Dad's Pixels

Family, Photography And The Web A blog by a photo-loving dad about the art of photography, the deliciousness that is the internet and the adventures of raising kids.

[dadspixels]

As of today this Tumblr blog is taking a sabbatical of sorts. I believe it's time I stepped away from Dad's Pixels for a while and see if later on I get a second wind and possibly bring some life back into this blog. The same fate awaits the other social media channels I've kept around Dad's Pixels. If you're also following me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Instagram don't expect much action going on there anytime soon. I'm not giving up on blogging altogether, though. I do plan to continue writing; now in Spanish, my native language, and of course I could always change my mind and before you knew it I'd be back at it here, giving blogging in English a second try. So that's going to be it for now. So long everybody. It was nice knowing ya.

[dadspixels]

Get out your box of tissues! Tears-a-plenty guaranteed when you watch this beautiful feel-good short film that'll help you put things in perspective.  

[simplyorthodox]

Our World Is In An Ugly Storm… Save Us O Lord…

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With Him our vessel will be fine. @

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Four Kids And One Tablet: A Recipe For Disaster

You guys want a recipe? I got your recipe right here.

[dadspixels]

Latest update to the 'ol blog.

[stephiramona]

[lensblr-network]

Godrays

by Stephi Ramona  (stephiramona.tumblr.com)

[dadspixels]

100% rebloggable.

[dadspixels]

An afternoon at the pool. The girls begged and begged and I, being the easiest-to-convince dad in the world finally caved in and took them for a swim.

[mykidjustsaid]

Is it wrong that I want to try this on my family?

[dadspixels]

You can betcha I'm gonna try this with my kids. (I just hope Wifey doesn't try it with me first, though)

[dadspixels]

Does this even make any sense?

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Evolution.

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Who else feels this way about laundry?

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[dadspixels]

Pretty interesting, don't you think?

[dadspixels]

Google Plus: The best photo-sharing social network none of your friends are on

Yesterday Google Plus announced a few new features for its Photos product which sound really attractive and innovative. Problem is no one is using Google+. And by no one I mean none of your real life friends or relatives, of course. Yes, there's a very active user base who swears by the tech giant's social network. People like Mike Elgan and his posse. But take me for instance. I have 267 friends on Facebook. Guess how many real life folks I'm connected to on G+. About a dozen. Which wouldn't be all that bad if it weren't for the fact that out of those 12 or so people only ONE ever shares anything on G+.

As much as I like Google's social network (not only do I keep a page there for this blog but also a somewhat active personal profile) there's no denying that for the average Joe no matter how many exciting new features you bring to the table, if no one's looking at your photos or updates there's no point in leaving one social network in favor of one hardly anyone you know is using.

The new features

In any case, if you're big on Google Plus, yesterday was probably a big day for you. Google announced a couple of new features involving the photos and videos you automatically backup to their servers (in case you've elected to use that feature available in G+'s mobile apps). First there's Auto Awesome  Movies, which consists of Google putting together a nice short video with some photos and videos highlighting that birthday party or picnic outing you went out on last weekend, with background music and all. This feature is not particularly new. It had been around for some time but available only on certain devices. You would get notified of a new Auto Awesome movie when using your Nexus 7 tablet, for instance; only to later find out said movie was not available on either the web or your smartphone. I guess the news here is that as of now you'll get access to these movies no matter what platform you're on.

On the other hand, the new story here is, well... Stories. That is what Google is calling the collection of photos and videos it puts together for you using, like I said before, the images and videos you automatically back up to Google Plus. The difference seems to lie in whether your video is made from images taken during a one-night event (in which case we'd be talking about an Auto Awesome Movie) or over the span of several days (like a trip to the Bahamas for instance), where Stories come into play.

Bottom Line

I'm glad that now every time I get a notification from G+ telling me I have a new Auto Awesome Movie ready for viewing I'll be able to see it from whatever device I happen to be on at the time, be it my laptop, tablet or smartphone. The problem, once again, is that most likely I'll be the only one doing all the viewing. If only G+ gave you an option to share all of these beautiful photos and awesome videos outside of Google+ with the people you care about and not the friendly online stranger you've got to deal with there. You have no idea how frustrating it's been to have these super cool videos made for you (like when my 2 girls put on a ballet recital for Mother's Day)  to then realize there's no way to share that with your mom.

Unless your mom's on Google+.

Yeah, right.

[dadspixels]

Another reason not to share Tumblr posts on Facebook? I mean, this DOES NOT look good. 

[dadspixels]

Google+ Stories and Movies: memories made easier

These features are all nice and cool but do you use them at all? My issue with these Google+ Stories and Auto Awesome Movies is that it's pretty impossible to share them with your real life friends, whom we all know are not Google+ users. So what's the point? 

[simplyorthodox]

To deny oneself means...

To deny oneself means to give up one’s bad habits; to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad thoughts or desires; to suppress every evil thought; not to desire to do anything out of self love, but to do everything out of love for God.

- St. Innocent of Alaska

[dadspixels]

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