01.01.08
Posted in Technology at 19:05 pm by Guy
The one good outcome of turning 30 is you get really cool presents. I think my priorities may be slightly warped as my presents included a crystal whisky decanter, wine glasses and classic claret…..
However, The booze theme was broken by Sarah in some style who splashed out on a stunning Canon D400 digital SLR camera. I bought a digital ‘point and shoot’ Minolta 5 years ago, but since Sarah bought her Pentax digital, the Minolta has only served as a back-up. Until I threw it in a ditch a few weeks back……. I noticed a friend with a digital SLR and my brothers passion for photography initiated my interest. Digital camera’s are great for carrying around to all functions and snapping away. But they are restricting, especially in low light. It will be some time before I master the best this Canon has to offer, but no doubt its be good fun learning as I go……..
Permalink
Comments off
09.15.07
Posted in Technology at 15:40 pm by Guy
Come the end of summer signals the time to get an annual upgrade on the mobile phone, and this year I have taken the leap from the briiliant Orange SPV, to the Orange E650. There are people far more qualified than I to review the phone, so I will direct you to CoolSmartPhone for an indepth analysis if you’re interested.
The phone is not dissimilar from my SPV600, running Windows mobile, but it also comes with WiFi and is loaded with a slideout qwerty keyboard - schweet! The phone is based on the HTC handset, and so far, its been pretty cool, a little slow to adjust the screen aspect as you slide the keyboard out, but the keyboard does save time writing emails. Highly recommended, especially for the WiFi.
Permalink
Comments off
07.26.07
Posted in Technology at 14:10 pm by Guy
All you Microsoft people out there be warned. Don’t turn to Vista, it is SH!T. Fight the urge, don’t take any notice of the shiny new colours, and pretty intereface, because beneath lies a temperamental beast that is unbelievably slow and cumbersome. If you’re really lucky Vista will also crash your machine like it did my work PC and then you will have to reinstall ANOTHER copy of Vista.
Permalink
Comments off
06.19.07
Posted in Sport, Technology at 13:57 pm by Guy
Online mapping seems to just get better, faster, and more detailed by the day, and most of you will be familiar with online tools such as Google Earth, Google maps, Live Local and Vitual Earth.
I blogged about a simple online ditance and route mapping tool, Wayfaring, a while ago, but I have since been alerted to bigger, better, faster, more detailed tools which might be useful to some of you. Thanks to Mudders for the heads up on a lot of these….
The software (Garmin Training Center) that comes packaged with the Forerunner 305 is quite crap for visualising maps, but is a useful tool for training and is probably more suited to running than biking. Mudders has found this piece of free software, called Sportstracks, and is much better for displaying routes on detailed background maps. It is freeware that you can download onto your PC and is basically a replacement for Training centre.
‘Motionbased‘ is another option for storing training data and visualising maps, but it is a web application with an interface on your PC and all your details are stored online as opposed to your PC which is not ideal for me - I’d rather have the data on my PC. The ‘Lite’ version is free, but if you want ot see more than your last ten activites then you have to pay. A lot of mates use it though, including Grayskull, who uploaded this to his website as an example. Mudders has also uploaded the London to Brighton bike race route here. You can view courses and routes on a variety of backgrounds such as aerial photographs, street maps, etc and it gives you the elevation profile as well. Coverage of background maps is not great outside of built -up areas by the looks of things.
If you use the Garmin Training Centre and/or the Sportstracks software, and want something simpler to create routes then check out MapMyRide. You can very quickly and easily (in a similar way to wayfaring) create a route, and then save it as a .crs file for uploading straight to your gps for your next ride - schweet! It gives you elevation profiling as well. As an example, Sarah and I took a leisurely ride out too Worcester Park on Sunday arvie, and I have mapped the route in MapMyRide. Or, check out Mudders London to Brighton on MapMyRide as a comparison of features to Motionbased. You can see the elevation profile by clicking the appropriate box on the left-hnand side menu.
GPS ROCKS!
Permalink
Comments off
10.23.06
Posted in Technology at 21:30 pm by Guy
UPDATE - Gismo buddies, check the comments of the post - any answers?
Bit late, but rather late than never, the second part of the Chateautoby toy story….. and here it is, my brand spanking new Orange SPV C600 smartphone! izzz nice, very nice. I really enjoyed my first SPV experience (C550) so I’d thought I’d take advantage of Orange’s generousity and take up a new C600 for the next 12 months. Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Comments off
10.11.06
Posted in Technology at 17:09 pm by Guy
Ever been really annoyed ‘holding’ for an operator in the UK, waiting for British Gas, Thames Water, etc, for ages knowing that you’re paying the bill? Or being stung, dialling 0870 or 0871 numbers from your mobile, which don’t come out of your free minutes and cost a fortune? Check out this cool website say no to 0870 which will give you the alternative landline number corresponding to the 0870 or 0871 (amongst others). Dial the alternative number and you’ll be charged at standard rates, or will come out of you ‘free’ mobile minutes!! Sweet.
Permalink
Comments off
06.26.06
Posted in Technology at 22:27 pm by Guy
Been a while since I had a new toy to play with, and to be honest this one arrived rather unsuspectingly. Makes it all the better! A nondescript email convo with John one day last week resulted in an offer of a brand new, out the box, Palm Tungsten T3 handheld computer - schweeeet! My laptop has made a huge difference in electronic mobility and in combination with my schweet new Netgear wireless modem and router makes surfing the net on broadband anywhere, in the house or outside beaut. My Orange SPV550 smart-phone has further enhanced my ‘mobile’ capabilities by syncing into my laptop to transfer data, send emails, store tasks, calenders and contacts. There is a small gap though between the two, a mobile region not covered by either - enter the palm pilot. Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Comments off
12.12.05
Posted in Technology at 22:53 pm by Guy
As a result of Kam and John’s generousity, I have joined the Apple clan! I have protested no end on this site as well as Dave’s regarding my loyalty to Bill and the Sony Corporation. I was spellbound last night when we joined Kam and John for dinner at our local jaunt The Earl Spencer, where I was presented with my birthday present which turned out to be a brand spanking new iPod Shuffle!!! Unbelievable. Thanks guys, it was seriously unexpected. So I have successfully loaded iTunes onto my PC and so far, so good, no softare conflict with Sony’s Sonicstage. Now all I have to do is reload all my CD’s into the Apple database because the 50 odd CD’s I have in Sonicstage are useless to Apple in Atrac format!!
As for the Shuffle, what a neat gadget. I had no idea the devices were this small. It is a seriously cool piece of kit. No more lugging my minidisc player around the common, with my 22gram… YES 22 GRAM ipod shuffle I am now left with precious few excuses for running around at 8 minute miles!
Permalink
Comments off
11.17.05
Posted in General, Entertainment, Technology at 9:57 am by Guy
got sent this absolutely hilarious screenshot of the New Zeland ebay site. Check out this guys attempt to sell his time machine
Permalink
Comments off
11.06.05
Posted in Technology at 20:16 pm by Guy
continuing on from my aquistion of a new windows based mobile, I have excitingly invested heavily in a new laptop computer. So, if I had no excuses for irregular postings until now, the bar has risen further. After much deliberation, I settled on a high spec Acer Travelmate 4654LMi which met my requirements for a desktop replacement type laptop as opposed to a super light portable version. Included in the slick brush sliver unit is a 2GHz centrino processor, 512mb RAM, 80Gb hard drive, dual layer DVD writer plus all the extras including integrated WiFI and Bluetooth. In fact, you can enjoy the view that I currently have
, a photo taken on my phone, send wirelessly
by Bluetooth to the laptop and uploaded as we speak. CCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!! Now I need ot hook up a wireless netowrk at home for the internet as well as stereo…. all before I leave for Turkey on Saturday… hopefully……..
Permalink
Comments off
« Previous entries ·
