Mike Maney

Category: Uncategorized

  • Gadgets and Gizmos

    Computing

    • My primary day-to-day computer is a 17″ PowerBook G4. I’m a Mac Switcher and can’t ever see myself going back to the Dark Side of Windows. Everything you see in the ads and everything you hear is true: Macs just work.
    • I also have a 20″ iMac G5 that I use for photo and video editing. Apple really does some amazing work on electronic design.
    • Keeping with the Apple theme, let’s talk music. And video. The 30gb video iPod was a gift from my wife last Father’s Day. Not only is it a great companion when I’m flying, but it is also really cool to be able to plug it into friends’ TVs to watch home videos and movies I’ve synched to it.
    • Maxtor and LaClie back-up drives. You just never know.

    Mobile

    • I believe in the Palm operating system. I tried to give up my Treo about a year ago, but just couldn’t live without it. I currently carry the Treo 700p around. It’s amazing how mobile and connected it makes you. It’s liberating.
    • While I’m not a fanboy of Verizon’s U.S.-centric network, I do like their high-speed wireless EVDO network. No cards for me since I can use Bluetooth to connect to the Internet from my PowerBook through the Treo.

    Applications

    • Adium. The #1 app on my system. It integrates all of my IM accounts into one big, simple list.
    • Mail.app. Simple and it works.
    • iCal and a small little app called Actiontastic that makes adding to-do’s quick and easy.
    • QuickSilver. I can’t describe what it does or how it does it, so just check it out. It’ll grow on you and you’ll wonder how you lived without it. Integrates with Actiontastic and iCal.
    • Camino. Web browser for the Mac.
    • Word and Excel. I try to avoid PowerPoint at all costs.
    • Textedit. No formatting, no BS…just plain, simple, clean text.
    • Photoshop CS.
    • GarageBand. It makes a great little amp with sound effect boxes for my Takamine G Series guitar.

    Camera

    • A Canon 10D I bought off of eBay. It was a pro photographer’s back-up camera.
    • Lenses include a 28-70mm Canon EF-L at f2.8 and a 135-300 Canon USM at f3.5.
    • Flash is a Canon Speedlite 550EX.

  • Extreme Makeover DC Style

    According to a story by John McKinnon in this morning’s The Wall Street Journal, White House press secretary Tony Snow is swapping the simple, utilitarian White House seal, American flag and blue curtain for a modern, techno video wall on the set of his daily briefings. As much as I agree with Mr. Snow about the need to keep pace with the tools for getting a message out, I have to wonder if this is going to be remembered as the day the press corps was eliminated from the American system of checks-and-balances, making it easier for this and future administrations to avoid the true role of the daily press briefing: allowing the American people — through their representatives in the press — to question its government leaders.

  • A Swell Time

    What you see here is Los Arcos shot from a small skiff during a family trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It is the very southernmost tip of of the Baja penninsula, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez and gets its name from the arched rock in the center of the image. You can see the size of the swell by the markings on the rock wall to the right of the picture. What you don’t see just off the left side of the frame is a rock outcropping loaded with about 25 sea lions basking in the sun.

  • A Tale of Two Homes

    Please click on over to The Chronic Curmudgeon to read his post titled “Fortune.” Powerful writing based on a powerful and humbling experience that will make you reassess the value you place on your freedom of speech.

  • The Karaoke Kid

    This is a shot I caught one day during a family vacation at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. We were at the science museum and my oldest daughter was on stage having some fun with the karaoke machine. I quietly climbed up the back stairs to the balcony of the stage and caught this shot. It was manipulated a bit in Photoshop (added a layer with some blur-multiply, but other than that, nothing else).

  • Anchored in Kauai

    Strapped in and hanging half a cheek out of a small helicopter over the island of Kauai. If you look closely, you can see the coral and sand beneath the sailboat anchored in this cove.

  • Acoustic in Hanalei

    Jack Johnson? Maybe not, but still pretty cool. We went to the Hawaiian island of Kauai just about a year ago for our ten year wedding anniversary. After dinner one night, we were walking around the surf town of Hanalei and sat down to listen to this guy play some acoustic guitar in the main square (which, quite frankly, is the only square in Hanalei).

  • Any Port In A PR Storm

    Leaving all political views aside for the moment, has President Bush chosen to pursue a strategy that is the polar opposite of even the most basic of PR strategies? The AP has the latest Presidential PR miscue in the fight to give control of U.S. ports to a UAE-based company. No matter how sound his business decision might be, he has to know it cannot outweigh the political price he’s paying.

  • Please Lock Your Tray Tables And Close Your IM Sessions

    I got a ping on my instant messenger this past Saturday morning. It was John Patrick, a clear member of the digerati and one of the best clients I’ve ever had as a PR person. However, it wasn’t just any IM. It was John IM’img me from about 40,000 feet somewhere over the Atlantic. He was connected through the plane’s in-flight broadband wi-fi network. Like John says in his keynote speeches, we’ve only seen about 10% of what this Internet thing can do (and we can do with it). Hang onto your seats kids!

  • I’ll Have A Double Cheeseburger With My Health Benefits, Please

    Did the Bush administration fire all of its PR counselors? It sure looks like it given their recent round of media missteps. Adding to the stumbles is yesterday’s stop in Dublin, Ohio, where the President outlined his plan to expand health savings accounts. And where better to discuss health? Why, the corporate headquarters of fast-food giant Wendy’s, of course.