Main thing I want to --and can't-- do on my iPad
Rate photos. I’m talking about the 0 to 5 score that can be stored in an image file’s EXIF data. I’m talking about getting a batch of photos previously synced to my Mac to the iPad (perhaps in a reduced size), viewing them in a Photos-like app that allows me to set the rating (and maybe make other EXIF edits, but that’s strictly gravy), and then sync the ratings back to the original files.
You have NO IDEA how badly I want this. I’m learning iOS development in hopes of building the app that’ll be able to do this (Filterstorm Pro comes close, but ends up failing I think). The reason: I believe that my photo library will outlast any single photo organization software. Hence the EXIF approach. It’s the reason I use Lightroom instead of Picasa or iPhoto (tho I’m considering just using Bridge exclusively). But for me, looking at photos and making judgements is 100 times more pleasant on the iPad than on a computer. On the Mac, it feels like work — like a chore. On the iPad, it’s practically a game. I don’t know why, but I NEED this. Eventually, Apple will make an amazing iPhoto for the iPad the way they did with GarageBand. But I can’t wait any more. Help!
Posted: Friday October 7, 2011 by Alesh Houdek · Permalink · Comment [3]
“Like a father fingering his Blackberry rather than playing with his kids, Congress shows us that we don’t matter.”
— Lessig begins to lay out his arguments for reforming Congress.
Published yesterday, my rant at The Atlantic about text messaging fees and how the new iOS begins to do away with them.
Six things the iPhone and iPad still can't do
- Download an image from the internet, crop it, and upload it to a blog
- Post a video you find on Twitter to your Tumblr
- Download a song from a website and save it to your music app (or generally get music, or anything else, on or off the phone on anything but its “home” computer)
- Run Flash (and spare me, the $199 Kindle Fire does it)
- Check the weather from the home screen (or display any information other than the date: the calendar app customizes its icon with the current date, but no other app can do this)
- Adjust the size of text on a web page
Posted: Wednesday October 5, 2011 by Alesh Houdek · Permalink · Comment [5]
On The Fence episode 1
Here’s episode 1 of On The Fence, a hopefully weekly podcast by me and Steve of Obalesque. The not insignificant audio issues are all my fault, and will be reduced in coming episodes, I sure hope. An iTunes listing is pending.
Posted: Friday September 30, 2011 by Alesh Houdek · Permalink · Comment
William Pope.L prints for sale
The legendary William Pope.L has three pieces up for sale at 20×200, one each for $50, $100, and $500. I have no idea where to send someone on the internet to first learn about Pope.L … maybe as good a place as any is this interview.
Posted: Thursday September 29, 2011 by Alesh Houdek · Permalink · Comment
Robb Wolf’s introduction to the Paleo diet includes a link to descriptions of 5 variations on the Paleo diet at Dan’s Plan. Cheese and alcohol remain points of contention.
Login names and passwords, right? What a pain. And “Connect with Facebook” is no better. Well, Jeff Atwood has an idea of what a long-range solution might look like.
The Amazon Fire tablet is released. Pretty much what we were expecting, except that the web browser sounds like it feeds through Amazon’s engine, which supposedly makes it super fast (and able to run Flash) but which is a little icky.
One guy’s not-so-optimistic opinion: “This economic crisis is like a cancer. … The governments don’t rule the world; Goldman Sacks rules the world. … Get prepared.”
Go read my latest article at The Atlantic, Why Amazon’s new tablet could beat the iPad. We’ll all likely have a completely different perspective on this tomorrow, after Amazon makes their announcement.
Lessig's new fight
Copyright activist Lawrence Lessig has given up the fight — he’s realized that before anything else, there’s a more fundamental problem that has to be solved: the corruption of congress by money. In this video, he does a remarkable job of outlining the problem. He does a somewhat less then perfectly convincing job of suggesting a solution. Specifically. Since congress is unable to reform itself, he has a strategy that would — eventually — lead to a constitutional convention, per Article 5 of the Constitution. Bold stuff. This guy’s serious: there is soon coming a book, and here’s his presentation at the Conference on the Constitutional Convention, which he organized, at Harvard, where he teaches:
Posted: Tuesday September 27, 2011 by Alesh Houdek · Permalink · Comment
I’m not sure why we should be freaked out about the speed of light being broken. Yes, it “invalidates” Einstein’s theory of relativity. But it does so in the same sense that relativity “invalidated” Newtonian physics: that is, for a tiny sliver of edge cases that mostly apply just to theoretical physics. Just as bridges didn’t start to collapse after Einstein, nuclear reactors are not going to begin exploding if it turns out to be true that neutrinos travel slightly faster than the speed of light. EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!
Some interesting results from research on bullying: often, neither the victims nor the perpetrators of bullying call it that. They use the term “drama.”
Dismissing a conflict that’s really hurting their feelings as drama lets teenagers demonstrate that they don’t care about such petty concerns. They can save face while feeling superior to those tormenting them by dismissing them as desperate for attention. Or, if they’re the instigators, the word drama lets teenagers feel that they’re participating in something innocuous or even funny, rather than having to admit that they’ve hurt someone’s feelings.
Jay Rosen on he-said she-said journalism
After hearing a report about the new regulation clinics for abortion clinics in Kansas, Jay Rosen had a complaint:
My complaint is not the usual one that you probably get: biased reporting. No. This is he said, she said reporting, one of the lowest forms of journalism in existence, in which the NPR reporter washes her hands of determining what is true. The new Kansas regulations may be a form of harassment, intended to make life as difficult as possible for abortion providers in that state. Or, alternatively, these rules may be sane, rational, common sense, sound policy: just normal rule-making by responsible public officials.
Is it the responsibility of a reporter to try to figure out “who’s right” in situations like this? How would they even go about doing that? Rosen’s got answers.
For example: Opponents of abortion in Kansas say the regulations are just common sense. NPR could compare the proposed regulations for abortion to other procedures that are performed at clinics in that state: do the regulations for, say, colonoscopies specify that storage areas for “janitorial supplies and equipment” must be at least 50 square feet per procedure room? Or is that kind of requirement unique to the state’s proposed rules for abortion? I don’t know the answer, but NPR could try to find out. And if it’s not NPR’s job to find out, who’s job is it?
There’s more, including an exchange with NPR’s ombudsman, and it’s very much worth a read. Rosen’s here fighting for nothing less than the future of journalism. Here’s a followup.
Posted: Monday September 26, 2011 by Alesh Houdek · Permalink · Comment
