thomas fitzgerald.net

Check out this amazing commercial for pedigree, shot at 1000 frames per second on the Phantom.

Since the iPad was announced pundits have been jumping at the chance to declare the Kindle dead or dying. Amazon themselves have reacted, perhaps preemptively by announcing an SDK for the kindle. Analysts have declared that the Kindle’s market share will dramatically drop and so on. The thing is though, I don’t quite understand why Amazon has to fear for its life because of the iPad. If anything, the iPad is a great opportunity for Amazon.

I’ve been playing around with the new adjustments options in Aperture 3 and I’m really impressed. Here’s an example. It’s a pretty bland image to start with.

Note the sky is completely burned out. The recovery slider would only bring it back in so far, but thanks to the new extended range curves adjustment I was able to recover much more of the sky. Here’s the final result after playing around for about half an hour:

Credit where credit is due, Microsoft have done a good job with Windows Phone 7. It has to be one of the most original interfaces for a Phone I’ve ever seen. What’s more, they resisted the urge to blatantly copy the iPhone  like everyone else. It certainly looks a hell of a lot better than most of the Android Phones out there. While I’d never give up my iPhone I think Microsoft have taken a good step in the right direction. Of course by the time this is released, Apple will have released iPhone OS 4 and the goal posts will have moved again, but it’s good to see someone else thinking outside of the box for once.

I had wanted to wait a little while since the iPad was launched to let the implications sink in a bit before trying to write about it. I have had so many thoughts flying around my head about Apple’s new device over the last week that I haven’t really known where to start. The more I read about it the more enthusiastic I get about the iPad. I also get equally annoyed about some of the stupid things that are being written. One thought keeps resonating with me though: the iPad isn’t really a computer. At least not in the traditional sense. (I know that technically it is a computer) Instead you should think of it more as a device that happens to do computing tasks. Let me explain.

I’ve been running my various blogs off wordpress fore years now, and over that time I’ve tried various themes. Originally I used free themes and then progressed to using some premium ones. But even then I was never really happy. Then I discovered Woo Themes. Woo is a purveyor of premium wordpress themes, but they do it really really well. What impressed me about the company was not just that they created some really nice and high quality themes, but that they gave them a really good back end, and that they continued to upgrade them. But what I really like is the way they structure their themes.

Long time readers of this blog may remember that last year I began an expirement of sorts. Being a Canon shooter for years, I was frustrated with the Camera I was using at the time and I wanted to try out a member of the opposition as it were. So I bought a D90 as a way of dipping my toe in the Nikon pool. My previous posts about it are here and here. Anyway, it’s now a year later and I have written about my experiences with the camera over the last year. You can read the full story on my Photography Blog.

Despite having taken a verbal pummelling from the environmental organisation in recent years, Greenpeace and apple are now the best of friends. From to MacNN:

“‘Apple is leading and HP is playing catch up,’ said Greenpeace campaigner Casey Harrell. ‘But the lack of action from other companies is ensuring that customers and the environment are still losing out.’”

Jim Dalrymple points out that Apple are now number one amongst all electronics manufacturers and the only company to receive a four star rating. What a difference a few years makes.