At Home with Tech

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November 13, 2016

Seven Ways to Find More Time

If you think your tech wastes more time than it’s worth, you’re not alone. But if you look around, you can find suggestions on how your tech can actually improve your day. I’ve gathered seven tips to share…

If you think your tech wastes more time than it’s worth, you’re not alone. But if you look around, you can find suggestions on how your tech can actually improve your day. I’ve gathered seven tips to share…

The irony is all of your home tech is supposed to save you time and ‘enhance’ your life. But technology also can be a huge time suck.

A piece of advice…
Don’t get distracted (too much) by the many lures of your tech.
Keep it working for you!

Here are seven ways I use my own tech to help squeeze a little more time out of my week…

1. Always Know the Time as You Sleep
You wake up in the dead of night and wonder what time it is. If you’re like me, you’ve long retired your clock radio. Now, only your smartphone hangs out on your bedside table. But you’ve got to reach over and activate it if you want to see what time it is. How annoying is that? Wouldn’t it be great if you could quickly just peer up at the ceiling to see what time it is?

Well you can… with a projection alarm clock!
I’ve got one made by Electrohome.

2. More Impulse Buying on Amazon
Do you keep forgetting to get maple syrup at the supermarket for Sunday pancakes? Just putting it on a list for the next time you hit Stew Leonards will delay you until you actually make that trip.

I say order the replacement item on Amazon Prime as soon as you run out.
With ‘Prime,’ you don’t waste money on extra shipping charges with this one-off scattered shopping approach.
(Organic Maple Syrup. Click.)

So yes, this falls under the category of impulse buying…but only for your kitchen staples.

3. Keep your Home Cozy from Anywhere
Did you forget to turn down the heat before you left the house this morning?
No worries. You don’t have to turn around to check.

If you have a smart thermostat like a Nest, you can adjust the temperature from an app on your iPhone from anywhere in the world.

4. Catch the Train with Your Smartphone
Running late to your Metro North train at Grand Central Terminal for your evening commute out of New York City? And a few saved seconds can make the difference whether you make your train or not?
(Yes, that’s how I roll.)
No problem!

Your TrainTime app on your smartphone will quickly inform you which gate your train is leaving from.

And you can quickly buy a digital train ticket using the MTA eTix app, instead of waiting on line at a ticket kiosk to purchase a physical one.
(And that app is going to be especially handy in the dead of winter when you encounter an exposed and frozen ticket kiosk that’s malfunctioning.)

5. Stop Going to the Post Office
Why would you ever choose to waste even a fraction of your existence at the post office buying stamps? The lines are endless. It’s like Purgatory in there.
Even the stamp-dispensing square autobot will drain your life force.
Why not simply purchase your stamps from the convenience of your home computer?

It’s wicked quick at store.usps.com…
(Sure, you pay a $1.25 shipping charge for a roll of 100 Forever stamps. But I say that’s more than worth it for the convenience.)

6. Avoid Greeting Card Aisles
Do you still feel like you have to troll for greeting cards at the local CVS or Walgreens to get the ‘perfect card?’
Well, STOP IT!

You know what I mean… searching up and down that forest of disorganized generic thoughts. Finding that perfect card, only to realize there’s no matching envelope, and having to start all over again.

It’s no longer a badge of honor to say to your loved one… “I spent an hour looking for the perfect card!”
(My mom used to always to say that to me.)

There’s got to be a better way!
Well, of course there is…

Here are three online destinations you can visit-

These websites contain virtually all the greeting cards you could ever want.
Plus they’ll mail them for you!

Whoah…. Now that’s really a paradigm shift.

7. Get E-ZPass or Bust
All right, who here doesn’t have E-ZPass yet?
What? You’re still waiting on long lines in your car at tollbooths?
Please stand up and walk upstairs.
Now go to bed…. There’s no dinner for you.
(And here’s something to ponder as you drift off…
Technology is quickly killing off the tollbooth.)

The rest of you can sleep soundly knowing your E-ZPass is working hard to save you time. But before you start your snooze, you might want to check in on your E-ZPass account just to make sure it’s current.
You don’t want E-ZPass to list the car you owned a decade ago.

Enough said.

How Did It Get So Late So Soon?
Look, I’m not saying you should stop wasting your precious time checking Facebook twenty times or spending hours on a Sunday night combing through your weekend family photos using Lightroom.

I get it.
Believe me…

Guilty.

I’m just pointing out how you should also be very deliberate to find ways to use your tech to save you time.

And maybe… just maybe… at the end…

You’ll break even.

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November 6, 2016

I Destroyed this Camera While Wiping Out on My Bike

This is the story of the tragic, final mission of my trusty Canon S100 pocket camera. And I’ve even got the video to show. But after I heal, I must face a tough decision…? Should I get one of those wicked-expensive 1-inch sensor compact cameras? Or go it alone with just my iPhone?

This is the story of the tragic, final mission of my trusty Canon S100 pocket camera. And I’ve even got the video to show. But after I heal, I must face a tough decision…? Should I get one of those wicked-expensive 1-inch sensor compact cameras? Or go it alone with just my iPhone?

This sad tale falls under the category of ‘dumb daddy.’ Straight and simple. I had absolutely no business trying to videotape my six year old riding his new bicycle… while I was following him on my bike. It was an obviously dangerous stunt trying to grip my old Canon S100 camera in my right hand while steering with my left.
(They make GoPro cameras for these moments!)

I wasn’t careful to stay far enough behind my boy in case he braked hard, requiring me to do the same.

But come on… I’ve been riding bikes for decades. I could this handle this, right?

Nope.

Daddy Wipes Out Big Time
So I ended up squeezing the brakes a little too hard right after my son suddenly hit his own brakes and wobbled a bit. He recovered nicely, but I felt a slight loss of balance. Then time began slowing down. My brain started screaming at me…. “Do something, you fool!”

But all of that extra ‘neuro-time’ wasn’t at all helpful to correct my new downward trajectory or prevent my ultimate wipeout. At the very last nanosecond, I remember thinking how silly this all was… that it was actually me… who couldn’t stay on his bike.

BAM!

The Final Shot Tells the Whole Story
After impact, I quickly realized that I had some pretty gooey road rash across the underside of my left forearm and on the base of my right palm.
(Big ouch)

A bit dizzy, I looked around for my camera, which had been recording through until the ‘accident.’

A few feet away, I saw it on the ground, frozen in time from its final seconds of operation.
(Oh no!)

Its still extended lens was bent and mangled by the blunt force it had also received from my fall. I think this was a career-ending moment for my compact camera.

There were no signs of life…

I pulled out the SD media card from my dead camera’s underside, and the card remarkably looked undamaged.

Then, I had a thought…
Did my dying Canon successfully save its final movie file right up until the crushing end?

It did!

Wanna see?

R.I.P. Canon Camera.

So now what…?

This Camera Had Two Lives
Why?
WHY??
WHYYYYYY!

It was so young!!!

Well, actually it wasn’t. I had it for four years already.
(Which is like 87 years in camera years)

And no, I didn’t have a service contract on the camera.

Sure, I could try to have it repaired and foot the bill myself, but I’ve gone down that road once before. It had simply fallen from my lap onto a wooden floor. That time, there was no visible damage, but it cost me over a hundred bucks to get it working again.

Two lives are enough. It was time to let my Canon S100 go…

Live Your Life in Full HD
And time for an upgrade!

Sure, I liked my Canon S100, but the biggest problem with my old point and shoot was it was stuck recording videos in a time before 1080 HD and 4K. It recorded its videos at a paltry 720P at 30 fps.
(It could only record 1080 at 24 fps.)

The HD video world has moved on!

It’s really not a good practice to compile archival family videos using yesterday’s technologies and file formats. It just makes it that much harder to future proof them.

And one day, when you want to edit together your family history video, you’re not going to be happy trying to use your puny 720P HD files along with your 1080P, 4K, 5K and 8K files.
(I expect one day, they’ll figure out how to jam 8K into a pocket cam!)

The Smartphone Solution is Good
You might be wondering why is silly Barrett even talking about getting another point and shoot camera? Can’t smartphones handle most daily family point and shoot moments these days?

And don’t they also shoot video at 1080P HD and 4K?
Well, yeah…
They do.

So where’s the method to my madness?

Your Smartphone Still Isn’t Good Enough
Two reasons:

  • iPhones have limited memory and HD video files are huge. So that solution is only going to be a short-term play… unless you’re exceptionally diligent about offloading your video files from your device. Standalone cameras can use an unlimited number of SD cards. (As many as your wallet will allow)
  • A dedicated point and shoot camera with a good zoom lens and solid low light capability still can’t be beat by any smartphone out there today.

The Sudden Evolution of the Compact Camera
And a funny thing has happened to point and shoot cameras over the past few years. Engineers gave them a secret weapon…

Large sensors!

Camera manufacturers realized that point and shoot cameras were rapidly becoming obsolete as smartphones were taking over the world. So they attempted a game changer by jamming large, 1-inch style sensors for bulky DSLR cameras into their tiny cameras.

And that little trick creates a compact camera that takes better pictures.
(Especially in low light)

Huge Price Tags
And tiny cameras that are twice as expensive!!!

Canon’s current flagship pocket camera is the Canon G7 X Mark II. It’s a beauty with its 1-inch sensor, but it sells for a whopping $649.
Even on Amazon!
Even at B&H Photo!

This Canon has a 24-100mm F1.8-F2.8 lens
And takes HD video at 1080/60p video capture

Sweet!

But it’s not the only game in town.
The Canon G7 X Mark II has two major competitors:

Panasonic DMC-Lumix ZS100: $699.99

  • 25-250mm equivalent F2.8-5.9 lens
  • 4K video

Sony RX100 V: $899

  • 24-70mm equivalent F1.8-2.8 lens
  • 4K video
    (The RX100 series is commonly viewed as the camera to beat.)

But among these high-end compact cameras, there’s still no perfect choice…

  • The Canon can’t shoot in 4K.
  • The Panasonic has a slower lens.
  • The Sony costs 40% more.

In Search of the Deal
Sure, there are still way-cheaper pocket cameras on the market… but the question of how they’re any better than your smartphone’s camera becomes more difficult to answer…

For me, I continue to pursue the ‘rare’ ability to capture great family moments in low light with a camera. The better your tool, the greater the chance for success.

But these are admittedly expensive tools. It would certainly help the decision-making process if you could find a sale on one of them.

Hmmm…

The holidays are just around the corner.
That could be my ticket to the deal I’m looking for.

For the time being, I’ll struggle through with my iPhone 6 Plus and an old Canon PowerShot Elph camera I’ve still got.
(That I haven’t destroyed yet)

While I wait to find my deal on my holiday camera purchase, I’ll ponder the following questions:

  • Should I future-proof now and go all 4K video?
  • Is it smart pocketing such expensive gear?
  • Should I abandon my life-long commitment to Canon?

I welcome any suggestions out there regarding which camera to go with…

How Many Cameras Have You Destroyed?
A final thought on my ongoing (and sometimes dangerous) pursuit for the perfect family camera…

Do you recall that once upon a time, I bemoaned my questionable wisdom when I gave my son his own camera a couple years back…?
(Which he accidentally dropped and broke)

To be fair, I think it’s time to update the Lester family’s camera destruction stats:

1 broken camera- 4-year-old son
1 broken camera- Daddy
1 destroyed camera- Daddy

So I’m ahead 2 to 1!
Maybe I should really think about camera insurance for my next purchase!

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October 30, 2016

How to Remove an Undead Zombie Eye from a Photo

halloween-eye

Sometimes a perfectly good-looking eye won’t reflect its twin in a camera’s flash. That can really ruin a picture. Bring it back to life in seven easy steps with some photo-editing voodoo from Adobe Lightroom!

I call it ‘Dead-Eye Syndrome.’ And it’s a killer. It can unexpectedly strike at the heart of your favorite photos.

We all know how ‘red eye’ is a common problem with flash photography.
And how that devilish defect tends to occur in low-light situations when someone’s pupils are wide open.
(Blue-eyed people have a greater problem with this than brown-eyed folks.)

But barring this complication, eyes tend to normally reflect the flash in the form of a glint or sparkle.
Totally expected…

In certain circumstances though, one eye may unfortunately reflect the flash less directly than the other eye. Or sometimes not at all….
Now that can look really weird!

And the otherwise best photo you’ve taken in years can make somebody look like an undead zombie.

This Dead-Eye Syndrome is definitely going to ruin that pic…

Time for an Eye Job
Red eye is so easy to fix these days. Cameras and computer software have simple tools to magically turn all that red to black.

But what are you supposed to do with a dead eye?!
Well, to bring it back to life, you’ve got to give it the similar glint of its partner.

And that’s going to take a little tech voodoo…

Dead Eye Surgery in Seven Steps
The basic task is to clone the glint from one eye and place it on top of the sickly-looking pupil in the other eye.

Here’s how you do it using Adobe Lightroom 6:

  1. Click on the ‘Spot Removal’ tool.
  2. Click on ‘Clone.’
  3. Adjust the Brush Size to exactly cover the reflection of the good eye.
  4. Move the tiny circular brush to the dead eye and click where the reflection should be.
  5. Lightroom will choose a section from the photo to clone and highlight it with a second circle.
  6. Drag that second circle to hover back over the flash reflection in the good eye.
  7. Click again on Spot Removal to repair the dead eye and lock in the change.

It’s a little counterintuitive, but what you’re essentially doing with ‘Spot Removal’ is removing the ‘dead spot’ that should have the glint in it, and then replacing it with the appropriate flash reflection from the other eye.
(As opposed to copying the glint from the good eye and then pasting it to the dead eye)

Voila! Both of your eyes now have matching reflections.
Normality has been restored in your picture.
You are no longer an undead zombie.

Take a look at this example:

daddy-zombie

This is cropped in from the original photo. I think part of the frame from my glasses is also a contributing culprit that’s blocking the flash’s reflection. But it’s still a good example to use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

no-more-daddy-zombie

After surgery – No more Daddy Zombie…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illuminating the Darkness
I know there’s lots of debate about the appropriateness of touching up a face in a photo.

I don’t think this falls under the same category of concern.
You don’t really have a non-reflective dead eye.
(Right?)
There is no darkness to your soul.
(I hope.)

It’s more of an aberration created by technology.
(Unless your evil eye always photographs that way… if so, immediately run to your ophthalmologist…!)

We’re simply reversing a little error and letting your true beauty shine through…

You’re welcome.

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