erikmoberg.net blog

Save and Load Your Icons

The free and hopefully fun to use Shiny Icon Maker just learned a new trick: Saving and loading icons. After creating that super-cool icon, maybe you want to save it on the website for later use. And now you can! You can save up to five icons and load them later. Note that the feature uses the LocalStorage in the web browser, so you need to use the same machine and the same web browser to load them later. Try it out!

Canon EF 50mm 1:1.8 II vs Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM: Which to get?

The Canon 50mm 1.8 "Plastic Fantastic" is an interesting lens. With its sub 100 USD price, basically anyone should pick it up just to see what it's like to shoot with a fast prime. However, since Canon introduced the 40mm 2.8 pancake lens, the 50mm may no longer be the obvious choice for a reasonably priced second lens. I happen to have both now, but which one would I have chosen if I could choose today? Read on for a (subjective) comparison between the two.

Canon 40mm Pancake Lens

I have been using the Canon 50mm more and more lately, mostly because it is small and light, making it easy to carry around. However, the quality of the lens is terrible, even bordering to hazardous. The Canon 40mm 2.8, which is even more compact but offers superior build quality, seemed like a good alternative. Since I just picked this one up, I haven't been shooting with it much yet, but expect a rundown soon. Amazingly, now my DSLR fits into my coat pocket!

Icon Maker - Surprise!

If you need a completely random icon, or if you just feel plain bored, I have great news. The Shiny Icon Maker can now generate random icons by the click of a button. Just click "Surprise me!" above the icon preview and a random icon will be generated. Keep clicking until you've found that perfect avatatar, company logo, or whatever. Check it out and have fun!

Photo Sunday: One

I was close to missing the deadline for this week's submission, which was "One". Being out with some friends instead and not having the camera with me didn't exactly help either - or so I thought. After loosing at darts, however, I did get an idea, which also reflected my darts skills. When shooting, I had to resort to the cellphone I had with me, an HTC Wildfire S. Being a fan of DSLRs, I was sceptical, but I like how the little camera manages to keep almost everything in focus. The shadows may be noisy, and the left side a bit blurry, but I got the shot and I like it. But don't expect me to ditch the DSLR anytime soon! ;)

Using IR Filter on Pop-up Flash to Trigger External Flash

I have an external flash gun that I often use when shooting. Using it on the camera is alright, but when you start using it off camera, things really start to get interesting. To trigger the flash remotely, I simply use the built-in pop-up flash of the camera. Problem is, this often causes some unwanted light or shadows from the pop-up flash itself. The solution? An infrared filter. Hold it (or tape it?) in front of the built-in flash and it will filter out almost all visible light, but still trigger the external flash. Works great. Continue reading for some sample shots.

My experience with the Olympus TG-310

I really like my 600D. It's responsive and delivers great quality pictures. But the lack of any shock- or weatherproofing plus the relatively high cost of it makes you think twice before bringing it in harm's way to get that special shot. I picked up the Olympus TG-310 a few months ago, and blogged that I would write a short review on it. About time. ;)

Hong Kong and Vietnam Trip

Just came back from a trip to Hong Kong. After spending a good week in the city with all its attractions, and also heading over to Macau, we continued to Vietnam for a few days of relaxation. They certainly have beautiful beaches, but the traffic takes some time getting used to with its 20 million or so motorbikes.

Anyway, images are more fun than words, so head over to the the image gallery for more.

Shiny Icon Maker - More New Features

Creating custom icons for your website using the Shiny Icon Maker just got easier than ever. New stuff includes rotation, scaling, glow, drop shadow, optional shiny effect, optional background... did I get everything? A lot to play around with anyway. Tested in Chrome, Firefox and IE9. Oh, and it's now using Knockout JS so the code shines as well. See for yourself: Try out the even more shiny Shiny Icon Maker.

Installing Android 2.3 Gingerbread on SonyEricsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro

I have had the SonyEricsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro for about two years, and its age is really starting to show. One weakness is the fact that it's still stuck with Android 2.1 (Eclair) with no update in sight. But before ponying up for a new phone, I wanted to see if there was any way to remedy this. And luckily, there is! This may be old news to some, but the nice people over at CyanogenMod have found ways to install custom Android firmwares, often including newer versions than your manufacturer offers. Read on for a short how-to on how to root and flash your phone with such a firmware.

Making light visible in the air

I wanted to make a picture on the theme "private", and experimented with light coming through a keyhole. I started by placing a fairly strong lamp on the other side of the hole. Unfortunately, the effect was not very dramatic since the light travelling through the hole was not visible in the air - this usually only happens if the air is dusty or foggy. I was considering opening the vacuum cleaner bag to fill the air with dust, but tried a cleaner method: Steam! I simply boiled a pot of water and put it under the keyhole. The light shining through the steam became visible and made for a much better shot.

Shooting burgers

We all know that when at fast food restaurants, what you see is not what you get. I recently saw a YouTube video from McDonald's on how they make their burgers look so great (and not flat) on the photos. You can actually achieve a lot but simply pushing the contents of the burger (lettuce, gherkin slices) closer to the edge to make it visible to the camera. The image shows my (mixed) results. Clearly, making a "stock" burger perfect requires a bit more than that.

Too busy with real life

Getting married is serious business! It kept me busy the last few months, a reason why I haven't added any new content for a while. But the Big Day was super successful and a lot of fun. Big thanks to all who helped, and all guests who shared the day with us!

Our friendly photographer shares a few of the pictures on his site, be sure to take a look.

New Toy: Olympus Tough TG-310

Since my Ricoh died, it has been exclusively DSLR for me. Image quality is great, but carrying 1kg+ of plastic and glass around gets tiresome. The Olympus Tough TG-310 looked like an attractive alternative: sized like a regular compact, priced nicely, and with the benefit of being shock resistant and waterproof. I will write a short review of it soon. Until then, check out this little underwater video. Update: Review is up.

Frankfurt Luminale 2012

Frankfurt Luminale is an event based around light that takes place every two years. I went there and brought my Canon 600D to capture some of the atmosphere and to see how its video mode fared under low-light conditions. It cannot compete with a 5D, but the results came out quite well. Check out the short Youtube video.

Canon 600D and memory cards

Since the Canon EOS 600D supports HD video, I went out and picked up a new SD card (full HD often uses around 300 MB for one minute of video). For more flexibility, I got a SanDisk Mobile Ultra micro-SD 16GB card with an SD adapter, so that I could use it in my cell phone or tablet. However, while recording was fine mostly, it would sometimes stop, the camera displaying the message "recording has been stopped automatically". Despite being a class 6 card, it seemed too slow. I picked up a SanDisk Extreme class 10 card instead, and I have had no problems since.

Gemei G9 Android Tablet Hands-on

I got the ASK 731SP SmartPad about a year ago, and a recent trip to Hong Kong enabled me to get my paws on a more recent device. The Gemei G9 show just how much has happened on the Android tablet market the last year - for about the same price, you now get a much faster and cooler-looking unit. Read on for more.

Suspended droplets

This one was quite fun to shoot. The setup is similar to a typical "splash shot" - that is, you fill a small bag with water (I used a juice carton with screw cap) which gives you a stream of drops at a steady rate. With the camera mounted on a tripod and using an external flash with reflector card, I regulated the flow of water so that it was nearly pouring, but still dripping, making perfect timing less of an issue. The lens was a vintage 55mm Pentax with a 25mm extension tube. Aperture f/8 and shutter speed 1/200th and some of trial and error gave nice results.

Sweet Dreams

Topic of the week was "dream", so I figured I could try out something I saw Bryan Peterson do here, namely spinning while shooting up, creating a weird, dream-like effect. Without a filter, I could not go slower that around 1/25 shutter speed, but the effect is still obvious. My hand, of course, spun along with the rest of me and stayed unblurred. Desaturated, bumped the contrast and voila! In-camera effects are the best. :)

Photo Marathon

Last week, Fotosöndag.se arranged a "photo marathon" - one topic was published every hour starting from 9 am, for a total of six topics. The files were to be uploaded latest 5 pm on the same day, so time was really of the essence. Just found out I'm not among the winners, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. If there is another marathon next year, I will definitely participate. Find my submissions in the Image Gallery.

Sharing Bright Ideas

Having some time to kill, and being fresh out of ideas, I set up a mini-site for idea sharing. The principle is simple: Post ideas, and comment and rate other people's ideas. But keep it short - Twitter style! If it sounds like your thing, check it out.

Canon EOS 600D vs 1000D

I have used the Canon EOS 1000D for quite some time now, and felt it was time for an upgrade. Since I already have a few lenses, I decided to continue down the Canon path. The 600D - AKA Rebel T3i, or Kiss X5, depending on where you live - caught my eye, looking very similar but fixing some of the problems of the 1000D, like lack of video recording, low ISO sensitivity, and low quality LCD. Read on for a comparison between the two.

Photo Sunday - Vertical-Horizontal

This week's theme left a lot of room for interpretation. I was first planning to do something with two bubble levels I have, but taking photos at home seemed lazy. Instead, I got out for a photo walk and was lucky enough to get a shot of this crowded but somehow empty looking shopping mall. The open vertical architecture matches the theme good enough. Taken with the 600D + kit lens using the automatic depth of field setting, keeping things in focus all the way up.

New Camera - Canon EOS 600D

Just picked up a brand new DSLR a few days ago, the 600D. It looks very similar to the 1000D, but has a few nice tricks up its sleeve, like a flippy-tilty screen, faster ISO, and video recording in full HD. I'm still playing around with it and will post a review soon where I compare it to the 1000D.

Prevent JavaScript Redirect in Firefox

I recently set up a simple web page using the "click-and-play" CMS Jimdo recently, but realized today that the URL I chose for my site could have been better. I decided to set up another page with a new URL and redirect to it from the first site.

As a first attempt, I tried a simple Javascript approach, using a random test URL which pointed to nothing: <script type="text/javascript"> document.location = "http://example.com"; </script> This worked. However, Jimdo is a quite WYSIWYG-oriented CMS, and needs to show the web page in order to edit it. Trying to edit the original page now sent me directly to the test URL instead! Disabling Javascript did not help either, since it broke the CMS interface. Nice catch-22. I was stuck with a broken page.

The solution: RequestPolicy! This Firefox plugin warns you when a site attempts a Javascript redirect and lets you prevent it from happening, without breaking any other Javascript code. After installation, I just opened the page, the redirect was prevented, and I could edit the page again - like correcting the URL.

That said, a Javascript redirect is less than ideal. If you can, use a 301 redirect (Google it) whenever possible.

Do it Yourself - Flash Umbrella

Flash umbrellas are really cool. Except from making you look like a full-time pro, they spread and soften light, which makes them ideal for portrait photography. They are also very portable, just like regular umbrellas. But there is very little magic involved, and there are not too many differences between a flash umbrella and a regular one. So why not try to use your umbrella for something more interesting than rain?

A few tricks with layer masks

Theme of this week was "Lit", and my submission is shown to the left. I simply put the plastic penguin on top of the light bulb and shot it using fill flash. At first, I was not particularly satisfied with the results, but after some playing around with the colors in GIMP using layer masks, it looked much more appealing. Read on for some tips on how to use layer masks to make dark areas brighter, and bright areas darker - a sort of HDR, you could say.

Photo Sunday: "Bang!"

I've thinking about doing this for some time, and this week I finally had an excuse for it. I filled the balloon with water and placed it on a black blanket in a water-tolerant place. With the camera on a tripod and using an external flash, I set the shutter speed to 1/200th of a second. I then dropped the knife on the balloon and tried to capture the decisive moment. It took a few tries to get it right. Using a small aperture like f/11 turned out to be important to get both the water and the knife in focus.

Photo Sunday: "Film Noir"

Theme of last week was "Film noir", which got me really excited. High contrast black and white basically makes everything look cool and stylish so nothing can go wrong. A hat-owning friend of mine was helpful enough to model for me, so we went to a dark back alley at the evening to get some shots. The large shadow was created by placing my external flash - a Nissin Di622 - on the ground a few meters away from the subject and firing it remotely.

Photo gift tips: 3 items for 100 EUR each

With christmas coming up, you might be looking for a gift for that hooked-on-photography brother of yours, or maybe you just want to treat yourself to something. Either way, if you are looking for photo related stuff but don't want want to break the bank (too much), let me suggest three items that might interest you.

Photo Sunday: "Farewell"

Been taking a break from participating lately, but decided to give it a go this weekend. I was out walking when I saw this Korean Air Airbus A380 shortly after takeoff. With my Tamron at 270mm, it filled up the frame nicely. Desaturated, bumped up the contrast and added some vignetting.

A Week on Menorca

Just came back from a trip to Menorca, Spain. The island is situated close to Mallorca, but is significantly more quiet. We had a relaxing week with lots of sunshine. For some pictures, go to the Image Gallery.

Brand new Look

The old design was getting old, so I changed it a bit. Hope you like it. :)

Photo Sunday: "Illusion"

This week's theme being "Illusion", I decided to retry something I did a few years ago - building an impossible 3D triangle. I found instructions here and got busy. Once done, the thing looked nothing like a triangle; the trick is to look at it from just the right angle, preferably with one eye. The camera makes it almost look real.

Photo Sunday: "Chaos"

This week's Photo Sunday theme was "Chaos", which made me think of the great game Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Green LED light, a window, some water and a flashlight and it looks just like Sam Fisher paid me a visit. You can also find the picture on my Flickr photostream.

Automatically Fix Image Orientation Based on EXIF Data

My Canon 1000D understands when I am shooting vertically and rotates images accordingly. Only problem is, in Windows, the images still show up in the wrong orientation, meaning I have to go through the images and rotate them by hand.

To fix this, I created a small program. Just select the folder containing some JPEGs, and it will run through the images inside and rotate them when needed.

Click here for more info and to download the JPEG rotator.

Photo Sunday: "Endless"

Submission to this week's Photo Sunday. Theme: "Endless".

I shot this Frankfurt, which has a lot of tall buildings. Using the kit lens at a fairly wide angle, the building looks almost like it just disappears into the sky. And by the way: No post processing! Save time by getting it right in the camera.

ASK 731SP Disassembly

I was recently asked if there is a way to open up the ASK Smartpad to replace its battery. For me, it was an excellent excuse to finally pop that thing open and see what's inside. Turns out the battery looks quite replaceable, although I didn't try it yet. Read on for a short disassembly guide.

Canon 50mm 1.8 Stuck on Camera Body

Earlier this week, I accidentally dropped my Canon nifty-fifty lens on the floor. Without inspecting it, I put it on the camera and was happy to see that it worked. And today I tried to take it off - only to find that it was stuck. Turns out that this is a quite common problem with this lens - the lens mount is made out of plastic and easily gets damaged, which can lead to this problem. However, since the mount of the camera is metal (update: actually it's plastic as well), you still have a fair shot if you turn the lens hard enough. After a long struggle, the lens finally came off, together with some small loose plastic pieces. Luckily, both the camera and the lens survived. Don't try this at home!

Trying out Infrared Photography

I was lucky enough to get an infrared (IR) filter from a friend a few weeks ago. An infrared filter will block visible light and just let through infrared light, which is invisible to the naked eye. The sensor in the camera can pick it up, however, and produce quite interesting results. After a few attempts, it was clear that shooting infrared takes some time getting used to, but it is also fun and rewarding. Continue reading for an IR crash course.

Sweden Trip 2011 - Pics

Just uploaded som pics from my trip to Sweden last week. Beautiful as always. Check out the Image Gallery.

Velbon Sherpa 200R Review

Shooting under low-light conditions is hard. I have mentioned optical stabilizing earlier, which helps prevent camera shake down to 1/10th or so. But after that, you will have to resort to what photographers have done for years - using a tripod.

I got the Velbon Sherpa 200R a while ago and I thought I could share my thoughts on it. This review may not be very in-depth - all I can really compare it to is my old tripod which was mostly plastic. This is definitely better - although heavier - stuff. Read on for more.

Photo Sunday - Image Gallery

As mentioned in a previous post, I joined a group on Flickr and submit a picture every week. My photo stream can be found here, but I decided to post the pictures here on the page as well - just go to the Image Gallery to check it out.

Simple Photo Studio at Home

Taking pictures of products, isolated on white background is something I do a lot, which you may have noticed from this blog. Achieving good (or, at least decent) results is actually much easier than you might think, and costs basically nothing. No special studio lighting or reflectors are required, and the setup is simple. Read on for how to set up your own little photo studio at home for product photography.

Photo Sunday

I just joined a group on flickr, called Fotosöndag (Swedish, translates into Photo Sunday). Each week, a new theme is presented and submissions are done each Sunday. This week's theme was "Upside down", my submission is presented here to the left.

DIY DSLR Camera Sling Strap

The strap that came with your camera is quite useful. Not only does it remind you of what brand you have (in case you forgot), but it is also able to help avoiding fatal damages to the camera. However, the strap often gets stuck or tangled up when you need to move the camera in position, which could kill the shot completely.

Now, wouldn't it be so much better if the strap could just stay in place, and the camera would just move along it instead? These do exist, but I decided to give it a try myself before shelling out some EUR 50 for such a simple thing.

Read on for a tutorial on how to make your own sling strap.

Icons using the HTML5 Canvas Element

With IE9, the HTML5 canvas element suddenly went mainstream. Since I have an educated audience that makes sure to keep their web browsers updated, I made some changes to the Shiny Icon Maker to take advantage of some features of the canvas. For example, PNG conversion can now be done client-side, which is faster and more accurate. Give it a try.

Vignetting with the Gimp

Dark corners in a photo are usually referred to as vignetting. Actually a lens defect, it does leave a lot of room for creativity. Portrait shots, for example, can benefit from some vignetting since the dark corners emphasize the subject in the middle. It also adds a nice vintage effect and often works well on black and white photos.

In Adobe Lightroom, there is built-in functionality for adding vignette. But what about Gimp? Turns out there are several ways to do it. Read on.

The Social Network

Finally saw the Social Network yesterday. It has been called best movie of the year by some reviewers, so my expectations were high. While good, I was slightly disappointed. To me, Zuckerberg just didn't seem to be a very likeable guy.

It's funny actually - after seeing Fast and Furious, I felt like speeding, after the Social Network, I felt like coding. So this site now has the infamous "Like"-button - just click Comment/Share below.

Fake Raindrops Macro Photography

I became an instant fan of Bryan Peterson after reading his book "Understanding Exposure", which taught me a lot about being creative with a camera. Recently, I saw one of his videos online on shooting straws of grass with drops of water on them, and I just needed to give it a shot myself. Nice results without much effort, I have to say - you can shoot this in your backyard.

Free High Resolution Images

I recently added a few images in full resolution to the download page. They are some of my favorite shots, and printed they look nice on the wall in my apartment. Feel free to download them and use them as you wish. More will be coming soon. Go to download page.

DIY Drop Handlebars to Bullhorns

I have an old bike with drop handlebars. Riding it is a lot of fun, but with the hands placed on the brake hoods - which I find is the most comfortable way to ride - I am unable to use the brakes efficiently. The pursuit handlebar, or bullhorn, looked both functional and cool so I decided to try to convert the handlebar into one. It proved quite easy; I removed the brakes, turned the handlebar around, cut the drops and reinstalled the brakes upside down. The result was very comfortable and feels a lot safer. After the mod, I did some googling and found this guide on Ride Fixed Gear which demonstrates the steps. Apparently, it's called "chop-and-flop" and it seems that I got it right. ;)

ASK 731SP 3G Smartpad Review

Recently, the market has been flooded by a number of cheap Android tablets - most of them rather iPad lookalikes than iPad killers. I recently picked this one up in Hong Kong, where it sells for around 1700 HKD, which roughly equals 160 EUR. A quite reasonable price, considering that it features a 7 inch capacitive multi touch screen. So is the Smartpad the gem in the pile of chinese plastic junk, or is it rather the other way around? Let's find out.

Hong Kong Trip 2011 Pics

I just came back from this year's trip to Asia, which took me to Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Check out the image gallery for more.

Getting Started with Star Trails

I just recently started experimenting with star trails photography. The "classic" technique is to make one single exposure (say, for one hour), and as the earth rotates, the stars will paint beautiful trails on the sensor/film. Now, this may not work for everyone. A one hour exposure would require the surrounding to be pitch black. I live in the city, and along with that comes a lot of light pollution. So instead of doing it the real way, I had to resort to some cheating. The idea is quite simple: Have the camera take a series of pictures of the clear night sky, then merge them in the computer. Read on for more.

Fun with bokeh

I got this cool tip from a friend: Custom bokeh! Basically, you take s small piece of cardbaord (or similar) and cut out a nicely shaped hole (for example, a star) in the middle. Place it in front of the camera lens, making sure light can enter through the hole only. Depending on the shape of the hole, you can get very interesting results - try it out on candles in a dark room, for example! The picture to the left shows my result after some experimentation. For a how-to, check out my friends blog post (swedish, but instructions in English).

Soundcard - Asus Xonar DX

I have been using integrated sound for several years now, and I have been mostly satisfied with it. But the weaknesses of the Realtek ALC883 clearly show once you crank up the volume - it's not just loud static, you can actually hear the hard drive and CPU (?) working, through the speakers! The signal must be badly isolated or something. I figured a discrete solution would not suffer from the same problems, and turned to the Asus Xonar DX. Read on for a short review.

Shiny Icon Maker - New features

Creating icons for your web pages just got a lot easier. I added some new functionality to the Shiny Icon Maker - the possibility to add arbitrary text. Just click "Use Text Input" on the accordion. Type in some text, select a font, set the font size and download. You can also rotate the text! Everything still in beta, though. Go try it out.

Solved - Hotmail on X10 Mini Pro gives blank page

I recently upgraded the operating system of my SonyEricsson X10 Mini Pro from Android 1.6 to 2.1. Some minor (read: unnecessary) changes were immediately noticeable, like the "slide to unlock" or the darker background. So first impression: Yay. But after some time with it, I was happy to discover that the update solved a problem that has been bugging me for some time: Since Microsoft gave Hotmail that last major makeover, it has left me with nothing but a white page after logon. But now it works again! So that problem is definitely solved, and I guess it also means the system carries a more compatible browser. Thumbs up. :)

Icon Creation with Javascript

I was playing around a bit with Raphaël today and I was quite impressed. Raphaël is a Javascript library which makes creation of vector graphics on the web really easy. I used some symbols freely available from their website and created a simple script that adds a shiny background to them (one example is seen on the left).

You can change colors and icon, and, if your browser supports SVG, download the result as SVG or PNG. Try it out!

My Neighbour Cthulhu

I really enjoyed the South Park episode that aired last week, mostly thanks to the references to Miyazaki's 1988 film "My Neighbour Totoro". In case you missed it, here is a "comparison". Also, make sure to check out the Cthulhu song (Japanese original).

New lens - Tamron 18-270 3.5-6.3 DI II VC

Although the kit lens for the Canon 1000D (18-55 3.5-5.6 IS) does a pretty good job, it definitely has its limitations. After all, 55mm is not very long and you will finding yourself resorting to the good old foot zoom (aka running around). Since I was going on a trip to Egypt, I figured it was time to pick up something more powerful and flexible for my holiday memories. Since changing lenses can be a hassle, I decided to go for the Tamron 18-270 VC, which covers everything from wide angle to long tele in a single lens.

New pics - trip to Egypt

I just came back from a week-long trip to Hurghada, Egypt. We took the opportunity to head up to Cairo to see the pyramids, which was quite an experience. Make sure to check out the image gallery.

Plantronics .Audio 995 vs Creative HS-1200

For audio, I have always liked cables. They provide good sound quality, are cheap, and they never tangle or get in the way. Oh wait, they actually do get in the way. A lot. Ever been on Skype when suddenly the "real" phone rings? So you get up and run off to pick up, forgetting about the wires - I actually pulled the cable out of a headset this way once. So if you, like me, have a problem with wires, what wireless alternatives are there? I had a look at two.

Sweden Summer Trip 2010 Pics

Went for a visit in Sweden in July. Had a relaxing week there and got some interesting shots as well. Check the image gallery.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro hands-on review

After Apple showed everyone that big touchscreens are cool and the way of the future, it seems that the phone makers are doing their best to follow. Not necessarily a bad thing, but don't some of us sometimes prefer tactile buttons instead of a flat surface? And can't a phone be high-end without having a 4" screen?

Looking for something more portable but just as usable, the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro caught my eye. The handset is much smaller than the average smartphone and packs a full keyboard. It also comes with the Android 1.6 operating system.

Getting Linux on that Dingoo

In a previous post, I mentioned that installing a version of Linux (called Dingux) on the portable gaming console Dingoo A320 was possible. Well, I finally got around to do it - and I don't regret it. Installation was fairly easy, and a lot of applications and games can now be used on the unit. Even Quake works!

Windows7 Backup Error Code 0x810000FF

I am using Windows 7 at the time, and it's set up to backup some "important" files to an external hard drive on a regular basis. The other day, Windows kept telling me that the backup failed, giving the helpful error code 0x810000FF. Google did not provide any real help on this. I did notice, however, that I was low on disk space on one of my partitions included in the backup (not the target drive, nor the system partition). Freeing up a couple of GBs did the trick. So maybe the error code should be "insufficient disk space" or something. But then again, hex looks cooler.

Homer Simpson Bao Song

Homer Simpson sings a song about his favourite "baos" (steamed buns) in episode 12, season 21. The episode is called "Boy Meets Curl" and he sings the song at around 11:30.

So what was that about? Well, I was googling this the other day but couldn't find anything. After having to look for it "manually", I thought, hey, let's make the Internet a bit better by filling in the missing pieces. Hope I saved someone some time. ;)

Super Mario Crossover

This flash game is definitely something for all you NES fans out there: Super Mario Bros. Crossover. Basically, it's the first Super Mario Bros game, except you can play with a selection classic of characters other than Mario; Link, for example, or Megaman. If you haven't tried it yet, better do it before they pull it due to copyright infringement.

On a side note, I'm also enjoying Canabalt now. Make sure to crank up the volume!

RSS Feed added

I just found the time to implement an RSS feed function. Not really a big thing - i guess that's why it's called Really Simple Syndication. ;)

And by the way, it is now possible to include your web site URL when posting comments or guestbook entries.

Gimp image editing

Gimp is a free image editing software that is very heavy on features. I like it a lot and use frequently for photo editing. But getting started can be a bit tough and takes some patience. I was experimenting with a picture the other day and thought I could share the results as a little tutorial.

Comments enabled

I decided to implement a commenting function. On the server side, it works kind of like the guestbook (using PHP and XML), but with entries tied to a specific article. For the user (i.e. you), it works just like the plain vanilla commenting function you know from other blogs. Feel free to comment on any article, including this one.

Canon Image Stabilizer (IS) test

Many lenses today come with optical image stabilizers (in Canon's case, IS for short) to help producing sharp pictures when shooting in low-light conditions. Useful when a tripod is not an option. However, lenses with IS are typically more expensive than their non-IS counterparts. So how much does IS help, and is it worth the extra $$$?

Save a bundle using old camera lenses

I got a Canon 1000D some time ago, but I still use the kit lens. Simple reason is, good lenses are quite expensive. Luckily, there is a solution, and it's called M42. Using an adapter, old lenses using the M42 mount can be fitted onto almost any modern SLR. I decided to get an adapter, and shortly after, I got some lenses from a friend so I could try it out. If you like to save some money and don't mind working in (almost) full manual mode, this is something for you.

Site overhaul

Finally decided to update the site a little. There is now only one design (instead of eight, which just seemed to be confusing to people), dead links have been removed and a contact form has been added. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Dingoo A320 - First impressions

Portable gaming is more popular than ever. Devices like the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP seem to be everywhere, and so are the games with fast graphics, network support, and whatnot. If you are like me, however, you may find that the best games have already been made - a long time ago.

Enter the Dingoo A320 - the "other" portable gaming console. Capable of playing back videos, play mp3s, and much more, its primary function is to emulate older games. Remember the NES, SNES and Genesis? Those were *real* consoles. ;)

UAE, Thailand, Hong Kong

Just came back from a trip to the Middle East and Asia. I have noticed that some people complain about Dubai; the city apparently has no "soul" and there is really nothing to do there. I found it to be a very diverse city with tons to do. We went for some dune bashing in the desert, a cruise along the creek and, of course, sightseeing and shopping.

We continued on to Bangkok, which turned out to be just as big and colorful as expected.

Check out the pictures.

Canon 1000D sample pictures

Just added some sample pictures to the gallery. Nothing fancy but it should give you some idea of what the camera can do (all with the standard lens).

I won't write any review or so, but for anyone wondering - the LiveView feature is not just some gimmick, it's actually very convenient (just make sure to get the focus right - the camera does not auto-focus in this mode).

Recommended. :)

New camera - Canon 1000D

Just got myself a new camera. This time a Canon 1000D - my first DSLR. So far, I am very pleased with the camera even though I am still learning and experimenting a lot. I will post a short review when I have more sample pictures.

China trip

Just came back from a three-week trip in China, this time visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. I had a really good time and took a lot of pictures. Be sure to check them out.

I was also happy to see that this page is perfectly reachable from China without using any proxy. So if any mainland chinese are reading this: Get out while you can, it's a trap! ;)

Winter again

Just came back from a weekend trip to Baden-Baden. We found - surprisingly - a lot of snow there. Makes me miss Sweden a little bit. Since the Ricoh was working again (...), I took a few shots (check the image gallery as usual).

And by the way... merry christmas everyone. :)

No pictures?

Haven't added too many pictures to the image gallery lately. Partly because I'm lazy, but mainly because my Ricoh R7 broke. The flimsy lens cover would not open completely and I sent it back. This was the end of June. About a month later, Ricoh sent me a new one back. Funnily, it had almost exactly the same lens cover related problem (in other words, it was DOA) and got sent back as well. So I finally got the camera in the end of August. And it seems to work, too. Nice, had to take all my vacation pictures with my old, half-way broken Casio.

Hint of the day: Before considering Ricoh, consider every other brand first.

New thumbnail gallery

Finding the image gallery a bit cumbersome to use, but on the other hand being too lazy to create a new one from scratch, I decided to use Highslide JS. This nice piece of JavaScript software really adds a new dimension to the gallery, making it easier to use and looking great at the same time. It also makes the page feel more - no matter how much I hate the term - Web 2.0.

Make sure to check it out.

New style added

As my drawing skills are worthless, I asked a friend for some help in creating a comic-like design. Note that the art used is created by her and she should get all credits. :) Try out the new style or/and visit her homepage.

Limburg trip

Summer seems to be back already, at least judging from the rising ice-cream consumption. And of course these nice pics I shot last week.

Andermatt ski trip

Just came back from Switzerland, had a short trip over the weekend with some friends. Had a great time! As usual, make sure to check the image gallery.

Ricoh Caplio R7 mini-review

Bought a new camera about a week ago since I got tired of the old one (Casio Z60). Instead of playing it safe and just go with any Canon IXUS (basically, all IXUS cameras provide great bang for the buck) I decided to go for a Ricoh Caplio R7. Featuring 8MP and a 7.1x optical zoom in a very small format, it seemed like a steal for 217 EUR. And so far, I'm very satisfied with it. Here is what I have concluded so far:

The good:

Good color reproduction
7.1x zoom (can't be bad)
Good macro (1cm, or 25cm at full zoom)
Standard mini-usb cable, standard (hc)sd-card
Lots of settings to play around with (including manual focus), easily accessible using the dedicated "adj"-joystick

The bad:

Somewhat loud (startup, focusing, zooming)
Diagonal lines on display look jagged
Slow focus, unable to focus at times
Struggles somewhat under low-light conditions

Check out some sample pictures from the gallery. Note that all pictures are shot at 3MP (lame, I know).

New style added - again

Yes! Boredom breeds creativity. Except I have not really created anything, just copied some design idea that looked cool and merged with something that already existed on this page. But on the other hand, since when is that not considered creative? Check out the new style yourself.

Karaoke party!

Uploaded some picures from the karaoke party. I got so inspired that I'm seriously thinking about getting some karaoke software and a pair of wireless microphones. My girlfriend seems to like the idea anyway. ;)

Paris trip

Went on a trip to Paris. Never been there before. Interesting city, even if it all felt somewhat cliché. Take that Eiffel tower for example. It's not exactly like you go all "wow, look they got a tower, I had no idea". But I still have to admit that the city - including the tower - was very impressive. Make sure to check out the pictures.

Security hole?

As we all know by now, each time someone comes up with something fun (like online banking) someone else always comes up with something even more fun (like phishing). In this case, I just added an admin-interface to this page, effectively turning it into something like a blog. I guess that's a lot of fun until someone hacks the page and inject malicious code into it. Lol.
Aah, just forget it. Here you go, a funny video! ^_^

By request (embedding?)

Apparently, there is a way of embedding videos using some function offered by my web host. Can't get it to work though. I guess I will have to do dome research. In the meantime, just grab a funny video where we sing for Johan using this link. (17MB)

Edit: Got the embedding to work but it sucked. Just use the link.

New style sheet added

To make the site feel more updated, I added a new template, "PickyMedia". This is also set as the default template. Note that it uses liquid layout, making the contents fill out the whole page.
Also, my parent came to visit me. Took some pictures and added to the image gallery.

Poetry

Expressing deep feelings should be done with some care. And with style. I have therefore written a haiku which I believe will make you understand me better.

Danger this way comes
Internet Explorer 6
Webstandards tremble

New Images

Took some pictures when I was in Sweden and Denmark recently, make sure to check out the Image gallery.

Guestbook

Just finished implementing a guestbook using XML and PHP. The feature is still new and may be somewhat immature - but try it out anyway.

Site created

Not much content yet. When I have time (and content) I will take care of that. At least there are some pictures under "Image gallery".