Posts filed under 'Technology'
I love my SLRs. My 20D has been a faithful companion on my daily trips to design studios for a couple of years now. But recently I have been considering the merits of owning a compact camera again.
My old IXUS 400 is now in my Jess’ possession, but I borrowed it for the day. The ability to have a smaller bag, that isn’t a heavy load swinging off my shoulder has great appeal and I even managed to take it out and grab a few shots that weren’t as bad as I expected. The focussing and start-up are painfully slow, but I imagine these and other issues will have been ironed out in the Canon G7.
Yes, the lens isn’t as fast as the G6, and no, it can’t capture RAW images, but it looks great and will be a worthy addition to my arsenal. And I might be more inclined to carry it around with me more often and actually post to Flickr and Blipfoto daily. Shock horror.
Just the issue of the money to buy it with then.
January 30th, 2007
Well, the move to the new hosting went as smoothly as could be expected. By that I mean the site was only down for two days. Could have been a week I guess…
Unfortunately all the comments on the blog bit the dust, and not quite sure how to get them back. Bigger fish to fry for now. Don’t let this put you off commenting.
January 19th, 2007
“The London Design Festival is an annual event to celebrate and promote London and the UK’s design creativity. It brings together a diverse group of partners from different sectors - from the very biggest to the very smallest - and runs from 15-30 September.
This year, LG is proud to be one of those partners. To show our support we are staging a virtual event called Twenty-First Century Design Icons, an attempt to find the top five design icons from the last six years.”
My list:
1. The Apple iPod
Easy. Changed the face of music and gadgets across the board.
2. Toyota Prius Hybrid Automobile
Brave, but successful. Anything that persuades yummy mummys in California to ditch their SUVs has to be good.
3. Motorola RAZR Mobile Phone
Caught the imagination like no phone before it. Now everyone wants to be thin.
4. TomTom Go Standalone In-Car Navigation System
Took sat-nav to the masses.
5. Canon 300D/Digital Rebel Digital SLR Camera
The first affordable professional quality digital camera. Responsible for a resurgence in photography as a hobby.
Discuss.
Designers whose list I would like to see:
Jay Prynne, senior designer at Esterson Associates, who always disagrees with me on things like this.
Technorati tag: lgdesignicons
September 26th, 2006
I’m not afraid of a lot of things. Celery. Heights. That’s about it. But more than either of them I’m afraid of phones. More precisely I hate phone conversations.
Maybe it’s the inability to see the other person’s gestures and facial expressions, but I find it incredibly uncomfortable to talk to somebody on the phone. I stumble over my words, I start sweating and eventually my throat goes dry and I have to get rid of the other person as quickly as possible.
It’s not just strangers, I’m the same with my wife, my mother, anybody. I rely on email and text messaging for 90% of my contact with the outside world. Email is great. Not only can you take time to think about what it is you want to say, but you have a paper trail that is a permanent record of the conversation. You can send images, plans and embellish descriptions. I find I can be myself in written conversation and not the bumbling mess people come across if they call me.
Not everyone agrees with this. The worst culprits are the people who reply to an email with a phone call. Why do people do this?! Surely it’s much easier to answer my question or respond by just clicking reply and typing what you want to say? If I wanted a phone conversation I would have called you!! Yes, you can ask and answer lots of questions very quickly over the phone, but is it really worth the hatred I now feel towards you for ruining my day by making me speak to your disembodied voice? Surely not.
September 20th, 2006
What can I say? It was going spare. That extra DVI socket was just plain going to waste. It’s worth all the Starship Enterprise jokes. And it sure makes using InDesign easier. Can’t be good for my eyes though? Hmm.
January 11th, 2006
Having always had Nokia phones since the beginning of time (1998) I am the cautious new owner of a Sony Ericsson k750i. I do tend to be quite brand-loyal. Shoes: Macbeth/Etnies, Computers: Apple, Cameras: Canon. But a change of network provider was the opportunity for a new phone, and Nokia seem to be going out of their way to make their phones U-G-L-Y. The 2 megapixel camera on the SE was a draw too, as my proper camera ain’t that portable. I joined the camera brigade at the Foo Fighters gig on Wednesday, just to test it in the field. Result below:
Obviously I’m not about to break into music photography with it, but I reckon that’s pretty good considering how little light there was and that I was being thrown around by some bald, half-naked, sweaty meathead at the time. Texting with it is taking some mastering though.
August 26th, 2005
