Blogs

I've been using GoPro's for a long time now. First one I owned was the original GoPro Hero HD (released in 2010, capable of 1080p/30, which was unbelievable at the time, most portable cameras were at 640p resolution). I still use a GoPro 5 as a webcam, and have a couple of Sessions (Still my favourite form-factor) for ad-hoc static/mounted images. My normal "go-to" cameras are a GoPro 7 Black and a GoPro Max (360 camera). I still really rate the hardware, however the company have been falling further and further behind on software and connectivity.

I was a huge fan of Diablo 2 back in the day. I can remember when it came out and I was working a summer job at what was then videologic (now imagination technologies) and one of the other summer interns and I playing it multiplayer a lot in our breaks (even one week when the boss was out basically for the whole week :D). So there's a lot of nostaligia there, I also like the game type I've put a lot of hours into Diablo 3 and Path of Exile and Torchlight and Grim Dawn and the various other more modern versions of the ARPG genre.

I was still wondering what the hell Deathloop was in the weeks coming up to launch nothing had really explained well what it was how the gameplay worked. Put simply it's a more murderous groundhog day.

I didn't set myself my usual raft of Resolutions this year, simply as back in January we had no real idea of what was going to happen. Eight months later and there is still a huge chunk of un-certainty, and many aspects of my life have changed.

So back in the office, they've got us in for 60% so three out of the five days. It feels weird not least because we currently have to wear masks all the time which is not working that well with my glasses basically looking at everything through a fog. It is nice to have multiple monitors again.

They also changed all the door locks when we were out so none of our badges work and they didn't bother to tell anyone so there were a lot of confused people prodding doors that refused to open.

My "daily driver" machine is up for a refresh, my XPS 13 is almost 3 years old. Since I got it the world has changed significantly. When I got it I was;

So we got a dog. Been a long time coming.

A few things happened in the latter part of last year, and those, combined with confirmation that both our companies were going to be adpoting some sort of flexible working policy meant we finally able to make the move.

If you ask an engineer of a certain age such as myself what one of the influences of learning about technology and how things functioned was in your early years I suspect a lot of them would mention The Secret Life of Machines. Broadcast in the late 80's the show covered how various common machines functioned in terms of their history development and general internal mechanics. It was presented by inventor and artist Tim Hunkin and special effects and roboticist Rex Garrod (who made Brumm and starred in early seasons of Robot wars).

I've been messing around with 3d printers for a while and tried a lot of the options for machines and support systems over the years. I was having a tidy up to sort out the mess on my workbench and found one of the old raspberry pi astroprint units I'd used with one of the older 3d printers I had which I replaced with the excellent Prusa i3Mk2.

All round 2020 was a good year for gaming, however during the traditional "Game of the Year" phase of publications it turned into a close battle between "The Last of Us Part 2" and "Hades", with Hades posibly edging it. It had been on my radar since September when it released, as it ticked pretty much every box for me;