Author Archives: Marius

About Marius

Owner of Henriska Technology and Project Manager by profession.

Still Camera shopping – 1000D vs SX1

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A while ago I blogged about buying a new digital camera. At that time it was the Canon EOS 1000D  that got my attention.

Over the past week Canon announced the Canon Powershot SX1 IS and that seems, for what I need, a much better camera.

Although it does not have interchangeable lenses, it does come with 20x optical zoom which equates to a range of 28 – 560 mm.  If I wanted the same on the 1000D, it would mean some big zoom lens which will cost an arm and a leg.  The SX1 comes with the same CMOS sensor and DIGIC IV processor as the 5D Mark II which gives this Powershot 4FPS continuous shooting and full HD 1080p video at 30 FPS. 

The SX1 just seems a much better option that 1000D at probably the same price range.  The one thing the SX1 does not have is RAW shooting but an amateur like me does not need that.

There is the SX10 also that is very similar than the SX1 but with a CCD sensor and without the HD video.

 

Although the 1000D is available now, I will wait a bit (December) till the SX1 become available. The SX10 should be available around November.  I will then pay ORMS a visit and compare these cameras.

Comments welcome – what do you think?

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27Dinner & The Future of Work

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Wednesday evening I attended the 27Dinner and it was great to see some old faces and meet some new people Face to Face.  All in all it was a great evening of just socializing with old and new friends.  And oh the talks was great too 🙂

One of the questions I was asked over and over again when people hear I work for IBM, is what is a big corporate like IBM doing at a social event like 27Dinner.  Few people know that IBM with 400000 permanent employees is dependent in its daily work on social software, networks and communities. Each of the social tools like Twitter, Blogging, Wikis, Forums etc has an IBM equivalent inside.  Also we have social tools inside that I have not seen outside yet, but cannot say much about that.

One of my colleagues, Luis Suarez, has recorded a video on The Future of Work and the use of social networks and tools.  To give you an idea how he works – he works for IBM Netherlands, stay in the Canary Islands and report to 2 bosses in the United States.


The Future of Work by Luis Suarez from Luis Suarez on Vimeo.

The video is fairly long but gives a good idea what he thinks. In the video he also discusses the use of email – here is a blog posting from him on that subject.

Moving and Telkom.

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I am moving house at the beginning of October and the cartoon above made me think whether Telkom will get around to doing my transfer in time.  Monday this week I paid the local Telkom office a visit to arrange for the transfer of my phone and ADSL line.

What a surprise when I received this from Telkom

Telkom Ref:xxxxxxx/xx

Your service will be installed on 01/10/08.For enquiries please dial 10219

We will now have to see if Telkom keeps their word.  Not holding my breath.  Luckily I have 3G as backup.

I wanted to move to Neotel and although they do cover my area, they only support one device with some kind of Windows setup.  I have a network and will hang on till when their wireless device support an Ethernet connection to my router.

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Time to buy a new camera!!

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For a while now I have been contemplating buying a new Digital Camera.  The question was first whether I should buy a Point and Shoot or a DSLR.  I eventually decided, if I am going to buy then I can just as well do a good job of it so settled for DSLR. The next thing to do was what DSLR having decided that it will be a Canon.  I was between a 400D and a 450D and then the 1000D  made its appearance.


Read more about the camera here.

I have heard good things about the camera and from the 3 (400D, 450D and 1000D), it seems to be the best value for money.  Anybody has any different ideas about it or why I should not buy it?  Also if you know of any place that has the best price for it then please let me know.

Die week wat was.

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Hendrik en Melanie troue 1

Vrydag ‘n week gelede was ek by Hendrik en Melanie se troue in Stellenbosch.  Wat ‘n heerlike troue.  Die onthaal na die kerkdiens was by Cape Town Fish Market in Stellenbosch – iets anders as die normale troue maar uit die boonste rakke.  Baie geluk aan Hendrik en Melanie en mag julle ontsettend gelukkig wees.

By die werk gaan dinge maar voort.  Ek reis nie meer so baie nie en is besig om die reëlings te hanteer vir ons kantoor skuif van die middestad na Century City.

Ek het ook die week besef hoe wonderlik goeie vriende is en hoe hulle mens uit die bloute kan verras.  Dit was gister my half-eeu verjaarsdag en Vrydag toe word ‘n koerier pakkie by my kantoor afgelaai.  Binne was ‘n  verjaarsdag geskenk van iemand baie spesiaal en ver.  Wat ‘n verrassing en baie dankie M.  Ek waardeer dit opreg.

Ek het ook besef hoe geseënd ek is om 2 wonderlike kinders te hê.  Vrydagaand het my dogter vir ons die heerlikste aandete gemaak.  Dankie Meriska.

Meriska uiteet 1Meriska uiteet 2

Hierdie fotos is gisteraand geneem van my dogter toe ons gaan uiteet het by Cattle Baron.  Dit was heerlik om net kwaliteit tyd saam met my kinders te spandeer.

DTP# 4: Two sides of the same coin.

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Reenboog

Rainbow over Cape Town while I was driving home from work.  Those of you that know Cape Town will know these bridges – this is the half build bridges which is now earning the city lots of money being used in adverts and movies.

Sononder 1 20080803

Two days later on my way back from Stellenbosch after dropping my son at varsity, I saw this view.  This is taken from the Polkadraai road between Stellenbosch and Kuilsriver.  Those of you that do not recognise the mountain .. its Tablemountain.

DTP #3: Cape Town today

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Yes I know I said that it will be Daily but due to unforeseen circumstances it got to way less than Daily. 

This is the sunrise this morning as taken from my house …

Sonop

And this is the view from my office of beautiful Table Mountain …

Tafelberg

How can one not love staying in this wonderful part of the world. 

Fotos: Sneeu op Kaapse berge

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Hierdie fotos is gister en vandag geneem vanaf my balkon van die sneeu op die Kaapse berge.  Geen wonder dit is so koud nie.

Gister geneem:

Sneeu 2

Vandag geneem … oornag het die sneeu redelik vermeerder op die berg spitse so ek reken vir die wat vandag en môre wil gaan sneeu kyk, julle sal redelik goeie sneeu kan kry.

Sneeu 4

Sneeu 3

Can Social Networking tools replace e-mail?

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A colleague, IBMer Luis Suarez, wrote an article in the NYtimes on how he is using Social Networking tools to reduce the use of e-mail.  And I quote

E-mail can become extinct, if not repurposed altogether, even at big companies like I.B.M. An e-mail in-box no longer needs to be like Pandora’s box.

I am not sure whether I totally agree with this … there is still a place for e-mail.  As another IBMer Ed Brill say and I quote

Even if you move all of your collaboration to other tools, there still needs to be a prompt, a push, a tickle, an alert … something that draws you into the collaboration.

And this push or tickle as Ed calls it is usually via email. If somebody comments on a blog post of mine I get prompted about it via email.  If somebody follow me on Twitter I get informed via email.  If somebody send me a message via Facebook then I get informed via e-mail.

So to answer my own question, no I do not think so.  Yes it can reduce the volume of email (an I do not talk about all the spam) in your inbox but totally replace, no I do not think so.  I would love to hear your comments about it.

DTP #2: Dinner by candlelight

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Sorry for the quality but it is the best I could do in the dark with my cellphone.

DTP 2

Last night at around 7 pm the power went out in my room.  Luckily I had a battery flashlight (the first one did not work and I had to get a replacement).  Not being able to use the microwave or anything, I settled for a dinner of cheese and crackers.

Just some of the things to keep in mind when travelling across South Africa these days.  You never know when you going to be hit by a power failure.