31 October, 2007

Halloween Police

I caught a piece of a topical discussion program today on Clare FM. I gather they had been discussing illegal bonfires and fireworks. The caller that I had heard had the novel idea that since banning the bonfires and fireworks hasn't made them go away, that those in charge should "Ban Halloween".

I can just see it now. Kids bobbing for apples behind darkened windows. Police on the look out for illegal pumpkins.

Trick or treating in disguise!

Wireless Photo Uploading

If you're one of those people that just can't wait to upload your photos for the world and your family to see, and your camera takes SD memory, then Eye-fi might just have the memory for your memorys.

It's a 2GB SD card with a built in wireless card. You first connect it, via it's own card reader, to your PC, and configure where you want it to upload the photos. It can upload to your PC, or to a website such as Flickr or Picasa.

Once that's done, pop the card into your camera and start shooting. When the camera is in range of your wireless network the card will upload the photos. No need for any cables or card readers - and if you're not saving to the PC, no need for that to be on either.

A great little idea which is sure to make life a little easier. It should also massively increase the amount of poor quality, badly focused, red-eyed photos which really should have been deleted photos on the internet. There'll probably be a lot of ones which accidentally get past the censor as well.

Too bad it's only usable in the U.S. at the moment

19 October, 2007

Not tonight, I'm washing my keyboard

This should be a requirement for all keyboards and mice - they should be dishwasher safe. It's a great idea. I read it first here and if you want to buy one check out the maker.

They were originally designed for the medical professions where several people are using the one PC. Nasty germ gathering potential there. So thinking of nasty germ gathering, they'd be idea for any family with young kids that love banging on the keyboard while eating toast. Of course that will usually mean banging the keyboard WITH the toast (while watching the Hippo and the Dog singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight").

15 October, 2007

Bah Humbug

I'm already fed up with Christmas, and the clocks haven't changed yet. I'm all for consumerism but give me a break. Some stores are still selling off their summer clothes and yet they have already started putting out their Christmas stuff. I'm well aware of global warming but I don't think Ireland has turned into Australia. It's just not right!

The Christmas stuff is just popping up all over the place. The Better Half spotted a large Santa, hiding behind some vampires and witches in the local SuperValu on Thursday. It was followed by noticing the shopping centre has their Christmas lights up. "At least they're not on yet" I commented to the Better Half as we covered from our initial shock of seeing them.

"It's not dark yet" she replied.

Where will it all end? Why do they bother even taking them down anymore? They should just do like in Grandad's village (he just lives there, he doesn't own it.)

While on a brief visit to Atlantic I noticed that they had their Christmas stuff on display. The Better Half pointed out that it was roped off so that you couldn't buy it. I can only guess that's to prevent the rush of shoppers trying to get the best looking artificial trees.

11 October, 2007

Fit Update

Some time ago I mentioned a new device/controller for the Nintendo Wii, called the Wii fit.
Good news is that Nintendo have now announced that it will be on sale from December. More good news is that the price is about €53. Bad news is that they've only announced the date for Japan. No news for the rest of the world yet.

More info from here.

09 October, 2007

Nomination for a Darwin award

If you're going to work with electric cables make sure you have a a phase tester. This guy hadn't. Mind you I don't know where you'd get one that can handle 10,000 volts.
Shocking.

05 October, 2007

Soaps in your eyes

I like gadgets. (I might have said that before.) But even I know when to say enough is enough.

While having a slight fix of gadget related reading, I read this about a TV for the bathroom. It seems specifically designed for use in the shower. Putting aside the fact that you would probably have to remodel, or at least re-tile the bathroom so that you could run the cables for the TV, I just find myself asking why?!

Why would anyone want to watch TV while having a shower? What is so important that you couldn't afford to miss it while cleaning yourself? How much of it can you really watch while water and shampoo cascade down and get in your eyes? Will people that wear glasses have to keep them on in the shower.

It comes with a remote control!!! WHY?!

Answers on a postcard, or to the comment field...

02 October, 2007

When is a metre not a metre?

I recently purchased a new watch. My previous one has seen 12+ years of active service and was starting to have a couple of problems. The previous watch is water resistant for 50 metres, but the new one is water resistant to 100 metres. This wasn't a feature that I was looking for on either watch, but it's handy to know that you don't have to worry about it getting wet during the course of a normal day.

It is a feature that I've wondered about. Who needs a watch that will work in 50m of water? Nevermind 100m - or 200m or even 1000m. Just to put it in context, most swimming pools might have a deep end of 2m or 3m. A diving pool with a 10m board might be up to 5m deep. The Royal Navy in the UK have a tower for practising escaping from submarines. This allows them to do 30m ascents. The world record for free diving is 214m!

I was on the Seiko web site, and while perusing their FAQ I found this useful information about water resistance in watches. Basically, a watch which is resistant at 50m is only resistant at 50m if it's not moving. The watch should be static and the water should be static. If either of them is moving then the pressure is different and there could be leakage.
Q: What exactly does the water resistance description on my watch mean?

A: The Water resistance relates to pressure as measured in the equivalent of a static tank of water at a given depth under water. But please note, the faster an object is moved in or against water, the greater the pressure on the watch. For that reason, a watch that is water resistant
to 30 metres may leak if exposed to water coming forcefully from a tap, or worn whilst viourously swimming or diving, as the increased pressure may exceed the designed resistance.


So according to them, your cool watch which is good to 30m (the same distance as you might escape from a submarine, as you do), mightn't last washing the dishes if you have the tap on too high.