Gadget Magnet
-
- Gadget Magnet - Oh no! They changed Facebook! ...Deal with it!
-
Yes, Facebook now has a new format for the way you view yours and others’ profiles called Timeline.
The Internet is constantly changing and is constantly improving, whether you know it, want it to, or not. From security features to specially catered websites, which are adjusted automatically by our Internet usage, the website we visit on a daily basis are all in constant flux.
Without that change, you wouldn’t have access to stripped down versions of websites for quicker viewing on your mobile devices. Passwords would not be case-sensitive and easier to crack. We would be using Webcrawler as a search engine, and we would be using Facebook, which would be called The Facebook. And the only way those would have been able to use it, is if they had gone to college and signed up while they were in college.
Every now and then the sites I use, on a regular basis, change. Sometimes the change is dramatic, in my face, and the company gives a week’s worth of notifications leading up to the change. Some change over night without any notice. Some even give users the opportunity to back out of the new design and use the older version.
Please, if there is one thing you can do to keep yourself from becoming dated and not being able to relate to the younger generations, please accept the changes.
The site is the one doing the research and watching trends and the way people interact on their websites. Embrace the change. Stimulate your mind and try something new.
I once heard that a good way to stimulate you mind on a daily basis is to go about your routine habits but change them slightly. For example, if you are in the shower and you start always by washing your left arm, followed by your right and then your left leg and so on, change it by starting with your right leg, then your back. If you wash in a counter-clockwise motion, wash in a clockwise motion. Brush your teeth starting on the opposite side. Put you milk in the bowl before the cereal… well, wait – don’t do that. That is just crazy. But you get my point.
It is OK to learn a new way to do something. Yeah, it is a little odd at first and not familiar. But think of what it is doing for your mind, and the possible avoidance of Alzheimer’s disease.
No, I am not saying that every time Facebook changes its format, it is one step closer to curing a memory-losing illness. I am simply saying you should embrace change.
Look at our website, www.explorernews.com. A year ago, the front page was jumbled with ads on the top, bottom and both sides. In my opinion looked like a pop-up ad. It is no wonder our web traffic was low. People wanted to get off the site as quick as they could for fear of getting a computer virus.
But look at it now. It is clean, crisp and constantly changing and our numbers are growing at what seems like an exponential rate.
We have photo galleries that routinely change. We are updating stories and loading new ones to the site every day. We even have videos on here.
If you haven’t looked around the Explorer’s website recently, look around. We have people blogging about a yearlong weight loss competition. We have polls and ways people can interact with their community and us.
Change your routine and start it with us (and please, stop complaining about Facebook’s new Timeline).
Posted in Northwest chatter, Gadget magnet on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 9:51 am. | Tags: Gadget Magnet , Gadget , Magnet , Randy Metcalf , Facebook Timeline , Facebook Changes Comments (1)
-
- Gadget Magnet - Shooting Accenture - Don't blame the photographer
-
Each year for the past five years I have covered the World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championship. Yes, it is quite a mouthful to say.
The first year I was pretty excited to shoot it. I have played golf occasionally and a few times had the opportunity to play on the very course that the top 64 golfers in the world will be playing on this week in Marana.
But photographing the tournament is a challenging experience meshed with excitement and paranoia.
On the golf course, I have found myself walking directly behind top-named golfers like Luke Donald, Tiger Woods and even Woods' enemy fellow golfer Phil Mickelson. But then again, there were 30 other photographers from around the world doing the same thing who are all trying to get "the shot."
It is inspiring to rub elbows with photographers who shoot for Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine. I have found myself next to golf announcer David Feherty, whose voice I have listened to as I have played video games where he has critiqued my Xbox 360 putting abilities, or his Bob Ross-like soothing voice has put me to sleep on a lazy Sunday afternoon while watching golf on TV.
Those parts are a blast. I love that challenge of trying to get something that no one else is getting. I find a lot of pleasure in finding a shot that I have never seen before, which is really difficult after five years.
When photographing a golfer, the unspoken rule is once the golfer has addressed the ball, meaning he or she has positioned themselves to where they are getting ready to hit the ball, you are not to take a picture until the golfer has hit his ball. If you have a large enough lens and can put some distance between yourself and the golfer, then you can... I guess.
I found this rule out my first time out photographing the tournament back in 2007. I was really excited to follow Tiger Woods on his warm-up round. I found this place nestled behind the tee box. In front of him were dark stormy clouds with a little blue sky peaking through. Other than a row of spectators that were way off in the distance, it made for a picture with a clean background (I will touch on "clean background" later).
Woods addressed the ball and just as he started to pull his driver back, I clicked the shutter. Had this not been a warm up, I would have probably been thrown into a cactus by his then-caddy Steve Williams who was known for roughing up photographers.
Both Woods and Williams turned and looked at me with such disgust and anger one would have thought I had set the Mona Lisa on fire.
A short time later I asked a fellow photographer what that look was for and he told me about "the rule."
When golfers start doing poorly on the course, I have noticed they tend to look for something to blame it on. It is usually the photographers who receive that blame even if there wasn't anything done.
But what all of us photographers are looking for is a unique photo with a "clean background" and in golf that is surprisingly difficult. A clean background consists of just that, the area behind the photographer is free of spectators, ropes that line the course, officials with their arms raised to hush the crowds, camera crews that are on the course following the golfers, or any number of distracting elements that take the viewer's attention away from the subject of the photo.
So, in order to do this, us photographers usually carry three or more cameras with a long telephoto lens, a medium range telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens. Having three camera bodies allows for the ability to quickly take a photo rather than having to fuss with changing lenses. But, carrying all of that gear gets pretty heavy.
Usually photographers are carrying about 30 to 50 pounds of equipment, fast walking ahead of the golfers and then kneeling and getting ready for the next shot.
I usually walk five to seven miles each day of the tournament, while carrying the gear and essentially doing lunges.
I am not looking for sympathy, because I know I wont get it. I simply would like to apologize when we kneel in front of where you have camped out for the day with your hot dog, beer and cigar. Just, please don't refer to us as the paparazzi. Those guys are idiots with cameras that are just trying to get a photo of someone in a compromising position and then sell that photo to some tabloid magazine. We are photographers who are working for our own separate publications. Yes, we are very competitive and no, we usually don't share.
Posted in Gadget magnet, Northwest chatter on Monday, February 20, 2012 11:07 am. Updated: 11:05 am. | Tags: Accenture Match Play Championship , Pga , Tiger Woods , Photographer Comments (1)
-
- Gadget Magnet - Conversation improves without cell phones
-
We all have done it.
We have sent or looked at a text while driving. We have glanced at our cellphone while sitting with a group of close friends. We have at one time or another excused ourselves from a situation to take a phone call on our cell phone.
But, like my mom always asked, "If everyone is doing it, does it make it OK?" And, the short answer is one we all know. No, it is not OK. But, we do it anyway.
Texting and driving:
Playing Scrabble while driving isn't the best of ideas, yet we type away words and read ones sent to us, all while speeding along the streets and highways.
It is dangerous, and might soon be illegal in Tucson with a $100 fine or $250 fine if it causes an accident.
I don't think you need a police officer to tell you something is wrong with this. Deep down, no matter how good you think you might be at texting, it is wrong and dangerous. You are putting your life and those lives around you at risk.
I urge you next time you receive a text, use common sense. I'm not saying you need to pull your car off the road, park, and then get your cell phone from the trunk of the car. I am simply saying wait until you are at a red light, wait until you are in stop-and-go traffic.
You wouldn't try and sort a deck of cards while driving full speed, so why is it OK to text?
Texting and walking:
Earlier this month, The New York Times released a video talking about the proper etiquette for texting and walking. They recommended pulling to the side and out of the way of the flow of pedestrian traffic and finishing your text with your back against the wall.
You walk slower while texting, you aren't paying attention to where you are going, and you could injure yourself or someone else.
Again, use common sense. Take a moment to look and see that you are not the most important person in the world. Other people need to get where they are going too.
Some people on the Internet have proposed an iPhone texting camera. They suggest a camera pointing directly out of the top of the phone. Then, while texting, a tiny screen would be displayed on the phone screen while texting. Thus, being able to see where you are going while texting and walking, much like a camera on the back of a car that turns on when you are backing up.
The only problem here is that when you are backing up in a car, you are paying attention to the fact that you are backing up. You are noticing your corners, your speed and what is around you. The camera on the back of your car is there to help you.
While texting, if you were paying attention to the camera screen and not what you are writing, you might as well simply be looking up.
The problem is not the number of cameras on your cell phone. The problem is you.
Texting while in the company of others:
Earlier this month I went out to dinner with a fellow photographer and wanted to try out something I had heard about and it worked great.
Everyone pools their cell phones together and stacks them face down on top of each other, and I suggest with the ringers turned off.
The rules are simple: the first person to pick up their cell phone before the end of the meal has to pay the bill. You can also do a round of drinks or something along those lines.
My friend and I had only been sitting down for five to ten minutes when we decided to try this. All of a sudden we were talking and having a conversation. It is surprising how much cell phones distract us from what is happening right in front of us.
You don't have to play this game, you could simply use common sense (I see a theme here).
Put your cell phone away and keep it away. Enjoy the company of others. Facebook updates, and your text messages will still be there when you are done with you meal, I promise.
Posted in Northwest chatter, Gadget magnet on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 11:01 am. Updated: 12:12 pm. | Tags: Gadget Magnet , Texting , Cell Phones Comments (0)
-
- Gadget Magnet -You have a new iPhone, Touch or iPad, now what?
-
You might have recently received a new iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPad, during the holiday season. There are the obvious apps that you downloaded right away, such as Facebook, maybe Angry Birds, and the AT&T or Verizon application so you can pay your bills on the go, but there is so much more to your device than that.
First off, as far as cellphone cameras go, the iPhone has one of the best out there, in my opinion.
Before I get into the apps, you should know that the cameras are not the same throughout their products, so if you want Apple's best camera, you are going to have to pony up for an iPhone. The iPad records at HD (720p) while the iPhone records with its 8-megapixel camera at HD (1080p). The Touch is somewhere in between.
With that said, there are hundreds of apps out there for the camera on these ranging from video editing software to collage-making apps. But where do you start?
For taking photos, I would highly recommend Camera+ (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id329670577).
It is currently 99 cents (normally $1.99) with a small expansion filter pack available for another 99 cents. It is by far the easiest camera application that I have used that gives the user both really well done presets along with the ability to customize the variance/ intensity of the filter.
While taking a photo, you also have the ability to focus on one object while using a second finger to set the exposure. This gives the user tremendous control over the photos they take (http://www.flickr.com/photos/randymetcalf/6630788057).
If you would like a decent camera application that is free, I would check out Instagram (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instagram/id389801252). There are 15 different preset filters you can use along side a blur-vignetting tool that really makes a regular photo artistic (http://instagr.am/p/eNwB1/).
Those two should get you going on taking pictures. If you would like to try some video editing, I would look into Vimeo's app. It is a simple drag and drop video editing app that is kind of buggy and might crash on you a couple of times, but it is free and fun to make something on the go.
If you liked the grungy look that you get with Instagram, but would like that taking over into video, there is the 8mm Vintage Camera application, which is $1.99 (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id406541444).
It gives the user the ability to record video as if they have an old style 8mm film camera. You can choose from any combination of seven different types of film mixed with six different types of lenses. You can also add frame jitters while filming.
The app also allows you to import videos and add the vintage look to them in post-production.
Now beyond using the camera, you have access to banking apps from your own bank, along with applications like Mint Personal Finance (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id300238550), which is a free app where the user can import their banking information, budget and manage their money. It is rated as one of the top apps of last year and considered to be one of the essential, must-have apps.
I am not going to get into games, because those are a dime a dozen. If you want to play games on your device, you know what you like, and you don't need someone like me telling you what to play - but I will tell you this. There are tons of free games out there, and if the entire game isn't free, they usually will have a "lite" version, which is a demo version where you can at least try the game out. There are educational games for kids, 18+ games for adults, and everything in between.
To manage your Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and whatever you are using for your social life online, you might look into TweetDeck (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id429654148) or HootSuite (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id341249709). You can manage all of your accounts at once through these apps. Both are free.
Lastly, there are the apps that I will download and when my wife's phone automatically syncs, she will say, "What is this dumb app?" And that is exactly what the app is - a stupid app to waste time, make people laugh, or be mildly entertained for a bit, and then you delete the app.
An app that I saw last week was the Action Movie FX app that is "Inspired by Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol." Essentially it is a free app where you can add a movie special effect to an ordinary day. Take for example Explorer Editor Thelma Grimes and Explorer Publisher Ryan Kedzierski in this video www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXVGBCfFFuI - it got a few laughs around the office, and that's about it.
Another app that is "dumb" (and free) is Songify. It is an app where you simply talk into it, and it will then auto-tune your voice into a song.
You can put a mustache and crazy hair on someone with ‘stachetastic (99 cents - $3.99), you can make yourself or friends look fat with FatBooth (99 cents).
If all of this is too much for you, you can simply pour yourself a virtual beer in iBeer (free - 99 cents), sit back and make a phone call with your phone, but don't forget to download the Last Call app (free) to monitor your Blood Alcohol Content as you input your drinks as you consume them.
Posted in Northwest chatter, Gadget magnet on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 11:09 am. Updated: 2:54 pm. Comments (2)
-
- Gadget Magnet - The Kindle, a pleasant surprise for this Apple man
-
The top item bought on Amazon.com, and one of the most popular items this year is the Kindle Fire, a seven-inch color screen tablet. With it, one can play movies, games, music, and read books and magazines all from the palm of their hand. But is it really worth the $200 price tag?
I am an Apply guy. The intuitiveness of the iPad and iPhone along with the seamless responsiveness of Apple's products was obviously on my mind as I took a closer look at the Fire.
My first thoughts were that I didn't like the Fire. Who is Amazon kidding? It didn't even come close to the iPad with looks, interface and intuitiveness. But then, I looked at it more.
At first, the Fire seemed to be a little heavy with a small screen, but after using it a little more, I was pleasantly surprised with the size of the tablet. It was more portable than I had originally thought.
The Fire's physical design is solid. It doesn't feel cheap, or that it might break if I dropped it off the coffee table. I didn't try and break mine - so I don't know if it will break or not, you are on your own for that test.
The Fire connects to Amazon's cloud service via Wi-Fi, and you can sync your device through Wi-Fi or through a mini-USB cord. You also charge the device through the same port.
The fact that you had to be on a Wi-Fi network to do anything on it was a little bothering. I am used to being able to use a 3G network to get my content on the go. With the Fire, you will need to load what you can onto it prior to road trips, unless you have a cellphone that you can turn into a Wi-Fi hotspot. With 8GB of storage on the Fire, Amazon doesn't expect its users to do much of that. Their cloud service is included, and you have unlimited space, as long as your movies, shows and music are all purchased on Amazon.com. With that, you need to have Wi-Fi access to listen, read or watch the stuff you have on your cloud.
When you are on a Wi-Fi network, the movie and television streaming is seamless. The picture quality is really good, even on slow internet connections.
One aspect of the physical design that I didn't like was the location of the power button. Unless you have a case for your Fire that puts a buffer between the palm of your hand and the button when holding the Fire in landscape mode, you will most likely accidentally bump it and turn the device off. Also, coming from using Apple products, I wished for a physical home button and physical volume buttons.
While using the Fire, you have to access the volume through a tab system which seemed to be cumbersome, and even more so when the Fire wasn't open and on.
The interface on the Fire was missing something. It simply seemed choppy to me. When you go to your Books tab and then want to go to your Newsstand tab, you have to press the Back button or the home button, and then press the respective button.
If Amazon integrates a multi-tasking aspect into the operating system or a frames-type tab menu, this would rectify this issue.
The battery life on the Fire is awesome. I never felt that I needed to recharge it, or to check what the power level was at. The specifics say the Fire has eight hours of continuous reading or seven and a half hours of video playback, with wireless off. It fully charges in about four hours.
The Fire has an accelerometer, so you will be able to play some of the games where you turn the tablet for steering. This is also used to automatically to rotate your books and movies depending on which way you are holding the Fire.
One aspect that really stood out as plus for the Fire is that you can look at websites with Flash. Unlike the iPad, which unless you hack (called jailbreaking) your iPad, you can't look at Flash-based websites. With the Fire you can. I was pleasantly surprised and really felt this was a very strong point for the Fire.
The price also stood out to me. For $200, this is a fantastic device. I would expect to see something like the Fire for $350-$400. With iPads starting at $500, and going up to $829, this is a steal.
If you want a tablet that can stream movies and read books on a larger screen than a Touch but don't need the hundreds of thousands of apps on the Apple network, the Fire is wonderful. If you like apps that Apple has and the interface that Apple has built around its products, you should probably stick within Apple.
Currently, Amazon has more than 10,000 apps for the Fire, including mail client apps, journals, family planners, financial advisory apps, and of course, Angry Birds.
If you have $200, and would like a nice solid tablet, but don't need too many extras, go for the Kindle Fire.
Posted in Northwest chatter, Gadget magnet on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 9:09 am. Updated: 2:10 pm. Comments (2)
-
- Gadget Magnet: Which to buy: a small camera, a medium camera or a large camera
-
Any time a friend or family member considers buying a camera, they always seem to ask my opinion on the matter. This time of year, those numbers seem to escalate dramatically.
I am honored that someone values my opinion on the matter. I think because I have been taking pictures for 13-plus years, they think I know the most about cameras. I want to make sure you know I am not an expert on all cameras. But, I have shot with my fair share of cameras.
I started shooting with a Pentax ME Super and later got a Pentax K1000. I shot mostly black and white film. I later moved to a Canon EOS ELAN II – I have been with Canon ever since. Not because I prefer Canon to Nikon, it’s simply that I started investing in lenses and flashes for Canon, and it was cheaper for me to stay within the brand.
I later bought a Canon 10D after college and then have mainly used the cameras available to me at the newspapers I have worked for. At work, I shoot with a Canon 40D and a 1D, and for my personal work, I have a 5D Mark II.
So when someone asks me what I think of a Casio Exilm point-and-shoot camera, I really have no idea what to tell them.
“It has 12 Megapixels, that’s good, right?” they ask me.
I feel picture quality from a point-and-shoot is substantially different than that of an SLR camera. My Canon 10D was a 6.3 MP camera and I had no problem enlarging my prints to 20”X30”, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the same with a Casio Exilm that has 12 MP. This is mainly due to the lenses on those cameras.
I am usually asked if I think they should buy a small, simple point-and-shoot, a middle-range camera that has a bigger lens, and has some customizable features like control over f-stops and shutter speed, or if they should buy an SLR camera.
I personally don’t like the middle-range cameras, with the exception of the Canon G12, or the Nikon Coolpix P7000. The middle-range cameras seem to be over complicated and menus upon menus to get to customize the way you want to take a shot.
If you don’t know what SLR stands for, have no interest in learning about ISO, f-stops and shutter speeds, and how they all relate to each other I would suggest getting a point-and-shoot. In my experience, people get frustrated with the complexity of the camera and don’t use it or shoot on auto mode.
If you would like to learn about photography, are thinking about taking some decent photographs, and really finding out what the art of photography is all about, I would suggest getting a fairly inexpensive SLR camera.
You don’t need to jump right out of the box and buy a $2,000 camera. Buy a camera and see if you really like it.
If it turns out you do like photography, I strongly suggest looking into some
expensivedecent lenses.I always tell people, “If you have the greatest eyes in the world, but are only wearing sunglasses that you got at Target, you aren’t going to see things as clearly as you want.”
You can get a 10D now for under $200, but if you put on a 16-35mm f/2.8 lens ($1,200), you are going to get some fairly decent pictures opposed to the one you might get with the 18-35mm f/3.5-5.6 lens ($100) that comes with most cameras.
As far as which point-and-shoot to get, I would suggest going to Best Buy and seeing which one feels best in your hands, and which one you think looks the best. They all pretty much do the same thing – they just have different looks, buttons and knobs.
Point-and-shoot shooting tip: If you are anticipating a shot that is about to happen, press and hold the shutter button down half way. This locks in the exposure, flash charge and focusing. When the moment happens, simply press the shutter button down the rest of the way. A lot of complaints about point-and-shoot cameras are geared around how long it takes to take a photo from the time you press the button to the time the photo is actually taken. That lag time is created because the camera is trying to focus, figure out the exposure and charge the flash all at the same time. Load that info with pressing the button down half way and wait for the moment – you’ll have a better chance of capturing it.
Posted in Gadget magnet, Northwest chatter, Holidays on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 12:31 pm. Updated: 3:26 pm. Comments (0)
Wednesday 04/11/2012
Gadget Magnet - Oh no! They changed Facebook! ...Deal with it!Monday 02/20/2012
Gadget Magnet - Shooting Accenture - Don't blame the photographerTuesday 01/24/2012
Gadget Magnet - Conversation improves without cell phonesWednesday 01/04/2012
Gadget Magnet -You have a new iPhone, Touch or iPad, now what?Wednesday 12/21/2011
Gadget Magnet - The Kindle, a pleasant surprise for this Apple manWednesday 12/07/2011
Gadget Magnet: Which to buy: a small camera, a medium camera or a large camera
© Copyright 2012, The Explorer, Tucson, AZ. Powered by BLOX Content Management System from TownNews.com. [Terms of Use | Privacy Policy]