When we arrived from work today, we noticed that Saint-Nicolas has came by our house :-)
Besides some chocolats and other sweat things, I and Christel, both got a really nice present ...

Every year, at newyears' eve, we like to sing some karaoke on the WII.
It's always a big struggle with the wires of the microphones(especially when you did have some *alcoholic* drinks).
So, Christel got 2 wireless USB microphones for the WII ...


She got 3 of these ... Completely wireless, with a USB connector to fit in the back of the WII.
(you can also use them on PS3, XBOX360 and PC)

You will surely remember that I got a new Imac in september. A real fine machine, but the only thing missing, was a numeric keypad.
So, I got a keyboard extension, which fits tightly onto the original wireless mac keyboard ...


I already really like this "addition".

Just before the holidays started, I did have some problems with my main PC.
(the PC with the most processor-power / disc-space / memory available in our home)
So, after returning from our holidays, Christel decided to give me an early Christmas present :-)
I got a brand new Apple IMAC 27" (70 centimeters) with a quad-core 3,1 GHz processor, 8 GB of memory and 1 TB of disc-space.
This is really one heck of a machine I got !


all clutter on my desk is gone now, a nice clean desk is the result of this new baby !

It all started with the wish of the modelrailroad club where I'm a member off.
They wanted an android device, to control the modelrailroad layout remotely.
So, we bought some cheap android devices in China, (about 83 euro !) with android 2.2 on it.
These devices are perfect for running RocRail, but don't have 3G/UMTS and GPS and a decent camera ...
So, for myself, I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab. Much more expensive, but hey, you get what you pay for !

This is the device, running android 2.3 with a 7" multitouch screen.







I'm also the proud owner of a Sony Ericson LiveView watch. (A watch that syncronizes to an android device via Bluetooth)


You can ware/use this device as a real watch, or use it as a "clip-on".



Furthermore, I also own an Eye-Fi 8 GB SD Card. You probably think, "what is so special about an SD card, that you post it here ?" ...
Well, the fact is, this SD card has built-in wifi, so pictures are automatically transferred to your PC/IPAD/IPOD/Android device !
So, While I'm on the road, taking pictures with my Nikon camera, pictures are automatically wireless transferred to my Galaxy Tab,
Without the need of a Wifi router or access point !


It looks like an ordinary SD card, but it's much more then that !



After all this nice "toys", I also bought a new "tool" ...
I now finally have a digital storage oscilloscope ! 4 channels with 72MS/s (2 analog and 2 digital channels) + a signal generator !

For more info, check out this link to Seeedstudio !
This device is still in pre-order state on the Seeedstudio site, but I managed to buy one, directly from the HongKong manufacturer :-)


This is the device, pocket-size format :-)

A product that already exists for a few years, drew my attention this year ...
It's called "O2 Joggler", and is a product that originates from the UK.


This is how a joggler looks like, it's actually a 7" photoframe, with touchscreen.

The reason why this "joggler" caught my attention, is first of all, the price: about 60 British pound.
(It was much more expensive when they launched this product, prices about 200 British pound where no exception !)
Another reason is, that because of this cheap price, it's a highly wanted gift for *hackers*, there is a very vivid open-source community around this O2 Joggler.
People are porting linux distros to this device, which makes it an ideal and cheap solution for an in-wall touchscreen for home automation, even with some processing power behind it :-)
Searching the internet, I found out that you have 2 additional USB ports on the mainboard, one internal USB port (internal wifi is connected to it), and one external USB port.
I did put the right linux distro image on a fast 8 GB SD card, and put it inside the device, soldered to one of the 2 additional USB ports,
and I stripped a bluetooth USB stick, and soldered it to the second additional USB port. Next I have 8 GB diskspace, internal wifi and bluetooth, and a spare external USB port :-)
In the meanwhile I have Ubuntu 9.10 running on it :-) I own 2 (and half) Jogglers for the moment, and planning a few extra :-)

Thank you O2 for this beautiful device :-)

While it is still more then 2 weeks, before Christmas arrives, the presents are already known :-)
But as a sidenote, they stay under the Christmas tree, until the Christmas night !

I bought an Apple IPAD for Christel, the 64GB version with 3G on it (I already jailbreaked it !)
Furthermore I bought some accesoires, like a leather case/stand to put the IPAD in, some screenprotectors and a car charger.
I also already installed a few interesting apps, and a few 100 ebooks and comic books onto the device, so she can start playing with it,
right after unpacking it :-)

It al started as a "small request", which escalated ...
Christel likes to read books, she asked for a small light to attach to here books, but I'm not fond if this type of solutions.
Things like that, always gets damaged, lay around, and sit in the way when not in use.
So, I proposed to buy an Ebook reader, which she agreed upon. LOL, but a real ebook reader doesn't have an illuminated screen, so on to the next solution :-)
I did look at HP slate, some Android based IPAD "look-a-likes" (google for EPAD or APAD), but nothing comes even close to the brilliance, performance and possibilities
of this *magnificant* IPAD :-) (Note that I'm normally *not* an Apple fan, I don't even have an IPOD or IPHONE)

So, I finally decided to buy the "full monthy", the one with 64 GB and 3G (additional to Wifi), so she can also use it "outhouse", in combination with here Mobile Vikings dataplan.

For those not familiar with the IPAD, here are some cool commercials from Apple ...







Since I'm "into" home automation / embedded systems / linux (besides my electronics & modelrailroad hobby), I decided it was time for me to do some development on
an embedded system. I did look at beagleboard, Texas Instruments OMAP4 devices etc ... and finally arrived at a mini2440 (FriendlyArm) device.
a Single-Board-Computer board, based on an ARM9 processor, with lots of I/O ports, I2C connectivity, LAN, 4 serial ports, 1 GB Nand, and best of all, a 7" touchscreen.
(I also asked for a VGA extension, a serial camera module, bluetooth add-on and wifi add-on, so, actually "the full monthy", a more-then-complete set)
Best of all, this little device only draws a few Watts !

This device comes with a Linux kernel with Qtopia pre-installed, but you can also install Android, Debian Linux, Windows CE etc ... on it.
It's really open-source, and will give me a lot of "joy" (and possibily also some head-aches, lol) in the next year ...
Note that this is *not* a full PC, it's an embedded system !

Here is a small movie of a mini2440 in action, running some pre-compiled QT examples.

While taking my Nikon DSLR for the second time with us on holidays, I felt the need for another lens.
I had a 18-55mm lens (standard lens that came with the Nikon DSLR), which is actually sometimes not enough, when taking pictures on holidays.
So, to be prepared for our next trip, we decided to buy a tamron 18-200mm lens, in Oberhausen.
(those lenses are much cheaper in Germany, then here in Belgium)


So, this is our new lens: Tamron AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro

Specifications:
- Model: A14
- Lens Construction (Groups/Elements): 13/15
- Angle of View: 75°-7°
- Type of Zooming: Rotation
- Diaphragm Blade Number: 7
- Minimum Aperture: F/22
- Minimum Focus Distance: 17.7in.(0.45m)
- Macro Magnification Ratio: 1:3.7 (at f=200mm MFD 0.45m)
- Filter Diameter: 62 mm
- Weight: 398g (14oz)
- Diameter x Length: 2.9 x 3.3in. (73.8 x 83.7mm)
- Accessory: Flower-shaped Lens hood
- Mount: Nikon with Built-In Motor

The last few months, we invested quiet a large amount of money, in "high-tech" gear :-)
(No, we don't feel like there is any financial crisis out there !)
We bought:
- 2 smartphones (with windows mobile)
- a 42" Full HD screen (which I use as a computer monitor)
- 2 digital photoframes (which we are going to use as a "name tag" at our front entrance)
- 2 Acer Aspire One netbooks (one already "modified")
- a Playstation 3 (which we initially bought as a Bluray player, for games we already have 2x Xbox360 and a WII)
- a Bluray burner

2 smartphones - LG KS20


We both have a smartphone now, in combination with a "Mobile Vikings" Sim-card. (take a look at http://www.mobilevikings.com)
With every top-up of 15 euro for making phonecalls, we get 1 gigabyte of free data-traffic for use on the Edge network of base.
This device is running windows mobile 6, does have 2 camera's, built-in UMTS/EDGE/GPRS, WIFI, bluetooth etc ...
(in combination with our GPS logger (see the item of 2008-07-06, more down on this page) and TomTom, we can also use it as a GPS :-)
I have MSN open all the time, it also checks my 6 mailboxes every 2 minutes, updates weather-info and RSS feeds on a one-minute-interval etc ...
We also twitter and update our facebook on those little nifty devices, and ofcourse, we can also use it to make phonecalls :-)
(We both "generate" about 800 MB data-traffic every month with this smartphone)

a 42" Full HD screen - LG 42LG5500


Recently, I removed the 2 monitors from the "middle" computer at our desks.
I replaced those screens, with a 42" Full HD, which acts as a monitor (perfect for AutoCAD and other plan-drawing software !),
but is also used to watch TV (when I'm working on my "main" computer),
and I also use it to play Xbox360 games, when the "large TV beamer" is occupied.
It does have a 1920x1080p resolution, with 3 HDMI inputs, a component input, a VGA input, and 2 scart inputs.

2 digital photoframes


The LG phones and the HD screen came from Pixmania, and when browsing the Pixmania website, I also did see a promotion about a digital photoframe.
So, I ordered 2 of them, with the idea to take them apart, and give them another purpose.
I'm going to use them as "name-tags" at our front entrance. They are not only able to show pictures, but they can also play movies and MP3's :-)
(so, during the year, we will simply put a JPEG onto the SD card, with our names on it, but during Christmas and New Year, we have the possibility
to show some animated seasons greetings, and to even play a "tune" along with it :-)
(No need to say that due to my long period of illness, this project still needs to be started)

2 Acer Aspire One netbooks


Everybody knows them by now: Netbooks ! We bought 2 of them (one for me, and one for Christel ofcourse !)
The first thing I did, was to remove the pre-installed windows. We are totally into Ubuntu right now ...
After a week, I even did take apart my Aspire one completely, and I did put in a touchscreen ! (you can buy these touchscreens as DIY-kits on Ebay)
Also, we ordered some "decals" trough Ebay, and "fitted" them onto the notebooks (ooh well, it wasn't that hard, they were designed for Aspire One's, lol)



Those things do have an Intel Atom processor onboard, and SSD (so, no moving parts in the device, not even a fan !), 2 GB Ram, 1024x600 resolution,
Wifi, bluetooth and an UMTS/Edge/GPRS module onboard !

a Playstation 3


Because we already are "into" High-Definition (we have a HD beamer and a HD videocamera), we decided it was time for some BluRay investments ...
First of all, we needed to play Bluray disc, so we decided to buy a Playstation 3, which can play BluRay movies, and even can be used as a
multimedia center.(I stream movies/music/pictures from my NAS, over my network, directly to the PS3)

a Bluray burner


We own a HD videocamera, which we use on a regular base when we go on holidays, or when we visit modelrailroad exhibitions.
So, the next "logical" step, was to buy a Bluray burner, to enjoy our own movies in the highest possible quality.
Recently, those burners crossed the 200 euro border, and are actually "cheap" ! (That's what I think about the price anyway)
So, I bought an LG GGW-H20L ... I does burn Bluray, DVD & CDR and it can also read al those formats, including HD-DVD !
(Did you notice I'm a big fan of LG ? lol)

I do have a few "dirty" locs, the idea came to mind, to clean them "ultrasonic".
So, after reading a few reviews about ultrasonic cleaners, we decided to buy one ...

The result is an E-sonic 1200GH ...


Technical specifications:
- High power ultrasonic transducer for superior cleaning
- 1300 ml Stainless steel tank - size 22.8 x 13.3 x 15.8 cm
- Plastic lift out tray with handle
- Transparent lid with blue light to view the cleaning process
- Digital display 3 digit LED
- On/off light touch switch with 5 working cycles
- Programmable timer
- Voltage 220/240, Wattage 60
- Ultrasonic frequency 40KHz
- Weight 2.15 kg
- Heated radiator

I did a little test, with "dirty" euro-coins, just to see if it works like they promised.
The result is very good ! So, I will surely use this ultrasonic cleaner for loc-parts ...


On the left, the dirty coin. On the right, the same coin after a 120 seconds cleaning cycle.

Due to some problems with our previous hifi-set, we decided to buy a brand new home-cinema receiver.
I already knew what I wanted, weeks in advance :-)

So, we bought a Sony STR-DG820 !


I must say, the sound that this beauty produces, sounds more natural, crisp, full, clear and warm,
Even with the same speakers we used previously.
It does not only do "sound", but it also does "video". (which eliminates the need of a video matrix switch)
After all, an "investment" that is worth the money !

Technical specifications:

This weekend, our set-top-box from "Telenet Digital TV" died !
Because we already tought about switching to satellite reception this year, this was the moment to buy a dish-set. (a bit earlier then forseen).
So, now we pay about half of the price we payed Telenet to watch television, and we have a lot of extra channels !
(Even some channels where you needed to pay extra for with Telenet)


(Check out the TV-vlaanderen website for more info, by clicking on the logo, we have about 500 TV-channels now !)

And this is our set:

- Philips HD DSR 7121/7122 receiver
- Dish (Triax, 64 cm)
- Duo LNB Twin
- Wall bracket
- 20 meter coaxcable & 2 F-connectors
- Screws
- Compas (To easily find the ASTRA satellites)
- TV Vlaanderen smartcard

The advised price was 429 euro, but we only payed 319 euro :-)

Note:
- The Duo LNB, gives you the possibility to receive 2 satellites at once, without moving your dish. (in our case, 19.2° east and 23,5° East)
- The "Twin" option on the LNB, makes it possible to connect 2 sat-receivers at once ! (we are planning an extra receiver for the bed/bath-room)

Yesterday, there was an "open harbour day" in the Harbour of Antwerp. People were invited to visit this "Port to Europe", and lots of multi-nationals in our
Harbour did allow you to bring them a visit. We did make a tour with a boat, trough several docks, after that we went to "Noordzeeterminal", one of the
biggest harbour-terminals in our area, where we could see how containers got from the boats to the docks ...
We recently bought a "GPS logger", with the next vacation in mind. A GPS logger is a small device, that you turn on at the beginning of a trip, you put it in your
pocket, and just forget about it, until you get back home ... The device itself continously logs your coördinates, where-ever you are on this planet, and store
these coördinates with a 5 second interval into it's internal memory. (You can record up to 150.000 points into internal memory, which equals more then 200 hours)
After a trip, you simply download the logfile to your PC via USB, to store it somewhere save, along with your pictures, and clear the memory of the logger.
With a little software-tool, you can compare the timestamps of your pictures, with timestamps and coördinates in your logfile, and geo-tag your pictures
with the GPS coördinates where they are taken. (Info is stored into the EXIF header of your picture, so it is in the picture-file, but not visible into the
image itself. Afterwards you can see pinpoints at google-earth, to indicate the exact location of your pictures.
You can even "replay" the logfile, mapped on google earth, (at a self-defined speed), to review your steps ;-)

If you are interested in pictures from our harbour, or want to experiment with geotagged pictures, then please take a look at our skydrive section,
by clicking here. You will find over 100 high-resolution pictures, with included geo-tag info in the EXIF header.

Have a look at some screenshots:


Google earth is "integrated" within the software-application that came with the GPS logger, here you see a "global overview" of our trip.
The brown line indicates the whole route. The flag is where we started. The gray icons are clickable pinpoints where pictures are taken.


I have a quatro-screen setup, so I stretched the application. I can view the google-earth info on one screen and the pictures on another.
Clicking on a picture in the photo-gallery on the right, re-aligns google-earth to that position, and an indication with a green arrow is make, to
point out where a picture was taken. Otherwise, clicking on a photo-pinpoint in google-earth, does bring up the corresponding picture in the picture gallery.


This is a screenshot with more detail. You can even recognize the crane from the picture in the picture-gallery in the previous screenshot.

The GPS logger that we use, is an I-Blue 747 with 32 MB of log-memory. We bought it on ebay for about 35 euro. (they normally cost about 60 ~ 70 euro)
The device itself is not only usable as a GPS logger, it also does have bluetooth built-in. I now can use Route66 on my Nokia N70 mobile phone with
this device as a GPS receiver.


The device itself measures about 7 cm (about 2.75 inches), and runs on Li-On battery (Nokia style), which gives you about 25 hours of continuous operation.
Recharging is done trough a USB-port. When you buy this GPS logger, a car-charger and 110V / 220V charger also comes included.
It does have 2 buttons, (one on top, and one on the side)
Every time you push the button on top, an extra "Point of Interest" is added to your logfile. (In case you want to distinguish some locations in special, the orange
LED will blink several times in various colors, to indicate that this POI is recorded.
The button on the side, does have 3 positions: OFF | NAV | LOG.
- OFF, speaks for itself ;-)
- NAV, turn the switch into this position, to use the GPS logger as a regular bluetooth GPS receiver.
- LOG, when turned in this position, data is added to the logfile.
(Tip: if you switch to LOG, and back to NAV, without turning the device off, it keeps on logging, while you can use it as a regular bluetooth GPS receiver)
The 3 LEDs on top:
- The orange one (on the left), blinks when GPS connection is OK, or stays on when GPS connection is not OK.
- green LED (top), blinks when loading the battery, and turns to a "steady ON" when battery is full. when the battery is allmost empty,
the color of this LED changes from green to RED.
- blue LED (bottom), stays on when bluetooth connection of the device is ON, but no connection with another device is made, and blinks when data
transfer between bluetooth devices is established.

"GPS Photo Tagger" and "Locr GPS Photo" comes included with the package, on a small CD. I advise you to update the software from the web,
and also to have a look at some extra software/tools for PC and PocketPC. Have a look at the Transystem website by clicking here.

[ NOTE ]
alldough the device does have bluetooth, you need to connect it via USB to your PC, to download the logfiles and to set some parameters !
If you are handy with a soldering iron, you can openup the device, and add an additional resistor, to make the blue-tooth work in both ways ...
(It uses an MTK chipset, so also some sourcecode and opensource software is available, to write your own application)
A good source and starting-point for this, is http://www.gpspassion.com and in particular this thread.

I also expect a small package from the USA, which includes an Eye-Fi card. This is a small SD card, that you can put in your digital camera.
I does have 2 GB of memory, and WIFI built-in ! You can configure the WIFI-part on your PC, to make it possible for your digital camera,
to automatically upload your pictures from the camera to a given network-location. (this only works for JPEG, not for RAW files, but you may
expect a firmware update in the future, which will offer this feature for RAW files to)
I'm thinkering with the idea, to build a small box, which will include 2 HD's (in raid 0, so they both contain the same data, for data-safety),
a WIFI access point, and some "homemade" hardware. The idea is to take this small box with us on vacation, and leave it at the hotelroom.
When you come in range of the WIFI, pictures will be automatically transferred to the HD, and the logfile of the GPS logger will be transferred via
bluetooth (yes, I have an extra resistor in my I-blue 747), with any manual interaction from a user. This will allow a hassle-free vacation, where
you never need to worry about full memorycards or the possibility to not have enough logging-space on the GPS logger.
(unless you stay away more then 200 hours from this little box, or take more then 2 GB worth of pictures, between a 2 "box-visites" ;-)

When this idea becomes reality, you will surely read about it on our Digital Playground ...

On Saturday, june 21th - 2008, my sister in law (my wifes' sister) and her husband, did trow a party, because of there 25th anniversary of marriage.
A few days before that party, she phoned us, with the question if we would like to take some pictures on that party. (normally, we make movies of
parties and events, and put them on DVD) Because we still had an old digital photocamera, I did found this a good excuse to buy a new DLSR ;-)
I took a day of work, and got to Utrecht (The Netherlands), to topdeals.nl ,they really had nice prices, compared to shops in Belgium.
You can place your order on the internet, but you have to go to there shop to actually buy it. Because we are more "into" filming instead of photography,
we didn't want to trow in a "whole lot of money". We first tought about a Nikon D40, but eventually went for the D60, which does have an automatic
lens cleaner and a lot more of pixels (10.2 MP instead of 6 MP) The price was a bit more then the D40, but afterall, we find the extra features and
better specifications, worth the money.
Enough talk, lets have a look at a few of our very first pictures. (All pictures are taken with the "default" 18-55 mm lens)
(If you are interested in some more of my test-photos in high-resolution, you can have a look at our skydrive, by clicking here)

First of all, we went to the Veltwijck-park, to "try out" the camera:


Nature can be so beautifull ;-)


Our "allmost-famous" house-of-district ...

Next, a few days later, I did make so try-outs with a milky-white sheet of acrylic, and a few of my scale models ...
(As I now also am a member of BelgiumDigital, I needed some pictures to "show off" ...)


one of my 1:18 scale-models ...


and another ;-)