Category: GMG Tech Talk

Frank Ciolino Has A Major Dilemma

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Frank is looking for advice.  He adamantly does not want a smartphone or pay the extra $20 for the data plan but is due for a free upgrade.

He was offered a free upgrade for what seems to be the perfect phone for Frank’s needs.  It only weighs 75 pounds and is equipped with a rotary dial.  Perfect for Frank so he can save that $20 a month for the phone that doesn’t have the data plan.

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Pictured Frank Ciolino with his 2005 cell phone.

You know what I love?  I love to hear all these people proudly boasting that they don’t need a smartphone and they don’t want a smartphone.  Inevitably one by one they all succumb and get an iPhone or an android phone and then the first things that comor out of their mouths the next day is “I can’t believe I waited this long to get one”.

Every one of them.

Have You Installed the Gloucester HarborWalk App on your Android or iPhone/iPad Yet?

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Hi Joey,

Have you installed the interactive Gloucester Harborwalk tour on your Android or IPad app yet, its very interesting and cool.

I thought you might want to add this to your blog…. all the information you need for the blog is at http://ghwalk.org/

Including how to get the App and a download to the pamphlet.

Tim

Gloucester Bytes

For iPhone-

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For Android-

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Wanna Download The Map? Click below-

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Sony RX100 Video Review This is The Camera, I’m Telling You!

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

 

Order it on Amazon and have it delivered in just a couple days-

Sony RX100 on Amazon

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Charlie Carroll Shows What the RX100 Is Capable Of-

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Joey;
Got mine Aug 18th… I shoot with a Canon 60D (a full sized DSLR), with all L series lenses and the Sony RX100 comes in at a close 2nd. Shot some Still life’s while sitting Wednie Demouths Gallery last week… Available Light at ISO 125 and the results were remarkable… My apologies to all that were assaulted by my continuous praise of this incredible camera… We ought to have a GMG RX100 Shoot Off…
What’a ya say ?

Here are some Test Shots I took last week… the Images loose a lot of their character when compressed for viewing on the Web… very annoying… The Originals are Vivid and have amazing detail… High ISO, low light… NO NOISE !

I love it !

Charlie

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I looked at Best Buy- Sold Out.  I looked at Ritz Camera- Sold Out.  You can get them at Amazon, they are currently in stock and the number one sold camera in their rankings currently and have it delivered within two days-

Here it is-

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Here’s the Link… http://seasquared.viewbook.com/rx100-images

This is what’s capable with that huge sensor.  Allin a form factor you can put in your pocket.  remarkable!

Bottom Line The Camera You Should Buy- The new Sony RX100

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

They did what no one else has done.

Stuffed a huge sensor in a small camera that can fit in your front pocket.

No one researches new cameras like I do.  No one, because what I do on this blog makes me appreciate what a large sensor and super fast Carl Zeiss 1.8 lens in a camera body that can fit in your front pocket can produce.

How many times have I told you the best camera is the one you have with you? A large DSLR that you don’t lug around with you because it is just too cumbersome is USELESS TO YOU if you decide to not bring it along with you.  But now there is no tradeoff.  they put that huge DSLR sensor into a camera that can fit in your pocket. #Boom!

This is the camera I’ve been screaming that camera makers should make and that people WOULD pay up for.  Something that would deliver excellent results in a small form factor.

I resigned myself last year to chalking it up to it not being possible because I figured I couldn’t be the only person that wants to be able to carry around a camera THIS CAPABLE IN LOW LIGHT in their front pocket.

NOT AROUND YOUR NECK, NOT HANHING OFF A STRAP OVER YOUR SHOULDER!

IN YOUR FRONT POCKET TUCKED AWAY FOR THE MOMENT SOMETHING AWESOME HAPPENS AND YOU WANT TO CAPTURE IT IN AWESOME DETAIL.

THIS IS THE CAMERA.  DON’T THINK- JUST BUY IT. 

It’s a premium constructed, premium picture quality Hi Def Video Monster in a small form factor.

They took what was really good about the Canon Powershot series S95 and S100 which are both very good cameras and blew it out with a sensor that is over double the size of those two cameras which are good performers in their own right but the RX100 crushes them in terms of performance.

NO ONE HAS DONE THIS BEFORE.  IT IS NOTHING SHORT OF REVOLUTIONARY.

Here it is-

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and the reviews-

First of all the RX100 sales success never stops. It still sells more than any other mirrorless or DSRL or High end compact camera at Amazon US (Click here to see the ranking) and slowly climbing the rankings at Amazon UK and Amazon Germany too. So let’s take a look at some of the most recent new tests:

The well know filmmaker and blogger Philip Bloom  usually tests heavy and expensive video stuff only but he could not resists to take a look at the Sony RX100 too: “This is aVERY small camera with a crap load of stuff in it and it does most of it, from what I have so far, very well. The best pocket camera I have used to date, beating my beloved Canon S100.” You can see some videos on his website (one of them I embedded on top of this post).

An enthusiastic review has been posted by the guys from The Verge (Click here): “Sony’s RX100 is nothing short of the best all-around compact camera I’ve ever seen. Where mirrorless cameras made waves by downsizing DSLR-quality photos into a package you could throw into your coat, the RX100 does the same for your jeans. It’s really no exaggeration to say that it produces images roughly on par with an average DSLR and kit lens combination, making this a revolutionary camera that means you’ll always be in a situation where you can take genuinely high quality pictures.”

You can buy it herehttp://astore.amazon.com/gmap-20/detail/B00889ST2G

Oh Yeah Baby- The Review is Coming- NordicTrack Performance Wear Boxer Brief

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

I’m just waiting for a sweltering hot day to put these bad boys to the test.

Here’s the stats you need to know-

Product Description

Performance Wear delivers 4 way stretch, mirco fiber, moisture wicking, odor control and day in, day out durability. Cool Effects keeps you feeling cool and dry. Offers all motion comfort fabric. Great for sports!

  • Stretch
  • Moisture wicking
  • Breathable
  • Odor control
  • 86% Polyester/14% Spandex
  • 6 inch inseam

The only thing that concerns me is the 6 inch inseam might be a little snug for the package.

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You know you’re in the middle of a paradigm shift when the best way to inspire the Zip Line Kid to read & write over the summer turns out to be getting him a phone

Posted on by Vickie & Peter

My aunt says not to worry.  “You just don’t see 9-year-old boys curling up with a good book during the summer.”

Why should I listen?  My Aunt Mary taught “grammar school” for decades; plus she taught me all the 2nd grade I needed to get into 3rd grade in about a month over the summer of 1963 (yes, dating myself — Vickie’s no where near this old).

I had spent the prior academic year in the Kindergarten row of a two room school-house in CĂ©ligny Switzerland because I couldn’t speak enough French to do 2nd grade work.  That’s right Kindergarten row.  You see, there were six rows in one room (K-5) with Madame Fiorina – and she was scary.  Grades 6, 7 & 8 were in another room with Monsieur Fiorina.  He was terrifying!

I hadn’t read, written  or spelled anything in English for a year — and I hadn’t done any subtraction, which is about all the math taught in a U.S. 2nd grade class back in 1962.

Anyhow, Aunt Mary reminded me last weekend that all I wanted to do during the summer was go out and play — just like John.  “It’s normal.  Don’t worry,” she advised confidently.

Back to phones.  We didn’t think we were getting John a phone in order to encourage him to read.  But that’s what happened.  Maybe it’s because this phone has a keyboard, which he likes because it makes it easier for him to text.  And that’s nearly all he uses it for.  Great — he’s reading!

I told John that, about 100 years ago, this guy invented a device that empowered you to have a conversation with another person in real-time.  You didn’t have to type anything.  You didn’t have to read a screen.  You could even close your eyes if you wanted.  I didn’t have to look for my glasses in order to use it.

He gives me a quizzical look for a moment and then, in disgust, blurts out “Oh, Dad,” with that pre-teen attitude you get when you ask if he’s brushed his teeth after he actually has.  Then he turns back to finish texting his cousin in CT.  I hear a bleep from his phone.  Deftly he switches to answer a text from his brother, who’s in the next room.

We’re witnessing the advent of a new era, folks!

Update To The Nike Make Me Some Dri-Fit Boxer- Briefs Post

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

You may need to read yesterday’s pleas to Nike here to understand what is to follow-

Attention Nike: Make Me Up Some Dri-Fit Boxer Briefs Stat

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Joey C

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Some of you kind readers are sending in links to what I would call compression shorts which are made out of a similar material to Nike Dri-Fit material but I should probably explain why this is no where near what I’m talking about.

Sent in by Rob-

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I’m trying to let my boys hang free.  I’m not looking to mash my junk all up inside my body cavity like those spandex wearing cyclists who are looking for a .00000001 percent time savings in their bike next race.

There was a spirited conversation on twitter on the subject yesterday.

When asked how many pairs you would commit to buying here are the responses-

John McElhenny-

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Patrick Ryan Puts A Name To Them “Bizalls”-

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Ryan Pinkham wants to know what kind of squares still wear underwear to begin with

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McElhenny’s imagination gets the best of him-

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Patrick Ryan with the obligatory Cyclist reference-

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Steve Saleeba piles on-

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Now this is just plain rediculous-

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McElhenny calls for a biker cap to top it off right-

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Kenny MacCarthy concurs-

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I’m looking for comfort and I don’t want my nuts on a hot sweaty day stuck to my leg.  As I’ve gotten older let’s just say that the boys don’t hang as high and tight as they used to.  So I’d like a little room for them to hang out and not be all smashed up in my shorts, know what I mean?

I also don’t want pink, purple, navy blue lime green, polka dotted or any combination of the sort.  I want white.  The way underwear is supposed to be.

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Also sent in by Rob C-

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Who in the world needs that kind of gap underneath their ball bag?  I don’t need  a shelf, I just need the classic boxers.  I’m thinking those grey ones are made for eunuchs.

So Nike, if you’re listening just think of a classic style boxer short but made out of your awesome Dri-Fit moisture wicking material.  Not hard to whip up is it?

Help Please! Headphone Recommendation

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Dear GMG Readers,

I am in the midst of adding the background foley to my Black Swallowtail film, which is really fun and I love this aspect of editing, however I am completely frustrated using my husband’s headphones, which are 20 year old relics (at least 20) from his past life as a working musician.

He says I need noise-blocking headphones, which these are definitely not. Even with every window shut tight, along with the several doors leading to my office, these are still ineffectual. It is extremely uncomfortable working in front of a computer in a stuffy room for hours with no ac. If you have a spare moment, please write with your recommendation–and I would love to know why. Thank you.

GOD PARTICLE DISCOVERED “I’m rather surprised that it happened in my lifetime” ~ Peter Higgs

Posted on by Vickie & Peter

Yesterday, Peter Higgs, now known as the Rock Star of particle physics, gave an interview after scientists at CERN discovered the particle he predicted 50 years ago and now declare on their Web site: Our understand of the universe is about to change …

Update Don’t Buy My Camera for $275 It’s available for slightly more than that online Selling My Camera The Sony HX9V

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

I posted this last night after checking the price on Amazon-

Here is the camera I’ve been using to take about half the shots for the blog this past year.  It is retailing for $379 on Amazon right now new but you can have my slightly used no wear at all except for a few tiny scratches on the back screen that are barely noticeable and in perfect working condition one for $275.

 

What I didnt realize is that there are other stores selling it for less money than what amazon has it listed for new.  So don’t buy my camera for $275.

Sorry, but I’d feel terrible.

email me at goodmorninggloucester@yahoo.com

It’s a great great camera.

Here it is on Amazon new-

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Since I bought the interchangeable NEX-5N I don’t have the need for both.

So first one to come up with the dough gets the camera responsible for these shots-

email me at goodmorninggloucester@yahoo.com

Click the pic for the full sized view

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I love my little pocketable HX9V and all the tricks it has up it’s sleeve.

Copied from some older posts-

Click photos for full sized panoramas.  Have I told y’all yet how much I love the new camera?  The Sony HX9V, 16 times zoom, killer video, panoramas in camera HDR processing and it slips right in my pocket!  The thing is the nuts!  I highly highly recommend it. DSC00288

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Apple’s Next Generation MacBook Pro is a Hardware Beast at a Price

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

The hardware apple pumps out is without parallel.  The specs on the new MacBook Pro makes it a dream machine.

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I am a fan of the iPhone, I am a HUGE fan of the iPad, I am a ginormous fan of Apple hardware.  What I know though is that for editing my blog quickly and for creating video clips with titles and credits and transitions and getting them published to the web I can do all of this faster on my windows 7 based PC for 1/4 of the price of the MacBook Pro.

I’ll challenge anyone, anywhere to a blog content creating competition- them using the new MacBook Pro and me using my 3 year old Gateway with an Intel i3 processor and Windows 7 with the free Windows Live Essentials suite of software which includes Live Writer and Live Movie Maker.

Keep in mind that I paid $550 for my gateway and the new MacBook Pro starts at $2200.

from Gizmodo

The "MacBook pro with Retina Display," the starship’s official name, starts at $2200 with a 2.3 GHz Ivy Bridge processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 SSD. Ships today. If you want to max it out—2.7 GHz processor, 16 GB of RAM, and the 768 GB SSD, it’ll hit you $3750.

The pricetag is a whole lot of dough and you get what you pay for if you are only concerned about having the very best hardware available.  But I believe when Microsoft introduced Windows 7 it introduced for my uses an operating system that allows me to do things way faster.  Ask Kim Smith when she needs to render a movie on her iMac and it takes half a day what would take me 30minutes on my PC.

Hardware is only part of the equation.  if you don’t have the software for what you want to do because they don’t make it for Apple it’s tough luck for you.

So if you have money to burn (and I mean if you have the kind of money where you light your cigars with $100 bills) and are already happy with Apple’s operating system and basically use your computer for surfing the web 99% of the time, knock yourself out and buy one of these gorgeous, powerful machines.

But if you want something to blog on and do a fair amount of power using, save your money and buy a slick windows based Ultrabook which might be spec’d out  a little less but will cost you anywhere from 1/2 to 1/3 of the price and will allow you to create content much quicker.

I wish that MacBook Pro was introduced a little cheaper, not so I could buy one, but just so the Windows based Ultrabook which it competes with and will be the next family computer would come down in price as a competitor.  At that outrageous price of $2200 I think the Ultrabooks won’t even budge down in price a little and actually might have a little better pricing power.

7 Ways Ultrabooks Beat the New MacBook Air

Just Added A New Location To My Interactive Cape Ann Free WiFi Map-Sailor Stan’s

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Click the map to go interactive, zoom in, get directions from wherever you are, see descriptions and more.  If you know of a joint I don’t have listed once you check out the map, let me know and I’ll add it!

Joey C’s Interactive Cape Ann Free WiFi Map

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Recycling. Hard Copy Yellow Pages Has No Place In The World Of 2012

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Driving home I see the plastic bags of yellow pages strewn in front of houses up and down the street.  I pull in the driveway, grab the white plastic bag containing one of the two or three different versions of the yellow pages we will receive this year and promptly drop it into our recycling bin.

In this day of smartphones and computers is there really any need to chew up the lumber for the paper, ink or transportation costs to produce this thing?

I wonder how many of our readership keeps these things kicking around still or how many of you put it straight into the recycling bin?

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Mark Ring offers his perspective on the yellow pages and community phonebooks-

Mark says that they breed like rabbits.  You put one on the coffee table and a month later there’s a stack of 5.  The odds that you’ll find what you are looking for in the big Boston Metro yellow pages are one in a gazilion.   I have yet to ever had any success drilling down for the listing I was looking for in the big Metro yellow pages.  The problem seems to be how they have things categorized in the big Boston Metro Yellow Pages.  Chances are the listing you are looking for is in there but it’s completely mis-categorized.  For example you could be looking for a mattress store and it will be listed under scarves.

The community phone book on the other hand will have every local number listed except for the one you are inevitably looking for.  Never fails.  Ever.

I’m done.  Straight to the recycling bin.

Did You Know: Rubber Duck Debugging

Posted on by paultmorrison

From the Rubber Duck Debugging Wikipedia Page:

Rubber duck debugging, Rubber Ducking, or the Rubber Duckie Test is an informal term used in software engineering to refer to a method of debugging code. The name is a reference to an apocryphal story in which an unnamed expert programmer would keep a rubber duck by his desk at all times, and debug his code by forcing himself to explain it, line-by-line, to the duck.

To use this process, a programmer meticulously explains code to an inanimate object, such as a rubber duck, in the expectation that upon reaching a piece of incorrect code and trying to explain it, the programmer will notice the error. In describing what the code is supposed to do and observing what it actually does, any incongruity between these two becomes apparent.

 

Homie programming in FORTRAN.

Instagram App

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Readers Please Note: I deleted my Instagram App on December 18th, 2012 after reading Instagrams new terms and policies in regard to selling images to third party advertisers.

Before Liv retuned to school last month, she installed Instagram on my iPhone so that we could easily share photos. Instagram is very simple to understand–spoken by a techno- challenged person (although Joey recently pointed out that for someone my age, I am not too horribly technologically challenged). There has been much in the news about Instagram recently as the app was purchased by Mark Zuckerberg for one billion dollars, twice its estimated worth.

Instagram with Kelvin Filter  ~ Good Harbor Beach Sunrise

Original Photo 

 

Reward Your GMG Contributors By Leaving A Comment For Posts That Interest You

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Below is a screen shot of what you will see if you click on the title of any GMG post. 

I changed the text from “Leave a comment” to “Leaving a comment rewards the author of this post- add to the discussion here”

It may be a little wordy but I think it helps remind folks to become part of the GMG community instead of just sitting on the sidelines.

I know that the GMG contributors appreciate your positive feedback and to know that you enjoy the hard work they put in to bring you the best of our community.

Thanks

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Random Business Tweet of The Day- Laurie Fullerton Tweets About The Schooner Ardelle and Harold Burnham

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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Part of the random local business tweet initiative I’ve started to encourage more local businesses to engage people through social media.  Every day a different tweet selected as an example to put a brand in front of people while offering some type of payoff.  Whether it be a laugh, a deal or something that leaves the end user glad they clicked through (the proper use of twitter)

Here’s the random local tweet of the day.  Click it!-

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Random Gloucester Business Tweet of The Day

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

In an effort to get more local businesses out of the stone ages and into 2012 I’ll be posting a random Gloucester Business Tweet every now and again.  Don’t lobby for me to post your business tweet, just get your business active in the social media game, if what you post tweaks my interest you could see it here and folks that may not have even known you had a twitter presence might just find out about your bidness.

Hey, we had over 41,000 folks check out GMG just yesterday on a beautiful sunny Sunday, come get some of that love baby!

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Today Island Art and Hobby Tweets-

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Follow Don Boye, owner of Island Art and Hobby on twitter here

Lookey Lookey Who’s Now On Twitter- Our Kim Smith

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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Click here to go to Kim’s twitter feed and follow her

For anyone wanting to get started on twitter you can go to my Gloucester List of Twitter peeps and just follow all those people to get a good sense of what is happening around town.

You can find my twitter Gloucester list here

Once you go there just follow the folks on that list, if they annoy you or seem uninteresting you can simply unfollow them  They won’t know and you won’t hurt their feelings.