I’ve been using Paparazzi! for quite some time to take full page screenshots on a MacBook Pro. However, I recently started to encounter some problems with Paparazzi!. Specifically, Paparazzi! was no longer able to capture flash embedded on a webpage. After much grumbling, I even tested Web Snapper but experienced the same problem. Eventually, I traced the problem to the recent Adobe Flash Player 10.1 update. To get Paparazzi! working again, I had to uninstall Adobe Flash Player and downgrade to Adobe Flash Player 10.0. And, magically, Paparazzi! works again.

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Mount Diablo State Park (CA State Parks, Mount Diablo Interpretive Association, Reserve America) is located in Contra Costa County near the communities of Alamo, Danville and San Ramon. A visitor center is located at the summit of Mount Diablo where you can absorb a 360° view of the surrounding region. I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the summit with the naked eye. However, I did use an inexpensive set of binoculars to confirm the sighting. During my visit, the center was closed on account of employee illness. However, the observation deck was still open to public access during this time.

The sunset, as viewed from the Juniper campground.

The Juniper campground features a trail that ascends up the mountain. On a hot summer day, I had no interest in heading up that trail.

The Juniper campground is quite large. The campsites varied in size and shade. Some sites were more exposed and had better views. However, even the interior sites with more trees were no match for the howling wind that swept through our campsite starting around 4 a.m. Hard to sleep while the tent is rattling around.

The Juniper campground does have running water near each campsite. In addition, the bathrooms are located at the far end of the campground with toilets and hot showers.

Once the sun sets, the sky really lights up with all the stars aglow. Right before the trip, I purchased Star Walk for iPad to see whether the iPad could make astronomy any easier. Incredible! Of course, with the iPad Wi-Fi model, Star Walk could not determine the precise location. However, I was able to enter Walnut Creek, CA, which was not far away. Star Walk works pretty much as I had expected. When I lift the iPad up to the sky, I can see the various stars and constellations in front of me. However, not all objects displayed on Star Walk were visible to the naked eye, so there’s some interpretation involved. Star Walk was not a mirror image of the sky. As I panned across the sky, Star Walk would track my movement and display the relevant celestial objects in my view. Simply amazing. A lot more fun than reading a compass and manually looking up star charts.

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Having a knife sharpener is the most impractical of practical kitchen appliances. You cannot prepare food without a sharp knife. From mincing to chopping to slicing to dicing, having a sharp knife makes these essential kitchen tasks an absolute joy.

So, after unboxing the Chef’s Choice 1520 AngleSelect Diamond Home Electric Knife Sharpener, I proceeded to sharpen all the dull knives in both of our knife sets. After dutifully performing its task, I summarily dismissed the knife sharpener to its storage closet. Talk about no reward for a job well done. But, why waste counter space for an appliance that will not be used again for a few months? So, the knife sharpener was feeling a little lonely and wanted some sun, so I started asking around for knives to sharpen and boy did I get a challenge. I really should have taken a before and after pic.

This time, I had a Chinese cleaver with a prominent nick. Wow. I knew this one was going to be a challenge. I re-read the instruction manual. Even though China is part of Asia, the manual indicated that Chinese cleavers should be sharpened as American/European style knives instead of Asian-style knives. After submitting the knife to a complete honing and polishing cycle, it was perfectly sharp. The nick was diminished, but still noticeable so I took the knife through a second honing and polishing cycle. This time, the nick disappeared. Success. I knew the Chef’s Choice Electric Knife Sharpener could put a sharp edge back on the knife, but wasn’t entirely sure about the nick. However, this worthy kitchen appliance passed the test. Good job. Not back in the storage closet you go.

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I recently purchased a Chef’s Choice 1520 AngleSelect Diamond Hone Electric Knife Sharpener because some kitchen knives were flunking the ripe tomato test. Basically, if a knife could not cleanly slice through a ripe tomato, which presents the dual challenge of a moderately tough skin with a mushy interior, then it flunks the ripe tomato test.

Quite a few knives flunked the test. At the top of the tomato photo, some knives were only able to leave an indentation. After I ran my knives through the sharpener, they were all able to slice through the poor tomato. Chef’s Choice certainly had cheaper knife sharpeners available, but I needed the 15/20 feature, which lets it sharpen both Asian knives, like a Santoku, as well as European knives.

The sharpener has six slots: two to hone each side of an Asian-style knife, two to hone each side of an American/European-style knife, and two to polish each side of a knife.

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Young children love to color. Sometimes, they inappropriately express their creativity by coloring on walls. Not good. So, as parents or teachers, we have to provide them with a proper outlet for channel their passion: coloring books. However, on a road trip, bringing along a set of crayons and coloring books can be cumbersome. So, does the iPad provide any adequate substitutes?

I tested the 123 Color HD Talking Coloring Book for iPad and the Color & Draw for Kids iPad apps on a young audience. Both apps were easy for the kids to figure out. Although both apps are coloring apps, they operate differently. The off-line analogue to 123 Color is the color-by-numbers books that I remember from my childhood. Of course, the numbers and letters are only suggestions and the young artist can color using whatever color he or so desires. For younger children, these masterpieces usually end up monochromatic, but that is perfectly fine. 123 Color is also the easier of the two to operate since 123 Color operates more like a fill brush instead of a true paint brush. So, the hard work is picking out the correct color scheme instead of focusing on coloring within the lines. Color & Draw for Kids is a bit more complicated. You actually have to use your finger to paint. This app is fun in a different way from 123 Color. Of the two, the kids preferred 123 Color. Both apps only cost $1.99, so the risk that your kids will not fully appreciate one of the apps is minimal. I only wish that the apps operated for both iPhone and iPad so that the kid on the iPhone could also color while the other one was coloring on the iPad. Regardless of how great an app is, I am hesitant to buy one version for the iPhone and another for the iPad.

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First, the good news. When I visited China, all the hotels i stayed in had in-room broadband internet access. Now, the bad news. Unfortunately, only the hotel in Nanjing had in-room wireless internet access. For the rest, online access came in the form of an ethernet cable. If I was lugging around a MacBook Pro, I would have been set. Instead, I was trying to travel light with only an iPhone and iPad, both without ethernet ports. So, I was left trying to find free wireless access points wherever I could find them, which usually meant hotel lobbies. I was able to find a wireless access point in most hotel lobbies, but there were a few that just left me completely off-line. Next time I travel outside the United States, I’ll bring along my Apple Airport Express so I can have my own in-room wireless internet access. I won’t make this mistake again.

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The Video Panorama application for the iPhone offers a simple method for generating panoramic photos. First, use the app to take a video across a panorama. The app then generates a panoramic photo presumably by stitching together still images from the video.

When Video Panorama works, it generates a decent panoramic photo, such as the intersection, Suzhou garden and stone gate photo. However, the process is not entirely bug-free, as evidenced by the uneven horizon of the Shanghai Bund, the shifted exposure in the Nanjing bridge photo, as well as the curved roof line at the Yonghe Temple.

Loved the simplicity of the app, but I need a way to work around the limitations.

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Before the iPod and iPhone came along, I never carried around my own set of headphones, especially on a plane ride. I just used the airline-provided set of headphones to listen to the airline-provided entertainment options. However, the first time I brought an MP3 player aboard a plane, I discovered that I couldn’t hear the music using the standard-issue white earbuds because the ambient airplane noise was too loud. So, I during a recent long-distance flight, I decided to try a set of noise-canceling headphones.

I really liked the Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones. These headphones comfortably fit both young children and adults alike. The headphones, which fit around the ear, really made the bothersome background airplane noise vanish. The Bose QC15 headphones came with 1 AA battery, an airplane adapter (which converts a one prong audio plug into a two-prong audio plug), as well as a carrying case. To use the headphones, you must turn on the headphones, which is activated by a switch on one of the ear pieces. The single AA battery lasted during the roundtrip Trans-Pacific flight, a shorter regional roundtrip flight in China, as well as numerous plane and bus rides. I had packed an extra AA battery just in case I lost power, but that never occurred during two weeks of usage.

The good part of using the Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones was that I could view the iPad, iPhone or onboard entertainment system at a lower volume setting. With the noise-canceling activated, I could comfortably listen to the onboard movie as the second-lowest audio setting. Using the complimentary airline-provided headphone, I had to turn the volume much higher and still couldn’t hear the movie nearly as well as when I was carrying the Bose QuietComfort 15 headphone. This product is a winner.

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Traveling across the Pacific Ocean used to be a grueling experience. However, the long flight can be made more tolerable with an iPhone or an iPad in hand. However, what if you run out of juice half way across the ocean? From the Cathay Pacific website, I thought I needed an EmPower charger, so I ordered a Kensington K38037US Auto/Air Power Inverter with Two USB Ports for Mac or PC. But, once I was aboard the plane, I realized that I had made a mistake because I didn’t need a separate EmPower charger. Right above the EmPower outlet was a standard two-prong outlet. I didn’t need to recharge the iPad for the Trans-Pacific flight, but I was able to recharge the iPhone whenever the battery ran low using the regular wall outlet charger.

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Whenever I read about the Great Firewall of China, I always assumed that it was blocking the other guy. However, during a recent visit to China, I discovered that I was the other guy.

I tried to access the Overseas Chinese Web Guide from multiple locations within China and simply could not reach the website. It definitely was not a server issue. Was it the complaints about how melamine contamination was damaging China’s reputation and future? Not sure. Regardless, I also wasn’t able to access Facebook behind the Great Firewall of China, so I know that I’m in good company.

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