• North Sydney Community Centre Camera Club – LINK
• Mosman Camera Club – LINK

North Sydney Community Centre Camera Club

This club is not to be confused with the North Sydney Leages Camera Club (another recommend venue, but not one that I frequent).The Club meets in a room at North Sydney Council’s Community Centre, just behind Stanton Library, once a month. It is the brain child of commercial pro-photographer Ray Williams (see Ray’s commercial site: LINK), who is a most charming dark skinned Cockney. He has a lot of experience, especially unique to camera clubs, in the commercial world.

Mosman Camera Club

One of the oldest, if not THE oldest camera club in Australia, Mosman has been established in 1952.

In contrast to the previous club, Mosman CC, is an exceptional, but “typical” camera club, made up of some very experienced and outstanding photographers. Its basis is more amateur – in the non-commercial sense, not in terms of lesser skills. Mosman CC is member of the NSW Camera Clubs group, and meets twice a month.

In a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of hot water:

• Melt 250g, chopped dark chocolate
• Add 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 150g chopped unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon Brandy
• 1 tablespoon strong black coffee (espresso if available)

When blended, transfer mixture into a large bowl and stir in:

• 125g ground almonds
• 5 eggs yolks – stirring 1 at a time, beating well after each

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until medium firm. Stir a large spoonful of the whipped whites into the chocolate mixture to thicken it, then gently fold in the rest with a large metal spoon or spatula.

Pour mixture into a greased and lined 23cm cake tin and bake at 180 deg C for 45-50 minutes, until cake is firm. Allow to cool completely in tin.

Yesterday I got to handle an i4 (short for iPhone 4), for the first time at the George St. Apple store. So will I upgrade?

The short answer is I hope not for a while! I was rather underwhelmed with what I saw, but on the other hand I am aware of my weakness in wanting leading edge, and currently I have an opportunity to sell my 3Gs to a friend.

But seriously, money doesn’t grow on trees, and my upgrade cost would probably be at around $500, so the question is, the value of the benefit worth the cost?

I won’t repeat all the pro’s and cons that have been written about by every publication, both electronic and printed; just give my own thoughts here:

• The screen does look good, but so does my 3Gs
• The camera is better, but still doesn’t compare with dedicated imaging devices, like the Flip, or my Ricoh GX100
• Battery life – I hadn’t had any issues with the 3Gs, I turn off WiFi and Bluetooth when not required, ditto for push or frequent email polling, and can easily go 2 full days between charges, so no tangible benefit here
• The new shape! It feels more angular, and I actually prefer the curved rear of the 3Gs. Can’t see a single reason for having a glass rear cover, plus with the stupid antenna issue, you are bound to have to get a case, so you won’t even see the back anyway! Plus I read that the glass front can shatter, if the phone is dropped even a short distance, onto its corner.
• OS4 sucks! I have it free on my 3Gs already, but wish I didn’t. You get better features if you jail brake your phone and have better control over what runs in the background, plus can install Flash support!

So it comes down to trying to kerb my “trendy” desires with logic and value. I would recommend that if you already have a 3Gs then think twice. If you have an older iPhone then the upgrade might be more attractive, and if you don’t have any Apple iThingies, then think seriously about the competition: Android phones are pretty competitive and Android tablets are coming in October to chase the iPad.

It is a tough choice, I know, but don’t rush it. Buy wisely, and most importantly, whatever device(s) you choose, invest some time to learn how to get the most out of it and the Apps that you install.

The iPhone showed “Weak GPS signal” most of the time, while the TomTom had absolutely no issues!

Conclusion: Don’t throw away your dedicated car GPS! The iPhone may be ok as a backup or when you are on foot and need to find some place, but it is definitely not in the same league as a dedicated device.

I shall repeat the comparison with the iPad versus the TomTom, in the near future…

I have found the following :

• 70 dBA ==>> Rec Level 80
• 80 dBA ==>> Rec Level 50
• 90 dBA ==>> Rec Level 20

iPad Camera Connection Kit

Or how to beat the eBay “sharks” that sell the Apple Camera Connection Kit for twice its price!

- The Apple Camera Connection Kit (CCK) should be a free accessory with every iPad, however we are stung for another $39 for the privilege of being able to connect a USB device (typically a camera) to our already expensive iPad.  However I knew this when I bought into the Apple scene so I am not overly complaining, as the overall system is still to my liking.

What hurts more is that the CCK is almost always out of stock and even Apple’s own George St. shop can’t tell you when the next shipment is due or take any order reservation.  To add insult to injury, there are people on eBay selling these at up to 2x the Apple’s already inflated price!

So what to do? I have the solution…

Go to the Apple on-line store and just order it on-line. There is FREE delivery, by TNT Courier and you don’t have to keep visiting the store to see if it’s in stock and don’t get over charged.

Mine arrived this morning, and boy is it a useful accessory!

My hobbies include photography and motorcycling, so I can now travel with my Nikon DSLR and iPad, shoot the best travel photos (as if!) and just dump them to the iPad’s 64GB SSD storage and be able to show people the images straight away. How good is that?

My other accessories, that I can recommend, are:

• Car charger (also works on my motorbike, LOL) – the iPad draws a hefty 0.5A so the iPhone chargers are not able to supply enough current. With the correct charger, you can keep the iPad charged on long trips. Can you imagine a 9.7″ GPS on your dash? It’s awesome!
• VGA Adapter – be aware though: it works as a “2nd screen” but ONLY for enabled applications, so you can’t simply see everything that’s on the PAD. It IS great however for photo presentations.

Here is the LINK for the e-Store.

Apparently “jail breaking” your iPhone is not illegal in the US. It has been tested in US courts. There is however always a risk that you might wreck your expensive “toy”.

Warning: It is legal for you to jailbreak your device, but it is also legal for Apple to release an update that kills jail broken devices (I know this stinks, as you own the thing), but be warned!

Without further ado I point you to iHackintosh!