stevegerrard.org

No Flash support. Come on!! the best browsing experience?????
No multi-tasking..
No camera, so what about video skype??
No OLED screen..
Screen resolution at 1024×768 so does not support HD video..
No video out interface..
No SD card slot..
No USB port..

All in all, still very much a slave device to a Mac (or PC)

It does look very nice through and I’ll problable end up buying one!!

My good friend Peter Costello commented on the fact that there have been precious few contributions made to all that is stevegerrard.org, so just for you Peter here’s the first entry for 2010 (but also I would suggest you search elsewhere for online reading material!)

It’s rare that I get too excited about an application, given the sheer amount of new desktop and mobile apps coming on to the market everyday. Having had an iphone for over half a year I’ve seen quite a few interesting new apps that make you think “ahh, that’s quite cool, but how much will I actually use it?” One common issue that bugs me is how to share files and photos with my family, especially since Ayfer and I have become de-facto official photographers of my niece Tzipi, I somehow need to get hundreds (actually, nearly thousands) of high quality photos to my family, which can be a real pain as its far to large to email, hence the only options are a USB stick or to burn DVD, both of which require physically meeting up. Other options would be to use space on my web-hosting account which requires using an FTP program, fairly un-user friendly for most people, or I could sign up for MobileMe which although is quite a neat and complete offering, I do feel is a little limited and rather over priced for what you get. So this marvellous application I speak of is Dropbox.

In simple and consise terms the Dropbox concept is a centralised folder that you have on all your computers or devices that allows you to automatically see what is in that folder be it on your work or home computer, and is available on Mac, PC, and Linux, and there’s even an iPhone app as well.

All you do is sign up for an account, install the software and you can then instantly share documents, photos -pretty much all files – as long as they are in the that Dropbox folder. Within the folder itself you are free to create further folders and better still you can give public or, more importantly, provide selected access to those folders to you family and friends.

What it means for example is that if you save all your documents to that folder whenever you make a change and then save it, it is automatically updated on all your computers rather than just the one you are working on. In turn this means the the previous hassle I had of putting on a USB stick or burning a DVD with hundred to photos of Tzipi and then physically having to take to my sisters house no longer exists. Instead she can also sign up with Dropbox and I share that folder with her. “Simples” as a Russian meerkat would say.

For the princely sum of diddly-squat you get 2 Gbytes of storage, and if you want more (50 or 100 Gb) you can pay a relatively small monthly fee.

What else, well, all yoru files are fully backed up online, you also get full web access to the files if you aren’t with one of you own computers, and you can see the complete revision history and previous versions of updated files, a bit like Time Machine. For files that you want you give open access to anyone there’s a “Public” folder that allows you to dump files in and then dish out a URL to anyone.

Clever huh?

For the few days that I’ve been using it I am really impressed. Its so simple, so logical, and so useful. Brilliant!

I just need to vent my frustration that the supposed new iMac are still not out yet. I’m ready to go an replace my 4 year old iMac G4 with the latest and greatest from Apple, and there have been reports that it is iminent since the begining of january, but ziltch so far.

Current rumour suggest it will be based on the quad-core “Nehalem” Intel Core i7 processors which should make it a significant upgrade to the current dual core versions, but with Apple you never know so well have to wait and see. Also its not clear whether the appearance or form factor will change.

All I know is that i want it to happen soon!

I, like many others I suspect, are very keen on getting the new iPhone 3G but do not want to sign up to and O2 contract. Previously yhe 2G iPhone has been evry easy to unlock, but the 3G version on 2.0 software is proving to be much tricker to use on non-O2 network. As the PAYG version is available on the 16th September I’m have been keen to find the best solution that will give a me trouble free and future proof way of using it on nay network (in my case Vodafone in particular. This is what I have found to so far:

1. Software unlocking seems to be rather problematic. The main issue seems to be that the current solutions don’t seem to be robust in the event of the iPhone SW updates, which mean each time an update is installed, you have to re-unlock the phone. In fact most of these solutions are in fact jailbreaking the phone, not unlocking it. In reality, with the aplle aps store, there is no need to jailbreak anyway. All you want is for a non-O2 sim to work.
2. HW solutions seem to be the best here, and after doing quite a lot of searching around, the Any-Network.com solution seems to be the best. I’ve seen various reviews from different sources that give approval of this method, a solution that appears to have no drawbacks. One thing to note is that a pre-requisite to this solution is that the iPhone is already activated. This had been a problem in that until now you have to sign up to a 18 month contract in order to activate the phone which kind defeats the object as you’d want to unlock it in order not to sign up! But from the 16th September the PAYG option is available for £399, so now the solution fits well. I plan to use this method!

O2 in the UK has finally released details of the PAYG options for the 3G iPhone. Originally there were rumours that non-contract iPhone would not be available until nearer Christmas and prices for the 16GB version would be nearly £500.

The good news is the new iPhone 3G 8GB for Pay & Go will be available for £349.99 and the 16GB version for £399.99. Not only that, it will be available to buy from 16th September in O2 stores, The Carphone Warehouse and Apple stores.

This also includes unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first 12 months after you activate your iPhone 3G. At the end of the 12 months you can continue to receive unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for just £10 per month. O2 will notify you before the end of the 12 month period by text and you can easily unsubscribe if you choose to do so.

Note though that you’ll need to use the new SIM card that comes with the iPhone 3G to get your 12 months of unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi access but O2 say you can easily transfer your existing PAYG number and balance to your new iPhone SIM. I assume that if you an exisitng O2 contract customer you should be able to use it in the iPhone 3G but might not get the free Wifi..

Having bought a Nikon D80 less than a year ago, my initial feeling on such anouncements are a little mixed between interest in how the product has moved on, and resentment that I no longer own the latest most advanced camera! But anyhow here are the details of the new Nikon D90:

Nikon D90 Key Features:

• 12.9 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor (effective pixels: 12.3 million)
• 3.0-inch 920,000 pixel (VGA x 3 colors) TFT-LCD (same as D3 and D300)
• Live View with contrast-detect AF, face detection
• Image sensor cleaning (sensor shake)
• Illuminated focus points
• Movie capture at up to 1280 × 720 (720p) 24 fps with mono sound
• IS0 200-3200 range (100-6400 expanded)
• 4.5 frames per second continuous shooting (buffer: 7 RAW, 25 JPEG fine, 100 JPEG Normal)
• Expeed image processing engine
• 3D tracking AF (11 point)
• Short startup time, viewfinder blackout and shutter lag
• Slightly improved viewfinder (96% frame coverage)
• Extensive in-camera retouching including raw development and straightening
• Improved user interface
• New optional compact GPS unit (fits on hot shoe)
• Same battery and vertical grip as D80
• Vignetting control in-camera
• 72 thumbnail and calendar view in playback

Although it’s had a bit of a design refresh with slightly sharper lines, the D90 is externally very similar to its predecessor (dimensions are identical, though it is heavier). Looking at the differences it’s obviously a solid incremental upgrade rather than a total reinvention of the popular D80, with several key improvements (most importantly the sensor and screen) and a welcome smattering of must-have 2008 features (live view, dust removal). Oh yes, and of course there’s that one little new feature sitting at the back of the classroom with its hand waving in the air, shouting ‘Sir! Sir’; the ‘world’s first’ DSLR movie mode. – www.dpreview.com

Nikon D90 vs D80: Key Differences

• 12.3 MP CMOS sensor (D80: 10.2 MP CCD)
• Dust removal system
• Bigger, better screen (as D3, D300)
• Live View with contrast detect AF
• Movie Mode
• Wider ISO range, upgraded AF system (3D tracking, face detection)
• Active D-Lighting, vignetting control and extra retouching options
• Picture Control presets
• Faster continuous shooting and larger buffer
• Pictmotion slideshows