Copying EXIF data from one image to another

I was playing around with HDR, and one program created a nice rendering, but did not insert the EXIF data.

Fortunately, JHEAD comes to the rescue:

/applications/jhead/jhead -te source.JPG destination.JPG

ImageFuser - my new best friend

Digital SLRs have much more dynamic range than their film (and especially their slide film) counterparts. Even so, sometimes you just want to get that little bit ore from them.

Step forward HDRI, High Dynamic Range Images, sometimes just plain HDR. There are various commercial software offerings to blend your images into an HDR, and I've tried most. Now though I've found one that is free, under the GPL, and is simply great. ImageFuser. Its basically on OSX GUI for Enfuse, which is a really powerful images processing engine.

Here's an example photo, a sunrise over the Bay Area, estimated dynamic range 15+ stops.

Load the photos into ImageFuser, default settings, and this is what you get

Close to pure magic!

Better earphones for the Google Nexus 1

If you find the supplied earphones for Google's Nexus 1 phone uncomfortable, you can try these from Macally. Intended for use with an iPhone / iTouch, they work nicely with the Nexus. The mic works, as does the answer / hang up / play / pause button.

As an added bonus they have a splitter so two people can listen to the same Nexus. A bargain at $19.99 suggested retail or the $15.99 I picked mine up for in Fry's.

please wait while windows configures symantec antivirus

Had this problem on a Windows box I have to admin.

The Symantec Anti-Virus Corp Edition was broken, and I'd followed the instructions from Symantec.

But, every time I did a right click I got "please wait while Windows Configures Symantec Antivirus" and after a bit "Gathering Required Information" and then it asked for a CD.

To fix this you can download the installer cleanup from Microsoft support.microsoft.com/kb/290301. Ignore that it says for Office - works great for all installers!

Run the installer. It told me that a Symantec Install was stalled and asked if I wanted to undo it. So I did, and then installed the tool.

Run it, and scroll down to find Symantec, and click remove. Job done!

Phew