Apple MacBook Pro 13″

This week I bought the new MacBook Pro 13 inch from Apple. I wasn’t planning on getting it just yet, but pressure from a certain someone convinced me. So now I have a shiny new unibody aluminium (yes my American friends, the spelling is correct) laptop, I can tell you all about it. Now I’m no Apple fanboi. Yes, I’ve had every iPhone since conception, and I’ve had a good half dozen or so iPods in my life, but I’ve never actually sat down and used a Mac proper. Well, not since the Apple IIe anyway, bless its cotton socks. No, this was my first foray into the world of Mac OSX, that’s version 10 for you Linux and Windows heathenites out there.
So after picking up my rather small white box from JB Hi Fi in Newcastle, I head back home to unpack my new wonder and have a play with its shiny self. The first thing I noticed is how well packaged it all is. No spaces is wasted, no excessive bits of card and fluff. Just a simple and elegant box. The laptop sits first and foremost with a power cable on the right, and discs, manual and power adaptor underneath. I remove the laptop with glee, plug in the MagSafe power connector, and boot up for the first time. A simple setup is involved in creating my user account, and a pretty intro video plays welcoming me in a variety of languages. Once at the desktop, the standard Mac OSX wallpaper greets me with the dock down the bottom. No icons offering free trial software adorn the desktop. Always a good thing in this writer’s opinion.
Mac OSX 10.5 Snow Leopard and Apple iLife come as standard fair. I also added Mac Office 2008, VLC, Peggle and World of Warcraft. That’s it. Everything else is already there: iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie (seeing a pattern here?), iMail (I tell a lie, it’s Mail, but why stop a good thing?), and Garageband. It’s simple, elegant, and pretty intuitive. There are plenty of tuition videos, and the Apple website gives a nice 5 minute video on how to use OSX if you’re a Windows user by trade (that’s me).
Diving into iPhoto I import some of my faves onto the drive and notice how amazing they look. Ice never seen my photos look like this on my Dell 2407 WFP monitor before. They’re so clear and natural looking. I start assigning friends and family tags in the Faces part of iPhoto to keep track of them all. It has a bit ic trouble learning who’s who in the zoo, but generally it can at least identify a face do you can give them a name. It also remebers previous names so you only need to give the first couple of letters and it tries to auto-complete. It’s very addictive, and you have a Pokemon “gotta get ‘em all” feel come over you.
So after the first four days of use, I’ve come away with a very positive feeling, happy with my new little MacBook. For those that want the stats, it’s a Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz, 4GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 9400M and a 250GB HDD, all for $AU1900. Not too bad compared to my old Dell XPS 1210 that was $2800 for half the RAM and hard drive a few years ago.

Written on an iPhone.

Apple iPhone 3G S

Today’s the day us Aussies get the new iPhone 3G S, and while it’s not a huge upgrade, it’s enough for a technogeek like myself to want to have. There were a few dramas getting the phone initially. I needed three forms of identification (apparently driver’s licence and a credit card need to be supplemented with a gas bill before you can have the phone). So a quick, and I mean quick, ride back home to get the relevant papers and I was away. I had to cancel my old plan and buy it out, but Optus was nice enough to give me 20% off to ease the pain. My new plan has a gig of data, plus an additional 200MB used purely for tethering off a laptop for 1.2 giggata gigs of internet goodness.

The unboxing can be seen in these two photos, and I’ve included the iPhone 3G’s box on the right for comparison. Apple really cut down on their packaging size, so good on the for looking after the environment a little, and all that *wanders off for a moment to hug a tree and feel warm and fuzzy*.

Okay, back. So these photos were taken with the iPhone 3G S camera, and allowed me to use the autofocus trickery in all its glory. A quick touch anywhere on the screen will focus the camera there, as well as meter and adjust the shutter speed for that spot. I really hope this feature starts to show up in regular cameras, because it rocks. The low light capability is also much improved, and while grainy, doesn’t look like the dog’s breakfast the old camera used to give.

Another thing I noticed about the new phone is the speed. Yes the ‘S’ stands for speed, and it’s blinding. One of my apps that used to open in around 5 seconds was done in a second! Lag time on the keyboard is gone, and everyone is generally warm and happy in the belly at the groovy new 600 MHz ARM processor tucked away inside (the 3G used a 400 MHz, and the Touch 2G used a 533 MHz). The voice control is another new feature that’s introduced, and why this couldn’t be included in the 3G with the 3.0 update is beyond me. Playlists can be played, callers can be called, and and songs sung, although the voice control will probably complain at your lack of harmony. If you don’t provide enough information, it will ask for you for it. For example, “Call Bill”. It will reply with “Bill Smith or Bill Bloggs”. Replying with “Bill Bloggs” may prompt it to ask for a mobile or home number, and so on. Scrolling past in the pretty blue background are suggested words you can use, so if you’re stuck, just stare blankly at the screen until one shoots past that catches your eye.

My old iPhone was imported effortlessly, including contacts, SMS’s, screen layout and a collection of photos best left to viewing by those old enough to drink rum and not get kicked out of the pub. I did have to re-enter my email passwords, but all the details of the accounts remained, and emails were then redownloaded for my viewing pleasure. The extra capacity was a big plus. On went more music, more podcasts, and more prOn, errr, I mean documentaries. The compass app is nice. It’s compassy, and can point at magnetic or true north. And, erm, that’s about it. You do look like a right prat waving it in a figure 8 through the air calibrating it, or maybe I just look the prat most of the time and this just added to said pratness.

So any questions, queries or doubtful points from the class? No? Then I’m off to bed…. and I may just take this gleaming white bundle of iPhone goodness with me. To listen to music on of course! Perves….

Kualoa Ranch Hawaii

Kualoa Ranch is the site of movies like Godzilla, Jurassic Park and 50 First Dates, as well as TV shows like Lost. My day at Kualoa Ranch started early, and it was going to be a full day ahead of me.

First up was a cruise out in Kaneohe Bay to find some green sea turtles. The water was blue and pristine, a slight breeze, with the sun shining. We noticed a couple of turtles out on the sand bar, but they quickly dove away. Our boat continued out past Chinaman’s Hat (see picture right), giving the opportunity for some great photos of the surrounding scenery. On the way back the boat slowed by one of the reefs, and there one of the sea turtles popped his head above the water. Another one close by did the same, giving me a close view of these amazing creatures. I was going to be even more surprised later that day by one of these…

My second tour was through the gardens and around the fish pond (Molii Pond). We had the chance to see some of the local flora (most of it brought to the islands by the Polynesians) including fruits and flowers. A boat ride around the pond gave insight into how the early Hawaiians lured fish into the pond through a series of gates built into an 800 year old volcanic rock wall. The dock we departed from and returned to had been used in Lost (season 2 I believe, but I’ve never watched the show) to moor the submarine used in the show. The submarine was blown up, along with part of the dock. It was then back for a buffet lunch and a cup of Kona coffee (make that two).

The third tour straight after lunch was an offroad tour in a six wheel drive Pinzgauer up the mountain range (see left). It was rough, bumpy and fast, but a hell of a lot of fun! There were some amazing views from up there of Kaneohe Bay as well as Kaaawa Valley (where the Gallimimus stampeded in Jurassic Park). It was a mad dash back down the hill to make the final tour. This was the Ranch and Movie Tour, and took us around the back of the range we had just driven up. The end of the range (closest point to the ocean in the photo) housed the bunkers for Army Command back in WWII. This was later used in the movie Pearl Harbour, and inisde contained history of the movies in the location including:
Mighty Joe Young,
Jurassic Park,
Tears Of The Son,
50 First Dates,
Pearl Harbour,
George Of The Jungle,
Lost TV Series,
Windtalkers,
You, Me, and Dupree, and
Godzilla.
From there it was down into Kaaawa Valley itself to see the locations first hand. We stopped at the log from Jurassic Park that Sam Neill and the children hid behind, where Adam Sandler waited for Drew Barrymore each day, the plane landed in You, Me And Dupree, and Nicholas Cage ran across the battlefields of Windtalkers.

The day didn’t end there though. It was off around Kahana Bay to Laie Point for some very cool rock formations and a beautiful view back the way we had just came. The drive around the island continued past Shark Bay and Turtle Beach where I was fortunate enough to finally see a Green Sea Turtle up close, and I mean close. He was sunning himself on the beach, and you could get within a metre of where he lay. Exciting stuff! Then it was back to the house for a quiet night in after a huge day out.

Hawaii Big Island

New lava flowing over old lava

My second weekend in the Hawaiian Islands was spent on the largest of the island chain, known as the Big Island. This is the home of lush rainforests, lava flows, earthquakes, Kona coffee, and the largest island mountain in the world.

We flew from Honolulu to the Big Island on Friday 8th May, landing five hours after a minor earthquake shook the island. A quick trip up the coast from Hilo led us to some beautiful lush jungle and coastlines. We then drove up to the Volcano National Park where we were staying for the next two nights, minutes from the rim of the crater.

Saturday morning was an early start as we headed up the coast to the home of the Kona Coffee that I love so much. I managed to sample a cup of 100% pure Kona, which was a lot smoother than the 10% blend I’ve enjoyed previously. Anywhere that looked interesting on the way, we stopped to check out: Black Sands Beach, Green Sands Beach, South Point (the most southern part of the United States), Captain Cook’s Monument, The Painted Church, The Kona Coffee Museum, and anywhere the scenery was breathtaking. Which was often.

We returned back to the cabin to change out to jeans and covered boots for our lava viewing extravaganza that night. We made our way to Kalapana, which was outside the Volcano National Park, and parked the car. It was a short trek out over lava fields to the site, and in the distance we could see steam rising from the ground where the laval flow travelled. There were quite a few people in the viewing area, and I found a spot where I could set up my camera. I used my bag as an improvised tripod, set up my 400mm lens, and using the new camera’s live view, framed my shot. The live view saved me trying to lean down and look through the eye piece to frame shots. I attached the remote shutter release, and then just watched to lava hit the water, pressing the button anytime I saw something spectacular. I pressed that button a lot.

While there I got talking tot he couple next to me, giving them a few tips on how to use their Canon DSLR. I even lent them my 24-105mm to make shooting a bit easier. They were still using the kit lens with the camera, so the one I gave them was a welcome temporary upgrade. Nearby someone overheard our conversation, and asked where I was from in Australia. I discovered he had been at the same ANZAC Day dawn service as I just two weeks before, and had also been out at South Point earlier that day, remembering my bright green and gold shirt. He is also going to be in Washington DC at the same time as I will be in a week. Small world.

Once I had my fill of night time lava, we drove back to the Halema Umau crater to view the open crater at night. I took a number of long exposure shots before the rain set in. I had the imperssion of a blacksmith’s furnace looking at this phenomenon at night.

Our last day was going to involve a lot of driving and walking. We drove down Chain Of Craters Road towards the coast. There were a number of stops along the way showing recent lava fields and craters, as well as older craters well covered with vegetation. At the edge of the cliff face a magnificent vista spread out before us (through the vog – volcanic fog), and the flows of lava could be clearly seen below like black rivers leading to the ocean. We drove to the end of Chain Of Craters Road where the flow of lava covered the road ahead (see pic right). A trek over the flow revealed an alien and interesting landscape, before we reached the end and had to turn around.

There was also a walk out to a collection of petroglyphs about a kilometre off the road. These were markings engraved into the hardened lava rock by native Hawaiians, and it was amazing to see how far from anywhere they were. Looking around all that could be seen for miles was rock, and it made me wonder what made the natives come here to this one spot to leave their mark. This was our last stop in the Volcano National Park, and from here we headed back up the road to the park entrance, and on to Hilo to see the local waterfalls. We stopped at Akaka Falls firstly, which was an amazing waterfall simply due to the height of it. Our last location was Rainbow Falls in Hilo itself, as well as the Boiling Pots nearby. After climbing over the rocks, it was time to head to the airport, and back to Oahu.

Honda CBR600RR Jenolan Caves Ride

This post is a little overdue, but with preparations for my trip to the US, I didn’t get around to following up my Jenolan Caves ride.

The day started with perfect weather, and three of us met up at a local cafe for a coffee and breakfast before making a move. My counterparts were on a Triumph cruiser and a Suzuki GSXR1000. Traffic was a little heavy heading up Bells Line Road, but was thin enough by the first twisties that I was able to have a little play. I had the utmost confidence going into the 35 and 25 km/h corners, more so than I’ve ever had on the older bike. Taffic got heavy again from there, but we moved past most of it before hitting the smooth ashphalt of Mount Tomah. The brakes were hardly touched at all, as the engine managed to pull me up most of the time once the throttle was released.

The ride down into the caves themselves was a slower affair, with the narrow roads and loose gravel giving me a cautious outlook. At some places there was only enugh room for one car, and I’d hate to round a corner to meet a situation like that at pace. Call me a girly girl, but I didn’t want to write this beautiful machine off in its first real ride, nor did I want to see how far down it was over the edge.

The Jenolan Caves themselves were magnificent, with our tour taking us through the Lucas Cave. We were in there for about an hour, and I’ll have a gallery showcasing this phenomenon once I return from overseas. The ride home was as fantastic as the ride out there. I made a brief stop on the way home to take photos of the scenery and came across three riders on the side of the road. Unfortunately one of them on an Aprilia had a siezed engine, and they were awaiting a tow. I stayed for about 15 minutes chewing the fat and talking bikes before heading off again to catch the other two riders down the road for a coffee.

Once coffees were down (and Graham had finished his $15 pastie), we conducted a fuel check. The GSXR was on reserve, while my bike was about 2/3rds full. I know the Suzuki had about an extra 40kms to ride than me, but that was quite a shock. I worked out that I should be able to get around 400kms out of a tank, a 30% improvement on the 2004 CBR. I’ll know actual mileage once I fill the bike up, but it’s looking pretty bloody good so far.

Writing this has given me the urge to go for a ride, but my bike is holed up in the garage on the other side of the pacific. the wait will just make the ride that much sweeter once I get back home.

Holidays In Hawaii

It’s Day 5 of my trip to the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and my first day of rest. It’s been a whirlwind tour so far, and a lot has been crammed into the first few days of my 18 day stay in this beautiful chain of islands.

My stay so far has been limited to the island of Oahu (second main island from the left in the picture), but a three day journey to the Big Island is planned for the coming weekend.

One of my first experiences on Oahu was Pearl Harbour and included climbing inside the World War II submarine USS Bowfin, taking a boat trip out to the memorial of the USS Arizona (sunk 07 December 1941 during the attack on the harbour by the Japanese), and making my way over the Battleship Missouri (Mighty Mo) that sits proudly at the Fort Island dock. The battleship was the site of the signing of the Japanese surrender on 02 September 1945, and was both America’s first and last battleship in service. She was decomissioned in 1992 after participating in Operation Desert Storm.

Another day saw a drive up to Punchbowl Memorial Cemetary, which serves as a memorial to fallen servicemen and women of the US Military. At first the area looks like a wide open park, but along every patch of open grass is a small stone remembering a fallen member of one of the many conflicts that the US has been involved in. This is a sobering thought when you see how far the grassed area extends, and the thousands of stones inlaid with each one remembering a single soul. A drive from Punchbowl up Tantalus look0ut provided breathtaking views of Honolulu and Diamondhead Crater below.

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Yesterday was another full day, with a drive to Kaena Point on the northwest side of the island. The road stops short of the actual point by 2.5 miles, so a hearty walk was the order of the day. Loaded up with most of my camera gear, we set out along a rough road to our destination. the coastline was simpley breathtaking, with natural arches, large explosions of water against the coastline, and a towering mountain range to our immediate right. The path was mostly stable, but one small section was particularly treacherous (see photo). The path was completely washed away, with loose rocks to negotiate. I almost lost my footing once to a 30 foot fall below, and managed to bang my head against an outcropping. We all made it across safely and continued to the point. At the reserve we saw Laysan Albatross chicks, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, and Monk Seals.

The drive home gave me the opportunity to get a local mobile phone so I wasn’t using my iPhone on roaming, which was a drama in itself and caused the staff at Radioshack to break into near fisticuffs as they argued the proper way to process the phone I wanted. Then it was off to Burger King for lunch and my introduction to “plus tax”. You see in Australia, all prices include goods and services tax (GST), so you pay the amount you see in the price. In America, the value you see doesn’t include tax. So in my situation when I ordered my $5.89 burger meal, I figured $6 would cover it. When the assistant told me $6.17, I figured she’d ordered the wrong item. My partner in crime was quick to point out with a laugh the folly of my mistake, conluding with “You have to forgive him, he’s from Australia”. Thanks Mat.

Honda CBR600RR, The First Week

The first few days the bike unfortunately sat in the garage, having been picked up on the 8th April, and as of the 13th only had the 15kms racked up between the bike shop and home. But yesterday I had the chance to take it for a run into Parramatta, and get a chance to get a real feel for the new bike. I’m going to make a number of comparisons compared to my older 2004 model CBR, as after 5 years i think I have a pretty good feel for how it rides, making comparisons easier. Side by side the newer bike definitely looks the part, with a more aggressive looking front end. The older bike doesn’t look a slouch by any means, but stand them side by side and you can see how good the newer bike really is.

The first thing I noticed is the seat height is lower. My feet never used to sit flat on both sides previously, but now I can sit on the bike with both feet planted firmly on the tarmac. The engine starts with more pep, and runs smoother at idle purring away happily at around 1500 RPM. The throttle response is excellent, and you can really feel the extra low down torque on acceleration. Obviously with a new engine I have to take things easy, but I’m keen to run this baby in and really see how it goes. Deceleration is also stronger, and even at 3000 RPM you can tell the bike really wants to pull up faster, which means less use of the brakes. Speaking of brakes, this model has the ABS option, as indicated by the bronze coloured (and massive) callipers and brake sensor inside the disc. I haven’t needed to use them yet, but from what I’ve seen on the ‘net, they work an absolute treat. Another difference from the 2004 model is Honda’s Electronic Steering Dampener (HESD). “A steering dampener on a 600?”, you may ask, but it really makes the ride so very different. The dampener really smooths out the corners, taking out any twitch that bumps in the road may cause. This really gives you more confidence as a rider, and once I worked out what was happening and why the ride was different, I admit it brought a child-like grin to my face under my helmet.

So was it worth trading up to a newer model in the same line of bike? In a word: yes. I have no regrets about getting the new bike, and as sad as I was to see the older bike ride out my driveway, I couldn’t wait to get on the new one and take it for a run. this really is an excellent bike from Honda, and I really look forward to runing the engine in and putting it through the paces a but more. This weekend sees a few of us heading up to the Jenolan caves for a day trip, so I can’t wait to see how it goes up Bells Line.

Honda CBR600RR 2009

This is the new 2009 model of the Honda CBR600RR, and as of today, it’s now my new bike. I wrangled it from Hawkesbury Honda in Windsor, and went for the colour scheme seen here along with the ABS option. Yes, ABS on a bike! I have only put a meagre 17km on it so far, but it will get plenty of riding soon enough.

Compared to my older 2004 CBR600RR, the ride is quite different in my experience so far. The seat is more comfortable, the riding position is slightly different, but not overly so, and the gearbox is much smoother through the changes. Starting the engine provides a nice smooth sound, and it purrs away like happy tiger. The look is sleek and mean, with a great colour scheme to boot. This model comes with an electronic steering dampener as another change over the 2004 version, and should provide a smooth ride through Western Sydney’s numerous potholed roads.

This new bike is going to give me many years of riding pleasure, and I can’t wait to take it down to Phillip Island for the MotoGP.

Avalon Air Show Photos

After two weeks at Avalon I managed to get a number of, in my own humble opinion, excellent photos of the various aircraft on display at the air show. I have included a couple here to give you a taste of what I manged to capture, but I encourage you to go over to my Flickr site at My Photos.

The time there gave me an opportunity to put my Canon 50D through its paces ready for when I go to the Moto GP in October. Most of the time the 100-400mm f4.5-f.6L didn’t come off the camera. It’s long focal length was perfect for taking shots of aircraft, and it’s quick focus motor allowed me to track the fast movig aircraft. The F16 was put through its paces at least every day, so I managed my of my photos of it, with the Super Hornet coming in closely behind in number of shots taken. I managed plenty of photos of the humongous B1 bomber, and its smaller cousin the F-111, was nice enough to give me a couple dump and burns*.

The air show itself was marred with all variants of weather except snow. We had hot sunny days, cold windy days, wet windy days, hot windy days…. the change was endless, with all types of weather often in the same day! This never deterred the crowds at all, and the punters turned up in the thousands. Food was unbelievably expensive, with a Coke 600ml setting you back a little shy of $7, and a buger, chips and drink hitting the $16.50 mark! Everyone seemed to enjoy the show though. I managed to get a ride in the back of a Caribou before they’re decommissioned later this year, and the Loadmaster was nice enough to open the back ramp for my photographing pleasure while in flight. I walked through the C17 Globemaster, checked out the new Wedgetail AEW&C for the RAAF, and spoke to the USAF Major that was flying the F16 you can see on the left of this article. I was there for work, but I took every opportunity to take in the sights, get a few photos, and try and enjoy the two weeks I had there as much as I could.

*DUMP AND BURN: This is where the F-111 dumps pure AVTUR between the two rear engines, which in turn ignite the fuel in a spectacular display. See the photo below.

Lightning Storm

Lightning Storm 5

Originally uploaded by Daniel Hall – AUS

A storm last Wednesday night gave many opportunities for excellent photos of lightning. I’m fortunate that most storms pass south of where I live before they hit, so I usually have about 10-15 minutes of good lightning before I get rained on. I have never seen a display like this, so I took the poortunity to grab my new 50D and with my 24-105mm lens attached, I started shooting.
I used the back fence as a make shift tripod and rested the camera on a camera bean bag for stability. Using a fast UDMA compact flash card, I set my aperture to around f13 with a shutter speed of aropund 1/4 of a second and starting rattling off photos. The larger buffer of the camera and extra speed of the card gave me around 35 shots of RAW photos at full resolution before the buffer would fill. I managed over 20 photos of lightning, but only around 7 exceptional photos (see http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigkev640/sets/72157594491002280/).