I may be the only person on earth that never knew this, and if so, I have a ton of people to yell at! Like most people, I love the self-portrait. You know the one, where you are doing a big ol’ cheese for no one but yourself and take a photo and retake it until you are satisfied with it, then post it to Facebook, Twitter or in an mms to someone.
Well, I have always struggled with taking self-portraits using my Smartphone. I would think I know where the button is and then end up only capturing my chin, then go the opposite direction and only capture my forehead. (Maybe it should have been a clue to just stop taking pictures of myself, but that would be way too easy!) So I learned something new today and can’t imagine I’m the only one that did not know this piece of valuable information. When you go to take a self-portrait, press and hold, the key word is hold, the button down that captures the picture. It actually doesn’t take the picture until you release your hold! Uh -huh! Go ahead…try it now!
So, you can look at your device, get your finger in the right spot by placing it on the capture button and holding it down, turn your device and release when you are ready Bam! The picture has been captured. Genius, I tell ya! And I thought I knew a ton about the Smartphone.
Friday night, just to name one time, I carried two devices because I can’t leave home without my Smartphone, but also needed my Blackberry to capture self-portraits of me and my girlfriends. My life just got simpler as I continue to stay calm, cool and connected (or so I think on the cool part). Happy photo-taking!
Message and data rates may apply.
Posted by Brandy in Brandy, How To, Photos, SmartPhone Tags: Brandy, Photos, SmartPhone
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When I see this picture, I can hear Frank Sinatra singing “My Funny Valentine.” This Valentine’s Day is like no other before it, because with Fiona around, every day is Valentine’s Day. While we make our plans to surprise each other in some small way, we conspire as to what we’re going to do for our little valentine: What will she wear? Where will we take her? What should we get her?
We plan on visiting family this coming weekend to share our little valentine in person versus through the cameras on our phones as we so often do. Though Sunday is Valentine’s Day, for us, every day before and after will still be Valentine’s Day.
And if you are at a loss for what to get for your Valentine (or better yet, would like to “gently suggest” a Valentine gift for yourself!), check out or share the following link, to get a new red phone – FREE on att.com through Monday, February 15: bit.ly/Free-Red-Phones!
A two year service agreement is required. Other restrictions apply. A $30/month data plan required for all Smartphones.
Posted by Cory in Cory, Photos, SmartPhone, Uncategorized Tags: Cory, Photos, SmartPhone
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To update friends and family on how we’re spending the holidays, including sharing photos, my daugher shows how Twitter can keep us all connected.
Posted by Becky in Becky, How To, Photos, Vlogs Tags: Becky, Holidays, SmartPhone
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You would think that the first Halloween wouldn’t be a huge ordeal for a child that’s just shy of two months old. Turns out, that’s not the case for our Fiona. About four months ago, before Fiona was born (and before we knew the gender of our forthcoming child), Amy sent me an email with an idea for a Halloween costume. It was gender neutral, and even long before Fiona had eliminated my ability to act tough, it was adorable.
Turns out that the costume – a chili pepper – is the perfect fit for our little Fiona. As you can see, she wears it well and is beyond cute.
The costume is also getting Amy and I interested in taking some amateur photography classes to capture some of these moments. Amy’s already practicing.
While we’re a ways from taking Fiona trick-or-treating and keeping in touch with the little one via cell phones and the FamilyMap service, we can still enjoy our time spent with family, showing off our new addition and her spicy personality.
![DSC01377_200910291023335[1]](http://calmcoolconnected.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/DSC01377_2009102910233351-300x225.jpg "DSC01377_200910291023335[1]")
And dad can work on removing the bad puns from his vocabulary.
Posted by Cory in Cory, Just for fun, Photos Tags: Cory
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On September 4, 2009 I wrote about how Amy and I have been taking many more pictures than we ever have before. Since Fiona was born on 9/10/09, there’s been an even bigger spike in the number of pictures we take. In fact, my picture taking might be out of control.
Once things settled down a bit at home, I signed us up for a new Flickr Pro account. Since then, I’ve uploaded over 300 pictures for our friends and family to view. Many of them look like duplicates because I have an itchy shutter finger and can’t help myself when taking pictures of little Fiona, or mom and Fiona. Here are a few of my favorites:
Those 300 pictures only represent a fraction of the ones I’ve taken so far. The camcorder’s also getting some use and soon we’ll be investing in a much larger external hard drive to store all of the Fiona media we’re creating.
My family lives a few hours away. Our cameras and Flickr accounts help us keep them up to speed with Fiona’s growth in between visits. Being able to take photos with our phones and instantly upload them to our Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter accounts allows us to do this on the go.
Where do you store and share all of your family photos? Do you upload photos on the go?
Posted by Cory in Cory, Photos Tags: Cory, Photos
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Hey, this is Cory! As many of you know my wife and I just had a baby, so I’ll have many exciting stories to share. First off I wanted to showcase the Samsung Jack that I was given to try out. The following video explains some of the great features that I really enjoy and use often:
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Have I captured your interest? I thought so. Well I have good news! We have one Samsung Jack to give away to one lucky reader.
Here’s how to enter:
1) Leave a comment here and tell us how. Your e-mail address and phone number must be accurate in your comment so we’re able to contact you. Make sure you double check. (Don’t worry. These won’t be published.)
2) You can also enter by writing a post on your blog answering the same question. Just be sure to leave a comment here linking to your post so we know where to find it.
No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. This sweepstakes runs from today, October 7 to Sunday, October 11, 2009. It is only open to individuals who, at the time of entry deadline, are legal residents of the United States and are 18 years or older; one entry per person. AT&T employees and members of their household are not eligible to win. The winner will be notified via phone on Monday, Oct. 12, 2009.
For complete contest rules, click here.
Posted by Cory in Contests, Cory, Photos Tags: Contest, Cory, Samsung Jack
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I’m sure you’ve heard the timeless adage: a picture is worth a thousand words. 
As a child, my least favorite phrase was “just one more.” Any time my mom had a camera in her hands, “just one more” was her mantra. Whenever I saw the camera, I would cringe. With our first child on the way, I’ve learned to appreciate the reason behind “just one more.” As everyday life events occur, both big and small, I want to be sure to capture each moment.
Now, we rarely leave the house for anywhere but the grocery store without our camera and we just purchased our first camcorder. Our phones are loaded with random pictures of nothing and everything all at once. I spend time every day downloading pictures to our computer, sorting and arranging them, debating which ones to host online, include in a blog, or send to family and friends.
I suspect that this will only continue as our child (and our family) grows. 
Posted by Cory in Cory, Photos Tags: Cory, New Baby, Photos
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This past holiday season, my husband and I experienced the deaths of three loved ones. An old co-worker, a friend, and a family member. What an emotional couple weeks it had been. As we entered the New Year, we reprioritized a few things in our lives. We also spent some much needed time organizing our photos and even making a movie of our 2008 photos using iDVD and iMovie that allowed us to display a bunch of great moments in our lives over the past year to share with our friends and family at our New Years Eve party. It was amazing. We put music to it, captions to let people know the different events/days the pictures were from and even added some video clips we had. I encourage you, whatever your technology of choice is, capture the moment. Whether it’s using a video camera, a digital camera or your smart device, capture the moment. Often times, it’s the littlest moments that meant the most.
As I’ve expressed before, I love pictures. So I capture pictures on my BlackBerry Bold as well as my camera that is always with me. Luckily today, there are so many great programs out there to help us bring all these moments together for our enjoyment. One of my most favorite pictures is of my son and I while in Tahoe. I have no make up on, hair isn’t done, but it’s a moment that was caught when I was kissing him. Every time I look at that photo, whether he is with me or not, I can feel myself kissing him. It brings me much joy. Anyway, we all believe in different things, but one thing is certain: Our time here is limited. Capture the moments you have with those you love. They will forever bring a smile to your face and your heart!
Posted by Brandy in Brandy, Photos Tags: Brandy, Photos
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With a smartphone, you’ll never miss another perfect photo opportunity.
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Posted by Becky in Becky, Photos, SmartPhone Tags: Becky, iPhone, Photos
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So blogs are typically short entries, right? This should be interesting for me because once I get on a roll talking (or writing in this case!) I can go on forever. I’ll do my best to be brief.
I absolutely love my device (a work-provided BlackBerry Bold)! I could not live without it. It keeps me connected to everything that is important and necessary in my life, both personally and professionally. Let me tell you how dependent I’ve become on the picture messaging option on my BlackBerry. It was a recent Saturday and I had to work. My husband took over the duty of picking up a couple gifts for me that day. Well, throughout the day (ok SEVERAL times throughout the day) I would check it and at one point he was asking which size of an item to get. I couldn’t picture the size difference just by his words, so finally I told him to send me a picture. So he snapped a picture and sent it on over. Within a couple minutes, I’d made my decision, and he was out of there (which made him VERY happy because he was DONE!). It was great because neither of us were frustrated because I couldn’t visualize the items. It made for a smooth shopping experience for both of us!
Posted by Brandy in Brandy, Photos, Shopping Tags: BlackBerry Bold, Brandy, Shopping
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