31 Jan

A Big Hug By Mail

Written by UrbanVox 8 Comments

I am the sort of guy that avoids to use the post office as much as I can and try to do as much as I can online… I think is practical and quicker and so much more… practical…

I have no shame to say that if it depends on me to send Christmas cards to family and friends for example none of them will ever get any… Unless I am being bullied like it happened last year… (yes… I am talking to you Livi).

Happily, I got to find out about this awesome service where you can send REAL postcards made out of your favourite photos at the click of a link either on your desktop computer or via your smart phone to anywhere in the world for just £1.45 per postcard (awesome for when you are on holidays and what to share the moment right there and then!!!)

A lot of older people end up missing out on news from family because they don’t own smartphones and aren’t on Facebook or email.

That’s where Hugmail comes in, the message service that starts on the screen and ends on the mantlepiece.

And to use it is quite easy.

Step One: Log into their website (LOOK!!! They called me lovely! they know me sooo well… hehehe )

Step 2: Choose the photo you want to send from your computer (or smart phone), Facebook (which will soon be available of if you don’t have one, simply click on I don’t have a photo and they will find a random one for you to use from their database.

Step 3: Edit your photo… not a lot of functions but you get to zoom in and out, rotate and position the photo you want to use on the postcard.

Step 4: write the message you want to send on the back of the postcard. and the address of the person you want to send it to… Another awesome feature is that you can save the details of who you sent the card to in an address book, this way this time you don’t need to fill up all the forms again (I HATE filling up forms!)

Now all you gotta do is check the front and back of the postcard,

verify the details and send your HugMail… Voila… Instant real postcard for that very special person to frame and put on the mantel piece etc etc etc…

A pretty straight forward service for us that hate queuing up at the post office (specially when out on holidays or always on the go) that I can definitely recommend. I’ll soon be trying the App as well (as soon as I can have my iPhone back (cries a little)… and will let you know how it works from there.

Right now, I have 5 tokens to give away so one of my lucky readers can send real postcards to family and friends via HugMail.

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what is their PERFECT postcard photo and I will be selecting one commentator to receive the 5 tokens to try HugMail out on Sunday (05/02).

Well… let’s get busy!!!

23 Dec

A Little More Scalextric Fun… 007 Style!!!

Written by UrbanVox 2 Comments

Oh… sometimes I just LOVE to be a Blogger!

This time me and the Big Monkey have een having fun with Scalextrics James Bond style! We’ve been ~~playing~~… erm… test-driving and reviewing… the Awesome James Bond 007 Scalextric Track featuring the classic Aston Martins DB5 Vs. DBS (and well… twisting the theme a bit we added an orange McLaren MP4 to the mix)

There isn’t a lot to be told apart from the obvious, no matter the age of the kiddo playing with it (although I do suggest ages 5 upwards… and beware there are small parts included…)

The best bits:

Mains powered so no need to mes about with batteries (hooray)
Precision Controllers meaning you can adapt your driving style to the curves of the track you build (Big Monkey’s best trick with that was drive fast and fly off the track… he laughed EVERY time it happened)
Criss-crossed and narrow tracks make the race much more fun and well… competitive (at some point our objective was not to finish the laps but knock each other’s cars off the tracks more times).
The Aston Martin model details were just great! Although… it is mine and Tommy’s opinion that if they showed James Bond inside the car, and had headlights and break lights like the McLaren does (The McLaren also feats a STIG feature inside!! awesome) it would make the fun even better
Knocking cars off the tracks… of course…

The not so good bits:

Well… there is only one… if you don’t go at the Criss-Crosses at enough speed the cars will get stuck there… meaning the car behind will either crash on you or you will have to stop the race to get the car back in the track… Well… Of course our choice was always hit the car stuck… hehehe… A bloody inconvenience having to get the car back in the track loads of times eeeevery time we did it tho… but neeeeever mind. it was still fun!!!!

All in all Thanks a Lot to The Scalextric Team for the hours and hours of fun provided with the kits!!!

Definitely APPROVED by the Urban Vox HQ!!!!!

21 Dec

I Spy With My Little Eye

Written by UrbanVox 0 Comments

You know when you are stuck with the kiddos in the house (or in traffic on the M25 like is my case most weekends) and you start running out of ideas over what to do to keep them entertained??? Yeah… that…

Thankfully THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT!!!!

Meet ABC Spy

Much like the original I Spy game ABC Spy encourages discussion and family participation as the child chooses a letter of the alphabet and then finds an object to photograph that begins with that letter and if your kiddo gets stuck he can simply ask for the help of Simon Spider, an in-app character who makes suggestions about the types of things to seek and photograph. When they’ve taken the photo they can then frame, edit and name it to create a catalogue of the images they have spied.

To test that I left the Big Monkey lose with my iPhone around the house to try and complete the whole I Spy Alphabet. After a few minutes he came back to me with all the photos taken framed and with another feature that I hadn’t seen before, a movie made on the app showing all the photos he has taking on his ABC hunt (the movie can be seen on the phone and even uploaded to youtube to share your monkey’s achievement with friends and family…)

To encourage you child to take all the challenges in the App, ABC Spy awards trophies for key achievements such as taking a picture for every letter in the alphabet and it even provides Statistics to allow parents to see how their child is progressing as well as checking on how much time they have clocked up using it.

The Big Monkey was the 1st to admit that maybe he is a little too old for the app, but he also said he had loads of fun running around the house on his treasure hunt (with Little Monkey right at his heels laughing and “helping” him take the photos) and even had a go at it on the car again… And I have to admit… I kinda have some fun trying it out too… Yeah… Yeah… I am a big kiddo… I know!

ABC Spy is available on the Apple app store, And if you ask me… it’s a £1.49 very well spent!!!

30 Nov

Volvo S60 Naughty Track: The missing Files

Written by UrbanVox 4 Comments

A Year ago the guys and gals at Volvo invited me and a few other bloggers for a day at teh Top Gear Track to have fun with the then new S60.

I have never finished editing this video because it was taken on the day I took the decision that turned my life upside down and I’ve been avoiding the images of a certain someone…

Well… It’s been a year… Time to leave the past in the past, right?!

There is some more about the Naughty Track Day here too if you want to check it out

Hope you enjoy!

26 Nov

Photog Porn – 50mm

Written by UrbanVox 4 Comments

So… I’ve been wanting to get myself some 50mm lenses for a wee while now… But like the iPad (which I am still trying to convince myself that would be a necessity in order to justify getting one) I just couldn’t justify investing the £100 (min) to get one when I have a perfectly functioning 18-80mm that can technically do the same thing and more…

So… WHY get 50mm lenses??? I mean… is superfluous and all that… right?!?! RIGHT??? RIIIIIGHT???

Wrong!

And for the 1st time in ages I am actually HAPPY for being proved wrong and actually really need to thanks the Lovely people at John Lewis for sending me what is now one of my favourite toys EVER: a Canon 50mm, f/1.8 II.

Yes… I’ve been playing with it for about a month now and I now realise that a 50mm lens is a must have in the kit of anyone that wants to actually be serious about photography…

And forget the fact that 50mm lenses mimic the field of the human eye (did you know that that is why is also called “normal lenses”??) which means that what you see in your viewfinder is pretty close to what you would be able to capture with your own eyes… Forget the tact that they are way faster then the usual 28-80mm “consumer lens” that most retailers will try to push you when buying your kit, or forget the fact that they are smaller and cheaper than the bigger ones everyone loves to get (me included)…

The fact is that they are INCREDIBLY more fun to play with… It just feels a lot more creative to do things the way the pros used to do it in the old times… back to the roots and all that…

Yes… you don’t have the facility of having a zoom… but that’s why you have a camera with interchangeable lenses anyways right?! And maybe is a little harder to stabilise the camera to avoid shaky/blurry photos, but that is solved with a tripod or using a suport to steady up your arms… simplez…

So I spent a whole weekend snapping pictures around the rent’s place in Darbyshire (you can see my favorite photos of the set here) and my verdict is definitely: HOW THE HELL did I survive without one for so long? (okay… maybe that is exaggerating a little, but once you get one you are hooked… seriously…)

I’ve been told the 50mm is great to do street photos… And I have seen that they are perfect for low light photos which is also a HUGE plus as I simply hate taking flash photos…

So… if you are stil considering what to give yourself (or the photog in your life) what Xmas pressie to get (and still don’t have a 50mm lens, that is surely the one gift to consider getting.

AH!!!! Keep an eye open at urbanvox[dot]net for more tips, tutorials and Photography challenges coming up and there are a couple of contests coming up too… so stay tuned!!!

Life is so repetitive… But it is our duty to make it FUN!

Enjoy!