Melchers Olde Tyme

As I and others are finding out, the iPhone 4 is a pretty spectacular digital still camera. One of the key differences with the iPhone is that there are applications (“apps”) that can enhance the capabilities of the handy little device. The iPhone comes standard with a camera app, but one that provides some pretty stunning functionality is Tap Tap Tap’s Camera +. It’s one of those take a picture and apply the filter type programs, but it works very well and provides loads of functionality that I’m just beginning to play with.

Camera + Effects

The picture at the top of this post, and the ones following, are using the effects (the grunge effect in this case) and the border (the one called Old-Timey) features.

Seeing the photos in this context makes me want to find the stories of these buildings. There are also the “flaws” of the modern day (bicycles, cars, modern signs) intruding on the historical accuracy, but it almost makes it fun to find those errors. Here are the rest.

Olde Tyme duPont

Trinkle Olde Tyme

Seacobeck Olde Tyme

Chandler Olde Tyme

I got my Glif last week and haven’t used it yet, but I’m still excited about it. After I received it, I subsequently listened to three podcasts that mentioned what a great product it was. It’s nice to have affirmation that you made a smart purchase, especially one like the Glif. You could say it’s a little pricey (about $20), but that’s before you see what it does, and how well it is designed.

Oh right. What is a Glif? Well, on a basic level it is a tripod adapter for the iPhone. It form fits on the iPhone 4 to give you a standard tripod socket. However, because of its design, it can also be used as a stand for both horizontal and vertical orientation. It will be one of those handy gadgets I keep in my computer backpack for different occasions.

Now it’s time to get some use out of this thing.

Today Apple has an event introducing their new iPod lineup. Included in the iPod lineup is the Apple TV device which as many people are reporting is due for an update today. While this will be a media based device, it could also function as an iPad for your TV. Especially if the rumors are correct that it will run the iOS that the iPhone and iPad share. So it might be possible that the Apple TV could be an HTML5 delivery device. The iLife software is due for an update, so instead of iDVD being updated, there could be an HTML5 creation app. It’s less than 2 hours from now, so we’ll see soon enough. I would like Apple to support this open standard, and make it easy for the average person to create content for these devices. I’d love to see a mix of Netflix, network television, and user-generated content playable on these devices. A guy can dream right?

Flickr photo by justinsomnia

Apple is holding a press conference today. No one knows exactly what they are going to say, who is going to say it, or whether people will be satisfied with what they say, but it’s a big deal in the technology world. The iPhone 4′s antenna issues have been documented. Experts are saying there will be a recall. I personally don’t think the issue warrants it. But why is this a big story?

I believe it is because of what this device is. It’s a computer. It’s not a phone, or just a phone. As I and others have said, sometimes a dropped call is a good thing. I use my iPhone for so much more than calling people, which at this time in history is becoming quaint. The iPhone 4 compares to a Mac from 2000 – AND it fits in your pocket! The power of these devices is only accelerating. I’ve long said that these devices will be our main computers. We’ll carry them to do certain tasks, and then dock them to do tasks that require more monitor space.

Look at where we are. It’s a device that fits in your pocket. It turns on instantly. It connects wirelessly to the Internet (in two ways). I has a built in still and video camera. It can triangulate where you are in the world. It has a 32GB hard drive with no moving parts. An on and on. I think sometimes we miss the revolution that it is. Still, it is a device, made by a company. There are other companies that make similar devices. It’s the computer wars of the early 90′s all over again, with some different players. It is still a big deal, in terms of technology and in terms of communication.

Yes, Apple thinks different. They don’t always think right. While most other companies have evolved their online presence to include things like Twitter and/or Facebook and have openly shared any issues and bugs with an online community, Apple has not. That’s what I want to see change today, or at least start to change. They may think they don’t need to. They may think they are successful because they don’t have that open presence. I believe that if they continue to be closed, it will be self-destructive. There are many who enable this closed attitude – its fans, journalists, and customers themselves. However, Apple is getting more popular and with that will come increasing demands that they be more open, or at least more honest.

Apple’s latest issue with the antenna is not a big deal. It is an issue on a lot of cell phones including previous iPhones (like the 3G in my video above). They can do minimal things to make it right, like give people a free bumper and improve the software that displays signal strength. The reason that they need to change their software at all is because they made it so that the signal would look better than it really was. It was all about the bars (thanks AT&T you have some culpability in this too). Now it’s time to be honest. Stop with the lofty talk. It’s one thing to try to make superior products. It’s another to act superior. Please, no more Jony Ive videos. He’s a great designer, but those videos now couldn’t look any more phony (no pun intended). Let’s have just a wee bit more REAL.

Steve Jobs blames user error for initial reports of iPhone 4 reception problems.

Apple blames formula for iPhone reception problems (they’re “stunned”).

No response to Consumer Reports testing of signal degradation.

Apple deletes, then keeps, support forum threads regarding CR article.

Apple fanboys blame Consumer Reports for flawed tests that show signal loss in iPhone 4. (so MacLife, how did Apple test for the problem when they informed us about the signal strength bar issue? Was it more rigorous than the Consumer reports tests?)

Apple has a reception problem.

Apple should listen to its customers and stop pretending there aren’t problems. Those problems might not be a big deal, but stop with the blaming of others.

Flickr photo by Stone Mirror

I had been using FlickIt and AirMe to upload photos to the Flickr website, and another app called Darkslide to view my Flickr photos. However, the new Flickr app does it all, and seems to work quite seamlessly as it includes the ability to geo-tag photos. It is one of those iPhone apps that immediately feels right to use, almost like it was there from the beginning. The one downside is that uploads do not include the camera information. So far the only way to get that information included is to use the email to Flickr method. Let’s hope that an update will fix that shortcoming.

All in all, it looks like this program will be on the hallowed “page 1″ of my iPhone. It was worth the wait. Here’s the link to the Apple Store for the application.

Here’s what you need. An iPhone, using its built-in camera. An app called AirMe, which you set up to upload the image you take, to an account of your choice. In our case we use the Flickr service. I’ll talk about the Flickr piece in a moment, but I don’t want to gloss over how AirMe works. I grab the iPhone and start the free AirMe app. It works on top of the camera app and it allows me to take a picture, if I like it I use it, or I retake it. I can also use an image that is already on my iPhone. As long as I’m connected to the AT&T network, it will instantly start uploading. In 30 seconds, give or take, it’s done.

Now it’s available on Flickr. So, similar to the audio recordings on AudioBoo, the image is instantly hosted on a photo sharing site. However, like we also did with AudioBoo we are going to republish it to a WordPress blog automatically. We again employ our good friend FeedWordPress. We use the RSS feed from Flickr using the tag iPhone. In no time at all the image is up on the blog.

I have a preset title of “Latest iPhone Photo” and it posts the thumbnail that links to the Flickr page for the photo.

Caution, of course, needs to be exercised because it will publish whatever photo you send. The current iPhone has even better quality than the one I own, and network coverage is getting better all the time. This will only get better and easier with time. I was hoping to have this procedure worked out in time for my MS Ride this year but . . . better late than never.

Sometimes Apple leaves features out of products for inexplicable reasons . We’re on version 3.0 of the iPhone software and their iTunes application does not allow you to subscribe to a podcast using the standard itpc:// protocol, nor can you add a feed manually, like you can with the desktop version of iTunes. The screenshot from the iPhone above shows you what happens when you click on an iTunes subscribe link in the web browser.

An alternative program with the above features that you can use for the iPhone is called RSS Player. I mentioned this app in my post about AudioBoo, and it will allow you to get more podcasts that are outside of the iTunes universe. It’s $0.99 from the iTunes store.

As an example of how to give users a practical way to subscribe to podcasts using the iPhone, I created this video demonstrating how you browse to a webpage using the iPhone and by clicking a specially coded button, it will automatically start the process for adding a new feed to the RSS Player program.

The example podcasting site, which has some content and multiple tests of AudioBoo, is simply called Podcasting @ UMW. The RSS Player button is created by using the following link (using the rssplayer:// protocol) – rssplayer://www.podcaster.fm?feedurl=http://podcasts.umwblogs.org/feed. RSS Player will work over WiFi or 3G and there is no 10MB file limit like there is with iTunes. The app is a little bit wonky and lacks some of the polish of an iPhone app, but it gets the job done.

After our presentation at ACCS 2009, I’ve had a couple of “Wedding Singer” moments where it would have been nice to know that developers were working on new versions of plugins, like WPTouch for the iPhone. Another one popped on my radar today, thanks to my office-mate Patrick. The web service Slideshare has enabled, in a beta form, a way to view presentations on mobile phones. Since there is no Flash plugin for the iPhone, you can’t view the slideshows as they are presented on the standard Slideshare site. However, by going to m.slideshare.com, you can browse on your phone all of the presentations at the site, including your own. It works on most smartphones, including the iPhone, and it works pretty well.

If you didn’t know, a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation can be downloaded to an iPhone, but viewing it is not a visually rich experience since there is no “player”. It simply allows you to scroll vertically through the slides. With Slideshare Mobile, you have previous and next buttons to advance the show, along with other options to offer feedback, mark as a “favorite”, view the slides in a “sorter” view, and a download link.

Another “small piece” delivered.

By the way, downloading Keynote presentations (the Apple presentation program) from Slideshare doesn’t work on the iPhone’s Safari browser. Since Slideshare doesn’t use a direct link to the file, but instead links to a Zip archive, Safari won’t allow the download because of security issues.

POLL CLOSED

Add your answer in the comments . . .

The service allows polling to take place with a cell phone that has SMS capabilities. We’ll see if it beats clickers into submission.