If you've ever spent 24 hours on a long haul flight you may know what a blessing noise cancelling headphones are. While the headset Apple ship with the iPhone is OK (the all-in-one answer/ hang up, pause/ play, and next song button is great), they do sound tinny after experiencing the depth and background quiet of the QuietComfort 3 from Bose. Unfortunately the pre-iPhone set I bought in New Zealand weren't accommodated by the iPhone's recessed jack—nor was my wife's Sennheiser PXC 250.
Continue reading 'Bose know customer service'
Tag archive for 'Gadgets'
After David rekindled my interest in geotagging blog posts with Google Map integration, and Dave's photo tracking experiences convinced me to revisit geotagging photos, I posted An ABC of geotagging photos on the Mac. In that article I considered questions relevant to selecting an automatic geo-location system, naming most of the few Mac-compatible devices available. I recently purchased a data logger to overcome the pain of manual photo geotagging and dispense with the hassle of a DIY solution.
Continue reading 'Evaluating the Holux M-241 data logger'
If I told you I was using a GPS photo tracking system for geotagging photos from my Nikon D70 that stored track logs and waypoints to 1GB of memory, exported in GPX format, and connected to my Mac via USB or Bluetooth—you'd be right to wonder if I was making it up. It's not fiction, and nor is it new tech either. It's a "make do" solution I put together from gear I'd already been using for several years and with £0 new investment. Given poor Mac support in the data logger market, such a system is surely a good way to experiment on the cheap before shelling out on yet more battery-operated gadgetry.
Continue reading 'In-car GPS + Palm = DIY photo tracker'
This article considers geotagging photos from a Mac perspective, looking at automatic and manual methods, and explaining terms such as data loggers, track points, waypoints, and routes. It lists OS X software options for connecting to data loggers, converting track log formats, geo-locating photos, and writing that data to EXIF for both raw and JPEG images. It also covers the importance of time synchronization, what you can do with geotagged photos, workflow, choosing a data logger and controlling it from your Mac.
Continue reading 'An ABC of geotagging photos on the Mac'
The iPhone has arrived in the US. Even if it were available in New Zealand I still wouldn't buy one. I'm happy to wait for the large beta-test program (i.e. 1 in 5 US adults) to refine the product first. That said, I've been looking for a way to converge my mobile devices (phone, PDA, iPod) for some time. Sadly the 1st generation iPhone does not look like the device to fill this need. Relative to other Mac-friendly alternatives it comes up uniquely short in a number of areas on my feature wish-list. But of course I haven't seen or held it in the "flesh", and it is only a 1G device—so I can't be overly critical. Or can I? Most of the pre-launch focus has been on iPhone's interface (not unimportant), but what about comparative features? It's clear that while the iPhone offers few unique features (iTMS DRM playback, bookmark syncing) it's also immediately apparent that, relative to comparable products, the iPhone has the most limitations.
Continue reading 'Mac-friendly alternatives to Apple's 1G iPhone'
Multi-touch interfaces (recognition of multiple points of contact on a touch-screen) are set to be the next big thing. The recently announced Microsoft Surface looks like an impressive concept; check out this illuminating first-look video featuring wireless interaction. On a smaller scale, Apple's forthcoming iPhone also supports multi-touch e.g. use of a "pinching" movement to zoom a photo.
