Woolwich regeneration

Even though I have a real camera, I love the lo-fi effects of taking photos on the telephone camera.
Back in the early '90s I had a LOMO camera, which was fantastic. It cost £15 brand new and was quite exciting to take photographs and have little control over the end result. The LOMO has had a bit of a renaissance over the past few years through their film cameras and smartphone apps, which is great as it injects a bit of chance to photography.
I like the thought that we (humans), like to think we can control everything, but actually, we can't, and shouldn't. A bit like that sentence actually.

footnotes1 - There are other photographic developing & printing services available.

Broadband

Here's a quick question to you all.

Broadband providers. I've been here before, but what are your thoughts/experiences with Orange Broadband? Any good? Load of rubbish? Mac compatible? Speed issues? Service interruptions?

Comments gratefully received.

Me

I've been a paid-up member of the Apple Mac fan club for over a decade. Oh, how OS 8 looked so quaint. Halcyon days.

This year, I thought I'd try mobileme. My foray into cloud computing.

[21:54hrs. Ooh. What sounded like a low flying Chinook passed over Plumsteadshire. This is with reference to one of Plummy Mummy's recent posts - ed.]

Back to the story.

Cloud computing.

I'm not convinced with mobileme. I find it painfully slow and that's not my idea of productivity. On the plus side, I really like syncing all my stuff so I can see my email, contacts and diary at work, but this is pretty fundamental. I also find it intuitive to use, as I would expect from an Apple product.

Well, unless the speed picks up, I'm definitely veering towards ditching it at the end of my year.

mobile phone directory

You may already have heard about this but early next week all UK mobiles will be on a directory which will mean that anyone will be able to access your numbers. It’s easy to unsubscribe but it must be done before the beginning of next week to make sure that you are ex-directory. You may want to suggest it to all your friends and family who have UK mobiles or they could be swamped by unsolicited messages and calls. Removal is recommended by the dear old Auntie BBC.

To remove your number click on the link below, you need your mobile
phone with you to do this as they text you a code

1, http://www.118800.co.uk/

2, Click on ‘Ex Directory’ at top right hand side of page, from
there it’s straight forward.

telephone service

I'd just like to ask if anyone knows of an alternative (and reliable), supplier for a telephone/broadband service. I'm with BT at the moment and paying a lot of money just for the standing charge.

Thanks in advance.

iPhone 3G S

The new generation of the gadget of all gadgets, the one and only iPhone, has been announced. The iPhone 3G S. It pretty much follows the rumours that have been bandied around on the blogosphere and maybe that is why I'm still slightly under-whelmed.

The trouble with technology is that it advances so quickly that it's hard to keep up. In trying to keep up, we expect the next big thing to leapfrog the last big thing, well I do anyway. Given that there are phones out there packing 8 mega pixel cameras and the 3G S offers just 3 is one disappointment; one key reason for me to have held back from spending lots of cash and changing phone provider. Even so, I'll have to remind myself one thing. Rather than judging the iPhone on the amount of features and how it'll fare against the competition, I'll appraise it's usefulness for my needs.

1. A good quality phone. tick
2. Speakerphone. tick. Great for being kept on hold by call centres
3. Camera. Uh er. I'll just have to buy a cheap small digital camera
4. Synchronise with my Mac. tick
5. On the go internet. tick. So I can be more spontaneous with blogging
6. Reliability. tick. If it runs as smoothly as my Mac then all's good

I'm not keen on the polished finish though. I like my current phone because I can throw it in my bag and not worry about it getting scuffed. For me, the thing is to be used, not a fashion statement.

New discoveries

Surfing around last night, I came across a couple of websites I particularly liked.

First up is Lumilyon, an artist who works in the realms of magic realism, objet trouvé, digital art. Lumilyon's work is incredibly evocative, so much so you can almost smell it (I mean that in a nice way of course).

Secondly, and in a very different vein, is Kipkay. This is one super-geek who makes essentially really dangerous things and loves playing pranks. He is basically a schoolboy at heart, messing around in science class refusing to grow up. He harks from the fabulous past before the phrase 'health and safety' was invented. As I lack scientific prowess, I wouldn't like to try these inventions as I'll probably blow the shed up.

wireless electricity

Wireless electricity. I've wondered about this one before and now we're a step closer to it.

Imagine this. Tapping into someones' wireless power network, just like you can tap into their WiFi broadband connection. Power your laptop on your neighbour's electricity bill. Well, why stop there? Run your fridge, tv, washing machine off their juice.