Monday, December 01, 2008

Wacky warranty T&C's!

I bought a new Pelican case today and happened to do something different and look over the warranty/instruction form. Thought this was a classic!!!

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Townsville McDonald's Crocodiles 2008/09 Home game schedule

Stick the dates in your diary or you can subscribe to this calendar by using the links below. To add it directly into Google Calendar simply click the + at the bottom right of the calendar below.

iCal - Link | xml - Link

2008 North Queensland Cowboys HotSquad video


Photography: Cameron Laird

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Cam's debut on Google Maps!

In early December last year I was sitting at my desk when my wife Kaya said "That's funny, a car with a Google sticker and a weird contraption on the roof just drove past". Being a news man and a geek I tore out the door and chased the car down the street and around a few corners and found it doing laps of our neighbourhood, its first outing in Australia. The guy was kind enough to stop after I had done a few pics and I did a few detail pics of the interior of the car. (I posted this on my blog at the time - http://blog.cameronlaird.com/2007/12/google-maps-zip-through-little-old.htm

It has been well reported in the past week that Google has now released this street view detail in Australia (http://maps.google.com) and I didn't think twice until a colleague remembered my pics of the Google car that were published locally and in metropolitan newspapers throughout the country. He called me up and asked for the address where it was shot. Sure enough - there I am! Not only in one place but two separate places!

Regatta Cres, Douglas, QLD 4814, Australia - Google Maps

Regatta Cres, Douglas, QLD 4814, Australia - Google Maps-2

Regatta Cres, Douglas, QLD 4814, Australia - Google Maps

See the pics in Google Maps at the links below

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Regatta+Cres,+Douglas,+QLD+4814,+Australia&sll=-19.312733,146.756744&sspn=0.005265,0.011201&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-19.314971,146.756715&spn=0.001316,0.0028&z=19&cbll=-19.315365,146.756482&panoid=Z_GXyaFjCwQhcxtGsUn7fQ&cbp=1,349.69474496472924,,0,10.895498463218464

and

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Regatta+Cres,+Douglas,+QLD+4814,+Australia&sll=-19.312733,146.756744&sspn=0.005265,0.011201&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-19.31373,146.756339&spn=0.001316,0.0028&z=19&cbll=-19.314389,146.755824&panoid=WsdR5rVbQ97bdokGN83fBA&cbp=1,288.58024718843967,,0,2.978686241182244

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Dean Lance on JT's surgery

North Queensland Cowboys football manager talks about Johnathan Thurston's knee surgery

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I MUST have that toy!!!

As a parent this video is pretty scary but then again, just goes to show when a girl wants a fluffy toy, she is going to get it!


Friday, July 11, 2008

The World's worst iPhone plan

Well, Telstra has done it again! Congratulations to Telstra for winning the competition for "The World's Worst iPhone Plans"!

Here are the plan prices - as a guide, my current $79 plan with Telstra gives you $550.00 of calls and I pay $29 for a data pack that gives me 80Mb of data for the month.

Now for $80 I get $70 worth of calls and $10 of data which equates to 10Mb.

So, 10Mb is ridiculous eh? Well you can opt for a data pack as per the below plans

So, if anyone can find a worse deal than this I would love to know about it. (This reminds me why I sold my damn Telstra TLS and TLSCA shares!)

Thursday, July 03, 2008

WOW, check this out for new tech!

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

This is quite depressing :-(

Following on from my last post - it is only getting worse! Here are the current wooden spoon odds!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Current NRL season odds

Just fyi. Go the Cowboys!

Vote FIOS for Townsville in 2042

Now, this is my sort of broadband!

Thursday, June 05, 2008

I'm guessing his day isn't going that well....

Thought your day was shitty?




and another angle


Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Divers Rich and Ally thank their rescuers

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet and photograph Richard Neely and Allyson Dalton recently only hours after they were rescued from 19 hours adrift off Australia's Whitsunday coast after being left behind on a scuba diving trip.

I shot this as an exclusive for Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper and the pics went to publications around the world within 24 hours of their publication in the Sunday Mirror.

Rich and Ally became instant celebrities due to their harrowing ordeal in the Pacific and jetted off to the US to make appearances on US talk and breakfast television.

Today they returned to Townsville to thank their rescuers, and it was a great opportunity to enjoy a beer with them and talk about their ordeal and the trappings of instant fame!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Australia, The Movie trailer released

The first trailer for the upcoming Baz Luhrmann film has been released. It is available in 480P, 720P and 1080P at this link. It looks FANTASTIC!!!

See all my pics from the movie set at http://www.cameronlaird.com/gallery/2849094_SoQ3t

Monday, May 12, 2008

What a load of bollocks!

Trust an Aussie icon to play with itself in the middle of a worldwide sporting broadcast!  What a classic!

Friday, May 09, 2008

Still testing Animoto

I have thrown another folder of my pics at Animoto and a song from my library and pretty happy with the results. Animoto tell me that they will be offering SD and HD resolutions soon, cool! Feel free to let me know what you think of this!

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

I'm really starting to love Nine Inch Nails

Up until a couple of months ago when Nine Inch Nails released their Ghosts albums (I blogged about it here) I hadn't even listened to a single NIN track.  Now they have earnt some of my hard-earned cash that I am really happy to have given it to them. I understand that from each CD sale that an artist makes through a music store they earn not much more than $1.00.  Their record companies, wholesaler, retailers, management etc are hoovering up the rest of the cash. But not Nine Inch Nails.  They are giving away much of their music and offering options to buy special merchandise and higher quality audio in the hope that it will attract audiences to live concerts in the future.
A NIN media release recently quoted
"Nine Inch Nails' 36-track instrumental opus Ghosts I-IV, released March 2 via NIN.com, has amassed a first week total of 781,917 transactions (including free and paid downloads as well as orders for physical product), resulting in a take of $1,619,420 USD.
"These figures represent the most relevant and contemporary metric for measuring how Nine Inch Nails' music is reaching its fans," said NIN manager Jim Guerinot.
As previously reported, the $300 Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition of Ghosts I-IV immediately sold out its run of 2500. The $5 Download, $10 2XCD set and $75 Limited Edition Deluxe versions are still available at NIN.com. The $10 2XCD SET will be released to retail April 5 in Australia and Japan, April 8 in North America, and April 7 in the UK and most European territories. A $39 4X vinyl version will be available at retail April 8. Ghosts I-IV has been released under the Creative Commons license."

And now Metallica, originally one of the most ardent crusaders against online music file-sharing have changed their tune.  They now appear to be planning to follow the lead of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails - The Age wrote about it recently here
Big record companies like Sony BMG, Warner, EMI and Universal must be starting to worry about their futures.  Their biggest loss to date was when Madonna left Warner after 25 years to sign a US$120 million 10 year deal with a concert promoter.  Now big name bands are releasing music for free on the internet?  I say the writing is on the wall...

Monday, May 05, 2008

Lovin' Animoto.com

I've only just discovered a new online slideshow service that really rocks. Thanks to Leo and Amber from Net@Nite for the introduction! Here's a quick sample of the service using a few of my pics of model Hofit Golan I shot at the Palazzo Versace on Australia's Gold Coast.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

An amazing watch and a more amazing video!

What an amazing bit of CGI to show off the Urwerk 202 Automatic - Twin Turbine Hammerhead watch!  Please tell me there is a HD version of this video in digital surround sound...

Monday, April 28, 2008

Excellent political cartoon!

Not sure if you are following the US Primaries but the race between Obama and Clinton to lead the Democrats into next year's election is a real battle.  Obama seems to have a lead that will be hard to beat and this cartoon from The St. Louis Post Dispatch really sums up the current race!

JT & Charlie on the announcement of Kangaroo selection

I shot this today at a press conference launching JT's new "Electrifying" memorabilia piece.  JT spoke about the memorabilia and then both he and Webb talked about their inclusion into the Kangaroos squad to take on New Zealand in the Centenary test.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Got Milk?

I spent a tough day in the studio on Sunday with 22 girls from the North Queensland Cowboys HotSquad - tough, real tough!  Anyway, I'm real happy with the results so should have something to show soon.  In the meantime I did a job for a dairy company with the lovely Renee and Emma.  The pics will be made into lifesize cutouts promoting their flavoured milk products.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Mmmm, fresh coffee...

You may be aware I've developed an appreciation for a really good cup of coffee.
I've got my Rancilio Silva at home which, with its new PID kit, is giving me a "God shot" virtually every time I turn it on.
At the other end of the scale I've had some truly awful coffees as I've travelled throughout Australia and south-east Asia.Like the time in Rockhampton a local donut shop poured instant coffee into their espresso machine portafilter, then heated the milk to sub-nuclear temperatures.
A quick plug: a colleague of mine is selling gourmet coffee, roasted fresh daily.They Express Post and have a money back guarantee. At the moment, if you sign up for their newsletter, you get a bonus sample of their coffee with your first purchase, whether that's 500g, 1kg or more. They've got some interesting coffee articles as well. Plus, if you click on the link below, and sign up, I'll get some free coffee when I buy my next order.
You don't want to deprive me of free coffee do you?
Visit http://www.roastandpost.com.au/offers/CameronLairdblog.htm to take up the offer.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Safari and eBay - is it just me who is having a problem?

Is it just me or is Safari 3.1 and eBay not playing happily together?  All I get when I am trying to add a description is html entry only like below...  Anyone else?

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Davis Cup tie wraps up in Townsville

Well, just as I predicted a few days ago it was a 5-0 drubbing of Thailand at the hands of Lleyton Hewitt, Peter Luczak, Chris Guccione and Paul Henley.  The win guarantees Australia a spot in the September playoffs, with the strong win sparing them a showdown with Serbia, who last year bundled the Aussies out 4-1.


See all my pics from the tie at www.cameronlaird.com/daviscup

Friday, April 11, 2008

Webby set to battle Willie in the ring

Cowboys enforcer Carl Webb looks set to meet Willie Mason in the ring!  With the raw power and boxing skills he showed me yesterday while shooting him for the Daily Telegraph I can tell you one thing, I wouldn't want to be facing him in the ring!

 

See more of my pics of Webby by clicking this link

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Lleyton leads the Aussie charge

Lleyton Hewitt will lead Australia against Thailand in a Davis Cup tie to be played over the weekend. My prediction.... Australia in three matches - last two will be dead rubbers.

Lleyton certainly looked to be taking this tie seriously though when I shot him this morning.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Townsville's new council is sworn in

 

Townsville's new look council was sworn in today led by former Thuringowa chief Les Tyrell.  Only five of the twelve councillors have had council experience but they make up for this with their enthusiasm.  Go Guys!

(Seated from left) Mayor Les Tyrell, Cr Brian Hewitt, Cr Suzanne Blom, Cr Natalie Marr, Cr Deanne Bell, Cr Jenny Hill
(Standing from left) Deputy Mayor David Crisafulli, Cr Ray Gartrell, Cr Dale Last, Cr Rob McCahill, Cr Jenny Lane, Cr Vern Veitch, Cr Tony Parsons
Photo: Cameron Laird

Expensive shipping prices?

So, I'm in the process of changing from PC to Mac and thought I might do the right thing and get the Applecare extended warranty. Plenty of people on the net have purchased their Applecare on eBay, it is perfectly usable and Apple will cover it just as if it was bought in an Apple store. So, on I go to eBay and it is WAY cheaper than through Apple..... that is until I see the shipping prices to Townsville, Australia  Haha
 
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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Nine Inch Nails present "The Future of Music and the Internet"

Looks like Trent Reznor, front man for Nine Inch Nails has come up with a business model that will help artists break free of the blood sucking record companies and the RIAA 'nazis'.  Radiohead got things started by releasing their latest album totally free, asking listeners to pay whatever they thought was fair.  Not a bad start but a bit risky?

Nine Inch Nails have used this concept to come up with a way of distributing their album that is pure genius.

Ghosts I-IV is a brand new 36 track instrumental collection available right now. Almost two hours of new music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I - IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain.

Trent Reznor explains, "I've been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn't have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I'm very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference. I hope you enjoy the first four volumes of Ghosts."

nin

I have never really listened to Nine Inch Nails so I am currently downloading the Free Download to see what I think of them.  If it is something that appeals to me then the $5 download will be a given.  And I'll bet that $5 is a hell of a lot more than Nine Inch Nails would have made if I had bought their CD at a record store.

Who knows?  I might become a big fan and the $75 Deluxe Edition will be mine next time they release an album!

Click here to choose from five ways to wake up the music industry! - http://ghosts.nin.com/main/order_options

Friday, February 29, 2008

Justin Smith - North Queensland Cowboys Press Conference

Justin Smith speaks to the press prior to the Cowboys pre-season home game against the Canberra Raiders - Video: Cameron Laird

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Funny failure to vote excuses!

Yes, every Australian over 18 is forced to vote whether they like it or not.  These are some of the classic excuses smart Aussies come up with!

vote1

vote2

vote3

Friday, January 25, 2008

Taking busking to the extreme

This is pretty damn classy and innovative!

 

via Fliggo

Click if your computer screen is dirty.

Clean your computer screen through the internet!

Click here to give it a try | digg story

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Is this unfair?

While Greg Vanderjagt is doing a great job at the Crocodiles this season I can't help but think that Kenny George from the University of North Carolina - Asheville would be a handy addition in the pivot position!

7' 7" (231cm) and 360lb (163kg).  As a matter of a fact he would probably be ok playing prop for the Cowboys, so long as you only needed him for a couple of minutes!  Go Kenny!

What a super idea!

London's Telegraph reports that the inventor of this kite claims it will cut diesel requirements of ships by up to 20%, saving cash and the planet at the same time!

More info at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/01/20/eakite120.xml

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Burdekin Falls Dam in full flow

Couldn't quite get to the Burdekin Dam today either by road or air due to a massive low that hung around the area most of the day.  The kind folks at Sunwater were kind enough to shoot some pics of the flow. The dam is currently holding well over 100% of capacity and is reported to be dripping 80,000,000,000 litres (80 thousand megalitres) of water a day over the wall!

See all my flood pics at http://www.cameronlaird.com/gallery/4170198

Bit soggy in the north!

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I took a helicopter from Giru down to Airlie Beach yesterday to photograph flooding in the region.  Apart from many sections of the highway being cut the damage didn't appear to be too bad.  At least I managed to get a page one pic that helped alleviate the cost of the charter!  I have put a bunch of pics on my site so wander over and have a look (link below).
UPDATE 15 JAN 2008: Conditions in Townsville were terrible this morning with a massive low centred directly over the city.  I have added pics from today as well to my site.

 

See my pics of the downpour at http://www.cameronlaird.com/gallery/4170198

Thursday, January 10, 2008

OK, graffiti mostly sucks but then again...

Nothing to say about these but hahahaha

855689488_8d1781ae41 854831855_98173a2680

855602698_696badf234 ninja

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

What is that song - wait.... my iPhone can tell me!

The coolest hack is now available in the installer and it works like a treat.  Simply open the program, hold your iPhone near a speaker and it will tell you the artist, song and even the album that the song appeared in!  Here are a few screen grabs from my iPhone to show you a couple of the results.  (You can tell it is mine by the music and the iFartz application!)

IMG_0020IMG_0023

IMG_0022IMG_0021

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Uber cool gadgets on display at CES Las Vegas

I'm simply going to post links to some very cool things on display at CES 2008 that I would LOVE to get my hands on! (updated regularly)

 

Tiny laser projector plugged into an ipod

http://gizmodo.com/341927/video-microvision-pico-projector-throwing-ipod-videoon-some-dudes-back

Tiny projector built into a cellphone!

http://gizmodo.com/341915/video-texas-instruments-wee-picoprojector-for-projecting-on-the-go

150" Panasonic plasma!

http://gizmodo.com/341909/panasonic-150+inch-plasma-next-to-that-tiny-103+incher-from-last-year

Great video about Bill Gates' last day at work!

A great video featuring Bill Gates with surprise celebrity appearances!  Unfortunately it was the only thing I enjoyed in Bill's keynote speech webcast at the 2008 CES Convention.


Bill Gates Last Day Of Work - Watch more free videos

Monday, January 07, 2008

Maybe I don't have it that bad?

If you are ever feeling like you have a tough job then spare a thought for this little guy and his work buddies!

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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

These guys are great!

Just found these guys while trawling around the net - check out the 'live on stage' video below (or the film clip at bottom), if you like them there are plenty more videos on YouTube at this link

 

Bulls and Bushrangers combine to debut the new Tony Ireland Stadium

Townsville/Thuringowa's new stadium kicked off with a 20/20 cricket match between the Queensland Bulls and the Victorian Bushrangers.  Despite the heat it was a full house and hopefully we will see plenty more sporting events of this calibre in Townsville.  I smell an AFL pre-season game!

 

 

See a selection of my pics from the match at http://www.cameronlaird.com/gallery/4086092