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Why I’m Not Running Picasa On My MacJanuary 6

I’ll make this brief. I was excited when Google’s Picasa was announced for Mac since I was eager to try it with my photos. Upon installing it yesterday, I noticed something very disturbing:

On initial launch of Picasa, it forces you to scan your computer for images. It gives you two choices: 1. Scan your entire computer 2. Scan specific folders such as Documents, Pictures, and Desktop (which they choose, not you)

There is no opt-out. You either scan or you force quit the program. I don’t like this. In fact, I hate it. I don’t want Picasa to know or even care about ALL of the photos on my computer. I’d like to pick and choose which it can use. I don’t like being forced to scan my computer for anything. It bothers me for several reasons that I won’t go into here.

I’m uninstalling Picasa and I don’t think I’ll run it again. iPhoto it is.

Related Thoughts

My Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2008December 20 2008

You know, I never thought I’d cling so much to a phone as much as I cling to the iPhone. When the iPhone was updated to version 2.0, I knew that it was going to make things worse. While many still believe the iPhone to be over hyped and not worth the time, money, and support, I firmly believe it has changed the smart phone market in a very short amount of time.

On the matter at hand. Here at the end of 2008, which iPhone applications were the most valuable players? Let’s count it down:

Brightkite (Free) - Brightkite for iPhone actually prompted me to sign up for a service that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. It allows you to check in to your friends network your various locations, provide status updates, and upload photos.

The combination of the iPhone interface, GPS, and camera make this app intuitive and fun to use. Thank goodness for Brightkite’s privacy options so I don’t have to let the world know where I am at any given moment. I am at http://brightkite.com/people/bwana
Qik (Jailbreak) - Qik is a big motivator for me to jailbreak (hack) my iPhone. Qik provides live streaming of video and audio from the iPhone much like Ustream.tv does for computers and webcams.

They have done a great job of utilizing the iPhone’s hardware to squeeze out a great streaming experience. It’s too bad that this application is not available on the iTunes App store, but several bloggers have received advanced copies of the app that doesn’t require a jailbreak and absolutely love it. I can’t wait until the masses can use it, but for now, I’m using it with a jailbroken iPhone. My Qik profile is at http://qik.com/bwana
Evernote (Free) - Evernote is a great way to stay organized and the iPhone version does not disappoint. From taking ordinary notes to voice reminders, I find this tool to be an absolute necessity to stay organized.

Given that it synchronizes with the cloud, I can create and edit artifacts on my iPhone and on the computer. This app is easily worth money, but the authors have made it free to the public.
Winterboard (Jailbreak) - One of my biggest gripes with the iPhone is the lack of customization options available out of the box. Since I’ve jailbroken my iPhone for Qik functionality, I am also able to customize backgrounds, icons, sounds, and applications using Winterboard.

This free application available in Cydia is a must have if you’ve jailbroken your iPhone. Often, I get asked, “How did you change that background?” or “How did you get that sound?”, and the answer always points to Winterboard.
Smiles ($2.99 Zen|Drop/$4.99 Combined) - I need to thank Chris Pirillo for introducing me to Smiles for the iPhone. Chris gave me the opportunity to review this game and I’ve been playing it almost every night since. Smiles is a matching/puzzle game that resembles Bejeweled on the surface but adds elements that differentiate it.

For one, you can use the iPhone’s accelerometer to change orientation in the game. This may sound like a visual preference, but it also serves as a strategy for certain game modes. I’ve reviewed Smiles on Bwana.TV, and I definitely believe it to be worth the $2.99/$4.99 price tag. Here’s my video review of Smiles for the iPhone:
Uno ($7.99) - I’ve played Uno since I could burp. Yes, it’s been that long. This game is just the epitome of fun. The rules are not difficult, the color based cards make it easy for the youngest kids to pick it up, and it’s hard to find someone who says they actually don’t like the game.

The iPhone version of Uno adds a multiplayer component to an already rich single player experience. Now you can play your friends over Wifi and the internet if they have an iPhone or iPod Touch. At $7.99, it may sound a bit expensive, but once you’ve played it, you’ll see right off that it’s a premium app for the iPhone. Here’s my video review of Uno for the iPhone
Facebook (Free) - Easily the most comprehensive, in-depth, social networking application for the iPhone today, Facebook takes it to a whole new level. As a light user of Facebook, I know that if I’m impressed with the features and functions of this app, that the regular users of Facebook will find it essential. It does it all.

If Facebook is your social network of choice, there’s no way you can do without viewing and uploading photos, updating your status, posting notes, approve/ignore requests, reading notifications, read and respond to messages, and even utilize Facebook chat. This app is a must have.
Pandora Radio (Free) - Do you listen to music? Then there’s no excuse why you shouldn’t have Pandora installed. Pandora uses technology from the Music Genome Project to create dynamic “radio stations” based on artists and songs that you like.

Want to hear similar music to a certain artist you like? Simply create a station based on that artist and Pandora plays a great selection of music that’s very similar to your artist and give you the ability the rate up or down songs. I love this app, and for a while I believed it to the best available for the iPhone. If you don’t have it installed, I don’t know what you’re waiting on.
Ocarina ($0.99) - To be blown away by this app is not only a pun, but an understatement. Ocarina turns your iPhone into a thousand+ year old instrument called the Ocarina. You may have heard of the Legend Of Zelda game, Ocarina of Time? Well yes, it’s pretty much that, but on your iPhone.

The folks over at Smule have done something I never thought was possible. They register the air you blow in the iPhone microphone and create music with fingerings on the touchscreen. There are many scales and pitches allowing you to create just about anything. Here is my latest video, where I play “Song of Storms” from the Legend of Zelda. This thing is truly incredible.

My Top 10 Websites of 2008December 14 2008

It’s coming to end of 2008, and along with the holidays, vacation, shopping, we also tend to find a lot of “best of 2008″ tv shows, specials, and even blog posts. I’d rather not go into why I’m doing this, I just find that it’s a fun activity. Last year, I did a video on my top 5 console games of 2007. It was met with a potpourri of comments that mostly disagreed with my choices. I didn’t care obviously, but I found that it’s something people like to be a part of. So, I’m going to do a few of these this year. The first, is my top websites of 2008. These sites will range all over the place, but I’ve found these (web) sites to be my best of the best for 2008. Let’s count it down.

Posterous - Blogs are commonplace now and there are so many platforms out there, that it’s hard to really decide on one. When one does decide, there is usually a fairly steep learning curve for n

Do The Florida Gators Deserve To Play For The BCS Championship?December 6 2008

University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow (R) runs for first ... - Yahoo! News Photos

Photo courtesy of Reuters

Tonight, the Florida Gators handed the Alabama Crimson Tide their first loss of the season. This college football game was one of the best SEC championship games in recent history. Florida and Alabama traded leads throughout the game and the momentum shifted so much, it was hard to tell who would pull it out.

The scoring breakdown shows it was a story of quarters:

Alabama took the first and third quarters, while Florida owned the second and fourth quarters. In the end, Florida stepped up when it mattered. I was on Twitter (via my iPhone) expressing my thoughts, and tweeted this when Florida was down 20 - 17 at the end of the third quarter:

3 Ways To Utilize Google Friend ConnectDecember 4 2008

The masterminds behind Google are pushing an initiative known as OpenSocial which aims to connect many different types of web sites using one single API. One of the fruits of OpenSocial is Google Friend Connect which seems like a technology demo on the surface, but I’ve found a couple of possibly useful gems to utilize. First off, to get started with Google Friend Connect, make sure you are logged in your Google Account, then navigate to http://www.google.com/friendconnect. If all goes well, you should see this screen:

Google Friend Connect: Add social features to your site

Click “Set up a new site” and you’ll be presented with a wizard to set up your website. I don’t want to focus on this part, but the main four steps to creation are:

Add two required files to your web server
Copy “members gadget” code
Paste into a page on your site
Choose more social features as desired

The focus of this blog post will be step 4. I’m going to show you some of the things you can do with Google Friend Connect which may not be obvious.

The first of the three is done by default once your site is setup: Setup a members gadget. The members gadget lists current members of your website, allows you to view their profiles, and add friends. If this sounds familiar, then you’re not crazy because MyBlogLog offers a very similar service. You’ll find the interface to be similar as well:

Image taken from inquisitr.com
The second use is not obvious and is accessible by clicking the Social gadgets link in the sidebar of the Google Friend Connect site. From here, there are a few gadgets to choose from (and I do mean a few). Choose Wall Gadget from the list of options, and it will walk you through the process of adding this gadget to your website. What is a wall gadget? Do you remember Shoutbox? Well, that’s essentially what it is, but this Facebook generation calls it a “wall”. If you’re a fan of the Facebook wall, and want it on your site, you can do so with your Google Friend community. Google takes advantage of its Youtube power and allows you to also embed Youtube videos in the wall. Unfortunately, they’re not truly “embedded’ but offer a javascript popup window of the video. Good enough methinks. Once it is setup, it looks similar to this:
The third use is my favorite. It exists in the same section as the wall gadget and it is called the Review/Rate gadget. This gadget allows your Google Friend community to review or rate your entire site or individual pages.

I believe this is a useful mechanism to solicit feedback from your community. It offers the familiar 5 star system that everyone knows and loves and supports anonymous feedback as well (The wall gadget also has an anonymous option for the daring).

I’ve implemented all three of these social gadgets on bwana.org and will soon implement them on bwana.tv and see it how it goes. As with OpenSocial, the whole Google Friend Connect thing is still fairly new and rough around the edges, but I believe these three gadgets will add value for some of the early adopters out there.

Feel free to join my website by utilizing the members gadget in the sidebar. You can also rate this blog post if you feel it is useful.

Update: Here’s Google’s official video