Topix – more news, and local news

Topix is a new news aggregator, like Google News but it has the ability it dig down to local news. If you live in the USA you can enter your location and find news from your area! It even has news from Ireland too, although I only recognised 2 or 3 of the headlines. Most of the news that’s making headlines at home isn’t represented, but hopefully it’ll improve. One major problem of course is the fact that Irish newspapers don’t provide free access to their archives which is unfortunate. (That’s not a criticism, it’s an observation, the “free lunch” of the Internet is over!)
(via John Battelle)

Digital Black and White

This is a good article covering some of the issues the b/w photographer will come across when using digital “film”. There’s so much here I need to have another read of this later to digest it and experiment with photos at home. The site also has several other good photography how-to documents, and is well worth a visit.

Regular readers may notice the slight change in the site design here. That photos above is a panorama of 6 photographs stitched together. It covers a major portion of Cork City, and the North Side of the city. I’m not 100% happy with it yet and it may be pruned slightly as I crop and compose it for the best effect.
Now, does anyone know a shop that’ll print a very large copy of that picture on photo paper?

UFOs in Cork?

So, after Spanish class last night, I wandered up Patrick’s Hill (in the car, walking up there is a burden I can do without!) to take some photos of the North Side. I snapped a few shots before running back to the car out of the cold, cursing myself for not bringing a scarf or a warmer coat!
Later when I examined the photos I noticed a trail of what looks like smoke in one of the shots just behind the Cathedral. In the next shot taken a few seconds later it’s missing. What could it be? Conspiracy theories and outragous comments welcome! 🙂
Photo information: Pictures taken 2-3 seconds apart, 2 second exposure, F2.0, ISO 100, Exposure Value 0.0