cmurray.org

This is big news (if you’re a geek like me). “Dropbox is the easiest way to store, sync, and, share files online. There’s no complicated interface to learn. Dropbox works seamlessly with your operating system and automatically makes sure your files are up-to-date. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.”

It really is that simple. Dropbox places a folder on your desktop. Anytime you drag another folder or file into the Dropbox folder it is instantly synchronized and available to your other machines running Dropbox. In addition, you can also right-click on any file or folder and create a private URL to that resource. Sending that URL to someone gives them instant access to that resource. In addition, and by default, if a folder contains images, they are displayed in a very cool gallery format.

Signing up for an account gives you 2GB storage. If you recommend friends and they sign up, you get additional free storage. Larger storage options are available for a reasonable fee.

I now have Dropbox running on my workstation, my Windows laptop, my Mac laptop, and now my iPhone. Brilliant.

Pixelpipe runs on an iPhone and provides an interface for uploading images and video to dozens of social media and other channel sites simultaneously. For instance, I can fire up Pixelpipe on my phone, scroll through and flag/tag my images, then hit one button that uploads all the images to Picasa, Facebook, and Twitter,  all remarkably fast.

Pixelpipe is a content distribution gateway that allows users to publish text and upload photos, video and audio files once through Pixelpipe and have the content distributed across over 75 social networks, photo/video sites and blogs, and other online destinations. We provide a number of mobile & desktop applications for users, liberating their media and sharing their life.

Okay, I don’t have a Kindle. But I noticed just today that I can download Kindle books from Amazon and read them on my iPhone.

First, I download the iPhone app that Kindle provides. Then I go to Amazon and find a bunch of free books, just to try it out. I download “The Cook’s Illustrated How-to-Cook Library: An Illustrated Step-by-step guide to Foolproof Cooking.” I didn’t find a lot of free stuff worth downloading, but again, I’m just trying it out.

Sure enough, the download works and the title appears in the iPhone app. I am very pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to read. The screen is clear and sharp, very crisp text and illustrations (thankfully, I do know the proper way to carve out an avocado). A simple flick of the screen turns the page, a tap retreives the menu items.

For what it is, I can easily see reading a book on this thing. I’m sure there’s all sorts of reasons why the Kindle is better, but I already have the iPhone and the app is free. Bravo!

I just found an app that allows me to write posts and upload images to my blog from my iPhone. Let’s see if it works.

I didn’t want to spend the money, but alas, I needed a new camera. My trusty Sony DSC-V1 took a few bads bumps it seems and started rendering images with colored lines through them. They appear sporadically, but more and more often, making the camera basically useless. It’s a shame, too; the Sony was compact, built of sturdy metal (so I thought), and had a sharp, Carl Zeiss lens. She was a good camera that served me well for years.

My dilemma while shopping was whether to go with another small, pocket-sized camera or to step up to a digital SLR, which is bulkier but obviously a much more professional and competent camera. I spent a lot of time reading on dpreview.com, which I highly recommend to anyone looking to buy any kind of camera gear. They appear unbiased and do remarkable research on pretty much any camera out there.

I have to say that I really liked the Nikon D70. It feels great in your hands, it’s solid and metal, I know it takes great pictures (dpreview also show lots of sample shots taken with each camera reviewed). But the price for admission was just a little too steep for me; over a grand with a decent lens.

So, I went with the Canon Digital Rebel XT shown above. This thing is the real deal. It feels remarkably similar my old Nikon SLR, which I always loved for its design. The body is heavy plastic, and while I’d much prefer something metal it seems able to get bumped around a bit. And of course one of the real draws for buying Canon cameras is that all their lenses work on all their cameras (alas, none of the lens filters for my film SLRs fits on this camera). At 8 megapixels, this thing is shooting some really gorgeous pictures.

I also went with Canon because my favorite camera was the Powershot 100 I bought years ago. At only 3 megapixels that little beauty snapped some really beautiful pictures and could fit in a shirt pocket. Reading and shopping, I soon realized I’d be going back to Canon.

I’ve been spending time getting familiar with all the features of this camera and soon will be posting some samples on Flickr and tabblo.

The one thing I missed most on our recent stay in a rented Condo up in Jackson, NH, was music. We had a TV with video and DVD players, but no music. I bring my iPod with me, but with the kids it’s nearly impossible to ever wear headphones. So, I found this little set of Logitech mm50 speakers at BJs after doing a little research on the market. Some of the features that makes this unit attractive: 7-hour built-in rechargable battery–which simultaneously recharges the iPod–really sweet surround-sound settings, nifty little remote (the size of a stick of chewing gum and likely lost within the first day or two), chained wiring between the unit and a PC (update the iPod while still in the speaker dock), and nicely fitted carrying case. Plus, the thing sounds really amazing! Bose does offer something really excellent in this space, but it is $300 and far too nice to carry around. This little gem was $100 and sounds spacious and large: wonderful rich bass, clear and clean mids and highs, and really wide head space. I am just thrilled about it. So, our beautiful trip to the Cape this past week was sweetly augmented with the sounds of Boosty Collins, Fela Kuti, Pat Metheney, Bob Marley, John Coltrane, lots of great Salsa, and of course, the obligatory batch of the Wiggles and other childish pablum. Satisfy my soul.

Years ago, I had two machines on my desktop, and two large, bulky monitors as well. Later on, I was able to toggle between the systems using only one monitor, but still, they were two separate systems. In recent years, I have preferred my own Toshiba laptop to any of the systems offered at my workplace. My laptop has all my tools and scripts and such, and also has remarkable power: I can run virtual servers, Oracle, and lots of other browsing and email applications without any performance hit. In the last couple months, however, I have been using my laptop with a second monitor. (Many machines cannot support multiple monitors and require a newer graphics card like an ATI or nVidia to do so.)

There’s a lot of research on the topic. Most people, given the opportunity to use two monitors, would not consider going back to one. The productivity increase has been pretty well documented, both scientifically (through amount of actual work performed and through testing things like eye movement) and anecdotally. Coders especially enjoy one window for writing code and another for checking out the results.

I began using this setup a couple months ago at work using my laptop and a Dell flat-panel. I especially liked that the mouse travels seamlessly between the two monitors. And yes, I find it is much easier to keep things like my browser and IM windows on one screen while the other can be used more for writing. I found a program called UltraMon by RealtimeSoft which extends my computer’s ability to use multiple monitors (including trivial things such as which screensaver to play on each monitor, whether or not to display task bars in different windows, and so on). UltraMon is free for thirty days and then costs US $39 for a single-user license.

For working at home now, this past week I picked up a remarkably brilliant and clear Samsung 17-inch flat-panel for only $180 at BestBuy. Certainly worth the price of admission. And no, I would never go back to a single-monitor system.