Tag Archives: ios5

Photo Stream, Rough Waters Ahead?

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One of the features that was released with iOs 5 was Photo Stream. Photo Stream takes the pictures you shoot with your iOS device and automatically uploads them to your iPhoto Library, Apple TV, and any other iOS device you have. For this to work you have to set up each device. On the iPhone, you go into Settings, then Photos and turn Photo Streaming on. Under that same setting you can also set up how you want the Photo Stream slides to run and whether you want to keep standard photos along with the HDR versions. Also make sure that Photo Stream is turned on under iCloud in Settings. Do the same thing on your other iOS devices. On your Mac go into System Preference and under iCloud there should be a check mark next to Photo Stream. You also need to make sure your iPhoto or Aperture application have been updated, if it has you will see Photo Stream in the left side bar. If you have an Apple TV you will need to update that also.

Once you have everything set up, anytime you take a picture on your favorite iOS device it will show up almost immediately on your Mac, Apple TV and any other iOS device you have. You can also set it up so that pictures you import from a digital camera to your iPhoto or Aperture library will go into your Photo Stream. When I say almost immediately I mean it. So if you share your iPhoto or Aperture library with someone else, beware that they can see the pictures you take as soon as you take them. If you are taking pictures of something that you shouldn’t be doing to show off to your friends make sure you turn Photo Stream off first. I can bet that someone somewhere is going to get in to a lot of trouble because of a picture posted by mistake to a Photo Stream. The other problem with Photo Stream is that once a photo is on Photo Stream it stays there for 30 days. The only way to delete a photo is to delete the whole photo stream. I like the idea of Photo Stream and if you don’t share your iPhoto library it’s a great feature. However as I said above I do see potential problems if you share your iPhoto or Aperture Library.  Do you like Photo Stream or do you see it causing more problems than it solves.

iCloud Becoming a Movie Cloud Service, Compete with Amazon, Google

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iCloud
iCloud

24 hours after iCloud officially releases, talks are underway to fill your cloud drive with movies. In reports today, Horrible Bosses and Green Lantern will be the first of many movies you will be able to hold on your iCloud drive.

iCloud is a service available with iOS5 and at www.icloud.com. With iOS5, you can back up your phone to the cloud (what Apple is calling the PC-less setup and sync). So it only makes sense to also turn it into your all-in-one cloud device.

Hopefully, when Apple officially rolls out this service, that they will offer similar cloud options like Amazon. Things like free storage with any item purchased through Apple (so it doesn’t affect your personal storage limit). You get 5 GB free, then pricing starts at $20 for an additional 10 GB (15 GB total).

Is Apple’s Movie Service Too Late?

The real question is: Have you already committed to Amazon cloud service for movies? Would you switch back? Or would you want to skip the service and actually just get the physical DVD or Blu-Ray discs?

With iTunes still being a walled garden, it’s tough to commit to their services. At least with Amazon, one can get content to their iPhone, computer or Android. Apple really needs to look at this stumbling block, because we live in a cross-platform world.

The day of the DVD is numbered. Being able to access content without physical media is becoming reality. It’s just a question of where you get your content.

So will it be iCloud for you?