Tag Archives: Apple

Photos: Title, caption, keyword

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Just finished adding captions to the 2,490 photos and 33 videos in the Photos app on my MacBook. I’ve been diligent when it comes to giving a title to each photo and have waxed and waned with keywords. But not so good about captions because I really didn’t understand their function in the Photos app.

In the MacOS Photos app there are three primary pieces of information. The title appears in the Photos app, but not on the iPhone. I used to go a little crazy with Keywords but started over with this update. Since I have every photo in at least one Album, Keywords are not as important. I’m still thinking about how I’ll use them.

The Caption (the red rectangle above) is probably the most useful metadata and what I omitted on most of my photos. I think of captions like those descriptions people used to write on the back of a photo or in the margin. “Uncle Ernie and Aunt Betty at the State Fair in Des Moines on their honeymoon in 1937.” Captions can be as long or as short as needed with each word or phrase searchable. Where there is a corresponding post here, I include a link in the photo caption.

When I tell friends what I’m doing most are quick to point out that the Photos app has enough intelligence to find all “trees” or “flowers” or “pickup trucks.” What they’re really telling you there is no way in hell they’re going to put captions on thousands of photos. And I don’t blame them. If you save every photo and are willing to endlessly scroll/search when you want to find one… okeydoke.

I am much more intentional with my photos. Having half a dozen nearly-identical photos is just clutter because someone was too lazy to select the best and delete the rest. Keeping a poorly composed or blurry photo makes no sense to me. Just delete it. Which is easy to do… unless you wait until there are hundreds (or thousands) and the task becomes too daunting.

Who, you might ask, is ever going to look at those photos 50 years from now? Or read these blog posts in the unlikely event it’s still here? My answer: ChatGPT or one of her decedent’s. For the same reason archeologists sift the ashes of Pompeii.

Zap Car

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(Wikipedia) “ZAP was an American company that specialized in electric vehicles of various types, such as cars, motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, watercraft, hovercraft, ATVs and commercial vehicles. Its name was an acronym for Zero Air Pollution. It was based in Santa Rosa, California, but it is no longer active.”

I spotted this beauty on the floor of MacWorld in 2008.

Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT

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Like most iPhone users, I’ve never found Siri a particularly useful tool. I’ll use it to send a message or create a reminder or set a timer, but most tasks are too much for it. Enter ChatGPT, which can handle almost any task.

Using Siri in conjunction with ChatGPT seems to be the best of both worlds: smooth integration with the Apple operating systems, and all of the power of ChatGPT. This video provides some excellent examples.

1. Summarize and Get Info From PDF Documents
2. Summarize and Ask Questions In Numbers
3. Ask About Photos
4. Summarize Whole Email Conversations
5. Ask About Locations In Maps
6. Combine Image Playground and Copy Subject
7. Fact-Check Documents and Presentations
8. Create Sample Data
9. Figure Out What You Forgot
10. Help Answering Questions in Email and Messages

Image Playground

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Apple has issued updates to the iPhone (18.2) and the MacOS (15.2). It’s going to take me six months to explore all of the new features but the Image Playground app seemed like a good place to start. This video provides a good introduction. The app enables non-artists (like me) to create images. You can just describe an image and then tweak until you get what you saw in your head… or you can upload a photo and let the app use that as a starting point. Watch the video above if you’re curious. Below are some early efforts: Steve, David Brazeal, couple of Golden Retrievers, John Robison and Allen Hammock.

Journal: “Capturing Life’s Moments”

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When Apple introduced the Journal app in December, 2023, I played with it for a day or so and decided it didn’t do anything I couldn’t do with this blog. But around the time I got a new iPhone the app showed up again and I decided to give it another go. The video above is a brief (8 min?) look at how I’ve been using the app.

I’m comfortable posting personal stuff here but there’s a lot of things I find interesting but nobody else would care about. I’ve been putting some of that in the Journal app. I’m finding it a much more personal experience.