I must say that I’m pleasantly surprised with the camera in the iPhone 3GS. Having had several cell phones with a camera I didn’t expect much, especially not after having played with the camera in the iPhone 3G. But I was wrong, I got my iPhone two days before leaving for the US so I didn’t have a chance to play around with it before standing on US soil. Neither did I have a computer with me so there was little chance to check the result on a large screen until I was back home.
So when I finally got back home it was with very low expectations I downloaded the photos to my Mac … and I was surprised. Here are a few examples all taken with the iPhone (click for larger versions):
There are of course problems, in low light the quality degrades but that is to be expected. Here is a photo that was taken in low light
A couple of days ago I couldn’t resist making a comparison between the iPhone and my point-and-shoot, a Lumix DMC-FX33, and became even more surprised. Look at these two shots (both unedited):
The bottom one is the one I took with the iPhone – in fact I like the iPhone version better than the other.
No, the iPhone will not replace my Lumix or my Nikon D80 but it will complement them in a very nice way. You can find more of my iPhone photos from the US here (one is taken with my D80).
Let me finish with another iPhone photo from our garden.
A few weeks ago I stumbled across a new, to me at least, photo sharing service called Expono. At first I was a bit skeptical since there are a fair number of photo sharing sites available, but after having played around a bit I’ve changed my mind.
I use several different photo sites and they are all good at different things, for example Flickr has a great community and there exists a huge number of applications that makes your “flickr life” easier, Ipernity is service that is similar to Flickr but with a much more friendly and “european” touch. And if you really want to make the best of your photos, perhaps even try to sell them, SmugMug is one of the best sites.
Expono seem to target sharing your photos on different social sites like Facebook, FriendFeed, Twitter, etc. And it does it in a very nice way, the site is fairly easy to use, uploads are fast and sharing is very easy. Add a fine-grained access control, contact list, geotagging, the ability to tag your friends, etc and you have a site that is well worth exploring.
My favorite features are, easy sharing, good access control and a very nice slideshow implementation. I also think that Expono shows my photos in a better way than Flickr does … in short I like it.
Right now it’s one of my favorites sites (I wish that I had known about Expono earlier this year when I needed a site like this) and if you are looking for a photo site where it’s easy to share your photos Expono is the one I would recommend. Go try it and say hello if you decide to join.
About a month ago I wrote about my new “standup desk”. I asked for this desk because of the muscle problems I’ve had in my back – for some reason the “main muscles” (don’t know the name in english) have been troubling me since january/february. The result has been that I’ve had some problems moving around and that I sometimes look really funny when I get up from a chair.
Anyway, I decided to ask for a “stand-up desk” at work just to see if it would make any difference. The initial experience was quite amazing, see my previous post, but what has the long term result been you might wonder. The quick and short answer is: this desk is not leaving my office_
I’m quite amazed at the difference this desk has made to my back. Instead of constantly having some pain in my back I now feel much less pain and it’s much easier to move around. I was feeling rather depressed about my back a few weeks ago but now it feels like I’m going to get rid of the pain given time … I’ve started to do special exercises for my back which should also help.
Even more interesting is what happens during weekends. On sundays I start to feel some pain in my back, then on mondays I go to work and in the afternoon the pain is usually gone again. It’s really amazing.
Negative stuff
You might wonder if there are any drawbacks of using a “stand-up desk” and of course there are … well, I’ve only found two: since I’m standing most of the day my feet are taking a beating – you really need good shoes that help making the work of standing less painful. The pain isn’t that bad, and much less bothersome than back pain, but you’ll probably feel it. So get a couple of good shoes if you decide to get a desk like this. Apparently there exists some kind of “mat” that you put on the floor which makes it easier for your feet, I haven’t tried this yet but I will probably do that later.
The second problem is related, the blood seem to gather in the muscles just above my knees and after having worked at the desk for a couple of hours my legs feels a bit stiff. The stiffness usually disappears after a short walk.
But these problems are really minor and something that I gladly accept.
Some unexpected effects
I’ve also experienced some interesting side effects of using this table that make it even more attractive for me:
When students come to my room to ask questions it become quite natural to stand at the table and discuss their problems. My impression is that it’s really natural to gather around the desk to study printouts, the computer screen, etc. It’s really easy to interact with the students standing up. Highly recommended.
A fun thing is that when people come into my room they don’t stay too long. Standing up is more work and not as comfortable as sitting down in a chair so they tend to leave my office quicker … which results in more work getting done
Standing up is more work, so I’ve several time felt myself getting warm just by standing up for an extended time.
Conclusion
If you have muscle problem in your back/hips, for example standing up straight directly after getting up from a chair, then I suggest that you try out a “stand-up” desk. Get a high quality desk, they are expensive but it’s worth it. Make sure that it’s really easy to change the height of the desk, mine have an electric motor that it easily controlled by two buttons. And make sure it’s a large desk because you will want to have a lot of stuff on it.
Try it out for two weeks and see if it makes as much difference for you as it has made for me.
I’ve been a bit hesitant about using a “stand-up desk” but for the last two months I’ve had more back problems than I’m used to. For some reason the two main muscles (those on either side of the spine, don’t know their name in English) have been very sore, sometimes making it difficult for me to put on my socks in the morning (kind of embarrassing), not to mention training ju-jutsu.
Anway, yesterday I got a “stand-up table” to try out for a few weeks
The initial experience, after 24 hours, is very positive. The pain in my back wasn’t nearly as bad as usual yesterday evening and it was much easier to move around this morning. I’m kind of amazed that the change happened so fast and that the change was so noticeable. I have no idea how this will work out in the long run but so far I’m very happy with the new desk.
A side effect that I hadn’t expected at all is that I become warm when I’m standing up, apparently it’s much more work for the body to stand up … I can of course understand that but I hadn’t expected that I would notice it.
