Thursday, December 15, 2011

Funny

http://www.wabcradio.com/FlashPlayer/default.asp?SPID=22807&ID=2050461

Worth a listen - tip of the hat to my good friend and former direct report (much to HER regret) Doris Brown. This is one of Doris best friends from high school - a comedian/actor ( Rob Bartett ) his version of the night before Christmas -- Brooklyn / NY style.

Funny. Yeah, shut up.

If i have to mention "colorful language" to you, well, clearly, you have not been to Brooklyn.

Shut up.

Saturday, November 26, 2011


Cash

Our little doggie


Thursday, November 17, 2011

At Presswise, where I work in Agoura Hills, CA - we are seeing an interesting shift where our print customers are beginning to recognize that more and more of their business is being driven by integration of customer storefronts into their print and fulfillment services. What they thought was going to happen is that folks would come to visit their ownWeb2Print store front, but many of their own customers are already using third-party marketing management systems with their own storefronts eg Saepio and want to inject jobs, check status and get ship notifications through that into the printer’s workflow. Printers are often lost on the API concept, and yet that is going to be the very thing they need to not only understand – but embrace.

This is an interview with one of our customers - who truly get the value of enabling customers to inject jobs into their systems using our Presswise API

 click --> here <-- to listen to what Susan Moore at DPI has to say...

Friday, November 04, 2011

This is where I work !
Google Map of the SmartSoft facility location


View Larger Map

Thursday, November 03, 2011

http://www.smartsoftusa.com/we-welcome-michael-jahn-to-the-team.html

Press Release on our web site


We welcome Michael Jahn to the team

We're pleased to announce the arrival of industry veteran Michael Jahn to the PressWise team to help manage its implementation and support initiatives. A renowned expert on digital workflow, having worked in the graphic communications, prepress, and print industries for many years, Jahn is well-known on the tradeshow and seminar circuit for his passionate and knowledgeable presentations on a variety of prepress and workflow-related topics.
Jahn’s responsibilities will include PressWise installation, product training and developing custom solutions for clients, as well as product roadmapping and future development projects.
“We’re delighted that Michael has joined the team,” said Michael Shroyer, President of SmartSoft. “He brings to the table a wealth of knowledge and experience of our industry, as well as a tremendous enthusiasm and energy that has a galvanizing effect on those around him. His creativity and comprehensive understanding of the printing space will be an asset as we continue to drive our PressWise initiatives long term.”

“I have been a passionate advocate of PressWise and its SaaS-based solutions long before I was offered this opportunity to join the company.” said Jahn. “I truly believe in the direction the print industry is heading, and PressWise is providing APIs that enable web-to-print and workflow automation to help shop owners manage this changing environment.”
Welcome Michael!

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Today, November 1st, 2011 is my first day at my new job at Datatech SmartSoft. Inc.



My title is a mouthful - Implementation and Support Specialist


My focus will be on support for the Presswise service we develop and offer.



PressWise was designed as an alternative to purchasing independent modules (or custom development) of Web-to-Print, Print Production Workflow Management, Print-Specific MIS, and Mail Preparation Software. 

Presswise is a Saas based system which provides single end-to-end system is available with the comprehensive tools needed to streamline your business.

Your PressWise system includes the following:

·        Unlimited Web-to-Print Storefronts
·        Print Estimating and Quoting Tools
·        Order Management
·        Production Management
·        Shipping and Fulfillment
·        Mail Processing (Optional)




Stay tuned !

Tuesday, July 19, 2011



Check out the new lookbook from Girl On Top ( GOT )

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Great blog post on what is coming in the world of Cloud Printing - or - what is far better described as "Rich Internet Printing".

click --> here <-- to learn about what Cisco and Xerox are doing to make this all easier

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Monday, May 02, 2011

What do people mean when they say "we use a rich black?"

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Here is a link to the presentation I gave at the ColorMetrxi User Group meeting - "Color Conversations Live"

http://www.slideshare.net/michaelejahn/keynote-jahn-ccl2011luxor

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Dr. Cheese Doodle in the Lab



The concept of the card is finished !


here is a link to where the QR Code send you !




Communicating how metallic ink interacts with color ink has always been tricky, but the savants at Color-Logic.com provide tools that help every demonstrate what is want. When you couple that with Star Proof driving an Epson WT7900 effect proof and you have WYSIWYG

Below are a few animations that show the metallic ink printing effect

Front --> http://youtu.be/rRxTThsTYTY?hd=1

Back --> http://youtu.be/g_gzeIYaUNw?hd=1

The metallic printing effect was created by Color-Logic.com

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

ColorMetrix User Group

Silly color geek, Color Conversations Live isn’t just for ColorMetrix users!



Verified Color. Everytime. Everywhere. Even in Vegas!
Color Conversations Live! will be held at the Luxor Las Vegas, 3900 Las Vegas Boulevard South.
All day event on all day on Tuesday, April 26, 2011.

--> click here <-- for a link to the event

Monday, April 18, 2011

WINNING !

1. Jay said it was okay for me to use the drawing.

2. I ordered the Meet-Meme cards today !



3. Brew is sending me the PDF

4. Color-Logic will get all metallic on it

5. I can create a Epson WT7900 effect proof

6. Pantone / X-rite is coming through and supporting us.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

100 Rogues. | Jay (Dimmy) Geldhof

I really dig this artist / illustrator's drawing style.




I am also totally jazzed that he uses sketchbook pro .

I am hoping he lets me use one of his images in my upcoming "what color is your cheese doodle" presentation at the upcoming ColorMetric User Group meeting.






Wednesday, April 06, 2011

You probably know all about QR Codes - the one below this text is designed to be captured by your smart phone and it will then inject my contact details into your contacts on your phone....















What you may not have heard of is Meet-Meme - they offer a service to have a fun personalized trading card printed and delivered to you, and this not only had a QR Code, but this QR Code then delivers you to my Meet-Meme site;
















Here is a --> link <-- to my Meet-Meme site they created for me !


Get you own so we can trade !


( stick of bubblegum not included )

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

My Friend Tamas took these pictures before replacing the DVD drive of his brand new 2011 MacBook Pro with OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD. He purchased a mounting frame that perfectly fits into the shape of the DVD drive, and it hosts the 240 GB SSD. The other drive is a 500 GB 7200rpm hard drive for multimedia. He also has the 1GB video card option, and the 15" high resolution matte screen.



So how did it work out?

Absolutely unbelievable. The machine boots in 10 seconds, Photoshop loads in 2 seconds, Visual Studio inside VMWare launches in a second. Once you go with SSD, there's no way back, you'll refuse to work with any other computer.

When Apple announced the 2011 MacBook Pro - first test results came back: The machine is faster than last year's desktops. Tamas shortly ordered one, but instead of getting the SSD from Apple, he bought the Mercury Extreme Pro from OWC:

http://www.mactrast.com/review-owc-mercury-extreme-pro-ssd-with-data-double-kit/

It comes with a frame called data doubler that exactly fits into the space for the DVD drive. This way he could have both a 240GB SSD and a 500GB HDD. He is using an external DVD for those extremely rare occasions when it's necessary.



When the machine arrived first, he tested it for 2 days. He explained that it was super easy to transfer the data and all settings from his other Mac, although it took a while. Of course - as you can imagine - he was kind of concerned about taking such an expensive computer apart, but it went very well. The build quality is astonishing, He was blown away how nice and tidy it is on the inside. The quality of those tiny connectors is industrial grade, you can tell they didn't compromise much.

There are 10 screws that hold the paper thin bottom aluminum cover. The unibody frame is made out of a single piece of machined aluminum. He had to remove a few more screws and unplug some internal wires. OWC sent all the necessary tools and step-by-step instructions with pictures. Unlike in the 2007 MacBook Pro, this one is very well built and he was able to remove the DVD and put in the SSD without leaving any evidence. No one can tell the unit was home-serviced, so he could restore the original configuration if warranty service was needed.

The last step was to use Super Duper to copy the HDD content to the SSD. Finally he changed the boot device to the SSD.

Of course the SSD is not large enough to hold everything, so he moved his iTunes library to the HDD. You can hold down the option key before launching iTunes/iPhoto to select the new library location. For some of the stuff that he couldn't easily change, he just created a symbolic link on the SSD that points back to the HDD.

Then - as most of use geeks need Windows - he installed VMWare Fusion and Windows 7 64-bit - it runs so well he is actually using this computer at work as well. His work machine takes 30-40 seconds to launch Visual Studio, and this new new rig does that in a second or two.

Yes, it isn't cheap, but we all don't buy a new computer every year. This is a breakthrough that brings better than desktop performance in a laptop, and SSD really speeds up the loading of all applications. He can do photo editing painlessly.

Initially there was a glitch that caused the computer to lock up under heavy load. Apple fixed this a day later with a software update. They also dramatically improved FaceTime, now the rig doesn't even use the fans anymore during video chat. It's completely silent during normal work, but becomes a vacuum cleaner when running Starcraft II.