It will allow you to not only attach your smartphone to a tripod but to literally anything that has a standard 1/4 inch thread camera mount. For example, a monopod, pistol-style hand grip or a flexible camera support system such as a Gorillapod or Dinkum grip.

The benefits are clear. Using some sort of supporting device to stabilize the smartphone will produce better shots, especially when recording video interviews.

I’ve tried tripod mounts of different shapes and sizes to fit the various mobile phones I’ve used. Some were rubbish, while others only worked with specific mobile phone models and become redundant when you changed phone.

Fortunately there is a trend now for manufacturers to offer tripod mounts that will fit different types of smartphones.

The criteria I usually follow is straightforward. Is it easy to adjust; is it robust and does it work with my other equipment?

In this post I’ll compare two tripod mounts: the new Glif and the Shoulderpod S1.

The Glif versus the Shoulderpod S1

Both are designed to fit literally any smartphone and both use a clamp design that can also accommodate a smartphone housed in a protective case or a battery pack.

The (new) Glif

The new Glif is a move away from the original rubber sleeve versions which were a popular accessory for iPhone4 and iPhone 4S users.

The sleeve design was very compact and was fine for static shots or shots involving little movement, but I was always worried that the phone might fall off if it was bumped.

This problem was addressed in a later version that featured a locking clamp. So it’s interesting to see the new Glif embrace an adjustable system and offers a mount that works with literally all smartphones not just iPhones.

The Glif is sturdy and made of metal and comes with a hexagonal key to adjust the clamp size to fit the phone. So you’ll have to give some thought as to whether you’ll be using your smartphone with a case or not. It would a pain if you needed to adjust the Glif and had forgotten to bring the hex key. As the manufacturers say in their video, once you set the size of the Glif “you’ll never need to adjust it again”.

There is also a screw in eyelet that comes with the Glif so you can attach it to a keychain or a strap.

The Glif clamp makes a tight and secure grip around the phone. On their website, Studio Neat says the Glif fits virtually any smartphone: between 58.4–86.4mm wide and 3.1–12.7mm thick.

I like how the Glif has a standard 1/4 inch threaded hole at the top and at the bottom of the clamp. This gives you the possibility to attach something else apart from a support device. For example, a microphone or even a short rail for a cold shoe.

The Glif also serves as a support stand for your smartphone – useful for resting your phone on a table or watching a film on a plane.

Shoulderpod S1

The Shoulderpod S1 is produced by a Barcelona based design company that bills their product as “The First Professional Smartphone Rig”.

Like the Glif, the Shoulderpod S1 also works as an adjustable clamp-style tripod mount and a stand, but it also features a hand grip extension. Together this is the “shoulder” you could say, as it forms a hand grip similar to gripping the side of a larger DSLR camera.

Inside the hand grip is where the clamp mechanism is housed. The clamp is adjusted by turning the pressure screw at the top – no need for carrying around a hex-key like the Glif. This is great for quickly adjusting the Shoulderpod to whatever phone or case you might using. That’s also handy when demonstrating the benefits of a tripod mount during training workshops.

The Shoulderpod does though look significantly bulkier that the Glif, and it’ll occupy a little more space in your kit bag. But when you grip the Shoulderpod, the device disappears into your hand, and feels very reassuring to hold.

The included strap that attaches to the hand grip is a fantastic addition. You will feel more confident using your smartphone to take photographs or shoot video in places where you might have second thoughts – say over water.

One caveat though. If you’re doing hand held filming with an iPhone and using an external microphone, depending on how you like to grip the Shoulderpod, you might find that the microphone plug sticks into your palm. Not all microphones or mic adapter cables offer a right angle plug to minimize this.

I would also like to see the Shoulderpod feature both a threaded hole at the top and at the bottom of the clamp, like the Glif.

Mount up

As a tripod mount, both the Glif and the Shoulderpod do a very simple thing very well. Your smartphone is going to be securely attached to whatever supporting device you choose.

Both are well designed, manufactured and appear quite durable for day to day use by journalists.

The Shoulderpod has the advantage over the Glif of being easier to adjust on the run, but you could say that comes at the expense of being slightly more bulkier.

Both the Glif and the Shoulderpod S1 are priced about same (around 30 Euros in Germany).

If you need to do a lot of hand held filming then the Shoulderpod S1 may be more attractive. On the other hand, if you only occasionally use a tripod or similar support and are looking for an ultra slim tripod mount then the Glif might find its way into your kit bag.

Author: Guy Degen

Icon by Anubisza

Many governments agencies around the world collect communications data as a matter of course. In the past, governments have downplayed privacy concerns around this data collection by emphasizing that they don’t collect the actual content of communications but rather so-called “metadata” – that is, the number called, what time the call was made, how long the call was and where the call was made from. A number of recent studies have demonstrated, yet again, that this metadata can be incredibly revealing.

And this is where journalists need to pay attention because if they want to keep a story they’re investigating under wraps or protect contacts, they need to understand how their metadata can be used to discover their activities and movements.

Who are you calling?

Researchers at Stanford University in the US, for example, are asking volunteers to install an app called MetaPhone on their mobile phones. The app collects their metadata. The results so far, says researcher Jonathan Mayer on his blog, “took us aback”.

By searching telephone directories, it was often easy to find out who exactly people were calling. And by analyzing patterns of calls, the researchers were able to uncover highly sensitive information, such as medical conditions, pregnancies or interest in firearms.

The researchers gave several examples of what they found out purely by looking at phone data – here’s three of them.

• “Participant A communicated with multiple local neurology groups, a specialty pharmacy, a rare condition management service, and a hotline for a pharmaceutical used solely to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis.”
• “Participant C made a number of calls to a firearm store that specializes in the AR semi-automatic rifle platform. They also spoke at length with customer service for a firearm manufacturer that produces an AR line.”
• “Participant E had a long, early morning call with her sister. Two days later, she placed a series of calls to the local Planned Parenthood location. She placed brief additional calls two weeks later, and made a final call a month after.”

Simple to map movements and daily routines

Plotting the movements and communications of an individual from their cell phone data has been done before. But a new visualization showing the mobile phone and email data of Swiss politician Balthasar Glättli highlights once again how much the data reveals when it is collected in bulk. (The Greens party politician released his communications data in protest at a proposed extension of Swiss data retention laws – you can read more about this here.)

The analysis of six months of Glättli’s metadata shows the pattern of his daily activities such as when he normally goes to sleep, when he starts and finishes work, who he regularly meets with and when and how often he talks to certain people.

Created by OpenDataCity (an English version is not available)

When people send an email or SMS to several people at once, this information is also included in the metadata. As such, access to Glättli’s communication data enabled the analysts to create a picture of not just who Glättli was in contact with, but also who his contacts were in contact with.

Norbert Bollow from the Digital Society Switzerland, one of the Glättli visualization project members, says that metadata is even more dangerous when information from multiple people is put together.

“Then it really starts getting dangerous,” he said in a Skype call with onMedia. “You can start making connections between people and with little effort, start profiling people and knowing about their medical conditions, their religious views and their political beliefs.”

What does this mean for journalists, activists or whistleblowers?

Glättli’s contact network by OpenDataCity

Bollow warns that agencies can easily reconstruct a journalist’s research or retrace a source’s movements from metadata.

“You can make a real time profile of what kind of story they are working on and more dangerously, who they are talking to,” he said.

“A journalist who wants to know what is going on at an oil company will try to make contact with someone who can give him information. And the secret service will know immediately who are those insiders who have had contact with journalists.”

Where to find out more

It’s not just phones that create metadata, but virtually everything we do in the digital world – from surfing the internet to paying with a credit card in a store. To find out more about ways in which journalists can be more secure in their digital communications, take a look at the posts and sessions from DW Akademie’s digital safety workshop.

Tactical Technology Collective’s Security in a Box also has an excellent array of digital security tools and tactics in a variety of languages.

DW Akademie’s Steffen Leidel will also be talking on how digital safety can best be taught to journalists at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia on Thursday 1 May at 14.00 in the Sala Perugino (Hotel Brufani).

Written by Kate Hairsine