Infographic source: CurrentConfig, who also has a PDF version suitable for printing, folding and hanging on a toilet roll (should you know of someone who needs illumination on the proper technique).

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I recently purged about 1,000 photos from my iPhone, but Photo Stats didn’t mind. It still created the following, beautiful infographic that analyzed the 266 photos still on my iPhone.

Photo Stats will show you where, when and how you took your photos, with location, time of day, your “most productive” days and various photo properties like portrait vs. landscape, ISO setting and photo app used.

The $0.99 price is reasonable, although they say it’s a promotion only good for the first week. After that, it goes up to a whopping $1.99 (still a deal, in my book). Go get Photo Stats, and share a link to your Photo Stats in the comments below.

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Some time ago, the good folks at Memolane made it super easy for self-hosted WordPress users to embed their Memolane or stories right on their blog, like my own “lane” below. Give it a try! Click and drag the “lane” left to right, or down to view days with many entries. Click on an item to expand the view.

Want to try it? Sign up for Memolane (be sure to add me as a friend), connect as many services as you want, download this WordPress plugin and follow these simple instructions. You can embed either your own “lane” or story on any post or page using a short code. Simple!

Do you use Memolane? Like it? Hate it? What do you think?

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I love playing with camera and video apps on the iPhone, and this one looks awesome. Kogeto is a New York-based company that specializes in high-end panoramic video cameras. They have a Kickstarter project to create an elegant, inexpensive accessory that turns your iPhone 5 into a panoramic camera. Dot snaps on to your iPhone 4 and works in conjunction with an app that removes the distortion and creates an interactive 360º video. You can capture video to your iPhone or even stream to the web.

Check out the video below for examples of Dot in action.

Interested in supporting Dot? Check it out on Kickstarter.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

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I always had wondered whether the author had modeled Miles (the aspiring novelist) after himself. As it turns out, he had in many ways. What I hadn’t considered was the risk he took in doing so. By laying bare so personal a story and putting it out there for others to accept or reject, he risked the ultimate rejection. If his novel had turned out to be a failure, wouldn’t that have been the proverbial nail in the coffin for his writing career?

As it turned out, Sideways was turned into a movie and enjoyed tremendous success. It’s hard to imagine some of the casting choices the studio had originally wanted (George Clooney as out-of-work actor Jack? Sean Penn as self-deprecating Miles?). Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church stepped into those roles as if they were made for them.

Pickett has published a sequel called Vertical that picks up with Miles and Jack seven years later. Miles has written a novel that was made into a wildly successful movie, and it’s changed his life (sound familiar?). Jack is divorced and is on the skids (no surprise there).

I’ve got a copy of Vertical that I’ll be reading on my flight to Abu Dhabi this week. I’m looking forward to seeing where life has taken Miles and Jack, and keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll a film adaptation in the future.

You can follow Rex Pickett on his journey at VerticalTheNovel.com.

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My son Joel recommended this film and I wasn’t disappointed. There is no commentary or narration. The soliders and their actions speak for themselves. It is a gritty look at the harsh reality of life in a war zone and the human side to this band of soliders.

Restrepo is available now to stream now on Netflix.

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It’s no secret that I love hiking. I’ve devoted my SoCalHiker website to cataloging the hiking trails I explore in Orange County and throughout Southern California. Hiking is a great form of exercise, but it’s also a way to connect with nature, to unplug from the technology-driven world of work and reconnect with friends both old and new. Hiking can be almost a meditation, when done in solitude; or an intensely social activity.

This week marks a significant milestone in 2011 — the first week of daylight savings time. Oh, how I love DST, because it means there’s enough daylight after work to get in a great hike in the evening.

For about 1-1/2 years, I’ve been leading a Wednesday night hike on San Clemente’s Roller Coaster Ridge trail. The hike is cross-posted in two Meetup groups, both the Far South OC Social Events (ugh, what a mouthful) and Hiking OC. We meet at the end of Camino del los Mares just before 6pm each Wednesday during daylight savings time. The trail is a beauty; 4.6 miles with over 900 feet of elevation gain and sweeping 360 degree views of the coastal mountains, the blue Pacific Ocean, Dana Point and the marina, and on clear days like this, San Clemente Island and Catalina Island.

What’s wonderful is that in that past 1-1/2 years, I’ve met some wonderful people on the trails. We’ve hiked many miles together, and shared quite a few tacos afterwards (we like to visit Wahoo’s after the hike). We supported each other as we grew stronger as hikers, and as Joan and I trained for last year’s John Muir Trail backpack trip.

But what I didn’t really realize is what an impact we’ve made. Tonight, on our first Wednesday night hike on Roller Coaster Ridge in 2011, we had ten hikers on the trail. Some old friends, and some new. Something Barbara (one of tonight’s ten) said really touched me.  She told Joan and I what an inspiration we were for hiking the JMT last year, and how that had motivated her for her own goals.

It’s funny, when you set a lofty, difficult goal, and then do the preparation and training, and actually reach that goal, other problems seem insignificant. And that’s the lesson. We all have the ability to achieve far more than we imagine possible. And once we do, it empowers us to do more still.

If you live in south OC and would like to join me on our Wednesday night hikes, let me know!

Special thanks to Allan, Ina, Dave, Amy, Barbara, Cindy, Gloria, Karen and Joan for joining me on the first Wednesday night hike of daylight savings time!

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A few interesting stats to consider before you watch. A student spends just over 10,000 hours attending school from 6-12th grade. The average teen in the U.S. will spend just over 10,000 hours during that same period playing games — about 22 hours a week (a part-time job!).

These gamers have a sense of optimism — they believe they CAN win the game. So what if we change the game to have a real impact on the world around us? Imagine what problems we could solve.

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And so…

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that like Starbucks, and those that don’t. I love Starbucks.Yes, it’s pricey, but I usually visit my local Starbucks on El Camino two or three times a week. My girlfriend would probably guess more frequently, but I’m not ready to admit to that.

I just unlocked the "Starbucks Tribute" badge on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/hXltsx

March 10, 2011 8:01 am via foursquareReplyRetweetFavorite

@jeffhester

Jeff Hester

This week Starbucks is celebrating their 40th anniversary. Regardless of what you think of their coffee, you have to respect that they’ve done a few things quite well from a business perspective. In conjunction with their 40th anniversary, they rolled out their new logo. It’s not really all that new — but more of a modification. Essentially they stripped out the band with the text that read “Starbucks Coffee,” leaving only the siren.

There was an uproar when they announced the new logo back in January. Some of my designer and marketing friends were up in arms over the new design. “Big mistake” was the consensus. Now that it’s here, I don’t hear much from anyone. Certainly it didn’t seem to reduce the morning lineup at Starbucks. It didn’t confuse, confound or bother the average customer at all. Either they didn’t notice, or didn’t really care. If they did notice, it was a novelty — “Oh, look! They changed the logo!” A sort of positive vibe that keeping it fresh provides the brand.

Mark Hurst profiled Starbucks in last week’s Good Experience newsletter. He notes that the formula that drove success at Starbucks began to falter a couple years ago, but they’ve appeared to turn this around. CEO Howard Schultz explained to the Wall Street Journal how they turned things around. “Putting our feet in the shoes of the customer…” was his key message. Note that the average customer wasn’t bothered by the logo change. The noise generated by the design and branding community was simply that — noise.

Last week at Linked OC, Seth Godin shared an interesting anecdote about Starbucks. He noted that when they originally opened, they did not sell coffee. They sold coffee beans, but not coffee by the cup. The formula faltered until they brought in a new CEO who brought in the idea of serving espresso drinks such as he had seen in Italy, and the rest is history.

Where is all this headed? Well, we’ve established that I like Starbucks. Two out of my three offspring have worked for Starbucks (one still does). And Starbucks, in spite of all their success was not and is not immune to mis-steps, either. The key has been, and remains — keeping the customer in mind.

So then, who is your customer? And are they on your mind?

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Just about nine months ago, I decided to cut that cable. I called Cox and asked them to discontinue both my land line phone service (which I never used) and my cable TV. It was weird, but I don’t think they really believed that I was truly canceling my regular television programming. They asked if I was switching to satellite (I wasn’t). They enticed me to stay with lower monthly rates (I didn’t). The only service I kept was their broadband Internet.

It was a calculated decision. I already had Netflix, with streaming movie capabilities. I had Xbox Live and iTunes, allowing access to still more movies and shows. I have a cable from my Mac Mini to my 47″ Visio so I can play movies or shows I’ve downloaded. Most of the programming that I cared about was available at a much lower cost.

How has it worked out?

The biggest gaps in my programming are live coverage such as news and sports. Of course, the Internet is also a great source for updates on both, but certain sporting events are just more enjoyable to watch as their played. For this, I met up with friends at a local sports pub to catch a game, and relied on Internet news sites rather than cable news for the latest happenings around the globe.

I’ve also found new sources of programming. Last fall I added a wifi-enabled Samsung Bluray player that I’ve ended up using more as a streaming device than for playing discs. I use it regularly with Hulu Plus, Vudu, Netflix, Vimeo and Pandora.

Xbox Live added ESPN3 back in November 2010. So far, this hasn’t been much use to me. They don’t include any NFL games; my primary sport. But I have used it to watch tennis.

Still, there are times when I miss turning on the TV to catch the local news as I get ready to start my day. Not a big deal, but missed. For a while, ivi TV looked promising. They offered streaming of broadcast TV channels from major cities including New York and Los Angeles. Unfortunately the networks have tied them up in the courts and shut down most of the programming they once had.

For now, my experiment in cutting the cable has been a huge success. I’ve saved about $1,000 over the past nine months, even after you add in my Hulu Plus subscription. If you’re comfortable with streaming and downloading programming, you may want to consider joining the ranks of cable cutters, too.

Have you cut the cord? If so, what has your experience been? If not, what’s holding you back?

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I’ve had my iPad since last October, and love it. Now that the iPad 2 is out, the natural question is whether to upgrade.

In my case, the decision is pretty easy. My girlfriend already has her eye on my “old” iPad, so I won’t have any problem finding it a good home. But what do you do if you don’t have a built-in buyer?

One of my co-workers Richard told me about a site called Gazelle where you can resell used electronic devices. It’s a much simpler process than selling direct through Craigslist. They even send you a prepaid Fedex box to ship your device in. He sold two first-generation iPads, and is ready to upgrade next weekend.

Of course, before you ship it off, you’ll want to erase all your personal data.

Restore to factory settings

Here are the steps to follow:

1. On your iPad home screen, tap the Settings icon.
2. Tap General in the menu to the left of the screen, then tap Reset.
3. Here, you will have two options: “Reset All Settings” and “Erase All Content and Settings.” The former will restore all of your app settings to their original status. The latter will reset all app settings and erase all of your data (photos, apps, bookmarks, music, etc.). Choose “Erase All Content and Settings.”

At this point, the iPad will need to be reconnected to iTunes in order to be activated again. Let the new owner take care of that. You’re set!

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Click here to view the embedded video.

I honestly don’t know how the pros do it, but thanks to the ReelMoments iPhone app, you can join in the fun. Here’s an example that I shot this evening. I used my GorillaMobile iPhone 4 tripod (which rocks), pointed the camera out my living room window and let it run.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can take this a step further using iMovie for the iPhone to add in a soundtrack, like I did for this sunset at Doheny beach.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Reel Moments is $1.99; a small price for the capability.

One thing I’d still like to investigate is how to move the camera as well. I figure I could rig something up with servos. Any suggestions?

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Number 1 – Radiohead released their new album The King of Limbs online one day early. I picked up the downloadable MP3 version for a sweet $9. Their best work since OK Computer.

Number 2 – Friday night after dinner, my girlfriend and I caught opening night of Unknown. Liam Neeson stars as Dr. Martin Harris, who awakens four days after a car accident in Berlin to discover that his wife suddenly doesn’t recognize him. It was pretty good up to a point. I don’t make it to the theater often, and this flick made for a fun night out.

Number 3 – Saturday we spent the afternoon at the 18th Annual Scottish Festival and Games at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Annie has a Scottish lineage, and was happy to bring me along. The clouds threatened to rain, but we lucked out and did it all. We saw the pipe and drum parade; ate Scottish meat pie and bangers; watched the Highland Games; saw border collies herding sheep; sampled a variety of single malt Scotch; and naturally perused the various vendor booths. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many kilts in one place. It’s a one weekend affair, but if you haven’t gone before, I highly recommend it (next year, of course).

Number 4 – Speaking of single malt scotch, we attended a wonderful tasting hosted by Ray Pearson. He bills himself as “The Whiskymeister”, and gave us an education on the various distillery regions of Scotland and the process that goes into creating single malt scotch. Of the four we tasted, my favorite was Bowmore, from the Islay region. It’s a smoky, peaty single malt similar to Laphroaig.

Number 5 – Finally, this morning I read about Adele’s new album, 21 in the paper and placed my preorder on iTunes. She’s a talented vocalist, and it’s hard to believe she’s only 21 years old. It’s due out on Tuesday, but I’m certain to enjoy it.

There you have it… five good things worth checking out.

For those of you who have President’s Day off tomorrow, think about me while I’m at work!

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Growing up, we all sang the familiar song. Thankfully, I’ve never tasted blackbird pie (nor do I desire to). I never even really thought much about what I was singing as a child, otherwise I might have gagged.

Fortunately, there’s a new kind of Blackbird Pie that’s actually quite tasty. I’m referring of course to the fantastic Blackbird Pie plugin for WordPress.

The Blackbird Pie plugin let’s you easily quote a tweet with the links and look of the original tweet, like this:

Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in the most excellent WordPress plugin for sharing tweets: http://t.co/az5d46g

February 20, 2011 7:28 pm via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@jeffhester

Jeff Hester

Blackbird Pie adds an icon to the TinyMCE visual editor. When you are editing your post, click the Blackbird button and you’ll see a screen that let’s you paste in the URL to the tweet you want to share, or search for a tweet.

My original tweet. The URL is highlighted and copied to the clipboard.

Here’s the dialog for inserting a tweet:

The sweet thing about Blackbird Pie is that all the links that would be “live” in the original tweet are live in your post as well, including linked Twitter handles, the client used and any links.

The Twitter API is called only the first time. The generated HTML is stored in a hidden custom field so subsequent loads won’t rely on Twitter uptime.

If you ever have occasion to post a tweet on your WordPress-powered website, Blackbird Pie is a must-have plugin. And it’s also supported on WordPress.com, too!

*Incidentally, some say the 24 blackbirds baked in a pie refers to an actual historical event. Who knew?!

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