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If you are looking at doing Timelapse I would certainly recommend the iTimeLapse iPhone App. (Note, you need a camera on your device so the old iPod Touch cannot use this app)

The iTimelapse iPhone App allows you to create a timelapse project, specifying the timelapse interval, duration of the project, & size of the video. During rendering you can output at varying framerates, add music and add a filename. The timelapse videos can then be output to your camera roll / library for sharing.

The quality of the videos are very good and I feel I could be getting slowly addicted to timelapseing … But it is enjoyable especially if you have a nice subject, e.g. sunset, cityscape, or something which is slow moving but interesting to watch over time.

I would recommend that you switch to Airplane Mode, turn off sound, turn down the brightness, and if you are running a timelapse which takes mire than 2 hours that you have a full battery or stay on AC power.

Your projects in iTimeLapse are saved so if you render & export your video at 12fps and you find that it is too jumpy then you can re-render later by accessing the project file and changing the fps of the timelapse.

Have a look at a sample which I created this month in Sydney, Australia.

The iTimeLapse iPhone app is available in the app store at €2.99 – well worth it, a nice fun app.

Slovenia v England is the big match today. England must win and they probably will have enough to get past Slovenia, if they don’t then heads will roll as they should be up for this game, with all the hype and the past performances being highlighted within the camp. If they are ready, then they could do well today – if not, they may just scrape past Slovenia.

USA v Algeria could have an impact on England should England draw with Slovenia. USA look good so far and seem to have a good game plan. This could be another USA draw but if they keep the concentration and get an early goal they could win by a goal or two.

Australia v Serbia is a tough one to call; Australia have to bounce back after the German Hammering, but need to win today, Serbia might be too much for them. One goal will probably decide this game, most probably in Serbias favour.

Ghana v Germany is (or should be) a no brainer. Germany should have no problem in winning this game, unless they do a France and just fall apart which is 100/1 unlikely. Could be 3 or 4 in this one.

Score Predictions for todays games:

-   Slovenia 0 – 2 England

-   USA 1 – 0 Algeria

-   Australia 0 – 1 Serbia

-   Ghana 0 – 3 Germany

Happy Australia Day to all my friends in Australia … Rachel, Michelle, Clare and all the gang in Sensis in Sydney.

To celebrate Australia Day I’ve just uploaded a picture which I took on Australia Day back in 2004.

In a recent survey of litter in ireland, it was found that Irelands  cities and towns are now cleaner than they have been for many years – thanks to better awareness from the public, more bins and a huge effort from city and town councils.

However, some pedestrians and motorists ignore bins and drop cigarette butts and food on the streets.

Litter Report 2008

The 2008 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System report found that Cigarette-related litter formed 46% of street litter and food packaging & Sweet wrappers making up 17% of all litter.

For some reason, cigarette smokers have some sort of ignorance when it comes to litter. Cigarette Butts also contain over 4,000 toxins which can kill birds and fish – so why, when finished a cigarette do smokers flick their butt into the streets – in a “F**k it, someone else will clean  that up!” attitude.

Smokers should be fined for doing this – after all it is litter. If they are not fined then there should be a 10c tax on each cigarette in a packet to pay for butt clean up.

Butts in Australia

In Australia, cigarette butt awareness is something which is pushed quite a lot. On beaches, and in cities, signs tell you to put your cigarette butt in the bin.

Some examples are shown below.

[caption id="attachment_204" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Cigarette Butts - Signs in Australia"][/caption]

Naming and Shaming

I think Ireland may have to Name and Shame pubs, restuarants or outlets which don’t encourage smokers to bin their butts when finished smoking.

The 10 Step Test

Try walking 10 steps in the city without seeing a cigarette butt on the ground – it is almost impossible.

Review of  Australia

Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman in an ambitious but entertaining epic by Baz Luhrman.

Set in Australia at the beginning of World War II the film starts out, introduced and narrated by a young half Aboriginal boy.  The story is not overly complex, English Lady’s husband as gone to Australia (Oz) to farm a cattle ranch and she goes to Australia just as war is breaking. I am not going to spoil the story but the film is a tale of how Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) hires the aid of a drover to move her cattle to the port of Darwin for sale while passing near a competitor cattle ranch. One the way some disasters strike, war breaks out, and Lady Sarah tries to save the young boy from separation.

The story is somewhat predictable, but ties in the Wizard of Oz and also modern and recent Australian history. Although in parts the story gets a bit slow, (it is a long film), its not a bad film.  Some of the scenery is CGI enhanced or in the case of 1940′s Darwin, totally computer generated, it doesn’t look too bad.

The young boy’s thick Aboriginal accent is a bit tough to understand but you do get used to it.

The film is not a classic, its a bit long, a bit predictable, but certainly a good watch.

Overall Score : 7/10