Marc – Page 35 – Lost in Logic

Get Android photos into iCloud Photostream via Dropbox

November 5, 2012 Marc

If like me you have an Android phone but also have an iPad, then you might find that getting photos you take on the phone onto the iPad a chore. Having photos on the iPad means you can take advantage of the beautiful screen and powerful software like iPhoto for which there simply is no alternative for on Android.

Yes you can use the built in Dropbox app, but it’s very clunky and doesn’t let you sort by date. With this solution, photos you take on your Android phone will appear in your iCloud photo stream, which is a far more elegant solution.

What we will do here is essentially make your Dropbox Camera Uploads folder the same folder as your iCloud PhotoStream uploads folder.

Note: I got this working by using my Windows 8 PC with Dropbox installed – it should work fine for Windows 7, and instructions will be different for Mac OS X but it should still be possible. Follow this guide at your own risk!

Step 1: Install Dropbox on your phone

If you haven’t done so already, install Dropbox on your Android device and make sure automatic camera uploads is switched on. This will create a new folder in your Dropbox called ‘Camera Uploads’

Step 2: Install iCloud Control panel on your PC

I already had iTunes installed, so this was a case of running Apple software update and selecting ‘iCloud Control Panel’

Step 3: Remove the iCloud Uploads folder

Open the iCloud control panel and find the location of your photo stream on disk:

Kill the any iCloud.exe and ApplePhotoStream.exe processes from the task manager, and then browse to your photostream folder and delete the ‘Uploads’ folder.

Step 4: Recreate uploads folder

Now the magic happens, open an administrative command prompt and create a junction that will recreate the Uploads folder, only showing the contents of your Dropbox’s ‘Camera Uploads’ folder.

Example:

mklink /J “C:UsersMarcDesktopPhotoStreamUploads” “C:UsersMarcDropboxCamera Uploads”

The first path is where I want the uploads folder to go, and second is where my camera uploads folder in Drobox is. Remember: you haven’t made to copies, if you delete from one, it gets deleted from the other.

Step 5: That’s it…!

Now any photo you take will be uploaded to your PC, from your PC it will be sent to iCloud. and from iCloud it will find its way onto your iOS devices.

Tower Block

September 25, 2012 MarcLeave a comment

I went to see this film on Sunday and it was not what I expected. It’s about a group of tower block residents who are in the process of being rehomed because the tower block is soon to be demolished.

The film starts with a brutal (and I mean brutal) murder of a teenager by 2 other teenagers. From there we start to get to know some of the residents – some are decent people, others intent on intimidation and violence. All of a sudden someone’s head explodes, and from there the residents learn that there is someone outside with a sniper rifle who is intent on seeing them all dead. From there we learn more about the characters, possible motivations of the killer, and their attempts to escape.

Some of the characters seemed a bit stereotyped, and the whole premise is a bit far-fetched. Even so, it was an enjoyable film that had me hooked, and I would definitely recommend it.

Review: Apple Smart Cover for iPad

September 22, 2012 MarcLeave a comment

Despite my earlier post there are times when it's wise to put a case on your tablet. On the beach for example. Suncream and iPads really don't mix, and putting an unprotected device into a bag with suncream WILL end in disaster (I know from experience). So I thought I would try Apple's Smart Case, the version of the smart cover that fully covers the whole device. It's not cheap, but being an Apple product you generally get top quality goods, it can also be engraved at no extra charge.

Upon receiving the case I was mightily disappointed. For a start, it feels very cheap. It's not very sturdy, with the Smart Cover you can stand the iPad up and use it as a picture frame, or just watch a film. The Smart Case apparently supports this, but the iPad seems very precarious when in this position, any sight nudge of the table would send the iPad crashing forward to the floor. The Smart Case also adds an enormous bezel around the screen, making the iPad's screen seem small. It also seems to trap a lot of dust on the screen and doesn't work as a screen wipe when you close and open it as the cover does. Talking of opening it, it's not obvious which side you open it from, and when you have finally worked that out you will need long nails to open the magnetic case.

On the plus side it does protect the iPad well, even the back. However I can't recommend this product for day to day use, and seeing how bad it is, it seems a bit much to she'll out for occasional trips out to places such as the seaside. I'm not sure what happened at Apple, it's certainly not to their usual standards (but it's still at their usual prices). I have now gone back to using a Smart Cover and it's like I have a band new iPad 🙂