My first computer was a Texas TI99/4a that my Dad bought for the family. I always wanted that extended BASIC cartridge... Return to Pirates Isle was a great Scott Adams adventure. Donkey Kong was a brilliant arcade conversion!
A couple of years later, I got a 48K ZX Spectrum, and eventually learned Z80 assembly. Hah, I hacked Jet Set Willy to bits!
A C=128 followed, along with my first disk drive. Started writing demos, and got online with Compunet. What a cool online service that was, around '86?
I then moved onto the Amiga, and the rest is history!
Speedometers are usually calibrated to read a percentage slower than your actual speed. It's not the fact that they are inaccurate (although I'm sure some, especially older model mechanical ones do get more so as they age), but it's done on purpose. Also, they are damped, but I don't believe that the needle would 'jump around' like you describe, and most certainly do not average your speed.
GPS shouldn't be relied upon for speed, due to the acceptable errors involved in the system, especially at low speeds. They do however give a good average speed, and certainly do not have the built in '10% slower than actual' feature your in dash speedo has.
-James.
(I take it you mean 64Kb/s, nto 64kb/s). 64Kb/s is what, 5KB/s roughly? A 3000KB image would therefore take about 10 minutes to transmit : . Add to that the fact that you hardly ever get (in my experience) 64Kb/s, and you've got a long wait. This is assuming you're able to get away with JPEG compression, if you're using TIFF or RAW, forget it...
However, maybe a pro photographer would be able to us if they are able to use very low-res images (640x480?) for quick news shots? I can't see sports guys getting away with that, but maybe 'frontline' shots would be OK. Saying that - the amount of time I was able to use GPRS on a recent road-trip in California/Nevada was about 10% was not impressive.
-James.
BT would be too slow to transmit, I would say. When was the last time you transmitted several hundred megabytes over a BT link. Took a while, I bet! And professional images over GPRS? Not for a while...
-James.
Considering the size of an image from this camera (got to be over 3MB each, depending of JPG compression, or much large if RAW images), I wonder about the speed of transmission. If you've got a full 1GB microdrive to send, you're going to be waiting a while.
Also, the module seems huge, and a sizeable increase to an already hefty camera.
I would like to try one out though...
-James.
Poor UI design, or poor OS support for different fonts?
On the Amiga, the cool thing to do was make sure that your UI was 'font-sensitive'. I wrote an email client that looked beautiful in all res/fonts. I miss that on Windows.
-James.
I have Speakeasy... Had a multitude of problems, and lack-lustre tech support. The support people are great when you have them on the phone, but nothing gets done when you get off the phone. They are expensive, so I was expecting a perfect service; I guess no such thing exists.
The hold music is superb, however. Even after 20 minutes, sometimes I'm upset (and have forgotten my problems) when I get to a support guy!
-James.
I think you're missing the point...
I go jogging with my PDA in my pocket, playing my latest MP3's. You can't do that with a laptop. I can't quickly lookup my mates number in the pub on a laptop. Need google when you're stuck in traffic on the way to the beach? Laptop's at home...
Anyway, I think I've laboured my point enough.
-James.
:) But that's the whole point, a laptop can't fit in your pocket!
I have a desktop, a laptop and a PDA - and use the one right for the job. A PDA like this is great when you're in the car and can't remember the address of something and need a quick google when you're stopped at a traffic light.
Cheers,
-James.
This argument again?!
PDA / Laptop's have totally different use patterns. I don't/can't carry a laptop in my pocket. Windows doesn't boot in less than a second (even with suspend/hibernate). A laptops hard drive probably wouldn't take the knocking about my PDA gets... etc, etc. Chalk/cheese.
Thank you!
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My first computer was a Texas TI99/4a that my Dad bought for the family. I always wanted that extended BASIC cartridge... Return to Pirates Isle was a great Scott Adams adventure. Donkey Kong was a brilliant arcade conversion!
A couple of years later, I got a 48K ZX Spectrum, and eventually learned Z80 assembly. Hah, I hacked Jet Set Willy to bits!
A C=128 followed, along with my first disk drive. Started writing demos, and got online with Compunet. What a cool online service that was, around '86?
I then moved onto the Amiga, and the rest is history!
-James.
Ah, yes, Return to Pirate Isle. "I hear an alarm clock ringing somewhere!" ARRRGGHH!
-James.
Why did you fall off yer perch, my ambient friend? Because I didn't argue back or what?!
-James.
How silly of me. You're right... Sorry!
-James.
Speedometers are usually calibrated to read a percentage slower than your actual speed. It's not the fact that they are inaccurate (although I'm sure some, especially older model mechanical ones do get more so as they age), but it's done on purpose. Also, they are damped, but I don't believe that the needle would 'jump around' like you describe, and most certainly do not average your speed. GPS shouldn't be relied upon for speed, due to the acceptable errors involved in the system, especially at low speeds. They do however give a good average speed, and certainly do not have the built in '10% slower than actual' feature your in dash speedo has. -James.
(I take it you mean 64Kb/s, nto 64kb/s). 64Kb/s is what, 5KB/s roughly? A 3000KB image would therefore take about 10 minutes to transmit : . Add to that the fact that you hardly ever get (in my experience) 64Kb/s, and you've got a long wait. This is assuming you're able to get away with JPEG compression, if you're using TIFF or RAW, forget it... However, maybe a pro photographer would be able to us if they are able to use very low-res images (640x480?) for quick news shots? I can't see sports guys getting away with that, but maybe 'frontline' shots would be OK. Saying that - the amount of time I was able to use GPRS on a recent road-trip in California/Nevada was about 10% was not impressive. -James.
No it's not! Bluetooth is too slow for transferring hundreds of megabytes at a time... -James.
BT would be too slow to transmit, I would say. When was the last time you transmitted several hundred megabytes over a BT link. Took a while, I bet! And professional images over GPRS? Not for a while... -James.
Considering the size of an image from this camera (got to be over 3MB each, depending of JPG compression, or much large if RAW images), I wonder about the speed of transmission. If you've got a full 1GB microdrive to send, you're going to be waiting a while. Also, the module seems huge, and a sizeable increase to an already hefty camera. I would like to try one out though... -James.
Here's a tip : Use Opera for your web browser. Even in Windows, you get beautifully magnified text/graphics when you use the in-built zoom. -James.
Poor UI design, or poor OS support for different fonts? On the Amiga, the cool thing to do was make sure that your UI was 'font-sensitive'. I wrote an email client that looked beautiful in all res/fonts. I miss that on Windows. -James.
I have Speakeasy... Had a multitude of problems, and lack-lustre tech support. The support people are great when you have them on the phone, but nothing gets done when you get off the phone. They are expensive, so I was expecting a perfect service; I guess no such thing exists. The hold music is superb, however. Even after 20 minutes, sometimes I'm upset (and have forgotten my problems) when I get to a support guy! -James.
I think you're missing the point... I go jogging with my PDA in my pocket, playing my latest MP3's. You can't do that with a laptop. I can't quickly lookup my mates number in the pub on a laptop. Need google when you're stuck in traffic on the way to the beach? Laptop's at home... Anyway, I think I've laboured my point enough. -James.
:) But that's the whole point, a laptop can't fit in your pocket! I have a desktop, a laptop and a PDA - and use the one right for the job. A PDA like this is great when you're in the car and can't remember the address of something and need a quick google when you're stopped at a traffic light. Cheers, -James.
This argument again?! PDA / Laptop's have totally different use patterns. I don't/can't carry a laptop in my pocket. Windows doesn't boot in less than a second (even with suspend/hibernate). A laptops hard drive probably wouldn't take the knocking about my PDA gets... etc, etc. Chalk/cheese. Thank you!