• Chip and PIN

    Part of the problem with Chip and PIN is the logo.  It subliminally tells you to use one out-stretched finger to type in your PIN, in full view, as clearly as possible to any onlookers. This seems to be the wrong message.  There are plenty of things wrong with Chip and PIN, but mostly it…

  • Stitching panoramics

    Earlier this year I took five side-by-side pictures of Bournemouth Pier and stitched them together using hugin.  It’s quite easy: you just click somewhere recognisable on one photo, click on the same feature in another, and repeat several times.  I took the entire set of pictures with exposure lock set, although it doesn’t seem to…

  • Clive Wright’s 35mm slide rig

    There has been quite a response to a comment made by Clive Wright on a previous post about digitizing 35mm slides.  Here’s what Clive said: Having recently purchased a new camera, a Fuji Finepix S8000fd with 8Mpixels & a SuperMacro facility focusing down to 1cm (0.4″). I placed a slide on a small lightbox and…

  • Utility companies and passwords

    Ever since I heard it was possible I’d been meaning to set up passwords with my utility companies so that they can verify their identity to me when they turn up at my door.  This week I tried it with my gas supplier.  They said they don’t do that, but don’t worry, it’s fine, I…

  • Sky+: check your scheduled recordings this weekend!

    If you’ve got a Sky+ box and use it to record things on series link, check your scheduled recordings on Sunday when the clocks have gone back.  Last time the clocks changed we had to re-schedule the recordings because they were all wrong by an hour…