Shaine Mata Blog

I received my Diana F+ in the mail today. Boy, they aren't kidding about it being a cheap plastic camera. It is almost amazing that anybody can take great photos with it, if it were not my experience that photography is more about skill than the camera. In any case, I am excited to have my first medium format camera. More than anything, I wanted to experience medium format photography. I have been shooting on 35mm, which I picked up after learning on digital. I realize that the clarity and other high quality benefits inherent with medium format are undone with the lo-fi nature of lomography. But, what I am after is the experience of shooting, getting developed, and viewing prints from medium format film. With 35mm, my first limitation was developing black and white film. There are no local labs able to develop it for me. This is how I discovered lomography; I was searching for a photo lab that would take orders by mail. This also gives me an opportunity to try new films, to go be...

I picked up a Chromecast while doing some last minute Christmas shopping. I have had a chance to play with it. I get it now. I like it. It's Not a Roku The good news for Roku is that the Chromecast is not a Roku replacement. I suppose it could be; but, both devices would serve very different purposes in my household. I thought the Chromecast would act like the Roku where you'd have a billion channels of content from which to browse. The Roku is a media aggregator of sorts, a platform for discovering and viewing video and audio. I heard it does games too.  What It Is The Chromecast, on the other hand, is nothing of the sort. It is merely the screen you can use to display content from other devices. Chromecast is not a platform in itself. The platform is your computer, your laptop, your tablet, or your phone. Your personal device acts as the aggregator. The Chromecast is only a venue for your content to show.  The Difference I can see the Chromecast as something th...

I may possibly end up putting Evernote in the back seat after upgrading to a Nexus 7 tablet, which has Google Now and Google Keep . Previously, I used an old Samsung Galaxy Tab, which ran Android 3.2, I think. The upgrade leads me to reevaluate my information stashing. Evernote's prominent role in my life has been its universal access. I could use it from my tablet, phone, or computer. Where Evernote falls short in my current lifestyle is that its web client is very slow on my Chromebook. This is largely due to the number of notes I have in Evernote. The web client is simply too heavy with my account. I've tried it with a demo account I use for workshops, which is rather zippy in comparison. I need to stash information in two ways: reminders and notes. Google Now Google Now, besides knowing game times and scores, the weather, and travel info, offers the ability to set reminders, including recurring reminders. Evernote recently added reminders; let's just say it...