I started writing this over at MTP, but then decided all this text looked kind of out of place in a photo blog, so thus I moved my ramblings over here. Maybe it's for the better anyways as God knows this place needs some livening up!

Recently I was invited to attend a round table discussion with Canon UK, which was organised by Canoncamerabuzz. It was an opportunity for me and a few other professional photographers to see the whole lineup of Canon's DSLRs (including the brand new 1D MrkIV, which started shipping this week) in the same room, and hear about some of the processes behind developing new bodies and lenses.

I didn't really have any expectations for the evening, apart from getting to fiddle with the 1Ds MrkIII (which was very satisfying indeed - I still definitely cavort over it more than the new 1D MrkIV). What I came away with was a clearer understanding behind Canon's decisions for their line-up and who the average end user actually is (i.e. not me). As professionals, we tend to have a bit of a skewed perspective on what the next camera models should do and what kind of features they should, or shouldn't, possess. Add to that the fact that for someone like me, coming from a film background, it's hard to get my head around the fact that the majority of dSLR consumers these days have never even used film, which was kind of clarified to me when I was questioning why the 1D MrkIV isn't full frame. As it goes, the market for full frame isn't as big as I would have though. For me, it's the only sensible thing to do but, as product specialist Mark Burnhill from Canon UK explained, the majority of dSLR users are of an age that have always shot with a crop sensor, and that's what they find 'normal'. To me, that seems completely perplexing! When I started my move to digital, via an EOS 350D and 20D, I felt restricted, not only in what I saw through the viewfinder, but in the fact that I couldn't use my lenses to their full effect. So when I finally got my hands on the 5D, and subsequently the 5D MkII which I now use, it literally felt like I could breathe normally again. Until I now heard Mark rationalise the issue for me, I couldn't for the life of me understand why someone wouldn't want a full frame camera.

The other interesting fact was how infinitely bigger the market is for the lower end models, the pro end of the line is practically a drop in the ocean when it comes to Canon's dSLR sales. Obviously that is going to have an affect on what the development efforts will be concentrated on. Interesting no? Perhaps this has always been obvious to everyone else, but I've never really even considered all of this when scratching my head about why there are so many crop sensor models, and a dizzying amount of different lower-end models with only marginal differences, about. A shocked shiver went through the room when Mark asked us what we thought of the possibility of coloured dSLR bodies, apparently that's the latest demand from the Japanese market. Uh huh. Give me a pink Ixus to slip into my pocket any time, but please leave that sort of gimmicks out of the 'proper' cameras I say!

After all these 'revelations', my position hasn't really changed. Ever since I started using SLR's in the early 90's Canon has, and always will be, the manufacturer for me, and in my opinion their lenses are head and shoulders above the rest. And the fact that even after looking at the realities of 'where the real money is', they keep on developing new and exciting pro gear for us to play with is a testament to Canon's dedication to quality picture-making.

How was that for sounding like a real Canon fan girl (which of course I am)? :D


I know, I know, I need to blog about what's been happening on the house-hunting front, about Cornwall and all the other stuff that I haven't had time to blog aboout. Soon, I promise. Well, perhaps not a firm promise, but at least a promise to attempt!

Labels: Canon, Canon UK, canoncamerabuzz, photography, social networking, technology

Last night I attended another quizzy quiz organised by 3 as part of the 3mobilebuzz team.



The Alphabet Bar was decked out in a very festive manner. One of the bonus rounds involved creating a gingerbread man. Here's my scary effort.



@michchapman & @phaslehurst



@liamgh representing.





First mince pies of the year (for those who actually like them... ie not me :P).



@liamgh, @michchapman, @pebaline and moi.





Stuff Magazine won the coveted trophy. For some mysterious reason we came last. Even though we only got like 3 questions wrong! Obviously a fix I say...









Some people get excited on night buses...





Oh and by the way, this was the first night of really testing my new G11 in some challenging conditions. Considering it was really dark, and I'm pretty pleased with how it performs. But obviously it never will beat a proper SLR with a good lens, as is clear from the previous 3popquiz pictures...

Labels: 3, 3mobilebuzz, 3Network, 3popquiz, Alphabet Bar, liamgh, London, michChapman, pebaline, phaslehurst, photoblog, pub quiz, social networking

Too right! Found this via Kai.

Labels: comic, dreams, my life, photography, social networking

One. Adam at Quark technical support rocks!
Two. Starting the week with a stomach flu of some sort, not so much.

Labels: my life, quark, social networking, technology

I've been thinking about things like branding and online identity a lot lately. Or rather, they have been issues that have come up over and over again in various conversations in different contexts, with people such as Jonas and Cathie to name but a few. And for a while I was struggling over how I should brand myself/my business in order for all the different messages to be clear and not get muddled up by all the noise.

The thing is, I am interested in a lot of things. I am what could be called an enthusiast in a lot of different fields, and often those areas don't necessarily relate to each other. So what do you do if you don't want to alienate anyone? Is it possible to relate to everyone? While this really wasn't such an issue before, it was something I had to get my head around when setting up my wedding photography business. It was quite clear that the business needed to be a separate entity from everything else - it makes no sense for a bride to be reading about gadgets or trips to the hairdressers. But then again, I had quite a widely spread online identity as mnoo (from dA to pretty much every other service there is), and mnoo.com was pretty established at that point in terms of showcasing my personal photography, so it would have been a waste not to use that presence to drive traffic, and more importantly, to allow for a more in-depth picture of me. And why is that important? Well, because in any business, which is built around you and your skill, and where you deal with the end customer directly, you are effectively selling yourself. You want to attract clients who can relate to you and your personality, and your clients need to feel like they 'know you', and thus, can trust you.

There are people out there who are very suspicious of laying it all out online. I think, in this day and age, there is really no place to hide. If you want to make the most of your opportunities, you just have to be out there. As transparently as possible. And wouldn't you want to be the one in charge of how your identity is perceived in any case?

Right, did I have a point in my head somewhere when I started. I guess what I was thinking about today, was how my wedding customers reading my Twitter might get confused about what I get up to. And how those people coming to this blog for pretty pictures of flowers might get bored by the gadgetry things, and the gadgetry people by the wardrobe silliness. But the thing is, this blog, and especially Twitter, is just purely all the things I am about. And it's not thought-out or aimed at any specific reader, it's just about me putting it out there - regardless of whether it's 'of value' to anyone. I am interested in a variety of things and get excited over different non-related events. And I couldn't for the life of me edit myself down to just one clearly branded - soberly positioned - identity, with one specific interest. It's all me, and if that's confusing to some, then so be it.

This is me: photographer, wife, magazine designer, Finn, internet addict, cinema lover, gig goer, technology enthusiast, fashion fun (for everyone) advocate, gadget twiddler, social networking fiend, traveller, lover of words.... who loves colours, pretty things, reading books in one go, weddings, open mindedness, meeting new people and chocolate.

Labels: branding, my life, photography, social networking, twitter, wedding photography

Soo, I finally went through the snapshots from Saturday's Gadget Show Live. I travelled up to Birmingham with 3mobilebuzz, as part of a small team of bloggers. We were given fun little challenges, and were sent off to roam the stands upon stands of new cool things. Not such a bad deal.



We started off from the 3 stand, above. Pictured are our hosts Seb and Matt, with a fellow blogger, Rocktographer. Our first challenge set the pace for the day really.



We plunged head first into the, sometimes bizarre, world of all things gadgetry.



All the boys really loved the Nvidia 3D gaming and Roland V-Drums demos. The Minoru 3D webcam though, not so much. I tried it with the glasses and couldn't really understand what the point of it was. There was also a puzzling amount of all sort of ass-jiggling equipment on show, which made for some amusing viewing at times.



Above are the most useless, and the most bizarre gadgets, that I chose for my challenge. I really couldn't understand why anyone would want to wear an ugly thing like the Swap 'smart watch', which is a watch+phone+camera+mp3 player etc, etc, all in one, when you could just, you know, use your phone. LG had a similar product on their stand, called the 3G Touch Watch Phone (LG-GD910), which looked a tiny bit more attractive, but still, I would classify these as completely useless. Perhaps in the future, when all that technology can be packed into small enough space to look at least remotely appealing on your wrist, I might start warming up to the idea. What I found to be the most bizarre aspect of the show was the multiple stands for different companies selling electric cigarettes, such as the E-Lites. Just say no.



Here are some of the gadgets that managed to raise my pulse somewhat. I really liked the look of the Emtec Movie Cube S800, attractive and useful, what more could you ask for in a gadget. I gave the 'most innovative' title to the Wattson energy monitor (no picture of that sorry!) from DIY Kyoto, which was an absurdly sleek looking for such a 'green' and sensible device. Oh and also, the Sony OLED TV's were pretty damn impressive. But what I found most sexy and desirable (as per the challenge) though, was the Vita audio system, possibly mostly for it's absolutely beautiful design. And the dude demonstrating it for me wasn't half bad either! :P

My second challenge was to find something that could take my photography to the next level. I must say, the camera gear on show didn't do an awful lot for me, but then it wasn't a camera show and not aimed at professionals. The top model there was the 5DmkII, which I already use. I did drool over the Canon PIXMA 9500 at the Warehouse Express stand though (never mind that they didn't have the Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II on show), it would be kind of great to be able to make A3 prints, but I could never find the space for such a monster! I did manage to make two purchases though, in the shape of a Gorillapod and a mini umbrella/flash bracket kit for my 580EX II.



The most dense gathering of geeks was around these pretty cool RoboSteel sculptures, which are hand-made from scrap metal auto-parts. They were pretty slick I must say, but then again, I was part of the gathering! :P



The girl in me really warmed to the different sleeves for gadgets on show. While DigiSkins had the widest selection of skins on their stand - some of them really cool designs - I for some reason preferred the smaller stand for Wrappz. Their skins seemed somehow more durable, and also they were the only ones offering software for completely customisable skins, which I think is pretty rad. I got a few samples from Wrappz and thought I'd give them out as I don't own either of the devices they're for. If you want to win a skin for either a Sony PSP 3000 or an iPhone 3G, comment on this entry with your preference and I'll draw a winner sometime next weekend (unless no-one's interested that is!).



We wrapped up the day in the Sony Super Theatre, where we got to enjoy a live show hosted by the presenters of The Gadget Show: Jason Bradbury, Suzi Perry and Jon Bentley. For the first time in my life I was a VIP, which meant I got to sit on a blue seat instead of a green one. :D Awesome. The show was good fun, with a lot of interactive games with the audience. It was a nice way to end the day.

It was a long old day (and I know I whined enough about getting up at such early hour!), and train delays meant I wasn't home until after 9pm. But it was all good fun - I got to see a lot of toys, and got to know new interesting people. So I'd say it was well worth it!

Labels: 2009, 3, 3 network, 3mobilebuzz, 3Network, Birmingham, Gadget Show Live, social networking, technology

Last night I attended a pub quiz organised by 3, titled Spring Flings and Social Butterflies. T3 walked away with the trophy (they had a huge team, mind!). Our INQ1 Timelines team of bloggers came 7th out of 9 teams, which was a bit rubbish. I did own the celebrity babydaddy round though, possibly something not to be proud of. Anyways, it was good fun, and turned into a longer night than I expected. This week has me so beaten that I can barely string a sentence together at the moment, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.


@michChapman


@kaichanvong


@rem0te






@naiveLondonGirl








We were allowed to use our phones to 'cheat'.






Clever people were filming the video round. Not sure why that bloke from CSI was there though.




@Matt_Paradise

Labels: 3, 3 network, 3Network, Crown and 2 Chairmen, INQ, INQ1, kaichanvong, London, Matt_Paradise, michChapman, naiveLondonGirl, photoblog, pub quiz, rem0te, social networking, Soho

I've been testing my little INQ since Christmas now, and to be honest, I have grown quite fond of it. There's something about the ease and convenience of the applications, that I miss on my Nokia 6500s. I still don't really use it as a 'phone' as such, but rather to check up on Facebook and gmail, and to use Skype. I know I've banged on about this many times before, but the Skype application on it is really what makes it for me. I can't understand why the Skype on my Nokia is so cumbersome to use. With the INQ it's always connected and the chat function (which my Nokia's Skype app doesn't even have!) works like a charm.

Despite me trying everything in my power to synch the INQ with my computer, I just could not get it to work. Not sure if it was the truly craptastic sofware, my Windows Vista 64-bit, or both, but after hours of tearing my hair out I just gave up. It's a shame really as I really wanted to love all sides of the INQ, but in order to use it as a real phone I just need to have all my contacts and calendar synched. Same goes for getting pictures and music in and out of it. No matter how many times I was told I could connect it as a portable hard drive, I could not copy anything to or from the phone. Meh.

Given all the synching problems, I'm actually quite surprised how I much I do use it though. The fact that you can be connected to people without having your whole traditional phone book on your phone, goes to show how the idea of the INQ is very much on the right track. Social media is such a powerful tool for keeping in touch these days that you almost don't miss the traditional ways of communicating.

One thing where the people behind the INQ have seriously missed a trick though, is with the design of the phone. It's been given this generic metallic hi-end mobile device look, not far off from my Nokia 6500s for example. However, when you pick the phones up, the difference becomes obvious. The INQ just feels so much... cheaper. Despite the metallic look, it has a plastic-y, light feel to it, instead of the feeling of a quality product. With a product that you hold in your hand it's not enough to just 'look' a certain way, and with the INQ the look and the feel just don't correlate. I've been using it for less than two months and already the metallic coating on the navigation button is showing signs of wear - not good.

Taking into consideration the ethos of the phone - young, forward-thinking, affordable - I have no idea why they have gone for this mock hi-end design. I think the designers should have gone completely the different direction. If the INQ came in pretty colours (and maybe also in white), reminiscent of the original mini ipods, but with a Japanese-gadgets-inspired hard plastic with rounded corners as material, I think it would be an instant hit with the younger demographic who are most likely to be interested in the INQ in the first place. Also, since they went to all the trouble of commissioning artists to create original artwork, which was used on the 'manual' cards (how many times will anyone look at those? Once, I bet - the first time they open the box.), why not take that idea one step further and have the artwork actually on the phone? I think all of the images would work great on the handset, either as hard plastic covers or even as changeable picture under a clear plastic cover. Now there's a unique product that would interest just the people the INQ is aimed at...



The ultimate most annoying thing about the INQ however is something a lot more practical, or not, as the case may be - battery life. Taking into consideration the fact that I'm not even making phone calls, it's incomprehensible to me that the battery hardly lasts a day. I charge the handset every night, and even so on some days it dies on me before the day is through. That just seems completely unacceptable to me. Also, let's not even go into the decision to have just a usb connection for the charger and the headphones... what silliness.

Kind of annoyed that I can't offer any more in depth reviews on the camera and music side of the phone. But for what's it worth, even in it's half-baked state, the INQ has proven to be a useful little part of my gadget family.

And I guess it's gotten a few other people hooked as well since it just won GSMA’s award for Best Mobile Handset at the Global Mobile Awards 2009.

Labels: 3 network, 3Network, facebook, INQ, INQ1, review, skype, social networking, technology

Sorry for the onslaught of memes. :D I just found a txt file where I had gathered stuff I was supposed to do at some point. I think this one was actually going around on Facebook. Oh well. Not sure if these really make any spooky sense at all. :D

(Just remembered I've done a similar one before a couple of years' ago.)

1. Put your iTunes/Napster/Zune Player/WinAmp/etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 or more friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got it from.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
I can't believe it's not love!

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Reacharound

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Grey gardens

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Bloodbeat

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Silent all these years

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Better do better

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Losing my mind

WHAT IS 2+2?
Free until they cut me down

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Children in bloom

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Get home

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
The rain must fall

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Passing by

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Open your eyes

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Talking to strangers

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Unsung psalm

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Hypnotize

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Sweet religion

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Martha's foolish ginger

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Close up

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
False alarm

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Help me Mary

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Confessions of a teenage girl

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Dark side

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Primitive

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
No cheap thrill

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
The letter

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Special needs

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Chasing cars

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Calling love

WHAT WILL YOU RE-POST THIS AS?
Pleading my time

--

I'll pass this on to anyone who feels like doing it!

Labels: social networking, surveys etc.

As a side note, if I was ever to be unfaithful to my baby, it would be with this gorgeous Vivienne Tam Special Edition HP Mini 1000. Just look at it, how gorgeous can this tiny beauty be!

Labels: HP, social networking, technology, vivienne tam

I could get some of the office Christmas party pics from earlier today off the camera but I'm on the sofa with my laptop, and watching Eddie Izzard, so can't really be arsed. Maybe tomorrow. :P

I'm so tired that everything aches, not sure how long I'll manage to stay up for. Doesn't matter though. I'm treating today as the start of my Christmas holiday, even though I still have to go in on Monday. I'm thinking I will treat Monday as 'popping up to town to have lunch with Layla' sort of thing. Sounds much more inviting that 'going to work'.

I've been playing with my INQ a lot yesterday and today, and am getting to like it more and more. Funnily, this being a mobile phone trial, I've actually used very few traditional phone functions, like making calls or even texting, in the past two days, since I can pretty much satisfy most of my communication needs via other methods. There are certainly a lot of things I like about the INQ, but also some niggles that could do with a bit more work in my opinion.

Last night after work I headed up to a very snazzy office in the West End (oh it was quite lovely to be back at my old stomping grounds!) to meet up with Matt from 3mobilebuzz and to find out a bit more about what's actually involved in the mobile trial. It also gave me a chance to share the biggest gripes I've had with the handset so far, which Matt then forwarded to INQ/3, which is kind of cool. Not sure if my user experience is going to make any actual difference when it comes to the future INQ models, but here's hoping.

But yeah, the things I really like about it so far:

• It's really easy to switch between all the different networking clients, which means you can be writing on people's walls on Facebook, having a skype or live messenger chat and checking your mail, all practially at the same time.
• The facebook client is really handy as you can write messages and update things even when outside of network coverage, it will then post everything once you are connected again.
• Skype works like a charm. On my Nokia you have to keep on connecting to skype every time you need to use it, which makes it less than ideal, but on the INQ it is actually always on and connected (as long as you have network coverage). I've used the skype chat a lot instead of sending text messages and really like the ease of it.
• It's cool to be able to merge all the instances of the same person from skype, msn, facebook etc. into one contact. That way you can always see if they are online with some client and thus use the most convenient way of communicating. Can't wait to see how easy (or difficult?) it'll be to really get all the contacts integrated when I get the phone synched with my Outlook.
• I like the pared down simplicity of everything. It does the things you want it to do and there's no 'fluff' to confuse you.

Then the negatives:

• The build of the phone feels a bit cheap and flimsy.
• There's very little control over sounds in different clients, for example the skype incoming chat message is driving me nuts, and there doesn't seem to be any way of turning this off.
• The facebook client is missing one crucial navigational aid from the top menu - 'home'. At least for me this is the page I want to generally start from, but to get there you'll have to go to a submenu menu and 'jump to' the homepage.
• The phone keeps buzzing (especially in the middle of the night) to inform me of some sort of event or message, but when you have a look there's no actual way of knowing what the hell the buzz was for. Quite annoying.
• The window turns horizontal in a very random manner. Browsing some websites it'll suddenly turn sideways at a slight flick of your wrist, but it's impossible to actually make it do this on command. I have no idea why and when it happens, and whether it's supposed to do it every time you turn the phone sideways.
• Why no blogger or generic blogging client?
  

Hmm. I guess that's it for now. I'm still waiting for the software that will enable me to synch the phone with my calendar and address book. I also haven't put any music on it yet so can't comment on sound quality etc. yet.

Sometime next week there's something a bit exciting happening regarding the trial. Will tell you more about it when it's live.

Uhh I think I'll have to give up now and go to bed. Hopefully will have a lot more energy tomorrow, have shedloads to do. And also, we're having a little xmas do with Sooz before she's off to Finland (sniff) for Christmas.

Labels: 3 network, 3Network, facebook, INQ, INQ1, my life, social networking, technology

Today didn't start very well. Waterloo was in chaos and getting on the tube was a right palaver. And not just in the usual way. While waiting on the platform for the (5th) tube that I might fit in, I got a bit annoyed by the person behind me getting a bit too close (and that's saying something with the way people were packed there). He was very short though so I assumed it was a kid, they don't generally have a similar sense of personal space as adults tend to. Finally there was a train I could squeeze into and the person behind me pushed me in with such force that I had to swear out loud. Once we were all squeezed in I realised the someone had their arm practically around me. Trying to turn my head wasn't very easy as the car was so crammed with people, but I did realise that it was the same shortarse from the platform, who had now squeezed himself behind me. I then realised that he wasn't a 'kid' at all, but indeed some mutherf*****g pervert trying to get off by humping my leg! Eugh! All I could do in the tight space was to elbow him in the chest really hard. I later hoped I'd said something to embarrass him for good, but I was too shocked to speak at the time, besides, he was behind me so it was a bit difficult. After I elbowed him he got off the train at the next stop... only to move on to the next carriage. Uhh. I still feel violated!

The day didn't get much better once I got in the office. We still have no internet/server access due to problems that have now been going on for a month. The atmosphere at work is very tense as people as just so over not being able to do their work and just having to sit there and wait... it's soul destroying. And to add insult to injury, we're supposed to get the issue to press tomorrow. Hey ho.

There were some positive points to the day though. Since going to the INQ launch party, I was chosen to test out the new handset for a month, and I received my review copy today. It was good timing as I really could use some distraction at work, which playing with the phone provided. In this short space of time I have already grown to like it quite a lot. All the social networking tools are easy to use, and dad already managed to phone me on skype while I was on the train. :D

I think I mentioned after the launch the original artwork created for the cards that work as a manual. They're super cute.



I'm not quite sure how I can synch the phone with my address book and calendar, something that would be vital for me if I was using the phone for real. For now it grabbed all my facebook contacts and added them into my phone book. Note sure if that was the way I wanted to go about things. :D I think I'll have to have further play with it to figure out what's the best way to do things. I will let you know my thoughts over the month.

Labels: 3, 3 network, 3mobilebuzz, 3Network, driedonpaper, facebook, INQ, INQ1, London, London Underground, my life, social networking, technology

Soooo, you're probably dying to hear what the answer to the mystery of the driedonpaper party was. Turned out it was a party organised by 3 to celebrate the launch of a new 'social mobile' called INQ (pronounced ink - explains the mysterious invitation I suppose), which was announced earlier in the day.



The venue, Shoreditch Studios, was very nice (now I wouldn't mind a studio like that!) and done up in a pretty snazzy way, Fifteen took care of the food and there was plenty of free tipple to go around. The main attraction was of course the phone, and there were several people walking around with the handsets, handing them out for guests to try.



My very first impression of the phone was that it looked cool in an understated way. The size was nice, smaller than the brick that is the iPhone, and even though this made the screen smaller, it was bright and clear and easy to look at.

The INQ1 is marketed by 3 as 'the Facebook phone', but it's a bit more than that. Facebook, Skype and Live Messenger, among other things, are integrated in the operating system, so you can sync your contacts with all the social networks they belong to, integrating images, messages and details to your phonebook. As it's client and not app based, you can schedule posts, facebook messages etc. even when the phone is offline, allowing it to update when you're back in the reach of a signal.

The interface was quite intuitive to use and thought had definitely gone into how to collate and streamline people's fractured online presence in a sensible way. I do really dig the idea behind that. Of course it will mean that you are never offline as it were, since you'll always be contactable in one way or the other. Another thing I wonder is whether everyone really has the same circle of friends in all of these mediums, and if not, would a device like this make that akward? Perhaps I'm overthinking.

There's also a widget manager, which includes a selection of interesting apps such as Weather, RSS feeds and Google, all which will update automatically. New widgets, such as eBay, will be introduced later this year.

One of my favourite things was how the mediaplayer had last.fm support for instant scrobbling, that's a pretty forward-thinking idea in my book.



What might be somewhat surprising is the target market the INQ is aimed at. With a campaign like this, it'd be easy to think that this was a high-end product. Not so. On a 3 contract, you can get the INQ free, with all the bells and whistles of free skype et al. included, for just £15 a month. In the Guardian review of the INQ1, INQ's chief executive Frank Meehan is quoted saying that the new device is designed to bring the mobile internet, and especially mobile social networking, to a much wider audience. 'The 85% to 95% of the market that did not buy the iPhone and cannot afford an expensive smartphone has been frankly forgotten,' he says.

Considering that the price point puts INQ at the low end of the market, there has been some clever thinking happening with the way it's been branded and packaged. Several artists were commissioned to create original works of art (which were also displayed on the walls at the venue), which were used in snazzy easy-to-use cards that functioned as the manual for the phone. No boring booklet to be found in the box, but gorgeous little works of art instead. I like.



All in all, it was a pretty interesting evening, and the INQ is certainly a pretty interesting product, and I'm glad I did manage to go. And as a bonus, at the end of the night we got to take a poster, a t-shirt and an usb stick home with us.

Labels: 3, 3 network, 3mobilebuzz, 3Network, driedonpaper, facebook, INQ, INQ1, last.fm, launch, London, party, social networking, technology

I feel like I ought to let you know that MTP now has a facebook page, just in case you feel a strong urge to become a fan! :D

In other news, I've sent a strongly worded letter to London Underground today, as this morning I'd just had enough! I've had to walk from Waterloo every morning this week because of disruption on the Jubilee line. What exactly is the point of paying for a season ticket if you can never get on the train?? But yes, I expect they will jump into action any minute now, after receiving my letter. I can only wonder how many zeros there will be on my compensation cheque. :P

Tonight's the night of the mysterious driedonpaper launch party. Sooz is coming with me, and we've been pulling our hair out trying to figure out what it might be for - with no success. Is exciting! I hope it's something good after all this suspence... will let you know tomorrow.

Labels: 3, 3 network, 3mobilebuzz, 3Network, driedonpaper, facebook, INQ, INQ1, London Underground, my life, photography, social networking, technology

I received this mysterious package in the post today.



The contents looked even more mysterious...



Hmm...



Turns out it was a print-yourself-invitation to... something. :D



There's not much information, just that it's a launch of some sort and that Disco Bloodbath and the Unabombers are performing. The website doesn't give many clues either. Hmm intriguing! Not sure if can make it on Thursday night though... but my curiousity has certainly been sparked!

Labels: 3, 3 network, 3mobilebuzz, 3Network, driedonpaper, event, INQ, INQ1, London, music, social networking, technology

Oh man, what a palaver. I finally bit the bullet and changed my hosting company (yes, I have talked about this for years), and of course (mainly because of my own stupidity) I managed to upload old files instead of the most current ones and have now spent a jolly evening trying to sort out what to upload again and what to chuck. Ho hum. I think everything's fixed and working now. Let me know if you spot something funny and I'll have a look.



In the meanwhile, while the blog's been out of action, I received this lovely rose award from Kutri. Thanks very much!



I also received this 'art award' from Bisquits for best photography, for which I'm very honoured! (I later received another one of these from Lehtokotilo, thank you!)

I'd like to pass both of these awards onto couple of my favourite blogs. For gorgeous photography to Kortteja Kaliforniasta, Unikuva and Liivian talossa. And for entertaining me with their hilariously funny and brilliant writing, Dallas Pullaa and Tyttö sinä olet rätti.

Despite the hosting kerfuffle, it has been a pretty good week so far. I've got possible clients lined up, Jenni's coming over on Thursday and we're off to see Antony and the Johnsons on Friday. Yay.

Right, have to try to sort some dinner out now.

Labels: social networking, surveys etc.

Follow my blog with bloglovin´. Not quite sure how it works yet, mind.

Labels: social networking

I was testing out ping.fm for posting blog entries and status updates earlier today. It all seems quite straightforward, and will probably help with the angst of trying to keep up with different social networking sites. Not that ideal for posting a blog entry though, as the input window is really rather small, and the text huge, so you don't get any sort of idea how big your entry is or what it looks like... Also, not so ideal is that the blog entry I typed out never got published, but seems to instead have disappeared somewhere into the ether. So thumbs up for keeping your status updates, well, up to date, but boo for losing my blog entry.

This week seems never ending. I will be sooo glad to see the back of this issue of the magazine! Miikka landed at Heathrow a few hours ago and is currently entertaining himself with the TV and beer back at the flat. It's kinda weird to think he'll be there when I get home. Strange thing this air traveling huh.

When I have time, I should try to answer this challenge, which was thrown my way. For it, you'll have to think about what you think you would be like as a man. :D Should be quite fun. The challenge was really pointed towards DLB, but I was told I can do it in either blog! :P

Talking of DLB, I've been thinking about whether I should move my wardrobe images over there as surely that's a bit more appropriate place for them. Then again, I don't really want that blog to be so personified on me, but rather a hub for anyone looking for, and wanting to share, tips and stuff. I don't know. What do you think?

Labels: my life, social networking

My train was delayed, the Jubilee line was suspended and I had to walk to work from Waterloo in the pouring rain. Not an ideal start to the week. Even though the weekend was nice enough, all the traveling back and forth from Waterloo on both days made it feel a bit like I didn't get any break from the commuting. Next weekend I definitely won't be going anywhere.

It's no wonder people are so obsessed with the weather here, it certainly has a huge impact on your general mood. On a lovely sunny morning the walk from Waterloo for example is almost a joy, but on a miserable windy and rainy morning like today, it makes you wish you could just disappear. The greyness is a bit overwhelming today.

I'm thoroughly fed up with the internet regulation here at the office. How is reading a few blogs on quiet moments going to affect the way I do my job? Probably in a positive way actually, as feeling more content and connected to the rest of the world would make me feel better about being in the office in the first place, thus resulting in better work morale. Currently I'm just sitting here feeling a bit depressed, typing out moan-y blog entries which I'll have to publish by email (oh by the way, if anyone knows how to add tags/labels to a post when publishing via email on blogger, do let me know!), and trying to avoid any sort of work whatsoever.

Talking about jobs, Stu accepted a new job offer last week. :D He gave his notice on Friday and will start at the new company on 18th of August. The offices are in Reading and he's already dreading about his commute getting longer. Well, it's probably hard to go from a 20-minute drive to over an hour… Possibly as difficult as it was going from no commute at all to over an hour – so I feel for him there. But at least he gets to sit in the comfort of his car and not on an overpacked train! :P Anyways, I hope the new job will be a good move and that he'll be happy there. At least that would make one of us!

I signed up with Technorati, mainly in order to try to get some (non-finnish) action to DIVA Look Book. I was very annoyed when I realised the nick 'mnoo' was already taken and grudgingly went with another nick, only to realise today that hey, actually, I was the one who had already signed up with 'mnoo' sometime last year. Erm. Well, how are you supposed to remember everything?? Anyways, in case you wanted to add this blog to your favs you can as well, although I'm not that bothered, as long as you add the Look Book! :D Thanksplease.

Busy making other plans: DIVA Look Book:

Labels: my life, social networking

Well, health wise the weekend was a total washout. I really should stop having these colds, it's such a waste of time. Although having said that, I did manage to get quite a lot done. After a fever-based epiphany on Friday I certainly made the most of being stuck inside all weekend and sitting by the computer with woolly socks on and hot lemon at hand. On the train home from work on Friday I had this idea and a flash of inspiration, and by the same evening I had a domain and hosting sorted. During Saturday and Sunday I pretty much built the site up from scratch, with technical help from Paul and handwriting help from Sooz (thanks guys!). And despite there being a few little kinks to straighten out, it’s now live.

So what is it, you may ask. Well, as some of you may have gathered I quite like clothes, and playing dress-up in general. I'm always on the lookout for inspiration and tips from magazines and online resources and I follow a lot of style and fashion blogs. What I've struggled to find though, are any style blogs that would cater for us curvier girls as well. And on Friday something just snapped and I decided that if it isn't out there, I will have to put it out there. Thus came the idea for the DIVA Look Book. I'm stupidly excited about it, which is kind of weird as on Thursday the whole concept had never even crossed my mind! I have no idea where I'll find the time for it (seeing as I have another idea, which has been brewing for much longer, in the works as well), but I will try my darnest to keep updating it on regular basis. And hopefully it will eventually work as a source of inspiration for a lot of girls out there, what ever size they may be. So go ahead and have a snoop around. There's obviously not much content up yet, but I'll try to keep posting regular features on almost daily basis. Do share any ideas you might have as well, that would be much appreciated! Actually, I was thinking about putting up a little goodie bag contest on Friday in order to get wishes and suggestions from potential readers, so you might want to keep an eye out for that.

Labels: my life, social networking, wardrobe

What a strange, and rare, occurrence of practically synchronised weather forecasts. :D Not sure why I still have Vantaa in my weather thingy, it's not like I live, or even go there, anymore...

In other news, today has been soooo slooow...

Labels: social networking

You may have noticed that my photoblog entries have now emigrated into this blog. You can find them under the 'photoblog' tag on the side. Originally I wanted to have a separate photoblog because I yearned for a nice 'clean' environment to post photos in and also so that I could link to it when I wanted to share photographs without the distraction of all the personal hoopla on here. But yeah, since I started at my new job it's become quite obvious that there's no way I can concentrate on two blogs, besides, the photoblog always felt a bit lonely and disconnected. I suppose in the end you can't really separate the visual from the personal, they all come from the same place.

Now I'll just have to do something about the commenting system, which isn't really ideal. For example, when I get an email notification about a new comment, there's no way of telling which entry that comment has been posted in. Which makes replying a bit tricky. I might go with the blogger commenting system as it worked quite well on the photoblog. The sad thing is I'll lose all the comments on this blog for the past 5 years... :( But I suppose there's no gain without pain.

Gotta run or I'll miss my train!

Labels: my life, photoblog, social networking

As you can see the name of this blog has changed. Or rather, it now has a name. I always thought that 'mnoo blog' was a bit boring and hardly inspiring, even if to begin with it somehow seemed the logical choice. Over the years I got used to it, even blind to it. But tonight I was looking at my tag line and thought, yes, that should be the name of this blog. I've always loved the quote from a song that John Lennon wrote to Sean when he was born. It's so profoundly true and I feel like it's important to see those words every day in order to remind yourself that this is really it. This is the ride you're on.



It's 3am and I'm still planning to watch Ugly Betty. I'm starting to panic about the prospect of once again having a 9 to 5 office job. For the last 5 years I've more or less set my own schedule for most of the month and the hours after midnight always seem like the most productive ones for me. Well, after next week late nights are pretty much history... I hope I'll get back to the so called 'normal rhythm' soon enough and that it won't be too painful.

Still, there are positive sides to an office job, the social aspect being quite high up there. Working from home has the tendency to alienate you from the rest of the world, so I am really looking forward to some office gossip etc. And getting dressed (properly) every day! :D

Can't start soon enough from a financial point of view. Seeing that in the last week I've already spent more than a month's wages on a new camera and computer... Umm. But these upgrades were necessary, and both of these things should last me for quite some time...

Labels: my life, social networking

I'm not sure it serves any real purpose and it even sounds kinda creepy, but hey, there are pretty colours involved. My last.fm Sociomap.

Paul is coming tomorrow! :D I should probably get some sleep before that. :|

Labels: music, people, social networking

Tagging is all done! Go me. :D Towards the end (or should I say the start) I did get a bit sloppy though and tagged most things with just 'my life', especially since there are so many entries that are missing pictures due to the domain change (gone a bit wonky) at some point during 2004. The whole operation was a bit of a trip down memory lane (seems to be the theme of 2008 so far). But most of all, organising sure is satisfying.

Labels: social networking

For some time now I've been regretting the fact that I didn't start tagging my entries when I started this blog. I didn't really have a clear idea of what I wanted to do with this, and I don't think I ever imagined I would stick to it for very long. But yeah, tagging just seems like such a convenient way to find content on a specific subject, or even locating specific entries, say for example if I wanted to go back and see what kind of haircuts I've had over the years (serious business), that it seemed like such an inconvenience to not be doing it. Well I finally bit the bullet. Paul made the categories work for me (as he's a magician) and all I have to do now is go through five+ years worth of entries and add tags to them... I'm doing it year by year, as it seems little less daunting a task that way. I've now completed tagging everything back to the start of 2006. Only three years to go... :D

I didn't get the job I wanted. :( Have two new interviews tomorrow.

Labels: my life, social networking

I used to use Pageflakes as my homepage some time ago, but then gave up on it at some point and never really finished customising it properly. I've been giving it another try recently, and I must say that this time around I'm very pleased with the layout and functionality. I've got pretty much everything I need on one page, apart from some things like dA messages or watch (why no RSS??). One problem I had was trying to find an RSS aggregator that would enable me to create a new feed of all of the blog feeds I follow so I could have them in just one flake. So far the best way I've found is through Blogdigger groups, although it does seem a bit lazy updating. But it'll do for now. One thing I really like about Pageflakes is that you can click on the feeds and read them on the original website as I always want to see blogs in their own environment. There is an inbuilt RSS reader for those who prefer that as well, but I just hate the way readers strip entries of all formatting and design. But yeah, I'm pretty pleased with Pageflakes at the moment and prefer its simplicity and sleek look over Netvibes. The downside is that I found this (tetris-like game) flake which got me completely addicted... It's so very hard to click that minimising tab...

In other news, Facehunter is in Helsinki at the moment and I'm pretty sure I could detect a higher amount of posers than usual hanging around the centre when walking through the city yesterday... despite the pouring rain. Perhaps I was just imagining it. :P

Labels: social networking, technology

This is pretty silly. My Jaiku entries on LOLCats. :P Love the 'dentists are so much fun... not' entry. :D Talking about dentists, I gotta go again today. Hopefully for the last time for a long time. Yay. Which is good as it was getting close to re-mortgaging time because of the fees. Ack.

Oh, updated the wedding blog last night. Time is running out sooo quickly. Yikes. The stress level is through the roof, but on the other hand I'm starting to really look forward to it. Hope it all goes well and is fun.

Paul is leaving for his interrail today. How jealous am I! I hope you'll have a wicked trip. Bon Voyage!

Labels: social networking

I actually wrote another blog entry yesterday. On my mobile... And sent it to the blogger email address which was supposed to magically make it appear here. And what happened... An entry appeared that said 'You have received a new multimedia message'... Erm. I'm a bit disheartened. Yes, I could send it via email from my mobile, but that costs more money to me, so I wouldn't want to start doing that in case I get really addicted to mobile blogging or something. I don't quite get why it didn't work. Humph.

Summer is full-on here. The sun is hot and tickly and the nights are warm and light. It's lovely. Of course this is also the dangerous time of year when I start thinking 'Why would I want to move away from here...'. The winter is such a distant memory at the moment that it's hard to really remember just why it was so awful. Well, I suppose I'll just try to live this summer to the max and when the autumn arrives with it's darkness I might start feeling more focused about the move again. Besides, of course there are other factors, not just the weather, that affect out decision to move back to England. But yeah, I sure hope this gorgeous weather lasts for a while.

Oh and hey, it's Friday as well. Can a day get better than that. :D

Labels: my life, social networking

The weather is dragging me down. Im feeling very cold, tired and non-productive. In actuality, I've gotten quite a lot done today, even if I don't feel like I've accomplished anything but whining. But let's try to look at the positives:
- had many annoying email conversations with work colleagues [check]
- posted a whole lot of stuff I sold on eBay [check]
- went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription [check]
- went grocery shopping [check]
- booked a dentist's appointment [check]
- confirmed our honeymoon details [check] (Whee just thinking about Rome is lifting my mood :D)

I guess that's quite a few ticks off my list... oh and we even managed to pop down to the register office to fill out the non-impediment and name change forms.

I'm trying to work out how I'll handle the online implications of my surname changing in a few months. In regards to my photography, all my prints, interviews, linkage - everything really - is under my current surname. Will it be a bit strange to suddenly be called something else? Will I fall 'off the map' in certain circles? I sure as hell am not going to change all my older prints to have my new name on them... that would take forever! Should I just delete everything and start over. :D I don't know. I'm rather confused about it still. Perhaps I'll deal with the task of changing my name within all aspects of real life first - in Finland *and* in England. Should be a fun little task all in its own...

I've been meaning to mention a few book-related sites I've joined recently. Here's my (still work in progress) catalogue of books on LibraryThing, a place where you can list your personal library - and see how it compares to other people's reading habits. Revish is a nice little site where you can plan your reading and write reviews about the books you've already finished. Here's my profile on there. And lastly, BookMooch, a wonderful place to get rid of books you don't want to hoard anymore, and to get books from others for free. You can see an inventory of books I'm giving away here.

Labels: my life, photoblog, social networking, technology

Feeling a bit blah. Spring is backtracking and I can't quite get my head to stay focused. There's a lot I could write about if I could concentrate long enough. Soon I hope.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Labels: my life, social networking

Well, I did know it was coming (not that Textamerica ever contacted any of their customers), and I did save the odd moblog picture here and there. Still, it did sting a bit when they just deleted all free accounts at the start of January. No email, nothing to ask if people might have wanted to upgrade, nothing. Just an ugly scam where users were blocked out of their accounts with a handy excuse of 'account hacking' and all their pictures deleted. Yeah, who wouldn't want to be a paying member of such a site! :D Fucking hell.

Anyways, I salvaged what I could and from now on my moblog resides on Flickr. Thanks to Paul's brilliance the thumbs up there are already working correctly. :D I tells ya, it pays to know geniuses.

The bathroom is coming along. Fingers crossed it will be finished in the next couple of days. At least we got our washing machine back temporarily at the weekend and even a permission to have a shower (only if we were careful not to get electrocuted). :D It was bliss. Both the doing laundry and having a shower. :P

Labels: my life, social networking, technology

I'm testing blogging via a firefox extention called Performancing. If this does work OK it will make my life so much easier as I hate Blogger interface sooo much, plus it doesn't want to work on Firefox most of the time.

Anyways, here goes.

P.S. I should really be in bed instead of doing this.

Labels: social networking

A little tip for anyone on Flickr. Add the tag 'boobs' to your picture and watch the views go through the roof. :D

Labels: social networking

In an attempt to make my online time even more efficient than before I decided to try and collect all the places I usually visit on one handy page. Admittedly, a bit easier said than done, but it sort of works... So far, I've been trying out Pageflakes to do it with. And this is what my browser home page looks like at the moment. I'm most pleased with the flickr feeds (atm I've got latest pics from contacts + comments received on there), but very annoyed that nothing on DA, apart from journals, has an RSS feed available... having messages as a webpage is a bit awkward, but at least you can sort of see what's happening. Ideally I would have liked to have had a few more forums that I visit regularly on there as well, but alas, no feeds. Can't really think of what else to put on there at the moment.

I started a project called 365 days on Flickr and the aim is for me to take one picture each day for it. I got (well, stole) the idea from Hanna who has done a beautiful job with her set. In theory it should help with keeping your style fresh while forcing you to think of new ideas and to actually pick up the camera on a daily basis. Here's hoping I'll be able to keep up with it.

Labels: photography, social networking

Is it ironic that I'm doing an internet addiction test while online at 2:42. :P Well, not according to the result: 39. You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

God I hate the phrase 'surf the web'. :/

I joined flickr recently. Since I took all my street and nature shots off of my main site I thought I ought to have a place where to put pictures that I don't think fit the style of my site nor DA. Especially since I'm planning on doing some Holga/lomo experimentations in the future I felt I needed to have different platforms for different forms of expression. I'm still sorting out what goes where most naturally though, that's why my flickr sets keep changing around a bit.

My nose is all blocked up and I can't sleep because I can't breathe while laying down. :| I'm still trying to figure out if this is a cold or allergies or wtf ever. Sucks in any case.

Labels: photography, social networking

Brokeback Mountain in 30 seconds.

:D

Labels: movies, social networking, video

Blogger just lost all my entries and nearly gave me a heartattack. :| I think they're back now though.

Apart from the last entry I wrote and won't bother to write again just now. :|

Labels: social networking

Why why?

I should blog more often... maybe this wouldn't have come as such a shock. Blogger has changed completely... for the worse. There's nothing I hate more than design over functionality, and as far a usability is conserned, blogger has taken a huge step backwards. Can't easily see the entries, everything is behind buttons and tabs. So very annoying. This is worse than the stripped down version I used to get on a Mac. Argh.

And it's so cold now I'm considering socks. I will not give in though.

Labels: social networking

Added these to the gallery. I like the way they turned out, considering I shot about 35 frames in 15 minutes and that was it. I think the colours are rather yummy.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma. The 'Portraits' section is full (well has been from the get-go) and the other sections are heading that way too. At the moment if I want to put new portraits up I take some of the less nicer ones down. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to have multiple galleries, i.e. Portraits 1 2 3 etc., or just keep them on one page and change the pics randomly to more recent ones. Any opinions? Damn, Paul is studying for exams so I can't even whine at him about this... I'm sure he would come up with a brilliant plan... Hmm.

Labels: social networking

Look look! New commenting system thing! Go on, you know you wanna. :D

Labels: social networking

Welcome to the new home of my blog. It probably looks a bit funny at the moment as I was stupid enough to delete the 'images' directory from my old server, while all the links here still point to there. Ho hum. :)

Dunno how actively I will be writing, but I reckoned I could at least copy all my DA journal entries here, for those people who find coming to DA to find me a bit confusing.

Anyways, I'm gonna go continue painting the bedroom wall now. Piccies will most likely follow.

Labels: my life, social networking

Hey it's an entry. :D How exciting for you.

I've got a domain. Yay. Might be moving this blog over there later on as well, we'll see. For now I'm working on a portfolio/gallery type thing which is starting to take shape. The index is still looking a bit off, the contact page isn't finished and I have to rewrite all the blurb and add more pictures. But at least it's looking sort of what I hoped it would look like. Thank you so much Paul. :)

Well, go have a look then, at mnoo.com.

Labels: social networking