12Seconds on the iPhone

Video has finally arrived for the un-cracked iphone! Well.. video in the shape of a video slideshow, which as far as I am concerned is a bloody miracle judging by the way Apple seems to be restricting development of video based apps. Or is it AT&T and O2 not wanting people to stream with their ‘unlimited’ data?

I have to say I am so happy that it is 12seconds.tv that has started to build this bridge across the video void.. It’s a long time coming and for a start up with little to no cash, this is like building home made space suits and heading off to the moon.

They are top guys too..

The next thing I need to do is invite them over here to the UK so they realise although we are a little island we have big gobs and could have started spreading the word way before the US woke up.. This would have eased the world into 12Seconds and been a great way of flushing out the inevitable bugs before everybody rushed in..

The US could then have woken up with a massive 12Second alarm call..  Here in England it is now the end of the day and I have had the app sitting dormant and broken on my iPhone until only a short while ago.. All day out and about i have been checking it like it was a pacemaker and my life depended on it.. I won’t go into how frustrating that is. I initially thought the app had been launched broken.

I think my frustration stems only from my anticipation and the fact I knew it was a really important release as far as iPhone apps go.

Of course.. if i had taken a proper look at the text on the app store it would have told me I would have the app before it was going to work, but you know me.. Ever so slightly impatient when it comes to the release of new tech.

Still.. it has now sprung to life and I can actually talk about it. I dropped a tweet out yesterday mentioning it by accident but managed to delete it before I caused too much trouble. (Sorry Guys)..

So what are you waiting for?! The application cost a dollar (59p) it’s a bargain.

It is so straight forward. If you don’t have a 12Seconds account get one and then get the app.. Hell, why not get the app first! You can sign up through the app on the phone.

Once you have it.. Log in.. take three photos, add 12 seconds of audio and click to share it on the 12seconds site. It really is that easy you could do it drunk.. you no doubt will..

So if you are reading this as a noob and don’t know about 12Seconds.. get on it. Be it through the app or through the site..  I’ll see you there.

If you do download the app.. please review it and help the guys get the respect they deserve.

I have made some good friends through 12Seconds and I’m looking forward to making more. As soon as you are ready to go.. come let me know.. It may come as little surprise that I am on there as Documentally.

On the way.. down. on 12seconds.tv

iPhone Power Station Review

Anyone with an iPhone loves it’s ability to carry around various flavours of multimedia whilst enjoying it’s syncability with everything Mac. Occasionally we even find ourselves drawn to play with app after app, be it some GPS twitter tool we ca’t now live without, or a game we’ve bought for a few coins.

We can’t do it for long though. The iPhone battery is rubbish. Especially if you are a blogger and have a tendency to tweet, tag, snap pix and roam for more than an hour or two.

All this may be about to change. No Apple haven’t got their act together, third party companies are designing some pretty cool bolt-on’s.

This last week my iPhone has almost been behaving like a normal handset. I can now get through the day without planning my outings from power source to power source. Trips in the car no longer start with mirror-phonecharger-signal-maneuver and I am now not even thinking about whether or not I should have wifi enabled or not.

This is all thanks to a very tidy and pocketable iPhone power booster I found online.  The ‘iPhone Power Station’.

This funky little device cost around a tenner and can be temporarily inserted into the base of your iPhone to either be charged simultaneously as the phone is being charged or when your phone battery is running low, inserted and activated to boost the power. On the occasions I have had to top my phone up from 20% empty warning this little 1000mAh lithium ion gizmo has replenished my battery to 100%. This has been enough to last out the day and I don’t mind having this little 48g device knocking about in a jacket pocket or my bag as it’s far more convenient than carrying a charger on the off chance I pass a plug socket.

As it only takes two hours to charge It’s also handy if you are off grid with a solar charger as now you can charge the booster in the sun independently of your phone.

Of course Ideally Apple will get it right third time with the third generation iPhone and actually produce a device that shoots video, has open architecture, bluetooth that works, is not tied to O2, allows memory expansion and has a battery capacity at least comparable to other phones on the market.

In the meantime.. we have the iPhone Power Station and all the other little bolt-ons that are required to satisfy our tech needs.

Just Google iPhone Power Station to see places online where you can buy.. If you need one that is..

Wilderness 2.0

Monday morning for me this week will start at 4am as i rise, wash and head over to my friends for 5am, the official start of our trip into the wilderness.

We will drive nearly 500 miles north into Scotland to Mallaig. From there we hope to be in time for the ferry over to Inverie on the Knoydart Peninsular, mainland Britain’s last wilderness.

From there who knows… We plan to hike across, find a nice spot in a wood on the northern coastline of the peninsular where we can build camp, enjoy the wilderness and perhaps even do a little fishing.

We plan to exercise our bushcraft skills and although not packing a tent, we will be taking hammocks to sleep in unless it is as cold as it was last week where we may find it better to dig snow holes.

For my friend Dave it is an extension of the kind of weekends we find ourselves on in the summer. He will be practicing his axe skills, carving stuff, fishing, hunting and general camp craft. For me i also want to enjoy the wilds of Scotland but in addition, I am keen to see if i can blog, record and capture the great outdoors by using solar power and the no doubt limited cell phone coverage.

If you don’t here from me on Twitter or through my normal channels for a week, it’s because there is no mobile signal at all. Although not traveling too light, there was no room for a satellite modem as i wanted to make sure we had enough food and whiskey.

If you don’t hear from us for longer than ten days.. Expect to hear a story about how two stupid bushcrafters misjudged the weather and perished in the wilds of Scotland.

That said.. there will be a video diary shot along the way so the news should have more than enough decent footage.

For those interested in the kit I will be taking, i have tagged a flickr photo below.

(Please click on the photo)

Amongst other bits and bobs, Dave will be packing the first aid kit, axe, skillet, fishing kit, and flares. I’m not sure if anyone will actually pay any attention to flares around Bonfire night..

Before you say.. “The fools.. they will surely perish out there.” I must tell you that i’ve packed a Handpresso coffee machine.. I refuse to perish without caffeine in my blood.

Please don’t email or call unless it’s important. If i can get a mobile signal i will most likely be blogging via Twitter. You can find me on http://www.twitter.com/documentally

“I’m just going outside; I may be away some time.” ~ Captain L.E.G Oats

iPhone Solar Charger Case

On this very wet British morning my postman handed me a soggy jiffy bag from China. Inside was a black box containing my new iPhone Solar powered sheath (as they call it).

It was well packaged and only took a week to get here. If i remember rightly i payed around $50 including postage and packaging from a company in Hong Kong called Brando.

Here is a first look..

So far so good, the instructions are pretty easy to follow and at the moment the iPhone is sat on my office window quietly charging.

I will tell you more after a proper test.

UPDATE:

After a day of testing my solar powered case appears to have died. Do not buy one of these until I find out what exactly has happened. It appears that during heavy use whilst with the battery switched to charge, the unit over heats and the battery breaks. It got really hot during use and now the lights won’t work and it doesn’t charge the iPhone. More info when i have it.

Don’t forget you can support this blog and then i can by more juicy tech to try out.. Or you can just send me the tech.

iPhone 3G In Car Charger

If like me you were a little pissed off to see that many of the iPod and iPhone chargers would not work with the new iPhone 3G you may be pleased to know I have finally stumbled upon an in car charger that works with the new iPhone.

Apparently there are a few that work floating around and it is something to do with some using the firewire voltage and some using USB voltage that is the issue.

Up until now I have been using the Power Monkey Explorer and it’s iPod adapter when out and about. It only seemed to last a few minutes but it was enough to top up my iPhone till I got to a plug socket.

I have a solar panel set up I like to use when on a shoot or as I did at the Geeknbury Festival but up until now I have had to use the mains plug adapter with an inverter into the cigarette lighter socket.

Not any more though. Today whilst in Milton Keynes I managed to find something that actually works.

I had popped into town to go to the Apple store but it wasn’t there I found the working charger. When I asked them, they told me that due to the new iPhone 3G not working with any of their previous 3rd party car chargers, they had to discontinue all makes!

Sheesh.. You would think Apple would have thought of looking into supplying a mobile charger for their pride and joy prior to it’s release.

I left disheartened but just a few doors down in the O2 store they told me they had just taken delivery (2 in stock) of an new car charger called the XtremeMac Incharge Auto.

At the inflated price of £14.99 ($30) I still thought I would take a chance and after the other devices I have tried recently, this turned out to be third time lucky.

Although it works, the packaging has no mention of the iPhone 3G, just the iPhone and the iPod like all the others I have tried. Still i’m not complaining. I’m very gratefull in fact, as now I can feed my power hungry iPhone whilst on the move. And Lord know it needs it.

I have been loving the apps especially Life Cast by @SleepyDog but blogging on the move with all the GPS functionality is draining the battery before the day is out.

Forget the new plastic back.. they should have stuck some solar cells on it.

It’s been a real pain in the ass finding this basic accessory for my new phone. I hopes this will assist you if you are having similar issues and should you come across any other makes that work, please leave a note in the comments.

Thanks for reading.