Another Ebay (£5.50) find that actually turned out to be better than expected. Random filter pouch. I was sceptical about the plastic pockets but obviously they offer better dust and scratch protection than mesh.
I don’t have very many filters but being able to store and carry them in a practical and snug way is a big plus. Pouch is only able to hold up to 6 x 82 mm filters though so it’s probably a no-go for the Sigma 150-500 but on the other hand I don’t have a single filter for that lens.
Rails and curtains installed on the glass patio. I think this turned out to be a reasonably nice and cost-effective solution.
More in the Garden 2011 gallery.
I’ve been looking at the smartphone market, again, and just about the only interesting thing that has happened in the last year is the introduction of Windows Phone 7. Now, normally I’d dismiss it out of hand because the handsets are just too expensive just like with Android and in particular iOS, but I found that there were resellers on Ebay.de that were peddling models like the Samsung Omnia 7 for around 240 Euro and HTC Trophy for 180 Euro. I mean, good luck getting an Android handset with the Omnia 7 specs (4 inch AMOLED screen etc) for 240 Euro.
Surely it must be a temporary fluke based on T-Mobile overstocking or some such but it nevertheless got me thinking. Could WP7 be the next big thing and could I make a killing by getting a first generation WP7 device while it lasts? Or will the OS bomb? Will second generation devices (from Nokia) blow even the Omnia 7 out of the water?
There is however a strong case against jumping the bandwagon. Aside from the uncertainties of being a early adopter, there are some seriously dark clouds on the horizon. Leaving aside the possibility that the entire platform will fail to gain momentum and get dropped, here are a couple of gripes I’ve found:
And adding insult to injury, the sleekest of the WP7 devices, the Omnia 7, like some of Samsung’s other recent high-end models such as the Galaxy S2, has a problem with my specific carrier. Seems to be due to their Edge network and 2G – 3G switching. It has been months and a solution does not seem to be imminent. Also, there is the banding issues with the screen on some of the devices, like the Omnia 7.
These are dire times indeed. Not only has the LCD TV market been invaded by inferior LED specimens that generally are faulty at all price levels except the absolute premium, but the PC side has just lost two of its most venerated monitors – the Dell 2209WA and LG 2220P.
It’s hard not to be bitter. The two only 22 inch IPS 16:10 monitors on the market have now been discontinued. I’ve written about this at length before and the conclusion remains the same. Given my preferences there will be no model worth purchasing for years. Perhaps ever. I might have to go skipdiving for old CRT trinitron sets or I might have to wait for the next technology, beyond plasma, lcd or even oled. Welcome to the future … where we might just as well have flying cars before we have a display technology that can best the CRT.
Also, it sucks because I was hovering over the order button like a thousand times, thinking I should get a 22 inch IPS for redundancy.
Still using a 19 inch Trinitron 4:3 CRT. And I will give it up when you pry it from my cold dead hands.
It would seem I finally have a viable population of Burgundy snails (Helix pomatia) in the garden. They seem to thrive on the compost and I plan on doing everything I can to convince them to stay.
In my book, these critters are a must-have for any serious gardener. They are decorative, amusing and quite harmless compared to most other molluscs that can inhabit a garden.
Finally some decent shots. As good as it is going to get given the time allotted, skill level, no special access to animals, no cheating and the limitations of the Sigma 150-500.
Picasa gallery. Largely unprocessed, no WB corrections (unlike the pic above), just auto settings, lens correction in Lightroom and a few crops.
Other than the Sigma 150-500 OS I used a monopod for most of the shots. Don’t know if it made a huge difference but at least it made it more comfortable to operate the lens extensively. Sure wouldn’t mind a lens with a wider aperture (fuzzy otters, awful seperation and bokeh) but given the price of a serious 500mm lens and the fact that there is no real purpose to my sporadic photography I think this is the end of the line.
I have been on the lookout for new walking shoes. I’m down to just two models that I’m currently evaluating at home. They are the Ecco "Colorado" Ultra Terrain 3.0:
And the Ecco "Boulder" Fast Trail:
I initially got the Ultra Terrain and thought I was finally done. It seemed ok. But then I saw the user opinions on the Ecco site. While no one was really bashing the Ultra Terrain it wasn’t getting standing ovations either. Unlike the Fast Trail and Fast Trail GTX (same model with Gore-Tex instead of mesh) that were both being hailed as the best thing since sliced bread.
Now it looks like I’ll be returning the Ultra Terrain and keep the Fast Trail. The UT was a little narrow, soft and had a strange feel to it, especially under the foot. It did offer support but it felt like it was all in the wrong place. Plus the FT offers even more ventilation and has a wider, more rigid sole. And it is likelier to work with custom insoles. It also has a better unlocking system for the lacing system, which by the way uses a more widely available rubber tube / string (in case you need to replace it). And all of this at very little extra cost.
About the lacing though, I am not a fan of the system yet. First time using anything like it. Don’t know if it will hold up. But I haven’t seen any complaints either. One caveat is that there is a lot of spare string that you can’t tuck away in any quick or practical way.
I will say one thing of the Fast Trail though. They were bloody hard to get hold of. Couldn’t buy them from Ecco Online and of the four local stores that were supposed to have them in stock, there was only one pair left in size 10-10½.
At any rate I reckon they will do better than my old black leather walking shoes that lack even the most rudimentary form of ventilation.
I had some initial troubles with my Synology Diskstation running programs like Sabnzbd. But seeing as version 0.6.1 is out I decided to try the new package from the SynoBlog. I don’t know if it’s the new version of Sab, the new DSM or the python spk but nzb downloading seems a lot smoother now. At least it is good enough to saturate my rather meagre DSL now with a few CPU cycles to spare. Of course, unpacking or repairing still takes ages. I haven’t done any accurate benchmarks but repairing a 7 GB movie (that ultimately failed) took about 40 minutes yesterday. Repairs on this quad core desktop usually take from one to six minutes judging from my Sab history. So if you’re in a hurry you might want reconsider.
SynoBlog also has fresh packages of Transmission (2.31), Midnight Commander (4.7.5), Sickbeard (2.0) and CouchPotato (2.0). So far everything has been working great despite some people griping over at the Synology forum, particularly on the topic of DSM 3.1 and Transmission compatibility.
Despite the obvious limitations of consumer level NAS units I have to say I have grown quite fond of this little toy and continue to be amazed by its potential. Can’t wait to see what manufacturers will come up with in a couple of years in terms of increased performance and lowered power consumption and acoustics.
Fence project is coming along nicely.
More in the fence gallery. Everything went better than expected even though nothing was really straightforward. And the walls turned out to be remarkably crooked. The real problems started on the far end of the driveway where one of the retaining walls had twisted and moved several centimetres. Had to spend a long time with the angle grinder removing part of the wall. I hope it will be enough.
Due to the incomprehensible decision by Google’s Picasa team to merge Gmail and Picasa usernames I’ve moved my pictures to another Google account. New address is here: picasaweb.google.com/rustlingrondo. I also have an alternative account as of yet unpopulated.
I must have been randomizing user names for hours before I came up with something I liked. It’s a damn shame that you can’t register anything remotely comprehensible anymore. It’s all been taken already and we’re down to nonsense names basically. Well, at least Picasa has a migration feature nowadays for moving the web albums to a new account. It’s their way of solving the grievances that sprung from the name merger I guess. And while the Picasa client apparently can’t handle multiple accounts, Lightroom can.
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