Tuesday, November 30, 2010



$1000 PA and OneScent !

Grandpa Michael Jahn and my Grandson Jonas Matthew Jahn

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

I recently had a weird experience at work. I work for a company that is based in Hong Kong and has offices in the UK and in Sacramento California. I am new to the company, and of course, am still trying to prove myself. Out of the blue - someone sent an email to everyone in the company accusing me of being a different Mike Jahn, one that has a racist blog and pod cast. It became surreal. It became hectic. I found myself scrambling, trying to figure out, how does one prove that you are not someone else - on the internet ? My wife was ready to call in the Marines. My boss wondered if he should hire someone to do a background check. The CEO was annoyed that we wasted 48 hours on this during a product launch.

My boss wrote this person, saying that racism was horrible (as I suggested!) and that this was a case of mistaken identity - but this person remained unconvinced. They were CERTAIN I was the same Mike Jahn on this blog and was the voice in this podcast. Incredibly, this person did not simply reply to my boss, but again, sent the reply to EVERYONE in the company suggesting they were wrong, that they were right, I was a racist and I was one in the same Mike Jahn.

After doing my best to demonstrate that I was NOT this other Mike Jahn, sending history, screen captures - this person disappeared like a fart in the wind. No comments, no apology, nothing.

I feel like someone painted RACIST on the front of my house, then hid. What is my recourse ?

I use my real name on blogs, as opposed to jahny6723 - and this is the thanks I get, some lunatic launching a smear campaign on the wrong person. What a wonderful thing the internet is.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

It is October 13th !

Happy Birthday to my Son Marc !




Tuesday, August 31, 2010










Tagul is a web service that enables you to create gorgeous tag clouds. It is created by Alex, 27 years old entrepreneur and tech geek from Moscow, Russia. You can read more in the FAQ section, visit the Blog or explore the Forums. Sweet !

Sunday, August 29, 2010



I was interviewed for
PrintMediaCentr by Deborah Corn on the topic of JDF (Job Definition Format).

As more and more print production tasks are becoming controlled by connected multi-vendor systems, we need a common, standards based language that enables these system to 'talk'.

JDF is an instance of XML. JDF is designed to carry a print job from genesis through completion. This includes a detailed description of the creative, prepress, press, postpress and delivery processes.

Several people have asked me "what is XML ?"

XML is a rule book about how a computer language needs to "be".

When a computer talks with another computer, there needs to be a language. Like any language, we need nouns and verbs, we need adjectives too.

Here is an example;

IPUTCOFFEETABLEVERYHOT

At first glance this is both hard to read and to hard to fully understand unless we add a few things like spaces and punctuation.

i put coffee table very hot

That is a little better - but without syntax and other important bits we use in language rules, it is still not easily understood. Now, if we add all that stuff...

I put (your) coffee (on the) table (and it's) very hot.

I is the noun, Put is the verb, Your is a pronoun, Coffee is yet another Table is a noun, Very is an adverb and Hot is an adjective - get the picture ? We need rules to make this make sense.

In an XML laungage, we needed to include these rules inside a message, you might express these rules as tags.


I
< verb > Put < pronoun > Your < noun > Coffee etc...



You may have been able to assume a few things because we are humans and we have 'context' - we may have had a conversation about you wanting some coffee, and you might even guess which table I am speaking about, but even if you guessed wrong, you can walk around and find it...

In the computer to computer world, we do not have the luxury of context or assumptions.

EVERYTHING must be spelled out.

We can't have unanswered questions like "Is the coffee in a cup ? Which table ? Is there a cream and sugar available ? If so, where ? Are there spoons and napkins ?

You can see - you need very specific things for very specific tasks.

Besides language structure -
JDF has a Glossary

Something as simple as a PayPal payment becomes quite complex because it is not just your computer and my computer that needs to communicate, it is several other computers and systems that need to not just listen but respond.

That is what XML enables.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010



One of the tougher things to do with a color printer is to set it up so that it will simulate how Pantone colors will print on your stock. In the case of the EPSON 7900 (which has CMYK and an Orange and Green ink) - this is amazingly simple using Star Proof. Simply export the Pantone Color Swatches from your favorite Adobe application (I used Adobe Photoshop) then import that into the Star proof application...

It automagically converts the ACO file ( Adobe Color Swatch) into the appropriate recipe of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, Orange or Green.



To tune it, print out a 6 color DCS IT8 type target and read it with X-Rite's ColorPort application and your favorite spectro device - in our case, we used the eye-one iSis reader from X-Rite.



Once that is read into the Star Proof software, several iteration later we see the delta between the what the values should be and how they are become less and less ...



and at the end of the process, we have over 1100 spot color definitions with 96% of them under 5 Δ e. This is part of the Star Proof packaging option which also offers a method to show halftone dots of spot colors....








--- think accurate duotones!



It also enables you to assign opacity to each spot color for the ultimate in rendering that spot on your paper stock.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010



In my new application support role at Compose, one of the things customers ask us to do is set up their large format EPSON inkjet printers to simulate how something will print on a printing press - and many customers want to see the same halftone pattern on that prepress proof, so we use Star Proof - complex to set up, but it has amazing control and enables us to make proofs that can then be submitted for G7 certification.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

--> click me <--



Wear your seatbelt - nice video (really, not gross, really really nice)

Saturday, April 17, 2010

If you are viewing this page, it is most likely that Michael Jahn of Compose Systems handed you a business card with a QRCode on the back of it while you were at the ON DEMAND Conference & Expo in Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA on April 21 or 22nd.

Here are my contact so you can copy and paste them into your CRM;

Michael Jahn
Application Support Specialist
Compose Systems Inc, USA.
4740 Northgate Blvd. Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95834
Tel: (916) 920-3838 ext 102
Fax: (916) 923-6776
Email: michaelejahn@composeusa.com
Web: www.composeusa.com

Here is a digital representation of that business card I created using Issuu.



In the case you are not familiar with QR Codes, they are bar codes designed to be read by smartphone that have cameras - I use the i-nigma reader software from 3GVision

To create them yourself --> try this tool <--

Thanks for stopping by !

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Yes, it's true !

I start at Compose Systems on Monday, April 12, 2010 !



I will be managing potential customer prospect trials, new installs, training, support and help out with whatever is needed.

I will be working with the dynamic Gene Story and international sensation Alvaro Rodriguez in the Sacramento, CA offices.

Monday, March 01, 2010



I met Jeremy Epstein on my flight back to LA today - former Senior Partner Community Manager Titan at Microsoft, now head honcho at NeverStopMarketing.com - he sat next to me, we spoke of changing the world, and in true fearless form, he grabbed my Livescribe pen and then pencast his presentation when and where details !

I will fill you in one what I learned tomorrow !



I will be attending his presentation Tuesday, March 2rd

Monday, February 22, 2010



This is a pencast - I created this using my new Livescribe pulse pen. I write and talk, the pen records my pen strokes as well as my voice, and then - i can send it to people - so, if I take notes in class, or a meeting, i have my physical notes and also - what ever anyone is saying while i am writing. Sweet !

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I was asked to be a judge for the ADDY's by the Dubuque, Iowa chapter of American Advertising Federation(AAF) last week.





We stayed at the Hotel Julien - it had a room that was designed for the Al Capone types and it had a special room that was a safe with a safe door !