November 15, 2012

Aww, I got thanked!

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I recently backed the Syrp Genie, one of a handful of recent motion control timelapse projects on Kickstarter. It’s well past its expected ship date, but they done a good job of keeping backers updated on progress and just today they shared photos of the box that will soon be on it’s way to me. [...]

November 13, 2012

Greetings Library Scientist

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The California Library Association is pretty much like every other regional library association I’ve seen, not least because their most visible presence is their annual conference. It may be the season, but the CLA is more politically active than others I’ve known. At their core, most such associations exist to promote efficient transfer of operational knowledge from [...]

November 6, 2012

Our Arbitrary Alphabet

We have been gaslighted by the alphabet and now believe the arbitrary string of letters is actually organized according to some plan.

November 4, 2012

Strange things running on my Mac

My iMac screen is dark and isn’t lighting up like I expect it to when I tap the keyboard. I can, however, SSH into it and see what it’s doing when not responding to me. I found GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent running, this FAQ item vaguely tells me it’s part of Chrome, and that if I try to uninstall it [...]

September 23, 2012

Action Camera Market Not Yet Saturated, According To Sony

Sony Action Cam

I wondered if the GoPro-style action camera market had already become saturated back in January, now I’ve learned that Sony apparently doesn’t think so. At least one imagines that’s the conclusion they came to before deciding to join the competition with a camera of their own. They call it the Action Cam, and it clearly [...]

September 23, 2012

USB Camera Control

Problem The Canon EOS M doesn’t include a remote shutter release cable port, and the on-camera controls don’t expose features such as bulb-mode exposures. Further, simple remote shutter release doesn’t support the sophisticated camera control necessary to do timelapses with complex exposures. What kind of complex exposures? Imagine a timelapse going from day to night. During daylight [...]

September 13, 2012

Geography vs. Stereotypes

World According to the United States of America

Alphadesigner is trying to put a finger on it with his Mapping Stereotypes series. Others, including how Americans see Europe and the world according to America, are not nearly as well designed. We’d be fools, however, to think we invented the idea of mapping our prejudices. This Flickr set of maps from 1870 through 1915 is good evidence of that.

September 11, 2012

Chance Vs. Lasers

Via tweet: claw arcade games are not skill games, rather, the claw strength is randomized and is often only strong enough to successfully grab the prize in one attempt out of 18, or 800. Operator manuals linked in the Quora answer explain the different modes and odds. String cutting games, however, can be defeated with [...]

September 10, 2012

apiGrove: API Management Software

apiGrove logo

apiGrove is an API management tool by Alcatel-Lucent. It proxies APIs (presumably those you built and host, though the example is for Twitter) , supports authenticated access, throttles to help manage demand, usage logging and reporting. More info @apiGrove, hat tip.

September 10, 2012

Be Careful What You Measure

Seth Godin on what to obsess over: What are you tracking? If you track concepts, your concepts are going to get better. If you track open rates or clickthrough, then your subject lines are going to get better. Up to you. It’s long something I’ve believed: if you measure it, you will attempt to maximize it, even [...]

September 9, 2012

Preparing My iPhone For Europe

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There’s uncertain talk of a European trip coming up, so I’m making nonspecific preparations for it. One of the questions I have is how to avoid hefty roaming charges from AT&T. In previous trips abroad I’d purchased overseas voice and data add-ons so I could use my iPhone. That works, up to a point. On my [...]

September 5, 2012

Higgs-Bugson

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A hypothetical error whose existence is suggested by log events and vague reports from the users that cannot be reproduced in development conditions. QA and user support teams point to the Higgs-bugson as an explanation for the results they see in the field. Software engineers, however, often deny the existence of the Higgs-Bugson and offer alternative theories that often blame the user.

September 4, 2012

GoPro HD Hero 2 Lens Correction

GoPro HD Hero 2 Lens Correction

GoPro’s HD Hero 2 action camera is everywhere, so perhaps we’ll all be used to the fisheye’d images it produces soon. On the other hand, there are software solutions to rectify the image to rectilinear. Vimeo user Peter iNova has a few videos demonstrating his Photoshop action sets to straighten out an HD Hero’s output. A [...]

September 3, 2012

Making Sense Of AT&T’s Shared Data Plans

AT&T shared data plan graphic

AT&T and Verizon both recently introduced shared data plans that have left customers, including me, confused. What I really need is a chart that compares the different options, so I made one.

July 22, 2012

Motion Control Timelapse Projects On Kickstarter

Astro Panning Timelapse Control

Some time ago I backed the Syrp Genie (estimated delivery July 2012), but today I learned of the Radian and Astro. Unlike the Radian and Astro, the Genie supports linear motion, but it’s also much more expensive, bigger, and appears to have more complex controls. Here are the videos for all three projects:

June 4, 2012

Eduard Khil, Mr. Trololo, Dead At 77

Eduard Khil, Mr. Trololo, Dead At 77

Eduard Khil is dead. The man, whose work and career had earned high praise, including the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1971), Lenin Komsomol Prize (1976), Order of Friendship of Peoples (1981), Meritorious Artist of the RSFSR (1968), People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1974), Order of Merit for the Fatherland (2009), and international fame with his performance of Trololo. The 1976 performance that made him famous: A 1984 [...]