Insta-ghetto-gram

I don't have an iPhone. I don't even have the iPod touch that has a camera (it was $70 more but now I think it might be worth it), yet I wanted to join the Instagram cult. What's a girl to do?

Ghetto rig it.

Here's what I do:

1. Take picture with terrible phone camera. I have a Palm Pre, I like it but the camera leaves much to be desired. Two words: fixed focus. Ugh. An incredibly cute baby counteracts the terribleness of the camera. If you do not have one, one will be provided for you. Wait, no, that's something else entirely.

2. Email photo to myself from the phone.

3. Check email on iPod touch. This is usually done at home, since that's where I have WiFi.

4. Instagram it up!







If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is OhBuoyancy.

The death of the point and shoot

This is something I've thought about before but it came to my mind again the other day and I decided to post about it.

Who uses point and shoot cameras anymore? Okay, besides your parents, who are always behind on technology anyway.



The fact is that the cameras on our phones have advanced so greatly in the last few years that there is no longer a need to carry another gadget. Shawn's HTC Evo has an 8 megapixel camera and can take HD video. That's better than my Canon PowerShot that I've had for a couple years. The screen is also bigger for viewing the photos.

When I first bought my PowerShot, I took it everywhere with me. It was always in my pocket or my purse. That is until I got a BlackBerry. Once I had that phone I used my camera less and less. Now I have a Palm Pre which sadly has a fixed focus camera, but I still don't carry around a point and shoot. Who does anymore? It's so much more common to walk around a see someone taking a picture with their phone than with a pocket-able camera. It makes so much sense now that phone cameras have come so far. My first camera phone didn't even have a flash but now that's pretty much standard as well as a focus light and a light that will illuminate videos recorded in low lighting.

National Geographic even published a book (The Camera Phone Book: How to Shoot Like a Pro, Print, Store, Display, Send Images, Make a Short Film) about taking photos with your phone a few years back. National Geographic! It's probably already useless to today's phones.

The last thing I used my point and shoot for was to take pictures of furniture and their price tags in a store. Since Shawn got his Evo, we've used it for that purpose. We did use the point and shoot a little bit on our honeymoon. We had both agreed to leave our phones off for the week and thought it best not to take his D40 snowboarding.

So, I see the point and shoot slowly fading away, being replaced by phones, until one day mentioning a point a shoot will be like mentioning an 8-track to today's 9th grader. I definitely don't see p&s technology getting the love that film photography or vinyl records have. The everyday snapshot takers will use their phones while those more serious about photography will have SLRs, the in-betweens will disappear.

The above photo was taken with my Palm Pre.

I like books

This morning I read that Amazon, in response to Barnes & Noble lowering the price of their e-reader, NOOK, has lowered the price of the Kindle to $189. I thought about it for a minute, do I want an e-reader? I admit I do think they are convenient and have their advantages like being able to carry over 1,000 books with you in a small device. Plus, if you got an Apple iPad, you have way more than an e-reader. But when it comes down to it, for me, I like books. I like holding a book in my hand, feeling the pages, turning them. I like the smell of books, I like the smell of libraries and book stores. With a physical book people see the cover and ask you about it, with an e-reader, they ask you about the reader, not about what you're reading. And who really needs over 1,000 books with them at all times anyway?

So, no e-reader for me. However, if I were not an English Lit major, where most of our books for class are novels, an e-reader would have been a more serious consideration for me. I would definitely choose a gadget if the alternative was lugging around heavy text books.

I cannot end this post without mentioning that Nintendo has stated that e-reader features may be in the 3DS, now that would be something else to consider since I already want a DS.

Flickr Feed

If you read this site through an RSS reader you've probably noticed that I've merged the feed from my Flickr account with the site feed. Now up to five of my recent photo uploads will show along with my regular posts. What do you think of this? Good, bad, neutral?

I wish it would show recent uploads as one single post instead of five individual posts. A mosaic of thumbnails of recent uploads would be cool. I know I could do that myself and make a new post with it, which in a way would be better because then I would have the added benefit of the post showing on the actual site, but this is automated and therefore easier.

Thoughts?

Who Knew? Benjamin Button

Am I completely behind in knowing that there is a movie in production based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"?

I was browsing a few websites, looking for new books to review and found a new edition of Fitzgerald stories is being released in August and it's because there is a movie based on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" coming out this Christmas starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

For those not familiar with the story, it is one of Fitzgerald's less common fantasy stories. The idea for the story originated from a comment that Mark Twain once made about it being a shame that the best part of life was at the beginning and the worst part the end. So the story is part joke, yet melodramatic as it tells the story of a man who is born old and grows younger and younger. He falls in love but while she ages normally, he continues to get younger.

Enough chit-chat, here's the trailer.


I think it's going to be strange, creepy, and fascinating. More than that, I think it's a great opportunity for those less familiar with Fitzgerald's work to give the new edition of short stories a chance. While I was searching for the trailer I even found a website where you can read the story (and other stories from Tales of the Jazz Age) in it's entirety.

What do you think? Will it be good, bad? Maybe you don't care; what movie are you looking forward to?

Multimedia Monday: PSA-Water

I've actually been meaning to write about the water crisis for several months, but have put it off repeatedly. Today I found this video on Virb°, it's a public service announcement from Charity:Water, that puts everyday Americans in the situation (to an extent, that is) that many in Africa face daily; it pushed me to make this Multimedia Monday's post on water. (If you're viewing this post in a feed reader, click over to see the video.)

Other videos, photos, and media on the Charity:Water website are worth your time as well.


One of the things that I wanted to post when I originally decided to post about the water crisis was this photo essay from TIME, which includes photographs from the book Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World. Right now you can download the book for free, in pdf form, from that Amazon page. Though, if you can afford to, you can purchase the book from Charity:Water and $70 of the purchase goes to the charity.


While Charity:Water is a great organization, I know more, and feel more strongly about giving to Blood:Water Mission (yes, the charity started by members of Jars of Clay). Blood:Water exists to provide sustainable water sources in Africa by building wells with emphasis on reducing the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Check out the site for information on what they've already done, what they're doing now, and how you can help.

That's a negative

Today is the Day

Today is the day to download firefox 3 and help set a world record.

On checking the stats for my website, I noticed that IE is the top browser used by you guys, shame, shame, shame. This is actually the first month that has happened, it had been firefox since January. Don't be afraid to give firefox 3 a spin, you'll still have IE there in case you want to go back to it (would you really want to?), it won't take it away.
(Note: Spreadfirefox.com is not loading for me right now and you may have to try mozilla.com a few times before you get it to load, but it will load and the download didn't take any longer for me than it normally would.)

Multimedia Monday: Be Smart

National Geographic takes an interactive look at how our PCs are harming our environment and our health after we "dispose" of them. If you've ever thrown away or even recycled a computer or plan on doing so (and who doesn't at some point), you need to take a look.

Okay, this one's more fun. The New York Times does a side-by-side of the old "Get Smart" television series and the new movie. I may not have been thought of yet when the series was originally on air, but I watched it every night on Nick-at-Night when I was younger.

Speaking of "Get Smart," did anyone see the TV Land awards? Aside from aging (gracefully) Barbara Feldon has not changed at all.

Voicemail 101

I get wrong number calls all the time, I've got to where I don't answer the phone if I don't recognize the number, unless I'm expecting an important call. This will, of course, cause the caller to be send to voicemail, the sly culprit. It may be the last thing you suspect, but it is the reason many people you may not even know will laugh at you behind your back. I know it's provided me laughs on many occasions. Why don't those people who put out the "for Dummies" books write one on leaving voicemails? There's definitely a need for one.

Here's a tip on voicemail:
Before you leave a voicemail message take two seconds to make sure you have the right number. Otherwise you may be telling the world your girlfriend calls you 'cooter' or letting your boss know that when you call in sick it's really because you're so drunk you can't dial a phone.
Also, don't leave anyone's personal medical information on voicemail. Sure, it may not be your own information, but as a medical professional you are responsible for keeping it private (an "I'm sorry to hear about that" goes out to Sidney in Ft. Walton, I didn't listen to the whole message, no worries).

Let me close this out by saying I cannot fix your pipes, car, boat, or unlock your door. I will not pick you up from Stetsun's, I am not up for a "booty call," I do not have directions to the hotel, I do not know where your baby's daddy is, and no, I do not have that ::ahem:: medication you were asking about.

Spread Firefox

I've been using Firefox 3 beta as my only browser for around a week now. I wanted to try it out before then, but my one must-have add-on, Foxmarks was not ready for it yet, so I had only tried it briefly using a portable version on my usb drive . Then, when I found out Foxmarks was ready, I went all-in. I am now using Firefox on both my desktop and laptop, and it's great.

It has crashed once, but that's nothing compared to the crashing problems I had with Firefox 2. The only other problem I've had is a very small one, and that is that sometimes when I have my bookmarks open in the sidebar it won't close by clicking the x, instead I have to hit ctrl+b, not a big deal. Plus, this is the point of beta testing, so they can be notified of these problems and get them worked out before the official release.

Anyway, the point of this post is to "Spread Firefox." SpreadFirefox.com is trying to set a Guinness record by making Firefox 3 the most downloaded software within the first 24 hours of it's official release, which should be sometime in the next week or so. You can visit the site to find out more about Firefox 3 and pledge to download it on download day.

PcityLIVE

Yesterday I made a trip downtown to meet with Dustin Bryson and talk about writing for PCityLIVE. PCityLIVE is a site that just launched this week, it combines a social network with an online magazine. I would compare it to Virb° before I would compare it to myspace, but still with more magazine to it.

I think it's going to be really awesome. Dustin told me about his ideas for the site and some things they're doing. He talked about how we can see someone all the time and think they're a pretty cool person and that we'd like to build a friendship with them but we don't take the step to approach them and get to know them better. PCitylive hopes to help build relationships in our community, let us get to know people with the help of the internet.

While Panama City is still a fairly small city, I think most residents would agree with me in saying we don't have the sense of community that many larger cities do have. PCitylive should at least be a step in the right direction, a step that will foster that community feel and experience.

Wanted: Secret Agent Photographer

I've probably mentioned before how I don't photograph well, it's like the camera makes me nervous and I end up making a weird face or looking completely frightened. In fact, last fall, in order to get a decent head shot (or mug shot as we call them) for the The Gull's Cry, I had to take the camera with me to the bathroom so I could look at myself in the mirror while I took the picture. While the bathroom method does work sometimes, I get some pretty strange looks coming out of the ladies room with a Nikon D50 in my hand. If I were in New York this would not be a problem, I could just contact MethodIzaz.com and have him (them?) take my picture covert ops style.

From the site:

Using information provided earlier about their weekly routine, the photographer will arrive on the scene, and unseen, take shots of the subject. The subject will be photographed walking through the streets, going about their daily business. Without posing and artifice, the camera captures only the natural beauty of the person.

How awesome is that. Who knows though, even that might not work for me, it's possibly that I make even stranger expression when I'm not being (knowingly) photographed. I'll just have to settle for telling people "I'm really incredibly good-looking, honest!" Or, "Here, watch me look at my own reflection. See, hott (with two ts!), huh?"

Yeah, okay, I'm done now.

2.5.1

I just updated WordPress to the newest version, 2.5.1, and I have to say I'm confused. This is going to take a bit of getting used to. For one thing, I hate that the publish button is to the right and not bellow this box.

Attn: Stalker

FYI, every time you google my name and then visit my site it shows up in my stats. Quit being creepy and introduce yourself.

Spammer Want Ad?

I am looking for an individual with experience, preferably, to manually comment on a list of blogs that I will give them. The comments with be about 25-50 characters, and related to the post, the list of blogs will likely be in the hundreds. My website will be entered in the link portion of the comment.

I am looking for commenter's not based in North America, preferably from india etc.

Send me a quote per comment, the price you'd expect.
I will expect a report also in excel, of the urls of all the comments.

Yeah, that doesn't sound fishy at all.

Video on Flickr? Do you care?

Yes, it's true, the rumors many have attempted to squash have turned out to be fact. But do we care? The masses already use YouTube, but I guess that's a different group the the majority of flickr users. YouTubers probably still use photobucket or something. I'm sure many flickr users will put it to good use, I just won't be one of them.

I don't record many videos anyway, but occasionally I record one via my point and shoot and upload it on Vimeo, which was created for just that. I like vimeo, I like that it's not what everyone is using, that's it's not overridden with commercials and movie clips. I like that it still feels homegrown in many ways that the people that created it really care about it and use it (not to say that those behind flickr don't). Oh and I love that it's not owned by yahoo.

How about you? Do you make videos and put them online?

For more info on Flickr video see their faq.

TweetClouds

So this is kinda neat. The website Tweet Clouds, will make a word cloud using any public twitter feed.

Serious Competition for Picnik?

The buzz on the web today is all about Photoshop Express, Adobe's new and completely free online version of Photoshop. Don't get too excited, it's far from the real deal, but it does let you crop, sharpen, remove red-eye, and add basic effects to your photos, things the average, everyday digicam user wants yet can't justify paying for Photoshop to have.

I've actually been using the site Picnik, for simple editing and touch-ups like this for some time. I do have Photoshop on my desktop computer, but Picnik is great for simple, quick editing when I don't want to wait for Photoshop to load, and it can be used on any computer with the internet. While there are other sites out there as well, I don't think any has been on the same level as Picnik as of yet. Photoshop Express might be able to beat it, but not as it is now.

Right now, Photoshop Express lacks several things that Picnik has, like the ability to add text or shapes to photos for example, and I'm very surprised that I'm not finding a "resize" function anywhere, that's one of the main things that I use Picnik for. Photoshop Express also lacks Flickr integration, it has Picasa, Facebook, and Photobucket, but no Flickr, supposedly it's coming. Picnik has those plus Flickr, Myspace, and Webshots, it also allows you to get a photo from your webcam directly or from a website. Photoshop Express does however, have some things Picnik does not, like photo storage and galleries. That may make the difference for some users, but not for me, that's what I use Flickr for. Oh and Picnik not only has Flickr integrated, but is integrated into Flickr itself, check out those buttons above your photos.

I'll still check it out, and will continue to do so, as I know it will change a lot from it's current "beta," but Photoshop Express is going to have to kick it up a notch before they can steal me away from Picnik.

Oh and if I see one more post about Muxtape, I'm going to scream! That's right, no link, I will not succumb to it's plea for the attention of the masses, you (and you, and you, and you, and you) have already done that enough for all of us. And it doesn't even work in my browser, just so you know.

To Boost the Economy

If/Whenever we really get that $800 $600 President Bush is handing out, what will mine go toward?