I’ll be covering more semi-pro photography and audio gear on this channel in the coming months. To start, I wanted to jump in with one of my favorite hobbies. Macro photography! I like taking pics of thinks super close up, but I haven’t yet been able to afford a proper macro lens. Extension tubes are a solution which have helped improve the quality of my shots, so let’s go hands on with a set!
Camera Test! Video Samples from the Galaxy S4 Active on AT&T! Waterproof!
The Active uses a lower res camera sensor than the regular GS4, and it’s one we’re very familiar with. First making an appearance on the GS3 and Note 2, this sensor doesn’t hold any surprises, though Samsung’s camera app has improved over the successive phones utilizing this hardware.
It does come with one really neat trick though. How waterproof is your current smartphone?
Let’s take a look.
AIO Wireless prepaid phone service now available online for all
Consumers are starting to take notice of prepaid solutions. We’re all getting a little more cost-conscious, and depending on how you use your phone, and what features you actually need, prepaid might be the right solution for you.
AT&T backed service AIO is now available online to everyone shopping a prepaid, no contract service with access to 4G LTE. In addition to their online roll out, AIO has started opening retail brick and mortar stores in Florida, Georgia, and Texas if you’d like to peruse their wares.
AIO currently offers unlimited talk, text, and data, though high speed access is capped. Plans start at $40 for 250MB of high speed data. They’re currently running a special for customers who sign up for service before September 29 will get their third month of service for free.
For more info: http://www.aiowireless.com/
Full PR after the break.
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Microsoft will give you at least $200 to trade in your iPad for a Surface
If you’ve been wanting to make the jump from iOS to Windows 8 for your tablet usage, Microsoft is more than happy to help you make the transition by cutting you a check.
Yup, on the Microsoft store, they’re currently running a promotion that will pay out a minimum of $200 for you iPad 2,3, or 4. Sorry first gen iPad owners, but no one really wants anything to do with tech that old…
Now, this might be a good, convenient solution for people who just want to buy a Surface or Surface Pro and don’t want to hassle with offloading their old Apple gear, but if your iPad 2 is in good condition, and if you’ve kept the box, it’s likely you could score around $250 for that tablet on eBay.
NASA’s Voyager 1 Leaves Our Solar System For Interstellar Space. V’Ger to return in 2273.
There’s something kind of amazing that Voyager 1 is not only the first man made craft to leave the confines of our solar system, but that NASA believes it will continue to function, sending data to back to us until around 2025.
Voyager 1 has been in operation for 36 years, and has traveled more than 16 Billion miles during that time. From John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science in Washington:
“Voyager has boldly gone where no probe has gone before, marking one of the most significant technological achievements in the annals of the history of science, and adding a new chapter in human scientific dreams and endeavors. Perhaps some future deep space explorers will catch up with Voyager, our first interstellar envoy, and reflect on how this intrepid spacecraft helped enable their journey.”
Perhaps even more amazing, the entire operations budget for the Voyager program, including both Voyager 1 & 2 spacecrafts has been less than $1 Billion. Not a bad bang for buck from a research perspective.
For more info on the Voyager program: http://www.nasa.gov/voyager
Read a Reddit AMA with the Voyager scientists and engineers: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1m9wke/were_scientists_and_engineers_on_nasas_voyager/
And some day, maybe in the late 23rd century, after the Klingons report a strange disturbance featuring a humongous space craft, and we’re all wearing pastel jumpsuits, we’ll know what’s up…
Full NASA Press Release after the jump. SCIENCE!
Petition to keep “Cortana” as the name of Microsoft’s Voice Asisstant.
Here’s a petition I can wholeheartedly support.
We recently found out that Microsoft was working on a Google Now / Siri competitor, and we also know that the code name for the project is ‘Cortana’, which is a terrific little nod to XBox fans. Cortana is the name of the AI which aids players in the popular HALO franchise of video games.
Well, people know a good thing when they hear it and an industrious Halo and/or Windows Phone fan has left a suggestion on Microsoft’s official feedback site. ‘Keep Cortana as the Name of the Personal Assistant’ is already over 1500 votes, and I was proud to add my name to that list.
Microsoft has always had a reputation for lacking synergy between the various teams working on various products and services. This could be a nice, if a bit tongue in cheek, way to signal some cooperation between the XBox, Windows, and Windows Phone teams.
Appropriately, Twitter announces IPO with a Tweet
What else would you have expected?
The long rumored Twitter IPO looks like it might be happening. Now the dance of managing expectations begins. They need to drum up excitement about their public offerings, but they can’t go overboard like Facebook. It’s an extremely delicate balance. How do you get investors to open their wallets without getting them overly hyped up. We’ll see if Twitter can figure out the formula where other services have faltered.
Fittingly, they announced this long anticipated industry news with a tweet:
We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.
— Twitter (@twitter) September 12, 2013
Ask Juan: How useful are 41MP pics from the Lumia 1020 when uploading to Facebook, Instagram, etc?
A wonderful question from one of my YouTube viewers, Will F.
“What are your thoughts about the images with respect to sharing? At sharing size (Facebook, etc), only so much detail is really visible. It seems like the 1020 would be overkill in these situations, especially since you have to do a little extra work to get the full size images off of the phone. My only real gripe about this phone is the slow shot-to-shot time.”
Let’s take a look at some pics from the 1020, and see if we can address Will’s concerns about the camera!
Click here for high definition video samples from the Lumia 1020!