Where is Ben?

Radio Interview

I'm going to be interviewed on KZSB radio's Business and Technology show today (the station is in Santa Barbara, but I'll be calling in from an undisclosed location in Florida via telephone at 2pm PST). You can listen to the show via a web stream and in the archive section of their site after the show.

FYI: I haven't been posting any updates lately because I've been locked down in the bus updating all my books. I'm almost done writing my Up to Speed book for Photoshop CS3 and will then start on Studio Techniques. I was parked at the same spot in Bradenton, FL for over a month and am now on the other coast of Florida. I'll be heading to Dubia in two weeks, which should be reason to post an update.

Designers Guide to mac OS X released!

For the last few days I've been parked less than a block away from my friend Jeff Gamet's place in Westminster, CO. While we were chatting, his wife Erica stopped by with the mail, which included the first copy of Jeff's first book, which is titled Designers Guide to Mac OS X TIGER. Above is a shot of us celebrating with some champagne on the bus (that's my glass on the far left).

Bill Atkinson's Book

I was fortunate enough to go to lunch with Charlie Cramer and Bill Atkinson last week. Charlie is a photographer who's work I've enjoyed for decades. Bill was one of the original members of the Macintosh team and was responsible for creating MacPaint back in 1984.

It was fun chatting with Bill about the early days of the Mac... early graphics tablets from the Apple ][ days and MacVision and ThunderScan from early Mac days. If you haven't had a chance to check out Bill's book With The Stone, then you're missing out on one of the highest quality fine art books I've seen printed. The book would usually cost over $90 a copy, but Bill was able to do some trade for the printer, which allows him to sell signed copies for only $40. You can see many examples of the photographs on Bill's web site.

My Former Boss Is Writing A Book About Apple Computer

Just the other day I was browsing the web and ran across a link to the blog of someone who is writing a book about Apple Computer. To my complete surprise it was a former boss of mine.

A long time ago I took a job at Mirror Technologies as a graphic designer. Mike Evangelist was my boss and the Marketing Manager for the company. Well, Mike ended up working for Apple for a few years and he is now writing a book about his experiences. As he writes, he posts the results on his blog at Writers Block Live, which I find to be an interesting read.

Interview: Jonathan Ive

Design Museum has a nice interview with Jonathan Ive. He's the Senior Vice President of Design at Apple Computer. He's been responsible for the design of everything since the original iMac and is one of the few product designers that I keep my eye on.

via gadgets.fosfor.se

Alton Brown: Good Eats

If you like the way I teach Photoshop (trying to teach you how to think and understand it instead of just giving you steps to blindly follow) and want to learn to cook, then check out Alton Brown's TV show Good Eats. Before I discovered this show, I was thinking of taking time off, going to a professional chefs school and then writing book about how to think about cooking... but once I found Good Eats, I decided that someone else had already done all that work, so I'd just watch his show religiously.