Russian Photo Dare Trend

I've been slowly getting back into photography lately, though I still need a nice new camera. One of my favorite new trends is the very cool free-climbing landscape photography coming out of Eastern Europe.
Vadim Mahorov has an amazing blog:
http://dedmaxopka.livejournal.com/


A few more examples of the photo dare trend:

Just makes me want to go climbing!
~Ben

The Biggest Lie on the Internet!

Do you ever actually read the Terms of Service agreement (ToS) when installing Apple firmware or anything else for that matter? Well, don't feel guilty - Most people don't, but have you ever wondered what was in those 60 some pages of lawyery gobbledygook? Now you can know exactly what you are agreeing to, thanks to Terms of Service;Didn't Read, an emerging new site that collects ToS data, a bit like Wiki, rates it, and highlights what you need to know.
tos-dr.infoThey are just getting started, but the idea is brilliant! If you ever have a second thought before hitting the Agree button, or are just curious to see what you've been going along with all these years, go check it out!

~Ben

MINIs I've Parked Next To! #3.. and #4

MINI Coopers tend to park together. It's a strange and mysterious phenomenon. I've decided to start documenting my own parking lot buddies:

Found this Pepper White R56 next to Brisby when I left Best Buy today. It could very well be my Mom's old MINI, Milo.

My friend Lisa caught this R50 outside her dentist's office. I like the plate, though I'd like to think that his/her cat is a doctor, rather than the driver being a veterinarian. "..and this is my cat, Doctor Kitty."

~Ben

Podcasts! Episode 1: Using Downcast

I listen to a lot of podcasts, and it always surprises me that, as a form of media, podcasts are not more popular. In fact, when I have my headphones in and someone asks what I'm listening to, the usual response, after I tell them I'm listening to a podcast, is almost always,"What's a podcast?"

Podcasts began as audio only talk shows, and have since evolved into a very wide variety of genres, as well as HD video formats. There is something for everyone, more programming than many television networks, and yet podcasts remain under the radar for those not tech savvy.

So here it is, my attempt to get you guys into podcasts. First off, yes, Apple has their own app for podcasts, but it's not nearly the best out there. Downcast is the app you want:


Sure, Downcast is a few dollars on the App Store, as opposed to the free Apple Podcasts app, but it's ease of use and stability far outweighs the cost.

Here is a quick tutorial to get you started:

Once you have Downcast downloaded and installed (search for it in the App Store), the first thing to do is get some podcasts! Nearly all podcast subscriptions are free. It's actually very rare to find one that is not, so feel free to grab as many as you want.

In the upper right-hand corner, you'll find these four icons. What we need is the large addition symbol.


After hitting that, you'll see this window pop up:


If you already know the name of the podcast you want, you can search for it, otherwise select a category to browse many popular selections.

Once in a category, just select a podcast. I'll use The Nerdist as an example:


After selecting a podcast, you'll see a brief description. If you like what you see, go ahead and hit the Subscribe button. Podcasts are generally episodic, the most popular format being a weekly podcast. When you subscribe, Downcast will automatically download the latest episode. When Downcast is opened again, it will check for new episodes and again download anything new. Keep in mind, this is totally free.


After subscribing, the latest episode will start to download. The podcast will appear in your podcast list, and a new download badge will appear over the Downloads icon.


You can view the download's progress by hitting the Downloads icon in the upper right.


Once the download is finished, just select it to start playing. Congratulations! You are listening to a podcast.


Now, after you are done with that episode, you can delete it manually or have Downcast automatically delete podcasts marked as played (easily found under the settings menu). You can also browse previous episodes for download, or go search for some new favorites.


See? It's all very simple. Now go find some great podcasts!

~Ben

PS - I'll post some of my favorites soon.

Notes and Reminders

My usual protocol when setting up a new iOS device, is to take all of the default apps and toss them into a junk folder, but lately Apple has been making these barebones apps very useful. Notes and Reminders are two of these apps that should not be overlooked.



While these apps do exist on the iPad, they are most efficient on the iPhone or iPod, since, in most situations, that's the device in your pocket.



Notes is a super fast app that is great for jotting things down on the go. You can now create a multitude of separate notes, and all of them can be saved and shared in various ways. Please note, it's not as secure as other document apps, like Awesome Note, which allows you to set up password encrypted notes, but that might be on the way.




Apple has polished up the default Reminders app by 'borrowing' aspects of other reminder apps on the App Store, making it the all around best reminder app you can get currently. It's also faster than most of the other apps, which helps with adding tasks on the fly, lists can synced with the calendar, and everything can be saved and shared.

So there you have it - Two apps that come free with iOS5 that are very well done. Try them out! It's surprising how quickly they became part of my daily routine.

With the way Apple has been working to make these default apps better than premium apps on the App Store, it leads me to believe that iOS6 is really going to be something great. I can't wait!

~Ben

The IT Crowd Update

British tv is one of my favorite things, and The IT Crowd series is one of my favorite things of all time. Unfortunately, it only ran for 4 seasons (6 episodes each), but at some point this year, we are supposed to be getting an extended special episode! My guess is that will happen, if it does happen, closer to the holidays. Show creator, Graham Linehan, also announced the possibility of a movie to follow, but then again, he was also announcing the possibility of a fifth season all last year, so who knows.



If you've never seen or heard of The IT Crowd before, I highly recommend looking into it. All four seasons are available on DVD and Blu-ray.

There was even an American version of the show that made it to the pilot stage, but I'm so happy this bastardization of The IT Crowd never came to pass. Yikes...

~Ben