Identify the Autumn Leaves with Leafsnap

I love this time of year. Crisp mornings and long walks among colorful trees.

But as I walk, I wonder. What kind of a tree is that? The one that makes bright yellow leaves? and …… What kind of a tree is the one over there with bright red leaves?

This app, Leafsnap, helps answer those questions. It’s not perfect, but the price is right (FREE) and it’s not b-a-d, so……

This app was developed by Columbia University, the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution. It contains a few games to help you learn (matching leaves to names of plants) and a pretty significant database of leaves (pictures of leaves and names of plants/trees).

It also gives you the opportunity to take a picture of a leaf (hence the name, “Leafsnap” 🙂 ) and upload this picture to get the name of the tree. (This feature is not well-received, and I didn’t have any luck with it myself, but it’s a great idea that hopefully some day will be improved.)

I’ve primarily used this app to confirm what I think a leaf might be. But I’ve also played the game a few times and came away just a wee bit smarter.

Leafsnap for the iPhone or iPad is FREE in the iTunes store.

Amazon Prime on SALE for ONE DAY only September 25

Amazon Prime Membership usually costs $99 a year, but this Friday, September 25, it will be on sale for new customers for just $67 for the year.

Amazon Prime gives you free two-day shipping on the Prime products you purchase on Amazon. There is also a boatload of free music available to Prime members, and free videos, as well. Although their video library is not as deep as Netflix, it is substantial, and most recently they added the “download and watch later” option (which is wonderful for travelers).

Access to a Kindle lending library is also part of an Amazon Prime membership. (This is limited to only certain books, and just one borrowed book per month.)

Another benefit of Prime membership is one I haven’t used yet…. but I plan to give it a try shortly. Unlimited Photo Cloud storage. (This is exciting to me. I have far too many photos on my devices!)

Two day shipping, free music, free videos, free photo cloud storage and a kindle lending library.

$67 instead of $99! If you’ve been considering Amazon Prime, this is a great opportunity to give it a whirl.

How to UN-delete a Photo on your iPhone or iPad with iOS8

Did you ever do an “oops” and delete a photo that you didn’t mean to delete? Or maybe you deleted one and regretted it later?

In iOS8, this problem can be fixed.

You CAN recover a deleted photo.

How to recover a deleted photo:

Open your Photos app.

Tap on Albums.

Scroll to find “Recently Deleted”

Open that album and you will see all the photos that you have deleted over the last (approximately) 30 days.
Each photo will have a number under it, telling you how many days are left until it is permanently deleted.

Choose the photo you want to un-delete, and look down at the bottom of the screen. Tap “Recover” to bring your photo back to your photo stash.

All done! No more “oops”. 🙂

Take Better Selfies with the new Timer in iOS8

Your Holiday Selfies just got more interesting. Unless you have REALLY long arms, you may find that your Selfies are often not very flattering ….. a little TOO close for comfort.

Now you can prop up your iPhone, and using the timer, step back a bit. This will allow you to include MORE folks in the photos, and you can include that backdrop for the holiday or travel. (What good is your selfie in front of the Colosseum if all you can see are your teeth? 😯 )

How to use the timer on your iPhone camera:

To use your timer, bring up your camera and tap on the clock icon which is up at the top of your screen. Once you tap on the clock you have options to use either a 3 second or a 10 second timer.

After you have selected either the 3 or 10 second option, tap your photo button. You’ll see a countdown on your screen… 10 .. 9 .. 8 .. 7 .. 6 .. 5 ..4 ..3 ..2 ..1…. and then your photo happens.

Your photo(s) will occur in a burst. This is set by default to give you a burst of photos when you use the timer. (A great idea, I think. You get to choose your no-blinking best.)

When you are done, make sure you turn the timer-selection off by tapping “off” at the top of your screen (otherwise the next time you go to take a photo, it will still be set to timer mode.)

Have fun!

How to Capture ACTION with your iPhone Camera

I absolutely love this feature.

I remember (years and years) ago buying a digital camera specifically because it had this ability so that I could “catch” action shots at my son’s sporting events. And now, here it is, always available right in our pocket!

I’m guessing you might not know that you have this feature …. but once you do, you’ll be using it to get that PERFECT shot.

So how do you capture action with your iPhone?

Simply bring up your camera on your iPhone.

Aim, and HOLD DOWN THE CAPTURE BUTTON. Your iPhone will snap photos quickly. A Photo Burst.

How to Enjoy a Slideshow on your iPad: (part of the) Very Beginner Series

Over the last several years, “throwback Thursday” has become quite popular.

Although it is really supposed to be about nostalgia (like old photos), I thought I’d stretch the point, and occasionally post an old (but updated!) “how to” on Thursdays, for the benefit of the many new-device-users who have joined our blog.

* Occasional posts will contain how-tos and/or hints for VERY new users of iPads, iPhones or Kindles. All new users welcome! Non-tech speak, not terribly detailed, just basic device-enhancing goodness. All part of this Very Beginner Series.

Please share with any beginners (Mom? Dad? Grandma?) in your life.*

Remember the digital picture frames that were so popular several years ago? If you have an iPad, you may choose to leave that digital frame in the drawer because your iPad is an awesome picture frame. Better, probably, than the dedicated version you have (had) and a LOT more fun.

When you first take your iPad out of the box, one of the Apps you will see on the home screen is called Photos and it shows on your screen as a daisy with colorful petals. We are going to make our slideshow with this native App (although there are lots of others available in the App Store).

Once you have about a dozen photos on your iPad, you are ready to enjoy the show. We will get it started, and look at several options along the way.

Touch the photos app to open it. Now tap any photo, from any collection. (Once you understand how to make a slideshow, you can group your photos accordingly.)

Look down at the bottom left of the screen. You’ll see a box with an arrow pointing up. This is your “action” box.

Tap on this action box, and you’ll be presented with several choices of “actions.” One of these choices will be: Slideshow.

Select “slideshow” and you will get a new menu with several choices.

Touch “transitions” and you will get several options: dissolve, cube, ripple, wipe across, wipe down and origami. Choose any one of these for now, you can come back and change it later.

Your next option is “Play Music”. Slide this to “on”. When you touch “music” you will be presented with all the music that you have on your iPad. Select something that you would like to listen to while you watch your pictures.

Once you have made these choices, touch “Start Slideshow” and sit back to enjoy the show. At any point if you want to stop it, just tap the screen.

But you’re not done yet! There are a few other tweaks that you can do. Open Settings > Photos. Notice there are several setting choices for your slideshow. You can change the number of seconds that each slide stays on the screen, choose to repeat photographs, and opt to have the photos shuffled as they are viewed.

Really Really Really Cool New Feature of Google Maps: Time Travel!

I have always been a fan of google maps, and I especially enjoy their street view. I often use it before traveling to an unfamiliar place so I can “see” the place I’m going, and get familiar with the landscape, etc.

This has come in extremely handy, in one instance allowing me to recognize landmarks and direct the cab driver to my hotel (altho I had never been there, before!).

Now Google Maps has introduced a new feature …. Time Travel!

Time Travel allows you to look at a particular place as it looked the last time the google-car passed by, and then look back to see it as-it-was when the google-car passed by the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that …..

This is pretty darn cool!

I tried it on my own house, and I could see it as-it-was before the most recent paint job, and before Sandy took down the trees, and before we sold the last car…..

Google Time Travel isn’t available everywhere, but it does now exist for many areas. And, as the google-car keeps mapping, I assume the time-travel feature will expand.

To show you an example, I used the construction site at the World Trade Center area of Manhattan.

First you must navigate to the street view area of wherever you want to see. To do this, just pull the little orange guy onto a street as you look at the map. Poof! You will now be in “street view” mode.

Now look at the upper left hand corner of your computer screen to see if Time Travel is available. If it is, you will see this:

Just tap on this Time Travel option, and it will open to show you the dates available.

Here I will show you two screens, one from August 2013, and then the same view from April, 2009. There are also other options to select time in-between those dates.

Google Time Travel is available at most “famous” places around the world, but it is expanding. As I said, my own street is now covered for the last few years, which is proof that Time Travel is available in ordinary places.

Have fun!

I Really Really REALLY Don’t Like This

I usually love all gadgets. I love my iPhone, my iPad, and my Kindles. Other tech stuff is fun too. I have some remote gadgets, step-counting gadgets and kitchen gadgets. I rarely meet a gadget I don’t like.

But I don’t like this one.

This is just plain creepy.

The Narrative is a clip on camera that you wear. It automatically takes a picture every 30 seconds.

The point? To create a “narrative” of your life. All the regular moments. The things you don’t remember… remembered.

I don’t want to be on either end of this device. I don’t want all those photos of …. ???? and I sure don’t want to be talking or working with a person who is wearing this little camera. I know I’d find it highly distracting.

(I suppose there is an argument to be made for wearing it to capture candid photos of your children, or maybe at an event …. I’ll go with that. But it’s the “all day” and photographing unsuspecting people that just seems yuchy. Bye bye privacy.)

You can read more about it in this article, and view examples of the photos that this gadget takes:

Cool or Creepy? A Clip-On Camera Can Capture Every Moment

If you’re interested, the Narrative sells for $279.

Just don’t visit with me if you’re wearing one. 🙄

Amazing Cat Face: Photoshopped? or NOT?

I just couldn’t help myself. I had to show you these pictures. And since this blog has a “tech” theme, I stretched the title with the “photoshopped” tease…… 🙂

But I do think this fellow’s face looks, well, fake. The line down the middle is just so straight!!!!

He is a feral kitten (no lectures, please) and he just showed up at my back door on Saturday. I tapped the window and when he looked up I used my iPhone to take his picture.

Have you ever seen such an amazing face?

Doodle on Photos with Photo Editor-

Early last year I recommended Skitch as a great app to use for drawing on photos. I used it often and was excited about sharing it. Recently they “upgraded” it and have rendered it almost useless. I assume they will fix it again, but in the meantime, I needed another easy-to-use photo editor. And I found a great one! Yay!

So now I’m enjoying this new (to me) photo-editing app, called Photo Editor-. It is free, although you can buy extra tweeks. So far, I have bought nothing, and I’m very happy with the functionality of the app exactly the way it is (w/o extras). I can crop, enhance, eliminate red eye, and do many other common photo-things.

AND …..With this app you can also easily add text, change the color of the text, resize the text and place it anywhere on the photo.

AND…… You also have the ability to draw on a photo, changing the thickness of your line and the color, as well.

AND … for extra fun, they have “stickers”. A beginner “pack” is included with the free version. I grabbed a plain picture of the Simpsons off of the internet, and had fun adding all kinds of little extras on them. I added the speech bubble and text, Bart’s hat, Maggie’s Groucho face, Marge’s glasses, Homer’s tie and 3D glasses and Lisa’s sombrero. Imagine the fun with your own family photos. (I almost used my own family for this post, but I thought better of it. 😯 )

Once you finish editing your photo, you are given many options of what to do with your masterpiece. You can email it, tweet it, facebook it, or save it.

I’m delighted to have a good draw-on-it photo app again.

Photo Editor- is free in the iTunes store.