Sharing Your Photographic Memory

We love to share photos and videos of the cool places we visit and things we do, and it’s easier than ever to do it and preserve your images while you’re still traveling. Here are some things to focus on.

If we don’t use our phones as our primary travel camera, we use a digital camera that records our images on SD cards. If we want to post some of our pictures to social media, such as Facebook or Instagram, or put them in an email or text, we need to get that image from the camera to a device that can connect to the internet. There are lots of ways to do it, and for the most part, they’re pretty simple processes. But remember that not all cameras are created equal.

Experienced users of DSLRs (digital single-lens reflex cameras) know, for example, that major brands such as Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and Sony have proprietary systems for how their lenses interface with their cameras’ electronics. The more automated point-and-shoot digital cameras, which work similarly to cellphone cameras, also have differences based on their manufacturers. Most differences come in how you transfer your photos from the camera to a device that can access the internet for social media sharing.

Apps to transfer photos from cameras to phones are manufacturer-specific. Canon has Camera Direct, Nikon has SnapBridge, Olympus has OM Image Share, and Sony has Imaging Edge Mobile. All work with Apple iOS and Android phones; just go to your friendly OS app store to download the app and follow the directions to pair your camera and phone.

The best thing about all these apps is that you can have them transfer photos to the phone almost as soon as you take them so you can share them immediately on social media. More important, transferring your photos from your camera will get them into the cloud so that you’ll have the images if something happens to your camera. The manufacturers all have their own storage sites, and if you shoot RAW files (a complete, uncompressed digital negative), you have the option to save them on those sites. You can also shoot and save RAW files on newer smartphones. The key is to make sure you specify in all transfer settings that you want to keep them as RAW files. The default is to save them as jpg files.

However you save your photo files, today’s smartphones have some basic editing functions to help you improve the exposure and crop the picture before you send it.

If you’re above the basic level of on-phone photo editing, you can add people to a photo, as one of our car club colleagues recently did. Two key people were unavailable for a group photo, so someone with a smartphone camera took a picture of those who were there. He then took separate pictures of the two others, positioning one at each side of where the group photo was taken. He used the software on his phone to copy and paste them into the group picture. For our purposes, it was the perfect solution.

If you want to go beyond photo sharing on social media, you still need to get your photo files onto a device with photo editing software. You can use USB cables to connect your camera to your computer or a card reader that connects through a USB port. If your camera and computer both have the ports, you can also use HDMI cables.

If your camera doesn’t have the capability to work with a transfer app, you can also get a card reader that can connect directly to your phone through a Lightning connector (iPhone, iPad) or USB-C (Android phone or tablet). Whatever solution you wind up using, the cost should be less than $50.

If you have any questions about configuring your equipment to transfer your photos to the cloud or another device, call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us, and we should be able to answer your questions or walk you through the process.

Security Not Top-of-Mind at CES

It’s fair to say I was disappointed when talking to IoT device manufacturers at CES in Las Vegas last month. Security was not the big thing on their minds. And except for a TV screen that you can roll up like paper (which I couldn’t see at the show), there wasn’t anything I wanted to bring home and install.

The lack of emphasis on security was baffling, especially when you consider that a lot of companies at CES were talking about AI (artificial intelligence) and 5G networks. The latter are the newer, faster wireless data networks that will play an important role, along with AI, in the next generation of the IoT, especially autonomous vehicles (AVs), which are expected to be an established mode of transportation in the next 10 years. We’re simply going to require more data at a faster speed to make AVs work.

However, it seems that AI – and maybe 5G – was more concerned with what we’ll be running to the store to buy instead of how we’ll get there. Samsung, which makes refrigerators, among other appliances, started to show off Bigsby, its version of Alexa. And when you combine it with a smart refrigerator, this new power team can create a shopping list for you. You can even use voice commands for your washing machine. OK…

There is still a big push to get more devices into the home, and we certainly have more than our share in ours. We find the ones we have to be either great conveniences or highly useful. We just wish that the manufacturers were paying more attention to security, especially with hacking and information theft so prevalent. However, nothing stood out like that TV that rolls up. I really would have liked to be able to see it, even if I couldn’t buy it.

On the other hand, one of the more ridiculous things I saw was either a blanket or mattress pad with dual temperature control and a discounted price of $2,000. Sony also had a Walkman that weighed 5 pounds and had a heftier price tag: $2,500. Sony said there’s a market for it: audiophiles who want high-quality sound.

Speaking of sound, I took note of Panasonic’s automotive offerings, though none was available for consumer purchase. Rather, it seems that the automotive manufacturers are going to rely more on electronics manufacturers and the mobile operating systems to provide the devices and infrastructure for in-car infotainment systems. As part of that trend, we note that Toyota is dropping its plan to introduce a proprietary infotainment system.

We applaud Toyota’s decision for three reasons:

  1. In-car systems from the automakers don’t work well.
  2. Each in-car system has its own way of displaying and using information, and that can be confusing for people who drive multiple cars, including rental cars, where roads and a car’s system are unfamiliar.
  3. Because they are built into the car, it’s difficult to update them in a timely manner.

Just about all manufacturers offer connectivity to either Apple or Android in-car systems – or both – throughout their product lines. Our devices are already customized for driving directions and play lists, and we know how to use them. We also can make our devices secure in the same way we update our OS and applications on our computers.

I think some exciting new products and changes in the way we use technology are a year or two away, but that doesn’t mean we should sit on our hands. If you need a new IoT product now, we can help you we can help you select and install one for today – and make sure it’s secure – and see how it could fit your future needs. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to talk about it.