February 2004 Archives
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February 29, 2004
New Casio EX-Z40 -- battery upgrade?
Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z40 with outstanding battery life : Digital Imaging : MobileMag
Alright. We have a EX-Z4U. This camera here is newer. It's got about the same body. It's got the same sensor. It's got the same lens. So what's new?
It looks like all models will have the video record with sound feature. That's great. I wanted that on ours, but no, the US model didn't have it.
What else? 2.5x the battery life. What!? How? Bigger battery? The body is the same size, right? So, then, how? Is this a better battery that I can buy for ours? Or are some of the internals new and use less power?
Is there new firmware for ours that can add new features yet?
*sigh* And it's the same price...
South Korea to put a "curfew" on spam?
It's a nify idea. Ban spam from 9pm to 9am. And certainly, when faced with a nearly $20,000 fine if convicted, it should make spammers think twice there.
However, why can't it be from 9am to 9pm? Cause then you can you just know that email outside of business hours (plus some) has a much higher chance of being spam.
Something hotmail did lately has _really_ helped the amount of spam I get on a daily basis. I used to get about 100+ spam messages a day. I do have exclusive on, so I just routinely scan my spam folder and empty. It's not _too_ big of a deal. Absolutely no spam enters into my inbox.
However, the spam that I am getting now (on the order of 20 messages a day) is very different. About 1/2 to 3/4 of it contains definite information targetted to me. It contains the address of my previous home that I owned. None of them actually contain the address of my current home.
This is interesting, because all title records are public. The first question I have is: why don't they have my current address? It's blatently obvious that my old place isn't owned by me in the public records. And the second question is: How did they link my hotmail address to the old address in the first place?
*sigh*
Just when I'm annoyed by miniSD...
not being available for currenty devices, SanDisk rolls out T-Flash, the smallest flash memory yet.
Although they do have designs for slots, the expected initial use seems to be slightly more permanent. Either embedded in a design (like Apple and Creative are doing with CF MicroDrives) or a behind-the-battery mount. Both of these make it more like an upgradeable hard drive in a laptop than memory in a digital camera.
This sort of usage makes it obvious that flash memory in a phone should be used for storing everything, even if it can be removed thus bypassing paying the carrier to send stuff. ;)
February 28, 2004
This is good - iPod mini DOES use a 4GB microdrive
Between this and the muvo2 that uses the easily removable 4GB microdrive (creating a mini-economy on ebay of microdrives being sold and empty muvo2's being sold for about double what a muvo2 sells for) the price of 4GB microdrives should drop. They still retail for $499, which is crap because the iPod mini sells for about $249 and the muvo2 sells for about $190.
Anyway, the sooner the better so Laurie can get her 4GB drive and I can steal her new 2.2GB drive and use it in my Zaurus when we're not on trips. ;)
Hilarious reason for neat video phone feature!
picturephoning.com: Video phones may change to let cheating spouses off the hook
The feature could be kind of cool. I mean, you could talk from mars, or the Enterprise, or whatever.
But the reasons given for adding this feature are absolutely crazy! Given the static background, I highly doubt anyone could actually get away with it. Unless, of course, they _always_ used something whacky so you never really knew where they were anyone.
But where are the video phones [dammit]!? ;)
USB Cup Warmer Review
In case you wanted to know if those USB cup warmers actually do work or not. In generally, it seems they actually do work. And I like that the control case was used with the sleeve on to factor out the extra insulation. Actually, it would be nice to see all three cases to see how much quicker the temperature dropped without the extra insulation.
I bet this works better than the under cup warmers that you just set your cup on.
And what about when it's wrapped around a Starbucks cardboard cup?
It's cheap enough and geeky enough that I just might have to consider it. ;)
February 27, 2004
Cool Mercedes "Paint" Job
the pictures are cool. I don't think I'd want this on our Miata -- would people see me?
I also wouldn't want this on the road around me on a sunny day!
But it makes for cool pictures! ;)
AT&T Wireless name will live on...
AT&T Considering Brand Revival After Merger (Phone Scoop)
This, of course, means that Cingular+AT&T Wireless == Cingular. After that, AT&T keeps the AT&T Wireless name and will do a relationship with a carrier.
Right.
That won't be confusing.
Next years AT&T Wireless customers won't have anything to do with the same company or Cingular (unless they do the deal with Cingular... heh).
And I wonder what happens with NTT DoCoMo's involvement and m-mode?
Bloggo -- great, simple, fast RSS reader
Easily add RSS feeds for reading with a very simple XHTML interface. I particularly like how simple and fast it is.
The only thing I'd ask for some other auth than HTTP based so even simpler browsers can use it. I have an extremely light-weight browser that doesn't do that yet so it always gets asked for auth.
I could probably just ask a coworker to fix it, but that'd be too easy. ;)
February 26, 2004
No Miata!
So, I called up PR Motorsports again, for an update. I had a feeling it would be bad news since they hadn't called yet.
It was.
They still don't have all of the parts. They're now expecting the parts in Monday. I'll be calling back then. I don't know if this is a slowdown on Flyin' Miata's part or Corky's company.
Given it'll probably take at least two days to do the work, I'm now expecting that I might be able to get the Miata back by next Friday.
Even my overly pessimistic estimates have now been exceeded.
*grumble*
More Penguin bashing Fun!
But this time, it's FAR more bloody. Not for young kids, definitely. It's also far more random with all the mines around.
At work, we've seen in the 1200's. I've personally only gotten to about 1050ish. Who knows how for this one will go... ;)
Yet another Hardware Hacking book
This one almost looks more fun than the O'Reilly one. I definitely agree with Bob that the title is cool. ;)
Now I've got two books on my list that I just want to have. Or at least, I want to read them. I'd love to have time to actually mess around with the hacking. But, sadly, work continues to soak up far too much of my time (and yet it's still not enough).
Write on your pics to send them...
I4U News - New Philips 759 and 755 Phones with Snap, Tag & Send
Now this is a good idea for a phone, I think. At least, the design of it is to make adding comments to pictures easy, and that's the good idea. Having a stylus to loose probably isn't so good. And if it's pressure sensitive, I would think it would be prone to scratches... especially since it doesn't appear to have a cover.
Now, does it have handwriting recognition? That would help, too, for just sending text messages. Of course, you could always just send the message as a graphic, too.
I wonder when phones start coming around with better speech recognition to be able to send text messages with speech. Already some handsets have very good digit dial recognition (you fluidly say your number -- "4085551212" not "4"-"0"-"8" ... etc.) Of course, you can just record a voice not and MMS it... a slight twist on "voice mail".
February 25, 2004
Stuffs for my Zaurus
PDA Buyer's Guide: Great software for your Sharp Zaurus Linux PDA
I need to look through here more, but the Opera browser that takes voice commands and can give some voice prompts, from IBM, sounds very cool!
Legal troubles on privacy?
picturephoning.com: Doctors should think twice before diagnosing based on a camphone shot
What about just making the wrong decision based on a crappy low resolution image? And can fire fighters suitably determine what should be photographed? I don't know of any camera phones that can see smoke inhalation problems. Not that I'm against using camera phones for such things -- any faster response is better than nothing, I think. I mean, if someones bleeding hand hits the net and they sue, but because it was sent the doctor saved their life, they need to seriously think about what they are doing -- it could have just saved their life!
But hey, maybe someone can make a X-Ray camera phone so they can see if any bones are broken, too. :p
Actually, a good addition to camera phones would be a nice, bright infrared LED. Given how well CCDs pick up infrared, this could be used very effectively to light up low light scenes.
Some recent cameras are doing this. Our old Sony DSC-U20 used infrared to help focus in low light situations. The crazy part, though, was that when it was done it turned the light off and away went the good lighting!
I ramble on for too long...
February 24, 2004
Miata Trouble Overview
I haven't blogged much about all the problems we've had with the Miata primarily because it's kind of a sore topic.
However, if I'm going to really rant about something, this is it.
It all started last summer (2003) when we were planning a lengthy west coast road trip. Our initial estimates were to put this road trip at around 10,000 miles.
About 8 weeks before the road trip, I brought up the idea of supercharging the Miata with Laurie again. We'd talked about it inthe past and this time we decided to go for it.
So, a few calls around turned up that Serious Auto in Santa Cruz that used to do it no longer could and it's not as easy on the 99 and later Miata's as it was on the 97 and before. A bit more research and calls turned up that a turbocharger was really the way to go. Specifically, the FMII kit from Flyin' Miata.
I had talked extensively with Rick Weldon of PR Motorsports in Hayward about this. It seemed like the right decision at the time. In fact, it really was the right decision. But there were problems.
It was supposed to take a week or two from when the parts came in. Well, naturally, the parts were a little late. They used to take months, so a few days late on a week wasn't bad.
Then, to keep a long story short, the parts didn't work. A few times back and forth and the ultimate resolution was to put a 49 state kit into the Miata so we could take it on our road trip, which ended up starting 5 days late. This meant that there was only one catalytic converter, rather than the required two for California. Not so good, but workable until the right parts were available.
Of course, the fasteners that held the turbo to the exhaust manifold failed multiple times during our trip. This made the trip a bit obnoxious, even though it (the trip) was a blast. We got back from the trip and took the Miata right back in. New fasteners were put on and we were sent home. About a month later, that failed. This time a new exhaust manifold was put on. We were warned it might have a minor leak because it had a dent on it or something. Anyway, it must have been around October or later by now (the whole thing started in late May, early June of 2003).
About a month ago (mid to late January) the car developed a really nasty noise. So, just as we were selling our second car to help reduce costs while Laurie's company, Mamlambo, gets going, I take the car in.
Sure enough, it's an exhaust manifold leak. This time they have good news, though. Flyin' Miata is sending Corky Bell, in Texas, the guides for machining new parts that will fit my Miata. It was supposed to be less than two weeks. So, instead of taking the car apart twice in about a 2-3 week period, we decide it'll stay up there and they'll only do it once. This was at the beginning of February, 2004.
Well, it's at the end of the month now and we still don't have the car back.
But get this. They (PR Motorsports) called multiple times last week. By Friday, they had the parts from Texas (finally -- late) but Flyin' Miata hadn't sent their part of the stuff yet. Eh? They had weeks to send them... *sigh*
Blarf!
I would like to say, though, that all though it has not been a pleasant experience, the people at PR Motorsports have been very nice. I certainly don't blame them. They've even let me sit in on days and use my laptop while waiting for stuff to get done. Early on, Bill Cardell of Flyin' Miata also called me directly to apologize for all of the trouble. This was a nice and welcome gesture. Between all of the companies, they have been shielding me from a project that is probably 3x over on labor charges and probably 2x over on parts costs.
Now that I've got myself all cought up, I can hopefully keep up better on the progress of the 2 week project gone awry!
Ok, gotta have it... ;)
oreilly.com -- Online Catalog: Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks
This is just perfect. I already have 3 of the O'Reilly hacks books. This is a perfect next book. This is the stuff of campus legend and net lore.
I hope people don't hurt themselves web enabling every electronic device they can find. Because if they do, then the book will be pulled. And that can't happen until I get a chance to buy it. ;)
Portable GPS may be the real loser
So, I got to thinking more about the whole camera-phones-will-kill-digital-cameras thing. Certainly, no one seems to think that's an exclusive. There will always be room for digital cameras that are better than a camera phone.
But what about stand alone GPS units? Even Garmin has made a PDA/GPS crossover unit.
But the point is that I think it's possible cell phones could completely replace hand held GPS units. First, E911 was mandated in the US. All phones sold can now tell 911 operators exactly where you are. Most phones use some form of technology that combines GPS satellites and information from cell phone towers. SnapTrack is a good example of this.
So, we have location date on cell phones that can also have software loaded on them and they have nice color screens. All you need to do is right a little app that has a moving map and does way points. Bingo. Now you have a handheld GPS.
Is it actually that simple? Sadly, no. First, the APIs for the phone you're programming on need to have access to the GPS information. Second, the APIs actually need to work and be configured. Third, the carrier needs to actually have the client side of this service available (as opposed to just being available to E911 operators). Fourth, you need to be able to do moving maps on a relatively slow processor. Fifth, you need to be able to get to GPS data even when there is no cell phone coverage (back country, etc.). Sixth, carriers and users need to not worry about privacy.
None of these are impossible. In fact, most of them are already solved. Numbers five and six are the hardest. Five has partial solutions for getting through low coverage areas, but most phones need some sort of assistance to get a fix (thus, the aGPS you may see on some handsets).
The last one, though, will be the toughest. The easiest seems to be just forcing the user to acknowledge an application is going to get their location. Then at least the technology isn't barred from those who don't care if it might accidentally end up in a server log somewhere.
Of course, I didn't even touch on in-car navigation. That also seems like an obviously easy thing to do. A couple of voice prompts and some big graphics. Heck, it's probably already been done in Japan where we've seen those phones already sending location information.
Thought for food... or whateveritis...
Uhm... say what?
RADIXS Revolutionizes Mobile Computing with MXI - Motion eXperience Interface : Software : MobileMag
I can't figure this out. Well, I mean, I have ideas. But they claim to allow "applications written for Windows, Linux, Java, Palm and 32-bit console games to work immediately on mobile devices."
Ok, so call me a skeptic. Windows and Linux. Fine, it's thin client. Palm? Wait, that's already a mobile device. Huh? 32bit console games? You mean XBox, PS2, and Gamecube. Right. Probably not.
Going to their website helped even less. It almost implied their "OS" would work on current devices. I say again... huh?
Certainly, it's interesting. Why wouldn't anyone want to play Halo 2 on their phone, after all. It would be nice, though, if there was at least some technical description somewhere that explained what they were really trying to do or what they really meant, though. Is it just a thin client? Is it the equivalent of Virtual PC for ARM (what seems to be the most common chip for small devices these days)? Or what?
Nice feature set on the MPx
I really like the feature set of this phone. With WinCE, Bluetooth, WiFi, GSM, 1.3MP cam, and an SD card slot it makes a great PDA. If only it had a 640x480 display like the Zaurus or new Toshiba 805.
I'm sure it'll be too expensive, though. I can't imagine something like this running for less than about 700 or 800 $US. *sigh*
The multi-hinge thing is cool, too. It's a unique solution to the landscape/portraite problem that most other manufacturers have solved with a flip/rotate screen. But no tablet mode here, because of that...
Maybe this can help quality and resolution...
picturephoning.com: Cell Phone with Camera = Scanner
though I doubt the quality will improve a whole lot, it will certainly give much larger resolutions. It sounds like essentially stitching software that works off of video input rather than individual frames.
I had looked for PC software a long while back to do something like this with input from a DV cam. In other words, you drop your DV cam on a
tripod, slow rotate it 360 degrees, then dump the video on a PC and make a full, high resolution panarama.
I never did find anything that could do that...
But now NEC phones may be able to do it? Cool. ;)
February 23, 2004
More on the future of camera phones and quality...
Reiter's Camera Phone Report: Nokia executive: Camera phones will kill digital cameras in five years
I totally agree with Reiter on the fact that it's likely camera phones will never replace digital cameras completely. I don't even think they'll replace your typical point-and-shoot like, say, a Canon A80 type or even a Casio EX4U slim camera. I certainly hope their quality will increase, but I'm skeptical.
We've got a Canon Digital Rebel (DSLR) here. We don't necessarily treat our stuff with the utmost care, so we don't have any really expensive lenses. But we do have a $400 zoom lens. A camera phone could never match that, especially when the lens typically ends up on ones pocket exposed.
Granted, one of the megapixel cameras I was playing with had a nice sliding cover to help protect the lens. But it's just a piece of cheap glass or plastic protecting the sensor, which is still what looks like a basic pin-hole.
Our Casio EX-4U may actually have the form of lens that will end up in a cameraphone eventually. It fits in a very slim package and provides decent optics (although nothing like an SLR lens), focus, and zoom.
Now, I don't think this will end up on a small flip phone (like the size of a A-530, for example). But it could certainly end up something like the Nokia 7700 behemoth.
I think what ultimately needs to be identified is what camera phones are used for, what they can be used for, what people want to use them for, and what people actually do use them for. (Ok, that might just be obvious, and Reiter can word it better,but anyway...). If people are sending pics around the office with a camera phone of candids (see this phlog.net posting) then you really don't need much resolution over the phone screen resolution.
After our experience with our Canon DSLR, I can't image a time when we wouldn't have a dedicated high end digital camera of some sort (ok, the Digital Rebel isn't exactly high end like the 1Ds -- but it can take professional lenses, etc.). But will camera phones be able to replace the Casio EX-4U? Not sure -- maybe. Will they be able to replace our Sony DSC-U20? Well, it's a fixed lens with autofocus at 2 megapixel. I certainly think so, but by today's standards it's low end.
Another point I wanted to make before I scamper off to bed. Carriers will be hindering quick snappers by not allowing images to be saved to external cards (so what are they for?!) by requiring all images that move off a phone to go through MMS. I know this from stuff I can't post specifics about. I also hope market forces make it change before it's a reality. Unfortunately, I know that my current project has to implement it (the restriction). :( This, alone, certainly limits the range of uses on some camera phones. Another megapixel camera phone doesn't even have a memory slot. Of course, at high jpeg compression it could store 200 1.3 megapixel images!.
I ramble on... I'm tired and the firmware build just failed -- again.
Impressive Nokia N-Gage sales!
Nokia concedes N-Gage problems
So, Nokia is saying that the N-Gage isn't selling as well as they'd hoped. But given that they are also saying (according to the article) that sales are at about 25% of what they had expecting, it's far better than I'm sure most people would have expected given how poorly isn't being reviewed.
Personally, I just think they have their target wrong. At the price it is, it certainly can't target the Gameboy market. Instead, it has to target the 20-30something gamer with money. Problem is, this market probably already has a new cell phone they like. So they get a Tapwave as a gaming device to be different (because they pre-ordered the SP and it's old). So where does that leave the N-Gage?
Good question... which is why I think 25% sales are impressive! ;)
Where's my house?
BBC NEWS | Technology | US military creates second Earth
So, do I get to build on house on Virtual Earth?
It seems like doing the entire planet in extreme detail is a rather large undertaking. It also seems, though, that doing so would have huge benefits to architects, urban planners, vacation planners, dreamers, people who can't travel, and any number of other groups besides military groups. The terraserver photos are one thing. But an entire 3D version just has sooo much potential. Just as long as you can some how avoid travel speed limitations. Maybe wormholes will have to be implemented in this alternate universe... ;)
