Independence Day

With no disrespect intended toward the United States of America, I celebrate my personal “Independence Day” today: 01 July 2011 is the two-year anniversary of my retirement from Fairfax County Public Schools. Thank God I'm alive to enjoy my freedom!

Project Noah versus Leafsnap

Project Noah and Leafsnap: Two free apps for exploring the natural world; two different solutions for field identification of fauna and flora. One app works amazingly well; the other app works, but not as well. A list of pluses and minuses for both apps follows, along with a summary of the results of my field testing and a recommendation for educators.

Project Noah
(+) Visually appealing user interface (UI) – In a word, yes.
(+) Built-in camera – My Noah/New Spotting/”Take new photo” (plus access to iPhone “Camera Roll”)
(-) Built-in field guide – The Project Noah Field Guide is not a field guide in the traditional sense of the word, rather it is more like a crowdsourced field guide. Photos and related narrative text are submitted by Project Noah “citizen scientists”: Nomenclature and content quality varies widely throughout the field guide; some groups of animals and plants are either underrepresented or not represented.
(-) Feedback – "Help me ID this species." I tapped "YES"; no feedback (since 23 May 2011).
(+/-) Geo-referenced data – Optional map view available (see example); photos saved to “Camera Roll” are not geotagged (see example).
(+/-) Option to participate in actual scientific research projects – “My Missions.” Your field observations may never be used by real scientists unless you opt to participate in one or more missions.
(+) Performance incentives – “My Patches,” like virtual scouting merit badges
(-/+) Built-in documentation and Web support – No built-in help; better Web pages than Leafsnap.
http://www.projectnoah.org/
(-) Universal app/iPad version – Not available

Leafsnap
(+/-) Visually appealing user interface – Yes. Leafsnap UI somewhat less appealing than Project Noah.
(+) Built-in camera – “Snap It!” (plus access to iPhone “Camera Roll”)
(+) Built-in field guide – Database currently features 2,620 high-resolution images of 185 tree and plant species.
(+) Feedback – Immediate and very reliable. Leafsnap correctly identified 8/9 trees that I tested; the second result was the correct ID for the 9th tree (a fact verified easily by comparison with field guide database).
(+) Option to participate in actual scientific research projects – By design, all field observations are used to build scientific database.
(+/-) Geo-referenced data – Optional map view available (see example); photos saved to “Camera Roll” are not geotagged (see example).
(+) Performance incentives – “Geodialist’s Collection” ("Geodialist" is my Leafsnap username)
(+/-) Built-in documentation and Web support – Tap “i” on any page for more information; poor Web support.
http://leafsnap.com/
(+) Universal app/iPad version – iPad version available (“Snap It!” doesn’t work with iPad 1.)

Summary
Overall, Project Noah has twice as many minuses as Leafsnap, and there are more pluses than minuses for Leafsnap. Most importantly, Leafsnap provides timely, reliable feedback while Project Noah fails to deliver this key success factor consistently.

As a former science teacher, I am conflicted by the thought of using Project Noah with students. I’m a big advocate of hands-on learning (a.k.a., learning by doing) and technology-enriched instruction. But I prefer “guided discovery” over random experimentation, that is, carefully crafted hands-on activities designed to lead students to scientifically accurate conclusions. At best — that is, with guidance from a good teacher — working with Project Noah could be a great experience for students; at worst, it could be an exercise in frustration (see Editor’s Note, shown below). Bottom line: Leafsnap is the only app I recommend for use with students. In my opinion, Project Noah is more appropriate for adults than children.

Related Resources:

• See the enhanced version of this blog post on my Posterous photoblog, enriched with more graphics.
• Field Test: Leafsnap app

Editor's Note: In the interest of fairly evaluating Project Noah, I re-tested the app by adding a "New Spotting" to "My Noah." I tapped "YES" in response to the prompt, "Help me ID this species." This time, I received two "Comments" later the same day, as indicated by the red badge on the "My Noah" page. I tapped "My Spottings": On the "My Spottings" page, I tapped the right arrow on the first "Needs ID" spotting (that displays an icon indicating two comments); on the "Comments" page, two Project Noah participants correctly identified the plant as a Hydrangea macrophylla (Lacecap). Sounds good -- that's the way it's supposed to work, right? A couple of questions arise: 1) What are the qualifications of the commenters? (With no disrespect intended, aren't you naturally a little skeptical of someone who goes by the moniker, "Monkey-mind?") There is no way to either access a commenter’s bio, or communicate directly with a commenter via Project Noah. 2) What if the commenters had misidentified the plant? Not so good, and arguably worse than no feedback. (Remember the teachers’ old saw that says students must work harder/longer to unlearn misconceptions and misinformation? It’s true!) Project Noah's highest priority should be to devise a procedure that provides timely, reliable feedback EVERY TIME a participant requests help; until this objective is achieved, I remain very reluctant to recommend its use by educators.

Easy audio Tweets using Audioboo

Audioboo is a simple tool for microblogging audio clips via Apple iOS and Android mobile devices; a Web interface is also available (Safari Mobile is not supported at this time). For more information, see "Getting Started with Audioboo" and the video, "Intro to Audioboo on Vimeo."

Soon after I got my first Apple iPhone, I downloaded Audioboo app for iOS and created an account. Honestly, I never used Audioboo until after I started using Twitter. I realized recently that Audioboo can be set to automatically cross-post "boos" to other social media services such as Twitter -- a clever work-around that enables me to literally say more than is possible in a 140-character Tweet!

There is a five-minute time limit for "boos" recorded using the free version of Audioboo; there is no time limit for "boos" recorded using Audioboo Pro. The Audioboo Web interface functions like the apps for mobile devices, with the additional feature that users can upload pre-recorded audio files (use the device of your choice to create "boos" that sound polished). A Web Widget can be used to automatically generate the HTML code for a customized embedded "boo" playlist player (similar to the one shown below).

Audioboo app is simple and straightforward -- it works as advertised and works well. I have a few suggestions for improvement:

1. It would be nice to see the app feature some sort of audio editor, even a rudimentary one. As it stands, there are two options for editing a recording: Pause/Resume (append the recording); and/or Delete Draft (a complete do-over). Mobile audio recording doesn't have to be a one take and you're done process, as shown by Audiofile Engineering's FiRe app for iPhone.
2. Add a setting for local time. The time stamp shown on the Flash "boo" player appears to be Universal Time (UTC).
3. And what's up with the Flash "boo" player? Seriously, if there's an Audioboo app for iOS then then the Web player should be completely compatible with Safari Mobile. Can you say HTML5?

My latest "boo" is called "Spring thunderstorm in Alexandria, VA USA," shown below (Flash required). The audio clip was recorded using my iPhone's built-in microphone; as a result, the sound quality is admittedly poor. Audioboo automatically cross-posted the "boo" as a "Tweet" to Twitter.


Audio clip URL: http://audioboo.fm/boos/339761-spring-thunderstorm-in-alexandria-va-usa

Tech Tip: "Boos" are not cross-posted to other social networking services such as Twitter unless you are logged in to your Audioboo account.

Breaking news: TPE on sale this weekend only

The Photographer's Ephemeris app (TPE for iOS) -- one of two noteworthy Apple iOS apps for planning photo shoots of the Sun and Moon -- is on sale for $3.99 this weekend only. That's right, for two days only you can buy TPE for less than the price of LightTrac ($4.99), a similar yet much less robust app. Don't sleep on this extraordinary offer!

iBlogger 2 app

OK, I admit I'm a sucker for apps like iBlogger 2 that promise "advanced mobile photo blogging." Don't be suckered like me -- iBlogger 2 wasn't worth its introductory sale price of $4.99, and definitely isn't worth its current retail price of $9.99! At best, iBlogger 2 enables limited resizing- and scaling of photos, limit one photo per blog post; at worst, the results are unpredictable. Would you call that "advanced mobile photo blogging?" I wouldn't.

As a quick and dirty test of iBlogger 2, I created a blog post on one of my blogs. The post featured a screen capture of the Apple iPhone "Compass" app. (The original image is 480 H x 320 W pixels, the standard screen resolution of an iPhone 3GS.) I selected the options for center alignment and a full-size "thumbnail." iBlogger 2 resized the image to ~320 H x 320 W pixels, and cropped off part of the original image; the resized image isn't centered on the post. See what I mean by unpredicatable results? Not good!

Here's how iBlogger 2 should work: If I select an image thumbnail size of "Full," then the result should be a full-size version of the original image, scaled to preserve the aspect ratio of the original image (if necessary). Needless to say, if I select "Center" then the image should be centered; any other position is unacceptable.

Text editing is limited in iBlogger 2 as well. Conspicuously missing are options for entering bold- and italic text. Photo captions appear more like section headers in the body of a post rather than photo captions. There is no option to enter new categories.

My first and lasting impression: iBlogger 2 is a BIG waste of money! Save $10 and go with another FREE photoblogging app such as the Posterous Mobile apps -- you'll be much more satisfied with the results.

Editor's Note: In the interest of fairly evaluating iBlogger 2, I re-tested the app and posted the results on the same blog. The results of Test 2 were no better than the first test. I give the app a rating of 0 out of 5 stars: "iBlogger 2" app is a dog and the dog won't hunt!

waltersanford's photoblog on Posterous

During the past week-or-so I've been experimenting with Posterous as a platform for photoblogging. The Posterous app for Apple iPhone, ideal for mobile blogging, is a little buggy (when the Posterous app is used to upload geotagged photos from an iPhone, the photos that appear online aren't geotagged) and there are some features that are conspicuously missing (e.g., the capability to add hyperlinks to a new post and edit old posts). In contrast, the Posterous Web interface works well and does not suffer any of the problems I mentioned.

The Posterous app was preceded by PicPosterous, another app from the same developer. PicPosterous is all about mobile photoblogging, pure and simple -- maybe too simple, or sometimes, not simple enough (see Editor's Note, below). While there is some duplication of features between the PicPosterous- and Posterous apps, PicPosterous enables you to add photos to an album you created already; Posterous does not.

Posterous does some things especially well, such as automatically resize photos and videos to fit the layout for your blog; multiple photos are shown in a good looking gallery. Images and videos are optimized for mobile viewing. And you can autopost content to other sharing sites such as Twitter and Flickr.

Posterous accounts are free; the PicPosterous- and Posterous apps are also free. Visit waltersanford's photoblog.

Editor's Note: PicPosterous app predates the Posterous Mobile apps (for iPhone and Android), and is showing its age! PicPosterous app enables you to upload one photo at a time to a Posterous gallery; you can add more photos to the same gallery, but again, you select photos one at a time. You can add a title and narrative text to the gallery; you cannot add tags. The user interface is very clunky and counterintuitive, in contrast with the Posterous app. Bottom line: PicPosterous app's time has come and gone; move on to Posterous app and never look back!

Microfiber cloth for a clean machine!

"Penny Lane there is a fireman. ... He likes to keep his fire engine clean. It's a clean machine." (Credit: "Penny Lane" by The Beatles.) Do you like to keep your mobile devices clean? You know you do, but it's harder when you're on travel. What's the solution? You need a microfiber cleaning cloth. My optometrist provides a free ClearSight lens cleaning kit with every pair of eyeglasses I buy, including cleaning solution and a microfiber lens cloth. The cloth works very well without the solution, and it's washable and re-usable.

Where's Waldo?

Sure, there are many ways to determine your location using a GPS-enabled Apple iPhone. But for simplicity and ease of use, I recommend GPS Coordinates, an Apple Web app utility. (Browse Apple Web apps,  All Categories.) "Use GPS Coordinates to get the coordinates of your current position. Your device will use GPS, wireless LAN and cell towers to get the most accurate coordinates, just as Maps and Compass on the iPhone do. After locating yourself you can copy your coordinates to the clipboard and use them in any app you want. Share your location on Twitter, via mail or text it to a friend who uses it within Maps to see your whereabouts." (Credit: "About GPS Coordinates" by Daniel Gattermann, Web app developer.)

Google Translate for iOS

"Translate words and phrases between more than 50 languages using Google Translate for iOS. For most languages, you can speak your phrases and hear the corresponding translations." (Credit: Apple iTunes Description.) For more details, see the following post on the Google Translate Blog: "Introducing the Google Translate app for iPhone." Google Translate seems to work better translating from English to another language than vice versa. The app is free, so it's hard to complain about not getting value for your money.

Editor's Note: "Google Translate" is available for other mobile devices; there is a desktop version as well.

iPhone Photography Tech Tips: Better Geotagging

Here's a simple tech tip for better geotags in your iPhone photographs: Launch the Maps app and verify your location BEFORE taking pictures with the Camera app. You'd be surprised how inaccurate "Location Services" can be after an iPhone has been either in sleep mode or powered-off.

The Photographer's Ephemeris

"The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE for Desktop) is a free application for Mac/Windows/Linux designed for landscape photographers." (Credit: Stephen Trainor, software developer.) There are two requirements for the program to function on your computer: Adobe AIR (free) must be installed; and your computer must have an active Internet connection. There's plenty of online support, including tutorials (with text and graphics) and video tutorials. In my opinion, the videos for iPad are especially well done and should help to give you a good sense of how the application works and what it can do.

Editor's Note: "TPE 2.0.2 for iOS" ($8.99) is a universal app for Apple iOS mobile devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad).

Free real-time traffic information

While talking with a good friend who had been stranded on the road during "Skidlocked D.C. 2011" -- a nightmare traffic jam that occurred throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area during a snowstorm that began on the afternoon of 26 January -- he mentioned that his decision to return to work and hunker down for a while was based upon the free real-time traffic information available on Google Maps. As it turns out, the traffic information on Google Maps is at least as good as traffic info from any commercial service provider.

How does the Google Maps traffic overlay work so well? In a word, crowdsourcing. Huh? Here's how it works. When your GPS-enabled cell phone is turned on and location services enabled, the phone sends anonymous data to Google regarding the position of your phone. It is possible to determine the speed at which your cell phone is moving based upon the change in position of the phone as time passes. Now imagine that the position of your cell phone, as well as the positions of lots of other cell phones, happens to be co-located with a highway, and there you have it in a nutshell -- crowdsourced traffic information that can be used to display on a map both the volume of traffic and the speed at which it's moving. Very cool!

Related Resources:

• Google Maps Help
• Google Maps Help - Traffic
• Google Maps Help - Availability of real-time traffic
• Official Google Blog - The bright side of sitting in traffic: Crowdsourcing road congestion data

Tech Tips: Using the "Maps" app on the Apple iPhone: Tap the "map curl" (shown lower righthand corner of the screen) and select "Show Traffic." Using a Web browser on a computer: "To see if live traffic is available in your area, hover your mouse over the square widget on the top righthand corner of the map. A menu with available layers for your map will appear. Click on Traffic to turn on the layer and view real-time traffic conditions." (Credit: Google Maps Help)

Point-and-Shoot Breakup

Are smartphones replacing digital cameras? For the answer, watch the video, "Breaking up with your point-and-shoot [digital camera]." The clever parody actually mentions several compelling reasons smartphone cameras are often the gadget of choice for mobile photography. See also the parent article that appeared in the New York Times entitled, "In Smartphone Era, Point-and-Shoots Stay Home."

EarthCache

Searching for interesting natural places to visit and explore? "The most exciting way to learn about the Earth and its processes is to get into the outdoors and experience it first-hand. Visiting an EarthCache site is a great outdoor activity the whole family can enjoy. The Geological Society of America (GSA) administers the listing of EarthCache sites around the world. An EarthCache site is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. Visitors to EarthCache sites can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth." (Credit: EarthCache Website.)

EarthCache is sponsored by Groundspeak, the good folks who bring you Geocaching.com and Waymarking.com. Educators should visit EarthCache Sites for Teachers, including a free teachers guide and general lesson plans.

Sundials - A Waymarking.com Category

Waymarking is "a scavenger hunt for unique and interesting locations" around the world. I follow the RSS feed for the Sundials category, an informal initiative to document the location of all sundials around the world. Be on the lookout for sundials during your travels -- they're everywhere! Whenever you see a sundial, record its exact location, take some photographs (ideally geotagged photos), and be sure to register the sundial at Waymarking.com.

Hey, I found a sundial!

Editor’s Note: I currently serve as chairperson of the North American Sundial Society (NASS) Education Committee. Educators interested in exploring ways to use sundials to enhance and/or enrich classroom instruction are encouraged to contact me.