Posts Tagged ‘photos to digital’

37 States Join Ongoing Google “Street View” Investigation

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

37 States Join Ongoing Google Investigation

Google’s “Street View” Cars Used To Gather Personal Data From Unsecured Wireless Networks?

For the last month, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has been leading an investigation into the improper use of Google’s Street View camera cars to gather personal information from unsecured wireless networks. These Street View cars are supposed to take photos of roads and buildings, and store these photos to digital servers for use in the company’s popular Google Maps online service. But the multi-state investigation, in which Blumenthal has been joined by the attorney generals of 37 other states, has uncovered that these cars were also used to improperly gather private information including e-mails, passwords and other personal data. The investigation follows similar cases in Australia and Germany, and may lead to changes in federal and/or state laws regarding the use of wireless technology to gather information from unprotected wireless networks.

Launched in 2007, Google Maps’ Street View feature uses cars to photograph street layouts and buildings in every direction, converting photos to digital environments that can be navigated virtually from any computer with an Internet connection. But Google did not disclose that these camera cars also detect Wi-Fi access points, in order to help the onboard computers determine their exact locations without the use of satellite-based GPS systems. While connected to these access points, the Street View cars collected approximately 600 gigabytes of data from unsecured wireless networks over a period of three years. According to Google, this gathering of information was accidental, but the attorney generals leading the probe are not so sure.

According to Blumenthal, Google’s responses “continue to generate more questions than they answer. Now the question is how [Google] may have used – and secured – all this private information.” A spokesman for Google said that the company made a mistake in including the code that collected the “payload data” from wireless networks, but that the company does not believe it has broken any laws, and is continuing to work with the “relevant authorities” to address their concerns. Last week, Blumenthal sent a third letter to Google, asking how much testing was done on the Street View software before it was put to use, and suggesting that adequate testing should have revealed the supposed “glitch” responsible for the Street View cars’ collection of personal data. At press time, Google had not issued a response.

Google Maps Street View Photographs English Woman 43 Times

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Google Maps Street View Photographs English Woman 43 Times

Is Street View A Violation Of Privacy?

google mapThe “Street View” feature of Google’s popular online maps service has raised some interesting questions when it comes to issues of privacy. While most Americans seem perfectly contented to have their homes, businesses, cars, and even themselves photographically mapped out in Google’s all-encompassing “mapplication,” residents of other countries, notably the UK, are less anxious to join the Google Maps party.

In fact, there has been something of an outcry in some British towns where increased burglary rates are being blamed on Google’s Street View. Many residents believe that by incorporating these photos to digital applications like Google Maps, the progress of technology has made it easier for burglars to plan out which homes to target, and how best to break in.

Some, like 28-year-old Tory councilor Edward Butler-Ellis have even staged protests, insisting that Google ask permission to publish photos of private property. Also behind the cause is 76-year-old retired builder John Neale, who has questioned not only the ethicality of Google’s actions, but also the need for a service like Street View in residential areas. “I think it’s an invasion of privacy,” said Neale. “These photos are looking over your fences and walls – it’s an intrusion and I’m not sure it’s a necessity.”

 But some UK residents seem less concerned with Google’s popular mapplication. By publishing their methodically-taken photos to digital, Google has made one ordinary woman famous (sort of). Wendy Southgate of Suffolk was photographed by Google a whopping 43 times in one day while walking her dog Trixie. Southgate’s husband Terry noticed the photos while browsing the couple’s neighborhood using Street View. Apparently the car taking the photographs for the Street View service followed the same route as Wendy and Trixie, who were understandably a bit wary of the vehicle crawling along beside them. 

“I didn’t know what it was doing, said Southgate. “It was just driving round very, very slowly.” But once the Southgates discovered Wendy’s candid photo shoot on Google Maps, their concern was replaced with amusement, and all was well.

Classic Hollywood Glamour Photos Up For Auction

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Classic Hollywood Glamour Photos Up For Auction  

World’s Largest Collection To Be Sold For Charity

hollywoodIf you’re a Hollywood buff or photography enthusiast with cash to spare, you could be in for a treat this week. On March 26th and 27th, thousands of classic glamour photographs from Hollywood photographers like George Hurrell will be auctioned off by a respected dealer called Profiles in History, which specializes in vintage signed photographs and manuscripts, historical autographs, letters, and other guaranteed-authentic original documents. Classic photographs of movie stars from Jean Harlow to George Clooney will be available for auction to the public, but don’t expect to nab a classic photo on the cheap. The dealer expects to fetch over $20,000 for Hurrell’s iconic Vanity Fair portrait of Jean Harlow on a white bearskin rug.

In addition to vintage photographs and camera negatives from Hurrell, this largest-ever collection of glamour photos also includes 50,000 vintage prints, black-and-white and color negatives, and transparencies by legendary Hollywood photographer Harry Langdon, as well as a multitude of master prints from a wide variety of photographers including Jock Sturges, Howard Zieff, Edward Steichen, Len Prince, Mel Roberts Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Cindy Sherman, and Julius Schulman. Among the auction’s highly valuable items are dozens of 8-by-10 camera negatives spanning Goerge Hurrell’s career, portraying Hollywood legends such as Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, and Rita Hayworth.

In order to facilitate worldwide live bidding via the telephone and Internet, the dealer has scanned many of the photos to digital (including the above photo of a young Diana Ross by photographer by Harry Langdon), and posted them online in PDF form. By scanning the photos to digital, the dealer hopes to reach a wider demographic of prospective buyers. The photos, which are part of the Michael H. Epstein and Scott E. Schwimer collection, are being sold to raise money for charitable organizations such as the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center.

For more information, please visit www.profilesinhistory.com.

Celebrate Your Family History With A Photo Family Tree

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Celebrate Your Family History With A Photo Family Tree

Scan Old Photos To Digital, And Let Your Memories Take Root

Guinness_Storehouse_St._Patrick's_Day_signAs the makers of Guinness beer happily remind visitors to the brand’s Dublin museum, “everyone’s Irish on March 17th.” Indeed, St. Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated by Americans of various ethnic backgrounds, and annual St. Patrick’s Day parades in the U.S. date all the way back to 1737, when the first one was held in Boston. But for many Irish-Americans, St. Patrick’s Day is also part of Irish-American Heritage Month, which is a time to recognize and celebrate Irish history and family heritage. While many Irish and non-Irish Americans join in on the wearing of green and the merrymaking on March 17th, most of us miss out on the opportunity to explore and celebrate our family heritage throughout the month of March. One great way of doing this it to make a photo family tree on your computer.

To make a digital photo family tree, you can use ordinary photo-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or Paint Shop Pro, or you can go with a purpose-designed software such as Family Tree Maker 2010 from Ancestry.com, which costs about $30 and includes a subscription to Ancetry.com’s enormous database of over 7 billion historical records. You can even search for your relatives and ancestors in the world’s largest online collection of family history resources, and use the information you find to help construct a larger and more accurate family tree.

Whichever software you use, you’ll need digital photos of everyone in your family tree. For your kids, that means reaching for the closest digital camera. For grandma and grandpa, you’ll probably need to scan some old photos to digital. If you have your own photo scanning equipment, you can scan them yourself. If not, you can send whole albums (or even boxes!) of photos to a professional photo scanning service like ScanDigital. When choosing the best photos for grandparents, great grandparents, and older ancestors, look for photos that you think they would want to represent them. It is usually best to use photos from young adulthood; if everyone is around the same age in all the photos, it is easiest to see family resemblances. Also, a photo of grandma and grandpa from the 1950s might be more interesting than a photo taken at Disneyland last summer.

The biggest benefit of using digital photos is that you can’t accidentally damage or ruin your old one-of-a-kind photos in the process. Once you have your photo scanning all finished, you’re ready to make your tree. If you plan to go back several generations, this might involve some research. Talking to older relatives is a great way to gather information about your ancestors. When you’re ready to put your tree together (and if you are using your own photo-editing software), you might want to consider downloading a family tree template from a digital scrap-booking outfit like Scrapgirls.com. Once your family tree is complete, you can have it printed out, or email it to family members. It’s a great way of celebrating your heritage, and it’s something that both kids and adults will find genuinely interesting.

Show Off Your Digital Photos With Apple’s New iPad

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Show Off Your Digital Photos With Apple’s New iPad

Touch-Screen Tablet Lets Digital Photos Shine

apple-ipad-1With digital cameras and photo scanning becoming more and more common, many of us have large collections of digital photos. And though this trend of moving photos to digital has made life easier in many ways, it brings with it new complications. Sure, emailing photos is a piece of cake, but what’s the best way to display your digital photos in the kitchen? Or in the living room? And how should you show grandma the photos of your latest trip to Disneyland when you visit her this weekend?

What’s the best way to share and show off your digital photos? According to Steve Jobs and the rest of the crew at Apple Inc., that’s an easy question. The much anticipated Apple iPad, a tablet-like touch-screen computing device that will hit shelves at the end of March, has seen more hype in the tech news than any device since Apple launched its game-changing iPhone back in 2007. Apple calls its newest creation a “magical and revolutionary product,” and confidently declares it to be “the best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video. Hands down.”

The device, which measures 7.47 inches wide by 9.56 inches tall by 0.5 inch thick, is dominated by the 9.7-inch glass-covered capacitive touch screen. With a screen resolution of 1,024×768 pixels and a technology called in-plane switching (IPS) to boost viewing angles far beyond those of a traditional laptop screen, the iPad’s display does seem like a great way to show off your photos, both around the house and on the go.

On the software side of things, the iPad runs a version of the same intuitive operating system that runs on the iPhone and iPod Touch. This can be seen as a good thing or a terrible thing. On the plus side, millions of iPhone and iPod Touch users already know exactly how to operate the yet-to-be-released iPad, and the interface is so intuitive that a baby could use it. On the downside, the operating system’s simplicity brings with it several limitations, the most significant being that the device can only run one application at a time, and that the only way to get new applications is through Apple’s own App Store.   

Fortunately, Apple redesigned the iPhone’s photo app specifically for the iPad, and it really lets your digital photos shine in ways that just aren’t possible with other devices. Want to show off your old family photo albums? You can scan your old photos to digital and import them onto the iPad in seconds. Got a digital camera? Import directly from your SD card. The iPad displays photos as tiny “stacks” of thumbnails, which you can easily expand, browse through, and move around. When the iPad is docked in its charging station, it becomes a digital photo frame, displaying a montage of photos using a wide variety of beautifully fluid slideshow settings.

All said, the iPad isn’t for everyone, but it can be used by anyone. Some say it can’t do enough, but it does do certain things, like photos, really really well. Look for it starting in late March, or check it out at www.apple.com.

Scanning Old Photos To Digital To Celebrate Chinese New Year

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Photos to Digital: New Traditions

Scanning Old Photos To Digital To Celebrate Chinese New Year

chinesenewyearOne of the largest and most famous Spring Festivals anywhere in the United States, the San Francisco Chinese New Year celebration is a month-long affair, with pageants, parades, street fairs, and performances by Lion and dragon dancers. Each year, a new Miss Chinatown is crowned at the annual Pageant and Coronation Ball, and the Chinese New Year Run raises funds for the YMCA’s youth and teen programs. But for many San Franciscans, the biggest and most spectacular event is the well-known Chinese New Year Parade, which is one of the few remaining illuminated parades, and is always held at night.

The Parade was first held in 1853, when the Chinese Chamber of Commerce began it as a way to promote community education about Chinese culture. The oldest parade of its kind, San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade is also the largest outside Asia. Many Chinese American families celebrate the lunar new year in traditional ways. Birthdays are celebrated, and fireworks explode. Children and other young, unmarried people often receive red envelopes containing money (usually crisp, new bills), to be spent on something that will bring good fortune. And this year, one girl in Northern California is hoping to start a new tradition.

Stephanie Heng, a 17-year-old from Cupertino, CA, hopes that Chinese New Year can be a time for young people to give gifts, not just receive them.

“These days it’s easy to take your parents and grandparents for granted” she said. “But respect for elders is really important. That’s your history, your heritage. It’s where you come from.”

This year’s lunar new year marks the 50th wedding anniversary of Stephanie’s grandparents, and her grandfather Heng Li’s 70th birthday. Heng Li, who was present at San Francisco’s 100th Chinese New Year Parade in 1953 (see photo above), has attended the festivities every year sense 1961, with his wife Heng Xiaoqing. In order to commemorate their grandparents’ anniversary, Stephanie and her younger brother Andrew decided to make a video slideshow out of old family photos, to be presented as a gift on Chinese New Year. After selecting about 60 pictures from photo albums and boxes in her grandparents’ attic, Stephanie scanned the photos to digital and made a DVD slideshow using her computer.

“By converting these old photos to digital, we were able to give them new life, and tell our grandparents’ story,” she said. “Before they were just in storage, shoved in boxes and forgotten. Now the whole family can see my grandmother in her wedding dress, and my grandfather’s first trip to America.”

For more information about the San Francisco Chinese New Year Celebration, visit www.sanfranciscochinatown.com

Scan Photos to Digital And Keep Your Memories Safe

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Scan Photos to Digital And Keep Your Memories Safe

 Tips On Disaster Preparedness

haitiThe recent disaster of the devastating earthquake in Haiti has sparked an enormous response from Americans. Volunteers from across the globe continue to travel to Haiti to provide much needed health care, cleanup, and other services, while millions of Americans have donated money to aide the relief efforts. Even during this difficult time, the people of Haiti remain hopeful that there are better times ahead, and many world leaders, including President Obama, have expressed hope that the recovery process will grow into a full-fledged rebuilding process for the Haitian nation.

Indeed, there is great precedent for growth after tragedy. After World War II, a war-torn Japan had to rebuild nearly all of its factories and businesses; as a result of this forced modernization, Japan has become a world leader in cutting-edge manufacturing and technology. Other examples hit closer to home. The Great Chicago Fire destroyed four square miles of the windy city in October of 1871, but also spurred a rebuilding effort that help turn Chicago into one of the most populous and economically important cities in the United States. But more recent disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, have allowed us a closer look at the kind of personal devastation that befalls on their victims. News coverage of Hurricane Katrina showed the tragedies of countless people whose homes – and all the memories held therein – were swept away by the flood waters.

So as we reach out a helping hand in Haiti, we should also stop to think about how to prepare ourselves for unexpected natural disasters, which may strike at any time. One way to protect and preserve precious memories is to scan old photos to digital formats, and store them online. This way, these treasured memories cannot be lost in an earthquake or other natural disaster. In addition to scanning photos to digital, it can be useful to photograph all the valuable items in your home, such as antiques, electronics, furniture, and appliances. This often-overlooked step can be very important when dealing with insurance claims. Make a plan with your family so everyone knows where to go and what to do in the case of various emergency situations, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, and floods. Finally, it is always a good idea to keep a stash of emergency food, water, flashlights, and medical supplies in an easily accessible location in your home.

When it comes to natural disasters, you can never know what to expect. The important thing is to prepare yourself the best you can, and lend a helping hand to those in need when disaster does strike.

Scan Old Photos To Digital Found In The Attic To Make New Memories

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Vintage Family Pictures May Live Among Christmas Decorations In The Attic

Spend Quality Time With Relatives By Going Through Old Photos Together

dec17You never know what you’ll find in the attic – it could be a picture like this, dusty and crinkled from age, but rich with history.

Every year, Americans young and old venture up to their attics to pull out Christmas ornaments for the tree. But there’s likely much more up there, waiting to be discovered or at least remembered. So take a look around for old, cherished images, which make worthy candidates for scanning photos to digital.

The holidays may be busy with parties and hosting duties, but for many people, work slows down a bit (except for those in the retail world). A number of people like to take the week between Christmas and January 1st off to spend quality time with the family and tackle big household projects. Going through old photos with relatives you don’t get to see often is an excellent way to bond and to efficiently identify people in photos.

How many times have you studied a faded photograph and wondered, Who is that? With the whole clan in town for the holidays, someone’s bound to know the answer. Sifting through old pictures that you want to scan, save and share in a group also cuts down on the amount of reaching out you have to do after the fact. With everyone present, people can just pick and choose what they want to transfer; scanning photos to digital couldn’t be any easier. As you go through the many pictures, designate one person to type up communal memories of each picture and label the notes to correspond with the images. This allows future generations to get to know their ancestors better.

As the holidays wind down, what better time to focus on getting your house in order than right before the start of the New Year? Everyone’s entitled to a fresh start; just don’t leave the past completely behind.

Vintage Photos To Digital Show Magic Of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parades

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Black & White Photos Of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Fuel Trips Down Memory Lane

Nostalgic Tradition Is A Thanksgiving Day Staple For Many Familiesthanksgiving day

For many American households, the joy of Thanksgiving begins hours before the big meal, when the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade airs on television. It’s a fun, family-friendly event that still draws children and adults together, one that unofficially kicks off the busy holiday season.

Originally called the Macy’s Christmas Parade, the parade started in 1924. It initially featured live animals, but they were replaced by larger-than-life balloons a few years later. The first balloon was modeled after Felix the Cat. This vintage photo, possibly taken in 1932, features that very character. By scanning such photos to digital format, the blogger was able to share with many people around the world the old pictures she had stumbled upon at a garage sale.

Children’s book illustrator Anthony Frederick “Tony” Sarg is the man behind the signature balloons. In 1935, he also created the mechanically animated window displays that Macy’s has become well known for. Sarg’s balloons were essentially marionettes turned upside down, with the controls under instead of over the puppets/balloons. During one point in the parade’s history, those balloons were released into the air, where they would float for days at a time. With so many people scanning photos to digital format for uploading and sharing, you can find plenty of old, black-and-white parade images online.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade is closely associated with those balloons. Sarg, their creator, was born in Guatamala in 1880 to a German father and English mother. Seven years later, his family moved back to Germany. He eventually married an American woman and developed an interest in puppetry while living in England. World War I prompted Sarg to move his family to the United States (his wife was from Ohio). His career really took off after those Macy’s balloons, but he was forced to file for bankruptcy in the late ‘30s.

Familiar balloon characters such as Popeye, Superman and Kermit the Frog appeared in later decades. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was not held during World War II (1942-1944), but it returned in 1945, and was first broadcast on a national basis in 1948 on NBC. This year, you can catch it on the same network at 9 a.m. Thanksgiving Day.

Photos To Digital: Vacation Homes On Wheels Get A Foodie Makeover

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Then & Now: Scan Photos To Digital To Compare Trailers & Food Trucks

A New Generation Embraces Upscale Food Trucks

food truck 2 photos to digitalTrailers are making a comeback.

Not on the road as a vacation getaway or hotel on wheels, though. These days, you’re more likely to find a souped-up Airstream parked in a lot or on a side street. They’re a popular destination among foodies in search of affordable snacks and sweets.

Taco trucks have long been a staple among Mexican food fans. Their drivers/chefs camp out in blue-collar neighborhoods and serve good eats on a budget. You can scan old photos to digital to share these old-school staples with a whole new generation of fans.

food truck photos to digitalToday, you can find tricked-out trailers and trucks selling just about every dish under the sun. Cupcakes, snow cones, waffles, crepes and even pork rib roast, rabbit and lamb. In Austin, there’s a parking lot in the ultra hip “SoCo” (South Congress) neighborhood that’s become ground zero for food trucks. In New York, trucks frequently change locations to make the most of the masses (and perhaps escape ticketing officers!).

Many people trace the food truck’s rising popularity to Kogi, a wildly popular Korean taco truck that updates its ever-changing location on Twitter. It’s been written up in national newspapers and magazines and is so appealing it can command lengthy, hours-long waits. Although still a small company, Kogi has been expanding its fleet of trucks to better cover the vast Los Angeles area.

food truck kogi photos to digital Kogi, of course, isn’t the first food truck to appeal to mainstream America – we all remember the ice cream trucks of our youth, right? But Kogi is the first food truck to utilize social media so effectively to alert customers of its location, to introduce new menu items and get instant feedback on its dishes, and to generate intense buzz about its brand. That marketing innovation makes it a pioneer in this evolving field.

Kogi’s mega success has not gone unnoticed by others, either. In our nation’s culinary history, documented in part by a growing record of scanned photos to digital format, it has earned its place. Now other entrepreneurs are following suit, and food lovers have even more choices than before.