One Day, My Mac Screen Went Black About a month ago, my trusty MacBook Air finally gave up on me. I’m not exactly gentle with my devices, and my younger daughter had scratched the screen and dropped it more than once… Honestly, it’s amazing it lasted as long as it did. One day, I closed the laptop as usual, then opened it again a little later—only to find my Mac completely unresponsive, with a black...
About Radar Detectors I imagine many people have a radar detector in their car. Until about three years ago, we had a screen-style unit mounted on the dashboard too. (The radar detector shown below isn’t the exact model we had, but ours looked similar and was mounted on the right side of the driver’s seat.) *Image: [Parts Review] Comtec ZERO602V Radar Detector One day, my husband said, “I wonder if there’s a better radar detector...
I’m on Instagram I’m on Instagram too, although I mostly post photos of Porsches (pretty much nothing else). When I scroll through my feed (is that what it’s called?), I see so many beautifully shot cars. It’s a lot of fun—and, more than anything, a great way to learn about photography. I used to take pictures of cars without giving composition a second thought. But after I started using Instagram, I found myself thinking, “If...
What Makes Instagram So Fun It’s almost been two months since I started an Instagram account for our Porsches, and I’ve been posting once or twice a day. For me, the fun of Instagram is how easily it brings people together across nationalities and language barriers. When you see a photo you love, language doesn’t matter. I’ve had comments from racing drivers overseas, and I actually get more likes from people abroad than from Japanese...
My Husband Upgrades to a New Digital Camera A little while ago, my husband started looking into buying a new digital camera for photographing our cars. Until then, he’d been using a Nikon D5200 with two lenses: a 50mm prime and a 10–20mm wide-angle zoom. The D5200 takes perfectly good pictures, but he wasn’t entirely happy with its ability to capture fine detail or its autofocus performance. He’d often say, “The Boxster’s rear end doesn’t...
Porsche Individuality Yesterday, I heard that the Japanese version of Porsche’s official app, Porsche Individuality, had just launched. The app lets you explore Porsche’s appeal through videos about the marque’s history and character, sports exhaust sounds, games, wallpapers, and 360-degree panoramic VR experiences. It first launched in Germany in 2017 and has earned international design accolades, including the Red Dot Design Award. “This sounds fun!” I thought, and quickly installed it on my phone. ＊Related...
The Blog Logo Problem The other day, my husband asked, “Why is our blog logo so weird?” Our old logo was a red-and-black steering wheel I’d downloaded from a free image site. It was so blurry you could barely tell what it was supposed to be—not exactly a great look. “Let’s change it!” I thought. I looked for a free Porsche logo, but while there were plenty for the 911, I couldn’t find one for...
Automo Camera I often use an app called “Automo Camera” on this blog. It’s a handy tool that detects license plates in car photos and automatically blanks them out. The other day, my husband heard that the app had added a feature for creating custom stamps, so he got started right away. You can make your own stamp for free and share it privately, so only people with the code can use it. Apparently, anyone...
The Challenges of Outdoor Parking Our family rents an additional parking space in the neighborhood, where we keep our Mercedes-Benz SL500 (R129). We live in the suburbs, and there aren’t any covered parking spaces nearby, so we rent an uncovered spot with a gravel surface. It costs about ¥10,000 a month. Here’s what it looks like… When you park outdoors, your beloved car is exposed to wind and rain. My husband was adamant: “We absolutely...
A Drive Through the Countryside Around Sanda Last weekend, we visited a park somewhere in Sanda. It was a lovely, peaceful spot with very few people around. The country roads in Sanda are beautiful, quiet, and a pleasure to drive. The scenery was just as lovely the other day. These photos were taken near Lake Senjōji, by the way. “AUTOMO CAMERA” Today, I want to share an app that impressed me with how useful it...
