bioneural.net » Mac

Mac geotagging software showdown

Bruce — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:38:21 +0000

You're in Prague for 6 days with your camera (shooting in raw format), packing your data logger for geotagging, and your MacBook. At the end of each day you plan to download your images and track logs to geotag them before processing via Adobe Bridge. Given this scenario how do GPSPhotoLinker and PhotoGPSEditor—two free Mac apps—stack up against two commercial alternatives, Geophoto and HoudahGeo? What features are important? Below are the main characteristics I would look for in geotagging software, bearing in mind the above scenario. My interest here is purely the "business end" of geotagging i.e. writing the data from my logger to my images. As such my ratings reflect fitness for this purpose and do not necessarily cover the full feature set of the individual applications. Load multiple GPX track logs simultaneously: If your logger is as energetically challenged as the Holux M-241 you won't be leaving it in your bag and forgetting about it until the end of your 9 hour sojourn through the Old Town. You'll want to switch off logging during meal breaks, or inside galleries when you won't be using your camera (for example). Thus each daily download of photos could be associated with several distinct track logs, each potentially covering different activities. While you may be able to download a combined log (as you can with the Holux and BT747) you might wish to retain the individual logs, a useful option if you intend to archive the log/ KML export directly with the relevant images (e.g. ...

Using faux Contacts for GTD on the iPhone

Bruce — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:16:28 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Despite strong indications of an imminent second generation 3G iPhone, the recent £100 price drop on the 8GB iPhone proved too tempting. I had hesitated because the iPhone failed to meet my minimum requirements for basic PDA functionality. With 1Password mostly overcoming the secure data exchange obstacle, the remaining challenge was to find a network-independent way of managing and synchronising tasks ("to do" items). I've also been wading through David Allen's book Getting Things Done in a search for ways to improve my personal productivity. Could I cherry-pick the key principles of the GTD religion and apply them on the iPhone using only the built-in apps? The essence of GTD The OmniFocus Basics Video does a good job of distilling the core ideas in the GTD method. It outlines three concepts: Actions are something you can physically do in a single step; Projects are activities that require more than one physical action to complete; Contexts are physical requirements for carrying out actions (e.g. being at work, at home, connected to the Internet, etc.) The video also summarizes three workflow steps to getting things done: Capture all outstanding individual ("atomic") actions; Organize those actions by grouping them into projects and/ or context; Do the outstanding actions. Let's put that graphically (adding horizontal reorganization as part of ongoing review): I'm not being strict about contexts being a physical place, person or thing: in my world a context can be a frame of mind, or an area of mental focus—whatever makes sense for grouping related actions. The wrong tool for the job? The iPhone is most ...

Web developer widgets

Bruce — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:42:29 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Mac-based web developers may yet find a use for Dashboard. SeeSS is a CSS property reference detailing inheritance, CSS compliance, Safari support, possible and default values, examples, plus an informative description [screenshot]. PHP Function Reference provides offline access to the PHP manual, a cheat sheet, and an interactive date formatter [screenshot].

Evaluating the Holux M-241 data logger

Bruce — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:35:02 +0000

From bioneural.net:

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. There's lots to like about the Holux M-241 on paper—despite some concerns as noted in Richard's detailed review. The device's appetite for AA batteries will be the decider for some people. We usually pack a recharger for my wife's noise-cancelling headphones when we travel anyway, so using rechargeables is no big deal. In fact I prefer something I know I can replace, as I don't want to end up with yet another working but unusable device due to a tired non-replaceable lithium battery (like my 1st iPod, Palm, mobile phone). The Qstarz BT-Q1000P was my original choice and could be obtained in the UK via eBay, but at nearly twice the price of the Holux. I have to say I like having a built-in display on the logger very much. This gives access to the M-241's 6 operating modes: Track Log Mode (the default; use Start and Stop (Enter button) to begin/ end a track logging session); Time Mode (useful display of UTC time for camera sync; can specify UTC offset for your time zone); Show ...

I don't want any Safari!

Bruce — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:50:05 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Installation of software you didn't actively choose to install is malware. I'm referring to Apple's recent decision to force Safari 3.1 on hapless Windows users via Software Update. How can you "update" a product that isn't installed? Wife: Have you got anything without Safari? This is bad form Apple. At least Ars consider this browser a much-improved and stable "true competitor".

CDFinder in the Mac geotagging workflow

Bruce — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:22:38 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Like many Mac users I archive my pictures in iPhoto, largely because I enjoy the tight integration this affords with Apple and third-party apps that might want to use them. Having entered the world of geotagging I was disappointed to discover that iPhoto can fail to show coordinates in EXIF (and when shown, oddly lists them under Exposure), does not recognise location data in IPTC headers, and does not provide any "show on map" facility (even Preview does this). Norbert Doerner of West-Forest-Systems then pointed out that I'd completely neglected archive and retrieval of geotagged images in my "ABC" article. This Mac software critique goes some way to redress that omission by considering the role of CDFinder in a Mac user's geotagging workflow. CDFinder is essentially an asset manager that catalogues any file on any volume (CD-ROM, DVD, USB drive, etc). But media metadata are its speciality, and this indexing powerhouse has recently been extended to handle geotags and provide related functionality. Disclosure: A single user license for CDFinder 5.1 was provided by West-Forest-Systems for the purposes of this review. I have a personal interest in the success of the Geotag Icon. Critique context The review machine was an Intel Mac mini running Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Leopard) with iLife '08. I shoot in NEF format (Nikon raw) with a D70 and JPEG with an Olympus C-70Z. My current media organization is I expect fairly typical: Most of my music is in iTunes; Most of my photos are in iPhoto; the rest are mainly in ...

An ABC of geotagging photos on the Mac

Bruce — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:30:54 +0000

From bioneural.net:

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. Introduction With my blog articles geotagged and mapped, and the launch of geotagicons.com behind me, the next challenge was to consider geotagging my photos in future. Some time ago I blogged about doing this in iPhoto, and although workable for a small selection of images this manual/ best guess option doesn't scale well to 2-3 week vacations when you return with several hundred images and a poor recollection of what was taken exactly where. Before getting started on something (i.e. spending money!) I like to try and gain a reasonable overview of what I'm about to get into. What follows is a summary of my research into the terminology, technology, hardware and software that a budding Mac photo geotagger will want to get to grips with. If you also like to look before you leap then this article may be of service to you. Although written with fellow Mac users in mind, if you're afflicted with Windows much of the article is still relevant. What is geotagging? In a photographic context, geotagging ...

The MacBook Air in a nutshell

Bruce — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:21:13 +0000

From bioneural.net:

MacBook Air has the good looks but function doesn't follow form. Ars Technica told me exactly what I was thinking (although I wasn't clever enough to come up with the "iPod touch Extreme" analogy): One way to look at the MacBook Air is as the largest and most capable iPod in Apple's line—think of it as an iPod touch Extreme with a built-in keyboard. It is not meant to be your only or main computer—rather, it's a secondary (or even tertiary) computer. It has to be, because it depends on the presence of at least one other computer in order to install anything from an optical drive, unless you buy an external optical drive. Because of this, the MacBook Air is more an extension of your computing life than an entity of its own.

Time machine saves the day

Bruce — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:13:40 +0000

From bioneural.net:

The hard drive in my wife's MacBook recently failed. She was using Safari with the laptop stationary on her desk when, out of the blue, the system locked up. On restarting (via the power button) all we got was a folder with a blinking question mark. We booted from the Leopard DVD and Disk Utility could not see an internal drive which, not unexpectedly, was making a tell-tale clicking noise. Our previous backup regime involved making a monthly archive using SuperDuper!, but luckily Simone was running Leopard and thus had a current back-up not more than an hour old on an attached USB drive. Would Time Machine successfully restore all her stuff to a replacement (larger) internal drive? Having come across an article where Time Machine was used to migrate files to a new drive (not a crash situation), I was expecting to follow the same sequence involving booting from the Leopard DVD and choosing Restore System from Backup... from the Utilities menu. However, the MacBook was returned with a fresh copy of Leopard pre-installed, but requiring setting up. The screens we encountered were thus a little different, since we commenced our restorative journey using Leopard's Setup Assistant. If you suffer a hard drive crash and have a replacement drive onto which Leopard is already installed, here is what you can expect to see. Setup Assistant We began with the usual Leopard set-up screens (language etc.) and soon got to a screen advising "You can also transfer information from another volume on this ...

An exercise in wireless frustration

Bruce — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:17:34 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Having spent the better part of two half days trying to achieve the impossible, I wish to recount an exercise in wireless frustration. The challenge was to hook up an iMac G4 (Flat Panel) with no Airport Card, located in the attic room, to my home LAN (and thus to the Internet). One purpose of this machine was to serve as a screen for streamed video that could be watched while using the exercise cycle. A TV had provided such distraction, but that had broke. To cement the challenge, the problem should be solved using equipment already to hand i.e. at no additional cost. My "BeBox", the hub of my home LAN, is actually a SpeedTouch 780WL WiFi router/ ADSL modem. The router's wireless access point (WAP) offers 802.11b/g, which is secured with Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption—the earlier Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) standard is considered insecure. A slow, insecure option that worked It's worth noting that the original Apple Aiport Card appropriate for this machine can still be had on eBay for £30–40. Although this card is WPA-aware, it is only 802.11b (11Mbps) and thus not suitable for streaming. I know this to be so because the first device I tried was the Linksys WET11, a wireless Ethernet bridge. For the record, because it took me some time to discover, this device has a factory-default IP of 192.168.1.225. However, before you can connect to it using Safari (or any other browser), you need to manually assign your Mac an IP address in ...