I’ve been looking at upgrading my camera body for a while, but the means were not available. Until now.

The decision between two Canon bodies had me in a pickle; the Canon EOS 7D and the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Both excellent cameras, both have their pros and cons, but really only one would be more helpful to me. Granted the 5DMkII is also about $1000 more expensive than the 7D, but in the end I wanted the Canon 7D.

There is the Canon 7D in all it’s brand new glory. Right away from pulling the camera body out I noticed one big difference over the Canon XSi, the weight. The Canon 7D is significantly heavier but I would assume that is because the camera body is made of a magnesium alloy. It feels well constructed, sturdy and fits nicely in my hand. The Canon XSi has always been a tad small for my hands.

Some of the features of the Canon 7D that I tend to favour are the following:

• Dual DiGiC 4 Processors
• Up To 8 fps (frames per second shooting) (in RAW)
• ISO up to 6400 (higher if you enable a particular mode)
• Environmentally Sealed body
• Top LCD panel
• Integrated Speedlite Transmitter
• 1080p HD Video with Manual Control capability – I’ll have to try this out eventually

The other main reason why I went with the 7D is not only does it have a pretty fast continuous mode, but with the 1.6x crop factor it still allows me that little extra reach with my lenses. From reviews and people’s comments I have heard the 7D does a pretty good job with sports photography, something I love doing more than birding.

Physical Compairson between Canon XSi and the 7D

As I mentioned above, the 7D is significantly larger than the XSi (450D). It’s comparable to that of the Canon 50D or Canon 5dMkII bodies.

As you can see from the above photos, there is a significant size difference. This will make using my EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens easier and less awkward than with the Canon XSi. In fact, one reason I bought the XSi’s body grip was it was easier to hold on to the camera with.

Over the next little bit I will have to familiarize myself with the Canon EOS 7D. The button layout is different than the XSi but in the end I am sure it will be that much better with more information available at my finger tips too.

I am hoping that tomorrow is a somewhat decent day. The weather calls for a partly cloudy morning with some rain in the afternoon. Hopefully I can get out in the morning to take the camera for a little spin.

The other day while sorting out the various memory cards I have, I came across one that was getting a bit roughed up.  My Canon XSi (EOS 450D) takes SD (secure digital) memory, though I do tend to use SDHC (secure digital high capacity) cards more because of their large capacity allowances. I haven’t used very many cards, but I do remember my first one was a Kingston 4GB SDHC Class 6 card. I think I got it pretty cheep at one of the big box stores near by. Perhaps one day we might see a Fry’s up here in Vancouver? I can dream right?

While I was down in San Diego I stopped off at a local Fry’s. I’m sure people out there (especially American’s) know what Fry’s is all about, I’m sure there are Canadians who know about them too. For those who do not know who or what Fry’s is. They are a gigantic electronic store that seems to dwarf our big box shops such as Futureshop or BestBuy. At the time when SDHC was first coming out, the larger 4GB and 8GB cards were almost $100 CDN, though while I was browsing the toys at Fry’s they had 8GB SDHC cards for $20 USD. Not a bad price so I picked one up for myself. I also picked up some cheap SODIMMs for the company laptop I was using too.

Anyway, the 8GB card that I purchased a couple of years ago has now broke. First the outer casing broke near the contacts, but I could still use the card. Recently the “lock” switch broke off in the protected position, I couldn’t fix it nor could I make the card writable. I also noticed that the outer casing split, so I just crack it completely open.

It is amazing how they can manufacture the memory (the large black chips) to fit right up against the edge of the PCB. The second photo is a reverse-macro shot of the memory. The memory card itself is the brand Patriot for those who are curious. I should look at getting some higher speed SDHC cards (if they exist) for my camera. It is not much fun when my camera blinks “Buffering” to me during sporting events and I miss some what-could-have-been cool shots.

If  I do plan on upgrading my camera (be it the Canon 5DMkII or the Canon 7D) and I will have to look at getting back into Compact Flash (CF) cards. Though, I will invest in a few 4GB high-speed card for that though.

I still have one 4GB Kingston SDHC as well as a 16GB Kingston SDHC cards. Typically I just stick to using the 16GB, which gives me roughly 900 RAW photos. Do I ever need to dump those photos? Sure do, I seem to be trigger (or is that shutter?) happy!

What sort of brands of camera memory do you typically use/buy?

One of the aspects of photography that is a bit hard to swallow is the price of the gear, and with that comes the choice of what camera gear should be on my list next. The more that I get into photography the more I find myself thinking, “Oh man, wish I had such and such with me”, when I am at an event I am photographing. I look over my current gear, and wonder what would compliment what I have and what I should look at getting next. The choice for me is almost endless, but I am hoping with all the photographers out there, I can get some good feedback, suggestions, advice in my hunt for my next camera lens.

These are my current lenses:

• EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS
• EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS (aka kit lens)
• EF 50mm f1.8

Remember now, I do use a Canon XSi (450D) which is a cropped sensor (APS-C) body. If the lens I look at is not an EF-S then I multiple the focal length by 1.6x to get the focal lengths.

These are the lenses on my Wish List:

Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS – This would be great for wildlife photography, at least until I can afford the big prime lenses! On my camera, the maxium focal length would be 640mm, which isn’t that bad when I want to get up and personal with an Eagle or Osprey.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS - This would be something I would want to replace my kit lens with. Though being designed for an APS-C camera body, if I were to upgrade later to a full-frame it wouldn’t be any good. It still has a nice wide reach to it and being for a APS-C body, it would be just that, 17mm wide. The f2.8 IS would be a great addition to any indoor photography I might set out to do, such as company launch parties, concerts, weddings etc.

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L – I was just looking over the Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0L lens and noticed that the 24-70mm was at f2.8. Again I really do like the f2.8 quickness though with my camera, it would not be very wide. The 24mm really becomes a 38mm. Though, if I were to upgrade to a full-frame body later, it would be a great companion.

I’m not too picky am I? Each lens of course has its place for when I am out and about. The more lenses I have in my arsenal, the less chance of me missing a great shot. I found that while shooting with my 70-200mm lens during the Women’s Hockey at GM Place, I didn’t have any wide shots. 70mm on my camera body becomes 112mm and since I don’t have a second camera body, I missed some great wide shots of the players on the ice.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro – I would love to have a dedicated macro lens. Often on my outside photowalks I see many flowers, plants and insects I would love to have close up shots of. The 100mm would allow me to stay a bit further back, but because of the Canon design, the barrel does not protrude out when you zoom in. I would hate to bump into a wasp on a flower and get stung! Sigma does have a 50mm macro lens, but I would then have another 50mm lens and find that a bit redundant. Yes, there is a Canon 60mm but it is of the APC-S type, though perhaps one day I might borrow Gus’ since he has that particular lens. I’ve also read on various camera forums that the Canon EF 100mm is like the cream of the crop.

Fisheye – After seeing what people such as John can do with a Fisheye, and what I have seen among sport photography, a Fisheye lens would be fun to have in my camera bag. I was briefly looking at the Sigma 15mm f2.8 fisheye I thought it would be great for the snowboarding season coming up! I also remember seeing some pretty cool candid photos Robyn showed me of a coworkers wedding.

My list can go on and on and on, but those would be the ones I know I would use on a more daily basis. If you can recommend me some alternate brands to the lengths above (such as Sigma etc) I would look at those too. Though I have found that typically the features on the Canon lenses are things that the other manufactures have left out. Such as the Canon EF 100 f2.8 Macro, the barrel doesn’t extend when zooming, while the other brands such as Sigma or Tamron do, but yes they are less expensive.

If you shoot Nikon, what Nikon equivalent would you look at adding to your collection if you had my current gear? Yea, don’t say sell my Canon stuff for Nikon, that just isn’t going to happen. I want too much, and it all costs a lot of money. I want ultra-wide lenses so I can capture landscapes, but then I want longer focal lengths so I can capture the animal world around us. But at the same time I want something that can be general purpose too! How does one decide? What would you get if you were me, if you had to pick only one of the ones above. Why would you pick that? What else might you recommend I might look at that is not on the above list?

Most of us have a space we use for our computer work, right? When Robyn and I talked about moving in for the first time I was thrilled to set up my computer in the corner window so that while I worked hour after hour in front of my computers I would have a pretty cool view. Granted we don’t have a spare room for my computer so Robyn refers to my little corner of the living room as my geek corner. Recently I have had some people ask me what my setup is and what it looks like while I work at home.

Visual Representation of my Geek Corner

Click on me to see a larger version

Due to the brightness of the large windows that we have in the corner of our living room, I thought it best to capture my little geek corner using the HDR technique. The above photos is comprised of 3 exposures processed and tone mapped in a program called Photomatix Pro. Creating an HDR photo of my setup allows people to see my workspace and the view out the window. Normally the light entering the living room is too much to get a proper photo of my workspace. What do you think?

My Computers

Yes I did say ‘My Computers’ as in having more than one. Both are setup in particular configurations for the work I do at home.

Computer #1 (left side below desk):

• Asus P5B-E Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 (overclocked)
• 4GB DDR2 Memory
• 250GB Hard drive
• nVidia GeForce 7600 GT 128MB
• 2x Samsung Monitors (typically 19″ wide screen ones, but as of this post I have one 23″ HDTV setup for review purposes)
• Monsoon flat panel speakers
• Thermaltake Aluminum keyboard (very small keystoke)
• Razer Lachesis mouse

This computer is my main computer. It is where I do all my photo processing, game playing, social networking, blogging, scripting etc. The cool thing about running Vista 64bit version is that all my photo programs such as Photoshop and Lightroom are the 64bit versions so that they work faster for me. One feature I do love about Photoshop CS4 is that it utilizes my video card’s GPU now to help speed up renderings/filters too.

Computer #2 (right side next to wall on the ground):

Honestly I cannot remember what is inside this computer, but it isn’t anything spectacular. It will have at least 1GB of memory and a somewhat new motherboard with a 500GB harddrive. It’s main function is to be a server. It currently runs Ubuntu (not sure what build), and is set up as a LAMP server. LAMP meaning Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, all the basic things to make it into a webserver for all my development needs. I also run Samba on it so I can easily access files (particularly my photo collections). Samba also allows me to edit my PHP scripts (yes those include my development WordPress files) on the fly without having to upload/download them before hand.

If I ever need to access my second computer I SSH (secure telnet) into it using a program called putty on my main computer. This also goes for having to shut down the computer when it is not in use.

There you have it, my geek corner. The area I spend most of my day working mainly on photos or PHP scripts.

What does your (home)office area look like?

Well not everyone will really care what I have been up to but some people might find something I have done interesting or fun. Though as I sit here at my desk waiting for Services Canada to receive my Record of Employment so they can quickly send out my Employment Insurance cheques (used to be Un-Employment Insurance), I thought I would try and figure out what I have been up to in the past 3 weeks of my extended, without pay, vacation.

Product Reviews

I still dabble in reviewing various high-tech gadgets which are available to consumers. I personally really do enjoy playing with the new toys and writing about them. I am free to do more now, and I am also more free to hunt around for companies who are looking to have more feedback on their products too.

The most recent product I looked at was the Samsung HMX-R10 digital camcorder. It’s a pretty small, compact but fully featured camcorder that was fun to play around with. Have I mentioned that it’s Full HD too? I personally don’t have much interest in video but one feature I did like was the Time-Lapse it can do.

Samsung HMX-R10 Time Lapse Video Test from Tyler Ingram on Vimeo.

I’m not the best video editor out there and yes there is no sound, but I thought the time-lapse was pretty cool. It is shot from our balcony over a 24hour period. Granted I clipped out the boring parts and show you the evening, night and morning segments. You can check out the rest of the review over at ThinkComputers.org.

Day Hikes

Robyn and I love to get outside when we have the time. Our most recent day hike was with her dad and we headed up into Cypress Provincial Park to Hollyburn Peak. We started at the parking lot south of the Nordic area, walked to the old Hollyburn Lodge and proceeded up the Baden Powell Trail towards the top. It took roughly 4-5 hours to get to the top and back but the view at the top is definitely worth it.

The top is a great place to sit and have lunch. The view itself is pretty spectacular and shows off the mountain ranges north of Vancouver. You also can see glimpses of Cypress (including the ski runs), The Lions, Langford, Grouse, Mount Seymour and more. There are some steep bits you need to scramble up, so I do not recommend strollers. Though with the amount of wild blueberries along the trail up to the peak, I wouldn’t be surprised in seeing a bear or two. If you do go, just make sure you make enough noise not to surprise any of the furry animals. As for animals we did see there wasn’t too many, but we did see some grouse and grouse chicks, gray jays and a friendly chipmunk. Perhaps I’ll upload more of my photos from that hike.

Other Happenings

The fireworks are happening and so far they have been spectacular. As with my last post, Robyn and I will be venturing on a fireworks cruise for the South African firework display. I wonder if I’ll get any good shots, hopefully the water is fairly calm!

As for the employment front. I am just patiently waiting for my EI information to come though. I could be temporarily laid off for up to 12 weeks, after 13 weeks though I am entitled to my severance. I would like to take on more freelance work to help out in the meantime though. With our recent trip to Parksville for their Kite Festival, perhaps that can help me out in the finance department as I just finished getting some stuff together and mailing it. Oh how I would love to earn a living just with Photography, though all I ever hear is how hard it can be. Oh well, I can dream and continue to have fun with it!

So what’s next?

Who knows what is next? I’m just living the days one by one and enjoying the time I have off. I’m sure I’ll have to get out for more photowalks (don’t I always say that?) and see how I can get access to sporting events such as Football (yes I do mean both football and soccer), baseball and whatever other sports might be out there.

I want to work on my PHP coding skills. I haven’t really done any since I was laid off and do enjoy doing it. I also should get back into using Adobe Illustrator and finish my business cards, not that I can afford to have them printed at the moment. If anyone needs some WordPress work done don’t be shy to get in touch with me via my contact form here or over at DynamicShark Media either.

I would try and get out to socialize more, but with being REALLY strapped for cash makes me shy away from even meeting people for a quick coffee. Though the photowalks wouldn’t cost me money.

So in the meantime I will just going with the flow!

With the more recently announcement of Apple releasing the 3Gs iPhone what better way to protect your new investment by purchasing a good, sturdy case? I have used some of Speck’s products before but their newer CandyShell iPhone Cases have definitely peeked my interest in ensuring my iPhone stays clean and scratch free, but still allows it to stand out in the crowd of other iPhones.

Speck CandyShell iPhone Cases

I have been using my Speck SeeThru case for quite some time and was looking to upgrade to something a bit sturdier. I received notification that Speck release a new iPhone case called the CandyShell and when I looked at the initial photos, I thought that this might be a great upgrade to the SeeThru I was previously using.

My first impressions when I received my CandyShell cases were that not only would it protect against scratches and marks on the outer portion of my iPhone 3G, but it would would give my iPhone a more unique look. In fact, I still get people asking me what sort of phone and case combo do I have when I take my phone out.

Features of the CandyShell.

• Fits iPhone 3G and iPhone 3Gs
• Lightweight, one-piece design.
• Colorful on the outside, rubberized on the inside
• Includes screen protector with screen cloth
• Easy access to ports and controls

The Speck CandyShell offers me the features I want in a case for my iPhone; uniqueness and protection.

Performance

How does one measure performance on an object that is passive? Well in the case of the Speck CandyShell, placing your iPhone into it doesn’t take much effort. The corners are rubberized to allow a bit more flex when you put your iPhone into the case and take it out (if you ever need to). I would recommend applying the included screen protector prior to placing your iPhone into the CandyShell.

The case itself is a constructed of hard plastic with rubber corners. The rubber corners allow the harder plastic to flex when you first insert your phone, or ever need to take it out. The rubberized interior allows for protection against bumps and scratches. The CandyShell case also does not add much bulk either, which I think is important. I love that I can still easily slip my phone, with the case on, into a front pocket and be able to easily retrieve it when needed.

The opening for the ports allows easy access for connecting your iPhone’s USB cable as well as headphones. There could be a little bit of an issue if you have a dock of some sort, but for me I haven’t had any issues.

The headphone jack is also easily accessible in case you need to plug in a pair of  headphones, or when you hook it up to an auxiliary port on a stereo or some similar device. The power button has a cover over it and does not allow for accidental button presses.

When you need to access the mute/silent switch on the side, it can be a bit tricky with larger fingers. It also helps keep you from accidentally switching on  mute/silent, which I used to do in the past. The volume buttons are similar to that of the power button, and you need to push a bit harder to make it work. Though I have had no issues pressing them and no fear of breaking it either.

The back of the case also has a small opening for the camera of the iPhone. If the front of the camera gets a bit dirty, the case still has enough room that you can take a small cloth and remove any dirt or dust that might have settled over time.

When you go to apply the screen protector, make sure the surface of your iPhone’s screen is completely clean and free of any dust. I accidentally dropped my screen on the floor and spent a good 30 minutes using scotch tape to pull off the dust that stuck to it. It was easy to apply, and it was my first ever successful screen protector application. I have no bubbles and there is no loss in touch-sensitivity with the screen protector in place either.

Final Thoughts

Overall I have always enjoyed using Speck products. Not only do they release new innovative cases for Apple’s iPhones but they also release some pretty cool protective cases for their Macbooks too.

Every time I bring out my phone, I get people asking me what phone I use because they have never seen one like it. People also ask me what case I use because it looks cool and they want one as well.

If you are looking for a great looking, good protection case for your Apple iPhone 3G or even that new iPhone 3Gs you have your eye on, I would highly recommend the CandyShell case from Speck. They also come in 4 great colour schemes too; Lemondrop Liqurorice, Keylime Jawbreaker (featured above), Cranberry White Truffle and Watermellon Gumball.

Pros

• Unique Design
• Included Screen Protector and Screen Cloth
• Rubberized Interior for better shock absorption
• Easy access to ports, buttons
• Does not add bulk

Cons

• Power and Volume buttons might be a bit harder to press
• Mute/Silent Switch can be tricky to flip back and forth

Enter To Win!!

Want to win your own iPhone 3G/3Gs CandyShell case? I have a Lemondrop Liqurorice CandyShell (black with yellow accents) case to give away to one of my readers here at Tyler Ingram dot com. All you have to do is comment on this post to be entered to win the case!

If you leave a comment, I will draw 1 lucky random person to win the free Apple iPhone 3G/3Gs Lemondrop Liqurorice CandyShell from Speck!

Want to earn an extra entry to increase your odds of winning the case? Just click on the following Twitter link: http://twitter.com/?status=Win+an+Apple+iPhone+Case+from+%40TylerIngram+over+at+http%3A%2F%2Fsnipurl.com%2Fk6fmc – This, along with your posted comment will allow you for 2 entries into this small and simple contest.

I will make the draw on July 1st (Canada Day) 2009. Comments must be posted no later than June 30th 23:59:59 PST 2009.

Please be sure to include a valid Email address so that I can get in contact with you if you are the chosen random winner.

Good Luck!

If you are an avid Flickr user like myself, you might have noticed that Flickr does not have the most intuitive user interface among being one of the most popular sites (especially for photo sharing) currently on the Internet. The navigation portion of Flickr requires the user to use the mouse, a lot. At least it seems that way with me. If you are not using Firefox, why not? Get it now! Leave Microsoft Internet Explorer alone and use one of the better web browsers out there today now! If you want to enhance your web browsing experience not only with Flickr but in general you’ll want to start using Firefox!

Firefox and Greasemonkey Scripts

To enhance your browsing experience you will need to  install a scripting system that works along with Firefox. This scripting system can add features or enhancements that will take your web browsing to a whole new level.  This scripting system is called Greasemonkey. Now I won’t get into the details of how Greasemonkey works, but you can check out their addon page to find out more.

Enhancing Flickr’s Navigation

The main issue I have had with Flickr is the navigation portion between photos in someone’s Flickr photostream, or even a Flickr photo set. There are two scripts I just recently discovered that allows easier transition between photos with the use of the arrows keys. Similar to the way Facebook Albums work actually, you can use the left or right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate between photos. Thanks to Greasmonkey and two scripts, you can do the same with Flickr too!

Flickr Gallery Plus – Flickr Photoset Navigation

Flickr Gallery Plus allows you to use your left and right arrow keys to cycle through a person’s Flickr Photostream with ease. No more needing to click on a thumbnail to view a larger version of it. It also loads a larger preview of the photo on the left side as you can see from the above screenshot. Pretty cool!

Flickr Next/Previous Keyboard Navigation – Flickr Photostream Navigation

Now this is definitely a Greasemonkey script that I highly recommend if you look at other people’s photos on Flickr a lot. It allows you to go to the previous or next photo by just using your left or right arrows on your keyboard. Just like the way Facebook Albums work. Yes, it is something I do like about Facebook among some of the annoyances I have with it.

I am sure there are tons of other great Flickr Greasemonkey scripts out there for Firefox, but I found these two to be exactly what I have been looking for to make Flickr that much more user friendly in terms of navigating between photos.

Don’t forget to check out my photography on either my Flickr Photostream, or my Photography Blog as well! I’m always capturing new images around the area and love sharing what I see through my camera with other people.

Since I’ve gotten more into Photography the more I found my computer started to bog down when it came to the post-process portion of the hobby. Which means my computer has significantly slowed down since I’ve been shooting with RAW files. Some people might not have issues out there with the post-production work while working with RAW files but, when you shoot over 600 photos at a time, all in RAW (roughly 15-18MB each file), it can bog down your computer a bit. Well it has for me anyway.

I went to look at what upgrade options I had for my previous computer, but after seeing that the review on the motherboard was done in 2005, I was a bit reluctant to think I could find any upgrade options and have them not cost an arm and a leg. After talking with Stephen (of Futurelooks.com), we found out that the ECS motherboard I was using (K1N SLi Extreme) was of the 939 socket type and would not allow me to get a faster processor than I was already using. Stephen was saying my bottle neck was my CPU and I should look at replacing it.

For me to replace the CPU would require to update the 4 year old motherboard as well. Since my previous motherboard was running DDR RAM, I would also have to upgrade that to at least DDR2. My previous rig had a good life and got lots of work out of it, but it was time to retire it with something a bit more up-to-date.

My New (to me) Computer

So there is my new-to-me computer. I am in the middle of loading all the software I use, updating drivers and ensuring things are working properly, hence why the side-panel is still off. I actually went to NCIX and bought a cheapo computer case. Did I mention I carried it from their West Broadway location back to our apartment in the West End? Yes I walked the whole way carrying the computer case, pretty geeky huh?

Interested in the specs of my new computer? I know they are not the most leading edge components, but to me it is an upgrade and will also allow me to upgrade further down the road, but here they are:

• Asus P5B Motherboard
• Intel P965 Duo Core CPU (currently at 1.8Ghz, to be overclocked to at least 2.5GHz) – Upgradable to Quad Core
• 4GB DDR2 RAM – 4x 1GB Sticks
• Seagate Barracuda 750GB SATA HDD
• MSI GeForce 7600 GT 256
• MS Vista Ultimate x64

Not too shabby. It should help a lot with my post-processing of my digital photos and such.  It isn’t a monster gaming rig either, as the only video game I play these days is WoW (World of Warcraft).

Now I just have to load up all the various software I use on a daily basis.

• Adobe Lightroom
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Photomatix Pro 3
• MS Office Ultimate 2007
• Notepad++

Just to name a few of them. Typically it takes me a full day to build my computer from scratch to fully loaded and setup the way I need/want it.

So I got all my work things loaded and running so I can keep working while I download and install all my other applications, updates and so forth. I also made sure this time around that I enabled AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) so that I could use my 2.5″ SATA enclosure as a hotswap drive. That will for sure come in handy.

Next one my list of goodies it so fine some sort of affordable NAS (Network Accessable Storage) system so I can backup my photos and other files without too much trouble. Who knows, perhaps someone (or company) out there will send me to do to a review on!

The upgrading game never ends I find. You can delay it, but eventually you need to jump back into the game and update components. Just remember, you don’t need to buy the most expensive stuff on the market, but also don’t buy the cheapest either

Chances are if you a frequent surfer of the online world you have probably come across the term Twitter.  You may or may not know what Twitter is all about but I for one find the service really useful, not only to have another way of communicating with other people in my industry but also to find out the new online trends or even world happenings.

I find that I have people asking me periodically what Twitter is and why do I use it. I have also had people poke fun at me for using Twitter but I find that those people are ignorant in the way Twitter can be useful.

What Is Twitter?

Twitter is a form of micro-blogging [wiki]. You can think of it as Facebook Status updates but these are a bit more appealing to people. With Twitter you can send up to 140 characters per ‘tweet’. This tweet is then sent out to your followers. A tweet can be anything you can fit within the 140 character limit.

Not only can you send regular tweets but you can reply to tweets in particular which also helps notify the person the tweet was targeted at. You can also send direct messages (DM) to people who are following you. This is great when you want to ask or say something to someone without other people seeing it.

Flickr Photo: Robert Scoble

Now followers might sound a bit odd but followers are people who are interested in what you have to say. Followers are usually people in the same industry or niche in which you blog or are a part of in general.

To Follow or Not to Follow

That is a question that seems to go around quite a bit. Who do you follow? Do I follow those who follow me? I find that some people will auto-follow you when you follow them. I tend to follow those who are in my line of work or share similar interests to me. If you’re part of the Metro Vancouver area I will most likely follow you too. After all Twitter is a great for social networking within your region. It is also a great way to promote yourself too.

Though be careful who you follow. If you follow hundreds of people you might find that Twitter can be a bit spammy, depending on the frequency of tweets the people you follow send out. I currently seem to follow about 200-250 people, which to me seems like quite a bit. I notice during somewhat regular business hours I get about 13-15 tweets every couple of minutes. Reading all of those might be a bit time consuming. If you find yourself reading the tweets on Twitter too much you might find yourself a bit less productive in your work day. If you do find this happening I recommend perhaps culling through your following list.

Twitter Etiquette

Some etiquette I find when you are using Twitter is the following:

• Ensure you have a Bio, Location and URL for your Twitter profile – Most people will not follow you in return if you do not provide this information.
• Don’t just spam out URLs all the time – Unless of course you are some sort of news company then I would assume that is what you are expecting.
• Try to interact with others – I like to see people engaging in conversation (a bit limited yes at 140 characters) on Twitter. Makes me feel better too if I send a tweet and you answer.
• If someone tweets something you find interesting or important and you want others to know about it please re-tweet it.
• Be sure to use some service for shortening your URLs such as TinyURL or Snipit. On that note please also check your shorten URL works too.

These I believe are the basics of Twitter Etiquette, I am sure other people will have some thoughts into what they believe is good practice when using Twitter. If there is something I am missing I’d like to hear it.

Why I find Twitter Useful

I find Twitter to be very useful and it has helped me out quite a bit. Twitter has provided me with a way to get local and world news while it happens. This is great when I seem to be out of the loop on these things. If something in the world of news happens, you can be sure you will find out about it really quick via Twitter.

If I have a question that I can not seem to solve. I have over 350 people to ask via Twitter. Every questions I have had to ask has always been answered in one form or another. This is great when I ask something in which I need to the answer to pretty quick.

Social Networking. There is that term again, Social Networking. A great place to meet people that share your interests or are in the same industry as you. Not only that it also allows to set up meetings, a get together and more. If I’m looking to have lunch with someone or grab a quick bite to eat I can easily ask via Twitter who is near me and available. Of course this would only work with local followers but it does work great.

Generating buzz about a new product, or perhaps a blog post is something Twitter is also good and producing, especially if you can get it re-tweeted amongst your followers.

Twitter can be used while on the road. With the use of my Apple 3G iPhone I can take Twitter with me (via Twitterific). You can use Twitter with pretty much most smart phones too. They do have support for SMS (text messaging) though this might change in the near future for North Americans. Robyn likes to poke fun at me occasionally as I like to check Twitter sometimes a bit too often when we are out of the house.

How do you find the usefulness of Twitter? If you are not already doing so I would recommend following me on Twitter.

In today’s world of electronic gadgets one such gadget I find people talking about more or even saying they want is a portable GPS unit for their vehicle. Well prior to this I have never used a GPS unit before though I was able to see a Garmin in action when Robyn and I were in Minnesota this year. I was curious as to how other vehicle GPS units perform and looked at the various GPS manufacturers out there in today’s market. One that came to mind was TomTom.

It seems TomTom has released an updated version of the TomTom ONE series with the XL 330/330 S which has a smaller compact design and smaller mounting hardware.

TomTom

When I first saw TomTom being mentioned as a GPS device manufacturer it was a TV commercial. It intrigued me then and when people talk about GPS units now, TomTom’s name usually comes up.

TomTom focuses on car navigation with combining high quality map data that is kept up to date with help from the large community of people who use TomTom products. They also try and deliver quicker travel routes using historical speed data and real time traffic information services.

Even though TomTom has not been in the market as long as Garmin they still have been around for over 15 years and stay competitive in today’s market of car navigation devices. With the acquisition of Tele Atlas I am sure they won’t be stuck behind the pack when releasing map updates either.

GPS – Never Getting Lost Again

I was excited to try out my first GPS device and when I received the TomTom XL-330 S my first impression of the device was that it looked good, small and hopefully seemed easy to use. The other feature of the TomTom Xl-330 S is that it came with what they called an EasyPort which greatly reduces the amount of hardware needed to mount it to a car surface.

Features

• Maps of US and Canada
• EasyPort Mount
• Plug and Go Operation
• Spoken Instructions and Street Names
• 4.3″ Widescreen
• Preloaded Points of Interest (PoI)
• Stay Up To Date with TomTom’s Home Service
• TomTom Latest Map Guarantee
• Traffic Ready
• Daily Fuel Prices (optional service)

I am glad that this particular unit came with Canadian maps out of the box. I remember seeing other manufacturer GPS devices that made you purchase a model or two above to get it preloaded with Canadian maps.

EastPort Mount is pretty cool in itself. It attaches easily attaches to the back of the TomTom XL-330 S and mounts to the windshield with no troubles.

Though I do recommend you attaching the mount to the windshield and then attaching the TomTom unit to the mount. Just don’t push hard on the screen, use the frame as it can be a bit tough clipping in. This is easier because you can attach the EasyPort mount to the glass easier without the unit attached. The suction cup engages with a simple twist.

The Plug and Go operation is nice. I took the unit out of the box, mounted to the car and turned it on. Within a minute or two it acquired 12 satellite signals and knew exactly where I was. Was there any doubt? When you first turn it on you do need to set up the basics such as home location, time and default maps. You can also choose the voice for which it uses to speak upcoming streets. This is only when you first take it out of the box or have to do a hard-reset.

Design

It seems that TomTom has redesigned their ONE series into a thinner and more compact version. The EasyPort mount (as mentioned above and pictured above) is compact and folds up against the back of the unit. This is good because it is thinner than previous models and fits better in a bag or even your pocket. When you turn it off they even show a picture of someone putting it into a hand bag, a reminder to take it with you.

The widescreen is really nice. I recommend if you can afford a widescreen version I would go that route. More visual information for you and also makes it easier to glance at while driving. Wider screens also allow for larger keyboards and in this case the onscreen keyboard is nice and big. I do not recommend using the onscreen keyboard while driving though.

The USB port at the bottom of the unit is tricky to connect to as it is a bit recessed. I would recommend plugging in the car adapter prior to mounting it on your dash or windshield.

Once the TomTom XL-330 S is mounted to the EasyPort you can easily rotate it 360 degrees, you can also swivel the EasyPort mount though it can be a bit stiff. Just make sure, like when attaching it, you grasp the frame of the unit when positioning to your liking.

One thing I did notice is that it does lack an option for an external antenna. External antenna would allow you to acquire a better GPS signal, hopefully in a more dense building area too.

Performance

So you have the TomTom XL-330 S mounted to your chosen location inside your vehicle, now what? You can set up a destination without much trouble. There are a few menus you have to navigate around when setting up a destination but the nice thing is you can set it as a favorite and choose it later without much hassle. After you have inputted your destination it will calculate your route fairly quickly. You can also choose how it should calculate its route buy: shortest distance, quickest time or arrive at no particular time.

I told the TomTom to take me from my place in Pitt Meadows BC to Robyn’s place in the West End of Vancouver. I also specified that I did not have to be there by any particular time. Clicking on the above image will show you a larger version but as you can see TomTom’s route was not as direct but I assume it has less traffic lights to go though. Then again my route downtown is not a typical main artery I guess either, well if you’re not a Vancouver resident I suppose.

A few times I had troubles picking up a decent signal when I was downtown Vancouver. The taller buildings will hamper with acquiring a GPS signal. Once it took over 30 minutes to acquire a GSP link and by then I only had 10 minutes left in that particular journey. Another time it was able to acquire a signal 3 blocks away. Perhaps an external antenna could help with this. They do have a QuickFixGPS update on their website that will help keep track of GPS satellite locations to help aquire a quicker location fix.

When I am out in Pitt Meadows (where there are no large steel and concrete buildings) I am able to pick up a good GPS signal within 2 minutes of powering up the TomTom XL-330 S.

I noticed when I was driving from Robyn’s place and set TomTom to route me home it kept trying to redirect me 2 streets over. I did not want to go that route and after I would miss the ‘Turn Left’ directions it kept giving it would then just recalculate and keep asking me to ‘Turn Left’ at each intersection I approached. It would have been nice for it to realize I would not comply to its wishes and recalculate the route based on the road I was traveling on.

Battery life is specified to be up to 3 hours of operation. I have not needed to try this part out as I plug in the unit with the car adapter every time I use it.

A feature that might be fun to use would be the Traffic reporting but that is a separate option for this unit. It uses the FM broadcast and will help recalculate a route if there are traffic issues up ahead on your current route.

Updating TomTom

You install the TomTom Home software by plugging the TomTom into your computer and agreeing to install it. I thought it would install off of the TomTom itself but it actually goes to the TomTom website and downloads the software.

TomTom’s Latest Map Guarantee means that within 30 days of your purchase if there is a newer map available to download you get to download it free. You do have to attach the TomTom to your computer via the supplied USB cable. You also need to install their Home software.

TomTom Home also allows you to download new voices, as well as PoI or Points of Interest that might be handy for you and your area. Their Map Share service allows you to connect with other TomTom users and download their corrections to maps in your area, or you can share your updates. Perhaps streets have changed, or a road is blocked, you can edit them and upload them to the community. With constant road upgrades or even road closures due to construction this could be very handy.

TomTom Home also will update the TomTom device with any firmware releases or any other software updates that might be needed. Though be warned that if you do have to download a new map like I did (there was an updated version of the Canadian map) it was over 200 MB and over a USB port it took quite the time to complete (download, transfer, install, reboot).

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

I have enjoyed using the TomTom XL-330 S GPS unit though I wish I could create some more fun car adventures and test the navigation and route calculation a bit better. I have entered in some known addresses and just followed the TomTom as it directed me which each time turned out pretty well.

The compact design, which is not bulky, is great and with the EasyMount port it allows for less clutter on your vehicle’s dash.

It seems that the lower cost GPS units do not come with external antennas or a port to plug one in but that would be a nice option if you do a lot of city driving. Though if the buildings are quite high I am sure it might be a bit difficult to obtain a decent satellite signal.

For being my first GPS unit I have quite enjoyed using the TomTom XL-330 S. Using it to find locations I might be unfamiliar with was great, though for the routes I did know I would have liked it to recalculate the route on the road I currently was driving on.

If you are looking for a widescreen vehicle GPS unit I would recommend looking at the TomTom XL-330. It would be great for road trips where you are not quite sure where you are going. If you are doing deliveries or driving around locations you are familar with, you probably know a better route than the TomTom, but if not it will find you the quickest or shortest route.