If you’re like me you want your files to be mobile, but find USB flash drives a less-than-ideal solution. USB flash drives get lost and they don’t connect well into mobile devices, like my iPhone. Emailing a file is okay, but it’s annoying, too. What if you want to email your friends a file that exceeds the file-size limitations of your email provider. What if you want to make the file available to many people, some of whose email addresses you may not know, like your Twitter or Facebook friends? Dropbox is the ultimate solution!

With Dropbox you simply create a free account (click here to sign up and you and I will both get 250MB of free space!) and that’s it! You can upload files directly from the website, put them in your public folder, and copy the direct link to the files to share with your friends. Then, when you’re at the library, you can return to the website on their public computer to access you’re file.

Dropbox - folder options

dropbox · files · free · storage · tip · tool · web

The iPhone 3GS has a 3.15 megapixel, autofocus camera. While it has its limitations, it’s good enough that I keep my DSL-R at home for all outings where photography isn’t the primary objective. It’s not very good in low light or where the scene has high contrast (the dynamic range is very low). In the right hands it can be a wonderful little camera for two reasons: it’s always in your pocket (or hands) and photos can be captured, processed and uploaded all from a single device.

To process photos on the iPhone I consistently turn to Photogene, an app that is quick, intuitive and very powerful. Here’s an example of what can be done in a few minutes with a few sliders.

Photogene - before and after

app · iphone · photogene · photography

For a couple years I’ve had a photography site at photography.brentdanley.com that few people visited. I built it as a project to learn the Flickr API and the JavaScript framework Prototype. I’ve been wanting to incorporate it into my main site for a while, and now it’s done.

Click on the Photography link to check it out.

The new Photography page at BrentDanley.com

css · flickr · jquery · photography · php · phpFlickr · webdev · wordpress

Ever wonder why sunglasses manufacturers polarize the lenses? Polarization makes things looks better: skies more blue and clouds more white. Also, reflections are greatly reduced on shiny dark surfaces.

I took these photos today at Bay View Beach in Saco, Maine. Both of them are straight out of my iPhone 3GS’s camera without post processing. The one on the right was taken through polarized sunglasses.

Without and with polarization

I keep a circular polarization filter on my two most used camera lenses. With them I can dial in the amount of polarization I need for the look I’m trying to achieve. The difference can be dramatic, depending on the conditions.

photography · polarization · Science

Today while at the beach with Kirsten I looked up and saw the most amazing meteorological phenomenon: iridescent clouds. I had never seen them before. It looked like a rainbow, but without rain and no bow.

Cloud iridescence is an unusual diffraction phenomenon.

Iridescent cloud

This photo was taken with my iPhone 3GS through polarized sunglasses. The foreground was lightened in post.

cloud · iridescence · meteorology · phenomenon · Science · weather

Google, meet Bing. Google must have been impressed by Bing’s image-rich search page, as indicated by today’s imitation. Many of their users are not.

Google recently rolled out a feature of it’s primary product, Google.com, that allows users to display a picture as the background.

Freeze frame!
The Official Google Blog, June 2, 2010

The art of a homepage
The Official Google Blog, June 9, 2010

I like the dominating whitespace of Google.com. It has a utilitarian simplicity. However, I also love seeing my favorite lighthouse every time I actually navigate to the Google site to do a search.

Google.com background image

Tomorrow the default background will go back to the white we all know and many love.

What do you think of this new feature? Will you use one of your own pictures or one of the many gorgeous images available in Google’s gallery? Let me know in the comments.

design · google · photography

Yesterday I read an interesting article in .net magazine of Dries Buytaert, the founder of popular open source web content management system (CMS) Drupal. In the interview Dries mentioned a new offering from Drupal, Drupal Gardens. Drupal Gardens is a hosted Drupal solution, much like WordPress’s WordPress.com. It allows people who may not know Drupal or who need a quick site to build on on a powerful system with little cost or experience.

Brent's Drupal Gardens site

drupal · drupal gardens · webdev

I would love to do this!

XKCD: Seat Selection

XKCD: Seat Selection

aviation · comic · funny · humor · xkcd

This is definitely the funniest thing I’ve seen all day (it’s still morning).

Expand the power

This is, of course, a binomial expansion problem. The following is the correct answer.

Wikipedia: binomial expansion

I love the humor this student resorts to when they are stuck. It reminds me of my favorite comic.

There are more funny answers at: Huffington Post: The Funniest Kids Test Answers Of All Time.

funny · humor · math · test

Men marched topless, too

“Ladies: It is perfectly legal to be topless in public in the State of Maine. Gentlemen: Women’s breasts aren’t anything to get excited about. Really.“

That seemed to be the message organizers intended to convey when they marched topless through the streets of Portland last month. It’s difficult to tell, actually, since they didn’t publicize it or make a statement at the march.

In March I read a tweet from @portland_maine about a topless march planned for April 3rd. Interested, I read the scant press as well as several articles about the history of toplessness in Maine and the legal precedents. I was pleased to learn that women in Maine have as much right to be topless as men.

Tweet from @portland_maine

feminism · gender · maine · march · portland · protest · topless