Oh Seattle: The Haiku

In some ways, I'm still learning how to be a Seattlite. There are some things that seem so quintessentially Seattle, and the haiku is one of them. I never wrote a haiku outside of a classroom. No one has ever read one to me outside of a classroom either... until I moved to Seattle. Birthdays, anniversaries, fridays, snacks, winning games and willing ears all earn a haiku. I would write one, but, as I said, I'm still learning to be a Seattlite. That said, it's wonderfully quirky and literate... kind of like the city.

Geotagging photos with any digital camera and your iPhone

The new iPhoto has some really cool features. One of my favorites is the ability to sort photos by location. This is particularly useful (and entertaining) when you travel to the same places over and over again. Sorting by location allows you to see how much places have changed (or stayed the same, depending upon where you go).

I have a nice point and shoot (a Sony Cybershot) and my partner has a Canon Digital Rebel XT. Neither of these cameras have a GPS unit built into them and we don't really want to purchase new cameras to get geotags automatically added to our photos. We looked into getting an external device, like the Sony GPS-CS1KASP GPS Unit , but we are Mac users and the process, while pretty seamless I hear for Windows users, takes a lot more tweaking on a Mac.

One thing we do have are iPhones-- not second generation ones with GPS chips built-in, but iPhones nonetheless. I decided to find out if I could use a geotagging app on my phone to help me add location information to photos using cell tower triangulation. I eventually did find a good solution in Saltpepper's GeoTag.

The process of data collection is pretty simple and flexible. You can either set your camera's clock to match your iPhone's and then take pictures while running GeoTag. The app can keep your iPhone from sleeping, which will allow constant data collection, but which will also reduce your phone's battery life. Knowing that this would be a problem, the developer included a file name-based data collection mode in which you enter in the file name (IMG, DSCN, etc.) and the number of the next shot you will take into the app's settings. Every time you take a picture, just press the "collect" button in the app and it will store the location information along with the name of the image file it will eventually sync to. This allows you to put your phone to sleep when you are not actively taking pictures and recording data. This is the option that I chose and I found it to work well. Cell phone tower triangulation isn't perfect, but I am also only looking for a general location (i.e. Seattle, Pittsburgh, New York, etc.). GeoTag is really meant for second generation iPhones and I imagine that you would get much more precise results with the use of a GPS chip.

Syncing your location data with your photos isn't seamless, but it isn't bad. Using a free app that you download from the Saltpepper website, you can transfer the location data to the computer via your wireless network, then after transferring your pictures from your camera to a folder on your computer, open the images and associate the data. The desktop app is a little slow, so you must be patient and wait for your pictures to load. Once you feel confident that the location data is correctly associated with your photos, you can write the tags with the click of a button. The app will backup each file that it alters in case a problem occurs, although I have yet to experience one. You can then import your photos into iPhoto or upload them to a geotag-aware web service.

Overall the process was simple and well worth the $3.99 that the app cost. If the developers find a way to speed up the desktop app, they could be on to a killer app. Check out GeoTag at http://www.saltpepper.net/geotag/

Alternatively, you can do this for free by taking a picture with your iPhone in each location, importing it along with your digital camera's photos, and copying the location data to all of the photos in the import. Either way, you get to enjoy geotags in your photo albums.

First Impressions: Gyminee

I've been thinking about getting into better shape for a while now. I'm not in horrible shape to begin with, but since I really like sweets, I know that I may need some help organizing and encouraging myself through the process. Enter the Gyminee website. Gyminee allows users to set weight loss and fitness goals and enter nutrition and workout details to help guide users to success. There is also a social aspect to the site which allows users to join groups and encourage each other.

On the nutrition side of the site, Gyminee is excellent. Gyminee has a vast library of foods that is relatively, in my limited experience, free of duplication. Adding foods to the database and to the list of things that you ate today is very easy. I also really like the clean interface and the ability to save certain foods to a favorites list.

The fitness side is a little less flexible. You have to create "workouts" from sets of exercises from their library. The library of exercises are pretty small. It is difficult to find what you need if you do anything too creative in the gym. If you try to avoid doing the same routine over and over again, you will have to create a new "workout" every time you go to the gym and tracking progress becomes difficult.

There is a fee-based "pro" option on the site that enables a number of advanced features, but those would not solve my problems with the fitness tracking system. Because of its limitations, I'm sticking to using the nutrition side of the site only. I'll report back on my progress later to see if the site helped me along.

Why do people walk backwards?

I'm wondering why people walk slowly backwards on the sidewalk, usually talking on the phone or looking at the sky. The number of people who back into me on the sidewalk during my walks to and from work each day is astounding. I suppose I should be glad that they don't bike or drive backwards. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here to rant!

Kindle DX: more bigger better?

Yesterday, Amazon introduced the Kindle DX. I have not yet purchased a Kindle, but I've had my eye on it for a while now. I own a lot of books and I really like the idea of making my entire library more portable. Having moved into a new apartment recently, I cannot say that I will miss carrying the boxes of books up and down flights of stairs. However, both the new Kindle and the Amazon Kindle store are not yet where I need them to be yet for me to justify a purchase. Amazon is adding thousands of books everyday, however, so that time may be coming soon.

According to yesterday's announcement, there is a lot to love about the new Kindle DX. It has a bigger screen, more storage, more functionality for reading pdfs natively and an accelerometer to allow you to switch from portrait to landscape. It has more, more, more! But, at the same time, it is the same old Kindle attached to the same old store. Although among yesterday's announcements was the introduction of textbooks for the Kindle, the availability of academic monographs in the humanities is minimal. It is difficult to get a history book that is written for an academic audience. This makes sense for Amazon, because the market is small. Unfortunately, it makes the Kindle less useful to me and to others interested in the Humanities. I have a feeling that this will be remedied very quickly however, as Amazon is partnering with higher educational institutions.

Then there's the price. $489! For me this is a lot to spend, but I would probably not only make that back on book purchases but on the reduced cost and effort of my next move. Seriously! It was an awful experience! What do you think?