New Iphone

I've just seen that Apple's new iPhones can charge wirelessly. Well my iPhone 6 is still in good shape and I'm going to keep out for a while. Eventually when I do upgrade I'll give the 6 to my seven year old daughter, she'll be eight by then.

Phones and Children

I know there's controversy about giving young children a cell phone at such a young age. And I have toiled with this myself but there are benefits as well. The main one is that provides communication and as she gets older and more independent that becomes more important. I use this app called Life360 Which I have on her older brothers phone this allows me to know exactly where he is. Then there's the fact that my phone should stay charged for longer, my daughter has a habit of taking my phone, playing games and depleting the batteries.

Go Wireless

I've always wanted a wireless way to charge my iPhone. My wife has a Samsung model that has that feature built in and now that Apple has added it in its new (expensive) models. I want it too.

The Kit

There's a kit you can buy, like the ones here wireless charger for iphone Which gives you a wireless charging iphone. You don't have to take your phone apart, there's no tools either. You just plug it into the iPhone, bend this card thing over and onto the back of you phone, where it sticks on. And that's it. The great thing is that I can use the same wireless charger that my wife uses, even though her phone is an Android type phone, it doesn't matter.

Final Thoughts

And by buying a few wireless charger pads and placing then all around the house, they're not expensive, we can all charge our phones without fighting over the one charger. Getting into the habit of leaving a phone on a charging pad ensures it's fully charged and ready to go.

Learning to play Piano

Our young son is learning to play the piano. I feel it's very important for young children to learn to play a musical instrument, not because they should go on to become grand concert pianists but because it exercises a their young minds in a rather unique way. You see there's something quite amazing going here as you play a musical instrument, there's immediate feed feedback as your actions make the sounds. And this instant response to what you're doing, especially as a young child, helps with deeper more profound areas of thought and learning later on. So our seven year old has been learning the piano for around eight months and, fingers crossed, seems to be enjoying it immensely. Which I'm quite pleased about. So we're going to get him an electronic piano that he can practice with.

Finding the Right Keyboard

We want to buy something that behaves like a real piano. It has to have the full 88 keys and these should be weighted so that the sound can be played soft or loud. We found a useful web site that goes into more detail and has the latest electronic pianos for purchase. You can find the link here keyboardpiano88keys.com Although they're not cheap, I feel that it's important to get something that behaves like the real thing. A cheap keyboard is more like a toy and that will really send the wrong message to my son.

Keyboard Pianos with 88 Keys

I used to play when I was younger and I'm quite excited to dust down the old cobwebs and see if I've still got it. I don't think you ever forget, it's a bit like riding a bike. But the other reason to get something that's a bit more expensive is it's resell value. Providing it's in good shape we could sell it on for a good price. Ressling old keyboards Eventually, I'm hoping my two year old daughter will get the bug from hearing her older brother play. Then she'll be able to practice on a full size electronic piano as well.

The world of suitcases

I was never happy with our old suitcases. They were too flimsy and the zipper would stick and one of the wheels on the other had seized up. Plus they seemed to get tatty very quickly and just looked, well, cheap bargain basement purchases. Time for change. I was determined to put things right for the next purchase. And I decided on a three piece luggage set. Lots of research on the Internet led me to this site ~Three Piece Luggage Set I new I had to go up market, not in a designer label way but in terms of ruggedness.

My Previous Suitcases

From past experience, I knew what to watch for - the locking mechanism - the wheels/casters. But first I'll tell you why I decided on a three piece set. Simple, it's for storage when not in use. You see, when empty each smaller case fits into the next case. Which means three cases become one. Space is at a premium where I live and anything that helps on that score, is a bonus. There are lots of choices when it comes to 3 piece luggage sets. Some good, some not so good and it's easy to get hooked on looks rather than function. But it's important to remember that the function of a suitcase is more important than good looks. And if you keep this in mind you'll purchase will be for the long term.

Suitcase Considerations

So take this this a three point check list when your looking for a new suitcase.

• The locking mechanism
• The wheels/casters
• The skin/shell of the case

If you go for a zipper, then look for the chunkiest, robust zipper you can find. With wheels or casters, it's the same deal. Don't go for small dainty wheels, you should be looking add something similar to those in a flight case. Something that's going to last. Finally the case itself, this needs to be tough resilient and waterproof ( it's surprising that some case materials aren't waterproof - avoid these like the plague). We tend to favor the hard, polyurethane, plastics. These are very durable and last a long time. See what you suitcase has to endure here

The Camera Smartphone

The world of photography has moved on the smartphone. Everyone is a photographer these days and the social media sites have so many photos of celebrities from every possible angle. So surely the SLR camera is dead? Well that's not the full picture, if you'll pardon the pun, photos from cell phones, in the main, are of incredible pore quality. But snaps would be a better term to describe them. It's not the smart phone that's at fault here. In fact the smart phone and it's software are incredible at deciding what's important in the frame and exposing for precisely that. No the real problem is the person pressing the button.

Photography versus Snapper - Which One Are You?

It is in fact possible to get some really good images from a smart phone. You just have to have to have a little bit of knowledge regarding composition and the use of light to produce something of quality, that will look great on any website, which is where most images tend to go nowadays. So is the dSLR less relevant today than it was before the introduction of the smart phone. I think not. It is if you just want to snap away but those folks would never have the patience or inclination to try and understand the principles of photography. And nor should they.

The Master Photographer

When you want to produce an image, something that you can picture in your mind and engineer into existence. That skill takes time to learn and master. And having the right equipment, like flash units and tripods (you can see some here The best selling camera tripod) makes so much sense. You the photography need to be comfortable with your equipment so that the snaps you do take, stun your audience. When that happens, your snaps become photographs, you've graduated to master photography and you look at the world in a similar way as an artist would. The images you produce will be a thing of beauty and everyone will see that too.