Mel Martin

Now doing consulting and recently wrote a book on film producer Samuel Bronston who made El Cid and Fall of the Roman Empire. I also did the commentary on Fall of the Roman Empire with Bill Bronston, the son of the late producer. I'm an amateur astronomer, and take lots of high resolution photos of galaxies and nebula from my backyard observatory in Arizona.

Mel Martin's Latest Posts

MacBook Air supply dwindling as WWDC approaches

by Mel Martin (May 17th 2013 4:30PM)

It's clearly not the best time to be looking for a MacBook Air -- 13-inch versions are in especially short supply. The reason for the shortage will be obvious to those who follow Apple closely: it's almost time for the Apple World Wide Developer Conference starting June 10, and Apple is likely ...

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iPhone cameras are everywhere at one of America's best scenic spots

by Mel Martin (May 16th 2013 12:00PM)

My last visit to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah was in pre-iPhone days. My, how things have changed. I went to Bryce on a landscape shoot this week with my usual semi-pro equipment: Canon 5D, Manfrotto tripod and the usual gaggle of batteries, timers and other esoterica. I was especially ...

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Google Drive triples free storage to 15 GB

by Mel Martin (May 13th 2013 5:30PM)

We were just talking about how Amazon is competing with Apple and other cloud services by offering 5 GB of storage for free. Now, that turns out to be old news, because today Google announced that free storage spanning several Google services like Gmail, Google+ and Google Drive is now going to ...

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Amazon releases Amazon Cloud Drive Photos to compete with Apple Photo Stream

by Mel Martin (May 10th 2013 11:40PM)

Amazon today released a new app called Cloud Drive Photos. The free app allows you to upload all your iPhone or iPod touch photos to the cloud. The images can be accessed from your iOS device, from your Mac, or from any web browser. You can also upload photos from a laptop or desktop computer with ...

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Daily iPhone app: The Visible City celebrates Vancouver's neon past

by Mel Martin (May 10th 2013 9:00AM)

In 1953, Vancouver was aglow with nearly 19,000 neon lights. Today, only a few dozen of those historic signs remain. Those interested in the city's glowing, buzzing past should check out The Visible City, an iPhone app from the Museum of Vancouver. This free app offers informative, colorful ...

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Apple requests Android source code in Samsung lawsuit

by Mel Martin (May 8th 2013 2:00PM)

That's the word from Bloomberg News today. Apple has asked a US magistrate judge to force Google to turn over the Android source code. It's part of Apple's case against Samsung, and Apple continues to believe its intellectual property has been stolen. Not surprisingly, Google, who owns the ...

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Daily iPhone App: View Seeker Location Scout: a handy tool for iPhone photographers

by Mel Martin (May 7th 2013 9:00PM)

View Seeker Location Scout is a handy US$0.99 photo app that can help you find the best locations for landscape photography. You can get all the best locations around you with a click, which the app does by sourcing images from Panoramio and Flickr. Once you find a spot you like it appears on a ...

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Air Microphone turns your iPhone into a wireless PA system

by Mel Martin (May 6th 2013 5:00PM)

Air Microphone is a US$0.99 app that uses AirPlay to connect your iPhone to an Apple TV or AirPlay-equipped amplifier to give you a wireless microphone. The app is not hard to use. After launch, go to the multitasking bar on the iPhone and select any AirPlay device and start talking. In my tests, ...

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Daily iPad App: Gradients is a free iOS photo editor that is worth a look

by Mel Martin (May 2nd 2013 4:00PM)

I'm always on the lookout for free photo apps that do a good job, and Gradients for the iPad or iPhone (free, universal) fits the bill. The app lets you add gradients to existing photos with almost infinite variations and control. I often create gradients in Photoshop, especially to tone down the ...

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Magellan linking GPS hardware to smartphones with SmartGPS

by Mel Martin (May 2nd 2013 8:00AM)

Magellan has announced the nationwide availability of its new SmartGPS device. The hardware GPS for cars mates with an iPhone or Android app to provide the in-car solution with several advantages, including content from Yelp and Foursquare that's based on the user location and planned route. Live ...

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