f/8 Lets You Be on the Spot and Ready to Shoot Great Photos

If you’re passionate about photography and have the gear to match, then you’ll find Bitzwerk’s f/8 to your liking. If you don’t, you won’t.

f/8 is a simple app with a sophisticated purpose: It helps you calculate depth of field (DOF).

Here’s a quick and dirty explanation for the layperson:

DOF is the distance in focus in front of and beyond the object you’re taking a picture of. Let’s say you want to take a picture of your mother-in-law standing on the precipice of the Grand Canyon. If you want the dear, sweet lady to stand out by having the Grand Canyon behind her to be out of focus, you would use a short DOF, and the way you would do that is to adjust the lens opening (called the aperture).

Now, if you want dearie and more of the Grand Canyon behind her to be in focus, then you would lengthen the DOF by using a smaller aperture.

IStockPhoto has a more comprehensive explanation along with several photos. Which aperture setting you would use is more of an artistic decision and seldom a technical one.

f/8 lets you select your camera model and lens and then enables you to calculate DOF using a variety of settings in metric and increments of meters or feet.

The app works well and the interface is clean and the options are comprehensive. Some AppStore reviewers have given it low marks because they don’t understand its purpose, so I would factor that into my decision whether to buy this app. I think it’s worth the $3.99 asking price.

This is not an app for anyone other than a serious photographer. I suspect most people with simple cameras wouldn’t bother calculating DOF and messing with aperature settings.

Easy access to directories

Opening files from multiple directories can become tiresome if you click through the directory hierarchy displayed in the Open dialog’s Look In control. In fact, it can become downright annoying. One solution is to add frequently used documents or folders to the Object bar (My Places). To do so, launch the Open dialog box, select the directory or file and choose the Add To My Places command from the Tools menu.

Another way is to type the path name into the File Name control. Then, the next time you want to choose the same directory, simply select it from the File Name control’s list. Here’s how to do that:

1. Launch the Open dialog box.
2. In the File Name control, type the entire path of one of your most-often used directories or files and press Enter.
   
3. Click Cancel to close the dialog box.
4. Relaunch the Open dialog box and open the File Name control’s list. To select the previously entered path or file, just click.

Easy access to directories

Opening files from multiple directories can become tiresome if you click through the directory hierarchy displayed in the Open dialog’s Look In control. In fact, it can become downright annoying. One solution is to add frequently used documents or folders to the Object bar (My Places). To do so, launch the Open dialog box, select the directory or file and choose the Add To My Places command from the Tools menu.

Another way is to type the path name into the File Name control. Then, the next time you want to choose the same directory, simply select it from the File Name control’s list. Here’s how to do that:

1. Launch the Open dialog box.
2. In the File Name control, type the entire path of one of your most-often used directories or files and press Enter.
   
3. Click Cancel to close the dialog box.
4. Relaunch the Open dialog box and open the File Name control’s list. To select the previously entered path or file, just click.

BlackFriday Steals Gives You the Best Things in Life

The best things in life are not free. Nope, the best things in life save you money. Therein lies the appeal of Mobile Simplicity’s BlackFriday Steals discount shopping app.

It’s a straightforward app: No fussing needed. Pop open the app, and the first thing you’ll see is a list of vendors.Tap the vendor you want, and you’ll get a list of all its Black Friday deals. If you prefer, tap the Search icon and seek whatever your heart desires.

Because I like anything with buttons on it, I figured I’d check in at Best Buy and see what I could buy myself for being such a good boy. Hey, that sweet Mitsubishi 60” HDTV will be selling for $999.99 on Friday. Looks good to me, I think, but being the frugal guy I am, I decide to check around to see if I could do better.

Off I went to BestBuy.com and found the flat-panel at $1299.99. Instead of Weepy Wednesday, which it would have been if I had dropped three C notes more than I had to, I’ll nab it on Black Friday, assuming my wife lets me (she won’t but I’m a man with a dream). What’s more, I couldn’t find the same model selling anywhere online for anything close to that price.

To make sure it wasn’t a fluke, I tried shopping at several other vendors and came up with healthy discounts on nearly everything I looked at. For example, Staples sells the iPod Nano, 8GB for $199.99, which is nothing special, but if I wait until Black Friday, I can get a free seven-piece accessory bundle thrown at the same price.

After I exhausted the search bar finding pretty, button-encrusted things, I compiled a list of some of my favorites to bring with me so I can slip into each store quickly and quietly — commando style — on Friday.

If I wanted, I could use BlackFriday Steals to email my friends about the deals I found, but there’s no point in my doing that. I want to be able to brag about how much smarter I am than they are. When I blow dough, I let everyone know, because that’s how I roll.

The app contains deals at about 40 stores, all of them familiar names. No “Joe Sloppy’s Seconds” stores here, thank you. Mobile Simplicity says it adds stores and deals daily.

Some ways to use the iPhone during winter

The temperatures outside are dropping rapidly, and many of you will find your hands wrapped in thick gloves. And then suddenly, an important phone call drops in. Unless you’ve plugged in your earphones, or connected your Bluetooth headset to the iPhone, it will take quite a long time to get your hands free to slide the button to speak. So how to answer this important call quickly?

There are “alternative” ways to interact with your iPhone without having to uncover your fingers. For basic actions such as accepting a phone call or unlocking it to read a text message, you can use either your nose or, for some more precise gestures, your tongue. I know this isn’t the most elegant way to operate your beloved iPhone, but in some cases, it needs to be quick and dirty…

For those of you finding this disgusting, but still don’t want to run around with cold fingers, consider buying some fancy iPhone-enabled Dots Gloves. And for true lover…

Sync multiple iTunes music libraries with one iPhone

I’m a bit of an audiophile, and I like to have all my music in Lossless format. I keep a separate library of Lossless files on an external drive, while my internal drive contains my AAC/MP3 library.

I often want to add a Lossless version of a song to my iPhone, for use in my car or with better headphones. So what I did was copy the iTunes Library file from my AAC/MP3 library into my Lossless iTunes Library folder. The AAC/MP3 Library was synced to my iPhone with ‘Manually Manage Music’ checked.

I then opened the Lossless library by holding Option while opening iTunes. I selected my lossless folder. I then deleted all items from the library with iTunes, careful to make sure not to send the files to the trash. I then added all the music in my Lossless library.

Now I can add music from both libraries to my iPhone without a hitch. In theory you could do this with as many libraries as you wanted, as long as the original library file was synced to your iPhone.

Use a web FTP client to access files from an iPhone

I keep a number of reference documents on a server at work that would be very handy to have access to on my iPhone while at work. The server is Windows 2003, and the iPhone does not provide an easy way to access shared files by ftp or smb. I was thinking about using something like AirSharing, but the files are changing and edited by more than one person, making sync a bit of an issue.

I thought about enabling IIS directory browsing, but this proved too limiting. Eventually, I came across a (free) project called net2FTP, which is a web-based FTP client. Using net2ftp requires that you can host FTP on your file server, and a webserver with PHP (either on the same server, or somewhere else). I installed Filezilla and net2FTP on the server, set up the FTP server to share out the directories I needed, and m…

Empty iPhone Mail app’s trash to regain file space

I have six mail accounts that I check on with my iPhone, and for months, I’ve moved read e-mails to the Trash. What I forgot was that the trash needs to be cleared periodically. I regained a couple of hundred megabytes of space by cleaning all the accounts.

To empty the Trash you must enter each account, then enter the Trash and tap Edit. You are then given the option to Delete All. Select Delete All, then confirm the Delete All. A simple tip, but one that may free up a fair bit of space on your iPhone.

SPiN Makes Shape-Recognition Colorful, Addictive, and Fun

SPiN is the first App Store title by independent developer Secret Exit Ltd. and it offers addictive puzzle fun with multiple game options that provide added replay value.

SPiN’s objective is simple — match the objects that appear on the screen to the silhouettes behind them. At first that seems like something a toddler could do but the multi-direction rotation controls and different options for the game’s pace make it possible to enjoy shape-recognition all over again at any age.

The challenge of making your fingers react as fast as your eyes is not as easy as it may sound and although SPiN is very easy to get into, the increasing pace makes it difficult enough to keep you interested. Matching the objects up in as few moves as possible increases the score and ten different levels with 100 stages keep SPiN visually interesting as well.

The three different game modes (Arcade, Frantic, and Minute Rush) allow the user to mix the game up and the three different speed options allow SPiN to work for inexperienced as well as more advanced players. The arcade-style music is fun and uplifting but can get tiresome after a while and the game’s graphics are great with different backgrounds and color schemes for the different stages.

Overall SPiN is a colorful puzzle game that can get very addictive and makes shape-recognition unexpectedly entertaining.

CSI: Miami Is A Game For Die Hard Fans

From veteran game developer Gameloft comes CSI: Miami, the official mobile game based on the popular TV series.

As Lieutenant Horatio Caine you are walked through the investigation by cartoon likenesses of the real characters from the show. And, just like in the show, the game starts out at the scene of a murder, this time a dead woman’s body that has washed up on the beach. From then on, through the four “chapter” span of CSI: Miami, you encounter related victims and crime scenes, perform autopsies, interrogate suspects, gather evidence, and use scientific investigation tools to find the culprit.

Like many games based on films and television shows CSI: Miami is heavy on the imaging and a bit light on the game-play.

It’s true that in CSI: Miami you get to hunt for clues, search buildings, and use various tools to gather evidence, but it soon becomes clear that the game aspect is second to the storyline. For the most part you just tap your way through bubbles of dialogue and take orders from the other characters who are guiding you. Every now and again you get to make a choice or two but if you don’t choose correctly the game just goes in circles until you do.

The “mini-games” that you unlock through the course of CSI: Miami, such as the DNA sequencing or the lock picking games, seem to try to make up for this fact, however, in the end, their simplicity may leave something to be desired for any real gamer.

On the other hand, if you are a fan of CSi:Miami then you are in for a real treat. There are featured quotes taken from the actual characters as well as real video clips that can be unlocked as you make your way through the investigation.

For the most part the strictly linear development makes playing CSI a lot like watching the show, except the characters voices are different and you get to control the pace a bit. In that way CSI: Miami is perfect for fans but not so much for anyone with their heart set on playing a video game. If you are someone who has seen all the episodes and is invested in the characters, then CSI: Miami is right up your alley. As for everyone else, I would suggest sticking with the TV show for now.

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