After years of operating exclusively in the United States, Netflix has expanded to Canada after a somewhat bumbled launch. It works on Nintendo Wii, PS3, iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch if you downoad a free app. Support is built into many newer TVs and the new Apple TV. Of course, you can also use a standard web browser from a computer.

For me, the iPad app is especially convenient. I already use the iPad with my TV for other apps, making this addition icing on the cake. Away from the TV, the iPad’s screen is big enough to take to any bed or couch in the house.

For $8 bucks a month, Canada’s Netflix allows you to stream as much as you want without limits. Video quality is excellent, without any buffering issues on my connection, though your experience may vary. Content selection is a bit weak, but finding a good movie to watch is no trouble at all. If you watch at least 2-3 movies, the service is already paying for itself when compared to movie rental prices. There’s also a selection of TV shows, including many documentaries that don’t air often, all free to browse in a list at your liesure.

I did encounter a couple of small, but annoying iPad compatibility issues. First, Netflix will not rotate to landscape mode when using the TV-out cable, resulting in some strange status bar and keyboard issues when leaving movie mode again later. Having a Wii disc negates the need for using the iPad app with the TV, but full compatibility would be nice.

Second, pressing the iPad’s sleep button stops video playback. Netflix does dim the display to black on its own, but it remains on nonetheless. Other third-party apps such as Air Video keep playing video with the screen completely off after you press the sleep button.

Overall though, it’s working well for me. I expect this to be the future of TV as we know it. [Netflix]

Note: This post originally appeared on my What’s on your Desktop? technology blog before it was merged with my personal blog.

Lenses

First of all, lenses matter just as much if not more than the camera itself.

While typical consumer point and shoot cameras usually have a built-in “do everything” lens that cannot be changed, an SLR can use many lenses. Professionals usually have lots of them for different situations.Most lenses made for older film SLRs are compatible with the newer digital SLR cameras. However, a lens usually only works with a certain manufacturer, but you can buy mounts to make it work others. This interchangability is very important since a good lens is also usually more expensive than an entire point and shoot camera! My lens actually cost as much as the camera body itself.

Aperture

While camera “auto” modes will typically do this for you, adjusting the aperture allows you to adjust the size of the hole that controls how much light goes into the camera. It is measured using f-stops, which are written as an f/number (for example, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/22, etc.). Larger apertures, where more light gets in, are represented using smaller numbers, whereas smaller apertures allowing less light are represented using larger numbers. This is confusing and counter-intuitive at first for sure!

Aperture’s most noticable impact is on depth of field, as clearly demonstrated above. A larger aperture of f/2.8 was used for the flower image on the left, while a smaller aperture of f/22 was used on the right. As you can see, the larger aperture causes the background to blur out. This is a great artistic effect if you want it. Using a smaller aperture (remember, small f-stop number) is more convenient when you want everything in focus, but doing so lets less light into the camera, so the shutter speed needs to be longer. This won’t usually be an issue outside, but it may be inconvenient indoors or in low light situations.

Focal Length

Before owning a DSLR, I typically referred to a camera’s optical zoom as one of its measurements of quality and usefulness, with a higher optical zoom being better. In DSLRs, the more relevant factor is focal length. When you zoom in on something, you are really changing the focal length. My lens has a focal length range of 15-85mm. To get the optical zoom, you simply the divide the smaller number into the larger one to get, in this case, 5.6X optical zoom. The lower number, 15, is more “zoomed out” than a lens which starts at 18mm, and a lot more zoomed out than a lens starting at 55m. Likewise, a lens with a maximum focal length of 85mm can zoom in closer to distant objects than a lens with only a 55mm maximum focal length. You can see the difference in the picture below between 15mm (left) and 55mm (right).

Of course, I’ve been learning a lot more during my first month of DSLR ownership. I consulted The-Digital-Picture.com for my initial camera and lens reviews, and have been reading a lot on Digital Photography School since my purchase.

Hopefully, my summary can be useful to others out there.

Note: This post originally appeared on my What’s on your Desktop? technology blog before it was merged with my personal blog.

Following the purchase of a DSLR camera, I have switched to using raw mode and Adobe Lightroom for post-processing of these photos. Up to now, I have been using Google Picasa to organize and tag my photos. Initially, my collection of photos worked just fine in Lightroom as I invested hours of work of retouching my favourite photos for my gallery. After doing some mass tagging and organization of photos in Picasa, Lightroom stopped reading many of my JPEG photos taken across many years with several different cameras.

Now, when selecting a photo in Lightroom’s Develop mode, I would see a error message:

"The file appears to be unsupported or damaged."

Stupid Lightroom doesn’t provide any additional details or repair options, though further edits to the photo in Lightroom were disabled.

After some research, I found that the metadata headers were still intact, but had been saved by Picasa using a format that isn’t supported by Lightroom.

Cause of Problem

For some reason, Picasa is changing the metadata of the image. I was able to reproduce the problem simply by adding a tag in Picasa, removing it, and then trying to import the JPEG into Lightroom.

Solution

The easiest solution is to re-add the tags you removed using Picasa, and then remove them again using Lightroom. If you don’t remember which tags you removed, adding some new tags may work just as well. I found that the length (in characters) of the added tags had to be greater than those I removed.

Leave a comment or e-mail me if this works for you, or if you are having trouble.

Note: This post originally appeared on my What’s on your Desktop? technology blog before it was merged with my personal blog.

Many of us type on keyboards on a daily basis without giving any thought to its layout. It just works, but why exactly do we use this layout? If you think it’s a carry-over from days past to slow typists down or the result of research to group commonly used keys together, it’s not true! Read on.

Most English keyboards used today use the QWERTY format, which takes its name from the first six letters appearing on the keyboard. Its design is based on a layout originally created by Christopher Latham Sholes for the  Sholes and Glidden typewriter in 1873. Sholes actually began with an alphabetical layout spread across 2 rows, but jams became a major issue. When pressing certain two letter combinations (e.g., “St”) together or in quick succession, the metal arms mounting the characters would collide or become jammed.

Contrary to popular belief, no one wanted to solve this problem by slowing typists down. Rather, Sholes rearranged the layout so that commonly-used letter pairs were not close together on the keyboard, avoiding jams of the connecting metal arms, and thus allowing typists to continue typing fast.

The Sholes layout was sold to Remington later in 1873. Their engineers tweaked the layout even more to get what is almost the same as the modern QWERTY layout. They moved the letter R so that their TYPE WRITER brand could be typed using only one keyboard row, which was an impressive marketing scheme at the time!

If you look at your keyboard, you will notice that the keys are not arranged in a grid, but instead each column is slanted horizontally. This was required by early typewriters to prevent the mechanical arms attached to each key from bumping into each other.

Some keys we take for granted were not part of the original layout. Both exclamation marks (!) and the number 1 didn’t exist on some typewriter keyboards until the 1970′s. This saved production costs, as the lower case L could be used for the number 1, and an exclamation mark could be created using three keys – an apostrophe, back-space, and a period. The number zero was also initially left off, as the letter O could be used, but it was added early on.

So now you have a brief history of the QWERTY keyboard’s layout, and can correct your friends the next time you hear them say its design goal was to create slow typists. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

Note: This post originally appeared on my What’s on your Desktop? technology blog before it was merged with my personal blog.

I made this decision after reading many online reviews, and comparing features with the upcoming 60D. Overall, for my use, I decided this was an excellent upgrade for my photography.

I decided to purchase this camera body and a Canon EFS 15-85mm IS lens separately. This lens is a lot better than what usually comes with the camera. It’s more expensive upfront, but will ultimately be a lens that I will continue using with my future cameras as well. This lens features superior image quality, better sharpness, and a wider zoom range.

To protect the lens, I have attached a UV filter. This type of protection makes sense for expensive lens, as it eliminates the need to clean (and potentially damage) the lens itself.

I already had the horror of seeing smudges appearing on the filter, and they wouldn’t come off. None of the microfibre cloths I had already would clean it, so I purchased some cleaning supplies, as well as an extra battery and carrying bag. I’m ready to go now!]]>

Note: This post originally appeared on my What’s on your Desktop? technology blog before it was merged with my personal blog.

I’ve been researching and considering various models. I’ve settled on the Canon brand for now, as I have had good experiences with them in the past. I’ve been considering the Canon EOS T2I / 550D model primarily, but now Canon has announced the EOS 60D which has almost all of the same features of the T2I plus more with only a little more cost (though Canadian pricing has yet to be announced). I am happy that Canon is continuing the move toward SD cards, as I already have a very fast 32 GB SD card that I’d like to keep using in my new camera. Use of CompactFlash cards was one factor that discouraged me from considering a Canon EOS 50D, the predecessor to the 60D.

Sadly, as this is a very recent announcement, this new model won’t be available until September, but that’s not far away. Nikon has also announced the D3100 for release in September which will compete with many of the same features as these classes of the Canon cameras that I am considering.

The flip-out display actually reminds me of my current “big” camera, the Canon Powershot S3 IS. I purchased this model in 2007 after careful consideration of the available options. I chose this camera for its overall good reviews, flip-out LCD display, flip-up flash, AA battery support, and an excellent 12X optical zoom.

[Canon EOS 60D press release on Engadget]

Note: This post originally appeared on my What’s on your Desktop? technology blog before it was merged with my personal blog.

It’s not something we think about every day, but the best answer for the number of countries in the world is 195.

Don’t tell that to Ma Bell though. Most of the Canadian cell phone companies promise coverage in “over 200″ countries. In the United States, it gets even worse.

Need proof? Let’s start with the Canadian companies, best known for having some of the highest profits and highest prices in the developed world.

Given that TELUS has already gone the extra mile with 5 extra countries, I’m not sure how they plan to add new roaming destinations.

As if most of the 200 countries can be reached by road from Canada!

Fido and Bell also make similar claims, while Rogers is conspicuously quiet with specific numbers on their web site. Maybe it’s because everyone knows they don’t really provide widespread coverage in any countries, including Canada.

In the United States, the empty promises get even weirder. Verizon has a page for  Antarctica, along with a useless coverage map!

I guess there’s no coverage in Antarctica, not even for the research bases.

Then there’s AT&T, an extra special American mobile carrier.

They are clearly the best, with coverage in over 25 imaginary countries that don’t exist.

While the definition of what a “country” is contested in some areas, most experts would agree there is only 195 countries give or take a few. Assuming all of the countries in the world actually have mobile roaming coverage, claims of 200 and 220 are definitely pushing it.

Note: This post originally appeared on my What’s on your Desktop? technology blog before it was merged with my personal blog.

Although I didn’t expect any actual activity (read: non-spam e-mails) in this account, it turns out that the powers and randomness of the internet proved otherwise. By reading through my emails for the past few years in this long-forgotten account, you would think I’m a master of many identities, balancing myself as a poker addict, an avid church goer, professional photographer, world traveler, among other personas, each with its own unique name, such as Paul, Peter, Patti and Patricia.

Let’s begin looking through the e-mail excerpts, shall we?

Trustees,

This year we have three nominations for Citizen of the Year. Other potential nominees from the last meeting were dropped due to lack of profile information. The nominees are:

[list of names redacted]

Please make your selection and return your vote via reply e-mail.

Wow, I get to choose a citizen of the year? I nominate myself!

Happy halloween, patti! Hope you’re having fun….    ken

Oh trust me, I am.

Welcome paul saulnier to the Smugglers’ Wireless Internet Network!

The account you just registered for was issued the following username and password.
Username:  [redacted]
Password:   [redacted]

I will use this smuggle iBeer on my iPhone across the border.

Hi Patricia,

It was great seeing you at the [location redacted] Bridal Show yesterday! [names redacted], and I really enjoyed chatting with you about your upcoming wedding at [redacted] Hotel. [other details about some photo product]

Warmly,

[some photo company]

I really enjoyed chatting with you as well… wait, Bridal Show? What?!

Dear Paul,

This e-mail confirms that a Security Code has been issued for your account at Poker Heaven (PIN: [redacted]) and sent by regular mail to the postal address you registered when you opened your account.

Good thing they sent this via regular mail. I wouldn’t want to be holding some poker addict back from his fix.

Friends:

Just as a matter of courtesy, I wanted to let everyone know that I have resigned from the [redacted] Committee.  This was a very difficult and disappointing decision for me, and I certainly did not make it lightly.  While I deeply regret that I will not be able to fulfill my obligation to [location redacted]’s residents and employees, I do take some comfort in knowing that our town is amply blessed with very intelligent, talented and community-minded individuals, any one of whom would be able to quickly and seamlessly fill the vacant position.

Let’s hope the best qualified person wasn’t the one who was supposed to receive my copy of the e-mail.

Finance Committee:

I have attached a preliminary 2010 budget which I will hand out to Session this evening.

Disturbing. The budget for a church was actually attached to this e-mail (well, actually the next one right after since the sender forgot to attach it the first time, oops!). This church had a yearly income of $488k, and expenses of $582k, leading to a whopping $101k deficit. Out of this, $5k is being spent on Telephones & Internet. It must be on gold plated phones because they certainly aren’t talking much to each other.

I thought you might like to see pictures from last night.

[name redacted]

These pictures of a business meeting weren’t nearly as scandalous as you’re hoping. Get your mind out of the gutter!

Peter,

Please add our newest Trustee, [redacted], to the roster for distribution at the Jan 4 meeting.

[contact details redacted].

As well, you can delete [names redacted] – I have official resignations from each.

Thank you,

[redacted]

Please remove me from the roster. I don’t care.

Hi [someone else] and Peter,
I was just wondering if you received my note regarding the wall in the basement closet. We were wondering if it was going to be repaired before school starts.
Hope you are both having a great summer!
Thanks,
[redacted]

Sure, I’ll get right on that.

And the list of e-mail goes on. All in all, I took the liberty of replying to the most confused groups of people to tell them I’m not the person that they are looking for. I didn’t get many responses, presumably because the senders are too embarassed to acknowledge they’ve been furiously e-mailing the wrong person for months. In the case of the church, they thanked me for telling them, and continue to cheerfully send me a copy of their monthly newsletter. Oh well.

I hope you like it. Enjoy!

iPhone

After months of singing the praises of my BlackBerry, I got rid of it and moved to an iPhone. This was an expensive procedure because I am still on a contract with Telus, but selling my old phone and iPod touch helped offset the cost. For me, it’s a much better device that I am happy with. I really wish I could be happy with a BlackBerry for the wide variety of uses I get out of my iPhone, but the manufacturer just doesn’t want to put enough effort into developing the software properly.

Saint John Politics

I am back in Saint John visiting my family for a couple weeks. A few things have changed, but not much, as always. City debates continue to spur over the new Peel Plaza complex, which currently includes a plan to ruin a historic Carnegie Arts Centre building by burying the lower windows so that a tunnel for transporting prisoners can be built. Umm, what?

Academia & Robots

The main reason for my lack of time lately is the amount of work I’ve been putting into my school work. I’m working on a new robot that interacts with people in different ways, though not quite on the level of reading emotions as I previously explored. I did extensive development with my robot, now named PAUL-E, and am now working on a couple submissions to two upcoming conferences, so more travel may not be far away.

New Cell Phone Network

Say what you want about the Canadian cellphone industry, something done right has seemingly accomplished by 2 of the big 3, Telus and Bell. They have launched a new 3rd generation high-speed cellular network which enables them to offer phones that don’t suck, like the iPhone. Rogers offers a similar, compatible network, but it’s only fast in the main cities, whereas Bell and Telus created their network to be the same speed across pretty much most of the country. So far, my experience has been decent, with a few bugs that I hope they work out soon. This network was actually launched several months in advance ahead of the Olympics.

In the United States, people regularly complain about AT&T’s cell service which is the only company officially offering the iPhone in that country. Dropped calls and defaulting to the slower speed network is a regular occurrence in many large cities. Hopefully our networks will continue to be expansive with prices falling more due to increased competition.

That’s all for now. I hope to update my blog more often.