I had been toying around with the idea of using the flickr api with google maps for a while. So a couple of weekends ago I decided to take a break from client work and hammer something out. The result is my gallery.

The goals for the project were the following:

Use flickr’s and google’s map apis.

Both are apis that I have known about, and wanted to work with for a while, but hadn’t had chance to use on scale larger than minor wordpress widgets. In the past my experience was limited to using jQuery to access my most recent photos from flickr. I wanted something a bit more powerful and flexible and an excuse to use php which my web host supports. I ended up settling on a relatively good PHP wrapper called phpflickr

Displaying a map was surprisingly easy. Once I extracted the longitude and latitude information from the photo I was able to use a couple google maps function calls to create a map around that location with a marker on it.

Create a way to display my photos in a meaningful way on my site

There are lots of gallery plugins and widgets around the net. I wanted something though that was completely customizable both in how it displays images and how it is used. For example – if I wanted to pull from a specific set of photos, I can do that. Also if wanted to be able to mine data about my photographic behaviors, such as what my favorite apertures and focal range were – those are not typically available with “off the shelf” options.

The biggest problem with flickr itself is its white background which doesn’t work well with photography. I find it distracting and prefer a darker background (hence the color scheme of this site). People often use sites like that of big huge labs to display their picture on a black background. I wanted to avoid having to use an external site.

I also wanted the ability to readily display information that I find important – such as the camera, lens, aperture, iso, and shutter speed I used. I also wanted to toy with the idea of showing (when available) the location of where I took the photo on a google map.

Additionally I wanted to use some javascript to make it possible to expand the photos, so that users will not need to leave the site to better view my pictures. To achieve this I used a javascript library called highslide JS.

The final result of my weekend coding session is a relatively minimalist interface that gives the viewer all the information that I consider important.

Another cool idea from Snow Crash was that of a “gargoyle,” which is basically an individual who is perpetually connected to the net – complete with an eye piece display that enables them pull up information about their surroundings at all time. This is slowly becoming a reality and Yelp is doing their part by bringing the first Augmented Reality app to the iPhone 3GS.

Yelp quietly snuck the feature into their latest update – revealed by shaking your phone 3 times. After that a dialog pops up stating how Yelp thought reality was boring – so they augmented it. From that point on the yelp app displays a monocle option that allows you to use the 3GS’s camera to look around and display yelp information.

Yelp isn’t the first AR app, but they are the first on the iphone. On android based phones – like the G1, there have been other AR apps – in particular that of Layer. Not until the 3GS did the iphone have a compass which is crucial for determining which direction the user is pointing. Even still the iphone was not supposed to see any AR apps until the next release of the iphone OS software – so yelp is being sneaky by releasing it early. Hopefully they aren’t angering the gods over at Apple.

Grado Labs is based out of Brooklyn and is a family owned business with the sole purpose of manufacturing quality high-end audio products and it shows. They make a wide range of headphones going from $49 iGrado street-style headphones all the way up to crazy $1695 PS1000. The SR-80s were about $95 when I bought them. The main selling point for me was that they offered a sound that was comparable to headphones that cost significantly more. If your experience with headphones is limited to the cheap white ones that came with your ipod then you are missing out on lot of detail in your music.

In about 2005 my headphones died due to a loose connection in one of the drivers – probably because of over use. After a brief attempt at repairing them myself which resulted in a mess of solder, I gave up not wanting to risk doing more damage. In May of 2007 I was still bummed that these great headphones were going to waste because of a tiny wire so I decided to send a message to Grado to see if they could repair them. Despite the fact that the headphones were a few years old they told me to send it in to the factory.

Holy Crap could a company really be that cool?

Thanks to my laziness I wouldn’t find out for another 2 years. At the beginning of July I decided to take a chance and mailed off the headphones along with a letter explaining my situation. I figured my options were to either trash these headphones which were going on nearly 3 years of not being used or to send them off to Grado where the worst that could happen is that they would be recycled.

Well today I got an unexpected delivery in the mail from Grado. In the box were my repaired headphones free of charge and they sound as good as they ever have.

Thank you so much Grado!

As I have previously mentioned on this blog, I have been a Sprint SERO subscriber. My 2 year contract recently ended which opened up the possibility of getting a new phone. My HTC Mogul isn’t cutting it anymore, not even with a Windows Mobile 6.5 rom on it and since January I was nearly certain that I would be getting a Pre. My original intention was to use my cheap SERO plan for my “phone” purposes and my iPod for everything else.

Unfortunately Sprint requires that you subscribe to their more expensive phone plans if you want to get a Pre. That requirement alone made me question whether it was worth it for me to stay with Sprint. Aside from Sprint’s customer service I have been happy. Especially considering I pay around $32/month for it. The day before my contract ended I got a friendly call from a support representative of which I was only able to understand roughly 25% of what he had to say. I think he was asking me if I was happy and if there was anything he could do for me, but all I heard was that I didn’t think I could stand to put up with your customer service any longer.

The Pre itself is a marvelous device – both the device’s hardware design and operating system is nearly everything I wanted in a mobile device. The decision to not get a Pre came down to apps. In particular I looked at Evernote, which had just come out on the Pre and the updated version for the iphone’s 3.0 OS. The Pre’s version showed promise but the 3.0 version was by far the superior app. I have no doubt that with time Pre developers will produce amazing applications for it but from a user perspective I don’t want to wait.

Additionally I didn’t see the Pre completely replacing everything that I use the touch for. Yes the browser is fast, but the experience isn’t quite as well done as what Apple has produced.

So what do I like about the ipod touch? For me it has been the ultimate internet appliance. Combining all my internet needs inside a thin, light device. When my computer is down or I feel like lounging on the patio, at a friend’s place, or at a cafe the touch suits all my needs.

Recently I moved my main computer to another room where it would no longer have a wired connection. I wanted to avoid using a pci wireless card because I have experienced system instability while using them under high loads in the past (like bittorrent). So instead I bought a 2nd router and used my touch to configure it to support Wireless Distribution System. This mode had the effect of extending my wireless network to this new router. Now I could plug my computer directly into the 2nd router and use the connection of the first. Since my computer didn’t have a wireless connection I would not have been able to configure this 2nd router without my ipod touch.

What do I do on my touch on a daily basis?

• keep up with the news using Google Reader
• check my email
• keep up to date by having my calender automagically synced with my google calender
• wake up with the great default clock application as well as use the timer for cooking and workouts
• listen to audio books and podcasts (Pre doesn’t save positions in audiobooks)
• buy and read books through Kindle (not supported on the Pre)
• read twitter (with Tweetie)
• browse Reddit using iReddit
• browse flickr
• take and read notes using Evernote
• find new restaurants using Yelp
• track my runs using Nike+
• track my pushup and situp programs using dedicated apps
• control VLC and iTunes
• chat with gtalk, aim and Facebook using BeeJive 3.0
• keep up with my facebook contacts using the dedicated app (really Palm you couldn’t have had one at launch?)
• manage my blog with a dedicated wordpress app (just found out I could do this today!)
• track my bank account using Mint

The majority of the things I use my touch for on a regular basis are either not supported on the Pre or would not have offered as good of an experience. So in the end I would have still needed to carry around two devices.

Without a doubt the touch is a gateway drug to the iphone. You can’t appreciate all that the touch has to offer and not want to be able to do everything and more with phone and gps functionality like the iphone can. I look forward to not needing WiFi access everywhere and being able to use location aware services.

So long my beloved ipod touch. You have served me well. You will be dearly missed during the time that I return you and when I finally get my iphone.

I realized within a month of getting the D40 that I was going to out grow it fast. It’s a great camera that takes amazing exposures and easily recommend it over point and shoot cameras that cost more – but there are several limitations that I won’t cover here. Since I was happy with Nikon in general I knew I would want to stay with their line of cameras. So my options were to upgrade to the D80 or splurge on a D300. The D80 has long been at the end of its product cycle – so while I could get it affordably I knew it wouldn’t be the upgrade that I really wanted. The D300 is considered one of the best cameras to come out in the past year and is without a doubt my ideal upgrade. But the cost was prohibitive. I enjoy photography but I am not willing to spend upwards of $2k on a camera at this point.

Enter the D90.

The D90 has had an interesting journey. Those who follow DSLRs have known that Nikon was certainly working on this camera. The D80 – while be very popular – was looking long in the tooth compared to recent offerings by Canon. Most notably the lack of LiveView and an old image sensor. This lead people to theorize what would make a worthy successor. The dream was a D80 combined with the award winning features of the D300. Nikon managed to deliver on that dream and more.

The D90 inherits the D300 image sensor. Meaning it’s megapixel count has been bumped to 12 and it’s sensitivity has increased dramatically over the D80 (from 3200 to 6400). It’s LCD has been increased to 3 inches and has gained Live View. In what many consider the biggest surprise the D90 is the first DSLR to include video recording. Though this is probably the feature that I am the least excited about.

A full feature comparison and “preview” can be found here. Chase Jarvis did a fun post and video on the camera. You can find it here.

I had planned on waiting until October or November for the body only release of the D90 – but the combination of an upcoming vacation and a friend’s wedding had made me want to upgrade sooner. I had been saving up in anticipation of the upgrade for a while so I was ready to purchase it whenever it was available. On Monday I found out the local Best Buy had a one and reserved it but I still wasn’t certain as to whether I should make the purchase as I am hesitant about making any big purchase. I shopped around at the local camera stores and no one else had it in stock and luckily for me Best Buy offered no interest financing for 2 years. That sealed the deal for me – happy belated birthday to myself. I may very well be one of the first people in Eugene with a D90.

So how is it?

Its everything I hoped for and more. It is a gigantic upgrade over my D40 while providing all the important features that I needed from the D300. There are some things that I will probably miss (weather proofing, lens focus tuning) but I can live without those for now. Shooting without a flash at PAX on a D40 revealed a lot more noise than I would have liked. In comparison the D90 is able to take great looking pictures at 3200 where the D40 was barely able to get by at 1600. Also I am able to use auto-focus on primes like my 50mm 1.8.

One of the major features I wanted from a D80 was the flash commander mode. This allows you to use flashes off camera and control them from the camera. I plan to get into Strobist like photography in the future.

I plan on selling the kit lens that came with it. While it is apparently a good lens and well reviewed – I don’t need it. I bought a Tamron 17-50 2.8 lens a few months back and have since not had a reason to use any of my other lenses. So if anyone wants a 18-105 VR lens before it is sold in stores, I am willing to part with it unused and with the warranty for $300.

Additionally my D40 is now for sale. I am willing to part with it and the original kit lens for $300. That includes a spare battery. For $150 more I will throw in my 55-200 VR kit lens. The D40 kit still sells for new at $460 at most stores – you can get it used with the 55-200 VR for less than that from me. My flickr account is filled with pictures that I took with this camera.