I recently bought a book (Exposure Photo Workshop) in a local Waterstones shop at the reasonable price of £15.99. In the back of my mind I knew I was probably paying more than I would online at Amazon or Play.com. Having just checked, Amazon.co.uk have a massive 35% discount on the book. Ouch!

I thoroughly enjoy rummaging around bookshops when I am in town. I much prefer sitting down and leafing through a book than using dodgy Look Inside features or the Comment minefield. The problem is, when I see a book I am interested in a little voice whispers in my ear “Its probably cheaper on Amazon”. So I usually set the book back planning to look it up online, which I usually forget to to anyway. Is the “in store” experience and convenience worth the extra markup? How many times do you buy a book online only to realise its not quite what you were expecting? It is definitely worth more but maybe not 35% more! I think bookstores should take a leaf from the likes of Tesco and declare the difference in price compared to the major etailers. At least that way, I could make an informed decision on the spot, and unless there is a massive markup, I’d probably buy it there and then.

The sad thing for me is how good IT books are a dying breed in bookstores, being replaced with smaller collections of terrible “Dummys Guide to …” and crud like “How to use Excel” and “Ebay hacks”. No doubt this is due to Internet savvy IT pros buying their books online or increasingly reading ebooks. I guess we have only ourselves to blame.

Congratulations to Padraig Harrington for being the first European to defend his Open Title in 102 years. I really thought the wobble on the front nine was going to end his challenge, especially with Ian Poulter on a charge. I was too nervous to watch so I went for a bike ride. I got back in time to see his eagle on the 17th (what about that approach shot!!). To win one Open is a fantastic achievement but to win 2 in a row surely will put him up with the greats of European and World golf (apart from Tiger and Jack of course). Hopefully the majority of Sports Journalists will avoid mentioning the “luck of the Irish” tomorrow and give him the accolades he quite rightfully deserves.

Recently I’ve been thinking about how productive I was at school compared to the current day. I am still amazed at the amount of different subjects I was juggling back during my GCSEs, carrying a backpack crammed with a bunch of textbooks and file blocks. Somehow I still managed to study, play computer games, play Gaelic and football for for 3 different teams and still find time for some telly (and the odd date!). Ok maybe I didn’t study as much as I should have but I still did well enough. Read the rest of this entry »

So Ronaldo has finally admited he wants to go to Real Madrid. Shocker!! I am sick and tired of Ronaldo’s antics. Yes, yes, I know. All southern Europeans want to play for Real (zzzz!). I don’t care. Let them have him. They are made for each other. I for one would be relieved to see the end of the story.

As a Man Utd fan, I want to see guys out on the pitch that want to play for the club, giving their all for the shirt and the fans. Now I know that most footballers are only loyal to themselves and the almighty dollar. However, players like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville give hope that there are still some players in the game that have some class. As much as I have enjoyed watching Ronaldo this last few years, I always knew it would end in bitter divorce and acrimony, sooner rather than later. Let’s take the money and invest it in some new talent, rather than a long, drawn out feud that will do more harm than good. So I say thanks to Ronaldo for the entertainment, goals and most of all the Champions League trophy (although I should really thank John Terry!).

Good luck with Real, Ron. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Well I have decided that I should start to do my bit to save the planet. Yes thats right, I have decided to start using public transport once more, Northern Irish Rail (NIR) to be exact. OK, maybe it has more to do with the fact that I am now working in Belfast City centre and can no longer avail of free car parking. The fact that it now costs more than £60 to fill my car’s tank is a pretty persuasive argument too. And then theres those cursed motorway roadworks (Grrr!) to contend with.

So how do I feel about my loss of freedom? Brilliant! No longer do I have to trudge up and down the motorway, stuck in traffic jam hell, listening to the same old crap on the radio, bored old of my skull and going slightly insane every day.

This morning I was able to relax on the train, reading my latest Digital Photography magazine while listening to my iPod. There was no traffic, no hassle and best of all – NO STRESS! I also find that living to the train timetable gives you something to get up for in the morning. I have to leave the house at 07:30 or I miss my train whereas my car was always just sitting in my driveway, waiting for me to turn up, whenever that may be.

Now, I have used public transport long enough to know that its far from perfect. I know there will be days when the train is late, breaks down, I don’t get a seat or get stuck beside some smelly teenagers listening to crap music too loudly. But I don’t care. The car is dead. Long live public transport!

VMware Tools improves performance, mouse control and enables copy/paste between host and guest OSes.  If you create your own VM using VMWare workstation (see here for instructions) you should install the Tools. You can get the official guide from VMware here but it is missing a few points so I thought I would share them here: Read the rest of this entry »

Lately I have had a lot of stuff on my mind and it is driving me slightly crazy. There are so many different things I want to do and I have so little time to share between them. So each night, I sit down and try to decide what do to that night, by the time I get round to deciding, its bed time. Whats a guy to do?!

What things I hear you cry? Well its quite a diverse list ranging from expanding my knowledge portfolio (thanks prag prog!), working on my current list of projects, fleshing out some of the ideas I have for new projects, getting myself fit, DIY work round the house, learning to play the guitar, my new hobby of amateur photography, gaming and spending quality time with the family. I am also considering touting for little bit of freelance work to supplement my craving for all things gadgety (Anyone need a part-time coder??).

Somehow I need to organise my thoughts and start to manage my time effectively. If I don’t, I will never get anything done!

From the BBC Editor Blog:

I have restrained myself to such an extent that I have not uttered a single word about the new iPhone in the last 36 hours, on TV, on radio or online. So, while I’m here, wasn’t it just a little disappointing? Still no video, the camera stays at the original 2mp, and no ability to cut and paste. And isn’t the price cut proof enough that Apple misjudged the European market, and needed to kick-start sales?

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Canon 40D Remote Live View

Tonight I finally got to play with my new DSLR camera, the Canon EOS 40D. As Royal Mail are taking their time to deliver my Compact Flash Card, I have been unable to use it in anger until now. I had read about the Remote Live View feature of the camera so I decided to try it out tonight. As you can see from the picture, not only can you remotely operate the camera from your PC, you can also see the real time Live View image that the camera will display on its LCD. The photos are instantainously downloaded to you PC as soon as you take them too. It is a brilliant bit of software, a lot more interesting than developing financial software that is for sure!

I am only really starting out in photography so I have a lot to learn. Apologies for the flash reflection!

This week I purchased a pro-sumer Digital SLR camera from a well known high street chain. I was encouraged to take out their accidental damage policy claiming that I was actually buying my next camera. If it was broken, they would replace it “whatever happens”, if it couldn’t be repaired within 21 days, with an equivalent model, even if it was more expensive. It works out at around £30 a year for 5 years. So if in 4 and a half years a new model comes out and I accidentally run over my camera with my car, I should* get it replaced by the newer model. Of course it doesn’t cover loss or theft. I was thinking of getting some sort of after care as DSLRs are known to be delicate and very expensive to repair and it should give me peace of mind when using it “in the field”. I have 14 days to cancel the policy, what should I do??

* Whether I do or not I don’t know, sounds a bit too good to be true IMHO.