Transit — Avoid Crowds with New Real-Time Info

One of my absolute favorite apps and top ten must-have apps just got a great new update to help you identify if the transit route (bus, train, etc.) is crowded. For those who must venture out during this lockdown, help preserve your health and others’ with as much information as you can have. Knowledge is power.

Image courtesy of Transit

“Amidst the chaos, transit continues to provide an essential lifeline to riders who need to get around. Nurses, doctors, your grocery store clerk. We want to make it easier for them — and you — to avoid crowds when taking public transit. We’re now publishing crowding data from transit agencies, and have started asking more agencies to contribute this info.”

— Transit

They have some impressive information using the real-time data provided by transit authorities throughout the world. Check out their article and read more about how Transit is helping people travel safely.

Transit on Medium

Download Transit (highly recommended)

Top 5 Pieces of Gear Every Photographer Must Have

Sorry, I got you to click. It is a clickbait title but bear with me for a moment.  

I read a lot of technology articles and a lot of them are about photography or cinematic gear. I’m the first to admit I LOVE new gadgets and gear but I also am very pragmatic about what is needed versus what is wanted. I will spend good money for good gear but I'm also a huge fan of doing a lot with less.

A lot of articles about photo gear are all “you need this to be a photographer” or whatever... blah, blah, blah.

So here is my list:

1. Camera
2. Lens
3. Memory card or film
4. Tripod  
5. Lens cleaner

That’s it. Don’t be duped by people telling you that your camera is not good enough or your lens is bad or whatever. Go out and shoot. If you said, "Adrian, I have $500 and want to be a photographer," I'd say, "you can get everything above."

1. Nikon D3100 — $239
2. Nikon 35mm f1.8g DX— $166
3. Sandisk 16GB SD Card — $11
4. Polaroid 42" Travel Tripod — $17
5. Zeiss Lens Cleaner Kit — $30

A grand total of $463. It may not be superlative gear but you’ll be photographing. And that’s more than can be said about a lot of gear reviewing and blogging clowns. Check out a few examples of photographs taken with the Nikon D3100 and Nikon 35mm DX lens.

Adrian's Life Rule #56: Go out and shoot.

Messages in iCloud

With the release iOS 11.4, a new feature that was promised for iOS 11 is now available. Many times we have messages on multiple devices: iPad, iPhone, Mac, etc. When we read them on one everything is fine but deleting messages between those devices was a bit of a challenge. This new feature will sync messages across all iOS devices logged into the same iCloud account. The good news, too, is as one gets new devices, messages will appear as you left them on the previous device.

If you have not an install iOS 11.4, I highly recommend it. If anything for this feature but also for the many minor fine-tunings that come along with any iOS update.