I knew the iPhone 3GS’s pictures had GPS coordinates in them. You can easily access this data via the ‘exif_read_data’ in PHP 4.2.0 and above. That’s cool stuff to me. I wrote something to get all of the coordinates and link them to a Google map. That was nifty.

//Thar be coordinates

I was wondering if coordinates were in the videos. So, I opened iPhoto and checked out the detailed data of a video. Sure enough! The coordinates are in it!  I tried to use the ‘exif_read_data’ but it spewed an error that they were not supported file types.  In actual reading of the manual, sure enough, it is only for .jpg and .tif images.  Crud.

//Getting deeper – just a matter of digging through the file

I put on my propeller hat and started hacking away and checking stuff out.  Yep, found the data in the file.  Easy squeazy.  I dug out the coordinates and I am now able to do what I want with it.  This is another reason that I host my own videos now.  I can display any data that I want and how I want it displayed.  It is really simple.  My data, my display, my backups and my everything!

//Now display all of this cool data you found

I am working on a page to just list all of the videos (from now on) and have basic information that is searchable (even from the iPhone since I can’t CTRL-F or Command-F and find stuff on a page).  Just a simple page with everything.  I may do something else in a few years as I have plans if I continue to send videos to the blog.  It is REALLY cool.

//I like to share

If you are geeky and wanna know how I did it, feel free to ask.  You can figure it out too.  The information is available.

I chose Google and how I would implement the their entire model. I read another article where Google serves up 293 Million queries a day (March 2009 numbers). I looked at that number and thought it was unimpressive.

I then began to calculate queries per second. It is 3,391 queries per second!!! Wowsers! They have to return the information in .0003 seconds or less! The dataset is, well, THE INTERNET!

Just for funsies, I ran a search on a MySQL database that wasn’t that large. It returned the results in .1412 seconds. That means that it would take 479 seconds for that computer to handle 3,391 queries. That’s 8 minutes for what Google spits out in a second! Their dataset is GIGANTIC to boot!

I figured a completely redundant method for databases, crawlers and front end servers and how to spit that out across the USA. It’s not all that bad. Just money and time!

The image below shows the setup. At the top is an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). In the middle is the computer. On the left is the monitor, keyboard and mouse. I would imagine that the computer system (computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse) was about $600-$700. The UPS was probably another $45. The elaborate wall mount to support all of this monstrosity is probably in the neighborhood of $1500. Total: $2145-$2245. Sheesh.

I would have rather seen a laptop in its place. The laptop has a battery in it anyway and is immune to power interruptions and can sustain power for at least a couple of hours. Another advantage would be that there would only be two cables, one for power and one for networking (versus 8 in the current configuration). The keyboard and display are built-in and don’t require additional mounting. It would be far easier to replace if it needed to be serviced. A really decent laptop can be purchased for $1000 easily. Add an external mouse ($20) for those who don’t like track pads. Let’s assume you could cut the mount price in half and say $750. Total: $1770.

That is a $375-$475 saving per room (guessing). That doesn’t even take in to consideration the cable mess and extra room.

I’m bored waiting and just think about weird stuff…

Instead of continuing to whine and do nothing, I am going to fix it. When I get back to my computer (and Internet), I will begin work on getting the video on the blog by sending the video via email and having it post automatically. That means if one wants to view the video, it will be in .m4v format. QuickTime plays it wonderfully.

I should be able to finish it by next week some time. My problem will be solved and I can then post my odd videos whenever I want!

Stay tuned!

My little "studio"

Currently, I am learning Limelight from Alex Lifeson from the band Rush.  I REALLY enjoy playing the guitar and practice at least two hours a day on guitar and occasionally on the keyboard as I have lessons for that also.  I am having a blast!  The sounds that I make cause the cat to convulse but I have a blast doing it.

We’ll see how I am doing by next August.  I hope I can keep it up as it is extremely enjoyable.

iPhone model: iPhone 3GS/3.0 software.

Problem: You have several pictures in your camera roll and take another picture.  The picture does not appear to have saved to the phone.  You can connect the phone to your computer and import the photos that you took but they still do not appear on the phone.

Solution (Mac only – sorry Winders): Download the demo version of an application called PhoneView.  Run the application with the phone connected.  Change the preferences of the application by clicking “Show Entire Disk (Advanced Disk Mode)”

Click "Show Entire Disk..."

Close that and now you can look at the iPhone as a normal volume.  Your objective is to delete “/DCIM/.MISC” from the phone.  To do this, double click “DCIM”.  Then, highlight “.MISC” and click the delete button at the top of the PhoneView application.  That’s it.  Use your phone as a camera again.  All is good!

There was a write-up that I got that information from but it said to delete the entire “DCIM” directory.  This would cause you to lose your photos.  I did not want that so I played and did the minimum to make it work again and also not losing the valuable photos on the phone.

Observation: The last two operations that I did with the camera that could have caused this problem were – Trim a video and also save a picture from Mail.app that my wife sent (from another iPhone 3GS/3.0 software).  I suspect the database file that maintains thumbnail information is corrupted.  I would assume that either of the operations that I did before the problem could have caused the problem.

View Places we have stayed in 2009 in a larger map

We are going - here!

We have been in cubicles for some time. I have not found a job in my searching. We decided to use our time wisely and see what we can while we have the chance.

Shoot us an email with your address and maybe we can send a postcard from a place that you request. Feel free to ask questions. You can also interact via Twitter. We are hooked up! Tech rules! We have many plans and chances are that we will be somewhere you know.

Wish us luck!

• 20″ LCD Digital Television w/DVD built in on the side
• Mac Mini with external 250GB HDD and iSight camera
• Nintendo Wii
• Old Playstation for some games that I had around

It works great and makes absolutely no noise driving.  I love it.

That is what I work with.  I find myself constantly looking for a good picture of [insert someone's name here].  I sift through the pictures and approximate time that I took the picture.  Sure, I have some of my pictures tagged with keywords but do you know how much of a pain that is?  Are the all tagged?  Nope.  

The feature that I was really looking forward to in iLife ‘09 is Faces in iPhoto.  It automatically finds faces in your library and has a nice interface to find them.  

Real life use?  Yea, I’m happy to have it!  That is the ultimate answer.  

After installing the new iLife software, I started up iPhoto.  There was a new Face option under Library.  

Faces and Places

The computer works for HOURS checking out all of the pictures.  Cool, I went to sleep and messed with it in the morning.  When checking in the morning, I clicked Faces and it shows a blank cork board.  Basically, go to your photos and select one.  Click Name at the bottom.

Name

The picture enlarges and all of the recognized faces are selected.  If it might know the name, it will ask if it is [insert name here].  If unknown, it says unknown.  Just type the correct name in the box.  Go to the next picture and perform the same operation.  Do that a few times and it learns the names and faces.  You can now go to the Faces portion of the library.  In there select your person and it will show the confirmed people at the top and below, the ones that it *thinks* is that person.  It’s usually pretty sketchy there.  Just go through about 10 or so of them that are CORRECT and click Done.  It will show more that it thinks is correct – it will be more accurate this time.  A few times of that  and it does pretty well.  It does take time but it’s a VERY nice feature.

The Places feature is pretty cool if you have Geo-tagged photos.  I happen to have many as the iPhone tags the photos when you take them.  It was pretty cool to see a string of pins leading from Texas to Pennsylvania!  It is pretty nifty also.

iMovie has also gained a needed face lift.  The new Project box and other effect additions make this a much better version of iMovie!  

The tutorials for learning to play piano or guitar in Garageband (the only ones included) are very nice also.  I guess that I need to hook up the keyboard (audio) that I have gathering dust.  I don’t even know which end of that thing should face up.  Maybe the tutorials can help me.

I haven’t messed with iDVD yet.  I imagine it’s the same ole thing with a few new themes.  iWeb is in the same boat.  I haven’t touched it yet.  Maybe I’ll update this later.

Zoe in Dictionary.app

Strange that I found this in Dictionary.app. They are obviously clairvoyant at Apple! How did they know about Zoe?