Archive for 'technology' Category
2010.03.03
MacHeist nanoBundle 2
For those of you interested in trying out new kinds of software on the cheap for a good cause, MacHeist is having their second nanoBundle sale. Featured are MacJournal, RipIt, Clips, CoverScout and Flow, plus if enough people purchase this $19.95 bundle, Tales of Monkey Island and RapidWeaver. While I haven’t used all the software I’ve gotten from these bundles in the past, usually the bundle costs less than most of the applications listed individually. In other words, a pretty good deal!
No Comments | Catergorized: apple geek technology2010.02.12
Facebook is Not a Blog
While I have to admit that I appreciate Facebook’s status updates, I have to say I hate how some users seem to think status updates are some form of blog. I realize they should be short and succinct. However, don’t just say, “Cool!” followed by a link. I don’t want to follow links out of Facebook, especially from my phone. Give me some indication of what is so “Cool!” will ya? Like this:
Cool! Doug finally uses his blog!
Short, succinct, with all the information I need to determine if I want to bother, which in my example I’m probably not too interested…
2 Comments | Catergorized: grrr technology2009.10.15
Intertron’s Back!
After RMCA and I started moving I badly planned ordering our new internet hookup so for the past couple weeks we’ve been at home… internet-less. Today it is back! For those of you interested I went with Sonic. Very good customer service, great speeds for what I need, and working intertrons!
Incidentally, the previous cork entry is getting some nice comments and ideas. If you have any ideas of what to do with my hundreds of wine corks then click on the link and contribute!
Now then, back to your regularly scheduled stuffs.
No Comments | Catergorized: life technology2009.05.27
Photo Manipulation; Tilt and Tile
I’ve got two interesting online apps that Banana Boy sent my way about photo manipulation. One is to change your pictures into fancy (but fake) tilt-shift images. Called TiltShift Generator, it has an online and downloadable version (downloadable version requires Adobe Air to be installed). Here’s an example I made. The first is unmodified and the second is, obviously, modified.
The second online app is called Repper and will create patterns out of a selection of an image. Some of the possibilities are pretty amazing for designers. I had some trouble uploading the image above but eventually created the images below. On the left is the image you download. When you make it a repeat you get the image on the right.
Nice stuff. I’m particularly happy to be experimenting with the tilt shift app!
No Comments | Catergorized: photos san francisco technology2009.04.19
A Bevy of Updates
I haven’t written Jack Crap here for a long time now. It’s not that there hasn’t been anything to write about… I’ve just been a lazy SOB. Not that it’s any consolation to me or you, but here’s some tidbits to maybe distract you from noticing it’s been some three weeks since I wrote here last.
Unemployed? Over 11% in California are. Looking for a career change, probably in a more tech/sci direction? Check out MIT’s Open Courseware. They have courses in architecture, biology, electrical engineering and tons more. I don’t know if you get a degree for this sort of thing, but it certainly can’t hurt, and for the whopping price of free you can’t go too wrong, either.
At long last Zombies are getting representation. The Zombie Anti Defamation League is live and active addressing the concerns of the Post Vital as they continue through existence.
When I was a kid in Korea there would come occasions when a friend was going to Japan and would ask if they should bring something back from their trip. The answer was almost always Felix Gum. Allegedly made from whale blubber, this gum could be chewed for days on end with little diminishment of its flavor. In fact we’d have contests. The funny thing is that when I ask my Japanese coworkers about this stuff they look at me like I’m an alien. Well, prepare to be probed because I found Felix Gum here in San Francisco. Behold.
Hmm… Many of the other updates I won’t be going over because, well, they’re not that big a deal for this venue. Been to a few parties, hung out with friends, work, etc. I will just try to keep this up now at my more frequent approximation of a post a week. Ciao for now!
3 Comments | Catergorized: friends korea san francisco science technology work2009.03.10
Hot Swap CCD
Here’s an idea, free of charge to electronic manufacturers.
With all the technology being crammed into digital cameras, why not make the CCD that takes the picture hot swappable. That way you could have one CCD for normal color pictures. Another for black and white pictures. Others for trippy, hardwired effects or EM spectrum detection like infrared.
I like the idea in particular for black and white. I know I can use applications like Photoshop to dump the color from pictures, but there’s something special about pictures that are shot in black and white, with that lovely contrast and smooth grays that Photoshop usually manages to make artificial every time. Plus there’s the fact that once in Photoshop it is technically a manipulated image.
Anyways, just an idea, free for the taking.
No Comments | Catergorized: technology thoughts2009.01.09
City-Wide Free WiFi Idea
Here’s how city-wide free wifi could be accomplished.
Design commercial wifi routers so that consumer, when they purchase them from ISPs have two “pipes”. One is for the consumer using approximately 85% of the available bandwidth. Access to this pipe is password protected as per (what should be) normal. This guarantees that the consumer is getting speed. The second pipe, which is only 15% of the pipe, does not have a password. Anyone could access the internet using it. The only problem is it would only really be useful for basic things like email and surfing the web, especially in locations where many people connect.
It’s not a perfect idea but the technical aspects, if they aren’t already possible, shouldn’t be to difficult. Cities could possibly legislate this, giving incentives to ISPs and consumers for participating in such a plan.
Just an idea, free for the taking.
1 Comment | Catergorized: technology thoughts2008.06.10
Electric Motorcycles
Obviously gasoline powered cars will eventually go the way of the Dodo. Motorcycles get tons better gas mileage than the most fuel efficient automobiles (on average; there are some gas guzzling bikes out there) but eventually it would be nice to have a motorcycle with the power, speed and handling of a petrol based engine but running off electricity.
Some of the attempts are better suited to scooters for all the power and styling they have. Yet Suzuki is working on something it calls the Suzuki Crosscage. Apparently it runs on hydrogen which would be great in a city where you can get the fuel delivered to your house and suck if you wanted to go on a road trip (unless you’re in Iceland where they promote it).
Some day…
No Comments | Catergorized: motorcycle technology2008.04.30
Anime On The Web
(Disclosure: I work for VIZ Media, a partner in this venture).
Almost a year ago Cartoon Network launched Toonami Jetstream, a website where you could watch certain anime titles for free. The problem was that you could only view them using a Windows computer.
Starting today, though, Cartoon Network has changed the format and now viewers from all platforms and watch anime on the web. Awesome! Current titles include Naruto and Hikaru No Go, both of which I recommend.
Congrats Cartoon Network, on being inclusive rather than exclusive. You’ve even added the ability to embed video from your site to ours. Awesome.
No Comments | Catergorized: anime rights technology work2008.02.17
Lame Architecture
Why is it that architects these days have “plans” to turn our cities into weird fantasy theme parks? Can’t they design buildings that conform to humanity instead of creatures from another planet? I mean, it’s bad enough that the design for the upcoming Transbay Terminal sucks. Now some firm called Iwamoto Scott (who I won’t link to because their site resizes your window and fucks things up just like their city plans) is fantasizing about making San Francisco look like… What is that? An alien civilization? A garden?
Dezeen has a few more pictures. Frighteningly this design won the History Channel’s San Francisco City of the Future award.
Seriously, if they are planning and hoping to make this into reality I will fight it. I know we have to make drastic changes in how we plan cities in terms of energy self-sufficiency, water usage, population increases, public transportation, recycling, etc, but that’s no reason to turn the look of a city into something so crappy.
2 Comments | Catergorized: grrr san francisco technology
