Tip: Using The PDA Camera To Transmit Information

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Originally published on 20 November 2006 as “Monday Methodology: Using the Camera To Take Notes”.

I’m lucky in that my PDA model has a built in camera. It’s been nice when I’ve wanted to take a quick picture of my family, but there are two times when it has come in handy beyond that.

#1: Last summer we were in the market for some patio furniture. Such a large purchase would not be made solo, but as I was out running errands, I found a set I really liked. Rather than dragging the whole family out to see it, I took pictures (including one of the price tag) of the furniture, which I was then able to bring home to share with my family.

#2: We moved offices this past weekend. Our white boards got left behind, including the one that contained the release schedule for the software. Rather than write it down and risking the paper getting lost, I took pictures of the white board. I was then able to email the picture to my team.

Update December 2007:
In the past two months I have also used my PDA camera to document street flooding (which was emailed to our city), and the “construction” in our front yard as they laid fiber optic cable. The first instance got us quicker response from the city crew checking storm sewers and the second got us off the hook when our cable went inexplicably dead and we were accused of having cut the cables ourselves.