Clouds 2009
Posted by michael vermaak | Filed under iPhone, video
I love iTimelapse! I shot this quick timelapse of scudding clouds out side my house today on my iPhone.
Clouds 2009 from Michael Vermaak on Vimeo.
Tags: clouds, iPhone, itimelapse, scudding, timelapse, video
iPhone timelapse video.
Posted by michael vermaak | Filed under Apple, Photography, iPhone
I have just downloaded a fantastic app for my iPhone called iTimeLapse (iTunes link). Had to give it a try and had a good opportunity today when I had to change some gobo’s on our Martin Mac 250 Krypton moving heads. Anyway the app works very well indeed with lots of resolution choices, framerate, capture time, the lit goes on. They even give you a selection of free music to add to you video! I have to say the app works well on my 3G so should work well on the 3GS.
gobo change over from Michael Vermaak on Vimeo.
Tags: iPhone, iTunes, Photography, timelapse, video
New iPhone and some nice cases.
Posted by michael vermaak | Filed under iPhone
So We finally got round to upgrading my wife’s phone which our son Bo broke after trying to eat it! She did have a Sony Ericsson K850i and really liked the camera and the normal phone features for it, but that was about it. With more and more of her friends and family on facebook there has been more pressure for her to join facebook. but as she doesn’t use a computer at all (even though I have tried) I needed a way to get her on there and keep it simple for a non techie.
So she decided after much hype from me that an iPhone was the way to go. I ordered it for her as her contract was up and she was due an upgrade. and then came the case hunt! I’ve had an iPhone for a while now and I’m on my second as I broke m first by dropping it from a decent height and smashing the screen! thankfully I have the stupidly overpriced insurance on my business contract so it was replaced the next day but after 2 days of having the new one I scratched the screen! Not nice on a new iPhone.
After lots of searching I found the best review site for iPhone cases to be iLounge.com the good thing was to list the reviews by rating so you start with the good ones without having to search through the crap. I found one that I loved and Nicky found two cases. The funny thing is that all 3 cases were made by the same company Switcheasy. The first one Nicky liked was colors (or colours if you use correct British English) which is a great product but in the end she went for the CapsuleRebel in the RebelOlive colour. As well as the amazing looking case with great protection it also comes with the following – Two anti-static Screen Guards, One Microfiber Wipe, One Universal Dock Adapter, One Video Dock Stand, One Squeegee for your Screen Guard application, One Power Jack Connector Protector. Now that’s loads of stuff and I finally picked it up from ebay for just under £17 with free P&P.
So my choice was the CapsualNeo which is a little more complicated to put onto the phone than the Rebel. I decided on the Black as I have the Black iPhone and I think it looks better than the white option. The Neo come with the following – Two TactileThin Silicon Membranes (which are part of the case), Two anti-static Screen Guards, One Microfiber Wipe, One Squeegee for your Screen Guard application, One Universal Dock Adapter, One Video Dock Stand, One Power Jack Connector Protector, One Headphone Jack Protector. The headphone jack protector is new for this model but after looking at it I think I’m gonna loose this thing pretty quickly.
I might follow up on these cases based on how good or bad I find them to be. but so far I’ve only read mainly good things about them.
Tags: CapsuleNeo, CapsuleRebel, iPhone, Switcheasy
WWDC goodness!
Posted by michael vermaak | Filed under Apple, iPhone
So I had some time to sit down and go through the WWDC keynote video for myself and have to say that I was pretty exited by the whole show. The upgraded MacBook Pro’s and there lower price just make them the best laptop on the market for running any operating system not just OS X. And I’m looking forward to Snow Leopard as well! We’re still waiting for a price in the UK for the upgrade but if it follows Apples pricing from the USA it should be around £25 which is a no-brainer really. What I really want to see is if they bring out an improved Final Cut Studio 3 with support for things like OpenCL and GCD, That would be fantastic.
iPhone time! My business contract still has just under a year to run and although I would love a faster iPhone with video it can wait. To be honest I think the new features in the free 3.0 upgrade will be more than enough for the moment with cut, copy & paste being the only thing I have missed during iPhone ownership.
Maybe the best bits are yet to be made. They did what we all wanted to see and that’s to show off new apps from 3rd party developers. With the new API’s Apple have built, new possibilities for developers are just amazing. Although I will never use their products myself, Airstrip Technologies have some fascinating solutions for real time data from patients in hospital to doctors with and iPhone and a mobile connection. Also the guys from Zipcar had an amazingly simple idea about reserving a car on their service using the Maps API so you can see where all the available cars are. From there you can then pay for the time you need and when you get near the car you can sound the horn right from your iPhone, locate it then unlock it from the iPhone as well! This is just the beginning and I can’t wait for some decent apps to roll out soon.
Tags: Apple, iPhone, OS X, WWDC
Vienna Trip
Posted by michael vermaak | Filed under Work
Work is busy at the moment and we have a mad April happening, lots of shows all over Europe. Me and my colleague started the drive down to Vienna from the UK via our stop over point of Frankfurt. If you’re ever near Frankfurt Airport their is a great Chinese restaurant in a small retail park just off of the mini round about which does an delicious all you can eat buffet for about €14. They also have a great Teppanyaki section which I love! The week went really well the client was very happy and so were we which is all good news. As usual although the hotel food was nice it was expensive, so we decided to try out some of Vienna’s restaurants. The Austrians like there meat and being Vegetarian I thought it could be difficult to get a decent selection of food here but I was wrong. We found an amazing Taiwanese place called Vegetasia. They specialise in making mock meat food from soy and vegetables. one of the stranger things I had was sweet and sour prawns, which although weren’t made from prawn looked and had the same consistency as prawns! It did take a little getting used to as my brain was telling me that I shouldn’t be eating shellfish but I knew it wasn’t. Aside from the psychological war going on my head over these fake prawns the whole meal was stunning. It was some of the nicest tasting Asian food I had had for a while and just wish someone who had the money and time could bring it over to the UK so I could eat it more often. Here are a few quick snaps from my iPhone over the last week I’m now just waiting for my plane which will take me to Rome for another show and hopefully some more nice food!
Tags: iPhone, Photography, restaurant, Vienna, Work
iPhone home made amplification
Posted by Michael Vermaak | Filed under Blog, iPhone
I was getting dinner ready the other night and didn’t really want to listen to the radio but some music on my iPhone instead. The DAB radio we have in the kitchen doesn’t have an aux input so I was forced to listen to the music through the speaker on the iPhone. Not really the best speaker in the world but it works for ring tones and previewing music. Then I remembered an old trick of mine where you put your earphones up your nostrils and open you mouth and you can amplify the sound (crazy I know but it works). Not really wanting to cook dinner with my phone up my nose I grabbed a glass and popped the phone into it.
It works fairly well. The audio is much louder and you have a little bass, it is only a little bass though. The only real downside is you do get a hollow sound from the reverberation inside the glass, but for a quick improvement in volume it works quite well. If you try this let me know what works best for you. I’m going to try other things like larger vases or pint glasses
Sky+ on iPhone
Posted by Michael Vermaak | Filed under iPhone
So Sky have released their new iPhone app for Sky+ so you can go through the listings and record programs from anywhere in the world on your iPhone. Not a new thing but nice to have it pacakged in an app rather than having to go through Safari. Only thing at the moment is that the sign up service on sky’s website for the iPhone is “experiencing a few technical problems” so I can’t really try it out untill they fix it but scrolling through the listings on the app is ok. It would be better if it was more responsive but I’m sure this will be worked on for future versions.
OK after lots and lots of messing about with Sky customer service it turns out that you have to register your mobile phone number like you do with other mobile phones. Although there website says otherwise (hopefuly they will update their iPhone page). So got it working and it updates very quickly on your Sky+ box as well!
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