Here is a before and after photo of myself using the "Snapseed" iPhone/iPad app. With one click and one in-app filter called "grunge", I have a mystified the photo. This app is a personal favorite for general use in the photo apps category. It is pretty amazing what a filter can do for a face and its surroundings.

This photo was taken and manipulated 71 weeks ago according to my Instagram feed. Snapseed was bought out by Google shortly after that initial posting. Those big guys can't keep their paws off of the little guys hard work, right? Then again, for a few million bucks I would sign over my app and both of my kidneys to Google.

Why do I share this post? I get asked A LOT about what I use or do to my photos and avatars. Well, it is really pretty simple. Everything I do, from taking the photo to the finished manipulated product, is done on my iPhone using filters, filters, filters!

Originally, long ago, I paid for this app, but now it is free with "in-app purchases" for filters packs.

You can get Snapseed here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snapseed/id439438619?mt=8

"BENEFITS: 
• Easily adjust your photos with a single tap using Auto Correct 
• Tweak your photo to perfection with Tune Image 
• Use Selective Adjust to enhance specific objects or areas in your photos 
• Experiment with fun & innovative filters like Retrolux, Drama, Vintage, Grunge, and Tilt-Shift 
• Add one of the many high quality frames for a finishing touch 
• Share your creations via email, Google+, and other built-in sharing methods

SUPPORTS: 
• 6.25 MP images for iPad, iPhone 3GS, and iPod Touch (3rd & 4th Gen), 16 MP images for iPad 2 and iPhone 4, 4S, 20.25 MP images for iPad 3rd Gen and iPhone 5 (larger images will be automatically down sampled by iOS) 
• JPEG and TIFF photos 
• RAW photos (requires iPad, iPad2, or iPad 3rd Gen) transferred using the Camera Connector Kit (if files show up as a small thumbnail, go to Settings > Location Services and turn this setting to On for Snapseed. This is required to allow Snapseed to use the iOS RAW processing) 
• Language support: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Arabic"

On a side note, I am still working on moving my 100s of posts to this new location. Time is a rare luxury for me these days, and so is functional wifi or 3G/4G/LTE. I do have numerous posts about other photo apps that are going to be moved here soon enough. I know what is good, bad and what crashes your phone and crunches your photos! Get Snapseed for iPhone and iPad!

Until then, LL&P!

Bored? Me too. Let's put a great 'stache on our photos.

There is a FREE app called Stachematic by lab512.com.

My "Selleck 'stache". 

It automatically detects faces in a photo you uploaded into the app or a photo you took within the app. You can pick and choose the victims of your 'stache-athon and pick a specialized 'stache just for them, or yourself, (see photos for options). It also offers photos filters, which are retro and very clean and nice. This is what I refer to as a "throw away app". Realistically, you will only use it a few times, then probably delete it from your devices, but the few times you use it will be fun. 

Get your Stachematic here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stachematic-camera/id476575293?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

You know the drill! Help the developer out and give it 5 stars for fun factor in the App Store. 

("Racoon City Survivor" teeshirt courtesy of @grimagination on Twitter, thank you! Alice Power!)

If you are always on the road or if you like to hide out in closets at work like me, you will love the Movie Vault app for iPad, iPhone and iPod. It is a genuine classic movie and b-movie diamond. Basically, it's a library of old movies you can stream, and the library grows constantly. You can get this app for the very reasonable price of $2.99 and watch all the streaming movies they have for free within several categories like sci-fi. horror and documentaries.

Features:

- AirPlay to your AppleTV
- Stream over 1000 movies to your iPad over Wi-fi or 3G with nothing more to buy!
- Simple to use interface with custom designed shelves for each Genre!
- Save movies to your Queue to watch them later!!
- True Cover Art and movie information fed directly from IMDB!
- Browse movies by Genre or Search by Keyword, Actor Name, Title, Director, and more.
- Automatic updates of movie listing without app upgrade.
- Watch in Portrait or Landscape!

Get the app by clicking the link below and don't forget to rate it well so developers like this keep making great products!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/movie-vault-for-ipad-watch/id383923714?mt=8

Want a easy way to mark your photos that you upload to the web? I did. The iWatermark App has a FREE and paid version. After I fumbled through the free version, I opted to pay .99 for more options. It is so simple to use. Unlike many apps, this is can be used on multiple tech like Mac, iPhone, iPad and even Windows! You read correctly.

Here are my in app photos:

Want more information?

★ iWatermark, is the only watermarking tool available for all 4 platforms iPhone/iPad, Mac and Windows. iWatermark is the most popular multiple platform utility in the world to watermark photos for photographers. ★

Touch is what iOS is all about. With iWatermark you can:

♦ With your finger click on the watermark to move it around on the page. 

♦ Create your own text or graphic watermarks or select from the included example watermarks (both text and graphics).

♦ 77 fonts available for your text watermarks.

♦ Use pinch/zoom to expand/contract the size of the watermark.

♦ Touch with two fingers at once and rotate to rotate the watermark.

♦ By touch easily adjust the watermarks scale, opacity, font, color and angle.

Create your own watermark or use our included examples. Examples are both text (names, dates, etc) and graphic (signatures, logos, etc.) watermarks which can be used immediately. 

Create your own text watermarks using any the iPhone fonts directly in iWatermark. Or you can import your own graphic watermarks to expand the range of possibilities. These can be signatures or logos which are made on your computer (which has more fonts and abilities, see FAQ below for more details) and sent over via email, received on the mobile device and then saved in the photo library.

A newer type of graphic watermark you can make directly in iWatermark is a QR code which is like a barcode. QR codes can contain up to 4000 chars of information. QR codes can then be read with a scanner or smartphone with the right app revealing the info you encoded. 

A video review by The Daily App show can be found here: http://dailyappshow.com/iwatermark 

[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/gaZogeiTVwI width="480" height="296"]

You can pick up this multipurpose app here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iwatermark/id357577420?mt=8

Developer Website: http://plumamazing.com/ 

This is cheap, easy and brilliant. Give the developers 5 stars in the app store for thinking of this idea and sharing it so people like me, who have no idea how to use photo programs, can watermark our work too!

Recently I was left without an alarm clock when my iPhone crashed. I couldn’t help but wonder why I didn’t have an old fashioned clock, but with today’s technology along with my nose constantly in my iPhone and iPad 2, I never saw the use of replacing it. In the end, I was right.

After some research in the Apple App Store seeking an alarm clock made specifically for iPad or iPad 2, I found something so amazing, I feel obligated to share it with you.

Say hello to “Nightstand” for iPad. Free version and paid version, which I have now, is $2.99 and worth every cent.

Here is my personal version. As you can see, I have Twitter, FaceBook and my RSS all in one along with the time and weather. The background motion movie photos they offer are simply soothing, EX: fireplace.

Go here for the FREE version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/night-stand-for-ipad-free/id417423649?mt=8

Go here for the paid version: http://itunes.apple.com/app/night-stand-for-ipad/id414870358?ign-mpt=uo%3D5

This is not your regular alarm clock by any means. It is also a social reader and outlet with Twitter, FaceBook and RSS built in, a local weather reader, slideshow gallery of your photos, iPod music alarm, sleep timer and so much more.

If you are worried about battery life, don’t. If you have an iPad 2, I can tell you from my travels that you can easily get 10 plus hours of watching movies straight without ever plugging the device in. Keep in mind; it is for the night stand. It is used for an alarm clock with bonuses, so you can always plug it in.

If you don’t want to read the information below, watch this thumbs up review from CNET.

http://www.cnet.com/av/video/flv/universalPlayer/universalSmall.swf

Here is what the App sells you on:

“➤ FLIP CLOCK WITH WEATHER AND FULL SCREEN VIDEO
Night Stand for iPad gives you all information you need in one screen: The time, the date, your local weather and a worldwide weather forecast. It will find almost every city on this planet. Night Stand for iPad combines this useful information with stunning full-screen video loops on the background.

➤ RSS, TWITTER AND FACEBOOK INTEGRATION
Night Stand for iPad has an innovative interface with unique slider tabs presenting you your personal Facebook Newsfeed, Twitter Timeline and the latest articles of a customizable array of RSS feeds right on the Night Stand screen. Just slide the tabs on screen with your finger to read the latest news or have a quick glance at your Facebook friends. This will become your morning ritual. And with the possibility to post on your wall or tweet directly from within the app Night Stand for iPad will surely become your daily companion!

➤ SLIDE SHOW FROM YOUR IMAGE LIBRARY:
You can choose to view a slide show of images from your iPad image library at the background of Night Stand for iPad. Managing the slide show is really easy. Just add or delete images to the slide show by picking them from your image library.


➤ IPOD MUSIC ALARMS:
Night Stand for iPad allows you to set an unlimited amount of iPod music alarms. You can select your own iPod music as alarm sound but you are also able to choose from a list of several built-in alarm sounds. Alarms will also fire when the application is closed using Local Notifications in iOS 4.0!


➤ SLEEP TIMER:
Fall asleep easily and have a quiet night time using the built-in sleep timer of Night Stand for iPad. The sleep timer allows you to select a list of songs from your iPod library and to play this list for a given time period. After the selected time period the music will quietly fade away letting you sleep gently...

➤ ADVANCED FEATURES:
Night Stand for iPad offers you a lot more than the features described above alone! Please find the full features list below. 
- Post on Twitter
- Post on Facebook
- Read Twitter Timeline
- Read Facebook Newsfeed
- Integrate RSS Feeds
- Open detailed RSS Articles
- Choose between a large or a small digital clock
- Choose between eight background motion videos or buy more awesome movie packs from within the app!
- Create a slide show of images from your image library as background.
- A slide show can contain an unlimited amount of images.
- It is very easy to add or delete them from the list.
- Set the interval time of the images in the slide show.
- Add an unlimited amount of alarms
- With an alarm you can also choose its alarm music or sound.
- Choose if it should repeat and which weekdays it should repeat.
- Choose its volume and enter a label.
- Choose to shuffle the alarms music play list
- You can set the snooze duration of the alarms
- Select to fade in alarms and the duration of the fading.
- Shuffle the sleep timer play list
- Dim the screen after the sleep timer has finished
- Change the weather location
- Toggle the temperature display between Fahrenheit and Celsius
- You can also toggle the distance unit between Miles and Kilometers
- Enable or disable auto lock of the iPad's screen
- Choose the style of the Flip Clock ( black / white )
- Toggle weather display
- Also toggle weather forecast display
- Toggle date display
- You can also toggle to show seconds

➤ NIGHT STAND FOR IPAD:
Night Stand for iPad is the perfect night stand solution for your iPad with a unique social media integration.”

 Go here for the FREE version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/night-stand-for-ipad-free/id417423649?mt=8

Go here for the paid version: http://itunes.apple.com/app/night-stand-for-ipad/id414870358?ign-mpt=uo%3D5

Apparently this blog doesn’t update by itself.

I have been preoccupied lately. Not to mention the stupendous restraint I have when it comes to holding onto my procrastination.

Work: What the hell is up with work? I put in a transfer many weeks ago. I requested the following locations: San Diego (general vicinity) or Seattle, WA (general vicinity). My current employer does have locations in both areas. Where do they decide to send me? San Francisco, CA. The one place on earth I never want to live again. I have been there, done that and I never wish to do anything but visit. I, of course, had to turn that location down and put in paperwork for yet another transfer to the same areas I requested previously. After I got the news for San Francisco, I was beyond pissed. I took the day off, drove four hours one way to the main offices and gave them the ultimatum, send me or I will go my own way without them. I am not sure where they will find someone that has no life and is willing to put in 16-20 hours a day in a moments notice. Good luck with that guys. End work rant.

Health: I had shoulder surgery not too long ago and I reinjured it in Joplin, MO during the initial search and rescue from the tornado (see previous blogs). Surgery is in my future again. One year, maybe sooner, I will realize I am not 20 years old anymore and give up the longboarding. But, it seems to be the only form of exorcise I actually like. Everything is telling me to stop, so you don’t need to tell me anymore. 

Personal life: Ziltch. Nodda. I would love to say I have this great personal life full of exciting updates. Yeah, no. However, I am currently working on that. <insert golf claps here> With the big ziltch of a personal life, I am free to do other things. Okay, not really. But I will update you on my “favorite things of the month” now.

Comics: I am still obsessed with Dark Horse and Top Cow. What I started reading that is *new* for me: Hellboy and Mr. Hyde (Dark Horse). Berserker (Top Cow), which is fucking brilliant.

Berserker!

TV: Since Netflix came out with Star Trek, I really haven’t watched anything new. Some of you know I watch one reality series, Big Brother, which started last night. There is nothing better than watching strangers bang or masturbate in a pool box on the live streams. Oh Howie, you Beefcake! Speaking of naked, the biggest, most bad ass show on TV is Game of Thrones! Joffrey, DIE. If you haven’t watched this series, you are missing out on excellent writing, brilliant film work and acting that will make you cry. Seriously, make it so. Oh, read the books first. As with anything, the books are always better!

Games: I am only playing Call of Duty (xbox) and Minecraft (PC) currently. Do I have tons of other games? Yes. On iPad I am playing Order and Chaos. This game is amazing. It is very similar to World of Warcraft, only better because it travels with you. The graphics and gameplay are both amazing. My iPad fun game is Call of Mini: Zombies. It is a FPS (First Person Shooter) that is so smooth and bloody, I can’t seem to put it down. The consistent in-game upgrades make me want to play more.

That is all for now. I am taking photos of my cosplay for San Diego Comic Con, but full on photos will have to wait. I know I promised an update and you will get one. SDCC is so close I can taste the first edition comics now.

The freshest photos I have of myself (taken this past week).

Phone vibrates with each photo snap

Check out the app on itunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sneakypix/id345481980?mt=8
Skidmore Official site: http://skidmoreapps.com/index.html

Remember kids, if you like the app, say so in the App Store with a review.
In app photos:

I forgot about this space once again!

Updates:

I have been building a new site this last week which should be available for viewing in the very near future. Since my main focus has been coding the new site, I haven't had time to keep up here a few times a week with a new app or photo of travels. And I have been doing some major driving!

Work has been busy, so have the natural disasters. They go hand in hand at times.


I am looking forward to going to the Star Trek Las Vegas Convention and San Diego Comic Con this summer. I have been focusing a little time on reasonable cosplay for both of these events. I am not as young as I used to be so comfort is playing a major role this time. The only thing I am sure of is Resident Evil Extinction.

The new house is coming along brilliantly. I have stocked it with things I find to be priority, such as a new PC, bed and a "ridiculous TV". So far my bedroom is the only completed room. I am in no hurry now.

Oh, shorter hair this go around, (see photo). I think that is it for now!

LL&P!
*Photo taken and filtered with 100Cameras app.

If you are a good photographer, your photo should speak for itself. Photos tell a small story for the person looking at it to interpret for themselves. Periodically, you want people to know exactly what you were thinking at that moment. Or maybe you just want to make some funny captions, like me. LabelBox app for iPhone is FREE and it does just what it says, it labels photos. It has a very easy interface, swipe motion, tap type and several options for something so simple.

My example photo:

(Note: I used other apps over the photo for visual effects, which takes away from the crisp labels)

There are numerous labels to choose from and a optional In-App purchase for another bundle.

If you try this app for FREE, give the makers a great rating in the App Store. They work hard and give us hours of fun for free after all.

To get the LabelBox App go here: 
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/labelbox/id417694704?mt=8

StepCase Offical Website: 
http://www.stepcase.com/

Halftone: I love this app! Want to make something fun and creative with your iPhone photos? There are several options available within the app. I love the optional text box in the bottom that you can place your own amusing captions in.

Features:

• Nine paper styles, from crisp and clean to distressed and aged
• Two different caption styles, including one with a large initial character and a gradient background
• Nine unique layouts, including layouts without any captions or borders
• The ability to use any installed font at Small, Medium, and Large sizes
• An additional licensed and embedded font called Digital Strip
• Support for front-facing camera
• Support for flash modes
• Support for camera zoom
• Support for tap to focus
• Photos are captured with the built-in camera, selected from the photo album, or pasted from the pasteboard
• Final Halftone images are saved to the photo album, sent via e-mail, and shared directly with friends on Facebook
• Settings screen for more customization
• Ability to work with full size images
• Ability to automatically save camera images to the photo album
• Option to enable/disable blending of the original image
• Option to enable/disable pre-processing of the original image
• Control of halftone dot size, including the ability to turn them off