Basically geotagging uses GPS coordinates that are tagged into the EXIF metadata of a photo file allowing the exact location the picture was taken to be forever remembered. iPhoto ‘09 supports geotagged photos by showing off maps, allowing for Photo Books to be printed with location information, and more. This technology is very cool so I immediately set off to figure out how to start using it.

My Cannon Powershot is a few years old now and obviously doesn’t automatically geotag pictures. I had a few options, including upgrading to a new, very high-end camera, purchasing an Eye-Fi SD card or an external geotagging device. After some research and reviews, I decided upon the external device.

About the size of a cell phone.

My Amod geotagging unit arrived today and I put it through some initial paces. It’s a very simple unit, smaller than I thought it’d be. Once turned on it starts looking for satellite signals. It had some trouble finding an initial signal inside despite having a window-wall, but once I took it outside the device had no trouble at all. In fact, once it found the initial satellites, taking the unit inside didn’t affect the signal at all.

I took a quick ride around the neighborhood snapping a few pictures while the device was clipped to my belt. Once home I plugged it into my computer via a mini USB cable. The device comes with a piece of software that runs on OS X that allows you to manage and geotag photos, but if you want to actually write the GPS info to the EXIF file you have to pay for a “Pro” license upgrade. Considering iPhoto will need the GPS data written to the file to actually do what it does, this is kind of important. Luckily there are free alternatives as long as you’re willing to go through an extra step. I am.

The Amod device stores GPS data in a standard NEMA GPS .log file. This is the same format that plenty of other handheld GPS devices store information. The problem is the free software that will actually tag the files doesn’t read this particular standard format and opts for another standard, .gpx XML. So I needed to convert the file. Free software GPS Babel+ allowed me to do just that. Selecting the NEMA as the source and the GPX as the output did the trick. Once the new file is created, it was time to actually tag the files. For this another piece of free software, GPS Photo Linker does the trick.

I loaded the GPS file first, then added the photos. It’s important to note that for this to work best, the photos need to be tagged before they are put into iPhoto. So instead of using iPhoto to take the files from the camera I chose Image Capture. GPS Photo Linker takes the timestamp from the photos and matches that with the timestamps on the GPS tracks. When it finds a match it tag the photo. GPS Photo Linker has a batch mode that makes doing a full set very easy. After a few minutes work, my photos were all tagged and ready to play with.

Location redacted.

Fortunately I don’t have to wait until iPhoto ‘09 ships to play with the geotagging results. Preview 4.0, which is part of OS X 10.5 Leopard, already supports it. After opening a tagged file in Preview, open the Inspector and click the center “More Information” tab. A GPS option is now added that shows the coordinates and a Google map. Clicking the “Locate” button brings the location up on Google Maps in Safari so that you can zoom, compare with Street View and really see how cool the technology is. You can also upload the tagged images to Flickr which supports geotagged photos using a Yahoo maps look.

Considering this was also the cheepest option I found for upgrading to geotagging, I’ve got to say I’m pretty pleased. The basic support built into OS X is pretty cool which means the polished features in iPhoto will be outstanding. I can’t wait to play with it.

The Dashboard has been a staple of OS X since 10.4 Tiger was released. It’s concept — that you can have different widgets that do different things — has been repeated all over the internet and now in Windows Vista. With the influx of Web 2.0 website offering basically the same functionality, the Dashboard has become outdated and, dare I say, useless. I can’t remember the last time I actually opened the Dashboard willingly — the occasional accidental F12 key strike does the trick — nor actually used a widget. 10.5 Leopard brought a new feature to the Dashboard, the ability to create your own widgets from any website you wanted using a button on Safari. I can safely say, I’ve never used this feature. It’s a good idea, but again, basically useless.

The problem is not the concept, that in and of itself is okay, the problem is usage. It’s a screen that runs in the background and, when pulled up, is ready to go. The problem here is that it sucks up memory causing the entire system to slow. The other problem — and here’s the kicker — is that why would I launch the Dashboard to see what time it is, look at my calendar, check a contact’s email address or see what the weather is when I can simply do that without launching the Dashboard. So maybe part of the problem is the concept after all.

So here’s what I propose: Apple cancel the Dashboard. 10.6 Snow Leopard is set to debut sometime next year and is not actually offering any new features, but rather a promise to slim down the operating system and make it run much more efficiently. Could there be a more perfect time to get rid of something that causes bloat and inefficiency? While people will miss MacWorld, and probably Christmas too, I’m not sure if I know many people who would miss the Dashboard.

Fast forward to today when Apple decides to call in the media for another announcement. Speculation again rose in the last few days as just what was going to be announced. Talk has been made about a “true” video iPod with a touch screen. Talk has also been made that to go with this new iPod would be the addition of the iTunes Movie Store where feature length films would be available. Or perhaps even a Windows Media Center replacement.

Today’s announcement didn’t even come close.

Job’s unvailed two new products, the Intel Core Duo based Mac Mini and a GIANT speaker box for your iPod. The Mac Mini is no big suprise as Jobs said that by the end of the year the entire Apple product line will sport Core Duo chips. This speaker set, called the iPod Hi-Fi, looks more like an oversized block of plastic and nothing like the “clean, compact design” it boasts. Intial reports say that while it offers a 6 D cell battery power option, it is in no way portable do to the size and weight. Apple is known for their sleak design and craming really great technology into small spaces, but this thing is just the complete oposite. Granted I haven’t heard the quality of the speakers, but I don’t think it matters. I’d rather save the $349 and purchase a cable to hook my iPod up to my current surround sound receiver.

While today was a let down, I guess there is still hope. April 1st is Apple’s 30th birthday. Perhaps the video iPod will be announced then — and hopefully it won’t be some sick April Fool’s joke.