Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) built-in dictation

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I’ve been looking forward to trying Mac OS X 10.9’s “advanced” (i.e. not-transmitting-my-life-story-to-Apple) dictation, as a potential competitor to Dragon Dictate.  Unfortunately, it’s – against all odds – even more embarrassing than Siri.  For example: This test, of the coolest names built-in dictation.) Nope, not important. If you’re..Reasonably built night, That was true Samaritan and… Read more

Image quality vs circular polarising filters

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I like circular polarising filters.  I hate glare, and I like strong – but natural – contrast.  So until recently I used them a lot.  The only downside, I figured, was the loss of light.  Sometimes my photos using the filter seemed a bit soft, but I assumed that was because of the slower shutter… Read more

iCloud Photo Streams have limits

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Officially, Apple claims that you can store your last 30 days of photos in iCloud via Photo Streams.  This is true only if you don’t have very many.  If you actually take a lot of photos, iCloud boots your arse out and doesn’t let you use Photo Streams anymore.  At all. 24/09/13 6:54:08.457 PM PhotoStreamAgent[305]:… Read more

Nikon AF-S 18-105 notes for landscapes

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Standard internet disclaimer applies:  I have one copy of each of these.  The Nikon 50/1.8G performs exactly as everyone says – very, very well.  The Nikon 18-105, on the other hand, is possibly a bad copy; lots of people think theirs’ great, I think mine’s crap (not just versus a prime like the 50/1.8 –… Read more

I guess I really am over iPhones

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In summary, I’m really not impressed with the new iPhones.  Not that I’ve ever really liked the iPhone that much, but I’ve always at least thought that the new one each year was an actual upgrade.  Make no mistake, shipping ARM64 in a phone of all things before anyone else has even put it into… Read more