, close at midnight on a Saturday, and the availability of internet is always a plus.

The Tea Place: Recommended, depending on your mood to tolerate rude people (See below).

- – - Aside: – - -
I made this call at the end of writing this article, just to make sure I had my facts straight. This very rude conversation goes like this, which gives you an idea of one of the… staff.

Hi, the tea place, ___ speaking.
Hi, I was wondering if you had any time to answer any questions right now?
No.
Oh, I see. Is there a better time to call back and ask?
No, probably not.

Wow, thanks for the help.

My Crumpler Formal Lounge arrived today, and I quickly abandoned my priorities to stuff it up full.

I was very excited to wait for this bag to come in… Did it fulfill my quest to find the perfect bag?

First off, its very firm and is foamed up very well; it protects all my goods on the inside. Its more bottom heavy, pointed out more bluntly with its fat bottom. On the outside and with some of the straps, it reminds me of Lowepro’s Sliplock system, and can easily hold a carabiner-connected Nalgene bottle. The back straps go over the main compartment, so you can’t access it unless the bag is removed.

The back is insanely padded, with almost a centimeter between the outside and the bag itself.

It can also fit my future iBook/Powerbook, up to sizes of 15 inches. Along with the iBook, you can stuff a decent lunch and a water bottle on the inside.

The camera compartment holds my mobile kit nicely, and has room for a SB-800 flash and other things necessary for the photojournalist.

Now, the extra side-pockets are very small and tight, and can’t really hold anything three-dimensional without putting pressure on the threads.

The bag overall is very tight; it may be because it has not been broken in yet, but especially for the smaller pockets, the bag needs to be “pulled apart”. It feels good on the back though; with my small body and torso (I measure 5 feet 6 inches top-to-bottom), it doesn’t make me look stumpy. I’m actually surprised I can fit so much stuff in the main compartment, with a bit of room to spare.

Abiet being pricey at $150 USD list price, it is a fairly good bag overall. It will currently sit at the top of my best bag list. Much better than the Lowepro bags I went through… It is almost my dream bag.

The Crumpler Formal Lounge: Recommended.