December 2, 2012

Robert-Paul Jansen, iPhone landscape photographer

Filed under: Photography by Branko Collin @ 3:38 pm

Gemonde is a small, cosy village in Noord-Brabant, just South of Maaskantje*, and bordered by the Dommel river**, which is where landscape photographer Robert-Paul Jansen takes his pictures.

Landscape photographers often want to bring along the biggest cameras they can find just to capture all that detail, but Jansen likes to use his Apple iPhone 4. Last week he told DPReview: “Smartphones typically have the largest viewfinders of all cameras, and this is ideal for taking landscape photos. Composition is key in landscape photography and a large viewfinder helps me to compose the shot easily. There are some limitations, like a lack of a true wide angle lens and zoom, but these things can be compensated for by using the right apps [for stitching photos together].”

I guess that the weight and size of the iPhone are also a consideration.

Besides an iPhone Jansen also uses more ‘serious’ cameras, as you can see on his blog.

*) Of the TV series.
**) Of the beer.

(Photo: Robert-Paul Jansen)

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November 30, 2012

Charge your gear on the go using your travel bag

Filed under: Design,Gadgets,Technology by Orangemaster @ 5:11 pm

Dutch prototype travel bag Phorce will not only help you carry your smartphones, tablets, laptops and many more devices, but it can also charge them up while you commute, travel or just leave them in your bag. The Phorce can charge an iPhone 5 more than eight times and provide a MacBook Air with seven more battery hours. And you can charge several devices at the same time, surely not all of them bought from Apple.

Marijn Berk and James Jeffrey are trying to get their project crowdfunded on Kickstarter, and with just 22 days to go, they’ve almost collected their USD 150,000 they need. It’s the first time that a Dutch project has collected so much money on Kickstarter, which apparently doesn’t accept Dutch bank accounts for the funds.

The cost of a Phorce will start at USD 199 dollar (152 euro). If you drop them some cash, you can even vote on the fourth colour they will bring the bag out in besides red, black and dark green. Phorce can be used as a messenger bag, backpack and briefcase. As a consumer, to me this the 2.0 level of a Timbuk2 or Crumpler bag.

(Play spot the filming locations: Waterlooplein metro stop, EYE Film Institute and Brug 34 Utrechtsestraat)

(Link: www.bright.nl, www.getphorce.com, Screenshot Kickstarter)

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October 30, 2012

Steve Jobs’ yacht floats first in the Netherlands

Filed under: Design,IT by Orangemaster @ 2:02 pm

On 28 October, one year after the death of Apple’s mastermind Steve Jobs, a yacht he designed together with French product designer Philippe Starck has been put to water in Aalsmeer at the docks of royal shipbuilder De Vries. It apparently took six years to design.

The yacht is called Venus, it’s almost 80 metres long, the outside is made of lightweight aluminium with three-metre-high windows and is powered by seven iMacs. Other features include a Jacuzzi, a huge sun deck and a bridge full of mac screens.

The Jobs family had planned to sail around the world with it, but now the yacht will be shipped to the United States.

(Link: www.automatiseringgids.nl, Photo of Steve Jobs by acaben, some rights reserved)

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August 12, 2012

HP opens miniature store in tram stop

Filed under: General,Technology by Branko Collin @ 10:37 am

A little unexpected guerilla action from staid and stoic Hewlett-Packard at the Leidseplein in Amsterdam—in a tram stop just across the new Apple Store the computer manufacturer has opened its own Spectre Store.

Spectre being a new 14-inch laptop by HP that nominally competes with the 1- inch Apple MacBook and the 14-inch Dell XPS. I say competes, but according to this Engadget review, it is slightly slower and more expensive than its competitors, and the only thing you get in return is a better screen. Then again, if you had cash to burn and a good screen was what you craved the most, you probably wouldn’t buy an HP in the first place.

The tram stop store has a display window with actual laptops, and HP has sales people on hand to tell you about their new ultrabook. Passers-by can win a laptop by scanning a QR code. The store will be up and running until next Tuesday from 10 am to 9 pm.

According to Bright, this is one of the busiest tram stops in the country.

(Photo: Edelman PR)

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November 21, 2011

iPad grandpa died at age 87

Filed under: Technology by Branko Collin @ 10:51 am

Mr. Strubbe, the man we wrote about earlier because he had this delightful approach to buying computers, has died, Bright reports.

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ was his motto, and so until recently he still used WordPerfect on an old, perfectly functioning MS DOS computer that was not troubled by virusses. “Why would I say goodbye to such a dear friend?” he asked the camera crew of consumer watchdog Consumentenbond. But then the Apple iPad came along, and the second stage of his philosophy kicked in: if something truly better comes along, why hold yourself back? And so Mr Strubbe bought an iPad.

Earlier this year Consumentenbond visited Mr Strubbe again to give a hands-on review of the iPad 2, and he seems to have liked it:

(Unfortunately, no captions this time it seems.)

(Video: Youtube / Consumentenbond.)

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April 4, 2011

Wooden iPad 2 cover

Filed under: Gadgets,Technology by Branko Collin @ 10:10 am

Hot on the heels of the announcement of Apple’s latest toy comes this wooden cover for the iPad 2 by Dutch manufacturer Miniot. It works like Apple’s own Smart Cover, as it uses magnets that attach to the tablet, and the cover can be rolled up to function as a stand.

The Schagen, Noord Holland based company sells them or 50 euro or more. There’s a video that shows you how it works.

(Link: 9 to 5 mac. Photo: Miniot.)

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November 6, 2010

Mr. Strubbe will keep using MS-DOS and Wordperfect 5.1 until he dies

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 7:30 pm

Consumer watch dog Consumentenbond interviews people that have ‘golden oldies’, devices that despite their age still function beautifully.

Mister Strubbe is still using an ancient PC with MS-DOS and Wordperfect 5.1 installed, which never causes him problems with hackers, which has no viruses, never breaks down, always works. But has Steve Jobs finally been able to convince him to make the switch? You’ll have to watch the video to find out.

Video: Youtube/Consumentenbond. Link: Sargasso.

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