Canon has posted new firmware updates for the EOS-1D Mk II and EOS-1Ds Mk II models, which are now at versions 1.2.1 and 1.1.1 respectively. Information on the latest changes is available in a D.P.Review article, and they are downloadable via these links:
PhotoRescue, by the Belgian company DataRescue, is hands-down one of the must-have tools for any digital photographer. I can’t remember how many times it has saved the day when I or someone working with me has accidentally deleted images, formatted a card containing vital images, or suffered card failure. And with militaries becoming increasingly unhesitant about demanding that pictures be deleted in-camera when they disapprove of what has been shot, it can be invaluable in recovering those images later on.
New versions for both Mac OSX (v2.1.675) and Windows (v2.1.674) have just been released and demo versions are available here.
They also make a free utility called CardWiper that can wipe a card clean, beyond the reach of data-recovery programs, which can be useful in deep-erasing bad formatting information that can occur when cards get corrupted.
This site has been a bit Skype-heavy of late, but regardless it is interesting news that Skype have launched a beta of a product they are calling SkypeIn. Basically for 30 euros a year you get a “real” phone number that people can call you on, and at the moment you can choose between numbers located in France, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States.
So if you have lots of friends or colleagues in say, the UK, you can have a UK number they can call for a standard national rate that gets routed straight through to you on Skype wherever you are. At the moment you can choose up to 3 numbers (at extra cost I assume) so that you could have a number in the U.S., a number in the UK, and another in France that all get routed to you. There are also SIP-based (non-Skype) products such as those from SipGate amongst others, that do similar things.
UPDATE 04/04/05: They are currently sold out of UK numbers, though still have US, France, and Hong Kong based numbers.
If you’re on the road, or in a place where you can’t get papers, here are two useful sites for looking at the front pages of newspapers from all around the world.
Newseum is very comprehensive but the interface is slow and unintuitive in my opinion, although it does enable you to download high-resolution PDFs for printing should you want.
PressDisplay isn’t as complete (e.g. no UK broadsheets) but the interface is quicker and you can see all of one country’s front pages in a single window, which is good for a quick look at what’s making the front pages in the U.S. for example. The paid version lets you read the inside pages too.
If you know of any similar sites to Newseum & PressDisplay, let me know….
Whilst I’m at it, OnlineNewspapers.com is an excellent resource for hunting down the websites of papers.
If you need to make a flight reservation but want to know what’s available or just need to check out what is the best/fastest way to get from A to B, there are quite a few online travel agents that you can use. Whilst they are often good at popular routings, they often fail when it comes to information about ‘unusual’ destinations…. something I’ve noticed travelling around Africa.
Amadeus is the ‘engine’ behind countless travel agencies worldwide, and you can access that information via the flight search engine on their website. It’s really useful if you need to get somewhere and want to know all the possible ways to get there, even unusual routings via far-off places.
The number of wireless routers out there is huge. And the number of so-called wi-fi “standards” equally so - 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g etc and the upcoming 802.11n.
To complicate things further, some manufacturers have been unwilling to wait for the new 802.11 standard to be ratified, and have come out with “pre-N” kit based on MIMO (Multiple-input, Multiple output) technology which aims to achieve greater speed and range - largely through intelligent ways of reducing interference. Confusingly this pre-N kit is unlikely to be fully compatible with the N standard when it eventually comes out, but at the moment represents the cutting-edge of wireless technology, and should offer significant improvements over existing gear.
Belkin and Linksys have already come up with their own pre-N kit, reviews of which can be found in the links below.
A new product by Netgear due out next month looks particularly attractive, promising 108Mbps speeds and great range due to 7 internal antennas based on technology by Video54 rebranded by Netgear as RangeMax. Whilst the full benefit will be realised by users with new Netgear Rangemax client cards, it also claims a 50% range increase for users with existing wireless gear.
Netgear WPN824 RangeMax router product page
Linksys WRT54GX router product page
Linksys WRT54GX router review at Tomsnetworking
Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router product page
Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router review at Tomsnetworking
Article about the different approaches to MIMO technology at Tomsnetworking
