Silicon Flatirons hosted Fred von Lohmann, a senior attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation who gave an outstanding presentation on Digital Copyrights specifically the 1998 Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act. I have to admit that being in the User Generated Content business I should have known more about these “Safe Harbors” adopted in 1998 that protect internet service providers like JobSiteVisitor.com. The law protects service providers on the Internet from the liability that may be caused by the activities of its users.  Basically it protects us from the bad behaviors of some of our users. I also enjoyed Fred’s optimistic outlook on copyright law and how the law has left the door open for the disruptive innovation that we all love.

Stat-ups should keep in mind that copyright protection is very important to both the corporations we establish and the officers who run them because you can’t hide behind your “corporate veil” in a Copyright lawsuit (good to know). This protection doesn’t mean you’re not going to get sued however if you’re running a legitimate business and playing by the rules you should have lots of protection with these safe harbors. However if you think your stepping on some copyrights it’s best to get a good copyright lawyer on board early. Investors don’t want to buy a lawsuit they want to buy a company. (more…)

Wow, this software is unbelievable and so easy to use. I’m using the free trial version but will definitely be purchasing the real version, probably after I finish writing this. Anyway if you’re looking to impress a client or just want turn average pictures into extraordinary you need this software. I should first thank a former TA from CU for turning me onto a local Denver photographer named Alex Benison’s , who does amazing things with the camera. You’ll notice that Alex mentions 5exp and HDR in his descriptions. I admit I didn’t know what he was talking about so yes I “Googled it” and found HDR Soft – a company from France that helps you do amazing things with photos and Tone Mapping.

Check out their How-to-Video.

Download the Trial Version for Free

Grab your tripod and go shoot some bracketed photos – Over Exposed, Under Exposed and one with the correct exposure.
Load them into the Photomatix Pro – HDR generator and enjoy.
Here’s what I ended up with on my first try.

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ACTi ACM-123

I recently found this affordable Exterior Webcam from ACTi. It’s a great way for projects to track progress without breaking the bank. I selected this camera because of it’s good image quality 1280×720. You wouldn’t want to use this image for the front cover of a magazine but its good enough for project updates and progress tracking.  Anyway, many of the cameras in this price range had smaller images sizes. The other selling point for me was it’s weatherproof rating of IP66.  If you’re like me you may be wonder what IP66 means. Basically it means that No Dust and No Water can penetrate the camera. For more interesting information on IP ratings check out Yahoo Answers. Here in Colorado this spring has been one of the rainiest in years and the camera has preformed like a champ. The camera is also rated to withstand temperatures down to -4 degree Fahrenheit which will be tested later this winter. The camera can be powered over ethernet (PoE), note that an additional power injector may be needed depending on your network. I ended up mounting the camera to the jobsite trailer and plugging it in to a 120V outlet and then ran ethernet to the camera. The only drawback with this camera is that it doesn’t have a pan/tilt function but for capturing time-lapse progress from a stationary point it works very well. The ACTi software that controls the camera are not bad, however it could have a more friendly interface, like most technical things. Their tech support is good if you have questions. For easy installation I suggest mounting it to a job site trailer making it easy to provide power and data to the camera. Keep it simple. (more…)

Earlier today at The Boulder Open Coffee Club Matt Galligan, briefly mentioned Wi-Fi camera cards, like the one’s Eye-Fi has developed. These are not your normal camera card, these things are “Tricked-out” to make your life even easier. Rather than me trying to explain how the card works check out The New York Times article about Eye-Fi. Basically these cards act as a portal that transfers your photos when your camera is around a wireless internet connection. They have about 25 different photo sharing sites that work with these Wi-Fi cards, if you’re wondering, JobSiteVisitor.com is not on their list… yet!

Anyway, the technology amazing and I can’t wait to get my hands on one. I’m excited about the Geo-Tagging possibilities and future that these cards will bring to documenting construction projects. When it comes to taking construction progress photos it’s all about Location, Location, Location.