Tech Diary | At Home with Tech

November 26, 2023

How to Turn your Digital Photo Frame into a Memory Portal with Motion

In the same way that an iPhone’s Live Photos functionality can add motion to a frozen photograph, digital photo frames can perform an even better trick if you load them up with short videos. Here’s how I do that.

I’ve never completely understood the value of the ‘Live Photos’ mode on iPhones. These moving photos are tiny videos that represent 1.5 seconds of action before and after you snap your ‘photo.’ So that expanded capture range gives you the flexibility to later select your perfect frame (Key Photo) during those 3 seconds.

Of course, I want to improve my iPhone’s pictures, but working through every Live Photo to identify that one ‘perfect frame’ takes some patience. By the time you do all that, the person next to you can snap the same picture the old-fashioned way by tapping their screen a couple times, quickly select the best (non-Live) one and then share it on social media. (And all this while you’re still carefully identifying your new Key Photo from the original Live Photo.)

The Live Photos feature is a nifty trick but working to maximize each one is not a speedy process.

The Limitation of 3 Seconds
If you just want to enjoy the magic of a Live Photo that contains some action, I suppose that’s fine. But I don’t think three seconds is necessarily long enough. It can be frustrating to only get three seconds to capture a moment. But of course, any longer would make it… a video… which it really is to begin with.

And after taking thousands of Live Photos, you’re going to inevitably eat into your iPhone’s memory reserves.

So, I generally try to leave the Live Photos feature turned off unless I really want to use it.

Still, I think Apple is onto something here.

Creating Extended Live Photos is Even Better
When the Live Photos feature was first introduced, it felt like magic… like the wizardry of the live paintings represented in the “Harry Potter” movies. The only real difference is these live-action framed images lasted for a bit longer… maybe five or six seconds.

These extra few seconds can be important, because they allow for enough time to let the story of a particular moment play out.

And if you didn’t know it, this little magic trick isn’t that fantastical anymore. You can do it today on digital photo frames which have the capability to play videos.

I’ve tried this feature on my home digital picture frames made by Nixplay. They allow for up to 15-second video clips. Their ‘Plus’ subscription plan lets you play up to 2-minute clips. But I think 15 seconds is more than enough.

I’ve purchased a few Nixplay digital frames across the years. I think their current Nixplay 10.1” Wi-Fi Photo Frame is a good place to start.

As for the audio part of the video files, I’m not interested in hearing the sound. (That turns the digital frame into a TV.) I just want to watch the action of a moving photo. And 5-10 seconds is usually plenty of time to properly capture the action of a scene.

I experimented with this extended Live Photo idea a few years back, and the results were eerily cool. That said, getting my short videos onto my Nixplay frames wasn’t exactly straight forward. It took a few steps and required Nixplay’s mobile app. I’ve documented the process in this blog post here.

A New Way to Capture the Moment
Recently, I expanded my practice of intentionally shooting short videos for my Nixplay frames to display alongside regular stills.

I’ve begun shooting 10-15 second videos during family events. These videos are designed to capture what you might think of as “B-Roll” in a documentary. During these moments, ideally no one will look at my camera. But if someone wants to playfully pose, that’s okay too.

And after trimming and adding these new short videos into my frame’s playlist, these clips have immediately transformed my digital photo frames into little time machines that seemingly allow you to peer back into more realistic reflections of the past.

It’s wild.

Turn your Digital Frames into True Memory Portals
In the same way that Apple has evolved the definition of a photo into a Live Photo, why can’t digital photo frames more fully evolve into memory portals that better connect you to the past through 5-10 second video clips?

I’m certainly going to maximize this opportunity on my own digital frames moving forward.

And I’m happy to offer this uncommon pictorial presentation strategy for your consideration.

November 19, 2023

How to Stop your iPhone from Buzzing All Night Long

Unless you want to be kept up by your iPhone with endless updates while you’re trying to sleep, you need to give it a bedtime. Here’s how.

I am the Borg. You are the Borg. We are the Borg. Yes, humanity has already been assimilated.

Remember, those evil “Star Trek” cybernetic bad guys who kept running into Captain Picard and wanted to take over the galaxy? The Borg were all wirelessly interconnected and acted in sync like a colony of bees. Their hive mind kept them instantly updated.

Okay. Well, no… we’re not completely moving throughout our day following the constant direction of a unified data stream. But I think the scary reality is only because it’s not unified. (Well, not yet.)

Time to Put your iPhone into Sleep Mode
Our smartphones are constantly bombarding us with various updates…. from family, friends and work to various companies and organizations we’ve touched and shared our personal data with.

These ongoing texts, emails and calls can become a persistent din. It’s like the world is screaming at you. If you wear an Apple Watch with haptic feedback on your wrist, there’s a constant visceral reminder that someone or something wants your attention.

All that noise, noise, noise!

Sure, you have instant access to so much more information, but it comes at a price. (What’s a Borg drone to do?)

And the last thing you need is to have that constant drumbeat interfere with your sleep.

There’s got to be a way to turn it off.

Well, of course there is…

How to Activate Sleep Focus
I realized recently that I really needed to take some action and effectively put my iPhone 15 Pro Max to sleep while I was sleeping. Yes, it was muted, but my iPhone would wake me up with all the buzzing and screen brightening to alert me of something new in the wee hours of the morning.

I needed my REM sleep!

I knew that I could simply move my iPhone to a different room, but I like to charge it up on my nightstand. Fortunately, I can set it and forget it…if it will let me. (I usually don’t wake up in the middle of the night with the need to grab it and see how my blog’s metrics are doing.)

Instead of turning my iPhone off (whoever does that?!), I activated the sleep setting in the Focus App.

Here’s how to do that.

Tap on Settings
Tap Focus
Tap Sleep
Set a Schedule

Then you assign a lock screen for this setting. (The trick I think is not to assign it to the screen lock photo that you use throughout your day.)

You can also program exceptions to let certain contacts make it through your Do Not Disturb barrier.

Done.

Now my iPhone goes totally dark at my bedtime and does not respond to any incoming anything throughout the night.

Happiness restored.

Silence in your Sleep Chamber
It’s ironic that we now need to tame our smartphones to prevent them from overwhelming us with too much of what was supposed to be a good thing.

The simple truth is everyone and everything should not have immediate access to your attention.

Even the Borg knew that. They had those cool standing sleep chambers throughout their Borg cube ships where their drones could catch up on their sleep… uninterrupted.

And as we all know, it’s never a good idea to wake up a sleeping Borg.

November 16, 2023

How to Spend 30 Minutes to Take the Edge Off a Work Trip

If you’re online at sunrise, don’t forget to turn around and appreciate the sunrise outside your hotel window.

Work trips can be stressful. Even if you appreciate the opportunity, working long hours for consecutive days in a different time zone can wear on even the most experienced traveler.

So often, I hear stories from colleagues who have returned from their travels, and they lament that they never were able to escape from their work environment and appreciate the location they’ve visited.

I say there’s always an opportunity to squeeze in a few minutes to get outside and smell the roses. You just need to be planful and allow yourself a little time to pull away from the gravity of your work requirements.

Take a Half Hour to Refuel
Thirty minutes is all you really need to walk about and see your environment. Really experience it.

Do it during lunch. Take a break. Perhaps start your day a little earlier. If you can’t find 30 minutes… or the time to take two 15-minute breaks, then there’s likely another issue to address.

If you want to maximize these moments, you might want to take a few pictures along the way. You certainly don’t have to, but if you like searching for cool photos during your day-to-day, your walk might reveal exactly that.

The Healing Properties of a Micro Excursion
Whether you want to connect with your space, take a photo or just clear your head, carving out 30 minutes for a ‘micro excursion’ is one of the best ways to feed your sense of well-being.

It can make all the difference.

Here’s what I spotted during my own stroll in Palm Desert, California during a recent work trip. I used my iPhone 15 Pro Max for close ups and my Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200D for the zoom.