Isn't technology brilliant!

This year has been a busy one for me (and my wife).
After a long time trying (and some heartaches along the way) we've managed to get pregnant. Well, I say "we" but technically it's my wife that's pregnant, I'm just managing to produce a sympathy bump.

We were lucky enough to have ultrasound scans fairly frequently in the early phases (at 7, 9 & 12 weeks) and every time I was in awe of the technology they used to do it. The clarity with which they can see into the human body just by bouncing some sound around (obviously that's me repeating the complicated technological process that's involved in some laymen's terms).

The last scan we had was at 21 weeks and again I was in awe of what they could do. Scanning the baby's heart to check the four chambers! Scanning the brain to check that fluid development was happening. Scanning the liver, bladder etc. to make sure they were working! Measuring the head circumference, waistline (it's definitely my child!), leg/arm length etc. etc. etc.

Here's the scan photo we were given, which unfortunately doesn't do the technology justice (trust me it looked perfectly clear on the screen when the scan was taking place).




Note: We are indeed having a devil child (note the horns). If only others knew that before having their children, they might be able to cope with them better if they'd known in advance! ;)

It's been a while...

I haven't entered into the blogosphere for some time now, but then there hasn't been much to talk about really.

However, I did end up buying a new TV (a 3D model in fact!).
Further to a previous posting about 3D at home (see here) I've realised that 3D in the home just isn't that great and people shouldn't bother with it (just yet).

The other TV functions however, are brilliant. Being able to watch HD broadcasts for free, playing back movies from USB drives, recording broadcasts to a USB drive, Lovefilm/iPlayer etc. integration - all fantastic (albeit geeky) stuff.
The best bit (for me) is seeing stuff in glorious Full HD (1080p baby). Having lived with my nearly 6 years old 32" Panasonic TV which only did 720p, for a long time, now having a 40" LED Full HD TV is 'awesome' (to coin a US friend's oft used catchphrase).

Yesterday I stuck the BBC's "Blue Planet" into the PS3 and watched some of the "Oceans" section and am blown away by it. Anyone who hasn't seen it shown on a big screen in its full and beautiful quality should really watch it. Like now.

Apple'gasm Week...

Whilst I'm a big fan of the iPhone (purely because it does exactly what I want)... I don't like the hype that goes along with it.

Tomorrow we're likely to see the introduction of the new iPhone (4G? Although calling it 4G might cause some confusion with the Wimax/LTE crowd). I think pretty much anyone who reads the technology news sites (e.g. Gizmodo) will be aware of the prototype 'found' next-gen iPhone, so unless Apple have pulled a PR stunt we're likely to be unsurprised when Saint Jobs takes to the stage at the WWDC for the big reveal/prestige.

For all those who are are getting very excited, calm down it's just a phone! ;)

Personally I'll just be happy that there will be a whole load of people upgrading and therefore selling their existing 3GS models.

Hardware Accelerated Video Encoding...proper geek stuff

I've been following the Nvidia CUDA and ATI Stream situation for a little while now.
The promise of a GPGPU (General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit) for all sorts of number crunching is a great idea. But I don't really give a toss about that, I'm interested in whether it can make my video encoding go any faster!

Some time ago I read an article about how the use of CUDA was going to make H.264 video encoding loads faster on even basic PCs, but from the complete lack of news about it since then I'm led to understand that didn't happen.

There are of course various bits of software that supposedly do use CUDA to speed up encoding/transcoding (e.g. Badaboom), but the quality of encodes is still an issue.

Now that I've finished encoding my DVD library into digital formats it's become much less of an issue, but going forward I'd love to see a proper hardware solution - that can encode at decent resolutions with acceptable quality. If anyone's used one and has suggestions, let me know.

Three-dee at home...

With all the fuss that surrounded the release of Avatar at the cinema (ok it was a while ago, just haven't got around to posting) 3D movies have hit the mainstream again (the first mainstream event being the awesome Jaws 3D).

Most of the TV manufacturers are now getting in on the '3D at home' action with what seems to be varied reactions.

People seem quite happy to go to the cinema and wear odd glasses in an effort to make what they see seem more realistic, but do they really want the same experience at home? I personally think the 3D experience tends to work well with screens that are huge (like we find in most cinemas). So screens that are 32/37/40/42 or even 50 inches in size probably won't work so well. Of course I'm yet to see one in action, but I can't imagine it looking that great that I'm desperate to run out and get one.

I am of course holding out on buying a new TV (just in case they are deemed to be that great)...but I'll be happily proved right eventually.