Category: stuff

Software, toys, gadgets and computers

Two shoes

I have a friend who loves Sex and the City and recently moved into San Francisco. “Glad to hear you’re enjoying ‘the City.’ Now on to the ‘Sex and…’ part 😀 ,” I wrote her.

Her reply: “I am already loving the city so much. But the “Sex and” part won’t be quite as exciting. I’m very much a goody two shoes you know. 😉 ”

My reply: “The only people who say they’re goody two shoes are ones who probably have a closet full of bad shoes.”

…

So imagine the irony when I found out she just started a blog about shoes. If you like shoes, subscribe to her blog!

Continue reading about [Bonus story after the jump]

Posted on by tychay 2

PHP anthem

IM from a friend:

See ya.
Oh, by the way in OS X shell:

say -v Good oh PHP ow ow oh PHP ow oh PHP ow ow oh PHP ow oh PHP ow ow oh PHP ow oh PHP ow ow oh PHP ouchie

for PHP anthem.

ROFL

Update (2010-08-05)

If you came here from a blog search, here is another anthem.

Posted on by tychay 8

Features I wish the iPhone had

Yesterday, after the iPhone 3G announcement, someone at work made a comment, “For $200, there is no reason not to get an iPhone.”

I thought that shows we engineers have a serious lack of imagination.

The reasons I gave at the time to him are no different that this Gizmodo article.

Still shows a serious lack of imagination.

On my way to work, between swigs from my water bottle and wondering why God turned up the brightness and volume on the world today, I decided that the deal-killing feature the iPhone 3G was missing is a free “booty call” feature.

iPhone 3G

I wish phones came with that.

iPhoneDevCamp

Last night I met Dom of iPhoneDevCamp. He mentioned that a lot of people are registering for iPhoneDevCamp 2 (August 1-3 in San Francisco) and will likely be filled up before the event. So register now.

Posted on by tychay 7

Family tech support

I’m preparing a list of things to do tomorrow, when it occurs to me:

I wonder if Larry or Sergei ever have to fix their family members’ computers?

If so, that’s got to be the World’s Most Expensive Tech Support.

I wonder how many six(or more)-figure-salary software engineers weekend as the family Geek Squad?

Posted on by tychay 0

GPS everywhere and in everything

My computer has a GPS in it using the same SIRFstar III chipset as my hiking handheld, which also doubles as my cycling GPS.

On the Mac, it appears as a “USB-serial” device whose driver is made by Prolific Technology which, coincidentally, makes the driver for my camera GPS receiver. Like all SIRFstar III GPSs, getting the acquisition took only a second, but a fix took a minute.

Great! Now what to do?

GPS + Google Earth = fun

[gps madness after the jump]Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 1

Planning your Macs

My Uncle is soon to be without his laptop and desktop. An in our family, this means a Macintosh…with Skype installed. And this means, bouncing ideas off the family Mac geek: me.

Here were his ideas:

Idea 1:
Get 1 desktop and 1 laptop. For desktop, I am thinking of iMac rather than a Power Mac (which may be too large and iMac can do the most of PowerMac capability). For laptop, Mac Air may be good and light but it may lack some features like hard-disk, and the number of USB ports.
Idea 2:
Get a good laptop, a wireless keyboard & mouse, and a big LCD screen to hook up the laptop wirelessly.

I thought it’d be fun to share my thinking/email.

[My commentary after the jump.]Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 11

Running with cameras

DPReview has an excellent review of the 18-200mm Nikkor travel kit lens, a lens I happen to own.

I wait for Pizza with my Nikon camera (from side)

I wait for Pizza with my Nikon camera (from side)
Patxi’s Pizza, Palo Alto, CA

Lumix DMC-LX1
1/3 sec @ f/2.8, iso 200, 6mm (28mm)

One criticism missing from the review is how annoyingly long the lens extends when zoomed—I’ll miss the slickness of the way the 18-70mm handles zooming as well as its build quality. One criticism in the review I take exception to is the complaint about complex distortion at wide angles—the reason is that DxO Optics Pro easily fixes this problem.

The review is especially notable because the excellent flash applet they have that shows the test results. This confirms something I’ve always suspected, but never really tested: the lens is not sharp at the long portrait telephoto distances.

Still, I think people reading the review might get so obsessed with MTF curves and assorted “pixel peeping” that they won’t gather why this lens, warts and all, is still a great lens.

Through the lens

Through the lens
Riverstone Townhomes, Mountain View, California

Nikon D70, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-4.5G VR
1/30 sec @ f/5.6, iso 1000, 200mm (300mm)

This image easily made the front page of Nikon’s Stunning Gallery after I submitted it. It was taken with the lens I had on my camera: the 18-200mm at 200mm and taking advantage of the impressive close focusing capabilities of the lens.

This is good timing. When I got this lens two years ago to replace my 18-70mm, I managed to be one of the lucky few who got it quickly and for almost $100 than list price (Thanks, Roberts Imaging!). A year later, this lens was so scarce it was still reselling for almost $100 above list on eBay, I felt I made off like a bandit.

Now the price and availability have come more into line. Though I do wish the build quality was slightly higher or that the price was slightly cheaper.

Jeremiah, Holly, and Jessica (2007-0038 068)

Jeremiah, Holly, and Jessica
NetGear, Santa Clara, California

Nikon D200, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
1/90sec @ f/3.5, iso 800, 18mm (27mm)

The 18-200mm makes a great documentary lens because you don’t have time to switch out lenses. Here I capture a few of my friends talking after Lunch 2.0.

[Defending the all-purpose kit]Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 6

Computers don’t cry

>> Hello.
How do you do.  Please state your problem.
>> Joseph Weizenbaum, your creator, died today.
Why are you concerned over my creator  ?
>> Joseph Weizenbaum, your creator, died today.
What about your own creator  ?
>> Joseph Weizenbaum, your creator, died today.
Are you worried about someone else's creator  ?
>> Joseph Weizenbaum, your creator, died today.
Really, my creator  ?
>> Joseph Weizenbaum, your creator, died today.
Why are you concerned over my creator  ?

sigh

Posted on by tychay 2

Analog blog 2

I blame Merlin Mann of 43 folders. He’s the one who popularized Moleskines years ago.

How else can I explain that right after I wrote about my analog blog that Brian Moon pointed me to the very next xkcd about that. Which caused my friends to point out the sequel article:

journal 2

Journal 2 by xkcd

Which gave me this weird flashback to the Kubrick and Cupcakes Get Satisfaction/Songbird party, where I caught both Ramon and Dave McClure as being one of the few without hats.

Ramon

Ramon
Terra
South of Market, San Francisco, California

Nikon D70, Tokina 16-50mm AT-X PRO f/2.8 DX, SB-800, ultimate light box
1/20sec @ f/2.8, iso640, 21mm (31mm)

Ramon is almost always styling with a hat. Since everyone else is with hat, I suppose he is doing without.

Dave McClure

Dave McClure
Terra
South of Market, San Francisco, California

Nikon D70, Tokina 16-50mm AT-X PRO f/2.8 DX, SB-800, ultimate light box
1/10sec @ f/2.8, iso640, 18mm (27mm)

Dave wears 500 hats, but the only one he has on this day is his party hat.

[Why Merlin Mann is the anti-christ after the jump.]Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 4