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How I fixed the iPad Belkin Grip Vue Case and iPad Keyboard Dock compatibility issue with a blade
 iPad with Belkin Grip Vue in the Apple Keyboard Dock


The problem to solve here occurs because the iPad doesn’t fit the Apple accessories like the keyboard dock when your iPad is in any type of case. Since a case like the Belkin Grip Vue fits so snugly, it is a chore to remove it each time you want to dock the iPad.


As a companion to the article “How I fixed the iPad Case and Dock compatibility issue with scissors“, this describes doing a similar process, but for the iPad Keyboard Dock , which has a higher backplate than the standard iPad dock, and the Belkin iPad Grip Vue Case , though it should work with any similar case as well.

I’m liking the Belkin Grip Vue case as it’s a grippy surface and covers the back and sides of the case but keeps the iPad easily accessible. The iPad is much easier to hold onto for longer periods of time in this case.  Here’s how you can make it all work:

(Like the linked article above, this hack involves breaking out a blade and cutting your case, so decide if you’re ready to commit. But since only small area at the bottom center of the case is removed, the case is still able to maintain its tight grip on the iPad and I haven’t had any issues with the new case after modification.)

Steps for the hack: Apple Keyboard Dock Belkin Grip Vue iPad case with notch removed Cutaway from underneath Final product


Posted in gadgets, iPad, upgrades | Tagged belkin, case, dock, grip, hack, ipad, keyboard, modification, vue | 3 Comments » Great post analyzing JPEG export quality


Great post analyzing JPEG export quality in Lightroom: http://bit.ly/dm9YVi

Posted in photography | Tagged jpeg, lightroom, photo, quality | Leave a Comment » Playing With Totally Rad Photoshop Actions


I’m playing with the Totally Rad Photoshop Actions and used quite a few on the image here.  I worked on the below image with the Totally Rad and TRA2 – The Revenge actions. The recipe for this was the following:

I’ll probably find the image too overcooked in the morning (upon smaller export it looks even more cooked — oh well), but it was an exercise to learn the different actions.  I’ve used the OnOne plugins, and they’re good as well, but I see how Actions are a more surgical solution as you have access to many of the steps that make up the action and you can adjust each step independently.  Using layer masks to apply the effect only where needed is key as well.  Overall, I’m impressed with the range of effects offered by the Totally Rad actions.

Posted in Photoshop | Tagged actions, photography, Photoshop | 1 Comment » My Lightroom import settings

January 6, 2010 My Lightroom import settings

Here is my setup when importing photos into Lightroom , illustrated in the screenshot below:

Folder structure:
My photos are imported to a separate internal hard drive to a folder of Photos/{Year}/{Event}.  So photos of Halloween in 2009 would be imported to Photos/2009/Halloween.  This structure allows fairly quick identification of photos when browsing the folders or identifying them for back up purposes.  Movies (manually copied until Lightroom supports movie import) go to Movies/{Year}/{Event}.

Storage file format:
The photos are converted to DNG format as they are imported.

File naming convention:
Photos are imported and named using the following template:
{Date (YYYYMMDD)}_{Hour}{Minute}{Second}_{Import # (01)}_{Sequence # (0001)}.dng
The date and time refer to the capture date and time of the photo.  Import # refers to a sequential count of the imports performed today, and sequence # is a counter that increments during the import session for each photo.  So photos end up having names such as 20100106_130532_01_0001.dng, which would indicate the first photo of the first import, captured January 6, 2010 at 1:05:32pm.

Import grouping:
I import similar photos separately, so if I had photos of a wedding, a soccer game, and a portrait session on the same memory card, I would run 3 imports, selecting photos from each of the groups separately.  This allows me to apply the appropriate tags to the photos during import.

I use Lightroom’s built-in import backup functionality to send a copy of the photos to an external drive as they’re imported in case I need to recover a photo prior to its normal backup process.  Photos are copied to another drive across the network as well as sent to the online backup service Mozy.

Posted in photography | Tagged importing, lightroom, photography | Leave a Comment » Top 13 albums of the decade 2000-2009


First, the ground rules:  this is not a list of what I consider to be the absolute best albums of the last decade (though many would also be on that list), but the albums I remember that hold together as a unit and hold together under repeated listenings.  Or put more distinctly, these are the collections of songs that made me turn the shuffle option off in iTunes and listen to them from start to finish.

I made the list without regard to what type of artists or music were represented, and as I look back at the list there’s an interesting mix – mostly the heavy, melodic hard rock I would expect, but also some quiet moments and a mix of humor – all types of music I go to the well for when I want to draw out specific emotions.  It is also a list of comeback stories — this decade found a lot of my artists rediscovering and reinventing themselves, sometimes after a long hiatus or perhaps a period of consistent but not groundbreaking output.

The list (in non-committal alphabetical order):

Song of the Living Dead
Soundtrack to the great zombie musical put on by the great Atlanta theatre company, Dad’s Garage.

Close behind:
Joe Bonamassa – The Ballad Of John Henry Chickenfoot – Chickenfoot Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings Dreamscape – End Of Silence Mark Knopfler – Shangri-La Shaw Blades – Influence Sixx: A.M. – Heroin Diaries Soundtrack Whitesnake – Good To Be Bad Posted in music | Tagged 2000-2009, 2000s, albums, best, music, progressive, rock | Leave a Comment » Visual Studio Multiple Monitor crash solved


After re-arranging Visual Studio windows and moving my Output window to my 2nd monitor, my web project started crashing after it was built, giving an error BEX in msenv.dll, and an error for msenv.exe was logged in the Application Event Log. After some searching I came across a post referencing a hotfix for similar issues under KB960075, posted here. After downloading and installing, the issue was resolved. A new msenv.dll is placed onto the system that fixes the issue.

Posted in Development | Tagged Development, multi-mon, visual studio, VS2008 | 1 Comment » Firefox 3.5.2 update fixes Flickr viewing (ICC bugfix)


Update Firefox to 3.5.2 to fix viewing of images with embedded ICC profiles. This was broken in Firefox in version 3.5, making images on sites such as Flickr to appear very dark. This update corrects the problem and adds more flexibility – images will be rendered using their embedded ICC profile (if there is one). Firefox 3.5.2 release notes.

Posted in photography | Leave a Comment »

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