Category Archives: Techniques

So you want to get Podcasts back in the Music app?

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I listen to many podcasts on my iPhone when walking and driving, and subscribe to more than fifteen to ensure I have a constant supply – this does not include the books I have subscribed to at Podiobooks.

My Top Five Podcasts

When I saw that Apple had released a Podcast app – that I could use to download podcasts as well as get them to my iPhone via the iTunes sync, I thought I would try it out.

Now there was nothing wrong with the app – but once it was installed on my iPhone the podcast option in the phone’s Music app had gone! This I did not like as my preference is to have access to all my audio in one app. However when I deleted the Podcast app the podcast option did not return – but a trip to Google gave me the answer and the link below will take you to a “how to” page that describes how to get podcasts back in the Music app.

http://www.mactrast.com/2012/09/how-to-bring-podcasts-back-into-the-music-app-in-ios-6/

Thanks Katie

Yesterday’s Photo

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The photo I posted yesterday as part of my “Photo a Day” project had been post processed to give the final image.

The original image was taken with Camera+.

Dandelion Original

Although I have got a copy of 645 Pro, which is a good camera replacement app for an iPhone, I find Camera+ so much quicker to use and it returns great images. In this situation the dandelion was moving in the wind so being able to shoot at the moments it was still was essential, as it was nearly half of the images I took were blurred.

I used the Apple Picture app to sort through the images, firstly to delete all the ones where the framing was off or they were blurred and then to select the final image I was going to work on.

I was pleased with this initial image – it shows the detail of the seed head against a vague green background but I wanted to see if I could bring out some of the details and improve the impact of the final image.

This meant using my favourite iPhone image processing app Photogene2. One of the features of the app is that you can save your own custom image filters – and this I have done.

I have created a low exposure, high contrast mono filter, that creates an image similar to those I used to regularly print in my black and white “wet” darkroom, but on the way to creating this filter I also saved a version of the effect but without applying a grey scale to the image – so it is still colour. It was this filter I decided to apply as it would emphasise the white seed parachutes and reduce the influence of the backgound. This I think it did with good results.

Dandelion Processed

If you click on either of the above images they link to full size versions (2592 x 1936 pixels) so you can examine the details.

Two Night Trip

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I had been planning a two night trip further afield – but the variable weather and the unseasonably low temperatures meant I changed my plan to a walk to Woodhall Spa. (I have been walking for about 30 minutes, as I write this, it was cold and grey when I set out, it rained, the sun came out, it rained and now it is grey again!)

I put my iPhone in the waterproof case at the start of the day, to protect it, so I can use it as a camera for those bad weather photos and so I can write this blog as I walk – wiping the rain drops from the screen so I can read what I write.

The plan is walk to Woodhall Spa campsite from Bardney using the Viking Way – tomorrow loop out around Horncastle using the Viking Way and other paths – then Monday back to Bardney on the Water Rail Way.

Two days food, extra fuel and some spare clothes has added to my pack weight – the starting load complete was 12kgs. One thing I do need to manage is the power consumption on my iPhone – so I have disabled the 3G and data function, whilst walking, to conserve power and no movies tonight in the tent – I also plan to turn on flight mode over night.

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It has now hailed on me.

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The path has been very muddy in places particularly two stretches that go through cow fields. I found a convenient bit of low wall for lunch – but sitting still I got cold very quickly – so lunch was a quick stop.

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I got the tent up in the dry.

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I have my new inflatable pillow with me – as I do not have enough spare clothes with me to make a decent pillow. You can see the two days worth of food to the left – the milk I got from the campsite shop.

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Here you can see how useful the small tarp is for giving me somewhere outside the tent to sit – and my sleeping bag in the stuff sack makes a useable stool.

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A pitch right by the lake in among the trees.

Today’s Photo

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Today’s photo is actually a photo of someone else’s photo!

I have been on a site visit today with one of the server engineers Octagon uses and during the coffee break he showed me some photos from his recent holiday to Las Vegas.

I could not resist sharing this.

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I used Camera+ to get the image off his monitor – which gave a dark, high contrast result and then I used the Clarify function in Camera+ the give a useable image. I often use this process, when at work, when recording site data – it gives a result for screen photos.

Loading gpx Files into Memory Map on the iPhone

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One big difference between the versions of Memory-Map on my old Windows 6.5 phone and my current iPhone 4 is the way they handle imported routes from the PC version of the software. The Windows version simply connected to the complete route library in the PC application, then on the phone you could choose which routes from that list to show, turning them on and off as required. On the iPhone you have to load the routes individually and once you have finished with that route unload it and then load another (keeping too many routes loaded at one time impacts the performance of the app). The “Save as” gpx file in Memory-Map PC version solves the problem.

But the issue is getting the routes into the app from Memory-Map on the PC. The first thing you have to do is save the individual routes as gpx files on your PC. In my Memory-Map I have a category for Lincolnshire – which has over sixty entries, both routes and location markers – if I save the whole of this category as a gpx file when I open it on the iPhone it is too confusing on the screen to be useful – another reason to limit the open routes/markers on the iPhone.

In the knowledge base on the Memory-Map website it describes how to email gpx files to your iPhone for use in the Memory-Map app. However I use my Dropbox account to transfer (and store) my gpx routes and markers.

It is easy to save gpx files on my PC with descriptive names, into a Dropbox folder, these then synchronise to my Dropbox online. Using the Dropbox app on my iPhone I can access the files.

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gpx files in a Dropbox folders

These files are opened in Drpbox, by tapping on them – they open as text files. By then tapping on the “open in” icon I can choose to open the file in Memory-Map.

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showing the “open in” option

The gpx file is loded into the Marks and Routes section of the Memory-Map app.

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the gpx file available for use in Memory Map

From there it can be opened and used on a map.

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I have a number of gpx files available for free download here – more are always being added.

This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology.

Lincoln City Centre Photographs

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On Friday evening, I went into Lincoln city centre, with a couple of friends to shoot some photos of the Christmas lights and anything else of interest we came across. Between them they had a Sony SLR, and two Nikons – I took my iPhone.

One of the apps I wanted to try out was 6×6, a camera app that takes square images. I know you can crop any photo you take with an iPhone to a square but this app forces you to create your image inside a square, something that photographers used to do when using medium format cameras with 6cm by 6cm film frames. 6×6 also has a setting to take only mono photos (no second colour image saved) – it gives a similar experience to when I used to shoot black and white film.

Lincoln Minster

A number of the following shots were taken on Steep Hill – the best street in the UK.

Steep Hill Lincoln

Brown's Pie Shop

The Pie Shop used by Lawrence of Arabia.

Kind

And the rectangle shot for comparison.

Kind

Another camera app I used was Pro HDR, when the app takes two images to make the final shot, it takes some interesting ghost images.

The Magna Carta

Steep Hill Lincoln

Stonebow Lincoln

And in colour…

Stonebow Lincoln

High Street Lincoln

Shadows

Richard

By the Witham

A New Web Site

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I am in the process of building a web site and blog with my son to promote his new cooking business.

Michael is Cooking – http://www.michaeldatoo.co.uk/

It is a WordPress site and we have enabled it for viewing on a smartphone or mobile device as well as on a large screen. As part of the project we are installing the WordPress app on his iPhone so he can blog as he cooks.