frankps
The world as frankps sees it!
AirMusic and XBOX360
02 months ago
The best way to stream media from an iOS device, is of course with Apple’s AirPlay technology. But what if you have a XBOX360 in the house? I have already written about how you can connect your Mac to the XBOX with Connect360.
It is also possible to stream music from an iOS unit to the XBOX. The technology used is then DLNA. This is my first play with DLNA, so before I bought a DLNA app for my iPhone, I read a little bit about the technology.
You should know this about DLNA: Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is a collaboration of the world’s leading consumer electronics, PC and mobile companies, and together they have created an industry standard connecting consumer electronics together. All you need to get started is a network – wired or wireless. The DLNA Certified devices will then connect, discover and communicate with each other over your network. The alliance aim to make it easier for consumers to use, share and enjoy their digital photos, music and videos. Chances are big that you already have one or two DLNA devices in your livingroom. Do you have a XBOX360 or a Playstation 3? What about your modern flat panel TV? Some smartphones also have DLNA support. If you have Windows 7 with Windows Media Player and Media Center (through the Windows Media Connect technology) is supporting DLNA.
The iOS devices do not come with built in DLNA support, but there are third party solutions available. I’ve tested AirMusic. It’s a great application for streaming music over Wi-Fi to your PS3, Xbox 360, or PC, and allows you to wirelessly listen to your tunes through your TV without using an AppleTV. As all DLNA devices, it is incredibly easy to set up – just ensure all of your devices are on the same Wi-Fi network, start AirMusic, and turn its functionality on. This will turn your iOS device in to a Mobile Digital Media Server (M-DMS) and let your game console, TV or PC act like a Digital Media Player (DMP):
After DLNA is turned on, on your iOS device, you can navigate to your music library on your console, TV or PC and your tunes will be there – it couldn’t be easier.
Although I use an AppleTV in our living room, I downloaded this application to try it with my XBOX360. The only downside I can find is that AirMusic won’t play older iTunes purchases protected with DRM. If you’re looking for a way to share your iOS library with your Xbox, PS3, or PC, I recommend you to purchase AirMusic!
HTC Mozart and HD7 get tethering
02 months ago
The possibility of using your Windows Phone as a mobile hotspot (accesspoint) was originally a function reserved for new Mango units. This week HTC changed that when releasing an update for HTC HD7 og Mozart. I have the Mozart model and was soon to update my phone. The update is only through Zune on your PC.
With internet sharing (tethering) you can share your internet connection with up to 5 guest units, and the sharing is automatically getting disabled after a few minutes of inactivity so that you can save the battery life on your phone.
Remember to not use internet sharing when abroad (so called roaming). It can fast get very expensive!
internet sharing is found under Settings on your phone. The functionality is set up with a predefined password that I recommend you to change under setup. You can also change the broadcast name if you want to, but I recommend you to keep WPA2 as the security type for the wireless connection.
Official Twitter client finally Windows Phone 7 Mango ready
02 months ago
One of the applications that I have been missing when upgrading to Mango and starting to use my primary Live account (the one registered with an address in Norway). The Twitter client, along with Flickr and GoWalla, was not available in the Norwegian Marketplace. As of yesterday, Twitter is updated to support Mango and now available worldwide in Marketplace.
Other then fast-app switching, I have not find any new features (no Live Tile or push notifications). The version number has only gone from 1.13944.31667 to version 1.14329.14900.
Windows Phone 7: 500px Editors’ Choice Viewer
02 months ago
Let me follow up on the review of 500px, with a small tip of the day for Windows Phone 7 users. There excists one 500px app for you, the 500px Editors’ Choice Viewer. It’s a great little app when you have some time on your hand, as it lets you flick through the selected best of the best photos published 500px.
A 500px Review
1Development of Flickr seems to have more or less stalled. Another problem with Flickr these days is that it takes hours to find good pictures. Flickr is becoming more like Facebook. Lately I’ve seen lots of photographer migrating to Google+ with Picasa. What’s cool with Google+ is that there are lists of Google+ registered photographers. And there’s lots of them and it’s easy to subscribe to their feeds and pictures are presented in a nice way. Google+ has so far not become the success Google wanted it to be, but it fast became the preferred social network for photographers.
But there’s now a new kid in town, a online portfolio site called 500px.com. It’s only aiming for your best photos, and is in my opinion not aiming to store your family or holiday photos. Nor does it have privacy functionality, like only letting your friends/family see a photo set. But except from that, I am really impressed. 500px has nearly mastered the essential features that I am looking for as a photographer wanting to share my work and explore the work of other photographers. It’s design makes it pleasant to browse through, and isn’t overwhelming by keeping features to a minimum. The vast majority of work displayed on 500px.com is high quality, similar to photos you would see in magazines or art galleries. Because they are targeting a professional level audience they are able to stand out from competitors.
500px is a company based in Canada so they are bound by Canadian Copyright law which is very close to US Copyright law. In other words, the terms of use is pretty much the same as for Flickr.
I’m for now only using their free account, and they are letting me upload 20 photos a week free of charge. The system is easy to use and works well, so long as you have a supported web browser. Safari and Internet Explorer work fine, but I have some issues with Chrome when it comes to navigating the portefolio view. The images are presented in a beautiful way, and there is great rating system for those who want to use that.
I have not had the chance to look at the PRO version of 500px (Awesome account), but you upgrade to many more services including unlimited everything, personal domains, etc. for US$50 per year.
The social nature of 500px will attract many people. The images posted on 500px are available for rating and comment. The rating system could be better in that you should be able to see who rated your images. You should also be able to disable ratings or block people that you don’t want to interact with.
500px has a basic search functionality, but this could probably improved to include search in the EXIF metadata. I would like to be able to search after photos taken with specific cameras and lenses. I also miss that you cannot add location to the photos you have taken.
I’ve saved the best for last. The reason why I started looking in to using 500px, was it’s iPad app. I have never seen photos been presented in a better way on a tablet. The first week I was only browsing through others photo, but the last days I have started uploading photos. Only bird photos for now. There is also unofficial 500px apps for Android.