Automatic Geotagging with New Eye-Fi Card
By Dave Peterson | May 12, 2008
Today, Electronista reported that Eye-Fi, maker of the Eye-Fi wireless SD card, has announced two new cards that broaden the appeal of the technology in a couple of directions. For those who may have missed the stir caused by Eye-Fi last year, the premise of the product is that it will automatically upload your photos to your computer and/or to the photo sharing web site of your choice wirelessly. No need for a cable, nor conscious action by the user. It’s a great product that I’ve enjoyed using for the last few months; the only caveats are that it must be on its home network (the one you set it up on) and it’s advisable to set your receiving site’s privacy levels so that all uploaded photos are viewable only by you until marked otherwise.
The new cards bracket the abilities of the original. On the low end is the Eye-Fi Home, which does not have direct-to-web upload capabilities, but will wirelessly move photos from the camera to your computer. For many, particularly those who don’t use an online photo-sharing site, this will be a welcome downgrade, with fewer privacy concerns and a $20 price drop.
On the high end of the existing card, is the Eye-Fi Explore, which uses the same Skyhook radio triangulation technology available as a GPS alternative in current iPhones and iPod Touch software. The location system enables automatic geotagging (which allows photo sharing sites to place a point on a map indicating where the picture was taken). It also improves on the original cards network compatibility, allowing one year of free uploads to the web and the user’s computer through hotspots operated by Wayport (providers of Wi-Fi at McDonald’s, Hertz, and numerous airport and hotel locations). The Eye-Fi Explore will be priced at 129.99, $30 over the cost of the original card, which is being renamed Eye-Fi Share. All three cards have a 2 GB capacity.
With the introduction of these two new cards, Eye-Fi becomes an even more intriguing product from a company obviously interested in steadily increasing the features of an already excellent product.
Topics: Gadgets | No Comments »
iPhone Rumblings and Hopes
By Dave Peterson | May 10, 2008
It’s a pretty good guess that the next version of the iPhone will be landing soon (“soon” being the next month or so). I’ve always had the feeling that a major revision would happen about a year after the introduction (June 29, 2007). That was the time frame I took into consideration when I bought an iPhone in January. I knew the new one would be coming mid-year and I knew I’d likely be buying it. Now speculation is going wild, fueled by the fact that US and UK Apple sites are reporting both the 8 GB and 16 GB versions as “Currently Unavailable”. AT&T, the exclusive service provider for the iPhone, has marked out a month-long period beginning May 15 as a no-vacation zone for its store employees in support of a new promotion. Whether it’s coming in a couple of weeks or a month, it’s just over the horizon, so I thought I’d return to the subject with my short list of hopes and expectations.
Must Haves:
- 3G – It would be a nasty shock to everyone if the new iPhone doesn’t run on the faster network that most feel it should have launched on a year ago.
- Expanded Storage – With a 32 GB version of the iPod Touch already on the market, it seems pretty safe to assume the new iPhone will be offered at that capacity. I would buy a 64 GB model, but I’m not holding my breath for that.
Nice to Have:
- True GPS - The location system currently used by the iPhone, triangulating off radio signal sources, is okay, but not always as accurate as I’d like, and it doesn’t automatically update as you move. It was an interim solution, but I hope that period is almost over. The absence of GPS wouldn’t be a deal killer for me, but it’s inclusion would mean I could leave my Nokia N810, which I’m carrying now primarily for the GPS, at home.
- Video-Capable Camera – I want to be able to use my phone with Qik, and the first step in that direction is to give the iPhone a video camera. Again, I could live without this, but its inclusion would serve to narrow the gap with other smart phones.
I love the iPhone, but I recognize that it lacks a number of features its competitors have. What makes up for that lack for me is the Safari web browser, which delivers an amazingly computer-like web experience to the phone. I use my phone more for web browsing than anything else, including voice calls. What the iPhone promises is the best convergence device on the market. The fusion of a true iPod, true GPS, 3G phone, video/still camera, and web access to applications like Google Docs moves us closer and closer to carrying a single device in our pockets rather than several.
Topics: Phones | 3 Comments »
A Chronology of Tech Advances
By Dave Peterson | April 28, 2008
One popular use of Twitter is to facilitate the exchange of links others may find useful or interesting. John C. Dvorak (relatively new Twitter user and always a source of interesting stuff) posted a link to a fascinating chronology of computer technology from 1961 to nearly the present (2004). The chronology was compiled by journalist and University of Florida professor David Carlson, and is hosted at the university. If you’ve been around computers for more than a few years, this will be a real nostalgia trip, revisiting such early online services as The Source, CompuServe, and Prodigy, and putting a date to the first occurrence of the word “Internet”. Anyone remember Hayes modems with the cups you fit a telephone receiver into? That’s here, too.
A few highlights:
• 1963: Origin of the word “hypertext”
• 1967: ARPANET project begins
• 1976: Apple I introduced
• 1983: IDNS developed
• 1993: First e-mail sent by a head of state (Bill Clinton)
There’s a lot here, and Carlson gives extra coverage to the online migration of print media, a special interest of his. This is highly recommended for anyone interested in reviewing where we’ve been, and how fast the advancements have arrived.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/CARLSON/timeline.shtml
Topics: Web | No Comments »
Hulu Reappraised
By Dave Peterson | April 20, 2008
Several months ago, I discussed my choices and techniques for viewing television shows. Like a lot of other technology-enabled people, I’ve moved almost completely away from the concept of scheduled television (couldn’t be happier about that!) and now watch the shows that interest me on my own schedule, often on whatever playback device will work best for me at any given time.
In that post, I briefly discussed Hulu.com, a web venture from NBC Universal and News Corp, for online distribution of their television content. At the time, I had checked it out in its private beta. This was shortly after NBC broke with Apple, pulling all NBC-owned content from the iTunes Music Store. I found Hulu a poor substitute for purchased downloads from iTunes for a couple of reasons: There were commercials, and I was tied to a Flash-enabled computer to view the shows. Those are both still true of the service, but last night I gave it another try for an episode of Battlestar Galactica. And I was favorably impressed.
As I said, the two strikes against are still there, but I think they’re manageable. Commercials are very brief, a total of about 75 seconds divided between about five breaks, rather than the 15 minutes that commercials would occupy in the same show on conventional television. Commercials are still an intrusion, but not an unmanageable one. And while the viewer is tied to a computer, this does offer a few advantages over something like Apple TV. While the diagonal inches of viewing area is likely smaller, the resolution is better. The viewing window can be made to appear in a resizable pop-up, allowing the potentially distracting framing of the web site to be minimized. There’s also a “Lights Down” option that darkens the non-viewing areas of the page, emphasizing the part that interests you. Streaming is very good; in a 43-minute program (coming to my laptop over G-class Wi-Fi) I only once encountered buffering stutter, and it was a split-second thing, hardly noticeable.
I wouldn’t call Hulu an optimal viewing experience for new (not yet on DVD) television, but I’m not sure there is an optimal choice at the moment. Everything has its own trade-offs and compromises, but all things considered, Hulu’s a much stronger option for non-scheduled television viewing than I would have originally thought.
Topics: Video | 3 Comments »