So what is it?
It’s basically a GPS receiver with onboard memory that tracks your current location via GPS and writes out some data to the device. You can then later download this data and do all kinds of cool things with it like plot your travels on a map, geotag any photos you took while on walkabout with the map data and export the geo data to other applications like Google Earth where you can make movies from your travels.

Wandering around Vancouver:

Taking the Alberta Train to Whistler:

My flight to Whitehorse:

I even took it dog sledding with me (the purple line is the trail we took along the river):

As you can see, the device is pretty tiny:

I just had it clipped onto my backpack for most of the games. Its onboard battery ran for days without recharging all the while it was downloading my location data.

The main thing I liked about this device over my other GPS photo gadgets is that it was always on, capturing data. My Nikon GP-1 needed a few minutes to acquire its satellite lock once I powered on my camera. It also has a motion detector so it goes into standby mode when you don’t move to conserve battery power.

What I didn’t like is the software support…unfortunately it only supports Windows XP and the 32 bit version of Windows 7 at the moment. No Mac support either. I have the 64 bit version of Windows installed on my MacBook Pro but had to use XP (under VMWare) to access the device and software. The good thing is the manufacturer is updating the software pretty regularly and once you do export the gps data, you can use it on anything. I’ve been playing around with my Whitehorse trip data file in Google Earth on my Mac. I haven’t had a chance to explore other gps apps that can accept the *.GPX data files. Also, while the geotagging option for photos is nice, I shoot RAW so I would have had to convert them down to jpegs then sync them with the software before being able to upload them somewhere like Flickr – a few too many steps for my workflow but I know lots of photogs that like the idea of being able to geotag without an expensive addon like the GP-1 (or they have a non-Nikon camera).

Overall I’m pretty happy with the device. I’ll be taking it with me to Austin later this week to track my SXSW attendance too.

Keep in mind my initial thoughts are based on using it for a few days….I’m going to be taking it with me to SXSW later this week and using it a lot more down in Texas.

Initial Pluses:

• beautiful screen – bigger and sharper than my iPhone 3GS
• fast performance – much faster Android experience than the LG Eve I’ve previously used
• slick dock that is perfect for a bedside table – the phone recognizes the dock and switches to an alarm clock mode dashboard complete with dimmer screen (and night colours) and even a GPS aware weather widget
• Telus IS faster – their 3G+ network (HSPA) is noticeably faster than my iPhone 3GS on Rogers – not sure if that is due to saturation on Rogers or what but faster is faster

Initial Minuses:

• form factor – not as comfortable in the hand as an iPhone or the LG Eve due to squarer lines and odd placement of buttons and micro-usb ports. The bigger screen and button placement below the screen means lots of awkward finger twister to navigate the phone whereas the iPhone can easily be used with one hand
• the camera – while it’s 5mp and has a flash with autofocus, I’ve yet to take a decent photo with it in low light situations where those features should make it shine above the iPhone’s camera
• Mac support is lacking – Android phones are meant to be synced ‘in the cloud’ but I’d like to simply transfer movies and music to it easily via the usb cable – further investigation of options still needed
• Android Marketplace – at least so far in Canada (on Telus), due to a Google Checkout issue, the only apps available to me are the free ones – I’d like to see some of the premium software for Android and how they compare to my iPhone

I’ll post a more thorough review once I’ve had some serious time with the device…assuming I don’t break it first – cases are incredibly lacking in Canada for this device.

So what Android apps are worth checking out? So far I’m using Seesmic for Twitter, the Facebook app, playing with Layar, Google Goggles and a few other camera apps I’ve found.

The team is comprised of former Olympic athletes and Cirque De Soleil performers, it is a high energy show that even has a DJ.

As you’ll see in the video, Olivier Lemieux actually took my little Kodak Zx1 on the trampoline with him for a few tricks:

Consider yourself warned as it may make some people a little queasy seeing the kind of moves his body goes through. There is also a brief picture in picture clip to give you an idea of what tricks are being performed from two perspectives. It’s not perfectly in sync but pretty close considering I only had one video camera at the event.

A big thanks to the Flying Canucks for having me out and for putting on a great show. They are performing March 5-7, 2010 at Metrotown Mall in Burnaby and then taking a break and will tour again this summer.

I wasn’t as quick to update my Olympic subsite as I was my Flickr, YouTube and Twitter accounts but stuff is still trickling in.

Once I get back from SXSW mid-March, I’ll jump into the Paralympics as much as I can using my True North Media House badge. I’m also still waiting to hear from Nikon about my D90 that got a little too exposed to the elements during my adventures. I’m hoping it can simply dry out and work again but we’ll see in about a week.

For now, here’s a highlight video I made using various video and photographic content I created during the games:

Needless to say, it was amazing!

Thanks to ZipTrek EcoTours for putting this on. It opens to the general public FOR FREE on Friday, February 12th. You can watch people ride it on their webcam.

I shot this with my Kodak Zx1 camera with the fisheye lens attachment. Seemed like a perfect day for a waterproof(ish) camera.

UPDATE: I felt confident enough to take my Nikon D90 out for a zipline spin too:

I ended up riding the zipline 4 times…it’s unlikely I’d ever get a chance to do that again (go again & again) so I made the most of it! They even said I could just leave the harness on between runs…except to get back to the launch tower, I had to walk up Howe Street and cross Robson on the sidewalk…yes, you get lots of looks when you are fully geared out with a harness and helmet. So much fun!

Check out some more photos from the Zipline.

These cars were handmade in at GM’s design factory and are in town during the Olympics (GM is a vehicle sponsor). The fit and finish (and even some of the tech) wasn’t final yet as they are still tweaking the designs at this point.

It’s the first fully electric, plug-in vehicle and it was a lot of fun to drive. We were in a parking lot with a little track made out of cones around it and were able to get it going at a pretty good clip. Definitely ‘peppier’ than I was expecting.

I really like the idea of being able to simply plug the car into a normal wall outlet (you actually plug it into a box that plugs into the wall). It can currently go approximately 64 kms per charge running in practically silent electric mode. It will cost just under a $1 a day to charge the vehicle.

The driver’s dashboard:

The centre console:

This is what happens when you get the Volt up over 88 mph:

They even have an iPhone app that allows to you monitor many aspects of the vehicle as well as unlock/lock, start and charge it all remotely.

It’s all tied into the OnStar system. A free demo version of the Volt ‘Experience’ app is already on the (US) App Store if you want to check it out yourself…search for “OnStar Experience”.

I was also able to attach a camera to the windshield to get some driving video. Because it was a prototype, with a custom paint job, the engineers didn’t want me to attach the camera to any painted surfaces. I didn’t want to be the guy that damages a very expensive prototype either.

Here’s the resulting video with a cheeky soundtrack I added by Basement Jaxx that I think GM should licence for the Volt’s promotion:

It was a pretty cool opportunity to check out this pre-production vehicle, chat with a couple of the engineers who designed it and for the chance to drive it. I’ll be curious to see what changes get made when they finally put it into production next year. It’s supposed to hit the Canadian market in mid-2011.

You can view the rest of my photos on Flickr.

Thanks to GM Canada for letting me drive their prototype…I didn’t crash it either!

I’ll probably order the 32gb model with 3G radio. Not 100% sure I’d use the 3G network option but I’d rather have the option…especially since it’s unlocked – which is a big deal by the way. This could also be foreshadowing of the next iPhone device. The fact they even mentioned ‘unlocked’ is huge.

More later…like when real humans actually get their hands on it.

Update: This guy nails it with a great post on the iPad as well as a lot of things on the internet.

I highly recommend checking it out full size.

It was made with the Photo Collage tool that I wrote about previously….such a fun little tool.

While at dinner, we discussed the next details behind the next 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon…stay tuned as once we nail down a few more details, we’ll spill the beans…let’s just say you won’t need a winter coat for the next one.

So this weekend, I picked up a Delkin Fat Gecko Mini-Mount (Amazon link although I bought mine from London Drugs):

It’s a beefy suction cup mount for attaching your camera to all kinds of things…like your car:

I know what you’re thinking…but this mount is much more robust than the $12 mount I found on ebay (which I overloaded).

I wanted to try it out with some ’safer’ positions first that I could keep an eye on but after spending some time today with it stuck all over my car, driving at different speeds (including taking it on the highway) I trust it to carry my smaller cameras like the Kodak Zx1 and even my trusty Nikon P6000 pretty much while attached in any position to my car, inside or out. Driving from my home to downtown (about 30 minutes on the highway) over all kinds of turns and bumps resulted in no problems with the mount…it’s solid.

Here’s a video showing some of the different angles I shot during my ‘test drive’ today:

The mount also comes with an extension arm which lets you get out and away from the attach point better so I’ll be trying that next. I also need to dig out my wide angle and fisheye lenses to make the field of view on the Zx1 even wider.

UPDATE: Found my fisheye lens and added the extension arm to the Fat Gecko….the results are pretty awesome:

It makes me smile everytime I see it…and judging from the smiles on people following behind me (and pointing), it was a good investment. Now if only I could get my car to make the ‘transformer’ sound via my key fob, it would be perfect.

One of the reasons why I bought the P6000 was the fact that it had built in support to shoot time lapse movies. With support for large SD cards and a power adaptor, you should have no problem shooting 1000s of frames. I use a 16gb SD card in mine and can get well over 2000 frames with the settings below. The P6000 is also nice and small and easily put on a mini tripod or clamp to tuck it out of the way to make a good timelapse.

It can do this two different ways, one via the Movie mode (on the dial) and by choosing the ‘Time-Lapse Movie’ function or via the method I’m going to outline here. The benefit of using my method is that you have more control over the end result and each frame will be treated like a still photo.

You’ll need to be in something other than the auto mode…I usually use aperture priority but feel free to experiment with the settings as they can create some interesting results.

First thing you’ll want to do is setup your shot using whatever settings you’d use to capture a good still image. This includes focus, exposure, aperature, shutter, etc. Take a few test shots to make sure it works for you.

Then enter the MENU and under the SHOOTING option, choose CONTINUOUS:

Then choose INTVL TIMER SHOOTING:

Then choose your interval time:

Depending on what you’re hoping to capture, this can vary and you’ll want to experiment. Unfortunately, the P6000 can only do intervals as short as one frame every 30 seconds. I wish this went lower but it’s probably a safety measure to ensure the sensor doesn’t burn out. I almost always choose 30s. You’ll want to think about how long the end resulting video will be. In the case of the 12×12 timelapse (at the end of this post), I planned for about 5 hours of shooting (the length of the event).

You’ll also want to adjust the image quality for your timelapses:

I always set it to FINE (jpeg)…it yields great image quality without excess filesize….as I usually shoot in RAW for stills, make sure you check this before starting or you’ll fill your memory card up faster and also run into issues later when creating the movie.

I usually set the IMAGE SIZE to 1600×1200 which gives me slightly better than HD image sizes that gives me a little room for cropping/letterboxing the image frame for HD later (iMovie 09 handles this without doing anything). As the P6000 doesn’t shoot HD video natively, this is the best way to do it that I’ve found.

Hit the shutter button and get ready to wait for awhile to get a substantial amount of frames. This could be a few hours or all day. Ideally you won’t move the camera at all but if you plan it right, it can add some interesting results to the video.

Once you’ve finished shooting your timelapse, you’ll have to turn the camera off to stop it from shooting anymore or navigate to the menu and change the shooting mode from CONTINUOUS.

Creating the Movie
I’m using a Mac with Quicktime 7 to create my video but there are probably a bunch of different apps to do this on a PC or Linux. If you’re running OSX Snow Leopard, you’ll need to install Quicktime 7 from your Snow Leopard disc as it’s not installed by default (Quicktime 8 is).

Upon launching Quicktime 7, you’ll want to open an IMAGE SEQUENCE:

Point this at the folder of your memory card and choose the first image in the sequence. Quicktime will know to import the rest of the sequence. This can also be fun to do with still images to create a fun movie but that’s a topic for another post.

Another minor shortcoming of the P6000 is that time lapse sequences are limited to 200 images per folder. This means you’ll have to create multiple image sequences (depending on the length of your timelapse) and join them later in your editing software. Repeat this process for each of the folders of images, again depending on how many frames you shot.

You’ll then be prompted to choose a frame rate. Once again, this will require some experimentation depending on what you’ve shot.

Once you’ve selected the frame rate, Quicktime will build a movie from your images. This can take some time and if you used the settings I described, it may not even be very playable on your computer due to the high resolution nature of the sequence. Make sure you save the file as it doesn’t do this by default. If you have multiple sequence folders, repeat this process and name the movies accordingly.

The end result looks something like this once dropped into an editing package (in this case iMovie 09 where I added titles, music and fades):

I exported the resulting video in HD from iMovie and then uploaded it to Flickr which supports short HD movies. I’m also a fan of Vimeo and occasionally use YouTube.

Keep in mind that while I’m using the P6000 in this example, similar functions exist in other cameras and the basic concepts should apply to them all. I recently bought an intravalometer for my DSLR to accomplish the same thing with the added flexibility of other lens options….something which the P6000 is also capable of, albeit more limited.

Have fun!

On Friday, the organizing committee hung just over 600 photos at the Vancouver Photo Workshops space. Judging from the feedback from the attendees on Saturday, it was well worth the effort.

The marathon winners:

I setup my Nikon P6000 above the exit in the main studio room and shot this timelapse video of the event in one of the exhibition rooms (there were 7 in total!):

Keep an eye on the marathon website for a more detailed wrapup of the event (and detailed winners list) soon. All the photos taken during the marathon have now been made public on Flickr if you’d like to see all the entries.

Thanks to everyone that came out to see the results of the first Vancouver Photo Marathon…we’ve already started talking about the next one.

You can view all my photos from the event on Flickr.

You can read my original submission (from back in July). Unfortunately, our session won’t be a full panel with all the speakers I had originally proposed, but a few of them are hoping to still come out and be a part of the conversation. If you’re going to be in Austin, we’d love to have you come out at 3:30pm and join us. Have a listen:

SXSWi 2010: Do Cool Kids Leave when the Suits Arrive?

Not quite sure yet how the folks at SXSW will utilize this podcast (they asked for it) but I thought we should post it here.

Originally I was thinking of going out of town to simply avoid the traffic snarls the games will surely bring (I work in North Vancouver) but those plans were dashed because my wife still has to work during that time…at least some it in her office in West Vancouver. After some thinking and talking to a few friends, I made the decision to take the entire block of time off from work.

So what am I going to do with my time? Plenty!

I’ve got a few things lined up already but I plan on simply being a photographic observer of the games and what they bring to Vancouver and the surrounding area. Yes, even the protests that will surely happen…I’m hoping to cover it all.

Regardless of how you feel about the games, there is no doubt that it will be a spectacle that Vancouver hasn’t seen since Expo 86…possibly even more so because of the scope of the games and the changes it’s brought to the city.

I don’t have any event tickets (at least I haven’t purchased or been given any as of yet) and I’m really more interested in all the ancillary events and gatherings that will occur all over the place outside of the actual sporting events. I figure the sporting events will already be covered by photographers with much better zoom lenses than I own.

As all the countries attending the games will be having open houses celebrating their country and athletes, I plan on doing my own world tour of these sites scattered throughout the city.

A number of friends will be involved in lots of different activities on their own and via the True North Media House so there should be no shortage of meetups, tweetups and photo ops.

Yes, I did apply for media credentials awhile back but was declined as this blog and my Flickr presence doesn’t appear to be enough to warrant accreditation according to VANOC. That’s fine…all those credentials seem to give someone is a place to plug their laptop into the internet in a big media room…I have plenty of options for doing that via friends if necessary.

So if you’ve involved in an event that you’d like to me to visit/photograph during the games, feel free to contact me using my contact form or leave a comment here. I am also available to shoot your event (for hire) pending availability.

I’ll be posting all my photos to my Flickr stream as well I’ve got some plans for setup a sub site to capture all the events but everything will flow through here, like it always does via the sidebar.

My photos will all be posted with a Creative Commons license (like 99% of my photos are) but if you’re interested in using any of them for something other than personal use, feel free to contact me as well.

I’m looking forward to meeting a ton of people and taking thousands of photos over the two week period.

UPDATE: I received media credentials for the B.C. International Media Centre (BCMC) so things could get a whole lot more interesting.

I’ve attended a lot of WordCamps over the years…in a lot of different places. I’ve even had the honour to speak at a few of them too. This time around, I’m on the organizing committee…it remains to be seen if I’ll be speaking as it’s early days so we’ll see how things play out.

WordCamp has been a pretty fantastic place to meet some pretty awesome people, share information about the WordPress platform and have a great time. I learn something new every time I attend one.

If you’re interested in anything to do with blogging or WordPress, I encourage you to sign up for the email updates and/or follow us on Twitter. We’ll share more information as soon as we have more details!

I’ve decided to make it a daily photo kind of site. Using a new theme (Duotone) which changes the screen colours based on the photo being presented, I’ll post a new photo each day from my favorites.

Feel free to leave a comment on any photo if you’re so inclined. I’m going to try to mix in some older photos and some newer ones that have never been published before.

The first photos of the year are already up if you’d care to visit. I’ll see if I can find a slick way of pulling these daily thumbnails into the sidebar here in the near future.

Hopefully, I helped to clarify some things for folks out there.

Here’s the segments edited together from the news broadcast which originally aired on December 31st on CBC News (Vancouver) which I captured with my TiVo (sadly not in high definition but I needed a haircut anyway):

Thanks to my pal, Tris Hussey for the recommendation to the CBC producers.

The form factor of the Juice Pack Air is very similar to the iPhone…it’s a similar shiny hard plastic case that completely envelops the iPhone. I kind of wish it wasn’t so shiny as for a case, it doesn’t offer any slip protection like most cases do. I’d prefer a matte finish or even a rubberized coating. All the iPhone’s buttons and switches are still accessible except the dock connector:

In its place is a micro USB port and a slider switch. The Juice Pack comes with the necessary micro USB cable that facilitates charging the Juice Pack and allows you to sync your iPhone while in the case. I wish it was a more common mini USB cable but at least it’s not a proprietary plug/cable although I don’t believe I have any other devices (or cables) that are micro USB so it’s one more cable you need to carry and hope you don’t lose. At least Mophie sells replacement cables inexpensively on their website.

The switch allows you to control when the iPhone receives its charge from the Juice Pack. You can charge it up and leave it in standby mode until you need it.

As I mentioned earlier, everyone on the iPhone is still available to use, including the camera as you can see above. The photo should also give you a good idea of how much extra bulk the case/battery adds to the iPhone. I have to say, when I first held a Juice Pack, it seemed bulky but after having this one for a couple of days, it’s really not a big deal.

The Juice Pack has a ‘fuel gauge’ and button on the back of the case:

This is similar to Apple laptops that display how much power is left in the battery. While charging, these light up and blink to indicate how far along the charge is. Press the button at any time and you’ll know how much juice is left in the case.

The only real shortcoming this device has is the inability to charge the iPhone battery directly through the case while plugged into your computer (or similar USB power port). You can only charge up the Juice Pack and then charge the iPhone by depleting the Juice Pack. I would have preferred to be able to charge up both (sequentially is fine) so that you have both fully charged up before heading out. The way it is now, you have to charge them separately. Removing the iPhone from the case is easy enough but it would be easier if you didn’t have to.

I don’t plan on using the case all the time, just on those days that I know I’ll be out for an extended time and don’t want to worry about my iPhone dying while using it heavily.

UPDATE (Jan 7, 2010): Thanks to C.K.’s suggestion in the comments, it does appear that the syncing while in the Juice Pack Air issue is related to a bad cable. I swapped cables and it worked fine. Contact Mophie’s support to get a replacement. Mine is on it’s way.

It was friggin’ cold though…next time I’ll plan ahead and bring a jacket (I wasn’t quite prepared for the winter temperatures since I was going to work).

Morten has a great recap of the event up on the 12×12 site and I couldn’t have said it better than he does. Suffice to say, the response, participants, feedback, turnout, sponsors and the positive vibe the event generated far exceeded our humble expectations.

Back in September when the committee had it’s first meeting, we were concerned about being able to sell 40 tickets to the event….let alone having to turn away interested participants because we were at capacity.

There is no question that this was a gruelling challenge of endurance…not to mention a big chunk of time for folks to make available during one of the busiest times of the year. The challenge was also somewhat technical – having to contend with camera gear that may not have been used for years (or ever by some of the participants who bought or borrowed their gear just for the event).

We also witnessed heartbreak when one participant went to turn in her roll of film, only to discover that it possibly hadn’t been loaded in the camera correctly and despite shooting all 12 of the theme shots. We’re going to process the roll anyway just in the off chance that the camera did expose something.

We also had the weather to contend with…fortunately the snow held off until the day afterwards!

I mentioned that I spent almost the entire day inside Blenz. Ben and I managed to duck out twice to visit one of the event sponsors, the Vancouver Lookout at Harbour Centre. We went once in the early afternoon:

and then again after dark:

You can view all my photos from the event on Flickr or visit the 12×12 YVR Flickr Pool where we’ll be posting the entries once they are processed.

I have to say, I’m kind of envious of the participants…if I wasn’t directly involved in the event, I would have loved to taken the challenge myself.

UPDATE: Check out the details about the 12×12 YVR event, Raw Talent which will showcase the winners at the Vancouver Photo Workshops on Saturday, January 16th at 6pm.