For The Sake of Clarity - The Digital Tavern

iOS4 | iPhone 4 | Release Day Apple Store

allan — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:04:58 +0000

I didn’t really need an excuse to convince myself to buy a new iPhone. Yet putting it through the complete wash cycle in the automatic washer clinched the deal. Returning from a recent motorcycle and camping journey through the Sierra Nevada mountains (if you’re not following my And it’s cost that I think is important here. These [...]

How Does Apple Grab So Much Attention? Always.

allan — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:30:57 +0000

Unless you’ve been sleeping or simply unaware or uninterested in the world of technology or Apple, you know that gadget website Gizmodo somehow managed to get its hands on what is likely the next (4G) generation of the Apple iPhone. With Apple’s trademark, if not Gestapo-style secrecy it’s hard to [...]

Treating Wanderlust With Live Music

allan — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:43:25 +0000

Seems that the only traveling I find myself doing these days is either up and down the California coast. While my return to trip to Israel in December was an exception, I discovered this week that low mileage traveling combined with stellar live music can be quite satisfying to this nomadic wanderer. I got lucky. Lucky in several ways. First, [...]

Going Mobile. Going Social. What’s It All Mean?

allan — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:54:37 +0000

Think about this: Are you socially aware?

During a new client consultation our conversation spun through a bevy of topics enough to make any marketer’s head spin, but the most heated discussion involved social technology. It seems everyone is social these days. Or wants to be. Clients, [...]

Catching Up With The iPad, Al Stewart and Oregon Pinot Noir.

allan — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:56:30 +0000

Time for a quick update on the Digital Tavern. Pardon the diversion, but this post will focus on some personal and business items that I hope you’ll find interesting or at least somewhat amused.

First, it’s all the hype and there’s no doubt you’ve seen it on the news, heard strangers talking about it in line at Starbucks or the [...]

Reds. Photography. And Blogs.

allan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:18:48 +0000

And those behind many of such tea parties efforts to make the current administrations efforts to move the economy, improve healthcare and fight the war on terror appear like "Bolshevik Plots," might take a few hours of their day and take a trip back in time and reflect. ... My upgrade is on the way and I'm confident that once and for all this will put those still hanging on to Adobe's LightRoom effort will ultimately give in and recognize the superior tools, advanced features and ease of use that has been the case as Aperture has matured over the last three years.

Baja California. History. Water. Endangered. And Great Photography.

allan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:53:12 +0000

Imagine California more than 150 years ago. Until Spain recognized Mexico’s sovereignty in 1821, California was a Spanish colony. This colony was separted by two missionary factions. In the North, Alta California was governed by the Franciscan missions and to the south Baja California was under Frandiscon mission rule. But the young sovereign Mexico soon had its hands full when [...]

Yet Another Reflection – 9/11

allan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:40:43 +0000

I’ll never forget. You won’t. They won’t. And in the rare case of memory lapse, the media won’t let you.

Today’s long list of errands forced me to burn fossil fuel by driving around. I opted to listen to the radio, rather than my iPod. There’s plenty of talk about remembering what happened eight years ago today. [...]

Things Classic. Heritage. And What’s New Anyway?

allan — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:17:16 +0000

I guess I’ve been out of it. Well, at least out of this country. For three years. Wandering the byways of distant locales in search of some truth I already believed but needed to prove to myself, dodging erudite donkeys while avoiding potholes and pitfalls of solo adventure travel, lots has changed around here – in California – [...]

Taking MacJournal For A Spin As A Blog Client/Front End

allan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:32:59 +0000

While it’s been long since I’ve posted to The Digital Tavern, today someone suggested I explore using MacJournal. So this is my first test blog.

Here I insert an image…. but I wonder how I can tell MacJournal where to put the file when uploading?

After my test, I find that I can insert an image [...]

Social Sites Surpass Email Usage

allan — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:59:14 +0000

Social networking and blogging have become more popular than sending email, according to a new report from Nielsen.

More than two-thirds (67%) of the global online population now goes online to visit social networks and blogs.

“Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience,” says John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen

[...]

Soothsayers: Ides of March….Days of Doom…or ?

allan — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:36:24 +0000

“The Ides of March are come,” Julius Caesar tells the soothsayer who warned him to heed the pending doom on 15 March 44BC.

“Aye,” the soothsayer said as he glared into Caesar’s triumphant eyes, “but they are not gone.”

It was later that day that Caesar, in the shadows of the theater at Pompeii was brutally executed by his senators [...]

Rugby, San Diego & The Price of Beer.

allan — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:42:45 +0000

I was grateful that my long-time Kiwi friend and Rugby aficionado Stefano invited me to attend the IRB World Series USA Sevens – the largest Rugby even in North America. I joined him several years ago at what then was my first even Rugby event. As live team spors goes, Rugby garners about as much airtime on the [...]

Eisele Syrah

allan — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:10:30 +0000

Mobile Blogging from here.

Joseph Phelps Vineyards Insignia Day – May 19, 2002
Despite the fact that it rained for the entire 4
Andrew Murray Vineyards. 2000 Roasted Slope. Syrah.
If not a bit extracted with a tinge of a
Syrah.
I love Syrah.. More and more people

[...]

Aging California Wine & Friday the 13th.

allan — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:58:51 +0000

Some historians peg the superstition to the thirteen people who attended the Last Supper (neither Jesus nor Judas came out of that one OK), but ancient Babylon's Code of Hammurabi omits the number 13 in its list of law [...] ... Wall Street's superstitions about Friday the 13th continued through 1925, when the New York Times noted that people "would no more buy or sell a share of stock today than they would walk under a ladder or kick a black cat out of their path."

The Joy of Photography.

allan — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:38:50 +0000

As many of you know, one of my lifelong passions is photography. Primarily using “still” cameras, though I do like to wade in the tepid waters of digital video. I was a very early adopter of one of the first photo-sharing social network-ish sites, Flickr. Then I played with Shutterfly,the [...]

What’s With The iPhone?

allan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:27:02 +0000

I’ve had my iPhone for about five months. I love it. Has it changed my life? No. Has it made somethings easier? Yes. Has it saved me time? Not really. It actually costs me more time. Yeah. I’m addicted to it. I say that with caveats. And sometime in the future, I’ll present a more comprehensive critique.

One thing for [...]

1977 Trefethen Cabernet Sauvignon

allan — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:44:51 +0000

Last weekend I was surprised by a visit of my good friend, mountain climber, travel companion and legend Mr. Tim Amos. For the 16 hours he spent in Southern California, we tried to take advantage of our time together. First stop was a visit to my wine cellar (storage facility) in Irvine. Culling from the more than 1,000 bottles I’ve [...]

The Tavern’s Back – Update: Look, Feel & Platform

allan — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:54:58 +0000

Remember “The Digital Tavern“? This is the blog I started in 2002 before anyone knew blogs or blogging. There are seven years of my ramblings on music, wine, marketing, macintosh and of course my favorite, travelogs. But I couldn’t keep up two blogs while riding a motorcycle around the world. So The Digital Tavern was neglected. [...]