Category Archives: gadgets

The beauty of a new laptop

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Benq laptop

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I’ve been wanting a laptop for a long time. When I went to Sydney to take photos as well as stay with my oldest friend I had to use her laptop to download my photos. My camera, a Canon EOS 1000D, does not have cards like the compact digital cameras do. So once you have used all the space in the camera, you need to download to a computer. So my trips to the country to take some landscapes seemed doomed without some storage device. Hence the laptop. What I bought though was a factory scoop at JB HF. For the techies amongst you, have a look just to see the specifications. It really is a desktop quality to carry around with you.
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Why DSLRs are better than compact digital cameras

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Cross-section view of a single-lens reflex cam...
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For a start, you can use many lens. Not that I have more than one, but it is better than the compact lens I had. You can also push up the ISO to 1600 or more for fast moving objects, like people, children, animals and so on.

You can shoot multiple times. You see the object you want to shoot and the focus and press button function seems very fast. It is almost what you see is what you get.

I’m sure there are many more advantages, like the ability to alter so many more settings.  What I worry about while using one though is that I am a softer target for theft. Not stealing me, but the camera. I don’t know how I’d go overseas with one.

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New DSLR camera

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I registered with the Sydney based photo art site. Then I went through every photo I’d taken with my digital camera except those I’d lost. I lost all of my American shots, damn it. I’ve now backed up all my other photos on a flash drive. You should take note of a posting I did about storing photos online. You can add Ph.Art to that list now as you can upload to a private gallery there.

Then I submitted a few photos. So far, one has been declined because of its subject matter and one has been accepted. You can see my photos  at  PhotoArt here.  Hopefully, by the time you click on that link, more photos will have been selected.

my new canon dslr

Then after much research, I bought a DSLR  from an online site. It is a Canon DSLR (EOS 1000D) for under $1000. Some of the best and most expensive compact digitals were as expensive, so I think I got a good deal. Can’t wait to use it. I’ll need to get out of Melbourne soon.

I love the fact that this new site where you can sell photos is Australian. It just feels better, as many of the photos you see are of Australia. Many of the ones I submitted were of a Tasmanian trip I did a few years ago. You cannot fail to take a good photo in Tasmania.

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Backing up your photos

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Image representing Flickr as depicted in Crunc...
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While the bushfires were raging in Victoria, Australia, I’m sure many of us were thinking what would we take with us if we were in a hurry and we knew our house would probably burn down. Many think of their photo albums, but these days most of our photos are on the computer. Of course one could run with the hard disk, but rather bulky when you only have minutes to get out. An alternative is to have an extra external hard drive which would be easier to take.

We used to have CDs to back up our photos to and we still do, but how to find them in a hurry unless you are well organised? We also now have USB memory sticks but these items are also ones which cannot be in the house if you don’t have much time to get out.

The answer is to store them on someone else’s server.

If you have your own self hosted blog or web site, you can easily upload them via FTP (Filezilla is free) to your host, depending on the plan you have and how much room is there. They don’t have to link to your web site or blog;  just let them sit there. Create a folder called ‘photos’ on your host’s server. Of course, if you change your host remember to download all those photos to your own computer again. I lost quite a few photos by forgetting that once.

Then there is Flickr You can store as many photos as you like here and you don’t have to show them as public photos.

Everyone has an ISP. Most of these allow you to make a small web page for free. You could use that.

Also there is Google’s picasa - you can upload to this and make your photos private.

Off-site, online storage is really your best bet. Now, all you have to do is upload!

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Some digital camera terms explained

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When I first bought a digital camera, there were only point and shoot types and the mega pixels were much fewer. Mine had only 3.1 and my son now has a mobile phone with 6 mega pixels. So, my camera (with fewer megapixels than the one below) is virtually useless and next I would definitely buy an SLR digital camera.

canon power shot camera

I used to upload some of my photos to the stock sites, like dreamstime, but the size of a photo taken with my camera is now quite small compared with the cameras with more mega pixels.  Dreamstime would specify that we should get rid of noise before uploading. I had no idea what noise was.

NOISE in a digital image has nothing to do with audio.  A digital camera emits photo receptors which are interpreted as black or randomly coloured dots. SLR digital cameras with a medium amount of mega pixels   have less noise than the smaller compact digital camera. But there is still noise. The makers therefore build in “noise reduction”. However noise reduction blurs fine detail. So the best digital camera is the SLR digital camera with a medium amount of mega pixels.

I’ve talked of mega pixels. A pixel is a tiny dot, thousands of which, make up an image. Now one would think that the more mega pixels the camera has , the better, but not so. My brother did research on this before he upgraded. The more mega pixels you have, the more NOISE.

ISO has always been a standard for cameras. In the old cameras before the digital, ISO settings were narrow, from about 50 to 400, 800.  With the new digital camera the ISO can be set to between 50 to 6500. But using a higher ISO can also mean more noise. The ISO determines the speed of the shot you can take: for moving objects you would have a higher ISO and still shots would have a much lower ISO.

More terms expained soon…

How to copy music files from a CD to your MP3 player or ipod

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I copy music files from my CDs to my MP3 player so my gym work is less boring.

But it’s quite confusing for an oldie like me to work out how to do that, so I thought I’d write a tutorial.

1. Insert CD into CD/DVD drive

2.  An audio CD dialogue box will appear. Select the music files you want to transfer.

3. Open Real Player. There are other music players, but I use Real Player.

4. Click on CD/DVD on the left panel of Real Player.

5. Go to Tools> CD and Save CD tracks. A dialogue box will appear, but just click OK to that.

6. Insert MP3 Player into USB port.

7. Select music files you want to transfer to portable device.

8. Click on Removable Disk on left panel of Real PLayer and select Add selected clips.

9. Eject CD after music is saved. Note where it is saved.

I’m sure I’ve made a mistake here because every time I check the process, something changes. But you get the idea at least.

My new MP3 player

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Wow! Technology is marvellous. I’m listening to FM as I write which is broadcasting from my new MP 3 player. I don’t have to listen to anyone ever again. Still have to download my favourite music (for which I got a $5 dollar credit). It’s not an ipod and it didn’t cost $800. I already have a 3G phone so why do I need a combination of a mobile and an MP3 player. I am not a mobile worker. Whoops, the chat is a bit adolescent.

This new acquisition is for the gym. It does get boring doing 25 minutes on the bike and I’ve now read all the magazines available. I tried a Running magazine last time. I’m not about to run a marathon at my age, so that was no use.

Anyway, have to now fill it up with music and podcasts. The other use is to have it on when my partner plays opera loudly.

Will the PC survive?

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I was reading bleedingedge again and they have corroborated my feeling that as everything else is getting smaller, technologically speaking, the PC would also.

I saw the queues in Australia for people wanting the buy the new iphone which combines a mobile with almost everything to do with a computer on line. The 3G mobile has existed for a while but what is added to this gizmo is that it combines an mp3 player as well as TV. However, here is a review of the new Apple Iphone

Still not the answer yet.

The laptop was another way of drawing people away from the desktop computer, most of which were made by Apple. It sounds nice, but I never bought one. I don’t need to have one as I’m not that mobile these days. Also, it seemed to fail in one most important way. How to break your back while you are using it.

Nevertheless, its sales did overtake those of the desktop computer.

Last December the ASUS Eee PC 701 was launched. It has a 7 inch screen and cut down keyboard. It only cost $500 too. It operates on the Linux platform and uses a lot of the open source programs which are free and which do everything that Microsoft can do. It only had 4 GB of memory however, but much less memory is required to boot it up. It has 3 USB ports to which you can add flash drives or another HD drive.

Obviously most web sites didn’t fit on the screen so one has to scroll left and right and the keyboard might require a kid’s fingers.

It has a web camera and Skype built in. A very cheap and portable computer.

Now ASUS is about to launch another one called Eee PC 901. So what has changed? The screen is bigger, the web cam is now 1.3 megapixels, battery life is about 4 hours and it comes with bluetooth and Pre-N wireless. You can now choose between XP and Linux. Each costs $649 but the Linux version has more memory.

Most people will probably go for the XP version. If you have a spare XP program you should be able to install it yourself. You can also use nlite from nlieos.com. That allows you to strip out Outlet Express and IE.

You can download the drivers from tinyurl.com/56okdk too.

I think I’ll keep my desktop for a while until it dies, but this cheap computer does sound very appealing.

Amazon releases Kindle

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Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device

  • Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.
  • Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
  • Wireless connectivity enables you to shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed.
  • Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
  • More than 130,000 books available, including more than 98 of 112 current New York Times® Best Sellers.
  • New York Times® Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
  • Free book samples. Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.
  • Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
  • Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
  • More than 300 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post—all updated wirelessly throughout the day.
  • Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback; weighs only 10.3 ounces.
  • Holds over 200 titles.
  • Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in 2 hours.
  • Unlike WiFi, Kindle utilizes the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones—so you never have to locate a hotspot.
  • No monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments—we take care of the wireless delivery so you can simply click, buy, and read.
  • Includes free wireless access to the planet’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia—Wikipedia.org.
  • Email your Word documents and pictures (.JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG) to Kindle for easy on-the-go viewing.
  • Included in the box: Kindle wireless reader, Book cover, Power adapter, USB 2.0 cable

Which MP3 player to buy

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Now that I’m going to the gym, I do get a bit bored on that bike for 20 minutes. So I’ve been thinking about an MP3 Player. Well, oh my god, I just did some research on the internet. I don’t see any use for just music. There is music at the gym. I wanted maybe something that would play podcasts. Well they say MP3s play podcasts except that the very word podcast comes from the Apple Ipod. So do I need an Ipod?

Then looking further and ignoring costs, they now have MP3 players which can store photos, videos, audio and just about anything else you might want. Are MP3 players now competing against mobiles. Why would you need both, especially if you have a G3 mobile.

They are so enticing though, and I haven’t even looked at blackberries yet. Still don’t know how they differ. Is the world going mad?

I think I’ll end up going to my local store and buying an old ipod so I can download podcasts I want to hear.

If I got something that showed me TV as well as everything else and which was a mobile as well, I’d never have to leave my bed. Now I know why kids are getting obese. I thought it was just computer games and those Nintendo things. But no, my son just bought an Xbox something and he is 24.

I feel overwhelmed with choice. Too much choice can be very stressful. I hate this form of capitalism.

Terry Lane ( my guru on cameras and gadgets) has reviewed both SanDisk Sansa View 16 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) and Sony 8GB Digital Music Player – Pink (NWZA728PNK)
 Terry Lane, Green Guide, The Age, Thursday, July 3, 2008

These MP3 Players are much more sophisticated than I was contemplating for myself, but if you want more than just music have a look at these links.