metadata

How to use optional list-sorting methods in the OS X Finder

When you view a Finder folder in both standard lists and the Cover Flow view in OS X, you have the option to sort the list by any of the view's columns.

By default, these are the item's Name, Date Modified, Size, and Kind (for example folder, picture, PDF) which you can click to sort in either an ascending or descending list. However, there are some additional ways to locate the files you need.

Add more columns In addition to the default column categories, OS X includes a number of others that can be enabled on a per-folder … Read more

The 404 1,250: Where we bet our bottom dollar (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Former 404 guest and Internet Archivist releases Web's largest collection of historical software.

- Judge holds himself in contempt for cell phone going off in court.

- NY Philharmonic phone disruption: A cell-phone etiquette reminder.

- Here's a 90-year-old granny freaking out over Oculus Rift.… Read more

Facebook beefs up its entertainment pages

Facebook is beefing up its interest pages, giving the social network a better way to surface recommendations and offering advertisers a better way to target users.

The company today announced its partnership with Rovi Corp., a metadata company that will fill out the social network's already existing entertainment interest pages -- those pages you "like" if you are a fan -- and create new ones.

Metadata is a set of data that describes other data, allowing companies to easily organize or search the data. Facebook will make some of this data available to its third-party developers, which … Read more

Google updates image search to be faster, more reliable

Google announced today that it is revamping its image search to make it speedier and more reliable. Soon, people will be able to simultaneously see images and image information while searching for photos, illustrations, and graphics.

"Based on feedback from both users and webmasters, we redesigned Google Images to provide a better search experience," Google Images Associate Product Manager Hongyi Li wrote in a blog post today. "In the next few days, you'll see image results displayed in an inline panel so it's faster, more beautiful, and more reliable."

When users look up images … Read more

Apple patent application explores using social networks for automatic metadata

Apple has filed a patent application that describes a method for obtaining and adding metadata to files automatically using the Internet and various social networks.

The process, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (discovered by AppleInsider), shows Apple's continued interest in creating connections with social networks by inventing a way for users to automatically update their files using data obtained online.

Apple's method, titled "Automatic Discovery of Metadata," seeks to solve an issue that many of us do not likely even know we have. Metadata on files already includes common entries such as … Read more

Create word clouds with Wordle

Wordle is a simple Web app that's useful for creating eye-popping "word clouds" just by inputting text.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but with Wordle, a thousand words is worth a word cloud. (Try saying that out loud a thousand times.)

Wordle lets you create custom word clouds like the ones found on blogs and other Internet content sites. A word cloud is a popular visualization of words typically associated with Internet keywords and text data. They are most commonly used to highlight popular or trending terms based on frequency of use and prominence.

In … Read more

Spotlight slow and not showing search results

While Apple's Spotlight search function is a useful tool, sometimes it may fail to show you items that do contain the search terms you're using. At other times Spotlight may take a while to show you search results, or even bog down your system while it is organizing results. When these problems arise there are a few things you can do to correct them.

In the case of expected results not showing up, try checking your Spotlight preferences to see if you have any folders in Spotlight's privacy list. If so, remove them and wait for Spotlight … Read more

Photosmith: Useful iPad companion for Lightroom

Some of us with a bunch of photos on an iPad would rather add keywords and captions than slap on yet another sepia-tone art filter. Enter C Squared Enterprises' Photosmith.

This $17.99 app, released today, is a companion to Adobe Systems' Lightroom software for editing and cataloging photos. I've been trying beta versions, and I think the app could be a useful addition for some photographers--especially if the software and the iPad's abilities continue to grow beyond today's limitations.

Photosmith can't match what Lightroom proper can do, of course--the iPad's memory, keyboard, and processor … Read more

Researcher: Photos from your gadget can leak your location

NEW YORK--Be warned: If you take a snapshot with your iPhone or other camera-enabled gadget, it may divulge more information about you than your photographic abilities.

At the Next HOPE hacker conference here on Friday, a security researcher demonstrated how he scanned over 2.5 million photo links posted to Twitter and extracted exact latitude and longitude coordinates embedded in over 65,000 photos -- typically without the user's knowledge.

"It's a privacy fail," says Ben Jackson of Mayhemic Labs, who plans to release the software and data collection this evening.

It works this way: the … Read more

Adobe releases Lightroom 2.7--but what's next?

Adobe Systems released Lightroom 2.7 on Tuesday night for Windows and Mac, adding support for raw images from an expected range of newer cameras: Canon's Rebel T2i, Sony's Alpha A450, Panasonic's Lumix DMC-G2 and G10, Olympus' E-PL1, and some medium-format models from Leaf and Mamiya.

The company's standard procedure has been to issue minor updates to let the photo-editing and cataloging software handle the proprietary raw image formats from higher-end cameras. Lightroom 2.7 and the corresponding version 5.7 plug-in for Photoshop CS4 users are available at Adobe's download site, and the DNG … Read more