Online

By Bill Hopkins

Advance Notes: Getting prepared for the all-digital-broadcast TV switch in 2009 takes some homework.

Mark Your Calendar

Last month we told you about the nation's switch to all digital broadcast television. After 2/17/09, there will be no analog TV transmissions over the airwaves. We also said that the government was helping the transition by offering $40 coupons that could be applied toward the cost of a set-top converter box.

I signed up, and only after signing up did I discover some caveats that I'm passing on to you.

Sure, if I knew what questions to ask, the answers were buried in their lawyer-thick FAQ section, but here are two points I consider key.

First, if you sign up early, the coupons won't ship until the set-top boxes actually go on sale a little later. Not a big thing, just something to remember.

Second, the coupons carry an expiration date of 90 days after issuance. If you sign up for two (the max per address), and let them expire, you can't get replacements. However, if you sign up for one coupon and it expires before you can purchase your converter, you can apply for one more coupon, giving you one last chance to get your discounted converter box within 90 days. And after 3/31/09, no coupons will be issued.

There is a tiered system, with the first 22 million or so going to any household that requests them, even if you have cable or another non-airwaves delivery method. After that first round, only households that DO NOT subscribe to cable will be eligible (thus if you have one TV on cable and one not, you're ineligible). Here is the URL to sign up: www.dtv2009.gov. Or you can call, 24/7: 1-888-388-2009. That's 1-888-DTV-2009, but I hate those mnemonic numbers 'cause the letters are so small on the touchpad. If you're wondering what will happen to all that analog spectrum, the government will auction it to wireless carriers, hoping to bring in as much as $15 billion. Wonder what they'll spend it on....

Batteries Can't Fly

Starting the first of this month (1/1/08), the Dept. of Transportation (DOT) has barred airline passengers from packing loose lithium batteries in checked luggage. You can still bring onboard or as checked baggage equipment that contains these batteries (such as cell phones, computers, hearing aids, and other electronic equipment). You are permitted to carry a maximum of two uninstalled lithium batteries in carry-on luggage only, provided that the batteries are in separate plastic bags or still in the original retail packaging. The whole idea is to reduce the possibility of the battery shorting out and possibly starting a fire.

The rules are even more explicit (and confusing), like you can fly with lithium-ion batteries but not if their lithium content exceeds 8 grams. But if you're traveling with spares, their total lithium content can't exceed 25 grams. And if it's lithium-metal batteries, the total lithium content is limited to just 2 grams total. I wonder if a list of acceptable batteries will be posted at the screening area.

Bill Hopkins is the Webmaster of PhotoSourceFolio* ( www.photosourcefolio.com ) and a regular contributor to PhotoStockNotes. Send comments via e-mail to wh@photosourcefolio.com . Fax: 1 818 831-0916. For on-line questions, contact Bill on the Kracker Barrel at www.photosource.com/board .

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This week's featured photographer on PhotoSourceFolio:
Melinda McNaugher ( http://folio.photosource.com/3066)
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Robert Cranston
RJ's Images of Nature
naturebob@msn.com

Watch for developments in the field of stock photography in PhotoResearcher's Newsletter

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS
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You'll be the first to know.

Note: If the URL is long, it may extend to two lines. In that case - clicking on it won't work. Instead, "copy and paste" the URL.

FREE-FOR-ALL. Pillaged MySpace Photos Show Up in Massive BitTorrent Download - A 17-gigabyte file purporting to contain more than half a million images lifted from private MySpace profiles has shown up on BitTorrent, potentially making it the biggest privacy breach yet on the top social networking site. http://www.wired.com/politics/security/
news/2008/01/myspace_torrent

MODELS AGAIN. Abercrombie & Fitch staffer cited for obscenity. Virginia Beach police confiscate photos of scantily clad models. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22993326/

NOTHING LEFT OUT. Focus: The Nude' offers a look at the Getty's photo collection is the first in a series of small thematically assembled exhibitions designed to showcase the multifaceted nature of the Getty Center's vast collection of photography. http://www.ocregister.com/
ocregister/entertainment/arts/visual/article_1902832.php

FINDING THEIR PLACE. Are Newspapers Dinosaurs? Only If They Refuse to Change - Newspapers aren't dying. The only thing that is disappearing is the 20th-century idea of a newspaper. Newspaper companies, advertisers and the professional journalists who work for them in the 21 st century will either evolve or die. http://rising.blackstar.com/
are-newspapers-dinosaurs-only-if-they-refuse-to-change.html

ON THE RUN SNAPPING. Kodak says sensor boosts camera power in phones on Monday introduced chips that can boost the picture-taking power in mobile phones, and help manufacturers cut development costs. The announcement is the latest from Kodak's growing patent licensing arm. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080204/tc_nm/kodak_patent_dc_1

BACK THEN. A positive look at early negatives - Impressed by Light, is a collection of British photographs from paper negatives taken between 1840 and 1860. Called calotypes, the images created using this early technique were believed to have been rendered immediately obsolete upon the introduction of an "improved" collodion-on-glass negative process in 1851. http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/custom/altoday/bal-al.national03feb03,0,4113042.story?track=rss

NO UNEMPLOYMENT HERE. Image Source, the world's leading independent producer of royalty free stock photography, has made it onto the list of Britain's Top Employers 2008, and is the only stock photography company to have ever done it. http://www.stockphotographer.info/
content/view/648/92/

UP HERE, DOWN THERE. Getty Images Reports Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter and 2007. http://www.stockphotographer.info/
content/view/649/92/

MAKEOVER. New Lexington Contract Allows Eds To Make Reporters Snap Photos - Ortiz said the requirement that reporters be willing to shoot photos was not opposed by the guild, but he said the union "came up with language to make sure they are not disciplined if they take a bad photo. http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vn
u_content_id=1003703984

PHOTOGRAPHY HALL OF SHAME. The world can seem like a hostile place for photographers. Spotlighted are the most blatant cases of crimes against photography. http://www.popphoto.com/popular
photographyfeatures/5071/photography-hall-of-shame.html

GOTTCHA! Anger at police statement on 'covert' photography - Anyone who 'appears to be taking photographs in a covert manner' should expect to be stopped and quizzed, warn police. The caution came in a statement issued by Humberside Police after they seized films from photography enthusiast Steve Carroll in Hull city centre. http://www.amateurphoto
grapher.co.uk/news/Police_issue_statement_on_covert_photography
_NUJ_brand_police_action_as_nonsense_news_175462.html

TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE. Solve Sundsbo: His bizarre, cleverly manipulated images have made him fashion photography's hottest new star,...His work incorporates everything from X-rays and 3-D scanning to hi-tech manipulation and laborious hand-painted retouching. "If I've got a style," says Sundsbo, "it's that I've got no style." http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/
solve-sundsbo-his-bizarre-cleverly-manipulated-images-have
-made-him-fashion-photographys-hottest-new-star-76508.html?r=RSS

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