dot mac and the Web Gallery

Using dot mac is as simple as it gets and one of the many features included with the service is the ‘web gallery‘. The gallery is as its names suggests, a place for you to post your photos. Now you can post them via the web or iPhoto. You even have the option to allow your friends (or anyone else) upload photos to the gallery.

The coolest part of the gallery is the ability for each viewer to change how photos are displayed (ie. grid, mosaic, carousel or a slide show). You can change the color of the background so to make your photos really stand out and you can change the size of the photos displayed with a little slide bar. This is a big help in matrix mode so you can view more photos at once. Other user selectable features are the ability to allow others to download photos, an RSS photo feed for people to subscribe and as I mentioned earlier an upload button to sedn photos to the gallery.

Photos are displayed very nicely and the interface is slick. In using it along with Flickr, I have come a cross a couple nuances that may be something to think about. The first is there is no way to leave comments. One of the things I like about Flickr is that other people can leave comments on a photo which just adds to the overall enjoyment of the picture. The second issue is with access. You only have the option to make an album public or password protect versus Flickr where you can set group permissions and have 3 levels at that.

All in all, I like the feature but for me Flickr is the winner. What’s your favorite photo sharing site? Let me know in the comments.

Cat in the trash (not the box)

Well, it’s not tech related or even consumer gadgety.  Sometimes you just need a break from the norm.  You know, the proverbial “stop and smell the roses”

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Tags: catpuppy, kitten, caught on tape

The Optimus Maximus @ CES

I think as average consumers we often ask ourselves what would we do with that? and how would it make life better for me?  Sometimes the answer is simply “It’s Cool!”  and other times its just another fad.  The Optimus Maximus keyboard has been making headlines for over a year now and rightfully so. This keyboard sells for $460 to $1500 in the U.S.  What makes this keyboard so special?  Every key is actually a mini display utilizing OLED technology.  The use of displays means the user can completely configure the keyboard for a specific program whether it be daily use, gaming or some editing software. 

The least costly of the keyboard configurations comes with only one OLED key and you can purchase additional as you go.  The software is not completed yet but it sounds like it should be done soon so the keyboard can be ready for general sale. 

Hopefully the price will come down soon as I can only imagine not only the coolness but some of the applications.  For example, if you have an elderly parent, as I do, you can set up a keyboard with dedicated keys that have pictures for easy reference for what they may want to do.  I don’t have one now so I can’t write about it but check out the video since Veronica Belmont and Engadget have a nice 6 minute tour.

Embedded Video

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Tags: ces, optimus maximus, keyboard, oled

Photo sharing sites

With the recent addition of the Nikon D-40, how could I not look into various ways to share my snaps with the world or at the very least my friends and family. Over the next few weeks I’ll be comparing and reviewing for you some of the more well known sites and as always, giving you my opinion and over view of the journey.

I already have a dot mac account so using the photo gallery feature that is included is simple, not to mention seamlessly integrated into iPhoto on my mac. I just signed up for my Flickr account and you can check out my first impression in my review. I think I will be looking into Picasa since it seems there are a few people using it and besides after my sign up process with Flickr, it seemed logical to try Picasa since I Already have a gmail account. There are a few others I would like to check out a few others but we’ll see if there is time this time around.

Using Flickr

Flickr was launched in 2004 by Ludicorp and subsequently acquired by Yahoo in 2005. Flickr says it has two main goals.

1) We want to help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them.
2) We want to enable new ways of organizing photos.

And thats it. Seemingly two very straight forward goals and the primary reasons why anyone would use any of the various photo sharing sites.

Before you can start sharing your pictures, you need to sign up. Yahoo acquired Flickr in 2005 so you if you already have a Yahoo account then sign up is as simple as logging into your account. However, if you don’t have one like me, then you will have to go through the sign up process which was a bit involved considering I just wanted to sign up for Flickr. At first, I was really bummed about having to get another email address but the good news is that once signed up you can make any email address your primary on the account. Thus the new address becomes something that you can just put out of mind.

Once you account is started you are given the option of two account types (basic and pro). You don’t have to stress about this decision now as you can always upgrade later with no problem.

Basic

• 100 MB monthly upload limit (5MB per photo)
• 3 sets
• Photostream views limited to the 200 most recent images
• Post any of your photos in up to 10 group pools
• Only smaller (resized) images accessible (though the originals are saved in case you upgrade later)

Pro ($24.95 annually) and gives you:

• Unlimited storage
• Unlimited uploads (10MB per photo
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Unlimited sets
• Ability to replace a photo
• Post any of your photos in up to 60 group pools
• Permanent archiving of high resolution original images
• Ad-free browsing and sharing
• Account and photo stats

Now that I have signed up, I needed to upload some photos. You can use a browser like Flock to upload photos or even send photos via email. The team at FLickr has even put together a nice easy to use application for PC or Mac (free) that allows you to upload a group of photos, name them, organize them (groups), tag them and decide if you want the public to see them or only friends and family. All of which is done very intuitively and made to be as simple as clicking a button.

That’s it, now I have photos uploaded and can browse and share them. I was very pleased with the ease of use fo the tools and the site itself. Browsing photos on the site is nothing new for me but seeing it in action from the posting side is a real treat. The team at Flickr really keeps to their core goals and truly focuses on the user experience. You wont be disappointed in the service. If you plan on using the service as a way to archive your photos as well then you will definitely want to upgrade to the pro service. One great feature is that Flickr foresees that you may want to upgrade your account so all your previous hires photos are still available on your account.

Go on now..Start Sharing Your Photos

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Tags: flickr, photo sharing

Something fun from CES and WowWee

Over the past year we have seen some pretty cool product releases and advancement in personal robotics.  The coolest came from Tommy in the i-Sobot which recently has been adapted to a Wii controller.  The problem with many of the robots is their cost ranging from $300 and up.  Try getting your spouse to get on board with that ;)  I couldn’t resist posting about the latest offering from WowWee due out in September and dubbed the Tribot (slated for $99).  Engadget and Mahalo Daily via Veronica Belmont put together a small clip to give us a glimpse and give you time to warm your spouse up to it. This does a lot, as you might come to expect.  I was drawn in by its price point and secondly the 3 wheel drive on it.

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Tags: ces2008, tribot, wowwee

Mr. Bean’s Holiday

So I think we can all agree that when it comes to a Saturday, well you need to relax at some point. I did that today by watching Mr. Bean’s Holiday starring Rowan Atkinson. All I have to say is that this was a GREAT movie. Not too serious, great cinematography, basically silent and a great sound track. I watched it like I was watching a foreign film with no sub-titles and it was just truly enjoyable. Here’s the trailer for you.

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CES 2008…ready set go

CES 2008 has just about kicked off. Yes, there is plenty of great coverage on this event so I wont even begin to try. That being said, I think we all need to recognize it as the big gadget event of the year and if you can you should attend at least once. I was hoping to make it this year but it just didn’t work out for me (poor planning) but next year is set. For those of you that do not know what it is, CES is a giant trade show held in Las Vegas and is the premier event for consumer electronics to be showcased (future technologies and products due out in the same year). You can really get a sense of where technology may be taking us in the next year and for people like me its just adds to our “I want that” list. If you really want to follow it closely check out Engadget’s CES coverage. They have brought back their podcast for the event so listen in…you wont be disappointed.

Happy New Year! Well now that we’re all awake.

I did something a little different this year. I celebrated the New Year in East coast and West coast times. Needless to say, I was pretty out of it the following day. So much so, that even after a Red Bull I took a nap and only woke up long enough for dinner and few pages of a good book. I haven’t set any resolutions for the year but I know many of you have. What are your top resolutions?

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Ha! Ha! Speed video dating!

If you missed it the first time around, here it is!

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