Sea mist

Well, I finally got me a Nokia N95 and it hasn’t disappointed. It does everything I could want and it has effectively replaced my iPod which I now view now as such a closed, dumb device (unless the next generation has built in wi-fi).

As a phone it’s predictably excellent but it really comes into it’s own when the wi-fi is activated. I download and play audio and video podcasts effortlessly. With the 2GB microSD card in place I have room for hundreds of tunes. I can upload photos and videos to the web using third-party app’ Shozu. The still/ video camera is superb. The 5 mega-pixel Carl Zeiss lens shoots wonderful stills and captures astounding 4 mega-pixel video.

I’ve installed Opera Mini to browse the web, the Gmail app for email and Jajah for Voip,  Fring for free Skype voice calls and messaging and Jaiku just for fun.

Really, some day all mobiles devices will be made this way.

Could the new Nokia N95 be the answer to my audio/ video podcast needs? It would appear so. Now, I’ve just got to get me one.

From Nick’s Photography

Just test publishing a photograph from Google’s Picasa Web Albums. Seems to work OK.  One of the things I like about Picasa Web Albums is the way you can upload video along with pictures and Google simply converts it to play with Google Video. Will Flickr ever go video? I can’t imagine it but you never know.

google, picasa, webalbums, photography

Purple abstract by Joe

Originally uploaded by Nick Reynolds.

This photo was taken by my three and half year old son, Joe. Mmm, methinks the boy has talent.

Tree and sky

Originally uploaded by Nick Reynolds.

Originally uploaded by Nick Reynolds.

What summer evenings were made for.

Originally uploaded by Nick Reynolds.

A beautiful summer morning.

Google finally got around to launching its Flickr killer competitor - Picasa Web Albums having apparently given up on the ill-conceived 'Hello' photo sharing feature within Picasa. On first look it appears to have all the usual hallmarks of a Google product - simple and quick to learn. You can create both private and public web albums using either the latest Picasa download or upload photos via the web interface. Although the so-called private albums didn't seem to be particularly private sporting very public URLs. In this instance Google deems 'private' as simply 'unlisted'. Mmm.

For die-hard Picasa users and those taking the plunge and publishing their photos on the web for the first time I think it does a very good job. Those more used to Flickr and its ilk may find Picasa Web Albums a little too simple and lacking in more sophisticated features such as tags/ labels, groups, organsing, search, messaging, blogging, notes etc. Although Web Albums does have a slide show feature.

Users initially get 250MB of storage space for free and the option to upgrade to 6GB for $25 a year with no bandwidth costs. All galleries and albums have RSS feeds which is very welcome.

All in all a solid but basic offering. Well worth trying if you find Flickr too complicated or would like to try publishing photos on the web for the first time.

Technorati tags: photos, publishing, web, webservices, google, picasa, webalbums

If there was any incentive to move away from Firefox, Flock is it. Essentially Firefox by another name, Flock has a couple of nifty features right out of the box which I think are great.

Firstly blog integration with WordPress.com comes as standard and it’s Photos feature lets you upload and view Flickr or Photobucket pictures in the toolbar. It has a very usable RSS reader and built in integration with del.icio.us for sharing bookmarks/ favourites.

It has a very nice ‘chrome’ theme but no doubt more themes will become available. In fact the overall feel of Flock is one of elegance. It reminds me of my experiences with a Mac which were always good.

Of The Like Kind

Originally uploaded by Nick Reynolds.

Shot of a licensing sign on church hall.

Spring

Originally uploaded by Nick Reynolds.

A shot of some of the flowers cascading down the fence in our garden.

Maybe I'm just an old stick-in-the-mud but I don't like the new 'Gamma' redesign of Flickr. It certainly doesn't improve the usability. The new Organizer is much less intuitive and the drop down menus on the home page are extremely tiresome. Do Yahoo's designers have too much free time? Evidently, otherwise why employ them to fix something that isn't broken.

Trailer
A forgotten toy.
Follow the read on link to see the photo.