It’s truly astonishing how quickly we can distribute news these days. A guy named Janis Krums was a passenger on a ferry crossing the Hudson River this morning when the U.S. Airways plane crash-landed in the water. Janis’s ferry was diverted to pick up passengers from the plane, and as his boat approached he snapped a picture with his iPhone and uploaded it to Twitter. Within minutes of this disaster happening, it was available for the entire world to see. I find this utterly mind-blowing.
A friend of mine recently quit his day job to follow his dream. He formed a new company to make great products, and do some great industrial design. Their first product went on sale this week after being announced at Macworld. It’s called the Podium. It’s a new stand for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and it really is pretty cool.
My friend actually showed me the prototype for the Podium about a year ago, long before there was anything even similar to it on the market. Since then a few stands have come out that are in the same vein, but the quality of those other stands just don’t compare.
The Podium is really precision made, and has substantial weight to it (it’s heavy). The other thing that really sets the Podium apart is the ball joint on the back. It allows you to swivel your iPhone in just about any angle. I forgot to mention this in the video, but the hole in the back is a cable pass-through, to help manage clutter when your iPhone is plugged in.
I’ll be honest and say that the current price of $68 is a little steep, but you have to consider the quality. You get what you pay for.
I ended up throwing this little video together because the pictures just don’t do it justice, but if you want to see the stills I shot first, here’s the front, and here’s the ball joint.
Check out the Podium (and buy one) at www.podiumrevolution.com.
UPDATE (1/26/2009): The Podium guys have just come out with an Affiliate Program. I updated my links in this post to reflect my new affiliate link. Buying a Podium through my link will send a few bucks my way. :) And, if you use my link, with the coupon code, “revolution”, you’ll save 20%.
Starting tomorrow (12/12) we’ll be able to copy and paste text on the iPhone between Safari and Mail, or between 2 web pages. And, it doesn’t require any software to be installed, or the iPhone to be tampered with.
It works by using 2 Javascript bookmarklets provided by pastebud. There’s a video of it in action over on Gizmodo (fyi… the video won’t play for me in Safari, I had to use Firefox).
All in all it looks pretty cool. I can’t wait to try it out. It is sad though that Apple hasn’t provided this ability long ago. Who knows, maybe it will be announced at Macworld in January.
via The Apple Blog
UPDATE (12/12/2008): The service went online today, and apparently there’s some concerns about security. use at your own risk.
Right now I have an iPod/iPhone dock, a USB hub, and a Media Card Reader sitting on my desk. Apparently, those three things could all be replaced by the Griffin Simplifi.
This is an awesome looking little device. I totally see one of these in my future. I’ll probably wait to see if Griffin has any show specials at Macworld, in January. if you want one of these, you can get it for $69.99 straight from Griffin, or $65.99 from Amazon.
via TUAW
I’ve been using the iPhone application, CameraBag, for a while now and I’m really happy with it. It’s a must-have application that actually makes the crappy little camera in the iPhone usable. And, it’s only $2.99!
From the developers…
After years of making quality 3D modeling software, we at Nevercenter are branching out to our friends in 2D! Dramatically and easily enhance photos from your built-in iPhone camera or iPhone/iPod Touch photo library using CameraBag’s advanced filters that emulate several different camera and film styles, giving your photos an old-school, cinematic appeal. Photography is all about mood, and using the right camera can turn a throwaway photo into an all-time favorite.
CameraBag is simple and intuitive, with a minimal interface. Just take a new photo or choose one from your library, swipe between camera styles, and save any you like. If you want more control, an options panel is available for camera behavior, image size, cropping and border effects, and more.
The cameras included in CameraBag:
- “Helga” – A square-format toy camera feel with washed-out highlights and old-school vignetting.
- “1974” – This is your father’s camera. Faded, tinted, and hip.
- “Lolo” – Shoot from the hip and take life as it comes with vibrant, colorful shots.
- “Cinema” – Dramatic, moody, wide-screen stills from the movie of your life.
- “1962” – Dynamic black and whites from the photojournalists of a bygone era.
- “Ansel” – Smooth gradation from black to white.
- “Infrared” – Simulation of the popular landscape photography technique.
The image above used the “Helga” effect. It has no other processing done to it other than what CameraBag did. Immediately after I took this photo, I was shin-deep in water. My back was up against the cliff, so I had nowhere to go. I did learn that my shoes are surprisingly waterproof.
Here’s one more taken that day that I liked.
Filed under, why didn’t I think of that… Here’s a great little lesson in making do with what you have. It’s a fully adjustable iPhone/iPod mount using nothing more than an airsick bag and the seat-back tray. Perfect for your next flight.
I like this way better than my iCup.
via iPhone Central
