Archive for the ‘technology’ Category

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Instagram’s Big Mistake

Wednesday, December 26th, 2012

If you have logged onto the internet in the last few days, are an avid smart phone user, or have watched the news lately, than chances are that you have caught wind of the uproar following Instagram’s release of its new terms of service. The following sentence, found in the new terms of service, caused an enormous backlash:

You agree that a business may pay Instagram to display your photos in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions without any compensation to you.


 Almost immediately after Instagram released the brief paragraph outlining the new terms of service that will go into effect on January 16, 2013, the internet exploded with a plethora of people threatening to delete their accounts and speaking harshly on the negative effects of these changes. Among those threatening to delete their accounts were highly prominent celebrities such as Anderson Cooper, Jonah Hill, Kim Kardashian, and Lauren Conrad who all took their frustration out about the policy on Twitter.  The photo app that everyone loved for its beautiful filters has quickly turned into the target of a huge amount of criticism and distaste.

Since the initial release of the new terms of service, Instagram quickly realized its mistake and has had three official press releases about how “they are listening” and vaguely alluded to changing the terms to better meet people’s requests. The changes were apparently not drastic enough and an Instagram user has filed a potential class-action lawsuit against the company for announcing the new terms of service.The San Diego-based law firm Finklestein & Krinsk filed its complaint in a San Francisco federal court.  Lucy Funes,  who is the person responsible for taking her complaint to federal court in San Francisco, has  stated that Instagram is, “taking its customer’s property rights” with the new terms to be put in place. A Facebook spokesperson (Facebook has recently acquired Instagram) said that the lawsuit is without merit and that the company intends to fight the claim vigorously.

Instagram’s new terms of service will officially go into effect on January 16,2013. Time will tell how many more changes the terms will go through.

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Posted in Photo Scanning, Products, Random Fun Stuff, Social Web, business, digital photography, iPhone, photos, technology | No Comments »

Flock

Thursday, November 22nd, 2012

While mobile and smart phone proliferation continues to make it easier to capture the memories we make with our friends and family, capture copies of documents, and even facilitates sharing them on social networks, they don’t help make it easier to upload those shared photos—at least they didn’t until now. The makers of the Bump app recently launched Flock, a passive photo sharing app that aims to change the way we upload and share photo albums with the people in the photos all while changing the way we interact with other apps. Things have come a long way from the days of uploading photos captured with digital scanning and emailing them to your grandmother.



The idea behind flock is that it should be easy for everyone in a photo to be invited to see those photos by accessing cloud-based photo albums—and it should all happen automatically. Most smart phones, like the iPhone, already automatically geo-tag photos and Facebook face recognition software can automatically tag photos. Using these two functionalities, the Flock app automatically identifies photos on your phone that contain Facebook friends, prompts you to share them, and then invites those friends to view a group album shared on the cloud.

There’s a lot to parse with this app, but the most important aspects are what it means for photo sharing and what it means for app use. Since this is photography, digital scanning, and digital photo blog, the fact that Flock isn’t actively trying to capture more of your attention, a dramatic shift from the paradigm of most apps developed today, is not our focus…but it is certainly interesting.

On the other hand, the fact that from now on you don’t have to take multiple pictures with different cameras in order to be sure everyone gets a copy is incredible and relevant for this blog. One of the biggest frustrations about taking group photos has always been figuring out how to make sure everyone who wants a copy of the photo gets it. Either you can stick one person taking multiple photos with different devices, or you can upload the photo onto one of multiple photo-sharing sites and invite everyone to view the album— neither are very convenient.

With Flock, every time you take a photograph using a smart phone that is connected to a Facebook account, it uses the social media site’s face recognition software to identify the subjects of the photo. Immediately after taking the photo, it prompts you to allow it to notify them about the photo and invite them to access the photos in the album. They can choose to view photos, or download them for other uses. The biggest advantage about Flock is that it doesn’t require any extra work for anyone.

Flock is the next step in the natural progression of strategies leveraging the power of mobile devices. It’s also a big deal for people who want to share and use digital photos in the most convenient way possible. Whether you use your phone to supplement digital scanning or take the best shots of you and your friends, Flock makes it easier for you to share them.

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Technological Innovations That Changed Photography

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

Though many take it for granted in the digital age, taking a photograph was originally a long process that involved a lot of skill and understanding of the mechanics behind using a camera; it has not always been as easy as clicking a button and posting photos online. To get where we are today, in regards to digital technology, there were a few innovations that had to take place first. The following is a list of five inventions that helped pave the way for modern photographic technologies:

Flash




Image: photoanswers.co.uk

One of the key factors in photography is having adequate exposure to light, so having a flash made shooting indoors much more feasible. Originally photographers shot indoors using lights of the electric arc and limelight variety, but alternatives such as magnesium soon became the norm. Magnesium immediately proved to be problematic since it caused a large amount of ash and smoke after every use. Finally in 1927, the more modern flash, similar to the one used today, that utilized a bulb was invented.

The Polaroid Instant Camera




Image: usatoday.com

Digital photography is about instant gratification and being able to have access your pictures right away, and we can thank Polaroid for this sentiment. The Polaroid instant camera was made available to the masses starting in 1947 and enabled users to instantly produce photographs without the use of a darkroom or photolab.

Auto Focus





Image: techradar.com

The auto focus was first developed in the late 1970s by Leitz. The early version of the auto focus utilized a series of sensors in the camera lens to analyze a scene and determined which area should be sharp and in focus. More modernized auto focus use a number of complicated algorithms that allows focusing on a number of subjects in a scene. With new auto focus technologies, you may even shoot moving images and they do not come out blurred.

Silver Halides




Image: Theodore W. Gray

All modern photographic films use silver halides in order for photographs to obtain sustainability. Silver halides are a combination of silver and halogens, and together they result in fast exposure times and stability in photographs.

SLRs







Image: hotel4fierarimini.com

The Single Lens Reflex camera, which was first invented in 1884, utilizes a bunch of different mirrors that are put in between the viewfinder and the lens with the intention presenting exactly what your photo will look. Much later, in the 1930s, 35mm SLRs were popularized and opened up a plethora of photographic innovations.

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Why Hasn’t Digital Freed Us From Paper?

Thursday, November 8th, 2012

Despite the promises of digital scanning and file sharing, we have yet to enjoy the “freedom” from paper we promised ourselves. As a culture, we remain obsessed with physical print. Maybe we’re not so much obsessed as we are utterly unable to conduct personal and business life without it. When you go to a business conference, you get loaded down with pamphlets, business cards, and spec sheets. When your mailing address gets out, you are swamped in marketing materials that tower over the spam in your email inbox. We take notes on paper, save our receipts, and keep ourselves enslaved by stacks of sheets that will eventually have to be digitally scanned for preservation, filing, and sharing. Why?

This question is all the more interesting because the persistence of paper has spawned a new generation of digital scanning tools. Giant all-in-one machines and at-home doc scanners themselves haven’t been able to keep up with our production and use of papers. The more we demand that all our important documents and files be online, the more we need a way to digitize them – because as a culture we keep producing the primary copies of those essential documents in paper form.

Mobile scanners that are easy to carry in a briefcase and can store files on removable media like SD cards, remotely upload them to smart phones and tablets, or send them to cloud-based file storage have become very popular, especially in the business world. They make it easier to digitally convert documents, making them easier store and enabling us to discard the paper that someone else painstakingly printed.



So we’re addicted to the portability and mobility of digital everything, and yet we continue to produce tons of paper documents that others will just rush to digitize if it’s important, and throw away regardless. Why? Part of the answer is obvious: tradition and convention. When you meet a business contact, you hand them your paper business card. It’s a habit engrained by centuries of use, and even today the edgiest people just change up the information they present on the card. This specific example is indicative of the fact that we default to paper. And giving and receiving information on paper is a sort of unspoken ritual that often has communicative significance.

Using paper is also more convenient and effective in certain ways. For example, business cards are perfect for sharing your contact info with someone. They will look over the information on the card and then store it in a place for later use. This is easier than any digital method of exchanging contact information, although smart phone apps like “Bump” are slowly changing that. Similarly, at a trade show, the presenter can have some control over whether or not you read his information by giving you a well-designed pamphlet. Digital options that require you to take an action to reach the information will be less effective.

Primarily, however, it is emotional. Receipts could be exchanged digitally if we implemented a system that enabled vendors to easily send documentation to customers and clients. We could already be using software for mobile devices like smart phones that would enable us to quickly send and accept specific information such as what is on a business card. There are digital solutions to all of this. But we’re attached to paper. The fact that it’s familiar, tangible, easier to annotate, and can’t get lost to a virus or miss-click makes us feel more comfortable.



Until our behavior and feelings shift, mobile digital scanning tools will remain not just useful, but essential. They enable us to balance our society’s reliance on paper with our desire to digitize everything, all without being required to actually move away from paper. It’s like the future, but in very slow motion.

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The Best Digital Cameras on The Market

Friday, September 14th, 2012

There are so many digital cameras available right now that it is starting to become a daunting task to know exactly which ones are actually the “best.” Every camera company tends to shove megapixels and zoom capacities into our faces; as if that is an end-all indication as to whether or not a camera is of good quality. Most of us tend to gravitate towards the cheaper, bargain digital cameras because of their practicality and affordability. However, for those of us who have some extra cash to spend or are looking to invest into a truly high quality digital camera, the following list is for you:

The Best Digital Camera

1) Best Digital SLR



Hasselbad H4D-50 MS SLR

$29,995.00

The Hasselblad H4D-50 MS SLR. Image:cnet.com

The HasselbladH4D-50 MS SLR is the absolute best digital SLR camera on the market, and at such a high price, you would expect nothing less. To start, the camera is loaded with an astonishing 50 megapixel capacity, a 3” 24 bit color LCD, and both an HC and HCD lens which provide for optimal lens performance. This camera is ideal for photographers who like to shoot moving subjects because it comes equipped with a multi-shot technology, which allows you to capture a sequence of 4 shots that are each offset by a mere pixel increment. With the multi-shot technology, the true-to-life detailing and coloring are captured in your photograph. Of course, there is also a standard single-shot setting which also works brilliantly. Some other cool features that the camera possesses are: GPS capabilities, 90MB of memory capacity, and an ultra-fast focus that also works well on the automatic setting. If your aim is to get the absolute best, most professional looking photos, and you have the manes to invest in such a camera, then look no further because the Hasselblad is the undisputed digital SLR champion.

2) The Best Point-and-Shoot



Nikon Coolpix P300

$398.00

Nikon Coolpix P300. Image: NikonUSA

The Nikon Coolpix P300 delivers some great quality photographs, and is a great, easy-to-use compact digital camera. This camera is true to its point-and-shoot nature in that it does not come equipped with too many bells and whistles, but it does not give up quality. The camera boasts a 12 megapixel capacity and an ultra-wide-angle lens. In addition, there are both manual and semi manual settings on the Coolpix P300, which is good news for those of you who are seeking a bit of creativity while using a point-and-shoot. The camera is also able to film fully HD videos, which is a huge selling point.

3) Best Extended Zoom



Panasonic FZ150

$400.00-450.99

If you’re in the market for the best zoom available on a digital camera, then the Panasonic FZ150 is definitely the camera for you. This extended zoom camera (also referred to as a superzoom) offers unparalleled versatility that rivals even DSLRs. The camera comes equipped with a 3-inch LCD, a 25-600mm (24x) lens, a high resolution viewfinder, and can even record videos in a 1080p mode. The beauty of the FZ150 derives from the great balance it possesses between functionality and quality. The camera sports an impressive 42x zoom range lens, and still manages to produce great quality pictures.

4) Best Waterproof Digital Camera



Panasonic Lumix TS3

$379.99-400.00

The LumixTS3. Image: toptenreviews.com
The Lumix TS3 is not only water-resistant in up to a 40 foot depth of water, it also takes impressive photographs with 12.1 megapixel quality. In addition, the Lumix has 4.6 optical zoom and a number of ISO settings. Also, the lens that comes on the Lumix is a 28mm lens, which is wider than the 35mm lens that most compact digital cameras come equipped with. The greatest part about the Lumix is that it’s not just a gimmicky camera and can take quality photographs out of water as well as in water.

5) Best Instant Camera



Fuji Instax Wide Instant Camera

$60.00-80.00 (plus the cost of film)

The Fujifilm Instax 210. Image: Kaboodle.com

The Fujifilm Wide Instant Camera brings the joy of old Polaroid cameras back to life through it’s easy to use interface and near instant photo printing. The camera is fully automatic, with an automatic flash for low-light shooting, but still delivers high-quality photographs. The pictures that are developed are super high grain and quickly developed, which makes this camera a fun accessory at any get together or outing. The Wide Instant runs on four AA batteries and uses Instax Color film, which is easily found.

I hope that you found this list helpful or at the very least entertaining. Thanks for reading!

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