#122 - Make-up Post

Motto: Darn the Bad Luck There
I got sick. It ruined everything. I haven't worked out since Friday. I had less than HALF my goal calories yesterday. I also missed my Wednesday post time. I didn't get to splice together the video I wanted to make for this Column. I'm angry about it.

I will not start another sentence in this post with the word "I".

Let's talk for a second about photo backup and storage -

First off, if you are storing your photos on your phone and nowhere else that's bad. Don't do that. Either pull them off your phone manually every couple of weeks or, better yet, install an app that backs them up for you.

There are several services on Android and iOS that do that. Dropbox, iCloud, Google+, Flickr, and others all offer private, automatic photo upload of some sort. They all work, but I'm going to tell you about the two with which I have experience.

Dropbox is a great service. It is essentially just a folder on your computer that you can also access from any device with an internet connection. Dropbox is particularly good for automatic backup because it will not only back up your photos to the cloud, but also pull them from the cloud onto your home computer. This is just the most effortless way to get photos from your phone to your computer. Take pictures throughout the day and they'll already be on your computer by the time you're home. 

 The only real drawback with Dropbox is storage space. You only get so much storage for free and each photo eats into that allotted space.

The second option, and the option I'm currently using, is Google+. The Google+ automatic upload does not give you Dropbox's benefit of automatically downloading the new pictures to your computer, but it does offer some benefits over Dropbox. First, there's infinite storage for your pictures at "standard size" (which is ~2 Megapixels). The second and more important thing is the photos you take are automatically enhanced and indexed. They will even create new photos for you. Let me show you what I mean...

Automatic Indexing:
Google uses their Google Goggles image recognition tech to automatically tag your photos with things that might be in your pictures. Never once have I went through my pictures and said "this picture contains a cat" in any way, shape, or form, but if you search for "cat" in my backed up photo album...


Viola! Pictures of cats.

 Automatic enhancement:
Google+ provides an online photo editing platform that is surprisingly robust. Every photo they store is automatically (and subtly) enhanced, like such...

The edit isn't earth shattering. Both pictures kind of suck, but now one sucks a little less hard. Note that reverting the Auto Enhanced picture back to its original state is always one button click away.

 Auto Awesome:
Without a doubt, the coolest thing Google has implemented is the "Auto Awesome" feature. Google will take the photos you've uploaded and create entirely new photos from your shots. It can do things like create a group photo where everyone is actually smiling out of several group photos where there's always at least one person yawning (or whatever). It can stitch together several shots of scenery into one panoramic photo. It will create a moving GIF (note "Gif" not "Jif") of similar pictures, like so...

Google made that GIF for me out of the ten GoPro burst photos I posted a few minutes ago. I made that Google+ post specifically to see if I could get Google to make this GIF.

 To wrap everything up:

 Illness ruins perfect projects (but I'm going to keep going)

 Don't be a fool, find a backup tool.

 Google is awesome.

 Update on the October Project so far -

Avg. Calories: 3580 (down 12% from last time)
Avg. Protein: 178 (down 16%)
Missed Workouts: 3 (up ∞%)
Top 5: Reservations I'm Starting to Have about the October Project
5. My increased protein intake has come along with similarly increased fats and carbs
4. I'm eating ice cream in the name of calorie surplus... that can't be good
3. No caffeine? Seriously? How are you supposed to stay awake?
2. Working out every day is for over achievers
1. Once you get used to eating 4000 calories a day, is it hard to stop?

Quote:
“[right now] Facebook is a much better Facebook than Google+ is. Google+ is a much better Twitter than Twitter, a better Path than Path, I could go on with other networks”
- Mike Elgan, Google+ Advocate on This Week in Google. I agree with you Mike. -

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