Tim's Reflection Connection

These are my first two experiments with a different way of making 360º panos with the camera lens way up high on a tall pole. With the wind (extreme wind yesterday when I shot these), this becomes a huge challenge! Precision is the name of the game with panos, and a wobbly tall pole makes [...]

I recently discovered a new photo editing app for the iPhone and iPad: Gridditor. It sports a rather clever approach to photo editing. At launch the interface contains a grid of thumbnails of the image being edited. At the top and bottom are two filters: Contrast and Vibrance. On each side are two other filters: [...]

Well, yes. In my life, anyway! I once loved gadgetry. Now I suffer from gadetnoia, and I’ve got it bad! So, for the past few weeks, well, months now, actually, I’ve been cleaning house—digital house and real house. Light Switches Yes, you read that right. Even the light switches in this house are driving me [...]

Keep in mind that we recently got the piano on which I practiced as a child. Keep in mind that we spent a small fortune to bring it into good playing condition. Keep in mind that Van Cliburn, my musical inspiration as a teenager, just passed away. And, keep in mind that piano is my [...]

Yes, I’m known as a geek, and I frequently get “geek gifts.” I wasn’t expecting this one at all. It really is interesting. I just now got to play with it. The small device connects through bluetooth to another bluetooth device (my phone in this case) and projects a keyboard with a laser. It also [...]

I loathe corporate America trying to own American culture. But I double loathe it when they try to own my contributions to culture and do not allow me to opt out! I will not have it. I’ve been a huge fan of Instagram, ever since it first arrived on the tech scene. I love that [...]

I have raved about my iPhone turn-by-turn navigation app before, but it’s time to become effusive! This app rocks! (Apple needs to just give it up already. Apple’s problem-plagued Maps app will never match Navigon! Woop-tee-do! I can use my finger to fly over San Francisco. Wow, and who cares! ) Now, I do have [...]

I spent a few minutes today torturing myself. I’m not really sure why I felt compelled to do it, but I did. Yes, this was without doubt tortuous! I used 2 iPad apps (miTypewriter and Penultimate) to write the remainder of this post. Do you remember a time when…    

REI has got to be one of my favorite stores! First, it’s a co-op. I’ve been a member for years. Their focus is therefor on making sure they have very happy customers, because their customers are members of the co-op. Love it. It’s the way all stores should be. So, when I need something that [...]

I once delighted in an image of Apple as counter-corporate culture. But Apple is now officially living in my “just as bad as Microsoft ever has been” category—maybe even worse. Now that Apple Inc. is the most valuable company on planet earth, they have become even more greedy. The new head of Apple Retail recently [...]

Are you a word nerd? How can one not love this iPad app?! It brings the dictionary and English language back to life. As one of my colleagues put it, “Awesome!” The app uses a physics-based, touch-driven mind-mapping engine to spring to life over 350,000 words and phrases from the Oxford Dictionary of English (probably [...]

Sounds boring and geeky? But frankly, it’s absolutely fascinating and should scare the living hell out of you! Your smart phone contains many sensors that can (and do) capture data at any time. But what if these sensors captured data all of the time: temperature, compass, GPS, gyroscope, WiFi antenna, Bluetooth antenna, cell antenna, accelerometer, etc. [...]

I’m really not a very clumsy person. I rarely drop things or knock them over. I generally don’t worry about dropping my iPhone, which I carry around in my pocket without any case at all these days. When I get into the car, I plug my iPhone into Chloé’s USB port to charge. But recently [...]

No, it’s bigger than that! I’m in electronic spam hell! I completely killed text messaging on my iPhone* because I began getting an untold number of marketing text messages. I can think of nothing I loathe more than unsolicited advertising, especially when I’m the one paying for it! On a quest for a solution, I [...]

Many years ago now, I set out on a long journey to digitize my entire CD collection and store that music in iTunes. The process took about a year! In those days in the last century, hard drive space was much more expensive, and the standard quality (called bit rate) most people ripped their CDs [...]

In my efforts to be in better shape, I committed to walking more, and not just “walking,” but power-walking, walking quickly to burn some calories. Once I can do that without having to dial 911, I’ll start riding my bike–which is currently in storage because of the move. I discovered a really cool little iPhone [...]

Well, I avoided the iCloud and upgrading to Lion and iOS5 before the move. I’m getting old: I could only deal with so much change at a time and feared if something went wrong with the upgrade process I could be out a phone and/or computer, which would never do. Today I bit the bullet [...]