Two of my boys went "green laneing(is that a word!)" up Green Lane in Manningtree yesterday! The driver is my youngest - not long passed his test the nutter.

Decisions, Decisions!

I really hate making decisions - I tend to make the wrong ones most of the time. SO I could really use a bit of help here from all you experts out there.

I need to upgrade my phone. My old trusty Touch HD is starting to show some faults. Now I could claim under Orange Care and get a new one - but as I am eligible for an upgrade that seems to be the better option.

I have already had a play with the HTC Desire and the Samsung Galaxy S since Orange don't seem to be doing any new Windows Mobile phones any more.

Desire: I liked it a lot! The screen is a little smaller than my HD but not too much. It all seemed to work fine after I managed to switch from Windows Mobile mindset to Android mindset!

Samsung: Hmm - The screen is amazing! But, unfortunately, there are far too many little niggling faults with the firmware. According to some research, many of these are fixed in later releases but I can't get those because it is a branded device!

The other choice is to wait and see if/when Orange release the Desire HD and try that out first. I read somewhere that the Desire HD has failed Google testing which will delay its release until November?

Are the advantages of the HD (bigger screen, better camera and what else?) worth waiting for considering that I don't take that many pictures/videos.

I can't seem to find details about the two Desires ability to shoot video. I know that the Samsung can (claims?) do HD video at 30fps. Can either of the Desires manage that?

Of course I am far too eager to get a new toy to wait very long!!

So - any ideas people?

All help appreciated.

PS - see also this post at modaco.

Desire or Desire HD?

Well I got an HTC Desire out on an upgrade from Orange so that I could have a good play with an Android phone.

I actually wasn't sure that I would like it after several years of Windows Mobile - but I did!

I returned it just inside the 7 day "cooling-off" period just in case and now I can't make up my mind whether to go for the Desire or wait and see if/when Orange get the Desire HD in.

I have heard rumours of them getting it sometime in October - it would be really nice to know a little bit more accurately though.

Sheer laziness!

Oh dear - I started with such good intentions!

Never mind, I will try and post something more regularly from now on I promise.

Regards

Got my O2 Joggler now. Great device - great price for the next week or so as well.

There is a shed load of "hacking" information around for it.

If you are interested - joggler.info is a pretty good starting point.

I am going to be playing with it a bit for a while to see how far we can go with device. I already have Ubuntu Netbook Remix running - complete with touch screen, wifi etc all working! Sound needs looking at but it is pretty good so far!

Electric Palace - Subtitled films - Part II

Well that did not go as well as I hoped!

It looks like you cannot get hold of subtitled prints for feature films. Subtitles in the cinema are either done using a (now discontinued) Dolby system called ScreenTalk, or are done using a digital projector.

Since we don't have the money to buy a ScreenTalk system, and we are planning to get a digital projector in the next 12-18 months - my idea has been declared "non-starter".

We will have to see what we can do later on I guess.

Electric Palace - Subtitled films

Well, I dropped myself in it again!

Mentioned to "the management" that we should consider doing a subtitled film evening/club sort of thing. They thought it was a good idea and left me with the job of researching it all!

So I now have to find out how to get subtitled prints, trailers, adverts etc.

Should be fun actually - once I get the contacts I need and can start phoning/emailing.

Watch this space!!

Webcam question

Here is one for the experts!

I need to find an easy way of streaming video from the webcam on my laptop when I am away from home. I have a netbook with a webcam and I have a "dongle" to access the internet via GPRS/3G.

So - what software do I need on the netbook so that I can stream what it sees to my home?

Any bright ideas out there?

Cheers

"The Pictures"

We also had a film made about us a while ago!

A lovely youg lady called Samantha Shaw made a film about three small cinemas like us and used it as her final piece of work towards a media degree.

I just found the film on Youtube and thought I would share it.

It is here: "The Pictures"

Give it a look.

Electric Palace piccies

Some time ago, a charming couple were taking pictures outside the Palace.

So - I invited them in to have a look at the projection room (we were running a film so I couldn't let them in to the cinema itself).

The result is a very good set of pictures that you can find here.

Do take a look - I think they are great!

Electric Palace, Harwich Digital Projector Fund!

The Electric Palace, where I am proud to be a volunteer projectionist, has just launched its latest appeal for funds.

We are hoping to buy a digital projector to add to our other two classic 35mm projectors so that we can continue to show films beyond the time that the main film distributors stop supplying film on "film".

There is quite a nice article in this weeks Harwich and Manningtree Standard if anyone wants to read it.

Whoops

Whoops!

I had completely forgotten I had this!

Ah well - I must try and use it mustn't I?

Cheers for now.