Stephen Chinnadorai

I’ve asked a lot of people the same question for the past month or so: “Which lens should I upgrade to?”. Most of them responded with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 — a fast, small and affordable lens.

This is the first prime lens I have ever used, so I felt limited to a single focal length, compared to the 18-55mm zoom lens I was previously using. For those of you that don’t know, prime lenses do not have the ability to zoom in or out – they’re fixed to a particular length, in this case: 50mm. Zoom lenses can have different ranges in focal lengths, but are often more expensive, heavier and don’t produce the same quality of image you get from a prime lens.

The 50mm prime is undoubtedly one of Canon and Nikon’s best selling lenses — the price makes it very attractive for newcomers to digital SLRs. I can definitely see why this lens has been recommended. Although I haven’t taken it out much yet, this lens is bringing sharp photos in the darkest situations; and provides beautiful blurred-out backgrounds (bokeh) on portrait photos.

I haven’t had a chance to use the 50mm f/1.4, but it is supposed to be even better than this lens. I highly recommend anyone new to SLR cameras like me to give this lens a try; especially because its cost is low for the photos you get out of it.

There’s a recent phenomenon of IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) services appearing across Europe, the USA and some other parts of the world. IPTV is intended to be the next-generation of television — delivering content to a user whenever they want it, rather than traditional schedule-based TV that we’re used to today. It sounds great — but there is one major dilemma: Internet.

As I have posted before, the world needs faster broadband. Delivering short, low-quality video clips that are compressed is no problem at the moment — but when it comes into larger, even high-definition video, most users’ internet connections will struggle.

In the UK, the current leaders appear to be ISPs: BT’s BT Vision, and Virgin’s Virgin Media — both of which are terrible services. They claim to give entirely “on demand” services; as it turns out, this isn’t the case. Both services come free or discounted when you purchase the ISP’s internet service, which is appealing to the consumer. However, both services do not work at all.

BT and Virgin have tried to combine traditional over-the-air digital TV with IPTV, and it doesn’t work. For a start, the actual set-top boxes are ugly: No thought has been put into the design, and good design is key to a good product. It’s the same story with the interfaces — BT are using Microsoft (not a good choice), and Virgin appear to be using a proprietary OS for set-top boxes. The interfaces are hard to use, and rarely do what you want them to do. Also, the quality of the streams aren’t worth watching on a TV bigger than 26 inches, in my opinion. HD streams is what the next generation of TV needs, not to go back a step in quality.

TV over the internet can work, but none of the big ISPs seem to get it. I think IPTV should be left to companies who are dedicated to changing the way we watch TV, rather than ISPs who are in the game purely for the money.

I’m a Google guy — like most of us, I have been using Google as my search engine for everything: Information, images, news, and maps; until now.

Microsoft’s previous MSN search was not impressive at all, and their new Live Search is nothing compared to Google. However, their Live Maps feature is quite an improvement over what Google is currently offering. 3-dimensional bird’s eye views are available on Microsoft’s map service. I actually found that, although the interface is not as smooth being web-based, it provided better images of my area than Google Earth.

I also noticed that Google has done a terrific job of “Street Mapping” major cities in the US, but not much else than central London is in street view in the UK. If Google can learn from Microsoft’s bird’s eye view, they would have the perfect service.

Although I still prefer Google’s interface, and compatibility with other browsers like Safari, Microsoft have done a decent job with their new maps feature. I’m still going to be using Google for everything, but I may check back to Live Maps for more detailed bird’s eye views.

At the time of writing this, Twitter is down. With over 1 million users registered, Twitter is the largest micro-blogging website, and one of the most popular social networks on the internet.

Created back in July 2006, Twitter was built without the idea of so many users for the service. Its infrastructure isn’t designed for this many people sending status updates every second.

For me at least, it appears Twitter goes down a lot. It may just be the fact that I’m in a different time zone to most Twitter users (GMT/UK Time); however, Twitter have created a global community, and need to keep that in mind when performing maintenance on their site.

Whether Twitter needs more processing power added to its service, or just a complete re-code of the way it processes updates - it needs to be done. Twitter: Your service is awesome, but nothing will stop you losing your powerful user base if this frequent downtime continues - please, fix it.

There are too many things I want to buy this year, I’ve tried to cut it down to only what I really want and need. This is a brief list of some of the most important things I’m hoping to purchase this year.

MacBook Pro

My aging Core Duo 2.0GHz MacBook was my first Mac, and it’s served me well for the past 2 years. When I first bought it, it had only 512Mb RAM and a 60GB hard drive. Since then, I’ve upgraded the RAM to 2GB - this made a huge difference, and I can’t imagine going back to less than 2GB; I have also upgraded the 60GB hard drive to a 160GB - which also now seems impossible to live without.

A next-generation MacBook Pro (whenever it comes out) will be what I’m getting next. As much as I love the MacBook’s classic Apple White look, the MacBook Pro is the way to go - with better general performance and graphics power.

Dell 2408WFP

Right now, I’m writing this on a tiny 13-inch MacBook screen - I need a bigger one. I decided to go with Dell’s 2408WFP, from all the positive reviews Dell displays receive, and the fact that it is slightly cheaper than Apple’s ones. 24 inches seems to be a great size for general productivity and watching movies. This screen could also double-up as one for my PS3, as it has an HDMI port with HDCP.

50mm f/1.8 (or f/1.4)

After several recommendations, I decided the 50mm prime should be my next lens. However, I’m still deciding between the 50mm f/1.8 and the more expensive f/1.4. The way I see it - the f/1.8 is great for beginners wanting to get a first experience with primes, and the f/1.4 is the one that takes slightly better pictures, and lasts a lot longer. Some are recommending getting the 1.8 first, then if I like it, get the 1.4. I’d rather by one than two, though. Maybe your comments would influence my decision on this.

iPhone 2

If the second iPhone (which is obviously coming out in June) has enough new features, or new design, and has 32GB storage, then I will seriously consider getting it. I’m happy to pay for the handset itself, but O2’s overpriced contracts are stopping me from getting an iPhone. 

Message to O2: Make a cheap (Less than £15/$30) contract for those of us who don’t make 600 minutes of calls a month, but still browse the web - your sales will go through the roof. 

That’s about all I can think of right now. I’m pretty sure some new gadget will appear that I will want later this year. Whether I will get all of these things is another blog post, this is just what I’m aiming for by the end of the year. 

Last week, I picked up a copy of one of the most anticipated games of all time: GTA IV. It’s almost impossible that you wouldn’t have heard of this game - it’s been everywhere possible in the media recently, and had its fair share of good and bad controversy. 

Graphics

As you would expect, this game is only available on the next-gen consoles: Sony’s PlayStation 3, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 - not the Nintendo Wii. With the graphics power of these consoles, some incredible quality images can be rendered. GTA IV’s graphics are a definite improvement upon San Andreas’ - but because of the map size, the graphics aren’t quite up to the standards of other games - for example, Gran Turismo 5. Overall, the graphics are more than reasonable on a High Definition screen; the game runs smoothly at a native 720p resolution, and it looks great on most screen sizes. 

Gameplay

The gameplay has much improved upon the San Andreas. The vehicles handle much more realistically, almost life-like. The controls have also changed, and the PS3 now uses a layout more similar to what Xbox users had from the start. You use the R2 trigger to accelerate, which gives much more precision than just the X button - you also use L2 to brake in the same way; both of these minor changes make handling cars much easier, and give you more control over vehicle speeds. The new cover and auto-aim systems are a nice addition, although sometimes don’t work as well as they should.

Audio

In 5.1 surround sound, this game sounds incredibly realistic. You hear cars, gun shots and people from behind you, and around you as you move. The ambient noises around the city, from the people and vehicles on the street, are also very realistic.

As with all Grand Theft Auto series games, the soundtrack is a key element to the game. As you drive around the city, you can tune into a selection of radio stations, varying in genre - the best station in my opinion is Radio Broker.

Conclusion

This game lives up to the hype it’s received over the last few weeks. Rockstar have re-written this game in a brand new engine, and you can tell this game is different to the previous ones. The entire game is a phenomenally realistic experience - from just roaming around Liberty City, to participating in activities with your friends. I’m only 25% through the game, but I’m already blown away by this game.

More and more people are becoming regular users of the internet today; sending e-mails, making VOIP calls, chatting through video, watching YouTube, sharing photos, downloading music; the list is endless. Most of these activities require a lot of bandwidth, and most current infrastructures can only deliver between 8 and 16mbps. I’m on an “8mbps” plan from BT right now - but it’s more like 6mbps. 

However, not all of the world is lagging behind in internet speeds. Japan has an average of 60mbps, Korea has an average of 45mbps and Finland has an average of 25mbps. These are average speeds, not the highest speeds. The UK has less than 4mbps average, and about the same for the USA. 

There are three main options for upgrading broadband speeds:

Fiber Optic Cable

Verizon in the USA is already offering a service they call “FiOS” - but it only delivers speeds of up to 25mbps, mainly in densely populated areas. In theory, fiber optic cable can bring speeds between 50mbps and 100mbps - but it’s going to be hard to lay an entirely new infrastructure across countries.

VDSL

VDSL stands for Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line. It uses existing copper lines, with fiber optic lines to bring speeds of up to 100mbps. It’s still pretty hard to deploy, but costs a lot less than fiber.

WiMAX

WiMAX, as you may have guessed (or not), is a wide area form of Wi-Fi. You wouldn’t need a Wi-Fi router in your home, instead you would just connect to a WiMAX transmitter which is nearby. WiMAX can deliver speeds of up to 70mbps, and can travel up to 50km (31 miles).

Sources: [BBC News], [Digg]