Here’s what the card looks like:

To give you a little perspective on its size, let’s compare it to something. Here it is next to a 2 GB microSD card:

Okay, maybe I should compare it to something else. Here it is on a DVD:

That little card holds the same amount of data as 23 CDs, and it cost less than $50. Pretty cool.

And if you’re wondering what the original video quality looks like from the camera, here’s a segment of the original recording that hasn’t been recompressed.

The video was taken with my ContourHD using the handlebar mount. It’s an interesting angle, but the mount doesn’t hold the camera as tightly as I would hope so there is quite a bit of vibration between the camera and the mount, even though the mount itself doesn’t move at all relative to the bike. On an earlier weekend I tried recording with the goggle mount connected to my helmet strap, but that was a bit of a hack and I look around a lot. I have ordered the vented helmet mount though to see if I want to utilize that while biking (for reduced noise) or skiing. Here’s a picture of the camera and mount:

I didn’t use the rubber bands for this video, but I’ve found that they do help to reduce vibration a bit.

Here’s the route I recorded with My Tracks:

View 2-14-2010 in a larger map

It would be really convenient if there was a standard way to record GPS data over time in a video, like how location data is stored in EXIF for photos. There’s at least one video camera coming out that records location data, so we’ll see how they implement things and what video software starts to support doing interesting things with video and location.

Now that I think about it, it’s also disappointing that location awareness isn’t built in to all still cameras yet. Here’s one way we could approach the problem:

Installing a GPS receiver in every camera may not be practical, especially since GPS doesn’t always work, such as indoors. There are other ways to get location data, but adding WiFi and cellular radios is just going to increase costs even more and may even require subscription fees. What you can do is assume that anyone who has a camera also has a phone, and that the phone has some sort of idea about where it is. You can then pair the camera with the phone (via Bluetooth or WiFi; whichever is easier/cheaper), and then with every picture the camera will ask the phone for its location and store it right within the EXIF data for the image. It may not always have a GPS fix, but location data of some accuracy would be recorded with each photo, which would save the photographer from manual location tagging later.

I’m afraid to search and see if someone else has already complained about this.

One tip I’d like to add is that for the Magic Mouse, it may at first feel uncomfortable if you are used to a higher mouse. Make sure you lay your hand flat, and it should feel a lot more natural.

And if you were curious about my keyboard, I type on an original Das Keyboard, which has no markings on the keys.

While I was having fun recording stuff, I also grabbed a quick video of what the new YouTube uploader looks like in case you haven’t seen it. As your video is uploading, YouTube starts crunching on it right away and shows you the processing progress via a “flipbook” of thumbnails. Pretty neat, and I’m amazed at how quickly YouTube is able to process the videos even as 20 hours are uploaded every minute.

* I accidentally referred to the Apple mouse as a “Mighty Mouse.” Whoops.

Obviously it makes sense for me to go digital. The Kindle looks very appealing. It has a long battery life, a display that’s not just another LCD screen for me to stare at, and it has a broad selection of books. But, as far as I know, if I buy a book on the Kindle, I cannot transfer it to another non-Kindle device. So if I have a library of Kindle books and then one day decide I’d like to use a book reader from Sony or buy a nook, I’m out of luck, right?

I’m looking for DRM-free ebooks, not free ebooks. Consider music, for example. If I buy music from iTunes, I can play it on my Mac or iPhone, but I can also play it on my Nexus One without having to sign in to my iTunes account or anything silly like that. This wasn’t always the case (Apple used to sell DRM’d music), but I just tested one of their DRM-free AAC files and I can assure you that it works on my Nexus One. And then of course there is the Amazon MP3 store which I have warmed up to recently. They also sell DRM-free music in a standard format. I think this is very reasonable. I still pay for the music, but once I have it, I can play it on any device I want.

So, my questions for anyone who is reading this:

1. Am I wrong about the Kindle? (And no, “They have an app for X device” is not what I’m looking for.)
2. Is there an existing store with a significant number of titles from major publishers that sells DRM-free books in a standard format? If so, which is it?

Please leave any advice in the comments section below. I noticed that iBooks on the iPad will be in the ePub format. This is a good sign, but I haven’t found any clear answers on whether or not these files will have DRM. If anyone can find a confirmation either way, please let me know along with a link to your source. Thanks!

Looks cool; I can definitely see myself using it to surf the web on my couch. But I really don’t understand having to pay an extra $130 just so I have the option to add 3G service later.

Today, I’m trying an experiment with the Nexus One. I hope it works.

At 9:15 AM (California time) I’m broadcasting live at qik.com/wysz (with location tracking!) using the Qik Android app while driving to work using Google Maps Navigation. I might also switch over to USTREAM to see how that works, so if I’m not broadcasting on one service, check the other. Some things that this will test:

T-Mobile’s 3G network

It will be interesting to see if the broadcast continues live for the entire commute. I think the Qik application will buffer and upload saved video if I lose the connection, creating a complete archive video, so I’ll have to rely on my live viewers to leave comments below letting me know if the live feed cut out at any point.

Multi-tasking

The Nexus One will be doing all of these things at the same time:

• Broadcasting live geocoded video using Qik or USTREAM
• Playing an MP3
• Providing turn-by-turn GPS navigation
• Running several background processes such as Swift (Twitter), Google Voice, and Gmail

Camera

Although the resolution and quality will be limited by the broadcasting applications, I’m hoping that the nice camera on the Nexus One is able to provide a clear image of the commute.

If you watched, let me know how it went in the comments.

1. Backup
You know that backups are important. Without backups, family photos, music libraries, and critical documents are one step away from being lost forever. And you may be the one who is called to try and save them. Save everyone a headache by making sure that your family’s data is safe. The easiest thing to to if you are only backing up one or two computers is to gift a subscription service such as Mozy or Carbonite. That way they have an automatic, offsite backup wherever their computers have an Internet connection. If your family uses several computers, those subscription fees can add up pretty quickly, so something like a Time Capsule is probably a better idea, and there’s a pretty good chance your local Apple Store is open on Christmas Eve (and there’s at least one open on Christmas.) Or if you still want an offsite solution, see if a Pogoplug works for you. Just make sure you set up something that backs up automatically.

2. Photo scanning
If your family has a box of negatives or slides sitting in an attic, a gift certificate (or box if you have time) to ScanCafe could be a great gift. Not only does having photos scanned provide a backup, it also means that with a digital copy, sharing and printing old photos becomes incredibly simple. For example, most of my parents’ wedding photos were never printed, probably because getting prints of all of the photos wasn’t affordable at the time. Once I finish getting them scanned, however, ordering a book of full-page photos using the services available today is something that will be very easy.

*Other ways you can help out over the holidays*
There was recently a post on the Google Blog describing something that many of us are familiar with: coming home for the holidays and providing technical support. That post mostly focused on making sure your family is running a modern browser, so I decided to add my take on some tasks you may wish to perform while you’re visiting family.

Internet access
Your family may know how to keep their OS and browser up to date, but what about router firmware? Make sure that’s current.

I also like to do a walk around the house while streaming live video (such as TWiT Live) and make sure that every room has a good wireless signal with sufficient bandwidth.

Finally, if your family has had the same ISP for a while, take a look and see if there’s room for improvement. Is the cable modem that came in a box with Excite@Home branding not serving up the full bandwidth that your family is paying for? Might be time to buy or lease a new model. And alternative providers such as FiOS may not have been available in your area last time you checked, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t now.

Contact management
There are a couple of things you can do to help manage a family member’s list of contacts: sync and de-dupe. Think about all the places your family member may access their contacts: desktop email client, web interface, and phone are pretty common. If you use a cloud-based service such as Gmail, keeping everything in sync is actually pretty easy. Check out instructions for syncing with your iPhone or Mac.

And when you have everything in sync, watch out for those duplicates that can quickly appear. I meant to do this while I was home for Thanksgiving, but I’m glad I put it off, because since then, an awesome new feature has been released which makes it super easy to consolidate a duplicate-riddled list of contacts. Procrastination pays.

OS updates
Both Snow Leopard and Windows 7 have been released since last Christmas. Do those major upgrades if necessary, but at least do the incremental updates that are available online (and train your family to respond to your OS’s automatic upgrade checks.)

Prepare for future support
One of the reasons that I don’t have a huge tech to-do list when I get home is that my family is pretty tech-savvy. But another reason is that I check in with them often via video chat, where I can easily take a look at their screens (and control their computers) from across the country. If you get your family set up with a VNC solution, you can cut down on trying to interpret what they mean by “the Internet disappeared” and save yourself from giving instructions like “Click on the… oh, man how do I describe the Chrome icon?” I personally use iChat with my family since it’s free and easy, but if you’re on Windows you might want to look into something like GoToMyPC or GoToAssist, which I’ve never actually used myself.

Have fun
If all you show your family is how to manage backups and stay updated, technology can seem pretty dull. Think of some cool things you can show off to your family, and they might be happy to have you take some time to explain what cool new stuff is available. Show off your smartphone if you have one. Maybe someone has never seen their house (or their childhood home) on Street View. Does your local newspaper or TV station have a website with an RSS feed? Introduce someone to a feed reader. Are they interested in a particular field of study? A university may have free lectures available on YouTube. Still paying for directory assistance? GOOG-411. Have a Kindle? Show that off. Anytime you reach for a gadget, consider giving a tour.

Did I miss a good gift or tech support suggestion? Add more in the comments.

That means:

• No searching for envelopes
• No searching for a pen
• No deposit slips
• No math
• You get the geeky joy out of experiencing the wonder of OCR while getting money.

If you’re in my area want to try one out, the Chase at El Camino & Castro Street in Mountain View has the updated ATMs.