Category: flickr

New Flickr for Android App not available anywhere important (and yes, I mean “here”)

Posted on

Woohoo!

As a devout Android fan and a devout Flickr fan, you can only begin to imagine my excitement when I heard that there was a new OFFICIAL! Flickr for Android app out. And that it seems set to challenge the currently iPhone only world of Instagram:

…there’s one feature that will catch everybody’s attention: photo filters.
The photo filters feature is almost identical to that of Instagram. The app comes with 10 filters that [Flickr Product Manager Markus] Spiering says are designed to “beautify” photos. They’re automatically uploaded to Flickr but can also be shared via Twitter, Facebook and email.

All well and good, but when I went to download it, I was told:

This app is not compatible with devices in your country.

Boo! At the time, there was nothing about this on the official help topic on flickr, nor on their blog, although they’ve now updated with a FAQ topic, telling us:

The Official Flickr for Android app is currently available in the below countries from the Android Market. To find it just go to the Android Market and search for “flickr yahoo”.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States,

If the official app isn’t available in your country yet try one of the other great third party apps that you can use to browse and upload to Flickr!

Which is great. Unless you’re not in one of those countries and you want to use the app, obviously. I’m not sure what the restriction is – or rather why the restriction is, but as a fully paid up member of Flickr since 2005, I’m a little annoyed to be left out.

In the meantime, I shall continue using the undoubtedly brilliant Vignette (QR code) and the undoubtedly “ok” Flickfolio (QR code) for my photo-taking and uploading to Flickr needs.

Earth from the ISS

Posted on

Or rather, in this case, the ISS from Atlantis, via TriggerPit.

Earth from the ISS: Like a scene from Star Wars – an X-wing approaches

Kepler on the horizon. Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, European Space Agency’s (ESA)
“Johannes Kepler” Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) begins its relative separation from the International Space Station.
The ATV-2 undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 10:46 a.m. (EDT) on June 20, 2011.
Earth from ISS photo credit NASA.

More amazing photos here.

Thanks Nickster.

I can dream

Posted on

Stuck as I am in a hospital bed (or, if things have gone horribly awry, a mortuary fridge) in the land-locked southern suburbs, I am probably unable to enjoy a nice sea view out of the window (there are no windows in a fridge).
So, I’ll probably be mostly dreaming of getting out and about again soon for some crashing surf and blustery beach walks on the Cape coast. Meanwhile, here’s a quick quota photo to keep me going:

Of course, if I actually am in a mortuary fridge, this is going to appear horribly creepy, so I should probably tell you that this was written pre-op, as there’s no wifi in here and my fingers are too stiff to type.

Old pics of Cape Town

Posted on

Look what  found on flickr: the Bygone Cape Town Set by user Etiennedup, who says:

A while ago I looked for some sixties and seventies photos of Cape Town on the Net. To my amazement I could not readily find any.
Having spent some of my most memorable times in the Mother city, I undertook to do something about it, and what you see here is part of an ongoing project to share some of the images of bygone Cape Town. I start off with eleven photos of of Cape Town that must count amongst the earliest known colour images taken of the city. Also included are early post cards and b/w photos. Shall be adding more……..

He may have started with 11, but he’s now amassed 814, with almost 94,000 views at the time of writing. Wow.

There’s plenty of interesting stuff in there and it’s great for a good browse if you have a spare half hour (or more) (or less).
My particular favourite is this one of the S.A. Seafarer not faring ever so well in the S.A. Sea back in 1966.

My mother-in-law – who was living in Mouille Point at that time – was part of the crowd that watched the vessel being smashed onto the rocks. Or so she says anyway: I don’t see her there.

You might like to compare and contrast this image with the one here to see how things have changed over the past 45 years. Use the Green Point lighthouse as a reference point – it’s the red and white diagonally-striped building.
(Or, if you’re looking at the photo above, the grey and white diagonally-striped building.)

In both cases, it has a big, bright, rotating light on the top of it.

Not that that did the S.A. Seafarer much good.