40Tech

Flickr vs. 500px and more: Why I Use 5 Photo Sharing Sites

Evan Kline — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:27:43 +0000

I’m an amateur hack when it comes to photography. I bought my first DSLR last year, and have been shooting away ever since. Thanks to having an amazing toddler at home to whom I gladly dedicate most of my free time, I haven’t had time to really get much better. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy it.

One of the first things I did after accumulating some photos was look into options for storing them online. If you’re like me, you quickly discovered that it really fuels your enthusiasm when you get input or even just acknowledgment concerning your photographs. As a result, the five online services in my current arsenal run the gamut from serving as mostly storage, to being replete with sharing and community options. Here’s my take on these services, along with links to my photographs. In the comments below, let me know your favorite services, and feel free to share links to your photographs.

1. The old standby: Flickr

For many people, Flickr is the default photo sharing and photo community site. Flickr lets you store and share your own photos, and also to view and comment on the photographs of other users. You can organize your photographs into sets and galleries, and change privacy and other settings on a very granular level.

I use Flickr for non-private photographs, such as landscape photos. I also weed out most of my photographs before uploading them to Flickr, unlike Picasa Web Albums, which I discuss below. I do have a Pro account, which gives me unlimited photo and video uploads, along with some other extra features. The Pro account cost me $24.95 for one year.

Flickr’s focus is on community. It’s easy to follow other users, comment on their photos, and “favorite” them. Flickr’s iOS app is quite beautiful, too.

You can find my photos on Flickr here.

2. The new kid on the block: 500px

If I’m somewhat selective about what I post on Flickr, I’m reeeeaallllly selective about what I upload to 500px. There are many great photographers there. In fact, I was a bit hesitant to upload anything there, since my stuff isn’t very good, and even a quick visit to the site will leave you dazzled with all sorts of great shots. I just recently bit the bullet, though, and was amazed by the feedback I received. I wasn’t deluged with comments, but I received more feedback than I receive on Flickr, on a much smaller number of photographs.

I think of 500px as a Flickr for the really passionate photographers. While it replicates some of what Flickr does, such as giving users the ability to comment on photos and mark them as favorites, it does so in a much more modern and elegant interface. I have a free account there, but I’m tempted to upgrade to the Awesome account to get unlimited uploads along with custom domain mapping (which would let me use my personal domain name with the site). There’s also a cheaper Plus account that gives you unlimited uploads, without the domain options.

You can find me here on 500px.

3. The obvious fad: Instagram

It’s probably a misnomer to call Instagram a photo storing service, but it certainly counts as a photo sharing service. You do need to upload photos from a device such as your smartphone, but it’s pretty easy to cheat these days. I often transfer a photo to my phone automatically using the Photo Stream built into OS X and iOS. I do this for a reason, though -after listening to an old photography podcast by Lisa Bettany on the TWiT network, I’m trying to upload one photo per day for a year to Instragram (and probably annoying my friends in the process), using the tag #mostly365. Some of those photos end up being very mundane, but the point is to get me at least thinking about photography every day.

I’ve also started following some very talented people, who are indirectly helping me to “see” when I get out my own camera. I look at Instagram as a “quick and dirty” service to get in and get out. There are many great photos to be found, but the focus is more on the social end of things.

You can find me on Instagram here.

4. The bulk locker: Picasa Web Albums / Google+

Google’s Picasa Web Albums, which has been pretty much assimilated into Google+, was the first service that I used. For many years prior to that, I hosted all my photos myself on my web host’s server. That got to be too cumbersome, and I knew that I would start to quickly fill up my space allotment.

I wanted to find a free or cheap service that could work fairly seamlessly with my family WordPress site. I found a great WordPress plugin, PWA+PHP, that displays Picasa albums right on my site, even if those albums are private (i.e. only accessible if you know the link). When my extended family visits the site, it looks to them like the photos are hosted right on my site, when in fact they are being pulled from Picasa. It requires no action on my part, aside from the initial setup of the plugin.

There are a few drawbacks to this approach for me. If I share a photo on Google+, it shows up on my private website. As a result, if you have a thing for sharing funny cat photos on Google+, then beware that those photos will end up on your site. The other drawback is that Picasa limits the size of the photographs you can upload, if you don’t want to pay extra. Those limitations are generous, though, as any photograph that doesn’t exceed 2048 pixels in width or height doesn’t count against your free 5 GB of storage. I simply resize my photos before uploading them. Apple’s Aperture makes it easy to resize an entire set of photos.

Whereas I use the other services discussed below to display all of my photos publicly, I primarily use Picasa / Google+ as a private repository. I do have a few public albums, which you can find here.

5. The king of the hill – Facebook

One service of which most people are already aware is Facebook, which is the king of photo sharing thanks to its massive user base. I figure that most of you are already familiar with Facebook, so I’m only going to mention it in passing. I primarily use Facebook to share photographs of family and friends. While I occasionally post landscape and other photographs there, I figure that my Facebook friends probably aren’t interested in that. I only use Facebook for private photos, so I don’t have a link to share (yes, I know that many of you are laughing that I use “Facebook” and “private” in the same sentence).

There are many other sites out there that I didn’t mention, such as Tumblr. What sites do you use?

Links

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Help Turn Your MacBook Into a Desktop Computer With the mStand

Evan Kline — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:56:39 +0000

Thank you, Tony Hue of LonePlacebo for helping me spend money. A couple of weeks ago, Tony wrote about the mStand, a monitor stand that almost looks like it could have been designed by Apple. I decided that I needed a stand, so I took the plunge and bought the swiveling version of the stand, the mStand 360, along with an Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad.

Tony’s assessment is dead on. The stand looks nice, feels solid, and gets my MacBook Pro to the perfect elevation. Head on over to his review for a thorough look at the stand, and to see some photos. Use his link to order, as I think he has affiliate links on his site.

Don’t have an Apple laptop? As Tony notes,

Although Rain Design says that the stand is designed primarily for Apple laptops, you can fit any laptop with a maximum depth of 10.4″.

I enjoy Tony’s site, but if his reviews get me to purchase one more item, I might need to stay away for a while.

Cure Poor Posture at your Desk with the mStand Laptop Stand | LonePlacebo

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And the Winner of the RHA MA450i Earbuds Is . . .

Evan Kline — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:25:41 +0000

As I announced on March 26, RHA provided one pair of its MA450i Noise Isolating Aluminum Earphones, which I was giving away to one winner. The contest ended at midnight, so this morning I drew a random number from random.org, and selected a winner.

The winner of the earbuds is Randy Niven. Randy, I’ll shoot you an email to the email address you provided, so that I can get your shipping details. If you don’t get my email, you can contact me via the contact page on this site.

Congratulations Randy, and thanks to everyone for entering. And thank you to RHA for providing the prize.

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Giveaway – Win One Pair of RHA MA450i Noise Isolating Aluminium Earphones

Evan Kline — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:29:29 +0000

I’m pleased to be able to announce a giveaway I’m holding on 40Tech. RHA has provided one pair of its MA450i Noise Isolating Aluminium Earphones, which I’ll be giving to one winner. Read on for the details (entry details are at the end of this post).

RHA provided me with an identical pair to try out, and I really like them. I’m no audiophile by any stretch, but they’re defeinitely a step up from the earbuds that came with my iPhone 5.

SOUND QUALITY

As I mentioned, I’m not an audio connoisseur, so you won’t be seeing various audio charts or anything like that here. I can say that although I’ve never tried premium earbuds, I do get the “wow” factor with these. The sound is fuller, and more “right there.” When played right before trying the Apple iPhone 5 earbuds, the iPhone 5 earbuds sound more distant, if that makes sense. These sound like there’s nothing between the music and my ears. Because of the way they fit, these reduce outside noises, too.

COMFORT AND APPEARANCE

Comfort is a subjective quality, but these feel great to me. The part that goes in your ear is a soft, squishy rubber tip, that helps fill your ear. It beats the harder rubber or even plastic used by my other earbuds. It also doesn’t hurt that they look pretty cool, too.

MISCELLANEOUS

The earbuds come with several pairs of interchangable soft ear tips to help you get the right fit. I also like the braided fabric cable, compared to the standard earbud cable. They include an inline remote and microphone that controls calls, music and volume on many devices. They also come with a bag for storage, when you’re not using them.

The earbuds can be found online for $49.95.

HOW TO ENTER

To enter the contest, fill out the form below. One entry per person, please. Please note that RHA is providing the headphones, in part, for exposure, so they will see your email address unless you opt out by checking the box in the form. That’s all that it takes to opt out – checking the box. (For you tech geeks out there, all entries get emailed to me, and a Gmail filter sends entries to RHA unless you opt out by checking the box).

Please use a proper email address, as that is how I’ll be contacting the winner. The contest closes at midnight, U.S. Eastern time, on April 6, 2013 (i.e. one minute after 11:59 on April 5). At that time I will generate a random number to pick the winner.

If your browser is blocking the entry form, below, you can also enter here.

UPDATE (1:33 PM, MARCH 26, 2013): UNLESS YOU HAVE ENTERED AS OF THE TIME OF THIS UPDATE, PLEASE NOTE THAT I CAN ONLY SHIP TO U.S. ADDRESSES. I’m very sorry to have to limit this, but it appears there are all sorts of requirements for different countries, and I don’t wan to run afoul of the law in a country. I’ve only received one entry in the few minutes between this going live and this update, so I’ll take my chances if that entry wins.

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Roll Your Own RSS Service With Fever

Evan Kline — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:13:56 +0000

If the announcement of the impending shuttering of Google Reader sent a chill down your spine, you’re not alone. My first reaction to the news, after swearing to myself, was “well, that’s the risk of relying on a free service.” My next though was, “hmm, time to see what else is out there.” My first stop was to check out Fever.

What is Fever?

Fever is a “roll your own” RSS solution that you host on your own server, with some unique productivity twists. Once you install it on your server, you access your feeds in a web browser. I’ve also found one app, Reeder for iPhone (but not Reeder for iPad or Mac) that supports Fever. In addition, Fever works well as a standalone “app” that you set up using Fluid. (Fluid is a Mac app that lets you turn web apps into standalone apps).

One other important fact about Fever – it isn’t free, like some of the other Google Reader alternatives. Fever will set you back a one time cost of $30.

How is Fever Different?

Fever is unlike any RSS tool that you’ve seen. The idea behind Fever is that many of us can’t keep up with the feeds that we follow, and need help staying on top of them. Fever’s solution? Having you subscribe to more feeds, of course. Fever creates a “Hot” list, where popular topics rise higher on that list depending on how frequently those topics are mentioned in your feeds. The more feeds you add, the better your Hot list will be. You can filter your Hot list to view a particular slice of time, such as a two day window of time starting four days ago, or just Hot items from today.

You might think that adding more feeds will just clutter your feed list. That’s where the distinction between “Kindling” and “Sparks” comes in. In your Sparks section of Fever, you put high volume or high noise feeds that you don’t necessarily want to follow directly. Those Sparks will then help generate the content in your Hot list, which will show you content that is being heavily covered in your feeds.

Kindling, by contrast, is made up of your “must read” feeds, and you can use this much how you use a traditional RSS reader, like Google Reader. Within your Kindling, you can create different groups, just like you can in Google Reader.

Impressions

I like Fever, but not because of the Hot list. I find that most of the items in the Hot list are news items that were already popping up in my Twitter stream. I use RSS more as a way to follow how-to sites, and sites with info that might be a bit more off the beaten path.

I like Fever because I control it, and because my favorite RSS app supports it – sort of. I use Reeder on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and only the iPhone version supports Fever. I’m hoping that the other two versions will support Fever in the future. Although the Reeder iPhone app can display your Hot list, you can also just use the app to view your feeds the same way you used it with Google Reader.

With the Reeder iPhone app, syncing is not as fast as Google Reader syncing, but it is pretty quick if you configure Fever and the app a certain way. I’ve set up Fever on my server to automatically update my feeds every 15 minutes. This requires a basic understanding of how to set up a cron job, although the app’s documentation tells you the exact command that you need to use. Then, in Reeder for the iPhone, I have the app download the feeds, but not trigger an update on the server first.

Fever won’t be for everyone. You do need to set it up on your own server. I have a couple of hosting accounts already, so it wasn’t an extra expense for me, aside from the purchase of the app. You also need to know how to set up a database on your server, and copy files to your server. That is all that is invovled in the installation, so if you’ve previously installed a CMS like WordPress or Joomla, you can install Fever.

Conclusion

I still have Newsblur to try out, but right now it looks like Fever stands a good chance of being my new RSS app. I did try Feedly, which has gotten some good press over the past few days. Frankly, I don’t quite understand the love for it. It has a beautiful interface, but the mobile apps aren’t efficient at all if you follow many feeds. It really seems like a case of form over function. Fever, on the other hand, shows promise. If Reeder ends up supporting Fever on the iPad and Mac, then Fever will get my vote.

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2 Reasons Why I Won’t Be Trying Google’s Evernote and Springpad Competitor

Evan Kline — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:04:18 +0000

Could Google be launching a competitor to Evernote and Springpad? Google scrapped its Notebooks app quite some time ago, but according to a story on the Verge yesterday, it looks like the company might be ready to get back into the note taking app business. Would you give it a try?

I’m sure that Google will insert many hooks into its other services, that will make the app very tempting. Still, there are a couple of reasons that I probably won’t be leaving Evernote anytime soon.

Here’s the meat of the story from the Verge:

Android Police reports that a new note-taking app called Google Keep will let you take notes, which you can color-code and add pictures to, as well as use to build checklists. The idea is reminiscent of Google’s failed Notebook service and products like Evernote, although with a seemingly trimmed-down feature set.

I have some concerns myself. First, I’ve lost faith in Google’s desire to keep apps going after I invest in them. This happened with Google Reader, and years ago with Notebooks, to name just a few. Second, Google is in the advertising business, and wants to learn as much about us as possible. I store tons of information in Evernote. I’ve bit the bullet with Gmail, given its superiority to other email clients. But with other good choices out there, I don’t think I’d do the same with a note taking app unless it was mind blowing. I’m not too invested in Google Drive yet, so even a tight integration with Drive wouldn’t bring me around.

Would you give a Google note taking app a fair shot? What features would it need?

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Evernote Tags vs. Notebooks: Which Are Better for Organization? [Reader Feedback]

Evan Kline — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:27:40 +0000

A recent article on Lifehacker has me wondering if I’m using Evernote all wrong. I only have two main notebooks in Evernote: Work, and Personal. There are a few other random ones that are automatically created by apps, such as the notebook that Scanner Pro, an iOS app, creates. I also have an “Inbox” notebook where notes reside until they are moved into one of the other notebooks. But by and large, all of my notes go into my two main notebooks. Am I in the minority with how I use Evernote notebooks?

In a recent post on Lifehacker, Whitson Gordon noted as follows:

I found that most of my ‘notes’ should have, in fact, been ‘notebooks,’ allowing me to store larger volumes of information with better organization.”

Well then. That’s not how I use Evernote. I use tags as my main organizational feature.

Why I Tag

I find tags to be superior than having many notebooks for two reasons:

1. A note can have multiple tags. I find that too many of my notes are pertinent to multiple subject areas, and would be hard to categorize into one Notebook.

2. Speed and efficiency. I don’t have to give thought to both my selection of tags, and selection of a notebok. The latter is obvious, so all I really need to think about is picking tags.

In fact, I often slack off with tagging notes, given Evernote’s search functionality. When I create a note, it by default goes into my Inbox notebook, with the hope that I will immediately tag it, and file it into a Notebook. I say “with the hope” because I currently have 358 notes in my Inbox. My Inbox has been in a similar state for a couple of years, and I have yet to run into a problem with it.

(To see how you can use just one notebook with a GTD system, check out Bobby Travis’ post on Getting Things Done (GTD) in Evernote with Only One Notebook ).

The Lifehacker article has caused me to think about how I use Evernote, however. There are some areas where I wouldn’t have a problem shoehorning notes into just one notebook, and where extra notebooks might be useful. For example, a notebook for all my photography-related notes could help with organization, as could a dedicated notebook whenever I plan a vacation. In the end, I see notebooks more as an aesthetic tool than anything.

How about you? Are you a notebook person, or a tag person? How many notebooks do you use? How about tags?

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Why is Windows 8 a Flop?

Evan Kline — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:07:36 +0000

Although I’m now primarily a Mac user at home, that had nothing to do with a dislike for Windows. In fact, I loved Windows 7. Shortly after its release, I installed it on both of my personal machines, and I was one of the early adopters at the office. In years past, I would have been eager to install Windows 8 on my remaining Windows machine and on my Windows 7 partition on my Mac, given my affliction with G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I haven’t felt that urge for Windows 8, and it appears that most other users have felt the same way. Based on some recent data, it seems that Windows 8 is a flop. Why?

ExtremeTech recently reported on Windows 8′s dismal adoption rate.

In the month of February, according to Net Applications, Windows 8 gained 0.4% of the desktop market, moving from 2.26 to 2.67%. In comparison, Windows 7 had a market share of over 9% after four months of public availability. A growth rate of 0.4% is absolutely horrendous, and — if we assume that PCs are replaced every five years — actually below the natural attrition/replacement rate. If growth of 0.4% wasn’t bad enough, it’s also worth pointing out that it’s down from 0.5% in January — yes, Windows 8 adoption is slowing down. Windows 7, after a small dip last month, actually gained market share in February.

I’m not a sales analyst, and I don’t use Windows 8, so I’m not going to pretend to have a clue as to the reasons for the slow adoption. My guesses are just that – guesses based upon various reviews. Based on those reviews, I can speak to my own reasons for not feeling the need to kick the tires on Windows 8. Here’s my take:

1. People don’t like too much change. By all reports, Windows 8 is a drastic change from any prior version of Windows. Whether Microsoft is ahead of the times, or just missed the ball entirely, Windows 8 was too much of a move.

2. Mobile and Desktop should be two different experiences. Unlike Microsoft, I’m not sold on the idea that the mobile experience and desktop experience are interchangeable. I cringe whenever I hear that Mac’s OS X will gradually become more like iOS. The two experiences are different, and require different user interfaces.

3. Mobile is killing off the desktop. I’ve heard it and you’ve heard it. Mobile is on the rise, and the desktop is dying. Not good for a company whose bread and butter is the desktop.

4. Too expensive. After spending $20 for the latest OS X upgrade, I have a hard justifying spending 5 times that amount on a product with mixed reviews.

4. Bad marketing. I haven’t tried Windows 8, so points 1 through 3 could just be based on bad press. Am I off base, and Microsoft has just done a bad job at marketing Windows 8? Should I bite the bullet and purchase Windows 8?

I’m willing to admit that my opinion is uninformed, and I’m giving an opinion from the outside looking in, since I haven’t tried Windows 8. If you have tried Windows 8, let me know if I’ve completely missed the boat.

Image from mad maven via stock.xchng

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Mailbox – the Friction-free Mail Client to Get You to Inbox Zero [iPhone]

Evan Kline — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:03:25 +0000

Mailbox is the new Gmail-only mail app that has been getting mostly rave reviews for the way it helps iPhone users tame their inboxes. Let’s get one thing out of the way first, though – Mailbox isn’t going to change you as a person. If you’re a master procrastinator, it won’t suddenly transform you into a wizard of the do-it-now. If, however, your habits tilt in the direction of almost staying on top of your email, Mailbox might just eliminate enough friction to get you to email hallowed ground. And if you’re already an inbox zero guru, then Mailbox will beckon to you like a desert oasis.

Mailbox’s secret sauce rests in its interface. That interface (and the guts of the app, described below) is geared toward speed. Just about every important feature of the app can be achieved with a swipe from the main inbox view. Swipe half way to the right to archive a message, and all the way to the right to delete a message. Swipe half way to the left to defer a message, and all the way to the left to add the message to a list. These same funtions can also be found when you open a message, but instead of swipes, you tap on icons at the top of the screen.

When you defer a message, a menu pops up, allowing you to pick some predefined times, such as “Later today,” or set a custom time. The ability to defer a message can be both a blessing and a curse. It depends on your mindset. If you frequently use the defer feature to put off messages for no reason (other than because you don’t want to deal with them), then your deferred message list will serve no other purpose than to help you shuffle your mess around. If you have a plan, though, and stick to it, then deferring messages can help you to stay organized.

In the few weeks that I’ve been using Mailbox, I’ve come up with a way of handling the defer functionality that works for me. I defer a message when it isn’t something that I want to handle on my phone, but know that I want to handle in the very near future. If I’m headed out the door, for example, and receive a message that I want to answer when I return home, I’ll defer it. If I can’t respond to a message without access to a particular tool, item, or person, but I still want to get to the message as soon as possible, then I’ll defer the message until a time when I’ll have what I need. For example, if someone sends me an email about an event, and I need to discuss the event with my wife, I’ll defer the message until shortly after the time that I normally arrive at home.

I can hear some of you asking what the point is of defering a message and keeping it in the app, instead of moving it over to my GTD system (I use OmniFocus). I do in fact send an email into OmniFocus, if it is an item that doesn’t fit one of the scenarios described above. But the simple fact is that I check my email more frequently than OmniFocus, so if I want to get to a matter soon, I defer it in Mailbox until a later time.

While I’ve loved the ability to defer items, I haven’t had the same love for the app’s use of Lists. In fact, I haven’t used Mailbox yet to add an item to a List, at least in the sense that the developers seem to have imagined it. For this, I already use OmniFocus. Instead, I use Lists to bring Gmail labels into Mailbox, for the many types of emails that won’t be easily found in the future when searching. When you to the full swipe to the right to add a message to a List, your Lists appear, and you tap the name of the desired List.

There isn’t much more to Mailbox, and that’s part of the beauty of it. It’s simple, and very fast. The speed is not just in the interface, but in how the app downloads messages. This speed is important, since third party mail apps can’t run in the background on iOS. When you open the app, your messages quickly download and appear. I found this to happen much quicker than with Sparrow and Gmail, the other third party apps that I’ve tried. It happens fast enough that I haven’t longed for the ability to run the app in the background. You can also receive push notifications of new messages, if that is important to you.

For those of your who are very security conscious, Mailbox won’t be an option. In order to support notifications, and to support the speed and unique features of the app, Mailbox needs your Gmail login credentials. I did give this some serious thought, and ultimately bit the bullet, but not before switching some email recovery options for other apps and services over to another dedictated email address.

So far, I’m happy with my decision. Mailbox is fast, and I have yet to finish a day without reaching Inbox Zero. That might just be a victory in my own mind, since sometimes there are items in my Later box. Still, I’ll take that tradeoff. Going to bed with a clear mind is its own reward. In sum, Mailbox is one of those rare apps that lives up to the hype.

Do you use Mailbox? What are your thoughts?

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Dismiss Intrusive iOS Notifications With a Tug

Evan Kline — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:59:16 +0000

On iOS, you can configure your notifications on a per app basis to appear in different ways. One type of notification drops down in a thin box from the top of the screen. Occasionally, this box can get in the way. If you’re typing a web address for example, you might think that you have to wait for the box to disappear to continue your typing. You can actually dismiss the box.

To dimiss the box, simply give it a quick tug with your finger – tap and hold, drag it down very slightly, and then release. Poof – the box goes away. I never knew this, until hearing about it on iFive for the iPhone, on the TWiT network. If you have any quick iOS tips, share them in the comments.