Rest in peace, Kim Jonghyun

I woke up to horrible new this morning: Kpop group SHINee member Kim Jonghyun found dead in his home in an apparent suicide.

He was 27.

As someone who reveled in turning 30 just last week, Jonghyun's death somehow felt like a gut-punch to me. Never mind that SHINee is one of my favorite Kpop acts, and Jonghyun had arguably the best male vocals in the business (his ending to SM The Ballad's 'Hot Times' is a master class). It's heartbreaking to see someone so at the end of his wits that the ultimate and lasting release of death was the better option. 

At only 27 years of age. So much potential and life still ahead, but he couldn't see it. Even for me who have been through depression, I can't begin to imagine being in that place.

All the veneer of Jonghyun's success and veneration hid a deep trouble no one knew. Us fans on the outside can see but the happy side of fame and fortune, but we all have struggles, no matter the social standing. Money is a great problem solver yet it can never cover a hole that depression creates. To pull oneself out takes a combination of personal perseverance and outside help.

Unfortunately, in Asia it may still be shockingly taboo to seek psychological help, especially for a celebrity like Jonghyun. People would surely ask what can a world-class entertainer with all the accolades and money possibly have to be sad about? It's tremendous ignorance, and a total blind-spot of first-world Asia and its singular focus on equating success with happiness.

Let's be kind to one another. Appearances can mask hurt: reach out, simply to say hello. We are one in this world, and communication reaffirms it to those momentarily impeded from remembering. 

Thank you, Jonghyun. I pray you've found your peace. 

New Lightroom is finally decent to use

In recent years I've been using the Adobe CC suite for free because San Francisco State - my employer - offers a volume license to faculty and staff. Being a hobbyist photographer I naturally only use two programs out of the many: Lightroom and Photoshop.

I got an email this past weekend from the university IT department informing me the Adobe license have expired, and those of us using CC need to register again to get the updated suite. Me being the lazy type, I decided to forgo the hassle of doing that and instead subscribed to Adobe CC personally. The Lightroom + Photoshop combo is only $10 a month, and I know for sure it'll be updated much faster than the university account on future major releases. 

Besides, can't say for sure I'll be working at the same place anyways. 

So out goes Lightroom CC 2015, and in comes the renamed Lightroom Classic CC. Adobe have promised earlier this year it'll focus on performance in future CC updates, and to my utter surprise, the new Lightroom has indeed sped up considerably! It appears Adobe is sufficiently leveraging GPU power, in edition to expanding the utilization of multiple CPU cores to the entire app, and not just in the 'Develop' module. 

It's still nowhere as fast as it can be - native Apple pro apps like Final Cut are still a cut above of any Adobe CC app, but finally the Lightroom user experience isn't one of feeling like my computer is inadequate to handle it (the latest 5K iMac, mind you). I've been editing the batch of photos I took from the Taiwan trip a week ago, and not needing to wait anymore for the app to catch up to my actions is simply sublime. 

Excellent work, Adobe: more of the same, please. 

Southern California burns

It was only a month ago that much of Napa Valley was on fire for an entire week, grinding normal business in the Bay Area to a halt for the better parts of a week. Therefore it is extremely eerie to watch the wildfires happening now in Southern California. The State simply cannot catch a break. 

Do a search on Twitter for people's videos of their morning commute: it looks like a hell-scape. 

Are these spectacular wildfires going to be a constant in our near future? Some are saying so. California had a proper rainy season in 2016, but before that it was five consecutive years of unprecedented drought - one wet season isn't going to completely solve the problem. It appears this year we have returned to dry conditions: we've only had a week of solid rain thus far and we're halfway into December already. 

I can certainly feel the intense dryness here in supposedly humid San Francisco. In these windy and parched conditions, one false move with a match or electric wire and that's it: tens of thousands of acres will burn. I sure pray another one doesn't start up here as well, that would be devastating. 

God speed to everyone down south, and god bless the fire-fighters doing the work. 

Face ID: the verdict

Apple's Face ID on the iPhone X works just as well as Touch ID, and that is excellent indeed for a first generation technology. Having used the iPhone X for a month now, Face ID has integrated nicely to the workflow, and its infrequent hiccups are no more annoying than those of Touch ID. 

When it works, Face ID is imperceptibly fast; the mechanics of it disappears into the background. Looking at the phone as I swipe up from the bottom in one combo motion, and it unlocks like magic. The only time I even notice Face ID is at work is when it inevitably doesn't work: having the phone buzz at you and prompting a passcode entry is as baffling an experience as Touch ID rejecting my thumb because it's slightly damp.

Thankfully, those moments occurring are miniscule, and half the time it's my fault (if alive, Steve Jobs would say I'm using it wrong). To the surprise of nobody, Face ID doesn't work when my face is half covered by a pillow or wearing a face mask. Sometimes even too sudden of a change in hairstyle - if I were to flip my hair up from its usual down position - would trigger a recognition failure. I hope hats don't interfere, because I've yet to use Face ID while wearing one.

As I've said in my initial impressions, I think Face ID needs an additional biometric layer to complement the base systems: a retinal scanner can alleviate times when the face is covered with a mask, or I happen to be scratching my nose. Being able to still securely unlock the iPhone with an impeded face would be the ultimate. 

What Apple has engineered with Face ID is phenomenal: it's an exponentially better and more complete user experience right out the gate than Touch ID's initial debut. With further software development and deeper machine learning, I hope the technology gets better and migrates to other Apple products. It would be lovely on an iMac. 

Apple Airpods are magical

The Apple Airpods are awesome. 

I finally bit the not inexpensive bullet and purchased a set of these wireless earphones. Not since the original iPad have another Apple product been engineered so profoundly complete and joyful to use. Steve Jobs would've been proud of Airpods.

They are, in essence, Earpods with the cords chopped off, therefore if Earpods weren't particularly comfortable for you, then Airpods are going to be more of the same. Thankfully the corded version have alway fitted me wonderfully, and with the Airpods on it's supremely comfortable; no amount of extreme head angles have yet to dislodge them. They simply disappear from thought once I put them on. 

I didn't think going wireless with regular earphones would make such a big difference, but it truly does. Walking around listening to music on the Airpods is the closest facsimile to having background music playing me while I go about daily business. Unlike the equally awesome Bose QC35 headphones, Airpods weight almost nothing and doesn't block outside sound, so my motive freedom is way less encumbered. I can walk around with Airpods all day, though sadly the meager five hour battery life puts a stop to that fantasy.

Connecting the Airpods to the iPhone is so painlessly easy It would be an insult to call it pairing. All I had to do was flip open the charging case and a graphic instantly popped up on the iPhone prompting a click to complete.

Thanks to whatever voodoo magic Apple has done with the W1 chipset in the Airpods, the bluetooth range is fantastic. The Airpods don't feature an on/off switch because the sleep/wake is instantaneous: as soon as I insert Airpods into my ears, sensors know to power on and resume connection. Conversely, taking them out automatically pauses whatever is playing and it will turn itself off after a period of inactivity. 

So now when I use other earphones and headphones I am baffled as to why they can't similarly act this intelligent. Making people do such a thing seems to be a forte of Apple: when Touch ID came out, inputting a passcode to unlock other devices were an utter pain.

Apple often get lambasted for calling its products 'magical', but if there ever is one device that deserves that moniker, it's the Airpods. It just might be my favorite consumer tech product I bought this year. 

Convenient stores in Asia are awesome

Why can't America have convenient stores like they've got in Asia?

The 24-hour convenient store like 7-Eleven is ubiquitous in Asia, and for good reason: they are fantastic. The stores offer a selection of actual real food (and junk food too, of course) and any sort of daily household items one would need. Most have a dedicated sitting area for people to eat their meal, and some even have bathrooms should the particular 7-Eleven not be one close to home. One can literally live only frequenting a convenient store, no supermarkets, with no adverse health effects.

Contrast that to the convenient stores we've got here in the States: when's the last time you felt safe going to a 7-Eleven? All they stock is junk food, and the best hot food they can offer you is a bloody hot-dog. Where's the amazing selection of ramen? 20 flavors of tea? Fresh breakfast and dinner food? Can I make it to my parked car without getting robbed?

When I book AirBnb on Asia trips, I make sure to stay at a place that's close to a convenient store, which isn't difficult because they are everywhere. Just this past Taipei trip there was a 7-Eleven right around the corner, and I would visit it every morning to stock up on tea drinks for the day. Late night cravings would be satisfied with a a quick ramen run. 

Laugh all you want, but one of the big draws Asia has for me are their 24-hour convenient stores. I miss them very much when I fly back home. 

The iPhone X camera is fantastic

During my Taipei trip, I had the opportunity to extensively use the iPhone X's camera, and the verdict is this: it's utterly fantastic. 

It's amazing what camera lens can do when it's paired with incredible computing power. Apple overcomes the physical limitations of the smartphone form-factor - sensor and lens can only be so big - by performing calculations and predictive algorithms that traditional camera makers like Canon or Nikon cannot. The iPhone may be outputting JPEGs, but those photos have got vastly more computing done to it than say a Canon 5D - and all the user do is press the shutter, adjusting nothing. 

I got astounding hit-rate with the iPhone X JPEGs on the trip: exposure and color temperature are almost always spot-on. 

Of course, Apple have upgraded the sensor technology as well, but I firmly believe it's the A series chip inside the modern iPhone that's the X factor in the tremendous photo capabilities. We're to the point where my non-photography inclined friends cannot discern the difference between - when viewed on mobile - the shots off of the iPhone X and A7R2. With the iOS 'portrait mode' in its second generation, the X can even do convincing bokeh shots. It's truly astounding. 

In the future I would have zero qualms about leaving the dedicated camera behind and simply use the iPhone X as the sole travel camera: it is that good. Once Apple figure out/allow proper long exposure shots, there will remain nothing an iPhone can't do that a proper camera can. Even dynamic range limitations are already solved by iPhone's brilliant auto-HDR function. 

From a photographic perspective, a hearty job well done on the iPhone X, Apple.