A9.com Maps

Okay, the search engine war is really on. After Google had brought us Google Maps and Google Earth, shortly followed by MSN's copycat virtual earth, now Amazon has setup A9.com Maps with some really cool feature (at least as long as you live in the US): Street level photo's! (Or "BlockView Images" as Amazon wants you to call them.) Wouldn't it be time for those people to realize that the earth is slightly larger than the US alone? Or rather: wouldn't it be time for a European company with similar creativity and resources? Anyway, it's realy cool, but unfortunately you can't upload photo's; I would have had some. Unfortunately, a picture of the street where I have been living is not available... well, never mind, I have my own:

Adobe Premiere

Finally got back to my movie editing interests.... Had some previous experience with Window Movie Maker, but Adobe Premiere came preinstalled with my new laptop. Less intuitive than WMM, but many more capabilities and much more advanced (still happy with WMM though). Explored Adobe Premiere making a short impression of the firework at the last day of Sail. The overlay of the Sail logo on the video is not possible with WMM. Subtitling is more troublesome than in WMM.

Amsterdam Sail '05

I went to see the fireworks at Sail '05. I strolled along the eastside wharf (my 'backyard' so to speak) for a while, to see the coulorfully lit sailing ships that have moored there. It was an enchanting experience; I never think of Amsterdam as centered about its harbour, but walking there realy provokes the feeling of a seafaring city.
The Sedof came only today -- two days after all the other tall ships arrived. It's famous because it is the world's longest sailing ship still in operation (127 meters long, if I'm well informed). It was German build in 1912 (if I remember correctly), but was taken as a war trophy by the Russians after the second world war. Frankly, I didn't find it as exciting as some of the other ships, but this picture was more or less sharp...

Sail '05 Amsterdam

Sail '05 Amsterdam - Replica of the Prins Willem, a 17th century Dutch East Indies Company (V.O.C.) trading ship