February 2008 Archives

Fri 02.29.08 - Happy Leap Day!

Well, after three plus weeks of going going going going and not stopping at all, I am now having a day of rest. I am exhausted, tired, and am congested and have a sore throat with a rough voice (which is the main sign of exhaustion for me after tiredness).

I have a ton more photos of India et al to put up, but it will have to wait. I really want to go to Megan and Murray McMillan's opening of "The Listening Array" tonight, but the likelihood of my rallying the troops to get up to Whittier after 7pm and still be awake to drive home is slim to none.

Hopefully resting today will mean that I will be recovered by tomorrow or Saturday...

Wed 02.27.08 - Goodbye London and Oxfordshire, it was a lovely 3 1/2 days. Going home now.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Tues 02.26.08 - I would like to give a BIG Thank You to all the lovely folk at WOM World for all their hard work to make the Nokia Nseries Urbanista Diaries mobile travel adventure successfully go off! Thanks y'all!

Photo taken in Oxford by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82. WOM World folk - left to right: Colin, Richard, Siobhan, Amy, and Donna (unfortunately Frank and Robbie were not at lunch).

All photos taken by Jenifer Hanen in Chennai, India, with a Nokia N82.

As a wrap up for my Urbanista Diaries adventure, I am going to be publishing photo essays of my favorite photos that I took in each city that I visited. Some of these photos are in my flickrstream, most of them on the nseries.com website, and some are new to everyone but me.

The above photos were taken in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India, from Sat. Feb. 9th to Mon. Feb. 11th, 2008. Big thanks once again to the Chennai Photowalk flickr group for such a fun photowalk day on Sun. Feb. 10, 2008.

Enjoy the photos, five more cities to come.

Mon 02.25.08 - Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Sun. 02.24.08 - Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82 while on a walk around Hyde Park, London, UK. The color is accurate, I used the "night" mode on the Nokia N82's camera to get the light saturation.

Sat 02.23.08 - Stephansdom (aka St. Stephan's Cathedral), Vienna, Austria. Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Sat 02.23.08 - Urbanista Ryan now takes the metaphorical baton and starts the fourth and final leg of the trip. Have fun, Ryan.

A wrap up post from me later and photo essays coming here over the next few days. Above photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82 last night at the Schottentor U tram stop in Rooseveltplatz.

Fri 02.22.08 - Photo by Ms. Jen in Vienna with a Nokia N82.

Fri 02.22.08 - Photo of Antonio Canova's tomb for the Archduchess Maria Christina by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82 in Vienna, Austria.

Thurs 02.21.08 - Black hoodie, check. Non-descript schleppy clothes, check. Wood deck with fashionably small wheels, check. Practicing badly on historic architecture, check. Skate rats, same the world over.

Vienna, call Etnies or Vans to have them help you set up a grommet approved skate park. Or empty a pool, make 'em sign a wavier, let 'em at it, make local dentists happy with increased business, and save your landmarks.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Thurs 02.21.08 - Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Wed 02.20.08 - Photo of the boarding area lounge at the Mumbai Intl Airport taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82 just before midnight.

[note: This post was written on Feb. 18th in Goa, India, but could not be published until later due to lack of wifi or internet connection.]

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue."

India as the bride. From all of the billboards and other street advertising, India is big on weddings. Thus, I decided to pull the above proverb from the Euro-American tradition and use it as a major theme for the photos I would be taking / am taking with the Nokia N82 for the Urbanista Diaries trip to India.

It is fitting as South India, where I am visiting, is in a period of economic growth and cultural change. On every corner there is something old, something new, something colorful, and who knows... possibly something borrowed.

As I take photos of the India that I am photo walking and driving through, I am most intrigued and captured by the contrasts in architecture, color, typography / signage, and people in the cityscapes / landscapes, as well as the street dogs that are in all of the cities. The color and geometry of buildings in contrast to each other, the environment and the bustle of city life has been particularly intriguing.

In Chennai there was quite a bit of great art deco architecture, Bangalore is sprouting glass medium to highrises, Kerala is a mishmash of old dutch colonial and new sky scraping apartment buidlings, and Goa is a fascinating mix of old colonial Portugese with 1940s art deco to 1970s socialist brutalisme concrete block buildings.

India is the place to be if you are a graphic designer in love with type. The range of signage and advertising from hand painted to the highly sophisticated is amazing. And then the placement of said signs in their environmental milieu can be extraordinary.

I have not taken a lot of photos of people, unless I have their permission or if they are within the context of the cityscape / landscape. I hope that when I am in Mumbai there will be more opportunity to take appropriate people photos, esp. of street fashion. Today I saw a Goan couple walking down the street, she in cuffed jeans and he with a moderate quiff. Hmmm...

On top of what I am choosing to take photos of, I have after the Chennai Photo walk and viewing all 150 of those photos in the context of the Flash interface on the Urbanista Diaries site, I realized that they functioned almost as stop motion animation when the Urbanista slide show was fully loaded and playing smoothly with the big photos and the thumbnails. Since last Sunday's photo walk, I have been purposefully shooting a lot of photos, not deleting, and shooting multiples of a subject as I walk or drive past as to maximize the cinematic effect of the Urbanista flash slide show.

There you have it: Ms. Jen's photo theory thoughts on shooting mobile photos in India. For the moment at least.

Wed 02.20.08 - The subway adjacent to the Mumbai central railway station (formerly Victoria Terminus). Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Tues 02.19.08 - Photo of colorful lanterns taken by Ms. Jen on the walk up to the Elephanta Island caves with a Nokia N82.

Due to the lack of reliable internet connection, I am once again using the Lifeblog on the Nokia N82 to post this photo and text to my blog. Go Lifeblog Go. And get GPS embedding capacity while you are out there.

Now on to the subject at hand... If you were to go to the Nokia Urbanista Diaries website and look for my photos from today's expedition to the Elephanta Island caves, you would see my photos going out and coming back, but no photos for while I was there.

Why you ask? Well, if Sports Tracker does not have a data connection it will not map photos. No data connection means that Sports Tracker will think that there is no photos associated with the "workout activity" (yucky sports language again).

From one developer to another, this is silly. I had the GPS positionsing on at the same time, ShoZu was able to map all the photos even on Elephanta Island where there is no data connection to the main land cell towers. [Update from later: I realize that it is good to use the cell tower / data connection for when one does not have satellite, so I would like to propose here that Sports Tracker use both or one when the other is not available, but not to make it so that if there is no data connection that the photos are not uploaded.]

Why is Sports Tracker relying on triangulating one's position from the data connection to the cell tower rather than the far superior native GPS positioning that is already on the N82? I rechecked my settings, with live sharing off I should have the ability for Sports Tracker to rely on satellite data rather than triangulation from cell towers.

Thus, when I went to upload my "workout" to the server, no photos were found. In terms of our photo work flow for posting mapped photos to the Urbanista site, this means that I needed to find a computer with an internet connection that also has a usb port so that I could upload the cave photos manually to the Sports Tracker "workout".

This is when the trouble started: where to find an internet cafe: found; do the computers have a usb port to use: no, too old or already taken with mouse & keyboard; does the ancient computer at internet cafe have flash 8 or 9 installed and/or the latest browser that will support AJAX: no, no, no; does the computer at the internet cafe have connection faster than molasses during a blizzard: no, the frozen molasses is faster. Epic Sports Tracker upload in India Fail.

Being the determined little taurus turtle that I am, I went back to my hotel room and started to see if I could access my Sports Tracker account from the N82. You can, kind of. The site mostly loads, which is more than the nseries.com site does, due to the fixed width layout there is some amusing overlapping. (Did the dev team at Sports Tracker test the site on the mobile device, the N82, that they are co-promoting with their own product?)

Once I was logged into my account the list of workout activities did populate on my profiles page, a grey box with a whirling circle sat down to the right a bit loading loading loading, never to load. Whether that grey box was the flash obect for the photos, map or workout list, I did not know as none of the three ever loaded on the N82's browser.

Now, supposedly the N82 comes with FlashLite. Supposedly.

Ok. Let's talk folks. If Nokia or Apple or any other mobile device maker wants to market their high end devices beyond the US & European markets, then they need to acknowledge that not everyone has access to a internet enabled computer and if they do, it may only be of glacially slow speeds. And in some markets, the mobile is preferred over the computer.

A friend of mine in LA who hates computers recently bought a iPhone and after a month or two of using it realized that she wanted to purchase some music on iTunes and needed to update her iPhone. Only one problem, she couldn't do either, as she does not and chooses not to own a computer and the iPhone requires a computer (Mac or PC) to interface with the Mothership. I have previously blogged here about my repeated frustration with Nokia's PC only focus. Nokia and Apple, what about the millions and billions out there with no computer and whose only connection to the internet is your mobile device? Time to make all activities be functional purely from the mobile device with out having to access a computer.

Given that Nokia has a huge market presence in India and I have seen by far more Series 60 Nokia devices out and about in India than I ever do back in LA, should not all Nokia websites and software / web applications be fully functional on the phones produced by Nokia?

Flash may tell a lovely story to computers on a fast broadband, but what about the rest of the world?

The nseries.com website does have feeble mobile version, but as soon as you click on the links one will either get an error code or a very minimal functioned and designed site. Please look at m.twitter.com or m.flickr.com for great examples of fully funcitoning and well designed mobile versions of the Twitter and Flickr web apps.

It is possible to break out of our preconceived notions that our main work flow occurs on a computer and that the mobile is an additional device. The mobile is the main device for more people around the world than not. Let's move into the present with the devices and the applications.

Tue 02.19.08 - Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Tue 02.19.08 - Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82 while on water taxi to Elephanta Island in the Mumbai Harbor.

Mon 02.18.08 - Photo taken by Ms. Jen in Mumbai with a Nokia N82.

Mon 02.18.08 - Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

I have been in India for 9 days and 8 hours so far on the Nokia Urbanista Diaries adventure and will be here for another 2 days and 16 hours before departing for Vienna. Here are some of my initial random thoughts on India:

People: So far everyone has been very friendly, good to talk to, and helpful. In Chennai, Bangalore, and Kerala were delightful for the folks I met, both Indian and other folks. In Goa, I seem to be getting a lot of giggles. Apparently my hair is amusing.

Dogs: Lots of street dogs in Chennai, of which the number of dogs and general scruffiness has decreased in each city since. Of the walked, leashed, pampered pooch set, Pomeranians are popular. I would hate to be a Pom in the summer here. The street dogs almost down to the dog have nice short hair.

Power: In most places that I have visited so far (Chennai, Bangalore, and Goa), both American and European power adapters will work in the electrical power ports/sockets in the wall. British/Irish ones, no, unless there is a special adapter. In Kerala, only European ones would fit, but that was fine as I brought my European Nokia charger in anticipation of Vienna.

While the power is 240V, all my adapters are rated 110-240V and have been doing an admirable job of holding up on the highest end of the scale. The trick I learned in Ireland (220V) when charging my Powerbook is that if the battery gets too hot, prop the laptop up in a triangle formation and allow the battery and the whole back of the PB to face the air and other other side to have as much air as possible. That trick has come in handy here.

Electricity: India and other South-East Asian countries have a great energy saving device in hotel rooms that the US and Europe would do well to imitate in hotels, offices and homes. When you walk in the room, you insert your hotel key into a slot near the door and then all the lights, A/C, and power comes on. When you leave and take your key with you, all the power turns off and the A/C or fan is switched to lowest fan setting automatically. No leaving the lights on. The only wrench in this lovely economy plan is when you want to leave a device charging, but this could be easily gotten around by having a a set of power ports that are not killed by the key switch.

Pollution: Um. What to say. Time for a clean air and water acts with serious back up behind it. The skies from the ground and from the airplane look like photos of Los Angeles from the 1960s or worse, nothing like a good clean air law and strict regulators to clean up a city's air. Look how LA got whipped into shape by OSHCA over the last 17 years. Now I am off to Mumbai where weather.com reports recent days as "smokey" rather than sunny.

Late Sunday Evening 02.17.08 - Because I am in no mood to change, go downstairs to the hotel lobby, sit within 20 ft of the wifi router, and pay 113 rupees for a short period to time in which to rapidly blog, I am instead sitting on the bed with the Nokia wireless keyboard and the Nokia N82 and writing this post via Lifeblog.

Hey! Look what one can do with the N82! I am pleased as punch that the lovely little mobile was able to capture the dolphin leaping out of the water today. I went on a dolphin boat tour of the Mandovi River in Goa. The dolphins were frisking in the currents that were welling up from the confluence of the Arabian Sea meeting the last bit of the river. I had the N82 set to the "sports" mode, set the digital zoom to about 1/3, and took a photo of a dolphin jumping out of the water! Good little point & shoot that also has an internet connection and can make a phone call or two.

The age of the convergence device has fully arrived. I can take great travel or concert photos with the N82 and then I can use the same device to moblog them to my/this website. Yeah.

By and large, other than the beloved Nokia 7610, no other camera or mobile that I have owned / used has been as easy to travel with and just take lots of photos off the cuff and on the sly. No sldiers to fiddle with, no lens to change out or focus, just set the mode to "sports" or "night" or "close up" or whatever for a range of effects or abilities to shoot a given scene. Then take photo after photo.

The best part is that most people don't perceive it as a phone or a mobile, but think it is just a small point and shoot camera. This I like. When I travel and am doing photo walks, I don't want folks to notice me nor the camera. With the N95, people are usually curious to see what it is, not so with the N82 as it is much more stealth or maybe it appears on first glance to be just another very small digital camera.

The size of the N82, as well as its compact shape make it perfect to slip in your pocket or purse when not in use. My only complaint is that Nokia did not put a leash in with the standard box, so I am using ribbon looped through the N82's leash area as a way to find it in my purse and to hold on to the camera while I am shooting or walking or climbing up a boat ladder, etc. On the boat today, a fellow from Mumbai was shooting photos and video with a tan Nokia N95 of which he was very happy with but there was no leash on the device and every time he leaned over the boat side to take another dolphin pic one could see him grip the N95 a little tighter.

For nature photography, esp. fast moving animals like birds and dolphins I am enjoying the fact that the N82, esp. in sport mode, is considerably faster at focusing and shooting than the N95. While the N95 has its many charms, the N82 winning as an on the road camera phone in my book.

Sun 02.17.08 - Self-portrait taken with a Nokia N82.

Today is Day 8 of my leg of the Nokia Urbanista Diaries adventure. Goa is lovely, but I liked Kerala better.

Tomorrow I depart for Mumbai for my last 2.5 days in India before traveling on to Austria where I will meet up with Urbanista Ryan and pass the 'baton'off to him for his two weeks of mobile photo travel adventures.

Six more days to go. I hope you have enjoyed the photos.

Sat 02.16.08 - Photo taken by Ms. Jen in Panaji, Goa, India, with a Nokia N82.

Photo by Ms. Jen on Fri. Feb. 15, 2008 in Goa with a Nokia N82.

Fri. 02.15.08 - Much like the independent film that came out in 2004, "A Day without a Mexican", I wonder when a film entitled "India: A Day without a Horn" will be made. Of course, it won't be an art house film, but an action thriller horror movie, as what would Indian drivers do without a car/truck/motorcycle/rickshaw horn... It could also be a comedy under the right writers and director.

Also, I love the artwork painting on trucks, esp. the front of the cab and on the tailgate. The truck above on the road between the Goa airport and Panaji was one of many with signs, art, and slogans on the tailgate.

Photo of Grazyna and a Communist Flag in Kerala taken by Ms. Jen on Thurs. Feb. 14, 2008, with a Nokia N82.

One of the best parts about the Indian state of Kerala is all of the signs, esp. in tourist frequented locations, that state "Kerala : God's Own Country". Of the three Indian states, that I have been too so far: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala, the last one has the most amount of religious edifices. Christian edificies at that.

In the 1.25 hour drive from the airport to Fort Cochin, I counted no less than 20 Christian churches of all stripes (Catholic, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Evangelical, and plain ole Protestant), 2 mosques, and only one Hindu temple. This seemed to be the pattern when we drove the 45 mins. to the Backwaters boat tour.

Then there is the beauty of the place. Coconut palms everywhere. Wide streets. No where near the trash on the streets as the other two states. etc.

And best of all, the 2 days I was in Kerala coincided with the annual Communist Party Conference (Feb. 11-14, 2008). Everywhere, except in Fort Cochin, all the towns were decked out in red finery: red flags, big decorated arches welcoming partisan politicians, big posters of the local Communist politicos. According to the Lonely Planet "South India" and other sources, Kerala is the only freely, democratically elected Communist state in India.

Kerala, possibly the only place on earth to freely and with abandon mix Communism and the love of Jesus, Allah, and [insert name of fave Hindu diety here]. God bless 'em.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen on Thurs. Feb. 14, 2008,
in the Kerala backwaters with a Nokia N82.

Zanzara... the word sounds so exotic, doesn't it? It is a Italian word for an insect and the when you say zanzara is is somewhat descriptive to how the insect sounds when it flies real close to your ear. zzzz zzzz zzzz.

The Aussies use the word mozzie. In English, we say mosquito. I call them, "Why, you little f*^kers!" as I attempt to eradicate them from the vicinity.

After getting my vaccinations for India, I was not allowed out of the Kaiser Permanente building without a prescription for malaria pills. All of the Brits and Europeans I have spoken to so far here in India, were given all the same shots by their health care folk but were told they didn't need the malaria pills. huh. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

During the Kerala Backwaters boat tour today, Grazyna noted that I did not have any mosquito bites on my legs or feet, whereas her bites had bites. I asked if she had taken the following precautions that I have learned over the years:

How to prevent or at least reduce getting bit by mosquitoes:
1) Stay somewhere with screens on the windows or in an AC room.

2) When in mosquito country, only use unscented soap or shower gel. Mosquitoes primary job in life is to be plant pollinators, only the females bite when breeding. So, don't walk around smelling like a flower or a fruit.

3) Sub-corollary: Don't wear perfume in mosquito country, esp. if you are me and all your perfume is rose & gardenia scents.

4) Wash your feet well with unscented soap twice a day. One of the widespread mosquitoes around the world loves all things stinky, esp. foot smell, and will only bite your feet. So instead of wondering why only your feet got bitten, wash 'em.

5) Use an insect repellent with at least 50% deet. Spray it everywhere, including on your clothes.

While my arms, legs and feet were bite free on Thursday, my butt was not. Yes, people, I neglected to spray the deet repellent on my capri pants and they were thin enough for the mosquitoes to bite me on the backside. I may have an itchy backside, but I did take my malaria pill on time yesterday... ;o)

Wed 02.13.08 - Fort Cochin, Kerala. Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Wed 02.13.08 - Fort Chochin, Kerala. Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Tue 02.12.08 - The Engine Room at the Bangalore Tech Museum.

Ok, as usual, I have all these plans to blog tons and tons and tons when traveling, but jet lag and the warring desire between blogging and sleeping are foiling my plans...

Here is what I have been up to so far in my Urbanista Diaries adventure in a brief sketch:

Urbanista Day -2 : Wed. Feb 6, 2008 : Fly from LAX to LHR (aka Los Angeles to London).

Urbanista Day -1 : Thurs. Feb 7, 2008 : Arrive in London, lunch with Siobhan, Donna, and Colin from WOM World. Four hour nap, and then meet the WOM World folk plus Richard for a glass of wine at Gordon's Wine Bar on the Embankment. Dinner. Attempt to sleep.

Urbanista Day 0 : Fri. Feb 8, 2008 : Fly from London to Chennai, India. Don't sleep on plane in an attempt to get on the Indian time right. Arrive at 1am.

Urbanista Day 1 : Sat. Feb 9, 2008 : Pop up at 5:30am after 2.5 hours of sleep. WIDE AWAKE. Fear that I will miss the Chennai Photowalk. Distressed that Hotel is too far out of town and in a neighborhood that is unwalkable. Talk to Urbanista Jay around 7:30am, find that he is in a nice hotel in the downtown area, ask him to inquire if there is room in the inn for me. There is. Relieved. Gather self & belongings to transfer to the Ramada Raj Park.

Text Chandrachoodan, the Chennai Photowalk organizer, telling him I will be late. Take a taxi to new & better hotel. Arrive, feel greatly relieved as the hotel and neighborhood are comfortable & walkable. Text C. again to apologize for being late & tell him will try and meet the photowalk later. C. texts me back to tell me that the photowalk is on Sunday. Jet lag brain is horrified at the confusion and texting C early on a Saturday morning. Oops!

Jay and I go to lunch, then back to the hotel to use the wifi to get things organized. Jay and I catch a auto rickshaw to the Sam Thome Cathedral/Basilica. Walk around. Service going on so walk down to the beach. Get besieged by beggars. Go back to Cathedral, go inside, walk around look at it. Go visit Saint Thomas' tomb under the Cathedral. Walk a bit. Take lots of photos. Jet lag catches up to me something fierce. Jay & I go back to the hotel and discuss life, the world, and the mobile universer before he departed for the airport to fly back to the UK. Goodbye, Jay. End of day 1. Well, except I couldn't fall asleep until 3:30am...

Urbanista Day 2 : Sun. Feb 10, 2008 : The Day of the big Chennai Photowalk dawned bright and clear with me up just before dawn... Yes, once again, less than 4 hours sleep. I will write a whole separate post about the Chennai Photowalk, but it will suffice to say: It was Excellent. Excellent in the Bill & Ted fashion. I had a blast. 3 hours, 4.25 miles of meandering up & around Mount Rd, 87F degrees or more, sunny, 75% humidity, great photographers, even better conversation. Basically a ton of fun. I was sad when we parted at 11am, summer camp departure sad - wait! these are my new best friends - we can't leave - so moo & biz cards were procured. Now I have a bunch of great blogs to read and new flickr friends.

I got back to the hotel just in time for it to pour rain all afternoon and for the jet lag to smack me upside the head. Can go out and be a photo tourist when it is pouring, so I napped instead... Only to wake up many hours later just in time for a late dinner at the hotel and a night of NoSleep.

Mon Feb. 11, 2008 - Pingo, an advert on the wall of a shop on Wellington St, in the Richmond Town district of Bangalore. Photo by Jen Hanen with a Nokia N82.

Sun Feb 10, 2008 - From the Chennai Photowalk, bougainvillea leaves in the gutter in front of Simpson's & Co. Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Sat. 02.09.08 - San Thome Cathedral, Chennai, India. Photo taken with a Nokia N82.

The method of mobile blogging that we are using during the Nokia Urbanista Diaries adventure to send photos from the Nokia N82 phone to the Nseries Urbanista website is as follows:

1) Turn on Sports Tracker. Start a "workout". Make sure the GPS signal is strong.

2) Start going around on the adventures and take photos. Go lots of new places, takes photos, make sure the GPS signal remains strong.

3) Stop the Sports Tracker "workout". Click on "upload to service". Sports Tracker will find the photos associated with the "workout" route and send them to the ST server with the GPS data and athletic data.

4) The Urbanista Diaries flash app then pulls the photos, geo & route data feed to create a photo map and the slideshow that you can watch on the site.

At the beginning of the year, I blogged that I really didn't like Sports Tracker as a mobile blogging app for the reasons that it is created to be a sports tracker and not a photo tracker, I also wondered why Nokia has allowed Lifeblog to go dormant rather than adding the geo data capacity to that established app.

During the course of January, I tried Sports Tracker out a few times while walking Scruffy McDoglet and liked it as a mobile app to tell me how far we had walked and at what pace, but I still felt that it was not an app for mobile photo blogging.

Urbanistas Devin and Jay both blogged about their frustrations with Sports Tracker while out on their journeys and Ryan has tested it before starting his part of the Urbanista adventure.

I am now at the end of my second full day of mobile - geo - blogging with the Nokia N82 and Sports Tracker has been doing a good job of tracking where I have been going around Chennai, has added most of the geo data correctly, and has been able to find and send without error most of the 200+ photos I have taken. I am certainly not going to complain about how Sports Tracker sent up all 150 photos from today's 4th Chennai Photowalk, no, actually I am going to praise the hard work that the developers have put into improving the system in the last four weeks that the Urbanista Diaries has been going.

What I would like to point out here is what Sports Tracker could do to make the application a little more photo mobile blogging friendly or spin off a sister app that would be 'Photo Tracker':

1) If Nokia wants Sports Tracker to be adopted and used regularly by more than just the athletic or tech geeks then make the mobile and web based user interface be visual with photos and geo data at as the first level of interaction.

Find someone's mom who loves to take photos but is non-technical (I will donate my Mom to the cause) and have her be the UI tester without any explanation, if she can use the app while taking photos and then post them to the server, then everyone can. Take a big tip from Nokia's Lifeblog app for the phone on this. The photo thumbs are the first thing that comes up and then you can do things with them via 2 different menus (one menu with the thumbnail display and one menu for each photo).

How could this work for Photo Tracker, well make the "timing" start when one opens the camera app - this action should be a choice as not everyone will want every photo geo tracked nor the pull on the battery resources that the GPS and tracking app take. Each photo should have a manual (at the time or later) opt out feature, as some photos you don't want geo tracked and some you don't want sent to the Photo Tracker server.

2) Yes, allow the photographer to choose which photos get sent up to the server from each timed tracking activity either before sending the data and photos to the server. The fact that Sports Tracker currently sends all the photos it can find during the interval of the activity is either too much (150 photos from today's photowalk! Yikes!) or some photos should not be sent due to privacy or it is just a bad photo.

3) Now onto the Sports Tracker web based application... The colors and layout of each workout profile may be conducive to sports based athletic training and tracking, but not for photography or showcasing one's mobile photos. Photo Tracker should have the photos up above the "fold" not buried as tiny thumbnails at the bottom of the web page. Don't get me going on the green & black color scheme...

4) Take a tip from any number of social networking applications and allow the user to configure the layout to suit their needs: Sports folk will want the athletic data prominent and Photo folk can make the photos prominent. Also, allow the user to change the stylesheet: ie the colors, typography and minor layout changes (see blogger, typepad, vox, myspace, et al for how folks can customize the look).

5) Take a tip from any number of social networking apps and an allow the view/user to easily find one's friends recent 'posts' / 'activities'. Right now it is very difficult for me to find the most recent uploads from Ryan & Jay and I can click on Devin's username to navigate to his space on Sports Tracker at all. Take a tip from Flickr on this, Flickr makes it really easy for me to see the most recent photos from my contacts and friends.

6) Last but not least: Own your own stuff. Allow the advanced mobile photographer or web dev the option to host and send the data to their own website and make it apart of the settings in Photo Tracker to post to your own blog if you so choose (Atom Protocol anyone?). This person can then take the athletic and geo data via the xml/kml file and with the photos create their own mobile app.

Lifeblog lets me post directly to my website via the Atom Protocol and that is why I prefer it to all the other mobile photo blogging apps out there, but it doesn't embed the geo data. Sports Tracker and Shozu both embed the geo data but they don't let me send the photos and data to my own site but only to their websites.

Frankly, after how Nokia seems to have left Lifeblog high and dry, why should I put up two plus years of photos and geo-data to Sports Tracker if in 2-3 years it will be DOA as well? Data portability and/or stability for long term archival purposes and url links is important.

At the very least, make all the data and photos be exportable, not just on the phone but also on the Sports Tracker / Photo Tracker site.

Some folks may argue that Sports Tracker already does the job of athletic activity tracking well. This is true. Why fiddle with the system and add a full featured Photo Tracker? Well, that is how we are currently using the system for the Urbanista Diaries as a Photo Tracker, not a Sports Tracker.

One could also argue that ShoZu and Flickr do much of the same functions as we are using Sports Tracker to do and that I envision that Photo Tracker could do, so why recreate the wheel? In web world, the first to enter the market is not always the best web app in the long run. When was the last time you used Friendster? Applications developed later can learn from others before them, iterate, add new features or goals and come out with the stronger user base, ie. MySpace and Facebook.

Nokia, how about a full featured Photo Tracker that takes the best of Lifeblog and Sports Tracker mashes 'em up, iterates a bit, and makes this mobile photo blogger darned happy? How about it? Run with it.

Sat. Feb. 02.09.08 - As seen outside of the Amaravathi restaurant at the corner of Cathedral Road & TTK Road, Chennai, India. Photo taken with a Nokia N82 camera phone.

Photo taken with the Nokia N82 on Sat. Feb. 9, 2008 at approx. 7am in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Or the attack of the famed Movable Type 500 error code...

This last week in the middle of attempting to finish up my client work and get ready to leave for the Urbanista Diaries adventure, I started to experience 500 internal server error codes when I logged into this blog. Not a good thing to have. But if I refreshed I was able to access the admin interface.

On top of traveling from LA to London to India in the last 72 hours and only getting about 5 hours sleep, I was not able to log into the blog interface at all. Agh! I was able to send mobile photos via Lifeblog, but not login. Odd.

This evening, after trotting around Chennai with Urbanista Jay today, I started troubleshooting and a few emails to my web host folks to no avail. I realized that the trouble started when I upgraded to the MT 4.1 professional, so in a last ditch effort to blog this evening, I deleted the MT 4.1 Pro install and reinstalled MT 4.1 Open Source. All is well and I can blog again.

Now I am too exhausted to say much more. Time for bed, as tomorrow morning is the Chennai flickr group photowalk nice, bright and early. Go over to the Urbanista site for the photos I uploaded via Sports Tracker today and I will put the rest up here with some words on why I think Sports Tracker should refocus and become Nokia Photo Tracker...

***
Update on Sun. Feb. 10, 2008 - Ok, using MT 4.1 Open Source is working in that I can blog. Yeah! But... some functionality is broken: like the links to categories. Please bear with me here, as my first priority in the next two weeks is to photo blog with the Urbanista world, if I get the time I will troubleshoot and fix any functionality issues.

For now, use the archive link to find posts.

Thurs 02.07.08 - Yesterday I had a lovely lunch at La Tasca with Siobhan, Donna, and Colin of WOM World. As we were walking away. I looked up and had to snap this photo.

Thurs 02.07.08 - In London for one day before departing for India.

Yes, Ms. Jen leaves in less than 36 hours for her big adventure on the Nokia Urbanista Diaries adventure. Of course, I will be blogging photos and text here and at my Flickr account, but also check out the Urbanista site OR... even better embed the Urbanista widget on your website or MySpace or Facebook or the like.

Here is the code to embed the widge on your website or MySpace account:

<div id="flashcontent"><strong>In order to view the Nokia N82: 
The urbanista diaries you need JavaScript and Flash Player 8+ support</strong></div>
<script src="http://www.nseries.com/nseries/v3/js/swfobject.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">var so = new SWFObject('http://www.nseries.com/nseries/v3/media/campaigns/n82/widget.swf', 
'Nokia N82: The urbanista diaries', '300', '250', '8', '#ffffff');so.addParam('wmode', 'transparent');
so.addParam('flashVars', 'bloggerID=4&copy=http://www.nseries.com/nseries/v3/media/campaigns/n82/data/en-R0/widget.xml');
so.write('flashcontent');</script>

For iGoogle or Facebook go to the Urbanista site to download the widget for your world. Pick the Ms. Jen widget...

Mon 02.04.08 - After all of Friday's troubles, fire drill, and hurried documenting of box contents to make the US Customs folks at LAX release the package from WOM World for my leg of the Nokia Urbanista Diaries adventure, it is a big relief to see the DHL truck pull up in front of my apartment building as I was coming back from a walk with my Mom and Scruffy.

I was so excited to document the arrival of the Nokia N82s and attendant accessories that I pushed the video button and made a video instead of a photo and I said "DSL" instead of "DHL". Oh well. The DHL delivery guy was a good sport.

As with Jay, my box contains:

3 Nokia N82s
2 Nokia GPS Modules
1 Nokia Bluetooth Headset (darn! I did not get the Pirate one that Jay did)
1 Nokia Buletooth Keyboard (excited!)
and a bag of goodies: sim chips, extra batteries, The Proporta Mobile Survival kit, and something called the Generation X (((CELL ANTENNA))) *.

The last item looks like an enlongated golden RFID chip, but you paste it into the battery compartment of you phone and it boosts low cell reception. All my iPhone friends on AT&T need this**.

Yeah! The Urbanista Diaries countdown continues: two more days to go, then I am on a plane.

-------
* According to the over the top copy at the amazon.com link: "AS SEEN ON TV".... Judge for yourself. I will let you know if it works well or not.

** I am on AT&T & have no reception problems with the Nokia N95. The iPhone folks in the same area are having dropped calls and data. It is the hardware, people. The internal antennas in the mobile device. Yet another way that Nokia kicks Apple's bootay...

I will fly into India late Friday night / early Saturday morning from London to officially start the Urbanista Diaries adventure. And the very next morning at 8am, I will be meeting up with the lovely folk from the Flickr "Chennai Photowalk" group to go on a Photowalk of Mount Road in Chennai (Madras)!

This will not just be hitting the ground running, but photo-ing! Ok, bad pun.

I am excited. I like to plan for my photo and mobile blogging adventures a bit beforehand and it is always better if one can meet up with like minded people.

I am looking forward to next Saturday's Photowalk in Chennai. Big thanks to Chandrachoodan for organizing it!

Sun 02.03.08 - While driving to meet up with Julie Wanda for lunch at the Udupi Palace in Artesia, the clouds broke up a bit and the sky peeped through. 'Twas a beautiful sight.

Sat 02.02.08 - Ryan and Tammy at my Groundhog's Day Party.

According to Phil, it is six more weeks of winter.

If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come, Winter, have another flight; If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Go Winter, and come not again.

Both here in SoCal and in Pennsylvania, Candlemas dawned fair and bright. It clouded over mid-day here, but then again, other than rain one cannot call what we get from Dec - March a real winter... ;o)

Happy Friday to you! Happy Friday to me!

One week from today, I will be flying from London to Chennai, India. Yes, one week plus one day, aka next Saturday, the Nokia Urbanista Diaries starts for Ms. Jen!

Starting tomorrow, I will be blogging about the cities I will be visiting. But today I will give you the amusing tidbits that happened during the course of the day in the name of getting ready for the Urbanista adventure...

Amusement of the Day #1 - File under small typo turns into "Fun with Bureauracy™", I will let my Twitter-stream speak for me:

msjen Assistant at WOM world office labeled the phones as £18,000 instead of £1800. US Customs is now holding them. I am to leave next week...

msjen I have to either file an expensive bond or pay thousands in taxes. All over a clerical typing error.

msjen No, I had to call them get the correct invoice, & then verify it with MY Social Security card. Ugh. Hopefully, all is well.

msjen customs wanted proof of my biz tax id, but I do everything with the IRS online & don't have a card. So my Social it was.

I will find out tomorrow morning if the US Customs folks at LAX will accept the invoice with all the contents listed & with US Dollar prices of approx $2600 and not $37,000 or if I have to post a $250 bond to get the Nokia N82 and other related Urbanista stuff out of hock. The best part about the bond is that when I leave next Wednesday and take it all out of the country back to its originating port of LHR, I would not get the $250 bond returned.

I told the WOM World folk that we should let US Customs reject it and DHL just ship it back to the UK on Monday and then I pick up the package from WOM World on Thursday. Bureauracy should never ever be rewarded with money. Ever.

Amusement of the Day #2 - File under Prepping for the Tropics, also from my Twitter-stream:

msjen Just took my first anti-malaria pill. Hopefully, I won't have any of the evil nightmares, depression, etc that Mefloquine is known to cause

msjen According to the directions: If one vomits w/in 30 mins. take another pill. If w/in 60 mins. take a 1/2 a pill.

msjen Up to 1850, folks mixed quinine with wine. So, what's good for the goose, must be good for the gander. ;o) glass of wine in hand.

msjen Nearly 2 hours after taking my Mefloquine pill and no vomiting! FTW! Now crossing fingers for no nightmares or psychotic breaks!

Fri 02.01.08 - Took them 6 months. Video of "House Finch Merry Go Round".

All photos taken by Ms. Jen on Feb. 4, 2006 with her Casio Xlim40
digital camera at the 'new' St. Brigid's Well in Kildare, Ireland.

Yeah! This weekend is the time for my two favorite, highly under-appreciated holidays! St. Brigid's Day today and Ground Hog's Day / Candlemas tomorrow!

Go out and celebrate the transitioning of winter-spring and the increasing daylight by giving your local Ground Hog a big kiss... ;o)

A prayer:

Everliving God, we rejoice today in the fellowship of your blessed servant Brigid, and we give you thanks for her life of devoted service. Inspire us with life and light, and give us perseverance to serve you all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, world without end.