Gratuitous Pictures

Gratuitous Cute Baby photo to lure you in. Hello from Aidan.

I’ve uploaded a whole load of new pictures to Flickr this weekend ranging from family pictures, to baby pictures, to the last flying Vulcan. Hope you like them. Click the links to get to the Flickr pages.

70th Party Preparation

Nathan Poses for his picture by XH558

XH558 in all her glory in the sunshine

RIP Flip

Photo by van.brussel - http://flic.kr/p/946LfG -(cc)2011 - Hosted on Flickr

I was sad to hear that Cisco had decided to kill the Flip brand and range of camcorders, which still account for over 25% of the US sales for dedicated video recorders. I feel their rational is flawed; they argue the rise of smartphones that shoot HD will kill the product, but I think they miss the point. The Flip is a superb exercise in single purpose design, focussed and honed to give you 2 hours plus of HD recording in a tiny package. Yes, you & I can, and do, use our iPhones (and other smartphones of choice) to shoot video, but I always grab the Flip if I know I’m planning to shoot video. As a device, it changed the way I used video, as it gave me a camcorder I could carry around and use easily and quickly. Ideal for a growing family to catch the kids up to ‘stuff’.

It’s small, good quality and it doesn’t use up the battery on my cellphone. It’s a shame it’s been murdered. I say murdered, as Cisco have refused to entertain the idea of selling the business to anyone else, despite the fact that they are effectively writing off $500m of investment from only a few years ago.

Anyway, you can benefit from this end of an era. Comet and other retailers are reducing and selling of the Flip range. The svelte and superb Mino HD can be had for £72, but the Ultra HD is also worth a look as it will take external batteries as well as the dedicated ones made for it.

Update: Ultimately, I think Cisco were right in the decision, but they could have used the brand as a cash cow for a few more years.

Bittersweet

The Surviving Half Dozen and the MEWP

I've a bittersweet feeling today, arising from the completion of the study elements of my NEBOSH Diploma. Six weeks of classroom teaching and a three hour exam gone, two more three hour exams to follow, plus the ominous 10,000 word dissertation. A full dozen of us started, but we were half that number by the end. Two changed course groups because of illness, one changed to an M.Sc in the same subject, and the rest of the group fell by the wayside.

It's been an intense course, with substantial homework on the study weeks making a balance between home and study hard to achieve. There's also a huge element of learning the specific way that the answers are wanted to be structured in, a technique which differs between the first Unit Exam (Law, in case you were wondering) and the second two Units (practical applications). In short, it's not an easy ride and I'm not surprised at the the numbers who drop out. You've got to want to be there and get the result to enjoy it.

I've made friends, and good professional contacts, for the future, and it felt strange to realise that this is probably the last time we'll all be together except of the exams themselves. It's been great challenging myself academically for the first time in ages, but incredibly tiring as well. I need to keep the focus and motivation together now for the next six weeks, which should see me through the exams themselves.

The Fraud Police

"The Fraud Police" - AFP's Commencement Speech to NEIA's Class of 2011 from Amanda Palmer on Vimeo.

Video of Amanda Palmer giving a speech to recent graduates. Language may be NSFW.

I think everyone fears the Fraud Police, but if you fear them too much then you’ll never achieve what you set out to do.