Now on Flickr

Well, I finally did it. I've broken down and created a Flickr account. I've actually had one for a little while but I hadn't really use it until recently. I guess I just instinctually resist popular services if I wasn't one of the first on board. Flickr has a lot going for it, though. The collaboration and sheer amount of uploads has stolen me away from Picasa Web.

Check out my Flickr Photostream here

One of the things that I loved so much about Picasa Web was it's fantastic integration with Picasa, the photo organizer. But I was soon disappointed with the way that Picasa handled geotagged information. It didn't like the way my application added data to the EXIF tag and would frequently refuse it altogether. So now I've switched.

I've gotten my hands on a copy of Adobe's Lightroom 2.0. So far, it seems very cool. I've even found a couple of cool plugins which automate the task of uploading photos to BOTH Picasa Web AND Flickr. Very cool.

New Toy: Mio C230 GPS

Here's my new toy. I just purchased the Mio C230 GPS for about 100 bucks from CompUSA. If you, my limited but privileged readership, have not yet figured out, I'm a GPS whore. I have been using a combination of an iBlue 747 GPS data logger linked via bluetooth with an HTC TyTn running BeeLineGPS as a display. I hope all that techno name dropping excited someone other than myself.

My iBlue/HTC setup has actually worked VERY well for a lot of applications such as geocaching, hiking via checkpoints, and pairing data with jpegs for geotagging photos. It is, however, lacking in the application that most "normal" people use GPS for: road navigation.

I've only taken this bad boy out for a cursery road test, but it looks pretty impressive to me so far. It has a 3D map display function that updates smoothly, voice prompts, and an SD expansion slot. It also runs on Windows CE which means I can hack it to my heart's content. I just can't leave well enough alone.

Picasa 3.0 Is The Shizzle

Picasa 3.0 rules my world. Check out the full resolution Collage Example from above. I've been playing round with the pictures that we took on our hiking trip today and stumbled across the new version of Picasa. I honestly couldn't tell you if the last version of Picasa had a Collage tool or not, but I can tell you that the curret version does and it's pretty cool. You can make contact sheets and all kinds of cool stuff. Plus it links up with Picasa Web Albums which I prefer over Flickr, Photobucket, and all the rest for the geotagging capabilities and bulk uploading. Plus it integrates perfectly with my blog which is powered by Blogger.com.

I really hope Google never pairs down it's services or starts charging.

Application Snobbery

I recently became hooked on a cool little music application called
FooBar2000 which is really customizable, uses a really low memory
footprint and looks sweet to boot. I found myself thinking, "man, what
was I thinking using Winamp when this was out there." Then I thought,
"god, what about those poor souls out there who are using MusicMatch or
iTunes... fools." At that very moment, I became guilty of Application
Snobbery.

Application Snobbery is basically a smugness surrounding one's choice
in software for various tasks, and a feeling of superiority over those
who haven't made quite as intelligent a decision in their application
selection. App Snobs are the connoisseurs of their targeted application
communities and post rampantly in forums regarding the superiority of
the application they utilize and the obviously equal superiority of
their craniums.

So what can a person do to avoid becoming an App Snob after they've
experienced a software epiphany? Just look for the warning signs:

1. Posting to your software's forums when you aren't having a problem with software.
2. Sending out unsolicited software installers to friends and family.
3. Exhaling loudly when you are forced to use "that other piece of crap software" on your work computer.
4. Sending emails to your IT guy demanding to have your software installed on every computer in your office.
5. Getting into arguments with your IT guy, who is also an App Snob, over the hows and whys of who's software is better.
6. Purchasing a T-shirt with the logo of your software
7. Wearing a T-shirt with the logo of your software in public
8. Purchasing a T-shirt with the logo of your software as a gift for friends who "should be using it, too."
9. Installing your software on your Mom's computer even though she adamantly states that she "likes the old one just fine."
10. Beta testing.

Save yourself before it's too late