GeekSugar

Daily Tech: Verizon's Latest DROID Commercial Surfaces

GeekSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:16:46 -0800

Verizon is really going all out with their ad campaign for the Motorola Droid. Here's the newest commercial which will air this week - The Boy Genius Report

France will soon be getting their very first Apple retail store - MacRumors

Production of the Facebook movie is already underway - The Silicon Alley Insider

The BlackBerry Curve 8530 will be available from Verizon on Nov. 20 for $100 - CNET

Here's how you can download an entire Flickr set at once - Switched

It's giveaway time on GeekSugar! Log in for your chances to win one of these AT&T Smartphones - GeekSugar

Tag Yourself and Your Friends in Flickr Photos

GeekSugar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:43:00 -0700

First Facebook, now Flickr. The online photo site has just released a new feature: People in Photos. According to the site's blog, the feature allows you to tag other Flickr members in your photos by entering a member name or email address and adding the tag, similar to their current "notes" feature.

I'm generally not a huge fan of photo tagging - mostly because there's always the potential of being tagged in an unflattering photo (and there's always the pesky gray line of whether or not to tag a date). Luckily, Flickr feels my pain: you can choose which members are allowed to add you in photos, and who is allowed to tag people in photos you've shared. Plus, if you remove a tag of yourself from a photo, only you can re-tag the photo with your name.

The Flickr FAQ page contains more details and specifics. I'm already getting tag updates from friends in my Flickr feed - it's a great way to discover new photos of people you know.

Tech Dating 101: To Upload, Tag, Untag, or Delete?

GeekSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:05:16 -0700

Posting photos and videos online is more popular than ever thanks to mobile upload technologies to sites like Facebook and Flickr. And along with uploading comes tagging, keywords, titles and captions. I use tags and keywords on photos, so I can find them easily, but it's also a pretty public way of showing the world, "Hey! I'm with him!" When is it appropriate to tag a date? What do you do if he untags himself? And, scariest of all, what do you do if the relationship ends? That's what we'll find out on this edition of Tech Dating 101.

Tagging and Identifying Photos:
If you've been hanging out fairly often, it's fine to tag a few Facebook photos from the day trip you took last weekend - after all, you have to actually be Facebook friends for the tag to work. Just don't overdo it.

A few choice photos are fine - every single photo (including those featuring his left foot in the corner of the frame, you know which one I'm talking about) is overkill. The same goes for Flickr - adding titles, keywords, or captions with his name is fine if used sparingly. And, of course, keep the mushy stuff to a minimum, please.

To see my other tagging suggestions just read more.

If He Untags Himself on Facebook:
Do not panic. He may think it's an unflattering photo (yes, guys can be vain), or maybe he's just not a tagging fan. I know plenty of girls who are antitag, too. If it really bothers you, you can ask him why, but avoid accusation - especially if it's a new relationship. You can always try again in a few weeks.

If It Ends:
I've touched on this a bit in Getting Your Ex Out of Your Digital Life, but post-breakup, it's best to edge him out. Start by de-tagging cute or coupley photos of the two of you. Don't feel the need to remove them from your page unless you have no desire to look at them - if so, by all means, delete! Tags and keywords are an easy way to organize photos, but if you use Flickr, that means they're searchable. Tag those photos with his first and last name and . . . bam! You never know when you'll realize someone (is it him? A new girl?) has been checking out photos of the two of you.

Wedding Tip: Have Your Guests Upload Photos to One Place

GeekSugar — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:06:26 -0700

I used to think that having disposable cameras at each table at a wedding reception was such a fabulously brilliant idea.

But now the quality of the disposable film cameras is too shoddy for any possible framers, plus the kind of people who are going to take photos will have already brought their own cameras. To further drive a stake in the heart of this old trend, last year the majority of you voted that you no longer loved it.

That's not to say you don't want more photos taken than your pro photog will take - just make it easy on your guests to upload them all to one place! Call it the 2009 version of disposable cameras on tables. Instead of cameras on tables, you just place cards with a URL or email address for your guests, and leave it to them to upload after the event.

To see how to make this wedding idea come together, just read more.

First, decide which photo-sharing website you want to use. It may be easiest to use the site you're already using for photo sharing - MobileMe, Flickr, and Picasa provide you with an email address or URL to give out (see my instructions on how to do it in Picasa). But also consider newer site iRave - it also gives you both a URL or email address, and it has settings that let you approve photos before they're up, preventing any pic leaks of champagne-induced embarrassments. Make sure that whichever site you use has plenty of storage space for the photos.

Once you've settled on the service, you need the cards so people know where to send photos. This seller from Etsy makes a wedding photo-sharing kit for $25, but this is also a simple DIY.

Design and print out your message onto business card-size paper (or just cut printed sheets to that size), then place in a festive box or display on each table.

If you're really into the design of your invites, you can inquire with your invitation vendor about printing up these cards with your invite design.

Geek Tip: Follow Flickr Streams Via RSS or Delicious

GeekSugar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:20:41 -0700

Sure, following Tweets secretly through your RSS allows a special, stalkerish pleasure, but watching your friend's Internet activity doesn't have to be all about surreptitiousness. When a pal shares a link to her Flickr account or I run across a photographer whose work I find inspiring I stick it in my RSS reader so I can keep up with their activity.

Flickr offers an RSS feed for photostream pages, which you select and add to your reader. You'll find it in the toolbar of your browser if you use Firefox (see previous link for other browser tips). Flickr also offers a convenient "bookmark on delicious" link at the bottom of each photostream page, so you can save a friend's stream in your bookmarks and have access to it from any computer.

Gmail Labs Adds Previews For Yelp, Picasa, YouTube, Flickr

GeekSugar — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:15:51 -0700

Imagine if it wasn't necessary to click a link to view a photo album or YouTube video? Now if you go into your Gmail Labs under Settings and enable YouTube videos (you can watch the entire clip right from your inbox), Flickr and Picasa preview, and Yelp review preview, you can see everything inside your mail window. Yes, Gmail will automatically detect links from various sites and show you previews right from your email message.

Flickr Members Can Now Upload and Share Videos

GeekSugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:16:42 -0800

What was once restricted to Flickr Pro users, has now been extended to all Flickr members - uploading video content!

What Pro members will be able to do though, is upload high-definition videos and still have unlimited uploads for videos 90 seconds or less.

For all of you who already use Flickr as your main online photo management site, this will make sharing much easier since everything will be in one spot!

Geek Tip: Find Out What Camera a Flickr User Shoots With

GeekSugar — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:35:41 -0800

The next time you're oohing and aahing over the photographs in someone's flickr stream, stalk their camera!

Did you know that flickr can tell you the kind of camera the user shot their posted photos with?

On anyone's flickr photo page, you'll see the Additional Information column on the right side. One of the first bullets should be, for example, "Taken with Nikon D90," or whichever camera they used. Click on the camera's highlighted name, and you'll get a ton of details about that particular camera, (check out the Nikon N90), like how many megapixels it is, what the cost is, and what its ranking on flickr is (FYI, users can opt out of this, if you don't see it on a particular user's photo).

It's like advanced geek shopping.

Website of the Day: I Hardly Know Her

GeekSugar — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:01:31 -0800

For everyone who uploads pics to Flickr, have I got a cool new way to view your pics. Just take your Flickr user name (flickr.com/photos/yourname) and enter it in this URL - ihardlyknowher.com/yourname. What I Hardly Know Her will do is make all of your photos viewable on a blank white web page. . . totally clean and pristine. And for photo info, just mouse over the photo like I did with the one below.

Do you have a cool site like this you want to share with geeksugar readers? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and "Regular Post."
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click "Next."
Choose the audience for your story to "Website of the Day" in the dropdown menu.
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to "Technology and Gadgets."
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click "I’m done" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Geek Tip: Embed Flickr Slideshows Into Your Blog or Profile

GeekSugar — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:01:40 -0800

I'm all about blogging as my day job, but since I started my OnSugar blog, I've been blogging on my off-hours as well. If you have your own, you may know there are tons of ways to pimp out your blog, one of which is to embed a Flickr slideshow courtesy of Flickr Slidr.

All you have to do to create slideshow magic is to choose a set from your Flickr favorites, paste the link in Flickr Slidr, and before you can say "boo-yah," you have your embed code to paste anywhere you can insert html (your Facebook profile, perhaps?). Each slide plays for about five seconds, and you can change your alter your slideshow at anytime, since the service is free. Can you tell I'm excited to get started? Yes, yes I am.