A while back Microsoft Research released a new tool called Photosynth.  Photosynth is a software application from Microsoft Live Labs and the University of Washington that analyzes digital photographs to build a three-dimensional point cloud of a photographed object.

That is the technical description but in a nutshell you can take a bunch of photos of an item or area and the program will "synth” them into a 3-D space you can zoom in and out of.  You will have to install the Photosynth plug-in but once you do you’ll see what it’s all about.

It is a very cool way to display photos and I made this one with 28 photos I snapped of my Packers wall :) (Click to View)

I was just about to cut the grass in the backyard when Lisa and I (well it was actually our cats) discovered the following.

Two baby bunnies curled up, keeping warm and waiting for mom to return with some food.  This isn’t the first time we’ve found this in our backyard.  I guess it is true what they say about rabbits…..

For the first time since September 20th 1992 there was a quarterback starting for the Green Bay Packers whose name was not Brett Favre.  It was a long run with Favre at the helm but it is Mr. Rodger's Neighbourhood now!  Here is a pic of history in the making!

It was a great game.  Home opener, A-Rod's first start, a division rivalry against the (supposedly) improved Vikings and Monday Night Football to boot.  Having not been to a MNF game before it was a different experience than normal.  It just seemed more exciting.  Maybe it was seeing the MNF crew on the sidelines pregame...

... or maybe it was that with all the stuff that went on in the off season that it was good to get back to football.  Either way it was great seeing the first play of the 2008 season, the opening kick off taken by rookie Jordy Nelson.

A little later on in the game came A-Rod's first rushing TD via a QB sneak, something that was rare with Favre at QB.

Of course it could have just seemed different after the brain rattling fly over by the USAF F-18's :)  Talk about loud!

You can get a sense of the fly over in this great NFL Films Video and then see the rest of my photos from the game at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rbuike/sets/72157607223904637/

The other day I was in Wisconsin to head to the Monday Night Football game to see my Packers take on the Vikings.  I normally fly into Milwaukee and rent a car and did so again this time.  Because my return flight wasn't leaving until 7PM I had some time to spend in Milwaukee and visited the new Harley-Davidson Museum.

They did a fine job putting together this place and there is a lot of great history that they preserved.  Luckily back in 1913 they had the foresight to pull one bike of the production line and put it in storage.

One of the neatest things I saw was the wall of tanks where they had on display over a hundred tank designs from the years gone by.

Overall they have built a great experience for even the non-rider like myself.  You can see the rest of the pictures here http://flickr.com/photos/rbuike/sets/72157607219813422/

Lisa and I headed out for a bit today to the Royal Botanical Gardens and of course I took the new camera along to take a few more shots before the trip to Green Bay.  Getting used to the different settings and the possibilities seem endless!

I've been a photo enthusiast for a while now.  If you read this blog you probably already know that as I use it primarily to post photos of places I've been and things I've seen.  I've had a variety of digital cameras over the years and the technology sure has changed.  The point and shoot cameras of today, like the Fuji S7000 I own as well as the Nikon S51c I have on loan through work are great cameras that take decent pictures but as you would expect are limited.

I've often thought about a Digital SLR camera over the years and finally decided to take the plunge with the purchase of a Nikon D60.  With the great experience I've had with the Nikon S50c and now the S51c Nikon was on my list along with the long standing front runner in the camera world Canon.

I looked at a variety of cameras over the last month from the Rebel XT/XTi to the new Rebel XS/XSi as well as the Nikon D40/60/80.  For a first time DSLR owner the choices can be overwhelming with the cameras ranging from 6MP up to 12.2MP, some including auto focus on the  body, some requiring autofocus lenses.  Then there are features like dust reduction, live preview (something common on point and shoot but not DSLRs) memory card support, the list goes on and on.

Fortunately there are some great sites that explain the differences quite well including www.dpreview.com and www.digitalreview.ca that help sort things out a bit.  I also found some good advice at www.kenrockwell.com but I also happen to work with a serious photography buff, Barnaby Jeans, who was there to answer my questions without trying to sell me something!

I've been playing around with the camera for about a day (the built in help system works great), taking some photos at the Microsoft Canada Volleyball Tournament, figuring out the different settings, what lens to use where, and taking a lot of really bad photos as well as a few good ones.  I'll be packing it up and taking it with me to Green Bay on Monday and hope to snap a few good pictures at the football game.  If any do turn out you can be sure to see them posted here and as I learn to use the camera you'll see the quality of pictures here improve :)