Category Archives: Technology

Instant Upload on Google+

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Phones crap out. It happens. This summer, my wife and I were waiting in line to buy rush tickets to a Broadway show when my phone went into a reboot loop. There was no hope of reviving it. In that kind of a situation, you start going through all the stuff you don’t want to lose: contacts, pictures, music, texts, etc. Luckily, I was covered and didn’t lose a single thing.

The biggest fear for me is always losing pictures. When my phone died, we had already been in NYC for over a month, and I had snapped probably hundreds of pictures with my phone. Losing those would’ve been horrible.

The Google+ app for both Android and iOS includes Instant Upload, a feature that automatically uploads photos you take with your phone to your Google account. Your photos are then available from Google+, Picasa, and any other service that connects to your Google photos. From there, you can download them or share them across Google products.

You’ll find the option to turn on Instant Upload under Photos and Videos in Google+ Settings. From there, you can tell Google+ to only upload via Wi-Fi, for example, or to only upload when charging. I like to make sure that all my photos are saved instantly, so I upload photos via Wi-Fi or mobile data. I’m less concerned with my videos, so they upload only on a Wi-Fi connection.

Dropbox also has this feature, but each photo counts against your total storage limit. Even with the 3GB of extra storage Dropbox offers for turning on their auto upload feature, you’re going to run into that limit eventually.

Google, on the other hand, will let you store any photo up to 2048×2048 and any video less than 15 min for free. Anything larger will count against the default 1GB. With my phone camera set to take photos at 5MP, all my photos stay under that threshold. I essentially have unlimited storage space with Google for any picture or video I take on my phone.

If you haven’t turned on this feature in Google+ or Dropbox on your phone, I’d recommend doing it right now. And if you’re worried about all the photos you’ve already taken, the Google+ app has the option to Upload All photos currently on the device (see screenshot above).

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Leap – The Future of Gesture Control

If you haven’t seen the Leap yet, check out the video above and read a hands-on review here–it’ll blow your mind.

When I first saw this, I thought, “How is this any different from the Kinect?” Then I started looking at the precision and accuracy; it claims to be 200 times more accurate than the Kinect. After watching the videos, I’m inclined to believe it.

My next thought was how close we’re coming to Minority Report and Iron Man technology. All this little device needs to do is project its own image, and we’re pretty much there. With the proliferation of tablets and other finger gesture-based devices, it was only a matter of time before those same gestures worked their way into a desktop computer system. I’m looking forward to using this for Illustrator and Photoshop, among other things. To heck with getting a Wacom tablet–all I’ll need is the Leap and I’ll be set.

The device can be pre-ordered for $70, and will ship sometime between December and February. I’m going to get my hands on the SDK as soon as I can.

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How to Build a Website: Introduction

Building a website used to be a big deal. It involved learning HTML, CSS, and if you wanted to get fancy, a little JavaScript. But thanks to platforms like WordPress, Drupal, Posterous, Blogger, and more, it’s possible to build a website in a matter of hours, or even minutes. The code used to be the time-consuming piece when starting a new website–now the part that holds up the process is simply filling in content.

Yet despite the proliferation of these incredible tools, there has been a lack of documentation for people who don’t know much about coding HTML/CSS, finding hosting space, buying a domain name, etc. That’s why I’ve undertaken to write a simple series of blog posts to help anyone–yes, anyone–build a website from start to finish. It won’t be the flashiest, most dynamic website, but it’ll get the job done. And most of the time, that’s all you need.

The kinds of websites you’ll be able to create

You may wonder if this series will really give you what you need to make that website you’re dreaming up a reality. Chances are I’ll get you pretty close. Every website is different with unique goals and measures of success–but the concepts of needing to display content and represent an individual, brand, or cause online are relatively universal.

What we’ll cover

If you’re interested in learning how to build a website, regardless of the purpose, this “How to Build a Website” series is for you. Here’s what I’ll be covering:

  1. How to get cheap, reliable hosting
  2. How to choose and buy a domain name
  3. How to choose and install a platform (WordPress, Drupal, etc.)
  4. How to make basic changes to your website, such as creating new pages, uploading and displaying pictures, etc.
  5. How to search for help related to your specific platform and problem

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this series, you should be able to not only build a website yourself, but understand the concepts simply enough that you can explain it to someone else and guide them through a similar process. That’s the goal, anyway–I want you to become the resident expert in your family/group of friends/neighborhood/office.

If any of the terms I’ve used so far seem daunting, don’t worry. Part of each section will include a guide to the lingo you’ll hear associated with each topic, and a description of what it all means.

Be Vocal and Ask Questions

As we go through this series on starting a website, feel free to chime in with your comments and questions–especially if I’ve sped through something that deserves a little extra attention and explanation. I’ll do my best to keep it simple yet relevant, but I want to give it enough depth so it’ll appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

The first post in the series will be about finding a good hosting provider. I’ll update this post with links to each individual post as they’re written.

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