Quickies
I have been writing exams during the last couple of weeks so not much time for posting. I wrote three so far, with very good results, and there is one more to go - Artificial Intelligence. I wonder if I can come up with an automaton that writes the exam for me? These should be the last papers I write for my BSc degree in Computer Science.
I just finished reading The Economist's special feature on the financial crisis from the October 11th 2008 edition. It's a fascinating, if long, read starting with When fortune frowned. On the subject of financial crises, one theory suggests a link between the number of Starbucks franchises and the state of a country's economy.
In case you have missed the mini banner on the blog, I published my first photo book with a collection of Orange River images. Check it out! I ordered one of all the available options, and they look great. I think my favourite is the Hardcover ImageWrap option. I will be ordering some more in time for Christmas! In the mean time Blurb has launched a premium grade paper option which should look even better.
The Pentax K-m has started shipping in the UK. Paired with the upcoming 15mm Limited prime lens, it should make one hell of a lightweight travel kit. (Pentax DSLRs use an APS-C sized sensor so the field of view would be equivalent to a ~23mm ultra-wide lens on a 35mm film camera.)
McLaren F1 chassis number 65 got sold at an auction for a record-setting £2.3m. Despite losing its top spot as the fastest production car some time ago, to many people it remains the supercar thanks its uncompromising and unique lightweight design.
Adobe's Creative Suite 4 might have only just began shipping, but Nvidia is quick to cash on it with the Quadro CX. As far as I can tell it is mostly just a rebranded GTX 260, and the only application that really benefits from it is video transcoding from Premiere. For Photoshop CS4, even the most basic cards should benefit from the new OpenGL-based image canvas based on Adobe's specs. The Nvidia Quadro CX does however offer dual DisplayPort interfaces and 30-bit colour so it's not all badge engineering.
And in gaming news, the Mirror's Edge demo is up on both Xbox Live and PSN as of today. I hope it lives up to the hype - it is busy downloading as I type.