Yearly Archives: 2011

Volkswagen Touran

I owned a Volkswagen Touran back in 2004 until 2008, it was a Sport TDI 140 model with a manual 6 speed box. This particular car replaced a Renault Megane Scenic that we had owned for about 5 years. We had got the MPV bug for sure, mainly for the comfort and practicality of being able to move the seats around and ability to go for long distances without too much strain.

After the Touran we downsized to just one car and had just a Vauxhall Zafira, again an MPV but a 7 seater and also an automatic. Sadly more or less from day one I found the Zafira not as comfortable to drive as the Touran mainly because of the position of the accelerator pedal, it was too far towards the driver. However, we didn’t mind too much because we were in the throws of moving to France so we knew it wouldn’t be for more than two years.

So having moved to France in May last year (doesn’t time fly!) and the lease on our Zafira was coming to an end in April, we had to get another car ordered. It didn’t take me very long to decide on another Touran, although I did look at other makes and models. But each time I came back to a Touran. This time though it is LHD (naturally) and an auto instead of manual.

 

Compared to the old one some things are new, some things are just the same and some things have just been updated. But as you can see the basic style of the car is very similar. Some people don’t like this but I prefer evolution rather than revolution when it comes to car design.

The new one is also a two litre diesel powered model, but an updated version of the previous one. It seems to be more efficient better mpg, or less litres/km if you wish. This one is fitted with the 6 speed DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) autobox which is essentially two gear boxes with one side doing 1, 3, and 5th gears the other 2, 4, and 6th gears and the clever electronics shifts between the gears sequentially in milliseconds meaning that apart from the engine note you don’t notice the gear changes.

It is nice to have cruise control back again, the Zafira didn’t have it at all. And the version in the Touran is an improved version in the way it functions. It will even stay engaged even though the gear box has needed to change down. So as you approach a roundabout at say 90kph touch the brakes and this disconnects the cruise control, the car slows down, may be drops a couple of gears. You negotiate the roundabout than then flick the button to re-engage your previous set speed and the car will accellerate itself back up to 90kph changing gears as required.

The audio system on the car is also fitted with an iPod interface. I know these have been around for years but I never got around to having one fitted on the previous Touran. I’m using my iPod Classic which stays in the car and I sync it to update my play lists every few weeks. On a recent long journey back to UK I caught up on quite a few pod casts which was quite a refreshing change to listening to music.

I’ve done nearly 3000 km in the two months we have had the new car, this has included a trip to North West of England and back again which accounted for about half of that distance. Fuel consumption is very good on anything more than an around town trip, but even then it is in the mid 40’s mpg. The car displays litres/100km but it can be changed to display mpg and miles!! But I leave it in kms as I’m getting used to that now. The displays I’ve managed to change in to English as well.

Mobile Phones

Some technology in our lives become things that we depend on from day to day. Mobile phones are certainly fit in to that guise. I first used a mobile phone back in 1986, but it was only on loan to me for a business trip. Back then phones used analogue technology. Modern day GSM phones were not available then. They were also still very expensive. Not many people had mobiles back then.

It wasn’t until 1995 that we got our first mobile a Nokia Orange. It was a GSM phone, but phones of this sort or era would struggle to last more than a couple of days on a single battery. I used that one for a couple of years before we got a couple of Nokia 702’s a bit more chunky but better battery life.

Then in 1999, along came the Nokia 7110, it was quite a revelation at the time. A big screen a roller for navigation. It supported WAP. A slider covers up the keyboard when you aren’t using it.  The previous phones were recycled, but this one I couldn’t part with. Sure it got replaced with more modern phones, colour displays, cameras, all the things we now expect as usual in a phone. But I kept the 7110 going on Orange just for the Orange film Wednesdays.

It wasn’t until the other day that I realised that the 7110 was now over 10 years old. It still works, I quite like using it as a second phone, the large display is great because I can read it without my reading glasses. Sure it’s simple but for a phone for texting (it has predictive texting) or for calls it’s fine.

Contrast this with another gadget I found in the cupboard the other day a Sony MZ-NF810 Mini Disc recorder. I bought this for my wife Alison in about 2004, this was just before iPods took off, but at the time she wanted something with an FM radio. Alison moved on to an iPod Nano and like other bits of technology the Mini Disc recorder got put away in the cupboard.

I am looking in to doing a project at the moment that I needed to interview people. I remembered the Mini Disc recorder… perfect I thought… but when I looked in to using it, the software isn’t available for the Mac OSX, but even with the PC software installed whilst I could find a way of putting audio files on to the MD recorder, I’m not discovered a way of transferring it off the MD recorder on to a PC in a digital format.  The best way seems to be just linking the headphone socket to the line in on my iMac.Then I discovered the Voice Memo recorder on my iPod Touch which can save files in MP3 format, so with a small external microphone I’m sure this will do the job perfectly, so the MD recorder I think will end up back in the cupboard again, such a shame in a way,

 

Panoramic Photography

With the advent of digital photography it has opened up a lot more opportunities for me to experiment with techniques which whilst they were not available with film, they tended to be a lot more expensive to do.  Panoramic photography was one of these techniques I’ve previously tried using film, but it was never that successful for me.

With digital photography it is a lot easier to achieve good results, but certainly not fool proof. Some of my earlier attempts where quite good, although I found it difficult to repeat these earlier results successfully every time, so I recently had an opportunity whilst over in France to refine the technique and capture the same scene on several days using different techniques to see the overall results and to learn from the exercise.

I started off playing around using the software supplied with my Canon EOS 20D, called Photostitch. It does a fairly good job of joining your files together. But this software doesn’t work on my Mac, or at least it didn’t work under Snow Leopard. I discovered a later version of the software on the net that now does work.  It’s nice and easy to use. You just assemble the photos in the right order and it then stitches them together. What could be easier….

The photo above I took quite early on and I must have hit lucky in one of my early attempts. Subsequent panoramas just didn’t have the same impact as this one so I went back to the drawing board and tried out various options to discover what I was doing wrong.

I found that in order to get consistent results you need to lock the exposure of the camera, so this means putting your camera in to manual mode. Then I found it is best to pan across your scene and look at the variation in exposure you are getting as you go from one side to the other. You might need to make some adjustments so that the exposure falls slightly either side of what the camera considers the correct exposure. You are however aiming to get the least variation across the whole scene. To achieve this I found after a few attempts it’s best to aim for the sun at its highest point in the day so that your scene is illuminated as evenly as possible. Being cloudy isn’t too much of a problem as long as the cloud isn’t too patchy, otherwise you will have quite large differences as you pan across the scene.

The next important thing you need is to the ability to hold your camera as steady as possible so that your pictures scan across the scene in the same plane. I have done some handheld, but using a tripod or mono pod makes the task that bit easier.

When you are taking your frames for your panorama, I found it important to have a decent overlap from one frame to the next, rather than getting all technical with angles and things I just used the focusing spots in the viewfinder, the outer ones on my camera are at about a quarter and three quarters across the frame. So take a picture note where the three quarters one is in the scene and move the camera so that the quarter spot is roughly pointing at the same point in the scene. This also helps you keep the camera level if you are doing this hand held. Just keep repeating this until you have covered the whole scene.

Most people do panos in landscape mode, the photo below was done with a series of portrait pictures, you get a much more ‘natural’ landscape across the scene that way, but you do have to take more shots.

Try different view points, just moving a few feet to the left or right can make a difference.

 

As you can see with this image there is also the risk of getting your own shadow in the scene! I could have cropped that out and I did in other versions of this image, but I have left this one as it came out of the software to start with.

Be prepared for some seriously big images, I’ve reduced these ones in size to get them on to the blog in a reasonable time.

The best advice I can give though is to keep trying to shoot different scenes. I’m lucky in that the above scene in the second picture is only about 50 metres from our house so I can quickly walk there take a series of pictures, nip back to the house, download the pictures and go back again if I’m not happy with the result!

Have fun….

 

Going Native….

We moved to France last May with a UK right hand drive (RHD) car. Driving it here in France didn’t cause me any real problems as I had driven many miles, or should I say kilometres, here over the years. I’m lucky I can quickly adapt to driving in different situations. I’ve been driving for 35 years this year (eek!) And I’ve driven a variety of vehicles in that time from small cars to 7.5 tonne trucks and things like Land Rovers with big trailers.

Over the years I’ve driven left hand drive (LHD) vehicles, hire cars or vans mainly. Being here full time though has exposed me to more of the hazards of driving a RHD car in France than you would experience in just a holiday.

We are awaiting the delivery of a new LHD car next month, I hope. In the meantime, we have hired a Fiat Punto, which of course is left hand drive. So what is it like swapping over to LHD after years of driving RHD vehicles?

You still do odd things like walking to the passenger side rather than the driver’s side in supermarket car parks! Or going to release the seat belt on the left hand side when you are sat in the driver’s seat rather than the right hand side. But I’ve quickly adapted to driving a LHD car again for longer than a few hours. The other change over for me with the Fiat is that it’s a manual and our previous car which we had for two years was an automatic. So far I’ve only forgotten to use the clutch once when coming to a halt!

One thing I have noticed is how much safer it is sitting on the correct side of the car when you are driving on the right. You have a better view of on coming cars on roundabouts and you can see other vehicles so much better without having to look around the windscreen pillars. Likewise when turning into right hand junctions you have a better view of the road you are turning into.

I have heard people quite concerned about driving on the other side of the road than the one they are used to driving on, but concentrate on your driving, which of course you should be doing anyway, and you won’t have any issues. I use my TomTom SatNav to warn me of speed limits and speed cameras. The French police seem to be pretty active with their mobile speed camera cars in our area, so I suggest you need to stick to the speed limits wherever you are.

Safe and happy driving, which ever side you drive on….

Orfordness

Those of you who like High Power RF engineering in the form of MF transmitters should take a look at this video, that features my old friend Andy Matheson G3ZYP who I first met when I was in Cyprus back in 1983. Andy showed me how to use Wordstar for the first time on a CP/M computer… memories!!

The 648 kHz service is about to disappear at the end of March, never to be replaced. I’m not sure if the DRM service will be continuing from Orfordness or not.

2012 Tribute to BBC 648 kHz Orfordness – The Enthusiast's Version from Jonathan Marks on Vimeo.

Dropbox

I’ve been using Dropbox now for over a year. I don’t know what we would do without it. We have had shared folders on our network for many years, but Dropbox takes this one step further and adds many additional useful features.

Even if you only have one computer Dropbox can act as a useful on-line back up for all your regularly used files, just store them in your Dropbox folder and they will be backed up securely on line.  If you have more than one computer, then Dropbox will keep the files on both computers in sync automatically. So you will always have the latest up to date versions of your files with no need to use USB sticks and concerns about do I have the latest one on here or is it on that other machine.

You can also share Dropbox folders with other users which I find extremely useful for keeping up to date information on the Pembury website, people manage their own sub-domains on the site and I just have to upload the files. It saves them having to email me all the files each time there is an update. You can also share photos with Dropbox, privately or publically.

Dropbox works on PC’s, Mac’s, Linux machines, and mobile devices too (iPods, iPhones etc), take a look at the video on the site.

Grab yourself a free Dropbox account, use any of the Dropbox links on this page and you will get some extra storage for free. Let me know if you sign up and I will tell you how to get some more space for free as well.

Birthdays – How are you supposed to celebrate them?

Yesterday was my birthday… Happy Birthday to me etc…

I was born on my fathers birthday all those years ago, and yesterday would have been his 85th birthday, but sadly he passed away back in 2003, so no more shared birthdays for us.

But how is one supposed to celebrate ones less significant birthdays? Going back to when I was 25.  It was similar to this year I suppose, I was in a foreign country celebrating my birthday, back then it was Cyprus, now I’m in France.

But there are some common things. I’m most probably listening to the same music as I did 27 years ago, I have Steely Dan playing on headphones as I type this, back in 1984 it would have been an LP or a cassette on my ‘new’ Sony Walkman in my pocket… today it’s my iPod touch in my pocket, how technology progresses. Now I can carry around in my pocket my full music collection, un-thinkable 10 years ago… ok make that 15 years ago. The iPod hit the streets in October 2001, my iPod Touch is my third iPod!

‘What would you like for your birthday?’ I never know how to answer that question, I can always think of expensive things… who can’t!!! But when it comes down to everyday items I get stumped for what to suggest. Even if I want to buy myself something I find it difficult to choose these days, we almost have too much choice in some things. It’s the same at Christmas as well.

The other question I dread is ‘What did you do on your birthday?’ Quite often in the past it’s been a normal working day for me. Yesterday was fairly routine, but I was pacing myself, a bit of work, a bit of relaxation, a bit  of work. Listening to lots of music I like too.

I had lots of nice best wishes messages on Facebook, which I suppose is becoming the modern way rather than sending cards. The post being as unpredictable as ever… when do you need to post a card to get to France… 2 days 6 days…. or 3 weeks!  I don’t get sad if someone forgets my birthday or doesn’t send me a card these days. Why just have one special day in the year when there are 365/6 days when you can also be nice to your friends and family.

I also had a surprise post by my friend and co-conspirator Laurie on Philofaxy, and even more birthday wishes, so it turned out to be quite a special day in the end.

Thank you everyone for thinking of me, it makes me feel even more wanted, your thoughts and best wishes are better than any birthday present I could ever wish for.

 

Written by hand – I’ve been tagged

Robin over at ‘So very Robin‘ tagged my friend Laurie at Plannerisms, who in turn tagged loads of us… so here’s my entry in this chain.

I’ve always had problems with my handwriting and until recently I didn’t know why. But I think it’s because I don’t have stereophonic vision(I’m more or less blind in my right eye), so my ability to being able to put the point of my pen back on the page between letters/words is always a bit hit and miss.

I hate filling in forms especially those ones where you have to print in to boxes. My signature is also hardly the same twice, although it’s roughly the same each time.

Like Laurie I will spare your eyesight by supplying you the questions and answers! The following page was written Uniball Eye fine tipped pen on a sheet of fan fold tractor feed Filofax paper, yes it’s old. But without a tractor feed printer I still use the paper! Click on the picture to see it in more detail!

 

1. Your name/blogger name : Steve Morton aka Temps Perdu
2. Your blog name/URL: Philofaxy http://philofaxy.com as well as this blog and a few others!
3. Write “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
4. Favorite quote? ; The radio spectrum is already packed and unfortunately they’ve stopped making any more of it.
5. Favorite song? Peg – Steely Dan
6. Favorite band/singers? – Steely Dan amongst many others.
7. Anything else you want to say? My handwriting has got worse, but I now know why, I think…. see above!

Now it’s your turn!  Post your version of this on your blog, and please post a link to it here in the comments.

iPod Touch Apps – Ones I’m using – Part 2

The following are some of my less used apps on my iPod Touch, see the rest in Part 1 of this post

  • Google Mobile App – Free from Google it features all the usual Google apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Search engine, Buzz etc.
  • iBooks – Apples own Kindle app.
  • Kindle – lets you read your Kindle downloads on your iPod touch useful if you don’t have a Kindle… yet! I haven’t really used this one much yet, but text is very clear on the iPod, although naturally the screen is some what smaller than a Kindle.
  • Panorama – a simple app that lets you take panorama pictures by joining together multiple pictures taken with the built in camera, and it is Free
  • Flickr – Access your Flickr account to share and view pictures
  • Remote – This app lets me control iTunes on my iMac from anywhere in the house, not worked out why I would want to do that yet!!
  • Skype – Like the desktop app it lets you have voice calls and now video calls with other Skype users on PC’s, Macs, Linux platforms.
  • TV Guide – A free UK TV programme guide, a miniature Radio Times if you like.. and it’s free
  • Wikipedia – a great free app for looking up the answers to quiz questions, or the details of an actor whilst you are watching TV!
  • WordPress – Useful for updating WordPress Blogs like this one, you can edit posts and create new ones.
  • Radio Player – a great free app for streaming UK radio stations to your iPod
  • Fon Maps – This application is supposed to indicate the location of FON WiFi hotspots, but it doesn’t appear to work – Failure
  • Heart Pal – I use this free app to track my blood pressure, it shows the highs and lows and an average figure too. I have a BP monitor that I take the readings with and then feed these in to the app.

Don’t hesitate to ask me for more information if you need it on any of the apps listed.

iPod Touch Apps – Ones I’m using – Part 1

I got my iPod Touch back in late November last year. It has proved to be a very useful bit of kit. I don’t really use all of it’s functions, but I’ve been discovering new things most days/weeks.

There is a huge variety of apps available for the iPod Touch, some of them work ok, some not so ok because they are really intended for the iPhone which has a slightly different feature set.

So here’s what I’m using, most are free unless I indicate otherwise.

  • BBC News – Essential for keeping up to date with World and UK news and it’s free
  • Camera + – A much improved camera app compared to the standard one, this one lets you do some limited editing and adjustments to the pictures before you save them, share them by email, Twitter or Facebook. Sadly the resolution of the iPod Touch camera is a little limited, I don’t use it often compared to my small compact.  And for £0.59 this is a must have app.
  • Dropbox – I’ve been a Dropbox user now for well over a year, can’t be without it so it makes sense to have it on my Touch as well. It’s a great way to always have your files, photos etc available on all your devices and PC’s
  • Facetime – A great video conferencing tool, works great, better than Skype in most respects. It’s simple to use and great on the Touch because I can go walking around the house with it and show family and friends what is going on here. Free to download and free to use.
  • Facebook – Easy to use, although I would like to see them include some extra features in to this, such as managing friends.
  • Road Trip – I use this to record how much fuel we are using in the car and for our oil fired boiler!! Lots of apps available, after a lot of false starts I discovered the free Lite version of this which can cope with my requirements of entering things in litres, paying in Euros and still getting a Miles Per Gallon figure. Having satisfied myself that this app could handle my slightly unusual requirements I bought the paid version which can handle more vehicles including the boiler!! Which is just a bonus really.
  • Target Weight – Tracks my feeble attempts to loose weight, nice and simple to use, basic graphics and stats but it is free and works quite well.
  • Tumblr – I’ve only just started my Tumblr blog, but the app on the Touch makes it very easy to add posts on the move and adding pictures and quotes etc.
  • Twitter – Just the standard Twitter app, it works for me.
  • Week Cal – The standard calendar in iOS only has Day view or Month View, or a list view. Why they missed out the most obvious view… Week View I don’t know. This one is a paid for app, but it seems to do the job ok, although I still use my Filofax for everything calendar related!!!
  • Battery Master Free – a simple battery battery level indicator, the iPhone 4 has a simple indicator in the status bar showing the percentage, something that hasn’t been shared with the iPod Touch yet.

More in Part 2 of this article.