Create a Home Inventory

Creating a home inventory and storing it in a safe place will make it easier to work with the insurance company at a time of loss.

 

A home inventory can make dealing with an insurance company much easier. And your camera phone is a convenient way to create and store this inventory. With a little preparation, you can canvass your entire residence in just an hour or so.

 

You'll need a stack of 3" 5" cards and a bold-tip felt marker. Carry out your inventory one room at a time. Daytime hours are best, because you'll have enough ambient light to record the objects without using flash. Many camera phones don't have flash, and for this job, it's just as well. Photographing shiny objects with a flash is difficult at best; it's hard to record detail in the lighter tones. Ambient light is less contra sty, which makes it better for this project.

 

Start with your first item and write the following information on a 3" 5" card:

 

· Name of object

· Serial number

· Date purchased

· Purchase price

Make your letters big and bold, as shown in Figure. Put the card next to the item and snap a picture.

                          

                        A sample item in a home inventory

When you finish one room, move on to the next until you've completed the entire house.

Then, upload your images to the computer. You might want to give each image a filename that makes sense, such as bedroom_tv.jpg, bedroom_vase.jpg, bedroom_lamp.jpg, and so on.

 

A handy way to organize these images is to actually build a web photo gallery and burn it to three CDs: one to keep at home for reference, one for easy-access backup at your office, and a final copy in a safe-deposit box or another secure location.

 

When you need to refer to the cat log, simply load the CD into your computer, double click index.html, and a thumbnail cat log of your entire home inventory will appear in your web browser. You can click on any of the thumbnails to enlarge the image and read the details you wrote on the 3" 5" card.

1. Schedule time in your calendar. Block off 20 minutes at least once a week to get started.

 

2. Gather a home inventory “Tool Kit.” Grab a canvas tote bag or basket and add the items listed on the right.

 

3. Install Collectively Home Inventory (CHI) software onto your computer. Once it’s installed, type in the name of the owner of the inventory, and choose your currency. Finally, add any of these rooms or areas that apply to you and your home:

 

4. You do not have to inventory everything you own down to the last paperclip. The following will offer tips on what to focus on and where you can gloss over some things.

 

5.Although this is not the time to organize your belongings, as you come across items to donate, toss them in a bag to give to charity.

 

6. Since you’ll most likely have to move plugged-in items to get a shot of their serial/model numbers, this is the perfect time to label the cords so you know what belongs to what.

 

7. As you go make notes in your spiral notebook of identifying features, things you remember about the item, and so on. These notes will be

keyed into your inventory when you upload the picture.

 

8.This is not the time to do a professional cleaning. However, while you are behind objects it might make sense to dust off the back of items or use the hand-vac to gobble up any dust bunnies

 

Source: O'Reilley |Portfolio Website|Online Portfolio

 

Communicate in a Foreign Country

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if you don't speak the language.

 

A while back I ran a photo-tips contest via my weblog on the O'Reilly Network (

http://www.oreillynet.com), and one of the winning entries caught my eye as a creative hack for this book.

 

The entrant, Phil Calvert, submitted this tip:

 

While travelling in Japan, I found a novel use for a digital camera. Most of the restaurants there have lifelike plastic displays of the food they serve. Since I couldn't speak Japanese, I just took a picture of what I wanted to eat and showed it to the waiter. He thought it was very funny, but I did get what I ordered.

Phil got me thinking. While travelling in a country where you don't speak or read the language, or at least not very well, why not use your camera phone for a variety of communication needs? You could even store a few standard icons in your phone's memory for when the

occasion arises. For example, a picture of a taxicab, as shown in Figure , could be quite useful when you'd like the restaurant's maitre d' to call for one to get you back to your hotel.   

                              

                                 A handy photo of a taxi

Perhaps you could add a shot of money to ask "How much?" or an image of a plane to

communicate airport, and don't forget a picture of your hotel, just in case you forget how to find it after a day's touring. The possibilities are endless. The main thing to remember is that pointing to a picture on your phone is much easier than fumbling with a language you don't know at all

1· Use body language: Pointing, gesturing and pantomiming will all help you get your point across.

·  2Carry around a pad of paper on which you can write figures and draw pictures.

 

·  3Hand your pen and paper to the person across the counter when you don't understand how much something costs; most people will get the idea and write down the number.

 

·  4Go to travel stores and look for books or laminated cards with pictures of items related to food, lodging, transportation and entertainment; these are especially useful in restaurants and hotels.

·  5Be aware that many English words and name brands are understood almost universally: American, taxi, sexy, Coca-Cola, OK. String these together creatively and you'll be surprised how much you can accomplish.

 

·  6Let pictures tell the story. Take photos of your home, your family or whatever else is important to you to share with people you meet on the road.

Source: O'Reilley | Portfolio Website| Online Portfolio

 

Send a Paper Text Message

Who says that technology has taken the personality out of our communication? Use your camera phone to send messages in your own handwriting.

 

Regular text messaging with Short Messaging Service (SMS) lacks an element of personality. ASCII letters just don't possess the individual flair that handwritten notes convey. That personality was certainly part of the charm of passing notes in class as a child, in addition to the element of risk.

 

Today's camera phones don't pose much risk, but they can help you recapture the charm of handwritten notes. Say you're waiting for a plane in an airport and want to let your girlfriend know that you're thinking about her. You could send the following SMS text message: "Wish you were in the next seat! Miss you..." She would certainly appreciate that.

 But if you used the camera phone to take a picture of a handwritten note, as shown in Figure , you'd put a big smile on her face

 

  A picture note in your own handwriting

 

The technique is quite easy. First, use your camera phone to take a picture of the

handwritten note. Most camera phones give you the option of saving or sending right there on the spot. Find and click the Send button. You'll be prompted to address and, optionally,

 

provide a subject for your note, as shown in Figure . Enter the destination phone number

or select your friend from your contacts, hit the Send button, and your "handwritten" note is on its way.

                                     

                               Sending the MMS  picture  note

Once you start thinking about the possibilities of paper text messaging, you might even go so far as to keep a little pad of Post-it notes in your briefcase just for this purpose.

 

Source: O'Reilley | Portfolio Website | Online Portfolio