A tongue in cheek message

Read a piece of tongue in cheek message for those of us who need to at least think about exercising

Click this link to read some creative writing by Meera Srikanth

http://writingbugs.wordpress.com/

Ever Used the Google Wonderwheel ?

A few weeks ago I discovered a cool new search feature on Google called the Wonder Wheel. If you have come across and tried Tony Buzan's Mind Mapping techniques you can see the similarities.

In case you have never heard of Mind Mapping, what the wheel does is to associate a host of different items to your search term and by clicking on different parts of the wheel you can keep drilling into more items.


I have to say - words can;t quite match the experience so go try it out.
Put in a search word into the google search tool bar and once you get the results, expand on the little + which says Web options and towards the bottom under Standard View, you will see Wonder Wheel. Click on it and voila - some cool stuff.


The instructions are listed on google.s website. Check out using the link below


http://www.googlewonderwheel.com/google-wonder-wheel-step-by-step


Have fun !!!

Google Real Time Search Option Discovered

A very interesting discovery today - apparently Google has a real time search option and I mean real time - this very minute which has not been publicized

All you have to do is change one letter in the URL and you can see the most recent updates.  You can read up more on it here -

Google's Real Time Search Option Discovered

But here's a question - what would prompt you to get the updates from the last minute ?

Digital Camera Features - What does it all mean ?

How many times have you tried researching Digital Cameras on the web or in the shops and found the jargon associated with it overwhelming ?

What does it all mean ? Which feature is relevant ? What should I focus on ?

All questions I have asked and have had trouble figuring out at various points in time and I want to share some pointers in lay man terms i.e the way I understand them.

According to me, you just need to look at 5 features. Rest are mostly bells and whistles and provide convenience. Of course you need to ensure that you get a reasonable sized screen, video capability etc but those are not confusing to figure out.

The tips below are meant for family cameras.

• Megapixels - (MP) - the one feature that everybody talks about. What is it really required for ? In my simple way of looking at it - it is required for printing photographs of a larger size than the normal 4X6 that family photos are printed. Anything lower than 2MP is not worth it and anything upto 6MP is good for family photography. Go beyond that if you print 8x10 or larger photos.

• ISO - higher it is, the greater the sensitivity to light or in other words the amount of light needed for the exposure of the photo. The requirement reduces with high ISO but does lead to digital noise. Tip - Use high ISO e.g 400 to shoot at night and low ISO for day time pictures.

• Zoom - There are 2 types - optical and digital. The key one is optical - how far will the lens zoom in and out.

• Digital zoom enhances the pixels in the middle of a picture and reduces the ones on the sides so what in effect it is doing is cropping the picture. You can do that on your laptop so the feature is not really required. Some cameras allow you to switch off the feature.

• The zoom ratios you see 3X or 5X etc is derived by dividing the maximum focal  length (e.g 105mm) by the focal length without zoom (e.g 35mm). So a camera which has 35mm-105mm has a 3X zoom.

• Focal Length - Decides how much the camera can see and focus on (wide angle or telephoto). Simple rule to follow - shorter the focal length (20mm or 35mm) the more wide angled the view. The longer the length ( e.g 135mm) the more the lens focuses on a narrow view. Find a camera which offers a wide range - from low to high focal length. You will need the low focal length more than the higher one.

• Shutter Lag - how long does the camera shutter to activate after you press the button. Most cameras have gotten better at reducing the gap but a couple of ways to judge this is to try out the camera or read professional reviews.

I have found the Canon Powershot series the most user friendly and would highly recommend it. Currently I use a Nikon DSLR and looking to buy another point and shoot digital.

A nice website on Digital Camera for beginners

Digital cameras for beginners

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What is APPLE upto besides launching new and cheaper iPod

Did you know that Apple is building possibly the largest data center in the world? Why is the interesting question ?


Are they planning to compete in the Internet business and go up against Google and Amazon ? Is it time to add cool apps to cool gadgets ?


For more on this

http://www.zdnetasia.com/techguide/storage/0,39045058,62057633,00.htm

Yesterday Steve Job's launched the latest range of cheaper Ipods with more features.

Additional features like a camera, FM radio and a larger 2.2 inch display has been added to the Nano.

An article on the release

Sci-Tech Today | Apple CEO Steve Jobs Introduces New iPod Lineup

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Photography Part 2 - Theme blue and contrasts

Some more from my attempts at photography. Blue happens to be one of my favourite colours and that is probably because of the beauty of the sky.

Look up sometimes especially when there are white stringy clouds in the sky and see how beautiful it looks.

And when you contrast the blue with different colours on the ground, the view becomes even better.

My other favourite is green and contrasting blue with green in photos gives an interesting perspective.

Comments and suggestions welcome