Avril Lavigne is working the media train in advance of her Best Damn Tour hitting town tomorrow, and I’ve been helping out. I took my radio interview from earlier this week and cut it up for 24hrs Vancouver.
Check out 24 seconds with Avril Lavigne:
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
I’ve got more than a few websites on these here internets. For 12 years I’ve been writing about technology and hosting a radio feature called cyberbuzz. Currently it airs across Canada, but has also aired in Africa, Australia and Europe.
I put most of my tech pieces over there, including archives of my radio features, columns for 24hrs and magazines.
Today I’ll double post one here for you.
CBC’s Test the Nation is back on Sunday night at 8. It’s a national pop quiz on current events to test your mettle against those from other lines of work.
This weekend its flight crews vs bloggers vs backpackers vs celebrity lookalikes vs chefs vs cab drivers.
(more…)
I recently chatted with Dan Kesselring from Panasonic to get some tips on how to buy a digital camera for my column in 24hrs.
Megapixel is where a lot of people get confused. It simply refers to the dots in the image.
If you have a 7 megapixel camera vs one with 10, you’re really only going to see the difference if you’re using the camera to make very large prints, say beyond 19×13. Dan says really 5 megapixels is enough for most of us who are just printing 4×6 or archiving family memories
When it comes to specific features, “image stabilization should always be top of mind,” says Kesselring. “Its almost become a generic term, but there are different types and optical is providing the best form of stabilization.” [link]
A test done by a German company is now coming out with similar information. More megapixels does not equal more better.
The study actually finds that picture quality over the last 3 years has actually decreased as megapixels have increased.
But why? Well, compact cameras are supposed to be small and reasonably priced. Therefore small image sensors, e.g. format 7.5 x 9.4 mm or 5.4 x 6.8 mm, are built into the cameras. To increase the pixel count, the sensor has to be divided into smaller and smaller pixels.
The result is a decrease in sensitivity of the camera and an increase in noise because the amount of light collected by a single pixel is smaller. [link]
So as the CCD sensors have to stay small for the point and shoot, they have a harder time getting the larger amounts of data processed properly. The study found the optimum relationship between CCD and MP comes in at 6 Megapixels.
That’s got to be the reason so many more people are stepping up to Digital SLR. Me? I’m not quite ready, so I picked up the Panasonic FZ-18 instead. It’s $500 list price, but I managed to grab it on sale for $250 at Amazon.com
Check out some of the pictures I’ve been able to grab with it:
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Since the FZ18 is kind of a “hybrid” between a DSLR and a point and shoot, it’s offering me the chance to just grab it and take a picture, or work with the settings for something more artistic.
For that sunset shot, I just pointed and clicked. Nice.
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
I wrote a piece in 24hrs Vancouver today about some ways you can use the web for charitable purposes this Christmas.
One of the sites is Give Meaning. Check out the post on cyberbuzz to learn more.
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
Today’s column in 24hrs tracks down some of the geekiest people in my address book to find out what they want for Christmas.
Got a “hard to buy for” on your list? Today’s piece is a must read (page 14).
BTW, they edited out one of my paragraphs for space… Here it is to get you started:
iPod Family $89-$329
http://www.apple.ca
Most of my friends want something from Apple. HiTech Mommy Cat Schwartz would dig a MacBook while local blogstar, Meg Fowler, says “if it has an Apple icon and likes to be touched, I’m down with it.” Social media marketer, Jordan Behan, agrees “a simple 8Gb Nano with a longer lasting battery than my ancient 10Gb would suffice. Heck, even a shuffle would be good for those Skytrain rides.” Yes, there are other media players but anything from Apple is sure to bring the biggest smiles this season… (more)
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
If you’re in the market for a new computer for the holidays, make sure you check out today’s edition of 24hrs.
My latest cyberbuzz column has an interview with Leo Laporte where he runs down all the specs you need for the best possible box.
(Hint: get a Mac)
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
