In My Opinion

Windows 7 Phone? Succeed or Fail?

2010-10-12T08:25:00.006+01:00

The Windows 7 Phone is on it's way to the wild and it's raising a really interesting question - will Microsoft succeed or fail with it? There are two perspectives on it - one from the tech geek and one from the every day Joe Bloggs user.

Honestly I think that MS have gone down the correct path with this device. It has an extremely smooth and simplified UI. Now this doesn't seem like the ideal solution for us. We can't hack it, mod it, change it to be individual. But this was the beauty of the Apple OS. It was clean, basic and ultimately utilitarian. The every day user just wants their phone to work, no faffing, limited set up and instant gratification.

Microsoft have something of a 'Tech stigma' bought about by years of dealing with mediocre products and half assed approaches to support and updates. Even among the techy, MS have somewhat redeemed their image with Windows 7 - which I personally believe is the superior desktop OS out there - even more so (dare I say it) than OSX. MS have the advantage now of seeing who the market leaders are, what their devices are capable of and ultimately what the end user wants. Undeniably the iPhone has been the final word with smart phones in the past 3-4 years especially when it comes to UI and hardware design. It is stunningly simple and, up until the OS 4.0 roll out which broke anything below the 3Gs) slick as you like!

Android has been the result of a backlash against Apples aggressive and money-centric marketing strategy. 'Everyone wants Apple product so we'll screw them for every bit of cash we can and whilst we're at it we'll take the service providers as well'. Basically if you treat someone like crap for long enough then eventually they'll wake up to it and look somewhere else. Google with the Android OS has provided this outlet. Lets be honest about the Android operating system. It works, on the right hardware it's actually pretty slick. In it's basic form it's not terribly pretty and again, if we're being honest, this is where Google excels - they take and idea and get it out there as quickly as possible in a working and usable form. Design gurus they are not. It has been left with the likes of HTC to work on the GUI and make it attractive and far more functional. There have been other iterations out there not the least being Sony Ericssons X10 - but as we all well know the more these things are modified the slower they are to be updated.

So I believe that Microsoft could actually be onto something with the Windows 7 Phone. It is designed to appeal to the average joe user that 'just wants it to work'.

This brings me to where I think it could fail. Microsoft's strong points have never been making something funky or design-centric unless you take the XBOX into account (however I think that XBOX is a brand solely aimed at a youth market). For them it has always been the enterprise potential of their products and this is reflected in their earnings. The vast percentage of Microsofts profits come from it's desktop and server side operating systems and tools. Their one major entertainment success has been in XBOX and that largely has been down to having the right 3rd party developers on-board and some cunning price points on the console.

So clearly MS has the Enterprise side of things down pat, but every recent foray into the mobile entertainment market has been met with at best indifference and at worst scorn. Zune - failed, Windows Mobile (outside of enterprise) - failed with a current 5% market share, Kin smart phones - failed, tablet PCs - failed, Web-TV - failed, MSN Music - Failed. The problem with the majority of these things is that there was a better and more functional offering out there. Whether it was Tivo, iPod, iPhone and more recently the iPad, there has always been something more desirable and ultimately more functional for the every day user. Where this could fail is not in that it's a Microsoft product, not that the operating system is lacking, and not in the pricing but in it's desirability. When presented with a selection of phone and mobile operating systems, will the average joe go for a stock looking touch phone with a slightly flashy OS? That's the hard question with an even harder answer in my opinion. The possible saving grace? Android has proven that people are ready for something different and the risk to Android? Windows 7 Phone may just be that bit more polished, that little more pretty and have the right element of 'it just works'.

2010 - Almost a year since the last update!

2010-08-20T11:54:00.002+01:00

Wow - some might say that it's being slack. You'd partially be correct. To be fair tho, I have had other things on my mind, not the least being getting married.

I think that it's fair to say I've taken care of that with much style and aplomb and only the minimum required shedding of tears!

So back into it - photography, travel, work, play - 2010 has already been a hell of a great ride and I think I'll have to do some work to bring the blog up to speed.

Sky in the Baubles - OcUK Photo Comp - September

2009-10-01T11:01:00.004+01:00

Septembers theme was Curves. I found this one to be extremely difficult as curves are such an arbitrary thing and again prone to cliches. The ones that stood out the most to me were roads, cars light trails and women. I was tempted to head down the women path but having never done portraiture in anger nor having a large pool of knowledge when it comes to the lighting of such subjects I was somewhat stumped.

I had an idea of attempting to emulate and photograph the results of a couple of paper folding/cutting artists that have a presence on Flickr. Those of Richard Sweeney and Jen Stark.

Richard Sweeney - Icosahedron

Jen Stark - Over And OutLuckily, both for my sanity and that of my ever tolerant Fiance, another opportunity came up.

Kim, whilst walking down Piccadilly, spotted something that she knew would take my interest and it did that in spades! In the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Art on Piccadilly, London there is a central point where there is often a piece of installation art in place. For the time being it is a piece by a modern artist called Anish Kapoor. He is most famous for the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago and I guess not having the massive space needed to emulate that in London he's taken a different path.

Tall Tree And The Eye:"Outside the Royal Academy of Arts in the Annenberg Courtyard, 74 stainless-steel spheres will appear to hover miraculously overhead. Look up, and the sky will be framed by thousands of shining bubbles as each element mirrors its neighbours ad infinitum."

This is a shot of the full sculpture:

This is my final entry for the comp that I titled - Sky in the Baubles:
This months subject is 'Energy'... I'm not sure what direction to take on this one - I think there is a bit of thinking involved!

Cosmic Girl - OcUK Photo Comp August

2009-10-01T08:33:00.010+01:00

The August theme was Cosmic and this immediately brings to mind things like stars and light trails and anything to do with the heavens. Unfortunately I don't much like to adhere to the stereotypes so much like many of my other entries I thought out of the box.

The idea I came up with was based around the classic super hero look of a female super hero encompassed in energy floating upward whilst objects in her immediate vicinity floated also.

Much like this:

Kim and I headed out to our local park first thing in the morning once the sun was at a decent height. I didn't want to do it too late because the length of the shadows were quite important for me.

I initially took a series of photos from a way back using the Sigma 10-20mm lens but this caused a couple of issues. The first and most obvious is that with the lens being at 10mm there were some issues with it being too far away and there not being reasonable detail in the shot. The second was that being so far back the height that I could get Kim to jump at did not lend itself to the illusion of height.

So I moved the camera closer and also had a re-think on the eventual composition. My initial idea was to get as many random objects as possible floating around the circular area including perhaps my neighbors baby and perhaps a small dog. Not having any small dogs nor the baby at hand I changed my mind and went for things that were every day stuff but also as contextual as possible.

We start with a mostly empty photo:

The next trick was the actual photo taking. My first take on the process involved Kim standing on the step ladder and posing with the follow up a result of getting her to jump off the ladder and catching her mid air. After the first couple of attempts with the jumping off the step ladder I figured that I had to change the approach.

I had the top half of her sorted from the above shot so the next trick was to get her bottom half looking like she was floating. Obviously the jumping was the right direction on this - short of getting a harness and a crane which are slightly out of my means. The main issue here is that there is only so high a person can jump so I resolved to address the issue in the post work. Kim being the absolute soul of tolerance jumped up and down quite a few times each time with a variation on her foot positioning until I got what I was looking for.

You'll notice that the shadow and the feet are significantly lower than in the final image - it was purely in the post work that I shifted both Kim and her shadow upward to add to the illusion of height.

The next trick was floating stuff. This bit was pretty easy - I just got Kim to run around with various objects and either hold them or throw them ensuring that the objects shadows were easily resolved and her fingers were not overlapping the camera facing edges. I also got her to chase a couple of pigeons to give the shot a bit of movement.

The end result is a very basic composite of all the shots - if you have a clean background to work with then painting out any of the other layered shots is a very simple process. For balance sakes I moved some of the objects and their shadows around, straightened the image (my tripod is rubbish) and worked with the levels a bit. I cleaned up Kims arms because I had over exposed them a bit by using a brush created from her own skin where it was exposed properly and finally chucked a boarder around it.

End result:
Cosmic Girl

More Birdies! Eagle handling day.

2009-09-18T11:44:00.004+01:00

For my Fiances birthday last year I got her an Eagle Experience Day based out in Eynesford in Kent. I'll openly admit that there were some selfish reasons for coming up with the idea as it was a day for two but I like to think it wasn't anything like buying my better half that tool kit she's always wanted...

I was more than happy to sit back and take photos and that is exactly what I did, again with moderate success. The day was 6 hours of one on one with some of the most stunning animals that we've had the privilage to meet.

Along the way we learned a few things too, some a little disturbing and some really interesting. One thing we learned fairly rapidly was that chicks come out of their egg still containing their yolk which subsequently goes everywhere the moment the largest bird that I have ever seen tears it to shreds whilst sitting on your gloved hand. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM!!! Did I mention that she's a vegetarian?

There were two stand out birds on the day and the first was Chilli the Bald Eagle. Interesting fact about Bald Eagles, they aren't called bald because of the white head but because of their overall colouration. A white and black horse is known as a piebald horse and when the settlers came to name the Bald Eagle it was for the same reason - they are a piebald eagle. Anyway - on to the photos!

The second was Nobel the Tawny Eagle. He was a really interesting chap that seems quite lazy even to the point where he would rather walk everywhere rather than fly. The even odder thing was that when he walked there was no waddle that you associate with pidgeons and other birds. He looked for all the world like a person, albeit a bit feathery.

So - presenting Noble the Tawn Eagle:

On the photography front...

2009-09-18T11:12:00.005+01:00

I've been keeping busy on the photography side of things as well. I've managed to get through a couple more photography projects for the Overclockers UK monthly photo competition with moderate success.

The July theme was '5 Seconds' with the idea that all the photos should be taken using a long exposure technique of 5 seconds length or more. After toying with a whole set of cliched ideas using light trails, light painting, stars in the night sky and car trails I had an epiphany. Ok that's a little white lie, I nicked the idea off Top Gear, the motoring show on the BBC, where they were showing what I think was a new Lambo or Maserati or similar. They had a neat effect using neon tubes where they were waved along the length of the car but you could only see the light trails as they were being made. Being rather taken by the idea, I thought I'd have a go.

So I jumped on Ebay and found myself a portable neon lamp for around £20 which I thought looked around perfect for the job:

The next trick was to head up onto the roof of my apartment block and start experimenting. My initial idea was to run along the length of the roof and make some random light trails but this soon proved itself to be impractical for a couple of reasons. The first of which was a lack of context, i.e. the ribbons of light were neither coming nor going anywhere. The next issue was that as I walked/ran with the light my movement would translate into the ribbons, so for every step I made the ribbon would bob up and down. Now lacking a steady cam rig there wasn't really any solution to that so I changed the scene a bit and also the distance that I had to cover in the time span allotted.

Shifting the camera around to face the roof entrance to the building I cottoned onto what was to be the final composition and also the answer to my 'where are the ribbons going' problem. My other issue was resolved by forcing myself to be as smooth as possible. After around about 5-10 attempts I was losing the light and decided to call it a night, not before turning around and discovering that I had been entertaining some of the occupants of the hotel next door... oh well these are the sacrifices we make for our art!

So end result? It is a combination of 5 exposures all shot at around 25 seconds a shot and composited in Photoshop.

It's all been quiet here for a bit...

2009-09-18T10:53:00.004+01:00

Motivation has been lacking of late for updating this blog and it's a shame because there has been a great deal going on. Having a little bit of time on my hands I thought I'd see if I could make some movement toward catching up a little.

I left off on a couple of music related things and since then I've come across a producer/artist that has really caught my attention. His name is Ulrich Schnauss and is an electronic musician from Germany. Having a little bit of a background in dance music and electronica I do tend to keep an eye out for these things although of late my inclinations have been more for heavy rock and metal. Still when something comes along of this quality I generally sit up and take notice.

Similarities could be drawn to the likes of Tangerine Dream, Orbital or perhaps the more mellow efforts of Chicane. In my own description I would say that it's a lush downbeat sound with lots of subtle audio layering, extremely easy to listen to and I would recommend his work. Enjoy...

Ulrich Schnauss - Clear Day

Ulrich Schnauss - Shine

DUBFX - Some people just have a stunning talent...

2009-07-07T13:07:00.002+01:00

This boy just has a fantastic talent and demonstrates it in his street performances.

Artist web site: http://www.dubfx.net

RIP Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T09:50:00.003+01:00

It's all over the news this morning and you know if you can't beat them...

He has an unbelievable back catalog of music and produced arguably the best pop song and album in Billie Jean and Thriller. It's something that can never be taken from him despite his many recent personal and extremely public trials and tribulations.

Whilst I think the guy is weird I am a fan of the music and it is a great loss for the pop world that he is now gone.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson 1958-2009

Eruption from space

2009-06-25T12:03:00.004+01:00

The Earth never fails to amaze me and it's always a place of beauty and wonder. But every now and then you see something from a different and special perspective.

This photo was taken from the International Space Station of the Sarychev Peak volcano in Japan/Russia.

For the photo geeks among us this was taken with a Nikon D2XS with a 400mm Lens.

Source: The Register

The volcano, which lies in the Kuril Island chain northeast of Japan, blew its top on 12 June, an event captured during a "fortuitous orbit" of the ISS. NASA explains that the picture is of particular interest to vulcanologists because it show "several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption".

These include the main plume, which "appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam" and a clear circle in the "cloud deck" - either caused by "the shockwave from the eruption or from sinking air around the eruption plume"

Synesthesia by Terri Timely

2009-06-22T09:56:00.005+01:00

An exceedingly clever short film. Source: http://www.territimely.com/_/v/2-short-films

Synesthesia from Terri Timely on Vimeo.

Birdies!!!

2009-06-19T13:24:00.005+01:00

Whilst sitting at home feeling sorry for myself due to a previous nights attempt at self embalming I got a rather random phone call from my Fiancé.

Kim was heading up toward Primrose Hill and whilst going past Regents Park in Holborn she noticed that there were a large number of birds of prey on perches. I have an avid love of all things alive so my hangover rapidly forgotten I tore around the house and gathered up my photography gear.

What did I discover? These guys! Stunning birds but it's not the same as seeing them in the wild. Still a very special experience.

Eagle

Pygmy Owl
Eagle Owl
Eagle Owl

What I've been up too.

2009-06-19T09:31:00.005+01:00

I've had a whole stack of stuff to do of late not the least of which was a trip to Italy to check out the venue for mine and Kims up and coming wedding.

View Larger Map

The area is called Maratea and it is about 2-3 hours drive south of Naples. Whilst being absolutely beautiful it is a bit of a mission to get to as the Italians seem to have a grand idea about fixing the entire motorway system all at once and subsequently don't fix any of it. It stays in a constant state of semi-repair.

What should've been a simple drive to and from Maratea ended up being a case of sitting in traffic for several hours each way. Still it didn't detract from the experience of being there.

One of the main 'icons' of Maratea is Il Cristo Redentore - These are all taken on a mountain overlooking the coast under a statue called Cristo Redentore - this is the second largest 'Christ the Redeemer' statue after the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This one stands at 21.23 metres with a 19 metre arm span. The Rio one is 34.20 metres and 40.44 Metres on it's pedestal.

Kim standing in front of Cristo Redentore (Christ the Redeemer)
It's situated on the top of a very high part of the coast and as such it has a brilliant view. Getting there was a whole other experience as for some very strange reason the road to get there wasn't on our Garmin Satnav. Still we eventually found our way there and it really was worth it.

Looking South down the West coast of Italy
Looking up at Cristo Redentore
Looking North up the West coast of Italy
Kim checking out the view
Me in front of Cristo Redentore - taken by Kim.

Sherlock Holmes Trailer

2009-05-19T15:32:00.004+01:00

This trailer makes me a little dubious as to how faithful Guy Ritchie is going to be to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle character. From a personal perspective I find that a little sad as he was brilliantly conceived and is as successful a character because of how he worked rather than in spite of it.

From the trailer it looks a little like they have let John Woo or Jerry Bruckheimer run away with the production. In actuality it has Bruce Berman as the Exec Producer who was responsible for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was a singularly brilliant movie but he was also responsible for Catwoman which was a spectacular failure. Who knows maybe the combination of the Bruce and Guy might produce a gem.

So is it going to be Lock Stock/Snatch meets Sherlock Holmes or will he actually do the story and the character some justice? If it were down to the actors Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law then I'd say yes but they have to work with Guy who has, if we're being fair, produced less than stellar movies of late. Here is the trailer - not much story substance there but lots of explosions, women, action and excitement - all things entirely synonymous with Sherlock Holmes *cough*...

Flash mobbing at it's best.

2009-05-19T14:59:00.001+01:00

Love this:

The Golden Hour

2009-05-19T10:55:00.004+01:00

Following on with the photography theme I've come up with my initial entry to the OcUK photography competition. It is not strictly adhering to the theme at least according to the Wikipedia definition however it will have to do until there is some decent weather. The Golden Hour is the hour in both the morning and the evening when he sun creates a golden hue and the shadows are long and interesting.

This was my first attempt at the theme and unfortunately I missed the best of the light but I think the end result is acceptable. It was done with some dark filters on the lens so that I could extend the exposure out to around 20 seconds. It is the long exposure that makes the Thames look so smooth and also creates the light trails from the boat movement.

I have some other ideas for the Theme but it is entirely dependant on there being some decent weather between here and then end of the month. Having lived here for 4 years I often struggle to find London terribly photogenic without making a really stereotypical image.

OcUK Photo comp

2009-05-15T09:26:00.004+01:00

The theme just gone on the Overclockers UK photography forum was 'Street Life'. I decided to veer away from the obvious subject matter of homeless people and instead went for what the view from the street would be if it were alive. This presented several issues, the most obvious being that barring digging a hole in the pavement, I don't think that I could've gotten quite the perspective I was after. (As an aside, this has given me an idea for another photo that will involve me climbing into a hole in the road where roadworks are occurring and trying for a perspective shot from there - just an idea at this stage!)

So end result? Well I enlisted the help of a good friend of mine, Laz, and headed out to a local footpath that had potential for some good perspective. It ended up being just around the corner from my house/apartment.

The first edit:

This was a fairly good shot in the grand scheme of things, at least that is what I initially thought, until my significantly more observant Fiance pointed out a fairly major problem... Laz was monkey walking! Monkey walking is when you step and move your arms and legs on the same sides, i.e. left arm and left leg forward and then right arm and right leg - the end result is that not only does the body look out of kilter but it doesn't look remotely natural as a movement.

The other thing that stood out was due to the process of getting Laz to pose, which was basically "stand there with your leg out like you're walking" you don't get the shift in body weight that is associated with walking. This can be seen in both his body position and in his trailing foot position.

Of course I noticed none of this until we had gotten back in front of my computer and looked through the shots. Colour wise it was great, composition wise not too terrible, motion wise it was not that great at all. It really was a case of 'back to the drawing board'!

Take 2.
This time I had a more definite idea of what I wanted however this time the weather was not quite as co-operative as it had been the first time.

We both agreed that the better way to get the shot was to actually pace out the walking and then I'd just have to time the shot so that I caught it at the right time. This was a significantly more productive technique and in the long run a lesson learnt - don't try to emulate the movement, actually move!

So end result:I think it was composition and movement wise a far superior image only let down buy the sky which was cloudy. Due to the cloud the sky is 'blown out' or over exposed. I would have preferred to have some blue sky and retain the colour in the image but I decided that a desaturated image with a hue shift was the better option. I also got closer to the ground which I think made for a better take on the 'street' perspective. Overall I'm pretty happy with the shot.

From a photography perspective I'm enjoying getting out and about with 'models' and interacting with what I am shooting. I'm still not quite brave enough to walk up to a random and start shooting away but I'll get there in the end!

Incidentally the next theme is 'The Golden Hour' or the hour between when the sun is either going down or coming up. During summer/spring in the UK this is around 5-6am and 9-10pm. Again the intention here will be to think outside the box a bit. Sunrises and sunsets are something of a greatly shot subject matter but rarely do I find it entirely engaging.

NYC - 360 Photo Flyover.

2009-05-13T09:05:00.002+01:00

Spotted on the Chase Jarvis blog

This is a gorgeous presentation of New York City - a must view with sound. It's very peaceful.

http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr/2009/newyork/

International Space Station Tour

2009-05-07T09:55:00.004+01:00

Found this on Youtube - just brilliant. I had no idea how big the ISS was - and it is BIG!

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srQdr6kGii4
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lswCuvcA7YQ

Bathtub IV

2009-04-29T09:05:00.004+01:00

A while ago I posted a video of Tiltshift stopmotion photography called Bathtub. There has since been several others made but this one recaptured some of the charm of the first one. Enjoy.

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

New Lambo - SuperVeloce

2009-03-04T09:21:00.006Z

Drool... Another stunning car from the workshops of Lamborghini.

Source: Wired

Lamborghini has unveiled the quickest Murcielago yet, a 670-horsepower toro lidiado that charges from zero to 60 in just 3.2 seconds and hits a top speed of 212 mph.
The LP 670-4 SuperVeloce shown at the Geneva Motor Show sports a 6.5-liter V-12 cranking out 30 horsepower more than the LP 640. A healthier dose of carbon fiber and other mods cut 220 pounds from the LP 640, bringing the SuperVeloce to 3,450 pounds. Suspension and aerodynamic tweaks — note that big freakin' wing — contribute to the stunning velocity. It's almost as impressive as the hyperbole in the press release:
From the rumble of a stormy night through the trumpeting of mighty elephants to the roar of a raging lion, the SuperVeloce performs the grand opera for 12 cylinders, 48 valves and 8,000 revs.
Yeah, Lamborghini should stick to engineering and leave the writing to others.
Want one? Better move quick. Sant'Agata plans to build just 350, and they'll go for somewhere north of $300,000. More pics ...

New Dell laptop range - Adamo

2009-02-26T13:52:00.007Z

I don't usually get interested in laptops or computers in an aesthetic way unless they're Apples because I think they tend to take the prize for the best looking bits of kit (even if they're horrendously pretentious and overpriced). Once in a while there comes along a really decent looking piece of hardware that shows someone has taken the Apple approach to design, that being that form need not be sacrificed for function.

Dell has started what can only be described as a pretentious and overbearing - it smacks of the nasty perfume ads that seem to grace the TV around the festive season. However in this case there seems to be some substance behind all the fluff.

The Adamo range is their new 'designer' range of laptops and netbooks the first of which that has been popping up all over the technology sites and blogs. The one pictured below is in my opinion quite stunning and has a sveltness to rival that of the MacBook Air. There is no word yet on its stats other than this model has a 13 inch monitor that has the same gloss finish that seems to be popping up all over the place with recent laptops. Unfortunately the end result of this is that they're a massive fingerprint magnet and in bright light they reflect more than your bathroom mirror. Still it's one very good looking piece of kit. They are currently set for release sometime in the second half of this year.

Photos via: Doobybrain

Flying Vid

2009-02-25T10:37:00.004Z

Every now and then I come across a video on Youtube that I watch over and over. This is one of those - Watch this in high quality with some decent sound. It's wonderfully uplifting (pun intended). This is a video made by Loewe but some clever chap replaced the boring music (Coldplay I think) with Soniques - Fly So High (Touch the Sky). It fits perfectly in my opinion.

LOMO! - part 2

2009-02-20T08:58:00.002Z

Following on from my previous post - I had to produce something to fulfill my own theme criteria. Being something of a stickler for composition and taking the time to examine the scene that I was photographing the Lomo philosophy was quite difficult to embrace. What is the lomo philosophy? Lomo has 10 rules that are the accepted as guidelines for Lomographers. These are those rules:

1. Take your Lomo everywhere you go

This I always do along with an extra roll of film.

2. Use it anytime - day and night

3. Lomography is not an interference with your life but a part of it

It will soon feel natural to take Lomographs of everything.

4. Get as close as possible to the objects of you lomographic desire

I still don't get this right half the time.

5. Don't think

Once you start thinking about composition, the unexpected qualities start to go.

6. Be fast

As fast as you can take you camera from your pocket. For instant reaction, use the supplied wrist strap.

7. You don't have to know beforehand what is on your film

8. Nor afterwards

You will figure it out eventually.

9. Try the shot from the hip

Or from the ground.

10. Don't worry about (golden) rules

Be unique and find your own way.

In all honesty I did actually stick to the "Don't think, just shoot" ideal, at least initially, but then my desire for an interesting photo kind of took over. Ironically tho it ended up being two of the shots that really were shot from the hip that I decided I liked the most.

These are those two shots - both of the Centre Point building in London

So the processing involved in these two shots is the following:

In Adobe lightroom:
- Up the 'temperature' or warmpth of the photo
- Boost the saturation
- Up the contrast and blacks
- Tweek the yellow and green channels

In Adobe Photoshop
- A very slight sharpen pass (this is a legacy of the D80 - I don't use any camera processing and only shoot in raw)
- Tweek the exposure a little more as with the contrast and saturation to suit.
- A tiny little bit of false vignetting.

I have entered the first of the two into the competition so we'll see how we go - I don't expect to win this one as some of the other entries are far superior to mine. However it has been a brilliant learning experience and I personally think it was broadened my options a little when it comes to styles. I will post the result on here.

The forum and the entries can be found here: OCuK Photography Forum

LOMO!

2009-02-10T11:36:00.005Z

Having won the last comp on OCuK where the theme was "Only the camera can capture" I got the opportunity to chose the next. For my theme choice I went with Lomo. "What is Lomo?" you might ask. I shall endeavor to explain because over the years Lomo or Lomography has gained itself something of a cult following.

History: From http://www.lomography.com/about/

1982
In the genteel streets of St. Petersburg, Russia, the whole Lomographic phenomenon begins!

General Igor Petrowitsch Kornitzky, right-hand man to the USSR Minister of Defense and Industry, slammed a little Japanese mini-camera onto the ornate desk of his comrade Michail Panfilowitsch Panfiloff. Mr Panfiloff, Director of the powerful LOMO Russian Arms and Optical factory, examined the camera closely, noting its sharp glass lens, extremely high light sensitivity and robust casing. The two gentlemen, realizing the superior nature and extreme potential of this strange little item, gave immediate orders to copy and improve the design - with the ultimate goal of producing the largest quantity possible for the pleasure and glory of the Soviet population. It was decided - every respectable Communist should have a LOMO KOMPAKT AUTOMAT of their own.

The LOMO LC-A was born, and millions of cameras were promptly produced and sold. The Soviets and their Socialist playmates in Vietnam, Cuba and East Germany snapped happily away throughout the nineteen eighties, fully documenting the last gasps of Communism, and the occasional beach vacation on the Black Sea.

Jump forward to 1991

A handful of restless Viennese students are cruising though the capital in great early summer spirits, enjoying the new-found Czech democracy. By this year, the LC-A's time in the sunshine was coming to a close.

Weakened by dirt cheap, battery-powered imports from Asia, the LC-A's popularity was waning, and it was available only at quirky, old-school camera shops. It was at an establishment such as this, where the Viennese students happened upon the adorable camera, and bought a couple for fun. Back on the resplendent streets of Prague, they zipped through the first few rolls of film: shooting from above and through their legs, shooting from the hip, and even sometimes looking through the viewfinder.

Back in Vienna they soon had the whole bag of film developed at the trusty corner supermarket (super cheapo!) and received a real surprise: Thousands of small, amusing, sad, garish shots of their little tour, wonderful focused and unfocussed images fresh from life in the Czech Republic. The images were amazing, dazzling all those present with a crushing sense of excitement - the likes of which they had never felt before.

And so we come to today where Lomo has reached some thing of a cult status and is a style of not only photography but also of post processing (i.e. the editing done once you take the photo off the camera) that garners quite a bit of interest and respect. There are of course the purists that say that it's not a Lomo if it's not been taken with a Lomo LC-A camera but I'm not one of them - mostly because I don't have one!

So what does Lomo look like? Well in all honesty it can look like anything but there is a specific sub group of imagery that has become somewhat synonomous with Lomography and this is the one that I personally have the most interest in.

I've grabbed a couple of images that I personally feel are representitive of the style but are also interesting to me. These are from the Flickr Lomo group.

V-for Vendetta - By Keiron

magic mushrooms from lomo by poppie smiles

To me the things that typify the Lomo style (just the style mind you not the philosophy behind it) are the bold colours, the vignetting (shadows around the edges) and the quirkiness of the images, odd focuses and not necessarily adhering to the rules of photography (which reminds me I should put a bit up here on the rules themselves - they're always good things to remember).

Photography jiggery pokery

2009-02-02T10:00:00.004Z

Inspired by my recent win with the TNT I decided to challenge myself a little. On one of the photography forums I regularly visit run a little monthly photo comp with the aim of pushing you to develop your skills. The month just gone theme was "Only the Camera Can Capture". As always these are open to interpretation and so I decided to take a different lean that everyone else was. The general idea was that it would be things like macro shots or long exposures. My take was a little more elaborate.

I had recently seen the website of a guy who had a thing for chucking things in the air and then taking photos of them. The end result was, in my opinion, quite clever.

I decided to take it a step further and came up with a concept inspired by the laptop shot above. I was going for something a little more complex and also a totally different take on the 'Camera can Capture' theme.

So at around 9:30am on a Saturday I and my lovely assistant Kim headed down to Russel Square with two laptops kindly lent to me by work (they were getting thrown out anyway) and a couple of wooden spoons. The idea was to make an image that was purposefully incongruous and a bit fun. Rather than try to explain the image I will just show you the end result and then some shots of the process involved.

Laptops Among the Pigeons

The Process - Take one laptop - remove hard drive bay - insert wooden spoon and hand over to beautiful assistant. Once the individual photos were taken we went home and then there was a fairly lengthy editing and compositing process where I combined 20-25 photos of the laptops and using a blank photo of the background painted Kim out. End result - Flying laptops!

2009 and back on the wagon.

2009-01-30T08:35:00.002Z

Happy New Years anyone who happens to still be visiting my blog. New years festivities were pretty bog standard as far as they go - good times with good friends, lotsa booze and happily no headaches the following morning! The London fireworks were frankly crap and quite possibly a sign of the times i.e. credit crunch.

My year as a photographer has gotten off to a fairly good start. One of the photos that I took in Devon, the one of everyone jumping on the beach, has won a photo competition with TNT Magazine. They run a weekly photo competition with a first prize of a 3 day budget tour around Wales. I'm quite looking forward to it as Wales is not really my first choice for a tourist destination so it's a pretty good opportunity.

This was the Photo: Taken at Saunton Sands, Devon

Christmas - Devon and Saunton Sands

2008-12-29T08:57:00.006Z

Merry Christmas and all that - formalities aside it's always nice to get out of the big smoke and see some of the country you're living in and spend some quality time with friends. This year we headed out to Devon. It was a fantastic trip and the weather was spot on the whole time. I managed to get some shots off and since I haven't had time to update this I thought I'd put them up here.

Abandoned TV tower in Russia

2008-12-04T09:22:00.005Z

Source: Abandoned Places and Victorprofessor.com

This photo set just gave me the willies. It an abandoned television tower in Russia.

The blurb from the blog states:
Highest abandoned television tower on Russia - 350 meters.
It's a little bit higher than Eiffel tower in Paris. Was bult in 1990s. Used by base-jumpers.
Some photos from bottom to top and then top to ground. Wind, clouds, ice. 2 hours for going up, and 1 hour to go down.

Kogan Agora Android Phone

2008-12-04T08:36:00.008Z

Source: iTWire
The second Google Android phone has surfaced and it's in the classic Blackberry shape and it comes from Down Under from a company called Kogan. It's called the Agora Pro and is on sale now for $399 AUS or £175 without lock or contract. Great news for the masses that want to get their hands on the new OS and its, from personal experience, great applications.

SPECIFICATIONS

Operating System	Android™
Google Mobile Functions	Google Search™, Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Maps™, Google Talk™, Google Calendar™.
Display	2.5-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 262K QVGA (320 X 240 pixel) resolution
Device Control	5-Way Central Navigation Key
Keyboard	QWERTY keyboard Keyboard backlighting
GPS	GPS navigation capability with Google Maps™
Connectivity	Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11b/g
Camera	2.0 megapixel colour camera
Audio	Built-in microphone and speaker Headphone output Ring tone formats: MIDI, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, PCM
Video	Video formats supported: MPEG2 H263, H264, MPEG4, AVI
Mail attachment support	Viewable document types: JPEG,GIF,WBMP,MIDI,AMR,MP3,WAV
Dimensions (HxWxD)	108 mm x 64 mm x 14.8 mm
Weight	130g
Battery	Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery Capacity: 1300 mAh
Talk Time	Up to approximately 400 minutes
Standby Time	Up to approximately 300 hours
Processor MHz	624 MHz
Memory	256 MB On-board + 128 MB Flash microSD™ card expansion slot
Network	UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Features Available:

Handsfree
FM radio
JAVA 2.0
SMS
Email
MMS 1.0
WAP 2.0
WAP Push
Web Browser
Bookmarks
Video Recording
Media Player
Instant Messaging
Phone Book
Ring Silencer/Quick Silent
Scheduler/Organiser
Mini-USB Connectivity (charging, headset)
Phone Book
Integrated Antenna
Fast Text Editor
Lunar calendar, Calculator and Alarm Clock

Mammoth Stars

2008-11-26T15:53:00.002Z

It's been a while since I have updated this blog due to being a bit too busy however this caught my eye. This is imagery is from the Hubble Space Telescope. Just beautiful.

Source: WIRED Science

The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed two of the most massive stars in our galaxy as never before. Located 7,500 light years away from Earth in the Carina Nebula, these stars are rare ultra-hot, super-bright stars that emit primarily ultraviolet radiation, that gives them a blue hue.

WR25, the brightest of the stars near the center of the image, is actually a large star 50 times the size of our sun with another star half that size orbiting around it. To the upper left of WR25, the third brightest star in this image is really a triple star cluster. Two are so close together that telescopes with less resolution can't resolve them. The third star may take hundreds of thousands of years to orbit around them.

The second brightest star, to the left in the image, is actually a less massive star that appears bright because it is much closer to earth than the others.

Pulse Room

2008-11-21T12:39:00.003Z

I love this kind of thing. Installation art can either be a lost cause of someones rather strange idea of art and in other cases be something so mesmerizing that you just have to see it again and again. The Pulse Room strikes me as one of these and is similar to some installations that have popped up on Southbank in London.

Source: Todayandtomorrow.net

Pulse Room by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, premiered at Plataforma exhibition in Puebla, 2006, and shown at the Venice Biennale 2007. A sensor records the pulse of the public and converts it into light flashes shown by incandescent light bulbs. At any given time the room shows the heartbeat of the 100 most recent participants.

Link to the Artist Page: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

1874 - Lunar Photography

2008-11-21T10:05:00.003Z

Source: WIRED Magazine

The article in WIRED and also the video below intrigued me as much for the cleverness and ingenuity of astronomers and photographers around 1870 as the example of open mindedness and appreciation by other scientist and photographers.

Quoted from WIRED:

If you wanted close-up photos of the moon in the late 1800s, you were pretty much out of luck. Unless, of course, you built incredibly detailed plaster models of lunar craters and then snapped carefully lit pictures of them.

And that's exactly what an engineer and astronomer did in 1874 to tremendous acclaim.

James Nasmyth, the inventor of the steam hammer, and James Carpenter, then at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, released a hugely successful book, The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite, illustrated by their incredible moon mock-ups. The august journal Nature gave the book a rapturous review.

"The illustrations to this book are so admirable, so far beyond those one generally gets of any celestial phenomenon, that one is tempted to refer to them first of all," the reviewer wrote. "No more truthful or striking representations of natural objects than those here presented have ever been laid before his readers by any student of Science; and I may add that, rarely if ever, have equal pains been taken to insure such truthfulness."

GMail Skinning

2008-11-20T11:19:00.003Z

Source: Google Blogscoped

Looks like GMail is getting skinning much as the iGoogle homepage has - it's always nice to get a big of colour on the subject. I wonder if you will be able to modify and create your own with pictures of your own choice...

A different perspective.

2008-11-20T08:51:00.002Z

Made me smile

Made me smile.

Amazing Zoom - a bit of perspective

2008-11-20T08:29:00.004Z

Source: FunForever.net

I love it when you can get some perspective on life and this is a brilliant way to look at it.

10 million light years from the Milky Way
1 million light years from the Milky Way
The Milky Way
Stars Near the Milky WayStars In the Milky Way
100 light years from Earth
10 light years from Earth

The Sun Our solar systemFollow it through to it's rather mind boggling end here: Funforever

Dr... Who?

2008-11-19T08:28:00.003Z

This put a silly little grin on my face this morning - We get introduced to the new Doctor.

David Morrissey is his name and to be entirely honest I've not actually seen him in anything but he seems to be keeping up the whimsy that makes the Doctor so amusing.

Further to the Flash on Android...

2008-11-18T18:27:00.003Z

This is a video from YouTube demoing web content running flash on the T-Mobile G1.

...and that appears to be how it's done.

T-Mobile G1 capable of multitouch?

2008-11-18T09:39:00.005Z

Source: Mobile Crunch

Whenever the G1 vs iPhone debate gets underway, iPhone purists are quick to flag the G1’s lack of multi-touch input support. Turns out, it might just be able to handle it after all -on the hardware end, at least. Whilst tearing his G1’s workings apart line-by-line, a crafty coder going by RyeBrye came across an interesting artifact. It seems the driver for the Synaptics touchscreen has some code commented out; after recompiling the kernel with said code back in, he was able to track two finger presses at once.

So if the hardware supports it, why no multi-touch on the G1? Patents, presumably. While this in no way actually enables to you to do any kind of multi-touch funnin’ immediately (nothing made for the G1 is currently coded for use with multi-touch, afterall), it’s certainly a step in the right direction. Though we probably won’t see any official support for multi-touch on the G1 any time soon, someone with a bit of spare time to tinker will probably figure out a way to make use of it before too long.

More Info:http://www.ryebrye.com/blog/2008/11/17/proving-the-g1-screen-can-handle-multi-touch/

Holy Android Flash Batman!

2008-11-18T08:12:00.007Z

Quoted from Apple... "I've got that sinking feeling" (ok I'm joking but the following is a massive kick in the teeth for the iPhone)

Source: InternetNews.com

Google has a new ally in its battle for smartphone dominance: Adobe.

The companies today revealed that that Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) has made its Flash technology compatible with the Android smartphone operating system developed by the Google-backed Open Handset Alliance. As a result, the enhancement may give devices like T-Mobile's G1 smartphone and other Android-based phones access to a key feature that's lacking from the industry's darling, the Apple iPhone.

Andy Rubin, Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) director of mobile platforms, and Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch announced the effort today at Adobe MAX, the company's developer conference. The two presented a demo of Flash 10 running on a G1, which is manufactured by HTC.

Other than a price drop on the mobile contracts to get the G1 adding the option of adding Flash to Android (including the G1) is going to get these handsets moving out the door quickly.

There is quite a bit of argument as to who is competing against who. Is Googles Android in competition with the Apple iPhone or are they in competition with the likes of Symbian and Windows Mobile (Microsoft).

To answer the question I think we need to look at why we are differentiating Apples iPhone from other smart phones. In my opinion the reason is that when the handset first was presented to the public is was not as the classic 'smart phone', such as the Blackberry and the MDA Vario, but as an everyday device for everyone that happened to have a very slick UI (user interface) and an extraordinary web browsing experience. Since the 2.0 OS update on the iPhone Apple have been working to change this and have integrated a massive list of enterprise capability such as push email and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and I believe that we should no longer be differentiating the iPhone from Windows Mobile or Symbian Devices.

Currently in these early days of Android it is in the same place that the iPhone was at initial release. It has no enterprise application but it holds the potential and as such it's difficult to make a 'smartphone' comparison with Windows Mobile and Symbian devices but easier against the iPhone as the majority of its users are everyday consumers.

Of course there will never be a case of Google holding their hands up and saying "yep we're directly competing against Apple on this one" for two reasons. The first is simply that they are attempting to change the mobile device landscape (no specific target) with a very different and open minded approach to development and the second is that Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google) is on Apples board of directors.

The addition of flash is a fairly major differentiation against the iPhone as Apples current Terms of Agreement for developers expressly forbids the use of Flash type technology on the iPhone hardware.

Source: WIRED Mag

"An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise," reads clause 3.3.2 of the iPhone SDK agreement, which was recently published on WikiLeaks. "No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."

This can be fairly quickly changed but I don't see this happening any time soon, more likely Apple will develop a type of secure 'Flash player' to enable the use of specific websites and apps. Whether this will eventuate or whether it will be the best solution only time will tell. As for the other breeds of smartphones out there I think we will see them following suit sooner rather than later.

Earthrise

2008-11-17T09:15:00.002Z

This image was the first ever photo of what is now iconic when we think of the moon missions - Earthrise. NASA released this image from the Lunar Orbiter 1 mission in 1966 and at the time it was of a fairly low resolution. Using some very clever technology they have regenerated the photo from the original data stored on old magnetic tapes. Click on the image to view it in it's full resolution.

Source NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/moonmars/features/LOIRP/

T-mobile G1 – The first of the Google Android Phones. Part 4

2008-11-14T11:09:00.003Z

Web Browsing

My experiences with mobile web browsing have come in several forms, the obligatory laptop, the stripped down mobile and the seriously slick iPod Touch/iPhone. Of all of them so far my favorite has to be Apples implementation. It's simple, fast and instantly intuitive. In my personal opinion this is the standard that Android and the G1 was competing with. Has it succeeded? Lets take a look.

The first thing you notice is that the web pages are generally presented in the manner that you expect from PC browsing or from the iPhone browser with the exceptions of sites that offer a stripped down version like Google.co.uk

Hitting the menu button will open the browser options. Go to URL, Search, Bookmarks, Window, Refresh and under More: Close Page, Forward, History, Downloads, Page Info, Bookmark Page, Share Page, Zoom and Settings.

Under Settings there are a myriad of options including popup blocking, Turn off image loading, Enable/Disable Javascrip, Open new windows in the background and the ones you come to expect from a browser like cookie management and cache clearing.

As with the Apple browser you navigate around the page by dragging a finger. When you interact with the screen the Zoom buttons automatically come up and clicking on them will produce the expected result. It's this function that I find a little clumsy when compared to the multi touch of the Apple devices and after having used them I still find myself pining a little for the naturally intuitive fingers out, fingers in process of zooming.

There is a second way of working your way around a web page and that is by clicking on the cross arrows in the bottom right of the screen. This maximizes the web page so that you can see almost all of it and provides you with a magnifying square which can be dragged around the page and then released when you are satisfied that this is what you want to view.

The Android browser also has a version of tabbed browsing that is accessed via the Window option. This opens a screen that displays the pages that you currently have open.

When the phone is flipped onto it's side and opened it will give you the option to add another page. I think since the last update There is now the same option when the orientation is vertical.

You can change the orientation of the browser without opening the phone by going into the Menu then the More submenu and selecting 'Flip Orientation'. This is a clumsy and counter intuitive method of using the browser interface especially considering that the phone has a fully functional accelerometer. Hopefully this will be addressed in later OS updates.

The browser has some great functionality however it does need some streamlining. The G1 touchscreen interface does lend itself to a fairly pleasant browsing experience as does the keyboard. Small things like the screen orientation responding to the accelerometer and perhaps a different way of zooming the screen would make the experience a little more intuitive.

T-mobile G1 – The first of the Google Android Phones. Part 3

2008-11-11T15:34:00.006Z

I'll start off first with the basic Android phone functionality.

The phones interface is predominantly touch screen with any text input or search functions using the keyboard. There are two ways to select an option or 'click' that is a short click or a long click. The long click either allows you to move an icon for repositioning or brings up a contextual menu. Long clicking on the Home screen backdrop opens up a menu with the options to add an application, shortcut, widget or to change your wallpaper.

As I mentioned in Part 2 sliding the screen open re-orients the screen sideways. This is fairly logical but I have found many times that I would like to have been able to tilt the phone without opening the keyboard. The G1 hardware has the full gamut of accelerometers the same as the Apple iPod and as such this functionality may well be enabled in a later update.

Making a phone call.

The phone has four different menus in the calling option. The first is the dialer that can be accessed directly via the icon on the home page or indirectly by using the keyboard to start typing in a name of the contact you wish to dial.

The second is a historical method using the call log which works in the expected manner. The Third is via the Contacts list and the fourth through the favorites list.

The first of my gripes with the calling system is an inability to assign fast dials to the numbers. Holding down the 1 button will fast dial your voicemail so clearly the capability is there however at this early stage there is no facility for assigning your contacts to a number. Developers have created a nice little app called Anycut that among other things allows you to place fast dials onto your Home screen but it would be nice if there wasn't the need for a work around.

The Contacts list is in my opinion fairly well constructed. You can drag up and down to browse through the list of names, if you need to move a bit more rapidly you can use a tab on the right hand side that then displays the alpha fields as you move through them.

Clicking on a contact will then take you into the contact details and from there you can choose to Call them by either clicking on the phone number listed or hitting the dial button. From the same screen you can call any alternative numbers, email, SMS or see their online status of things like Google Talk, MSN or Yahoo Chat.

Long clicking on a contact (i.e. hold your finger on it) will bring up a menu giving you similar options as are available by clicking in but also allows you to delete them and add them to your favorites list. This is another issue that I have with the first version of this software, if you add a contact to your favorites list they are no longer in your normal contacts list. I find this frustrating as really you end up using one or the other - you shouldn't have to search through both.

The call quality on the G1 is excellent as is the reception of the handset and I'm hoping that the open nature of Android will lend itself to applications like Skype being added as it's permanently connected to the Internet.

SMS is also very straight forward and is as simple as either hitting reply to a message or going into your contacts and selecting SMS. The keyboard makes the whole process fairly painless.

Calendar

The calendar that comes with the phone is surprisingly good especially since I use the Google Calendar as does my fiancé. It automatically synchronises with both mine and hers and gives me a very good visual breakdown of busy times and daily events across the top. Creating a new appointment is as simple as holding your finger down on the day and time you wish to use and it then asks you if you'd like to add a new event, full day appointment or if you would like to view your full day/week/month agenda.

E-mail

Android comes with two packaged e-mail clients. One is the expected Gmail client and this works seamlessly with your online account. The front end is exactly the same as the one that you may have seen on the Apple iPhone, simple and intuitive. Having he G1s slide out keyboard and trackball make editing a pleasure.

The second is a generic client that you can add any online account details to and it will then integrate it into your phones alerts and functionality. I personally don't have any use for this as I use Gmail almost exclusively but for those with MSN Mail, Yahoo or another 3rd party mail shouldn't have any problems will adding this to your phone as long as there is POP3 or IMAP access. The phone will recognise which one you have set as your primary account and all e-mails will be sent from this address. You can set up as many accounts on the phone as you like. As for Enterprise access I don't believe there is sufficient security on the phone itself for this use. Again I imagine this is something that would be addressed at a later stage and as Google are aiming for their products to be used in an Enterprise situation it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

In Part 4 I will go over the Web Browser

T-Mobile G1 - The first of the Google Android Phones. Part 2

2008-11-11T09:03:00.009Z

After being left disappointed by the hardware of the G1 we get onto the really interesting part; the Android OS.

So what is Google Android?

Quoted from Wikipedia: Android is a software platform and operating system for mobile devices, based on the Linux kernel, developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance.^[2]managed code in the Java language, controlling the phone via Google-developed Java libraries,^[3]. Applications written in C and other languages can be compiled to ARM native code and run, but this development path isn't officially supported by Google.

The intention of Google Android is to produce an open source operating system that is able to be installed on any mobile hardware and subsequently be developed for by anyone using the free developers kit from Google. There are some fairly obvious restrictions that have been put in place when it comes to what the developers can access. Specifically the end users personal data and contacts. From the Android Docs:

Security Architecture

A central design point of the Android security architecture is that no application, by default, has permission to perform any operations that would adversely impact other applications, the operating system, or the user. This includes reading or writing the user's private data (such as contacts or e-mails), reading or writing another application's files, performing network access, keeping the device awake, etc.

An application's process is a secure sandbox. It can't disrupt other applications, except by explicitly declaring the permissions it needs for additional capabilities not provided by the basic sandbox. These permissions it requests can be handled by the operating in various ways, typically by automatically allowing or disallowing based on certificates or by prompting the user. The permissions required by an application are declared statically in that application, so they can be known up-front at install time and will not change after that.

This is the core to many peoples misgivings for the OS and hopefully their intention holds in the end product. We have already seen that the initial release has a major security hole in that it executes every typed command as Super User meaning that with a couple of key presses any user can inadvertently brick their phone. Not the best way to endear peoples trust in you looking after your personal data.

All the technical information aside lets get down to the T-Mobile G1 implementation of Android.
When you turn the phone on you are presented with the expected G1/T-Mobile splash screen and then a nice little pulsing Android Logo. After that you're presented with a locked status screen.

When you press the MENU button you are presented with one of the first cool innovations on the G1. Instead of a numeric or password based security lock Android uses a user defined pattern that you then repeat to unlock the phone. The share number of variations of the patterns is pretty mind boggling. After 5 attempts it starts giving you time outs before finally requiring you to enter a PUK code to unlock the phone. I'm not looking forward to my first drunken night out trying to unlock this sucker!

We're in! The front screen is actually one of three panels that can be accessed by a sideways sweep of a finger. Each screen can be customised with folders, widgets and shortcuts to anything from fast dials to web pages and applications. These can be organised by holding your finger down on the icons or widget and dragging them around or down to the tab at the bottom of the screen which becomes a rubbish bin. The wallpapers extend across the three panels rather than repeat which makes the wallpapers of a higher resolution than the phones 320x480 to 640x480.

There are two 'blinds' on the home screen. Across the top there is a notification blind that displays any conversations, text messages, emails and download/install status for any apps that you install from the Market. This is accessed by dragging the panel down with a finger.

On the bottom there is the Application Blind that is pulled up in the same manner as the Notification Blind. It can also be extended by tapping on the tab. This tab contains all applications including any that you have installed. They are organised in an alphabetical manner and once you have installed a few apps this becomes quite cluttered. I think that in future versions of the OS they should think about being able to change the organisation of this blind to allow defining of folders and/or arranging by relevance or use. The icons are a bit small and do not allow for a rapid recognition so you do end up searching a bit. Any of these applications can be dragged up onto the home screens by holding your finger on them, the blind will automatically close, then you can place the icon where you like. When there are more icons than can fit on one page of the blind you can scroll up and down by using a finger and dragging as you would intuitively expect.

When the phone is opened sideways the screen automatically rotates to the side and the Application Blind is accessed by a sideways drag or a tap. I would've expected the contents of the Apps Blind to then be accessed by a side scrolling motion but you still scroll up and down. Personally I find this a little counter intuitive however until someone else uses it to confirm it may well just be me.

I will go into the applications and settings in Part 3.

T-mobile G1 – The first of the Google Android Phones. Part 1.

2008-11-10T14:49:00.003Z

I swore black and blue that I wouldn’t succumb to the desire to get one of these as I felt that being an early adopter on this was not somewhere where I wanted to be. I was waiting for the release of the HTC Touch HD which hardware wise seemed to be a far superior option however on finding out the initial release pricing of £500 for the hardware alone (no contract), or changing suppliers to Orange for the privileged price of £40 /month and dishing out an extra £80 for the phone, left me cold.

The end result was that I called up my supplier (T-Mobile) which I was at the end of contract with and asked for an upgrade. They came back with a brilliant offer of £20 /month, unlimited Internet access (meaning 3GB before they ask questions) and the hardware for free. Now had they said to me that I would have to pay the £40/month new subscription rate I would’ve told them to take a long walk of a short pier. The question then is after having used the phone for the last week in anger would I change my mind on the initial release pricing? I’ll tell you at the end of this review.

So let’s take a look at the hardware and stats both from what is professed by HTC and also from what T-Mobile state on their website. The reason I have included some specs from both websites is that T-mobile have been a little more realistic in their expectations from the hardware especially in the standby time.

Plenty of good stuff in there and entirely what we would expect from a competing smart phone except perhaps the side - width and height seem fine but when you compare the depth to the current king of touch screen smart phones, the iPhone, we see that the G1 is a full 5mm deeper. This chart shows a direct comparison with some of the other smart phones that are currently on the market and we see that it is not quite the massive beast that it first appears to be.

Physical Features

The front of the G1 is not pretty. Whilst it is dominated by the 3" touch screen the buttons and trackball area really do look like an afterthought kind on tacked on the bottom. The buttons are fairly self explanatory in that starting from the left we have the call/answer button, then the home button, menu over the trackball (which is also a button), back and finally the cancel/hangup button. The configuration works very well and I have not been caught out hunting for buttons.

The Left side has the volume rocker button and also once you open the keyboard slide you have access to the micro SD slot.

The right side has nothing but the camera button on it but it is in the logical place as you would only really use it with the slider closed.

On the back is the speaker and the camera lens.

The bottom has a mini USB port that may look a little odd but works with any mini USB plug.

With the back open you can see the battery and also where you insert your sim so nothing special or surprising in there. Getting into the back is just a matter of levering it off much like some of the old Sony Ericsson phones.

Build wise the hardware has left me somewhat disappointed. The plastic that it has been made from is a bit flimsy and the way it all fits together leaves some odd gaps (as can be seen in the right side view). The feel of the buttons and the keyboard is just fine however I am a long way from touch typing like I could both on my Blackberry and my old Samsung D900.

Ergonomically the keyboard is ok and even with the raised button console on the bottom of the phone the keys are easily reached however my one call would be to make the buttons in slightly higher relief as there are times when you are not entirely sure that you've pressed them properly.

The slide mechanism has a good solid snap to it and doesn't feel like it's going to break. On extension it does look a little wonky which again lends itself to my rather disappointed build quality call.

Access to the Micro SD slot is a bit of a pain but to be fair you're not going to be swapping them over that often and it sure beats other phones that require you to remove the back and the battery for access.

Overall it is a perfectly functional body that isn't over sized and doesn't make me feel like I need to treat it like eggshell. The build could be better and things like the top of the slide and the body of the phone not meeting up and visible cast marks on the chassis that make it feel cheap especially when you compare it to the likes of the HTC Touch HD and the Apple iPhone.

In Part 2 of this review I will go into the functionality of the phone, the responsiveness of the touchscreen and best of all in depth into the brand new OS from Google - Android.

Brian Adams - at the O2 London

2008-11-06T09:29:00.003Z

Last night was a little bit of a guilty pleasure for me and my fiancé. We went to see Bryan Adams at the London O2. It was a brilliant concert and the venue itself serves really well.

We had nose bleed seats and the screens were pretty small at the other end of the stadium but it in no way detracted from what was an excellent night!

I do have one question tho - does that make us old?

Obama is the US President Elect.

2008-11-05T05:32:00.006Z

An amazing result - for once there is an active demonstration that ANYONE can be what they want to be. The statement holds true and is actively shown not just told. This is an historic moment and one that will be remembered as a keystone in a new and more international United States.

Well done America, it took you a long time, but you got there in the end.

Senator McCain has to be one of the most graceful losers that I have ever listened to. Full respect to the man in recognising what the result means and the importance that all America needs to now stand behind this result.

Source: BBC

2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition.

2008-11-04T13:35:00.004Z

Every year there is a photo exhibition on at the London Natural History Museum. Myself and my fiancé go to see it without fail. We have not been this year but as it runs through to the 26th of April we have plenty of time. Since we are coming into winter it strikes me as a pretty good way to kill some time and once you've done this you can visit both he Natural History Museum and also the Science Museum situated behind it. Both are excellent examples of museums and certainly a full day of very interesting stuff for young and old. For the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition you have to buy tickets before hand that then provide you with a specific time slot when you can visit. You can get tickets here. If you have ever had any love for animals, nature or photography I could not more strongly suggest you get along to see it.

Here are some examples of this years stunning offerings. More can be found here

Artificial Heart - From the 'holy mackeral' books!

2008-11-04T13:14:00.004Z

I find this stuff amazing and more than a little scary.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- French scientists have unveiled a working prototype of a fully artificial heart which is based on the technology of satellites and airplanes.

The device could save millions of lives and beats almost exactly like the real thing using electronic sensors to regulate heart rate and blood flow.

The French model is made from natural materials including polymer and pig tissue, which have already been used in heart valves implanted into people. The artificial heart would initially be for patients who had suffered a massive heart attack or who had heart failure, but might eventually be used in patients who are not that sick.

The artificial heart is expected to cost about 150,000 euros or $192,140. (ed: that'd give you a small heart attack anyway!)

US Election - Game on...

2008-11-04T09:03:00.004Z

So it's Game On for the US Presidential Election today and I'd have to say the initial polls are looking pretty good. Across all the polls there has been a fairly predictable trend of sitting on the fence (March - September) but now when it really count it looks like the country is beginning to make it's choice and it seems to be swinging in the Democrats favor.

I have several reasons for hoping for a Barack Obama win not the least of them being that I think it will make the US more 'approachable' as a country. The perception that I have always got from talking to people about America has been that it's a redneck lead country that has little international awareness and little relevance to international issues. I think this perception has been bred by seeing Bush charge into conflicts in Iraq and his constant greater than thou international policy.

Whether there is any reality in the change promised by Barack Obama leaves to be seen but the first and greatest part of the battle is to change perception. A positive swing in the worlds perception of what is going on in America can only be a good thing not only for how people view America and Americans but also in their outlook for the near futures world economy. I would not be at all surprised to see a pretty substantial positive boost to the stock markets world wide if/when Barack Obama becomes president.

Disclaimer: I know sod all about politics or world economies apart from what I read in the papers and see in the news. As the title of the blog suggests this is my personal opinion.

RED - DSMC DSLR?

2008-11-03T12:59:00.005Z

The very well respected HD video camera maker RED (Used by Peter Jackson among others) have been dropping many not so subtle hints that they may be joining the DSLR market but with every intention of using their experience in the motion picture hardware industry and speculation suggests that it will be a DSMC (Digital Still & Motion Camera). The real interest comes when the RED CEO suggests that "the most aggressive speculation will not come close to what we will announce Nov. 13th.".

Sounds interesting however it's a huge ask to get people to shift over from their current preference (Nikon, Canon etc.) because of the large investment that goes into lenses. Now if the mount used on this hypothetical camera is changeable so that either Canon or Nikon glass can be used it could well be an interesting prospect. The likelihood of this is not very high as the president has been set by the likes of Sony and Pentax in supplying their own glass and RED already make their own HD movie camera lenses. As their HD movie cameras go for around £6000 I can't see this coming in at an affordable level but we can all look and ooh and ahh at it for free.

As and aside more competition in the DSLR market is always a good thing however what we really need is more in the mid range prosumer market to drive the body prices down a bit.

A bit of a teaser from Engadget - it's a bit ambiguous and not a photo but a Photoshop.

Lewis Hamilton Wins the F1 Championship

2008-11-03T10:17:00.007Z

Photo: From F1.com

Finally after all the trials and tribulations over the last two years, Lewis Hamilton has won the F1 championship title. It's been a long way coming and is well deserved. In my opinion Hamilton should've won the title several races back and would've had there not been some extremely harsh calls by the FIA and the field marshalls. One does however have to wonder what went on with Timo Glock - the conspiracy theorists will be having a field day with this one - was it because of the tires? Was it because Ron Dennis radioed him to pay him off (no way in hell I think but it's already been suggested) or was it because Timo had nothing to gain by beating Lewis and did a chivalrous thing? We will never know... Either way Lewis deserved the win and I believe the best driver did win. I feel for Filipe Massa as well - a really nice guy that did everything right and that still wasn't enough.

The fact that for the last three years the championship has come down to the final race is both a credit to Bernie Ecclestones orchestration of the show that is F1 and also somewhat damning to the overall fairness to the teams and drivers. Come next year the rules will be changing quite dramatically. All the cars will have the same engines which are designed to run for half the season and they are returning to using full slick tires. A large number of aerodynamic changes are coming into effect as well. This can only be a good thing for the sport as it will close the gap between the teams that had the money and the experience like Ferrari and Mclaren-Mercedes and those that don't like Force-India-Ferrari and Super Aguri-Honda. It will make it much more of a drivers sport and less of a constructors sport.

The old grooved tires - originally designed to slow cars down.
Photo: From F1.com

The new slicks - these have significantly more grip than the grooved tires.Photo: From F1.com

This is a breakdown of the new rules:

- A change in the size of the cars: The maximum width will increase from 1800mm to 2000mm, with the minimum width being 1980mm. The wheels will also increase in size, from 355mm to 365mm at the front, and from 380mm to 460mm.

- A change to the weight: To accommodate the energy recovery systems, the minimum weight of the cars is increasing from 600kg to 605kg.

- Standard ECUs will be introduced, and Traction Control will therefore be banned. Traction Control made a come back recently because the FIA found it hard to police. But with a standardisation in the Engine Control Units, the stewards can better monitor what electronic gizmos the teams are employing.

- Lights inside the cockpit to warn drivers of flags being shown on parts of the circuits. One issue that has been going on for a while is the difficulty drivers have of seeing flags being waved on the side of the circuit when they are driving at high speed. The lights would corrospond with the flag being waved, and go out when the driver has passed the affected area.

- Pit-to-car radios must no longer be scrambled. This is probably to aid the television companies as the recent introduction of radio messages during live broadcasts has proved popular. Even Fisichella’s colourful language, although the FIA now delay the broadcast to filter out such use of words.

Google Android - T-Mobile G2?

2008-10-31T12:35:00.004Z

It seems that the rumour mill has started and it's heading in a pretty predictable direction - Android is supposedly coming to the HTC Touch HD that I have previously mentioned.

Quite the bonus really - not only will it be coming to a piece of hardware far superior to the Apple iPhone but it will also be a later iteration of the Android OS which can only be a good thing. Staying away from early adoption is in many circumstances a good plan.

Aston Martin One-77 - £1million+ car.

2008-10-30T11:59:00.003Z

This is the new Aston Martin One-77 car of which only 77 will be made.

The only stats that I have been able to find on it is that it will be a 700+BHP 7.3-litre V12 and will be sold at around £1.2Million.

It looks a little TVR-ish - similar to the Sagaris which is not a bad thing - insanity in a car is something that I always appreciate.

Images taken from EVO News Magazine.

Android vs iPhone OS - Is open source to be feared?

2008-10-27T09:07:00.006Z

With the impending arrival of the T-Mobile Android G1 phone there has been plenty of discussion online regarding the merits of the open source nature of the Android OS versus the closed nature of the Apple iPhone OS.

There is an inherent fear in users of having their personal information stolen and used for nefarious means like emptying bank accounts and credit card fraud. As our mobile devices become more usable and gain functionality they also increase the amount of personal information stored and as such increase the number of ways that thieves can get at our personal details.

There appear to be lots of pros and cons being discussed however there is one that really caught my eye that being the idea that Googles open source approach to development has some inherent issues when it comes to information security and venerability to viruses. In a recent Cnet article there seemed to be a confusion bought about by a statement of comparison between the iPhones locked down nature and Googles Android wide open nature.

On the majority of these websites there is opportunity for readers to comment at the bottom and once you ferret through the usual fanboy rubbish you eventually hit some people who are voicing some perceived concerns. Things like:

"Let the viruses, trojans, spam, and porn begin! Has no one learned from Microsoft's example?"

and

"There is nothing wrong with 'openness'. However, Android frightens me a bit. The idea of leaving it open to developers for modifying the OS can lead to issues. For example, I wouldn't want a scenario where I find an app and download it to later find that it's malicious. And then, it will track or steal my personal data. To me, it's all about user security and privacy. Apple's approach, however, I'm in much favor of. Now, that's not to say that Google's approach is malicious or harmful to privacy. It's just more exposed and a bit more vulnerable. Whereas Apple's much more guarded yet, still retains it's 'openness' in a safe manner."

One of my old managers used to hit us with a line that has stuck in my head for a very long time and I try to remember it as often as is possible, "Perception is reality", meaning that regardless of actual fact, a persons perception is their reality.

Android touts its main selling point in that it's an open source OS, that anyone can develop and publish applications for it, and eventually it will be available for any piece of hardware. This is all well and good but it has left an opening to other vendors like Microsoft and Apple to point out that open source means a field day for hackers and thieves. A very brief search will quickly bring to light that this is not the case. Googleing "Android Security" takes you directly to this page which outlines the measures that Google has taken to protect their users from malicious elements.

"A central design point of the Android security architecture is that no application, by default, has permission to perform any operations that would adversely impact other applications, the operating system, or the user. This includes reading or writing the user's private data (such as contacts or e-mails), reading or writing another application's files, performing network access, keeping the device awake, etc."

This is a pretty clear statement and further reading of the structure of the Android approach to protecting their users leaves me feeling confident that I am going to be safe using it. However if we go back to the "Perception is Reality" idea then I personally can see an issue that Google should perhaps be highlighting in a more active manner, that being that open source does not mean an open field day on a users personal information.

Currently the thing that puts me off Apples iPhone, i.e. it's closed control freak nature, is the one of the main things that allow people to feel secure using it. If there is anything that Steve Jobs is a genius at it is altering and controlling end user perception and in my opinion Google should be taking a page out of his book and be working to remove any doubts instilled by their competition. Security in both their applications and on their devices should be something highlighted as a main feature not just mentioned in passing.

Egypt - Part 3

2008-10-24T10:15:00.007+01:00

Three Days on the Felucca. By the time we had gotten to Aswan we were quite ready to relax a bit as Cairo was a continuous press of people, dirt and heat. We had seen a few photos of the boat we were to be spending the next 3 nights on so it was not a massive surprise when we got there but it was pleasant.

The Nile Breeze The Nile Breeze is a 12m Felucca with births for 12 people however I think our 10 people was about the perfect number. The deck area was also where we slept and as such was covered in mattresses and on this we spent most of our days. As part of the Nile Breeze package it comes with a support boat that followed along out of sight for most of the journey up until the point when we were to be served up with our meals. It would then pull up next to us and we would jump on board for proper Egyptian cuisine. Stacks of really fresh food all really well prepared.

Our first stop on the our journey was the temple of the Crocodile God (Sobek) at Kom Ombo. As far as temples go, and as an introduction to the many temples along the Nile, this one was pretty awesome.

This was the first day that we really felt the heat and coming from 16C and going to 42-45C is something of a shock to the system. We were told to go through around 3 1.5ltr bottles of water or else we'd be risking heat stroke and once we moved away from the Nile the temperature raises very quickly. The temple is from around 180-145BC and as we were to discover it's quite a young temple.

As far as ways to see Egypt goes a felucca is possibly the best way. It gives you the opportunity to take a break from the constant onslaught of the locals trying to sell you something. I have nothing against them doing this as I understand that tourism is the main way that they are able to make some money and I would not for a moment begrudge them this however having the opportunity to sit back and watch the country go by at a leisurely pace is worth every bit you pay.

The days were pretty perfect and involved breakfast followed by a short sail to our next destination. We would then visit a temple or a village in the morning when the heat wasn't quite as intense and then spend the afternoon chilling out on the boat playing cards or sunbathing. The sun in Egypt, whilst intensely hot, is not like the sun either back home in NZ or here in the UK where you burn fairly quickly.

Speaking of the sun - sunrises and sunsets were spectacular.

Sunrise

Sunset

Back on the Android T-mobile G1

2008-10-24T09:27:00.003+01:00

Browsing through the online WIRED magazine I came across an article on the G1 phone and Android - brief but it does echo my initial sentiments on the state of the OS and the hardware.

From: WIRED Magazine
On Android:- "Google's Android OS for the T-Mobile G1 is pretty freaking on-point for a first-gen software release. Sure, it has bugs — web pages don't automatically resize and the zoom feature blows — but it's also remarkably polished, bristling with nifty tricks."

On the HTC G1:- "The keys are useful, but their physical location is a problem that ties into the most noticeable G1 bugaboo: its size. This is a big annoyance for us — nearly a half-inch thick — and its problematic girth is made worse by an annoying button bank."

I would say that T-Mobile have pulled off a pretty solid coup in the mobile world if they can remain the soul provider of Android phones for an extended period of time. Android is an infinitely more applicable OS than the, albeit flashy and well laid out, Apple iPhone has to offer. I have a hacked/Jail Broken iPod touch and I love it however I dislike the feel that I am being pressured into conforming to what Steve Jobs believes my user experience should be. Android comes from the opposite direction and is an 'enabling' OS that allows the user to define their mobile experience. I believe that as it develops Android will only get more applicable and more user oriented. I think Mr Jobs would do well to consider this sooner rather than later.

Reaching for the stars.

2008-10-23T11:52:00.006+01:00

Looking at the Bloodhound SSC team and their aim to far exceed their previous achievements it got me thinking about presentation that one of my fathers heroes Burt Rutan gave at TED.

It was based around human ambition to go further, higher and faster and the current climate in which things like the US space program has stagnated. i.e. NASA is still flying the Space Shuttle which is now 17 years old and are now considering retiring it and shifting their launch approach to the early space race days of multistage rockets. The Concorde has been scrapped and long distance air travel is still taking place at the same speed as it was in the 1950s. The SR71 Blackbird introduced in 1966 was flown through to 1998 and since then there has not been a military aircraft to even approach its performance.

His point is that the early days of 'reaching for the stars' by governments has gone and now it is down to private enterprise to push development, something that he led by example with his Ansari X-Prize entry - Spaceship One

If you have 20 minutes watch this video. Burt Rutan is one of these people that speaks from a perspective of practicing what he preaches. In my opinion it's worth the look.

1050mph - Wheels on the ground

2008-10-23T10:48:00.005+01:00

October 15th 1997 Thrust SSC hit not only a record breaking speed of 763mph (1228km/h)at ground level but it also passed through the sound barrier in the process. It was powered by two afterburning Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines, as used in British F-4 Phantom II jet fighters. This was a simply astounding thing to accomplish and it answered a question about what would happen when a vehicle passed through the sound barrier when still in contact with the ground. There was some question as to whether the shock wave produced would disrupt the cars aerodynamics and cause it to lose contact with the ground. Clearly this was not an issue and they went on to take the world record.

The SSC team responsible for the Thrust vehicle has now set their sights even higher. Their new project is called Bloodhound SSC and the target this time is 1050mph. This time they are approaching the challenge with a different formula - one engine and a big rocket strapped to it's back. It's an age old approach that has repeatedly gotten great big spaceships into orbit so I guess it stands to reason that doing the same to a little pencil shaped car could have a positive effect.

The jet engine for the Bloodhound is taken from a Eurofighter (actually donated to the team as it was originally destined for a museum) which will take the car to 300mph and then a bespoke rocket engine will carry the car to the intended 1050mph. The car will once again be piloted by the Thrust SSC pilot Wing Commander Andy Green. The attempt is due to take place in 2011.

T-mobile G1 and the Samsung Omnia

2008-10-17T15:32:00.007+01:00

As I have mentioned before I am looking for a new mobile phone. Not so much because I need one but more because my contract period is up and I'm a sucker for gadgets.

In my previous post regarding my options I looked at the up and coming Google Phone or the T-Mobile G1. I still stand by my call on this one, i.e. great OS, very average hardware but on the various tech forums and sites there is noise about a tentative release for the UK market - that being late November (I've heard the 30th but that is entirely unconfirmed). It is due for the US release on the 22nd of October however I don't see anyone over here (UK) going out and buying one online to be an 'early adopter'. From where I am sitting it just hasn't garnered the mass interest and, if we're being honest, the fanatical fan-ism that the Apple iPhone has no problems whipping up.

A big part of the excitement with the Android OS is that it is ultimately going to be cross platform, meaning that it can potentially be used on any hardware available. So far if it could be installed on the iPhone then I would have my ultimate mobile device but the shear force of the Apple legal team coming down on Google certainly makes this a less than likely event. Why Google Android went for the HTC hardware for their initial release I will never know but if there has been anything that I have learned over the years of being a gadget addict is never go for the first version, always wait for the early adopters to eek out the bugs and then get your mitts on the much more polished product.

I went into a mobile shop to have a play with the Samsung Omnia or the i900, as much to broaden my phone options as to just kill some time playing with a gadget.

It has some nice features like it's size, very much comparable to the iPhone, a very tidy layout and a very good camera. It also has the Opera mobile web browser which is just the dogs furries and makes using the interweb on the go a pleasure. For me the things that kills it are the Windows Mobile, an inability to display flash video (also something that puts me off the iPhone), very poor screen resolution (half that of the majority of new generation touch phones) and a significant lack of screen brightness/contrast. It is near unusable in direct sunlight however that may not be too much of an issue in the UK as there is rarely any to speak of. It also comes with a tacky stylus that attaches to the side loop on the phone - perhaps that would be more appropriately utilised with fluffy dice. For me the i900 Omnia is a no go, lots of good things going on with it but the Windows Mobile UI, the Stylus and the poor screen relegate it to a 'could do better' gadget.

EDIT: Just to tack a little on the end here - I have also discovered that the HTC Touch HD is due for release in November 6th - I'll be interested to see who will be carrying this one.

DSLR Video

2008-10-17T13:14:00.006+01:00

There has been a fairly new trend starting in Digital DLR cameras, which has been around for a long time in Point and Shoot, that being video recording. Previously high definition quality video has been, for the everyday prosumer, the domain of expensive HD video cameras. With the advent of the Nikon D90 and the Canon EOS 5D MkII we now have the option of taking not only video but high definition (720p or 1280x720) video. If there is any question as to the quality coming out of a DSLR sensor I think the video below has to go some way toward removing that doubt.

This from Vincent Laforet - Reverie - Shot with the Canon EOS 5D MKII

Tilt Shift

2008-10-17T10:07:00.006+01:00

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

From: http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2008/10/we-are-lilliputians-in-bathtub.html

This was done using a technique called 'Tilt Shift'. The basic theory behind it is that rather than the lens being parallel to the subject, the front element (piece of glass) is tilted to cause the focal point in the image to be very narrow but also wide. The end result is what you might expect to see from macro photography and when used in a landscape situation it looks like a diorama. I love the effect but not enough to dish out the £900 - £1000 asking price for the Nikkor lens.

Image from: http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/18145/pce-nikkor-24mm-lens/

Take the time to check out Chase Javis website. I think he's a very talented photographer.

Egypt Part 2

2008-10-17T09:57:00.011+01:00

Our visit to the Pyramids was ultimately a pretty fulfilling experience. It met with all of my expectations apart from maybe the near vicinity to the city and also my own imagining that there was desert all around. The area is getting built up at a very rapid rate and if it weren't for the governments realisation that the Pyramids are a major source of tourism income they would long ago have stuck some TV aerials on the top of the tallest one. From talking to our later tour guide, who was also an avid Egyptologist and archaeologist, it seems that the Egyptian government does not put any money into either the preservation or continued archaeological work and all the funding has to come from the universities. I find this quite saddening as it's a very narrow minded way to look at what is not only your countries history (arguably the richest in the world), but ultimately it's future.

The other major tourist attraction in the Giza complex is possibly one of the most famous monuments in the world, the great Sphinx. This was cool but when compared to the Pyramids it seemed smaller than I expected. The area was rammed and the whole experience was similar to that of how I might imagine sushi might feel going past on a sushi train. I think the thing that wryly amused me the most was that the Sphinx looks directly at a KFC which also has a Pizza Hutt next to it.

Something that is entirely synonymous to the Sphinx is it's lack of a nose. There are many different stories around how the Sphinx lost his nose, among them Napoleon's troops shooting a cannon at it, but there is no historical proof. My favorite story comes from an Asterix and Obelix book in which Obelix is blamed when he climbs up the face and subsequently knocks the nose off. All the vendors around the Sphinx who had replica statues go into a mad rush with hammer and chisel and alter them to match. Having been there and had countless statues waved under my nose made this all the more amusing.

This is an aerial photo taken from Google Maps of the Pyramids Site.

We headed back to the hotel for a swim to cool off a bit. Coming from London and around 19C (if we were lucky) and ending up in 38C we were all sweating buckets and drinking around 3-4ltrs of water each. I had the forsight to invest in a Camel Pack which holds 2ltrs of water inside your backpack and somehow stays cold the whole time - brilliant! Bags were packed and we headed off to the Cairo train station to wait for my next first experience, an overnight sleeper train. Stacks of trains went by, all filled to the brim with hot and sweaty Egyptians and from what I could see there was no aircon in any of them. Thankfully when our train finally arrived it did have this small blessing.

The sleeper train was a pretty old thing which upon inspection early in the morning appeared to have been made by the World War 2 German aircraft maker Messerschmitt. The train honestly felt about that old however it was fairly comfortable and if it weren't for the onset of Deli Belly I would've spent more time in the bed and less in the toilet! A few blocker/stopper pills and many miles (610miles or 982km) later we arrived in Aswan where we were to board our Felucca and float blissfully down the Nile for 3 nights.

Sleeper Train - Cairo to Aswan

Egypt - Part 1

2008-10-14T08:27:00.011+01:00

If there is anywhere in the world where I have felt intense culture shock; Cairo has to be the greatest. Cairo Airport is quite old and many parts of it have not been refurbished for quite some time - since around 1986. Walking off the plane it was immediately obvious that this was not a wealthy country. Duty Free consisted of some old CRT TVs(tube TVs as opposed to LCD or Plasma) and some ovens, fridges and washing machines. Suffice to say there were not many people heading into it nor walking out with their newly purchased fridge in their Duty Free bags.

Once we purchased our Egyptian Visas we passed on through the Passport check and on to the baggage carousels. There were about 4 carousels of which one of them was just heaving with locals, climbing all over them, waiting for their bags. I half expected some sheep or other livestock to start coming through on the conveyor belt. At around midnight after a 4.5 hour flight it was all quite a surreal experience. Thankfully we had our travel organiser to meet us there and take us to our hotel on the west bank. The drive was interesting to say the least. Driving across the city on a 3 lane motorway where 50% of the cars didn't have their headlights on and the remaining had masses of flashing party lights was a slightly harrowing experience to say the least and when combined with dodging families of Egyptians crossing the road in the dark... well - there it was - Welcome to Egypt!

Our first day in Egypt was gainfully taken up by sitting by the pool and soaking in some sun. After a less than brilliant summer in the UK we had quite the craving and there are few better ways to start a holiday! Later on we headed into Cairo city on the east bank of the Nile. We had heard of a good spot to watch the sun go down, that being the Windows of the World restaurant at the top of the Ramses Hilton. The Bottom photo of the sunset on the previous post was the view we got and also the photo immediately below.

From the Windows of the World - Ramses Hilton

We then went for a wander and found a brilliant restaurant called Falfale. I am officially a great fan of Egyptian food, every meal that we had in Egypt was delicious and always well prepared. The service was also great but they were a bit cheeky and asked for Baksheesh over and above the service charge. We were certainly going to learn that this is pretty common practice and they will try it on every chance they get.

After a reasonable nights sleep we set off for our first bit of tourist activity - Giza and the Great Pyramids. Since our entry into Cairo was by night we did not get to see much of what the city looked like. The drive from the hotel to Giza was short but interesting. Our guide pointed out that the state of the city was due to moves from the government to redevelop Cairo and from what we could see that means building large apartment blocks (similar to council buildings) and relocating the communities into them. The main problem appears to be that none of this work is even close to being finished and the resulting buildings are generally empty and incomplete. The surrounding area hasn't been developed at all and is rapidly filling with rubbish. Later on, driving along the motorway through the city, we would see piles of rubbish dumped on the road burning.

Very typical Cairo housing along the side of the motorway.

The pyramids were every bit as amazing as I had expected and quite rightly I went a bit snap happy. We had a very good guide who was very knowledgeable and did a great job of showing us around. After seeing the Great Pyramid and the large lines to get into the tomb our guide suggested that we have a look at a smaller tomb around the side. I don't think I have ever been in a more claustrophobic situation in my entire life and didn't enjoy the experience at all. Only by the time we got to the bottom of around 20-30m of tunnel could we stand up and strangely there was no ventilation. It really was a get in then get out feeling for me and I think I may have done it in record time and took no photos!

Khafre's Pyramid - Myself and Kim in front.

Menkaure's Pyramid - the smallest of the Great Pyramids.

Following our mole impressions we managed to get around the rest of the Pyramids at Giza, snapped off a stack of photos and then headed to Saqqara (also spelt Sakkara and Sakkarah). This is the site of not only the oldest Pyramid in the world but also the oldest stone construction ever made. It really was a very special place and for someone to build a Pyramid 2700 years BC that reaches a hight of 62 Metres is just amazing. The Pyramid is called the Pyramid of Djoser.

Saqqara - Pyramid of Djoser.

Egypt and Back!

2008-10-13T14:01:00.008+01:00

The Great Pyramids I'm back and Egypt has turned out to be everything that I hoped for and more. It is one of those places that as a child I always wished to visit and had an avid interest in. It has also left me with me with some sadness as it is the shadows of the grandeur from a past age that we all go to see.

Great Pyramid of Khufu

It does not take much to see how mindbogglingly epic Ancient Egypt was and even just as a shadow it's still incomparable with anything I have ever seen before.

I will give a more complete rundown on our trip and what we saw and did later on. I ended up taking around 1200 photos over the 10 days we were there however if my usual trend with travel photography holds true only about 20-30 of those will be to my liking. I will post them as I go along.

Saqqara - obliging guard with camel
We traveled from Cairo to Aswan, from Aswan to Edfu then to Luxor. We met many wonderful people and were looked after extraordinarily well. It was a brilliant trip and hopefully my photos will convey as much.

Sony eReader - PRS-700 release announced

2008-10-03T09:48:00.003+01:00

One last post before I'm off.

The Sony eBook Readers were one of the few bits of technology that I chose to become an early adopter with. I bought the PRS-500 which was the first of their reader line. I absolutely love the thing and will never go back to a paperback unless I have no choice in the matter.

There were some fundamental issues with the design of the PRS-500 unit that were subsequently addressed in the more recent PRS-505 however it was not enough of an improvement for me to be interested in buying it to replace the 500. It was just a reshuffling of buttons and a slightly lighter coloured/higher contrast Screen. No touch screen, no backlight and the worst failing, no PDF reflow (where a PDF document 'reflows' it's content to work with a smaller format screem). The lack of reflow prevented the unit from having any use as a reference book reader.

Now Sony have just announced what could well be a viable replacement for the 500. The PRS-700.

The PRS-700 has touch screen, annotating, search function and a reading light. Best of all it has PDF reflow so you can load PDFs into the reader and use it as a searchable reference tool. This is going to come into serious consideration for purchase I think. Current expected price is $400 which seems fairly reasonable.

Other specs:
- 6 inch display
- internal storage for around 350 books
- SD memory card storage and Memory Stick Duo
- 5 preset text sizes
- Supported formats: PDF, .DOC, BBeB, RTF, TXT and a few others.
- Plays MP3s - great for audio books
- Comes with a stylus
- Seemingly no cup holders...

Sony Press Release

Egypt!

2008-10-02T20:45:00.001+01:00

Photo nicked from National Geographic

Off to the land of Camels and Pyramids! Be back next Sunday hopefully with something to show for it whether it be photos, a sun tan or a large number of camels obtained through selling my Fiance. Ok that's not true, I'll be wearing sun screen, so no tan.

Lamborghini Hybrid?

2008-10-02T12:48:00.000+01:00

Being something of a car fan, especially those that I will never have the money to get my hands on, I fairly religiously watch shows like 5th Gear and Top Gear. Stemming from that I love all things ridiculously looking and ridiculously fast like the Pagani Zonda, the Koenigsegg CCXR and my personal favorite, the Lamborghini Murcielago. There is just something about the look and the noise that comes from a Lambo. Browsing through some car related sites I have come across this, and I'm not sure whether I like it or not, and I'm currently leaning toward not. It isn't because of the way it looks, but more that turning a Lambo into a 4 seater GT tourer hybrid is not what you expect from the insanity of Lamborghini.

There is to be several options for this car as far as engines go, one of them being the 520BHP engine from the Murcielago. There is an alternative - a TDI (Turbo Diesel) V8 electric hybrid. It just doesn't seem right. Now an all electric monstor with the acceleration and handling of the Wrightspeed X1 and I'd be all over it like a cheap... well you know...

There is precident for diesel sports with the V12 TDi R8 shown by AUDI at the Detroit motor show - another car that I really do like the look of. There is also a precident for 4 door sports cars with the Aston Rapide and the Porche Panamera neither of which, I'm forced to admit, are entirely ugly cars. Still, Lamborghini was the last I would've penned in for a 4 door supercar sedan. It must be said though that it's a step in the right direction for a gas guzzling genre of motoring. Still a hybrid Lambo...

And a few more...

2008-10-02T08:53:00.000+01:00

Venice - Grand Canal
The Gormleys - Waterloo Bridge, London

Helicopter View - New York, Manhattan

Venice Canal - Venice, Italy

Ladybird

The Coliseum - Rome, Italy

Kim drinking a Cafe Latte - Rome, Italy

Venice from the bell tower in St Marks Sqaure - Venice, Italy

Photography

2008-10-02T08:37:00.000+01:00

Some of my photography again. These are some of my favorites from my Flickr site not including the ones I've already posted. I'd like to think that my yield for great photos vs the ones I discard as 'snaps' is going up but I think perhaps that my personal standards for my shots have gone up which means that the good photos are getting better but I'm still discarding so many. This is a good thing but it still means that I am shooting several hundred photos and only posting around 4-6 as ones I really like. You're always your own worst critic.

Kim in Lake Taupo - Taupo, New Zealand

China Town - Bangkok, Thailand

Heythrop Park early morning - Oxfordshire, UK

Mt Ruapehu shrouded in cloud, Desert Road, New Zealand

Running fireworks festival - Javea/Xabia, Spain

Empire State Building at night - Manhattan, New York

Dead Fly - My windowsill, London, UK

China in Space

2008-10-01T14:57:00.000+01:00

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7639498.stm

China has launched a manned spacecraft, had him complete a 15 minute space walk and returned the three astronauts to Earth safely. Ultimately they will be creating their own space station and using that as a base to get first to the Moon and then to Mars.

I think this is an awesome thing to have done and it's great to see that there is still some countries out there who are pushing the limits. My only hope is that this motivates other countries into a space race again. A huge number of technologies that we take for granted now are either directly related to or resulting from technology developed by NASA for use in space and on the Moon.

Here is a list of many of these items including most cordless equipment like drills, toothpaste, smoke detectors and various medical scanners.

The Jules Verne burns up on re-entry.

2008-10-01T11:14:00.000+01:00

Europe's first ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) cargo ship, The Jules Verne burns up during a planned reentry after completing it's ISS (international space station mission). Quite a beautiful thing to watch I think. Being an automated ship there is no need for crew.
Image from the ESA (European Space Agency)

Video Credit: ESA

CG, SciFi and art.

2008-10-01T08:20:00.000+01:00

CG, SciFi and art. Three things that I have more than a passing interest in, have a great desire to contribute to, and have only my photography to really show for it.

I've been following a few artists and the work that they have produced and, since days of my early childhood, I've always been intrigued by movies like Star Wars (the first 3 EPs 4, 5 & 6), TV shows like Battlestar Galactica (which has since made a brilliant comeback) and also Babylon 5 which had massive scope and was a favorite for a fairly long time. I'm not entirely sure what it was that got me hooked, whether it was the imagination behind it or perhaps the idea that there could be so many other worlds out there, I'm not really sure. I'm not one of these people who sit there and try to spot UFOs, or have even the slightest iota of belief that anyone has ever been abducted by aliens and subjected to an Eric Cartman style probing, but I'm also not someone who believes that we're it in the universe and seeing what other people imagine for both our future and for other worlds is something that I find both exciting and intriguing.

I tend to loiter around web sites such as CGSociety.org and SciFi-Meshes.com as this is where the artists responsible for my daydreaming childhood reside. I've gone through and have grabbed a few samples of the work these guys do and would encourage anyone to take the time to explore the web sites as they are really quite good!

I've been gradually teaching myself the related tools (3DS MAX - a 3D modeling tool and Photoshop - which gets stacks of use in relation to my photography) that these guys are clearly masters at and one day I hope to post something in a similar vein to what I have posted below. Honestly though I would not be holding my breath! I will be brave and post a few things that I have been working on soon but at this stage you'll have to live with the examples below - nothing like setting the bar high for oneself!

From a concept artist named 'Sparth' - Website
From an artist named Stephan Matiniere: Website
From an artist named Alexander Preuss: Website

Photography around London

2008-09-30T09:10:00.000+01:00

Me and a good friend of mine recently went for a bit of a photo mission. Our early ideas were to head out east to the grimy parts of London and see what we could find. Turns out that we didn't make it that far as we got rather taken by the London City (The Square Mile) architecture. I personally am not overly blown away by English architecture as I think it can lack imagination however there is a periodic anomaly or blip in the blandness. Cases in point are buildings like London St Pancras Train Station, The Houses of Parliament including the stunning Big Ben (which is actually St Stephens Tower - it's just the clock that is Big Ben) and the Millennium Wheel. They, and a few others, make for an interesting break from the endless lines of samey buildings, the likes of which are commonly seen at the start of East Enders

The end result were some photos that I rather enjoyed taking. All the shots were taken with a Nikon D80 using a Sigma 10-20mm lens and a Cokin P ND Grad filter. More of my photos can be found on my Flickr site.

Shakespeare Tower - Barbican

30 Cannon Street

The Lloyds Building

A random Building around London Wall

To upgrade or not to upgrade? Is that the question?

2008-09-30T07:25:00.000+01:00

The time is getting close when I am going to have the 18 month phone call from my mobile provider telling me that my contract is up and I am eligible for a hardware upgrade. Excellent!...or not...?

There are stacks of options out there however very few of them meet the lofty criteria that I have convinced myself that I will need met by my next upgrade. After all I have gotten used to the idea of being able to... erm... make phone calls and periodically check the weather and significantly less often use Google maps to find out exactly where I am (or within a few 10s of metres) or where I am going.

In all honesty the mobile I have more than meets the hardware requirements for what I want to do and has served me quite well for the last 17 months. I currently have the Samsung D900.

It's brilliantly slim, easy to use, has a UI designed by Adobe which is quite slick (apart from some rather convoluted processes for sending texts to people) and has my favorite function - the camera flash which can be used as a torch. If there has been any one function on this phone that has gotten more regular use than either the calling or the texting, it is the torch. With my next hardware upgrade, it had better be able to cook me breakfast because the torch bit really had me at hello.

The real question then is - what will I choose to replace this current device? Should I join the masses of people that have sold their souls to Apple and go for the iPhone or be a rebel and wait for something like the HTC Touch HD? I really am very tempted by the HTC HD - pretty much the same form factor as the iPhone, twice the screen resolution and the lofty promises of Googles Android. The current down side of this 'up and coming' is that it uses windows mobile which is every bit as frustrating as it's parent OS can be - Windows XP.

I've had a cursory play with the new Android phone and at this stage really quite like it. The hardware is a bit clunky and it doesn't have the instantly intuitive UI (User Interface) of the iPhone however what it does have is a really clever set of tools that make the phone significantly more than 'just a phone'. The most important of which I believe is the web browser which is every bit as useful, and usable, as the iPhones. I firmly believe that mobile browsers have absolutely no future in their current stripped down 'mobile' state. It's slow, clunky, and if we're being honest just a pain in the rear end to use. Every conceivable tool that we might desire can be found online and with the support of great hardware, my latest favorite bit of hardware convergence GPS, and a rock solid OS (Operating System) the mobile phone is really coming into it's own as a truly useful bit of kit and not just a constant irritation on the bus or train. I believe that Android is a serious threat to the iPhones 'must have' status and the only thing holding it back is the less than stellar HTC Dream (G1) hardware that it's initially getting release on.

At this stage I guess I should answer my own question; what am I going to upgrade to? Apple iPhone with it's frankly stunning UI and gorgeous hardware design but astoundingly anal and controlling greater than thou approach by Mr Steve Jobs or the HTC Touch HD? Again very well designed hardware, beautiful screen, built in GPS (that actually works well) and the long distance promise of an open source operating system developed, in the end, by people who have a little more vision and are a little less focused by lining their pockets and controlling the masses (at least that's the image they're selling - the pessimists among us know better!).

The bombshell answer! Neither at this stage. My phone works perfectly well and I have my trusty iPod Touch to keep me entertained and it grants me wireless access for my holiday internet fix. The GPS can wait till Android has moved along a bit from it's early release state and has matured a bit as can the hardware. Unless I get my hands on the HTC Touch HD and get really blown away by it, the fancy screen doesn't really have me sold. Besides, my current mobile phone service provider have a Sony PS3 promotion going on at the moment and I could quite possibly wrangle a 'free' console out of them. A complete bonus as convincing my fiance that spending £300 on a 'must have' piece of entertainment just hasn't been floating.

Entry Level DSLRs

2008-09-29T15:49:00.000+01:00

I was recently asked for my opinion regarding a good beginners/introductory digital SLR camera. Their preference is for a Canon so the main lean is for them.

I would look at the Canon 450D with 18-55mm IS (image stabilization) lens. From what I understand this is a great camera with few flaws. It has a great balance between ease of use as a point and shoot beginner camera and the fully manual capability of someone wanting to further their photography. The cheapest price I've found is £446.04 incl from Dixons

Canon 450D Review

Alternatively there would be the Canon 400D (the predecessor to the 450D) but it is much less of a camera. The 450D also has the advantage of having 'Live View' which is a pretty new thing in the digital SLR world. It means that you don't need to look through the viewfinder to see what you are going to shoot, similar to a standard point and shoot camera - a very nice feature when you are trying to shoot over a crowd or from an awkward angle - it's an aspect that I miss greatly when shooting with my DSLR. The best price I have found for the 400D is £354.92 incl from PC World.

Canon 400D Review

Now to throw some confusion into the subject I would not discount the possibility of a Nikon. It pushes the boat out a bit further if you are buying it new and you would be looking at around £584.99 for the D80 with the 18-70mm lens which from personal experience is a brilliant walk around piece of kit. This is the camera that I can personally vouch for. My initial decision was between the Nikon D70s, the D80 and the Canon 400D. I went into a camera shop and held the cameras, took a couple of shots with each and generally just played a bit. My personal feeling was that the D80 is much more solid and well built camera however in the world of DSLRs it's now older technology (August 2006). It doesn't have things like Live View, has 2MP less resolution (than the 450D) and doesn't have the anti-dust systems that the 400D and 450D have. What it does have is a much nicer overall experience with holding and shooting. Size wise it feels more solid and a little more mature as a camera. The Canons have something of a plasticy toyish feel to them despite being very capable cameras. The best price I have found new is £582.99 from Mifsuds

Nikon D80 Review

There has just been the release of the replacement to the D80, imaginatively called the D90, which has all the up to date features including the ability to take high definition video recording and the afore mentioned live view. The D90 body only will take you for a cool £649.oo incl (From T4 Cameras with an extra £150 added to get the kit lens (18-105mm VR Lens). Probably pushing the boat out a little far with that but the upside is that there are a whole raft of second hand D80s out there now which you could get well within budget and also pick up the Nikkor 18-70mm Kit lens which is also a great starting point.

Nikon D90 Preview

I would not look at the lower end Nikon's' (the D40, D40x or the D60) as for the same price you can get the 450D which in my personal opinion is a far superior camera.

Were it my choice I would go with the Canon 450D as it's a more capable camera than the 400D - I think a good part of my preference for the D80 is 'large hands - large camera' however it may well be worth going into a camera shop and actually try the cameras out - see how you feels about them. The thing to remember is that when you're shooting you will want the camera to feel 'right'. The image quality of the Nikons and the Canons are pretty much on par and the nature of SLR photography is that much of the end result is gained through post processing on the computer so the eventual choice comes down to what features do you think that you will use (Does the Live View matter? Does the control and screen layouts make that much difference) and your personal preference for the feel of the camera.

As far as buying lenses goes, keep in mind that the older Canon and Nikon lenses may not be compatible with the newer bodies or functionality and things like the metering and auto focus may suffer as a result. If you friends also have DSLRs then it shouldn't be a problem.

I hope this helps a bit and I hope I've been reasonably clear in my suggestions. There are other options out there - Sony, Pentax, Fuji, Panasonic/Lumix - but I would steer clear of them and stick with either of the two main brands as they have the lens range and the past history for optics.

Photography

2008-09-23T13:09:00.000+01:00

I may as well start out with a bit of my personal photography - something of a passion for me. This is just a random selection of stuff from my Flickr account. Please feel free to drop in and visit it.

The Gherkin - 30 St Mary Axe

Amalfi - Italy

New York City - Off an open top tour bus

Welcome to the way I see the world.

2008-09-23T12:58:00.000+01:00

Welcome to this, a little window into the way I see some of the world, some of my opinions, likes, dislikes and personal observations in both a textual and pictorial manner. I hope you enjoy your visit.