Fluidr: The best Flickr application ever

Today I discovered something that will greatly change the way I use one of my favorite sites, Flickr.

Its name is Fluidr and it will rock your world.

It's much like FlickRiver in that it displays and endless stream of photos.  It does much more than that, however.  The number of options are massive and mind-boggling.  You can view:

• Your own photos
• Another user's photos
• Your sets
• Your favorites
• Another user's sets
• Another user's favorites
  
• A group's photos
• Photos from Flickr's Explore page
• A tag
  

But it doesn't end there!  For each of these options, you can view things in a random order.  I've always wanted a way to randomly view my Flickr favorites.  Now I can!

Another cool feature is the Slideshow view.  Click the space bar, and you can view each photo one by one.  Use keyboard shortcuts to browse around.  You can even favorite or comment on a photo without leaving Fluidr. 

I've tried many Flickr applications, and this is by far one of the best I've seen.  It's a completely different (and easier) way to use Flickr. 

Go to www.fluidr.com and check it out!

New Stuff On The Web - 9/15/09

I've tried out a few new products/updated on the internet, and I'd like to talk about them today.

• First off is the new Flickr Galleries feature.  Sure, we already have many ways to collect photos, but this way is different still.  We can only collect photos from other people into galleries, not our own.  That forces people to look at the other great photos on Flickr and not what we've personally posted.  It takes away the mess of the favorites and gives people an excuse to come up with themes.  I like the format - you can see all the photos in the gallery on one page.  I've already seen some really interesting themes in the galleries, and they're only one day old.  Basically, this gives Flickr users the ability to create their own Flickr Blog posts, only not on Flickr Blog.  Folks who want to create good galleries would do well to look at examples of what's being done with Flickr Blog.  I've tried it out, and I like it so far.  I like having the ability to talk about the photos, and I like how they're limited to 18 photos.  You have to make choices!  The Flickr Galleries can be found here and my own galleries are found here.

Read More . . .

Something cool for the Ducks

I discovered this tonight:

University of Oregon Libraries on Flickr.

They're posting good historical images of the U of O. This is pretty cool if you're a UO alum like me.

Links, Links, Links - 1/10/09

Here are a couple good links for your enjoyment:

• The Library of Congress has posted some very cool vintage Photocrom prints of locations in Scandinavia through Flickr's Commons project.

• A few weeks back, Roger Ebert blogged a very large collection of some of his most hilarious review quotes.

The Flickr Meme

It works like this: if you use Flickr, go to the sixth page of your photostream and pick the sixth picture there, then post it to your blog.

Ok, I'm game:



It's Rusty Still from my trip to the Saturday Market in September.

Well done, Flickr!

Tonight I decided to put all of the photos from my University of Oregon Black and White set on the Flickr map. After I was done with that, I thought I'd once again check out their new, improved map feature. When they redesigned it, I wasn't too impressed. But now, I've changed my mind.

When you're on the Flickr map, zoom in to or search for an area that interests you, and red dots should start popping up. The corresponding photos will show up on a ribbon on the middle-bottom of the screen. You can view photos by date or by interestingness. To view a photo, either click on a photo in the ribbon (which will highlight the corresponding dot), or click the dot. Either way, a small version of the photo will pop up, with cool animation. Other photos in the spot will be highlighted in the ribbon as well. If you want to see a larger version of the photo, just click on it and a new window or tab will open. To see more photos, click on one of the arrow buttons on the ribbon. The ribbon paginates the photos so that not too many show up at once.

Now here is the really good part: If you want to see photos from only the area you are viewing, you click on the little green arrows icon just below the ribbon. This will restrict the photos to the current viewing area, and thus you can page through and see available photos for the area you are viewing. This saves much time, because you no longer have to page through all the photos in the city or geographic area you searched for.

Below is an example of the map interface, showing the photo ribbon. Click to see it in a larger size:

My most popular photo

Now that Flickr has stats available for each photo, I've noticed the above image getting quite a lot of attention. It received 58 views yesterday, and has over 1,700 views since I posted it.

Apparently most people are finding it by searching for phrases related to 'christmas tree' in Yahoo! image search. Why Yahoo!? Because their search includes a great number of Flickr results. They own Flickr, after all.

I always find it bizarre when one photo gets more views than all the others. It makes me wonder what it is about that particular photo that people like.

I will admit, it is a very pretty image.

Odds and Ends

I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. I suppose I got out of the habit when my computer was down. I shall try to do a better job. Here are some random thoughts, news items and such:

• Flickr has released a great new feature for pro users (which I am) - stats! I've turned mine on, and I think this will be a very useful feature. Why? Because now I can answer the big question I've always wondered: do people actually look at my photos?

• I've started a new meme at bdinsanity called Writing Wednesday. It will replace the old, tired Mind Hump. The premise: I post a prompt or a brief beginning of a story, and my readers will use their creativity to respond or add on to what I've posted. The only problem is that I seem to have a much smaller number of readers there! Maybe people are just busy with the holidays. Anyone who wants to play is more than welcome to do so.

Now for my thoughts on . . .

• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations: I think Madonna gets in just for the impact she made on music in the 80s and part of the 90s. She was one of the biggest stars in the glory years of MTV, and that makes her a rock star even if she's never rocked in her life. John Mellencamp gets in because he makes music that matters. He's the Springsteen of the heartland. Good on the Ventures for making it in. Good on Leonard Cohen too. He's more influential than popular, but influence should count too. I'm still not familiar with the Dave Clark Five, but good on them as well.

• Ike Turner's death: He may have been a bad man, but he was a bad man who was a rock and roll pioneer and a great guitar player. Also, I was thinking about this earlier today - is he really any worse than your favorite rock and roller? I'm sure there are scores of rockers who did the same things Ike did, but their victims rarely had the guts to go public about it like Tina did. Led Zeppelin is rumored to have done some really wild, bizarre things, and people are all abuzz over their recent reunion show.

• Speaking of Led Zeppelin's reunion: Do we really want them touring again? Led Zeppelin was Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. Period. You didn't see Paul, George and Ringo replacing John, did you? I'm OK with the occasional gig for benefits, but an actual LZ tour shouldn't happen. I have a lot of respect for the three remaining guys for not pretending like Bonham is replaceable, and I'd like to keep that respect.

• The baseball steroid report: No comment, really. I stopped caring a long time ago. Pro sports are beyond repair.

• Lastly, Bill Maher's d***heads of the year.
  

You know, I probably should have broken that up into multiple posts. Oh well.

A Flickr Rant

In the past few months, the majority of the photo comments I've received on Flickr come from group owners wanting me to add my photo to their group.

I'm flattered, and I know they mean well, but I'm getting a bit sick of it and I consider it a form of spamming.

Whatever happened to making a comment about a photo just because you like it? Why not spend a sentence or two, or even a paragraph, telling me why you like my photo before you ask me to put it in your group?

At one time, I usually clicked "yes" to those kinds of requests, but now I'm planning on ignoring most of them. I want some legitimate comments, dammit!

Links, Links, Links - 8/23/07

• Many of you will not be surprised by this report that people are spending more time online than watching TV. I know that's the case for me. The 'net offers so much more than TV ever will.

• PBS' Mediashift has a really nice article about Flickr and its positive effects on photographers of all levels. I can't say I've learned as much as some of the people featured in the article, but I've certainly been inspired.

• The A.V. Club has an article today about the real value of grades on media reviews. Honestly, reading this article has made me think twice about giving grades in my mini-reviews. Shouldn't the review speak for itself?

• Curious about R. Kelly's Trapped In The Closet r&b-opera? Slate explains it all here. I thought the author would talk more about why "Trapped" is truly a great career move for R. Kelly - it takes attention off his quite disgusting legal troubles. R. couldn't have picked a better way to bring some positive attention on himself.

• Digital Photography School has a great article about the pros and cons of DSLR cameras vs. Point-and-shoot cameras. If you're wondering what basic type of digital camera to buy, this article should be your starting point. As for me, I'm happy with my point and shoot Canon for now, but this article makes a strong case for a DSLR. However, I am in no way able to afford one (and its various accessories) at this time, so I have to stick with what I have.

In an effort to give you more, I resolve to not only give you the links, but to also comment on them.

Really Cool Flickr Tool

I was browsing The Great Flickr Tools Collection tonight and saw something that I've obviously overlooked in the past. I think this may be the coolest online Flickr application I've ever used.

Findr

What is it? It's a Flash application that uses Flickr tags to display many photos on one page. The really cool thing is that it uses related tags to narrow the search - you enter in an initial tag and then select from a list of other tags to define what you want to see. For example, I entered in the tag "city," which showed me thousands and thousands of photos tagged as such. A list also popped up with many different related tags, and I selected "lights" from that. The list for that tag combination included "Manhattan," which I selected to see only photos of lights in Manhattan!

The only thing I don't like is that you can't define your own related tags; you have to select from the list you're given. I'm sure there are creative ways around that with tag searching, and of course you can also search on Flickr itself.

Once you've selected your wanted tags, 99 very small thumbnails appear at the top right of the page. When you hover over a photo, you see a larger version. Click on it, and you see an even larger version in the lower right corner. From there, you can click a button that takes you to the photo's page! You can also view everything as a slideshow, which works just as the normal Flickr slideshows do.

I've had a blast exploring photos on Findr, and I hope you all do too.

Just when you thought Flickr couldn't get any cooler, now you can put your photos on maps to show where you took them! I've been playing around with this for a while today, and I think it's pretty cool so far! You can even look at satellite images if you need to use landmarks or buildings to get a good approximate location. One use that I've found is creating a virtual tour of the University of Oregon. Now I can put each of my U of O photos near the place where I took it. If you want to see where I've taken photos, just click here.

In other, less exciting news, Nickel Creek is taking indefinite time off after 2007. I think they deserve the break, but I really hope they get another album in before that time! I also hope they tour here again so I can see them one last time if this is it for them.

I'm looking at St. Patrick's Day-related photos on Flickr, and I'll share links to anything I find interesting.

Here's a funny shot of a green goat in the Savannah St. Patty's parade.

It's not St. Patrick's Day without a pipe band! (Also taken at the Savannah parade by the above photographer).

Here's a picture of green beer, which could possibly be mistaken for Absinthe. All you need to go with it is a hot dog with neon-green relish.

This is a man who knows what he likes and isn't afraid to show it.

Here's a shot of an Irish Viking from the above photographer. Highly appropriate, because Vikings founded the city of Dublin.

The Irish were the original punks, so this Green Day t-shirt is a great idea.

Finally, what's St. Patrick's Day without a celtic cross?


That was fun, I'll have to do it again sometime with a different theme. The reason I used text links instead of actual images is because some of them aren't "bloggable." That hardly matters, because either way you get to see the photo.

I can't think of anything to talk about today, so you'll have to settle for a picture:


It's a picture of our dog, Chloe. I love how detailed it is and how well I captured her mood. You can click on it to go to its Flickr page and see it in a larger size.

Speaking of Flickr, I joined a group there today that is for owners of the digital camera I've been wanting. I asked some questions in the group's forum that will hopefully help me make my final decision. The answers I get will either confirm what I already suspected, or let me know that I need to choose something else. I really hope it's the former instead of the latter.

blow out

This is the last photo I'll post for now. I really love the shiny spider web in this shot! It's really pretty.

blow out
Originally uploaded by vvt.

falling snow

I love this one! Amongst all the black and grey of the snow and trees, you see little patches of green. I also really love the contrast between the snow and the branches.


falling snow
Originally uploaded by algo.

I've been looking at cool pictures on Flickr today, and I thought I'd share a few on my blog. This one is from Karen, and I love the brilliant white of the snow on the branches against the intense blue of the sky! Great shot, Karen.

If you'd like to see a larger version of the picture, just click on it and you'll be taken to its Flickr page.


P3042014
Originally uploaded by karen6977.

This will probably embarass her, but I'm going to post it anyway.

My longtime blogging buddy Karen is, like me, a photographer. She consistently shoots great photos, and a lot of them at that! Of course, who wouldn't shoot great photos living in the beautiful state of Utah? You can check her photos out at her Flickr photostream. There are over 3000 great shots to look at, but I want you to pay particular attention to the shots she posted on February 19, 2006. She took some amazing winter shots, some involving the sun, others involving tree branches (a favorite subject of mine) and others involving close-up shots of the snow and ice. She did a great job with these pictures! If you have a Flickr account, go and leave comments on the shots you like best. I know she'll appreciate it.

You're welcome, Karen!

I've made a new set on Flickr (I love my sets! That'll keep me paying for Flickr for years to come). It's called "Branches and Trees" and you can find it here. Why branches and trees? Because I've discovered that I'm fascinated by shot of branches against a background, whether it be the sky or a building or something else. I just love the patterns they make against each other. It's all so geometrical and beautiful. I'm including trees in the set, because sometimes I take great shots of trees in general. So go check it out! I hope to grow the set when I get a digital camera. I will now always be on the lookout for interesting trees to shoot when I'm out and about with my camera.

I've got new photos! They're back from being developed (yeah, yeah, I need to switch to digital someday) and now I have to scan them. I'm still not done Flickring photos from my previous rolls, so I'll probably put those up tomorrow and start uploading the new ones on Wednesday.

Two rolls are from my trip back to campus a couple weeks ago, and one rolls is random pet shots and stuff that I shot around my house and neighborhood. Is everything good? Well, most of the pictures are good. I wish my camera took "crisper," clearer shots than it does. Some of the shots were experiments and most of them turned out OK, although a few didn't achieve what I wanted them to.

My shoot at the duck pond wasn't all that great. I got a few good shots of the ducks, and a couple of the shots work better as examples of the pond than examples of the ducks. Next time I go, I'll try to get closer. The shots at the river are fairly spectacular. It was a very foggy day (as you'll see when I get around to putting the shots up), so maybe someday I'll go back when it's sunny.

My shots around the University are mostly successes. When I go back again, there will be a few things I'll want to reshoot. Otherwise, I think I got some good stuff. Also, I want to get some shots in the sun. I like bright, sunny shots more than the darker, cloudier shots I got a few weeks ago. Then again, maybe I won't want to take pictures of the same things I've already shot. We'll see how things turn out.

I do have to warn you all that I like to take my sweet time uploading things onto Flickr. I'd much rather have a steady stream of new shots than big bursts of many shots followed by days and weeks of silence.

I'll get my Monday Music Mambo up tomorrow. Blogger was down most of the afternoon and evening, so I wasn't able to get one up today.