Yet another large publisher trying it on to get images for free

I get this about once a month, and the conversation is always the same, it starts with…

Them: “Hey, we found this great image of yours online and we want to know if it’s OK to use it for free”

The image is usually an image I have released under a Creative Commons attribution license, the terms of which are explicitly clear, notably – attribution in the manner specified by the author. So I reply…

Me: “The attribution is specifically “Matthew Field, http://www.photography.mattfield.com”, which must be displayed legibly and directly alongside the image. In addition, as you can see from the CC license link, you must additionally make clear the specific license the image was released under. So you will need a logo or text that says Cc-by-sa-2.5″

The answer that comes back is always deliberately vague:

Them: “So, as long as we credit you, we can use it, that’s what you are saying?”

Me: “No, I am saying that provided you fulfil the full conditions I have laid out then you may use it without charge. If you would like to use the image in a less restrictive manner then we can discuss a rights managed license that suits your intended use.”

Them: “Well, we aren’t going to put the full credit in, and it won’t be right alongside the image, and we certainly aren’t going to put the creative commons license part in, but can we still use it?”

Me: “Then no, you absolutely clearly may not. I direct you again to the conditions of the license. If you are unable to fulfill them then you will need to purchase a license.”

Them: “Ok, fair enough, how much will it be for a double page spread, circulation 500k?”

I quote them a price and they happily pay it, they after all have a huge circulation and they have obviously chosen the specific image with a specific purpose in mind. Do we really have to go through this charade where you try and trick me into agreeing into you using it for nothing, license terms be damned?

eSata express card and Macbook Pro Snow Leopard 10.6

Finally Silicon Image have released 10.6 compatible drivers for their Sil3132 chipset which includes my Lacie dual channel eSata ExpressCard

eSata expresscard has been a disaster since Snow Leopard came out and now my machine is running its external drives back at full speed.

Why Apple didn’t put an eSata connector on the laptop is a mystery, especially given that its on the motherbaord as the internal drive is SATA.

Here’s where the new driver are

iClipboard – for the iPhone owner who wishes they had it all

You own an iPhone, you love it, except that from time to time (like every day) something happens that makes you wonder whether the Apple engineers ever owned a mobile phone, or even one of their own computers.

Maybe someone texts you a phone number and you’d like to email it to someone, or perhaps someone wants you to text them a third person’s contact details. Unless you possess the memory for numbers of a operating system coder (this is where it starts to make sense), you stand no chance of remembering the number whilst you switch applications and starting to type it in.

You wonder what the hell they were thinking… Apple-C, Apple-V anyone? You can fly a 3D flight simulator on the thing, you can view virtual reality tours, but you can’t copy a phone number.

Well, all is not lost thanks to the good folks at your local office supply store. You can install the missing clipboard feature and get a handy case into the bargin. And all with retro 1980s chic.

Introducing the iClipboard. Only $2.99. And readily available in time for the holiday season.

The iClipboard
No more paper free existence for you.

VR movies on iPhone

You can now view my virtual reality panoramas on your iphone, complete with motion sensitive panning etc.

Go to the iTunes app store and install the free app PangeaVR (it’s in the photography category). Run it and select Browse, scroll down to Matthew Field Photography. Eh voila.

I have about 10 up in that format so far, I am converting and adding more VR movies to their format as I go so more will appear in time.

(note – if it isn’t appearing in the browse list yet then instead chose URL and point it to http://www.photography.mattfield.com/pangeavr/portfolio.xml)