Can’t See Something? Use Your Phone’s Camera

Last night I received some packages of LED strip lighting. I got to work upgrading some of the lighting in my Lexus with some LED strip lighting. Here’s an image of an LED strip.

When it came down to installing a long white LED strip  into the trunk of my Lexus, everything was goin’ fine until I realized it didn’t seem that the lighting was turning off. I would close the trunk (not actually locking it down) and peak through the cracks and it appeared the lighting was still on.

Crap, how do I check to see if the trunk LEDs are turning off? I can’t exactly crawl inside the trunk and close it, I’d be trapped. And I didn’t have anyone with me to jump in the trunk to see if the lights would turn off (even if I did have someone with me, I doubt they’d volunteer to jump into the trunk while I closed it).

I was at my wit’s end. I couldn’t figure out what to do. Sure, I could disconnect the LEDs and run a wire out from the trunk and close it to test it, but the LED’s were already wired up and just waiting to be mounted into the trunk. I didn’t wanna’ go through all that crap.

I thought I’d have to disconnect the wiring to test it out manually until I had a brilliant idea; the Neocell 4! I could use my iPhone 4’s video camera.

So that’s what I did. I hit record on the Neocell, put it inside the trunk, draped part of the LED strip over the Neocell’s camera and closed the trunk. I then opened the car door, hit the trunk release button, close the car door, opened the trunk, took the Neocell out, hit stop and played back the results. Here’s the video… (the video’s in portrait unfortunately)

How perfect is that? I was able to see clearly that the trunk LEDs were, in fact, turning off. I also discovered why I kept thinking the lights were staying on. They actually were. I never knew this (never been inside the trunk when it was closed), but unlike most cars, the lights aren’t triggered by a physical button (depressed by the trunk opening), but instead are triggered by the electronic locking mechanism. So as soon as I hit the trunk unlock button or use my key, the lights instantly come on. That’s why in the video, the lights come on long before I ever open the trunk.

Here’s the finished product…

Tips for putting your video recording phone to good use

So if you happen to have a mobile phone that can record video, remember it. You’ll be in situations where using your phone to record video will help you out. Here are some examples of how you might use your phone’s video camera.

1. Record the license plate and positioning of a car parked badly next to yours, in case you come out and find your car dented, scraped or damaged.
2. Record the price tag of an item in store to show as proof when checking out to avoid “Electronics associate to the front end…”.
3. Use your phone as a video mirror to see things you physically can’t (such as my trunk light scenario).
4. Use your phone to display a situation your trying to describe to a someone. (i.e. “Here’s the leaking when it rains.”, “This is how your dog acts when around other dogs.”, “This is your child acttin’a fool when you aren’t around.”, “See honey, your friend checks me out each time you leave the room.”)
5. Record something for evidence, such as an accident, criminal act or general wrongdoing. (For all you know, your video could make the nightly news.)
6. Record something involving yourself  to avoid being wrongfully accused. (i.e. “Babe, I did give Rover a bath. Here’s a video of me washing him. He must have gotten dirty again”, “Yes Mr. Johnson, I was sick yesterday. I took a video of the doctor’s waiting room yesterday as proof.”, “No, I didn’t forget. They were completely sold out. Look, I even took a video of the empty shelf.”)

Now come on, no one readin’ this can’t say they’ve been in one of these situations where having a video would have helped them out. Most people’s excuse for not doing this is “I don’t have a phone that can record videos.”. And you know, that’s right. There’s nothing they can do. But for those people lucky enough to be able to record video anytime, any place (such as myself), we need to remember to use it.

After all, don’t one of those people everyone makes fun of. “She was lost for hours and hours… and she has a car GPS but it never occurred to her to use it! Hahaha…”

Peace, JbB

Disqus Got A Mobile Facelift

For those that don’t know what Disqus is, Disqus is a free, ad-free versatile commenting system for web site content management systems, such as Wordpress (which is what powers aintageek.com). What it does is replace the commenting system with it’s own system. Their system is currently the absolute best, as it allows people to login from existing social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. Comment management is done via it’s web site, and if you have multiple web site, like me (theNeocell.com, aintageek.com) that use Disqus, you can manage all new comments from the same place.

So if you browse to either theNeocell.com or aintageek.com from an iPhone or iPod Touch, you’ll notice the site has a mobile version that’s optimized for the iOS. The one thing that wasn’t optimized for mobile, though, was Disqus. It still wasn’t too bad, I mean I had replied to comments from Disqus on the Neocell… but it clearly didn’t look or feel the best.

But recently Disqus got a mobile facelift. When Disqus detects an iOS device, it switches to a mobile interface. Now it’s not only optimized for iOS devices, but it actually matches the mobile theme of both theNeocell.com and aintageek.com. Fact, it blends in perfectly. Disqus really feels like it’s part of the system.

Another great thing is that, because Disqus’s interface exists on their servers, whenever there’s an update from them, it happens automatically. You don’t have to do anything to get the updates or improvements. I dig that.

Keep up the good work Disqus.

Peace, JbB

How To Setup An iTunes Account Without A Credit Card

So I helped my bud pick out his new iPhone 3GS 16GB from eBay. It came time for him to setup an iTunes account. Only problem is, he doesn’t have a credit card. But that’s no problem.

Creating an iTunes account without a credit card

It’s pretty simple. We’re going to do everything by getting an iTunes gift card. So head down to almost anywhere and pick one up.

1. Download and install iTunes
2. Open the iTunes program on your computer
3. Click on the iTunes Store
4. Click on “Redeem”
5. Enter the information from the gift card
6. At the sign in screen, click the “Create an Account” button off to the side
7. Enter your information
8. At the bottom it’ll have credit card icons, which are now optional, just hit “Continue” without entering any credit card info

And there ya go. That’s all ya gotta’ do. Hit me up if I missed anything. Let me know if this helped ya or follow me at twitter.com/johnBbaird .

Peace, JbB

Choosing Google Chrome OS Or iPad OS?

I was reading a news story this morning about how iPads are eating into netbook sales. And that got me thinking about something interesting; the Google Chrome OS.

What the ‘freak is Chrome OS?

For those of you who don’t know what Chrome OS is (most don’t), Chrome is an operating system by Google. It’s confusing because Google also has a browser (the one I’m using now) called Google Chrome. But the reason why they call this OS Chrome is because that’s basically all the operating system is… the Google Chrome browser.

Chrome OS is an operating system with nothing more than a browser. It can’t, and never will, run any standard programs or apps. It’s meant to run nothing but “web apps”; web pages such as Google Maps, Pandora, Evernote, Google Docs, Facebook, etc.

What’s the appeal of Chrome OS?

So what’s the appeal of Chrome OS? The appeal is that it’s an operating system that’s free for device makers and ideal for netbook devices. It promotes more use of web applications such as Google Docs and less use of programs such as Microsoft Word. It boots in only a few seconds. Netbooks don’t need to be high powered to run fast.

The bad thing about Chrome OS is that you can’t run programs. None… Even the smallest little program, no matter how useful, can’t be run. Ever. That’s the draw back of Chrome OS

Chrome OS vs. iPad OS

Then comes along the iPad. Here’s a device that is sorta’ like a netbook and, like Chrome OS wants to be for netbooks, the iPad runs its own operating system.

There are a lot of differences between the iPad (a device that actually exists) and netbooks running Chrome OS (which don’t exist yet). Tons of differences. But the point I’m trying to illustrate is that they both share two things in common:

1. They don’t run a PC operating system (Windows, Mac, etc.)
2. Users can’t install typical PC or Mac programs

The appeal of Chrome OS is that you don’t need to install programs onto your mobile, light computer to do things, as most of the best “apps” exist on the web, such as Wordpress, Pandora, Facebook, etc. With the iPad, you also can’t install programs that you could on a normal laptop.

But if you were going to take the big dive and choose Chrome OS, knowing you’d only be able to live on the web… why even bother getting a crappy netbook installed with Chrome OS when you could just get an iPad? The iPad has the same problem where you can’t run normal programs, but you can run iPad apps.

Replacing a laptop with an iPad

So most people can’t think of the iPad being able to replace a laptop. But what do most people do with a laptop? They browse the web, watch things on Hulu, buy and listen to music with iTunes, email people, share photos, things like that.

Those things can be done with an iPad. Sure, you can’t access flash content such as Hulu, but you can access a ton of media content from different sources. You can of course access full or mobile optimized versions of web services such as Facebook, but also have a great app to do the same thing, such as the Facebook app. But it’s more than just one or two great apps.

There are hundreds (thousands?) of great apps made just for the iPad (let’s ignore the thousands that are made for the iPhone and can run on the iPad). These apps give this non-laptop-like device much more intuitiveness and functionality than you could get on a laptop alone. Pandora on the iPad is much better than Pandora on the web. There’s a ton of apps that exist on the iPad that don’t exist for laptops or desktops. Check out the Marvel Comics app below to see what I mean…

Why Chrome OS?

But that’s not the point. It’s not about whether or not the iPad can be an alternative to a laptop running Windows or Macintosh, it’s about why choose a netbook running Chrome OS vs getting an iPad. The answer is… there isn’t much of a reason. People are putting down $299 to $449 for a netbook, so for that money I’d much rather just go with the bottom end $499 iPad. Chrome OS really starts to lose its appeal compared to the iPad.

It’s all about price

If Chrome OS is going to be appealing and not seem like a joke, it needs to be placed on netbooks that are cheap. And I mean CHEAP… Not this $299 crap, but I mean like $149. That seems crazy low of a price, I know… but we’re not talkin’ laptop speeds or iPad speeds. Heck, we’re not even talkin’ normal netbook speeds, I’m talkin’ about very weak (cheap) hardware to justify the price tag. After all, Chrome OS is supposed to be extremely light weight. It better be, considering the operating system is running one thing and one thing alone, a browser.

Making a netbook that’s about 1/4 the speed of current netbooks should do just fine for Chrome OS. Sure, it won’t be able to run most flash content very well. It certainly won’t be able to run sites like Hulu, but heck… even the fastest netbooks can’t even run Hulu in full screen without showing some frame rate lag. So you make the price extremely cheap (and the hardware the same). 160 GB hard drive? Pff… screw that. Put in a cheap, 16 GB (or even 8 GB) flash drive, the same kinds that run in iPhones. Chrome OS can’t download any files to the operating system anyways, so might as well make it tiny. Include an SD card reader for extra storage and your set (like current laptop and netbooks have now).

Missing hardware features

A device such as this needs to cut out as much fat as possible. No, that doesn’t mean make it extremely tiny and uncomfortable and joke-like. It needs to be a decent size, hopefully even 11″ (a large sized netbook). But that means fat needs to be cut that most people would never consider to be “fat” but a “necessity of modern computers”. So let’s start cuttin’ us some fat…

No USB Ports: There’s no reason for there to be a USB port or USB hardware controllers, etc. Chrome OS isn’t designed to have devices connected to them. And even if they did have USB, do you think any hardware manufacturers would create drivers for Chrome OS anyways? Forget’a ’bout it…

No Monitor Ports: Wanna’ connect your cheap little device to an external monitor? Nope. No need for that… at all. And any ways, it wouldn’t even be supported in Chrome OS.

No Replaceable Parts: This device shouldn’t be upgradeable. In fact, the RAM and hard drive won’t even have the possibility of being upgraded or changed, same as a mobile phone.

No Sound: “Whaaat??” Yeah, that’s clearly a possibility. At least no speakers. But realistically, it should probably lack all sound to say within a cheap price range.

Expanding the bridge between competition

Now think about that. If you create a device that’s $149 that can go online, check web email (i.e. Gmail), Facebook, Google Docs, things like that and do nothing more, that makes it seem much more different than an iPad. But it won’t be a joke of a device either. People, even if they had an iPad or are considering it, will look at these new breed of Chrome OS netbooks as a great little device. The train of thought would be “It’s only for the web, but it’s great for the web“.

No netbook for me

But as it stands right now, I’d much rather get an iPad than a netbook. If they create a $149 netbook running Chrome OS, things will be different.

Peace, JbB