Thesixtyone.com
thesixtyone.com (T61) is the latest addiction with not just me but the rest of the geeks in Hawaii. At last Thursday’s Manoa Geek meet I demo’d T61. It works as a game that you play with your friends. The best way I can describe T61 is the stock market meets music. Get points, spend points, make points. Check it out, and make sure to add me as a reference. My username of course JPhilipson. See you there!
Podcamp Day 1
Thanks Ryan for making and posting this video with the first day of Podcamp Hawaii ’08.
PodCamp Hawaii from hawaii on Vimeo.
As the official photographer for Podcamp Hawaii I get to take pics! 
Check the Flickr account for Podcamp Hawaii.
Apple Store in Waikiki
I was so happy when I first found out that there was going to be a brand new Apple store opening up on the strip in Waikiki and even more happy when I moved into town. Now that I live in town I am a literal 5 minute bike ride from the Apple store. I’m ecstatic about this store.
I live streamed the event and you can find the videos and photos below:
Here the priest blesses the opening of the Apple Store, this tradition is common in Hawaii.
In line waiting for the store to open:
Walk through of the New Apple store:
Sofie, aka macratlove, was the first official person to enter the store.
Sofie, first in line:
Ryan Ozawa, second in line after stalking last nights filming of the new LOST episode.
Sporting my Chi.mp hat:
Neenz, the brain behind Guy Kawasaki‘s latest creation Alltop.com:
Meeting Matt Mullenweg
Today I had the honor of meeting Matt Mullenweg (Check his blog) and got a chance to talk to him for about an hour and listen to him talk to others. He’s a cool guy definitely. I really learned a lot about his business model for wordpress.com and how he envisions his company and where he sees it going and where he wants it to go.
and me sporting my new wordpress stickers, because Carlos forgot to get me some and SXSW.
He talked about some cool things that are going to be put into place soon with wordpress. The coolest being monotone. Monotone is a wordpress theme specifically geared for photographers. You can bring in any photo into this theme and it will resize the photo to fit the layout, even if you change themes later the photo will be sized to fit the theme. Also, each photo is analyzed and examined so that the photo can be complimented by an impressive color scheme. Very nice. You can check out a demo of monotone here. He said that it may go live monday or tuesday (April 28th-29th) I can’t wait for this feature because as some of you know I have been put on Guy Kawasaki’s photography.alltop.com page and because I lack a "proper" photo blog they are linking to my flickr site. Yuck, so unprofessional eh? I can not tell you what an honor it is to have my photos up there with some of the worlds most influential photography bloggers out there. Seriously. I am freaking out, just below me is flickr‘s blog. Yeah I know.
What a fun day, I picked up a new camera. Kodak Stereo Photo thing. Here’s a pic of it:
Check out the specs here.
Also, I’ve added another photography set to my wedding section on my professional site (Philipsonphotography.com) You can check it out here, I have one more set to do and I’ll be done ’till the weddings this summer.
Well, it’s 1:30am and I have to be at church tomorrow morning then off to shoot models at the beach…
Twitter Explained! Finally Someone Did It!
Often times I tell my friends they should get involved on twitter and I can never fully explain it and when I try they often look at me like I’m stupid. Alas, it has been explained!
Unconferenz Was Awesome!
First annual Unconferenz was pretty kick-butt… Luckily Ryan “The Legend” Ozawa made a video… so I don’t have to type as much He said it was “The Tale of Joe” because I’m the main character. Hehe.
I ended up teaching a session and introducing and explaining Aaron’s new website ask500.com. It was awesomeness (I know people tell me I shouldn’t make up words)
Enjoy!
Unconferenz from hawaii on Vimeo.
Recovering Data – A Brief Review of Different Software and Personal Experience
I have tons of hard drives. Right now, on my desk I have (2) 250GB Drives (1) 500GB Drive and a 160GB Drive. Roughly two months ago I plugged in my hard drive. Probably my most important hard drive because this was the hard drive that I backed up and relocated all my master photos too. I had wedding photos, birthdays, photos I cherished and loved. When I plugged in this hard drive I was shocked to find that all the data had vanished! It was all gone except for some abstract file. I thought the external Hard Drive enclosure had failed. (BTW NEVER! Buy Compusa’s homebrand External Hard Drive enclosures, I’ve gone through about 3 in a year and keep getting them replaced via warranty)
I realized that the hard drive was spinning up, it showed that the entire hard drive had free space. So it wasn’t broken, just that ALL my files had mysteriously deleted themselves.
I now have been trying to 2 months to recover the data off this hard drive. I’ve tried several programs both for mac and PC. The hard drive wasn’t broken the files were just gone. I original had the hard drive formatted FAT32 so it could work on both mac and pc which I didn’t realize until later that made the hard drive incredibly unstable.
Here are some programs that I tried:
Disk Warrior (Mac) – Probably a great program but will not help you recover deleted files
PC Inspector File Recovery (PC) – This free application probably works well with small hard drives or flash drives but was frustrating to work with with my hard drive. After leaving the program on for a week straight I only got to 32% recovery before it would crash. I tried several times but it kept crashing.
PC Inspector Smart Recovery (PC) – Same issues as above. Very unstable took what seemed an eternity.
Free Undelete (PC) - Probably works well with small devices but couldn’t handle major tasks.
Data Rescue II (Mac) – I am so happy with this program that I’m writing this blog article so you can understand my frustration and relief. This program is amazingly fast compared to the ones listed above and totally reliable! My problem with the software above is that when my hard drive would stop responding, which I have yet to figure out, the program would crash. However, with Data Rescue II I can save where I left off, reboot the hard drive and resume from where I left off…
As of this moment I have retrieved 45/250GB but am doing it so much faster that I have no worries
Moo.com Now Offering Postcards
The same company that gave you moo cards (the small and adorable business cards that are loved by flickerites everywhere) are now offering postcards! This is definitely going to come into handy for Christmas. That is all. You may leave.
Facebook Watch Out!
Introducing the latest Social Network to challenge Facebook.
What is hatebook good for?
upload blackmail material or publish lies • get the latest gossip from your enemies and friends • post photos and videos on your hate profile • tag your friends • get hate points from disturbing people who live, study, or work around you • take over the world
So loads of fun!
Mango!
I’ve been using this new language service for the past couple of days and I just want to say that it’s awesome! Great interface and helps and best part is it’s free. So make sure to check it out! This will definitely be a help as I continue learning Japanese.
Powered by Qumana
Woot Sells Out!
As most of you know, I hate Yahoo. Well, now I have even more reason. Woot and Yahoo are teaming up. Yup, they are destroying, yet again, one of the holy grounds of the web. First flickr, now woot. Why can’t they just go out of business or something? So what’s next? Say hello to making all your payments to Yahoo! Shopping JOY!
read more | digg story
All-in-One Credit Card
Here’s how it works. Users register their cards on the company Web site and upload the information into the iCache. When they want to use it, they activate the device with a fingerprint on its biometric strip, scroll through a list of cards on its screen and choose one. Out pops a plastic card with a magnetic stripe, temporarily loaded with the chosen card’s data. Just swipe the card and pop it back into the iCache. After one use, the information on the card disappears. The device even works with loyalty cards, such as those handed out by supermarkets.
Flickr to Add Video?
What is Yahoo doing to my favorite website?! Unbelievable. This is why I hate Yahoo and have always hated the merger!
“Music videos, movie trailers, television shows and sports highlights are among the features that will be available on the new site, Mike Folgner, Yahoo’s general manager for video, said in an interview. Yahoo’s Flickr photo-sharing site will also be adding video, he said.”
McAfee SiteAdvisor – Phishing Quiz
McAfee SiteAdvisor – Phishing Quiz
Can you tell a fake Web site from a real one? Do you always know which e-mails are legitimate?
Take the McAfee SiteAdvisor phishing quiz and get your safety grade…
Google kills click to call feature in Google Maps
Google kills click to call feature in Google Maps – Download Squad
If you were enjoying the freeness of Google Maps “click to call” feature, were sorry to tell you this. Click to call has been discontinued….
I am so angry right now…
‘Charged’ Travelers: Free Phone, Laptop Power Stations at LAX
‘Charged’ Travelers: Free Phone, Laptop Power Stations at LAX
Brand new at LAX beginning Wednesday — free charging stations for travelers to re-charge their phones, laptops, and other personal electronics.
Now if we can just get some free WIFI!!!!! If I have to layover I always try to do it in Phoenix. Free internet. At least I won’t have to scan all walls for power outlets and sneak into empty booths and string my laptop up behind the wall. I don’t mind sitting on the floor, I do mind being bored and unproductive.
Pownce – Yet Another Social Networking Site…
From their about page:
Pownce
Pownce is a way to send stuff to your friends. What kind of stuff? You can send just about anything: music, photos, messages, links, events, and more. You can do it all on our web site, or install our lightweight desktop software that lets you get out of the browser.
Well, I have 5 invites so…I’ve had it for a total of 1 day and don’t see any potential. I’m just getting sick of typing all my information over, and over, and over again. However, if you really want one I’ll give’em away.
Sprint Not Sorry for Cutting High-Maintenance Customers
Sprint Nextel Corp. Sprint isn’t apologizing for its decision to ax customers it determined were calling customer service too often.
The nations third-largest wireless provider sent letters to about 1,000 subscribers June 29, saying the companys records showed they had made frequent calls for help with questions about billing and other account information.
GrandCentral: The New Way to Use Your Phones
GrandCentral: The New Way to Use Your Phones
Grandcentral.com was recently acquired by Google. I was also given an invite and decided to start playing with it. This is definitely something that I want to start using. Basically Grandcentral.com gives you a phone number of your choice. This phone then connects any and all of your phones together. For instance, my mom is either at home or out and about with her cell phone. I can try both separately but if she had Grandcentral I could call one number and it would ring both phones.
Grandcentral has TONS of features as well.
Here’s a list:
Screen Callers
Know who’s calling and screen unknown callers
ListenIn
Hear why someone is calling before taking the call
Call Record
Record calls on the fly and access recordings online
Block Callers
Unwanted callers won’t be able to reach you anymore
Notifications
Receive voicemail notifications via email or SMS
WebCall Button
Let people call you from a web page without showing your number
CallSwitch
Switch phones in the middle of a call
Click2Call
Call from your addressbook and save your typing
Mobile Access
Visual voicemail for your mobile phone
Ring Different Phones
One number that rings different phones based on who’s calling
Greetings
Personalize your voicemail greetings by caller or group
RingShare
Go beyond the ring and choose ringback tones for your callers
So. Here is my ‘Web Call Button’ Try it out.
iPhone – First impressions? Disappointing…
My apologies for the post I read it but missed that before posting it, I did not originally write it. Sorry
HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource – First impressions? Disappointing…
Here’s the short list:
1. Bluetooth is ONLY good for connecting a headset. That’s it.
2. There is no file browser on the device at all. Data must be organized (if at all) in the appropriate application.
3. The camera is a simple application that has ONE button: the shutter. Pictures come out okay on the device, but nothing too fancy on a monitor, especially if it was an attempt at a macro shot.
4. SIM card is near impossible to open, if at all. I didn’t look into it extensively.
5. Web browser is slow, even over WLAN. Even the simple OneList web app that was created takes around 20 seconds to load over WLAN. You can not highlight, cut, copy, or paste and text from a website, and you can not save any images you find from a website either. The only nice thing about it is the tabbed browsing, which crashed on me when I went to Engadget and YouTube on two tabs. This is the only application that allows you to use the keyboard in landscape mode.
6. The keyboard’s lame. It gets slightly better after the iPhone “learns” you, as the employees said, but even then, it’s not a device you can use with one hand comfortably, much less without looking.
7. You can only send one picture at a time in an email.
8. No custom ringtones (yet, as we were being told) and the alert tones can not be changed whatsoever.
9. The default ringtones are incredibly lame.
10. The only form of customization outside of a lame default ringtone is the wallpaper, which you’ll only see when you need to unlock the device or when you get a phone call.
11. “Picture pinching” or using two fingers to zoom on any content is certainly fun to play with, but not practical whatsoever. This operation depends solely on using the device with two hands.
12. No document editor or native viewer. You can not store documents on the device to be viewed, they can only be viewed as attachments when they’re sent to your in an email.
13. Visual voicemail is laggy and reacts about the same way as pushing the fast forward and rewind buttons on traditional voicemail systems. The only advantage is for those that get that many voicemail messages a day that they need to sort them according to priority.
14. NO games. None.
15. No voice dialing.
16. No speed dialing (which can be made up by the “quick list”, but getting to that quick list isn’t as fast as holding a single key on a real keypad).
17. No video.
18. No MMS.
19. It’s still <4GB for $500 and <8GB for $600
20. It only takes around 2 hours to explore every menu without any options for expandability except to scrounge around for new web apps that will load slowly and nowhere near as smoothly as the native apps.
This device looks like it was aimed at the general consumer who has the money to spend on such a flashy device, but it leaves so many basic features behind that it’s almost impossible to consider it a success as a mainstream device. It encourages the advanced user to move away from MMS and into email to send images, but leaves out any advanced features advanced users would be accustomed to, and still retains a huge price tag on top of it.
It’s certainly pretty and Americans will buy it because of that simple UI, but anyone who’s familiar with other operating systems would be appalled. This phone needs to be unlocked and cracked WIDE open to make much better use of the multi-touch system. That, or it needs an immediate update in iTunes to rework every feature.