This is my new favourite gadget. The Pro-Ject VC-S record cleaner. I got it from Henley Designs and for £299 it handles like a serious industrial cleaning machine. The silver arm you can see in the photo both sucks up the debris and also dries the record in the time it takes for a full revolution. It's nosy for a few seconds but there's a hell of a lot of suction power. Your vinyl is ready to Continue Reading
Rebalancing my relationship with technology
There's been eight newsletters since my last blog post. If you subscribe to my newsletter you will have recently read me wondering how I might manage without my iPhone and Apple Watch for a week. The more my mobile devices can do, the more they seem to want me to do. I was considering a dumb phone to try and experience 7 days with fewer distractions. Yes it's a drastic step when all I Continue Reading
This is me 25 years ago today.
I was 19 years old. Curious and adrift. No thoughts for the future. I would never have imagined that twenty five years later, to the day, I’d be alive. Let alone pondering that moment. Stood on the platform of Rugby train station with Dave. Armed with Inter-Rail tickets we were off to explore Europe by train. No plans, a bit of cash and no clue as to what was in store. I kept a journal. Continue Reading
Augmenting Reality since the year 2000
The world is crazy for ‘AR’ right now. 'Augmented Reality'. The real time integration of digital information with a user's environment. Some say we're on the edge of mass adoption. The focus is on the visual. Yet audio is a key component of both augmented and virtual reality. As interested as I am by today's limited offerings, little has impressed me as much as when my own reality was Continue Reading
Electromagnetic Field 2016
Two years ago I only managed to experiance Electromagnetic Field for half a day. This time I was equipped to stay a little longer. https://storify.com/documentally/electromagnetic-field-2016-57a880db9be78a6f01eaf426 Continue Reading
Shure MV88 Condenser Microphone for iOS Review
If Apple are set on removing the minijack from their phones then some folks are going to be a bit miffed. I’m hoping it’s just because the minijack is really old (circa 1878) and not just because they want to make the phone thinner. Personally I’d be happier with a fatter phone containing a bigger battery. I have around eight mics that rely on a minijack connectors. That said, I imagine Continue Reading
What’s in my kitbag (Spring 2016)
This time next week I’ll be at The Mobile Journalism Conference ‘MoJoCon’ in Dublin. The 2015 event was the first and a highlight of my year. This year is again sold out with some big names in the world of networked reporting and filmmaking. It’s a place for mobile story builders to meet the like-minded. To share on and off the record. To hone their workflows. I’m always fascinated at the Continue Reading