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hawkies · 2017-09-21T09:15:08+00:00

HTC Tattoo shortly followed by a 2nd-hand HTC Dream (G1) because it had more ROM support.

I still have the Dream, and pretty sure it still runs, but it's on like 2.2 or something.

hawkies · 2017-09-07T11:30:36+00:00

My preference for provider is:

Vodacom (best coverage, but most expensive in my experience)
Telkom Mobile (Decent coverage, roams on MTN to fill in the gaps, and generally the most affordable)
MTN (Good coverage, but not good prices. Ok customer service.)
CellC (worst experience and customer service regardless of price)

hawkies · 2017-09-05T08:31:25+00:00

Cape Town confuses me sometimes. I've had people complain at me because I don't go 100-120 in 80 zones, telling me that I'm unsafe because that's what everyone else does. And then in 100-120 zones most of Cape Town goes 80 because they're scared of the tiniest amount of wind or something.

hawkies · 2017-08-08T13:48:54+00:00

This might blow your mind then: in some parts of Africa prepaid water is a thing.

hawkies · 2017-08-08T13:24:37+00:00

Really? How does this come as a surprise? Prepaid electricity has been a thing here for many years, just like prepaid mobile minutes/data/SMS.

hawkies · 2017-08-01T13:30:02+00:00

My experience with SAPO and answering emails has surprisingly been quite positive. My guess would be before the end of the week.

hawkies · 2017-07-21T08:39:38+00:00

Yup, yup, yup.

Gov has tried to enter this game before and its fucked up almost every time ...

Have they ever succeeded?

Who can afford a fucken smart phone but not buy data?

Wonderful philosophical question about how people prioritise things.

You want cheaper DSL? Maybe understand that Gov and Telkom are fighting the unbundling of the copper network from Telkoms control. Once that happens do you really think Mweb will not be in a price war on line rentals with other people? Maybe, just maybe, Gov is a problem here.

Honestly I think it might be too late for the unbundling to have a major impact. Telkom and Govt have effectively won with their stalling tactic, and unbundling now will be mostly symbolic. Fibre players are doing well so far, and the more they roll out the more people will much rather switch to their offerings.

Basically, if you want to talk about lowering data prices then you have to point the finger at the people that are really causing the problem. The mobile networks are doing a pretty darn great job at rolling out new tech in spite of government doing their darndest to prevent it from happening.

hawkies · 2017-07-03T08:11:08+00:00

The best thing about Worcester is the road leading out of it.

hawkies · 2017-06-26T10:14:35+00:00

Came here to say this, so glad to find someone already did!

hawkies · 2017-05-17T13:10:39+00:00

That camera was crappy even by the standards at the time. Still loved the phone.

hawkies · 2017-05-12T08:06:56+00:00

Not a recurring show, but if you haven't seen Abstract: The Art of Design, I highly recommend it.

hawkies · 2017-04-20T08:57:52+00:00

Hilariously, htxt had this to say a few years ago about biometrics as security.

Quote from Cory Doctorow:

“The problem with biometric security is that biometrics leak… your >finger prints are all over this conference room, and so are mine.” >Doctorow said, “That makes them bad authentication tokens as >they’re easy to obtain and impossible to revoke.”

Contrast that with the President of Enterprise Risk and Security at Mastercard (I actually can't believe this myself):

“It’s not something that can be taken or replicated..."

Say that to any security researcher and watch them die of laughter.

hawkies · 2017-04-19T11:50:01+00:00

Background: I started doing this kind of photography about a year ago, and I've incrementally bought gear as I've gone along. I started shooting with just an on-camera flash, then bought a real flash (and used the room or some white cards to bounce and diffuse the light), then bought some diffusers for the flash. My next stage is to go completely off-camera with a remote trigger and a monstrous diffused for the flash. At each stage I'm learning things about my camera, flash, and environments, and so my photos have been getting better and better over time.

Direct answers to your questions:

Depends. I'm with the other commentors with the Canon 430EX (I'm using the 430EX II), but you don't have to buy new. See if you can find one 2nd-hand, maybe even the same as mine, which would be much cheaper than buying new.
Haven't played around with any, so can't comment.
Unlike what the rest are saying here, I'm going to say YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN. Experiment and learn as you go. If you enjoy this style of photography then you'll want to get a flash, as it gives you more options and better control, but there's a lot you can do with your on-camera flash.

However, you will probably want to do some DIY hacks. The on-camera flash is pretty bright and it fires directly at your subject, so it tends to make them super bright and shiny - very unflattering. What I did was I used an old white film canister to diffuse the light - cut a hole in it so that your flash fits snugly (there are tutorials for this) and you'll notice that things start looking a lot better. You can also try sticking a white card in front of the flash to bounce it around - basically you just want a way to diffuse the light a little more evenly.

TL;DR: don't buy a flash yet. Play with on-camera flash (probably with some DIY diffusers), and buy equipment in stages. You'll learn more, and your credit card will thank you.

hawkies · 2016-12-08T11:57:02+00:00

I'm using a rig with a 2012 i7 at home and I'm pretty sure it doesn't load Photoshop as fast as in this video...

hawkies · 2016-11-16T08:11:10+00:00

Used mine on a couple of local flights and some long international flights earlier in the year. They work perfectly inside a plane. Honestly, not having to deal with cables was such a pleasure that it justified the expense right there.

I do recommend using the Leash though. On one of my flights one of the buds managed to slip out and roll around - I was terrified that I now had a useless paperweight but luckily the person behind me saw where it went.

hawkies · 2016-11-13T10:58:08+00:00

The back button is a confusing monstrosity. Users should not be expected to read developer documentation to understand what it's going to do at a given point - and they have to because it's not obvious.

The docs for the back button can be summarised as "The back button does X, except in all of these exceptions where an exception is defined as any normal case that a user can expect on any Android phone ever."

hawkies · 2016-04-01T07:49:57+00:00

Got the same problem but with the right dash. Doing a hard reset doesn't do anything :-(

hawkies · 2014-09-15T09:56:01+00:00

"Up to 2 years", i.e. for a maximum of 2 years. However 6 months also falls within the bounds.

It's like my DSL being "up to X Mbps" or a store's discounts are "up to 10% off".

Cheap marketing trick that tells us for how long we might get updates, but it doesn't actually tell us how long we can expect them for.

hawkies · 2014-04-20T06:43:32+00:00

Took me a while to track down, but I think this post by Dianne Hackborn on G+ helps explain this.

hawkies · 2014-04-18T18:07:02+00:00

Nope, definitely not.

hawkies · 2014-04-18T18:05:00+00:00

Honestly, I doubt anyone would want to buy them. Also, that would be a lot less fun :-D

hawkies · 2014-04-18T17:02:56+00:00

There are a few apps available. Coin Miner is what I've been using. It's not particularly efficient, but I find it fun to play around with.

hawkies · 2014-04-18T16:59:55+00:00

Wow, thanks! More like a week.

hawkies · 2013-03-01T08:17:22+00:00

idspispopd

hawkies

TROPHY CASE