Deca.tv

Long time no post…

So I’m working at a new company. First job since some where in the early 90′s. No really…ok first time I’ve worked for someone else since then. We are a digital studio…the official marketing blurb…

“DECA is committed to creating unique, high-quality digital entertainment properties that combine premium video, social media applications and community. Our goal is to consistently provide new and exciting digital brands to consumers, marketers, distributors and creative talent.”

Reality:

Dog and Pony Show: cheeky interviews with business innovators.
BoingBoingTV: Boingboing…but video

So wish us luck and check out the content and let us know what you think!

The Moon (warning its a biggie)

So back in November I did this set of photos of the moon. Recently I borrowed this 8″ Celestron telescope and got a shot of Saturn. I was both impressed (that you could see it at all) and mildly disappointed I couldn’t capture what you could see with the human eye. Hence I aimed my scope at something a little closer to see if I could improve on my past attempts without a real long lens. The results are not too shabby.

So until next time I can think of something else to take a picture of…signing off…

Update: Ok, so I managed to find some mostly free image stacking software, did a quick 10 stack and substantially improved the resolution, enough so that I’m willing to show the 100% version. Warning this is 3872×2592 but its quite impressive what you can do to remove the atmospheric distortion with multiple photos.

Saturn

So instead getting an image of something really close up (which I often like doing), here is something far far away. It’s nothing spectacular or amazing like this. But, its the best I could do with equipment on hand and not being NASA. Maybe if I can get the tracking a little better I could improve it marginally, but really I bet better viewing conditions would have a much greater impact in quality.

It’s also really overkill but impressive on things much closer to home. Here is my best shot with a marginal quality 320mm lens. Same thing at 2032mm (no eye piece and reduced to 50%). Impressive!

I’ll get a much better moon shot once it rolls around, its not coming up until like 5am or something silly.

Celestron C8 Telescope (2032mm F10) 8mm eye piece (so like 254x magnification)
Pentax K10D 10MP Camera

Everyones new talking point

So as a techie, my biggest complaints on the iPhone (besides the inevitable scratches that will drive everyone nuts to the point of class action lawsuits) are…

1. No 3G high speed network support. EDGE is 2.5G and barely acceptable for the type multimedia this phone is capable of.
2. No expansion. A simple SD card slot would make your 4G unlimited gig…
3. Battery not removable.

So I got to thinking about it and so far no one has said how long the ‘exclusive’ Cingular thing will be. It could be as short as 6 months maybe a year at the most.

The second thing I thought of was, hey this is standard apple operating procedure. Release a product that is amazing in every way but a few, then 6-12months later ‘blow everyone’s mind’ by adding all the missing features and forcing everyone to upgrade =)

So the lack of HSDPA/EVDO is because 6-12 months later they’ll announce ‘iPhone Pro’ with a removable battery and HDSPA and twice the memory or SD card slot or similar. It will also fix the crippling xyz bug that all the first gen owners are inevitably going to complain about (buzzing, hissing, or some other odd glitch that really drives 1% of the users mad).

Anyway, i’ll probably wait for the 2nd gen, cause my Treo700p on EVDO does 95% of the functionality with 1% of the stability and 5% of the fineness.

My 2 cents…

Click for video

So, I was just reading Engadget and I realized I don’t think I ever posted my bump key video.

For those of you out of the loop, locks don’t work. Even a total amateur can break in to some of the most sophisticated locks without any skill what-so-ever. In fact I’ve personally found it EASIER to break in to more expensive locks with this method, than cheaper old ones that are lose inside. Wiki on lockpicking.

I made this key in under 5 minutes with an old key I found in a drawer and a Dremal.

So without further ado…the bump…

$39.99 or $14.99

So I was in Fry’s Electronics today and I wanted a 16foot USB Repeater cable. Its basically a 16 foot USB cable (the maximum the spec. allows) and a little bus powered hub on the end. Anyway, after searching the “USB Stuff” isle for about a minute I realized it was on another isle. No problem, ah…the “USB Cable” isle, hmm product 1. $39.99, ah another one, crap $39.99. I was also looking for a plain extension. 10Ft $12.99…ouch…

So after about 5 minutes of digging, I give up and start wondering again. Out of the corner of my eye on a random isle, ah, mixed in with the Firewire cables, a few lone USB cables. Found the SAME 16foot extender $14.99 and the same one bundled with a 10foot and a 6foot cable for $19.99!

Aye…I feel sorry for all the poor saps who just pay full price…

Check out the picture, yellow is HALF the price of blue!

Snake on a pole

Wow an update, crazy…been distracted with other things in my life, like
Turbo and other stuff. But I took some good pictures recently and thought I would share…

Snake

How the snake got there…

Back off buddy, my snake!

G-force Graph, click for full run data

While part of me feels like I’m getting old, I know I’m not quite over the hill yet. So I got my car back from the shop after 3 months of engine rebuild. Its not quite running right yet…but in the twisty’s not much is faster. Back in March I made this post about the G-Tech Pro. I never got around to posting any of my runs, so I’ll post this one.

Disclaimer: Pseudo-professional Driver on a Closed Course. (hey it works for the car ads)

While in theory on a closed course I have no fear of crossing the center divider and should have the same cornering room, lets just say I was trying to practice normal style driving, just faster =). Now notice how I’m a total wuss when corning left only getting about 1.0g’s while to the right I peak at 1.34g’s. I know there is more room to run out in case I get in trouble on the rights…

Anyway I just like posting graphs. Enjoy…

VW Key

Volkswagon, Volkswagen, VW, Beetle, Jetta…ok that should feed the search engines enough variations =P

Ok, need to replace the battery on your VW Key fob? Or need to replace the metal keychain thingy on it? VW will charge you a fortune for either…I made a page a few years back on my personal web page thats pretty popular, so I decided time for some update pictures and add the fix for the broken keychain…

Check out Ralph’s comments for the newer model below!!!
Enjoy the savings!

RX-8 USA Sales. Click for bigger version!

I’ve always been a big RX-7 fan, but for some reason or another the RX-8 just doesn’t do it for me looks wise. Anyway, I did this for MY FRIEND ADAM and just remembered one of the reasons I started this site was so that my seemingly pointless efforts may be useful for someone other than just myself.

USA Sales by year
2003 – 12,346
2004 – 23,690
2005 – 6,992
Total – 43,028

P.S. I noticed I didn’t label the graph, so if it isn’t obvious its in cars sold per month.