respublica

Love Wide Angle Lenses?

Do you love them enough to shell out $160,000?  I didn't think so. But here's a look at the world's widest wide angle, wide enough to photograph the world.

Imagine using something like this, you'd never get a picture taken because you'd constantly be having to answer questions about the lens from other people.

Turntables are back

Two days in a row on national news must mean a trend. Turntables for playing LP's, the long play record albums everyone bought in the 60's and maybe 70's are back.

First a story in the New York Times yesterday and today on CBS. 

We have lots of old record albums, who knows if they'd even play. If I were to give in to another technology trend I'd have to get a record player (ha) which had a usb connection in order to download our old records to an ipod or some such. I seriously doubt CD's will be around much longer, everything is now cloud oriented so downloading to a recordable cd seems pointless.

Holding on to my money for now.

An iPhone app which does what it claims to do

Find my iPad, Find my iPhone-apps which will pinpoint on a map where your devices are if you lose track of them. Most of the time my stuff is somewhere else in the house which doesn't help much on maps, but an 8 year old boy in Tennessee made good use of this app. A burgler broke into his house and stole a number of things include 2 iPads. The boy used the find my ipad app which helped police zero right into the motel where the thief was holed up.

Cool.

Well I broke down and did it

Bought the new iPad this morning.

Actually I had no belief I'd actually be able to find one in a store when they went on sale, but thought it might be fun to give it a try. First I drove by the Best Buy and saw a line snaked around the outside.  Nah, wasn't going to waste time there. Tried the Micro Center but it had no one around, like it wasn't open or maybe was open for an hour beginning at 7. Too late for me, I began my search at 8 which was the typical time most places were going to start selling ipads. Have no idea what Micro Center's plan was so I left and ambled over to Target.

Target was quiet too, no crowds just a few shoppers in the grocery aisles. I wasn't feeling too optimistic when I got back to electronics but when I asked the clerk if the ipads were already gone, he told me he had two left.  Two!  Yay.  I only wanted one. 

Didn't get a case or cover, I'd like to live with it til I know what suits the new ipad best. My original ipad is more than 3 years old with heavy, constant daily use. It was beginning to get frustrating, it would quit on me or take it's own sweet time bringing things up.  But I have loved that thing so much and am looking forward to loving this one too, this one with a camera! Not that I believe in taking too many pictures with a phone or ipad, but it will be sweet for Facetime.

If anyone has any cover, case ideas, let me know. 

A transforming jacket

When I have to travel as I did for 8 days last week, it's a trick finding easily accessible places to stow all the tech things I just have to have with me. iPhone, iPad, camera (s) etc. I want them where I can find them quickly and easy to grab, not having to dig around in a bag filled with other stuff would be nice.

I know, you're thinking why bother with all that stuff. All I can say is I need all that stuff and am just glad it is not really necessary to carry along a laptop anymore.

But now comes something named the Scott Evest Transformer Jacket which has enough concealed pockets to carry everything except a desktop computer. There is even an inside pocket big enough for an iPad. But I have to say, LOL.

 

It's the image on the left. Basically, it's a new version of the khaki pocketed vest photographers have worn for decades, but, can you imagine wearing all that stuff including a water bottle? LOL

 

 

Third generation

So Apple has announced the coming of a new iPad, an iPad without an official name. Some are calling it the iPad 3, others the iPad HD, and the company calls it The iPad.

In any event it's hard to say what makes this new version worth shelling out the money. How much different is it from the iPad 2? Supposedly it has a sharper screen and a better camera plus a couple of internal things that only geeks care about. 

Once again no usb port or flash, two things many of us would really like to see. I have the original iPad which works just fine and is one of the best tech things I've ever owned. But has 3 years on it with a lot of use and it's slowing down. It has no camera although I've never thought using an iPad as a camera was really suitable. I'd use it for Facetime or Skype.

While the thought of bringing home the new version is very seductive, It just might be better to leave things as they are and wait for the iPad 1 to quit altogether.

Is your iPad slowing down?

Lately my iPad has been excruciatingly slow to load websites and I began to think maybe it has worn itself out. But there is something that can be done to get it speeded up again if you have the same problem.

It could be too many apps are running in the background. This was the case with mine. To check this double click the home button, that square in a circle that you use to open and close programs. After double clicking, all the apps and programs which are running will show up at the bottom of the Ipad or iphone. I was shocked at how many were on mine even though had exited them. Hold your finger on one of the running apps and they will begin to jiggle just like they do if you want to delete or move them only this time instead of an x they'll have a minus sign. 

 

 

There were more than you see on this photo of my iphone, pushing them right to left brings more and more and more. To close them tap the red minus sign and they're gone.  Not gone as deleted, but gone as no longer running in the background.

You can also clear out your cache, yes there is a cache on the ipad and iphone. Go to settings, Safari, tap clear history, cookies and cache. You may have to sign into some of your favorite sights after doing this, but it's kind of worth it to get rid of unnecessary stuff.

Babies come by it naturally

Typing with thumbs, that is.  Or texting.  Here's 17 seconds of Drew flaying away with one of his parent's phones.

The Mophie Juice Pack Air

Here's another product I'd recommend.  I'm finding lots of great products this January.  The Mophie.  This is an iPhone case which not only protects the phone, but charges it.  

Thanks to my sister everyone in the family received one of these for Christmas and I have to say, after I understood what it did and how it worked, it became a fantastic thing to have.  In a nutshell, you put your iphone in the case, plug the micro usb cord into the normal white Apple plug and let it charge.  If your phone needs charging it charges that first and then charges the case.  

When you are out during the day and the battery winds down you flip a little switch on the bottom of the case and the case charges your phone.  In essence you get double the battery life before putting it back on the charger.  

This is especially good on days when lots of email comes in or you have to make or receive a lot of calls.  Or, you've spent time playing games or taking photos.  

Doing some home improvement?

Here is a story from the New York Times tech writer featuring a few apps for your phone or ipad which may help you with design, paint color, and even tools.