Mauritius woke up with another sad news today :

2 road accidents victims as announced in the news headlines of a private radio station.

I was much surprised on hearing that in one of the accidents, the motorcyclist died after hitting the pole fitted with the speed camera ( Camp Chapelon). When I waited for the next news bulletins to confirm the news before publishing my post, the words “speed camera” were not stated anymore.  Surely some false rumors or unconfirmed news that were broadcast early and removed later on.

Anyway, coming back to today’s topic, you have surely experienced the unpleasant ride along the motorway in Soreze’s vicinity.

Since a couple of months, authorities have ‘designed’ a temporary road layout to deviate traffic while road works were in progress for the construction of the new highway.

However, when the number of accidents in that specific area started to rise, authorities reacted promptly by… decreasing the speed limit from 60km/hr to 40km/hr. When they realised that the new measure produced unsatisfactory results, they had to find another altenative.

So, instead of opting for a better road design for improved security, authorities have found the ultimate solution :

Threaten drivers with speed cameras

Personally, this behaviour and design of this specific road network can only confirm the incompetency of some people working in those concerned departments.

Related Posts:

• Did you know? 2 out of the 4 speed camera flashes to fool you
• Pas de pitié pour le chauffard de 16ans?
• Ki sane la ki boufon aster?
• Police vehicle in parking reserved for Disabled
• Is your home secure?

After 3 years of loyal service, I feel that my Nokia N73 will soon opt for a retirement scheme. The thing that I really love with this mobile is the 3.15MP camera, equipped with Carl Zeiss optics.

Just take it out of your pocket, anywhere and anytime!

Requirement 1 – Camera

As a reader of yashvinblogs.com, you have surely noticed the numerous instantaneousness shots made from my Nokia N73 Camera which helps me in expressing myself. So, as you can guess, the next mobile phone will absolutely need to reach up to that minimum level, with a good and quick focus + video recording.

The camera is one of the most important tools of a blogger. Without a good handy one, I would have missed so many posts. Just imagine, the Champs De Mars accident blog post without any related shots!

Requirement 2 – Keyboard

You might be astonished but I really hate those touch screens mobile phone, you know why?

I feel so uncomfortable hitting those tiny icons or keys with my big fingers. Someday, in a moment of anger, I might even smash the phone right away!

So, that’s leaves me with the traditional keypad and the QWERTY keyboard. I had the chance to test mobile phones with QWERTY keyboards and I feel that I can manage with it.

Point to note : I might accept devices with both a touch screen and a keyboard.

Requirement 3 – WIFI/EDGE

I dont have any special needs like a water proof device. A WIFI/EDGE enabled one is all that I want.

It doesnt really matter if the device has a 2MP or 10MP front camera for 3G calls, I simply don’t care. WIFI is among the things which matter the most in the next purchase.

Requirement 4 – Display screen

I am no mobile phone reviewer like carrotmadman6, our Mauritian Tech blogger but I want one with a large display, one just like everyone else dreams of.

One on which my most used applications or shortcuts can easily be placed, no messy ‘desktop’.

Requirement 5 – OS

Windows Mobile, Android or Symbian, all of them are Ok for me since I don’t plan to test my programming skills or install any specific mobile application. I should be able to install the basic applications including a mobile browser, some java apps, communication tools like mail and MSN/Skype/Google Talk etc.

Requirement 6 -Budget

As you can guess, I don’t want to spend a fortune on the mobile phone, so please keep the price bar low, let’s say <= Rs10,000? I might decide to increase the limit depending on the extras that the device can offer.

To end the list of requirements, I also need to be able to

• Make/Receive calls and textos
• Use bluetooth to transfer/sync my data
• Have a good storage (built in or memory cards) and reliable battery performance.
• Other basic things available in most phones. Examples loudspeaker(Speaker), profiles, music/video player

At the end of the day, I just need a device that would allow me to communicate easily.

Can you please advise me and guide me through this tough selection process?

Additional points :

• I will most probably buy it through eBay
• I like the blackberry-style devices which seem to be very affordable but feel free to suggest any models that you would like to share with us.

Related Posts:

• Scaring people with speed cameras
• SBM Smile Prepaid cards for your online purchases
• Buying on eBay/Amazon from Mauritius (June 2011)
• What do you think about Mauritian online stores?
• Amateur review of Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro

After uploading a pic a few minutes ago onto my flickr page, the following appeared :

New page layout

Flickr has worked out a new photo page which is much more nicer. Here’s how the new layout looks like :

Current page layout

And the same picture :

As you noticed, some big changes : The picture is now larger, use of lightbox to display picture when pressing keyboard shortcut “f”. For more details about all changes, go here. (Launched yesterday)

I chose to switch to the new design immediately. You can browse my flickr for viewing some of the best shots I take and for the regular picture uploads, you can always keep tuned to my wordpress customized photoblog at http://www.yashvin.net/

Have a nice weekend everyone

Related Posts:

• Photographes Amateurs et Pros Mauriciens (PAPM) Chez Pepe
• Scaring people with speed cameras
• Another sunday…
• Batch resizing your pics to free up some space
• Choosing my next mobile device

The group members organized quite a few events in the past (Catamaran, 24/7 night out, Shooting in Port Louis among others)  and today, we met Chez Pepe, Flic en Flac for lunch. 25 members turned up at the restaurant at around 1230… There was loads of things we talked about, for example photography, photography and photography. We tried to discuss about other things like photography and photography. Do I need to say that people around us most probably talked about photography too, lol!

I felt a bit “shy” with my 18-55mm lens when I was among those holding huge lens. One of the most amazing lens is the first one in the picture below : a 70-300mm lens which all of us had the opportunity to hold and shoot a few pics. Wow, it weighted so much but the weight does not really matter once you start playing with it

This part of the beach was crowded with girls and boys holding their big DSLRs and shooting everything which moved around…  Even the static objects were not spared!

Sorry to people out there in case you felt that we were a group of paparazzi!

Leave all of you here, I will upload my shots later tomorrow (hopefully).

Related Posts:

• Using Photoshop Actions to bulk watermark your pictures
• Batch resizing your pics to free up some space
• Choosing a camera to start photography
• Le soleil était au rendez-vous…
• Anyone wants to buy a camera?

Hello everyone!

Hope that you had a nice weekend, and perhaps some of you may still be enjoying, especially those who just finished exams or those who got their CPE results. But I have a doubt; I don’t think that the last group of people read my blog, not yet

And my weekend was great.

On Saturday night, I got a few people who were willing to play the models for me during a “Saturday Night BBQ and Beach Dancing floor” which ended after 1 am. Nice opportunity for me to try my new camera and despite having it for more than 1 week now, I am still learning new things.

Now, lets come back to something more serious.

I am selling my previous camera! SOLD (20th Dec 09)!

My previous camera is looking for a new owner. It is a Fujifilm S5200/S5600 which I bought from the first owner (a colleague) a few months ago.

Great camera for learning photography and also for normal shooting!

You can have a look at the pictures I shot on my flickr account or on my photoblog (Pictures taken before 4 December 2009)

Quick specs

5.1 million effective pixels
10x optical zoom
Real Photo Technology and ISO 64 – 1600 sensitivity range
Anti-Blur Mode to minimise blurring from photographer and subject
Max resolution          2592 x 1944
Low resolution          2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480
Aperture range          F3.2 – F8.0
Min shutter          15 sec
Max shutter          1/2000 sec
Movie clips
640 x 480 @ 30 fps
320 x 240 @ 30 fps With monaural sound

More details can be obtained here.

The deal

Included in the deal :

• The Camera
• 1 Memory card (1GB)
• 1 Memory card (256Mb)
• Powered by 4xAA batteries
  Note : You can easily take up to an average of 200 shots with a set of fully charged batteries.
• 1 camera bag
• 1 USB cable
• 1 TV cable

Optional

• 2 sets of 4 AA batteries
• 1 battery charger

I have set the price of the package (without optional stuff) at Rs6000.

The camera is in good working condition and I am sure that some of you might agree, the pictures taken with it are great! December is here, celebrations, parties! Get yourself a camera at a good price and immortalize all those great moments for ever!

And with this S5600, you can look like a pro while learning and improving your photographer’s skills!

Anyone interested can drop me a mail at yashvin@gmail.com. We can then discuss about the price and you can also have a look the camera before buying it.

Camera sold together with the batteries and charger.

Related Posts:

• Photographes Amateurs et Pros Mauriciens (PAPM) Chez Pepe
• My new photography gadget
• The greed for photography equipment
• Rêves, fortunes et trafics au soleil
• Why were some sites ‘black’ on the 18th January 2012?