Computers & Tech - Diary Of An ADI

Electric Cars Get Greedy

23/07/2011

I’ve written about electric cars on a number of occasions. My scepticism over their future has never really been in doubt.

So this latest story just about made me inhale a full cup of tea when I saw it!

Many, many, many, many, many… you get the idea… years ago, I saw a documentary where they had “transmitted” electricity a few metres across an office to light a bulb. The presenter even stood in the middle to show how safe it was. One thing he didn’t go into detail about, as far as I remember, is how inefficient this was. You might consume 100 watts of power on the transmitter side, but far less than that made it across the void to be used by whatever it was you were powering.

In a nutshell, it is extremely wasteful – and quite franky, no amount of technological advancement can make this kind of thing as efficient as powering directly from the source.

Now, when you bear in mind that the same thing (overall inefficiency) already applies to electric cars – instead of generating the power on-board (as in an engine), you have to burn some fossil fuel, convert it to electricity, store it, then transport it, all at additional energy cost – it has to be the most bizarre idea imaginable that anyone should propose that induction coils be installed in the road so that these ridiculous devices can be charged up at the same time they are driving around (or parked).

The whole ethic of the electric car shouts GREEN. Induction loops shout HYPOCRISY.

HDR Photos + Panasonic Lumix TZ9

13/06/2011

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

I’ve mentioned my new camera a couple of times – it’s the Panasonic Lumix TZ9, with a nice high ISO range (for a small camera) that’s great for indoor pix at gigs.

One other feature it has is the ability to take bracketed images so you can generate HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. I’ve always wanted a go at that, and I’d planned to get a decent dSLR at some point so I could experiment further.

Now, let’s not beat about the bush here. Proper dSLRs have dynamic range settings from 3eV upwards, and that allows for some stunning images. The TZ9 only has a 1eV range, and at £150 it is hardly trying to compete with the big boys.

One thing I have discovered is that you definitely need to use a tripod, as the three individual photos are taken over about 1.5 seconds. While I was out his evening I stole a quick chance to get some pictures when I noticed the sun behind a pupil’s neighbour’s house. The bracketed images

These are three bracketed images taken at +1eV, 0eV, and -1eV. I took these at ISO 400, f/6.3, and 1/30 sec exposure. The sun was partially obscured by clouds just to the right of that house on the right – I was trying to get a situation where you’d normally get under-exposure in the foreground, or over-exposure of the background.

This is the HDR image I produced from these:

This is just a first try, but I was impressed by the detail of the foreground and those trees in the background, as well as on the house brickwork – even though the sun is just over there.

I need to play with this some more when I get a chance.

Panasonic Lumix TZ9 Digital Camera

17/05/2011

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

I bought my first digital camera many, many years ago. It was the Casio QV-10A, and it was 1995 if my memory serves me correctly. It had a resolution of 320×240 pixels (so 0.25M) and internal storage that could hold 96 pictures (which wasn’t that bad). It had fixed focus, and a very basic zoom. At the time, it was state-of-the-art technology, and cost around £500.

As the years have gone by I’ve had a couple more cameras, the latest being a Sony Cybershot with a 5.1M resolution – 20x more than on that original Casio. Even my phone has a 5M resolution camera in it. A problem with the Sony was also with the zoom – 3x optical just doesn’t do it, and digital zoom is almost a complete waste of time.

As I’ve mentioned in the recent posts about the Rush Time Machine Tour, the Sony simply wasn’t cutting it at the concerts. To be honest, it never has, mainly because of its maximum ISO setting (and the zoom) results in blurring unless you are very lucky (i.e. both you and the target stand still for long enough for the exposure to occur, and something not likely at gigs). To be fair to it, it was fine outside and in good lighting – but that wasn’t my main requirement in a camera these days. With the Casio, I began creating photo-based SOPs at the Company of Clowns I wasted a huge chunk of my life working for – I was the first one there to do it, and it caught on big time – but I have never really been one for taking pictures of everything and everyone. I just like gadgets and putting them to value-creating uses.

I’d been planning on getting a good digital SLR at some point – one with a high ISO range – but the abject failure of the Sony at the Glasgow SECC Rush gig made me rethink my immediate plans. I had an hour between lessons, and nipped into PC World on last Sunday. I was looking specifically for resolution and optical zoom, and as I scanned across the range I was also attracted to the full HD video facility offered by the Panasonic Lumix TZ9 (12M and 12x optical zoom also did it for me). Plus, it was only £150 – I’d been ready to spend much more than that on an SLR.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get any decent pictures in time for the next Rush gig after I bought the Lumix (before I’d learnt how to use it). But I’d learnt a lot about basic photography from messing with the Sony and trying to squeeze the best I could out of it, and as it happens this came in really handly on the Lumix. A big plus was the ISO, which you can set manually up to 1600, but in the high-sensitivity setting it will go as high as 6400.

Having said that, the Lumix has loads more features. One I’m particularly anxious to try out is bracketing so I can do some HDR (high dynamic range) pictures. But if you’re looking for a reasonably priced camera with a high spec and which will take great gig pictures, this is it. You can see what it can do from the Rush gig reviews I’ve written.

Microsoft to Buy Skype

11/05/2011

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

This one is interesting – Microsoft is apparently buying Skype.

eBay bought it and did nothing with it – just milked it, which is basically what eBay is all about and what it was founded on (not a criticism, just an observation).

Apparently, Google was after Skype big-time, but Microsoft looks to have won.

Skype is extremely useful, and it is a growing application for mobile platforms. It is also extremely stable, and apart from the absence of a decent fax facility – capitalised on by rip-off software like PamFax – it offers everything else you could want.

iPhone Spies on Users

21/04/2011

DOAADI

Computers & Tech, World

This is hot news at the moment. The iPhone apparently records everywhere you have been in a file that you can’t delete.

Privacy groups are outraged (I agree with them to a large extent). Australian police are ecstatic though. Also covered in the Independent.

Apple has shot itself in the foot again.

Apparently, this facility was introduced in the last OS update. You’d think they’df have warned people, wouldn’t you?

At the moment in the UK there is a huge row over phone tapping by the News of the World newspaper. A judge has ordered test cases to be heard. Almost no one (except the News of the World) believes that secretly tapping peoples phones to publish dirt on them isn’t bad.

Perhaps Apple will be able to explain how this is any different?

Sat Navs “Not Trusted”, Says Swinton

04/04/2011

DOAADI

ADI, Computers & Tech, General

Tell me about it! Swinton Insurance reckons people are increasingly not trusting their sat navs to get them around.

I’ve mentioned before about my negative experiences of Orange Maps – and how the damned system has TWICE decided that it is “unable to connect to the server right now” right when I need to know which way to go (and in the latter case, when it had taken me 300 miles towards my destination, and flaked out within a dozen miles of the important bit of most journeys – the end).

The report says that those in the East Midlands are most likely to ignore what the sat nav is telling them. I wonder if that has anything to do with the A46. Or the Colwick Loop Road?

You see, I couldn’t resist the temptation to buy a Tom Tom a few years ago. I played with it a few times, but the hassle setting it up (and the mess it always made on the windscreen when I took the sucker off) meant I never really bothered. Oh, I used it to get to Wembley Arena, Glasgow SECC, and Newcastle Metro Arena a few years ago (and a few other places), but then I had to carry the bloody thing around with me because I didn’t dare leave it in the car. It was a right pain making sure it didn’t get swiped out of your coat pocket either when you were trying to enjoy a gig.

But the most irritating feature was navigation of the Colwick Loop Road/Gedling Bypass. My Tom Tom was brand new, but its map database predated the Bypass - officially opened in 2007. So the Tom Tom tells you you’re driving across a field when, in fact, you’re on the Bypass heading to or from Burton Joyce and Southwell. I resented paying another £80 for an updated map, so I didn’t.

At the moment, a similar thing happens for most of the A46 and part of the A6097 between Widmerpool and Gunthorpe (my car has built-in sat nav now, and I sometimes use it to find new pupils’ houses – especially in rural areas). Since they’re converting this road stretch into a dual carriageway (and numerous bypasses), you spend most of your time on new sections of road – occasionally dipping back on to old sections – and the sat nav doesn’t like it one bit. It’s especially bad when you get near Bingham, because they have built a series of new roundabouts and unless you know where you are going, you will come to those that the sat nav doesn’t know about. Conversely, you’ll be told to leave at a certain exit when you’re not actually on a roundabout – the sat nav is making a best guess.

These days I put my faith in Google Maps. Until I got built-in sat nav, I always used Google to locate my new pupils anyway - just the last section of the journey. But that experience with Orange Maps resulted in the discovery of the Android App for Google – and that is the best system I’ve found. It is free, and it is likely to be updated more regularly than all the other systems put together.

Another advantage of Google on Android is that the phone is small and you can clip it over an air vent in the car. That way, you just need to take a quick glance instead of climbing into the footwell to see it (admittedly, the central instrument console gives cut-down directions from the main sat nav in my car, so I’m exaggerating a bit there).

Of course, I could also stick it right in the middle of my windscreen like the chavs do these days.

Japan Earthquake Sparks Panic Buying

19/03/2011

DOAADI

Computers & Tech, World

People had better buy up their gadgets before the price goes up. If this story in Information Week is anything to go by, there is going to be a scarcity of electronic components in the wake of the Japanese earthquake.

Increased ordering has already been observed. Prices have already risen by 10-30% in the last 24 hours.

Japanese semiconductor factories have had to suspend production as a result of the strong aftershocks – they shut down when a tremor measures 5 on the Richter Scale, but shocks as high as 7 are being experienced.

Japan is a major manufacturer of memory chips for smartphones and PCs.

Apparently, Apple is very vulnerable to these shortages because many of its components are unique and cannot be sourced anywhere else.

Driverless Cars

07/03/2011

DOAADI

ADI, Computers & Tech, DSA, General

I’m sorry, but this is sci-fi nonsense. No one in their right mind is going to go for this as a means of personal transport.

CBS News asks “Would You Buy a Self-driving Car? ” The vehicle it refers to is a Google experimental car, which is completely independent and uses radar and AI to determine where it is, where other things are, and what to do with respect to that perception of what is around it. It also relies on “the cloud” – in other words, it has to be connected reliably to the internet. There is some ~~Google video footage of the car here~~. There’s no denying it’s clever – but how clever would it need to be?

As an aside, my TomTom satnav (and the Google Maps GPS app on my smartphone) are very good at navigating across fields and open spaces when the road layout is new and doesn’t quite correspond to the older data Google carries. And don’t even get me started on what happens when connection to “the cloud” is lost or can’t be established!

But back on topic. The latest issue of Despatch – see article immediately below – has a piece on driverless cars. The system here is the EU-funded SARTRE project, and it is nothing like the Google one. It depends on a lead-car with a driver (or maybe it could be one of the Google cars) and all the cars in the so-called “platoon” follow it automatically (as the acronym SAfe Road TRains for the Environment suggests).

At best, people with too much money and too much time on their hands will be able to commute around London – just like with electric cars – whilst pretending they are saving the environment.

It’s scary to think that the SARTRE convoy will no doubt involve electric cars in order to hype up its green credentials. I wonder what would happen if one in the middle goes flat because the owner forgot to charge it properly (or the batteries are knackered and it can’t hold a charge)?

It’ll also be a bit of a pointless exercise if you want to nip down Tescos at 1am for some bread.

Skype Phishing Scam

25/02/2011

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

I just received an email from Skype Support – well, allegedly from Skype Support.

Here’s the text of the email:

Hi **************,

Skype is pleased to announce that a new version of Skype was released today with new features, options and improvements.

New in this version :

* Up to 5-way group video call.
* Redesigned calling experience.
* Improved video snapshots gallery.
* Improved browser plugins performance on some websites.
* Reduced false positives on browser plugin phone number recognition.
* New presence icons.
* Improved handling of calling attempts made when the user has run out of credit.
* Improved access to sharing functionality

To download this version, go to :

Start downloading the update right now and let us know what you think about it.

We’re working on making Skype better all the time !

Talk soon,

The people at Skype

====================== PROTECT YOUR PASSWORD ===========================
Skype or Skype Staff will NEVER ask you for your password via email. The only place you are asked for your password is when you sign in to the Skype application or our website.

Inititially it looked OK – but alarm bells started ringing when it wanted credit card details and there appeared to be no option to choose a “free” option. Then I saw the email address it is from: Skype Support [newsletter@email.greetz.com].

No way! Then I did a Google search and it has been picked up by several other people.

Don’t fill in your details! Bin it immediately.

If you need to update Skype, do it via the program itself.

DSA Alert: Internet Advertising Rules

22/02/2011

DOAADI

ADI, Computers & Tech, DSA, General

An email alert from the DSA:

From 1 March, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) will be able to investigate complaints about marketing messages on websites.

This includes what you say on your own website, as well as third-party sites you use, such as Facebook. For example, you need to make sure that you can back up any claims you make about your business. You can find more by reading the Codes and the announcement on the Committee of Advertising Practice website.

If you’re a driving or riding instructor who wants to complain about online advertising, you should contact ASA directly by filling in an online complaints form which is found on their website.

Please don’t contact DSA, as we have no powers to deal with these complaints.

Part of me thinks “about time”. The other part thinks “you’re going to have your work cut out here”.

The change is a general one – it isn’t aimed specifically at driving schools. But I’m sure this very important detail will escape a lot of people. The most interesting part is the third aspect of the scope of the changes:

‘non-paid-for space online under [the advertiser’s] control’: this phrase covers, although not exclusively, advertisements and other marketing communications on advertiser-controlled pages on social networking websites. Social networking websites have a significant consumer reach, are popular with children and young people and play an increasing role in public policy debates.

Some of those ridiculous Google Ads claims I see on this blog will fall foul of that in a second.

This link is also important: Digital Remit Advice. If you run a website, take a look at it.

EDIT 23/2/2011: Hey, it’s started already. Someone pasted the DSA alert on one of the forums, and it took all of four replies before someone decided that every word BSM uses in its advertising is lies. All roads lead to BSM being to blame for everything in ADI-land.

Category - Computers & Tech