Software layers BP oil spill over your home

Using freely available government data, a new Web site helps people quantify the BP oil spill in local terms.IfItWasMyHome.com uses a combo of Google Maps and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite tracking data to place the parameters of the BP oil spill--the result of the April 20 explosion of an oil rig--over any area in the world.The spill can be moved to center on any location of one's choosing by simply entering location data (such as a city or postal code) as one would usually do for Google Maps.Playing with the tool is devastating.Many in the media initially compared the spill to the size of Rhode Island or Delaware, America's smallest states. But playing with this tool that follows NOAA data daily, one sees that if centered on Boston, the spill now would cover almost all of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, more than half of Connecticut, and parts of New Hampshire and Maine combined. That's more than half of New England.The tool is the work of Andy Lintner, a software developer from Royal Oak, Mich. who wanted to better demonstrate to his wife the scope of the spill. He initially Photoshopped the spill over a map of Michigan, but then got the idea to use Google Maps to let anyone put the spill over their home area.Lintner told The New York Times that he created the Web site last week and posted its address to his Facebook page. Since then, Lintner has seen at least a quarter of a million visitors, a number that will no doubt grow quickly after this morning's exposure from the NYT article and other media outlets.The site seems to be updated daily

Here is a visual image of the BP oil spill when placed over a map of New England as of Thursday.(Credit: Google Maps/IfItWasMyHome.com)

Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Zynga scores Challenge Games

Zynga, the online gaming powerhouse, has acquired Austin, Texas-based Challenge Games. The social game start-up will be renamed Zynga Austin and will focus on product development. Backed by Sequoia Capital and Globespan Capital Partners, Challenge focuses on virtual goods games, such as Warstorm.Zynga did not reveal the terms of the deal.The San Francisco-based Zynga has been on a bit of a deal tear of late, inking partnership agreements with both Yahoo and Facebook recently.Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Energy management firm lands ex-Oracle exec as CEO

ENXSuite, formerly known as Carbonetworks, is one of many software companies betting that businesses need to actively manage energy spending.

The start-up announced Thursday that it has changed its name and has hired former Oracle and Aspect Communications executive Beatriz Infante as CEO. It's also in the process of raising additional capital to expand, it said. When it first launched in 2007 from Vancouver, ENXSuite developed software for businesses to manage carbon-reduction programs and comply with regulations. Since then, it's expanded its hosted software to track greenhouse gas emissions as well as energy, water, and waste. "We have already shifted. Our customers have pulled us there," Infante told Greentech Media. "Some customers (use the software) to actively manage carbon credits, but in the U.S. we don't have cap and trade." Businesses can, for example, use the software to decide which energy efficiency programs have the best return on investment, purchase carbon credits, or create scorecards on how they are meeting reduction goals. The city of Chicago this week said it will use ENXSuite software to manage a program to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Although there many ways to run energy and sustainability programs using software, it is an increasingly busy field with established companies SAP, Oracle, and CA as well as other start-ups including Hara Software, Verisae, and Planet Metrics.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Court examines Gizmodo devices for iPhone info

Authorities have finally begun examining the computers, server, and other electronic gear seized from a Gizmodo editor as part of the investigation into a missing iPhone prototype.

Gizmodo editor Jason Chen holding the prototype iPhone the gadget blog acquired for $5,000.(Credit: Gizmodo)

Stephen Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney for San Mateo County, told CNET on Wednesday that a court there had appointed a "special master" to search the items seized from the home of Jason Chen in late April. The court has asked the special master to collect only information that pertains to Gizmodo's dealings with an iPhone prototype that the blog purchased for $5,000. In March, an Apple employee lost contact with the handset--a prototype of the next generation of iPhones--when visiting a bar in Redwood City, Calif. The device was obtained by Brian Hogan who then sold the phone to Gizmodo. Police launched a theft investigation and served a subpoena at Chen's home in Fremont, Calif. Attorneys representing Chen and Gawker Media, Gizmodo's parent company, claimed the search warrant used to seize Chen's property was "invalid," citing a California law curbing newsroom searches.

"It is good to see Steve Jobs so animated."

--Nick Denton,
Gawker Media CEO

Prosecutors disagreed; Wagstaffe said his staff considered whether reporter shield laws applied and then decided to proceed. Once Chen's gear was confiscated, it couldn't be searched until the issue of whether the search was lawful was addressed. Wagstaffe said his department and Chen's attorney, Thomas Nolan, came to an agreement on how Chen's computer and other equipment could be reviewed. Nolan did not respond to an interview request. According to Wagstaffe, a special master is an unpaid agent appointed by the court to make sure judicial orders are followed. Special masters are typically volunteers, mostly former judges or law professors, Wagstaffe said. They are supposed to be unconnected to the cases they are working on. Wagstaffe said he was under court orders not to reveal the identity of the special master reviewing Chen's possessions.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said his company was "extorted." To see a roundup of CNET's missing iPhone coverage, click on photo. (Credit: Asa Mathat/All Things Digital)

After the search is concluded, the special master will forward the materials of what he or she believes is relevant to the case on to the judge, who will then present it to Chen and his lawyers so they can make any objections. The judge will then decide what to turn over to the district attorney. The process could take up to two months, Wagstaffe told CNET. No one has been charged with any crime in this case, and Wagstaffe said the investigation continues. On Tuesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took aim at Gizmodo and Hogan. Speaking at the D8 conference, Jobs said, "There is a debate of whether it was left in a bar or stolen out of (the Apple employee's) bag." Gizmodo reported that Hogan found the phone in the bar. Jobs also suggested that Gizmodo tried to "extort" Apple; he presumably was referring to an e-mail exchange he had with Gizmodo editors in which they offered to give the experimental iPhone back only after they received written confirmation that it belonged to Apple. Gizmodo also implied that it wanted better access to Apple in the future. What came through very clearly from Jobs' comments is that he and Apple believe they are victims of a crime and that they have no intention of letting Gizmodo or the issue "slide." "I got a lot of advice from people that said, 'You've got to just let it slide," Jobs said. "You shouldn't go after a journalist because they bought stolen property and tried to extort you." Later, he added that adopting an attitude of letting things slide would be wrong for him and Apple. "I can't do that," he said. "I'd rather quit." Nick Denton, CEO of Gawker Media, Gizmodo's parent company, issued a brief response to Jobs' remarks: "It is good to see Steve Jobs so animated." (Watch Jobs discuss the missing iPhone situation below).
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Twitter test feature shows fellow Ashton-stalkers

Twitter engineer Nick Kallen posted a tweet late Wednesday night to highlight a new test feature that the microblogging service is working on. "We're testing the 'You both follow' feature (in the profile sidebar)," Kallen wrote. "Only 10 percent of people have it for now."Basically, this feature (if it ever takes off--loads of test features on social-media sites never see a full launch) will let you see, on a random Twitter user's profile, whether there are any Twitter accounts that both of you follow. If you follow lots of people or companies or news outlets in common, presumably you might have something in common with that user as well and might want to follow him or her in turn. Or more likely you'll be exposed to fellow closet Ashton Kutcher stalkers.The announcement of a relatively small feature like this is likely to set off speculation about Twitter and Facebook going head-to-head once again, considering the feature's resemblance to Facebook's longstanding "friends in common" feature, but it's more likely designed as one of a series of minor upgrades to the Twitter.com interface. Critics say that Twitter's own Web site lags behind the experience of many of the third-party clients developed for the service, something that Twitter is now addressing with acquisitions and new developments.The test on a small portion of Twitter's user base will likely give the company an indication of whether it actually does much of anything to build follower counts and user engagement.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Nokia unveils bicycle-powered phone charger

The charger and phone holder for the Nokia Bicycle Charger Kit attach to a bike's front handlebars.(Credit: Nokia)

Nokia unveiled on Thursday a bicycle-powered phone charger.The Nokia Bicycle Charger Kit, which can be attached to any bicycle, powers up from the pedaling motion of the bike's rider. A dynamo--the electricity generator--is powered by the front bicycle wheel as a rider pedals and transfers electricity to a charger attached to the handlebar, which a phone plugs into. "To begin charging, a cyclist needs to travel around six kilometers per hour (four miles per hour), and while charging times will vary depending on battery model, a 10-minute journey at 10 kilometers per hour (six miles per hour) produces around 28 minutes of talk time or 37 hours of standby time. The faster you ride, the more battery life you generate," Nokia said in a statement.The charger can be used to power any Nokia phone with a 2mm power jack, according to Nokia.

The Nokia bicycle charger comes with a dynamo that attaches to a bike's fork and generates electricity as a rider pedals.(Credit: Nokia)

The kit comes with two small brackets, in addition to the charger and generator. One bracket attaches to the bicycle's handlebars to secure the charger and a cell phone holder. The other secures the small electric generator to the bike's fork.The world's largest maker of cell phones said in a statement that its new product will provide "free and environmentally friendly electricity for mobile phones" and will likely be welcomed in areas of the world where bicycles are a transportation staple.Priced at about $18, the charging kit is set to be available from Nokia online and Nokia phone retailers by year's end.While its certainly newsworthy that Nokia is offering a bicycle charger, it follows others. In 2007, Motorola demonstrated a bike-powered charger at the Consumer Electronics Show. In September, Dahon unveiled the $99 Biologic FreeCharge for charging small electronic gadgets by connecting to any existing dynamo hub on a bike.Nokia's announcement came in conjunction with the release of the Nokia C2, a cell phone capable of holding and operating two SIM cards at once to allow for separate phone numbers to be used from one device simultaneously. The dual-SIM C2 allows the user to not only switch between SIM cards, but even swap one SIM card for another, while the phone is on and working.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Solar microinverter firm Enphase bags $63 million

Enphase Energy, a start-up that makes microinverters for solar panels, has signed on venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as part of a $63 million round of financing. The Petaluma, Calif.-based company said on Thursday that Kleiner Perkins' investment is the bulk of a second installment of one funding round, with the first tranche being $40 million in March of this year.

A microinverter, which attaches to a solar panel's racking and converts direct current to alternating current on each panel, improving reliability and panel output, according to backers.(Credit: Enphase Energy)

With the money, Enphase Energy plans to ramp up its production of its microinverters, which do DC-to-AC power conversion on individual solar panels. It also has plans to expand outside of the U.S. and Canada and into Europe, said Raghu Belur, a co-founder and vice president of marketing. "We are growing rapidly. This is growth capital," Belur said. The company has raised between $100 million and $110 million altogether. When the company launched in early 2008, there was a significant amount of skepticism around the reliability and efficiency of microinverters. Since then, Enphase says it has shipped 300,000 units and gained 12 percent of inverter sales in the first quarter this year. Belur said the technology matches the cost of traditional centralized inverters, which convert direct current (DC) from solar photovoltaic panels into household alternating current (AC). Microinverters, which are attached to the racking system of solar panels, also convert DC to AC. But having an inverter on every panel helps the overall performance because shading on one panel won't affect others connected to it. Belur said that microinverters can produce between 5 percent and 25 percent more energy than centralized inverters. Installation is also simplified and thus cheaper, he said. The system also gathers information on panels so people can use Web-enabled devices to see performance. The data is transferred via the power lines and sent to a gateway device, which uses a home broadband connection to send information to Enphase. The company is now in the process of working with solar panel manufacturers to have the microinverters embedded directly onto a panel, rather than have them installed in the field, Belur said. The company is also looking at ways to enhance its software with more analytics, he added.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

AT&T's new pricing takes smartphones to the masses

Pennywise consumers will soon be able to join the smartphone craze without digging too deep into their wallets.AT&T, the second largest wireless carrier and the only operator offering the iPhone, has cracked. It may not be long before Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless operator, follows suit. The goal for these carriers, and the slew of smaller players already competing on price, is to entice average consumers to sign up for smartphone data services."With voice ARPU (average revenue per user) declining, operators need more of their customers to opt for data plans in order to hold the revenue line," Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research, wrote in a blog post.The best way to add more subscribers for a service is to lower the price. That's exactly what AT&T is doing. On Wednesday AT&T announced that it will do away with its unlimited data plan for smartphones. Instead, starting June 7, it will offer customers two choices of mobile data service plans, one of which is half the price of the original $30 all-you-can-eat plan. For $15 a month, the DataPlus plan offers smartphone customers 200 megabytes of data. If customers exceed 200MB in a monthly billing cycle, they receive an additional 200MB of data for $15 until the end of that billing cycle. For $25 a month, consumers get 2 gigabytes of data. And if subscribers exceed 2GB during a billing cycle, they will be charged $10 for an additional 1GB of data.The new pricing plan, while meant to lure new customers, is sure to enrage hardcore data users. That goes double for those who see new 4G networks opening up new streaming opportunities.Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless operator in the U.S. and AT&T's chief rival, wouldn't comment on AT&T's new pricing plans. But if history is any indication, it won't take long before Verizon begins offering tiered service for its smartphones, as well. In January, within weeks of each other, AT&T and Verizon Wireless separately revised pricing on voice and data services for mid-tier phones. The price cuts followed new aggressive pricing from Sprint Nextel, which last year introduced plans that allow customers to call any cell phone in the U.S. for free. As part of the new pricing models, both AT&T and Verizon Wireless extended data plans to a whole slew of customers who formerly were not subscribing to any data plans. Specifically, these new plans, which are almost identical in price, were designed to get more customers signing up for data services. "It's a very competitive market," said Roger Entner, senior vice president and head of research and insights for the Telecom Practice of Nielsen. "And if the largest competitor gives customers the option to cut data by half, you have to seriously look at that."Good news for consumers
The tiered service offering will achieve two main goals for AT&T. First, it will offer average consumers a more affordable entry point into the smartphone market. This should help AT&T win more customers switching from a basic feature phone to a smartphone for the first time. Second, it will finally allow AT&T to charge the 3 percent of data subscribers it claims are using 40 percent of its network resources for the inordinate amount of bandwidth they are consuming.In either case, the vast majority of consumers will benefit. AT&T says that on average, 65 percent of its customers use less than 200MB per month, which means that more than half its customers should be fine with the $15 a month plan. The company also claims that 98 percent of its smartphone customers use on average less than 2GB of data per month. So even for customers who use a lot of data, they'll still pay $5 less than what they were paying with the old $30 a month unlimited plan."This is good news for most consumers," Entner said. "It makes the data plans for smartphones with AT&T much more affordable. And it allows more people to take advantage of it."Since most smartphone subscribers have no idea how much data they are using each month, AT&T says it plans to make it easy for customers to know how much data they are consuming. The company plans to send text messages to users as they reach 65 percent, 90 percent, and 100 percent of their monthly cap. By offering its customers more options at different prices, AT&T can attract new customers who are likely more price sensitive than the early adopters who first signed up for the iPhone. "The primary motivation for making the switch to tiered pricing is that the one-size-fits-all approach to smartphones doesn't make sense anymore," said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T. "We wanted to give people a choice. People will use these devices differently, and we needed to give them different options."AT&T is also facing a great deal of competition. While it is still the only U.S. wireless carrier offering the popular Apple iPhone, the iPhone is no longer the only cool smartphone on the market. Google Android phones, which are now offered by every major U.S. carrier, have been gaining traction. In fact, Google's Android operating system edged out Apple's iPhone operating system for the No. 2 spot in the U.S. consumer smartphone market in the first quarter, research firm NPD Group reported.According to NPD, devices running Android accounted for 28 percent of the units sold to U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2010. BlackBerry devices made by Research In Motion, which use RIM's homegrown operating system, took the top spot with 36 percent of the U.S. market. Apple's iPhone, which had been in the No. 2 spot previously, fell to third place with 21 percent of the market.Verizon Wireless, AT&T's biggest rival, has seen strong uptick in sales due to its Android phones. First, last year it launched the Motorola Droid. And now it has the Android-based HTC Incredible. This phone, which looks very similar to an iPhone, has only been on the market a short time, and it's already considered one of the hottest phones in Verizon's lineup.AT&T is also facing intense pricing pressure from its smaller competitors. Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA have been aggressively pricing their services, bundling unlimited data and text messaging in packages at prices that undercut AT&T's and Verizon Wireless' pricing.Prepaid wireless operators, such as Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile USA, MetroPCS and Leap Wireless, are also starting to offer low-cost smartphone plans. Virgin Mobile, which is owned by Sprint Nextel, offers a prepaid smartphone plan for as low as $35 a month. It includes 300 voice minutes and unlimited data and text messaging.A win for AT&T, too
Offering different levels of service will also allow wireless operators, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, to make more money over the long term from their wireless subscribers."As operators prepare to launch next-generation networks that will deliver much faster data rates and enable users to consume significantly more data in a month than today's networks can deliver, they need a pricing strategy that will allow them to charge a premium and extract greater value from these networks," Golvin said in his blog. "Flat-rate pricing will prevent them from realizing that value and limits their future data revenue. This is the real underlying rationale for these changes."Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Wireless, seems to recognize this. During a Barclays Capital conference in late May, he said that users who sign up for Verizon's 4G LTE services should expect to pay for "buckets" of data rather than pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited use. Since the iPhone first launched in 2007, AT&T has been struggling to keep up with demand for wireless-data usage on its network. The iPhone, which was built more for accessing the Net than making calls, can access more than 100,000 applications, many of which use the mobile Internet. iPhone users on average consume five to seven times more data per month than average wireless subscribers, according to analyst firm Sanford Bernstein. And all this usage is clogging the network, causing many iPhone users, especially in large cities such as New York and San Francisco, to experience dropped calls, slow 3G service, and issues connecting to the network at all.AT&T has been upgrading its network, but Ralph de la Vega and other top executives at the company have admitted that AT&T needed to change its pricing to provide incentives to curb extreme network use. The company has also tried to make it easier for smartphone customers to offload Web activity on Wi-Fi hotspots. The company now offers free access to its more than 20,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots around the country to all smartphone subscribers.As Apple prepares to launch yet another version of the iPhone, which is expected to shoot and play high-definition video, it makes sense that AT&T would try to curb heavy data usage. Pricing for the new tethering option is another sign that AT&T is trying to limit extreme data usage. Tethering will be offered, but subscribers must pay an additional $20 a month and sign up for the $25 2GB plan. Even with the $20 extra fee, subscribers still only get 2GB worth of data for the month.But adding such a low-cost plan could potentially put even more strain on AT&T's network since part of the rationale for revising the pricing plan is to attract more customers. But Entner said that this should not present a problem to AT&T."They are banking on the fact that high data users are already with them," he said. "So the users they are likely adding will use less data. Plus, they will continue to upgrade their network. They're simply bringing revenue in line with the cost."
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Geotag your photos without wires--or fuss

In just a few weeks it will be the beginning of summer, and with the change in season comes a rise in the number of photographs you're bound to take. Yahoo-owned photo site Flickr, for instance, gets an average of 4 million photos uploaded a day during the summer months, which amounts to a 30 percent increase versus the rest of the year.Summer shooters are also likely to be taking these photos while out and about, be it a weekend trip or a vacation. And if that's the case, the argument for geotagging is becoming increasingly strong. Why geotag? For one, it makes your photos easier to organize in software like Google's Picasa, Adobe's Lightroom, and Apple's Aperture 3 and iPhoto software. More importantly, it can add an extra level of interactivity to your photos once they're hosted on photo-sharing sites like Smugmug, Flickr, and Picasa that group together user-shared shots on a map. The sad truth though is that unless you're snapping photos with your smartphone's camera, you're not going to be getting that sweet, sweet GPS data appended to your shots. But fear not, there are plenty of solutions out there, and they're getting cheaper and more plentiful. One of the ones I tried out this past weekend proved to be remarkably simple and effective. Best of all, it will work with just about any camera--past, present, and likely those from the future. What I chose to use was an Eye-Fi X2 Explorer SD card, a $99 Wi-Fi-enabled Secure Digital memory card with a built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi antenna and embedded software that can add GPS data to your photos as soon as you've taken them. The one prerequisite is that you need a Wi-Fi connection for the Eye-Fi to figure out where you are. I solved this by linking the card up wirelessly to my Android smartphone (a Nexus One) that was running Android 2.2 (aka "Froyo")--the latest version of the operating system that lets users turn their phone into a wireless Wi-Fi hotspot. This combination works in perfect harmony; as I took photos with my digital camera, it ping-ed my phone's Wi-Fi signal to grab GPS data. These coordinates are not from your phone's GPS signal, but from your location as guesstimated by the embedded technology from Skyhook Wireless. This is the same company that furnishes the location estimator for Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, as well as for third-party Web sites that use the company's "find me" button to let visitors share their location. It may not have the extreme accuracy of "real" GPS, but it's almost instantaneous, works indoors, and is accurate to around 20-30 meters.

(Credit: CNET)

Getting rid of more wires, middleware, and proprietary hardware

Beyond adding simple geotags, the Eye-Fi card can also be set to beam photos up to places like Facebook and Flickr, as soon as they're taken. This cuts out the need to haul around a computer with you if you're on vacation, since you can make edits later on down the line. The company's Explore X2 and Pro X2 cards are also able to automatically hop on to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots. All in all, this is a particularly more convenient system than what was previously possible on mobile phones that didn't have a Wi-Fi tethering mode. I, as well as my CNET colleague Stephen Shankland, had explored using an alternate geotagging method using an Android application called My Tracks. With it you could set your phone to record your GPS location as you moved around; it, in turn, would spit out a log of your whereabouts. Software like Apple's Aperture 3 had a handy feature that would let you drag and drop the GPS log from My Tracks into its library to have it map out that particular trip, then link it up to a "roll" of photos you had taken. Apple's implementation of it was not automated though; you still had to tell it where you started taking photos, and pick that particular shot. From there, it would assign GPS coordinates to the rest of the photos in that roll based on when you took the shots.

Free Android apps like My Tracks can record your travels as a GPS log that can be used to add geodata to photos, but it sometimes requires pricey software or many extra steps.(Credit: Stephen Shankland / CNET)

My other option was to shell out for Nikon's proprietary GPS module, the GP-1, a $200 gadget that had gotten mixed reviews. Its main selling point was that it could be strapped onto the top of your camera and share its power supply while feeding in GPS info to your shots as you took them (note: there's a Canon counterpart to this). It was also able to work in areas where you might not get cell phone data reception, like out in the woods. The main problem I had with wanting to buy such a piece of hardware is that it would work only with Nikon's cameras, and wouldn't necessarily be compatible with future models. The Eye-Fi card, on the other hand, would work with nearly any camera with an SD card slot, or in older model cameras with a Compact Flash to SD card adapter. Many user reviews on places like Amazon had also pegged the GPS signal lock time on the GP-1 unit to be more than a minute, which for shooting a few photos at a time was undesirable.

The downsides and fine print

While the wireless system works with great harmony, there are a few downsides--the primary one being cost. The system I was using, which utilized the unlocked AT&T Nexus One, and an Eye-Fi Explore 8GB SD card, totaled close to $700 after taxes (not including cellular phone service or the price of the camera). Then again, the most expensive part of that combo doubles as a very functional mobile phone. To get the same system to work on your Android phone you're going to need a recent model that will be upgraded to the 2.2 firmware, as well as a carrier plan that's tethering friendly. HTC's EVO 4G, which is due to be released on Sprint's network this Friday, includes the feature but charges users $30 a month for it. Others who get the 2.2 update may simply get it, unless their carrier and OEMs have opted to keep it out of the software update. There are also third-party applications like PDA Net that can turn your pre-2.2 Android phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot for $19. Those who don't have an Android phone can achieve similar results with a standalone Wi-Fi hotspot product like the MyFi or Sprint Overdrive. There are also a handful of other smartphones that offer the hotspot feature, like Palm's Pre and Pixi Plus, though again these options can be just as expensive in the long run when taking into account service contracts and up-front hardware costs.

(Credit: Apple)

On the Eye-Fi side, the main caveat is that you're going to need the Eye-Fi card that includes geotagging. This is a feature that comes standard on the company's Eye-Fi Geo, Explore X2, and Pro X2 cards, which run $70, $100, and $150 respectively. Users with older models can upgrade to having the feature for $15 a year. And if you're a RAW shooter, you'll have to go with the Pro model to upload your shots either to social networks, or back to your computer. Along with the hardware costs is the battery hit on both your phone and your camera. Every time you take a shot, the Eye-Fi card is checking in with your phone. And if you've linked up your Eye-Fi card to places like Facebook and Flickr for instant uploads, it will drain both devices as the data is transferred. That said, with the instant uploading turned off, you'll burn less of your camera's precious juice. My phone also did not get nearly as hot, or go through as much battery, as it does when running My Tracks, or Google's Navigation app.

The free way

(Credit: CBS / CNET)

The system detailed above works incredibly well, but like we said--it's pricey. That doesn't mean you can't add geodata to photos you've taken in the past. The two easiest ways to do it involve offline software and free online services, and/or a smartphone that can capture GPS coordinates to add to your photos later on. The software/Webware route
Many online services like Picasa and Flickr, and software like iPhoto (which comes free with new Macs), let you do a simple search on a map to add this data to your shots. If you were visiting a landmark at the time, this is easy. The hard part is trying to remember where you were in an old photo without some sort of geo identifier. In the case of using a local software program, the geotag is actually added to that source file's metadata, so it will come along with it when you upload it to an online service, or offload it to a backup drive. The camera phone route
If you already have a smart phone with a camera that records geodata, it's worth taking a quick snap with it if you're shooting any photos in that area with your regular camera. Consider it like a tracer round, just to get a record of you being there. Then, when you get back to a computer, there are plenty of ways to pull that information from the camera phone photos over to your other shots. For more on that, check out my CNET colleague Stephen Shankland's 2007 story "My geotagging trials, travails, and tribulations," which is still startlingly up-to-date a little less than three years later.One thing to note is that these two options may be free, however the main joy of a wireless and instant geotagging system is that it ends up being less work when you get back to your computer. And in the case of using a mobile hotspot and the Eye-Fi card system, you can cut the computer out of the equation completely. Built-in GPS in point and shoots as well as DSLRs is destined to one day be a standard feature. But in the meantime, you'll be hard-pressed to find a solution that's as versatile, or as individually useful, as the Eye-Fi and a Wi-Fi hotspot cellphone. Separately they are good, but together they are great.Update: Changed the number of photos uploaded to Flickr during the summer months. Also, reader NoToSpam suggests Sony's GPS-CS3KA in the comments. It provides a similar GPS logging function to My Tracks, but without the need to use a phone. It works with Sony's digital cameras and camcorders.Related:
Megazoom with GPS star of five Samsung camera announcements
Apple improves editing, GPS with Aperture 3.0.3
Cameras with built-in geotagging on horizon
Camera with GPS logger could help collect crash data

Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

James Cameron talks entertainment at D8

James Cameron made "Titanic," the highest-grossing film ever made. Thirteen years later he did it again: "Avatar." And as much as "Avatar" stretched the boundaries of the box office, it has stretched the boundaries of cinema as well. The 3D film features a staggering 2,500-plus special-effects shots, set a new standard for movie-making technology, and may have ushered in a big-screen renaissance in the process. Live blog
Walt and Kara are bathed in blue! They look vaguely Avatar-like. And here comes Cameron, who lavishes praise on the red leather hot seats. 8:17 pm: Walt-We're not going to talk about privacy. 8:17 pm: Kara-You've embraced tech for a long time. Where did that start? Cameron: I started as an FX guy. I had to figure out how all of that was done. We no longer use any of the tools I learned how to use. The artistic skills I developed haven't changed. 8:18 pm: Walt-Do you think there's a way to enjoy "Avatar" without seeing it in 3D? Cameron: Sure. Most of the work I do as a director doesn't have to do with 3D. The 3D should be viewed as value-added. Everyone said you had to see "Avatar" in the theaters, in 3D. But the DVDs have sold really well. If people have the choice, they use 3D. If they don't, 2D works fine. 8:20 pm: Walt-So will there be a movie that requires 3D? Cameron: Sure. That could be an interesting experience, but it would be a failure of narrative. Good movies scale-they work on iPhones, and on theater screens. 8:21 pm: Kara-We saw a not-good movie the other night ["Prince of Persia"--terrible], and every preview was for a 3D movie. Cameron: Yep. There's going to be a period of time when we risk "debasing the coinage." If we make people pay extra for a lousy movie, we're going to be in trouble. Walt: Who does it well? Cameron: Jeffrey Katzenberg at Dreamworks. "How to Train Your Dragon" was sumptuous. 8:23 pm: Kara-Let's talk about the tech involved in "Avatar." What's different about your 3D and other 3Ds? Cameron: 3D has had a rocky start-and-stop experience. He walks through the chronology of different tech. Fast-forward to 2000. First prototypes of projectors with very high frame rates. And I was working on the different end, working on a specialized camera. It still took a long time. It was a very flat curve for a long time. Now it's practically vertical. But prior to that, exhibitors didn't want to pay to retrofit theaters for one movie a year. Studios wouldn't do 3D if there were no theaters, etc. I was proselytizing, but most people ignored me. By 2005, I decided to make a big film in 3D, without the wink and snigger, a serious film. You know, I'm just going to go out there and do this, and let the chips fall where they may. I don't want to take all the credit. There were a small number of people who were doing this: Robert Zemeckis, Katzenberg, Peter Jackson said he would do a 3D movie, but didn't. But the announcement was valuable in itself. 8:28 pm: Can you remake "Titanic" in 3D? Cameron. Yes. Walt: Are you thinking about doing that? Cameron: We're not thinking about doing that, we're doing it. We'll have it ready for the ship's 100th anniversary. 8:30 pm: Kara-Would you do this with "Terminator" and other older movies you've done? Cameron: Depends. We're going to spend months and millions converting "Titanic." But if we do lousy jobs of conversions, "pop-up book style," that's going to get old quickly. 8:33 pm: Walt-So what about 3D TV sets? Cameron: Problem is that there's not enough content right now. If you get every 3D movie, you'll have a good three days, and then you're done. 8:33 pm: Walt-And most people have just bought sets recently. Cameron: Right. But it will change over time. And if you're buying today, go ahead and future-proof yourself by buying 3D. 8:34 pm: Kara-Let's talk about BP briefly. Tell us about your connection. Cameron: There's a story that the government went to Hollywood for help. But that's not the case. I've just been interested and really involved in subs and wrecks for a long time. So over the last few weeks, I've been watching what's happening and saying, "Those morons don't know what they're doing." And then I realized I know a lot of people who work in deep submergence. They don't do oil, but they know the engineering. So I got 23 people together for a brainstorming session at EPA headquarters. The EPA guys weren't there; they were in the Gulf. But they hosted it. Kara: You went to BP first? Cameron: They could not have been more gracious. But they said, "We've got this." Here's the thing: We sat in a room for 10 hours and worked this problem. It's a very complex problem, and it starts 18,000 feet down. Steel fails like it's made out of butter. So you find out there are things that prevent them from doing obvious fixes. But there are things that can be done. I want to say, I never thought I would be defending BP. Anyway, I started to shift perspective, to thinking that the government should be monitoring this stuff independently, and I can help with that. Walt: Doesn't the Navy have submarines? Cameron: Yes. We work with them. Anyway, we're working on a report, etc. Walt: Is the White House involved in this? Cameron: No, it's a private effort. 8:40 pm: Kara-Let's talk about Hollywood economics. Cameron: I think there was a time when Hollywood really didn't get the rapidity of change. But we're past that now. Still, there's a limit to how quickly they can change and still keep their business. 8:41 pm: Walt-There's a lot of consumers and tech folks who think you should be able to see a movie or TV show whenever, wherever. Cameron: You hear a lot of that. But it's usually not from the people who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars making the film. [Scattered applause. Pretty sure I hear Rupert Murdoch, who's in the front, guffawing.] 8:43 pm: Walt-But why can't I have it when and where I want? Cameron: Now we're at the first time when there is a real question: Do I want it now, or do I want it great? People had a choice of watching a pirated version on a small screen, and enough people chose the theatrical experience to make it the highest-grossing movie ever. Walt: But some people want to watch it on a small screen without stealing. Cameron: Perhaps there are 2 percent of people under 30 who have a qualm about stealing. They went to the theater because it was a better experience. 8:45 pm: Kara attempts to talk about music, but stumbles on a Beatles album example. The big idea is that albums have gone away, replaced by singles, but movies don't have that problem. Cameron: Nope. But people do watch movies in different ways. Some are super-respectful and ritualistic; others multitask and watch picture-in-picture. At least here, the pendulum has swung back from doing that. 8:47 pm: Walt mentions people who haven't seen "Avatar" in the theater [ahem]. They feel "trapped," he says, because they want to see it in 3D. Cameron: I know. So we're helping them out and re-releasing the movie in theaters in August. [Thanks!] 8:48 pm: Walt is still pressing on windows and the limits they put on consumer choice. Cameron: I don't really care because I won't have another movie for three years, and by then, all of this will be worked out. Kara: What's the movie? Cameron: Maybe four years. Either "Avatar 2? or some other big movie that uses the same technology. 3D. 8:51 pm: A tech discussion about frame rates, followed by Walt asking Cameron if he would deign to watch a movie on laptop. Cameron: Depends on the film. I won't watch "2001? on a laptop. But a funny movie would be fine. "The Hangover" would be just as funny on a laptop. 8:54 pm: A discussion about what technology can't solve. You can make movies for less money, but the apparatus of promoting movies still requires a lot of money. And note that people who have success without a studio's marketing arm with an indie movie-the next movie they make is a studio movie. I believe in letting people do what they're good at. Studio marketing people do this every day. A day-and-date release, worldwide-that's something to behold. A ton of work. We had something like 76, 78 discrete versions of "Avatar" that had to be prepped within five weeks for that. 8:58 pm: Walt-Is Silicon Valley involved in any part of what you do? Cameron: Yes, but not in the way you think. I went to Microsoft, for instance, and asked for help with archiving and data. We started a year before the movie started, on digital asset management. Microsoft has been a great partner. 9:00 pm: So you're a big-deal director so you can work with Microsoft. Can other directors get help like that? Cameron: For a movie like this, you need help from someone. 9:01 pm: Kara-Tell us about piracy. How big a problem is that for you? Cameron: 3D counteracted that for us. You could pirate the movie, but not the 3D. That won't hold forever, though. 9:04 pm: So where does Hollywood go? Cameron: It doesn't change much. You still need good stories, good casts, etc. Regardless of windows, augmented reality, etc. It's still the same business. People have been talking about interactive movies since the 1980s. But we have those. They're called games. Walt: What do you think about games? Cameron: Love them. Want to figure out ways to merge games and movies in next couple projects, where you can experience them in different ways.

Q&A

Q: Can you talk about the Brazil controversy?
Cameron: I've been concerned about the environment for a long time and "Avatar" is about that, of course. So after the movie came out, it was so well received by the environmental community that all this stuff came flooding to me. I ended up going into "cause shock." Ended up working with people in Brazil who are going through a situation that's eerily similar to the "Avatar" plot. Kara: What did you do for them?
Cameron: I created a rapport with them and then created a series of media events that bubbled it up to public consciousness in Brazil and eventually put a halt to the dam they were building there. Dumb question: I don't get how you filmed it but it's all CG [computer graphics].
A: It's not all CG. It's about 60 percent CG. The film was shot in a virtual world, with a virtual camera. But another part is shot in live action. Sorry, missed a couple questions. Q: What do you consider your most personal film, and what was the best advice you received when you started out?
A: "Avatar" is probably my most personal film. It really is an expression of everything that has meant something to me since I was five years old. The best advice I ever received? Roger Corman told me to sit down a lot while I was directing. Q: Did you intend to elicit feelings of guilt toward the environment in the "Avatar" audience?
A: The intent was not to bitch-slap the audience but to take it outside of itself. Which is something that only film can do. By the end of "Avatar," you're looking at the human world from nature's perspective and it doesn't look so good. And that's a wrap. A note about our coverage: This live blog is not an official transcript of the conversation that occurred onstage. Rather, it is a compilation of quotes, paraphrased statements, and ad-lib observations written and posted to the Web as quickly as possible. It is not intended as a transcript and should not be interpreted as one. Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)