Big Trousers, Web, Design, Photography and new media.

Testing HD and the Zacuto Z-Finder

Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 by Philip in Digital imaging, Hardware

It rain and it rained big…
So the Zacuto Z-Finder attached to the Canon 5D Mk11 has proved to be the pivotal device for using the DSLR as a video shoot platform. Great stability is generated by using this device alone, but I now know why I need a lanyard on it. More later..

Keynote on auto schedule shutdown-startup

Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by Philip in Apple, Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Hardware, Software, Video

A very recent installation job nearly went pear shaped when a new “feature” in iWork 09 Keynote stopped us from scheduling a shutdown of a kiosk style big screen sideshow on 3 screens.

The job is a display of news and coming events on 3 big screens for The West Footscray Neighborhood House. The screens run separate keynote presentations containing HD video and slideshows all with audio in 3 different locations within the center complex. Three Mac mini’s run the program files in full HD resolution and they could not be more happy with the quality of the presentations.

There were a number of hurdles to overcome however and in the interests of others trying to achieve the same result we will list solutions to some of the problems we encountered.

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Sick Australia site goes up, taste in T-Shirt design goes down.

Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Web design

We made live the new site built for Fang and Dome from Sick Australia T-Shirts.
Jean-Luc is the guy with the designs and is probably better known for his work on the comic Modern Gentleman, the movie Cannibal Suburbia, and his own movie productions.
A talented man with a warped mind..bring it on JL !

sickaustralia.com.au

24 inch iMac runout stock

Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by Philip in Apple

Designwise has the runout 24inch with wireless keyboard and mouse for $1699.

We know where to get a USB version keyboard and mouse MB419X/A  iMac 24 inch for $1499. That is a wopping saving given the original price for this model.

Merry Christmas from Big Trousers

Posted on 14. Dec, 2009 by Philip in Big Trousers News

Christmas is for kids….

Blooper video online via Vimeo

Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by Philip in Video

We uploaded some new video to the video folio page.
Along with some HD embedded there is an old video I had forgotten about. The Bloopers tape from a daredevil like effort by Jos Van Hulsen aboard his dirtboard invention. Excuse the expletive at the end, it is hilarious.
Video folio page here.

Ferel Bloopers from Philip Greenwood on Vimeo.

Shooting heritage listed trees for TreeLogic

Posted on 04. Dec, 2009 by Philip in Digital imaging, Video

In shooting Melbourne’s best heritage listed trees this morning we decided to try a little piece to camera, just to see how it looked. Steve you are a natural.

Angophora costata (Smooth-barked Apple) from Philip Greenwood on Vimeo.

This is my favorite from the shoot, Cussonia spicata (Cabbage Tree) Cnr Inkerman and Hawthorn Rd Caulfield Park, Caulfield North, or as I called it the Manilong Sifficokus.

Louie Prez live stream from The Dog

Posted on 29. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Video

The webcast from The Dog theatre went well last night and we will continue to improve our assembly of technical specifications for this type of event. The concept was for a lightweight portable and affordable two camera streaming solution.
Video to follow soon of the recorded stream.

Window Wonders record build attempt

Posted on 27. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Web design

Well after about 8 hours solid we have the rebuild for Karen at Window Wonders. Her old OsCommerce application was retired after an attack of the Trojans and a new Wordpress theme installed and modified for her purpose. We shot the whole shop content on a lightbox and uploaded the product images.

Well done Karen. Take a look and let us know if we need to sleep on it and rebuild in the morning.

Trojan in Woo Themes footer code

Posted on 27. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Software, Web design

Whilst trying to fix a Wordpress install, I found some errant code in the footer.php for site files installed by a client. After a bit of sluething I discovered that the Premium Woo Theme used had come from a filesharing site or had come in via bit torrent and had been altered to subject the user to potentially dangerous callback connections for information carried within the site. Now at Big Trousers we have seen this sort of thing injected into shopping carts but never before delivered via a Premium Wordpress theme over file sharing.

This is a word of warning to all those who attempt the ’something for nothing’ route and again a warning to those using a bit torrent client.

My advice is to pay WooThemes for their fine Wordpress Themes. The other advantage of owning a license to your Premium theme is that it comes with a lifelong upgrade so that new improved code and bug fixes are downloadable in order to improve your site functionality. Some Themes are available from Woo for free in any event but if you are reading this to find a solution this is it.

Guest Network set up with Linksys router and Airport Extreme

Posted on 25. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Apple, Hardware

The Dog Cafe in Footscray asked us to install a wireless network for their clients and a connection for their Macs so that guests were protected from sharing and the office network. Also they wished to file share amongst the office network Macs. Simple, the Apple Airport Extreme with guest network and a standard Linksys AG300 Modem router and TPG ADSL2+.

Well that proved to be an overstatement.

Whilst straight forward to understand in a network sense, not much information was available online or in the hardware documentation to sort out the relevant settings for both devices. Much of the information suggests forgetting the Airport Extreme as a DHCP device, bridging it and allowing the Modem to allocate IP addresses on the network. Whilst that is fine for most networks a guest network supplied by the Airport Extreme requires that it allocate IP addresses becoming the DHCP server for the two networks and isolating them from each other over WIFI. Simple, what about the Linksys modem? Bridge it and the PPPoE settings disappear and the Airport seems unable to to do this for the system, thus rendering the network operable but unable to connect to the internet.

The answer was stumbled upon after trying everything else that seemed logical.

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ADSL2+ vs Telstra 3G Turbo modem

Posted on 22. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Hardware

We just received our new Turbo modem from Tesltra and did an interesting speed comparison.
The charts show ADSL2+ from TPG, 3G via Telstra 3G dongle, and the iPhone speed over 3G in the same location.
Interesting that the iPhone has a higher download speed but the best upload was from the Turbo modem.
All this is academic however given how cheap the data plan is on TPG ADSL2+.
Still for pure upload speed the Turbo modem is streets ahead.

For our live streaming event for Louie Prez next week the uplink for video will be satisfactory if that speed is sustained.

TPG ADSL2+

Tesltra TURBO 3G

iPhone 3G

PDF Reader 2009 Update download

Posted on 14. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Apple, Software

A lot of folks are getting this email to download an update to Adobe PDF Reader.

It is Spam at least or a Trojan waiting if you click on the link.
A big tip, if you are on a Mac and do not have Windows installed then an update to a Windows application is sure to be a hoax. Also Professional Software updates for Adobe products come via the Adobe updater software and not via email. This one looks like a third party vendor trying to get you to download their version of a pdf reader.

Delete as Spam

TPG dealer code VBIGTR

Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Big Trousers News

Big Trousers is an authorised TPG dealer and offer account registration, support, installation and configuration for Mac and PC systems. We also offer an optional alternative hardware service that includes an on site installation using Linksys Cisco or Billion ADSL2+ modems and Apple wireless routers. Network cabling and Gigabit switches are also an option as is ongoing assistance with network troubleshooting.
Book an on site custom hardware installation
ring 03 9689 6790 or get a quote online here.

Configure your dashboard for inbound links

Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Web design

This is a bit of a tip. In order to get better feed back from your Wordpress backend hop in and configure your display for inbound links. You can show the date of the link and alter the number displayed.
Well worth having a look as most are unaware that this exists in their backend and also not looking for what others are saying about their content.