I picked this up at the camera store. I finally have a fast lens to use in low light conditions. The only drawback is that the fstop only functions properly in full manual mode, and there is no autofocus.
After reading through the press release PDF and watching the conference from Softbank, I have come to the conclusion that the only phone fitting the description is the HTC Desire. The only details that Softbank has released so far is that the phone will be running Android with a 1ghz Snapdragon processor, have wifi and a 3.7oled display. It will also have access to Google services and the Android marketplace. The following is from the Softbank PDF:
スタイリッシュなデザインに、3.7インチ有機EL液晶と1GHzの高速CPU「Snapdragon®」を採用したハイスペックなAndroidケータイ。GoogleTMの各種サービスやAndroidマーケットTMが利用可能。Wi-Fi対応
I hope that this will be released early March as I am really wanting to get one. I phoned Softbank asking about a release date and they told me that there are no details available for this device. They indicated that they usually have the phone in the database two months prior to release indicating the phone may be released around June.
Location: Gunma
Distance from Tokyo: Approximately 200km by car
Resort Details: http://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/resortdetail.php?resid=50
Resort ‘Category’: Snowboard Park
Resort Rating: 7/10
Resort Value: 10/10
Resort Homepage: http://www.hotakasan.co.jp/hotaka/index.html
Hotaka Bokujyou is a relatively small resort with many features great for snowboarding. The thing I liked most about it was the distinct absence of skiers. It’s also the best in terms of affordability. If you are staying at one of the pensions in the area (I recommend Pension Tsukasa – Booked through Tocoo) you can get a full day pass with a 800 yen food voucher for 2800 yen.
I would recommend this resort to beginners all the way through to advanced snowboarders who are looking for a good area to practice jumps, boxes and halfpipe. They have a lift that runs just the course of the jumps, making it easy to get in many runs without going down the whole mountain.
Unfortunately the snow condition wasn’t too good when I went (Twice in February) but is most likely due to the warmer winter here this year. I am looking forward to going again next year mid winter.
Note that they do not accept credit cards, so take enough cash for the day.
Live Camera
Not quite so new as I got it Christmas, but I have been playing around and taken a few shots around 300mm. I have found it hard to get decent shots of animals with a low ISO because of the maximum aperture size. It does however work fairly well for taking photos of the moon:
Here she is:
And here is my sub-woofer. Note – you wont be able to hear the low frequencies due to the camera microphone.
So, a while back we were lucky enough to get a car from my wife’s parents. They bought a new car (Toyota Prius) and were planning on disposing of the old one. Luckily they offered it to us first.
It’s a 1995 Volkswagen Jetta (Vento in Japan). Done around 45,000kms and is in relatively good condition. We flew all the way from Chiba to Wakayama to pick it up and drive it home. The drive was about 8 hours long.
A few days afterwards I noticed the front passenger footwell was soaking wet. Upon removal of the foot mat I was surprised to discover a large mold patch.
Not sure where the water was coming from I spent the next few days researching the problem online. The forum at vwvortex was pretty helpful. It seemed to come down to three possible causes. One: The heater core was leaking, Two: Rainwater was leaking in through the drain for the windscreen or Three: The air conditioner drain pipe was blocked.
Long story short, I never did figure out which one was causing the problem, but I did double check the air conditioner pipe was clean, then sealed the area where the pipe goes through the firewall. I also ran sealant along the base of the windscreen. Hasn’t leaked since. The heater core is most likely fine as the water level in the radiator hasn’t dropped.
So after ‘fixing’ the problem, we spend a weekend removing the seats and carpet from the car, replacing the base mat where there was mold, shampooing the carpet and replacing it. Obviously it would have been better to replace the carpet entirely, but for an older car that we will only use for three or so years, its not really worth the effort.
What is worth the effort though is the sound system. I will write about what I have installed in a future post.
Oh, and for those of you who own Volkswagen cars in Chiba – The Chiba-Kita Volkswagen people are really nice. They have reset the car computer, shown me where the air conditioning drain is and checked a few other things for me for free.
