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It’s that time of the year again to list out what one is thankful for. So many a co-worker of mine agrees that this year has gone by lightning-quick. I have to concur as the 9 months we had to wait for our new baby seemed to go by in an instant. Here are a few things that I am certainly thankful for:

• My family and its latest expansion pack
• Less-than-impressive Black Friday paper ads despite the harsh economy = less spending for me
• Gears 2 as it is the first FPS that I won’t get sick from
• Good friends, that while I don’t see them daily, weekly, or even monthly are always good to see

Another iPhone version updated was released today with a handful of new features and updates. Among the new features in version 2.2 software is Google maps Street View. Below is a step-by-step approach to using street view as it wasn’t clear how to start using it.

• Touch the bottom right-hand corner button to pull up map display options
• Select “Drop Pin” to have the pin dropped on the map
• Touch the pin until the details box opens above it.
• If the circular icon on the left is grayed out, drag and move the pin to a nearby major street. If that icon lights up (as it is in my screenshot), then go ahead and touch it.
• The display will flip to horizontal mode and start your Google Street View

This is the original Google Street View as viewed from Google Maps of the same image captured on my iPhone. The load-time of street view is congruent to that of its maps. Both are heavily dependent on which type of connection you’re on. Wi-Fi was much faster than full-bars 3G. One thing to note in particular was the floaty feel of being able to look up and down in the iPhone’s Street View. I was surprised to see the halo of the sun in some spots as well as the rig, which the omni-camera was mounted, on the Google vehicle. Never a boring week for the iPhone between awesome apps and continued improvements in the device software itself.

Here is an interesting gadget that looks like it was just debuted on T-mobile‘s lineup, the Cameo.

T-Mobile® cameo™ frame
The T-Mobile cameo frame is an exciting new way to share photos with family and friends. With the T-Mobile cameo, you can:

-Take photos using your picture message-capable camera phone and send them to your frame’s phone number. They’ll show up right on the frame!
-Receive picture messages from any capable phone, on any carrier.
-Send photos to your frame via e-mail. Just e-mail them to your frame’s phone number @tmomail.net (for example, 2062221111@tmomail.net).
-Transfer photos from the memory card in your phone or camera to your frame (card and adapter not included).
-Transfer photos from your computer to your frame.

Hello! For anyone who has a kid(s) whose grandparents or even great-grandparents live elsewhere, I believe this would be an ideal gift: The gift of updated and current digital photos that automatically show up in a digital photo frame. Supposedly, the device would cost $99.99 up front plus $9.99 per month for the connected services. Yikes -that’s $120/yr cost of connectivity. With flash memory so cheap (I mean affordable) now, I could send a new filled 2GB SD card every other month, including postage and still have money to spare compared to that subscription price. I believe they should have subsidized the cost of data access by:

• maybe inserting an ad every 50 photos in a slideshow
• by building a remote web management tool that would be ad-driven or possibly integrated with photo partners for ordering print products (aka Walgreens, flickr, etc)
• something similar to what the Kindle has accomplished with Sprint

This doesn’t look that desirable a deal, but at least it is a step in the right direction. Let’s get conected!

This has got to be my favorite iPhone application thus far. It’s the Google Mobile App. Recently, they have added speech recognition, dubbed “Voice Search.” Simply put, you just put it to your ear, and the proximity sensor kicks in and the app starts listening. You say what you are looking for and voila! Results show up after a quick query of Google’s search engine. Below, is my search for “thai restaurants.” The results are using location-based information from the GPS information provided by the iPhone 3G. I love anything tech that converges innovation -and this is a shining example of that kind of interoperability. If you want to give it a go, you can get it here at the iTunes App Store (for free).

I did run into some problems at first, and I was able to determine from this discussion that the wireless network at my job was blocking some communication with Google Voice Search queries. Once I disabled Wi-Fi, this app worked like a charm. It just makes sense. It translates to less typing while driving or on-the-go. Not to mention the fact that you don’t have to use the soft-keyboard, which is empowering in its own right. Go go gadget Google!

Wow. We are on the eve of the most historical US Presidential race results ever. Who needs movies, when you’ve got all this action in the news? Taking a look at the news right now and they are focusing on battleground states like Ohio and North Carolina. Took a look at this prediction map from CNN, it actually looks like my home state of Nevada has a good chance of voting blue this election! I cannot believe it and am simply tickled that this is even possible. Just like our flag states, “Battle born”, it felt like this year, it was more relevant today that it ever was during the Civil War. After last election, I lost all hope that this state could change, but with the light baby blue veil on Nevada, I am jubilent that my state reflects my opinion on this historic day.

I think it’s cool that I have this Tuesday off as I know it has to be hard for many working voters that may not get the chance to exercise their right. I’m not voting today as I’ve voted early, but looking at the lines building up at voting sites, it reminds me a little of Black Friday lines and Apple spectacles. I go back to work Wednesday. I was thinking I should have told my co-workers, “see you next President!” That may be up for debate, as lines are so long and voting sites will not close until those in line by closing time, are counted. At this point, I’m glad to hear that neither candidate is feeling comfy in their shoes as the polls don’t seem like they can be trusted. This should definitely make for an exciting day! On another note, here was a neat story I saw early this morning about Obama’s portrait in the sands of Barcelona.

Fun times. We got to celebrate my birthday last weekend. And as always, another year goes by without feeling much has changed with myself other than having a son. I figure, once I start waking up with aches and pains I can consider myself “old.” So far, so good.

Jeebuz. I just lost my second paragraph. Thanks massive select and random delete coupled with unique non-recovery Command-Z. Super ironic due to the context of what it was about. Here is a re-enactment of that aforementioned paragraph:

So I’m afraid of losing my memory. There I said it. I’ve lost computers and important data before, but not in a while *knock on wood*. Whole libraries of data can be lost before you are reminded of the ingenious idea to backup your data. So I am trying to be diligent in backing up my precious memories as they have been spread out between flash memory cards and my laptop. I’ve been looking into some Network Attached Storage (NAS) solutions from such companies as Netgear, D-Link, Thecus and Drobo. I’ve asked my colleagues and they recommend Netgear ReadyNAS solution (originally Infrant) as it is reliable and its ease of setup. The only problem is their line of products are very pricey – the 2-disk array named the Duo is within my budget, but I fear that I’ll exceed its storage capacity in a couple years. Whereas the cheaper 4-disk arrays are more appealing but they have their cons too. Drobo looks really user friendly, but has its network-ability sold separately. D-Link and Thecus are valid NAS solutions, but I’m not confident in their RAID offerings. It would seem that taking the approach of adding drives slowly to expand and have redundancy are better performed in the ReadyNAS and Drobo, but that said, I haven’t thoroughly done my homework yet.

I have to say, it will be hard to sleep until I know that I’ve got a solid method/system to keeping my family jewels safe (haha). Until then, I have bought myself a little bday present. It is a RIDATA 16GB compact flash card. It is 233X speed which is great for writing to RAW format. I figured, that until I get my NAS solution, I will just have to keep my photos on memory cards until I can offload them securely. It’s a great deal at an equally great price point. Don’t let that Fry’s associate con you into buying a “faster” 4 or 8 GB card that is $20 cheaper. They still don’t know what they’re talking about. I don’t blame them completely as speeds aren’t always listed or even printed on the card itself, as there exists cards like “Sandisk Ultra II” to make sense of. This CF card is the fastest one I’ve ever owned. The other 1GB CF cards I have are 80X and 133X. They pale in comparison. I can shoot in RAW + Basic (both *.nef and *.jpg simultaneously) mode without delay.

Overall, a good birthday. I guess it’s one of those times where I get to see a lot of old friends. The perfect time to create more memories to save and protect. Let’s hope by at least next birthday, I have a kickass NAS to ensure all these moments are backed up and last forever.

So the family went to get ramen at Togoshi for the first time. Not bad being Vegas and all. Got kim chee fried rice and chou shou ramen. Good stuff.

So the wife and I sat down and watched these two movies tonight: War, Inc. and The Visitor. Both of which I have to recommend. The first is a zaney satire which made for lots of laughs. The other was a more serious film which really had some great messages throughout as it takes a look at illegal aliens, stuggle and change. I will have to admit, after the first 15 min of the movie, I thought my wife had picked a dud as it was really dry, but I believe that it was deliberate for creating contrast in the story. Good times had by all thanks to Redbox Free movie Mondays!

As a parent, I knew I would have to make sacrifices to accomodate this life I helped bring in to this world. Knowing is not the same as life. I say this because Edison’s well check turned into a sick visit with the onset of a 100.4 degree fever yesterday. What was to be an immunization-recovery day quickly turned into a full-blown Pediatric ER day. All tests came out clean. That was a 5 hour ordeal. Not to mention the poor old lady I decided to help in the parking lot – her push-button-ignitian nissan sentra rental had died on her. Long story short: there went a day of my weekend. I could not have dreamed that up if I wanted to. I can’t help but feel my weekends are not my own anymore.

However, the nights are still mine. I got some work done the past few late nights. I guess when you’re told your kid is going to need a spinal tap (which he didn’t need and didn’t get) it kind of throws a wrench in anyones plan. I’m just glad he’s well today. Such are the stresses of parenthood.

This is the second power outage at work yesterday. Glad we’re on battery backup in our department. This reminded me of elementary school somehow. You know how everyone would get giddy when power would shut off? Maybe like the emergency light, there was a glimmer of hope that the school day would just end and we would be sent home. Although I’m not certain we played in the dark, this reminded me specifically of heads up 7-up. I would always try and cheat by placing my head in the corner of my elbow so I could peek downward at a classmates shoes to help me identify them as I was never a great guesser. Plus, it’s boring just sitting down with your face buried into your desk.