Non-Tech Seasonal gifts

I daresay that this blog is not tech oriented, but since we are living in a tech surrounded world today I thought that I’d mention these gloves. The holiday season is right around the corner so people are beginning to shop for gifts.

So much is touch screen sensitive today so what happens if you live in an area where it gets cold enough to wear gloves? Gas station pumps, GPS units, mobile phones, compact digicams—even ATM machines are heavily reliant on human touch without interference. Who feels like removing gloves when you need that function?

Looks like Isotoner smarTouch Gloves might make the ideal holiday gift for someone on your list. Touch screen compatible! They have around for a while, but if you can’t afford to buy an expensive tech gift, you might be able to afford these to allow that tech-using person to function better in the cold weather.

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Jailbreak!

Apple lost the battle today. It’s open season for the developers of apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The Library of Congress has ruled that Apple can no longer keep the application business proprietary. It was very clear that Apple warned the owners that warranty would be void if the iPhone or iPod was jailbroken=running non-approved applications bought outside the iTunes Store on an iPhone or iPod Touch.

An addendum to this is that exception was granted for owners to unlock their iPhone so that it is no longer limited to one carrier. That means we may have our choice of carrier beyond AT&T.

I had previously declined to have a friend jailbreak my iPod Touch… but it would probably still void the warranty. What to do?

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Model Releases Made Easy?

One of the necessities of being a stock photographer is obtaining the required model releases for your images that contain people. A release states that your model/person(s) contained in the photo gave you permission to use their likeness. It is one of the primary differences between royalty free stock and editorial photography. I don’t have trouble obtaining the releases, but I do have issues with the methods and storage. My model releases are well over a thousand.

I have participated in shoots when there were 30+ people involved, and I didn’t know a single one of them prior to the shoot. This makes it difficult to identify who signed what release. Chances are good that one year later I may not be able to identify the person by name. I have to take a photo of the person holding the release as a digital way to identify them. This is time consuming and not always possible.

Enter a new iPhone application that will facilitate creating, storing and sending model releases directly from your iPhone. It’s called ID Release. You can use your iPhone’s camera to ID the model visually. The model can sign (I’m assuming using touch technology) the release digitally and you can email the release form as a pdf to yourself and the model. Easy right?

Should I need to swap out my iPod Touch for an iPhone? There’s always associated costs with business.

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WOW~PicScout ImageExchange at work

I mentioned in a previous post about PicScout’s ImageExchange tool. I was approved to download and install but I was busy. They bugged me via email to install so I did.

Wow I’m impressed. I dropped into Google Images to check it out.  Did a search for Christmas Tree and a bunch of images cropped up. There is an “I” icon/logo that appears in your toolbar (as active and working) and next to the image if it is in the registry. You have the option of clicking on the “I” in the Google search results or clicking directly on the image. I clicked on the image itself and it took me right into Flickr. I could see that the image was on Flickr, the maker and copyright information, rights usage. It was free to use with restrictions that it not be used for commercial purposes.

If you buy or use images, I think this is a good way to find them along with the data needed to license or use. It’s also a boon to those of you who post images on Flickr among other places where they are displayed for purchase of licensing. Creative Commons licensing is common on Flickr but if you wanted to license from the photographer, there may be options. Dreamstime images are also showing up in the Google Images searches with a “License Now” that takes you right into Dreamstime’s website.

It’s a Firefox 3 add on to your toolbar. Mac or PC. It’s free (you need approval from PicScout to download/use) and it’s in Beta at this time.

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DSLR Remote 1.1 approved

In reference to an earlier post here, DSLR Remote version 1.1 has now been approved by Apple and is available for download in the iTunes store.

Mike Wong’s blog post for OnOne Software about it.

This is support for Nikon cameras! It was previously released for Canon shooters. What is it? It enables your iPhone or iPod Touch to function as a remote control for your camera body. It utilizes wireless network connectivity but your camera body must be tethered to a laptop for it to function.

$19.99. Still a bit of a burn since Canon users had months to buy in at intro price of $9.99 for version 1.0. They upgrade for free to version 1.1. Nikon users will need to shell out the full freight for it without an intro price offer. This is to my chagrin. I will wait a bit before I bite because this is a useful piece of software if you have the right hardware like a laptop, wireless network available and an iPhone or iPod Touch.

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Huge USB Flash drive

Designers have always wrestled with large files. Photographers are seeing what happens as digital photography camera bodies are producing larger image sizes with the megapixel wars raging. As any photographer who shoots on location will tell you, getting the files from here to there and then storing them, is always an issue that needs to be addressed.

Kingston released it’s mega huge USB flash drive. The DataTraveler 300. It’s a hulking 256GB. At this time, only available in Europe and pricey at close to $1,000 USD.

That flash drive would hold 64 4GB CF cards worth of data or 32 8GB CF cards. That’s a lot of data!

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Documents to Go — iPhone and iPod Touch

I’m hooked on my iPod Touch. The new OS for the iPhone 3.0 and iPod Touch was released this past week and I bought and installed it. I’m still working with the new features. Copy and paste, wow. Email can now be read in horizontal mode, so easier to type in a response.

DataViz is a longtime developer that I have liked. Many a saved hour using their (MacLink Plus) translators for go betweens in applications and Mac and PC platforms. They are the developers of the Documents to Go application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I’m glad that DataViz has not ignored the Apple user base.

Microsoft Word docs can be created, edited  on your portable device. You can view Excel, PowerPoint, iWork and PDFs. I’m not a huge fan of using Word since i design professionally but the viewing of pdfs is a big thing to me and clients often send me Word and PPT documents.

It’s on sale until June 30 (2 weeks only) at $4.99 in the iTunes store. Check out technical requirements for all.

Check out some of the features here.

Blackberry SmartPhones or Palms aren’t left out. Blackberry free trial download or purchase link is here. Palm OS, Google Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobil are also supported. The software for these devices has been around for 10 years!

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DSLR Camera Remote— Nikon

The DSLR Camera Remote for Nikon is coming out in version 1.1 as stated on the 1on1 (Mike Wong) blog. This is an application that enables you to control your DSLR camera with an iPhone or iPod Touch. The discount offer of $9.99 has ended and now the application is selling for full price of $19.99 in the iTunes store.

DSLR Camera Remote

Functionality for Nikon will not happen until version 1.1. I don’t think that any Nikon users purchased the 1.0 version since it was only for Canon. I know that I wouldn’t buy an application in advance that wouldn’t allow me to use it with my present equipment. Particularly since no release date for Nikon was mentioned when the Canon version came out. Please listen to your potential user base, OnOne. This is a great technological advancement and worthy application you’ve got. Don’t make Nikon shooters take a back seat. It looks like version 1.1 is about a month away.

A one day window to buy version 1.0 for a free update to 1.1 for the Nikon version was announced by Mike on the One onOne blog on 6/11/09 before the discount ended on 6/12/09. A one day notice isn’t particularly generous to those Nikon shooters anxiously waiting for the release that will work with their camera bodies.

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Remote for DSLR — Canon

I have other posts coming, but thought I’d post this because it’s very current. Blessed by Apple on 5/28/09 for availability in the iTunes Store. Canon users who use iPhones or the iPod Touch are very lucky because they have the opportunity to play with technology before Nikon users.

What is it?

It’s OnOne Software’s DSLR Camera Remote for the iPhone or iPod Touch that has been released for the Canon EOS DSLR line. The current intro price in the iTunes store is $9.95 but I’m betting that they will get the full standard $19.95 when it goes off sale.

Here

Besides firing your camera remotely, you can

Remotely control the camera settings like

• shutter-speed, aperture, white-balance and more
• View images saved on the camera from your iPhone or iPod Touch

Create a Watched Folder in Lightroom and have the images go right into Lightroom!

I believe you need a laptop or desktop running their free Remote server software, but this is just waaaaaay too cool to ignore if you shoot digital. The marriages in technology are amazing. When they get around to pumping out a Nikon version, I’m game. My MacBook and iPod Touch await the arrival.

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Do you blog? Free application for mobile

Who ever expected that English 101 would have impact today? Bloggers have taken to their keyboards and mobile devices in massive numbers. Everyone has something to say. I think the English majors have the edge here. Photographers, designers and artists are blogging too, ya know.

I’ve decided to subscribe to the Dictionary.com Word a Day to brush up on my English. It’s easier than sleeping with my dictionary on the night stand. LOL, I actually used to do this because learning is a lifelong quest—my father was a teacher. I love vocabulary but being in visual businesses for so many years has made me rusty in the authoring department. Dictionary.com is in my Bookmarks toolbar to prevent me from looking like a complete babbling idiot. Literacy is suffering with mobile texting. U and 4 et al, but your blog is more permanent than texting. At least you hope so.

The geek in me loves gadgets so yes, I have an iPod Touch. There’s a new application (March 2009) for Dictionary.com for it! For those of you fluent with your iPhone, you won’t be left out. It’s free.

Here

If redundancy is plaguing you, the Thesaurus.com is also included along with Word of the Day. Maybe you can change your habit of reading the back of the cereal box at breakfast.

Sorry, no dissection of speedlights or images today. Just a tip to improve your blog. Better than just pimping pix in vanity displays despite a picture being worth a thousand words or being mute. Sooner or later, you’ll want to write something. Invidious?

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