My highlights of 2011 in pictures

We got married

Roundtrip Java, Indonesia, Ricefield

Roundtrip Java, Indonesia, Borobodur

Roundtrip Java, Indonesia, Prambanan

Bali, Indonesia, Our hotel Melia Benoa

Bali, Indonesia, Our hotel Melia Benoa



Bali, Indonesia, A big Manta Ray

 

Bali, Indonesia, A big Sunfish

 

Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Hotel Sandos Playacar

Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Hotel Sandos Playacar

Playa del Carmen, Mexico, A turtle

Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Some Lionfish

Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Diving in the Cenotes

Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Diving in the Cenotes

Mexico, The Coba temple

Mexico, The Tulum temple

Merry Christmas everyone !!!

I hereby wish each and everyone a merry christmas !

 Some history regarding christmas can be found here ... 

For some laughs I found this comic:

 And to end with a nice movie check this one out !

[Dev] Defining an event on the .Net Micro Framework

I was just defining an event while working on an application on my Netduino Plus. But the default EventHandler delegate was unknown ...

Searching the internet did not directly help me on the subject and so I decided to add a short post on my blog to help the next people running into the same problem.

The delegate is defined in the Microsoft.SPOT.TinyCore assembly, so just add that assembly and you're good to go.

UPDATE:
I just ran into a problem when deploying my solution to the Netduino Plus. The program had a total size of 66336 bytes which is too big ! After removing the reference to the TinyCore assembly and added the delegate (public delegate void EventHandler(object sender, EventArgs e)) to my program it ended up to a total of 2560 bytes. So no adding of additional assemblies !

[Tech] Netbook HP DM1-4000SD

I used  my Asus 1000HE netbook the last 2 years and I took it with me on holidays for entertainment, for mail, skype and as a glorified imagetank. I also used it to be able to do some internetting on the couch, it was small, light and had a 7+ hours battery length.

However last holidays it became to slow since I could not use my regular movies since the netbook was too slow for those. Instead I had to rely on DVDs or 480p MKVs. Since I am also filming in 1080p with my videocamera/DSLR I was not able to watch these on my netbook and so I had to look for a decent replacement.

Some requirements I had:

• Better resolution, 1024x600 was not decent enough for everything I did on the netbook.
• Max screen size of 11" since the netbook was then still easy to put into a backpack. 
• Weight is still very important since I take it with me on a holiday in my handluggage. The Asus netbook weighed 1 kg.
• Possible to handle 1080p content.
• HDMI output.
• Still a decent battery length, 5+ hours.
• A decent price which depended on the possibilities.

I looked at some of the Asus models but then I had to either reside on the Atom platform or had to accept the 12" screen. I also look at some ultrabooks but then I had to pay 800+ euros and had an even larger screen of 14".

Due to my requirement of the decent battery length the AMD Fusion chipset came along. It promised good battery length and good performance (also graphically). So based on this and my previous requirement the HP DM1-4000SD netbook came on top of my list. I read a few reviews and finally ordered it. It's a sturdy netbook with a good screen and a good keyboard. Battery length is about 4.5 hours with WIFI on while doing some internetting and installating some new software. The screen resolution of 1366x768 is quite nice and pretty workable ! The weigth was a bit more then expected, but 1.5 kgs is still doable.

The netbook is setup with Windows 7 Home Premium, the 32 bits version. Which is a bit strange to me since the AMD Fusion platform is 64 bits. I decided to reinstall the laptop with a x64 version of Home Premium while using the same installation key. This also provided me with a way to get rid of all the HP software which was installed. So in the end I was quite happy with my new netbook.

Some utilities I ran into:
BatteryBar - A tool which provides a toolbar in which either the remaining time is shown or the percentage of available battery capacity.
AMD System Monitor - A tool specific for the AMD Fusion platform which indicates processor load, graphic processor load, memory usage, etc.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have some specific questions about this netbook !

[Photo] DIY Photo Crane

I just ran into this DIY camera crane and the result looks awesome ! I have to build one myself.

The link

[Fun] Amazing free climb in a radio tower to around 600 meters

I don't have a fear of heights but I get some strange feeling in my stomach when watching this movie.

[Game] Ultimate 3d #game #simulator

I just ran into this video and I was amazed by this real life simulator. I want one at home !

[WP7] MissingMethodException when deserializing an object

I am currently developing an application for Windows Phone 7 and I like it. The framework classes are easily to find and to understand. Some constructions are still not really acceptable but workarounds are sometimes possible.

However I just ran into the "System.MissingMethodException" when deserializing an object from the IsolatedStorage. First I thought it was caused because I had a property with only a getter, but changing this did not solve the problem. Looking at the stacktrace also did not bring any solution. So I went on the internet to see if other people ran into the same problem but I was unable to find anything related.

In the end I looked in more detail to the implementation of my class which was serialized and which I wanted to deserialize. It seemed that I forgot the parameterless constructor ... Thanks Microsoft for that cryptic exception !

So I end this message in the hope that it helps people who also run into this exception.

[Dev] Unlocking the Windows Phone 7 legally with #ChevronWP7

Yesterday I finally unlocked my HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7. The reason I had to do this was because I wanted to run my own developed software. Possibly when this works as expected I can buy the license to also publish them to the marketplace.

For now it just for hobbying and thus the Chevron WP7 single phone license is good enough and it's not too expensive ($9). It is endorsed by Microsoft and so I do not have to be afraid that the phone can not be upgraded. It is possibly to pay via paypal or creditcard and it's an easy process. In total it took me less then 10 minutes to pay and too unlock my phone.

The nice thing is that I can now develop my own software and put it on the phone. Homebrew software you can find from other developers can now also be put on the phone without having to resort on the Microsoft Marketplace.

Some nice apps:

Mango Battery Status - Shows the battery status on a live tile, also shows a graph of the battery level in time when clicked.

Hub folders for Windows Phone 7 - Enables the possibility to have a tile which leads to a set of tiles when clicked. This really reduces the enormous quantity of tiles on the main screen.

Development tooling:

Download the SDK from Microsoft

Windows Phone 7 development for absolute beginners, a video series which will help developers to get started.

[Diving] #Diving in a #Cenote in Playa Del Carmen, #Mexico

Last October I went diving for the first time in a cenote. A cenote is a deep natural pit filled with fresh water and most of the cenotes are part of quite extensive cave systems. The nice thing of the cenotes is that the water is very clear due to the natural filtration through the ground. This gives a surreal effect of floating through the caves since the presence of the water is not visible.

In some of the pictures a halocline effect is seen, this is due to the mixture of fresh water and salt water. This also indicates that the cave system is quite extensive since we were more then 4 kilometers away from the sea !

This was the first holiday that I used my new combination of the Canon 60D and the Ikelite underwater housing so I had to experiment a lot. So some of the pictures could be better ... The Ikelite strobe/videolight was perfect and gave more light then any of the divelights I have seen down there.

[Fun] Accidents happen

[Dive, Photo] Ikelite underwaterhousing for the Canon 60D

Yeah, yesterday I finally picked up my new Ikelite underwaterhousing for my Canon 60D DSLR. And boy, it's really big ! Check out the package of cigarettes in relation to the housing in the next picture:

The quality of the housing is actually really good, it really feels quite sturdy. Almost every button on the camera is accessible via the external buttons on the housing.

In the next picture you can see the rubber ring in the backplate. It's a nice way to check if the back is fitted correctly so that it keeps the water out (which is pretty important when taking it for a dive).

The back of the housing shows the lens which is placed in front of the viewfinder so that it should be no problem to look through it with a diving mask on. At the bottom of the back the TTL indicator is visible for the external strobe. I chose the Ikelite DS-161 and it is also a big boy ! But more on that in another post.

[Photo] B&W Type 90 photo bag

Two days ago I finished my search for a photo bag which I could use for storing my Ikelite underwater housing, the ikelite strobe, my DSLR camera, the Canon strobe, adapters, my noise-cancelling headphones, my netbook and some of the necessary adapters. So I ordered it and yesterday it got delivered.

I needed a bag which I could take as handluggage in the plane which could store all my mentioned stuff safely. I found the B&W Type 90 photo bag, it consists of a sturdy nylon bag with a ABS plastic casing inside which is watertight up till 5 meters. It can be used to stand on but when necessary it can also be used to sit on. In the top of the case there is an air pressure compensation valve which can be used to equalise the pressure after a flight so that the case can be easily opened.

Next to the bag, the case and the padded insert one receives a shoulderstrap and a special strap which can be used to carry the bag as a backpack. There is no instruction book how to use it, so I will tell you. At the end of the strap there are 2 pairs of quick-connects and they are placed around the handle on top of the bag. The other 2 ends are fastened to 2 metal round at the bottom of the bag.

The nice thing is that it also comes with a fully configurable padded insert which can fit in the nylon case but also in the bag itself.

According to the specification of B&W the bag, the ABS plastic casing, the configurable padded insert, the shoulder strap and the backpack straps had a net weight of 4 kgs. That is totally not true, so beware !!!

The total weight is 5.5 kgs which is quite heavy when considering the allowed cabin baggage weight is about 10 kgs ... I will sum up the weights of the individual components:

• The nylon bag itself [3.3 kgs]
• The ABS plastic casing [1.1 kgs]
• The configurable padded insert [1.0 kgs]
• The backpack strap [0.15 kgs]
• The shoulder strap [0.1 kgs]

I will probably combine the nylon bag, the ABS plastic casing and the shoulder strap which adds up to 4.5 kgs. That leaves me a total of 6 kgs for all the stuff I want to take with me as handluggage when going on a holiday ...

[Fun] Oldest battlefield 2 player, Dutch and 66 years old

I just ran into this movie of Jaap, a Dutch man 66 years of age, which loves to play Battlefield 2 !

[Photo] Canon 60D or 600D

Recently I deciced I wanted to make FullHD movies when diving. I had the combination of the Canon S70 and the matching underwater housing. However the problem was that this camera can only take movies of 640*480 which was nice up to a few years ago.

The Canon 500D I had was able to take FullHD movies but only at 20 frames per second. That was not enough for me and so I had to replace it with another camera.

I started to do some research and finally ended up at either the Canon 600D or the Canon 60D. There are quite some differences and I am not only talking about the price. They can however both make FullHD movies at 24, 25 and 30 frames per second. Both of them also have a display which can swivel and that is also one thing I wanted to have in my next camera.

This link on snapsort shows a nice comparison of the 600D and the 60D and based on this I made my choice for the 60D. The following differences made me choose for the 60D:

• Pentaprism instead of a pentamirror
• 9 cross-type focus points instead of 1
• Longer battery life 1100 shoots instead of only 440 shots. Especially important when diving, hard to change the battery.
• Faster continuous shooting, 5.3 fps instead of 3.7 fps
• Body somewhat bigger and heavier, for large hands this is also a plus

So what leaves me now is searching for a new underwater housing for my Canon 60D. I probably end up with the Ikelite housing together with the DS161 strobe. But that's something for a next post !

A review site regarding the Canon 60D

[Travel] Roundtrip Indonesia - Bandung

The first thing we did today in Bandung was to go to the centre and look at the train station.

We also took a walk and looked at some of the shops that sold fresh fruits.

We also saw the next shop which sold chickens, these are not the ones you sometimes see in a episode of Magnum PI. The one that Magnum owns is a plastic one, while these are the real deal.

After our trip to the centre we took off to the Tangkuban Perahu which is a large volcano which last erupted in 1959. It was quite busy over there and some of the locals wanted to take a picture with us, we almost felt like we were celebrities.

On our way to the next stop, the hotwater springs in Ciater, we saw a tea plantation and I had to take some pictures.

A bit further when we were already near the hot springs we saw several big spiders hanging in the trees. No idea of the type, so if you know please let me know so I can add a link.

The hot sulfur springs were totally different from what we expected, we expected a hole in the ground with hot water but what we saw was a pool. They also had showers so one could wash of the sulfur. We had our lunch here, it was the regular lunch with rice, gado gado, sate, etc. and a Bintang for me.



A nice view over a valley which showed a lot of different floors which they used to grow the rice.

At the end of the day we ended up in Padasuka where we watched a long performance of the traditional Anklung instrument.

In the end we ended up in the hotel in Bandung at around 18:00. We did not feel like Indonesian food and so we ended up in the mall under the hotel where we ate some fastfood at Wendy's.