A ramble about cloud gaming, Steam and owning your own games.     Cloud gaming is starting to ramp up and next year will really kick off, with many of the major players offering services. The basic idea is that instead of running the game on your device (which might not be powerful enough, or might be battery limited), a company runs the game on a server somewhere else. Via an internet connection you get video and sound, and you send the game controls. Cloud gaming has pros and cons - in a basic summary it has many similarities to other subscription streaming services: Players pay a monthly fee to the service instead of buying games Players now don't need to fork out for expensive hardware Players must have a lot of internet bandwidth and a low latency connection There are other concerns*, but my biggest with cloud gaming is: If a service shuts down† then you have no way to play the games you purchased access to, that under traditional methods you would have owned forever. Traditional setups have everything stored on-device. More expensive devices can handle more complex games. Streaming offloads a lot of the work of running a game to off-site servers, and the user pays for subscription access...

One thing you learn very quickly, when taking instant photos (like the Mini Instax photos), is that it is easy to damage or lose them if you don't find a safe place to store them. You can use a photo album to keep your instant photos organised and protected.  However, carrying a photo album with you when you are out shooting fun and exciting pictures isn’t very practical or convenient. But, did you know that if you are using Instax film, Fuji has already provided you with a convenient and easy way to store your instant photos? Here's what you do: Step One: Keep the Cartridge Blank When ever you start using a new photo cartridge in your Instax compatible camera, you begin by ejecting the plastic cover (or blank), before taking your first photo. When you do this, don't throw it away. Keep it in a safe place, as we'll need it later. Two: Snap Your Photos Until the Cartridge Is Empty Go ahead and snap away your photos, until the cartridge is empty. Of course, you'll have to find a temporary place to store your photos, until you've emptied out the cartridge...

This is a Build It Yourself, TLR camera kit.  TLR stands for twin lens reflex. This basically means that, the camera has two lenses, one that projects an image onto the film, and another through which the user views to frame the shot. The lenses are one on-top of the other, and you look down, into a hooded view finder with a mirror, which allows you to see the scene in front of you. This particular camera uses 35mm film, which is manually wound between snaps. Apart from the springs used for the shutter and a number of tiny screws (which holds the camera together) this camera is a plastic, including the lenses. But, this isn’t a bad thing. The plastic that is used in this kit is pretty good quality; nice and heavy, which ultimately makes a surprisingly sturdy camera...

As I've been experimenting and playing with the new Lomo'instant camera, I got to thinking about what it was like to take photographs before digital technology. Digital photography has made it simpler to take nice looking photographs, as well as given us the ability to enjoy them instantly. But, it's also set the stage for a potential disaster, if you are someone who cherishes your photos and memories. The convenience of digital photography certainly has pushed film photography to "niche" status. But this convenience has also made us dependent on the technology - dangerously dependent, if we're not careful. One of the advantages that film photography has over digital is the ability to look at and enjoy your photos any time you want, whether you have electricity or not, whether it be today, tomorrow, or fifty years from now. As long as you keep your photographs in relatively good condition, you'll have them to enjoy for many generations. You are not reliant on anything further to ensure instant access to your photos and cherished memories...

Something of a historical nature today. When I was a kid in school, multiple choice tests were popular. I presume they still are just because they are so easy to grade - either you selected the right answer or you didn't. They even had electronic "scantron" systems that could grade it for you. Yet when I was teaching later I never used them... It was common for kids to refer to them as "multiple guess tests". Me, I generally didn't guess. I had the highest IQ my small local school had ever seen and at one point I'd read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica; if I had to guess no one there knew the answer...

All the content on this website will be original. No lessons about Bollinger bands or how Average True Range is calculated.  This first post will reposition volatility trading with respect to other kinds of trading. For this purpose, let's travel east to reach China. They have theories like Yin and Yang but the one that interests us more here is the 5 elements theory. According to it, plants, humans, animals are all driven by a cycle including 5 elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. There are 2 cycles actually, one for creation and one for destruction. The market being driven by humans, and robots are programmed by humans so are no exceptions, this cycle to market themselves! A stock has been issued by a company, this is the wood...

Technology is forever changing music, our definitions of it, the instruments we use and the genres we listen to. It’s a journey of evolution, from the early days of banging on objects to make a beat, to the high-tech auto-tuned production of electronic noise that makes the charts today. Technology has always been a gift to musicians and to the audience, but it can also be a curse. On the one hand, better tools make for flawless production, greater accessibility and sometimes better music. On the other hand, you could argue that auto-tune negates the need for real talent, or that electronic music has killed the more traditional, instrumental stuff. The use of technology is a philosophical debate, but whatever you think there’s no doubt that technology and music are intimately intertwined. As a listener, you probably take full advantage of technology yourself in the devices you use to find and enjoy music. Vivaldi has a high level of customization and sound control options to allow you to enjoy music seamlessly while getting on with other tasks. Whether you listen to classic rock or electronic house music, Vivaldi accommodates all choices...

Boats in the Harbor As the rain clouds pass by, the day becomes calm.