prolific.org

Available from Time & Space toys.

Dear Messrs Canon & Co,

this weekend I had the opportunity to try your EOS 300 D camera.

I have only one question for you: Can you make one that fits my – not freakishly – small hands? I am afraid this model it’s too big for me to take pictures with comfortably.

Sincerely,

St P.

I don’t look a day over 41.

Matt likes Bluetooth a lot: “Hey everyone! I’ve got the internet in my pants!”

I’ve used Bluetooth to get online (Mobile + PDA) and while, like Matt, I’ve enjoyed the connectivity freedom, the first time I used it Bluetooth crashed both my Nokia and my PDA. The PDA crash resulted in complete data loss.

Since my PDA has since crashed in that way without outside help I tend to blame it on the Dell Axim 3i (you get what you pay for, darlings), but it’s still put the fear of Bluetooth in me.

Trying to sync my mobile with my PC is also a daunting task, it can take a while before the Bluetooth connection sticks.

Always nice to read succes stories, though.

I have no idea what made me investigate this, but I seem to be experiencing bouts of nostalgia. Or maybe it’s a ‘I bet you can find this online’ vibe.

My first calculator was a Commodore 776M. A gift, as always, from my grandfather. My second was the TI-25. They were compulsory and could be bought through school.

I thought my TI-25 was the coolest thing ever, even if I had very little use for it. I think the battery lasted 15 years before it started leaking. I kept it for many years after that, eventhough it was dead, just because I liked the feel of it in my hand.

• Datamath Calculator Museum
• Vintage Calculator

Anytime, any place, anywhere…

Like a lot of women, I have a thing for shoes. But strange as it may sound, I think I inherited this particular obsession from my father.

Growing up in WWII he did not have any shoes, so he developed a fetish in later life. My parents would, and I believe they still do, fly down to Lisbon for the weekend to buy shoes. Shoes are cheaper in Portugal.

Ever few weeks my father, a rather conservative man with 15+ pair of shoes — can you imagine? — will line up his collection and he will clean and polish them all. I never did pick up that part of his habit.

There are 30+ pairs of shoes in my closet right now. A few years ago, I threw out a lot of older ones, but kept enough so as not to make me nervous. I’ve stopped buying new pairs regularly, mainly because most of my money goes on computer stuff and music. But lately I’ve felt the old itch coming back.

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It’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally sussed that I’ve no need for music 24/7 and definitely not in my ear when I’m on the go. I got this lovely little iRiver 128mb (MP3, WMA player with FM radio) iFP-180T last year to aid me in writing my book. I used it to listen to U2 concerts while commuting – a great way to save time when it was in need of some. But I haven’t used it since I finished the book. Like my iBook, this thing should be in the hands of someone who appreciates it.

(Specs.) (Price.) Yours for 75 Euro. Or make me an offer.

I got my first camera, an Afgamatic 2000, when I was 10, in 1973.

I still remember how the feel of it in my hand and how it felt to press the release. It came with a slinky chain, which you could get your skin caught up in, and an odd little foot to stick flash bulbs on.

It was a present from my grandfather. He gave it to my mother, but I think he secretly wanted me to have it. He probably couldn’t justify buying me something that expensive. In any case, I used it a lot and nobody told me I couldn’t. There was a lot of picture taking in our family anyway. I used it till it broke, sometime in the mid 80s and kept it for a long time after that. I just couldn’t part with it and hoped it would mend all by itself.

When I was a little older I bought a Practica B 200, the only camera I could afford at the time. It came with a 50mm and a 150mm tele. It didn’t last very long, the electronics in it broke and it started draining batteries. But I used it to take pictures at school, mostly of teachers, for an entirely illegal magazine we ran called Plons (‘Splash’). It was a gossip rag with completely fabricated stories. We photocopied it on the school’s only xerox, in the principle’s office. I also used it to take pictures of sports events at school. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a lot of pictures of my friends with it.

Then came my Olympus OM 10, bought second hand some time around 1985. I had several lenses with this one, an 80-200 zoom, a wide-angle, a 50mm, a 70-150mm. All my early concert photography was done with this one and I used it to take portraits of my classmates in college.

I had a number of 35mm point-and-shoots next to the OM 10, a wonderful Samsung which broke way too soon. I then upgraded to their newer model – it wasn’t half as good as the old one. I also picked up a second hand Sigma, my first auto-focus SLR, but it never worked properly and drained batteries. I have a lot of problems with electronic equipment in general — sometimes I blame it on my being very static.

A few years back I got the Canon EOS 300 and it made me wish I had invested in a proper SLR sooner. Despite the fact that I’ve been taking photographs since I was 10, I’ve never been very good at it. The Canon made me take better pictures, I learned to play with depth of field, the images were sharper… I read up a bit on photography too, that helped.

Then came the digital cameras – my first one bought on a whim during lunch break when I was very bored and dissatisfied at work: an Olympus C2000. Fabulous camera, I wish there was some way to upgrade it from its 2.1 megapixels. I still have it, cannot get myself to sell it. The Canon Ixus (bought from some extra money I got around my 40th) I use now is lovely because it feels nice and is so easy to carry, but it’s a bit limited compared to the C2000.

I’ve been bothering people with my lense for thirty years. Why? Because it gives me something to do while everybody else shows off their social skills.

I think I want a PDA (Instead of the damn iBook I can’t seem to get rid off. Anyone interested in a SE ’shell’ type ibook? No, I didn’t think so either.) I don’t need one, but having a phone that is a modem, has bluetooth and infrared just begs for a gadget to go with for that lovely internet everywhere sensation.

I know nothing about these things and the fact is I’m not going to be using it much for anything else but the calender and online stuff.

I found this handy page that explains most of what I wanted to know, but I am open to your suggestions.

Here are my criteria: