A quick recommendation for laptop users, specifically male laptop users. Protect your balls! Until recently I hardly ever used a laptop on my lap. After some layout changes at home the lap became more common and boy does it get hot. To help I invested in a Cushtop from Belkin. The Cushtop is padded but firm and not only keeps your balls from overheating but seems to keep the laptop cooler too. There’s a handy hole in the middle that can hold power adaptor’s and external drives and it can be flipped to accommodate larger or smaller laptop’s. Even better - it costs only $12.99 from play.com which I think is an absolute bargain. Highly recommended especially as it’s rumoured we’ve reached summertime when days are long (check) and the weather is warm (nope) and sunny (doh!).
I love maps especially Google Maps and Live Search where I can happily spent time scrolling around and viewing the maps. Well I only realised today that Glasgow now has some Birds’ Eye photo’s on Live Search.
I’ve thrown some more up on Flickr. A glorious time waster.
With all the Yahoo/Microsoft talk back on the agenda, I was thinking back to the first Microsoft announcement that they wanted to buy yahoo and the reaction on Flickr. Much like when Yahoo bought out Flickr but 10 times worse. People would leave, service will go to rats etc etc etc. Then I watched this video from TED on Photosynth. Jaw dropping. Would a Microsoft take over really be any different for a lot of the Yahoo services?
Loved the developers reaction to the crowd applause in the video too.
Playing Halo on Friday and I managed to get a Killionaire. Woo hoo. So to celebrate I’d though it was time to take a video and test not only the Panasonic TZ5’s video performance but also to try out the different online video hosts to see which works out best. The video is of me laying waste with the gravity hammer in Halo. The video was shot in 720p mode using the TZ5. Some shady rawk music was added to increase authenticity.
Ideally I’d like to upload and show the video in HD. For that I’ll be trying Vimeo and Viddler. I’ll also throw the video onto Flickr, Youtube and .Mac website. First up is Vimeo.
The first realisation is that upload speeds really have to pick up as uploading 120Mb HD films is very time consuming. 120Mb is probably over the top for what this video is but it’s more of a test than anything else. Vimeo has a nice easy to use interface and once the video is uploaded it converts it into flash. The quality is very good (well I thought so) and you can also view it full screen. There is also a link to the original video so you can download it if you really wanted to. Currently there is a limit of 500MB of uploads per week.
I’m still loving the Panasonic TZ5 and as it has a really exposed lens, getting a good camera bag was high on the to-do list. After a bit of research I bought a Crumpler Pretty Boy XXS. The TZ5 fits easily in the main compartment and is well protected. There is space for another battery and also a card holder. What I like is that it isn’t a zip that seals the compartment but a large padded flap that seals with velcro and a clip fastener. The second pocket is also velcro sealed. I’ve used it for the last couple of weeks and it’s certainly stopped the TZ5 from scratches, scuffs and any lens damage. Great bag - crap name! Highly recommended for TZ5 owners.
A quick recommendation for laptop users, specifically male laptop users. Protect your balls! Until recently I hardly ever used a laptop on my lap. After some layout changes at home the lap became more common and boy does it get hot. To help I invested in a Cushtop from Belkin. The Cushtop is padded but firm and not only keeps your balls from overheating but seems to keep the laptop cooler too. There’s a handy hole in the middle that can hold power adaptor’s and external drives and it can be flipped to accommodate larger or smaller laptop’s. Even better - it costs only $12.99 from play.com which I think is an absolute bargain. Highly recommended especially as it’s rumoured we’ve reached summertime when days are long (check) and the weather is warm (nope) and sunny (doh!).
