The McKenzies' Blog…

Further to the blog posting over at Lisa & Emma’s Blog, I’d posted about how the girls got a cute little Syrian Hamster, named Nibbler, for Christmas.  I wanted a way to keep an eye on him in his cage that might be fun for the kids too… what to do, what to do .. oh yeah, get geeky and find a small camera for the cage, HamsterCam<tm>

This is something quite new to the market and it’s come out just at the right time.. enter the SMART-I (World smallest Wi-Fi Camera) by Smart Witness.

Here are a couple of pics of the camera fitted to the cage.

The field of view is pretty tight on the camera, which is a bit of weakness as it’s sort of sold as a security type device, it’s only 50 degrees, it really wants to be closer to 90 degree’s I think (or at least adjustable).  But it really is a crack’n little device.

Setup is crazy easy, plug it in (or put a battery in), switch it on, look for it’s WIFI Access Point SSID and connect to it.  If you want it to join your existing WIFI network so it acts as a WIFI client rather then an access point on it’s own, just switch it to the Setup Setting, connect to it’s SSID and configure it for your network including the WIFI key, switch it off and back on again and you’re done.

There are a couple other minor annoyances I have with the device but all but one can be fixed with firmware updates.  The one that can’t however is it’s ability to see in low light.  I don’t mean no light, but middle of the afternoon with the curtain drawn and all you get is a black camera.. not really ideal for a “security” type device.

I’ve not yet tested it’s ability to see with a IR light source.  I’ll test that and if it works I may rig up an IR flood lamp on an PIR sensor so it will trigger the lights when Nibbler moves about the cage.

It could really doe with a pan and tilt system too haha but that’s asking for too much in something so small.

Here’s a sample screen shot from the camera (this was taken with the built in recording Java app in the camera)

All in all I’m pretty happy with the camera and I’m sure it’ll come in handy in other places as well, as it’s a it’s own WIIF Access Point it can be used anywhere you want and that you have a USB power source (or a battery).

I suppose I should list some Pros and Cons for this little camera to make this a bit more complete, not that it’s a proper review (yet).

Pros

• The size, this has to be it’s biggest asset for sure.
• Fully Wi-Fi enabled device, access point and Wi-Fi client to connect to your own network.
• Feature list I’ll put as a Pro, as it’s short comings can be sorted with future updates
• Image quality in good light is quite good
• Allows for a user/password to be set up control access
• Runs off 5v @ 1A so most USB ports on modern laptops should be able to power the camera
• (optional) Accessory kit comes with a stand, mains and car power adapters, battery replacement uses standard Mini USB cable

Cons

• Image quality in low / no light is unacceptable.
• Only allows for a single user/password to be set, the user had all or nothing access
• No way to limit or prevent access to audio other then by the single account, ie: no public access to camera yet blocking audio
• The camera runs quite hot, I’ll put this as a Con, see below
• Not water/weather proof at all, strictly indoor use only unless it’s dry outside.
• Not likely a good idea to put this in a case for external use due to the heat generated
• Audio quality is pretty poor, but given the size of the device and mic I didn’t expect much here

I say early because her birthday isn’t really until Nov 13th.  However, we had the party a week early as we’d planned to do something next weekend.  Anyhow we held the party at Cheeky Monkeys Play Barn in Fulbourn.  Emma invited 10 of her friends plus our 2 kids made 12, however one of them was unable to join us.   See all the photos, CLICK HERE.

This is the cake and some snacks provided by Cheeky Monkeys Play Barn, and Emma blowing out the candles.

Here’s Emma opening her gifts from everyone that came to the party.  Lisa is “helping” her.

We got the sense that everyone really had a good time at the party.

Thanks to everyone that came to the party and Emma says thanks very much for all the wonderful gifts!

At around 0430 AM on Monday April 11th we set out for nearly a week long holiday on the continent. The trip started by driving from Cambridge to Dover where we got the ferry for Calais, France. We’d arrived nearly an hour early due to a bit of bad planning on my part but also due to no traffic on the roads at that insane hour. We’d arrived at the ferry port an hour early and managed to get put on an earlier ferry.  This was was great as it meant we could get to Disney that much earlier and also avoid more rush hour traffic around Paris.

Once in France it was a very straightforward drive to get to Disneyland Paris.  I think we got checked into the hotel, “Disneyland Hotel”, about 90 mins early. Not a problem as the kept our cases for us and gave us our park tickets so we could start to enjoy the park without delay.

The kids (and you can safely assume for the rest of this posting that I am including Yuki as one of "the kids") were mental and wanted to see the characters and get on some rides.

Read on if you want to read all the details of trip This is a long read .. so brace for it

Read the rest of this entry »

Back in September both Lisa and Emma went out for the try outs at The Grafton Centre for Modelsearch UK. Emma didn’t make it through but Lisa did. Then it was back for the second round of try outs in early October and Lisa managed to get through again. That brings us to Oct 23 and the rehearsals for the big show.

The daily show started on the Sunday and ran until Wed Oct 27th.  Lisa has been doing 3 show 4 times a day.  Today was the last day and the last show of the day which was suppose  to start at 6pm but is running late, will be judged by a panel. 

Lisa is very excited about this final show. The winners will get a gift certificate good for any shop in The Grafton Centre plus some professional photo and a chance to sign on with an agency.

1840hrs Lisa has just finished two of the show.in The final.

Final update … Lisa didn’t get selected this year, but she’ll go back next year and try again for sure!

The trip to Mega Scotland (GC1XDQ0) for Gord started with a flight from Canada on Thursday July 29th. I started at 8am with a drive to Heathrow to meet him. then it was what turned out to be a 10hr drive to travel just 400 or so miles from Heathrow to the camp site in Kinross, Scotland. Even I, a Veteran of 8 yrs of UK driving, was amazed at how painfully slow the drive was.

We arrived at the camp site about 9pm and had everything set up by about half 9 or so. A quick trip around the camp site to see is about and scope out the facilities, then it was back to meet the neighbours and chill out by their fire.

The sleep was great, I used my new down sleeping bag, it was very warm and comfy. Only problem, on a clear morning the Sun in Scotland shows its face about 4am… Needed my siesta glasses but could be arsed to get out of my bag to get them. Won’t make that mistake tonight thought haha

Saturday: first on the list besides getting showered will be to find food. Then its off to the kilt makers for Gord and I. Then to the actual Mega Scotland event.

I will post more later including some pics I hope.

Cheerio from Scotland

Posted by Wordmobi