Posts filed under 'Tech'
A (long) while back I blogged about needing something to backup photos stored on my camera’s memory card while I’m on holiday in case my camera gets stolen again. In the end, I bought the Camera Buddy (40Gb) which, despite a confusing manual, takes xD cards and works absolutely fine under Linux as a usb-storage removable hard disk. Apparently it should also work as an 8-in-1 card reader, but that didn’t work out of the box and I can’t be bothered to get it to work. If I need to read the card directly I can do it via my camera anyway.
July 29th, 2007
Going to the gym is boring, taking the Tube is boring – I need something to pass the time. I’ve been taking a book to work for ages, because I can’t stand reading the Metro any more. It was fun occasionally, but its relentless lack of well-balanced or interesting journalism forced me to find something else. Also, I really hate the ink that rubs off on your hands.
On the other hand, books are great. They’re lightweight, low power, high resolution and engrossing. Sadly, they also require a great deal of room (compared to what’s available on the rush-hour Tube, anyway) and both hands to turn the pages. This is also the problem at the gym – can’t read and use the cross trainer at the same time. So I’ve been looking for something that’ll take away the boredom with the minimum of space, hassle and the maximum of entertainment. What I’ve realised is that no one product will do it all…
First item is the near ubiquitous Apple iPod Video. It stores tons of music, plays videos and some games too. However, its fairly pricey and the games aren’t that good, which isn’t surprising as the iPod wasn’t designed for that.
Second, the Sony PSP seems a lot better at the games and movies as it has a bigger screen. But sadly, lets itself down on the music side as it doesn’t have enough storage to have a complete music library, you’d have to take a selection with you every day. However, its a bit cheaper – but this doesn’t include the memory sticks, games, etc… that you’d need to buy. The screen size is physically larger than the iPod’s and the resolution is higher, but Sony have crippled the movie player so that it can’t play the full resolution.
Finally, the Nintendo DS is an awesome games machine, with no inbuilt ability to play music or videos. But with the addition of a Datel “Games ‘n’ Music” its capable of taking a memory card. However, there is very little information about what video formats are supported and the screen is smaller than either the iPod or the PSP. Nintendo always did have the best games, but the least capable hardware. The DS plus G’n'M card comes out about as expensive as the PSP.
While trying to decide which of these was the best for me, I was wishing that one of them would be just “obviously better” than the others, and wondering why this wasn’t the case. But it is simple; by Apple, Sony and Nintendo differentiating their products – iPod is the media player, PSP the jack-of-all-trades and DS the games machine – they all get to sell all of them. If any one of these competed directly with the another it would be a zero-sum game as they’d both be competing for a share in the same market. If they differentiate and compete “obliquely” by having similar capabilities, but a different focus, they can all sell in the same market.
Basically, to get what I want I’m going to have to buy all three. Or make a decision that one feature is more important to me than any of the others.
May 13th, 2007
When I was in Greece last summer my bag was stolen because I stupidly left it on the back of my chair and didn’t watch it closely enough. The loss of my wallet, credit cards, camera and a small amount of cash wasn’t nearly as annoying as the loss of the photos that were stored on the memory card in the camera. So I’ve been looking around for devices that will ensure that this doesn’t happen again. And, yes, I’ll try to keep my bag where I can see it too…
I first came across the Digital Foci Media Buddy, which is basically a removable hard disk with the ability to copy flash memory cards onto it without a computer. At $139, it seems like a good bargain. There is a fairly favourable review as well.
Then, searching for similar items, I saw the Wolverine FlashPac, which is basically the same thing but cheaper (and claims to be Linux 2.4.x compatible – but not 2.6.x?). And also the FlashPro, which is very similar. Also the StorVision PSC100, which again seems highly similar. Finally, the HyperDrive seems to sell itself on its speed, which isn’t something I care that much about.
What I really need is something that is just highly reliable. Maybe a hard disk recorder is overkill and all I need (but I haven’t seen one yet) is something that will duplicate one flash card on top of another. My only concern is that, if I lose my camera again I don’t lose those precious photos.
So, if anyone has any experience with these or similar products, I’d be glad to hear it.
PS: I haven’t seen any of these for sale in the U.K. In America Amazon sells some of them, but I can’t seem to find them on this side of the pond.
February 5th, 2007
I got a Fuji FinePix F30 for Christmas (Thanks Mum & Dad!) and a GorillaPod tripod-type-thing (Thanks, bro!) to hold it up. Its really cool and a very good replacement for the camera I had, which was stolen earlier this year. Here’s a picture of the F30 and GorillaPod.
So the killer feature of the F30 is its “high-ISO sensitivity”, basically meaning it can take better photos at night or indoors without a flash. There is a good review of the F30
here, and one of the
Canon Ixus 800IS which was the runner-up for my Christmas list. I figured that I take a large number of photos inside or at night, so the F30 makes better sense.
After playing with it for a while and taking (very) few photos (it has a tiny internal memory, so get a memory card) I tried to connect it to my Linux laptop. It didn’t work…
Turns out, the F30 uses Picture Transfer Protocol, not the more standard USB-storage. Happily, an upgrade to libgphoto-2.2.1 and after that, DigiKam worked fine.
December 26th, 2006
The BBC have posted yet another “silent aircraft” article with some improved pictures and buzzwords from the one they posted more than two years ago. I wonder why the guys at Boeing and Airbus haven’t tried this yet? Lets take a more detailed look at the claims.
As turbulent airflow, generated by irregular surfaces, causes noise, the designers tried to make the airframe as smooth as possible.
Wow! I guess they don’t teach that in elementary fluid mechanics… oh, hang on, they do.
The aerofoil shape of the body means that it also contributes to the aircraft’s lift, meaning it can make a slower approach on landing, again reducing noise.
On the other hand, the aerofoil shape of the body means it has a higher stalling speed. Its well-known that a delta-wing has trouble maintaining attached flow at high angles of attack (i.e: low speeds), whereas a long, thin, non-blended wing can maintain attached flow much longer. Gliders are a good example: they go really slowly and have long, thin wings, not blended delta-wings. Also, separated flow creates a lot more noise than turbulent flow, particularly if the re-attachment point is unsteady.
The engines of the SAX-40 are embedded within the blended wing design with the air intakes on top. This means that the upper surface of the aircraft shields people on the ground from engine noise.
It also means that when flow over the upper surface detaches, the engines are quite likely to re-breathe their own exhaust, causing them to flame out. Also, embedding the engines within the body means that vibrations are transmitted more easily, making the cabin more noisy. Engines within the body are much harder to inspect and remove for maintenance. Finally, the proximity of the engine to passengers means the airframe will need more shielding in case of flame out, rotor burst, birdstrike, etc… causing the engine to explode.
To reduce [landing gear noise], the SAX-40 would have fairings to cover the wheels and braking systems, creating as smooth a flow of air as possible. This could reduce the noise from the landing gear by up to 7dB.
Genius! I wonder why no-one else has thought of that? Oh, yeah, they have…
To minimise [trailing edge noise], the SAX-40 would have “trailing edge brushes”, a series of long, thin protrusions off the back of the wing.
Well, the energy has to be dissipated somehow. Depending on the placement of the “brushes” (i.e: regular or irregular) I suspect the noise will simply be shifted into lower or higher frequencies.
In summary: this sounds like some academic is getting a lot of free publicity and therefore bigger grants, while not acheiving very much.
November 6th, 2006
Why is my ADSL so flaky? Its really very, very annoying. Of course, the ADSL provider blames faults “on the customer premises” or BT. BT blames faults “on the customer premises” and the ADSL provider. So I guess it must be my fault, right?
I just wish there was some way of unambiguously identifying the fault. All I know at the moment is my ADSL modem doesn’t connect most of the time, bizarrely it seems to be fine once connected. So, it could be a software or hardware fault on the modem itself. Or in the wiring in my flat. Or in the wiring in the street. Or in the local exchange. How am I supposed to track this down without spending loads of money?
September 19th, 2006
This weekend I’m borrowing a MacBook from work (to do some work, obviously!) and I thought I’d write up some impressions here. For reference its a 13″ black one – I’d prefer the white, but they thought it would be more “business-like” to have it in black. They’re also going to install Boot Camp on it, but there’s no accounting for taste 
My initial impression is that its very similar to the older powerbook in terms of design, layout, weight, etc… but a couple of inches wider, as it has a 16:10 “widescreen”. This would probably be great for watching movies on, but since it’s work’s I don’t think I should. Annoyingly, the extra width means I can’t quite fit this new laptop into the bag that fits my older 12″ iBook. Grrr.
Apple have changed the keyboard a bit and I don’t like it as much as the one on my iBook – the keys feel more rattle-y. On the other hand, the keys are set into a surround, so won’t share the iBook’s problem that stuff gets trapped beneath the keys. The iBook’s keyboard is almost impossible to clean, as the keys are very difficult to get back on once they’ve been removed. The MacBook’s might be even worse, but perhaps has less of a tendency to get dirty in the first place.
Hardware wise, the MacBook inherits the PowerBook’s slot-loading DVD drive, which I never liked as CDs occasionally get stuck in the drive and won’t eject. I much prefer the caddy system in the iBook, but perhaps there wasn’t the space in the MacBook – its very thin.
The battery life seems respectable, on a par with the iBook, but it is physically much larger and takes up about two thirds of the width of the machine. Also, this is a brand-new machine, so I can’t say how the battery would “age”.
The MacBook puts out a lot of heat, mostly through the bottom. The keyboard doesn’t get uncomfortably hot, but I don’t think I’d like to use this on my lap for any considerable time.
On the OS front, this one ships with Tiger, I think. Its very pretty compared to the older Jaguar (which I dual-boot with Linux on by iBook) and much faster – probably due to the considerably more powerful processors in the MacBook. The shipped software makes good use of the “talking point” of this new laptop – the built-in camera. Amusing, but slightly pointless, applications include “Comic Life” (for making comic strips using pictures from the built-in camera. Its fun to play with for 15 minutes or so) and “Photo Booth” (takes photos with the built-in camera and applies fun Photoshop-style filters. Also fun for a few minutes).
For my work it was very easy to install the necessary tools: Xcode and Emacs, although the Xcode download is almost a Gb! After that its the usual, comfortable UNIX working environment: a couple of Terminals and Emacs. The only thing I’m missing is virtual desktops, but I’m told I can get an add-on for that.
Overall, I’m impressed with Apple’s transition to the world of x86, but I’m not sure I’ll dump my trusty iBook just yet. I look forward to seeing the 64-bit (Merom-based?) MacBooks when they come out and possibly change my mind then.
September 16th, 2006
I finally bought the system I mentioned before, with dual DVB-T cards, installed Gentoo, configured it and sat back to watch some high-quality TV. But, of course, it wasn’t as simple as that.
The Gentoo installation went smoothly (and slowly, it goes without saying) and I installed MythTV from the portage repository without problems. I also installed Kaffeine, just in case it was any good. With the boring bits out of the way, I scanned for channels… Nothing.
I checked the aerial cables, of which there are three in my flat, and went out and bought a signal amplifier. Still nothing.
Thinking that the easy Linux install might be hiding some sort of error or misconfiguration, I installed Windows. Ugh. But, of course, Windows is too old and doesn’t ship with drivers for the nForce 430, so I had to use the Gentoo LiveCD to wget the drivers… Oh, the irony. Finally, with all the drivers installed and the DVB-T software loaded, I scanned for channels again. Nothing.
Looking at how the antenna points on my roof, I think its aimed at the Montpelier transmitter, which is analogue only. So this means, if I don’t want to throw away by DVB-T only cards, I have to get the roof antenna re-targetted… I have no idea how much this is going to cost and, indeed, whether its even possible (the other transmitters may be hidden – Bristol is pretty hilly).
Anyway. My advice: Before buying DVB-T only cards, borrow someone’s Freeview box to check you can actually get a signal! Alternatively, spend the extra £10 to get a dual card, so at least you’ll get some sort of signal.
August 11th, 2006
I don’t have a TV at the moment and I’ve run out of books to read. So, I’ve been spending my time honing a quiet, cheap HTPC/PVR parts list. Just in case anyone is interested, I’m posting it here.
| Part |
Model |
Price |
| CPU |
Sempron 2800 |
44.34 |
| Motherboard |
Gigabyte GA M55Plus-S3G |
58.87 |
| Memory |
2 * Corsair DDR2 512Mb |
56.40 |
| Enclosure |
Antec P150 (inc PSU) |
79.84 |
| HDD |
250Gb Samsung SP2504C |
52.28 |
| DVD |
LiteOn SHM-165P6S-02C |
23.20 |
| GPU |
128Mb Gigabyte FX5200 (passive) |
24.66 |
| Monitor |
20-inch Viewsonic VX2025wm |
293.46 |
| TV Cards |
2 * Compro VideoMate DVB-T200 |
68.16 |
| Total |
|
701.21 |
Its a pretty sweet system – the components are mainly noise and/or power friendly (apart from the DVD drive which shouldn’t be on all the time). The Antec P150 has HDD suspension built-in and, according to Silent PC Review, its pretty good in terms of thermals and acoustics, too.
Update: 2006-08-12
Correction to the above – don’t get the FX5200 as its an AGP card and that motherboard doesn’t have one. D’oh! I’ve been building computers long enough that I should have spotted that one 
Instead, I got a Gigabyte geForce 7300, which is also passively cooled, and about the same price.
June 24th, 2006
While I was testing my new internet connection, I came across this interesting design project called Allmyfriends by Jack Godfrey Wood. The project, with Nokia, was to design future mobile phones and this particular entry does away with the usual “buttons and screen” view of the mobile phone. Instead, contacts are represented by tactile “beads” which are squeezed to call that person. To give someone your contact details you just give them a bead, allowing them to associate a physical object with you.
This is a neat twist on the idea of a contact. Currently we have numbers, which is good for writing down, storing in computers, sending to other people, but mobile manufacturers have to dress this up by allowing you to also store names, pictures and caller-dependent ringtones. Hiding the contact info inside a simple physical token allows the human brain, which is very good at recognising and interacting with real objects, to catalogue the information itself. Allowing people to generate, customise and distribute the physical tokens themselves makes the process of exchanging contact details a more human social interaction – the tradition of gift exchanging is extremely old.
This is a similar idea to the Personal Area Network, which could allow people to exchange business cards simply by shaking hands, in that it attempts to hide the exchange of computer-readable data behind a human social interaction.
Unfortunately, allmyfriends suffers from two major drawbacks: the creation of the physical tokens and the ability to forward contact details without the physical object. Firstly, the physical tokens must be unique (or very nearly unique) so that they can be associated with a single individual, but this is incompatible with methods of mass-production. Possibly, the tokens could be sold in a few basic forms and customised. The second problem is for when you don’t want to give a token, either because you’re giving your contact details to someone you want no social interaction with (e.g: a company) or someone who is not physically present (e.g: over e-mail). For this, I guess we could keep the current system of identifying numbers.
I guess these problems are not insurmountable and I wish Jack Godfrey luck if he chooses to further develop these very cool ideas.
June 14th, 2006
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