As usual, my Apple nerd friends and I gathered around one of the big TVs in the “living room” area at work, so we could watch the Apple event and announcements live. Usually, it’s me flipping through all the liveblogs, seeing what tidbits we can glean as they dribble out. This time, since there was a live video stream for the first time since 2002, we were sitting pretty – we were watching and listening to Steve Jobs live on the TV. It was great.
Until, five minutes into the thing, the building sirens go off, and security comes over the PA and announces that the building is being evacuated. It was just a scheduled drill, but it was SO HARD to drag myself away from the new and exciting announcements we were just starting to hear!
As we filed out of the building, I brought up the stream on my iPhone (which worked beautifully – as a video streaming guy, I appreciate how difficult it is to get this right on such a large scale). We marched to the evacuation area in the parking lot, and by luck, my car was parked nearby. So I had an idea.
We all piled into my car (which also got us out of the rain), stuck my iPhone and the Apple stream into my car dock, and we continued to watch and listen to the event in my car during the fire drill evacuation. It was a nerd drive-in movie! Never underestimate the ingenuity of an unabashed fanboy.
Posting some of the photos I took at Gnomedex 10 in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. Gnomedex is my favorite conference, and I look forward to it every August as a “family reunion” of my geek people. This year was bittersweet – it was likely the last Gnomedex ever. I took lots of notes, and intend to write up a few more meaty posts on some of the thoughts I had. But for now, I’m posting these, mainly to push down my lame “Site was hacked” post, which has been sitting here for too long.
All photos were taken with my iPhone 4 – I decided not to lug a “big boy” DSLR with me, and I have to say, the photo quality of the iPhone 4, coupled with the amazing apps I can use to manipulate the photos “in camera” (like Pro HDR, Autostitch, etc.) blew me away. This is now my “pocket carry” camera, and unless I really need a DSLR, probably the only one I’ll carry from now on.
Made this combination panorama and HDR shot on my iPhone 4 with Pro HDR and Autostitch, two of my favorite photo apps. Taken from the front steps of the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle, home to Gnomedex for the last five years.
Chris Pirillo
The End of Gnomedex
Seattle Waterfront Panorama. Using Autostitch, of course.
Seattle Waterfront, Unretouched from iPhone 4. Love the colors on this one.
I was notified this morning by a friendly reader that my site was redirecting people to a malware site. Sure enough, upon investigation, it seems I was hit by this exploit, as written up at mediatemple.
I’m pretty sure I’ve cleaned it all up now – I can’t find any traces of infection. But I’d appreciate it if you could let me know if you see any strange behavior on the site, get redirected somewhere unexpected, etc.
My previous favorite two-exposure HDR photo app, TrueHDR, gave me a bit of frustration in Germany. The output wasn’t saved at full resolution, and the grain/noise was a lot more noticeable on the iPhone 4′s retina display.
So I’m trying out Pro HDR ($1.99). Works the same way (take one bright and one dark exposure, merge them), but claims to save full resolution (3MP or 5MP), and has some nice sliders to adjust saturation, warmth, etc. before you save (the HDR process sometimes does funky things to color).
Just did this test shot on my back porch. So far, so good. The sky and the flower pots are both exposed pretty well. I think I’ve found something that improves upon TrueHDR, and another tool in my iPhone photography arsenal.
I have a ton more pictures to share from our first couple of days in Munich (all shot on my iPhone 4, which is turning out to be a perfectly wonderful pocket camera). I’ll post more later, but here are some of the meals we’ve had.
Not sure what order these’ll post in, but it’s breakfast at the hotel, “churrasco on a plate” from the Brasilian restaurant Ver o Paso, and wurst mit sauerkraut and apfelstrudel from Hofbrauankeller. Yum!
I love looking at planes. And I *really* love the camera in the new iPhone 4. It’s amazing. This one was made in Autostitch from 4 individual photos. No idea how it looks on a big screen, but it’s splendid on the retina display.
Glad to have something to entertain me during this layover.
Threw this together in literally about two minutes with the new iMovie for iPhone 4. Wasn’t nearly as complicated as I feared. Double tap stuff to find all the options.
The content of this blog is my personal opinion only and although I am an employee of Intel, the statements I make here in no way represent Intel's position on any issue, nor am I authorized to speak on behalf of Intel on any matter.
@jasonmauer yeah, I'm guessing augmented reality apps will be OK. Barcode scanner apps may have a harder time at that res, though. in reply to jasonmauer#
Got iTunes 10. Ping *does* connect with Facebook. Why on earth didn't they, you know, mention that? #
The little "show the album art in place of the album name for more than 5 in a row" feature in iTunes 10 isn't working for me. Boo. #
I'm on iTunes Ping and findable. Add me if you like. No making fun of my music – it doesn't have most of the indie stuff I listen to. #
Twitter for iPad: Sharing content in Tweets http://j.mp/bmFje2 Woo hoo! It's here! #
So, Twitter for iPad is in the app store. Sort of. It still installs the iPhone version for me. Release date is tomorrow 9/2). Weirdness. #
Twitter for iPad review http://j.mp/cBcyzG I can't get it yet, but here's an early review by Engadget. #
Got my traditional seat front and center at @Gnomedex! #
Kicking off the last day of @Gnomedex ever. Sad, but the memories and ideas and cool stuff will last forever. Thanks, Chris. #
Amy Karlson sharing interesting data "typical" user mobile device behavior. My atypical iPhone/iPad lifestyle feels futuristic. #gnomedex#
@kathy_live @sethlong I think the data/research is good. But many of us live in the future. What we do now will be normal in a few years. in reply to kathy_live#
I made a decision years ago to move my life into the cloud, so I could slide frictionlessly among my continuum of devices. #gnomedex#
I'm very happy with my Gmail, Dropbox, Omnifocus, Google Reader, etc. cloud lifestyle. I'm happy and productive on any device. #gnomedex#
I've been away from the office for a week, but my inbox is empty, and I've stayed on top of all my tasks using my iPhone and iPad. #gnomedex#
It occurs to me that I really need to write a detailed post on how I use the cloud and my devices in my workflow/lifestyle. #gnomedex#
@shanselman Oh, you mean why is this the last Gnomedex? Chris decided. He needs more help to pull it off, a company to run it. in reply to shanselman#
@blazeIt I would have kept using the Evo 4G, but the Froyo 2.2 update disabled the wifi hotspot feature unless I pay Sprint $30/month. in reply to blazeIt#
Scott Draves' "Generation 243" is gorgeous. It's a 1080p HD "sheep" from Electric Sheep, an art piece at Carnegie Mellon. WANT. #gnomedex#
It takes @spot's algorithm 1 hour (!) to render *each frame* of his animated art. Need Moar Faster Cores! Wow. Beautiful. #gnomedex#
Great, humorous info on the intersection between tech and sustainability (on their 44 acre ranch by Spokane) from @moosicornranch #gnomedex#
Just discovered you can unlock an iPad (and probably an iPhone) with the spacebar of a paired Bluetooth keyboard. Neat! #
OmniTechNews Silent Dance Party http://t.co/MpV01aZ – these kids dance on stage every chance they get at #Gnomedex They rock! #
@tokerud I've been doing comparisons between Pro HDR and True HDR the last couple of days. Both are great. Pro HDR's new "auto" mode rocks. in reply to tokerud#
Checking in to @Gnomedex, talking to Chris, Stuart, and the rest, a feeling settles over me. I'm home. These are my people. #
Never underestimate the ingenuity of an unabashed fanboy. 
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