Archive for category Odds & Ends
Some thoughts on Android
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Android, Hardware, Linux, UNIX & Open Source, Thoughts on November 19, 2011
Amusing post here from Macworld’s Macalope. It could be argued that it is a little petty in places, but it does make a few interesting points about the current (and regrettable) state of Android. But man, AT&T’s notion of Android is a lot different from Google’s. Android as Google ships is it really quite good. [...]
Existing Customers? Pah!
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Thoughts on October 17, 2011
There appears to be an unwritten rule in business where existing customers are to be at best ignored and at worst, defecated on from a great height. Whether you have a contract with an insurance company, a gas or electric company or hold a current account with a high-street bank, there’s a good chance that [...]
The Great HDMI Swindle
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Hardware, Thoughts on October 8, 2011
Back in the old days when we were still using analogue devices, tape players, vinyl records and scart connectors the cables you used to connect one device to another really mattered. A cheap, low-end cable was likely to be unable to handle the range of frequencies you need to get optimum sound or visual quality. You may find a cheap cable prone to interference, crackling and other unpleasant noises.
The Problem with Travel Company Websites
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Internet, Odds & Ends, Places, Thoughts on October 1, 2011
Forgive me, but this is going to be a bit of a soap-box post, a moan if you will. My wife and I are currently exploring options for our next holiday and thanks to the less-than-stellar state of the major tour operator websites, this isn’t as easy as it should be.
The recession has not made things easy for the tour operators. People are travelling less, airport taxes are making holidaying abroad a little less affordable and the countries we UK types often pick for our short-haul jollies are suffering too. Greece and Spain are both gripped by a major recession and thanks to a lack of holiday-makers, the airlines are having to “re-evaluate” their flight schedules. The consequences of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010 are also being felt among the tour operators. It grounded a lot of flights for long periods and a plane standing still is costing money and earning nothing.
Techbeast.net Shortlisted for a Wales Blog Award
Posted by Gavin Lewis in News, Odds & Ends on October 1, 2011
You may remember from a year ago that Techbeast.net won an award for the “Best Tech Blog” at the Wales Blog Awards. It was a great honour to win my category last year and it appears that luck is on our side, as we’ve once again made it onto the shortlist in the Tech category.
Escape from City 17 – Purchase Brothers
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Games, Movies, Odds & Ends on September 27, 2011
My love for the Half Life series is as strong as ever. The Eastern European feel, the survival horror element and the excellent plot all combine to keep Half Life 2 at the top of the PC game ratings table. The Purchase Brothers clearly love it more than I do as they’ve spent $500 (Canadian) [...]
Wow and Flutter – a video on Vimeo
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Movies, Odds & Ends, Photography on September 22, 2011
A friend of mine put this together with her Canon EOS 7D. Shot and edited over two days, edited in iMovie ’11. I used Canon lenses, an EF 35mm f/2 and EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro. Good first effort, it looks very polished and the image quality is good too. Check out her blog here.
High-speed Robotic Hand
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Hardware, Odds & Ends on September 16, 2011
A contact on Google+ shared this earlier and I had to share it on here. It’s easy to get drawn into thinking that robots are still clunky, slow and the dexterity of a basset hound in boxing gloves, yet they appear to be making significant progress in the field of robotics too.
WP-Super Cache
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Internet, Odds & Ends, Thoughts on September 14, 2011
As I mentioned in this post, I’ve been playing about with cache plugins for Wordpress. Currently I’m trialling this site with WP-Super Cache as it has been recommended by a number of different people. Truth be told I’ve been trialling it on and off for a few months now, but I tend to find that having it enabled becomes intensely annoying after a fairly short amount of time. The main problem I have with it in its default configuration is that when you add posts or change anything about an old post, it isn’t reflected immediately and can take hours for things to make their way into the public eye.
Caching and WordPress
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Internet, Thoughts on September 12, 2011
As time goes by, traffic to this website is gradually increasing. The site now contains at least 650 individual posts and spans a time period of just over three years. Quite a few of these posts appear to be attracting significant numbers of visitors from around the world. Unfortunately this is a bit of a [...]
The UK Government Social Media Killswitch
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Internet, Odds & Ends, Thoughts on August 29, 2011
Earlier this year when London went completely potty and took to the streets for a spot of rioting and looting, there was a lot of talk about how the whole thing was being fuelled by social media, by Blackberry Messenger and by any other platform by which “the youth of today” can pass messages to each other. Unfortunately, a government that is becoming known for its own illegitimacy and internal turmoil is also making a name for itself with knee-jerk reactions. Rather than get to the root of why people were rioting, it instead wanted to cut off the means of communication used by the rioters as a means of suffocating any fire that is about to break out.
Portal: No Escape
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Games, Internet, Odds & Ends on August 24, 2011
This video is essential viewing for any Portal fans out there. Valve’s original Portal was a surprise hit nestled in amongst the Half Life 2 titles on The Orange Box. Portal 2 took the series to a new level and brought many more fans into the world of Aperture Science.
Orange “Film to Go”
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Internet, Movies, News on August 8, 2011
Orange has teamed up with Apple to provide a free (well, 35p for the cost of the text) iTunes movie rental to Orange customers every Thursday.
Getting ready for the end of the world – Part 2 – The Consequences
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Movies, Thoughts on August 7, 2011
For all of mankind’s creations, scientific developments and achievements there’s no getting away from the fact that relative to the size of the planet, the solar system, the galaxy and the universe, we barely register. As the scenarios in part 1 have shown, there are many, many ways to wipe us off the planet. Even without a natural disaster, as the History Channel’s documentary “Life After People” has shown our many urban developments and even the Great Wall of China will not be long for this world once man has stopped maintaining them.
Getting ready for the end of the world – Part 1 – The Cause
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Movies, Thoughts on August 7, 2011
With the financial markets in ruins, the stock market taking a dive and the western world owing more money than it is able to produce it doesn’t take too much imagination to come to the conclusion that our way of life is in a bit of a state of flux. Fortunately the arts world has long been foretelling this sort of scenario, so there are at least a number of ways to mentally prepare for such eventualities. There are a number of movies, books and computer games out there to help you get your mind ready for a transition from a time where many of us can waste food, can’t hunt, know little or no self defence and know little more than how to do make coffee and use MS Word to a time where we have to hunt, kill or be killed.
Blu-ray
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Internet, Movies on July 27, 2011
I’ve been a blu-ray buyer ever since I had my free copy of Casino Royale with my PS3, way back in 2007. My wife and I are big movie watchers and we both appreciate the extra detail and improved colour reproduction that a well-encoded blu-ray disc can deliver. Unfortunately, blu-ray has come at a time when broadband speeds are increasing and large industry players are trying to get you to use their own download service instead.
Microsoft’s “Post-PC” business model
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Thoughts, Windows on July 19, 2011
We are now in a “post PC” era according to Apple’s Steve Jobs. Unfortunately the PC has always been Microsoft’s baby. It may not have acquired its marketshare through strictly above-board dealings, but whether we like it or not it does have the lion’s share of the market. This post-PC era is one that consists [...]
Stockpiling trouble: How stock industry ate itself? – British Journal of Photography
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Photography, Thoughts on June 27, 2011
By the early 2000s, collections had moved online and, while revenues remained robust, growth slowed as the industry matured and competition increased. Stock distributors launched a host of reactionary tactics in response, including reducing royalty rates, expanding sub-distribution agreements, offering micro-level pricing to top customers and producing wholly owned collections. The net effect was the [...]
The City Limits – A timelapse
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Odds & Ends, Photography, Timelapse on May 27, 2011
This seems to be turning into a regular thing on this blog. A weekly timelapse session. This one was created by Dominic Boudreault and it takes in the sights of Montreal, Quebec city, Toronto in Canada plus Manhattan and Chicago in the USA.
Wedding shots
Posted by Gavin Lewis in Photography, Thoughts on May 25, 2011
I don’t go to many weddings, truth be told. My own wedding was quite frightening despite knowing everyone there, so I don’t make a habit of it. One of the ways you can still make money from photography is through the wedding business. People can pay hundreds of pounds for a photographer to shoot their special day and that sounds good to me.
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