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A Gallery of Photos Taken with iPhones

by Steve Russell on March 21, 2011 in Guide, iPhone

For the final article in the series about using the camera function of the iPhone I wanted to show a collection of photos the iPhone users around the world have taken and posted on Flickr Creative Commons. I think you’ll agree that some of these images are quite good. I hope you enjoy them.

This photo “iPhone HDR” taken by slack12 has been processed into an HDR image. Great work.

“iPhone shot through a magnifying glass” captured by mathowie

This great cat image was captured by mastrobiggo. The vignetting was added using the Picnik app.

Great shot of Stillgelegte Autobahnausfart which if I remember my German means “Closed autobahn (highway) exit ramp” by taytom

This image wasn’t taken with an iPhone but it does illustrate what some people are doing with their iPhone. The woman uses the monopod as her walking stick and has mounted her iPhone to the top of it. She has then mounted a piece of plastic over the lens so she can take macro photos with it. Ingenious. Thanks to coofdy for posting this on Flickr Creative Commons.

Moon Lake Sunset was taken near Fairbanks, Alaska by Kelly Donaldson.

Nice image captured by John Karakatsanis in Néa Alexándia, Athens, Attiki, GR.

This photo was taken on Town Lake in Austin, Texas by by jrandallc.

A second photo taken on Town Lake by jrandallc.

A San Fernando Sunset taken in Mission Hills, California by torres21.

This macro photo was captured in Prickwillow, England, GB by by humblenick. To capture the shot the photographer held an extra lens from a disposable camera in front of the iPhone lens. Good work.

These are but a few of the creative, imagitive and excellent iPhone images that can be found on Flickr and Flickr Creative Commons. Now it’s your turn to go out and experiment with your iPhone and learning how you can take great photos.

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Hot Valentine’s date? There’s an app for that

by David Becker on February 3, 2011 in Guide, Tips

It’s February, and love is in the air. Or is that just an unusually strong 3G signal?

Could be both if you use your smartphone to prepare for and pull off an epic Valentine’s Day date. Here are some apps to get you going:

Date Check

So I Dated an Axe Murder

Look before you leap with Date Check ($7-$20 per check, iPhone and Android), from background check giant Intelius. Enter whatever ID information you have for your potential sweetie, and the app sifts through a massive public records database to uncover criminal background, financial details and whether he’s really still living in his parents’ garage. Or married.

A Greasy Spoon Ain’t Sexy

Urbanspoon

A romantic dinner is pretty much the foundation for any serious Valentine’s Day canoodling. Haven’t picked the place yet? Then better get cracking with Open Table (free, available for iPhone, Android and most other smartphone platforms), which shows restaurant availability and customer reviews and lets you make instant reservations. Competing reservation service Urbanspoon (free, iPhone, Android, iPad and Blackberry) has restaurants that Open Table skips, more rating features and a slot machine widget for the chronically indecisive. The app also includes a geolocation feature that shows restaurants near you, in case your plans crash and you need to go into hunt-and-gather mode.

Hello Vino

I’ll Have Bottle of Your…

You expect your date to drink what with the seared scallops and saffron risotto?!? Let your phone help you make an informed wine choice with Hello Vino (free, iPhone and Android), which recommends compatible wines according to food pairings and personal tastes.

Smooth Like Butter

Psst! You should say something nice about the way your date looks. Several times. For the terminally tongue-tied, Wheel of Compliments, ($1.05, Android) provides admiring comments at the flick of a finger. Love Poems (free, Android) adds a little iambic pentameter to the sweet talk. Or deliver the verbal strokes the cute and sweet way — realistically inscribed on the image of a candy heart — with Candy Hearts ($1, iPhone.)

clubZone

You can Dance Right?

Dinner went well and you’re ready to crank up the good vibes. Wertago (free, iPhone and Android) and clubZone (free, iPhone) are location-aware services that tell you about nearby clubs and dance spots, with reviews and social hooks to find friends in the area (in case you need a wingman).

Kissing Test

Time to Move In

Time to test the chemistry? Have your best moves ready by practicing with Kiss Me (free, Android) or Kissing Test (free, iPhone). Both apps use your phone’s touch screen to evaluate your kissing technique and suggest improvements. Just have a tissue or two handy to wipe the screen afterward.

Ejector Seat!

Fake Calls

You, of course, are witty, charming and irresistible. But it takes two to make magic. Buy yourself a little disaster insurance with Fake Calls ($1, iPhone). The app will deliver a convincing fake phone call at the time you specify. If the date’s going swell, make a show of not answering. If it’s veering into chew-your-leg-off territory, take the call and deliver the “No, first you have to seal off the cobalt chamber, then reboot the reactor” monologue you’ve practiced and dash off to deal with the faux emergency.

OpenTable

Wheel Of Compliments

Love Poems

Candy Hearts

Wertago

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Dropped your phone in the toilet?

by Editor on February 2, 2011 in Guide, Tips

Everyday thousands of phones get wet, whether you dropped it in the toilet, spilled coffee on it, got pushed into the pool or put it through the washing machine, now what do you do? Calm down, take a deep breath because Geekaphone has a few steps that you can follow to try to save your phone (no promises).

Get it out of the water, asap! The longer your phone is in water, the more likely it is to have permanent damage.
Get the battery out! Quickly as possible pull of the back cover and get that battery out. When the phone is on and current is going through, it is more sensitive to damage and possible short circuiting.
- Now that your phone is off, leave it off. Your friends can wait until you get on the computer to know that you dropped your phone in to the toilet.
Remove your sim card if you have one, located near the battery
- Sim cards survive pretty well, so dry it of with a cloth and then put it aside.
Dry off as much water as possible
- Open the phone up as much as you can and then dry up as much water you can, this means inside the phone where the battery was,
- DO NOT use a hair dryer, it will likely push water further into your phone, and the heat can damage parts in the phone

Put your phone in a bowel of uncooked rice or other coarse substance that absorbs water to take away the moisture
- Desiccant, the silica gel packs usually found in purses and pockets, is the best option if you can find it
- Put your cell in a bag with the rice or desiccant and leave over night
  - Rotate the phone every few hours
Leave your phone alone for 12 hours
If there is still moisture present after this, then set your phone on an absorbent cloth like shamwow for another 6-8 hours turning every few hours
If your phone appears dry after at least 12 hours then put the battery in the phone and turn it on

Some other things to keep in mind:

Never try to heat your phone in order to dry it
Some phones handle water better than other
- iPhone
- Droid
How to disassemble a blackberry
Alternatively you might want to try using distilled water to save your phone (especially in salt water)

If all else false well at least you have a funny story like comedian Kristi McHugh

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