Version 1.6.2 of Versus TV's...

..."Official Tour de France iPhone Application" was released overnight before Stage 12.

All it's done is to reformat Tracking -> Breakaways from a map to a list.

None of the other bugs and deficiences I've discussed, below, have been touched.

And -- wait for it! -- the Breakaways "upgrade" is seriously b0rked.

(Is that the sound of me *not* being surprised?)

Basically, as the Peleton advances through the Stage, the Breakaways list never updates -- which is pretty much the only reason you'd have to ever look at such a thing.

Here's some iPhone screenshots (hold down Home and Lock simultaneously) of the last minutes of Stage 12:



Note that I'm not saying that *this* screenshot is correct: in fact it's not correct: it's just the first screenshot I saved when I thought I wanted to start documenting what was going on.

What is *relatively* correct (like being kinda pregnant?) here is that we're on Stage 12, we're probably 200 of 209 kilometers into the stage, and the total elapsed on-course time is probably 4:46:49 - four hours, forty-six minutes, forty-nine seconds into the Stage.

(The official time for the entire Stage 12 was 4:58:46 - so here we're about 12 minutes from the end).

Note the gaps (which are not, at this point, accurate): the Peleton is +02:39 back of the lead breakaway, Breakaway 3 is +01:29 back, Breakaway 2 is +00:35 back of the leading pack of four riders.



Now we're at 4:57:53 -- less than one minute to go!

What's wrong with this picture is that Break 2 is still +00:35 back, and the front breakaway still contains the same four riders.

None of that is true in the least.



Now we're at 5:00:36 into Stage 12 -- the Stage is over, and we've clearly got a winner, second, and third places.

What's wrong with this picture is that Break 3 is still +0:45 back even though there was no such thing at this point.

And even more wrong than that is poor Alberto Contador: here he's shown being back in the Peleton -- which is still mysteriously +02:39 back -- alongside Andy Schleck, except that Alberto Contador finished second overall for Stage 12 at +00:00 -- tied with Oliver Rodriquez, the Stage winner.

Andy Schleck? He actually finished the stage +00:10 back, in fourth.

Even more bizarre is that Mark Cavendish is shown *ahead* of both Contador and Schleck in Breakway 3 -- even though the Stage 12 results show him 159th at +12:39 behind for the Stage.

Finally, just for some sort of good measure, here's the top of the Breakaways screen at 5:01:05:



So the "Official Tour de France iPhone Application" shows we're at almost three minutes after the end of Stage 12 and the Breakaways screen is for all practical purposes showing exactly what it did almost 15 minutes earlier.

What's the point of my bothering about this?

The point is that Versus TV (have I said this before?) and Participant Sports rushed out an iPhone app for the 2010 Tour de France that was defective to begin with, wildly overpriced, and essentially without any user support whatsoever, this despite its Facebook page, which even at this very moment the Apple App Store is identifying as "Official Tour de France LIVE Support"!

Thanks to Apple's No Refund policy on App Store purchases, all the buyers are essentially screwed.

And despite the fact that I have repeatedly posted Problem reports out of my iPhone:

The version 1.6.2 "upgrade" is broken.

The only thing this "upgrade" does is reformat Tracking -> Breakaways into a list -- that never updates.

I took extensive screenshots at the Stage 12 end to permanently document this continuing fraud.

See my latest post in Discussion forum on app's "Official" Facebook page.

Since Apple makes money on every sale of this fraudulent app it's very clear why you folks are doing nothing about this ongoing travesty.

Fair notice: screenshots and an entire archive of the Facebook pages are being kept for future reference.

not only have I heard nothing from Apple, but I'm sure I never will.

Remember: Apple's No Refund policy means it gets to keep every penny *it* rips-off from the chumps who bought this POS, as does Versus TV and Participant Sports.

Versus TV's Tour de France...

...iPhone app, after Stage 9, with the Tour de France now 45% over.

Still at ver 1.6.1 which is now five days old.

No responses to any purchaser posts on either the Wall or in the Discussion Forums (nor in fact any participation of any kind) at Versus TV's "Official Tour de France iPhone Application" Facebook page in five days.

Just today Versus TV cut the price of it's iPhone app to $10

Meaning (to me, anyway): "screw the early adopters and everyone we've duped so far", and monetize the hell out of the thing before time runs out completely.

This all the while App Store ratings continue to fall: now down to 2.5 stars in 159 ratings of the current version, and 2.5 stars in 429 ratings of all versions.

Via my iPhone, I've again submitted a Problem report through the app's App Store page:

The price cut to $10 proves how relentlessly Versus TV intends to monetize an app that never should have made it out of beta - let alone cost $15 - or now $10

There has been no support (or even participation) on this app's Facebook page from anyone associated with either Versus TV or Participant Sports in five days.

Every single bug and flaw found in the earliest version continues in the "current" 1.6.1 version - which is five days old.

It's clear that Versus TV intends to grab every last dime out of this app - all the while the app's ratings continue to drop - with the fully-complicit cooperation of Apple and the iTunes App Store.

I have been keeping copies of every Problem report I have submitted and have received no response whatsoever.

The courtesy of a reply would be appreciated.

I have yet to hear anything from Versus TV, Participant Sports, or Apple about any of this.

Just wait until they try this again next year!

;-/

The degree of duplicity...

...and complicity in the fraud that is Versus TV's "Official Tour de France iPhone Application" is pretty stunning.

I jumped right in with both feet and purchased the $15 version about a week before the Tour de France was to start.

Right up front I admitted to myself that there was a definite risk here, but Versus TV's coverage of the TDF has always been superlative, so for some completely bizarre reason I thought that level of quality might translate over into an iPhone app.

Ha! Fool me once...

(Realize that I have bought other expensive sports apps: at $32 Soft Pauer's Formula One "F1 2010 Timing App Championship Version" is twice as expensive as the TDF app, but it's an absolute gem, and has been well worth every penny. Of course, Soft Pauer is a software developer, unlike the "developer" of Versus' TDF app).

Anyway...

I've just downloaded, sync'ed and rebooted my iPhone 3G S, iOS 4.0 with version 1.6.1 of the pay version (there's a free version also, ver 1.6.1, that's nothing but but a platform for incessant nags that try to coerce you to upgrade to the pay version).

So, with the Tour de France 30% over, and with it ending in less than 3 weeks, the "Official Tour de France iPhone Application", at version 1.6.1, still has every single one of the bugs and flaws that it had in it a week ago.

Meanwhile, yesterday at the Apple App Store, Versus TV's "Official Tour de France iPhone Application" was rated as the 6th highest-grossing pay iPhone app!

On the "Official Tour de France iPhone Application" Facebook page what was a pretty steady downpour of critical comments on either the Wall or in the Discussions forums has now stopped almost entirely.

People have just given up.

Like all good American consumerist sheeple, we've learned to buy what's presented to us, not to expect much in terms of value, and certainly not to expect anything even vaguely approaching customer support.

As it is, the "developer" of the "Official Tour de France iPhone Application" Participant Sports is not a software developer at all but rather a marketing company:

We provide a full services program that has resulted in enormous success for our clients in developing their property for sponsors, engaging and closing multi-year sponsorship agreements (over $50M in contract value since 2008), and then using online and mobile technology to engage the participants of the sports and activate the sponsorship relationship.

And the "support" from either Versus TV or Participant Sports has ranged from non-existent to utterly laughable.

Get this:

Official Tour de France iPhone Application Tip #1: If you aren't hearing audio on your video stream, your phone is probably in vibrate. You need to turn vibrate off.

Oh. I see. We've had our phones on vibrate all this time but have just been too stupid to notice! That explains everything!

But the larger issue beyond all this is just how something as dreadful as this app (despite 3 new versions, at least that I'm aware of)

1) ever got approved in the first place,

2) remains on sale despite all its obvious problems, and

3) how it got|gets such high ratings (currently 3 stars - 113 ratings for the "current version" - whatever that is)

Apple's iStore app review process is legendary: it takes weeks, and allegedly Apple scrutinizes all sorts of picky issues before it anoints an application as being worthy of the Apple App Store crown.

So how the hell did this particular POS *ever* get approved?

Probably because it was being pushed by a fourth- or fifth-tier cable sports network, Versus TV, who went on about having to make a deadline because the Tour starts, runs, and then is over and done with forever.

But it's exactly this short shelf-life that makes this all such a travesty: the app's purchasers are being unknowingly dragooned into beta-testing an app that should have never been put up for sale in the first place, all the while the useful lifespan of what they've put out $15 for is dropping by the day.

I've sent in detailed "Report a Problem" narratives from the App Store via my iPhone on an-almost-daily basis, listing specific, repeatable bugs and deficiencies in the "Official Tour de France iPhone Application" and I have yet to receive any response -- that is to say no response whatsoever -- from whomever it is that gets these "Problem" reports. I'm betting that Apple just shit-cans them.

This farce also highlights the completely bogus nature of Apple's App Store ratings process: conservatively, 50% of the ratings are by App Store Fanbois who get off on putting on an app and immediately rushing back to the App Store to post a rave review.

Ratings like "Great app!" "Best app ever!" "I love this app!" sum up the depth and detail of many of the "ratings".

If you're an App Store Fanboi, fifteen seconds of fame times [some really large number] is pretty gratifying.

Probably better than sex, to an Apple App Store Fanboi.

But it doesn't tell anyone anything really useful about how good (or bad) a particular app really is.

Particularly one that costs $15.

Particularly one that costs $15 and that should have never made it out of beta.

Particularly one that costs $15, that should have never made it out of beta, and that will be obsolete on July 26.

I've been involved...

...in quite a quibble with Versus TV about the quality of its $15 iPhone Tour de France app.

The app is breathtakingly lousy, even for free.

But they're charging $15 (non-refundable, of course, at the Apple App Store) and at that price it's consumer fraud at the least.

A few examples follow:

1) at "Reports -> Photos" for example there is a screen of thumbnails of photos that probably are of the TDF, but they're unidentified and have no captions. Even more incredible is that the individual photos are static: you can't swipe left or right to go to the next photo. You have to go back out to the thumbnails, remember where you were, and select the next photo that way. But there's no captions or context or anything: they're just random photos

2) at "Reports -> Twitter" the tweets are all static text, so that hashtags or URLs in the tweet are completely useless. Even more astonishing is the fact that the text of the tweets is completely static also: you can't even Select -> Copy -> Paste anything, so again the hashtags and URLs are worthless

3) at "Tracking -> Map" or "Tracking -> Profile" the current position of the peleton in the day's stage is in real time, whereas Versus TV's "live" (I get up at 5:30 am PDT to watch it) broadcast is wildly time-shifted to fit in endless ads and personal-interest puff-pieces such that the "live" Versus broadcast never matches up with the location of the peleton as its shown on Versus' $15 iPhone app

So I guess this "feature" is for people who are at work not working but trying to follow the TDF...

4) the "Tracking -> Map" or "Tracking -> Profile" displays a white-screen-of-death and locks up if you rotate the iPhone over to landscape mode

5) at "Standings -> Stage results" (or any other subsection of Standings) the data apparently has to re-load itself off Versus' servers each time you access a specific screen - and half the time no data ever loads

6) and then there's just the garden-variety random crashes, where the app suddenly collapses under its own weight and drops me out to a random home screen.

Even *that* happens all-too-frequently for a beta app, let alone an app that's gone through Apple's allegedly-rigorous Apple Store iPhone App Approval Process(tm), let alone an App Store app that's free, let alone an App Store app that costs $15 (that's "fifteen") (did I say non-refundable?) dollars...

Finally, today (Tuesday July 6) shortly after the end of Stage 3, the cake was taken by the fact that suddenly "Tracking -> Map" or "Tracking -> Profile" was showing the peleton well out on Stage 4:

What's wrong with this picture, you might well ask.

Well, Stage 4 doesn't even start until tomorrow, Wednesday July 7.

I wonder if Versus TV's going to bill me for another $15 now that they've added time travel to their #fail crappy iPhone app...

p.s. in all this time I've never received any response whatsoever from @VersusTV on Twitter or on their Facebook page, this despite having made dozens of tweets about their POS...

RAW Conversion: what's in a histogram?

I shoot Canon RAW exclusively. Last time I directly shot any jpegs it was by mistake, and it was a total disaster -- or almost.

But this means that the RAW files need to be converted into something that's human-decypherable: RAW files in-and-of themselves are inherently non-viewable without some sort of intermediate translation applied.

For RAW conversion I use Breeze System's BreezeBrowser Pro: I'm not professional enough to be able to afford the Adobe Tax(tm).

The single element I work with most frequently (which is to say, on every single photo) during RAW conversion is Exposure Compensation -- and this is adjusted by refering to the histogram for each photo before I convert it.

Here's three micro-adjustments made to one photo before conversion (clicky):

The range of Exposure Compensation adjustments ranges from -1.3 Ev to -1.5 Ev in .1 Ev steps.

Notice that the histogram is greatly similar across all three adjustments, but with a slight and significant difference.

Essentially the histogram represents a graph depicting 255 steps across the range of values within the photo from 0 == black to 254 == white. The taller the vertical bar for a particular value, the more pixels within the image at that value point. Bars at the two ends represent data that is out-of-range and theoretically lost to the image.

(I say theoretically because it is possible to "pull down" the bars at either extremes and redistribute data back into the low or high end of the histogram using the slider.

I'm not sure if the formerly "lost" data in the RAW image is actually recovered or if just an illusion of data recovery takes place, but as the end bars are pulled down the histogram across the usable range plumps-up, so I'm happy).

Most theoretical discussions of histograms talk about lovely symmetrical bell-curves shaped along a standard normal distribution.

That's lovely and all, but I almost never see anything like that in reality.

In fact, the three shown here are more "normal" than most I see in that they've got at least a semblance of a standard normal distribution bell curve in them -- kinda fattish in the middle, and tapering off toward each end. There are little spikey-guys at each end as well. Pretty typical, all in all.

Part of RAW conversion is doing a lot of it, learning to recognize what you've got to work with in a given photo, and making the best of that.

Anyway the three histograms shown have been adjusted by .1 Ev steps from -1.3 to -1.5 Ev -- and if you look not even too closely you can see that -1.4 Ev has the plumpest center section of the three.

(Further reductions or increases in Ev flattened-out the histogram pretty radically -- take my word for it -- see the "as-shot" histogram down below in the postscript).

So here's the image right before I clicked "OK" and "Convert" (clicky):

And here's the finished photo, after cropping and pulling up the low (black) end of the Levels by +5 (clicky):

Not necessarily the greatest Sports Photo of all Time, but a good example of Our Friend the Histogram(tm) in action.

p.s.:

1) Purists will wonder why I'm having to pull down the Exposure Compensation by -1.4 Ev in the first place.

Good question.

I shot this particular photo a little after sundown when I had just reset the EOS 5D Mark II's ISO from 1600 to 6400 in anticipation of the ongoing transition from fading daylight to full lighting by the field lights.

The original photo was pretty over-exposed. Here's the as-shot histogram:

The histogram's as flat as a pancake, and all the data's run off the right (white) end. So by pulling down the Exposure Compensation I pull the data back toward the center of the histogram, and Compensate for the bad Exposure.

Cool, huh?

A little later (probably at half time) I would also switch the White Balance from Daylight to Fluorescent, which seems to be the best compromise for the color of the field lights at Vashon High School stadium.

2) The sharp-eyed will note that I'm saving as an 8-bit tiff.

The immediate project here was to produce tiffs for conversion to jpegs to put up on my web site. 8-bit depth is fine for something that's going to end up as a 600-pixel wide jpeg for web display.

Actually, if I was to get an order for a reprint off of this image, I'd go right back to the original RAW file and start from zero...

It is absolutely astonishing...

...how fantastic the output of the human optical system is, compared to the output of even a moderately high-end digital camera.

If you were to walk into the Chautauqua gym for a basketball game, the lighting would look perfectly fine to your eye: whites are white, skin is skin, everything's in it's proper color.

But to (even) a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, it's dark, and the lighting (some sort of halide lights) is some *really* weird color.

All of the following were shot at ISO 6400, manual exposure of 250th second at f5.6: my standard "indoor sports" setup. Working from past experience at the VHS gym, white balance was set to 4000K or "fluorescent".

Example 1: RAW converted with a white balance "As-shot fluorescent" (4000K) and with an exposure compensation of +1.6 which yields a nice, fat, well-centered histogram with just a tiny spike of data off the right end, which I don't care about since it's blown highlights that don't even end up in the cropped image:

This is just *way* too pinky-rosey-yellowy, or something. It's just not right.

Example 2: RAW converted with a manually-set white balance of "Color Temp" at 3300K (this after some experimentation) and with an exposure compensation of +1.6 also...

This one's better, but still too yellow to my eye, and the actual colors in that gym (the key, the back wall) are just not what I remember them to be.

Example 3: RAW converted, again, with a manually-set white balance of "Color Temp" at 3300K and with an exposure compensation of +1.6, but now color corrected in the tiff within Photoshop, this by manually selecting an area of white jersey in shadow (aka "faux" 18% gray) and clicking to define "white" for this image specifically

To my eye it's this last photo that's "correct", or maybe "more" or "most" correct. The whites finally look really white and all the other colors (the gray-green of the key is a good example, the wall in the background, the flesh tones in the shooter's left arm) are reasonably close to spot-on.

And the human optic system does all this correction on the fly, in real time, with out having to be told, and without us even thinking (or, for that matter, knowing) about it.

:-/

OK: Jumping ahead in time...

...and returning to the motor-drive topic, here's a quick sketch I pulled together from four shots taken at VHS Boys Basketball v Charles Wright on 01/10/2010:

(click on the photo to see all four shots)

Historically I haven't like motor-drive much, probably because of some nonsense photography-purist stuff about wanting to catch The Moment(tm) rather than just letting the camera fire away and accepting whatever it happens to capture.

But motor-drive does work pretty well, at least if you take enough shots, which never seems to be a problem for me :-/

In this sequence there's only one shot missing, that between the third and fourth frames, which showed the shooter landing back on the floor but the ball not yet in the basket.

Timing for the sequence: 19:31:42 to 19:31:43, so roughly one second in duration, which matches the EOS 5D Mark II's advertised frame rate of 3.9 per second.

Again, I've also switched back to AI Servo auto-focus after a brief (and unexplainable) flirtation with AI Focus auto-focus, which just never seemed to do a consistently good job of tracking a moving subject, this despite the fact that it's supposed to switch from One-Shot auto-focus into AI Servo mode auto-magically.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II; 70-200mm f2.8L zoom lens at 70mm; AI Servo auto-focus; ISO 6400; manual exposure at 250th second at f5.6; white balance "Fluorescent" or 4000K.