Robert Gerrish at www.flyingsolo.com.au posts some compelling lessons learnt from his 12 year old son, Jay
Befriend older, wiser people
Want to know where the table tennis balls are stashed? Or how to get into your locker when you’ve forgotten the code? The way to get ahead is to stalk those in the know. Hang around tall people in long trousers.
Unfortunately wedding photography is an area where couples cut corners or
hire
This often results in photos that tarnish the memory of this once in a lifetime event.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on wedding photography then spend time researching just what you can get within your budget.
A small investment in time will help you choose a great wedding photographer.
1. Talk to married couples about their photographer.
What sort of result did they get? Were they pleased and are they still pleased weeks, months or years later? Can they remember (or do they care) how much they invested?
2. You would expect a high price to indicate a good wedding photographer, but this is not always the case.
Interview your photographer and ask for testimonials from past clients (if clients are delighted with their wedding photographer at least a few should be happy to write a testimonial).
3. Ask for guarantees.
Will the person you meet with be your photographer?
What will happen in the case of illness, poor weather or equipment failure?
Is he/she a well regarded member of a pro organisation like the AIPP (Australia), BIPP (UK) or RPS (UK)?
Do they carry public liability insurance to protect you and your guests?
Do they provide a written contract of what they will deliver and when?
Unfortunately, most photographers who fulfil these criteria have long since realised that catering to budget conscious clients is unsustainable without cutting corners.
4. Look for your photographer through one of the organisations listed above and view their site or blog (where available) to get a feel for their work?
5. Look at some of the other options such as ‘photo booths’.
‘Photo Booths’ (aka ‘smile booths’ or ‘crazy booths’) are simple studios, often with themed props, that offer social photography for weddings and events.
In some cases the guests simply shoot themselves with a remote control, but the best photo booths have a dedicated photographer and produce high quality images.
These images can be posted to Facebook adding a live social element.
Captured images can even be added to your wedding album or printed for your guests.
An example of this is the recently launched ‘myphotoroom’ in Adelaide
They offer fun, quirky and unforgettable images of your guests instead of the cheesy posed shots which are so typical of many weddings.
6. Consider hiring someone to tutor you in photography so that you are better equipped to understand the pitfalls of shooting a wedding and better qualified to choose a photographer.
Congratulations and hopefully these simple tips will help you find a friendly and experienced wedding photographer.
Please note: the following is my understanding and simplified view of a complex landscape of options and protocols
It is intended to provide insight for the inexperienced, rather than a complete and accurate technical description
If you are reading this as a customer of another ISP then just assume that every mention of Bigpond is a reference to your provider. While things that are true of bigpond might not be true of your provider this should still get you most of the way there
Bigpond and others provide email addresses for free with their services, but in reality this is nothing more than a trap to prevent you from switching to another service – in my opinion there is no reason for a Bigpond customer to use one of these addresses
Apple iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc. are portable when you switch to a different Internet Service Provider and remain capable of being used with standard settings anywhere in the world (as do properly setup self hosted emails like myname@myowndomain.whatever)
A bigpond address often fails to send when you are not connected to the Telstra provided infrastructure forcing users to access expensive solutions like global data roaming or clunky solutions like webmail
In addition a Bigpond address is not designed (at time of writing) to properly sync between multiple devices
Why? Bigpond use a protocol known as POP which offers advantages for the provider including reduced ‘chattiness’ between devices and the email server, but none for the user – especially when the user has more than one device*
*status of messages (flagged, read, unread, deleted, forwarded, replied) is not echoed between devices
Other protocols exist – IMAP, Exchange, Google Sync, iCloud
Exchange is a Proprietary (Paid) Microsoft protocol which supports multiple devices for mail, calendar, contacts and notes
It is typically used by businesses with their own domain
Google Sync is similar to Exchange and is apparently based on it
Google Sync, with the right settings makes it easy to sync mail, calender, contacts and notes between iPad, iPhone and presumably other mobile devices
while it works well on mobile, due to licencing restrictions, it doesn’t work fully on the desktop and is quite frustrating and time consuming to configure on a PC or Mac (Purchasing Outlook may be a solution to this)
One major advantage of Google Sync is the ability to set it up with your own domain
Update: Unless you were already using Google Sync or a paying Google Customer, Google Sync is effectively dead – http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2716936
iCloud is a proprietary (free) protocol for those who own one or more Apple computing devices
iCloud makes it easy to sync mail, calender, contacts, notes, bookmarks, documents, location, device backups, reminders between all of those devices and a few items can sync with a PC running the iCloud Control Panel
IMAP is a non proprietary email protocol which works on any device, but must be supported by the provider of your email;
Bigpond – does NOT support IMAP
(email addresses ending in bigpond.com or similar)
Gmail – Supports IMAP, but I have seen the uninitiated become confused by the way Gmail handles IMAP
(email addresses ending in gmail.com)
iCloud – Supports IMAP, but setting up as iCloud is easier (iCloud email can be easily used on PCs with Outlook, Macs, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Setting up on a different device requires careful configuration)
(email addresses ending mac.com, me.com, icloud.com)
email addresses ending in internode.com, adam.on.net, yourdomain.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com, iPrimus.com
Internode – Supports IMAP
Adam – Supports IMAP
Your own hosted email may or may not support IMAP, although most do
Other providers like Yahoo, Hotmail, Dodo, iPrimus etc. may or may not support IMAP to one degree or another
POP – Some of these emails support POP, but I generally recommend avoiding it. If you have a bigpond address which you have shared with many people and you now use multiple devices it is normally*** best to switch to an iCloud or Gmail address and have your incoming Bigpond emails redirected there
***Not all bigpond addresses are equal. In all cases we can forward emails received at a bigpond address to another address, but it is not always possible to prevent the bigpond inbox from continuing to fill up requiring us to keep checking in
Update:I have experienced varying interfaces with Bigpond webmail and settings.
In all cases those settings allow mail to be forwarded to another address, but most of the time there is no option to stop the Bigpond inbox from continuing to fill up. Since writing this blogpost I have helped people set this up 3 or 4 times and it is starting to appear as though address ending bigpond.com are of the inferior variety (inbox continues to fill) while those ending in bigpond.net.au appear to be capable of forwarding emails WITHOUT, at the same time, continuing to fill up themselves
We can use pieces of each protocol – for example
A bigpond user might use POP for his email, but use iCloud for his Calendar and Contacts
A Gmail, internode or Adam user might use IMAP for email and Notes with iCloud for Calendar and Contacts
While these solutions work they require more configuration than a single solution like Exchange or iCloud (Google Sync is similar but much less easy unless we are only interested in using mobile devices)
iCloud seems to be the best overall solution, but your needs will vary depending on your email address, willingness or ability to change address, current devices, future devices
Now go and have a lie down…
Update:Adam it appears do not allow email addresses provided by them to be forwarded at all – if you are an Adam customer I recommend avoiding their free email accounts like the plague
Update March 6, 2013:Chariot – www,chariot.net.au – also omit options for forwarding, but a call to their helpdesk reveals that they can set it up manually for you
After some shopping around for security cameras I recently opted to try out the Jaycar Techview QC3834 for it’s low cost and wireless capabilities
Like many devices this new range of wireless IP (QC3834 – QC3836 – QC3832) cameras is almost fully Mac compatible despite no information about Mac installation
Readers may not be familiar with some of this terminology, so before I go into any further detail about setup I will give a few definitions
To set up this camera we are going to need to assign an IP address that can’t change – since our IP Camera Viewer relies on that address to show us the feed, but first we are going to need to work out which IP address is assigned automatically by our router when we plug it in to our existing network and then fix a different address that is not part of the normal pool of IP addresses (my router has been reconfigured to automatically dish out addresses from 1 to 200 out of 255 available leaving me with 55 manually selectable seats)
That last point is important, your router must have a range of addresses that are not part of the pool – if you are not able to set this up for yourself, get some help or risk temporarily breaking your network. Once that is set up, read on…
Step 1 – Log-in to your router and make a note of the currently assigned range of (just the un-named ones) IP addresses – this process should be easy but will vary depending on the brand of your router (Look for a button that says ‘DHCP Client List’ or similar)
In my case my router is accessed by opening a web browser on my computer and typing 192.168.1.1 using ‘admin’ as the user name and ’admin’ as the password (you might open a web browser and instead type ‘routerlogin’ or ‘192.168.1.254’ or something else. Don’t guess – if the login information is not printed on the back of the router or in the instructions then it will be available by searching online for the model and brand of your device)
Step 2 – Plug the camera into power and then plug it in to your router using a network (ethernet cable)
Step 3 – Refresh the window in your web browser – a new item should appear. This new item might be called ipcam_xxxxxxxxxxxx (the x’s represent numbers that are unique for each device)
In my case this was followed by a newly assigned IP address – 192.168.1.4
Step 4 – Type whatever IP address was shown into your browser and click enter
Login to your camera setup with username:admin with password:admin and you will be able to see a range of options under 3 headings at the top right
Step 5 – Click ‘Device Management’ then ‘Basic Network Settings’
In the window that appears you must;
Untick the dhcp server box
Type an IP address that is not part of the pool and is not assigned to another device already – in my case I used 192.168.1.225
Type the Subnet Mask, gateway, dns server and port then click ‘submit’
I wasn’t sure what to enter for DNS yet (this will be important to access the camera from anywhere that isn’t our home network), so I just put 192.168.1.225 for now
The subnet mask and gateway might be different depending on your routers default settings, but in my case the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and the gateway is 192.168.1.1
Port number was set to 80
At this point it should be possible to type 192.168.1.225 into any browser on my network to view the camera feed or further change the settings
In addition I also downloaded an iPhone/iPad App called CamViewer (free) and a Mac App called Security Spy (Paid) and was able to view, control and record from the camera
You might also like to set up the camera with WiFi so that it can be plugged in anywhere within the range of your network – this is done under ‘Wireless LAN Settings’ and though my network did not show up I was able to type it’s name (and password in the ‘Share Key’ field) to connect easily
Viewing from the internet is also possible, but I’m still not quite there on the right settings (DNS, Open Ports, Firewall etc) to make this work
One important thing to keep in mind though is that the correct settings will mean anyone can view the feed from this camera – to prevent this be sure to click ‘user settings’ and type a password in the first password field and, if you wish, change your username (don’t forget to click ‘submit’)
So, what do I think of the camera?
I don’t have a great deal of experience with security cameras, but my photographic background means I know enough to say that it is good value for money but will not wow you with the quality
Of the 3 cameras that are available I chose the QC3834 which also offers PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom), I’m sure the other two are almost identical except for the housing
Picture Quality – At 640×480 (max) the picture quality is adequate and colour is good. I’m sure there are much better cameras out there, but few will offer IP network connection at this price point
Focus – The camera appears to be fixed focus and due to it’s small sensor images are reasonably sharp at any distance
Low Light – The camera will automatically turn on it’s LED illuminators as the light level drops. The led’s can be turned off in the web view and if there is some light this might be preferred since the led’s create quite a hotspot.
Subjects that approach the camera will be overexposed very easily by the LED’s and strong light sources within the frame and close to the camera are best avoided
Options – The web view allows a few things to be controlled including;
4 user presets for position
Image flip or rotate to support surface or ceiling mounting
Vertical Patrol
Horizontal Patrol
Illumination on/off
Alarm (motion detects and triggers via an external alarm socket)
Since my goal is exterior security I have to decide whether to return this camera and exchange it for the outdoor version, but I really like the ability to control the Pan Tilt and zoom. Perhaps I can purchase a weatherproof dome enclosure separately
When scanning pages from books and magazines it is common to see a ‘ghost image’ of the text from the back side of the page being scanned.
There is an easy fix for this and it’s so obvious you will kick yourself
During the scan, simply place a sheet of flat matte black paper immediately behind the page you are scanning.
This destroys the contrast of the ‘ghost’ text or images rendering a much better quality scan with little to no visibility of the reversed image from the page behind and no visibility of the next page either (I have seen people use white paper, but this only solves part of the problem)
The one downside is that it reduces the contrast of the scanned image too, but that is easily fixed by adjusting the highlights – for example (if I remember correctly) by dragging the right hand slider to the left in the Photoshop ‘Levels’ tool
Please link to this one if you find it useful
Having played with accessibility on the iPhone it is clear that iOS must be the most accessible device yet.
However I think I have discovered a weakness in the scrolling system and a solution for the flaw.
The following feedback was therefore recently given via the iPhone feedback form – let’s hope it gets seen
Three finger scrolling for the visually impaired could be dramatically improved by enabling the action that brings down the notification panel (unused during VoiceOver) to be used from each edge of the screen to scroll.
it is very easy for a blind user to feel each edge of the device and swipe across the screen rather than swiping with three fingers, which sometimes drag and don’t always perform the desired action.For those who don’t need accessibility the same gestures from the left, right and bottom (but not the top due to notifications) could be used to move the cursor in a body of text as though using arrow keys.
Perhaps a swipe would move one character in the swipe direction. Swiping but then pausing mid swipe might cause the cursor to continue moving one character at a time until the finger was removed from the screen.
My iPhone 5 just charged from 63% to 83% in 20 minutes
This was using the included charger and lightning cable – I can’t remember my 4s charging so quickly.
It’s risen another 4% in the last 4 minutes. Further testing is required
I can’t wait to see how fast the next iPad charges (I imagine Apple were not delighted with the ten hour charge time of the current model)
Update: I will keep posting unscientific observations here
1. Monday Oct 1st – at least an hour off the charger and still at 99%
2. Eight hours off the charger now and my battery is at 84%
3. Tuesday Oct 2nd – 17 hours off the charger now and we are only down to 70% (a lot of this had to do with not leaving the house, but it shows how good the battery life can be when the iPhone isn’t struggling to amplify its connection)
4. 40 minutes charging and we are up to 92%
5. Tuesday Oct 9th – Charge the client iPhone 4S today, 10 minutes to charge to 2%
6. Saturday Oct 13th – From 28% to 90% in 61 minutes
I haven’t given this much thought for a while, but my iPhone was on 5% today at 8:34pm.
I put it on charge and by 8:46pm it reported 30%. In the last 4minutes it has added another 6%
That’s pretty amazing – Lightning by name…
Dear reader
Never mind the deterioration of map resolution, if you rely on the public transport capabilities of Maps in your iPhone you might want to think twice before you upgrade to iOS 6 or buy an iPhone 5
Apple’s switch to their own mapping technologies has left a gaping hole where useful transit directions once lived
If you have already upgraded What can you do (other than waiting until Apple catch up to where they were yesterday)
One option is simply to carry another older iOS device.
I’m lucky enough to have a first generation iPod touch lying around – this device is incapable of running iOS 6 and should continue to provide public transit times and directions well into the future
Another option while we pray that Google release a standalone Maps app is to visit maps.google.com and add their web app to your home screen
It’s clunkier (for example, you can’t search for directions until the page has finished loading), but at least it works
This blog has been a long time coming and today I was finally forced into action when I wanted to respond in a permanent fashion to a blog post I read on Saturday.
I already had the idea and the domain name and just finally found the motivation to research blogging platforms, install wordpress, configure, choose a theme, configure, experiment and finally begin to post.
Whether I procrastinate as I have in the past or whether this becomes a helpful, interesting and most importantly regular destination for all those things that pop into my head remains to be seen…
Doug