SOMEWHAT FRANK

Applications for the Flickr Obsessed

Flickr is one of my favorite web 2.0 applications. While it is not the most popular photo site on the web (ranking 6th behind Yahoo Photos, Photobucket and a few others in visitor metrics according to a Comscore, June 2006 report), Flickr is a fantastic photo repository and social network for photographers and photo enthusiasts alike. It enables a user to meet and stay in touch with people across the globe though photos. The phrase,“A picture is worth a thousand words” is amplified with Flickr as the photos do all the talking.

There are a number of new mashup applications and mashups that have been built for the Flickr obsessed. Preloadr is a useful Flickr-based online photo editing software. It uses the Flickr API to allow users to login to their Flickr accounts from the Preloadr site and then make photo edits and tweaks. FlickrInspector a non-commercial website, that displays publicly available data about single Flickr users. This could be useful in exploring and contenting with other Flickr users. Aside from the recent TechCrunch article pointing the "Flickr Freaks" to Preloadr and FlickrInspector, there was an excellent article written (back in Feburary 2006) on WebMonkey that names it Top 10 Flickr Mashups. The list includes the following:

Retrievr - Search Flickr by visual input
Spell with Flickr - Spell out messages using Flickr photos
Tagnautica - Explore Flickr visually using related tags
Flappr - Flash-based Flickr browser
Captioner! - Add comic captions to your photos
Fastr - Flickr guessing game for hours of enjoyment
Colr Pickr - Combines a html color wheel with Flickr photos
FlickrFling - Parses and maps news stories to photos
Flickrball - Game based on 6 degrees of separation theory
Flickr Sudoku - Combines Flickr photos with Sudoku game

I have written about Tagnautica and a few others previously on Somewhat Frank. For a list of more Flickr mashups visit the ProgramableWeb Flickr Mashup list. 

What is your favorite Flickr mashup?

PictureCloud: Give Photos Life

PictureCloud is an online application that adds a 360 degree perspective to any object. If you take several images around an object or scene (20 to 30 photos is optimal) you can upload them to PictureCloud and they can host it for you free, or you can download your cloud and upload it to your server for a small fee.

TinMan by picturecloud.com

PictureCloud could be valuable for selling items like cars, homes and boats online. It could be used in place of the virtual tour. The creative possibilities are endless.

I performed a quick test by photographing the Tin Man statue in Oz Park in Lincoln Park in Chicago. The picture cloud above will expire in one year. PictureCloud was easy to use. I dragged 25 photos to the Java Applet window and PictureCloud did the rest. I was done in less than 2 minutes. Brilliant!

Google SketchUp For 3D Is Free

Google has taken its recent acquisition of @LastSoftware  which was snagged up with 3D dreams last month and offered it via download to the masses as Google SketchUp. This new version makes it easy for users to create 3D drawings of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects - among other things. Google will still support a more sophisticated version for architects and engineers called SketchUp Pro 5 via plug-ins.

The Google blog offers up a  warning to new Google SketchUp users as follows:

"Warning: don’t start messing with this stuff after dinner because your first experience could be an all-nighter… making an idea come to life in 3D can be very addicting."

I will keep this in mind as I look to give it a whirl but in the meantime you can see other SketchUp user creations by visiting and searching through the newly created Google 3D Warehouse. I assume Google is looking to benefit by empowering the online community to pitch in with developing 3D models of landmarks which could then be added to Google Earth.

Edgeio Depicted

There has been a lot of buzz in the last couple weeks about edgeio, the listing gathering product, set to launch sometime soon. The image above was found on Flickr by Mike Arrington. He made a post on the edgeio blog saying:

"I’m not sure how we feel about (it), but we love the passion emerging about edgeio"

I like to see this type of creativity in the blogosphere. Maybe the artist could come up with additional depictions. Themes could include the food chain, household pets, or even Dick Cheney firing away as the edgeio launch date approaches.

*Image thanks to Jorge en Sydney via Flickr

Search Amazon Uniquely With amaztype

amaztype is a mash-up application for the popular Amazon.com search engine and returns search results in a unique fashion. I will walk you through a simple search and you will see what I mean.

I visited amaztype and did an author search on "Frank Gruber", a somewhat famous country western author that just happens to have the same name as me. I used the radio buttons to navigate to the proper search criteria.

Upon clicking "Search" I was redirected to a results page which starts to display the search results in a unique fashion as shown here.

As you can see it spells out your search keyword with the images of the book, Cd's or other products returned from the Amazon.com search. I then clicked on one of the items that makes up the letters and the application zoomed in closer to the get a better look. The image belows shows the zoomed in view.

Additionally a black pop-up window filled with details on the selected item was displayed. A link for "More info" was presented which redirected me to the item's location on Amazon.com. In this particular example the item I clicked on was the book "The Laughing Fox" by Frank Gruber. You can see the Amazon.com page I was directed to below.

Though it may be impractical from a time standpoint to search Amazon this way I think amaztype is an interesting idea and design for a search engine so I applaud the creativity. Give amaztype a test drive to see the unique search features for yourself. Let me know what you think in the comments on this post.

Special thanks to Webosphere for pointing this new search engine out to me. Additionally, check out some of the other buzz about amaztype coming from posts on :trends:, amphetameme.org and the challenge in the blogosphere. If you have not yet gotten enough of Amazon.com upon reading this post, check out the amaztype zeitgeist for the most popular Amazon search terms. Can you guess what is the most searched on term?

Random Picture of the Day

I decided I am going to start adding a little more image flair to Somewhat Frank (or SwF) by adding a random picture post every once in awhile. I thought it would spice up the content a little bit because more often than not I am posting about business or technology. This new posting feature would cover other aspects of life.

I found this image on Flickr tagged as Chicago. I thought this image represented the last couple of days well since it has been color like this red fire hydrant that has stood out among the short, winter Chicago days.

*Street scenery image originally uploaded by lorilea via Flickr 12.02.05.

Forty Faces Blog Post Log Launches

I recently submitted my blog URL and name via email to Philipp Lessen for a new website he was planning to launch. I really did not know any other details of the project but had faith in my fellow blogger that it would be worth me taking a chance and submitting my information.  It looks like the site has launched today and is called Forty Faces as you can see by my ugly mug in the top left corner of the screen-shot above. It appears Steve Rubel is also part of the Forty Faces group. For more information on the project check out the Forty Faces About Page.

Searching For iFilm

iFilm is currently the number one search term on Technorati which made me wonder what is everyone searching for? I really could not put my finger on it. Steve Rubel recently pointed out this iPod Nano commercial spoof. I looked at the top 100 iFilm videos by popularity and saw the number one video to be one that played off of the recent Kanye West rant in regard to President Bush (348,750 views). Besides those few I saw music, comical and mature videos and a few were anti-climatic. Check out the top 100 iFilm videos and see for yourself what all the noise is about. Also if you go to the iFilm About page you will see the heavy film industry hitters behind this privately held company.

Codename Max Photo Software Released

Microsoft has released a new photo imaging software today. It is called Codename Max and it is going to try and compete with Google's Picasa. It is a free software download that Microsoft says this about Max:

"Microsoft® Codename Max is not like any other product. That's because it's not a product—it's your opportunity to try an exciting new user experience from Microsoft. Today Max lets you make lists of your photos and turn them into beautiful slide shows to share with your family and friends. Tomorrow...who knows?"

Well that is really helpful in creating a foggy picture of what this product experience is. I tried to install Max but since I do not run Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, I could not execute the install. I will have to try it on a different computer soon. If you want to give Microsoft Max a try go here. Also check out the newly created Codename Max blog here.

Picasa Image Software Impressively Simple

I recently installed Picasa the image management software by Google after years of using Adobe products to crop and adjust my photo images and I have to say, I am extremely impressed by the product. It really does live up to it's tagline and makes image management simpler. I think the most valuable feature is the "I'm Feeling Lucky" image adjustment button. It turned most of my dull images into the perfect image. I know Picasa has been available for sometime but I would recommend checking it out if you haven't already. Read the story of Picasa and creator Lar Perkins the current general manager of Picasa now owned by Google.

Weekend Trip To Galena

This weekend I took a quick trip with my girlfriend to get away from Chicago. We headed out to the quaint and historic town of Galena, Illinois. Galena is on the fringe of Illinois where the Mississippi River draws the state boundary with Iowa. Making the trip across Illinois you see many flat cornfields but after you pass Rockford, Illinois the fields began to roll and you feel like you are in a different place. We passed many scenic points and even a scenic view lookout tower. 

Upon arriving in Galena we realized that it was a celebratory weekend in Galena. It was the 175th anniversary of the Galena Fire Department which included a parade followed up by a street dance party featuring a live band. We checked into the DeSoto House Hotel on Main Street, which has hosted the likes of Ulysses S. Grant, and Abraham Lincoln. After checking in we headed to Main Street to get a feel for the city and formulate a plan on how we were going to enjoy the evening.

First, we decided to head to the Galena Cellars Winery to taste some wine. We tasted twelve different wines (6 wines for $2) and then proceeded to purchase bottles of our favorites from the tasting. We viewed many extraordinary images of nature at Thomas Mangelsen’s gallery. We also passed Galena's oldest home the Dowling House built in 1826.

Next, we headed up to a very simple but fabulous Italian restaurant called Cannova’s. Since they had a bit of a wait (45 minutes)  we passed the time by heading across the street for a drink at Oscar’s Pub where a few friendly locals were gathered. One in particular introduced himself as David “The Nightmare” Sproule and gave us this insight on Galena including that we should try out the Irish Cottage Inn a new Irish hotel about a mile outside of the downtown Galena strip. Ironically, he is also the local stone-mason that build the relatively new Inn.

Finally, we returned to Connova’s where we were seated immediately. The place was very quaint and filled to capacity and it made sense since their menu consisted of several different pizzas, pastas and sandwiches and were all priced less then normal market value. I had the fettuccine alfredo which was amazing. It was well worth the wait. A bottle of red wine later we finished dinner and were dancing in the streets with the rest of the townies and tourists to a local "Hawaiian shirt wearing" band’s rendition of the Steppenwolf song Magic Carpet Ride.

The celebration was wrapped up by 10pm but since the night was still young we took a walk to enjoy the darkness of the night and bright starry country sky. We walked through a memorial park where we saw U.S. Grant’s statue as well as Blakey, the first rifled barreled cannon from the beginning shots of the civil war and a Howitzer cannon from World War I, 1913. After a walk around the city we finally we retreated to our floral decorated hotel room at the DeSoto House and called it a evening.

We returned to Chicago on Sunday after a restful weekend away. Before departing we made a quick stop by U.S. Grant's house. It was nice to see opened country, rolling hills and trees. We needed to reset after a rather long week that was in the big city.

Need Inspiration?

This is a great little presentation with all of the sarcastic motivational slogans we are all familiar with. Also check out Despair.com for products related to these slogans. They make great gifts. I got my brother a coffee mug with the "procrastination" slogan on it from Despair.com for the holidays. He loved it.

Freedom Art Competition Winners Announced

The McCormick Tribune Foundation today announced the winners of its Freedom Museum art competition. The winning design will be the icon for the Freedom Museum which will be opened in the spring of 2006. The winners Amy Larimer &  Peter Bernheim and their design titled ‘12151791’ for the date of the 1st Amendment. It is a very beautiful stainless steel design anchored from above reminding me of a cascading waterfall with its sheets of shimmering documents.

For more details on the competition go here.  A Daily Dose of Architecture also offers information on the the finalists from one of it's earlier posts. Additionally, the structural location of the museum at 445 N. Michigan Avenue, has new window art displaying all of the art competition finalists and the winners. One of the windows also contains a flat screen monitor which plays an interactive tour of what the museum will look like when it is completed.

To help promote the new museum the Foundation also launched a new website URL which should propagate to the new design sometime today at the URL: http://www.freedommuseum.us
The site allows you to watch artist videos about the art competition pieces and their thoughts on freedom. It also has virtual interior shots of the exhibits. The site will also continue to be updated with the latest progress of the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum.