Spy Journal 3.0 Filtering the web for you

After over a month of waiting I finally collected my new camera yesterday.

I had to wait because the lenses I wanted were not in the country and I had to wait til shipments came in. Even then, the wide angle lens I was trying to purchase wasn’t available so i ended up with a somewhat cheaper lower specced lens. I did however get my good telephoto lens.

  Equipment list:

• Canon EOS 50D
• Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens
• Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens
• Manfroto 190XDB Tripod
• Manfroto 804RC2 three way head
• Gorillapod SLR Tripod
• LowePro Nova 140AW bag

Equipment reviews that I used to make my choice from:

• Canon EOS 50D – review from Digital Photography Blog
• Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens – review from The-Digital-Picture
• Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens – review from The-Digital-Picture

The-Digital-Picture website also contain sample photos taken with the lenses – made the choice a lot easier.

Now I need to get going with my photography. I have a willing subject in Kitty, and plenty of landscape shots I want to take. I will be posting photos on Flickr as usual and the best ones will get to my Red Bubble account where they will be available to purchase in various formats.

And what a week is has been – with all sorts of amazing announcements, reversals and more on the Australian Domain Registration front with Bottle Domains and the auDA (Australia’s Domain Name Authority) slugging it out in the Supreme Court. This press release sum sit up well - auDA recklessness damages Australian domain industry

More Announcements:

Andy and Carrie Lee had their little baby. There was no sign of facial hair (fortunately!)

Service Pack 2 for the 2007 Microsoft Office System due to ship April 28th

Exchange 2010 Beta Released

Office 2010 announced – official press release - Next Wave of Microsoft Office Products Will Redefine How People Work

Updated Version of Outlook Connector 12.1 Available

And some other news:

Translate Your Outlook Emails into Other Languages

Word Team Blog blogger Joannie Stangeland started up a vodcast series called A Writer's Guide to Microsoft Office.

Tonight the site WMpoweruser leaked the image of the Zune HD – and world is awash with rumours surrounding its specs and capabilities – looks like a device that is way in front of any Apple iPod products with rumours of HDMI, HD display, touch screen, HD Radio and WiFi.

Robin Good has a fantastic guide on How To Blog Anonymously And Maintain Control Of Your Personal Privacy. He lists techniques, tools and other strategies.

He also has written this one How To Embed And Display RSS Feeds On Any Web Page: Best RSS-To-HTML Publishing Tools – linking to lots of great tools.

And once again clearing my browser of all the interesting tabs I opened this week. Not many – I have been working too hard on deadlines!

Microsoft Technologies

IE8 has been released and being rolled out. I have been using the beta and RC1 for months. Time to get the real thing now. Download IE8 now.

The Windows Experience Blog has some page load time tests for IE8 versus Firefox and Chrome.

Embed your live calendar on your website or blog. Sarah Perez posts a how to.

Sarah also posts on the instructions to setup POP3 for hotmail – now available worldwide.

Some interesting comments over at Daily Dose of Excel about the future of VBA.

Doug posts up a cool excel window minimise /maximise animation piece of VBA.

Gadgets

Doug shows off a portable wireless hotspot in a backpack.

Internet

The Technium posts a treatise on the concept of building a fan base of 1,000 true fans in order to generate a living. There is a follow up with some reality checks on depending on True Fans.

Live side gives us Face book comes to Windows Live Frameit Power Toy.

NIA - Neural Impulse Actuator.
The NIA is a brain-computer interface that can be used to control computers and play PC video games.
Such as, Unreal Tournament 3 and Counter-Strike: Source.

The NIA is a band that sits around your head. You can use it to play computer games, rather than using a  joystick, keyboard, etc.
Sounds intriguing, yes. I’ve done a little reading about this new bit of technology, and it seems to be for real.

When, where and how much are some frequently asked questions, I’m sure.
Ryan Peterson, co-founder and CEO of OCZ Technology, told tgdaily that the suggested retail price of the NIA will be $159. “We want people to buy the thing, not to just look at it and think that they cannot afford it,” he told them. Read more about that short story at tgdaily.com.