Zero Sample: Series Relaese

With all three covers designed for the Zero Sample book series are finished and sent off to my client James G. Clayton yesterday, today they have been put up on the Amazon Kindle Marketplace. Hooray! So please go and check them out and purchase your copy of the Zero Sample series. For more information click on the corresponding links below.

> For more information on the Zero Sample series, click here.

> For James G. Clayton's blog, go here.

> To buy the Zero Sample: Fragments,  Zero Sample: Feedback,  Zero Sample: Family.

> And for other titles by James G. Clayton's, click here.

...

ZS Project: Completed

Well, the project is completed and here are the final three book cover designs. To celebrate, here's some cake. :)

Design© Chris Hill 2013

Design© Chris Hill 2013

Design© Chris Hill 2013

ZS Project: New 'Subject 42' design

It's been quite a week, I have managed to land myself some work experience in the design studio at the museum, where I work as a sales assistant. I am volunteering one day a week up in the design studio - last week was an induction, getting my CV and portfolio sorted out. This week I am assisting on a project in the Royal Observatory, which so far is pretty exciting and I am looking forward to next week. Most of the work that I have been doing is Illustrator based, good for me as since uni I haven't used it much and a little rusty.

After producing some concept designs for 'ZS: Fragments' I have gone back to the drawing board to spruce up the Subject 42 cover. The plan is to make all covers in the ZS series have a continuity element - using same fonts and placement in the title, use of background colour and some sort of design within the 'Squidhead' to somehow capture an element of the story. Below is a new example of this.

Design© Chris Hill 2013

Design© Chris Hill 2013

ZS Project: Fragments

I have been working on some new concept designs for book two of Zero Sample, entitled 'Fragments' I have decided to continuing to use the same figure as in 'Subject 42' in keeping with the continuity of the series. I used a cracked effect to symbolise the 'Squidhead' figure to look fragmented.

Design© Chris Hill 2013

        Design© Chris Hill 2013

Design © Chris Hill 2013

ZS Project: Subject 42

So I have just come back from a weeks holiday to Scotland, which was a nice and relaxing break. I got to try on a kilt and eat some haggis, which I have never tried and really enjoyed (eating the haggis that is!)

In other news the High Strangeness book with the cover that I designed is now on the Amazon Kindle marketplace, my first piece of commercial work produced! I have now been commissioned to produce a new design for a new book series entitled 'Zero Sample'. The first instalment set to be released in late 2013 and involves the human race being mind controlled by paranormal entities, though the full synopsis is still Top Secret (sorry!). The image that I have been designing (in concept mode) is a metaphorical representation of the menace that is being portrayed in the story, this being the 'Squidhead' figure.

© Chris Hill 2013

© Chris Hill 2013

Cover Design - High Strangeness

© Chris Hill 2013

I have recently been working some artwork for a book cover for the recent;y released novel for, James G. Clayton, entitled 'High Strangeness'.

His novel is available now to download on the kindle store here.

The Life of Font "Lost In Translation" - Created by Chris Hill

How To... Turn Off In-App Purchases

Every now and then I will show you a different HOW TO feature. From adjusting settings on an iPad mini, connecting a DSLR camera to a telescope, how to find North using the stars, plus many more. Most of the features here will be stuff that I have told people how to do from questions they have asked me. I will be posting these questions here.

Today subject is - How To Turn Off In-App Purchases on your Apple device.

Recently in the news there was an article on a 5 year old boy, who racked up a £1700 bill by buying items within an app. Now from this story I gather that some people are unaware that these blunders can be avoided by TURNING OFF the in-app purchases. It's easy and could save you a lot of unwanted expenditure.

To do this go to your SETTINGS, then go to the GENERAL tab, scroll down to RESTRICTIONS and hit that button (if you already have a passcode to enable or disable restrictions, you may be propted to input your unique passcode). Then scroll down to IN-APP PURCHASES and slide the lock/unlock icon to off. Done.

Go to SETTINGS

Go to RESTRICTIONS

Turn off IN-APP PURCHASES

** Or even simpler, don't let your 5 year-old mess with your iPad or give them your account password!!

Gadget Review... iPad Mini

A few months back I gave you my review of the Kindle Fire and mentioned at the end of my post that I will be buying the iPad Mini. Well, I did, and here is my review.

As I said in my Kindle Fire The Scorched Review post I blogged about a while back as basically stated that I wasn't entirely impressed by it. So I managed to get 98% of my money back and instead I went and did what I really should have done at the start, I bought an iPad mini. In black of course.
It is basically what you you expect from an Apple product. Sleek design, beautiful UI and very easy to use. Not to mention the App Store with over 3 million apps, the iTunes store with a ton of movies, TV Shows, music and lots more. It has everything you want in a tablet with the familiarization of an Apple product.

I have loaded my iPad with the Kindle app, Spotify  and a few TV and video apps (TVCatchup, ITV Player...) and a nice collection of games all made for the iPad. I have also added Dropbox, as I take a lot of photos with my iPhone and my DSLR, so this app is really easy to transfer my photos to and from my iPad, iPhone and my PC.

The Product
I purchased the 32GB WiFi version, though a 16GB and a 64BG are available with either WiFi and Cellular versions to choose from. However with the budget I had allocated I went for the 32GB version, which is plenty for my usage.
It has a 7.9 inch LCD backlit screen, that's a whole 0.7 inches more than the Kindle Fire. It may not have Retina (yet) but it is just as good when watching movies or playing on one the HD games that the App store has to offer. The size of the screen means that using the keyboard (activated when using word processing apps for example) is very easy to use, the keys are a nice size to tap away. Though if writing is what you want then I will be covering some accessories later on in the review.
The iPad mini weighs 308g, which is 58% lighter than the iPad, and is as thin as a standard pencil so it fits nicely into a small bag when traveling.

Connectivity
The iPad Mini comes with a redesigned connection port, known as Lightning. It has an all-digital eight-signal design that claims  to be more durable than the standard 30-pin connector the older Apple products have. It is also reversible, so there is no wrong way to stick it in!
The iPad mini also comes with dual-band WiFi that is made to impress with an improved, faster connection - I have noticed a difference in connection time and loading speed when comparing too my other Apple devices, such as the iPhone 4 and the iPod Touch.

Features
The iPad mini comes with a number for nice features, including a nice appearance from the iPhone 4S, Siri. Siri, when activated allows you to say a command (for example "tell me the time?" or "What is the weather like?" and Siri will answer. A full list of Siri commands can be found here. There are also some alternative commands that you may wish to say that the has been added to the program that is really just a gimmick, but some of the stuff that Siri says is pretty entertaining.
The iPad comes packed and ready to rock with power with the A5 Chip, making everything you do seem more fluid and naturallike switching apps, playing games (as well as operating apps in HD too), watching movies (also in HD),  editing photos and videos.
Since playing with the iPad mini, I have seen a significant upgrade to the battery life comparing it to other Apple devices such as the iPod Touch and iPhone 4. The mini does last a long time without a charge - for example usage I browsed the internet, watched YouTube videos, downloaded films and apps from the iTunes store, played music through Spotify and played games for an estimated 5 hours a day. Withing 3 days i needed a charge.

Accessories
After buying the iPad mini I went out to search for some decent accessories. I discovered that Ebay was the best source for that - mainly for the price difference compared to the Apple store and other online retailers. So far I have bought two handy accessories for my iPad mini, they are;

A case - The case that I chose suited me best as it had a rotating 360 degree swivel, which is attached to a mount that your iPad is placed into. This allows you to turn the device for either landscape or portrait viewing, the device can also be slotted into grooves in the inside of the case so you can stand your device up if watching a movie on a table or in bed comfortably. It also comes with an elastic strap to keep the cover from opening. Definable recommend

HQ Premium Black 360 PU Leather Wallet Stand Case Cover for Apple iPad Mini

Verdict - Affordable, great design, ideal for watching films.

The next accessory I purchased was SD card and USB adapter. Very good idea if you are a keen photographer like myself, when on the move you are able to plug the adapter in to the Lightning port and slot in a regular SD card and view all of your photos. 

SD Feature - When you insert the SD card your Photos app instantly opens, and once uploaded will display your images and some selected video formats taken with your digital camera. I will be exploring this feature further but it looks like it doesn't support large video files for watching movies. Will let you know if I find out any more.

USB Feature - The USB port is a little trickier as it doesn't support any USB pen drive, though it does state on the stor page (see link below) that it does support USB keyboards. I am later to try this out. 

** One hint though is that there is a tiny switch on the side of the device that switches from SD reader to USB reader.

5in1 SD Card Reader Camera Connection Kit USB Adapter for iPad mini 4th Gen CR

Conclusion

After a good several months with the iPad mini I would say that I am extremely happy with my purchase. I can tether my a iPhone to my iPad and use my iPhone's 3G signal to browse the internet if I am in a place without Wi-Fi. I love being able to watch my favorite movies on a decent size screen and is ideal for traveling. I love it and would give it a big 10/10.

Space, The Final Frontier.

So at the beginning of the year I finally (over almost a year of deliberation) purchased my very own Telescope. A Skywatcher Explorer 130p (see image left) with a SynScan mount. I must say it is a pretty sweet bit of kit. Boasting an impressive 130mm (aprox.5 inches) mirror and a 650mm focal length (f/5), and attached is a GoTo mount that allows me to track objects in the sky.

Jupiter with all four moons - taken with iPhone

So far I have observed three objects in the sky. During the Stargazing Live sessions on the BBC a few weeks back I managed to observe Jupiter and all four of its moons (see image right), plus I managed to see Betelgeuse (seen in the constellation of Orion), which was just a pin of bright orange/red light. It is astronomers hope that one day, in the not to distant future that Betelgeuse will meet a stunning demise as she'll go supernova, which in tern will give us one amazing sight to see. When she does then it'll be the second brightest light in the sky for about two weeks. When she will blow, no one knows, it could be tomorrow, next month or even a decade from now.

Next I observed the Moon, our closest astronomical neighbor. It was a breathtaking sight, seeing the moons' partially visible surface (about 25% ) with a multitude of scars from hundreds of meteor impacts. I managed to observe for a little under an hour before the clouds started to obscure my vision. Nevertheless it was a pretty impressive sight for this armature astronomer!

Before I head out again I will be purchasing a new and stronger Barlow lens, which will give me a magnification of 5x instead of my current magnification at 2x. I will also be buying a T-Mount which will allow me to attach my Digital SLR camera onto my telescope, this way I am hoping I will get some even more stunning images. So watch this space.

I'm Back

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Year. I have abandoned my blogging duties for a while, as I had to tie up a few loose ends and get some stuff sorted. Now I am back with a whole galaxy of things to write about.

And just to keep you salivating, we got astronomy, gadgets, movie reviews, upcoming events, Klingons and Alan Wake.

So buckle up and let's get cracking...