Holiday! Oh and Sports Day

Well, today was Sports Day, which was really quite boring, apart from a few races involving my friends, which were fun to watch. In the end, my house won (for at least the third year in a row- that’s how long I’ve been at my school) which was good, and the weather was perfect for the occasion. We’re in mid- spring at the moment in the UK, and are experiencing summer temperatures. Anyway, I’m won’t be writing to my blog for about a week (I’ll be very busy) so I hope you all have a great half term and see you in a week’s time!

Storage… storage… storage…

Nowadays, as files are getting bigger, more people have films on their computers and have more music, it’s all about where to store all these things. Although in the ideal world you would just buy a 500 GB drive (on my wish list) and the problem is solved, you can easily move this hard drive between computers and store enormous files on it, this can be very expensive. And, the worst scenario is when you just want to transfer a file quickly and simply between computers. Most people just use AIM to do this, but what if the file is of, let’s say, 200 MB? Are you really going to use the slow AIM connections and wait for hours for it to transfer? What if you want to have a file sent to many computers at the same time quickly and simply? That’s where DropBoks comes in. DropBoks acts as a simple ftp server (File Transfer Protocol) allowing users to upload files of up to 50MB at a time onto the allowed 1GB of the free service and securely. Ok, nowadays, 1GB really isn’t that much storage, but I love the service for its sheer simplicity! As the name suggests, you just have to drag a file over the box, and from then on you let it do the work! Considering its simplicity to that of competing services such as BT Vault, even if space is greater on the Vault, DropBoks is my preferred service- it’s cheap ( 2GB storage & 200MB upload limit for $2 per month, 3GB storage & 300MB upload limit for $3 per month and so on…) and competing services are such pains to use! Then, all you have to do to retrieve your files from DropBoks is sign in and download them!

DropBoks is still in early days at the moment, more features are being added regularly, such as file sharing etc. But, the interface is really user friendly, as well as being coded in HTML, and is compatible with plenty of browsers.

Baby Blackbirds

Well, it’s another photo post today. I was walking in my front garden yesterday when I heard constant tweeting, and a blackbird flew by me several times holding a worm in its mouth. So, I went to have a look at where it was going, and I discovered a nest with four babies waiting for food! They must only be a week or two old, they still have their eyes shut. Anyway, I ran to get my camera, and took some pictures of them. It was very hard to get a good picture because I was looking through a bush which obstructed my view, and I didn’t want to disturb the nest too much.

Picture: Baby Blackbirds w.jpg
Size: 958.56 KB
Date taken: 05/05/2007 13:55
Camera: Sony DSC-H5
Image size: 3072×2304
Lens open F value: F2.8
Lens focal length: 19.2 mm
Shutter speed: 1/60 sec.
Exposure correction: +0.0 EV
ISO: 160
Flash: On- forced
Red Eye Reduction: Off
Contrast: Standard
Sharpness: Standard
Saturation: Standard

Monday.

Monday. Such a happy day. Biology and a whole week ahead of you. But, on the bright side, next week is half term! (Only a weeks holiday though) but it’s better than nothing. Anyway, I’ve just finished yesterday’s post (I was too tired to finish it last night after having done a few essays), and I can’t think of anything that’s quick and easy to post, so it’ll have to be another photo! Still on the same topic of the wildlife in my garden, a beautiful grey squirrel. This squirrel is really tame and you can get really close to it without it running away. I know there are a lot of people who hate the grey squirrels, but frankly, I don’t care- this one’s nice

Picture: Squirrel w.jpg
Size: 1.38 MB
Date taken: 11/03/2007 15:33
Camera: Sony DSC-H5
Image size: 3072×2304
Lens open F value: F2.8
Lens focal length: 27.5 mm
Shutter speed: 1/100 sec.
Exposure correction: +0.0 EV
ISO: 320
Flash: Off
Red Eye Reduction: Off
Contrast: Standard
Sharpness: Standard
Saturation: Standard

Wasp

Wow. That’s what I have to say today. I just went up into my room to fetch a pair of batteries I had been charging today for my camera (my H5 had just run out of juice) and as I entered, I heard a huge buzz coming from by my window (which was closed). I looked over and I saw a HUGE wasp. We’ve had very big wasps buzzing around upstairs before, but never quite this big. Anyway, I caught it in order to take some pictures for you all to enjoy, and at the same time I was able to measure it. It was a little more than 1.5 inches (3.3 centimetres) and the abdomen (the yellow and black bit at the back) was enormous. Ouch- I’d hate to know what a sting from that thing would feel like. Anyway, onto the pictures.

This is a picture I thought showed the gnashers really well, as they too are huge. Unfortunately, I had to take this shot in high speed shutter, and so the picture is reasonably dark, but it’s better than the wasp being too blurred to see.

Picture: Wasp 2 w.jpg
Size: 791.91 KB
Date taken: 20/05/2007 19:33
Camera: Sony DSC-H5
Image size: 3072×2304
Lens open F value: F2.8
Lens focal length: 6.0 mm
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec.
Exposure correction: -1.3 EV
ISO: 160
Flash: Off
Red Eye Reduction: Off
Contrast: Standard
Sharpness: Standard
Saturation: Standard

This is a picture of the wasp in the pot I put it in, very much alive- it was very hard to get a good non-blurred shot of it as it moved so much! Macro job here- notice the detail of all the hairs on its thorax.

Picture: Wasp w.jpg
Size: 848.04 KB
Date taken: 20/05/2007 19:29
Camera: Sony DSC-H5
Image size: 3072×2304
Lens open F value: F2.8
Lens focal length: 11.4 mm
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec.
Exposure correction: -1.3 EV
ISO: 125
Flash: On- forced
Red Eye Reduction: Off
Contrast: Standard
Sharpness: Standard
Saturation: Standard

Saturday! Zattoo review

Hey everyone, smile! It’s Saturday! I had my violin lesson this morning and since then, I haven’t done anything really so I decided to write on my blog.

Is anyone watching Chelsea vs Man Utd? (Football- sorry soccer- Two of the biggest clubs in the UK). I am. It’s a first, I know but I thought I just couldn’t miss it. I’m watching it on my computer using an excellent bit of software I found on the internet the other day. It’s called Zattoo, and it works in the same way as talking on Skype, the data is streamed straight to your computer rather than buffered (loaded then played). But, the massive plus point of it is that it’s free. Yes, FREE TV on your computer. No licences. At the moment, the service is only available in the UK with a small selection of channels- Al Jazeera, BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, BBC News 24, CBBC Channel and CBeebies, but it’s a start. Who knows what could come next? Recording without having to buy an HD recorder? Fast forward, pause, rewind? Sky+ for free? Imagine that.

The downfall of the service, as you could expect, is that you need a good amount of bandwidth to watch it- it’s not for dial up users. I have an 8MB connection, and I’m fine, but I don’t know about you people with 512k.

The sound quality is of excellent stereo quality, and picture quality is excellent for internet TV.

I only have one problem with it- I can’t get Al Jazeera at the moment, and can’t usually get BBC4. But, that might vary from where you are, and remember- it’s still a relatively new concept for the UK market.

To get hold of Zattoo, you need to sign up for a wait list as it’s not actually released as software anybody can download yet. Go here to sign up for the wait list. I know, it says it’s not available in the UK yet, but trust me it is, I received my invite to sign up within a week- in fact I was surprised I received it so quickly. So, patience, all good things come to those who wait.

Southern Rocky Spain from 15,000 feet in the air

Picture: 15000 Feet w.jpg
Size: 1.39 MB
Date taken: 25/03/2007 09:16
Camera: Sony DSC-H5
Image size: 3072×2304
Lens open F value: F2.8
Lens focal length: 18.6mm
Shutter speed: 1/320 sec.
Exposure correction: +0.0 EV
ISO: 125
Flash: Off
Red Eye Reduction: Off
Contrast: Standard
Sharpness: Standard
Saturation: Standard

Well, nothing particularily amazing happened today at school, so today’s main post of a photo I like that I have taken. It was taken from a Boeing 757 while flying over the rocky part of southern Spain. My H5 has lots of zoom, and so it doesn’t look like it was taken from 15,000 feet up in the air. You can see it was taken from a tiny aircraft window because you can see the left side of the photo is slightly warped. But, nevertheless, I think it’s a photo worth posting. Enjoy.

Wow

I’ve just read this on the internet, I thought I should share it with you!
An asian woman has had a bullet in her head for 64 years and didn’t know:

Click here for the full article.

Amazing. Anyway, I hope you all had a good day!
Bye!

Guest book

This will act as my guest book for now- write something quick in the messages! Leave your mark on my blog- nothing inaproppriate though please or else I will have to delete it.

Even better though would be if people who got here via Stumble Upon would just write a quick message saying that- then I could see how many I’m getting from there!

Stones

Picture: Stones.jpg
Size: 3.22 MB
Date taken: 05/05/2007 13:55
Camera: Sony DSC-H5
Image size: 3072×2304
Lens open F value: F2.8
Lens focal length: 51.5mm
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec.
Exposure correction: -0.7 EV
ISO: 125
Flash: Off
Red Eye Reduction: Off
Contrast: Standard
Sharpness: Standard
Saturation: Standard

I took this photo on a day out with my primary camera, my Sony DSC-H5. In my opinion it is the best camera I have ever owned, it’s so easy to use and lets the more advanced user do what he wants with more advanced settings. Well, this is my simple photo to show you all, I’ll probably be doing this very often. The photo shows excellent sharpness and contrast- even in poor light conditions (as there were). Enjoy.

Muck up day

Hi everybody, back again after a *sarcasm* great *sarcasm* day at school – muck up day! It was a crap muck up day and the “muck up” element did not exceed 3 or 4 bangers, a few stink bombs in the canteen in the morning and some smoke bombs, which were rubbish and weren’t even done by the year 11’s. Anyway, I just thought I should post this to keep you updated on my exciting life and to tell you to subscribe to my atom feed! (It’s at the bottom of the page underneath the last post- just click on where it says “Subscribe to posts (Atom)- or just click on this:” Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)” to subscribe to my feed!). At the moment, I am having problems uploading images so doesn’t look like I can show you any photos at the moment. Anyway adios!

Welcome to my first blog!

Welcome to my blog and my first blog entry. In my blog I will write what I have been up to and post pictures I have taken, which can include of memories, artistic pictures or just fun pictures I found on the internet. I will aim to write on the Blog every couple of days (just as everybody does) but realistically, I doubt I will really do that. Anyway, I’ll do my best and watch this space for more posts!
Bye for now!