tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31646308455981888362024-02-19T03:16:03.486+00:00In My OpinionAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-29443574400523713832012-10-19T00:42:00.000+01:002012-10-19T01:10:44.318+01:00Photo Dump!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A very quick second photo dump. I think I might be reaching the end of photos that can do with revisiting but I think what I have found has been fairly reasonable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Battersea Power Station</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOqNOeixV7zIPNJEHGvnIcgh3a6ddeVSU6hvJh7T5ou7_1_JOESyA9nURxuMofPQ-xx_ReteOlJ3D4ZTPRLtrjd8Qkg-7Ag_vxGctm4fBnEcoPoCzdY64dFmEuno3xF5AzUKp0AcAu2A/s1600/Battersea-Power-Station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOqNOeixV7zIPNJEHGvnIcgh3a6ddeVSU6hvJh7T5ou7_1_JOESyA9nURxuMofPQ-xx_ReteOlJ3D4ZTPRLtrjd8Qkg-7Ag_vxGctm4fBnEcoPoCzdY64dFmEuno3xF5AzUKp0AcAu2A/s640/Battersea-Power-Station.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big Ben and the houses of parliament</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixFS_UFVEWOWM8cAbpi8f3Yvlnjzl0Tk5w7YGJVZ0jiDX94vZM30Z2QALeAlaP7Fpqr5OjNs28hmOTvzRMCtcOyfYiUrODqudA6wC__8cCUvDqsE0n_-C6BnxnbO7ALI1dfF_FF_THRLM/s1600/Big-Ben.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixFS_UFVEWOWM8cAbpi8f3Yvlnjzl0Tk5w7YGJVZ0jiDX94vZM30Z2QALeAlaP7Fpqr5OjNs28hmOTvzRMCtcOyfYiUrODqudA6wC__8cCUvDqsE0n_-C6BnxnbO7ALI1dfF_FF_THRLM/s640/Big-Ben.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was during a 'Super Moon' where the moons brightness was 30% more than usual. A long exposure produced unexpected results!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCh6EvCK9aQvgev0Sx_TZ8-L_iJRg65mX8Bp26Nx_ajEwFCSpIktDrBIQ_TV3nlxHJrNWId_-sqFObHwrxrTcQE1KjLwcrqkLZuRJDIQm7WQAAOL-zVRcsMTc5p-crgQwBgCzc1uP76d8/s1600/Super-Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCh6EvCK9aQvgev0Sx_TZ8-L_iJRg65mX8Bp26Nx_ajEwFCSpIktDrBIQ_TV3nlxHJrNWId_-sqFObHwrxrTcQE1KjLwcrqkLZuRJDIQm7WQAAOL-zVRcsMTc5p-crgQwBgCzc1uP76d8/s640/Super-Moon.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a monkey temple in India</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyITwc3aqtAqqcx_DoSiWnHa5NOAZf_21R6gaow5rs1uyegTnS7zODfd09v0ZsPfoFaApzYGzP8w8HANlytFxW-lZ3Hs93pb2arNL_iMRA4VrKdP_0b-_cb3BQj-BBofhOCsg28zDiWLU/s1600/Baby-Monkey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyITwc3aqtAqqcx_DoSiWnHa5NOAZf_21R6gaow5rs1uyegTnS7zODfd09v0ZsPfoFaApzYGzP8w8HANlytFxW-lZ3Hs93pb2arNL_iMRA4VrKdP_0b-_cb3BQj-BBofhOCsg28zDiWLU/s640/Baby-Monkey.jpg" width="522" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicL8eW-5oTKuNtHe41-ZvQimAFb2vzz0TlBedDBoKCy1Kd2OWBpcMWFGcMJiBv1twKOAYTV18kZHYfqBvPUcKgDqBiHfhy09lZjPycvrT-OUqQIckU4x3GNvhTu65hBPxMjPUoKOaFZGQ/s1600/Monkey-Temple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicL8eW-5oTKuNtHe41-ZvQimAFb2vzz0TlBedDBoKCy1Kd2OWBpcMWFGcMJiBv1twKOAYTV18kZHYfqBvPUcKgDqBiHfhy09lZjPycvrT-OUqQIckU4x3GNvhTu65hBPxMjPUoKOaFZGQ/s640/Monkey-Temple.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBs7ESF1XfTj97jwE2wMHEYKaEuShM2pIP5JrcDmc_-cjf4PfMKKxNY1NlGQ-NfKxUbmd0woVMJyqc12VVIoUVtCxWSeau8ZYceb-tZhiftXoPp_9bwU3d3dvTNoLLLB_GC_ervFaaKk/s1600/Monkeys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBs7ESF1XfTj97jwE2wMHEYKaEuShM2pIP5JrcDmc_-cjf4PfMKKxNY1NlGQ-NfKxUbmd0woVMJyqc12VVIoUVtCxWSeau8ZYceb-tZhiftXoPp_9bwU3d3dvTNoLLLB_GC_ervFaaKk/s640/Monkeys.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think this was in Agra, India</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoypWON8WFFm_rR3lSSYfJ8oD_XlSfbn4nuf2qKURfgLon3pIp10Q4JROjJ18SgiwMvxl-bRJZ7X10g9GsifHOtMuiGUORoWHGA9rPkOXxQNL6C4RSwer-whzwdzQTq8bf4HFIzyjMRCs/s1600/Pigeons-and-Pepsi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoypWON8WFFm_rR3lSSYfJ8oD_XlSfbn4nuf2qKURfgLon3pIp10Q4JROjJ18SgiwMvxl-bRJZ7X10g9GsifHOtMuiGUORoWHGA9rPkOXxQNL6C4RSwer-whzwdzQTq8bf4HFIzyjMRCs/s640/Pigeons-and-Pepsi.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taj Mahal</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbHHMvOKuvfsyx3O5ojqcGRF_yopwyq0Z_XmGb_neyHJ9Xrz7uX_oPwBPllpItBybX7Mq5tL24vUyXZ-f0gSXON7aaOb1-8wkAI0Z7dRCmRPaQunJ4C1EwT117oIkbY3rGTEQ1t28vNw/s1600/Taj-B&W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbHHMvOKuvfsyx3O5ojqcGRF_yopwyq0Z_XmGb_neyHJ9Xrz7uX_oPwBPllpItBybX7Mq5tL24vUyXZ-f0gSXON7aaOb1-8wkAI0Z7dRCmRPaQunJ4C1EwT117oIkbY3rGTEQ1t28vNw/s640/Taj-B&W.jpg" width="504" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taj Mahal</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8iQzPeMMLWEciPW-14-HMHN8LgAZlMlgjyTFdqnITbuHxefxWmzlxme-mmCLrPJtDTG7fU53YoEsHmE2cNLMEbRSZy9bDOhF9f2BZ5Ia4Ue3K1RBs4E76ih2nOORAECfQQHWCU28mI4/s1600/Taj-Mahal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8iQzPeMMLWEciPW-14-HMHN8LgAZlMlgjyTFdqnITbuHxefxWmzlxme-mmCLrPJtDTG7fU53YoEsHmE2cNLMEbRSZy9bDOhF9f2BZ5Ia4Ue3K1RBs4E76ih2nOORAECfQQHWCU28mI4/s640/Taj-Mahal.jpg" width="460" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-60483461881583726882012-10-19T00:28:00.000+01:002012-10-19T03:21:17.927+01:00Windows 8...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I, like a great many others, was quite taken aback by Microsoft when then released Windows 7. Here was an operating system that not only looked great, but it was brilliant in it's workflow and usability. MS had made all the necessary changes to Vista to make it a far more complete OS without losing the familiarity of XP. XP was the last time that MS really out did themselves in upgrading a new OS and I guess if you look at the pattern of their releases it came as no surprise that Windows 8 is an utter hash job.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_wmnGZ_hCYD-mcDxcWMdtTzp4h2mBLsY3Tx5SHwGDK4bm3AU2uFFpkqwMCYrgn0x-SEJywtMcdGrnJURfqny6hN4zhMXeEGWw8QYE4aG_UJ3agzlpGTufsjvcZCOZ_BMudKJTx0dQ8k/s1600/winxppro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_wmnGZ_hCYD-mcDxcWMdtTzp4h2mBLsY3Tx5SHwGDK4bm3AU2uFFpkqwMCYrgn0x-SEJywtMcdGrnJURfqny6hN4zhMXeEGWw8QYE4aG_UJ3agzlpGTufsjvcZCOZ_BMudKJTx0dQ8k/s400/winxppro.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Windows 7 is a robust and user friendly OS, but it's also a systems administrator friendly OS. It's SA friendly for a couple of reasons, the first being that it protects itself well from people accidentally making errors and but it also didn't lose functionality and familiarity of XP. This was awesome because when you sat a user down in front of their newly build Windows 7 machine you were able to say to them "You're familiar with Windows XP? Well this is pretty much the same but you have all this great added functionality such as aero snap, an intelligent explorer search function, pinning applications to the taskbar and a massively more functional start menu". Within all of this they had also made it a damn sight prettier.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-G9i4W7nXg3YyX8V27Z3vmIdIKnJbtlNPzi6Qtk4PUgB4hQ6FPxokuh-yj6qlwyG1wl78T4OK0sSzRk_IPCB9shdt7JxQtEXgLvezSOW0XdDwlv-C9chVWkQR6DZwdlMAci6Zm7k4mBw/s1600/Windows_7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-G9i4W7nXg3YyX8V27Z3vmIdIKnJbtlNPzi6Qtk4PUgB4hQ6FPxokuh-yj6qlwyG1wl78T4OK0sSzRk_IPCB9shdt7JxQtEXgLvezSOW0XdDwlv-C9chVWkQR6DZwdlMAci6Zm7k4mBw/s400/Windows_7.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Windows 8 is only one of these things. It's prettier. I personally believe that Microsoft have shot themselves in the foot with this release for a couple of reasons but I will get to that in a moment. Microsoft have always lagged behind in the 'cool' market. Despite having a huge presence in the gaming market with XBOX they still don't have an image of cool or desirable. Their mobile phones have historically been a non event, and even sometimes worse, they've been borderline offensive in how unusable they were. Their Zune brand has been a flop despite the hardware being stunning simply because they don't have the marketing prowess of Apple. It's because of this that they constantly strive to get a foothold in the home and mobile marketplaces.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwwdl04zKqKCdJuc13NQt6uxuAkp32z8Z5Vvdc6taXvYJ_FoKsAquXyJrwlpgkCowSkbBqGRADArPTLIAWQhpkvSIJgwKv4DsFjI9VcKlUKt94FZ5MS6shkTFSWm1xFVqTUgMV2vKM16Y/s1600/windows-8-e1344517893131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwwdl04zKqKCdJuc13NQt6uxuAkp32z8Z5Vvdc6taXvYJ_FoKsAquXyJrwlpgkCowSkbBqGRADArPTLIAWQhpkvSIJgwKv4DsFjI9VcKlUKt94FZ5MS6shkTFSWm1xFVqTUgMV2vKM16Y/s400/windows-8-e1344517893131.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Historically Microsoft has made the majority of its revenue from the enterprise market, Server, MS Office, SQL, Sharepoint etc. In recent years their home PC and Entertainment divisions have been picking up a fair amount of their overall revenue but they have begun to see this fade off a bit. The reasoning for this is that consumers no longer see a need for a fully blown desktop. They can play games, check email, browse the internet and watch movies all on their iPads, Android devices and on a whole host of netbook style devices. Tied in with this is that stylistically, Apple especially, these devices have a desirability about them and an extremely well marketed 'cool' factor. For every PC that would sell with Windows on it MS would be making money. If consumers don't need or want a PC because an iPad or their mobile phone/phablet/tablet does everything they need, why spend 2,3,4 times the amount on a Desktop that will only take up space and ultimately become a virus and spyware filled liability?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdZ5URQ5UsE9VEzRCVM2IF-qYbGuQlTqGLZ6Vz0Cpl-Lbb7laQIP5SalBU4vWdeBYJo-csbNTvV_IBARaYplq-_4sSEi6WYx3cG9Vmmm58pEmboEFwCYT5BkTWtX9TiJafOa-lA5DoiE/s1600/win8_review_desktop-no-aero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdZ5URQ5UsE9VEzRCVM2IF-qYbGuQlTqGLZ6Vz0Cpl-Lbb7laQIP5SalBU4vWdeBYJo-csbNTvV_IBARaYplq-_4sSEi6WYx3cG9Vmmm58pEmboEFwCYT5BkTWtX9TiJafOa-lA5DoiE/s640/win8_review_desktop-no-aero.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enter Windows 8. Windows 8 is not Microsoft's first foray into the mobile tablet form factor nor is it the first time we've seen the 'Metro' interface. This first popped up in the recent version of Windows Mobile. What this is is a change in the way that Microsoft has prioritised it's desktop operating system. Windows has primarily been about covering all bases, both home and enterprise. Windows 8 is not about this, I suspect that Microsoft would like to think that it is, but I would beg to differ. The reason I say this is that the overriding UI is aimed at touch screen mobile devices and translates into swipes and gestures for the greater part of it's functionality. That's great for those using a tablet or touch screen device, not so great when you're using a mouse and keyboard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mentioned that I though that MS had shot themselves in the foot with this release. My reasoning is relatively simplistic, and it goes like this. I said that when you put Windows 7 (or any previous iteration of Windows) in front of a normal office worker, they can intuitively figure out where they should go to find stuff (and I say intuitively because they've spent the last 15 years using the same form factor). Windows 8 is not like this. It has no start button, when you go hunting for it you'll find that it kicks you back to the Metro interface completely overriding the desktop. I can only imagine the frustration that this will bring on with secretaries, legal staff, accounting staff in fact all staff other than the most tech savvy. This is only one example of changes, they've altered the way search works, it's now not so immediately context driven and it doesn't present smart results like Windows 7. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a whole bunch of ultimately frustrating and needless changes that have been made and I believe that this will do two things. One, it will alienate those users that are not 'power users' that come into work, push the power button and expect familiarity. Change is not great for these people. It increases their work load and their frustration spreads around all the people they work with. Second, if they have a bad experience with Windows and Microsoft product at work, then they sure as hell won't be going home and saying "we need a new PC, let's go buy another Windows machine". They're going to pull out their iPad and go "this is nice and simple to use, let's get a Mac!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be fair the majority of enterprise environments will likely still be migrating the last of their machines from XP to Windows 7 so they will pass over this version, but for a company that is so driven to get a foothold into the home and mobile market, it seems foolish to me to alienate their enterprise customers. I've already seen that Apple are gaining in a big way in the corporate environment with iPhones and iPads. If Microsoft doesn't back track in one way or another with Windows 9 to attempt a hearts and minds win then I think we'll see more and more people moving to Apple.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Personally I won't be touching Windows 8 with a 10 foot barge pole. It has no appeal to me, it gains me no added functionality and promises too many frustrations. I guess we could see some changes in SP1 (it's a common rule with MS operating systems to wait for the first service pack releases) but I don't believe we will see them backing down from the overall functionality because Microsoft are so desperate to get into the tablet section of the market. Personally I don't see it, just like I don't see their Windows Mobile Phone devices doing well either. For all the prettiness, Microsoft just isn't 'cool'.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-50491724833395980312012-10-13T07:33:00.001+01:002012-10-13T11:01:42.638+01:00Photo Dump Time<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I've been going back through my old photos and seeing if there were any that justified a re-process or something that I missed. I think I found a few but I also really have seen how many of the good shots were flukes out of thousands that I'd personally consider to be chaff. These are the ones that I had a second look at. They aren't brilliant but I liked them enough to put them on Flickr. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In terms of processing I try to take each photo on its own merits and apply processing that I personally feel compliments the image the best. Having said that I can't help but feel that I've kinda been influenced by the instagram plague that seems to be rapidly destroying snap photography on Facebook and the like but hopefully with a more thoughtful application than a stock processing filter.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f5f5ff; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-28672240920237232762012-10-10T06:46:00.000+01:002012-10-10T06:46:02.690+01:00Self Portraiture<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something that I have always wanted to get into is portraiture. It's not an easy thing to do because everyone has a very definite idea of what they should look like and there are some tricks for getting the best out of someones face. An everyday snap is typically quite a laid back affair and if the photo turns out great then it tends to be a bit of a fluke.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not going to pretend that I know too much on the subject but I thought I'd start off with taking a self portrait and see where it gets me, if only as something to refer back to as I learn and hopefully get better. It took about 170 odd goes because it's important to not only get the eyes in focus but also to maintain some depth of field and that is a tough thing to do when you can't see through your own view finder! So here I am.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-68703270144375193042012-10-02T10:21:00.001+01:002012-10-02T10:21:26.146+01:00Comet! October! 2013! Woo!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Linked from: Gizmodo. URL:<a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/10/astronomers-discover-huge-new-intensely-bright-comet/">http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/10/astronomers-discover-huge-new-intensely-bright-comet/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image source: Gizmodo</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something to really look forward to - Allegidly the comet could reach a brightness great than that of the moon. That is crazy cool. Living in Australia, it sounds like the perfect opportunity to make a trip out to the Northern Territories on a photography mission... actually I have several reasons why I want to head out there but just this one will do!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of which, I think it might be time to get working on a photo dump... it's always the way though - too many photos, too good at procrastinating to process them...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-3209390859669423522012-10-02T00:56:00.000+01:002012-10-02T00:57:18.373+01:00Apple iPhone 5 - The Maps Debacle<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been sitting back and watching the Apple iPhone 5 release unfold with some interest. It's kinda been the first really major release from Apple since the great Steve Jobs left this world and, personally, I was hoping for something that was actually a bit of a departure from the stock expectation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did Apple disappoint? In some ways yes, in others no. iPhone 5 saw an increase in screen size, a removal of the glass back and a slight change in the UI layout (if adding a row of icons can be described as a change in UI). It also saw them take another step away from the shared Apple/Google ecosystem by removing the GMaps from the core OS as part of the iOS6 update. The other major change was with the connector but that was in many ways expected.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just briefly on the form factor change. Really it was about time. iPhone when placed next to any other high end smartphone looks like a poor cousin in terms of screen size and I'd have to say that the added real estate has to be the most welcome change. Getting rid of the glass back was something of a necessity as I suspect that the expense incurred by Apple through smashed chassis had to have hurt. It also means that the phone can be a little lighter and a little thinner. Headphone socket at the bottom... meh, I think you might find that there is an added reason for this with docks since the analog audio function has been removed from the dock connector but then it might just be because that's the only place they could fit it in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Changing the dock connecter from the standard 30 pin to their new 'Lightning' connecter strikes me as a pessimistic and ultimately exploitive move essentially there to generate more income. There is nothing (yet) that the connector does that a Micro USB connector can't do and, from a customer perspective, it means that everyone is going to buy a whole stack of new peripherals. The Lightning connecter has an 'advantage' in that it can be inserted any way thus removing the frustration of trying to jam your socket in the wrong way. What they seem to miss is that the Micro USB plug actually has a large 'B' on one side of it which means that you should be able to tell which way is the right way just by touch. The other thing of note is that the Lightning connecter has electronics built into it that will make duplicating the cables a slightly pricier prospect and unfortunately for the consumer it means that it will be a long time before we can buy the $5 versions off eBay etc. Once again Apple is treating their customers like money bags...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than a processor update and some other very small OS tweaks, the main thing that has been rearing it's head amongst the media has been the exclusion of Google Maps from iOS6. Apple still has a year left on their contract with Google Maps and so had no financial reason to exclude it from the iOS6 release so we can safely assume that it is part of their greater roadmap to remove any form of reliance from their nearest competitor. After dredging up some of the interweb scuttlebut I've discovered that their inhouse mapping App was shoehorned into the iOS6 release with a matter of weeks left and it seemed to have undergone the bare minimum of field testing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know about anyone else, but mapping plays a major role in my mobile experience. I rely on it almost every single day and I take great comfort in knowing that if I get myself lost, I have a very powerful mapping tool to get me back on track. I would go so far as to say that the mapping and navigation functionality of my mobile is the single most important application that it has, closely followed by its music capability and then email/messaging and finally as a phone. For Apple to have pushed this out with such a small, apparent, amount of field testing shows a lack of foresight. Apple are in a place where they are vulnerable to being shot down for the smallest failure. With Steve Jobs gone, the tech world is waiting for Tim Cook to go to pieces and for Apple to follow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An old boss of mine made a very astute call once. He said "perception is reality". This is very true, regardless of whether the mapping functionality of the iPhone 5 is actually any good or not, the media and those that are not enveloped in Apples 'reality bubble' are just waiting for any excuse to shoot them down and they gleefully lept on the mapping failure as ammunition. To add to the fun, Tim Cook has issued a subsequent apology to the lack of apparent quality of the app and suggested using one of the other competitors apps in place - that being either Nokia or Microsofts Bing Maps. What Apple has done is allowed for the perception of their product to be tarnished. Jobs had a flare for dressing up his releases with a charismatic delivery of pomp and glitter that was swallowed up whole heartedly by the media and Apple fans alike. Tim Cook has not maintained that, the smoke and mirrors have cleared and suddenly the flawless gem is a vat grown knock off with a big crack down the middle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apple are in a 'Tall Poppy' situation currently and they have handed the media and the Apple haters a massive chunk of ammunition to 'cut them down'. Personally I've got no real problem with this because Apple set themselves up to be the elite in a seriously underhanded way through patent litigation and sometimes when you build a reputation on falsehoods and smoke and mirrors it comes back to bite you in the ass. I don't like the way Apple do business. I don't like the fact that they've just handed the world's landfills a huge array of old dock devices and I especially don't like the fact that they keep releasing the same device over and over with the only major changes being to take away functionality. Yeah... I don't like Apple a whole lot. I'm more interested, these days, in what Windows Mobile is coming up with but for now I'll stick with the environment that doesn't treat me like a slightly retarded purse...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-84387549178419130632012-09-25T22:58:00.000+01:002012-09-25T22:59:19.737+01:00Passing the time<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the last few months I've been taking the time to learn about something that has always been of interest but was unfortunately difficult to indulge due to living in the middle of a city. Well actually more than one thing but they're all fairly intertwined.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a child I'd always been very interested in radio controlled thing... pretty much anything that moved and could be controlled was cool, but things that could fly, well now, that was super interesting! As an adult and having the means I've now had the chance to start indulging!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other side of RC aircraft is that you often have to either build of assemble these things which in my mind is as much fun as the actual flying. There is something extraordinarily gratifying about taking something in it's component parts and assembling them to a state where they will not only fly, but fly well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started the process with attempting to build a small glider out of balsa wood and taking the motors off a small F22 RC toy... this ended in abject failure. The reason for this failure was unknown to me and yet to be learned. Well actually there were multiple reasons - wood too heavy, wings not big enough, centre of gravity all wrong. Informed hindsight can be a damning thing sometimes!</span><br />
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<a href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/tailsandlayout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/tailsandlayout.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course the next logical step was to up the complexity odds... or not. Watching videos on Vimeo got me a bit interested in Quadrotor helicopters, specifically this one:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/18882815">mwc quad - fiberglass frame</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/warthox">warthox</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So doing the standard guy thing, I took the suggested parts list from <a href="http://www.quadframe.com/">www.quadframe.com</a> and bought them with the absolute bare minimum experience in either the electronics or the radio gear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The process of building was as much about learning about the technologies involved as it was putting the stuff together. It also gave me the opportunity to re-learn my soldering skills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quadrotors or quadcopters are very clever things that rely on the torque from the motors for yaw and motor speed for pitch and roll. They have small electronic gyroscopes on the controller board that help to damp out any instabilities but they need to work in unison with the motors speed controllers which unfortunately mine didn't. The end result for me was that any large control inputs resulted in a large oscillation and having it fall out of the sky.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not having the disposable cash has meant that I haven't been able to revisit the project but it's certainly on the books for very soon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did manage to get it up and flying though and got a fair amount of joy out of it but I did manage to chew through propellers a tad faster than I might've liked. Here's a vid of it in flight. You'll see at a couple of points what it looks like when the oscillations kicked in. To try to minimise the damage I put some aluminium rods on the bottom and an old helicopter canopy on it to keep oriented whilst I was learning.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-26069082230355097792012-09-20T13:03:00.000+01:002012-09-20T13:40:46.978+01:00Gay Marriage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The gay marriage debate has been going on for a bit now and I've had the opportunity to carry a fairly extensive discussion with several people that are vehemently against both the concept of gay marriage and also the people involved.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's all been pretty long winded and, of course, extremely emotive. I'll state my position now, in that I support gay marriage whole heartedly. My stand point on marriage itself is that it's entirely a personal thing. What other people do, what other people think and/or say should have absolutely no bearing on your own marriage nor on your relationship with your spouse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting into the debate was something of an exercise in patience and involved a great deal of research and being careful to not just broadly take a totally intolerant approach. I figured that there had to be some logical and structured reasoning behind having such a solid and immovable opinion on what seemed to be such an important thing to those in the against team.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now clearly there is one group that has the loudest voice when representing the against team and that is from Christianity. I myself was bought up a Catholic and was to all intents a perfectly good Sunday Christian. I suspect that this is greatly true for the majority of church goers. It's the whole mentality of 'if I go to church on Sunday once a week than that is my heavenly requirement'. It was this hypocrisy that pushed me away from faith and ultimately from believing in a God at all. That and having a religious education teacher essentially self destruct when I asked about evolution in Catholic School... woops...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The basis for the argument is as follows (and I'm paraphrasing but I believe that it's the gist of the thing). "Homosexuality and gay marriage is wrong because it says so in the Bible". OK. I get the overwhelming control/guidance that the Bible gives to Christian believers and in most things it's very clear. Thou shalt not Kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not blaspheme etc... All pretty obvious stuff and from a moral perspective, things that I can get on board with... without needing the Bible. Much like Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists. It's pretty much ingrained in all of us that killing is bad, stealing is bad, shagging your neighbours wife is bad... the blaspheming thing is pretty much a religious thing which I, and most other reasonable people can leave.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So in looking into this "because it says so in the Bible" we start to discover that it's not as clear cut as all of that. It's not in the 10 commandments, it's not actually clearly stated anywhere in the original texts and even the more recent biblical publications do not state emphatically that homosexuality is against Gods law. The truth of the matter is that it's an interpretation of some obscure references that people have decided to place on the same level as killing, cheating and stealing. Thinking about it we know why you don't kill, because the person at the receiving end comes out in a pretty bad way. We know why you don't steal, you're depriving someone of something that is theirs. We know why you don't rape, cheat or commit adultery, we even know why the Bible says 'Don't take Gods name in vain'. They're all pretty obvious and the moral aspect of it is ultimately very clear. So here is my question. Why is being gay bad? Who does it hurt? What moral code does it conflict with? What human decency does it impinge upon? The answer is simple - IT'S NOT AND IT DOESN'T!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interestingly the very recent 'translations' of the Bible have been rewritten to 'clarify' the meaning of the 5 most quoted passages of text. They have actually been re-written to include the word homosexual, a word that didn't exist when the texts were first penned. I think the reasoning behind this is pretty simple. It's basic prejudice. It's people that clearly have an issue resolving with something different, with something that doesn't fit with their 'norm' so they have trolled through the Bible and found some extracts that could in the loosest of terms be interpreted as being 'possibly' anti gay. The gay marriage thing is an extrapolation of a loose interpretation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is fine. They can believe what they want. It's their right to believe that, but when it gets forced upon other people in an oppressive and frankly degrading way, then I have an issue with it. It's not that they don't like it, it's that they actively compare homosexuality with killers, thieves and rapists and then actively attempt to push this degrading opinion on others. The narrow minded bigotry is stunningly blatant and the required ignorance is somewhat mind boggling. When challenged on this front, that being of the Bibles seeming lack of clarity on the subject, I got back a very telling answer. "I'm not God. It's not for me to question or define sins because that would make me trying to be like God". This blew me away because in one very simple statement they're effectively handing away any and all culpability for any of their decisions. The implications of this fall to the very soul of religion. Do as you're told, do not question, it's all a matter of faith.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That people are re-writing the Bible to 'clarify' content should be troubling as is it not doing exactly what a good Christian shouldn't? Is not rewriting the texts tantamount to putting the interpreters words into the words of God? It's not difficult logic but it's wilfully ignored. The end result is that it's easier to ride your prejudices and persecute a minority because ultimately you don't need to question it. It's a matter of faith and God said so... except he didn't, the Bible didn't and the persecution smacks of exactly the same thing that was happing to Black People so many years ago. It seems that humans do not learn from history.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find anyone telling another person that they are subhuman to be abhorrent. I especially find someone avoiding personal responsibility for these persecutions by saying that it's what their God says to be foolish and weak minded. For a religion whose core belief is supposed to be Love thy Neighbour and treat others as you would have them treat you. Where goodness and compassion are supposed to be the guiding tenements there seems to be a huge amount of hate, bigotry and heartlessness going on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simply put - homosexuality is not bad, in fact it is the core of many loving and caring relationships of two consenting adults. Marriage is a right that all should have as a standard of human equality and if you believe that it degrades your own marriage then you need to seriously consider how much weight you give to the conviction of your vows.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-80419660444995231692012-09-20T12:04:00.001+01:002012-09-20T22:16:43.354+01:00HTC Windows Phone 8X<br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Looks like a lovely phone. At the risk of sounding a little 'Android' fanboyish, I wouldn't mind this hardware with the Android operating system on it... you know seeing as I can't have the iPhone 5 with Android on it... (yep that's a poor attempt at humour).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">Design wise it looks oddly familiar... oh yes, that's right. It's dead spitting for the new Nokia Lumia 920 phone! (</span><a href="http://www.cnet.com.au/nokia-lumia-920-339341626.htm" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.cnet.com.au/nokia-lumia-920-339341626.htm</a><span style="line-height: 17px;">) If I were them I'd be spitting all the way to courts for stealing their design. To make matters worse, Nokia are pretty much putting all their business behind the new Windows 8 Mobile OS whereas HTC has fingers in both Windows and Android pots. From the Looks of things Microsoft aren't beyond playing the hardware companies against each other which in my mind seems foolish. I would've thought the last thing you'd want are your flagship OS phones busy suing each other especially when you're trying to compete against the more organised likes of Blackberry, Apple and Google. I seriously doubt that any litigation will occur as Apple has proven that it only brings bad press and distaste from their customers.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Nokia have stated that HTC is "tactically rebranding" it's phones which kinda smacks of "tactical tact" in the face of a clear rip off. HTC has recently taken big hits from Samsung stomping all over the smart phone market with the GSIII and their recent releases, whilst not bad, just don't reach the lofty heights that their earlier devices brought to the company. Looking at the choice between the HTC phone and Nokias offering, I'd go straight to the Nokia.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">The one unknown for me is Windows 8 Mobile. I don't know anyone that uses it day to day and it's not really gaining in a big way in terms of market share. In an enterprise (i.e. corporate) scenario Windows 8 Mobile might bring more rewards to Microsoft where their only real challenger is Blackberry. In my experience Apple has been making headway into the enterprise environments with the iPad, but not so much with the iPhone. With a vast share of the enterprise operating system market, Microsoft are in very good stead to challenge Blackberry at what they do best, enterprise e-mail integration. Who knows, we might be seeing more of these devices in the office... something I'd prefer to Apples offering which requires quite a bit of 'shoehorning' to get to work in a secure way.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">It's great to see some really nice Windows 8 Mobile phones coming onto the market as innovation only drives more innovation. Something that Apple seem hell bent on preventing. On that note, I was amazed to still see people lining up outside Apple stores and puzzled as to the end user experience with getting a new toy. There is something rather nice warm and fuzzy being able to get home and have a whole bunch of new things to play with when you get a new device. I don't see where that experience is going to come from with the iPhone 5? You get home with your nice new device and... it does all the same stuff as your last phone, just on a slightly larger scale...</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-16425073694850860132012-09-20T11:43:00.004+01:002012-09-20T22:17:15.827+01:00iPhone 5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTiKRs1pezy9qr7eXGZZjEta9trZZfTmHDxeS0_PjUNuh2RRNBSMLca-Ao3ws9BVD0mUgeY0ZCag1_lFM-PMwWGm9NQIVK9j4h0wa57b39Sm83uy-eew7NDJAztPpPxvFQAm8jr96IeLQ/s1600/iphone-5-white.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTiKRs1pezy9qr7eXGZZjEta9trZZfTmHDxeS0_PjUNuh2RRNBSMLca-Ao3ws9BVD0mUgeY0ZCag1_lFM-PMwWGm9NQIVK9j4h0wa57b39Sm83uy-eew7NDJAztPpPxvFQAm8jr96IeLQ/s320/iphone-5-white.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first thing to knock off is going to have to be the iPhone 5. Having just been released I'd have to join the general observation in that it's a resounding bundle of 'Blah'. <span style="line-height: 18px;">Slightly bigger screen, slightly higher resolution, another row of icons, thinner chassis and an aluminium back. Also a processor that is apparently twice as fast as the 4S.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;">No real redesign as far as looks goes, and a different dock socket (they will be releasing an adaptor for the old socket...). Looks like Apple have </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">again failed on the innovation front. They simply can't keep rehashing the same thing over and over and expect to stay competitive in the mobile market. Although there will be a big number of these things getting shifted on release (September 21st) I can see a large number of Apple fans looking to move on to greener and more innovative pastures. With the likes of HTC, Motorola, Nokia and Samsung putting out new and exciting devices and daring to be a bit different, Apple is looking more and more like a one trick pony. Albeit a one trick pony with excellent aesthetic designers and a great (and wealthy) legal department.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simply put, Apple have not delivered anything in the iPhone 5 that resets the industry expectations, that raises the bar for what a mobile device should look like or how it should perform both in speed and functionality. You have a slightly larger 4Gs... and that's it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interestingly they also announced a new iPod touch with which they seem to be attempting to move on the OS based camera device (like the Samsung one I mentioned earlier) but still using the very small lens and mobile form factor. It's a nice to have device but you know I still prefer my Classic iPod with a click wheel... why? Because I can keep my entire music collection on it without having to pair it down to 64GB, it has better battery life and I can use it without needing iTunes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Need a reason to not buy the iPhone 5?</span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;">With the new dock connector Apple have done away with both the video out, analogue audio out and iPod out which means that even with the adapter they won't work with your current i-implementations or devices. So with the adapter your nice Bose speakers won't work, your car connector won't work and your radio connector won't work. Pretty much the only t</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hing that will work is the charging.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To add insult to injury, not only will you have to buy all new accessories, but you don't get USB3 with it so you're still stuck with slow transfer speeds. From an environmental perspective Apple have done a great disservice also in that they're wilfully adding to landfill by making you throw away all your old chargers and dock speakers. They are effectively forcing their customers into purchasing an entirely new set of devices because the adaptor is functionally useless for anything other than charging - functionally useless at $39 - thank you Apple.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why they couldn't just make it micro USB like all other mobile phone makers is clear - Apple consumers are seen as wallets with legs and are treated as such. Personally I wouldn't buy the iPhone 5 on principal alone. Not only are Apple anticompetitive and anti consumer but they are also ecologically irresponsible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">EDIT: </span></div>
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</span><span id=".reactRoot[161].[1][2][1]{comment10151225608734882_25979900}..[1]..[1]..[0].[1]" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[161].[1][2][1]{comment10151225608734882_25979900}..[1]..[1]..[0].[2]" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[161].[1][2][1]{comment10151225608734882_25979900}..[1]..[1]..[0].[2]."><span id=".reactRoot[161].[1][2][1]{comment10151225608734882_25979900}..[1]..[1]..[0].[2]..[0]"><span id=".reactRoot[161].[1][2][1]{comment10151225608734882_25979900}..[1]..[1]..[0].[2]..[0].[0]">Interesting, it looks like Apple have been quick to respond to the adaptor issue and will be distributing the iP5 with a free adaptor. The adaptor will also apparently contain a c</span></span><span id=".reactRoot[161].[1][2][1]{comment10151225608734882_25979900}..[1]..[1]..[0].[2]..[3]"><span id=".reactRoot[161].[1][2][1]{comment10151225608734882_25979900}..[1]..[1]..[0].[2]..[3]."><span id=".reactRoot[161].[1][2][1]{comment10151225608734882_25979900}..[1]..[1]..[0].[2]..[3]..[0]">hip that will convert digital audio to analog for the old 30 pin devices to work with. I guess I will have to retract my mini rant... partially... video is still out of the equation and any extended functionality means extra adaptors. I guess in a round about way they deserve a little kudos...</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second EDIT:</span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Uh no... I was too quick to praise Apple. They've now said that it was a mistake on their shop site... free stuff from Apple. Don't be silly!</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-53893248425987003492012-09-20T11:32:00.001+01:002012-09-20T11:32:55.694+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/395753_10151210778245542_702485541_22675532_2050075327_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/395753_10151210778245542_702485541_22675532_2050075327_n.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">EEK! Time for a Blog resurrection!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been almost 2 years since my last post... I wonder how many Hail Marys that is?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly consistency is not my strong point but I have little else to do these days so I figured that I would return to delivering brain farts to a place where no-one is likely to view them...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a whole bunch of things that have me interested, riled up and otherwise engaged so back to it!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-37711294481679170492010-10-12T08:25:00.006+01:002010-10-12T09:55:39.446+01:00Windows 7 Phone? Succeed or Fail?<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJjiBCOSIEakdOvPCfRGOg5EPq8nZm5olNHUwzbNiSMdBpHE5WOYcXmJGGqzo4FMaxzhhs9UNY0BmpdsBd-kFKf35qSax0sk8UAxqjVMKqxp4tCv6Dxu7436sbrrMm8U-O4t9xiM1ENk/s400/windows7-people_928814gm-t.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527070448824240850" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">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.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">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!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_dymalLPeY_Z0P28l4fmM3aJZg3d1sQA23DtXTiiAdh1EBfkWXgj7kWKYEg-WsFs0A0ZFe6B5xrZdA2jAkGgKn-AfdfYjYn0GMlCF18IjJQsEZS658YH-cyKbGrZtzWkXLf0lA9My5c/s400/Windows-apple-android.gif" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527070707354636098" /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">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.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">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'.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">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. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">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'.</span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-46808566117733551922009-10-01T11:01:00.004+01:002009-10-01T11:54:17.088+01:00Sky in the Baubles - OcUK Photo Comp - September<span style="font-family:arial;">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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">knowledge</span> when it comes to the lighting of such subjects I was somewhat stumped.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Flickr</span>. Those of </span><a href="http://www.richardsweeney.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Richard Sweeney</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and </span><a href="http://www.jenstark.com/index.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">Jen Stark</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Richard Sweeney - Icosahedron<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 500px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 446px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/RichardSweeney-Icosahedron.jpg" /></span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Jen Stark - Over And Out<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 500px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 386px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/OverAndOutROLL.jpg" />Luckily, both for my sanity and that of my ever tolerant Fiance, another opportunity came up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Kim, whilst walking down Piccadilly, spotted <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">something</span> 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 </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anish_Kapoor"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Anish</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kapoor</span></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. He is most famous for </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate"><span style="font-family:arial;">the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and I guess not having the massive space needed to emulate that in London he's taken a different path.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Tall Tree And The Eye</strong>:"Outside the Royal Academy of Arts in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Annenberg</span> 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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">infinitum</span>."</span></p><span style="font-family:arial;">This is a shot of the full sculpture:<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 500px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 747px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/ChromeSpheresfull.jpg" /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This is my final entry for the comp that I titled - <strong>Sky in the Baubles</strong>:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 500px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 722px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2550/3951217780_e36d6cb82a_o.jpg" />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!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-26346332331891904042009-10-01T08:33:00.010+01:002009-10-01T11:58:54.516+01:00Cosmic Girl - OcUK Photo Comp August<span style="font-family:arial;">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.<br /><br />The idea I came up with was based around the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">classic</span> super hero look of a female super hero encompassed in energy floating upward whilst objects in her immediate <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">vicinity</span> floated also.<br /><br />Much like this:<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 460px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/1082575990_11869a4b92.jpg" /><br /><br /></span><p></p><span style="font-family:arial;">Kim and I headed out to our local park first thing in the morning once the sun was at a decent <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">height</span></span>. I didn't want to do it too late because the length of the shadows were quite important for me.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />We start with a mostly empty photo:<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 501px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 313px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/People.jpg" /> 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.<br /><br /></span><p><a href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/Kimonstepladder.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 501px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 328px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/Kimonstepladder.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />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.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/kimjumping-2.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 501px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 313px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/kimjumping-2.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/chasingbird.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 501px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 313px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/chasingbird.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></p><a href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/book.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 501px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 313px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/book.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><div><a href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/handbag-1.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 501px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 313px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/handbag-1.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kims</span></span> 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.<br /><br />End result:<br />Cosmic Girl<br /></span><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2590/3847831477_7973cbe86d_o.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 700px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 453px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2590/3847831477_7973cbe86d_o.jpg" /></span></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-21443475124639770712009-09-18T11:44:00.004+01:002009-09-18T12:11:24.058+01:00More Birdies! Eagle handling day.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...<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br />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?<br /><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2631/3826372379_e86c7d8519_o.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 514px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 360px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2631/3826372379_e86c7d8519_o.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2668/3827180300_073ab385d2_o.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 513px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 429px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2668/3827180300_073ab385d2_o.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3505/3826798908_881bfd4868_o.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 512px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 776px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3505/3826798908_881bfd4868_o.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3826798586_f9e9eabe28_o.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 511px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 652px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3826798586_f9e9eabe28_o.jpg" /></a></div></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>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.</p><p>So - presenting Noble the Tawn Eagle:</p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3825998545_7b056a06d8_o.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 513px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 356px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3825998545_7b056a06d8_o.jpg" /></a> <img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 512px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 326px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3567/3826493681_aeca36cb3e_o.jpg" /><br /><div><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2435/3826433921_eba0a53c2b_o.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 514px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 446px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2435/3826433921_eba0a53c2b_o.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><p></p></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-18977094161532508842009-09-18T11:12:00.005+01:002009-09-18T11:43:55.738+01:00On the photography front...<span style="font-family:arial;">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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Overclockers</span> UK monthly photo competition with moderate success.<br /></span><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">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. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ok</span> 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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lambo</span> 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.</span></div><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">So I jumped on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ebay</span> and found myself a portable neon lamp for around £20 which I thought looked around perfect for the job:<br /></span></p><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 337px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 283px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/China_Emergency_Light_20W_Rechargea.jpg" /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">The next trick was to head up onto the roof of my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">apartment</span> 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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">time span</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">allotted</span>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">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!</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">So end result? It is a combination of 5 exposures all shot at around 25 seconds a shot and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">composited</span> in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Photoshop</span>.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 494px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 336px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3434/3765486099_839f2ffe30_o.jpg" /><br /></span><p><br /></p><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-75913222085447041242009-09-18T10:53:00.004+01:002009-09-18T11:12:39.399+01:00It's all been quiet here for a bit...<span style="font-family:arial;">Motivation has been lacking of late for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">updating</span> 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.<br /><br />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 </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_Schnauss"><span style="font-family:arial;">Ulrich <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Schnauss</span></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and is an electronic musician from Germany. Having a little bit of a background in dance music and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">electronica</span> 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.<br /><br />Similarities could be drawn to the likes of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangerine_dream"><span style="font-family:arial;">Tangerine Dream</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_(band)"><span style="font-family:arial;">Orbital</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> or perhaps the more mellow efforts of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicane_(recording_artist)"><span style="font-family:arial;">Chicane</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. 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...<br /><br />Ulrich <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Schnauss</span> - Clear Day<br /></span><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;"><object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qumFCG9oIXw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qumFCG9oIXw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object></span></p><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ulrich <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Schnauss</span> - Shine<br /></span><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;"><object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jnjS1FSrwWg&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jnjS1FSrwWg&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></span></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-50587594668350033412009-07-07T13:07:00.002+01:002009-07-07T13:11:13.296+01:00DUBFX - Some people just have a stunning talent...<span style="font-family: arial;">This boy just has a fantastic talent and demonstrates it in his street performances.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Artist web site: http://www.dubfx.net</span><br /><br /><br /><object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WhBoR_tgXCI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WhBoR_tgXCI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UiInBOVHpO8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UiInBOVHpO8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-78116482437259254302009-06-26T09:50:00.003+01:002009-06-26T09:58:02.891+01:00RIP Michael Jackson<span style="font-family: arial;">It's all over the news this morning and you know if you can't beat them...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">R.I.P. Michael Jackson 1958-2009</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/20070608175331Michael_jackson_bad_c.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 500px;" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/20070608175331Michael_jackson_bad_c.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-38585300910884882552009-06-25T12:03:00.004+01:002009-06-25T12:13:09.694+01:00Eruption from spaceThe 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.<br /><br />This photo was taken from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_space_station">International Space Station</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarychev_Peak">Sarychev Peak</a> volcano in Japan/Russia.<br /><br />For the photo geeks among us this was taken with a Nikon D2XS with a 400mm Lens.<br /><br />Source: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/ISS020-E-09048_lrg.jpg"></a><a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/25/sarychev_peak_eruption/">The Register</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">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". <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />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"</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/ISS020-E-09048_lrg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 466px;" src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/steveobhave/ISS020-E-09048_lrg.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-85587359555998419522009-06-22T09:56:00.005+01:002009-06-24T11:56:16.215+01:00Synesthesia by Terri Timely<span style="font-family:arial;">An exceedingly clever short film. Source: http://www.territimely.com/_/v/2-short-films</span><br /><br /><div><br /><object width="699" height="402"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5297531&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5297531&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="699" height="402"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/5297531">Synesthesia</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1946955">Terri Timely</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-80224654329402219332009-06-19T13:24:00.005+01:002009-06-19T15:27:46.401+01:00Birdies!!!<span style="font-family: arial;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Eagle</span><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/3639288152_17887f22fe_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 592px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/3639288152_17887f22fe_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Pygmy Owl</span><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3625/3639285758_f3407b92fb_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 463px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3625/3639285758_f3407b92fb_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Eagle Owl</span><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/3638476531_a580306cdf_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 764px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/3638476531_a580306cdf_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Eagle Owl</span><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3638474313_acb727d1b4_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 366px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3638474313_acb727d1b4_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-87083525871850281672009-06-19T09:31:00.005+01:002009-06-19T13:34:44.927+01:00What I've been up too.<span style="font-family:arial;">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.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Maratea+PZ,+Italy&sll=53.93022,-4.042969&sspn=18.9286,39.550781&ie=UTF8&ll=42.016652,16.787109&spn=12.088575,19.775391&z=6&iwloc=A&output=embed" scrolling="no" width="425" frameborder="0" height="350"></iframe></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=Maratea+PZ,+Italy&sll=53.93022,-4.042969&sspn=18.9286,39.550781&ie=UTF8&ll=42.016652,16.787109&spn=12.088575,19.775391&z=6&iwloc=A" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />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.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />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.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />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.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Kim standing in front of Cristo Redentore (Christ the Redeemer)</span><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/3632237902_1243cf1307_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 397px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/3632237902_1243cf1307_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Looking South down the West coast of Italy</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3631420149_7127a86ea9_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 501px; height: 312px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3631420149_7127a86ea9_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Looking up at Cristo Redentore</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3631421629_a0541dfec4_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 847px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3631421629_a0541dfec4_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Looking North up the West coast of Italy</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3631420991_974a3f0a63_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 749px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3631420991_974a3f0a63_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Kim checking out the view</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3398/3631422451_f24d4eb0d6_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 501px; height: 316px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3398/3631422451_f24d4eb0d6_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Me in front of Cristo Redentore - taken by Kim.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3631423801_0cba856507_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 747px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3631423801_0cba856507_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-52813707006678744782009-05-19T15:32:00.004+01:002009-05-19T15:52:52.316+01:00Sherlock Holmes Trailer<span style="font-family:arial;">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. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">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 <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</a> which was a singularly brilliant movie but he was also responsible for <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/">Catwoman</a> which was a spectacular failure. Who knows maybe the combination of the Bruce and Guy might produce a gem.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">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*...</span><br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k8OM1BA2PIU&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k8OM1BA2PIU&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164630845598188836.post-87358571914139143692009-05-19T14:59:00.001+01:002009-05-19T15:00:35.641+01:00Flash mobbing at it's best.<span style="font-family:arial;">Love this:</span><br /><br /><object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jwMj3PJDxuo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jwMj3PJDxuo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14480000870842439857noreply@blogger.com0