All Japan Robot Sumo - Kanto Region Finals - RC Part 2

The Matterhorn - Worlds Largest Subwoofer

Good lord, it's over 9000!!!!! This is one beast of a subwoofer. They talk about shaking the earth enough to cause landslides as opposed to dynamite (which they do in the Alps. Interesting way to control when and how those things happen).

Photo time!

vote

Fingers crossed :)


PS - Had to doctor up the code photrade.com gave me. Apparently Blogger doesn't like CSS coding.

A strange decision

At about 2:00pm today I got out of class after drawing some lines and tracing over them on a second sheet, and headed over to HR because I found some paperwork that I was supposed to turn back in to them some time ago. It took me about 15 minutes to take care of all of that, leaving me just enough time to see my bus cruise by before I could haul booty up to the stop. I checked the time charts and saw that it was going to be a very long time for the next bus to show up, something on the order of 50 minutes or so. I didn't care to sit down that long, so I walked up the street a good ways to where they have an electronic board that updates you on how long it will be before the buses that service that site get there. So I stop, read the clunky L.E.D. display (which could be better designed for readability in sunlight), and find that the next bus won't be for another 30 minutes. So, what did I do?

Heh, I decided to walk home.

All the way down MLK. I think it took me about 40 minutes to accomplish. After some time of letting my neck roast in the sun I decided to pop my collar. What can I say, I'm late to fashion trends. A while later I got tired of walking on the sunny side of the road, so I crossed over and enjoyed shade for the majority of my remaining trek. I got bored after about 25 minutes, so I started taking some pictures. I don't know if I care to share them here on the interpipes, but we'll see. They're not anything Ansel would be impressed with, but they kept me interested.

I drank a good bit of water when I got back, showered, and drank some more water. Here I sit, pleased as punch at having accomplished it. I don't believe I ever enjoyed a runners' high...maybe a walkers' chemical equivalent is more of a middle.

Pictures reviewed !!!

So, two out of five ended up not getting booed, with one being very well liked and one mostly liked. Ironically, I had incorporated some of the suggestions for the conditional photo, but then removed them because I didn't like how they shifted the focus. All in all better then expected, especially after the first picture :). (as I recall the words were "I ****ing hate it")

Good stuff really. I prefer a little gruffness, shows he actually likes what he likes rather than just mouthing the words.

Have a great day folks!

Early birds get the worms

We all need some direction sometimes, tips and comments about our endeavours. It seems as though I reached that point and maybe found a mentor. Wait and see...

Looks like I need to gather together my best photos.

Are yoou there hypertext? It's me, Matt.

Testing a new program on the tablet, sorry to dissappoint...

Peep this peeps

So, I made a purchase recently. I posted a while ago about how I had bought an N800 tablet. I still like it quite a bit, it allows me to make quick lists for when I go shopping, work on little personal writing projects, and make use of those unexpected short blocks of time for checking email or other quick online business. If I had a data plan on my phone, perhaps I would use it more often. As it is I have to be at a spot that has free wi-fi access or wi-fi that I have access to.

So what did I buy? I bought an asus 701 surf eee pc. It's basically a very small laptop. The screen is a lot larger than the one on the tablet, which although it has the exact same resolution, is a lot easier on the eyes. It has a keyboard built in. So it's easier to type in some written work than on the tablet. Of course, I do have a bluetooth keyboard for the tablet. It adds to the overall bulk of the setup, but it's not anymore difficult to carry around than the eee. And with the keyboard not being attached to the tablet, I can make it that much more portable when I need to.

So, originally I had intended to evaluate which one I liked better and sell the not so good one. So far it's kind of a toss up. The battery life is better on the tablet I believe. But the eee is more useful for every day tasks.

Hmm....

*Edit* Who knew you could start EVERY paragraph of a post with the word 'so'?

Bored

This software keyboards sucks. It ate my post :-(

New music makers, transportations, gadgets...

Well, I've come across quite a few new things. I thought that I would post them all together so I waited to get all the links gathered and I realized the list was getting long, so I felt it better to go ahead and share what I have. Let's start with the music gizmos.

Music:

First thing that I found is a device called the Monome (homepage). There are several models which provide increasing number of buttons. Basically, it's a programmable midi controller with a grid of LED illuminated buttons. There isn't one set way for a person to play/use the monome, it all depends on what software you are running. You can use it as a drum machine, a beat mixer, a simple scrolling LED display, etc. There are several examples of this slick device on youtube, let me share a few with you here that I like in particular:

David Phipps of Sound Tribe Sector 9 shows his DIY monome
A monome 256 running the mlr patch (very pretty)
A track called Voices

That last video shows off another device that I recently discovered, a single Percusssa AudioCubes cube. They work by touch, as shown in the Voices video above, and if you have multiple cubes you can use them to interact with each other. Each side of the cubes can be programmed to play a specific loop, or perhaps to alter the pitch of a loop. You can create your music by changing which sides of several cubes you face together, as well as how close together they are. Check out this video for an idea of how this can work. It looks like a really neat tactile and somewhat visual way to interact with your music production.


Transportation:

Perhaps you've heard of folding bikes before; I myself have only seen them mentioned briefly in a Dwell magazine. However there are many out there, ranging in compactness, comfortablility, style and price. I'm sure that listing them all here would be silly so I'll just give you a few links to point to a few interesting ones. First off, a few review sites that list several makes and models:

RideThisBike
The Folding Cyclist

And here are a few links to videos of a few that I thought were neat looking and not outside the possiblity of owning in the future:

Mobiky Genius
Kent Ultralite
Schwin Hide-A-Way
Strida 5.0 (the music in this one is a blast)

I tried to find some interesting car videos and I wasn't able to come up with much. Smart makes some neat vehicles that I really like. The car they use in the Wii commercial is a Smart. I came across this video that Edmund's produced and was a little shocked at the results (Smart was NOT on top!!). It's a comparison of the Toyota Prius, the Smart fourtwo, Volkswagen Jetta TDI diesel, and the Ford Focus SES coupe. They list various test results of fuel economy in city and highway driving, carbon footprint, etc. Worth a watch if you have the time.

I also came across this car that a man in Camden, Maine built. I confess, it was his location that really caught my eye when browsing through my results. I've been to Camden several times and enjoyed seeing it as the setting for this little car. However, the car itself is kind of neat looking and and of itself. Enjoy :)

Gadgets:

I found a new site that showcases a LOT of really cool, nerdy inventions, products, news etc. Nerd Beach covers a really wide range of topics, so I encourage you to just hop on over there and check it out for yourself!

Lastly (phew!), there is this little gem, the Ogo. It seems to be like the Sony Mylo 2, but perhaps a slightly more appealing package. Well, at least it appeals more to me anyway.

That's all for now!

Helping out The Man

So it's kind of silly, but I happen to like their coffee. Also it's free, and so if you like coffee perhaps you will enjoy FREE coffee



Unfortunately The Man isn't paying me to promote his coffee. To ease that pain I look to Scarlet and take solace in the fact that "tomorrow is another day."

...yeah, I went there. I said that.

Cameras, not phones!

Quick list of cameras being considered atm:

Nikon D60
Canon Rebel XSi
Pentax K20D
Pentax K200D

And the new frontrunner:

the Olympus E-510!!

Of course there's going to be a successor to this model in August but I'm hearing it will cost more. And why shouldn't it, it will be brand new. I'm told that the kit lenses sold with Canons and Nikons are actually not all that great. If the K20D was cheaper I might have leaned more towards buying that as I still have a few K-mount lenses and they would work on the body (right?).

Apparently also worth noting is the number of lenses available to each brand. Canon and Nikon have the most to offer in this category in both current and legacy lenses. Pentax, I believe, has a decent number as well. The Olympus has about 30 lenses I'm hearing; honestly, that sounds like more than enough. My thinking is that there is still a lot of flux in the DSLR world and that the E510 looks like an excellent camera to carry me past that tide.

To close this post out I think I'll mention a website I ran across while researching all these various cameras. It is one that I have come across before for other electronics information and I always find the articles there to be informative and pleasurable to read. This is due in great part because they have an index of each article which allows you to jump to the various sections which might most interest you without having to sift through the rest. I give you:

AnandTech.com

EL OH EL

So, you remember that phone I JUST told you about that I fixed? Yeah, um...

...it broke again.

True story. Perhaps a sign? Who can say. I don't really want to buy another place holder phone, but if this thing just keeps on breaking....*sigh*.

Anyone know where I can buy an inexpensive N82? Because that's kind of what I want now.

He is Ninja

and he's pretty darn funny. Here's a link to the first video of his that I saw:

Ask a Ninja: What is Podcasting?

He's got, like, 70-80 clips of fairly hilarious material. Srsly.

Also interesting to watch, and subscribable in iTunes, is the podcast GeekBrief. I'm not sure if it was something wrong with my computer or if there was some kind of glitch in iTunes, but I had to download an episode and then click the 'subscribe' button beside that to get the subscription. Clicking the normal subscribe button on the main iTunes listing timed out a couple of times. Weird, that.

OY!

I've run across a few interesting things lately, this time intangibles.

First off, highly impressed by a little deed undertaken by a good friend of mine, Justin. We were hanging out, enjoying a little lunch and he was telling about his iPod and how the click wheel no longer functioned properly on it. Instead of paying a ton of money to have Apple repair it, or worse, throwing it away, he decided to order a $4 dollar part and fix it himself. He's even taking the opportunity to customize his iPod a little. Good show, says I. I was so impressed by this small act that when I found out the pointer knob on my cell phone was broken I decided to fix it myself instead of haggling with the provider, and/or replacing it. I spent a little over $6.00 for small screwdrivers so that I would be able to open the case and get to the broken knob. A small dab of super glue and 30 minutes setting time later the phone was repaired. It's not pretty but it works.

I'm not concerned with it not looking pristine as I am looking into getting a new phone, one that has a decent camera with it. No, I don't think it will be an iPhone because the camera features on it are woeful and that includes the newly released iPhone with 3G. Front runners right now are both Nokias, the N82 and the N95, though I think I'll have to rethink several things if I were to buy it now. By far more likely is that I'll just keep gathering information and buy something at a later date.

The other thing I have run across recently is really two things: Twitter and Qik. These are interesting web tools to be sure; my personal preference to visit is Qik so far, though as far as use I think I'd probably be more apt to use Twitter. Qik is fascinating. There are thousands of short videos that people stream to the website, of conferences and vacations, parties and music practice, as well as other odd things to make the mind wonder...mostly wonder why anyone would stream that. It's inspiring in some strange ways, to me anyway. I very much like the fact that they are ordinary videos of people around the world and though the language is not understand the humanity comes through. Perhaps the beginnings of globalized thinking will spring from such things. One can hope anyway.

Comments welcome of course, you two :)

From the Greensboro News & Record

The following was submitted the N & R recently, and I liked it so much that I decided to come out of my blogging coma and post it for you. Enjoy ;-)

-----

Gas prices are on the rise again, and while price swings will continue, the long-term trend is nothing but up.
There are plenty of ¨villains¨ with their hands in the cookie jar, but the fact is the world´s maximum productive capacity is fast reaching its peak (virtually every Western industrial nation already has and the Middle East is not far behind).
Soon, rising demand will outstrip world supply and $4 gas prices will be fondly remembered like the nickel candy bar.
Many Americans seem unable to accept or deal with this new paradigm and its straightforward solution: Reduce miles driven and/or switch to a higher-mileage car. While some are slowly and grudgingly coming to this realization, many still have one last defence: ¨I can´t afford to trade my gas-guzzler for a more efficient vehicle, I´ll lose too much money,¨ or ¨I´ve already paid off my loan, I can´t afford a new car.¨
If these are your excuses, consider this: If you own a big truck or SUV, it is depreciating rapidly (for example, a basic $31,000 Ford Expedition purchased in 2004 currently has a Kelley Blue Book ¨private sale value¨ of approximately $13,000). That $18,000 is gone forever. In fact, if gas prices continue to rise dramatically, the loss of the ramaining $13,000 isn´t far behind.
What can you do? Trade the Expedition for a fuel-efficient alternative. If you can see your way to a midsize (buy a trailer if you move big stuff occasionally), a Chevy Malibu of comparable age and mileage has a private sale value of $8,000.
If a large vehicle is really required, a comparable Dodge Grand Caravan also carries a private sale value in the $8,000 range. Such an exchange via private sales offers the opportunity to make money, and purchase from a used-car lot at least to break even.
Both the Chevy and the Caravan would be cheeaper to maintain, depreciate less and yield significant gas savings. At 15,000 miles per year and $4 per gallon, the Malibu would save $1,328 a year and the Caravan $709. Coupled with liss maintenance and depreciation, annual savings would likely be approcimately $2,825 for the Malibu and $2,100 for the Caravan, or $235 and $175 per month respectively.
Is the SUV really that cool?

By Richard Mearns, Greensboro native.

Robots and music

I honestly don't recall what it was on Youtube that started this line of viewing, but I came across some interesting robot fight videos after seeing some interesting work with Lego's new Mind Storm toy (learning apparatus?).  Here is a sample of what I saw:

That's one tough little guy.
Anyone remember Battle Bots?  Because it was pretty much awesomebajawsome.  (Note: Awesomebajawsome is not actually a word.)

I found a few others, including some clips of Robot Jox.  Yeah, there's a movie I'm sure most of you haven't seen or even heard of before.  Don't lie, you didn't even know it was a movie.  Classic film really, I see it going down....well, yeah.

In case you are interested, here are a few clips of the Lego Mind Storm videos that started me off on my YT bonanza:

Clip1 and
Clip2

That second clip is a crazy one.  Someone built a little (relatively) lego car manufacturing plant. Kind of a slow video, but fascinating I thought.

--Robots in music as well--

Well, at least as far as the creation of it goes.  I decided that today I would watch some Daft Punk videos.  So I typed in Daft Punk and saw some of their music videos.  I also came across some weird phenomenon whereby some people have written on themselves...a lot, and choreographed movements and/or a dance in order to present their body lyrics in time with Daft Punk music.  So far I've seen a few whole body clips (to the same song it would seem) and a few hand/finger clips.  You Daft Punk fans are an interesting bunch.  Here's a few clips, and N.B., the body one is probably NSFW.  

Body lyrics to Harder, Better, Faster Stronger.
Confusing fingers interpretation of Technologic.

Who needs network television and it's writers when we such entertaining stuff on YouTube?  Later on interwebbers.

PS - I found a clip of a show at the Cat's Cradle that I saw in person!!!!  GRAND BUFFET SON!  It's not weird if your cool about it.

Links for the crafty folks among us

Hey there blogophiles, greetings! Today, in between checking updates on what the newest showings are at CES, I perused YouTube some. I go through stints where I watch a bunch of stuff on YouTube. Today's finds come from a video I stumbled on by searching for "How to". What I found was a video on how to knit, which I clicked on and watched because I know people who like to knit and wondered if they might enjoy a link to the vid. It's pretty basic stuff that gets covered, so no dice as far as being interesting for my knitting pals, however, it was produced by the following website:

Threadbanger.com

They have a lot of neat things on there. I recommend you visit even if you aren't into personally produced marvels of craft ingenuity. I hope to check it out more as time permits. Maybe I'll finally learn how to sew, eh? Also mentioned in the video were the following sites:

Etsy.com
burdastyle.com
52projects.com
crafster.org
indiecraftshows.com

Burda is a sewing pattern and how-to site. Etsy is an awesome site; people make really cool craft stuff and sell it online. Check that one out for sure. 52 Projects is ...well I`m not exactly sure what it´s all about just yet but it looks like a neat place. Craftster is a hodge podge of how-tos, how I did this, etc. Lastly, Indiecraftshows.com is a listing. Of independent craftshows.

Also I just joined up with Del.icio.us but I haven´t added any links to it yet. Next time perhaps :)

Two links before I catch a few winks

Here are two spots within the internet that I came upon today and thought, "Hey, I'll post those for whoever (anyone?) reads my blog."  Also, it's easy to find these links when they're all collected in one spot like this.  I haven't tried any of the online bookmarking sites yet;I'll have to look into that in the future.  Until such time I give you:

--The Carbon Footprint Calculator--

Make sure you have your utility bills handy, or not if you happen to know on average what you pay for them over the course of a year. I wasn't able to try this out yet; I don't pay the bills here so I don't really know what numbers to plug in.  

--Bush Railroad--

I'd explain this one, but it's really better if you don't know ahead of time.  For those of us who are not big fans of W.  Also, this is a video and NSFW if you catch my drift.  If not, here's what I mean.