If you wish to view the photos of Seaham Red Star Reserves v Linthorpe FC then click here to view them.

The sat nav app is based on an open source idea whereby users can update the maps and report issues with the routes etc should they be incorrect. Which to be fair is a good idea.

On the face of it the free sat nav app looks like it could be open to problems such as people purposefully putting the wrong routes on etc, however I don’t see this being a massive issue and it took me for a 30 minute journey today and didn’t get anything wrong really. It was spot on.

The free iPhone sat nav app told me which exits to take from the motor way and even preceded these instructions with a please! I don’t know of another sat nav that asks you nicely to take the exit! Furthermore it tells you the name of the road you need to take rather than just telling you to take the next turning. For example it would say “In one miles time, please take the next exit for the M1″. Quite impressive if you ask me!

For a free application you can’t go wrong, granted you need to have it mouted, but I my girlfriend with me who kindly held it, although the iPhone became very warm by the end of the journey, obviously using a lot of energy for the GPS receiver. Despite this I only lost around about 15% of the battery at most during the duration of the journey which was decent considering. The other down side was that it was on the quiet side, even with the speakers turned all the way up on tbe iPhone, but it was still possible to hear the instructions.

I am not sure how good it is in the city centre but for getting to where you want to be it does the job really well and even has a little map like other sat navs have.

I couldn’t recommend this free sat nav app for the iPhone highly enough, it does a great job!

Click here for the Skobbler website.

Click here for the Skobbler lite sat nav app for iPhone on the online app store.

I haven’t used the Canon 50D before for sports photography, which is what I do most of, therefore it is going to take some getting used to. By that I mean getting used to selecting the right settings for that camera as it is a huge step up from my old 400D. Initally though I need to know how to get to change some of those settings!

The camera as a whole though is a huge step up, it offers a much faster shutter speed (1/8000) in comparison to my 400D (1/4000) and obviously for sports photography you need the fastest shutter speed available. In addition the ISO range is far more vast and larger and the image quality alone is far more superior.

The camera obviously boasts other features however I am yet to properly use and discover them. I look forward to being able to use my camera to its full capabilities and I am sure that I will!

As I take more photographs and get used to it a bit more the photos will be posted on here!

Today I headed down to the Tees Barrage to get some photographs of the jet skiers. I am aware that they are usually down there on a sunday afternoon and thought I would seize the opportunity to put my new camera to use (Canon 50D).

I felt that the result were decent but not as good as they could have been. I am still getting used to taking photographs with my Canon 50D and hope that in time I will improve more and more and achieve better shots than what I did with my Canon 400D.

The jet skiers provided many opportunities for photographs but because I am awaiting the delivery of my new compact flash card I had limited memory space available. I am hoping to get down again sometime in the near future to get some more photographs and utilise my new compact flash card to the full!

To see these photos click here to take you to the jet ski set on Flickr.

I have started working full time over the summer and do a lot of work at a computer but at the same time am taking a lot of photographs. I primarily purchased Spotify Premium so that I could set up a playlist and listen to it whilst at work. It saves me getting bored eith the radio and allows me to choose what I want to listen to. The main aspect for me was the fact I could use it on my iPhone as I didn’t particularly want to download it on the works computer.

To be completely honest I prefer Spotify on the iPhone! It is so simple to use and takes no effort to work. You’d have thought that it’d be difficult to work on a mobile device but it is quite the opposite. It’s simple and comes with all the functionality of Spotify on the computer I believe!

For anyone out there who is not sure whether to get Spotify Premium I strongly recommend it, especially if you have an iPhone or other mobile device that supports the use of Spotify Premium. It’s well work the price which is only £9.99 a month. Talking of the subscription, it can be taken out for just a month as it automatically renews every month and can be stopped from renewing whenever.

One thing that I really like about Spotify is their new system. The fact that you can import your library from iTunes into is great, also the fact that on the iPhone it can let you know which of the songs on your iPhone are in the Spotify library. In addition you can create offline playlists for when you have no connection – good or what!

Click here to view Spotify Premium music package, or click here to compare Spotify’s music packages!

Personally I am very pleased with the result for Stockton South. James Wharton has been ever present over the past three years or so and has always fought for causes in this constituency. I have been fully aware of what he has been up to and he has delivered regular newsletters keeping us updated with this. He has worked extremely hard and deserves his place in Parliament. Let’s just hope that the Conservatives can find a way of getting a majority in the Commons.

I think that there will be another General Election sooner rather than later though with it being a hung parliament. We can only hope that the Conservatives pick up a few more seats and end up with a much needed overall majority.

All over Facebook I see people complaining left right and centre about the Conservatives, but it is only because they’re from the North East. They won’t consider a Conservative government or even begin to listen to what respected people are saying. The Economist Magazine and Financial Times (two very highly regarded organisations with in the financial world) backed the Conservatives. That has to be saying something…

Any party will struggle, it is going to be hard work but someone has to do it and at least Cameron has showed he is up to it and determined to give it all he has. He even said in his “contract with you”, that the party should be held accountable by the electorate and would accept being voted out if they don’t deliver.

Let’s just hope that in the next election, which as I say I don’t think will in the not to near future, that the Conservatives manage an overall majority.

Click here to view the BBC’s website for this constituency and the results in more depth.

Today I received leaflets from the BNP, Liberal Democrats and UKIP, unfortunately each and every one of them had mistakes on them, whether it be consistency, spelling, grammar or punctuation. Quite honestly I am extremely surprised that these types of errors could get through, these candidates only get 1 opportunity every 4 years to campaign and they get their leaflets wrong! To be honest seeing those types of errors, if I had any intention voting for any of the parties mentioned above, would make me think twice against voting for them.

I have received leaflets from both the Labour Party and Conservative Party, but to be fair the Conservative Party, in particular James Wharton hasn’t stopped. He’s been in touch all year round and hasn’t stopped sending through leaflets, newsletters etc despite having a full time job.

My mind is already made up, I am not an extremist and am extremely disappointed with the Labour Party and in particular the way in which Gordon Brown managed the economy prior to becoming Prime Minister.

A lot of people make their choice based on who they want to win overall in the country, and to an extent I will too, but I also want someone who cares about the area and James Wharton is always campaigning for things in the area and trying his utmost. He has been interested from day one, and no one else has come close. Dari Taylor, the current MP for the area hasn’t been in touch much at all.

It will be interesting to see how the votes fair in this area as I think it could be very, very tight, but let’s face it, with the election system that we have in the UK you only need one more vote than the other candidates to win and I think it could come down to the wire.

The candidates in Stockton South are as follows:

James Wharton – Conservatives
Dari Taylor – Labour
Jacquie Bell – Lib Dems
Peter Braney – UKIP (No website)
Neil SinClair – BNP (No website)
Yvonne Hossack – Independent (No website)
Ted Strike – Christian Party (No website)