Technology

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.  Arthur C. Clarke 

I love technology and feel extremely blessed to have lived through the digital revolution and to have experienced all the incredible technological devices that have been invented during my life time including the personal computer, Internet, smart phone and AI.  

Posts related to technology

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Building web sites

My first experience of riding an e-bike

There are an unusual number of e-bikes around Waverton at the moment. You activate and rent them with your phone. As an experiment, I cycled from my home to Woolworths, a 15 minute walk but a very fast cycle. It cost $5. I was amazed by the power of the motor, it makes going up hills an absolute breeze.

I won't be using these bikes much as I love to walk and why pay?  But a great experience, and nice to know I have this option if I am ever running late!

iPhone 16 Pro with 5x zoom

The camera now is effectively optically 0.5x to 5x zoom.  I love it. 

Airpods Pro 2nd generation

The sound on these is out of this world.  They are noise cancelling and a delight on plane flights or wanting to immerse myself in music. The catalyst to buying them was my long flight to Antarctica.

Chat GPT and the explosion of AI

Utterly ground breaking.  Ever since Gavin alerted me to this, I've been utterly hooked. It's become my 2nd brain to which my real brain plays second fiddle!  It's power to generate new ideas as part of the creative process is phenomenal. So useful for my writing. 90% of the time I now use ChatGPT to find out information rather than Google. Prompting, not searching, has become the new art.

iPhone 14 Pro

I took this phone with its 0.5x - 3x optical zoom and 48-megapixel main sensor with me to Antarctica and Nepal. 

Getting my first mirrorless camera: A Canon R5

I bought this amazing camera to take with me to The Arctic thanks to the generosity of a cash gift from Michael in tribute to Sue.  I was absolutely blown away by the camera, especially by it's incredible face recognition and eye tracking. It automatically focuses in on the eye of an animal or bird, allowing you to concentrate on the composure of the shot instead. It allowed me to get amazing photos of polar bears and birds in flight. It really is ground break technology that allows you to take wildlife photography to a new level.

I bought a series of lenses to go with the camera. My favourite is the 100 - 500 mm lens which is an incredible wildlife lens. It focuses really quickly and is wonderfully sharp.

Topaz Photo AI

This amazing software allows one to sharpen images, remove noise and increase the resolution of an image. It has proven invaluable, especially on my trips to Antarctica, The Arctic and Iceland to really make my images pop. 

Apple Airtags

I bought 4 Airtags which allow me to find things if I lose them. I put on in my wallet, keys, backpack and suitcase.

They have proved invaluable. They helped me find my wallet 3 times: In Argentina in the mountains, in The Falklands and when I dropped it when taking Pickleball photos for Chris.

They also put my mind at rest when flying because I put one in my luggage and know, before it appears, that the luggage has arrived ok.

Using Scrivener for writing a book

 I've discovered some wonderful software for writing my book "Life is a Movie" called Scrivener.

Benefits

• Organized Writing: Combines drafting, research, and notes in one place.
• Flexible Structure: Rearrange sections easily with drag-and-drop.
• Outline view: See outline and book structure clearly.

Using Google Sheet and Google Docs

For some time now, I have been using Google Sheets and Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word and Excel.

There are a number of reasons:

• Google Docs can be setup so there are no page breaks; just continuous scrolling. This makes so much sense if you are planning to read the doc online and not print it out.
• Easier to share content with others and collaborate if required.
• Easier to provide a link in Evernote than attach a file.
• No need to remember to save; it automatically saves for you.
• Past versions automatically archived.
• Easier to embed onto Life Trove if I want to share the contents.
  
  

All in all, I much prefer it. I have migrated all my documents now to Google.

Google Sheet

Google Docs

iPhone 13 Pro with 3x lens

The iPhone 13 has a 3x lens which makes it possible to zoom in more on an object. It now provides an effective range of 0.5x - 3x making it a versatile camera. I took this phone with me to The Arctic. 

Macbook Pro 14 inch with M1 Max chip

Apple has started creating it's own chips and they are incredibly powerful in terms of speed and battery life.  This felt like the perfect opportunity to upgrade my laptop. With its 64gb of Ram, it's lightning fast. I'm so happy with it.  I gave my old Macbook Pro that I bought in 2015 to Chris. He was delighted.

Canon 90D

I upgraded to the 90D from my 70D. I retrospect I shouldn't have. I should have invested in a mirrorless camera. 

iPhone 11 Pro with a 0.5x wide angle lens

Having a 0.5x wide lens feels revolutionary for me.  It now has a 0.5x, 1x and 2x optical lens.  It greatly increases the versatility of the camera. 

Fotojet Collage Maker

Picasa was discontinued so I needed to find another app to create my collages on Life Trove.  Fotojet has been a wonderful find.  It gives me far more control than Picasa in determining the layout and what photos show where.

My new 32 inch screen: An Asus ProArt PA329

 This screen is amazing!  Editing photos on it is a delight.

iPad Pro (2nd Generation) 12.9 Inch with Apple Pencil

I love the idea of being able to create diagrams and brainstorm ideas with a large iPad and a pencil as part of Compass.  It has a beautiful, bright display and being a Pro model, is lightning fast. 

Sony WH-1000X noise cancelling headphones

My Bosch headphones were getting rather worn. I absolutely love this replacement. The sound is out of this world! 

My first smart watch: An Apple 3

I got the Apple watch mostly to keep track of my steps during the day. Also nice to be able to tell the time without taking out your iPhone. It's an incredible gadget, even allowing you to take calls and read messages.