HD Video with the Canon Powershot s95

I‘m back from my trip to Mexico with hundreds of pictures in tow! I had an amazing time. I’m very happy with my new camera purchase I mentioned in my last post: the Canon Powershot s95. Great colour, amazing quality in low lighting and very clear pictures where stabilization would usually be a concern. (I have very crisp photos I had taken from a moving car.) Besides the great low light photos, the other main reason I bought this camera was because it shoots video in HD. (720p) The older s90 model had good reviews as well but didn’t have the HD video feature; a huge seller for me.

My next experiment was choosing where to try hosting some of these videos. Lately I’ve been unimpressed with Youtube’s compression and upload times are pretty crazy. Then again, I haven’t been encoding the video files at all so the file sizes are pretty big. I thought I would try out Vimeo’s free account.

Bonus Points: Vimeo’s site is actually pretty!

With the free account, you get one HD upload per week with 500MB/weekly cap, pretty good! I’m uploading a video as we speak, and it seems to be much less painful than my Hd youtube experience.

Meet my test subjects/guinea pigs! The first video features Weezy, shot in low lightning and uploaded to youtube (raw video)

Here is the video I uploaded to Vimeo, my dad jumping off a cliff into the cinote below. (another raw video.)

Overall, I’m really happy with this camera because it’s so small I can just throw it in my pocket and bring it with me. I’m starting to realize i’m a creature of convenience. If it’s convenient, hell.. if it’s easier, we’ll do it. I tend not to carry my old chunky camera that resembles a DSLR, it was just a hassle to bring in it’s giant carrying case. Not to mention it ate batteries as if they were candy. ;)

I’m not buying a Nintendo 3DS, here’s why!

With the upcoming release of the Nintendo 3DS, the nintendo fanboys worldwide have been drooling over the new handheld – set to be released tomorrow (Feb 26th) in Japan and later in March for Europe and North America. As for myself, I’ve been thinking of upgrading my trusty black DS lite that has served me well for over 4 years. Only a couple of the release game titles interested me (OCARINA OF TIME?! YAY!) but I thought I would still get one just for the fun upgrade and check out how the 3D stuff will actually look. It might be gimmicky, but the hardware upgrade would be nice.

As I was perusing the Wikipedia article for Nintendo 3DS, I noticed something in the specs that really turned me off:

Region Locking: Regional lockout for 3DS software between Japan, America and Europe/Australia

According to this article on Nintendo World Report – “3DS Region Lock Reasons Explained“, the region locking was decided due to “languages, age rating, parental control functionality, local laws in each area, and network services”. I can understand these types of restrictions as the hardware gets more complicated.. even the DSi had some region locking.

The article continues to explain that “software purchased in Japan will only be playable on Japanese 3DS consoles.”

Well that sucks.

During my trip to Japan in 2008, I picked up a copy of Taiko Drum Master for DS. (めっちゃ! 太鼓の達人 DS 7つの島の大冒険）　And to this day, almost 3 years later I am STILL playing that awesome game on my DS. It’s so addicting.. and I STILL haven’t even beat all the songs in Oni mode. Plainly put, I LOVE this game. My DS lite is covered in Taiko stickers. My iphone and ipad both have Taiko no Tatsujin wallpapers. And just my luck, a new Taiko no Tatsujin RPG game for the DS just came out last July in Japan. (太鼓の達人ＤＳ ドロロン！ヨーカイ大決戦！！, Taiko Drum Master DS: Dororon! Big Yokai Decisive Battle!!) I’m still hoping to pick it up soon!

Sure, I could buy a 3DS and keep my DS lite for Japanese games but that seems a little redundant. I would constantly be thinking of all the 3DS titles that I am missing out on that will never have a chance of being release in North America. (and there are quite a few!) Every other major console out there is region locked, I felt lucky that my old DS lite felt special and not limited to games from north america. I suppose it was only a matter of time.

Holycrap! I actually won something!

ABrain Park to win an iPad.

Everyone that knows me will say I’m a super geeky gagdet junkie. I love my shiny new things. I already have an iPhone, but I knew I wanted to buy an iPad when they came to Canada. So when I saw the Brain Park contest, I thought it was perfect! I entered and… I guess the title of this post ruins the end of the story so I’ll just post some iPad porn:

(click on the images to embiggen)

I was so happy/surprised when I got the call and won! Many thanks to Brain Park (who are awesome and are even reimbursing me for the insane customs charge that UPS wanted.)

For those wondering about my awesome wallpaper, it’s from Taiko Drum master/Taiko no Tatsujin/太鼓の達人 (wallpapers from Konachan.com)

Why you shouldn’t trust the internet

THE INTERNET! It’s an amazing tool, we all love it. Maybe even obsess over it. But every once in a while, something happens and there are some people who are not so lucky. I guess the point I’m trying to get across is… some of you are smart but most of you are not. Yes, there are some really stupid people using the internet.

I’m being quite blunt because this post is not written for you; it’s written for your mother or your grandmother who is browsing Craigslist right now looking for a new couch.

I’ve been accused of worshiping the Internet at the same level of Awesome Tiki Fire Gods™. Even I need to remind myself that the internet is not always 100% right. Therefore it is not always trustworthy.

Case in point. My hunt for a new apartment.

I’ve been searching for a new apartment. Out of sheer curiosity, I expanded my search to Craigslist. Not really the best place for apartment hunting but I wanted to find something new. Suddenly, I found it. The Apartment listing that was too good to be true. Brand new and really REALLY cheap. I’ve included a screen shot of the original post below.

(Click on any image in this post to enlarge)

I already knew that it was too good to be true. But I just couldn’t pass it up. I wrote a very succinct 1 line email to the guy who posted it. I simply asked if it was a sublet or full lease. (sublet would explain the price..) At this point, I was a little suspicious but also hopeful.

And then I got his reply. I laughed out loud to myself and read it again. All the red flags went up in my head. ABORT MISSION!

Yep, I knew it. Too good to be true. I’m going to begin dissecting his email just to point out some items which might help some of you spot a scam email if you ever get one:

• Spelling/Grammar

  The mistakes aren’t really horrible but they are there. Mostly, the inability to create plural words. I understand not everyone can write a nice email so this is forgivable.

• Life story I really didn’t ask for

  Seriously, I wrote him a 1 line email asking him if it was a sublet or not. I don’t really care about your world travels or the fact that your kids are going to University in Cyprus.

• Inconsistencies

  He stated that he is currently in the UK, but 2 lines later says that he is “here [in Canada?] with the keys to the property”. ummmm no.

• Weird fucking signature

  The Sun and the Moon and the Stars want you to STFU.

So.. you might get an email like this and suspect it is a scam. Not sure yet? Here is a short lesson.

How using google for 5 seconds can save your ass

1. It is not really at a good sign when google autofills his name with “scam” beside it.

2. A quick search of his name, and I’ve found a linked in profile. No offense to Nigeria but I don’t trust anyone on the Internet from your country.

In short, I’m still looking for an apartment.