It's traditional to make resolutions for the new year to come. However I don't really have to try too hard for change as in January I go part time at the BBC (after eight years) and take up another part time position as technical manager for a large church.
It's a job I've effectively been doing as a volunteer for the last few years but having the paid time means I can do it properly and hopefully get some life back.
I've written before about how I, and seemingly everyone around me, is too busy with no life balance. Recently I've become aware that I've been operating at my limit, occasionally beyond, as I try to do a paid job, work for a church and somehow try to fit in other things I want to do.
I'm not an artist, but I do miss being able to spend time on creative outlets of photography and music.
This year I want to get back to making music. I also want to take my wedding photography forward, got one job booked, want some more.
But I'll still be juggling two potentially demanding jobs so organisation is the key. Those that know me will tell you this isn't one of my strengths. I'm very good at detailed planning but keeping track of the day to day is a different matter.
So I'm turning to technology (iPhone) and have just bought a copy of David Allen's book Getting Things Done. I'm told GTD appeals to people with complex lives who like frameworks but dislike rules.
I'll post thoughts here as I get my head around GTD and how I can implement it appropriately for my situation.
But I do have some resolutions after all:
- consume less (energy and food)
- make music
- take more photos
- make more time for my wife
- make more time for my God
- leave work at the end of the day and leave it there.
I fear it's the last of these I'll struggle with the most.
Time will tell.
Happy new year.
Thursday 31 December 2009
Sunday 27 December 2009
Is HD tv pointless?
For some foul reason I was watching Herbie fully loaded the other day on BBC1. I was at my parents where they have a nice 32" Sony Bravia and a HD freesat receiver. The film was also on the BBCHD channel so we switched to that. It was noticably higher def. The racetrack fence wire could be clearly made out etc. But was it any better? And after a few minutes did we even notice any more.
You have to try quite hard to buy a tv that isn't HD ready these days and, with Sky (cue spitting noise) leading the way HD is now available via satellite to the UK. So far I've resisted, sticking to an aging CRT tv and using our excellent Topfield Freeview PVR.
To shoot HD means the cameras have to be better, and I think that shows on standard def broadcast.
But here's the big HD con. High Defininition as promised by Sky is usually nothing of the sort. The broadcast resolution may be higher but the feed so heavily compressed the resulting quality is terrible.
It's a bit like smearing your expensive HD tv with Vaseline. High resolution is meaningless if the detail is smeared by heavy compression.
HD broadcasting is marketing fluff. More is better. That's easy to sell. So HD is more and must be better. Even when it isn't.
Finally, consider that first example of the terrible film. When someone left the room I switched it back to standard def. When they returned, they didn't notice.
So by all means buy a high def tv if you need a new one. And buy a blueray player as HD discs benefit from a nice high bitrate and films do look good. But as I sit watching sky HD (away from home) I can tell you it's a complete waste of money.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone. Yeah iPhone. How cool and culturally relevant am I?
You have to try quite hard to buy a tv that isn't HD ready these days and, with Sky (cue spitting noise) leading the way HD is now available via satellite to the UK. So far I've resisted, sticking to an aging CRT tv and using our excellent Topfield Freeview PVR.
To shoot HD means the cameras have to be better, and I think that shows on standard def broadcast.
But here's the big HD con. High Defininition as promised by Sky is usually nothing of the sort. The broadcast resolution may be higher but the feed so heavily compressed the resulting quality is terrible.
It's a bit like smearing your expensive HD tv with Vaseline. High resolution is meaningless if the detail is smeared by heavy compression.
HD broadcasting is marketing fluff. More is better. That's easy to sell. So HD is more and must be better. Even when it isn't.
Finally, consider that first example of the terrible film. When someone left the room I switched it back to standard def. When they returned, they didn't notice.
So by all means buy a high def tv if you need a new one. And buy a blueray player as HD discs benefit from a nice high bitrate and films do look good. But as I sit watching sky HD (away from home) I can tell you it's a complete waste of money.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone. Yeah iPhone. How cool and culturally relevant am I?
Saturday 26 December 2009
iPhone's won me over
For some reason I always go for the underdog. Maybe it's just the British disease, who knows. But when everyone I knew was getting an iPhone I went for the new kid on the block, Google Android on a T-Mobile G1. A decision I've regretted for the last year.
I've moaned about Android before so no need to go over old ground but suffice to say my experience of Android has been of an inelegant OS that until at least v1.6 wasn't ready for general use.
I still think Android will be a significant positive force in the smartphone market, but Google's decision to launch their OS on the severely underspecified G1 really annoyed me. I accept early adopters pay a premium and suffer heavy depreciation etc but my G1 is only running the later Android goodness courtesy of the excellent work done by rom cooker Cyanogen. The G1 is unlikely to ever see Android 2.0 whereas the Original iPhone is happily running the latest version of the iPhone OS.
Which brings me to my iPhone; a second hand original GPRS only iPhone from a friend and it is, quite frankly, brilliant. It syncs with my Kerio Mailserver via Activesync, google calendars with Caldav and in true Apple style 'it just works'. I should add that I managed Activesync support on the G1 with an app called Touchdown. Works but the G1 memory is inadequate for the app and it doesn't integrate with the google calendaring app, which for some reason annoyed me.
Using a 2g iPhone on T-Mobile (who don't have EDGE) means web access is slow and painful but what use is speedy data access when you don't have the app support to do what you want.
As soon as my current contract ends it's bye bye to T-Mobile and a swift move to another provider and a 3GS. When it launched the iPhone was a game changer in the smartphone market and everyone else is still playing catch up as far as I can tell.
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Helping the poor
As I sit writing this I'm in Pret, enjoying a coffee and chocolate croissant that's cost me about £3, money I don't think about spending, despite having just passed the Big Issue seller outside M&S. Poverty can become invisible to us if we choose not to see it. It can also be well hidden. How many well to do families have recently fallen on hard times because of job losses in financial services. I wonder how many don't admit it and try to hide it from friends.
Last Sunday Tim Jones, vicar of St Lawrence's church in York, said in his sermon that it was better for people in dire financial circumstances to shoplift rather than turn to say burglary or prostitution.
Whilst in principle I agree with these sentiments what Rev Jones actually said was "my advice as a Christian Priest is to shoplift". He qualified that he does not consider stealing a good thing but the least of a number of potential evils that desperate people might turn to.
He then sent a transcript of his talk to the local press.
There can be no doubt that he knew what sort of response his statements would get and that he wanted this out there in the media.
However I doubt he expected quite such a widespread reaction with media across the world covering a story that started in a small church in York and retailer groups condemning his statements.
The problem is that stealing isn't ok and claims from any shoplifter facing prosecution that they were stealing to avoid the alternatives of burglary or prostitution are likely to fall on deaf ears.
Whilst I haven't looked up stats I know the retail industry reports most shoplifting is of higher value items, not essentials.
What's more, most people in our society who become involved in prostitution or burglary do so because they have a substance abuse problem, usually an expensive habit to feed, and not because they can't afford to buy bread.
For me Rev Tim's argument is flawed and his reasoning questionable but maybe that isn't the point. Maybe he just wants to spark a debate. Playing devils advocate often works and he has managed extraordinary media coverage.
Time will tell how this pans out and whether he's branded as rogue vicar talking nonsense or people engage with the debate.
I can't help feel Rev Jones has gone about this the wrong way and risks overshadowing the tremendous good the Church is already doing. For example Christians Against Poverty, a national dept counselling charity that's helped thousands of people out of crushing debt. Or closer to Rev Tim's home there's the fantastic Family Matters York.
There is a big issue with the distribution of wealth in the UK. I'd like to see more people engaging in a debate about what to do about this, how to help those most disadvantaged in our society, particularly the homeless. The Church ought to be at the forefront of this and so many other social issues, challenging the well off and comfortable. All to often that isn't the case.
Has Tim Jones helped?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Last Sunday Tim Jones, vicar of St Lawrence's church in York, said in his sermon that it was better for people in dire financial circumstances to shoplift rather than turn to say burglary or prostitution.
Whilst in principle I agree with these sentiments what Rev Jones actually said was "my advice as a Christian Priest is to shoplift". He qualified that he does not consider stealing a good thing but the least of a number of potential evils that desperate people might turn to.
He then sent a transcript of his talk to the local press.
There can be no doubt that he knew what sort of response his statements would get and that he wanted this out there in the media.
However I doubt he expected quite such a widespread reaction with media across the world covering a story that started in a small church in York and retailer groups condemning his statements.
The problem is that stealing isn't ok and claims from any shoplifter facing prosecution that they were stealing to avoid the alternatives of burglary or prostitution are likely to fall on deaf ears.
Whilst I haven't looked up stats I know the retail industry reports most shoplifting is of higher value items, not essentials.
What's more, most people in our society who become involved in prostitution or burglary do so because they have a substance abuse problem, usually an expensive habit to feed, and not because they can't afford to buy bread.
For me Rev Tim's argument is flawed and his reasoning questionable but maybe that isn't the point. Maybe he just wants to spark a debate. Playing devils advocate often works and he has managed extraordinary media coverage.
Time will tell how this pans out and whether he's branded as rogue vicar talking nonsense or people engage with the debate.
I can't help feel Rev Jones has gone about this the wrong way and risks overshadowing the tremendous good the Church is already doing. For example Christians Against Poverty, a national dept counselling charity that's helped thousands of people out of crushing debt. Or closer to Rev Tim's home there's the fantastic Family Matters York.
There is a big issue with the distribution of wealth in the UK. I'd like to see more people engaging in a debate about what to do about this, how to help those most disadvantaged in our society, particularly the homeless. The Church ought to be at the forefront of this and so many other social issues, challenging the well off and comfortable. All to often that isn't the case.
Has Tim Jones helped?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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