Month: July 2006

List of things I’ve loaned to somebody and have now, apparently, lost forever:

• Netgear 8-port 100-Base switch. This is particularly annoying to have lost, since I’m trying to hang three new computers off my LAN, and I pigging well can’t without this. Plus, I can’t help thinking that I used to have three of them. I think Martin bought one off me, one was mine and I loaned out… but what happened to the other one?
• Netgear 4-port 10-Base hub. Less useful, but: the most amazingly dinky pocket-size piece of network hardware ever. Plus it was from that period when Netgear’s kit came in natty little metal boxes, all painted dashing dark blue, with enough flashing lights to be considered gauche these days.
• The TV I mentioned here a few days ago.
• DVD of Takeshi Kitano’s Zatôichi. Twice. Apparently I don’t learn.
• DVD of Drop Dead Gorgeous, which I consider a comedy classic.

I have managed to reclaim all my scattered wireless network gear, but tragically it’s all 802.11b – too old for g.

Humph.

I can hardly complain, given that I met a chum in the pub last night and he gave me £400-worth of tripods, but nevertheless:

All your kit are belong to us.

Now, I’m not about to claim that my post about RocketBoom caused this – I mean, hey, it’s not like anybody of any influence reads The Daily Grind, pfff! – but nevertheless, Amanda Congdon has been, so far as one can tell, fired. By her own company.

What’s really interesting about this clip is that as soon as she drops the ‘Gee! I’m presenting!’ façade and starts talking as herself, I find her instantly more watchable. But then, I seem to be in a substantial minority to have found Amanda the main reason I didn’t watch RocketBoom.

Anyway, track the Blogosphere’s reaction via – what else? – Technorati.

[update: the other side of the story is – as ever – claiming that she wasn’t fired, but quit. There’s also some speculation that this is all a scam for attention. Meh.]

[update 2: get the popcorn.]

This afternoon, I picked up a pair of ex-STV Sony PD100s. They’re old and worn, but absolutely perfect for what I’m doing. Small, relatively light, easy to handle, and yet with much better image quality than most domestic gear. And the price was… shall we say ‘right’? Scottish TV are moving buildings at the end of the month, and they’re trying to get shot of as much old kit as they can.

Since with the PD100s we can also do professional sound – and we’d saved a chunk of change on the cameras – I splurged on some decent audio gear. So I’ve a couple of Sony shotguns, a Rode shotgun, and a couple of boom poles. One of which is tacky as heck and will sound a bit rustly, but the other is gorgeous. OK, so we’ll be flying auto gain without a mixer, but as long as there are people tripping over XLR cables, it’s professional. That’s my new motto.

Tomorrow I’m going to grab a couple of tripods and a lavalier mic, then we’re all set. Except that I forgot to pick up any stock today, which is a bit stupid.

Yesterday, the three computers on my desk totted up to 3.8GHz (1.25GHz & 933MHz G4s, and a 1.6GHz AthlonXP). Today, I have another 12GHz of CPU. Which is slightly intimidating, frankly.

The three 2GHz, dual-core MacBooks just arrived. First impressions:

• They’re lovely, lovely forms. Just like the old iBook design, but turned up to ’11’.
• The keyboard is excellent. Looks weird, works great.
• Trackpad’s a bit weird. Will probably get used to it.
• I’m surprised not to have seen comment about screen illumination evenness. It’s not, very. I’ll report more, later.
• The whole unpack-boot-set up cycle is really, really well thought-through. Very nicely done, Apple.
• Given that Apple stuff is made in different factories scattered around the globe, how come all their stuff smells the same? Do they spray it all with eau de électronique nouvelle?

More later. Right now, I have to run out and pick up some cameras. Woohoo! Toys!

Wired has a bizarre story up about ‘technology’ that’s ‘banned’ from the Tour de France. Since the technology in question is, basically, weight (there’s a minimum cycle weight for the Tour), the whole post looks like an excuse to show pictures of expensive bicycles. There’s no mention of what the weight-saving technologies are in the off-the-shelf, lighter-than-regulation exotica.

Oh, well, you can’t ride a recumbent in the Tour either. But that’s because people laugh and stare and point, it’s nothing to do with the aerodynamic advantage.

I know, I’ve linked here recently – but do yourself a favour and head over to the Daily Dose of Imagery again. Consistently wonderful stuff.

Oh. OK. So… you can trim edit in iMovie. How did I manage to not know that before? Or was this only added with iLife 6?

…which is an oblique way of saying that Apple’s new iLife video tutorials are really rather good.

Meanwhile: Italy / Germany. Blimey! Fabulous fabulous match.

Philip Greenspun has posted an excellent summary of Nikon’s camera and lens range, that’s considerably more clear than anything I’ve seen in Nikon’s own marketing materials. I’m particularly fond of the jargon-busting ‘F-number: lower is better,’ with no additional explanation.

What’s frustrating is the absence of a wide-standard, fast, zoom. Well, there’s a 17-55 f2.8, but at the best part of a thousand pounds I won’t be dropping for that in a hurry. Mind you, Canon’s equivalent is about the same price, albeit with image stabilisation.

I thought one of the advantages of the smaller sensor areas of digital SLRs over 35mm film was that it was easier (/smaller/lighter/cheaper) to make wider-aperture lenses? How come we’re still stuck with f4.5–5.6 or, at best, f3.5–4.5 for kit zooms? That’s exactly the sort of lens I’m wanting to replace!

My current thinking is to aim for a D50 or second-hand D70/70s, and drop as much on the lenses as I can. I can always buy a D200 body later. I guess I should take a hard look at the Sigma lenses, though I suspect you basically get what you pay for.

Not that I’m going to do any of this soon, you understand, but I’ve been trying to buy a new SLR – or, specifically, to ditch my cruddy Minolta lenses – for about four years now. Allow me to dream a little.

Oh, and before the Canon fanboys weigh in – yes, I know the 350D is a terrific piece of kit, the 30D is utterly fabulous, and we’ll not even mention whatever it is that Hammersley just bought (in part because he has a lovely eye for a portrait and I’m jealous of that more than I am of the camera). I’ll try to like Canons again, really I will. I’ve just never got my head around the way they work, right back to the AE1. Cameras are a peculiarly tactile thing, and my taste hasn’t, thus far, run to Canons. Strange, but there we are.

My friend James is, technically, on his way to New Guinea to discover a new species of shark. However, he’s been waylaid in New York, where he’s helping cast sit-coms (as you do) and – more interestingly – becoming a Broadway impresario. More-or-less by accident.

Thus: Vaudeville stages a triumphant return to New York in: A Variety Show, Wednesday July 19th at The Players Club. James can’t say so officially, but as I understand it it’s being written by the team behind The Daily Show. Yes, that Daily Show.

Website by yours truly, design by Nick Flugge. And now, I’ve had enough of CSS for a while.

Flickr user Simple Simon has posted images of a mobile phone/radio-control car mashup he made (via the Make: Blog). We did something very similar on The Big Bang a couple of years ago, using an ex-demo Panasonic clamshell blagged from the local Orange shop, a miniature capacitor-powered RC car, and a Dremel. Sorry about the blurry photos, they’re all I happen to have – and while I did have the thing in my hand a couple of weeks ago, I’m stuffed if I can find it now. I do have the rubber duck version Jack made, though sadly not the lightweight potted plant. For the record: in my opinion, the pot plant was the funniest.

I’ll see if I can get the things running again, and we’ll make some videos of them for SciCast.