Category Archives: Business

The business of graphic arts

Out damned spam! Out I say!

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Brian Lawler

I don’t use Gmail. I have nothing against Google or their e-mail offering, but I just don’t use it. I use the Mail application provided as part of the Macintosh operating system. I have done this for years (decades?). Several … Continue reading →

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Taking a nuclear plant tour (and how it relates to scanning historic film)

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Brian Lawler

Last Friday I was privileged to be taken on a tour of San Luis Obispo County’s nuclear power plant. This tour was arranged by the local Chamber of Commerce leadership training group, and I was included by being related to … Continue reading →

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The Microsoft conundrum

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Brian Lawler

On the announcement last week of Steve Ballmer’s pending retirement, Microsoft’s stock shot up seven points as investors cheered for the future of the company without him. On NPR’s Marketplace they played recordings of Ballmer shouting “DEE-VEL-OH-PERS!” over and over … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Software, Technology, Typography | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Here’s a worthwhile job for the NSA

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Brian Lawler

Missing from most of the journalistic free-for-all that has been aimed at the NSA recently is any discussion as to what spy organizations should be doing as compared to what they are doing while intercepting our electronic communications. Economic crime … Continue reading →

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EyeFi changes everything!

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Brian Lawler

Last year I wrote about using the iPad as an instantaneous proofing device when shooting digital portraits. It turned out to be the most popular blog I have ever written. Months later, I still get many hits a day on … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, New technology, People, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The largest machines in the world

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Brian Lawler

Yesyerday morning a group of TAGA participants visited the Longview, Washington, paper-making plant of NORPAC. This is the largest paper-making facility in North America. Inside its massive buildings are three of the largest machines on Earth. These machines are for … Continue reading →

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11.73 Terabytes of storage at my fingertips

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Brian Lawler

I want to be able to store my entire archive on one hard drive so that I can have instantaneous access to all of my files. As I mentioned in my last blog, I decided to build my own NAS … Continue reading →

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A not very brave new world of storage

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Brian Lawler

I just bought a pair of 4TB drives. I installed them in a LaCie RAID drive enclosure to make a single 8TB drive that will become my Time Machine back-up drive. Until I run out of space again. I know … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Digital video, New technology, Software | Leave a comment

Musings about GraphExpo – the quiet show

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Brian Lawler

My annual GraphExpo journey was, as always, fascinating. GraphExpo, and its companion show, Print, are the big shows for the printing industry in North America. I have been going since the 1970s, and it has been a wild ride for … Continue reading →

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A new ink-jet news press debuts in Chicago

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Brian Lawler

In the Four Seasons hotel in Chicago last night I attended an interesting panel discussion on ink-jet printing of newspapers. The event was hosted by Cabot, an international manufacturer of the components of ink. They make, among other things, carbon … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, New technology, People, Printing and Printing Processes | 1 Comment