Day 328: Fly-By Bemboka

We tried to leave early this afternoon to get down to Bermagui for Scott & Rowena's wedding. As sometimes happens to us, our plan didn't really come together. Aiming for a 3:30 departure saw us on the road just under 2 hours later. As we were late anyway we decided that we'd pull up for photo opportunities if we saw them.

This was one of the stops we made. It's the little church in Bemboka and I took it from the drivers seat of the car with the window down while Belinda was out taking close ups from different angles. We were only here for a few minutes and in the end we made it to Bermagui just in time to meet up with the others for dinner at Il Passagio. The food at the restaurant was fantastic and the company at our table wasn't bad either. To add to the impressive evening, Henry amazed the people around us with how proficient he was with the iPad while waiting for dinner.

Day 265: Travel Companion

This afternoon we headed off to Sydney to visit Belinda's family and help celebrate David's 35th birthday. Our travel was fairly peaceful and was done in one sitting, thanks largely to Belinda's iPad. Henry has an enormous attention span for the various kids apps that have been installed and they managed to keep him entertained for pretty much the full 3 hour journey.

As I was driving and also hadn't taken a photo of my own today, I've resorted to employing the services of a special guest photographer. Luckily, Belinda is quite good at taking photos, even on her iPhone, and her services were readily available.

Day 79: Kiwi Aliens

I was put onto this game for the iPad by one of the guys at work, it's actually called Tower Madness and it has become very addictive. It's even free on iTunes at the moment so grab it and give it a go before they go back to charging $7 for the game.

The object is to save your little flock of 10 sheep from the marauding Aliens who are dropped off at various sites and work their way toward the sheep. You save the sheep from abduction (and possible molestation - hence my inference that these particular Aliens are from NZ) by strategically placing different weapons around the map to intercept and hopefully destroy the Aliens.

It sounds easy enough, but there are different types of Aliens that require different strategies and weapons for success which keeps it challenging. Henry has watched me play a few times now but I've had to stop playing in front of him because he keeps yelling out "Baa Baa!" and trying to touch the sheep or just steal the iPad.

Day 54: ICR For The Extremely Messy Writer

ICR software has been around for ages, the ICR stands for Intelligent Character Recognition and the software is designed to interpret handwriting and convert it into text that is editable in normal word processing programs. There are many companies that have spent incredible sums of money trying to make their ICR software work but quite often it just doesn't quite get there.

A while ago I was using my iPad to take notes in a meeting with one of my customers. The guys I met with are particularly strong on their gadgetry and always have the coolest and newest toys so it was no surprise that these guys suggested I try out this 'cool' note taking app that would convert my almost illegible scrawl into text. I was very sceptical at first and when I looked the app up and saw it was almost $10 I thought it was a bit steep and I'd probably have to adjust my writing for it to work anyway.

After having my thoughts return to it on and off over the last few weeks I finally bit the bullet and bought the app. After about 30 seconds of playing with it tonight I can only say wow... I can't believe how accurate it is even when I'm trying to be messier than I normally am with my handwriting. The guys were right, the ICR engine in this app is spookily good.

For those who're interested, the app is called '7notes HD Premium' and it costs $9.49. If you have trouble reading your own writing like I sometimes do, this could just be the app for you.

Day 45: 3G For Me

I finally got around to buying a SIM card for my iPad so I've got access to the world wide interwebs without relying on WiFi.

The smart kids can tether their iPads to their smartphones or iPhones and that's all great when you have control over your own phone bill. Unfortunately my phone is funded by work (I know, it's bloody terrible having someone pay all your phone bills) and while I do get internet access for the phone they've managed to lock down the ability to create a 'Personal Hotspot' that allows other devices to connect to the phone's internet service.

In other news: Today is Valentines Day and due to disorganisation Belinda and I have decided to delay the whole shebang until Friday night so we'll have more time to get ourselves organised to share a nice dinner and a little wine.

Day 18: The Upgrade Path - Part 1

You'll never guess who didn't take a photo for today's entry... but it's ok, being the resourceful fellow that I am I decided that tonight I'd show what has become a nightly event for me and share my thoughts on what's involved and what's required.

This blogging thing has taken over my evenings. The time is spent between stringing sentences together in a loosely coherent fashion and editing the photo of the day. The photo is usually played with using the Snapseed app on the iPad and I also use some of the effects in iPhoto on the MacBook I inherited from Belinda. Usually the photos are taken on the Camera that was handed down to me by Belinda's mum. So of the tools used for my nightly activities it's only the iPad that is truly mine.

This brings me to the 'Part 1' in today's post title: My plan is to make certain upgrades throughout the year. Part 2 will probably involve an upgrade to photo taking implement, I'm undecided as to what form the upgrade will take as yet but whatever it is it will need to be more responsive and take better indoor photos wile still being compact. Part 2 might take a while with such vague requirements and so many cameras to choose from.

By the way today's photo was taken with my phone.