TechnologyIQ

Cool Tool: DropBox Automator makes DropBox do even more work for you

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:41:05 PST

I have a lot of projects and a lot of organizations I work with on a daily basis. This often means sharing large files, or groups of files with a large number of people scattered all over my local area, the US and even the world. DropBox is a service which automatically syncs files between all computers and users who need access. I can copy a file, or series of files, into my local DropBox folder and DropBox immediately starts syncing those with an online account. As soon as other user's computer sense new files in that online folder, their computers begin downloading to their local folder. It removes any need to use FTP or other file sending sites which require a lot of manual intervention.

DropBox Automator is a service that extends DropBox from just moving files to actually taking some action on those files. You can use it to convert files from one format to another, automatically upload the files to additional online services, watermark images or apply filters to them and even encrypt or decrypt files as necessary.

This extension of DropBox's utility can save people hours of work. Imagine using DropBox Automator to automatically resize, convert format, rotate and upload images directly to Facebook or Flickr all without any intervention from you.

You can give it a try by visiting the DropBox Automator web site and logging in with your existing DropBox credentials. Take a look at the features it provides. You just might find an excellent way of automating some of the tedium out of your work day.

Note: If you sign up with DropBox, use my email address (douglas@welchwrite.com) as your referral and I will get some additional DropBox space. Thanks!

Free Desktop Wallpaper for Feb 2012 - Cherry Blossoms

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:24:18 PST

Click the image of link below to download your very own copy of this photo, formatted for use as a desktop wallpaper on your computer. This image contains a calendar for February 2012. I know I am a few days late, but I am getting my production in order so I can deliver one of these each month.

Download your own copy of this Cherry Blossom Desktop Wallpaper with Calendar

Also available without the calendar, for those who want to use it for more than just one month

Download your own copy of Cherry Blossoms Desktop Wallpaper without calendar

Free Wallpaper for your smartphone - Cherry Blossoms

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:14:51 PST

Click the image of link below to download your very own copy of this photo, formatted for use as an iPhone or Android wallpaper on your smartphone. I plan on producing these once each month.

Click to download your own copy of this Cherry Blossom desktop for your smartphone

For iPhone, tap and hold on the image, then select Save Image
Wallpaper will now be available as an option under Settings, Wallpaper

Cool Tool: Dexim Visible Green Smart Charge & Sync Cable for iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:30:15 PST

I discovered this product through a blog post on Lifehacker.com today. This is a great idea and one that Apple probably should have come up with on its own.

This charger and cable give a visible indication of the charging state of your iPhone by animating an electroluminescent wire that runs down the cable. This light shows the state of the charge by speeding up or slowing down the animation that runs along the wire. Even better, it has a little intelligence built in. When the iPhone is fully charged, the charger shuts off entirely. No more vampire power running up your electric bill (at least for this one device). I sincerely hope that other manufacturers will address the vampire power issue in all their devices.

You can watch of video of the charger in action here.

Dexim's web site appears to be down at the moment, but their video links to Dexim.net and might be active in the near future. The site may be suffering from all the traffic due to the Lifehacker article mentioned above.

Updated: Mac OS X 10.7.3 Update available from Apple

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:18:01 PST

Update: You may want to hold of on this update, as some users are reporting some pretty major issues. The issues only seem to happen if you use the automated Software Update feature. You can download the Combo update directly from Apple and install that with no issues according to this Lifehacker article and their links to another support article. -- Douglas

This one is a BIG one in size, if not in actual changes. You can wait until Software Update notifies you automatically or select Software Update… from your Apple Menu to force a download immediately. Here is a partial list of changes from Apple's Tech Note about the update.

The OS X Lion v10.7.3 Update includes Safari 5.1.3 and fixes that:

Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support
Address issues when using smart cards to log into OS X
Address compatibility issues with Microsoft Windows file sharing
Address an issue printing Microsoft Word documents that use markup
Address a graphics performance issue after sleep on some earlier iMacs that use ATI graphics
Resolve a Wi-Fi connection issue when waking from sleep
Address an issue that may prevent Safari from opening before joining a wireless network
Fix a potential issue authenticating to an SMB DFS shareInclude RAW image compatibility for additional digital cameras

[…]

A complete list of the more esoteric changes in 10.7.3 can be found on the Apple Web Site.

Contactually is Proactive Personal Assistant

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:00:34 PST

I came across this new service in my daily reading the other day and I am trying it out now. One of my biggest challenges is keeping up with everyone in my contact list. Being productive and proactive in your life is very important, but managing all your contacts -- and staying in touch with people -- can be very difficult to manage. It is so easy to let things slide until you realize your project list is quickly dwindling and you haven't been developing new projects to take their place.

Contactually reviews your contact list, who you have been communicating with most, and then prompts you to classify and follow-up on a regular basis. While this does requires a bit of initial work, the benefits could be substantial for you. Contactually will prompt you for information and followups via the web site and also via a daily email.

This is a paid service, but they will have some basic free services that allow you try it out.

You can gain access to the beta immediately using the "instant access" link at the bottom of the Mashable article linked below.

Contactually Prioritizes Contacts and Communication in Email Network
Contactually is like a virtual secretary minus the hundreds of paper sticky notes. It manages your email contacts and communications to ensure you don’t forget to reply to important emails.
The service links directly to a user’s email account, so there’s no need to install computer software or browser plugins as with similar services such as Boomerang for Gmail. It is made specifically for those working in sales, business development or professional services such as consulting and financial management, although it can be used with personal inboxes, too.
“We have been talking with customers, and they say they have a nagging fear there are loose ends that aren’t being wrapped up,” said Tony Cappaert, Contactually’s co-founder. “A customer says he is going to follow up with someone, and he doesn’t. He says he is going to send a presentation — he forgets.”
[…]
Read the entire article

Product: TASCAM iXZ Mic / Instrument input for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:34:00 PST

TASCAM iXZ Mic / Instrument input for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch

Want to turn your iPad or iPhone into a portable recording studio, the Tascam iXZ can do just that. This interface allows you to plug in standard XLR connector microphones, guitars or any other audio source and then record them using iPhone and iPad software of your choice. For those more advanced, it also provides Phantom power so you can use high-quality condenser miss, too.

Mat Langley of the Robot Underpants podcast (Content Advisory) let me know about this device today after he picked one up for his iPad. Mat does a variety of shows and also uses his iPad to join Google+ hangouts and wanted/needed a way to get better audio into his iPad. I have asked for Mat to give us a review of this device sometime in the near future.

Elsewhere: Get More Out of Google Infographic from hackcollege.com

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:10:42 PST

I came across this excellent infographic of Google Tips via PInterest.com today.

We can all use a little help in improving our use of the Internet and Google is a great place to start. While these tools are unknown to most, using a few of these hints can take you from a page of worthless search results to exactly the item you are looking for.

Find more great hints and tips at hackcollege.com

Created by: HackCollege

Product: Flexible LED Strip Lights from Cool Tools

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:12:00 PST

Cool Tools has a great article on these LED Strip Lights that can be used to illuminate under cabinet, toe kicks and just about anywhere you would want some accent lighting. The come in white and various colors and some even have programmable features that allow you to select any color you might like. They can a bit expensive, but it looks like advances int the technology have been steadily bringing the price down.

I could see using these under my own kitchen cabinets to bring a bit better illumination to the countertops and a bit of style to the kitchen itself.

From the Cool Tools blog...

Flexible LED Strip Lights
[…]
"The strips are about 1 cm wide and 2 mm thick. The strips come on a spool with a sticky tape side. You press the sticky side to the bottom of the cabinet (or the sides inside) and the strip gives a very diffuse effective and efficient light. They are so thin, you can't really see the light strip itself, only the glow. The strip is a circuit of LEDs in a row. They have marked segments about every 2-3 inches where you can cut them to fit. They typically run off of 12 volts; the transformer can sit i a cabinet, attic, or basement. You can also specific different color temperatures (very warm to very cool). The lights are dimmable."
[…]
Read the entire article

TechnologyIQ has a Facebook Page

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:43:12 PST

For those of you who spend most of your time in Facebook, TechnologyIQ has a Facebook page you can join.

New Product: MicW iPhone/iPad Microphones

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:00 PST

MicW Professional Microphones

I had 2 separate friends mention these iPhone/iPad compatible microphones in the last several days. Both saw them at the manufacturers display at the MacWorld Expo that was held in San Francisco this week.

Portable devices are now capable of recording high quality audio, but sometimes you want a better mic, or more suitable microphone when out recording in the field.

I haven't heard the quality of these mics, but my friends and the web site have certainly piqued my interest. I will see if I can get a demo model here at the Careers in New Media office so I can record some audio and share it with you.

For now, here is an audio sample using the i436 mic (picture below) from the company's web site

Download i436 Violin Sample

Other samples from MicW web site

Trickle - Live Twitter display board for iPhone and iPad

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:13:00 PST

Yesterday I posted about a web page that allows you to passively monitor your Twitter stream on your PC. Today is an iPhone/iPad app that does the same thing.

Launch Trickle, log into your Twitter account, and your device becomes a Twitter wall displaying your timeline. Great for monitoring Twitter while doing something else.

Trickle works in either portrait or landscape mode.

Screen Shot

DEXTR - Live Twitter display board for your computer or TV

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:38:09 PST

When I am working during the day, I often don't have time to closely monitor my Twitter stream. I still want to keep in touch with what is happening in the world, though, so when I found this web site, Dextr, I started using it almost every day.

DEXTR - Display Enhancing & eXpanding Twitter Reader
DEXTR is a Twitter client for your second screen. It's not complicated - it shows recent tweets, one at a time, large enough to read across a room.
It should work well on any modern browser, including iPhone/iPad and Android devices.
To get started, sign in below. You'll be redirected to Twitter to allow DEXTR read-only access to your account, and then redirected back here to begin using it. You can sign out at any time.
DEXTR was made by the Really Interesting Group.

You can run Dextr on any computer that supports a modern browser, so it could be a great use for that older laptop or PC you have stashed away in the closet or a screensaver-like display on a machine that is busy doing something else.

As you might imagine, it also makes a great display for your huge HDTV when your aren't watching TV. I have no love for daytime TV, so even though I work from home, it is rarely on, unless it is showing Dextr or some other web-based information. The text on the web page automatically expands to the size of the window, so you can put it up full screen for a true "lean back" Twitter experience.

Sample Screens

Education: iPad and iPhone App Development class from Stanford via iTunes U

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:10:02 PST

I started watching the class on iPad and iPhone App Development via iTunes U. iTunes U provides lots of great educational opportunities in a wide variety of areas including computer science, history, humanities, language, literature and business. You can check out the entire catalog at the iTunes U information page or directly in iTunes.

I'll be highlighted other educational opportunities to build your career in the coming weeks.

iPad and iPhone App Development (Fall 2011)
Course Description
Updated for iOS 5. Tools and APIs required to build applications for the iPhone and iPad platform using the iOS SDK. User interface designs for mobile devices and unique user interactions using multi-touch technologies. Object-oriented design using model-view-controller paradigm, memory management, Objective-C programming language. Other topics include: object-oriented database API, animation, multi-threading and performance considerations.
Prerequisites: C language and programming experience at the level of 106B (Programming Abstractions) or X. Recommended: UNIX, object-oriented programming, graphical toolkits
Offered by Stanford’s School of Engineering, the course will last ten weeks and include both the lecture videos and PDF documents. Released with a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.
This is a series of video lectures and accompanying materials in PDF format.

I Like This - Elasty iPhone Bumper by designer Yoori Koo

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:52:02 PST

A cool iPhone bumper that allows for some added functionality. It would due interesting to try one out to see how functional it is. I know that there are times, like when I am out walking, where begin able to stash some cash or a card would be very useful in case I wanted to pick up a coffee on my walk.

Source: subtraction.com via Douglas on Pinterest

I Like This - Pretty gadget charging station

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:35:55 PST

I found this recently on Pinterest.com. Anything that neatens the mess of chargers and wires we have to deal with is a big benefit in my mind. You could theme this in any way you wish to match your decor, too.

Source: allyou.com via Samantha on Pinterest

Video: Singing House demo

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:09:50 PST

I have had thoughts about such things in the past. Good to see someone making it a reality.

After SOPA/PIPA?

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:36:27 PST

There is a host of information regarding SOPA/PIPA on the web today, during this "blackout" You can find more information on Wikipedia or Google. This post is my take on what needs to happen next. -- Douglas

What truly needs to happen next is direct action against the sources of funding for the MPAA/RIAA. Without their funding they cannot be effect lobbyists for bills such as SOPA/PIPA (and surely more to come down the pike).

It is time to starting working our way through the MPAA/RIAA membership lists and taking action to convince their members that associating themselves with the MPAA/RIAA is no longer a good deal, nor it is in their own best interest.

Further, if people want to stop bills such as SOPA/PIPA being produced, we all need to stop supporting/funding these bills with our movie, television and music listening choices. It can be hard to face the fact, but we ourselves have funded the bills that we are now protesting against.

"Follow the money" was Deep Throat's advice and it still applies today. The money flowing to MPAA/RIAA members flows to their lobbyists and directly into our elected representatives coffers. Think about your actions next time you go to the movies or pick up a CD/DVD. Do you really want to be funding legislation that actively seeks to criminalize your Internet activities? Do you really want to have to protest bills that you yourself funded?

For myself, I find that I can more easily live without MPAA/RIAA member content than I can without the Internet and all that it provides. If it comes down to a battle between the two, and today shows that it has, I know where my loyalties lie. Close the theaters and studios and the record companies. It won't hurt me one bit. I have many choices in music and entertainment these days beyond MPAA/RIAA. We are not longer living in a world of entertainment scarcity and it is time that these old guard companies learned that lesson. Innovate or get out of the way.

If we have truly awakened from our slumber, we need to understand who and what is funding these bills and cut off that funding at the source. Close your pocketbook to those entities that think maintaining their out of date business model is more important than benefits the Internet provides. Show them that they have truly been supplanted with so many alternatives that they no longer matter.

This is the way forward.

Elsewhere: Code Year from CodeAcademy.com

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:03:15 PST

What a great idea to get your "code on" in 2012! Not everyone NEEDS to program, but learning a bit more about what happens underneath the hood could open up some new opportunities for you.

Code Year
120,469 people have decided to learn to code in 2012.Why not you?
Make your New Year's resolution learning to code.
Sign up on Code Year to get a new interactive programming lesson sent to you each week and you'll be building apps and web sites before you know it.

Elsewhere: Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking (Fraser Speirs)

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:23:49 PST

I had this discussion with someone just the other day. Good and thorough explanation. It is always important to understand what your devices are doing before taking an action recommended by others. The only reason I ever need to quit an app manually is if it is having trouble running after it was put into one of the background modes.

Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking (Fraser Speirs):
Fraser Speirs:

Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking — There is one iOS “tip” that I keep hearing and it is wrong. Worse, I keep hearing it from supposedly authoritative sources. I have even heard it from the lips of Apple “Geniuses” in stores. — Here is the advice - and remember it is wrong: … Wrong.
Read the entire article

Free online CompSci 101 course from Stanford starts in February 2012

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:41:13 PST

I had a lot of geek friends sign up for last Fall's free courses from Stanford University, so when I saw this Computer Science 101 course being offered in February I thought it would be great to do with my 14-year-old son. Stanford is doing several classes like this. You can find a complete list at the bottom of the page linked below.

Computer Science 101
CS101 teaches the essential ideas of Computer Science for a zero-prior-experience audience. Computers can appear very complicated, but in reality, computers work within just a few, simple patterns. CS101 demystifies and brings those patterns to life, which is useful for anyone using computers today.

In CS101, students play and experiment with short bits of "computer code" to bring to life to the power and limitations of computers. Everything works within the browser, so there is no extra software to download or install. CS101 also provides a general background on computers today: what is a computer, what is hardware, what is software, what is the internet. No previous experience is required other than the ability to use a web browser.
Sign up for this class

Picfull: How to turn your photo into a drawing with Pencil Filters

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 22:31:27 PST

Little tools like this can help you be a little more creative and have some fun with your photos. There are a host of filters that you can apply to the photos to give them a host of looks from modern to antique.

Picfull: How to turn your photo into a drawing with Pencil Filters:

Use Case: Some portrait photos look great just like it is being drawn in pencil. How do you do that?
Here is a web application that enable you to put pencil filters and adjust the settings to create a great photo as if you have drawn it
Read the entire article

All About Douglas - Choosing what you want to see and hear

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:00:05 PST

I have a lot of interests, as most of you already know. Therefore, I have a lot of different blogs, events, and groups in my portfolio of online engagements. I also try to make myself available wherever people want to converse. This means that each of my interests usually has multiple presences on the Internet.

Here is a list of almost all of the ways you can talk with me and learn about what is happening in my life and work. You don't need to, nor should you, try to subscribe to all of them. That would only lead to you seeing multiple copies of the same information. Rather, pick and choose whatever ways you would like to consume my "content."

If you are a heavy Facbeook user, you might want to join my pages there. Is Google+ catching your fancy? I have a home over there, too. Maybe email is your thing? No problem, almost all of my content can be emailed directly to your Inbox. My goal is to make my content available in whatever way makes the most sense to you. It also means you can contact me and converse with me on your favorite online services.

This list is also broken down by interest. If you want to see everything I post and share, the first section is where you can find it. This will contain information from all my areas of interest including events, careers, gardening, technology and my organizations. Maybe, though, you are only interested in my gardening information. You can narrow your reading to my gardening blog or Facebook page. The same applies for careers, technology and my organizations. Select whatever is most interesting, and valuable, to you.

Thank you for supporting me, my blogs and podcasts and my organization of the years! I look forward to talking with you -- and sharing more with you -- in 2012.

New on my iPhone - December 22, 2011

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:44:31 PST

Here are the latest apps I am trying out on my iPhone.

Google Currents - Google's Info Browsing app
Corona Tools - Gardening tips, tool information and video from Corona Tools
Growing Style - Gardening information
Banjo - See when your Facebook (and other friends) are nearby
LogMeIn - Remotely control your PC/Mac from your iPhone
Namerick - Helps you remember all those people you meet
Arrived - Send notifications when you arrive at a location
LinkOut - Helps you connect up with your Linkedin connections
Prey - Helps you recover and/or wipe a stolen iPhone
Flipboard - News browsing app
Authenticator - Provides security codes for Google 2-step secure login
MailChimp - app to manage your account at this email campaign service
Voxer - Press-to-talk walkie-talkie audio messaging
TalkBox - Press-to-talk walkie-talkie audio messaging
GifBoom - Create animated Gifs for posting online
Shadow Cities - Fantasy game you play in your own neighborhood

I Like This - LogMeIn provides free remote Mac access from iOS devices (Darrell Etherington/GigaOM)

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:10:32 PST

I use LogMeIn Free a LOT, so this is a great new addition to my productivity tools. I am not sure I would use it to control a PC much, but it would be great to see what people were doing and direct them through a task.

LogMeIn provides free remote Mac access from iOS devices (Darrell Etherington/GigaOM)
LogMeIn has a nice holiday gift for iOS device owners this season: a new free app called simply LogMeIn (iTunes link) that provides remote viewing access and control of Macs and PCs on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. It’s basically what the paid version LogMeIn Ignition provides, without ads or limitations.
Read the entire article