Saturday, February 2, 2008 -- 3:49 p.m. -- on my couch

Today, I have a different kind of post, but I think you are going to love it.

Caller Stu sent me the photo you see above ... it's a panorama made of several iPhone photos stiched together using the PhotoMerge feature in Photoshop. It's at the University of Chicago just after the big snow.

We all know how cool and powerful photo stitching is when we use higher resolution cameras, but I can't think of anyone else trying it with iphone images.

I don't think I did the result justice here, but I only have 411 pixels in width to show it off. But it's really, really great.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to host the full-sized file on my flickr account. It's definitely worth clicking on this link.

And it can't be as easy as it looks because with a larger camera, it's optimal to use a tripod. Handheld iPhone photo panoramas are unique to say the least.

So enjoy ... and thank you so much Stu for doing this and for sending it in.

For all the times I talk about the iPhone community coming together, this is the prime example. So, whenever the urge hits you, send in whatever is on your mind -- or your camera -- and I'll share it with everyone.

Please comment and let me know what you think.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, October 29, 2007 -- 3:17 p.m. -- at my desk

It's been a while since I put up some new shots in the gallery, but I made up for that today.

We've got shots from Colombia. Shots from South Africa. Shots from near and shots from far.

And what they have in common is that they're all taken with an iPhone.

So show us where you and your iPhone have been and send your best shots to me here at skleinberg@tribune.com

Who knows? You might get featured in these very pages. And at the very least you know you'll provide enjoyment for so many other callers.

So thanks for shooting and thanks for calling.

Sunday, October 7, 2007 -- 2:14 p.m. -- at my desk

This entry is specific to your chief iPhone blogger, not the iPhone.

Some of you know I got married last month and went to Florida for the honeymoon. I posted 4 really nice sunset shots I snapped on Flickr. I didn't want to put it up in the iPhone gallery, because they were taken with a Nikon D200.

Go here's the link if you are interested in seeing what I saw every day for a week.
Click me.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, September 24, 2007 -- 12:02 a.m. -- at my desk.

What a day. The Pirates lost their 9th game in a row (thanks, Cubbies). And then my soup tipped over in the microwave. What a mess.

You know what's great about today, though? I got to try the .mac web gallery. For those of you who don't know, the .mac Web gallery is a place for iPhoto users to send photos that can be viewed online and on your iPhone. And you can update right from the iPhone or have someone else update it from anywhere in the world.

I tried it for some of my wedding photos and I'm impressed. I'm not sure how many of you subscribe to .mac, but this is a reason to consider the $99 a year price tag. It's the easiest way I've ever seen to get photos online and the iPhone functionality is fantastic.

The best example I can think of is this: You go on vacation to England. For some odd reason, you go to Stonehenge while your traveling companion goes to London. If you both have iPhones, you can each take photos and simultaneously update them to your .mac Web gallery for the world to see.

This isn't a sales pitch, it's me letting you know that if you're looking for something cool to do with your iPhone, this is at the top of the list.

Have you had the pleasure of working with .mac Web galleries? Have questions about it? Let me know.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 -- 1:32 p.m. -- on my couch

Oh, wait ... did you think that I was actually ... oh, my bad.

And no, I wasn't actually on the Internet at the beach. My wife thought this would be a funny shot and I couldn't agree more. She's got that iPhone sense of humor.

I am amazed at all the ways I used my iPhone for my wedding and on my honeymoon. Here's some examples:

Fielded calls to coordinate pre and post-wedding activities.

Logged into Southwest.com to get in the A group for boarding Well, on the way home. I forgot on the way and ended up being B. Oh the horror!

Called restaurants in Clearwater for information

Used Google Maps to figure out how to get to the restaurants.

Oh, and one thing about Clearwater/Florida in general that I don't understand ... barbecue restaurants paired with Starbucks. Really? Because nothing goes better with smoky BBQ than espresso.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, September 3, 2007 -- 10:28 p.m. -- at my desk

If you haven't been to the photo gallery lately, now's a great time to stop by. There are some new photos from New York City, as well as some other great stuff.

This shot by Greg from New York City reminds me just how cool the Empire State Building is. Originally, way back when, I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Heck, I even had a thick New York accent that I worked hard to eliminate once I moved to Pittsburgh when I was 17. But seeing this shot makes me want to start talking like my mom again.

I hope these shots tie you over. I can't promise a lot or even any updates while I'm gone getting married, but I hope you'll stick with me. I've got big plans for this blog and I wouldn't dream of moving forward without you.

There's an outside chance that if I can log in and check my mail that any photos that are sent my way could be posted before I get back. My Webmaster is a really nice guy who's going to take care of the blog for me when I'm gone.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007 -- 8 p.m. -- at my desk

Caller John sent in some fantastic photos of today's severe storms in Chicago.

Click on the photo gallery on the right side of this page now to see 4 really amazing shots from the North Side.

And for a sneak peek at what the gallery will look like on your iPhone, click on the image in this post.

And of course, if you have iPhone photos from today's storms, please send them to me. I'd love to upload as many as I can.

Thanks for calling.

Saturday, Aug. 11, 2007 — 11:36 p.m. — laundry room

I was reloading my laundry card tonight when this idea hit me ... a great idea and it involves photos and your iPhone.

Apple is showing off the features of the new iLife and how great the new .mac web gallery is and how it connects your desktop/laptop and your iPhone.

Well, Apple already sells a photo transfer device that you can hook into your iPod. I don't know that it really ever did that well as far as sales, but basically, you plug it into your iPod, insert your memory card and you upload photos to the iPod, thus clearing off valuable space on your card.

Now with the current way .mac web galleries work, you either add to the gallery from your desktop/laptop or by taking a photo with your iPhone's camera and uploading from there. And while the camera on the phone is fine and all, it's not the caliber of my Nikon.

So, why wouldn't Apple re-release the camera card module with the proper connection for the iPhone? When you insert the card from your 10 megapixel camera, it uploads to your iPhone. Then, you can upload to the gallery and have full-sized photos just as you would if you were uploading from a computer.

To successfully implement this, Apple needs to make the iPhone a storage device. Currently, you can't mount it as a hard drive like you can an iPod, but that's all the more reason to let that happen. It would be a perfect marriage of digital camera and iPhone ... to improve the new marriage of iPhoto and the iPhone.

Anyone else think this is a great idea? Let me know. And if you have some way to improve upon this, by all means share.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 • 6:15 p.m. • at my desk

I'm pleased to announce that the photo gallery is now up and running.

It's in the right rail near the exclusive wallpaper.

To send me a photo for submission into the gallery, simply click on the link and e-mail away. And click on the photo to see the gallery. It's small right now, but it's only going to grow. I'll even contribute when I have the time, but I'd love to see what my callers have shot. Be creative. And most of all, have a good time.

And if you have questions or suggestions, always feel free to email me.

Thanks for calling. And for shooting.

This is a huge announcement, iPhone fans. And comes as quite the surprise.

I'm currently liveblogging the big Apple press conference in California from the comfort of my relatively comfortable couch.

For those of you with .mac accounts, there's a new feature coming called "send to web gallery" which, and I'll get more specifics soon, will let you take a picture on your phone and upload it to the .mac servers to share with anyone in the world. And by share, print, view, etc. All tied together with Apple's iLife 08, which was just announced.

Price remains at $79 -- but included if you buy a new Mac -- and includes brand new versions -- and in some cases programs designed from the ground up -- of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, Garageband and the .Mac Web gallery.

Price for .mac is $99 a year. I've had it for 4 years and I couldn't live without it. I use it that much, and now with what it does for the iPhone, I would recommend you sign up if you are a Mac user. Starting today, your personal Web space goes from 1GB to 10GB. Not the best in the industry, but certainly a welcome improvement.

Seems as though the new iLife '08 is required for most of this, but that's still uncertain. Working on figuring that out.

Steve Jobs is calling it the marriage of iPhoto and .Mac with a mobile twist.

He says it's just like iPhoto for your iPhone, but anyone can contribute to your iPhone iPhoto gallery based on your instructions. So, if you have a friend in Paris and you are on your iPhone in Chicago, that person can upload shots of the Eiffel Tower to your iPhone live and instantly.

Still more ... brand new iMovie not only works with all the camcorders that up until now were incompatible with Macs, you can upload anything to iTunes and download it to your iPhone. Movies. Photos. And possibly more. Still not done with the announcement.

So far, from a computer and iPhone perspective, simply amazing announcements.

The big question I will need to get answered is how much of this is available right now on your iphone -- with a software update of course -- and how much of it is absolutely dependent on iLife 08? Right now, it appears that you definitely need a .mac account to take advantage, but you may not actually need the desktop software to use it in some form on the iPhone. Again, not sure.

Still going through the notes, so more once I get it. The presentation is over, so once I get to the office and go through my notes and figure out what is what, I'll post a wrap-up that highlights the most important stuff. And you can go through this post to relive the excitement :-D

Thanks for calling.

Monday, Aug. 6, 2007 • 5:50 p.m. •  at my desk

Thanks to everyone that has sent in their iPhone photos. They look great, and I'm happy you are all eager to send them in.

To respond to the demand, we're hard at work creating a photo gallery where you'll be able to look at all the photos in one convenient place.

As soon as it's up and running, I'll let you all know. You'll still email the photos to me and I'll add them to the gallery. There will be a home for it somewhere in the right rail, along with the exclusive wallpaper.

Let me know if you have any thoughts and keep snapping.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007 • 3:25 p.m. • at my desk

Thanks, callers, for keeping the iPhone images coming in. This first one on the water is from Michael. Looks great! (Click on the images for the full-size shot).

The second one is from Greg and is of Company 98 on Chicago Avenue. Nice, Greg.

Not only is the camera pretty decent, but so are our photographers here at iPhone, Therefore I Blog." I will showcase as many photos as I can.

Thanks for calling. And for shooting. And for sending.

Friday, Aug. 3, 2007 • 11:39 p.m. • on my couch

A few posts back I asked callers to submit their iPhone photos. Caller Paul from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., was nice enough to start us off with this colorful shot (click for the full-size version).

Thank you, Paul. That's a great shot, and as you can see, the iPhone's camera is no slouch. Send your best to skleinberg@tribune.com and I'll post as many as I can.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007 • 11:21 p.m. • chained still at my desk

So I got to thinking ... the iPhone has a pretty decent camera. What if we start a community photo gallery to showcase it?

Email your photos to me at skleinberg@tribune.com and I'll post them here. The photos can be of anything (keep it clean, of course) and don't have to be iPhone related. On the CTA and feel like snapping a pic? Send it my way. Having lunch in Millennium Park? Snap a shot of your sandwich (or the Bean) and send it along.

I think this could be fun. It's a perfect opportunity for callers to show us their lives through the eyes of the iPhone.

Thanks for calling.