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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April 12, 2012

3D print your own iPhone case at Kees

Filed under: Design,Technology by Branko Collin @ 1:58 pm

Kees is a Dutch online company that lets you customize and 3D print iPhone cases based on a large number of presets.

You can even add your own lettering to the sides.

The cases cost around 40 euro, and take about 3 weeks to deliver.

The company is an initiative of brothers Jonas and Daaf Samson. The company name is a common Dutch given name (short for Cornelis), and is pronounced ‘case’. Unfortunately, you don’t seem to be able to opt out of the rather large company logo that is also printed on the side.

Anyway, the customization process is really simple, so I suggest you check it out to see what a Kees is all about.

(Link: Bright, Photo: Kees)

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July 24, 2009

iPhone developer course starts in September

Filed under: Gadgets,Online by Branko Collin @ 1:09 pm

Competence Factory, the job education branch of Randstad-based employment agency Appoint, has started to offer a course in developing Apple iPhone ‘apps’.

The training starts in September, and has separate courses for programmers, designers and marketers. It costs 5800 euro to participate.

The course’s web page suggests developing iPhone apps may be “the new gold rush,” but programmer Adam Martin has some sobering data. The median turnover of an iPhone app developer was between 1000 and 5000 USD in May of this year, although Martin doesn’t say whether this is for one app, for one month or year, or for an entire career. Some 10% of those polled said they had no formal training whatsoever, so the numbers for trained app developers may be more uplifting.

(Link: Bright. Photo by William Hook, some rights reserved.)

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April 21, 2009

Open Source car

Filed under: Automobiles,Design,Technology by Branko Collin @ 10:14 am

In 2005 the well-known Stichting Natuur en Milieu foundation (Foundation for Nature and Environment) asked students of the three technological universities (Delft, Eindhoven, Twente) to invent the car for the year 2020. This is what they came up with, called the c’mm’n, and the first thing you will notice is that it doesn’t fly. The car that is, not or not necessarily the concept.

So, for the car geeks out there, here are the dirty details (Dutch):

  • Thermoplastic exterior
  • Aerodynamic shape
  • Mega-iPhone-like dashboard that lets you play GTA IV while the auto-pilot drives the car
  • Configurable driver’s seat that makes it impossible for other drivers to seek eye contact
  • Memory foam back seat
  • Active suspension (makes the car stick to the road better)
  • Frame that doubles as a shockabsorber
  • Fully electrical powertrain
  • Optional diesel range extender (the so-called engineering booth makes it possible for you to compose your own car and calculate the effects of your choices)

They seem to have put more thought into the ‘car of the future’ bit than into the ‘open source’ bit—the c’mm’n people still have to decide on the license. I understand that can be a tricky thing but on the other hand even Ford, which isn’t in the business of giving away its products, at least opened up its press photography.

(Link: Springwise.com. Source photo: cmmn.org.)

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