I just installed Visual Studio 2012 and the menu shouted to me, all characters are uppercase. I am wondering which smart-ass thought this was a good idea ... What I can read on the net is that they are following the design of other Microsoft suites.
This shows a fix, so I guess I am not alone :)
Monday, October 29, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Saturday, June 30, 2012
[Dive] Suunto Helo2 dive computer
Recently I purchased my own first and second stages and after that I could finally satisfy one of my long running desires. Namely a remote transmitter so that the tank pressure is also shown on the diving computer. The current dive computer I have, the Suunto Mosquito, does not provide the possibility to work with a transmitter. So I set of on a quest to satisfy my desire and looked for a replacement for my dive computer.
I read a lot of reviews of diving computers and at first I was looking at the Suunto D6i. Eventually I ran into the Suunto D9Tx which supports trimix diving. I found the price for the D9Tx a little bit to high for my taste, however the trimix support really got me thinking of the near future requirements I could possibly have.
I decided to search for trimix support and eventually ran into the Suunto Helo2. Most of the reviews are really positive, of course there are always people who can only criticize. It is one of the first consumer dive computers which supports technical diving with multiple gas mixes including Helium. It has a depth range of up to 120 meters. One of the nice things is that the battery can be easily replaced on site, which is the reason I always bring a spare battery replacement kit when diving.
Today I received my order from Scubaworld which contained the Helo2 among other things. The following box contained both the dive computer and the remote:
It contains:
I read a lot of reviews of diving computers and at first I was looking at the Suunto D6i. Eventually I ran into the Suunto D9Tx which supports trimix diving. I found the price for the D9Tx a little bit to high for my taste, however the trimix support really got me thinking of the near future requirements I could possibly have.
I decided to search for trimix support and eventually ran into the Suunto Helo2. Most of the reviews are really positive, of course there are always people who can only criticize. It is one of the first consumer dive computers which supports technical diving with multiple gas mixes including Helium. It has a depth range of up to 120 meters. One of the nice things is that the battery can be easily replaced on site, which is the reason I always bring a spare battery replacement kit when diving.
Today I received my order from Scubaworld which contained the Helo2 among other things. The following box contained both the dive computer and the remote:
I was unable to find the contents of the box on the internet and thus I took the following picture which shows everything what is in the box.
It contains:
- The Suunto Helo2 dive computer (Don't worry when the display is blank, it will start to work when a button is pressed ...).
- The remote transmitter to place on the first stage.
- A usb cable to retrieve the logged dives from the dive computer.
- The manual.
- An extra display cover (One is already placed on the dive computer).
- A small pamflet for the DM4 program.
Monday, June 11, 2012
[Dive] Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, 2012
We just got back from 2 weeks of fun, sun and diving. It was great, nice weather, nice people and great diving sites.
I went diving on the Thistlegorm for 2 separate days and it was a real adventure, but more on that in a separate blog post.
We stayed in Melia Sharm which is really a great hotel. The staff is very friendly, the food is great, there is always something for everyone. The coral reef in front of the hotel is great for both snorkellers and divers.
And some pictures from the reef in front of the hotel. Keep in mind these were made while diving on the reef.
I went diving on the Thistlegorm for 2 separate days and it was a real adventure, but more on that in a separate blog post.
We stayed in Melia Sharm which is really a great hotel. The staff is very friendly, the food is great, there is always something for everyone. The coral reef in front of the hotel is great for both snorkellers and divers.
And some pictures from the reef in front of the hotel. Keep in mind these were made while diving on the reef.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
[Info] Reliability CDR/CDRW
Last week I finally got rid of a lot of my old CDR/CDRWs. You know the CD recordables en rewritables. According to my memory the life-expectancy of data on this type of media would only be like 5 to 10 years. Boy what was I wrong :)
Some of my media dated back till 1997. This was both CDR and CDRW and they were all still readable. I think I had more then 100 CDs which I copied and with only 1 I had some troubles reading the data from it.
The nice thing is that some of them were real cheap at the time of purchase while others were quite expensive. But in the end I did not notice any difference.
This link reports a recorded lifespan of 50 to 200 years for that type of media.
Some of my media dated back till 1997. This was both CDR and CDRW and they were all still readable. I think I had more then 100 CDs which I copied and with only 1 I had some troubles reading the data from it.
The nice thing is that some of them were real cheap at the time of purchase while others were quite expensive. But in the end I did not notice any difference.
This link reports a recorded lifespan of 50 to 200 years for that type of media.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
[Photo] The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3
Last week I decided I wanted a smaller camera which I could easily take with me. The problem is that my Canon D60 DSLR camera is quite bulky and that's not always very easy. So I started looking at some compact cameras, but the longer I looked at the specifications and the increasing prices it became more and more clear to me that this was not the way to go.
I then ran into the micro four-thirds cameras. This is a camera comparable to a DSLR however without the mirror system. This has a big influence on the size of the camera and since this was for me a big reason to look for another camera this was something I had to look into.
Background on the four-thirds system
The micro four-thirds system was announced in August 2008 by Olympus and Panasonic. So for me it is proven technology. The system will bring me the DSLR options and quality in a more compact camera.
Some of the pros in comparison to a compact camera:
Of course I had certain requirements while looking for a four-thirds camera:
Based on my requirements I ended up with the Panasonic DMC-G3 (Here is a link to the review on the dpreview site). This is the camera I received last week and with which I am extremely happy since it matches all my requirements. I was a bit worried about the size of the camera in comparison to my hands, but this has not been a problem at all.
The weight of the camera with the 14-42mm lens attached and with a battery in the camera is 583 grams. Which is certainly not bad compared to the features on the camera, like the viewfinder and the swivel lcd.
As a note for someone who is wondering if a Canon strobe (like the Canon 430EX II) can be used then the answer is yes. But TTL does not work and the weight distribution is quite off and because of this holding the camera is not very easy.
I then ran into the micro four-thirds cameras. This is a camera comparable to a DSLR however without the mirror system. This has a big influence on the size of the camera and since this was for me a big reason to look for another camera this was something I had to look into.
Background on the four-thirds system
The micro four-thirds system was announced in August 2008 by Olympus and Panasonic. So for me it is proven technology. The system will bring me the DSLR options and quality in a more compact camera.
Some of the pros in comparison to a compact camera:
- Changeable lenses which mostly feature a wider aperture then on compact cameras. Which allows more control over the depth-of-field and greater creative possibilities.
- A decent image sensor (Approximately 9 times the size of most compact cameras) which offers better image quality and more light sensitivity.
Of course I had certain requirements while looking for a four-thirds camera:
- Electronic viewfinder, since there is no mirror it does not support an optical viewfinder like you find on a DSLR. However in certain conditions one can not do without.
- Swivel display, I like this on my Canon 60D and it allows me to take shots which are otherwise (almost) impossible to make.
- Built-in flash unit.
- Hot-shoe for external flash unit.
- Comparable image resolution as my current camera (16 MPixels)
Based on my requirements I ended up with the Panasonic DMC-G3 (Here is a link to the review on the dpreview site). This is the camera I received last week and with which I am extremely happy since it matches all my requirements. I was a bit worried about the size of the camera in comparison to my hands, but this has not been a problem at all.
The weight of the camera with the 14-42mm lens attached and with a battery in the camera is 583 grams. Which is certainly not bad compared to the features on the camera, like the viewfinder and the swivel lcd.
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| The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 with 14-42mm and 45-200mm lens |
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| To show the size of the camera I placed my Canon 60D next to it |
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| The back of the cameras with the swivel LCDs (I forgot to clean the display on the G3 ...) |
Sunday, January 8, 2012
[Photo] England in December 2011
The 2nd day of Christmas we arrived in England and we stayed there for a few days with our friends. I made a lot of pictures and decided to show a small selection of them on my blog.
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| Southend-On-Sea, England |
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| Southend-On-Sea, England |
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| Southend-On-Sea, England, a look on the Southend Pier |
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| Southend-On-Sea, England, at the end of the Southend Pier we saw multiple seals swimming |
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| London, England, a look on the Big Ben |
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| London, England, a look on the side of the Palace of Westminster |
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| London, England, a look on Buckingham Palace |
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| London, England, a look on Her Majesty's Theatre |
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| London, England, Chinatown |
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| London, England, the Tower Bridge at night |
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| London, England, the Tower Bridge in the morning |
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